Converting a subscription model game to F2P is never easy. LOTRO was a train-wreck for a while and it's only now with their first true made for F2P expansion that it has really recovered, imho. Unless EA pulled the plug months ago and BW have been working solely on the conversion since the first quarter of 2012, it's going to be ugly for a while. Personally, with GW2 and PlanetSide 2 due out this year, both designed from the ground up as F2P, I'll be hanging up my lightsaber once I finish my Guardian, Trooper and Scoundrel class stories, and all three of these are either 50 already and late chapter three, or almost 50 and only a few quests in to chapter three. I've had my fun, but I'm getting out before the F2P BS ruins my happy memories of my time with SWTOR.

I'm extremely disappointed. I honestly thought that a big expansion announcement was just 'round the corner... Guild capitol ships, enhanced player ships with customisation options etc etc, I really didn't see SWTOR going F2P before two years, given the enjoyment I've had since launch going through the class stories. With the game going F2P I can see EA making more money out of the game, but I can also see many fans cancelling their subscriptions and moving on to something new, especially since there really isn't anything to separate GW2 and SWTOR now. Both are F2P and GW2 has arguably a more 'modern' feel to it (face it, SWTOR feels like an old game given a new engine). I bought the Digital Deluxe version, and later on picked up a cheap Collector's Edition, so I should get plenty of 'Cartel Credits', but I didn't shell out all that cash for a F2P game. I always knew the EA connection would come at a price. Now we know what that price was : GREED

We've just been told that SWTOR will be F2P up to level 15 in July. What is your honest opinion of this move by EA? I can't imagine BioWare are happy with it and personally I see it as one step away from a move to a full Free To Play business model. For me, that would lead to me to leave the game. I really liked LOTRO, but as soon as it went F2P I realised that the 'short-cut' option offered by the store would be too tempting, and I'd spend more than my £8.99 a month in frivolous purchases (have disposable income, will spend it ) Which is why F2P and associated micro transactions are so popular with EA titles, unfortunately What's your take on it? (Disclaimer: I know there have been other similar threads on this, but none have been targeted specifically at the community's opinions on the F2P news)

A bad analogy it may be, but it still rings true. The problem with server population is easily solved by the players themselves. I've got various mid-40 characters on various servers for the same reason. I moved servers, and I have no issues. I don't see it as a waste of time either, as I chose a different class each time. Just tired of all the darn complaining on here... it's simply soul destroying

Then perhaps he should have re-rolled on different server when he noticed numbers were dwindling? Honestly, if the people who complain about server population are NOT kids, I fear for the future of humanity. If you need to feed your child, do you wait for someone else to do it because your child is ENTITLED to have it's dinner or do you get up and make your child dinner? Easy choice. You do what needs to be done and feed your child. People need to remember this example and apply it to their gaming... Fix the problem yourselves and stop bellyaching like a hungry child about it on these forums! /THREAD!

Reading the forums will only make people wonder why the game is still going at all. Most of the comment is negative, most of the posts are from trolls or 'professional' posters employed by competitors to damage the reputation of the game. Unfortunately a lot of casual gamers will be swayed by the people who shout the loudest, and these professional naysayers will be having an impact on browsing trade. If it didn't work, companies wouldn't pay people to do it. Ultimately this game is in pretty good condition considering it's age. There will ALWAYS be bugs in MMOs due tot he fluid content and the fact that it is inevitable that fixing some bugs will create problems elsewhere. No company can test everything before implementing a patch and it is unreasonable to expect this.

Because there is only one Samuel L Jackson, Mahfuggas! (yes, he does speak that that, check out his Twitter feed).

Possibly one of the finest post responses I have seen. It is a shame that more people cannot seem to think the way you do..

Thanks Monave, that clears it up

Would you mind expanding on why it isn't working for your guild? I'm genuinely curious. Granted the four player group size is one person smaller than people are used to, but there are Operations which are 16(?) player instances. I just don't see why you describe it as feeling like a 'single player RPG'. Most other MMOs feature a majority of soloable content, with the requirement to group for harder quests (Heroic equivalent) and dungeons (Flashpoint equivalent). I honestly think that the issue is one more of perception than there being an actual problem. Because the quests are fully voiced, and because other BW games offer the same, the fact that you can do any quest with a group of three others is ignored and even forgotten by a large number of people I think.

Ok, Mr Always Negative, list these BIG problems and describe what you have done to either work around or solve the problem yourself. I can guarantee that you and a good percentage of the other naysayers have done NOTHING to solve the issue themselves. Too many people are acting like baby birds, just sitting in the nest with their maws gaping, waiting for BioWare to feed them what they 'need'. Think outside the box, use your own initiative! The game is enjoyable and there are ways to get past almost all of the issues people are complaining about. The only people who cannot fix their own problems are the gear obsessed people who still have the 'main character' and 'alt character' mindset and only want to play on their 'main'. This isn't WoW. Think about what the game has which other MMOs don't have and go enjoy the epic stories of the other classes which you likely haven't tried yet! If you have got multiple 50s already, you either have a fantastic amount of free time, in which case no single MMO will ever satisfy you or you've spacebared your way through all the quests ignoring the individual slants that each class has on every dialogue chain. Creativity is wasted on some people.....

If your name is taken by a character already existing on the destination server, you will be asked to choose another name. That's how it works in every other MMO in which I have gone through a server transfer. My advice would be that as soon as you know which server you will be able to transfer to, create a character with a name which you will find acceptable in advance, to 'block' it off. On the day you wish to initiate the transfer, log on to the destination server at an 'off peak' time, delete your placeholder character and initiate the transfer (assuming the character name deletion AND name check is done in real time). You should then be able to use the name you chose (unless there is a long lead-time, and unless someone else chooses the name you chose prior to the initiation of the actual move server-side). It's not an exact science, and this is assuming the transfer goes through database lookups in real time at the time of initiating the transfer. I guess you'll have to try it and keep your fingers crossed!

Server population is fine, people just spread themselves too thin because they couldn't be bothered to queue, and now they are surprised that their server is quiet? (of course, it's BioWare's fault that they opened more servers to stop people complaining about the queues......) What did those effected expect? Patience is it's own reward, and a decent server with a decent population is reward enough for those who put up with the queues. OT: 1.3 sounds interesting, and should expand on the Legacy system.... rumours about changes/additions to companions are also interesting!

lol! Thanks for brightening up my early-*** shift at work. Made me chuckle. Also, I'm a Snuggler Sawbones and they kick all kind of buttocks. Stealth AND Heals.... I can kick you in the nuts before you even know I'm there, baby! How's THAT for Snuggling?!

It's only for four days, I wouldn't even contemplate looking for a temporary replacement to cover me for that period. I would just deal with the loss of stats, as the chances are EVERYONE with similar cubes are also missing the boost in stats. Hence, in a PvP environment no-one wins, everyone is in the same boat. PvE, well your healers will just have to work a little harder as bosses will take longer to down and tanks will take a bit more punishment. Honestly, I can't see an issue here, it could have waited 'till next Tuesdays scheduled maintenance window.

I agree, this is annoying. Personally, I'd have liked if if BioWare had put up in a sticky a detailed reason for bringing down the servers a second time this week. We've all heard that Matrix Cubes are bugged. Makes no odds to me as none of my characters have one (I've rolled too many new characters across too many servers since launch, not even got to 50 on one yet!) and in my opinion if all it meant was that people could not get the benefit from the stats on their cubes, this could have waited as EVERYONE is in the same boat, no one faction would be adversely effected. If the issue was more severe, say a cube is deleted or becomes corrupted and useless and would require manual intervention PER-CHARACTER by BioWare to fix, then fair enough, this had to be fixed to save thousands of hours of ticket squashing by BioWare's customer service department. Someone else in this thread mentioned that some quest items are also bugged, this would be another 'valid' reason for emergency maintenance. Ultimately I think there are two main issues here: Lack of information coming from BioWare as to the reasons for these additional downtime periods. Questionable Quality Control process as bugs like these should never make it to the live platform. Point 1 is simple to address, just tell the community what the problem is BEFORE bringing the servers down! We are told in the patch notes the reason for the downtime anyway, so why not be up-front about it? This would eliminate a lot of the negativity on the forums. Point 2 is more complex, but it's clear that it needs to be looked at.

Hear, hear! On topic: I'm at work, browsing the forums on a Sunday afternoon while waiting for various servers to finish doing what they are doing and/or blow up

I occasionally have issues finding a group. I go to the fleet, spend about 5 minutes asking in general, then use the /who feature to look for people around the right level, of the right class and then whipster them. Nine times out of ten I end up with a full group within 10 minutes. Give that a try, I'm sure you'll have much better results! To the other people complaining about the 'solo' focus: This game was heavily hyped and advertised as having the '4th Pillar', a revolutionary take on the player story. Since the story is all about the player on the other side of the screen, why are people surprised that there was so much effort put in to the story, when you consider it was advertised as one of the main features? BioWare are adding in some of the other 'common' MMO features, such as the LFG tool and server transfers, but all this was not mentioned at all in the development. No-one should have expected it to be in so soon..

I've been following this game for as long as anyone, and I've been playing it since the beta. I haven't seen the massive issues people are reporting. Perhaps I'm not a 'power gamer' anymore, maybe I'm getting more relaxed in my old age, but for me I'm enjoying the game for the story. Server population is a secondary issue for me as I haven't failed to find a group for any heroic or flashpoint I have wanted to do. Granted I've had to be creative, whispering people directly who are around the level and class needed. But I get it done. What's the biggest issue you have, besides population?

In before lock : Re-roll on a more active server. No need to quit the game if you are having fun! All your items, credits, legacy progress and PvP rank will count for naught if you and your guild quits. But, if you all re-roll elsewhere you will start from the SAME point, hence loosing nothing from that PoV. When server transfers are available, you move your characters to the server you are now on and RESULT! You loose nothing besides a bit of legacy experience in the end.

Maybe I'm being a plonker (Rodney!) but TorStatus doesn't seem to show true numbers, just trends from 'light' to 'standard' etc. Maybe the different between the two is 50 users per tier? In which case TorStatus is about as much use as a chocolate teapot when it comes to representing accurate server populations... i,e: For example, if Server Standard : 2000 or more active players and Server Light : 1950 or less active players people may analyse that and think 'OMG the SKY is FALING!!" when in actual fact it is only a change of circa 50 users.

If your server population is low, and it is adversely impacting your enjoyment of the game, re-roll on a server with a more healthy population! It's a really simple concept. Legacy level, items, credits, PvP rank? It all means nothing if you quit, so if this is the only thing keeping you where you are, but you are otherwise enjoying the game, RE-ROLL! A simple, immediate solution to the 'my server is dead' problem for people who are otherwise enjoying the game. Why people can't see this is simply beyond me....

And Bluerodian WINS THE THREAD! That actually made me chuckle, kudos! On topic: I think they've finally had enough of the pseudo-entitled moaners which make up for 90% of the active forum users.

The only reason, in my opinion, would be for the associated Codex entry to expand on your own knowledge of the background lore.

I've been reading these forums for a long time, and never have I felt so ashamed to belong to a community. People are entitled to their opinion, of course, but the sheer negativity oozing from these forums is just incomprehensible! It seems to me we have the following main complaints: Server population AKA The Server Transfer Conundrum The state of end-game content AKA I CBA To Experience More Than One Class Lack of core components AKA Why Doesn't SWTOR Have Everything I'm Used To From 'InsertMMOName' Every single one of these can be resolved either by reading the SWTOR site, or the player themselves. Let's have a look at each point: Server population AKA The Server Transfer Conundrum[ Resolved by: The player. Resolution: Re-roll as the opposite faction on a higher population server or BE PATIENT! Justification: This is new MMO. Every recent new MMO suffers from server growing pains. If you're played MMOs before, you should have been prepared to move before investing so much time (600+ hours according to some people) in one character and only THEN realising that server population is an issue. Server population didn't drop off a cliff suddenly. Alternative resolution: BioWare is working on server transfers. I'm not sure if any other game based ont the Hero Engine has character transfers, but we should not assume that it is a trivial task to impliment this just because many other MMOs have this option. The engine and it's associated databases may not be geared for this 'out of the box' Personal comment: I have characters on 5 different servers, on different factions. This game was heavily hyped as having the '4th Pillar', the story. That's the main reason why I play SWTOR. If the story was inconsequential to you, then perhaps you shouldn't have bought the game (this to all the people with 600+ hours on a single character). All the classes have unique and rich stories. Do yourselves a favour and experience them! The state of end-game content AKA I CBA To Experience More Than One Class Resolved by: The player & BioWare Resolution: Having not rushed to 50, taking time to enjoy some of all the class stories before choosing one to get to 50, I haven't seen any of these issues myself. But, if there are bugs (and there must be for the people to complain about it so much, right?) then BioWare needs to address them. Justification: It's BioWare's job to ensure the content works for the majority of the playerbase. If the bugs are there and have been widely reported and /bug'd then there is really no defence, especially for bugs that have existed since launch. BioWare would seem to need to do better here. Alternative resolution: It comes down to the 4th pillar again. If there are bugs which are impacting your enjoyment to such a degree that you are thinking about quitting, then take a step back and enjoy one of the other classes. By the time you get that one to 50 the bugs may be squashed and you can carry on, but while you level this other character you are enjoying the story and gaining Legacy levels & exp. BioWare aren't done with the Legacy system yet, so any comments about the system while it is still being implemented are premature IMHO. Personal comment: None. I'm afraid I have yet to get a character to 50, for the reasons stated above. Lack of core components AKA Why Doesn't SWTOR Have Everything I'm Used To From 'InsertMMOName' Resolved by: The player Resolution: It's a mindset thing, see below. Justification: This is SWTOR, not the other MMO. If the feature is not listed on the game site, it isn't in the game and should not be expected to be in the game. You get what the game advertises you get, and people shouldn't expect that they can force changes by campaigning for them! Alternative resolution: None Personal comment: Far too many people see everything which they do not agree with as a potential for protest, and that if they demonstrate, make enough noise, they can make what they want happen. This unfortunate mindset has come over to gaming. It is shocking how many negative posts the are about features which were never advertised as being in the game. The Asia/Pacific character transfers were done when they opened a new data centre which would better server these players. To expect that EVERYONE would be able to transfer their characters the next week is folly. There have been similar 'protest' style threads about other issues. We are not entitled to force a change to the game simply because we pay to play it! We CHOOSE to pay our money to play the game as it is at the start of the calendar month on which the payment is made. If you chose a three or six-month subscription period, then that was your choice, to pay to play the game AS IT WAS AT THE TIME OF SUBSCRIPTION. Threatening BioWare because things are not in place is juvenile. Simple as that. I know that it's only the vocal minority who come to these boards and actually post on them, whether it be for good or ill, and I know that it's likely I'll have 90% flames in response to this, but I needed to speak out as I have felt disappointed in the public face of our community. I'm sure I'm not the only one.