Of all the problems in the world, getting an Ewok isn't one of them. I don't care how they make it available. I'll get it or not. The spin of the world will be completely and totally unaffected. This is non-issue.

Your life must be very difficult.

Wow, Bioware. Really? What a crummy thing to do to a player base. I used to be a BW apologist, but it seems I was wrong. It's evident that you really don't give a crap about what you do to this game. I know it's just character names, but to do this unannounced and without the option to remain behind on your current server is just a danged lousy thing to do. I am extremely disappointed.

So go do something else with your life. It REALLY, REALLY is that simple. No one cares, no one will miss you, no one will be hurt. This is a completely, 100% painless process - go and do something where you will be satisfied in whatever manner suits you best.

Not necessarily. I played DDO for the better part of a year and never spent more than $15/month, because that's how I allotted my personal budget for gaming. I never had any problem keeping up with the Joneses in-game either, because I was active with my guild. It's easy to hypothesize about "F2P" systems that could take advantage of you (I dislike what I hear about Cryptic's methods), but that's all conjecture. *If* SWTOR went F2P, there's no way of knowing at this point what that business model would look like. While I would agree that there's no reason to assume it will be a favorable system to players for benefits vs. cost, I'd have to say that at this point there's no reason to assume it will be bad either.

I can't speak for all F2P games, only DDO. In that one, micro-transaction gear was mostly cosmetic. I suppose there were some healing potions, but those can be obtained in-game if you want to find them that way. I can't recall anything that had to be purchased to endgame (aside from quest packs, which are a one-time purchase). Regardless, it's still a budget the player can control for themselves.

Because that's not how the free market works. Besides, micro-transactions in several games are permanent to your account anyway. Buy a quest pack for $5 this month, and it's your access to it is permanent. It's not like you'd have to pay a buck every time you wanted to enter a Flashpoint.

Why are you concerned about other players' experience more than your own? Shouldn't the question be whether you're having fun playing the game your own way? If you are, then what difference does anything else really make? Serious question. As I said elsewhere, I'm not a proponent of F2P. But I don't see it being worth much worry.

It's no more dishonest than iTunes charging $1.29 per song. Pay if you like, don't pay if you don't. Anyone who is clever enough to budget themselves $15/month - roughly the cost of a regular subscription - is entirely capable of controling the cost of their hobby. While I'm not a proponent of going F2P (and don't think SWTOR is going that way anytime soon anyway), it's just not a big deal. It's just a video game.

It's not really a scam at all though - you're still getting what you pay for. You can access the server and some content for free. You can pay if you want more. No one is under any obligation to provide any free content beyond what they claim to offer, and no one is under any obligation to pay for more services/features than they want to. F2P with micro-transactions or optional subscriptions for bonus features is just not a big deal.

It's not. Some people will always find SOMETHING to whine about. Of course, it's a good thing that they're complaining - it's proof that they must not have any actual problems in life.

Honestly? No. I don't know what the profit margin is, but I seriously doubt the game will be closing anytime soon. Honestly, it is just a video game. No one should be stressing over this. At all. Play or don't. The world will spin regardless.

It won't let you log in with the gibberish name. You'll have to enter something else before it lets you in.

Which server are you seeing that kind of delay on? My server was just merged into The Shadowlands, and while there's been routinely 300+ people on the fleets, plus however many else on planets, I haven't had to queue up to log in yet.

It's because the transfer service is optional, and looking at the results is the best way to determine whether they're on the right course. Yeah, it's a bummer if you're on a server that wasn't at the top of the list, but it's better than rushing into something when they don't know how it will go.