Cancelling subscription - what happens to my characters?

[Tantala]

I recently returned to SW:TOR but it is not the game I loved and I will probably be leaving soon.  However, there is always a (remote) chance that something closer to the SW:TOR I used to play may re-emerge so if I do cancel what will happen to the characters and gear I currently hold?

[SteveTheCynic]

If you're going to not play in the meantime, and you intend to subscribe before launching the game if you do come back, nothing much.(1)

If you want to play as a non-subscriber, specifically "Preferred", in the meantime, you'll experience a bunch of restrictions that are detailed on Swtorista's page at SWTOR Free-to-play vs Preferred vs Subscriber Guide (swtorista.com)

Of those, the small wallet (max one million credits)(2)(3) of non-subscriber characters and the restriction of at most 12 characters per server are probably the most immediately bothersome, followed closely by the need to have the "artifact authorization" unlock to wear new pieces of gear at purple or above "quality".

None of them will be deleted!

(1) You might lose your characters' names if there is a new round of name unlocks or purges, and/or a new round of server merges.  If they are in guilds, you'll probably find that they get kicked.  If they are guild leaders, they will be demoted by the game's automated systems, and the new leader may well kick them out.

(2) But non-subs have full access to the legacy credit store, so stash excess credits in there before your subscription ends.

(3) If you don't stash the excess credits, they will be shunted to your "escrow" counters, and you will need to get hold of escrow unlock objects to get them back.  If you resubscribe instead, you'll get those escrowed credits back automatically.

[Ominovin]

3 hours ago, Tantala said:

I recently returned to SW:TOR but it is not the game I loved and I will probably be leaving soon.  However, there is always a (remote) chance that something closer to the SW:TOR I used to play may re-emerge so if I do cancel what will happen to the characters and gear I currently hold?

Should you leave the game, your characters will be fine...for a while.

Eventually, they will inevitably start using spice to numb the pain of abandonment, beginning a downward spiral that costs them all their wealth and companions and ends with them working the streets of Nar Shaddaa for a couple of credits, living only for that next fix...

Should they get word of your impending return, they'll immediately clean themselves up a bit and go on a spree of theft and murder to get back everything they lost in your absence, hoping that putting everything back 'the way it was' will please you and you won't abandon them again...

 

Or, I might just be overthinking this a bit.

[sundancebill]

I stopped for awhile to play GW2 and  my characters were there when i returned.   I played another   game though ,WOW i think and after i quit someone hacked my account and i kept getting threatening emails from Blizzard saying i was going to get suspended for some violations.