The old ReRepiblic F2P

[GoodSarmatian]

So they've done it. Star Wars : The Old Republic has gone free to play last week.
I was pretty pissed when this game was announced because it destroyed the possibility for a KOTOR sequel for people who dno't want to pay subscription fees for a game, but now I'll give it a try and maybe even spend some money if I like what I see.

Only problem is my internet connection. When the download is finished the weekend will probably be over.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Ha didn't even last a year, that's pretty bad.

 

[mechaerik]

The game is not entirely f2p; there's still a subscription option. Not paying a subscription fee gives your account several restrictions; some are lifted if you pay more than $5 in real money in the in-game store, others aren't.

Also I think you still need to actually buy a CD key, but I'm not sure.

Spoiler :

http://www.swtor.com/free/features

 

[Wolfbeckett]

So for anyone still playing this, how is it now? The main reason I quite playing it only a couple of months after release was because once I hit max level there really wasn't anything to do. The PVP was pretty terrible (and I'm not even a PVPer normally to begin with so this didn't help), the endgame flashpoints were far too easy, and the only other real endgame content was some boring dailies for unexciting gear. Even if the game goes completely 100% free for all time always it won't be worth playing if those challenges haven't been solved.

 

[Maniacal]

I haven't read anything about them fixing those problems, and IIRC the F2P still lets you play through the entire story which is pretty much the only good part of the game apparently.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

To be honest even the story wasn't that good. The class specific stuff was okay but the planet specific stuff is the same on multiple playthroughs which makes trying to play through it as multiple classes a chore and about halfway through it's obvious they stopped caring, the later planets feel seriously phoned in so they aren't even fun the first time.

 

[Maniacal]

So I've heard, and I have no desire to play this even when its free.

 

[Thrawn]

I'll probably look at going through some story content at some point, mostly because I like star wars so the the whole setting appeals to me. What I saw when I got access to an open beta weekend shortly before release did tell me I'd enjoy that much on a few characters at least.

 

[Disgustipated]

My biggest problem was finding people for group quests. And this was right after release. Ugh. Flashpoints were out of the question. I as only able to find people for the very first one.

It's a pretty fun game, and I liked the Guardian story up to around level 40 (where I left off). It's just too time consuming. I can't believe people even got to max level. It takes a lot of time.

 

[EddyGamerLP]

Is it completely F2P or do you still have to buy a copy game?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

It's 11pm, I was just about to go to sleep, and the download just finished (yes, I have slow internet).
I'll give it a try now and post my impressions tomorrow or when I feel like it.

 

[Maniacal]

You can download the game for free and play a large part of it (like more or less all of the SP) for free but with some restrictions.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Played it for about a week and uninstalled it.
The story might become interesting (Imperial Agent, made it to lvl 12) but the parts I did lacked a big picture. It is an MMO and it constantly reminded me why I don't particularly like this genre.
Relatively and empty looking environments, a lot of backtracking that wouldn't be half as bad if enemies wouldn't respawn every minute, and almost nonexistant character customization.
I'm sure there were guys at EA and bioware who wanted to make KOTOR 3 and can now say to everyone and their dog 'I told you so'.
You can see that a lot of effort went into this game, and it was all wasted on the wrong genre.

 

[Disgustipated]

I just reinstalled the game, but I'm still downloading over 2 gig of updates on my slow internet connection. I figure I will have some decent time to play over Christmas vacation. The weather isn't good enough to do any hiking, and I won't be able to see the gf, so it's gaming time. I'm bored of all my other games, so I'll reinstall this one.

I didn't necessarily get bored of the game last January. It was just taking up too much time (and I was having some wrist/hand pain too due to carpal tunnel). I know people act like there isn't enough to do, but I played quite a bit, and still never got to max level. If you are the type who plays a game over 40 hours a week, then I can see running out of content. But I still haven't seen any of the dark side plots, and I'm looking forward to that.

Not sure how the f2p works yet, I'll let you all know what's available and what's not. Currently I have no intention of paying for anything, but it all depends on how restrictive they are. If I have to pay just to reach max level, I may. But I'd probably just play an alt instead.

edit: I can't get the game to install. I'm poking around on the internet looking for advice. I think they didn't anticipate someone having the DVD version of the game, uninstalling, installing the game, and then having to re-download all the updates. Bioware just doesn't have enough experience in mulitiplayer games, let alone massive multiplayer games to do this without massive bugginess it seems. I'm not sure if I'll ever get this game running. Never had a serious problem like this before.

It currently says installing main assets 97 at 0% progress. I'll let it go a couple hours and see if anything happens.

re-redit: I give up on this game, I just can't get it to work. Part of the problem may be my Windows is not up to date. I haven't been able to update in over a year. I tried to upgrade my Windows already on my computer, but it wouldn't work. Unless I wipe my hard drive, and start all over, probably not going to happen.