thallahan
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Hyperspace Beacon: The final SWTOR free-to-play experiment... for now
After several months of playing Star Wars: The Old Republic on a free account, I think it's time to put this experiment to a rest. Some players have been able to conquer the grind that is a brand-new free character. I am not one of those determined individuals. However, if you've been following me in this little experiment, then you know that I have met a couple of people who have been able to persist through the free-to-play version of SWTOR. For the sake of understanding, I would like to reiterate my hypothesis: A player can get what he wants out of SWTOR effectively without paying any real money but instead by using the GTN and other in-game means to buy items from the Cartel Market. But as we know with every experiment, the hypothesis gives the experimenter a goal. Right or wrong, I wanted to see the experiment to the end. As it turns out, my hypothesis was not completely right, nor was it completely wrong. I discovered that if I wanted to "win" at SWTOR's free-to-play, I could not approach it as I would a game that I bought off a store shelf and just started playing.
Hyperspace Beacon: Winning at SWTOR's free-to-play
Disclaimer: This guide is not for everyone. If you already have a preconceived notion that the free-to-play model in Star Wars: The Old Republic does not work and that you will never play it, then this guide won't be of much use to you. If you feel that free-to-play players deserve the same benefits and ease of gameplay that subscribers do, then this guide is not for you either. And lastly, if you do not have a lot of time to dedicate to one MMO, then SWTOR's F2P model will not work for you. I have been skeptical of SWTOR's F2P model myself. I continue to despise the leveling process when a player has to start from scratch at level 1 and then attempt to level up a brand-new free character. However, I have a guildie who had existing characters at max level when he quit playing many months back. He recently returned to the game as a preferred member, and in the two months since his return, he has every unlock and about 3 million credits not in escrow, and he PvPs without buying a weekly pass with Cartel Coins. When I asked him how he did it, he jokingly replied, "Masochism." But then when he realized that I was seriously curious, he began to break down some of his methods and why they work for him.
