Players who play Star Wars: The Old Republic only as “Free2Play” or have a “preferred” account can look forward to some improvements. BioWare is lifting some restrictions and moving away from the “Freemium” model towards a complete Free2Play model.
In the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, players are divided into different groups. Depending on how much money they spend on the game, they have different advantages or limitations. Players who are not subscribers often have to deal with numerous cuts.
Some of these features will be improved and upgraded in the future, allowing players to get more out of SWTOR, even if they spend little or no money.
These account types exist: In SWTOR, there are three different types of accounts:
- The premium accounts, which pay a monthly subscription
- The preferred accounts, which have had a subscription or purchased something in the shop
- The Free2Play accounts, which play without spending real money
This model is called the “Freemium” model because it allows for “free-to-play” (Free2Play) but actually requires players to have a premium account to fully enjoy the MMORPG.
Depending on the account, players have access to different content. This ranges from the number of available interface quick slots to the accessible expansions of the game. Some of the very strict regulations are now being relaxed.
These improvements are coming for Free2Play and preferred players
Higher credit cap: Currently, Free2Play players can only hold 200,000 credits, and preferred players can hold 350,000 credits. This limit is being drastically increased. With the upcoming patch, both account types will have a limit of 1,000,000 credits, making many purchases in the auction house possible.
Additional quick bars: Players without a subscription have a very limited selection of quick bars on which they can place their spells, abilities, mounts, and other commands.
- For free players, the number of quick bars increases from 2 to 3.
- Preferred players will soon be able to access 5 quick bars.
Medical probes and fast travel: A major downside for free accounts were the long walks on planets and the inability to respawn at the location of death. This could only be circumvented with items from the shop. With the upcoming patch, preferred and Free2Play players will also be able to use medical probes and fast travel to save more time.
When will these changes come? The improvements are expected to arrive in July, along with game update 5.10.4.
What do you think of these improvements? Are they important and worthwhile? Or is it just a drop in the bucket?
