Since many new players are joining the game with the free to play launch, they’re going to be looking for answers on how to play and enjoy the game. Seasoned vets of SWTOR know their way around things but what they may not know is how things have changed since the free to play model launched. Sometimes we also forget that the things that seem common to us may be confusing or unknown to a new player. We all were new once and it pays to take the time to help someone out. You never know who you might meet in one act of kindness and besides, we just think it’s good gaming karma.
F2p players get only 5 self-revives total and once you run out, you will need to buy more from the store or rez at a med center. This is a good reason for f2p gamers to group up and do things with other players to lower the risk of death. Play smart and be careful if you AFK that you are not in an area where you can be attacked.
There are many unlocks available and you can choose the ones you want and skip the ones you don’t. for example, to help you with leveling, after you reach Legacy Level 2, you can purchase experience boosts with credits. This boost applies per character though so you will need to purchase new ones for each new character.
One way to help f2p players is to create your own custom server which you can use with no time limit restrictions and it allows server-wide talking. So here you can ask questions, make groups or whatever else you want to do. Here are the commands for custom channels in SWTOR:
- /create [channelname] [password]- Create an Channel and an optional password
- /cjoin [channelname] [password] – Join an already made channel also including a password if needed
- /cleave [channelname] [password] – Leave a custom channel also including a password if needed
- /lock [channelname] – Allow only invited players to join the channel
- /unlock [channelname] – Allow all players to join the custom channel
- /cinvite [channelname] [player] – Invite someone to the custom channel
- /password [channelname] [password] – Set a password for the channel
- /password [channelname] – Clear a password from a channel
- /ckick [channelname] [player] – Kick a player from the channel
- /ban [channelname] [player] – Ban a player from the channel
- /unban [channelname] [player] – Unban a player from a channel
- /mod [channelname] [player] – Give a player the moderator status in the channel
- /unmod [channelname] [player] – Remove mod status from a player
- /mute [channelname] [player] – Remove the ability to send messages on the channel
- /unmute [channelname] [player] – Grant the ability to send messages on the channel
- /moderate [channelname] – Set the custom channel to only let moderators speak
- /unmoderate [channelname]- Set the custom channel to let anyone speak
- /channellist – List all custom channels you are on
- /list [channelname] – List the players on the custom channel
More Quick Tips
Here are a few more things to keep in mind for free to play gamers:
- Save space on your quick bars by removing spells and abilities that stay on once you enable them. You need this space for the most important spells that you must get to the quickest.
- There are some abilities you will get that you won’t really use. Be aware of what they are but move them so they do not take up important space in your quick slots.
- You can only have 200K credits per character when you have a F2P account. You can work around this by creating mule alts to hold your money and items you are buying, selling and trading.
- When buying and selling on GTN, keep a close eye on how much money you have and how close you are to the cap on that character.
- If your companion dies, instead of reviving and healing, you can just desummon the companion and they will resummon with 100% health.
- There are no restrictions on level for f2p players. You can reach the level cap of 50 just like preferred players. Learn more about the features of free to play and what restrictions there are here: http://www.swtor.com/free/features
- F2P does not have access to playing Twi’lek unless you unlock it from the store or buy it for credits from the GTN (if you can find it there).
- As stated earlier, f2p accounts get only 5 “self” revives. This is in total (not per week or day) and you can only get more by purchasing from the store.
- F2P accounts are limited to only 2 character slots. If you had characters before as a subscriber, they will still be there but you will have to choose 2 or unlock more slots. EDIT: As preferred F2P (prior subscription), you retain all of your characters and are able to play all of them. You don’t have to choose two.
- Before you start buying a lot of unlocks, evaluate how much you really want and need and determine if it would be cheaper to just buy a subscription, rather than purchasing lots of unlocks and bonuses as you go.
Do you have any tips or tricks for free to play gamers just joining SWTOR or previous subscribers returning to the f2p version of the game?
