Star Wars has seen a significant dropoff in subscribers, to address this Bioware has announced a Free to Play Model as well as some other goodies.

 

Included will be:

• Cartel Coins, their in game currency
  
• Optional Subscription service
• Restriciton limitations given to returning players (or pay money for it)

 

Read on for more details!

You will be able to progress all the way to level 50 "without paying a cent," lead designer Damion Schubert declared.

To entice old players back, complimentary Cartel Coins, the new paid-for currency, will be granted for the months you subscribed to SWTOR. Anyone who bought the Collector's Edition or Deluxe Edition will receive an additional grant on top of the monthly allotment. The Cartel Coins can be spent on all manner of level-me-faster or make-me-look-different items at the Cartel Market shop.

Returning players will also be automatically upgraded to Preferred Status, which removes or "greatly reduces" the limitations and restrictions that the free-to-play players face. Newcomers will have to pay $5 to remove the restrictions on their account.

The support of the "die-hard" SWTOR subscribers isn't being overlooked, stressed Schubert. One of his team's core rules is that "subscribers should not experience any degradation of their gameplay experience" when the MMO turns free-to-play.

"Those of you who are still paying a monthly fee should still get the same gameplay experience and you won't find anything taken away from you and the gameplay that you currently enjoy," he wrote. "Furthermore, we really wanted to be sure that in no way would subscribers feel they needed to make purchases from the Cartel Market in order to be competitive in the game."

A monthly grant of Complimentary Cartel Coins will be given to subscribers, who also receive two extra quick-slot bars and a new purchasable Cargo Hold tab.

Restrictions facing the free players include:

• Limited character creation options.
• Restrictions of three Warzones (PvP matches), three Flashpoints (dungeons) and three Space Missions (spaceship combat) per week.
• Not able to take part in Operations (raids)
• Not able to equip purple artifact-quality items
• Restricted to five field revivals
• No priority in server log-in queues
• A longer cooldown for Quick Travel
• No access to the Emergency Fleet Pass

It sounds like free players may also have less inventory or cargo hold space. Of course, the restrictions can be overcome by paying for weekly passes or by spending Cartel Coins, as with any other free to play service.