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Chill, Teo and Hyp are joined by SWTOR Reforged’s Evarwyn on the eve of Game Update 1.5’s release to talk about the latest news. We also examine three case studies of players wishing to take the free-to-play route, and consider how much it will actually cost them.

1. Introduction

Evarwyn, who we were honoured to have join us this week, is one of the hosts of SWTOR Reforged, a most excellent SWTOR podcast. He also co-manages the Quest Gaming Network, which includes many excellent podcasts in addition to SWTOR Reforged.

2. Trivia question

We had some great entries, which you can see in this post; all easily matched or surpassed the coolness of Chill’s original image. The winner was chosen randomly, rather than trying to judge which was the best: congratulations to Chong!

3. The Holofeed

• The announcement confirming our estimate of free-to-play’s release being Thursday 15 November came not long after we recorded. There was also a press conference that was attended by convention media outlets, including Darth Hater, who provided a summary of what was covered.
• The second video previewing free-to-play was released (also on YouTube).
• BioWare released a developer update that gives an overview of the new Section X on Belsavis and the quest line to obtain our new companion, HK-51.
• A developer blog gives some background into what’s coming with the new Nightmare Mode for the operation Explosive Conflict.
  

4. Force Feedback

We discuss tweets from @rbleamon (Ray Leamon), @EmpireDivider (Chong), @ForceChuckle, @ActiveNick (Nick Landry), @PedroLopezJr, @IRBountyHunter, @Dimbo56 and @voyak, and comments from T’Challa and Murraugh.

5. Sarlacc Digest

We consider three case studies for players who wish to play without subscribing, and attempt to determine the minimum they can spend to do this. In all cases, we assume that the player will either be a former subscriber, will subscribe temporarily, or will purchase at least $4.99 worth of Cartel Coins, thus permanently granting them Preferred Status.

Where prices are shown, they are given as a range; the higher value (shown first) assumes CC are purchased by the $4.99 packs containing 450 CC ($1 buys 90 CC), followed by a lower value (shown second) which is the cost if purchasing the $39.99 packs (5500 CC, $1 buys 137 CC).

Case 1: Former subscriber with an existing geared 50 who wants to raid

As a former subscriber, we assume they will have already unlocked sufficient inventory modules and cargo bays, and thus will not need to purchase more.

If they purchase the following, their initial investment will be either 2050 CC ($22.75-14.99) for a single character, or 4590 CC ($50.90-33.39) for the same items purchased account-wide:

• Authorization: Artifact Equipment (1200/$13.31-8.73 or 2700/$29.94-19.64)
  
• Unlock: Additional Quickbar (250/$2.78-1.82 or 540/$5.99-3.93)
• Unlock: Guild Bank Access (600/$6.66-4.37 or 1350/$14.97-9.82)

These are probably the minimum that a former subscriber could get away with. After that is the recurring cost of the weekly pass to access operations:

• Weekly Pass: Operations (240/$2.67-1.75)
  

While there is a significant outlay to start, the ongoing cost would end up being lower than a subscription, especially if purchasing the CC in the largest pack.

It’s worth noting that there is no need to also purchase the weekly pass for Flashpoints, as that only is required to obtain more than 3 rolls on loot drops per week. Without the pass, a player can still do hard modes to do the weekly and daily quests.

Case 2: New player who just wants to play KOTOR 3

The assumption is that this player has never subscribed before, wants to play SWTOR for its single-player story, and has no interest in the endgame. However, they may play through multiple times on each faction.

BioWare has actually been most generous for this case, with the only mandatory purchases (we believe) being the following (both account-wide) totalling 1320 CC ($14.65-9.61).

• Unlock: Additional Quickbar (540/$5.99-3.93)
• 2 x Unlock: Inventory Module (390/$4.33-2.84)

There are also recurring cost if the player chooses to purchase consumables, such as:

• Medical Probes (500/$5.55-3.64)
• Fleet Pass (Single Use) (90/$1.00-0.66)

Weekly passes for Flashpoints aren’t really necessary, as they can be experienced without the pass, with the only limitation being three loot rolls per week. Note that passing on a loot roll does not increment your total (though losing the loot roll does!).

Case 3: New player who wants to do it all, including eventually endgame

This case is more or less a combination of the first two cases. We believe this player will eventually purchase the following account-wide unlocks for 6315 CC ($70.04-45.95):

• Authorization: Artifact Equipment (2700/$29.94-19.64)
  
• Unlock: Guild Bank Access (1350/$14.97-9.82)
• Unlock: Additional Quickbar (540/$5.99-3.93)
• 2 x Unlock: Inventory Module (390/$4.33-2.84)
• Unlock: Crew Skill Slot (945/$10.48-6.88)

Once they’re at endgame, they can then purchase the necessary weekly passes to do operations, Flashpoints or warzones (240/$2.67-1.75). It seems clear that if a player wants unlimited access to two or more of those activities, they’re better off subscribing.

Subscribing for even a short duration is also a good way to unlock inventory space and cargo bays using accumulated credits.

6. Outro

Thanks to Evarwyn (@Evarwyn) and Hyp (@Hypknotoad) for joining us this week.

You can email questions and comments about the show to ootinicast@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter via @OotiniCast. Check out our website, ootinicast.com, which has links to our presence on Google+ and Facebook. We are a proud member of the TOR Syndicate! You can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune, and listen to us on Stitcher.