Darth Hater

Well aside from cartel coins there are lots of perks a monthly subscribers may enjoy these includes the unlimited access in warzones and flashpoints and much faster gaming experience.

Just like to share and add something (if in case some might find this post useful) – just recently read this post about SWTOR Free-to-Play – In-depth Details When, Restrictions, FAQs - these are in-depth details about the F2P transitions, differences between paid and free account and faqs that might be useful as this free to play option start out!

How is it going to cost you more than $15/month as a subscriber? When you subscribe you get everything that you get now, plus 500 cartel coins per month to purchase extra stuff... 

I assume he means because 500 coins won't be enough to buy everything we want as subscribers, possibly as a reply agreeing with my own post that spoke similarly. You spend $15 for a monthly sub, but only get $5 worth of coins. If BW expected each player to only spend $5 worth of coins, then they'd be expecting to lose money. Part of going F2P is developers expect some players to spend way more than the $15 a month they'd get from a monthly subscriber, thus switching from subscription-only to a cash shop mix. So for some players, the game will cost more than $15 a month.

Yes, that's true that some subs will spend more money, but if a f2p player wanted everything that subscribers get for $15/month, then they would have to spend close to $50/month or just suck it up and subscribe. I'm still not understanding you and Borsche's logic. You're not being forced to buy anything on the cartel market, because everything you NEED is given to you for $15/month. If you want a cartel pack here and there, then splurge and buy the pack with the 500 cartel coins that are given to you for free each month.

On top of that, he said, "to keep playing as I do now," inferring that he would have to spend more than $15/month as a subscriber to get all the features he currently gets. 

Personally I think they are striking a good balance here and they are going to make even more money off me (at least until I get all the stuff I want). What's even better?

"Most items bought on the Cartel Market, including content unlocks, can be traded or sold on the GTN by design."

This gives me a way to recomp in game currency for all the duplicates I am likely to get from the "gambling boxes" as people are calling them. I have been very happy with my luck on what I've been getting from them so far on the PTS.

Character transfers to the PTS are something they are currently working on and will be available in the near future.

in case they want to offer this kind of transfer for cartel coins I'll be the first to delete all my toons on PTS and never go there again...

It's been said in these comments already, but it's weird that a month's subscription, $15 worth, doesn't buy anywhere near $15 worth of cartel coins. The coins are pure digital, no effort required to make them, so it doesn't cost them any less if they give you more. Make subscribers feel like they're getting a fair share of the coins just from subscribing without having to dig into the cash shop. After all, the subscription is there to encourage people to do it instead of just cruising on F2P.

I know, "the restrictions are lifted for subscribers", but the restrictions were artificially put on by BW themselves, so I consider them moot, and not something you can put a firm value on, like "the cost of lifting the restrictions BW put on the account is $10 worth of coins, and you get an extra $5 of coins just because BioWare is so bountiful to us in the gifts they give us that they're making us pay for". Make the free coins to subscribers closer to the monthly fee's cost in cartel coins, since even a monthly 1350 coins most definitely isn't enough to buy all the items in the shop.

Yeah, still not too happy with this whole F2P transition thing.

Ok, so the amount of Cartel coins they are giving us for all these months, CE, etc. is pretty minimal at best. 

/shrug

The 500 cartel coins a month for subscribing alone make being a sub much more attractive based on the cost of the coins.then factor in all the restrictions and or limits and the 15 bucks a month don't seem that bad anymore. h

Quote from Borsche »

The 500 cartel coins a month for subscribing alone make being a sub much more attractive based on the cost of the coins.then factor in all the restrictions and or limits and the 15 bucks a month don't seem that bad anymore. h

Really? You can pay $15 and get 500 coins for subbing or:

$4.99 for 450 Coins. (90 Cartel Coins per dollar.)
$39.99 for 5500 Coins. (137 Cartel Coins per dollar.)

You're not including all of the features you get access to by subbing. You get access to every single feature in the game - 5,575 Cartel Coins in just unlocks, not even including unlimited access to Warzones and Operations all month every month - plus they're still giving us 500 Cartel Coins on top of that. 

But, since you're so convinced that subbing isn't worth it, go ahead and pay for your Cartel Coins while I actually play the game for $15/month.

Seems like "standard" F2P / Sub format to me. Nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary. As long as it works. Also - like this:

Services such as character renames and appearance changes being purchased with CC are possibilities for the future.

Has it been " will be available in the near future." since   First PTS  was made for patch 1.2