Swtor Free To Play

Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ offers a Galaxy of possibilities for all players:

  • Play for free up to level 50 and enjoy the original Class and planetary storylines.
  • Former subscribers and players who have purchased Cartel Coins are known as Preferred and have fewer restrictions in-game than Free-to-play players.
  • Premium Players (Subscribers) have access to the full game experience, including the Rise of the Hutt Cartel, Shadow of Revan expansions, and all episodes of Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal throne.

FREE-TO-PLAY PLAYERS

Can I play my character’s full Class storyline on a Free-to-play account?

Yes. One of the most important things to us when offering the Free-to-Play option was to make sure that all players, regardless of their account status, would be able to play their class storyline through to level 50 without restrictions.

Do I need a credit card to play?

You don’t need a credit card to play Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, if you wish to purchase Cartel Coins to spend in the Cartel Market, you will need a valid credit card or PayPal account.

You can purchase Cartel Coins on The Old Republic website.

Why don't I have access to some Mission rewards as a Free-to-Play for Preferred Status player?

Some Mission rewards cannot be used by Free-to-Play players or may cause you to go over your Credits or currency cap. For this reason, selection of these reward types is greyed out, so you will only receive rewards that you can use.

If you have purchased an unlock that makes these Mission rewards available to you (for example, a Companion Customization unlock) then you will be able to claim these Mission rewards when they are offered.

PREFERRED PLAYERS - INCLUDING FORMER SUBSCRIBERS

What happens if I decide to change from being a Premium player to a Free-to-Play player?

Once your subscription has ended and you no longer have paid game time remaining on your account, your account will be changed to Preferred Status.

As a Preferred Status player, access will be unlocked to the following features: 

  • The ability to run faster (Sprint) starting at Level 1.
  • Cargo Hold access (Bank Slots) and higher login queue priority.
  • Increased access to Chat and Secure Trading.
  • Post more items for sale on the in-game Galactic Trade Network.  

If you convert to Preferred Status, you will need to choose which eight (8) of your characters will remain active, and play those characters within the limits of Preferred player access.

PREMIUM PLAYER REWARDS

How do Subscriber Complimetary Cartel Coin rewards work?

If you’re a Subscriber, you will receive your Cartel Coin Subscriber rewards as near as possible to every thirty days.

Sometimes it may take a few extra days for the coins to appear in your account, but we’ll make every effort to grant them to you as close as we can to the 30-day mark in your recurring subscription.

If you’re using a Game Time Card to pay for your subscription, your Cartel Coin Rewards for newly added cards will only be added to your Ledger and in-game wallet once your current active game time has elapsed. You will receive two Reward grants for each 60 day card, one on the first day the time added by that card becomes active, and the other 30 days later. Each grant will be of 525 Cartel Coins.

For non-recurring Subscriptions, the Rewards program works as follows:

60 Days Fixed-time:

  • First Reward Coins granted once payment is confirmed and game time is active, second grant at 30 days.
  • Coins Rewarded: 525 each month for 2 months.

Recurring Subscriptions work as follows:

30 Days recurring subscription:

  • Coins granted once payment is confirmed and game time is active.
  • Coins rewarded: 500 every 30 days
  • Your payment method will be charged every 30 days and your reward coins for that month will be added to your account as soon as possible after that.

90 days recurring Subscription:

  • As above, additional grants at 30 days and 60 days.
  • Coins rewarded: 550 every 30 days
  • Your payment method will be charged every 90 days and your first set of reward coins for that Subscription will be added to your account as soon as possible afterwards.

180 days recurring Subscription

  • As for 30 days with additional grants at 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days.
  • Coins rewarded: 600 every 30 days.
  • Your payment method will be charged every 180 days and your first set of reward coins for that Subscription will be added to your account as soon as possible afterwards.

Please note that the numbers mentioned above are purely subscription based rewards and do not include any additional coins that may be due to you from the Friends of SWTOR program or from having a Security Key attached to your account.

This is because your Security key grant and Friends Referral rewards are not granted at the same time as your Subscriber Rewards.

The Security Key grant is every thirty days from the first granted coins, as long as you still have a Security Key attached to your account. For many players their first Cartel Coin grant for having a Security Key on their account came with the launch of Game Update 1.5 on November 15th 2012 – and 100 coins will be rewarded every 30 days from that date on. If you added a Security Key to your account after November 15th 2012, you’ll receive your Complimentary Cartel Coins every 30 days from the date you added your Security Key, as long as it is still attached to your account.

The rewards from the Friends of SWTOR program are granted at the same time that your referred friend(s) get their Complimentary Cartel Coins for their monthly subscription(s).

If you have any further questions about your subscriber rewards or if you have not received them when they were due to you, please contact Customer Service.

Why do I not receive my Complimentary Cartel Coins exactly every 30 days?

As a Subscriber, you will receive your Complimentary Cartel Coins as close as possible to the start of your billing cycle. Sometimes it may take a few extra days for the coins to appear in your account, but we’ll make every effort to grant them to you as close as we can to the 30-day mark in your recurring subscription.

If your complimentary coins do not arrive on the date you expect, please wait for 72 hours before contacting Customer Service to report that you have not yet received them.

CARTEL COINS AND THE CARTEL LEDGER

What are Cartel Coins?

Cartel Coins are a virtual currency used in Star Wars: The Old Republic to purchase items from the Cartel Market. Cartel Coins can be used to purchase in-game items, services, and content to customize your gameplay experience and unlock game access. You can purchase Cartel Coins on The Old Republic website.

How can I tell how many Cartel Coins I have?

While playing Star Wars: The Old Republic you can check your Cartel Coin balance at any time by pressing  to open your Inventory and then clicking on the Currency Tab. You may also check your balance in-game through the Cartel Market (click on the Cartel Coin symbol near your menu bar), or on your Cartel Coin Ledger.

What is the Cartel Coin Ledger?

The Cartel Coin Ledger on swtor.com helps you keep track of Cartel Coin transactions on your account. 

It shows information on the last 200 Cartel Coin transactions on your account, including: 

  • Coins purchased
  • Coins granted as Subscriber rewards
  • Coins Granted for having a Security Key attached to your account
  • Coins granted for Achievements in-game
  • In-game purchases made using Cartel Coins.
Why is it that some of my Cartel Coin purchases fail with an error message?

As with any online purchase, Cartel Coin purchases may fail for a variety of reasons. If you have never successfully purchased Cartel Coins, there are a number of things to check which may be causing the error you are seeing:

Check that your billing address registered on swtor.com exactly matches the address your payment provider has on record for you

You must be making the purchase from the same country your payment card was issued from – for example if you are using a US Credit Card to buy coins from Europe, your payment may fail for this reason.

Double-check the card information you have provided to be sure that there are no missing or transposed numbers in your card number, CVV number or expiration date. 

If you have successfully purchased coins before, and are now unable to buy more, this could be because there is a limit to the number of Cartel Coin purchases any player may make per day, if you have passed this limit, you will not be able to make more Cartel Coin purchases for 24 hours.

There may be additional restrictions in terms of transaction numbers or spending limits which are imposed by your payment provider and are beyond our control. We would always suggest that you check with your payment provider in cases where there is no clear reason for a transaction to have failed.

What are Cartel Coin Cards?

Cartel Coin Cards are an alternative way of adding Cartel Coins to your account.  If you do not wish to buy Cartel Coins directly through The Old Republic website, you can pick up a prepaid Cartel Coin Card in-store from one of our retail partners in North America or Europe.

Cartel Coin Cards also make a wonderful gift for Star Wars: The Old Republic players.

Cartel Coin Cards are available for sale to players in North America through Amazon.com (Online), BestBuy (Online and In-Store), GameStop (Online and In-Store), Walmart (about 75% of Walmart stores in the US), and Target, and to players in the following European countries through our retail partners:

  • Austria: Media Markt, GameStop
  • Czech Republic: JRC, Xzone
  • Germany: Media Markt, GameStop
  • Hungary: CD Galaxis
  • Slovakia: Brloh
  • Sweden: Media Markt
  • Switzerland: Media Markt, GameStop, World of Games, Ex Libris, AlCOM, M Electronics, Inter Discount, Microspot, Softridge, CeDe, Sound Media, 1ADVD, Manor, FNAC

You must have a Star Wars: The Old Republic account in order to redeem a Cartel Coin Card. A $19.99/€17 Cartel Coin Card will grant you 2400 Cartel Coins in-game, and will upgrade a Free-to-Play player to Preferred Status. Preferred Status unlocks some Free-to-Play game restrictions.

In addition to the Cartel Coins, each of our retail partners offer an exclusive mini-pet that will be added to your account when you redeem your Cartel Coins Card here on this website.

The currently available pets are:

  • Amazon.com, US only: (Digital): Juvenile War Rancor (2,400 Cartel Coin Card) OR Juvenile Mountain Rancor (5,500 Cartel Coin Card) OR Juvenile Irradiated Rancor (14,500 Cartel Coin Card)
  • BestBuy: Juvenile Nocturnal Rancor
  • GameStop: Juvenile Tyrant Rancor
  • Walmart: Imperial Bomber “M-7 Razorwire” Starship Mini-Ship
  • Target: Juvenile Canyon Rancor
  • EU Retailers: Forest Nekarr Cat
  • Amazon.com, EU only: (Digital): Imperial Scout "S-13 Sting” Starship (2,400 Cartel Coin Card) OR Imperial Scout "S-12 Blackbolt” Starfighter (5,500 Cartel Coin Card) OR Zonian Monkey Lizard (14,500 Cartel Coin Card)

We hope to make Cartel Coin Cards available for purchase through more retailers and in more territories soon. Please visit The Old Republic website for updates.

Redeem your codes online here.

THE CARTEL MARKET

Where can I spend my Cartel Coins?

Cartel Coins are the only currency accepted in the Cartel Market. The Cartel Market is accessible in-game by clicking on the Cartel Coin icon beside your main menu bar.

What is the Cartel Market?

The Cartel Market is a virtual marketplace that offers a variety of abilities and gear to use in-game. The Cartel Market is only accessible in-game by selecting the Cartel Coin icon next to your main menu bar.

Navigate through the Cartel Market by using the menu on the left to browse through the categories of items and unlocks available for purchase. Items in the Cartel Market includes: unlocks, authorizations, equipment, cosmetic items, convenience items, consumables, and Cartel Packs containing multiple items packed together and sold at one price.

How do I collect items I have purchased from the Cartel Market?

When you buy an item or an unlock from the Cartel Market, you will notice the Unclaimed Items button on the Cartel Market window flashing. To collect your purchase, click on this button, and then either click on the box icon beside the item to transfer it to your inventory, or click on Claim All to deliver all purchases to your inventory.

If you have purchased an unlock for all characters on your account, then using the item that grants the unlock on the character who purchased it will make the unlock available to all your other characters. If you have purchased an unlock for a single character, then it will only be available on that character, and will need to be purchased separately for your other characters.

I bought something by mistake on the Cartel Market — can I get a refund?

You can get a refund on any unclaimed items from the Cartel Market. To do this, open the Cartel Market in-game (click on the Cartel Coins icon near your main menu bar) and click on the Unclaimed Items button. You will see a window with all your unclaimed Cartel Market purchases. To return an item for a full refund, click on the button with the Cartel Coins icon and the semi-circular arrow. This will immediately refund Cartel Coins spent on that item to you, and the item will be removed from your unclaimed items list.

NOTE: Any items you have claimed from the Cartel Market and transferred to your character’s inventory cannot be refunded.

Why is there a timer on some of the items from my Cartel Pack?

Once you have opened your Cartel Pack, you may notice that some of the items contained in it are showing as being bound to you for a period of time. Once the timer has finished, you will be able to trade these items with other players in-game, or sell them on the Galactic Trade Network (GTN). Subscribers benefit from a reduced timer on Cartel Market items.

However, you must be careful not to equip any item that you intend to sell as many Cartel Market items are Bind on Equip and will become bound to you even if equipped while the timer on the item is still running.

If you’re not sure if an item is Bind on Equip, it is safest to preview the item on your character by pressing [Ctrl] and left-clicking on the item in your inventory. You can preview armor, weapons and even vehicles in this way.

As indicated on the Cartel Market window, Customer Service cannot assist with refunds on items that have been transferred to your character’s inventory.

FREE-TO-PLAY GUILDS

What is a Free-to-Play Guild?

When we introduced the Free-to-Play option, we wanted to be careful to preserve the social experience provided by guilds in Star Wars: The Old Republic, regardless of whether a player is a Subscriber, a former Subscriber or a new Free-to-Play player.

To do this, we made Free-to-Play guilds available as an option for non-Subscribers who would like to enjoy a more social environment.  

Free-to-Play guilds offer all the social aspects of guild membership familiar to our players, but they do also have a smaller number of features available to them.

Players who would like to create or join a Free-to-Play guild should be aware of the following:

  • Members of Free-to-Play guilds may not choose when their Guild Tag is displayed.
  • Guild leaders of Free-to-Play guilds may not personalize Guild Rank Names or alter the default rank permissions for their Guild members.
  • Guild members (including the guild leader) may not access the guild bank unless they choose to spend Cartel Coins to unlock access.
As a Guild Leader, if I switch to Free-to-Play, what will change?

The most important thing for you to be aware of as a guild leader is that only Subscribers may be guild leaders of Subscriber Guilds in Star Wars: The Old Republic.  If you plan to become a Preferred player, you should prepare your guild for the transition by passing your leadership on to a guild member that plans to remain a Subscriber.  

If you do not do this prior to your account status changing, the system will automatically pass guild leadership on to the highest ranked active Subscriber in your guild once your account changes to Preferred. You will remain a member of your guild and will have Preferred player access to guild features.

As a guild member, if I move from a Subscriber to the Free-to-Play option, what will change?

If you are not the leader of your guild, then choosing to switch to the Preferred option will not affect the status of your guild. However, you will have limited access to certain guild features. Please be aware that Cartel Coins can be spent to expand Free-to-Play features, including unlocking guild bank access.

If my guild becomes a Free-to-Play guild, what will happen to the items in our guild bank?

The items in your guild bank remain as before, and will be accessible to all guild members who have used Cartel Coins to unlock guild bank access for their character(s), and who have the correct rank to withdraw items according to the permissions set by the guild leader.

How can I tell whether I belong to a Subscriber or Free-to-Play guild?

If you are a member of a Free-to-Play guild, you will see a message informing you of this on your guild window. Press  to open your guild window at any time. If you have bound your  key to another action, you can press  to open the social window, and click on the Guild tab there instead.

If one of our guild members becomes a Subscriber, will our guild become a Subscriber guild?

If the guild leader becomes a Subscriber, then yes, the guild will be automatically become a Subscriber Guild. However, this does not apply if other guild officers or members become a Subscriber.


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