BioWare is opening up Star Wars: The Old Republic to visitors this weekend. They are hosting a free play period so that people who have never tried, or have been put off by the subscription part of it can now try the MMORPG.
The free weekend will begin on Thursday 15th March at 12:01AM CST, and finish on Monday 19th March at 2:00AM CST. Be prepared to start the download on the 15th March, as it doesn’t look like they are giving you the option to pre-dowload the files before the event, and as it is a pretty big game, it will take a while to download and install.
Of Course, a completely opened game is a too good to be true occurence, so like any other free trial, there are a few in-game restrictions:
- A Weekend Pass Free Trial character cannot exceed level 15. The player will be notified via in-game notifications and chat message once they have hit the maximum level for the trial experience.
- A Weekend Pass Free Trial character will only be able to play on their Origin World, Capital World, the Fleet, all Warzones, and in their first Flashpoint. A message box will appear if a character attempts to go outside of these areas.
- A Weekend Pass Free Trial character will not be able to use general chat, trade chat, or PvP chat. The character will only be able to use local chat, group chat, guild chat, and reply to whispers.
- A Weekend Pass Free Trial character will not be able to send or reply to mail by other trial characters. However, your character will be able to receive in-game mail during the trial.
- A Weekend Pass Free Trial character will not be able to use the Galactic Trade Network or trade with other players.
- A Weekend Pass Free Trial character will only be able to level their Crew Skills ranking to around 40.
- A Weekend Pass Free Trial character will not be able to earn Legacy XP.
After the free weekend concludes, you’ll need to pay to keep playing. BioWare doesn’t plan to delete characters on trial accounts. Thus, if you decide to subscribe, you’ll be able to pick up right where you left off.
BioWare also recently instituted a Friend Trials feature in SW:TOR. A current subscriber can give a week of free game time to a new player. So anyone looking for a week-long trial, go seek out a current SWTOR friend and claim your week trial.
