How much of a disadvantage is the restriction on purple items in F2P?

Question

I'm playing SWTOR mainly for the story and singleplayer content, I'm not really interested in most of the MMO aspects. As an F2P player there are several restrictions, one of them is that I can't equip purple items. My impression from reading about this restriction before playing the game was that it only comes into play in the later levels, and shouldn't hurt too much when playing the class storylines.

But now I found my first purple item I can't equip at level 12, and I'm wondering how much of a disadvantage this restriction really is.

• Are the class storylines completeable for a new player without purple items?
• Does the lack of purple items put me at a significant disadvantage compared to a new subscription player of equal level (on non-endgame content)?

Answer 1

Not much of a disadvantage at all, you can easily complete all of the single player and story content with only greens and blues (but it would be easier with a friend or two). Granted, you might have to grind a little more for levels (instead of grinding for purples, so what difference does it really make). Purple items are not much of a benefit to hunt down at low levels anyway since you will out-level their usefulness quickly.

At higher levels, they are extremely important for pvp, because they will give you the necessary edge to win fights. They are also pretty important for end-game raids, because you'll need them to survive and get... the other purple items.

But for the main story, as much as they might help they are not a necessity.