It would seem that Star Wars: The Old Republic is going free-to-play at some point this month, as Bioware has come out to heavily detail the free-to-play option.
Set to occur in ‘mid-November’, players that go the free route will be able to play up to level 50 without paying a thing, while those that were paying subscribers before the free-to-play option rolled around will be rewarded with in-game “Cartel Coins” — the amount depends on how long you’ve been a paying member– and several other benefits, like two more quick slot bars and a new purchasable “Cargo Hold” tab. Bioware notes that they didn’t want paying subscribers to feel like they would be getting an inferior gameplay experience from now on.
This official announcement about the free-to-play model comes shortly after a rumor from a German fan site that gave a release date of Nov 15th. They claimed to have been invited to a conference call in which the free-to-play option and 1.5 patch were mentioned.
Regardless of when the free-to-play option actually hits, I imagine that SWTOR may see a brief increase in members in the coming weeks.