Time to necro this thread. ARISE CHICKEN! CHICKEN, ARISE!
So now that I've had a chance to fiddle with the f2p options in TOR, It's not terrible. There's some problems with the restrictions that I have, namely the mail and escrow accounts and the restricted character slots per server. But honestly, those are eh.
The cartel coin shop is kinda funky, it's their Real-money shop. It's like microsoft xbox points - buy a certain number of coins and spend em on whatever you want. If you ever subbed previously, before it went Free to Play you've already got a bonus amount of coins in your ledger. If you ever had a security key, thats more bonus points. If your sub ran out after the F2P option began - more points. So when I logged in, I had about 750 points already without dropping any cash (I understand that people who continue subbing get a monthly balance of 500 points every billing cycle, as well).
The cartel shop is accessible through the UI anywhere. There's some unique armors, weapons and abilities. There's also unlocks to make your free game experience more like a subscribers. The f2p limits the number of quickbars to 4 (used to be 2 but they raised that), so if you want more you'll have to buy them. Also things you can unlock/buy off the top of my head:
Unify colors
Hide helm slot
Be able to wield artifact quality gear from heroic raids
More companions able to craft at the same time (f2p is limited to 2 crafters, subs get 4).
Auction house on your ship
Vendor droid on your ship
More loot rolls in weekly raid/dungeons (f2p is limited in how many times a week you can roll for loot - something i'm not too keen on).
Weekly lockout extenders
etc etc
Also, all the unlocks and items you can buy on the cartel shop are tradeable items, so you can also find them on the Auction House from time to time or in Trade chat. You can also purchase unlocks for your entire account, for an added cost in points.
There's also "booster packs" of items. I'm not too keen on them but I can certainly understand them from a financial point. A group of randomly selected items will be delivered to your inventory, which has a chance of something really rare (Darth Revan's mask!) But since they're also available to be traded on the AH, there's not much need.
So it's not worth the price if you plan on doing lots of dungeons/raiding/pvp. But i'm not. I want to log in, do dailies, up my gear and fiddle with my lightsabers. That's perfect for me. So in spending 35 bucks in game, I'll likely never have to buy any more unlocks. At least until they put the Life Day stuff in. Then I'll have to buy a Wookiee Life Day tree. Because Christmas isn't Christmas unless you can celebrate it Star Wars Holiday Special style (getting drunk and singing christmas carols like Carrie Fisher).