Am I loosing something I paid real money for?

@Belushi81x

My understanding is that the caps/levels are changing for those of us that are subbed we can have 40-50 character slots per server; ergo that would then mean if that is how many they are allowing for subbed (and its a MASSIVE increase) then it would stand to reason that the basic preferred is also being increased so they are getting something too.

With that said, your not exactly loosing 2, your just getting more for free - your question should ideally be .. if that is the case will the new system recognize the fact that I already have more then I was automatically allotted so I will have the 14 (free) + the ones I already purchased.

To which I believe it is intended that you will, so you 'should' be fine, they have been very vocal on the statements "we are trying to ensure that we are not taking things away from players but instead moving the bar further in their favor" (*paraphrasing because I'm lazy).

Character slots stay unlocked and are added after the limits.  So if you bought two extra slots, you will always have at least (preferred limit) + 2 slots.

See: http://www.swtor.com/support/helpcenter/7193

Wait, I just reread that last line that the OP referred to.  My apologies, it looks like they have changed the way it works.  I did not know that.  That looks like an issue you will have to raise with Customer Service.  Maybe they will give you a refund?

Their use of increased makes me think they meant free to play, who are currently capped at 12 with full character slot unlocks, but then saying preferred does make it sound like the change is to preferred status. Seems like some words may be missing, such as preferred 'will be increased to 18 active characters, and free to play will be increased' to 14 active characters, regardless of slots purchased. That would keep it consistent, without taking away stuff someone paid real money for. Otherwise, it's a case of "Houston, we have a problem", as this will cause a lot of irate players, and angering your player base is something you should never do, or at least not by taking away stuff they paid real money for.

Shouldn't it say:

"If you’re a preferred player, the number of active characters you may have per server remains 16."

I think what they are doing is bumping all preferred players to 16, whether they have additional character slots purchased or not (so adding 10 slots to the base of all preferred players, but not allowing purchased character slot unlocks or start at 60 characters to bump this number up). You'll still have your extras as preferred, you'll just only ever be able to have 16 active at a time, even with extra character slot unlocks or start at 60 characters (which disincentivizes preferred players from buying start at 60s or character slot unlocks). I'm a sub, but I can see this leading to a lot of unhappy preferred players.

Thank you, kindly.