All of these "god mode healer" comments make me look forward to GW2, hopefully that will be the first example of a game without incessant whining from WoW flavored DPS players. Please prepare for the 1.3 cries of "ZOMG group finder is unfair for all PURE DPS classes" next.

Yeah that is my sentiment exactly. I've paid for several lifetime memberships typically at 200+$, sometimes (as in LotRO) it has been a really worthwhile investment, other times (as in CO) it hasn't. Either way the money is irrelevant, it is the idea that I have a choice and am /totally/ comfortable with providing my $$ to support the game I appreciate. I paid for several character transfers in AoC, WoW and other MMOs but eventually realized that there is no reason I should have to pay for this type of service (thank you RIFT and CO). Much like Blizzard's decision to make D3 online with a cash shop, the decision to make people pay for server transfers is a pragmatic business decision that I just don't appreciate and I choose to make that clear with my wallet. In a F2P game I am wholly comfortable with this, in a P2P game I am not, essentially I expect not to have to pay for anything but expansion packs in a game I am paying a monthly fee for.

I unsubbed just a few days ago though my sub isn't up until some time in August. Realistically I'll probably come back to check the game out if things get markedly better, SWTOR really is a good game it just doesn't quite seem good enough to justify continuing to pay for given the other options around. I think the game has always been much better than the disappointing approach to management/development, perhaps I'm just spoiled by games like RIFT. 1) Gear based raiding end-game I had enough of this in past WoW-clones, tiers of end game gear earned through progressively "harder" raids is not something I'm wasting more of my life on. One of the things I most look forward to in GW2 and similar games is the move away from gear-based gaming (particularly raiding and dailies, bleh). 2) Class balance Early on I was honestly stunned at how well balanced SWTOR was in PvP, it was better than I'd seen in most games with several years of fine tuning under their belts. Particularly after the 1-49 and 50 PvP were separated out the game seemed reasonably well designed and fun. Post 1.2 murderball PvP is the opposite of entertaining imo. 3) Meaningless PvP I could deal with this for a few months, post-Ilum I can understand the lack of Open World PvP and hope that they are still working on it behind the scenes. The focus on Warzones in a game theoretically about galactic conflict is exceptionally disppointing imo, worse still given the amount of faction imbalance and the tendency toward same faction PvP. Essentially PvP content in SWTOR is just another way to get gear, there is no territory to gain, nothing to fight over, its just a poorly done version of American Gladiators. 4) Rigidity I love the focus on story in SWTOR, but it has always seemed a little forced. Your choices seem to make very little lasting impact on the world and in some of the most critical areas of an RPG you're offered no choice at all. Companions are a great example, not only do you have 0 choice in what companions you get you have 0 choice in what their skills and roles will be. This seems pretty counter to the importance of customization and owning your play experience. Overall though the concept of a story focus is awesome it sort of feels as if they had second thoughts about it at the last minute. Story means nothing at end-game and the game goes from being brilliant and engaging to another raiding-gear-grind. 5) Paid Transfers Odd that this would be the issue that did it for me, I could tolerate all of the above just because SWTOR for all of its flaws really is fun. But a recent off-handed comment by Joveth clarified that players will likely be paying for server transfers in the future. After playing RIFT I just refuse to do this anymore, if SWTOR was F2P it'd be one thing, but it isn't acceptable imo to charge for services like this anymore. Just because WoW does it doesn't make it ok. Games like Champions make me wonder why we're even still tolerating servers at all, but if we're going to stick with the server model players should be able to move where they want. The purpose of swapping servers is theoretically that the one you're on isn't fun, if the tech exists to allow players to move from one server to another, they should not have to pay for access to it. Note: The cost is ultimately irrelevant imo, 15$ a month is a trivial amount of cash considering the average trip to a crappy 2 hour movie costs me around 40$. It just casts the wrong idea about player appreciation imo, people are always saying business is about making money, that suggests that if as a customer I don't appreciate what a business is doing I should take my money elsewhere.

Basically the whole paying for server transfers thing was what pushed me currently to cancel (though I'll very possibly end up changing my mind) RIFT showed me that this sort of crappy customer service isn't necessary for a game to survive. SWTOR's launch was great but its management since then has pretty much been a hot mess, it is awesome that we're now merging into these mega-servers but the idea of having to pay for future transfers is pretty unfortunate.

I think that LOTRO does an amazing job of doing this and probably the best we could ever hope for in SWTOR. Essentially all instances in LOTRO are scaleable with the level of the group entering thus no content should ever really be "redundant" or meaningless. When the cap raises, offer the current instances at the new cap as well. Imo these are tools that should all be integral to the long-term value of the group finder. Note: I hate raiding for gear, but the above strikes me as a no-brainer.

Oddly this was what did it for me too, who knows I might re-sub at some future point but reading that we might have to pay for future transfers pushed my recent dissatisfaction with the game (due to many other isuses) over the edge. Just because WoW does it doesn't make it ok, I don't see how charging for server transfers is acceptable in this age of gaming, my brief time playing RIFT essentially reminded me that it is not a necessity for MMO developers to crap on their customer base. My time playing games like Champions Online made me wonder at the entire approach of dedicated servers in general (they always cause problems). As more MMOs go F2P or B2P I found myself increasingly wondering why I was paying monthly for SWTOR. I love the game despite its flaws, but even the possibility of having to pay for later transfers just struck me as a bit of a slap in the face. In a way it isn't the money, 15$ (the most I can imagine it costing) is an utterly trivial amount of cash, the whole thing just reeks of unappreciation.

I originally chose PvE because that's where my friends were playing, I'd have greatly preferred a RP server.

The whole "only transfer to a specific server of your same type" issue just seems like one more example of Bioware's bush-league approach to MMO development/management. There's really no reason for it aside from their not knowing what they're doing. If anything else the server merge fiasco of SWTOR has made me appreciate the approach of games like Champions Online & STO, the idea of choosing your server and being stuck there has been outdated for a long time.

I'm sure that the server merges and transfers will if nothing else make it easier for those not in PvP guilds to find people to group up for RWZs if they are so inclined. Ultimately though people probably shouldn't be too up in arms about it anyway. The incoming ranked system is basically just a crappy version of American Gladiators (note: American Gladiators had more WZ options) grinding silly small-scale PvP games for gear and e-peen is basically all SWTOR will have to offer in 1.3 or the foreseeable future for the PvP crowd. Hooray galactic conflict, if only real life nations could solve their differences via Huttball.

Gaming pundits suck just as much as political pundits it seems, hooray to employing hacks to develop our opinions for us.

I hadn't read the no solo-queuing at launch bit until just now basically. I appreciate that the solo queuing might be added at some future date but I've finally gotten to the point of being done waiting. 1.2 PvP is way worse imo than pre-1.2 PvP and reading developer interviews and posts here on the forums leads me to believe that they see the direction they're headed in as a positive one. I've wasted too much money on collector's editions and stuck around with too many games in the past that have been driven into the ground by a determined developer team to bother doing it again. Standard gear grinding to define end game is a bad idea in general imo, PvP that's focused on nothing but mini-games is a bad idea imo, barring casual players (one of the game's strongest bases thus far) from another aspect of end game is beyond just a bad idea. I've been here since launch defending the game and raving about how much I enjoy it, I still do enjoy it quite a bit but regardless of the great story and the positive contributions to the MMOing genre in general I can't justify continuing to pay for the game atm. 15$ a month is a trivial amount of money, but removing it is basically the only way to note one's displeasure with design decisions. Perhaps games like RIFT just brought me to expect a bit too much out of development teams.

Hmm I actually hadn't heard anything about this until today, definitely if 1.3 releases with ranked warzones for groups only I'll be cancelling. I've enjoyed SWTOR tons but the approach to management, sharing info with the community (here rather than via twitter) and end game is totally not something I appreciate. To be frank ranked warzones as the end all/be all of PvP was garbage anyway (e-sports PvP 4tl) but knowing its going to be nothing but premades (ie ghetto arena) definitely kills the last of my interest. Maybe the ability to move to a new server will brighten the game up for me, but it seems increasingly doubtful.

Marauder/Sentinel's absurd burst is fine as its clearly the design plan of SWTOR's terrible devs. Their defensive cooldowns are not. Before 1.2 everyone argued that all you had to do to kill a healer was CC them, now people argue the same thing in regard to Marauder/Sentinel. Invulnerability is a bad thing in any game featuring PVP, BW's developers were just shortsighted enough to put it on a "DPS" class.

Marauders/Sentinels can be beaten, they're absurdly good but they can be beaten. I don't think that's the point so much as invulnerability has 0 place in an MMO, particularly on a DPS class. Just a poor design choice by BW which will hopefully be addressed. Yes of course one can CC their way through 5sec invuln if your cooldowns are up, but this isn't "necessary" for any other class in the game. The argument that you just have to CC them to drop them works just about as well as it did for every one of the healing ACs that was nerfed in 1.2

This was basically my reaction as well. I don't loathe the legacy system like some on the forums do, but the whole legacy/inheritance items thing just seems terribly poorly done.