I hope these are being considered for SoR's PvP changes 1) Different Arena/WZ queues -> Choice is a good thing. Forcing the population to participate in an activity they are not interested in is not a good thing. 2) Deserter penalties -> The moment a 2nd objective is claimed in Civil War/N Coast, 3 players bail and the wz is over. Disincentivizing this type of behavior will lead to more competitive pvp. The standard defense here has been "you can't choose, so this is your way of "choosing" to be in our out of a wz. That is a dumb idea. The first change would render that dumb idea wrong, and a 15 minute pvp time out would be appropriate. 3) map specific queues -> huttball is the greatest contribution the pvp swtor has going. I get happy about huttball like i got happy about early Arathi Basin or seige captures in Warhammer, in that, Huttball is so unique and so fun that it creates an experience all it's own in the mmo genre. If you like civl war, n coast, portals...whatever, same thing. Incentivizing each maps would be as simple as assigning a reputation or faction to it and giving out cool rewards to higher tiers of rep. Which leads me to my last hope 4) non-turd pvp rewards -> the rancor was cool, but that was it. There is no reason to play ranked because the rewards are a joke. The basic pvp sets have never looked good (save the mara battlemaster and maybe bh war hero...those were good). The dev team needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with 1) aesthetically pleasing 2) non-reskinned armor/rewards. Perhaps asking the question "would I personally care to work my tail off for this thing?" before handing it out would be helpful.

I hope these are being considered for SoR's PvP changes 1) Different Arena/WZ queues -> Choice is a good thing. Forcing the population to participate in an activity they are not interested in is not a good thing. 2) Deserter penalties -> The moment a 2nd objective is claimed in Civil War/N Coast, 3 players bail and the wz is over. Disincentivizing this type of behavior will lead to more competitive pvp. The standard defense here has been "you can't choose, so this is your way of "choosing" to be in our out of a wz. That is a dumb idea. The first change would render that dumb idea wrong, and a 15 minute pvp time out would be appropriate. 3) map specific queues -> huttball is the greatest contribution the pvp swtor has going. I get happy about huttball like i got happy about early Arathi Basin or seige captures in Warhammer, in that, Huttball is so unique and so fun that it creates an experience all it's own in the mmo genre. If you like civl war, n coast, portals...whatever, same thing. Incentivizing each maps would be as simple as assigning a reputation or faction to it and giving out cool rewards to higher tiers of rep. Which leads me to my last hope 4) non-turd pvp rewards -> the rancor was cool, but that was it. There is no reason to play ranked because the rewards are a joke. The basic pvp sets have never looked good (save the mara battlemaster and maybe bh war hero...those were good). The dev team needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with 1) aesthetically pleasing 2) non-reskinned armor/rewards. Perhaps asking the question "would I personally care to work my tail off for this thing?" before handing it out would be helpful.

The current animation is silly and farcical. A smother and more intimidating move would be appropriate. I recommend the "baseball swing" animation from the barrel missions on CZ-198.

I'm speaking about having SOME crit/surge gear and crit/surge implants as a "go to" setup, as opposed to running full power/surge and relying on the crit relic to proc. With a full power/surge build plus crit/pwr relics...you're basically getting 3 gcd's every 20 secs or so worth of crit, plus the stuff you'd get running 18-20% crit. To me (with no math to back it up), it seems more optimal to have a higher static crit rate (24/25), and watch your power and main stat relics boost those crits instead.

I'm not a theorycrafter, but has anyone tried static crit + pwr and main stat relics vs. stacking power and pwr/crit relics for AP PvP and can verify it's THE way to go? Conceptually: 24 or 25% crit and less power might make your flame burst hit less, but Immolate, RP, and FT critting more often w/ a bump to power AND pwr/crit every 20 secs or so seems pretty nice. Would appreciate some feedback.

I'm not a theorycrafter, but has anyone tried static crit benchmarks over stacking power for AP PvP and can verify it's THE way to go? Conceptually: 24 or 25% crit and less power might make your flame burst hit less, but Immolate, RP, and FT critting more often w/ a bump to power AND pwr/crit every 20 secs or so seems pretty nice. Would appreciate some feedback.

Not a gripe/vent post per say, but really wanting to share a few thoughts about why I'm looking forward to trying a new system, and not looking forward to the new DLC/expansion from my game of choice over the past year. 1) Engine weakness/workaround. Nothing new here. The game engine doesn't work well with more than 30 people on-screen. The "fix" of instancing every planet crates an entirely new problem, namely, we're now playing an RPG online and not a dynamic MMO. If I wanted an RPG, i'd buy an Xbox. 2) Uninspiring "expansion" plans We've known about Makeb since last summer, then studio was gutted, and now something that looks more like a proper game update is being marketed as an "expansion". Sure, there are 5 levels to pickup, but after that, it's back to the same fleet based pvp/pve grind. What exactly are swtor fans supposed to hope for with the $20 of this expansion? It's not anything that inspires a high degree of confidence that something fun is coming anything soon. 3) Lack of communicated vision about "how to right the ship" I understand you don't have to explain every decision to a mob of angry nerds, that's the community teams job , but a few things that should have been addressed in an "expansion" that makes me think it's not worth my $15 beyond this month: 1) Your gated travel system is soul crushingly awful. My roommate, who doesn't have an SSD, can't get to a planet in under 3 mins. The chore that it is to travel in this game removes any desire to leave fleet. You could have really done yourself a favor here and blow this system up with the expansion, but we got nothing instead. 2) "Story" is too much of a crutch for this game. The double-xp weekends have shown me how fun playing the story can be. I've been able to bypass most quests beyond the main quest line (supplementing with wz's and flashpoints) and I've enjoyed greatly enjoyed the new story and pace. Replayablity is the name of the game in MMO's, but it would seem the hedge bet was to encouraging people to replay the class stories as a means of being "not-bored" instead of emphasizing super quality elder game content. Raids/flashpoints have always been a joke, any lowest-common-denominator can complete the HM FPs. PVP is fun, but we still seriously in "preseason" for rwzs...not exactly full of fun and excitement (Make 4 more huttball maps and ditch denova and the pylons imho). 3) General lack of creativity beyond the Cartel Market The proof is in the pudding...ie...what's changed the most since Mr. Hickman and his associates have taken control. Weekly updates in the Cartel Market happen like clockwork. Not much else beyond that stands out as "oh yeah, they've add that and the game is way different". I get that the game needs to turn a few more bucks to keep the pressure off, but I'm not interested in that side of things. I want to enjoy the game, not feel like I'm being strung along to give up more money than the CE edition, sub fees, ect that I've already given EA/Bio. Thus, I'm off to greener grass in hopes of greater MMO glory. Best wishes SWTOR, sincerely. It was fun while it lasted.

I'm going to put my guess in for the sub base. I'm going to guess they report a 450k "player base" which we can understand as 150k trial accounts and 300k subs. Over or under? <edited for spelling>

So now that Executive Producer Richard Vogel has left the company, are we seeing the Hickman machine reach it's full potential? Has EA let this game go already?

Fellow shadows! I'm leveling a Shadow and an Assassin side-by-side currently. A few things I've noticed: 1) Animation discrepancy: Assassins might be the most visually vibrant class to sit behind game wide. Saber charge/discharge animations, proc effects, and general color/light combinations are outstanding. It's a jarring chasm from the uninspired, simplistic looking procs and effects of the shadow. To often the animations just blend in with the robe. Other times, the animation itself is lack luster (force breach's salute vs. discharge for example). Project is a great plus, because who doesn't love throwing boulders, septic tanks, and other stuff at mobs? This is the lone highlight in an otherwise underwhelming visual experience. 2) Combat pacing: The recent reworks haven't addressed the game-breaker issue for swtor: animation based spell casting. Force breach and project are still slower than their counterparts, and there an effect TTK that makes me less wanting to play my shadow. A complete combat reboot via expansion would go a long way to stabilize sub numbers, because the current state essentially cripples any desire for endgame. Single player games are fun, but the animation based casting caters to a non-MMO audience. The lack of foresight about this is concerning, but the lack of high-quality end game support most MMO vets have come to expect pretty much ruins expectations beyond lvl 49. 3) Presentation: This might be the most subjective of my complaints, but the shadow is a mess with respect to it's design telos. Abilities names are just ham-fisted reworks of their more inspired Assassin counterparts.The word "clumsy" comes to mind; ex:"Force in Balance" as opposed to "Deathfeild", Slow Time, Sever Force, also the concept of a "technique" vs. a saber charge. The Shadow has no "brand" appeal. It's just the pub version of a better thought out class. One gets the impression "Bio had an awesome class design team on Imp side, and pub's got coding interns for desgin). These three areas stand out as the basic issues with the Shadow class. Addressing all of these would go a long way to making this class more inspiring, better to play, and overall more fun. Would enjoy hearing others thoughts on these isues and those I've left out also. Thanks!

I'm sitting on the fence about which race to roll my assassin with. Twi'leks, Rattas, or Zabrak are all ok, however I've noticed the animations appear slower and less acrobatic on the Twi'leks. Does this appear to be the case to anyone else? Does anyone have a high lvl Twi'lek assassin and feel as if the animations are fun to watch (subjective i know)? Any youtube vids or high lvl Twileks would be appreciated. Thanks.