Hated it - Played all of 10 minutes of it. Next time enable Level 5 Speeder bike training _embarrassed :

Tells us everything we ever need to know about your thought process on this. #muhfeelings #wordsalad

Ohhhhh.... but if only. Sadly Disney/Lucas would never allow anything more than the marriage proposals we've seen so far - no Mass Effect 2 style Miranda Cut Scenes for us sadly. (was my FAVORITE romance unlock btw)

Amorphous and Nebulous claims of 'has been tried... didn't work' - 'this is the internet everyone is a troll' so do nothing, risk nothing, change nothing... Bantha Poodoo. Either name specific games, or cite gaming news articles, etc. or take a seat. Opinions don't trump facts, and the fact is that Star Trek Online has a vibrant and highly successful Global Help Chat for newbies run by volunteers. And if there are examples of unsuccessful community volunteer initiatives, then learn from that mistaken endeavor... But at least try! If it turns out to be a Dumpster Fire... then you shut the program down.

Confirming (after an amazing evening of Assassin Darkness Skank-Tank spec Unranked PVP last night) that there are not too many buttons.

Maybe Ashely Ruhl or someone from her team can do another Dev Blog feature that shares with us the general ways/tools (with out disclosing proprietary tech or methods ofc) they use to account for all the different armors and styles players create and still get to see in a cut scene... ... including the Malgus Reborn Chestpiece "Cape (Physics) Bug" in Cut Scenes --- gonna keep plugging this as long as I play this game -- It 'may' be that the tools they have can automatically capture the surrounding decorations to then generate the cut scene, similar to how we see our armors generated into the cut scene that can not be known to the developers in advance. I think it would be a cool read to know how they procedural generate (pretty sure that's the right terminology here) all those variations into a cut scene.

I get their interest in finding some viable rebranded nerf of the Damage with Tank - Skank Tank specs like Guardian or Juggernaut. Last night in my Assassin Darkness Skank-Tank build I ran 1 Unranked Warzone that match-made as a 4 v 4 - it was 1 Powertech (qued as Tank) and 3 Juggernauts (qued as Damage), where as we had a mix of my Sin Darkness Skank-Tank (DwT but showing qued as Tank), 1 Guardian (qued as Damage), 1 Sin Deception (DPS), and 1 Shadow (DPS)... We got tunneled and focused one by one, and the damage mitigation (and lack of coordination on our side) left us unable to score a single kill both rounds of the match. Yet if I practice PVP with another player at the Rishi Stronghold PVP arena I have an even chance of besting them by a slight margin of HP left in a fair fight where we both dropping med-packs and our Active abilities and DCD's. You see great balance where the Sin Darkness in Skank-Tank build as a DwT can play evenly against a Juggernaut (this friendly player's build was Rage). This dominant meta, of the majority running Juggernaut is not the healthiest thing for PVP, but if I apply the ability pruning approach to my Sin Darkness. the thought of not having the player agency to 'choose' when and in what circumstance I can pop my defensive's in PVP is akin to not being able to use two-cloaks how and when I deem necessary. This removes player choice - it does not increase player choice. In my layman game design head, but also as a veteran player from launch, it seems that the real issue lays in how STRONG the DCD's are. But consolidating them into Melee/Ranged abilities that are being actively used to Damage a target means you are removing the players ability to maximize there DPS as they will be forced to conserve an important ability so as to have the DCD available. So this is a shell game, players will still preserve their DCD's for the right moment, targets like Juggernaut will still dominate the meta (people aren't going to throw away and biomass their Juggernauts), and the only thing you will see is the DPS stats in Unranked/Ranked drop BUT the time it takes to kill will remain the same... ... because players will preserve their play style that they've been using for years, and simply adapt that play style to the new combat mechanics, will less DPS. Less DPS means even LONGER TIME TO KILL. This theory is very distressing to certain droids... EDIT: Forgot to mention that another piece to solve this puzzle as I see it is to have an updated Match Maker that prevents multiple Juggernauts from que syncing. We need a balanced Match Maker that slots in class categories. Or at the very minimum a new Warzone type between Unranked and Ranked that adds this stricter Match Making - removing the 3-4 (or more) Juggernaut's in a match on one team.

We're in agreement on this point. Sadly in this life, you snooze you lose - if there is a call for player testing and feedback, and the people that would be proponents of the change(s) don't come and speak up (there's a thread called "In favor of pruning") on PTS Forum that supports the changes, then anyone else not participating in providing feedback can't complain if the change is modified or aborted due to opposition. I'm not advocating that the loudest voice in the room wins - I'm just stating the reality is that a voice never raised can not be the basis of inaction - the well 'maybe' there could be more proponents than opponents, can't be the basis on whether or not to proceed. At some point you have to Podoo or get off the Pot; as the old saying goes. Those among the conservative pro-steward approach to the future of SWTOR should not be dismissed or ignored because of a 'potential' that is not based in evidence. So I agree that the better approach would have been to have this all out on PTS with all classes and encouraging testing in both Operations and Unranked/Ranked Warzones, so that as word gets around about the changes, there's a measurable pulse on the sense of the community rather than just shooting blindly in the dark. But as it stands right now - the voices on the forums providing the requested feedback are going to be first in line.

I disagree that the idea proposed would be giving a volunteer player authority or control over another player. Moderating a Chat Channel is not that kind of control. After an application and screening interview, they would be given Moderator authority over "the channel" with prior training and rules and instructions with the ability to PM a on duty Bioware GM; akin to being a part of the Community Relations Team, but as a official volunteer. So again, while the worst case scenario that can be theorized abound, my personal belief is that with a vetting process through the Community Relations Team, good and knowledgeable players will step forward to help, and will jump through the application and screening hoops for a chance to be more deeply a part of SWTOR as fans and experienced players. This ultimately is a proposal to circumvent the COST of hiring interns or employees to the Community Relations Team staff. If that was proposed the opposition would be that it would be prohibitively expensive visa vi cost vs benefit. This idea removes all those issues, and only requires a management regime instituted by Bioware to over see the volunteers that have been pre-screened to Moderate a Global Help chat channel with back up from GMs and review by the Community Relations Team. Basically this comes down to: Leave things as is, or take a risk and Trust that there are members of the SWTOR Community that aren't total Rakgouls I'd prefer to lean on the - there are more swtorista's in our community than not.

Dang you're right... I didn't even think to do that, because the chat auto hid in the next instance and my mind wrongly left me with the idea that since I had changed instances, that was that... Now I feel really bad I didn't help that player /facepalm

The Cut Scene/In-game Animation I MOST want to see in SWTOR... The Stronghold or Starship "Crawl into Bed" Logout animation that most everyone has wanted/asked for for 10 years Would be a nice Retro Suggestion fulfilled for the 10 year Anniversary But even Stronghold intro Cut Scenes are done beatifully - wish there had been a shuttle fly into the new Spacedock Stronghold, but they are too small to warrant an intro cut scene (other than the a fore mentioned shuttling to the stronghold from your Fury class or an Harrower Class Imperial Star Ship). We're so spoiled with the stronghold cut scenes that I was actually sad there wasn't one for my new Vaiken Spacedock Stronghold *(The first stronghold I might add that I have fully decorated - ever - its just the perfect size for my tastes and budget)

I couldn't catch the full spelling of a semi-complicated name... no other reason. Getting a bit old I guess.

Not unreasonable points - though I'm not certain the analogy applies to our current circumstance or discussion; there are a large pool of players in opposition or with worthy critiques where it would be foolish not to weigh them. The weight of a flippant fanboi post is not equal to a well reasoned critique or methodical opposition.

You might think I have a 'type of player', but let me correct you that I don't - I like everyone that plays SWTOR. I don't do the elitist gamer thing... But you raise a valid point: Who do you listen to, if you have a game community with chaos theory level opinions? Now I can't speak to the motivations of those agreeing with nuking DCD's or the "I don't care about your mechanics - do whatever (I don't have time to think about this)" crowd... Voices like mine are not trying to be obstructionist, we are cautious and conservative about a game that has successfully existed for 10 years. A conservative, method, logic based development path. This is not an Intellectual Property (IP) that lends itself to RADICAL changes, It is an IP that requires a steady hand, nerves of steel, and a clear vision of the path ahead. Then there is accepted game design theory and philosophy, some of which has made it into threads on PTS Forums from far more astute people than a simple player with a overactive HK-Troll-Droid Voices like mine do not see those attributes in this proposed change. So which group should be listened to? The one with Rational arguments based in Reason, and attempting to preserve what helps make this game unique and engaging. You can't design for everyone - Bioware shouldn't feel the need to apologize for the game SWTOR is!

Good questions... Personally I would rather have lots of buttons and not need to press a few of them because either idkwtfreighter or they're simply not needed in a particular moment vs. having DCD attributes made passive and consolidated into Melee/Ranged ability buttons that if I press one moment and start a cool down, but am then targeted by the Boss and can't Defend because I blew the ability with the integrated DCD and am now screwed because of it. I'm down for of course player agency and only stat tweaking what we have now. To dove tail to your post, my question is: Will there be any PVP related damage reductions commenserate with the loss of Active DCD's? As well as a updated Match Making to prevent a Damage only Meta. (We see this in some Unranked 4 v 4 where there's no healer or no tank on one team - or just 8 DPS all fighting each other. People follow trends when the meta changes, and if they've been playing a Darkness Assassin in PVP as a Skank Tank as I do, but then don't have the ability to mitigate the insane amounts of damage output, then you've turned my 'Steel Brick' into a hollow concrete block full of a match of sledge hammers.

I can't claim to know the company side management of such a official volunteer program where you select and interview applicants to act as unpaid moderators on behalf of the company for such a channel, who then monitor the chat and facilitate a Global Help Chat... But... the one in Star Trek Online works very well, and other games with a official volunteer program seem to do fine, and I can't imagine there being virtually any overhead to doing this other than giving and existing Community Relations Team member(s) the additional responsibility of reviewing and approving volunteer applications, and now and again secretly monitoring the Global Help Chat - no different than is done currently on the Forums (minus the volunteer part). I still think it could work!

Yep definitely! You would think after 10 years of SWTOR and almost 20 years of modern MMOG/MMORPG that us 'dumb' gamers would have aged and matured enough to actually know what we like??? Bioware EA -- your customers aren't kids, tweens, and 20 somethings only anymore. Some of us actually know what for and stuff --- allegedly

Not sure how this part will go though. But I liked your post.

More bad posting. See previous post about Darkside I And thank you for following the thread so closely. I hope you will learn valuable lessons on how to actually craft quality posts that will gain the desired attention and emotional validation you're craving.

Thanks for confirming, that over the 10 year life of SWTOR, you've not affected the game in any meaningful way. I now understand your original response post - you really have never been listened to, and have a consistent track record of failure in gaining any attention from Bioware to your bug reports, and have completely wasted your time in participating in PTS. Cheers.

Volunteer Program made up of screened players that act as Moderators in a Global Help Channel that is open for anyone to solicit or offer assistance. Trolls get chat bans or account suspensions; Administrated by the SWTOR Community Relations Team. And now I remember which game does this successfully - Star Trek Online. They have a successful Gobal Help Chat that has volunteer Mentors and rando Veterans that can help answer questions. Also Guilds would jump all over the chance to offer help that might market themselves to a potential new player. This Doom and Gloom Bantha Podoo everyone loves to post is all great and everything, but there's far more good players that want to help, love their community, and want to see new players successful, than there are people that 'act' like they want to see it all burn. I mean JUST LOOK AT MY SIGNATURE, yet I'm here proposing a Community based solution to a new player issue/dilemma that is re-occuring. Proving that no matter how much a troll you might be in one thread, post, or environment... does not mean you won't be an angle in another helping newbies with advice under the watchful eye of mods... And if someone were to abuse such a chat anyway, and then try to defraud a new player out of credits or a rare item, then a simple addition to the Customer Service options menu for complaining against a 'mentor' or other other player would trigger an "OPEN UP FBI" response from Bioware and Customer Service GMs and the troll would get their virtual teeth kicked in. There's way way too many people that can help, and just need a program administered through the Community Relations Team and JackieKo & Co. (see what I did there ) to take volunteer applications. If games like EVE Online can have a whole player elected government, you need to stop pretending that we are so uncivilized in SWTOR to not also make this type of volunteer based community Help initiative work under the auspices of Bioware in case there are any attempts to subvert what otherwise would be a great idea. So stop with the Many other games have done this, continue to do it, and SWTOR would benefit from emulating the successes of a few of these in-game Help initiatives. Now exactly which program or programs to emulate - that ofc needs to rest with JackieKo & Co.

Memes and Bantha Poodo... lol, who raised these kids? :This generation comes across as well rounded as a turnip that just fell off a farmers truck - go polish your posting skillz _embarrassed : Best Example of Bioware listening (My Suggestion Btw): Told Bioware that Darkside I "Golden Eyes" effect window was too small when it used to be a window of 17 or 18K - 19,999 Darkside I points. They lowered it to a window of 4000 Darkside I points to 19,999 Darkside I points! Sorry not Sorry you're not feeling validated. But let me learn you something 4%er - Now just because the request doesn't make it into the Patch schedule, gets lost due to Developer turn-over, or the cost-vs-benefit reward for investing in the change - Ex. Malgus Reborn Chestpiece: The thing has a massive cut-scene bug with its cape physics - but will it ever get patched, probably not (and I hate this bug because I see it ALL THE TIME) - but not because they don't know it exists, but because there's only so much that can be squeezed into a Patch (and there are usually bigger Bugs and bigger priorities). But just because that doesn't get patched, does not equate to "they don't listen" chicken little the sky is falling!! They do listen, and have made changes where and when they can - and particularly where their development path and the suggestion line up well enough to be 'doable'. So if you want to whine and belly ache, and promote the lie that 'they never listen to us', then you keep flexing like that and have fun winding your self out of breath in the process. Bioware does listen, but their not in business to validate you emotionally and address your small mynock energy.

I was grinding up my BH to 75 via Heroics (I only run story on my Main, after the Class stories), and I was just queing up teleport for the next Heroic, when in Dromund Kaas General Chat I see "I'm so lost"; just as I teleport. I would have helped the player, and It reminded me that some games have a formal Mentor Program. Maybe Global "Help Chat" needs to come back and be a thing again - and be on the chat tabs by Default, and then can be removed through Chat Settings? I'm sure some of us Veterans aren't so jaded to not... pass on what (we) have learned? (Maybe I'm miss remembering, or thinking of a different game, but I could have swore that we used to have an active Help Chat in this game?? - 10 years is a long time... so not sure if I'm even close to the mark on this one)

I played these forums the day they went live... so don't try to measure your mynock against mine pal. Announcement of LotS got me excited enough to come on the forums again, but read the legacy signature and think twice before you mouth off. #30022 - OG Player

Looking for Excessive Speed on Vaiken Spacedock: https://imgur.com/a/IPulZaQ