Ive been here since the beginning. Beta tested two or 3 builds. Early access. Launch day... the whole nine. And Bots have been a problem since the beginning. Its a vicious cycle. The whales buy cartel packs and sell the items at stupid high prices. The whales can sell them at stupid high prices because the Bots are flooding the economy with credits. This causes inflation The Normal players have barely been able to keep up with the inflation by running these Heroics. With this Nerf it really only hurts the Normal subbed player because it doesnt stop the bots from flooding the economy with creds so it wont bring prices down. Most non subbed players wont be affected since they have a credit cap any way. Normal subbed players will now just farm companion gifts or turn to regular planetary dailies since the dailies now pay almost double what the Heroics do. Which will lead to more complaints since most of the dailies are open world and the competition for completing them will increase. Ya, I think this is a bad move by Bioware. Edit- Im calling it now... Incoming nerf to companion gifts

I rarely post much any more, but Im curious about this change. I dont see the point. I did some looking around today and found that the Weekly Heroics are paying out about 7300 creds, but the normal planet Dailies are paying out about 12300. Thats 5k more for dailies. Almost double the pay out and easier. Since Im maxed on my Alliance rep, I dont see any reason to really do the Heroics any more since I was just using them for credits any way. Now that the normal dailies are paying out almost double what the Weekly Heroics are, then I will just do the Dailies instead. Not sure what they hoped to accomplish.

Sorry for not reading this entire thread. I rarely come to these forums any more. But I do like the level sync. I always thought that it was odd that in MMO's once a character gets around 10 levels beyond an areas (planet in SWTORs case), then that player becomes God-Like in that area. Able to pretty much one shot anything and almost everything. Which in my mind kind of diminishes the Lore in that area when the biggest baddest threat can be one shotted. I find it especially so in the SWTOR setting since nobody in Lore was ever invincible or God-Like. Sure they were powerful but not immortal. Jango Fett wouldnt be able to land on Hutta and casually conquer the entire planet with a single hold out blaster. Level sync helps make the game more realistic in my opinion, plus it allows people of all levels to play together, plus the loot and rewards from even the lowest planet (area) are level appropriate for the players actual level all the while still not crippling the players. I like it. I think it makes the game more enjoyable and has a lot of benefits. Just my 2 creds

That would be tragic. Im only to 15 on all of them and Im already tired of that grind.

Apologies but Im not understanding the point you are trying to make. You say to wait and see if the Pierce Alert Mission gates anything. But the Pierce Alert Mission as it stands right now, in game, is a Gate in itself. If that Pierce Alert Mission is not completed, then any future Alert Missions in that line can not be accessed. So Im not understanding why you're wanting people to wait and see if actually does Gate any future content (whatever that future content may entail), when it does that right now. Now whether or not the Pierce Alert Mission is a gate to future PvP Alert missions is any ones guess. Nobody knows and BW isn't telling.

They already said that they are gated. Eric said himself that they are looked at like a chain in which one alert has to be completed before another one can open. Whether or not we choose to recruit the companion is up to us. But we still have to complete the alert mission requirements before the next alert mission for the next companion (or whatever the future alerts may entail) can be unlocked. Although to be fair, he did say that they were not sure if future companions will have PvP requirements or not

Its a no win scenario. I don't want to PvP. But if I don't, then I could very well be locked from future content. If I decide to go ahead and tough out those 20 matches, I am met with despise from the in game PvPers. They don't want me there, and I don't even want to be there. If I come on to the forums and ask for some kind of compromise, then the PvPers here on the forums are insulting me telling me to suck it up. Which is ironically the opposite of what the PvPers in game are telling me. No matter which way I go with this I lose, and makes for a very un-fun experience. Which is kind of sad because I thought this game was supposed to be for fun and recreation. Edit- And the scary part is that these companions probably wont be the last ones that they put behind a PvP gate. I toughed out this one in the hopes that they don't do it again, but I suspect that they will in an effort to liven up the PvP environment.

But its not just a 'Skin' that's gated. Any achievements associated with that 'Skin' are also Gated, along with any future story aspects that would be in that story line are also gated. So its not just the Skin. Its everything that can be blocked after that too.

I no longer Pug because of people like that. And its not always because of "Spacebar". The Pug environment is very toxic here in SWTOR and generally unfriendly imo, so Ive decided to simply avoid them. As someone earlier said: I am easily replaced. Which is very true. Im just one insignificant person that wont be missed. However for me, I feel like Ive saved myself a lot of frustration and headache. To each their own I guess.

Meh.. Ive noticed the Shills have been out in force lately. Any kind of opinion that is not pro Bioware is being attacked heavily with insults and rudeness in an effort to belittle or somehow trivialize anything that would be considered negative feedback. I don't feel that it is really needed in this thread though. This thread is just opinion and preference. No matter which way people go with it, it doesn't have any impact on the game. I mean, its not like anyone is calling for changes or bad mouthing BW in this thread. But I guess they have a job to do, so whatever

As far as story goes for me, I had grown attached to my original companions. Ive had them since I was a Beta tester. I had done all their conversations and all of their little missions and maxed out all of their affection and spent an insane amount of time gearing them up. So for me its not really about their influence, or crafting, or any of that. I just kind of miss them. What can I say? Im a nerd. And I know that I could use the terminal to get certain companions back, but my terminal don't seem to work, and even if it did, Im not sure I would use it because I would be afraid that I might mess up the story later on. I know this is going to sound very nerdy of me, but whenever I finally do find my original crew in the story again, and if they talk to my character like some nobody from around the corner after all that time I spent with them, and on them... I would be kind of heart broken.

Its funny because I was just leveling my Scoundrel alt through SoR today, and was thinking that I probably wouldn't take any more of my characters through KoTFE. The Alliance grind would be brutal with multiple characters, and plus the fact that I lose all of my companions that I would have to unlock later sometime in the story doesn't sound very fun. Especially since its looking like they will all be gated. Im already kind of regretting taking my main character (BH) through KoTFE. Im not sure KoTFE is really worth it. At least not as far as companions go anyway.

I agree with the OP. I personally hate PvP in this game so I avoid it. Making PvP a requirement for certain companions when I will only use them in PvE anyway seems kind of rough. Especially for 20 gloriously painful matches. I don't want to be there, and the PvPers don't want me there, so please reduce the number of required matches. Its a win win for everyone. Or at very least, don't make them gated so I can choose to bypass the PvP required companions and not be locked out of future companions. Pretty please?

Has anyone tested these buffs? Because they don't seem very different from yesterday. Maybe its just me though

That's pretty good. Thanks for the update and thanks for proving me wrong. I didn't think you guys were going to do anything and if you did, it wouldn't be until after the holidays. So thanks. But I STILL say the problem with KoTFE is the lack of non heroic dailies that KoTFE has. Had the expansion came like previous expansions with lots of non heroic dailies and a few Heroics scattered in there, most of the casual players wouldn't mind have less powerful companions. But as it stands right now, the Alliance grind is almost entirely Heroics. There is no avenue for the casual solo types to take unless you make Heroic 2's very solo/casual friendly. Im afraid that unlike previous expansions, the strength of companions are now going to be measured by how well they perform in Heroic 2's solo, which will make them very strong in non-heroic encounters. Totally backwards compared to the game pre-KoTFE.

I noticed a huge difference in the time to complete the higher level Heroics too. Even before the Nerf, I didn't even bother with Makeb Heroics. It wasn't that they were hard or challenging, they just took way too long to complete for the same rewards. I was even to the point where I would avoid certain ones. A couple on Belsavis, and Hoth and then I avoided Makeb all together for no other reason than I didn't feel that they were worth the effort. I havnt done any of them since the Nerf, but I would imagine that they would take much longer after the Nerf, which would make them even less appealing to me.

To be fair, before Kotfe, the expansions had plenty of Non Heroic dailies that the more casual player could do. But with Kotfe, its all about Heroics. Also before Kotfe, we could outfit our companions to increase their effectiveness. Now their effectiveness is entirely based on Influence. Having Heroics being pretty much the only end game grind content combined with level sync isn't very fun for the more casual crowd. Plus it can be hard on certain classes because some Heroics have pulls that have multiple golds and silvers. Even with CC's, the nerfed companion cant keep up with much of the damage. Edit- Just wanted to add that, unlike pre-Kotfe, Companions are going to be judged by how well they perform while soloing Heroic 2's for all classes, not just some classes.

Apologies for sniping this portion of your post. Its wasn't meant to be rude, but I think it kind of hits close to what I feel is the real issue. Personally, I was a Beta Tester. Early access and all of that, but I quit the game just before SoR. So I often feel the same way about Heroics that a lot of the people wanting more of a challenge do. Im used to them having to be challenging and I still am kind of stuck in that way of thinking. But the problem with KoTFE has that other expansion didn't have is that almost all of the end game content revolves around Heroics. This expansion doesn't have the normal Dailies that other expansions have. Normally I don't like to do this but Im going to copy paste something I posted in another thread that I feel is the core of these problems. Here I believe the problem is simply having Heroics as the main source of content in this expansion is the problem. In the past (cant speak for SoR since I wasn't here for that one), each expansion had a bunch of normal dailies that a casual player could easily do solo. There were weekly Heroics, but if someone couldn't do them or didn't want to, then they didn't have to. There were plenty of non heroic dailies they could do. In the past, people could solo those Heroic 2's, but they were kind of difficult. You had to out level them or out gear them and be fairly (not expert) skilled with your character. Which was doable since we could gear up our companions too. We could gear them in Tank, or Dps, or Healing gear to enhance their abilities much like we could ourselves. But then we Have KoTFE, where the end game content is extremely Heroic heavy unlike previous expansions. But it was fine because even though we couldn't gear up our companions like previous versions, their sheer power made doing the Heroics perfectly fine. And lets face it, they were insanely strong. And then we have KoTFE today. The devs tried to nerf Companions to closer resemble their earlier versions and bring doing Heroics back to being more of a challenge. Which I feel would have been fine if the vast bulk of end game content didn't rely on Heroics. Had players had access to Non Heroic dailies they could do instead, or at least non level syncd heroics, then they probably wouldn't have made such a fuss. As far as I know, the only other option that a casual player has to increase their specialist standing and companion influence besides running heroics is to farm Solo Star Fortress and kill the bonus boss over and over and over. So in my own personal opinion, BW really messed up by making end game content so Heroic heavy. I mean, they said that this expansion was going to be much more casual and solo friendly, yet they want the heroics to be closer to the challenge level of previous expansions. Which were not very solo friendly at all. Plus throw in the fact that almost all of the end game content revolves around Heroics.... How is that casual/solo friendly? It cant be both in my eyes. Any way.. just my thoughts.

I believe the problem is simply having Heroics as the main source of content in this expansion is the problem. In the past (cant speak for SoR since I wasn't here for that one), each expansion had a bunch of normal dailies that a casual player could easily do solo. There were weekly Heroics, but if someone couldn't do them or didn't want to, then they didn't have to. There were plenty of non heroic dailies they could do. In the past, people could solo those Heroic 2's, but they were kind of difficult. You had to out level them or out gear them and be fairly (not expert) skilled with your character. Which was doable since we could gear up our companions too. We could gear them in Tank, or Dps, or Healing gear to enhance their abilities much like we could ourselves. But then we Have KoTFE, where the end game content is extremely Heroic heavy unlike previous expansions. But it was fine because even though we couldn't gear up our companions like previous versions, their sheer power made doing the Heroics perfectly fine. And lets face it, they were insanely strong. And then we have KoTFE today. The devs tried to nerf Companions to closer resemble their earlier versions and bring doing Heroics back to being more of a challenge. Which I feel would have been fine if the vast bulk of end game content didn't rely on Heroics. Had players had access to Non Heroic dailies they could do instead, or at least non level syncd heroics, then they probably wouldn't have made such a fuss. As far as I know, the only other option that a casual player has to increase their specialist standing and companion influence besides running heroics is to farm Solo Star Fortress and kill the bonus boss over and over and over. So in my own personal opinion, BW really messed up by making end game content so Heroic heavy. I mean, they said that this expansion was going to be much more casual and solo friendly, yet they want the heroics to be closer to the challenge level of previous expansions. Which were not very solo friendly at all. Plus throw in the fact that almost all of the end game content revolves around Heroics.... How is that casual/solo friendly? It cant be both in my eyes. Any way.. just my thoughts. Carry on

Ya Ive seen it. Its not an official post so I will take it with a grain of salt. Even though I probably shouldn't. The last time info was released, it turned out to be totally true. If they do release a buff patch on Tuesday, I'd be surprised if it didn't break all kinds of stuff since it would be a rushed patch and chances are, not very tested. Fingers crossed though

I don't like not being able to customize the companions look either. But I suspect that new companion customization kits will come pretty soon, but they will be Cartel Items only.

Inconceivable!!

I have to agree with you on the canceled subs getting their attention. The forums are always full of "I Quit" threads and people upset with the game and BW never really does anything. I have no idea how many people actually hit the Cancel button, but it seems to have been enough to catch their attention this time.

well, even I said that its possible there could be some kind of patch on Tuesday, but I think it is highly unlikely. They probably didn't even start working on a Patch until Thursday or Friday, and they don't work on the weekends, so all they will have is Monday to work out the rest of a Patch, and hopefully at least kind of test so it don't break more than it fixes before launching it on Tuesday. Just doesn't seem likely. Plus they go on their Holiday vacations. I doubt they would release a Patch the week they go on Vacation. Its definitely possible, but I just don't see it happening Even though I would like to see the companion buff on Tuesday, I really think it wont happen until the release of the next chapter in January. That way they can roll it into a patch that is already being worked on.

Really? I havnt seen anything announcing buffs on Monday. I checked patch notes and dev tracker. Unless they made the announcement someplace else, like maybe Twitter. Here. Read this again and please point out where they said that companions are actually getting buffed on Monday. I see they mention action items. But that doesn't really translate into an actual buff patch on Monday. An action item is just a high level task that needs to be addressed. Other than that, all I see as far as announcements is that they are going to release a forum post highlighting their Plans. I could be wrong, and actually hope I am wrong, but please correct me and show me where they have clearly said that companions are getting a buff on Monday.