So - is this your veiled attempt at saying... "oops BW apologies your game isn't a lagasaurus infested swampland, ooh and I would be eternally grateful if you could erase or ignore that last line from my original whine verse at you all back at HQ" ? Maybe come fully armed with some hard nosed facts next time or at the very least do some diagnostics your end properly first.. then fire the shots

I'll be honest and say I don't really have a clue what was email was meant for what and what reward am I supposed to be claiming for. I am an original beta player who has recently c9ome back to the game after an extended break and my SWTOR account has always been subscribed and I returned to the game early Jan 2016. I have got a recent email from EA regarding ch10 and Firebrands.. is the code I am looking for the one detailed within "SHARE THE LOVE" with your friend section of the mail... and get 1050 Cartel coins? I f so I referred a friends a few days ago and never received any coins as a reward? Apologies if this is going backwards but I just didn't have the energy to read through all 65+ pages ):

Well tbh I have always wondered what a Legacy really means in this game., other than it was their foundation they put in place whilst planning their F2P model... cos very little that you earn / acheive / unlock for your legacy actually works across your legacy and requires additional unlocks on alts, which is just plain silly. I have tried real hard to carry on playing this game, I followed it for years before launch and gave it the "its new, thingsa will get better" and wasn't even worried about F2P but tbh my fondness for the game is depleting fast now.. hearing that alts we were forced into merging due to their inability to traffic manage servers and retain players are now going to be locked once you pass 12 characters, paying for new races and legacy exploitation through the Cartel system.. meeeh. But thankfully the MMO choices out their now are many so I have curtailed my game time within SWTOR to give GW2 some airing with my guildies and I actually enjoy it to the point I dont think I have logged into SWTOR for at least 6 weeks now.... I have kept my sub active but as I am not using it anymore and this month will sadly be my last.. just too many issues, not enough support, boringly repetitive and a huge lack of direction, except straight to playters wallets.

Totally agree.. the in game reward scheme is bait and hook tactic that is proven to work, F2P use it and get hooked into it and subbers use it to buyy trivial things - but when the grindache hits both parties begin to take the lazy way out and hit the credit card.. because fluff afterall is what alot of players like in game.. I would be more than tempted to buy the odd pimp my ride set for my speeder or pumpkin grenade etc etc.. its about having fun in game for me... its not meant to be a second job its a release form the RL day to day stuff.... but without the reward carrot, many players, subbers especially will simply carry on running alts, grinding dailies or PvP comms then log off and come back to rinse repeat. So I agree BEAWARE just seems to fall behind the 8 ball everytime it comes up with an apparent plan - even when all the clues and examples are out there in front of their noses.

Actually your not 100% correct... I have guildies in DDO that went F2P and havent spent a dime... why becuase you can grind TP's very easily if your prepared to put the effort in to do it...utilising servers and fast leveling toons its not that difficult. On top of that you just need to be intelligent on how you spend the points and when you spend them - cut out the fluff you dont need and concentrate on achieving not hoarding. Not my cup of tea but horses for courses i guess. Being totally free can be taken in differnet directions.. the content you are given as a F2P is free but with SWTOR there is no otherway in there model it seems to hook you in to grinding out rewrds so at some point the credit card will need to be swiped through buit actually if you compare SWTOR's planned content allowance its a sizeable chunk of the game, and more I would say than any of the other F2P MMO's I sub to or have trialed. Of course the OP was not actually asking if the whole game was going to be free, just if there was any kind of ingame reward plan... SWTOR might regret not offering such an aspect because without that carrot infront of their noses, many F2P players may not last the course, becasue this game just doesn't hold the appeal and replayability factor for too long as it is... otherwise the sub base would not have seen such a drastic drop off in so shorter time.

I wouldnt be too encouraged I am afraid.. this is not even a dropm in the ocean of how many there were to start with, too many have been allowed to slip away from the game so soon imo

YIP YIP... though I am growing weary if I am honest....

I agree with you.. i have said on many occasions since launch and before that this game was designed around a SP experience... most story driven games etc will be, its supposed to be as its a personal experience... and one of the best SP game designers was handed the job of bringing the game to the massess.. except they targeted the MMO industry not the SP RPG box set industry... therefore to justify the monthly sub some lines had to be drawn otherwise the game wold of been finished for most of us by the end of week 2 for sure. People forget, this game is also a piece of the BEAWARE business plan to make money.. box sales in MMO space might recoup costs but they dont turn a healthy profit so they need to hook players in.. gear and content are the tools at their disposal but if that content is nothing more than a walk through, they again run the risk of players drifting away at an even more alarming rate than they have. My own take on this game is that they have gone too far down the SP route already and players have deemed that it doesnt warrant the monthly sub charge to keep playing it. Sure 1-50 is very well constructed around some decent story arc but that's it and its been left to fester too long already. If they had chosen to expand on the story then that would of been good but at the same time continue to bandy the game down a SP RPG route and the raiders, the pvp'ers and the mass PvE's would of lost interest even more.. the RP and SP playerbase would be all thats left and even they would drift as the contnet replayability begins to dry up.. and that happens all too quickly already, even if you like rolling alts. No ,they had to take actions to try and cull the sub-decline which their SP approach has supported and try to add value to the sub fee - a la group content and high level gear/companoion grinds... but too late it seems, hence the advent of F2P.. they di not add such things to make it more "group friendly", but as an attempt to hook players back towards the sub, but too little too late me thinks. So with F2P they can now concentrate on quick turnaround piecmenal content releases to help fill their purses rather than trying to facilitate all the diversities in the playerbase at once. But like I said, if you choose to pay the monthly sub and expect to soloplay the game, then all power to you or anyone else.. but that doesn't change the fact its their game and they will deliver whatever content they decide and it might not suit everyone all the time

So you dont do any content once you hit lvl 50 then or your so ubersauce you dont need anyone else to run the content, otherwise you are actually validating what the poster you answered was saying. No one forces you to skip conversations but sometimes others in a group have limited timescales so you may incur a boot or three.. then again when you have run the contnent a 100 times already, what is there in the conversations that you havent heard already.. so if pointless and boring is your reasoning explain how playing out pre-50 content over and over on your own, listening to the same chit chat not equally as mind numbing?

Well if you choose to spend the money month after month for a single player experience then all power to ya... yes its your money... but its their game and they can do what they like as well - which in this case they have seen fit to make this kind of content group orientated and no matter how much crying you wanna do your not going to change it. So group up or forget the FP and carry on playing in your own little bubble cos I think no matter what the sub numbers are these days I would hazard a guess the majority pay their sub each month and expect a lot more than a cradle to grave SP RPG, even if 80% oif the game is soloable as it is.

A simple comment from the Community Team would seriously help clear this up for everyone... but as ever the silence is deafening!!! - - - SEE EDIT In regards to using certain gear as F2P - I see no issues with it - if done correctly - ie no chance to loot it in forst place. Many other MMO's do it this way.. they only allow certain item drops in certain parts of the game ie - Riads/quests etc.. which would all be part of a F2P cash sale from the store... to allow a player to loot items but not use it.. that's just silly season and if I were that player thats ground that item only to find I cant use it without a further purchase.. it would be bye bye *waves with both fingers. EDIT - Just seen the Note re the coming ammendment.. finally sanity prevails..

Actually yes it is fair.. you dont have to buy them, just like you dont have to buy a lotterry ticket.. you have a choice to spend or not and being F2P or a subber makes no differnece when it comes to buying items from the cashshop. Additionally if you are a subber you will be getting CC's to spend ... how you choose to use those coins is up to you. Keys in GW2 are purchasable via the trading store, yes but you can trade in game currency to convert to the gems whoich are needed to buy the keys... that's nothing new in other MMO's that have F2P cashstores. But at the same time the game needs to turn a profit otherwise... THERE WONT BE ANY GAME!

Except in GW2 you actually have a chance of looting the keys or getting them as a reward. I have looted 2 so far in just over a week, I have also been given one as a reward.. when opening my first BLTC chest i found another key inside it.. so its only gambling if you choose to open the cashstore and spend your coin.. if its an item that only drops via paid micro transactions then sure it wouldn't appeal to me.. but people forget it maybe be a game but its also a business.. how many people play the lottery every week in the UK or EU or US etc etc...only difference is, and I agree with the posts on here, there is no age verification as yet and that's where parents need to be extra vigilant with any game where there is exposure to adult material/content.

I am no PvP'er but have done more of it in SWTOR than any other MMO I have played / still play. Why.. becuase when a game is loosing subs hand over fist and planets becoming PvE ghost towns, the only thing left to do to keep me believing there were others still playing in game was to go hit a WZ. There was no need for ranked Wz's on top of their xisting PvP setup... it serves no real purpose and has proven extremely tedious and unrewarding for teams to keep it up because on top of many individuals leaving the SWTOR sahores, whole guilds are leaving as well... so ranked Wz's have become nothing more than another random PUG grp against another. So I see no value in it... surely it would of been just as effective to of taken the original PvP setup with its stats and added ranking to it.. cos lets face it, PvP is about the individual not about the group.. that's why there are so many lay down matches taking place, so players can take it in turns to get themselves geared... so PvP in SWTOR will forever be imbalanced, full of me me's and often left high and dry, content starved and players left to chase their own tails. PvE content is where this game has really fallen down.for me - low repeatability value (I cant believe what that BW somebody said about them not focusing on their content having such value!) and a lack of direction with what should of been their primary focus - STORY. It has simply been left to fester too long already without any encouragement or engagement to keep playing and waiting - LEGACY is nothing but fluff and was purely the foundation they put in place for F2P cashop. Any experienced MMO player worked that out before it landed in our laps. The legacy rewards are utter garbage except maybe for the lvl 10 speeder with most legacy rewards only useable by that toon... thats not a legacy thats just a unlock to temp players to buy it next time round not earn it Legacy is about quick win and hooks.. which in turn buys them shortterm time to prep the odd larger content update that in turn is used as bait to keep players hooked in for the next one, whilst maintaining quick content turnaround in the form of things like a small shoe box Wz, A new gear set (or painted over old set) and minor feature update or over hyped transfer tools... The game has moved into a rolling stone approach that will likely see it loose its story focus in favour of quick $$$ wins in all directions with the occasional expansion pack (if you can call Makeb that in all honesty) But that said if they can keep up the content then all well and good though quality should always come over quantity imo... F2P does bring its downsides but it can also prove to be the turnaround of MMO's that have floundered - hopefully BW have done their homework well cos the industry does need a glowstick MMO - right George!!

I absolutely agree with you but its the nature of the beast when the game is designed to allow such things to prosper - the bird nests are a prime example of how poorly the rare item spawn mechanic works.. unless of course you are one of the lucky ones who have looted and now have an alarm clock set to allow you to build your GTN stockpile up.

Errm what possible good does such a thread do.. you cant change the fact the player got the crystal before you, there are no in game rules to have you form orderly ques around the spawn point - its simply a shoddy game mechanic that the devs have implemented. Having such items on ridiculous respawn times like the crystals or the eggs is the whole reason that player manners are thrown out the back of the bus in the first place... the players are the ones that should be flagged after looting these rare items and unable to re-loot again either permanently or more realistically timered for "X" hours or days like most other decent MMO's do... if you can timer someone for a raid or a flashpoint there is simply no reason for not being able to timer someone on unique or rare spawns. As for reporting him/her to their guild.. I bet they are quaking in their boots at the thought... except for the fact that the guild will likely not even know who the player is .... judging from the amount of desperado guild spamming that is rife in this game, so good luck with that one. Only things left for you to do now are - 1 - Dust yourself off and carry on playing. you can always come back and take your chances again 2 - Camp the spawn point, log out and log back in like the plethora of others do with these items... Alderaan is a campers paradise up on the bird nest cliffs - sad but unfortuantely true, almost forced on the players by the devs (and they couldn't care less) Welcome to SWTOR

Well.. I dont smoke, not long finished work, picked kids up, logged my PC on and got a twitter twatter to say summing was up with SWTOR.. so I felt compelled to log in and enjoy the fun before me and my 13 yr old jump on our bikes to go rugby training (kinda similar to walking round the block only a little more exertive. Now my mom, well she's on holiday and likely sipping a martini by the pool right now.... as for my sweetheart .. eerrmm welll...she unfortunately died 4 yrs ago

Eeerm I am the epitome of relaxation buddy... And if you read my post again.. I didnt say anything about everyone or most or other words to that effect.. I said " and those that whine about the downtime, planned or unplanned"... meaning its aimed at only those... so chill and enjoy the fun some more, cos I am.... its Friday and this kinda thing just helps get the wekend under way that much quicker

Have to say the sheer comedy this game continues to create is utterly awesome... and to add to that all the posts whinning about downtime... planned or unplanned is just icing on the top of the cake - YES CAKE IS A LIE! Poor form again BW, annoying the diehards that are left even further, but funnier still all those who appear to lack any kind of life outside of a game when its not working for a while... priceless. Only advice I can offer.. do what those at headquarters are doing.. take a smoke, chill in the sun for an hour, call your sweathearts at work.. or your moms.. then take a gentle stroll round the block and come back, log in and prepare to be dissapointed some more when that "servers are offline.. go read our twitter twatter for more info" lights up your screens again

My guess is.... It's irrelevant !! If you enjoy the game and log in, find groups easy enough or wanna fly solo.. then what does it matter if there is 300k, 400k, 500k, 1mill subs.. its not like you ever see that many logged in at the same time. Last night on RE we had 3 niceley populated fleet instances and 2 instances on most other planets, except Quesh and Alderaan... though tbh I have always found them to be the worst for lag and at opposite ends of the spectrum for size/activity. Eitherway sub numbers are nothing more than numbers that really dont mean too much to the average player. Silly thing is there are far more posts on here complaining about ingame performance and "the game suffers with too many players in the same instance etc etc"... Yes the game has declioned at an alrming rate of knots since launch, for a plethora of reasons and I have been as vocal about those issues as much as the next player but numbers meeehhhh.. Think back 3+ months ago and all the servers running on empty, players complaining that there was no one to group with etc etc... sure numbers haven't risen and likely declined further still, but the game feels more active because they are not spread all over the place. If BW had considerd this to start with, I would guess half these "how many subbers" posts would never of seen the light of day. FACT - If you enjoy the game then go play it, let the suits worry about the $$ in the cash till. FACT - Are you 1 of only a handful left on your server and grouping is impossible... if so then you have the option to play the only card that realy holds value to BEAWARE.... FACT - If BEAWARE has done their homework into F2P then they will likely not be interested in whether players stay subbed or take up the F2P option, becasue if the hooks are their, the cashop priced sensibily and the activity levels both ingame and in-house are decent then there will always be a keerchingg to be heard and many players wont even realise how much they spend each month becuase the game is enjoyable to them... WELCOME TO F2P

Sure 50mill sounds a wee bit on the over inflated side.. but that said F2P allows for numbers to be measured in many different ways, other than how many players have paod their sub this month/this quarter... Anyone that has taken a trial or joins F2P count as a number on the active player lists because there is no clear defined point at which you are no longer considered active. F2P simply requires you to open an account, not spend anything or achieve anything. So as far fetched as it sounds (and yes I agree it sounds silly, especially in a 12-18 month timeframe), an increase in "player numbers" will likely occur even though the server activity might not support the theory. Now if they measure player numbers by a way of who spends money in the cash shop / subs - then that might be where silly season becomes more noticeable in their visions.. just depends on the metrics they use within the model I guess.

Like you said it isn't / wasn't broken and animation aside isn't really that different but it requires players to relearn how to use it effectively but more importantly for other players in the group to learn how to work with it.. that is not a Bioware issue, that is a player issue. The same thing could be said about general CC's and AoE's being used when engaging the same group of mobs.. I will guarantee there will always be someone that forgets what advantage CC'ing mobs has in and happily goes about firing an XL-Freighter or"name AoE here" which now sets off an addition 3 or 4 mobs at them and then foolishly calls out the healer for not doing their job apparently.... balance and nerfs are introduced for a reason, and game mechaincs are always being tweaked here and there. Be happy BW actually told you up front, some games just do it regarless.. or worse allow the game to continue to be out of balance, stale and unchallenging... Bottom line some players like to feel secure that their one tricky pony is ubersauce many others enjoy games that challenge them to learn their class, their abilities and limitations.. balance keeps that process from drying up imo.

And you must be.... a PvE'er... see what you opened with that ridiculous line. The game does not limit anyone to one side of that equation and the abilities that are provided with each class have a global requirement in the game.. unless you would like BW to close both PvP and PvE so that they can redesign it to suit your childish wimms. Balancing a game is never easy, never often liked by any or all and is never completely finished. Any experienced MMO player understands that balance is constanly evolving as gear, content, tactics and playstyles evolve so SWTOR is no different to any other MMO out there, or show me one that doesn't balance and rebalance from time to time. I am not really a PvP player but totally understand the reasoning behind the rebalancing.. do I like it? - not really but does it make the game unplayable? - No. At worst all you have to do is relearn how to use the ability or swap tactics. Either way to have a game that has an ability doing one thing in one environment and another in another is simply not feasable and a silly idea. Nerfs happen for a reason, deal with it or ---->>>> EXIT

Because dragging it back to PvP is important.. you cant place your classes into small boxes and make changes to it just because one or twom players feel they are not competitive in a Boss/raid instance... whatever changes they might then make have wider repurcussions than just said class being that much more affective in a certain instance/environament. Game balance is exactly that.. gamewide not PvE specific or PvP specific it is game wide and I would hazard a guess that the stats and data that the balancing experts utilise is a little more extensive than what the various player parsars are showing. But saying that, I would expect there to be variants within and outside of that 5% differnetial... but those other classes have other skills/abilities and attributes at their desposal which have uses. But if a player uses them instead of keeping up his/her DPS rotations then sure it will show the DPS gap between one class and another for sure.. but its down to individual playstyles and the conditions within the instance.... I would love to say I can stand toe to toe and just keep cycling my rotations on my DPS class but reality suggests that isn't normally viable 100% of the time.. Parsars are great but they don't tell the whole story.. and tbh I find that a good thing and bad - Good becuase the game is meant to be a little more than number watching and boasting ubersauceness Bad because it creates threads like this calling for devs to keep changing things to ease their own failings in the name of balance.. then changes get made and someone else jumps on the band wagon and .. rinse / repeat. The game balance overall might not be quite there yet, but if it was sooo outta sync then many more threads would be lit up on here and no one would be getting through content At the end of the day its a game, not a maths lesson... you just need to let go and learn to enjoy it for what it is.

And so the game becomes Pay to Win.. no thanks that is just plain silly.. lets all roll a toon, buy all the gear we need.. rush to 50, buy our full Rak sets, then buy the next etc etc.. then QQ when they cant deleiver content out every weekcos were all sat around twiddling our fingers waiting... no thanks!