I would feel great as long as I'm having fun. I would feel sad if I needed champion gear to have fun and would probably seek pixel envy therapy.

Can't wait to see this evidence present itself. WOW servers were down for days at a time after release, a horrid amount of bugs, major performance issues and very little support early on. Some of the bugs like the infamous loot bug were only fixed just a couple of years ago. There is nothing honest about about WoW being given a 9 at launch. Either you have faulty memory or you were not there at launch and are being brutally dishonest.

Yea as guilds create alts in the other faction for the sole purpose of farming them. Fun! Fun! Like I said above it will get exploited as a means to obtain the rewards in the easiest manner possible using collusion. Open PvP reward systems always fail due to a fail segment of the population obsessed with pixels.

Blame the players not the systems. This is always the problem with any Open World PvP reward systems in that they get exploited as a means to obtain the rewards in the easiest manner possible using collusion. Hell it can be a problem even in closed/controlled system like warzones where players crawl off to a corner and do nothing or sit in a lava pools and spam heals. I think it is pathetic and this obsession with acquiring pixels rather than actually enjoying the game is a serious mental illness. Pay to play a game only so you can get virtual gear....really?

As far as I know balancing decisions will be based on metrics and not forum posts. Not saying it wont happen but it wont happen based on forum posts. If it is than I think every class is going to be nerfed based on the forum crying I see. Hopefully the metrics will take into account the stims etc.

Yea I remember the Mill and Crossroads. Indeed they were good times but it was pretty much all we had unless you wanted to make the jog to the enemy capital for a raid. It did get old after awhile at least for me. Not trying to rehash the open world pvp debate vs battleground debate but just rather that the system is included out of the gate in this game whereas WoW added that content later. I keep seeing people compare this game with WoW at release like the OP and find the comparison laughable in terms of stability and content. I can only figure 2 possibilities for people like the OP with regard to their recollection of WoW at release as follows: 1 - Their recollection is made up and they were not there at release. 2 - They have a short memory and have forgotten.

Well given my long history with MMOs going back to Ultima Online and experiencing many release such as Anarchy Online, Shadowbane, DAoC, WoW and Fallen Earth I'm going to say it is easily the most polished and professional release in my MMO experience. For a just released game I'll give it 9/10. It has plenty of bugs to be squashed and needs some polish here and there but overall I'm amazed given the complicated nature of MMOs in general and this one in particular given the staggering amount of content. Every other MMO I've experienced on release has had serious technical difficulties where you couldn't play at all for long stretches of time (sometimes for days on end). What the future holds is unknown but hopefully they stick to their vision for the game and ignore most of the crap spewed in this forum by wannabe game developers.

YAWN!! WoW servers were crashing non-stop on release sometimes down for days at a time. WoW did not have any BG system etc. at release WoW did not have space combat, voice overs etc. WoW did not have a companion system WoW was full of bugs at release and some such as the infamous loot bug remained in the game until just the last couple of years. The list of game breaking bugs in that game at release is mind boggling. I don't care to grind and love the current progression rate. I will actually play a character for each storyline unless they make it a grind. You seem to think that in order to enjoy the ride it than it must be long and grindy. There is therapy for this disorder you should get it. The only truth to your statement involved the starter areas. WoW had twice as many starter areas that were half as interesting and half as large. SWTOR dominates the WoW release on so many fronts it is not even close.

I care. Adding more is unnecessary and will only further encourage exploiting.

This^ It is unimaginable for me to see why some people have a hard time grasping this idea.

Keep wishing but until you propose some way to reward Open PvP without it being exploited by dishonest players/guilds these things on your wish list will never be implemented and nor should they be.

Its unfortunate but healing medals can easily be exploitable and the existing ones are already exploited. I've already noted some players standing in the lava pools healing to get medals for the 2.5K heal etc.

I agree but either the matchmaker has to be improved to make sure each side has a relatively equal number of geared 50s or we do need a L50 only bracket. In the beginning it was great but as time has gone by there is a problem where geared guildies all at L50 can completely unbalance the game when they queue as a group.

I'm fine with Arena style content as long as that content(gear) is contained and does not bleed over in any way shape or form to any PvP/PvE outside of Arena. Any rewards gained from Arena should be limited only to competition within the Arena system.

Adding brackets will not solve the problem with the exception of maybe making a L50 only bracket. That I'm not opposed to as a short-term solution until a more intelligent matchmaker can be implemented.

Absolutely. I do much better in this game under the bolster system than I ever did in the lower brackets against twinked out characters in WoW by a long shot. Some painful memories of that twink crap in WoW. In this game I have always had fun in PvP with the exception of being gang ***** by a bunch of L50 geared guildies which thankfully has been rare so far. Adding brackets will not solve the problem. A better matchmaker will imho.

A top level 50 is now considered a twink? The only real problem now is heavily geared guilds joining as groups while all at L50. It unbalances the entire match greatly. Hard enough to beat a well coordinated guild using vent as it is. Add in champion gear and all at L50 and it is a farm-fest. Hopefully the matchmaker will be improved.

Whoever came up with bolster should be promoted for coming up with the best idea ever. - No long queues - No twink ******** - No need to cross servers to get players for PvP. Keeps server rivalries intact. A big hell no to brackets and twinking. I'd go back to WoW if I wanted that. The whole system allows everyone to have fun. Will a level 10 solo a level 50?...no. Can I level 10 playing as part of team wipe the floor with a L50?...hell yeah. The only crappy part is when a cheap guild joins as a group all at L50. That tips the balance and makes for crap game.

I never could understand this mentality. 'Work' to me is what I do to pay for this game. 'Gaming' is entertainment and fun. Anything achieved in the game is just a natural progression from having fun in the game. The moment I have to 'grind' or 'work' for something in a game is the same moment I click the 'cancel' button.

I'm not ready to make a judgement on this yet but I'm gathering data. I sure hope not as that is an indication of making knee jerk balance changes based on whiney forum posts rather than objective metrics. If that is the case, we are in for a world of hurt given level of whine in these forums most of which is either uninformed, subjective, ignorant or just for spite (trolling).

Yea and it worries me as I've seen many a game go bad in a hurry because devs seemed to think forum posts reflect the entire community when in reality the forum whiners are usually the vocal minority. The silent majority usually just click the cancel button when the game goes bad due to knee jerk changes. If they want to use community feedback instead of or in tandem with metrics then they should conduct in game polls about proposed changes.

I gave it a try after all the hooplaa I've been hearing and I don't think it's that great. I've also been tracking my return on it pretty closely as well and it averages about 3-5 credits per minute after expenses and depending on when a fail gets computed in. Quite frankly I think I will do better having my companion help with killing mobs faster. If they nerf it any further they might as well just remove it. I also thought balance changes were going to be determined by metrics and not forum whining...is this still true?

Already subbed for 6 month term.

Agreed...I'm laughing hard at this thread. Stealth bar NOW....LOL. Most players are not having a problem.

Agreed ...if the difference was only 5 levels, he is doing something wrong or some other players tagged him as well and he didn't realize it. Somethin fishy going on or someone is not as good as they think. It doesn't matter though. All classes are reviewed using metric systems and balance changes will be made based up on them. Balance changes will not be based on 'unique' player experiences who then cry on the forum. I'm not saying whether SIs need balance changes or not. However, it is nice to know that balance changes will come from a more objective (although not perfect) system.