Hate is too strong of a word. Overall I didn't like the expansions but that doesn't mean there weren't also some things I enjoyed about them. Liked: The cinematic content in the game never looked better. The voice acting was fantastic. The look of both Odessen and Zakuul. That battles in KoTET, like the invasions of Voss or Odessen, actually had the look and feel of battles. That was missing in some of the original content, like Corellia for example, which looks and feels like any other MMO quest area. Valkorian. Although I was not a fan of the Zakuulan empire I thought KotFE & KoTET's take on the Sith Emperor was much better than the vanilla content. He was better written, acted, and had a better character design than class story Vitiate. I'd gladly have Valkorian be the Sith Emperor at the start of the game. Arcann. I thought he was an interesting character and that it was cool that he could be redeemed to the light side. The boss fights with Arcann, Vaylin, and Valkorian. I found them fun and while they don't compare to Ops bosses, they provided a moderate challenge by solo story content standards. The possession storyline with Vitiate/Valkorian. I thought that was interesting, though it would have worked better as a continuation of the Jedi Knight's class story. Disliked: The Alliance. The story just does not feel like Star Wars, and to an almost lore-breaking extent, when you have Sith and Jedi holding hands and cooperating. An eternal conflict between practioners of the light and dark sides of the Force is Star Wars. Being Alliance Commander. It takes your player character out of their class background and defeats the purpose of playing as them. People pick a Jedi or Sith at start up to experience a Jedi or Sith story, not to be some sort of factional commander that is entirely separate from that. Likewise Bounty hunters want to hunt bounties, Smugglers smuggle, Agents do their 007 routine, and Troopers doing special operations for the Republic. The Zakuulan empire. This faction appears nowhere else in the lore or EU and yet it suddenly materializes in the story of SWTOR, with it's force using knights we've never heard of, to defeat the Sith Empire, the Republic, and the Sith and Jedi simultaneously. It's the Mary Sue of EU factions. Separate faction stories being dropped. Each of the eight player characters no longer existing simultaneously, with only one canon Alliance Commander, and the other seven disappearing entirely from the story. That effectively killed replay value. Original companion characters being removed, some of whom have still yet to return....nearly three years after Knights of the Fallen Empire premiered. Most of the new companion characters having little in the way of story or dialogue. See all the Star Fortress companions as examples. Most of the returning companions having very little role in the story compared to Theron and Lana. The grindy nature of some of the content, with endless boring hallways filled with skytroopers. That there is little to do on either Odessen or Zakuul beyond the story chapters. Both should have been daily areas. That there was little in the way of grouped content. Vaylin. I know she has her fans, but I found her brat persona grating. Non-Force users in the role of Alliance Commander. It is silly. The Smuggler and Bounty Hunter in particular are laughable in the role, as you couldn't pick two worse candidates, but even the Agent and Trooper do not work. Darth Marr's ghost and Satele Shan being besties. Satele Shan is the grandmaster of the Jedi order, a champion of the light side of the Force, and they have her hanging out with the ghost of a Dark Council member. On that note Marr is way too warm and fuzzy. He's the shade of an evil dark council member. His spirit should be demonic and dangerous, not something you can have a friendly chat with. That bit was weird and borderline lore breaking.

I don't recall that particular mission well and if there is a way out from where you jumped, but if you are stuck inside terrain you can't climb out of you can try the /stuck command. It should reset you outside it.

Huttballs can explode if a ball carrier holds onto it for too long without passing. It's just more noticeable in Vandin because the timer seems shorter. The short timer in Vandin sucks because it makes it pretty much impossible to carry the ball from mid to the end zone entirely by yourself, unlike say classic Huttball. Which means if you get stuck with a deathmatch team that doesn't get in position for passes when you get the ball, you're screwed. In Classic Huttball one good runner can literally carry a clueless team. Not Vandin.

It matters, but shouldn't. If it were up to me I'd change bolster so that every player had a modifiable bolster menu as part of their character sheet, where players could allocate stats into Mastery, Critical, Alacrity ect as they see fit. It would allow for customizing builds to suit individual preferences in PVP gameplay while removing entirely a need to stay on a gear treadmill to remain competitive. I'm in full BiS by the way on my PVP toons and will remain in BiS regardless of what system is introduced, as I also do MM FPs and Ops. I just don't think it's fair that a new player starts with a gear disadvantage. That isn't how PVP should work in my opinion. If it were up to me PVP would be structured to be a skill-based game as much as possible rather than one where gearing matters. I realize Bioware isn't going to that route. It doesn't change that I believe it is the best way to go. I fully understand that it negates gear advantages and previous effort put into gear. I do not care. The playing field should be equal, not titled toward veteran players who've had more time and resources to fully gear their toons. Each additional tier of gear added also widens the gulf between veterans and newcomers. You know what happens when PVP becomes too unfriendly to newcomers? It dies. The gear treadmill should never have been introduced to PVP and needs to be scrapped, the sooner the better. I run crew skills daily, craft, and play the GTN. I'm not in favor of the current gearing system for PVP and clearly stated in my post that keeping the current gear system for PVP is the worst option Bioware should take. Switching back to Expertise gear however would also render effort put into getting current BiS pointless however, unless one also does PVE, as current BiS would be converted into a PVE set that isn't useful in PVP due to it's lack of expertise. I'm okay with that particular tradeoff as I don't think there should be a geat treadmill with PVP, I just find it odd that people in favor of a return to Expertise argue against gear differences being negated entirely by Bolster on the basis that it renders current gearing pointless. So would a return to Expertise gear. If Expertise gear were to return a full set should also be obtainable on a vendor on Day 1, without any previous requirement at all to have PVPed. The newest of new players should be able to obtain a full set without even stepping into a single warzone. They're already at a skill and experience based disadvantage. They don't need a gearing disadvantage stacked on top of it, even if it's only for a duration of a week or two. PVP should be skill based, as much as can be made possible, without exceptions. If I encounter an opposing player while we are travelling between nodes, and I beat him or her, I want it to be because I outplayed that player...not because I'm in 258s or whatever and they've just recently picked up their 230 set. If Expertise returns it is likely to work differently than the system that was previously scrapped, other than being a stat you need to be competitive in PVP.

They're the only people playing mercs? Really? There were no mercs at all prior to 5.0? There are plenty of people who have been playing mercs for years. They also tend to be the ones that cause opposing players headaches, not the FOTM rerollers that everyone loves to rail against. The FOTM rerollers are usually the players that are most easily dealt with.

I PVE, PVP, craft, and am sitting on both a mountain of credits and UCs. Gearing changes won't affect me and I'll be in 258s or whatever the new top tier will be, likely on Day One. Just because it doesn't affect me however doesn't mean I should sneer at players who won't have access to the new gear without changing their playstyle, that they need to "play the game." I'm not even sure what you're trying to say there, as PVP is playing the game. It may not be your preferred playstyle but it is no less "playing the game" than doing PVE.

It takes a very long time to access compared to CZ or Black Hole, which can be run at level 50 regardless of where a player character is at regarding story progression. Bots run 24/7 without respite. Some have been at it on for years now, at least on Yavin. Surely a better way to deter botting would be for the system to have some sort of flagging for further investigation by an actual person that triggers when nodes are being farmed for X amount of hours by a single toon or legacy without pause. Gaiting daily areas behind story content does little in the way of throwing up roadblocks for RMTs, who have plenty of existing areas to farm with bots and who purchase credits at a steep discount from actual players. Iokath style gating ends up inconveniencing players more than it does the people behind the mat farming bots, who have no trouble acquiring billions of credits to sell.

It is very unlikely you encountered cheating. Mercs and Commandos are currently very strong due to anti-focus or self-healing DCDs, off heals, and a good ability to kite. A good Merc or Commando can absolutely delay for a long time at a node. Having said that, if you had him or her outnumbered 5 to 1 there was more going on than just Mercs having strong DCDs. That is more than enough to melt any Merc or Commando, to the point of overkill, if people know how to counter the spec and are doing the right thing. While Merc's strong DCDs (that do need to be nerfed honestly, though paired with damage being buffed back to pre-nerf levels) make it one of the best dueling specs in the game, it isn't so OP that any two players regardless of spec can't burst it down. Even two DPS Sorcs are enough to deal with one Merc, assuming equal skill and knowing how to counter. If a Merc is at a numbers disadvantage and succeeds, the issue was a skill imbalance, not the strength of his or her DCDs. From the sound of it your group was not countering correctly. People were probably dealing direct damage when bubbles were up and healing to full. In general with Mercs and Commandos you want to save CC for when they pop bubbles. Blue is Energy Shield for Mercs and orange Responsive Safeguards. Energy Shield has a damage mitigation (25%) and lasts 12 seconds, Responsive Safeguards is orange and lasts 6 seconds. Responsive Safeguards absorbs 100% of all direct single target damage and reflects 50% of it back on the attacker as well as healing for 5% of maximum health each time a direct attack is absorbed. In addition players can take utilities that beef up Energy Shield (including giving it a self-heal that when the shield expires, heals based on the amount of direct damage received while it was active), and of course most players do. The colors are reversed with Commandos who have orange for their version of Energy Shield and blue for their version of Responsive Safeguards. Bubble up? CC, AOE (if not mezzed), LoS or target swap if you have to. Just don't do direct single target damage *unless* they are low health, have Energy Shield up, and you are certain they can be burst down before it expires. A Merc is one of the main DPS specs I play and I've been in situations like you describe, and nothing makes me happier than to tie up 3, or 4, or 5 people at an opposing team's side node while my team caps mid. It's entirely dependent however on one or more players not knowing how to play against Mercs and for example continue running through a full rotation when I have Responsive Safeguards up. If I run into a group that does know how to counter Mercs I quickly land in trouble, and am toast unless I can delay them with LoS or CC and retreat. Merc DCDs are too strong at the moment but not a grant of invincibility. If a Merc seems invincible, and isn't guarded or being healed, it is 100% of the time due to people helping that Merc survive focus by healing him or her to full, and probably more than once. Also in general you never want to go 5 versus 1 at a node. Even if you global the person you're piling on you might as well roll out a welcome mat on the node(s) you control. After all if you heavily outnumber the opponents at one node it should mean your team is (or will be) heavily outnumbered at the other.

I think the dislike for Makeb wasn't so much for the story, but how it was structured. At launch Makeb was ridiculously grindy. The pathing between objectives usually had a lot of mobs you couldn't avoid and back then, before companions were made OP and you couldn't over-level the content, the mobs weren't killed in one or two abilities and would knock you off your speeder if you tried to speed past them. It wasn't difficult but it was time consuming. I think people generally liked the planet story though, from what I can recall. The only complaints I can remember regarding story was that separate class stories didn't return.

Fully agreed. Take Kira as an example, someone who was born to Sith parents but fled from Korriban to avoid becoming one. Having the player character then force her to pivot to the dark side and support the empire post-KoTET would be having her character act out of character for the sake of giving the player character a force user companion who won't disagree with them. Likewise Scourge shouldn't be able to be redeemed and converted into a Jedi for similar reasons.

I don't like the gearing system introduced with 5.0 but I think it is a bit disingenuous to imply 5.0 gearing was responsible for server mergers. The game's population had been in decline long before 5.0 with several of the old servers either dead or dying. Server mergers had been a frequent request on these forums for years, as servers like Jung Ma and Prophecy of the Five were dead long before 5.0 was a blip on the radar. The server mergers were likely going to happen with or without 5.0.

Any new daily areas that are introduced should not be gated behind a story unlock. Allow players to decide for themselves whether or not they want to be "spoiled' by running those dailies before doing the story, similar to how one can run heroics on any planet regardless of whether or not you've visited that planet yet in your class story. The only gating that should exist preventing running dailies is character level. A daily area like Iokath, which is locked behind story content, is alt-unfriendly in requiring you to do a great deal of story content on each character you want to access it. Considering KotFE and KoTET are essentially the same exact story regardless of which class you run it on, there is very little incentive to revisit it with alts.

I don't like that pvp was put on the gear treadmill but that is unfortunately where we are now. That leaves Bioware with a few options in how to deal with PVP gearing going forward, none of which can be implemented without inconveniencing some players. That is a direct consequence of the changes made with 5.0. The first option is the worst of the three, which is to keep the current system of gearing for PVP. That keeps us all on the gear treadmill, forever chasing that next highest tier to stay competitive. I think it is a safe bet that very few PVPers want that, even if they are reluctant to part with their current BiS advantage over players who aren't as well geared. That also makes it progressively more difficult for new players to contribute, as each new gear tier introduced is going to make their 230 set (or less) increasingly at a disadvantage. PVP should be about skill, not which gear tier you are in. The gear treadmill should be a concern exclusive to running PVE content. The second is to remove gear requirements entirely via Bolster, though that would also need to be paired with some changes to Bolster. This is my preference but that isn't to say it is a perfect solution. A perfect solution doesn't exist sadly. As you said, it renders any effort people put into getting into 248 pointless unless they also do PVE, and while I do, many PVPers do not. The final option is a return to some form of the Expertise system. Like the Bolster option it also inconveniences players who put effort into getting to 248 since that gear now becomes a PVE set that you need to replace to stay competitive in PVP. I prefer this option to current gearing but find it inferior to changing and using Bolster, as it then requires me to have two separate sets of gear for every character I wish to do both PVE and PVP on. It is alt-unfriendly, time consuming, and eats up cargo and inventory space. It is also slightly less friendly to newcomers than Option 2, which takes gearing completely out of the picture. *If* expertise was going to return at all I'd hope it would be limited to something like relics. Give us all the expertise stat we need on new relics without replacing other stats like critical or power, so people don't have to gear swap if they then want to do a MM FP or an Ops.

There is some form of matchmaking now. Most of the time the distribution of healers and tanks will be somewhat even. It may not be perfect, because you could have an odd number of healers in the queue which means one team is going to get an extra, but I have not been in a match since matchmaking went into effect where for example all three healers in the queue ended on the same team and the other got none. All the healers being stacked onto a single team used to be a common occurrence. In the past you were either steamrolling over some hapless team with no healing or guard, or you'd be on that team with no healing and guard and the best you could hope for, unless they were flat out terrible, was not giving them a three cap. I do wonder however if there is some hidden ELO that the matchmaking system uses. When there is an odd number of healers (lets stick with 3) I seem to always land on the team with one healer instead of two if I queue on a DPS that I've been playing for a long time and usually top a leaderboard with. That gets a bit frustrating if you get several matches in a row like that, because even if you win most of them, they tend to be parsing dummy matches where the top number of killing blows is in the single digits.

How I'd fix bolster.... Give everyone a customizable bolster menu as part of their character sheet. Every player has the same amount of unallocated stat points based on their spec. At any time while not currently in a warzone or arena, a player can go into that menu and assign or reassign stats as they see fit. X amount of points into mastery, Y amount of points into Critical, Z amount of points into Alacrity, ect. In that system everyone is boosted to 252 or current top gear tier but players can still have their individual customized builds, like for example a high alacrity build. The playing field is leveled without negating player choice in how they want to customize their character to fit their playing style or preferences.

This. I think companion characters should have defined personalities determined by their backstories, that the player character may not necessarily be able to alter. Given how Nadia is characterized in the class story content, it would be entirely in keeping for her not to agree with dark side or pro-Empire actions, and for that to come packaged with consequences.

I don't think there is any way around that honestly. The gear grind should never have been introduced to PVP at all but unfortunately that ship has sailed. That means going forward there are really only three options. The first is to keep the current gear grind in place making PVPers continuously having to upgrade to each new highest gear tier just like PVErs. The second is to replace it with something resembling the old expertise system. The third is to scrap the gear treadmill entirely for PVP and level the playing field as much as possible via Bolster. Others may disagree but I find option three the least bad option. Both #2 and #3 render the grind you went through to get to 248 meaningless, but the alternative is staying on a gear treadmill. #3 makes PVP primarily about skill and not gearing, which at least IMO should be how it works ideally.

Turn down the hyperbole. How exactly am I asking the devs to **** all over the PVP community? I'm a PVPer. You don't speak for every PVPer no more than I speak for every PVPer. We have different opinions on this subject but our opinions are nothing more than our own. Don't pretend otherwise. You also need to work on your reading comprehension. Both Mourn & myself are in favor of bolster raising everyone to 252 and making the gear grind more of a PVE thing. That's the opposite of asking the devs to *** all over the PVP community. PVP should be about skill, not the gear you're wearing. Expertise gear was a bad system. If I want to do PVE I just want to queue for it with no hassles. If I do PVP I just want to queue for it with no hassles. So yes, I think having to go to a cargo bay to swap out gear sets is tedious and a waste of both time and space. I'd rather not do that again. Furthermore the old system of gearing was much harsher on entry level players. If a new player didn't have a full set of expertise gear or didn't know how to make the most of bolster they were basically free kills. A new player now can step into PVP with their PVE gear and still be competitive. Or at least more competitive than they could when expertise was still a thing.

This. While there are some pvpers who only pvp, many also do some PVE. Having to swap out gear sets every time you want to to switch from one game mode to another is tedious and it takes up space unnecessarily in either your inventory or your cargo hold. Expertise gear was a bad system for PVP and Bioware was right to scrap it the first time. It should not be brought back. I also agree with your suggested solution. Gear should be made a non-factor in PVP by taking all players to the current top tier though bolster. *If* expertise is going to be brought back at all, have it be limited to two relics that contain all the expertise stat you need. I'd rather go with the bolster solution but swapping relics wouldn't be as bad as having to swap 14 gear pieces every time you want to go from PVE to PVP or vice versa.

I fully disagree. While players who ignore objectives in warzones are fully entitled to play that way if they wish (they aren't paying any less than me for their subs), it's a bit selfish and and screws over the rest of the team that may want to actually be competitive and win. Neither being a Ranked player who is just passing time in Regs or a Regs "veteran" who has been at it since 2012 is a valid excuse for being a poor teammate. It would also be a bit hypocritical of that Ranked player if they're one to complain about casuals and mat farmers ruining Ranked. Those casuals and mat farmers are just as entitled to play Ranked as they wish, as they aren't breaking any rules in the ToS and they likewise pay the same rates for their subs. What both the Ranked casuals and Regs deathmatchers that ignore objectives have in common however is being absolute garbage at whichever game mode they're submarining. DPS and HPS numbers in a Regs match mean nothing if your team loses because you were ignoring calls, not focusing on the Huttball, tunneling instead of getting to that next Voidstar node, ect. Not liking a game mode isn't a valid excuse either. I'm not crazy about Huttball, but that doesn't mean I'll go deathmatch in a corner. I focus enemy ball carriers and help control mid when I'm on my DPS, or peel for ball runners or look to get into position for a pass from them. I do that firstly because I want to win, but also because I'm just one person, and there are seven other players on my team that I'll be screwing over if I don't. The odd thing is that you don't even need to ignore objectives to run high numbers the majority of the team. When I queue regs more often than not I top in damage or healing, and I play the objectives. Odessen is really the only game mode where you may have to sacrifice "numbers" to win. It is a shame PVP doesn't have some sort of vote kick system that worked and couldn't be abused. Maybe it's not possible to have one, but the lack of it is why situations like this exist. You have similar players in PVE. The difference is that the people who aren't team players, like for example a DPS who keeps pulling before the tank, end up being given the heave-ho by the rest of the team. That makes it much less of an issue than PVP, since weak links can be replaced by team players.

I'm happy that we're going back to a "traditional" Star Wars story again as well, and that we're getting two separate faction stories. The next update sounds like it may be interesting.

When you meet Malora she is only an Apprentice, likely not long out of training on Korriban herself. 13 years have passed in the timeline since then. Her rise from Apprentice to Darth and then Dark Council member within that time frame is more than believable. That is a long time in which to grow in power and ability. It is also slower than the Inquisitor's rise, who goes from Acolyte to Dark Council member in the span of only two years. If we're going to declare Malora's rise too rapid to be believable than same must be said about the Inquisitor. Player characters shouldn't be special snowflakes that are held to different standards than the NPCs.

Companion character decorations are currently broken in Strongholds, and have been since Strongholds were launched. By that I mean any companion character whose outfit can be customized when placed as decoration will not render correctly if the Stronghold owner ventures too far from the decoration. If for example a Stronghold owner places Scourge as a decoration in the balcony/entrance portion of a Tatooine stronghold, but ventures out into the outside desert portion of the Stronghold, any keyholders or group or guildmates that then enter the Stronghold will see that companion without any clothing and standing around in the underwear. As humorous as that might be it sort of defeats the purpose of having companion characters as decorations. I'm sure most players would rather not have their companions standing around in their skivvies if they venture too far away from the point where they were placed. This bug is almost certainly related to the other issue of having "ghost" companions you haven't place as decorations in your Stronghold, appear briefly in your Stronghold but sans clothing. No doubt the lack of clothing is tied to that distance from owner issue, since the "ghost" companions aren't yours. If any Bioware devs scan this thread it would be great if this issue could be addressed. Thank you!

The Sith Warrior sleeping with Vette's sister as a condition for having her freed from slavery, and Vette then crowing about how the Sith Warrior is such an awesome guy who does awesome things for people. It may make a certain amount of sense for the Sith Warrior to make that request, since the Sith are the series' villains, but it would have been nice if Vette actually acted like a real person in response to it. As in viewing it as as the completely sleazy action it is. It should have also ended the romance arc with Vette.

Tl;dr version: Bad premade is sad premade because can no longer tank stack Nothing to see here.