I don't. I don't like grinding for credits. In actual jobs, you work for actual money. Doing tasks over and over again in a virtual world for imaginary money feels like a job. An unpaid job. A clumsy time sink--I would happily grind for a new outfit, access to a new zone, or the legacy unlocks on their own... but add credits to it? Not worth my time. I am at legacy level 23. I have two characters that are 50, one in the 40s and a few late 20s and teens. I realize this is not extraordinary, but I think it's representative. I've happily dumped every cent into trade skills, and I sometimes even sell things for money, although there's not much of a market on our server. I'm not arguing that credits should be easier to come by, I'm just letting you know: players like me are never going to bother with the legacy unlocks. Too much work to acquire. The time I have, I'd rather be playing the game than doing dailies.

I agree with the original poster in this thread: the decline is normal. People have "finished" the game. But why isn't the game being sold to new subscribers? Where are the tv and print ads? Internet? More than most games, this one should rely on an influx of new players. There are things ToR does brilliantly. This is the first MMO I've played in forever where I felt like the journey was actually the point. Leveling is fun. Seeing the stories is fun too. I've been through some planets more times than I can count, and although, yes, at times it's tedious, it's a lot less tedious than grinding for experience or killing 10 rats for a fetch and carry quest in the barrens. What's more, although the larger social community is a little lacking, this game is perfect to play with your spouse, your friend across the country, one or two people you've met in the game. The content's very well designed for duoing--more so than any game I've seen. So why not market it as such?

Pvp gear grinds are tricky. On one hand, you want to reward players for the time they've put in, give them something to aspire to. On the other hand, when new players come into the tier against people who are fully geared, it's a bloodbath, so much so that unless you do something new players will stop playing. Opening up new warzones, instead of just gear access seems to be a better idea--although of course, that too is population-dependent. I know personally I am not thrilled with any of the gear grinds in ToR--and I level up alts instead, which is more fun than grinding credits to get "starter" pvp gear, or grinding dailies to repeat flashpoints to accumulate enough gear to do operations... Suggestion: new pvp maps built with the existing flashpoint geography. You could do some capture the flag-type things with some of those maps. Or just some ffa death matches--maybe add some traps, bonuses, etc. By using the existing environments, I'd think you could knock them out pretty quickly? Nothing complicated, just something new.

I love pvp matches. I'm not terrific at them, but I'm not terrible either. I have two level 50s, 1 level 40 and a few 20s and all of them have at least 20 valor, and the 50's and 40s have about 30-something. So it's not like I don't pvp. (I realize these statistics are not impressive to an obsessive, but they're what they are. My point is, I DO pvp. In the lower tier, I get mvp votes often. My 50 healer still does... my dps... not so much. ) My PVE gear on my 50s has each riding with about 12,500 hit points. And I like the way it looks. I've added a few expertise places from the buyable battlemaster stuff, but I don't feel like buying the recruit stuff. I don't have the credits--sue me. I blow all my money on trade skills and r/es. Eventually, I'll hit battlemaster. The end. Hopefully however, by that time they will have changed the system and, as several posters have suggested before me, gotten rid of expertise, because a having some of your level 50s in full pvp gear vs some in nothing is about the same kind of balance as having your level 50s in with your level 10s. Or actually, since bolster kind of works, probably worse. Find another way to reward pvp.

I'm kind of wading into this with some trepidation, because I know I'm not going to change your mind, or solve world hunger, and there's really no point, but I disagree with pretty much all of your points. Is there some weak writing in the game? Yes. Are there moments when one's disbelief is left hanging five miles up in the atmosphere? Totally. But your examples--such as they are--are not where I'm seeing that problem. If I'm understanding you correctly, your issues with the plots seem to come up because your character doesn't always have the choices you want them to. Sometimes your character does dumb things and you, instead of gleefully clapping your hands and awaiting the trainwreck (which is, I admit, what I love doing myself), want to be the most awesomest, cleverest, most bestest hero in the entire universe. Frankly, I think Bioware caters to that kind of Mary Sue thinking more than they should already. Let's not make it worse.

This was really entertaining. I just came across it. Love the snappiness of the dialogue and the pacing.

It was gotten by sleeping and making an alliance with... I forget which family. Raffey? Something like that? Don't know if it's still in game, a lot of titles don't seem to be.

Never mind the laughable-ness of you all who can't manage to level healers or tanks with your own built-in pets helping... which I think has already been covered in this thread. Although... it is still funny! Dual spec will just create lazy content, since everyone will be basically dps, except when they "need" to heal or "need" to tank. By the way, I've tanked most heroics with a deception-based assassin. I just use the tank stance when I'm in a group. It's not always as tidy as it could be, but it works. And it's interesting.

Okay, there's a lot of smug responses and not a lot of help in this thread. One thing to remember--sure, if it's not your first rodeo, things are fairly simple. But at some point, everyone has a first rodeo. Use med packs, stims. Send companion in first (control 1) does this. If any circles on the floor appear, get out of them. Try approaching the fight from a different perspective. If you're range, make sure you're engaging at range. If you can heal your companion, let them soak up the damage. Make sure you're training your new abilities when you level. Pick a tree, any tree, and make sure you're speccing points in it. Upgrade your gear, and your companion's gear. Including weapons. Orange pieces that can be modded--hang on to them and mod them. If you're really stuck, find some people who are less smug than these forum posters and ask them for assistance.

If everyone quits, you won't have pvp matches. I love pvp, even when my team loses, and it's a little infuriating to see this change--although, honestly, the nerf isn't that bad. But it has increased the level of whining by a hundredfold. "Waaahhh!! The other side has level 50's" "OMG!! Level 10's shouldn't pvp!" "***! You all suck!" I need to figure out a way to leave ops chat because the whining has me continually switching sides in the hopes of hunting some of them down.

Respeccing makes things complicated for players. Lots of hotkeys, different combinations, no real focus on a spec. I dislike it for that reason. The end result will be--everyone running dps specs except when someone needs to tank or heal. And a lot of crappy tanks and healers. For game developers respeccing makes things very simple. You only need to balance encounters around 3 class types. I personally dislike THAT aspect even more. It is also not hard to level a healer in this game. Or a tank.

You can assist with same class quests. There's an option under "social." Select it and you can help your knight friend.