With 7.0, I have played both sides but only once on the Empire side. But it feels like both sides could occur timeline-wise. Basically the Republic story happens first (kicking the Empire off of Manaan), followed by the Empire side (retaking and starting up mining again). I would say they are equal at the moment. The Empire has fewer ships but they are more powerful. They don't have the military manpower but are rebuilding and maybe the Sith will keep the keep cordial enough and work together to accomplish something (but I doubt it in the long run). The Republic has ships but they are older (they mention they don't have their newer tech to combat the isotope 5 yet). They have manpower but Jedi are few and need to rebuild, but they have bickering between each other as well over the shape of what the order should look like.

Rather than ruin good group missions, why not start a Request Help section (or at least posts) in the individual Server Forums. I have helped many people thru the Dread Seed and micro binoc group parts of the quests. I don't sit at the fleet waiting to see request as I am out on planets playing the game, as I would think most people are. However I do check the forums frequently enough that if someone was to request aid with a group quest I imagine you could setup a time and place to meet to accommodate everyone involved. There is plenty of soloable material in the game. i would like to preserve the little bit of group material we have.

Eric answered this already.

While I agree he is slightly overtuned, I enjoy that there is a challenging boss for a group. I think if the HP of the summoned followers was lowered or the heal penalty reduced from the debuff, at least in story mode, it would help make the encounter more manageable. If i remember hearing them correctly, these Uprisings are based on Trinity group play, not tactical style.

Yes, I have. Three members of our raid group who happen to be family members, all over the age of 70. I explained the data comms/crystals to them once. They understood it. Now it may be due to me being a Teacher and having patience to explain it fully but they got it pretty quickly. I think after one got their first raid drop piece the only thing I had to show them is where the turn in guy was. This new way is a little messy, kinda like crafting is now. I have to make something before I can make the thing I want. I will give Bioware credit for trying to compromise. They do listen (more so than the players do in many cases). People asked for drops to be put back on Ops bosses and they did give in to an extent. Is it everything the players wanted? no. But that is what compromise is. You don't get everything you want, neither side does.

I agree it should be accumulative, but the total would be 30%.

While it was a good QoL benefit, I feel that the loss of the money sinks hurt the economy quite a bit.

Easy. The same way in real life politicians deal with foreign powers that don't share all the same interests. You put on a friendly face in public and make public deals all the while making sure to limit the abilities of your enemy behind the scenes quietly. The Republic has deals with the Hutt Cartel. I would guess they feel they could manipulate a "crime boss" that they have worked with in the past and built a report with while trying to also curtail his atttacks on their own power base.

Actually you have no idea if Billy and Johnny pay the same price for their sub. If Billy pays by the month and Johnny pays 6 months at a time, Billy is paying more. But that is all besides the point... Bad Analogy. Those of us who received the bonus Chapter didn't "win" it. It was a reward, not a prize. There was no competition for it. We met the criteria to get it. Everyone was eligible. Again, if it was truly free, everyone would of received it. The price of the reward was to be subbed for the full duration of the specific allotted time set by Bioware. It was a loyalty reward for subscribers. I don't agree with content being sub locked, but they did. Hopefully they don't do it again.

But Billy didn't get the reward for "Free". If it was truly " free ", both would of received the reward.

Believe or not, some people only stayed subbed during that time of KotFE to get the bonus chapter. That chapter is really a loyalty reward. Those who stayed subbed were rewarded for their loyalty. Many people chose not to stay subbed. The system was designed that way, and rewarded those who stayed loyal. Now, I would advise Bioware to never lock content behind a pay wall duration again. But I would leave the current Chapter reward alone. The current reward offered is participation in the Galactic Command. While I would not unsub in disgust, it would create a new precedent that all past and future rewards part of a sub are no longer exclusive. That means there is no longer a reason to stay subbed for long periods of time (the one thing most MMO's need and desire, a loyal sub base) to receive rewards, you can just buy them later. Bioware already has a loyalty problem as they don't really value long term subs. To them a sub is a sub. I don't think they want to create more problems in this area that could hurt the long term subs they have left.

It is still an MMO but in limited parts. One of the pillars of an MMO experience is player interaction. If you can do everything in the game by yourself without the help of another individual, then you are playing a Single player RPG. Currently, SWTOR still has OPs / Flashpoints / Uprisings / even datacron hunts that require more than 1 person to complete. That is what is currently keeping SWTOR an MMO. With the possible focus coming on Group Content hopefully they can steer the game to be more centralized as an MMO.

While I believe the study happened, I wonder how long the study lasted and did it track what happened to the ones that did not chase the goodie bag carrot endlessly. (How many never did it again or even left the game?) I also wonder if the study was fair in that the items for direct sale were equally desirable as to what was in the random bag. If the item was the same for direct sale and random bagged I seriously doubt the random option would win in sales. I am not one who is wired to gamble;).

I don't hate the CM but like some others I refuse to buy cartel packs. I do buy Direct purchase items on occasion if they have some armor set or weapon on sale. I wish they would expand their armor collection to include direct sales of Out of Circulation armor sets.

I cringed when they said that on the stream. My apprehension is about what price are they going to put on the perk? My guess, it is going to be astronomical.