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.

Dear Bioware, When you talked about being able to earn “a GC crate in about an hour to hour and a half” was that based on the average casual player like a bell curve chart? Or is that based on the sliding scale of only the most aggressive play styles will meet that standard? Before this last patch I would have said you based it on a bell curve. Now I am not so sure. As some have said, prior to this change I felt a desire to actually look for and take on the elites in heroics/ flashpoints/story rather than just avoid them. Their value went up to me as a player. Now to be rewarded with one point for the effort is not worth it. This change doesn’t even stop the most dedicated from reaching the cap either. It only slows down the process in which casuals will feel the most impact from this change. Bioware, could you please actually revisit this decision and re-evaluate the affects this might have on various types of play? It would be appreciative. While you are at it, maybe look up and memorize the definition of “moderation” and “baby steps” so you may use these in future changes so as not to enrage the majority of your player base every time.

I play with my friends that I went to high school with, we are all mid 40's now. We raid with my father and uncle (late 70's) and one of my friends mother (undisclosed age). We round off the group with the 13 year old son of one of the group. My friends and I have played tabletop RPGs and computer games together since high school. Everquest was our first MMO. We have tried almost every MMO that has come out, but we usually returned to EQ. SWTOR has kept our attention though, mainly because it is Star Wars.

I would say the simplest answer to why it is not in collections is that it IS legacy gear. You are right in that you did earn it for the legacy. However collections are not legacy based but account based. If they put it in collections you could pull the armor out on any server you play on regardless of your legacy. That would go against the purpose of grinding out the reward for multiple legacies. It was mentioned earlier by someone BW stated reasons for legacy gear not being in collections and I presume at one time they considered it but the coding logistics might of been unfavorable to a easy solution.

If this was a single player RPG then yes those choices should be possible. However you are playing MMORPG. The ability to continue multiple possible story lines for each permutation that different players would make going forward over multiple expansions of a continuing story would be nearly impossible to keep up with as a designer. It limits the writers on what they can do with companions in future story once you get to a point where a companion is killed off by player choice. It is much easier to limit choices to cosmetic differences in the story rather than planning which companions players might choose to keep or kill off.

I think the JK story is the canon version for the game itself. Yes, Senya betrayed him as well. I figure most have played it already but so people don't get grumpy I'll put the explanation in spoiler: With that said, as a LS character, I am willing to bet that you will be allowed to forgive that betrayal and forgive Arcann probably at some point in KoTET.

https://www.twitch.tv/swtor/v/97476720 start at or near 43:33. Charles does comment on returning companions in general, which does affect your characters LI's. As to which ones (if any) return during KoTET, they are not going to give any spoilers.

^This. I have no problem with level sync concept itself. However the loss of being able to acquire certain cosmetic item looks for my character is really irritating. Example. I used to run my Sith thru the FP that dropped Lifebleeder because A) it had a cool name for a lightsaber and B) I actually like the look of it and it was moddable. There is only one look that is currently in the game that matches it (a 116 world drop) . While the drop is moddable, the chance to get it is rare as leveling is sped up so high, you will outlevel the drop range before you have time to try and get it (considering I don't know if it is on all loot tables or just in a specific planet or area.)

I agree. I would love to have longer quest lines like the HK-51 quests, Seeds of Evil, or Macrobinocular quests (but with less of the wonky "use the device to seek and ye shall find" part). Something that covers multiple planets with puzzle solving and group activities. Cinematics should enhance the story and gameplay, not be the story and gameplay.

Your choosing to look at restrictions as punishment. Punishment is something given when you do something wrong. They are offering full access to the features you want if you subscribe. That is an enticement. It all goes back to the saying, " Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"

I see that as one of the strengths of MMO's, to push players out of their comfort zone to try new things. You may decided afterward you didn't like it, of course. I loved those Heroic 4's. Watching my friends fall jumping from car to car entertained us for most of the hour .