Just a few personal thoughts on the matter.
@Vandergroth said:
328, primarily Thyrsian with a few Rakata pieces, using purple augs here, have they fixed the bug where augs don't matter in PVP? Barely dipped my toes in Ranked. I mostly queue on my own (and when I'm in a group they will usually not be active Ranked players). My apologies, but are you saying that a Ranked noob like myself who just wanted to see what all the hubbub was about during the off-season period should never get to do a WZ on any alt that ever did a Ranked queue? My apologies, but I disagree.
There is also this:
I apologize again, but I disagree here as well. If we're talking about association football, or soccer, rather than American football (we might both be more familiar with the former if you play on Tulak Hord), then there are ample opportunities for pick-up matches between random people, friendly matches, or even tournaments which do not affect a team or a player's local, national or international standing. Much like SWTOR players earn Valor, both football players and teams become better known and get to practice and / or hone their skills during the off-season, or during breaks, in 'unranked' encounters. If anything, were I to suggest any kind of matchmaking, I would say 'use average Valor rank to form similar teams', frustrating as it can get for someone who hit 500 to get teammates with way lower ranks, but, seriously... you can both carry and teach in the process, just watch out for the ones who can actually tunnel you.
In my case, to avoid some amount of frustration, I never queue for randoms in other MMOs if I can't carry the whole team in PVE, at least.
(This does not solve the premade-vs-pug issue, I know. Someone smarter than myself might be needed to deal with that one. Look, I used to earn a living by hitting a ball with my head in order to score points often enough, cut me some slack here.)
Other people have mentioned 'toxicity'. Yes, this is a thing. However, this is also an online game played among people who are, oftentimes, thousands of miles apart. If someone from the Internet telling you to kill yourself will make you even consider it, please, seek professional assistance; there are specialists who work pro bono out there if you can't afford their fees. If you get insulted by some random person and it ends up being a genuine blow to your self-esteem, do the same and understand this:
There are people in the world who lead unpleasant lives, so a bunch of them take it out on whoever they can harm and sometimes derive some temporary relief and / or satisfaction from it. If you're more empathic, respect their pain and be happy with the fact that you may well be in a better place. If not, just focus your negative emotions, speak some swear words where you're playing, rather than typing them out, then move on. Seriously, how are you going to handle real life if you care too much about the rage of some random online stranger who can't ever get to you and express it in person?
Not gonna say that SWTOR's PVP is or has ever been 'good', whatever that means, but it is better than the ones found in games where you just can't do it without P2W or FoMO gear. EA has games with both. This is not one of them. I'm not protecting them (or Disney, for that matter, they can take their Vented sabers and try to think about what would happen if one's hand can slip on that impromptu crossguard, nevermind their Rey Sue or their Kylo Stu), but it can be worse. Seriously, if you're willing to hunt for max gear, check out the future R-4 op on YouTube or on the PTS, if you can pull off a group for it. That's what's coming.
