The only enforceable contracts in SWTOR use the trading and GTN systems. Every other form of bargaining relies on trust. I would not trust random strangers on the internet. If one does and does not get the benefit of their bargain, then that's on them. Honestly though, if you expect payment for clicking a referral link, then there little sympathy that can be had from me. You do get tangible benefits from clicking the link. If you also get credits, great, more power to you. But it does not seem like a tragedy to me if you don't.

That might be overselling the case a bit. I agree that 1 v 1 isn't as effortless as people think. But the idea that 99% are cannon fodder is just silly. You would have to be brain dead to die a lot on this class. Sure if you get focused, but there's literally no class including other operatives who an operative can't escape from.

It does exactly what it did in 4.0 considering that you didn't gain anything like exp at the level cap.

Naw that wasn't it. What was is that gearing was a mess even though it wouldn't seem like it if you had been around and keeping up. Gearing makes a lot of sense if you understood it, but not so much if you were new or just coming into the game. Remember the game didn't do anything at all to really inform you how and where to gear. So you hit level cap and just were expected to know what to do. Sure, we knew what to do because we've been here through all the iterations. But for people who don't frequent these forums and aren't obsessive about this stuff it was sort of overwhelming. It didn't help that PvE token gear was atrociously itemized on purpose. The new system is very easy, but that ease comes with a big lack of control over gearing. And for many veteran MMORPG players, that loss of control is extremely off-putting.

Sorc Healers are still just a tad above the others, but that's because their healing powers just plain have better synergy with PvP than the others and that hasn't changed. Merc healers are near invulnerable and the best of them are really doing well, so much so that I challenge the idea that there's still a material difference between them and Sorcs. Operative healers seem to be doing a tad better, but not a lot of changes to Operative heals. As for Sorc DPS, it's just plain that they don't do enough damage to make up for the increase in survivability that many specs have now. They nerfed nearly every damage and healing power Sorcerers have by about 3-7%. They nerfed Corrupted Barrier (heal on Barrier) so that it's really not that useful anymore. Only real upside for Sorc DPS is that they unnerfed Force Speed (back to base 20 sec. CD) but that's lost in the sea of nerfs. I'm pretty happy though. The whining has moved to Mercs and the FOTM rollers have moved on. That's the long and the short of it. Honestly, Bolster really seems to be doing its job now. With the removal of Expertise, it seems that implementing Bolster appropriately is easier for them. So personally, I just don't care about gear. I just use my 208s until I get a piece of tier set bonus gear to swap out. It's not so bad.

I got the survey and been subbed since early access. To be honest though most of the survey didn't really seem to pertain to PvP.

I'll bet you they haven't decided. Should be Tier based though. Something like 30 for Tier 1; 40 for Tier 2; 60 for Tier 3.

Yes for the most part, the class story is enough to get you through the game. Supplementing that with heroics however will help ensure your gear is updated.

The heck with your rules Eric. Many Bothans die to get the Death Star plans.

So what? Why does it matter? If content is fun people will do it anyway.

Saying that PvE content has 'risk' is a misnomer. The only thing you ever risk in a game is time. Wipes cost a negligible amount of credits. Once the script is practiced enough, raiding is farming not playing. All CXP rewards is playing. All the arguments that one feature or another has a better rate of return is putting the cart before the horse. Just play how you want. Stop stressing about gear and you'll have it before you know it.

No, base it on medals and give much more for the later medals. Otherwise let's just be rid of ranked because that would be the practical result. We already tried the only reward winning. Ranked shrunk to almost nothing.

If you know how to play it would be a buff. If you just want to lose repeatedly to get your gear you would be disappointed. Not seeing the problem there. But in any event, you are getting hung up on numbers instead of the concept.

The constant tweaking of the CXP will continue until you define and reward playing the game as you intend. Currently, both nerfs we've seen attack grinding. I won't opine about that other than to say, you must always understand that players will prefer boring grinding if that is the most rewarding. But what these nerfs signal to me is that players are expected to play a particular piece of content all the way through and not reset it to game the rewards. That's fair, but then you have made it a sucker's bet to play the game properly. To fix this I suggest you back-weight CXP in all types of content. What that would look like is something like this for Operations and other PvE content: Operation boss 1 - 100 CXP Operation boss 2 - 300 CXP Final boss - 900 CXP In PvP, it could be a sliding scale based on your medal count, e.g.: Medal 1 - 20 CXP Medal 8+ - 50 CXP each Something like that. The advantage of this is it rewards playing through to conclusion. It gets the afk folks out of PvP. It targets rewards to the content. And it tells the players this is the intended behavior. Looking forward to seeing what's coming Thursday, but hope you consider this.

No sir, we can not. For evidence please see Sorcerers. Mercs wanted to be FOTM for awhile (literally people asked for that). You got it. The hate comes along with it.

Far too kind. -6/10

I said that about Sorcerers, let me remind you what the Mercs said then. That Sorcs sucked for a long time is no reason for them to be OP now. Now one cares about the bad Sorcs, these buffs (which are pitiful next to 5.0 Merc buffs) make skilled Sorcs too strong which kills ranked (poor ranked, it's died so many times ). But yes, leave Mercs alone. The hypocrisy is providing me the sweetest schadenfreude seeing Merc players defend it.

I understand, it is part of why I stay, but then I don't care about the gear. It will come when it comes. Till then, I just get what enjoyment I can from the game. I'm not saying everyone has to feel like I do, but I don't see how all this angst is productive.

I'm sorry how trollish this will sound, but, why do ops players still care about gear? You are earning gear to beat the same raids you've beat a dozen times before?

To be fair, I think the more accurate comparison is: Group Ranked - Nightmare raiding Solo Ranked - Story Raiding Regulars - Flashpoints Open world - lol In group ranked you have complete control over your teammates as you do in Nightmare. You also can't queue without said team. Solo ranked is like story mode where you can click a button and get in. But, in any event, you're asking them to care about ranked warzones which they have made abundantly clear they will never give more than scant attention too.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but the point of the change is to make it easier for a newer player who does want to be effective to know what to use. Mercs should not have had Rocket Punch or Flamethrower on their hot bars. These skills (except the RP root) are subpar for a ranged combatant. But so long as they exist for Mercs, they signal to players that they should be used somehow. Many players find it confusing to be given a power but not be expected to use it. This is why the devs have removed 'fun' powers in the past, and almost certainly why they made this change.

The KO change is at least a mini-swap. But I'm seriously OK with it. Mercs needed the buff. But the healing on energy shield annoys me because it is better than Corrupted Barrier was but Corrupted Barrier got nerfed.

Deflecting really doesn't address where Mercs are now. Mercs definitely needed a focus swap DCD. They got three. And kept the best burst in the game. But please do keep up the defense, the hypocrisy from the people who used to whine about Sorcs is amazing to watch. I hope they don't change anything. Watching these rhetorical contortions is quite amusing.

They don't and never have been able to. Currently Corrupted Barrier is literally half as effective as it was in 4.0, and it couldn't heal that much in 4.0. Look, stop scapegoating Sorcerers. That class isn't top of the heap anymore. The hate is properly focused on the Merc class.

I do find it interesting to see some of the people denouncing Sorcs for 2-3 years now defending these Merc changes. Personally, I say leave Mercs alone. I'm enjoying seeing the hate directed elsewhere and the hypocrisy is a wonder to watch.