Spending countless hours playing a video game always amounts to nothing, title or no. Just sayin

I've been using my Razer Naga for years and it has turned out to be a quality product. Can't imagine gaming without it. Also quite happy with my Nostromo. And you bought what you call a "mediocre" product that you clearly don't like and seem more upset about not getting a silly color crystal. If you put the headset on and felt it was mediocre, you could have just taken it back. So who's dumb as a rock here?

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I'm sure it will help some players. If I may, it may also help to add a little something about knowing when to ask for help and when to stop and try to figure it out on your own. There are times when it is ok to ask others for help, and there are times when it is probably better that you stop for a minute and try to find the answer yourself. Asking others for help on a subject that you researched but still don't understand is often received better. If you won't take 5 minutes to try and research the answer on your own, why should somebody else stop and explain it for you? The idea is to find a happy medium when relying on the community to help out. Most players value their time just as much as you value yours. Some players absolutely love to take time helping other players out. Others have logged on to play for a few minutes before work and may not want to be bothered. Finding that happy medium between self reliance and relying on the community makes for a better experience for everyone, imo.

My suggestion, since you asked, is don't log in this weekend. Take a few days off. Go do something else. There have been weeks where I only logged in once or twice just to run Ops with the guild. The fact that you made this thread means you need to take a break and come back later.

What server community?

Dude, the republic is living in the biggest glass house ever built. I'd be careful with those stones.

Yes, they should come with giant palm fronds so they can fan their king!

Friends don't let friends RP.

Yeah, I'm not gonna try to claim that everyone hates it. I hate it. The people I personally know that play this game hate it. The gamers I know that don't play the game laughed at it. Most of the people posting comments on other forums hate it. BW (and you parachute pants enthusiasts) can do what you will with that info.

That is a good point. Can't speak for everyone. I saw a guy walking down the street in an orange plaid shirt and black parachute pants the other day. Clearly he liked what he was wearing.

The trooper and bh are ok, but the rest are just bad. The JC got it the worst. They look like they should be peeling grapes for a pharaoh. The JK just looks like the head grape peeler. And tell me the IA gear doesn't look like it was ripped out of the 80's GI Joe cartoons. To many issues with failed attempts at flair to name.

Not dense. I just think you're full of it. Don't generalize. Link me one of these basic specs you are referring to and tell me why it isn't viable.

That's not logic. It's fantasy because it isn't true.

So, if you have the best possible build, then bosses just die at your feet from the site of you? No, I don't think so. Since we don't really know what the best possible builds are right now (only general builds) this is a silly argument. But, no matter what your playstyle, taking a knife to a gun fight isn't particularly bright. Go down to the park and try to play a game of pickup basketball in your bare feet, or try play a game of softball with a broomstick instead of a bat. Sure, you can still run up and down the court or hit the ball, but nowhere as well as the guys that came prepared to play. And yes, a few of them will probably laugh at the sound of your feet slapping on the pavement. It is ok that people want to play however they want, but they can't expect to measure up against those that put more effort into being prepared. If the goal of this game is to allow everyone to clear content without much preparation, then yeah, do away with enrage timers (or any time-based mechanic for that matter). But if I wanted to play a game without any preparation required, I'd pull out my phone and play Angry Birds or PvZ.

You are absolutely right. The enrage timer does not mean automatic wipe. We've killed bosses after they enrage quite a few times. A few people die, but those that are left play smart and get him down. Anyone can head over to youtube and see plenty of boss vids where the boss is enraged for the last minute of the fight but they still get the kill.

But my point is that people choose to see an enrage timer as a pass/fail scenario when it isn't. You are making the point that there should be a mechanic that shows players progress even when they fail, and the enrage time does do that if you stop to see it. I'm not sure what theory crafting or calculations you are referring to. I haven't done any theory crafting in the traditional sense (no combat logs means no hard numbers) and there are no calculations required to know that last week we got the boss to 10% and this week we had him down to 5%. The ability to see the boss's health percentage is just an option in preferences that you can enable/disable. If you enable it, you will see the boss's health in a percentage and that is the progress you are making against the enrage timer. So again, it is how the player chooses to perceive the fight. You can choose to view the fact that you keep getting closer to 0% before the enrage timer, or you can choose an all or nothing attitude after a few wipes and head to the forums to protest.

There are a bunch of DPS players that probably don't want to see this happen.

So the problem is really how people perceive the result of the fight, and perception is going to differ from one person to the next. Instead of "we wiped 5 times" because they hate the enrage timer, they could be thinking "we wiped at 12%, 10% and 8%, we're getting there." If they don't recognize progress with the enrage timers, they probably won't recognize progress without them either.

Please tell me you forgot your /sarcasm tag.

How do you define "basic spec"? Or maybe give some examples of what you feel are basic specs that aren't viable in Ops.

No tactics and awareness? Please. Granted these fights aren't the hardest in the genre, but some of these fights aren't tank n spanks either. Go into HM Soa with no tactics and/or awareness and you end up with a room full of lightning balls wiping people out and people coming out of cyclone right before the floor drops out from under them. Or have Gharj swiping most of the group because they aren't aware enough to move behind him when he changes targets. If you want to hate on the enrage timers, cool. But don't pretend that if everyone knows their rotations and has the gear, they can just stand there and not pay attention.

But the thread is about enrage timers in Ops. Sure, anyone should be able to play however they want, as long as they are realistic about the limitations of their play style/choices. Problem is that there are a lot of people that want to be able to faceroll content with whatever spec/gear they choose. Enrage timers prevent that. There is no problem with clearing the content with the existing enrage timers as long as you put in a little time. Having a problem beating the enrage timers in HM? Then the problem is either your strat or your gear. If you are undergeared, then you haven't spent enough time in normal modes gearing up. If you have all the gear from normal mode, but are still running into the enrage timers in HM, then your group is doing something wrong and you need to rethink your strat and/or playstyle. Keep in mind that hitting the enrage timer with 5% left on the boss is still doable. I would rather see nifty mechanics instead of engrage timers on every boss, but it isn't stopping anyone from clearing the content if they have prepared properly.

The problem here is what exactly defines casual vs. hardcore? Is it how much time you play, or how you play? I have one 50 and a couple of low level alts. When I was leveling my main, I was playing about 20-25 hours per week. I've been averaging about 6-8 hours of play time per week since I hit 50, most of this spent in Ops. So I'm not really playing that much, but I've cleared all HM Ops. So does that make me casual or hardcore? Not only do I think that these answers will be defined by what you consider casual/hardcore, they will also be defined by what you expect out of the game. Are you looking for something to do instead of a life, or something to do in addition to real life? 1. Do you currently find that end game is too easy? No, it is not too easy if you only spend 4 hours/week working on endgame. If I was expecting the Ops to take multiple days to clear, then yeah, it would be too easy. 2. Did you think the leveling was too quick? I don't think it was too quick, but it wasn't hard either. Pretty much the standard level grind. The VO got old after the first 20 levels. I had to stop a few times and rethink my strat on some of the class story bosses, but it was all soloable. 3. Have you cleared all end game content on at least easy mode? Yes. 4. Would a more difficult lvling process have put you off from continuing to play? No. 5. Is this your first MMO? No. I really like this game and I will continue to play it. If anyone is looking for something that they can spend 8+ hours/day playing, this may not be for you.

Fixed that for ya. There are no mechanics in this game that a pug couldn't handle as long as they each know their roles and do their jobs. The only thing preventing pugs from clearing this endgame content are the pugs. These boss fights are the easiest I've seen in a long time. It's probably not fair of you to say that this endgame prevents pugging when you clearly state you haven't even tried any of it.

The point is (1) a penalty for dying and (2) to prevent people from rez-jumping thru a particular area. You die, you rez, take your 8 seconds of invulnerability and walk a little farther, die again, etc. If you are dying that often in a particular area, you need to rethink your strat for dealing with the mobs that are killing you.