I just have six words: Tempest Keep was only a setback!

Slicing has been "nerfed" for almost two months now with a buff at 1.1 and followed by a "nerf" 24 hours later and no word has ever been said about this profession since the nerfing patch notes in December. Will we ever see it return to something more stable (i.e. not spending 2000 credits on a mission only to get 1100 back)?

Mine have been all Sith on my Republic character too

Personally, I think they need to do SWG's old system... you had one point everyone went to and then you either traveled to another planet or you hit Launch to go into your ship.

Why would they need to smear it? BioWare seems to be doing a good enough job on its own. Take a look at all the complaints about tickets that are closed unresolved or escalated and then closed without resolution. Over 400 pages on Slicing and not one word from BioWare other than signposts closing the thread because it hit the maximum and pointing folks to the continuation. The list goes on. No one expects this game to be perfect right out of the gate but they do expect a little bit more communication on things. How hard is it to write "We do acknowledge this problem and we know that it is extremely frustrating. We are doing everything we can to fix this problem so please bear with us while we develop a solution."? Or "We made this change because of {reason}. We felt that {explanation}."? Most people do walk away from bad games, but if the intellectual property is good they sometimes stay and hope for the best. Take a look at SWG....

Exactly. No one would fault them in saying "Yeah, we know this problem exists and we are working on a solution but it is taking some time. Please bear with us as this is a top priority for us." But that's just it... there is no communication. Slicing, PvP, etc.. all of these issues need some form of a response because the lack of a response means they simply don't give a poop. And if you come across to your paying customers as you don't care, why should they care and continue to pay you?

That's what the fanboys said about SWG too...

No. Because you were talking like the entire transaction is removed from the game. The vast majority of the credits on the GTN are moved, not removed like you implied.

And if you had bothered to actually read what I wrote you would know I already stated that. But again, the amount is very small and this is not a real credit sink. I already listed most of what real credit sinks are. Please refer to the list... I've quoted it below and added emphasis to the part you missed.

Actually, BioWare calls it gathering.... http://www.swtor.com/info/systems/crew-skills

No, they don't remove credits. Repair costs, skill purchases, vendor purchases, storage additions, fuel costs to travel between places and such REMOVE credits from the game. GTN just moves them between people taking a very small amount if the transaction is successful. GTN is not a credit sink.

True. But here's a comparison.... The other day Blizzard announced Dragon Soul is getting a zone-wide buff to players like the one in Icecrown Citadel. Players took to the forums to complain. Blizzard responded on the THIRD page (51st post of the thread I believe). They did not give the people objecting what they wanted to hear but they at least communicated the reasons for the change. Only BioWare posts we get are signposts directing us to "official" threads that they never post in... other than to put ANOTHER signpost when that one fills up.

You've been EXTREMELY lucky so far then. I've lost 1k on missions. Most mine right now are returning at small losses.

There are probably close to 1,000 pages of discussion on slicing since the 1.0.1 patch destroyed the profession and it is heating up again with the 1.1 stealth buff and the subsequent re-nerf the next day. It is more than overdo that someone from BioWare/EA address this issue with some sort of explanation.

Slicing, as it has been stated numerous times.... is a GATHERING PROFESSION. Not a crafting profession. BioWare even says this (http://www.swtor.com/info/systems/crew-skills). And I said limit to simultaneous missions like I cannot send 5 companions out doing slicing missions. Quit grasping at straws.

All gathering missions have a chance at failure. Part of the risk.

We're not talking about crafting missions. We're talking gathering ones. And re-read that ENTIRE paragraph please.

Not of they adjust for scaling which they should have. Level caps would allow people to have buying power while they level and then have the stockpiles they need at 50 and beyond. And level caps for these missions are logical. I can't just walk onto Ilum or some other high level planet and get the drop boxes there at level 10 can I? They sanctioned people who corpse hopped to certain ones and camped them on some planets well beyond their level so BioWare obviously has a cap in place. So it would be a logical move to extend them to missions too. As a slicer, I would not mind if it was specific to that profession alone too and the others did not have those caps.

Level caps would force you to level them ALL to 50. And it's more grindy than WoW.

Thanks, I needed that laugh this morning.

Yes, they would work. It wasn't a "pick one", it was full package implementing all five things and then making small adjustments from there. And again, the issue that they seem bent on turning the game into a grind fest. WoW for example moved out of that model and while it is a component of the game, they introduced other things to mitigate it (i.e. lfr, removal of mechanics like pots, adding time to flasks, etc.) that allow you to raid seriously but still play casually instead of having to spend days farming mats and making consumables.

That's why there are money pits. Like why your skills starting around level 35 start costing over 10k credits. That's why your extra inventory bars cost progressively higher. That's why your bank tabs cost so much along with your speeder skills. And let's not forget repair costs at level 50 too as your gear quality increases. You're falling back on that same, tired, dead, debunked and stupid argument that people want Slicing back to the way it was at launch. No. We want slicing back to a viable profession again that allows people to casually have a good income stream without having to make playing the GAME turn into having a JOB. Patch 1.0.1 notes say "Rewards from Slicing have been reduced to bring them into balance with other skills." Slicing is not balanced to other skills. It is BELOW them. If I run a level 1 power crystal archaeology mission and it is successful, I do not have Rubat Crystals TAKEN from my inventory. With have that situation. Now if it returned something tangible EVERY TIME then it would be different. But it doesn't. And quit with the 'Well just farm nodes" comments too. If you really want to do that, go back to WoW. Most people don't like the idea of having to get up early and then run around everywhere hunting for nodes (and I doubt BioWare uses Blizzard's method for gathering node spawning) having to plow through mobs and compete with other players. Multiple solutions were given on how to nudge slicing down. A comprehensive, better solution would be to restore it to where it was and then do the following: 1) Reduce payouts by 10% 2) Increase mission costs by 10% 3) Increase mission time by 10-20% 4) Put level caps on the missions (i.e. to do that Rank 5 missions you need to be at least level 41) 5) Limit to two concurrent missions (the system kind of already does this as the "rich" missions aren't always up and are not always up together but let's hard code it anyways)

I never said their priorities were straight. There are still too many problems for them to be working on to be rolling out new content but they did it anyways.

He's overstating. The only way you could make that figure would be by sending every companion out on Rich/Bountiful missions constantly. There are not enough missions to really do that efficiently and not have to sit there babysitting it. For example, the highest level Rich missions are level 5 (41-48). There are 2 and they take just under 30 minutes each costing about 2k. They're not always up together too so chances are only one companion will be doing it at a time. The other missions at lower levels do have good payouts but they are shorter and the payouts proportionately smaller. Thus you need to have no life and let your kids/pets starve to death because you're too busy credit grinding until you too keel over from starvation and die.

Do these vendor for 20k? If you refer to 20k on the GTN, whole different animal.