The patch notes were a bit vague on explaining this -- as it only really mentions the buffs being adjusted. However, this change is consistent with what was reported on the PTR earlier. PvP relics no longer have an on-use ability, instead they offer just straight stat buffs. Dulfy's post on Relic changes

Really pleased to see that I'll have the option to purchase Exotech Stims and Adrenal schematics in 1.3. As a player who's been raiding HMs since February, I've seen 1 adrenal schematic drop, ever. I still wish the base drop-rate would have been increased earlier, to make these schematics "acquirable" while running the relevant content -- but I'm just glad that come 1.3 I'll actually be able to learn them (finally!) Thanks BW =)

While I understand that each guild/group's server circumstances will dictate which is the best choice for them, my gut says that if your server is tagged as an 'origin' server, you should probably take the transfer option. Staying behind, to either "monopolize" your low-pop server, or just to stick things out as a matter of preference, convenience, etc. might seem reasonable at the start, but I would be concerned about your group's long-term happiness and viability. I think there will be certain "stigma" attached to servers that Bioware ends up tagging as 'origin' servers. Once it's"officially" posted which servers are dying according to Bioware, you have to imagine that current and future players will likely avoid playing on these flagged servers. Who would willingly transfer to a server when it's clear a good portion of the population just willing relocated away from it? I have to imagine any potential for future server growth for an 'orgin' server will be pretty small. You also have to account for that fact that if you choose to stay behind now, and the majority of your existing population does transfer off, your server might really just end up empty. Even if you stay, can you guarantee that other guilds or groups will stay too? If it does end up being just you who stays, you might be subject to either needing to pay for a transfer later, or be forcibly merged with another server should Bioware decide to actually close low-pop servers in the future. Either way, you'd be looking at having to relocate and re-name characters anyway - and the only thing you would have gained in the process by choosing to stick it out, would be extra time spent on your old server. Is the reward is worth the risk?

This is the new marketing strategy for game previews/free trials. Other MMOs have embraced this approach, versus conventional "limited-time" free trial promotions, so I'm not really surprised that SWTOR is following suit. I think it's a good move. With other MMOs, I've know plenty of folks who at some point or another got a free weekend or 7-day trial for a game but, for some reason or another, weren't able to take full advantage of the opportunity during that specific window of time. BW knows that it sucks when you were hoping to be able to play for a whole weekend, but then something comes up and you ended up only playing or 6 hours over the 4 days instead They wisely choose level 15, which means prospective subscribers can take all the time they want or need to: explore their starting world, select an AC, try out a flashpoint or warzone, pick up a companion, get their ship. It will give these folks a nice taste of the game at their own pace. It allows folks to enjoy the game without making them feel that if they don't spend the entire "free weekend" playing, that they're somehow missing out on what they could have experienced.

^^ This. Same exact scenario for my guild tonight on our 8-man EC SM raid. We did put in a ticket regarding the situation.

Bumpage! I really think this post should be a sticky This is such a great tool for both guild leaders and players. I'm really pleasantly surprised to see how many bites my guild gets each week, all thanks to folks using your quiz. Recruiting the right folks for a guild is not an easy task for sure, and it's great to be part of a program that helps make the workload easier. Much thanks all around to Dink and his team, keep up the good work! We appreciate it Nilsa Co-GL of The Dark Helmets

No doubt the 'Legacy' system has proven to be a huge roadblock to facilitating better population distribution across servers; it deincentivizes folks from re-rolling someplace else on their own, and it complicates potential mergers. Although, I do believe that recently, the Devs mentioned that one of the things they are looking at allowing is a way for players to 'share'/ have duplicate 'Legacy' names on the same server -- since that would allow folks to move servers and still retain the name of their choice. I think solving the Legacy-name issue is a huge piece piece of the puzzle for both the Devs and the player base, when it comes to expediting relocation services. To be perfectly honest, I'd support transfers, mergers, vanity pets, heck even free cookies -- whatever method, or combination of methods are needed to beef up server population and increase the personal interactivity and socialization in this game. One concern I do have, is when it comes to transfers or mergers, (generally speaking in other games), only a select group of servers are offered to interested players. As someone else pointed out, usually heavily populated server players, like those on 'The Fatman' or 'The Harbringer' would be encouraged to move to lower-populated servers. If you get enough folks who are tired of queues or prefer less densely populated servers, you might re-energize some of these other dead servers. But I agree with folks who pointed out, in the end --- there just aren't that many heavily populated servers to re-balance all the empty servers in this game. So that being said, I wonder what will become of a lot of the 'medium' pop servers. Will they be included in any server merge/transfer system? I'm lucky that I play on a server that while not super-crowded, has a respectable population. There are PuG groups for Ops, active WZ matches, 100ish+ folks on Fleet most nights. We're in better shape than other servers, but having more folks would certainly be a great improvement. I recognize that other servers needfolks more/first compared to my server --- but I do hope whatever system they implement, my server will have the opportunity to acquire new folks too at some point. Recently I've noticed that folks seem more reluctant than ever to to move/re-roll to any server that's not 'a sure bet' or 'the number one X server' If you're not promoting/recruiting for 'The Fatman' or 'The Harbringer' servers, (for example) folks seem more disinclined to consider your server. I'm sure there are plenty of other 'medium' pop servers that still have a lot to offer transferred/re-rolled folks -- but given the choice, most players seem inclined to want to the select few servers that already have a lot of folks present, and I can't blame them. Since BW seems to be focusing on 'transfers' going forward (given what was said at Pax East). I wouldn't be surprised if a select few of the low-pop servers are targeted for a influx of new players. High pop servers might see their numbers drop potentially, as folks who don't like queues move someplace else. As for the two dozen or so 'medium' pop servers, I wonder what will become of them, or any other server not included as a transfer option. Will they just need to hold out? Wait their turn? Hope that folks re-roll there instead of taking a free/paid transfer to a previously low-pop server? Maybe BW would let folks transfer to any server of their choice, but once again that incites a whole separate set of problems and issues to consider.....

I really think Bioware erred in opening up so many additional servers right after launch. With the exception of a few servers, the queues were really not that bad -- 10 maybe 15 minutes here or there. I know folks complained at the start about having to wait a bit to get onto servers, but I think give the situation we have now - waiting 10 minutes to log is a heck of a lot better than running around on underpopulated/empty worlds. Why they couldn't have just released only a few extra servers to start, or released servers gradually over time,as needed, I don't know. They certainly over-budgeted on the number of servers "needed" for this game. I think it's an even bigger oversight to release so many additional servers and dilute the population when you have no plans or means to merge or transfer players should issues arise later! Server population/density is critical to the success and viability of an MMO. Without question, one of the main selling points of an MMO is the idea that you're constantly meeting and interacting with real people, building social connections between subscribers-it's what helps keep players invested and committed to the game in the long-run. It's very hard to sustain an MMO, when players are so focused on how empty and lonely their social playing experience is. I read a lot of accounts of folks being stuck on servers with just almost unfathomably low numbers and I really feel for those folks. I feel very grateful that my server seems very healthy and much more active that a lot of other servers. FPs, WZ, and Ops are all possible on my server usually without too much trouble on most nights. Sure it's not perfect - I'd love to have more folks, but I'm glad at least my server has a functionial GTN and enough folks to run things or bump into out in the world. Unlike a lot of other folks, I haven't considered let alone felt the need to reroll somewhere else. I was hoping the Guild Summit would bring some much needed news or solution to this issue. Sadly, it appears that the legacy system is a huge roadblock to allowing mergers or transfers; until they have a system in place that can allow folks to transfer or use the same legacy name on a server - transfers won't happen. I don't know what sort of timetable they're looking at to fix this, but I hope it's something resolved quickly. There seems to be a lot of folks who were hoping that 1.2 would fix or at least mitigate this issue and had thus far resisted the urge to reroll (or unsub in some cases). A lot of the most recent additions to my guild have been folks rerolling from other servers, where they struggled to find the right/enough guild options. I wonder, now that we're likely looking at least another 2ish plus months, maybe even more, before transfers can happen -- are more folks giving up on their current servers and rerolling someplace else? Seems like at the moment, if you don't want to wait God knows how long, and want to keep playing -- it's really the only choice. I'm not entirely confident that the changes in 1.2 themselves will bring enough new/returning subscribers to reinvigorate dead servers.

Add another from Cleveland, East-Side here! My husband and I are originally from PA, but we moved here recently. Love the area and the people!

I just want to express my thanks and appreciation for Dink and everyone affiliated with setting up and maintaining the quiz! I'm thrilled to say that last week I added a new member to my guild, who found me solely thanks to the quiz! I couldn't be happier with the the pickup; just want I wanted and the type of person was looking for! Many thanks all around and I hope to find more folks all thanks to da quiz! Nilsa Co-GL of the Dark Helmets

Yay! Thank you so much Dink for adding us. We're really looking forward to being part of us such a cool project! Also, bumpage for folks who are either guild-hunting or other guilds, who might be interested in also joining Nilsa Co-GL of The Dark Helmets

First thanks to Dink and everyone else involved with this project, I think it's a great idea! I noticed you don't have anyone yet from the Corellian Run server, I'd like to have my guild apply for consideration to be added to the list of guilds you do support. Thanks again for this great resource!