If it isn't obvious to everyone, this means what we are getting is essentially permanent 2x XP, based on what we needed to do back in the day of the old double XP weekends. What we had heard before was that they were "streamlining" the leveling experience. This doesn't seem like that to me. Getting rid of the number of trips back and forth and forth and back with quest givers for the main story, would be streamlining. And maybe they are doing that, and they just forgot to put it in the blog. But if they didn't do that, then I'm a bit disappointed.

Since that thread is locked, there is no such thread.

Also, I would vote no. But not because I don't like the feature. I doubt it will affect my personal game play very much, if at all (I'm already a datacron master, Galactic Explorer, Loremaster, etc.). But because I think it's likely to be highly bug ridden (if you need proof, just look at Bolster). As well, it's a significant development by BioWare for 4.0, and must be contributing to why we are not getting any new end game content. No new Ops. No new FPs. No new WarZones. All of which were asked for. Instead, we get this...which essentially NO ONE ever asked for.

Please link this request, as I've never seen it.

I'd love to understand why Level Sync went into this expansion above higher priority "expansion-like" content, like a new FP, new Ops, or new warzone. How was forced Level Sync, a feature which has essentially never been asked for by any player, ever, more important than new end game content?

I seriously doubt this feature will ever exist. Sure, for subscribers it would be nice, but with the credit cap for F2P, it means that every instance where there is a credit cost transaction, or credit income, the game has to first make sure whether the player is F2P or Subscriber. It's a major change to your character's "wallet", which, given the potential for there to be a bug, means BioWare could seriously screw up how many credits everyone has. It's a significant risk (not impossible, but significant). Most veteran subscribers have a "mule" or two with the majority of their credits, and then alt toons that they keep some self-defined minimum of credits on, which tends to make whatever problem trying to be solved by a legacy bank, rather mute.

As is, with 12x xp and the rush to 60 while killing a handful of mobs, people don't know how to play their class. Buying a level 60 won't really change anything, imo.

Disagree. None of the things you are pointing to matter at all to establish "difficulty" in the game. None of it. If boss mechanics disappeared, you'd have a point. If you could get max level gear via solo flashpoints with the god droid companion, you'd have a point. If there was an iWIN button added for subscribers in PVP, you'd have a point. But things like my example aren't happening. So, no...the things you point to do not make the game "dumbed down". Only "less annoying to level".

The name change aspect of this post looks like a glaring mis-use of development resources. The litany of trivial bugs that still exist in the game could have been 1 or 2 items shorter...but instead, we decide to rename something that could easily have been left alone? Next time you want to make a trivial change, how about fixing one of the thousands of places you can still get stuck at in the game...like the spot between SS and UL in ToS.

Tux's comment on timing is important to read and understand. The dev blog that was posted above only commits to revamping the old stuff. Most of us take that to mean damage and hit points will be buffed up to be appropriate for level 65, and the corresponding gear tier. But we don't expect to see new or different mechanics (ala TFB when it went from 50-55). The devs, in a video blog, seemed to indicate they (might?) would start working on new ops after the holiday break (they seem to give themselves 2 months off for the holidays, which is odd, as EA is reportedly the worst company in the world to work for, yet they give an amazing amount of vacation). We've heard in the past it takes them 6 months to build an operation. So that suggests something like June or July for a release date of new Ops content. This becomes doubly eye opening when you consider that BioWare admitted it was a mistake to have the DF/DP cycle last for 15 months, and that they would never go that long again. Except...they are doing it on the very next opportunity. The above tells me that the bean counters at BioWare have "done the math" and find that they will generate more revenue if they go this "story" route and forsake nearly every existing "hardcore" Ops player at the time of the decision. BioWare's actions show they are committed to catering to the casual.

This isn't quite true. NiM drops are supposed to be "cosmetic" improvements on HM drops. I take this to mean, though it has not yet been demonstrated, that the armor and/or weapons will look different.

BioWare, when faced with a choice of what to do with KP/EV NiM was left considering the following: Allow KP/EV NiM to give the same rewards as other NiM Ops in the game (ie, EC, DF, DP), which are too easy to get, given the mechanics are tirival. Upgrade KP/EV NiM to have actual NiM mechanics, so that the rewards match the challenge. When presented with the above 2 choices, BioWare chose what's behind door #3. Delete the content. Well done BioWare. Well done.

The lack of an open beta (PTS), that would allow players to "test" the changes, rather than simply react to them makes this round of vitriol all the more explosive.

Tait, the set bonuses from Ops/PvP gear would be lovely to be included with all of these posts.

Most people unsubscribe and delete the game.

The people in this thread that do not understand the issue exemplify why BioWare needs to come out with some form of explanation for what they are planning. Today, you can get Kell Dragon drops from NiM SNV/TFB, and there's a vendor somewhere that allows you to redeem those tokens. Today, you can get Dread Touched gear drops from NiM DF/DP, and there's a vendor somewhere that allows you to redeem those tokens. In the future, these Ops will (most likely) not drop Kell Dragon and Dread Touched tokens, since we know these Ops will be up-leveled to provide the new level 65 gear (which we don't have much news about). So it makes sense that the existing vendors (may) be deleted. What's the plan BioWare?

Your ignorance is showing. It's literally impossible to gear certain slots before level 21.

It's been a while since I had a toon down in the lowbie levels, but for grins the other day, I rolled a new toon, which I server transferred to a new server, to be ready for this new leveling experience that we are supposed to get with KoTFE. Upon getting to the fleet at level 14 or so, I queued for a PVP match, where, I took a minute to look at how bolster was affecting my lowbie toon. I was a level 14, so I did not have a head piece, ear piece, no relics, and no implants. That's 6 empty gear slots. Everything else was essentially questing greens. My expertise, thanks to bolster: 1200. I did have close to the highest health pool in the match, though by less than 10%. As a result of my low expertise rating, I was easily killed by anyone I faced in a 1v1 situation, as my time-to-dead was just super quick. My understanding is that empty gear slots do not bolster, and thus do not get factored into the expertise calculation. Why, BioWare? Empty gear slots should not be reducing a player's expertise...particularly below level 60. Further, I question the need to even have expertise be part of the bolster calculation sub-60. Just give everyone 2018, and be done with that part (even if they have "old" pvp gear...just ignore it).

Another week passes by, without any additional details. It's the typical thing with BioWare expansions.

The two above respondents haven't really grasped my point at all. In the future, those old Ops will all be level 65 Ops. Thus, they will no longer drop Level 50 and level 55 tokens, the way they do now. In this regard, this expansion is very different from past expansions. Thus, it would (perhaps) make sense that the vendors be removed from the game. Or maybe not? Would be nice for BioWare to let us know what is planned with those old vendors, before they are perhaps deleted, if they are going to be deleted.

I've got a decent stash of gear tokens from old 1.x and 2.x raids that I've never bothered to turn in (the vendors are all so spread out and generally a minor hassle to find, for gear I actually don't care about). A thought occurred to me though: Maybe these vendors will be seeing a gear upgrade as part of 4.0? Maybe they will disappear completely, since those tokens may not drop any more (given the gear will be upgraded to level 65 now)? Anyway, if BioWare would be so kind as to let us know what will happen to all of those old vendors for gear from current NiM DF/DP, NiM SNV/TFB, and so on. Should we be making sure to cash in any token we may have in inventory before the expansion releases?

It's not that big a deal, except your initial post didn't ask a question. You made a very grand statement about how BioWare had ruined the game, due to a feature change which most long time subscribers enjoy, but for which a minority of players dislike, and has a well known workaround. You then compounded this "sky is falling" statement with your "I'm unsubbing" assertion. And then, because a few people pointed out the error of your ways, you claim cyberbulling? Seriously? How about, for once in this entire thread, you accept that you were the source of your own problems, and acknowledge such? Nah...that is indeed too much to ask. It's far, far better to blame others for our own mistakes. It's the way of the younger generation these days.

Eric, players should not know anything about this new stat "Influence" for which you speak...unless they were doing some data mining. Can you please elaborate? What is it? How do you raise it?

Dear BioWare, I know that you really want us as players to understand your primary selling point with the expansion: Story and Choices Matter. Yesterday's live stream was an opportunity for you to show us these 2 things in action, and for me, you demonstrated story telling far better than choices mattering. With regard to Choices Matter, you really didn't show us a very good example of a choice mattering. You sort of did it, when you said the light side choice would have you fight a bunch of mobs to save the station, while the dark side choice just lets the station blow up. In the stream, this was essentially your best example, but we saw only the dark side of the choice play out, and thus it didn't really feel like it mattered to me. What I saw you do, was take the path of least resistance. It was the fastest choice to play through, which is why you chose that path in the stream. And it's why 90% of players will also probably choose that path. It's the fastest way. But did it matter? Why bother saving the station? What impact will that decision have on the story down the road? We didn't see that, nor even a hint that it did actually matter. So that's my feedback: That even after watching the live stream, I still haven't seen it demonstrated to what extent a choice matters. What decisions will I ever make, as a player, that truly matter? A decision that perhaps gains me a different reward, a different title in game (a la Dark/Light side flashpoints), etc. Or is it (nearly) always just different dialogue choices and possibly extra/reduced combat. It's a question that treads on thin ice, I know, as it relates to spoilers, the kind of which I actually don't want to be revealed. So maybe you can answer this in a vague way, and yet a way that still gives us an indication of the way in which our choices matter.

I believe what the OP meant to say was, "BioWare, please stop trending the game in a direction that many subscribers find distasteful. So much so, that they won't even wait around long enough to try a bite."