I wholeheartedly agree with this poster. Having to flip open a new browser and type in "UTC to EDT" took entirely too long, something like 10 seconds, and the resulting page which clearly instructed me to subtract 4 hours from the UTC to obtain the EDT time was like reading a graduate thesis in quantum mechanics. Please, in the future, list the times of upcoming maintenances using a full color, detailed chart outlining all 24 time zones around the world and what the appropriate start time should be.

Agree with everything you said here. But I put a stop to the nickel and diming about 2 weeks ago. It's time for me to find a game without a cash shop.

Already gone. This stuff is pathetic. So instead of going ahead and making good on a page that had been up for however long, promising the three, their motto is: "Regardless of what we were advertising, rather than making good on the mistake and offering you those three, we're going to go ahead and retroactively scrub our mistake, and once more meet our goals to charge you for every mother-loving thing we can. See you at our next draw on your credit cards! I hope my little frowny face helps soothe your anger! Enjoy!"

I predict I won't be buying any.

And if that's the case, this has been my one theme park learning experience, and I'll move on to the more expansive and long-term games. For everyone who loves the theme park model, again, I wish you all the best. Stomp those Imps into the dust for me! Actually, it's pretty clear that the "incompetent or sloppy" comment is warranted. And to the other guy/gal suggesting that 50% of the people complaining were from other companies, again, you are free to check my message history... until about 2 months ago or so I was one of the guys cheering this game on, reminding people that the SSSP was still in the works, and predicting great things. If you think some other game company paid me to be a BW fanboy for 14 months so I could turn around and suddenly start bashing it in months 15 and 16, then you're more of a conspiracy theorist than I ever could be. Yes, sock puppet personnel exist, and may be here from other games to trash this one. But that doesn't mean that 50% of all negative posts are from competitors. Back to the "sloppy" development, I think this 2.0 shift has been really eye-opening. First off, there's the naked bolster problem, that, as others have said, was mentioned early on as soon as 2.0 hit the PTS. Whatever they tweaked, it didn't work very well, because once 2.0 launched weeks upon weeks later, again, it was naked bolster. Then they tried to tweak it again, to stop exploits, but didn't fix it. Then they had to hot patch it again, and that still didn't fix it. Then they realized that dividing up the groups of players into 10-30, 31-54, and 55 was a problem because now players from 50-54 who migrated over from 2.0 had WH and EWH PVP gear which had expertise on it, and had a huge advantage over the other 31-49 players. So AGAIN, here comes a nerf bat, this time, RETROACTIVELY STRIPPING STATS out of gear that people had been grinding for months to obtain. Sorry, that alone is SLOPPY, SLOPPY, SLOPPY. There are other examples as well, like the Planetary comms issue. They said they were going to lock it at 50, but people said that wouldn't be enough. They did it anyway. Then "realized" that yeah, it was too low, so then they upped it. Now it might not be that devastating, but the upshot of that was ganking 50 planetary comms from anyone who was over the limit. First they strip you of the extra comms, THEN say, "Sorry, we made a mistake"? Yeah, you did make a mistake, again. This isn't opinion. This isn't emotion. It's real-world events and historically verifiable happenings that all point to a haphazard or chaotic or outright malevolent development attitude. Maybe they lost too many people and are overworked, or maybe they had retasked people and now the wrong people are working on the wrong parts of the game. I don't know, but I know for sure that this isn't personal or emotional or opinion. They stripped my PVP gear of its expertise stats, then threw me back into Black Hole to get ganked by new 55s who had their new PVP gear with expertise stats again. Not opinion. Not emotion. Fact.

I just played MMOs that didn't screw with your stuff once you'd obtained it. My Martial armor and Orca armor in Entropia Universe is just as effective today as the day I bought it, and against the same mobs. My laser carbines and grenade launchers are still precisely as effective today as they were the day I bought them, even more so as I'm now more skilled with them than I was previously due to your skills increasing from USE of items, rather than just some skill trainer or arbitrary gear stat. There won't be gear stats in Star Citizen, either. The way you outfit your ship and your skills in dogfighting and targeting your opponent's flight systems, versus the other player's skills, will determine the outcome of engagements. And no, I never played WOW. This is the first WOW-style game I've played, and it will most likely be the last. If you like these endless conveyor belts, then more power to you. But it isn't for me.

I used to be one of the fanboys I guess, endlessly giving BioWare the benefit of the doubt. But I gotta tell ya, I've lost my faith over this PVP thing.. First off, the quitters in warzones has been a decrepit part of PVP from as early as I can remember, yet now they say that the only warzone that needs help is Civil War? Seriously? There are plenty of people who made valid arguments about how any warzone map with an opportunity for a good open leads to warzone quitters and problems with backfills, etc. But Civil War is all they're going to fix. Thanks much for that! Then, to make matters worse, this is the first time I've been in an MMO where they add 5 levels to the mix and then make you grind out your PVP gear all over again. I hate the gear state Expertise BS enough as it is, but after grinding out EWH/WH to the point where I was able to actually compete and play in warzones without getting stomped all the time... (read that again... I'm talking rough acquisition of parity, not MY being able to stomp them) here comes the shifting goal line. If they did it going from 50 to 55, then they'll do it again going from 55 to 60. And if 55 to 60 isn't going to happen for another year, then WTH? A lot of Cartel updates in the meantime, eh? The last straws really were twofold: 1) After spending all of that time grinding out WH/EWH gear (originally just so that I could hold my own in the Black Hole when Imps came around ganking), THEY STRIP MY GEAR OF ITS GEAR STAT, ruining it and leaving me vulnerable to level 55s who want to come around ganking again? No thanks. 2) They enable Phase Walk for Shadows and allow it in Huttball? Completely broken. And before you say it, MY MAIN RIGHT NOW IS A SHADOW WITH PHASE WALK. LOL. Even I know this is broken horribad. I'm done for now. I just finally made it to 55, bought a full set of Partisan, and I've got 14 days left and I'll switch to F2P. I'm honestly having more fun reading about Star Citizen, a game that won't be out for 2 years, than I am playing this game. And after being here since Thanksgiving open beta and then buying the game immediately so I could get Early Access in December 2011, I never thought I'd say that. But I'm out of juice. Maybe if BioWare fixes the PVP zones and fixes the bolster problem and fixes the quitter problem and removes this stupid gear stat forever I'll resub. Or maybe they'll finally announce the Super Secret Space Project and that will bring me back for a while, unless the combat ships have a gear stat again, which will just tick me off all over once more. I wish them and all of you the best. We'll see what happens.

Sadly, you are correct. And after having subbed from Early Access all the way to now, I'm going to stop giving them money. Hopefully they can fix this stuff and fix PVP and manage to get some new content out that amounts to more than a new 1.5 levels every 12 months. Not interested in 7 hour raids, sorry. Good luck, everybody! Be well!

The reason I don't understand this post is because I've had a Jedi Guardian for 50+ levels, and she's never even worn a robe. But I guess you got to make a thread, so that's cool.

This... in droves. Attention to detail is obviously not a strong suit, nor is utilizing the commands and abilities at hand for their proper purpose... e.g. the PREVIEW SIGNATURE button.

And that's why SWTOR PVP blows. Thanks, OP! I'll see you all in Star Citizen.

I think the main thing is that a lot of us players intentionally log out of games when it's dark and you can't see anything, or visibility is reduced. That's not a good practice for a game developer, turning your game into a situation where various "windows of time" occur where players don't like playing the game. The engine can handle it, it'd be more than fine putting it in, but there are some playability and QoL issues that come into being. Some weather does exist, such as rains on Dromund Kaas, snowstorms on Hoth. It just doesn't happen randomly, because again, the game is tuned for a certain "feel" that usually persists throughout. In many respects, this is the same as Star Wars canon.

I always felt like I got the best bang-for-the-buck from the following process. 1. Get your 168 Mainhand and then upgrade it to the 172 MH. This enables you to have the highest rating on your main weapon, which gives you maximum hitting power against enemies. 2. Get your 168 Offhand. 3. Get your core 168 armor pieces, Chest, Head, Legs, Feet, Gloves, Belt and Bracers. I'd probably do them in that order, but depending on how the stats are and how you're building your toon, your mileage may vary. The purpose of getting these armors first is so that you have the highest starting protection with 168 rating defense against enemies. If you get all of the non-weapon, non-armors first, the enemies you are fighting who are using 168 and 172 weapons will be shredding through your substandard armor that is rated below 168. 4. Once you have your 172 MH, 168 OH, and 168 body armors, I'd augment these as soon as possible (presuming you're not stripping mods to place into custom armor that's already augmented. The ranked comm pricing for offhands and armors is so high that it will take a fairly long time to upgrade each of those to 172 levels, and the augments will help in the mean time. 5. Once you have all of those, then I'd spend the comms on the last few Ears, Implants and Relics. 6. Then set about to upgrade the Offhand to 172, then the body armors to 172. Only then would I bother with upgrading to the 172 Ears, Implants, and Relics. I don't have direct feedback or data on these, so others may be able to debunk this (and I'd welcome the facts in regards to this, especially in the post-2.0 armors and stats, as I'm still stuck sub-55 and haven't spent a great deal of time looking at the new armors yet. But I've always felt that the buffed stats you'd get from getting the Earpiece and Implants and Relics first are not really as worthwhile as upping the rating of the main weapon as high as possible (172) right out of the gate (for maximum damage) and upping the ratings of your body armor to 168 (for the best possible defenses). The only time I would ever convert Ranked Comms to Normal Comms is if you're short around 50 comms to purchase a piece. The reason for this is that it takes 3x normal comms to match a ranked comm. To go backward through that equation is seriously destroying the work you've done. You'll have to work 3x harder to get back to where you were.

Remove all stats and stims and buffs from PVP. Make all of their work useless. Best option available.

How so? Again, when that page was published, Cathar did not exist. Again, nothing has been misrepresented. You know why they're charging for Cathar and that it's being added in after the fact. This is all much ado about nothing.

You need to read more closely. What subscribers are promised is full access to "Character Creation" options, and as of the time of that page, Cathar were not a species available. I don't think F2P players get as many options as Subscribers get when you CREATE a character. Notice that CREATING and SUBSEQUENTLY ALTERING a character's customization options are two separate things. Be careful when you try to accuse someone of false advertising. You might actually be inadvertently committing libel or slander against them.

That's a great idea. Is that from another game or somewhere else?

Great thoughts here, Killa. Thanks so much for putting these together. Maybe the concise and quick nature will help more people get this, but unfortunately, there are far too many PVPers who don't know much of any of this stuff. I'd request you add another layer about 3-node warzones. When your team captures 2 of the 3 nodes, all players (perhaps except ONE stealther or hassler) should immediately proceed to both capped nodes in order to defend them. Remaining and attacking the third enemy node while you allow one (or both) of your already-capped nodes to fall is a complete failure in almost every instance.

Biggest thing on my horizon is Star Citizen, the new combat space simulator being created by Chris Roberts of Wing Commander and Privateer fame. http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com Did I mention CryEngine 3? Did I mention trading and exploration? Did I menion Oculus Rift and TrackIR support? Did I mention smuggling contraband weapons, narcotics, and slaves past UEE police patrols? Did I mention boarding parties, ship captures, taking slaves and selling them on the underground markets? And what appears to be an awesome military campaign as well. I'd like to stick around SWTOR, but all I do these days pretty much is PVP. And I'm losing my faith. PVP needs to be fixed and I need some info on the Super Secret Space Project before too much longer.

This really is going to bug me if the Cartel armors that we've all been spending real money on are not going to be usable with the dye system. Seems like it would be yet another slap in the face. "Thanks for the cash, but you've now paid a premium price for gimped hardware that is substandard to what other people bought on the GTN with mere credits. Thanks again, suckers." I'll wait to reserve judgement. But the L15 thing already seems to be partially confirmed... ugh...

In-game character name changes seem like they would be a nightmare. Suddenly, people you've known and been looking for for ages would disappear from the game, and you'd have to wander around shouting things like, "Who used to be named _______? Does anyone remember a toon named ________? What have they changed their name to?" Otherwise, it might lead to the need for everyone to be able to send out mass messages to all of their friends on the list (and guild members, etc.) with some sort of "Name Change Announcement" so that when you log in next, you get some form of "Just to let you know, your friend who used to be named ___________ is now named _________." Yes, the mechanics to change the name should be relatively easy. In fact, the routine to do this is already in place, because numerous people had to use this function when the server transfers occurred. But a one-time name switch that happened across the game seems like a more manageable clusterF than enabling it to happen repeatedly on a daily basis. Perhaps they're working on a separate set of mechanics so that it becomes easier to track those friends (or remind you of who the people in your FL are with an extra column that features their "Most Recent Names" or something. Or maybe they've decided to just nix he name change feature all together.

That should be similar to one of the Elara customization tokens that you can obtain on various worlds, like Balmorra. There are several different hair styles to choose from using those customizations. I haven't had Elara's hair up in that bun since I got her on Taris. Too severe.

If NO ONE has Expertise in 55 WZs, then it is not dead weight. People are on even-footing, except for their personal skills and the choice of toon and play role.

I think it is time for the (forgive me) "Final Solution" on this. Make it so that no matter WHAT gear you are wearing, ANYWHERE, on ANY slot, ALL stats are reduced to ZERO when you enter the warzone. If players have stims active when they enter, freeze the timers so the stims don't time out and zero out the stim benefit as well. The ONLY thing that should matter in terms of what you do is where your skill points are in the skill tree. Screw bolster and get rid of it. Instead of bolster, zero everyone out and let's be done with this garbage. And fix the Warzone quitter problem while you're at it. If nothing else can be done, start adding a number to the end of people's name or legacy or something that gives us an idea of how many warzones that player has quit in the last few hours, or day, and make it legacy/account wide so weasels can't switch back and forth to avoid reprisal. If YOU won't fix it, give us the tools and WE will. FIX IT, BioWare. FIX IT! This player is about done with this garbage. It's been coming on a long time now, and I've been in your corner since the beginning on this, but it's time to pay the fiddler. Or I'm going to find a game that DOES have a more challenging (read: NOT ROFLSTOMPING) PVP setup. I won't demand anything in a time frame, I have no idea how much longer I can accept this. I might cancel in 3 months if it isn't done, and then again I may cancel tonight. If something isn't fixed, pressure's going to be released somewhere. Since mostly all I do is PVP in this game... since PVP is so horribly broken, I am finding it more and more difficult to justify even $15 a month. I find myself wondering if that $15 would be more fun if I went and spent it in a local arcade, or used it to buy some extra silver every month instead. I'm not going to keep endlessly wasting money just because this thing has STAR WARS in the title.

Wow, I didn't even realize these existed as well. I just get more and more ticked off about this. What a complete failure on this front for a gaming company. I've rarely seen such bad form.