cuz makeb

Don't hold your breath... lol Obviously, but I mean... they could make it A LITTLE more open...

To try out RotHC. I knew nothing changed, but I find Makeb even worse than the other planets. It's literally an "on-rails MMO" on Makeb. Having anything linked to the Cartel Market is a joke. So say you max out every Faction's rep and the last one you need is the Cartel Market one. A lot of people don't care but others can't stand knowing it;s not at 100% so then what... BioWare gets them to spend hundreds of dollars on packs to grind rep and complete their collections to feel good? lol It's a sleazy and greedy system.

I stopped playing TOR before it went F2P. Not because it was going F2P, but because I was just bored. I recently came back to try out Makeb and as expected the Cartel Market is really the focus point it seems now. I know they need some sort of income to sustain the game in a F2P market, but I was kinda disgusted to see these new achievements and collection systems you guys devised basically force people to use the Cartel Market to "complete" everything. Obviously you don't have to, but the fact they have it where you can only gain rep by buying Cartel packs is hilarious and downright greedy. Man, I would hate to have OCD or be a completionist in this game.... -- As for my thoughts on RotHC, it's pretty meh. I just really don't like the theme park nature of the game. It seems even worse for Makeb. Everything just feels isolated and instanced, like as if it's a single-player game and each area is a level that has pre-placed enemies scattered everywhere and you go from start to end to complete quests. This is nothing new but like I said it seems even more obvious on Makeb due to the layout of the planet. I'll probably just get to 55 and finish Makeb but after that I can't see myself logging in a lot. 2.2 does not interest me in the least since I'm not interested in running FP's 24/7.

Ouch, 15 is pretty bad though. Depends on your setup, too.

Nice. All those bars makes it impossible to see when crowded. lol What was your average FPS? And what's the song you used?

Why is SGR such a huge deal to people? I couldn't care less if there weren't any romance options in the game, and the one I did do (Elara Dorne) was awful. You're supposed to develop an attachment to that character, there was none of that here.

Signed up in January 09 and still play. I take a lot of breaks, though. I was playing nonstop when leveling my first character to level 50 but not as much after that. I still like the game though, I think it's much more enjoyable played casually rather than grinding Warzones and Ops for 8 hours a day.

For instance, check out the background and the stars here: http://i50.tinypic.com/24gu7vl.jpg Any chance we can bump these resolutions up so it doesn't look like a 3 year old did these backgrounds? lol

It's definitely not hard, it's just a huge time sink, but that's what MMO's are about. It's designed to keep you logging in every night. If everyone could get augmented War Hero within a week there would be even less players then there are now. I think my only gripe with the current system is you're tied to your gear spec, so if you're a Tank spec with WH and want to switch to DPS, you effectively have to redo the entire grind. That and brand new 50's have an awful time if they face premade WH groups. But once they get full BM then it's not as bad and luckily the grind for that is pretty quick, it's the WH stuff that takes forever.

Seriously, how is this option NOT in the game yet? The little things BioWare... the little things...

Well, for true open world PvP you can't do much about companions. This is only really a problem on PvP servers where you can be leveling then under attack the next. But in instanced zones like Black Hole, or sectioned off zones on a planet like Ilum, BioWare can disable the use of companions if that zone was designed solely for PvP battlegrounds. 50 people might cause lag, now throw in companions and 100 "players" becomes unbearable and downright confusing. Open world PvP doesn't have to mean the entire planet, it could just be a section of a planet and have an instanced zone that is large and have the battleground designed based on the planet so it appears seamless. In this way people who don't like to PvP can stay away from the zone so it's still not forced upon them. I think this would also be easier for BioWare to do and lessen the lag and FPS problems since it's an instanced zone and not the entire planet.

Yeah, no kidding. BioWare tries to implement what TC said and they'd probably trap everyone inside the Fleet and we'd have to wait 2 weeks for a hotfix.

Why bother? BioWare is obviously not going to remove PvP from the game no matter what. No point bickering in a thread about it.

booze + angry TOR players + Devs = thrown out of bar

/sign

Easy fix, just disable companions in these zones. They've made pretty significant optimization improvements since Ilum went away. Yes, 1.4 screwed things up, but hopefully that's just temporary and in a few weeks will get ironed out. I'd like to see how a good rig would handle on Ilum again post-1.4.

1. Open world PvP mechanics that would get level 50's back on places like Tatooine, Alderaan, Coruscant, Hoth, etc. It's a crime BioWare designed these beautiful, iconic worlds of Star Wars lore yet you restrict these areas for leveling up. Once you are level 50, they are a forgotten memory. This is bad design. These would have to be instanced zones as you don't want a group of level 50's to truck roll level 10's trying to level on Coruscant on PvP servers. Basically like how Black Hole is set up on Corellia but more expanded and including more planets. These zones can have the following gametypes: 1. Territory Control - Similar to how Ilum was. 2. "CTF" - Republic and Empire fight over a weapon, item, person etc. placed randomly on the map and you need to successfully bring it to your base to win. 3. Standard TDM - First side with 100 kills wins. These gametypes can be rotated so there's always something different going on in the zones and it's dynamic and requires good teamwork. Killing players and having your faction win objectives grants you Valor, Credits, and Warzone/Ranked Warzone Comms. Maybe even something extra like reward the "best" player during a round of CTF or TDM some extra swag like gear and augments. Add Daily / Weekly / Monthly leaderboards. -- 2. The ability to do the above with cross-server functionality. Similar to how WvW works in GW2. Anything that involves PvP can be cross-server. Regular Warzones, Ranked Warzones, the Open World zones listed above. More players, faster queue's, and add the ability to keep Daily / Weekly / Monthly leaderboards of top servers / guilds. -- [bonus Series] PvP Resurrection: Space PvP! But this would require more work and most likely a fundamental overhaul of the engine, something we would more likely see in an expansion, not an update. Congratulations, you just saved PvP.

Yeah, player housing wouldn't really work in this game. It's not a huge sandbox world like SWG was. What they CAN do is allow us to customize our personal ships AND add Guild Ships where we can personalize. That would be cool.

My suggestions are also trying to get people off the Fleets, but the removal of the Fleets altogether would be bold, but at this point I'm not against it. The more you think about it, the more the Fleets act as a crux. I understand BioWare's thought process behind it, though. Have a centralized place where players can hang out, queue for PvP, and form groups to complete Flashpoints. However, they made the Fleets a little too convenient. At level 50, there's practically no reason whatsoever to ever leave the Fleet unless you're doing dailies. Most MMO's I've played never had a designed hub area quite like the Fleets. Sure, even without the Fleets, players usually designate certain areas and create an "unofficial" hub area. Since most endgame content is instanced with queue's anyway, I would like to see how the game would develop without the Fleets. It would be an interesting experiment and would force people to actually go to different planets and interact. I like that idea, as well. A good feature to add if they were going to remove Fleets. Sure, why not! Would be pretty hectic, though.

Sounds cool, I might check out the NY venue after work if it's not crazy packed. Having it on a Thursday night kinda sucks since I have work the next day though. lol

Yes, true. There is way more PvE content in this game than there is PvP. Perhaps having a world event every month to get people to explore the planets and work together would be cool. Adding Pazaak to cantina's would definitely help the RP community and get people to hang out in cantina's. Customization of personal and Guild starships would be really neat. Basically giving you an empty room and you can loot/purchase furniture, pictures, gadgets, etc. to make it your own. This is what I really loved about SWG's ultimate sandbox world. Guild could literally build their own empires with houses, guild halls, shops, cantina's, etc. Decorating your home was fun and always interesting to acquire a new painting or piece of furniture.

Since there's no objections let's get this started Devs!

/sign Fix your damn game BioWare and try for once listening to your community.

THE ISSUES When you design an MMO, one of the main focuses should be endgame. "How do we keep players involved and interested in our game once they reach the level cap?" No matter how long you make the grind from 1-50, you always have players that reach it far earlier than the you expect. And in this case, the grind from 1-50 is not very long, so players can reach endgame rather quickly. This game has a lot to offer if you want to take your time and complete all 8 class quests, 100% the codex, and fully explore everything. Most people do not do this. Endgame currently is poorly thought out and managed. You created many awesome planets, but they are designated for leveling and class quests. Then, after all this cool adventuring, gaining companions, finishing your class quest, and being level 50, what are you left with? Either create an alt and experience another class quest (and progress on the same planets so that initial cool factor is lost) or you're forced to queue on the Fleets 4 warzones to grind for PvP gear or flashpoints to grind for PvE gear. Over and over and over. For such an interesting leveling experience that's quite fun, you couldn't have dropped the ball any harder when it comes to endgame. And you continue feeding us more warzones and flashpoints to queue over and over and over on our Fleets. IDEAS TO SPICE THINGS UP 1. I really wish you could implement some open world PvP mechanics that would get level 50's back on places like Tatooine, Alderaan, Coruscant, Hoth, etc. It's a crime you designed these beautiful, iconic worlds of Star Wars lore yet you restrict these areas for leveling up. Once you are level 50, they are a forgotten memory. This is bad design. These would have to be instanced zones as you don't want a group of level 50's to truck roll level 10's trying to level on Coruscant on PvP servers. Basically like how Black Hole is set up on Coruscant but more expanded and including more planets. These zones can have the following gametypes: 1. Territory Control - Similar to how Ilum was. 2. "CTF" - Republic and Empire fight over a weapon, item, person etc. placed randomly on the map and you need to successfully bring it to your base to win. 3. Standard TDM - First side with 100 kills wins. These gametypes can be rotated so there's always something different going on in the zones and it's dynamic and requires good teamwork. Killing players and having your faction win objectives grants you Valor, Credits, and Warzone/Ranked Warzone Comms. Maybe even something extra like reward the "best" player during a round of CTF or TDM some extra swag like gear and augments. Add Daily / Weekly / Monthly leaderboards. --- 2. Combine the above with some expanded space. Free roam, space PvP, Guild Ships that guilds can actually decorate, customize, and hang out in and play a game that KotOR is known for: Pazaak. In fact, why not add Pazaak to EVERY cantina or certain cantina's on planets to get people off the Fleets and into the game world to chill, talk, and RP in actual Star Wars environments! Add rewards for players who win or have players gamble their own Credits and even Items if they get challenged to a game of Pazaak. Winner takes all. Add Daily / Weekly / Monthly leaderboards. --- 3. The ability to do the above with cross-server functionality. Similar to how WvW works in GW2. Anything that involves PvP can be cross-server. Regular Warzones, Ranked Warzones, the Open World zones listed above. More players, faster queue's, and add the ability to keep Daily / Weekly / Monthly leaderboards of top servers / guilds. --- Doing anything remotely similar to any of the above would drastically improve TOR, IMO. If you have any other suggestions, please post them as well!