They have stated several times, they do not think faction balance is an issue. Even though everyone who has any MMO experience knows faction balance is important for both PvE and PvP. Since the majority of players are empire and the issue effects the minority the most a new "huttball" will please the majority of the player base. However for the minority this basically says we don't care because it only effects a few.

disappointed PvE is fun, crafting is great, stories are good, PvP is... full of exploits.

If this was a single player game i would agree with you, however exploiting effects you in a MMO indirectly or directly. People who exploit get the advantage and we whom don't are left with the choices to exploit or quit or pay $15 and ignore the fact others are gaining an advantage through exploits.

I have played MMOs, MOBAs, RTS online for 10 years, and have only once recieved a ban, which was over turned due to their "system" made a mistake and it was corrected. IMO they really should do something about the exploiters, the likely hood a player will be innocent and get banned is pretty slim. Here in TOR you don't accidentally exploit, you are well aware of what you would be doing. A player saying "opps i didnt think if we grouped up and traded kills and caps in Ilum it would be exploiting" or "wow i didnt know by us going through 'the steps' to bug the WZs to have more than 8 people on our side was an exploit" are not in the slightest way innocent.

this ^ From what i have seen hackers are getting bans (after you record what they are doing and submit the video) but exploiters are not. Its starting to get to the point were they have let people exploit for so long, if they started banning those for doing so, they would end up with a small player base. Players exploiting > Players leaving because of exploitation

In the meantime shouldn't they still issue a response, like "We are aware of the issues. Until a fix becomes live we encourage players to report which warzone and the names of the players on the side with more than 8 people so we can monitor the reoccuring player names and ensure a fair playing field for our customers by taking action on those exploiting the issue until the fix is ready" However in the meantime it seems more of the "if we ignore it long enough, more players will do it and it will even out and we have 12v12, until we get a fix ready" I myself am very unhappy with how they are handling exploits in the game and have lost faith in SW:TOR ever having competitive pvp. Sure the PvE side is fun, good story, fun boss fights, etc, but in a MMO that originally had thoughts of being competitive on the e-sport scene, i had much higher hopes of how they would address exploits in pvp. found in http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=268122 Bioware still has yet to address this ^

I want to say there was a thread here on the forums that some guy posted a link to a site that showed exactly how to do it, i think that thread was closed and the guy who posted it recieved a temp ban for showing how to use the exploit. Not sure about the last part of if he/she was banned as it came from another website, but yes, there was a "how to" for the exploit.

I think that is the issue, they seem to think, "if we ignore the exploit long enough eventually everyone will do it and it will be a even playing field". For example "a game breaking bug" http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=278285&page=74 (not saying all who wanted the fix so they could kill/cap trade, but i would be willing to bet alot were) 74 pages of rage, and kill tradiing is back to "working as intended". This was fixed in 1 day, where as other bugs have been going on for how long now? Its more as if they encourage exploitation or is their idea of "clever use of game mechanics"?

If players submit the names of those 12 players on the other team after every game, with enough reports, Bioware will be able to see a pattern of the same 4 players, and thus you have the people who are exploiting.

The thing i have yet to understand regarding faction population balance is how they could dismiss it as a "not an issue". Anyone whom has ever played a MMO with factions and "open world pvp" knows that faction balance is a needed

The reason people don't complain about a single player role playing game is if someone uses an exploit/hack to gain an advantage it doesnt effect you were as in a MMO. If someone is exploiting/hacking in a MMO it can indirectly or directly effect your playing experience. Alot of the issues players have against Bioware stem from bugs/exploits/concerns that have been in the game since beta and were ignored. When some were addressed, usually at live events, they were simply dismissed as being issues.

the easiest way is always consider "top" of the map as north

I said "need help west" and had a player to resond "which one is west?" I felt it covered the basics of 'need help' and location 'west'. I call east and west , simply for the fact im afraid someone would be 'in the moment' and if i called left he/she would simply run to their left, not to the left of the map.

They have been too busy to fix this issue due to "fixing" Ilum so allow players to kill trade again.

currently thats a reality for most servers to have a WZ similar to that make up