my....eyes....

Sorry, I totally agree with you! Changes to Trailblazer really upset me. I just thought it might be good for people to contribute to the other thread too, because staff have been posting there as if it were on the much broader topic of all changes, and I haven't seen them - yet - post in the smaller threads. And really, this is a broad issue

I don't think there are many businesses that sell you things only on the understanding that you have read their personal forums. Truly. That's an inane assumption.

I am wondering this too, and I haven't seen an answer anywhere yet. Some gear changes (Trailblazer being as you say a prime example) could not reasonably have been foreseen by purchasers. So many people have pointed out that simply giving current owners of the gear in question the option of choosing between 'old' and 'new' looks would keep everyone happy and undo most of any harm done. Can't understand why that simple option is not being offered.

In many ways I find the SWTOR approach to social gear of 'girls get dresses, boys get trousers' far more honest than, say, the Wow approach to the Black Mageweave set.... And that's refreshing. And yet...and yet...I'd still kinda like the option of buying the trousers as well as the dress. Because I'm just that sad a costume junkie. If that means men being allowed to squeeze into the dancer costumes, well...I dare you!

"Cipher Nine has in her Bulky Breast Pouch today...a secret squirrel! And a-" TAG.

My knowledge is expanding. This makes me happy

I never said anything was forced on anybody (some of my characters wear this stuff, others would rip your face off if you tried to make them). I asked if anyone recalled another game where all gear was not available to each gender, because I'm actually curious!

This. Oh, so much this.

I realised something during discussions on a couple of other threads tonight, when as ever some of us wearily sighed, as an aside, over the plethora of 'Slave Girl Looks' in this game. (It isn't that they exist. Just that there is so much of them compared to other social looks.) I realised that although I have been roleplaying since Dungeons & Dragons came in a red box (kindly translate as 'perhaps somewhat over thirty years' to spare my feelings) - I simply cannot recall any other game that contains gear segregated by sex of character. Historical games where certain character classes were off-limits to females - yep. Though most GMs would modify that to 'unless said female is In Disguise'. Far-future games where roles were allocated strictly by gender - only some very minor settings. Games in which the male and female artwork differed vastly for what was supposedly the same armour set? Oh lord yes, more than I can count. But I don't ever recall a game that says, as this does "If you want Elegant Social gear, girls must buy frocks and men must buy trousers. No girls! You may not have the trousers option!" or "Here are several slave outfits you can wear in our game. But only on female toons." Can anyone else think of another game that does this?

I was using Trailblazer boots for a sleek, simple look, along with most of the Spymaster set. They now have rockets stuck on the side. This makes my sleek jedi warrior cry. EDIT - oh, and re staying on topic, sorry if I have derailed anything; I have been encouraging anyone unhappy with any of the appearance changes (like mine is with Trailblazer as well as Phantom and Spymaster) to come and chat here rather than stay scattered over four or five smaller threads.

Absolutely, let's have both available! Anything that isn't yet another minor variant on the 'Slave Girl' look!

Nope, just louder and preferring to spend time on the forums rather than I game, I fear. You cannot take silence for assent. Especially where unannounced changes (Spymaster, Trailblazer) are concerend. You do see that it doesn't really work to say "well, some people wanted Revan's Robes changed, so we will assume from this that the majority want changes to the Spymaster set which was barely mentioned if at all in this thread"? Which appears to be what is being asserted in defence of the changes.

Indeed, thank you for being here Joveth. I know 'here' can't be a fun place to be right now, and we do know decisions are not in your hands. You're doing the best with what you have and we appreciate you being our link to the dev team. Big hugs.

Have you considered at all that this is likely because most people just don't spend their time starting threads on the subject "Hey, I bought such-and-such and am totally happy with it" ? They buy the stuff they want and get on with playing the game. I'm not saying those who wanted changes should have been ignored. Absolutely not. Valid points on both sides. But it is false to assume that a lack of "hey, I bought this, and it looks just like I wanted, excellent'! threads can be translated as 'most people were unhappy with the status quo so we should change it'.

One does wonder why some simple research wasn't done. And here I am talking (goodness' knows why) to the people who want our money again. Such as - comparison of complaints about look of armour vs how well the armour in question is actually selling on the GTN (where ONLY preview can be a deciding factor) and how many people are buying the packs that might contain that armour. Because taking into account the latter as well as the former would indicate even to the simplest of beings that many people might be simply happy with what they are buying. And if so, it might be worth getting a few more numbers in before just pissing those people off. Because the people who are actually buying stuff, unless they drop into single figures, are pretty much always more use to you than people who don't buy and *****. Those people should absolutely be made happy too, if you can (they are often the guard keeping your standards up to the mark), but pissing off the ones who are actually giving you money - I don't recall when I last saw a company say 'hey screw them, let's cater to the ones who complained without any regard for the happy customers'. So not rocket science.

If something is broken, and you know it to be so, you do NOT keep selling it. Unless you add to its description a Very Clear Note (IE at point of sale, not off in a forum thread) that it is scheduled for a later alteration.

And those of us who bought before? Screw us?

This is the part I'm still waiting to make sense.

...after some people had already spent money. How come no one wants to tangle with that? It doesn't matter a curse if the week after I buy a blue sofa, twenty or 120 people complain to the manufacturer that actually they prefer red, because one artist's impression of it was red. The company is not entitled to break into my house (and that of the, say, 450 people who also bought a blue sofa because they liked blue) and spray-paint my sofa red!

The key word in your post is AFTER. Sorry, but some of us were unable to engage telepathy and foresee that AFTER we had bought some things, they would be changed. Personal taste is not the issue here.

Ok, I'd like to post a slightly different approach to this and invite others to do the same if they are willing. I estimate that since the Cartel opened, I have spent between £150-200.00 on equipment and packs (some of that was presents). To get the looks I wanted for my characters. I didn't buy packs to try to 'make a killing on the GTN' - anything I have sold has been a duplicate and pretty much any credits I made were immediately spent on other GTN items. It does not matter at all to me if many of you think 'well, what an idiot, spending that amount'. It's my money. I am addressing this message to the people who sell this game and, presumably, wish to make money from it. And what should matter to them is that I am now not going to spend a single further penny on the Cartel, because I feel that what I spent, I wasted. Unless this is sorted out in a way that makes everyone who spent money, whether they favour the 'new' or 'old' look, happy. So - simple numbers. Those of you who are unhappy - what roughly have you spent on the Cartel since it came into being? Let's see the figure EA are happy to throw away?

Make that +2

Please - go into the longer thread ( http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=583086&page=33 ) and make your views known. This whole situation seems to have arisen because a small group of people complained that items resembled previews rather than artwork - and EA picked that thread to act on, ignoring all those of us happy with the way things were and so not posting anything. It'd be good to have everyone who would like the option of the 'old looks' back posting in one thread, not diluted over several.

Whether or not you personally prefer the new look surely does not disqualify people who already bought the equipment specifically for the old look from feeling badly treated here? The obvious solution would be to offer BOTH looks (see this thread http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=583086&page=33) but apparently that would be too much effort.