Here's a link to a copy of the thread that someone (thankfully!) thought to make: http://filthy-few.co.uk/files/swordinbox.html edit: All Hail Battlebug!

Wow. Okay. So, basically, if someone can't blow sunshine up the developer's behinds, then that person shouldn't post? If it's not complimentary or 'Yay, Bioware!', then the post isn't "sane" according to you? So, we should all verify with HKtheindomitable as to whether our posts are "sane" or not? Yeah, there's a word for that, buddy: Arrogance. As for you little query, well, yes, if someone hates the game a lot, they should leave. However, simply because someone is dissatisfied with the game or the direction (or lack thereof) it is taking does not mean they hate the game. What's with this misguided sense of "I must accept and love what the developers are doing unequivocally because they are gaming gods, and anyone who disagrees with me is a hater?" Now, I agree that some people do take it too far, but, honestly, Bioware are the ones with the majority of the blame here, not the posters. They went the entire previous year with little to no communication with their playerbase, rushed out their latest expansion that still has multiple problems (3 months later!), and posted a "roadmap" with little more than "We're working on some really great stuff, but we can't tell you anything about anything yet! Believe us, though, it is *totally* cool! And it's a lot! Yay, us!". tl;dr: Simply because you wish to believe nothing but rainbows and unicorn kisses for Bioware and TOR, doesn't mean everyone else does. It also certainly doesn't mean that your posts are "sane," while others are not. Yes, some people do take it too far, but being dissatisfied and hoping for more ≠ hatred or insane.

So, you come back from not playing for a year, and you don't think to ask your guildie how & where this 'free ****' is coming from? Or did you just see 'free ****' and thought 'sweet! Gotta get me sum of that!'? Saying you don't do operations all the time and not a raider, but then say you occasionally do HM or SM, shows you know how the loot system in this game works. If you're not in on the boss kill, you don't get the loot. That hasn't changed since launch. I agree, BW screwed the pooch on this one majorly. They shouldn't have let it sit, regardless if everyone at BW was on holiday vacation. They've let it go on for too long for them to come out on top, whether they swing the banhammer or not. (Also, not knowing you were taking part in the exploit doesn't me you didn't. It just means you were ignorant that you were partaking in the exploit. Again, I'm not saying you or anyone else should be banned, suspended or sanctioned. I just don't understand how you could think it was okay to receive loot you had no part in obtaining.)

I'm sorry, but what? When has BW ever given 'free ****' from an Operation, simply because it's Christmas time? I'll tell you when: never. Anyone who thought that you could join an OPs group after the final boss is dead and collect loot you had no part in helping to obtain was 'free stuff' from BW honestly isn't mentally mature enough to operate a computer, IMO. Sure, BW shouldn't have released such a broken aspect of the game and then let it sit for weeks without fixing it, but, come on. Since the game's beginning, if you're not there for the boss kill, you don't get the loot. And you thought it was okay in this instance simply because it was holiday season? Seriously? (And for any posters that will want to jump on my post, I honestly don't care either way what happens. I didn't partake in it, and I don't care about what other people do in this game. BW will do what they feel they need to do, and it doesn't affect me in anyway, tbh. But to claim that someone thought it was a Christmas gift from BW is just asinine.)

Columbus sailed the ocean blue? (I realize your post is #1492, but I couldn't resist.)

Yep, you're right. It's a little plaque next to a cannon, below the speeder NPC in the Rishi Village. Also, OP, if by the "Rishi" lore you mean "The Settlement of Rishi" lore item, then it's a datapad located on a crate near the crew skill vendors in Raider's Cove. If you mean "Way of the Rishi" lore item, it's a totem item near Arankau in Rishi Village. (Here's dulfy's page on the Rishi (Loremaster) achievement(s): http://dulfy.net/2014/12/02/swtor-rishi-exploration-achievements-guide/#Loremaster_of_Rishi)

You're right; each companion that you max affection on gives you +10 Presence (for a total of +400 with all 8 classes' companions maxed). I'm a bit hazy on whether you need to get them to 10,000 or simply their final conversation (which occurs around late 8-early 9 thousands or so, but also depends on where you are in your storyline as well (because some companion conversations don't trigger until chapter 2 or 3 or something similar)) to get the presence bonus. I'm going to guess it's the final conversation one, but I'm not 100% sure. (I unlocked mine a while back, but people can check on their legacy pane and see if the companion's picture is lit up.)

Yep, looks as if the spam script kiddies are at it again (or whatever is happening); good luck, BW, in clearing it up. (not being sarcastic; I do hope you stamp it out quickly again.) I'm guess I'm off to surf the web or watch some Netflix.

Yes, it was. For anyone who wants to see the thread itself, some people have saved it here: http://filthy-few.co.uk/files/swordinbox.html Also, although she doesn't really post in it any more, I've always liked the Adventures of Forced Companion Daycare thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=506989 (NOTE: The above thread may contain some spoilers (in a way), but it still is a very funny read.)

^ SO much this. It seems, OP, you simply had a case of 'bad tank is bad,' especially if he died on KDY. My main play style is tank (shadow, specifically), and I love when I get a healer in tactical flashpoints, but I, by no means, ever expect them to heal and only heal. If, as a tank, I need constant heals in a tactical (outside of boss fights, where I'll use the healing stations if need be, even if I have a healer in the group; if I'm near one and I (or other team members) need some health topped off, I'll use it), especially KDY, then I'm doing something very wrong, heh. So, yeah, like Calimus-Moose said, I would just put his sorry butt on ignore and move on. Sounds to me like the 'tank' in your story simply needs to learn how to.. well, tank.

That's what I'm thinking as well. Seems to be affecting East Coast servers the most (or only at all). (Shadowlands here, in Tennessee; same problems. Oh, well, time to find something else to do while this part of the intertubes gets worked out. Good luck, BW!)

2/10, simply because you got some responses (including mine). Weak troll is weak.

As others have posted, the whole 'not tuned properly to level 60' seems like a cop-out to me. They ran it at level 50 when the cap was 55, so I see no reason to run it at level 55 while the cap is at 60. Quick, someone contact Hamlet Solo! There seems to be something rotten in the state of TOR... Also, Yeah, that's what is the problem with the world today. The world doesn't need to worry about the political and ethical scandals, economic crises, or killings/genocide occurring; it just needs to clean up all this silly entitlement attitude, and all will be well! (Sorry, everyone, but the whole 'entitlement' card has been overplayed and flogged to death, and I'm surprised this poster didn't tell us all to get off his lawn while he was at it.)

Back when the game launched, I didn't pay attention to the crew skill bonuses for companions, but I luckily ended up making my first Smuggler into my Armstech crafter. I make my MK-10 kits with him; thank the maker for Corso and his +5 to Armstech Crit!

It's still pretty asinine (IMO) for Archeology to be the only gathering skill with multiple (and 5 different ones at that) new harvesting nodes, when the other two main ones have a single type of node. I could possibly understand the decision better if the color crystals were used for more than 1 type of item. (Also, since we don't know the actual ratios and probabilities on which node will spawn, lets, just for poops and giggles, assume they're all the same (20% each). So, some people are saying it's a good design idea that after harvesting a color crystal node, there's a (hypothetical) 60% chance it will be another color crystal node? Um, okay...) Nope, you didn't miss anything. The color crystals are only used for the new dyes, and that's it. Now, if they had made a new tier for the Conquest Fabricator Crystals, then maybe they'd be worth more.

First, I truly feel for all the people who aren't getting their achievements for this particular one. It really sucks. However, This is what I'm starting to think as well. It's been about 6 months since the event was around, and it's been a while since they last said they were looking into fixing them. It's pretty silly when I get on my main character and see that she both the Rancor and Magnus mounts, yet I'm missing both achievements (along with the ones for playing & winning on the Kingpin slot machines). Seriously, BW, you need to spend some time & (wo)manpower fixing your awfully implemented and neglected achievement system. (And, yes, I'm aware that there's other areas of the game that need attention as well, so it's not like I'm going to nerd ragequit over this. It just baffles me that a game that makes so much money (and is supposedly one of the top MMOs) is so obviously understaffed and bush league in a lot of areas. :le sigh: )

I suppose it could be short-sighted if I was doing a pure farming run. However, when I'm doing my Yavin dailies, for example, I'm not really interested in covering the same area multiple times purely for the materials. Also, since none of the other three gathering professions have no such breakup of resources, I see no reason why Archeology should be different. At the vary least, they should go back to the color crystal nodes giving fragments as well. Regardless, it still doesn't change the fact that the number of color crystal nodes that spawn compared to the schematics that use them is highly lopsided compared to the power crystal/artifact fragment nodes and the schematics that use those.

I would love to see some kind of change to the way the new Archeology nodes are set up. As it stands now, the new color crystals are only used for dyes, and I have better things to use my few [Midlithe Crystals] on than one-use dyes. Heck, it's gotten to the point now that I'll mouse-over the nodes in my mini-map before I'll walk towards them on my Archeology gatherers. I've got 3+ stacks of each of the new color crystals. So if it isn't Enigmatic Artifact Fragment or Ruusan Crystal, I don't even really bother anymore.

Awww, beat me to it, lol. I was just going to suggest trying to do Depths of Manaan (or, really, any of the Tactical FPs) as 4 DPS without using any of the Kolto stations or barrels, and see how far the group would get (especially on the bosses). As far as people wanting to remove the trinity, no no no, please! I <3 my Shadow Tank too much to regulate her to simply DPS. That's what I have my Mandos and Mercs for.

CST is 2 hours ahead of PST, so it'll be 5am-7am your (and mine, too, actually lol) time.

Man, I wasn't around for that bug in EVE. However, I was around for the 'boot.ini' bug they had around Trinity or so. (For people who don't know, EVE did an update, and, for some reason, they had named a file of theirs 'boot.ini'. That's no problem, except when the update was done, it deleted Windows' boot.ini instead, heh. So, basically, if you restarted your machine after the update, Windows wouldn't load. Good times, good times... I did however get a free month out of it though after I complained to CS with my laptop.)

Ahh, the ol' "they're doing something I think is wrong, so I'll just go ahead and make the situation worse by doing something wrong as well!" rationale. Gotcha.

I'm still not really upset about no reimbursements of credits for us who paid for the skills, but I still think some kind of gesture from BW would be nice. I just find it odd that it seems that 2 posters have taken it to be their personal mission to belittle other posters in this thread and tell them their opinions are wrong and/or unwarranted. But, hey, whatever boats your float, I suppose.

Wow, um, okay. All he did was post "The only meaningful way to voice my opinion on the matter is to not renew my subscription. ", and you go off on a tirade about ego, flying off the handle and such. Really? I honestly don't see how you could possibly decide his simple, respectful sentence warranted your little speech there, buddy. He didn't say he was going to march on Austin and burn their HQ down; he simply said he wasn't renewing his sub. Oh, and by the way, sure, maybe one subscriber isn't that big of a deal in the view of the whole subscriber base. However, when that one becomes two, then three, then ten, then a hundred, yeah, it is a big deal. Honestly, I think you're just feeling sore that you haven't had an overwhelming chorus of 'yeah! BW has done great!' responses to your thread. The shock and horror! Different people have different opinions! Gasp! But, please, continue on with your rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers for BW. (Now, see, this response might have warranted your quoted post, but definitely not his.)

Oh, no worries; I gathered it wasn't. I also agree with you about the team not taking peoples' feedback when it's overly vicious, etc. Whether we get any form of compensation, I fully intend to continue to support and play this game. (In fact, as soon as I'm doing watching an episode of Once Upon A Time, I think I'll go and level up one of my Assassins, heh. I just definitely won't buy her level 60 skills if I get her there (which I probably will) before the change takes effect. )