po·ten·tial (p-tnshl) adj. 1. Capable of being but not yet in existence Yes, yes--indeed! TOR has far more potential than either WOW or GW2. GW2 would have to be pretty bad to have less potential than TOR has. TOR has failed to meet so many expectations for many gamers. TOR can't get much worse. i.e. Since all TOR can do is improve (well, or cease to exist), I'd say TOR has nothing but potential.

Balmorra is an excellent example of why TOR isn't a true MMO. Balmorra is a leveling planet for each faction. Empire travel to the planet in their lower 20s. Republic travel to the planet in their lower 30s. Not that big of deal--lots of MMO's have shared zones. Except Balmorra isn't a shared zone. Empire fly to the planet and all the mobs are under level 30 and all the quests tuned for Empire. Fly to Balmorra as a Republic player and you go to a completely different planet--sure the map is the same, but everything has been changed to be Republic and level 30+. What a joke. What is the point of playing a PVP server if each faction simply flies to their own version of a planet?

Let us hope that BW uses their own in game metrics to create a tool that benefits the players. BW should be able to see the combined play time off all characters of each class. i.e. how many tanks and healers play on each server in comparison to dps? That should drive the decision on cross server. I suspect cross server is a long way from happening for the simple reason the coding will take a very long time to get right. BW should also be able to tell what percentage of players experience the group content. Are 75% of the players experiencing 90% of the content? If those are the numbers I would think that no group tool is necessary. However if the numbers show 75% of the players are experiencing %15 of the group content--something needs to change. Why create more content the vast majority of your players will never experience? Developers don't like to create great encounters only to have a minority enjoy the experience.

No addons in the game--can't have addons--addons play the game for you and trivialize the game. Companions? Sure--they are the greatest thing since sliced bread... The gaps in logic among this community make you scratch your head...

Actually--polling 10,000 random players out of 500,000 is an extremely good indication of what players are thinking. Polling 10,000 players out of 500,000 should produce results with a + or - 1% error... But don't let math stand in your way! (You only need to poll 1,000 random players for a + or - 3% sampling error on a population of 500,000.)

Just wanted to point out that with a LFG tool--there would be no reason to stand around in Fleet. Run around and do a few dailies while you wait for the queue to pop. But as nice as it would be to be able to do something else while waiting. Once the group gets formed, I would hate to make the other people wait while I travel to the space port, run to my hanger, etc--how many long load screens are there between a planet and fleet? You can run some of the Flashpoints in less time that it takes to travel from planet to fleet.

The ninja argument is really good one. Let me see... I am sitting around now--doing nothing, experiencing none of the group content and getting no loot. An LFG tool comes along and now suddenly I'm not standing around. I'm actually getting to experience and enjoy the group content. Oh rats--someone ninjas something. Well--at least I a) got to do something besides spam chat and 2) actually got to have fun playing group content. Loot will drop again.

Just wanted to make sure others didn't speak for me. I'm in a guild and look forward to a cross server LFG tool. Just because I am in guild doesn't mean that instant I log on, so do three other players of the right specs also log on looking to run HMs. In my experience, the good far out weighs the bad in a cross server LFG tool.

1. It will bring more complaints about long Q's. It will not fix the problem that it was intended to fix but just make it look like it to the individual. You know there will be posts of where are all the tanks or where are all the healers posts right after they do this. Perhaps, but it will be because more players are now able to successfully find groups to make use of the Flashpoint content. I'll take a long queue over not ever getting group. 2. LFG will make it better for the selfcentered player. Now those players can find a group that they have no accountability for. Who cares if I ninja that item, my companion that I am not using can use it so hey I am going to roll on it because there is a 99.99% chance I will never group with these guys again so why do I care about them. I guess if all you care about it loot, things like this could get under your skin. But I wouldn't be surprised to see BW implement a dice system with bonuses similar to the system that works in the new LFR (looking for raid) in WoW. 3. It destroys comunities and guilds. Why even join a guild now since you can now just randomly join a LFG and get what you want. Again no responsibility to anyone but yourself. BW has the metrics. If the majority of players were running Flashpoints, BW wouldn't even consider an LFG tool. But BW sees that only a small percentage of the players ever run an instance after the initial starting Flashpoint. ie the guilds aren't working so well for players now. 4. It promotes bots and afk play. Even if they add a kick feature it will be like WoW's (you know it will because they copy everything from WoW) that after a while of kicking them you wont be able to kick then and have to let them get away with being AFK. Every group I've been in with a AFK or DC'd toon--when the vote kick has been initiated, the player is removed. The only time a vote kick fails seems to be when a player is of questionable skill and someone tries to kick for being a baddie or someone tries to kick a quildie of other players in the group. And bots?! Really? How many bots have you seen run instances? Never, ever seen a bot in group, and I've played many MMO over many years. 5. It destroys the community on the server.Now you will have less people questing on the planet because they are now afking on the fleet waiting for their Q, therefore forcing anyone that now wants to do a flashpoint into using the LFG. Don't you have this reversed? Right now you can not leave Fleet if you want to find a HM group at 50. You are stuck doing nothing, but looking for a group. If I am in a queue that I know has 20 minutes till it will pop--I guess I do have choices. I can play the game or I can do something else that I want to do (may not be in game) until there is something fun for me to do in TOR. Personally, I'd rather troll these forums than troll trade chat looking for a group--at least you get a response on the forums. 6. It will now add in the *** posts if why they have 3 players rolling on the same type of gear for their mains (for the ones that actually not self-centered wanting all the gear.) I guess if you only play the game for loot--anyone rolling against your precious gear is a bad person--so can't really help you... So just so you can get a group easier (dont think it will really be faster) you are ok with all the problems it will cause. The problems are in your head. I for one am certianly willing to take any bad just to be able to reliably find groups of any of the Flashpoint. I am getting sick of maybe running two Flashpoints a week. In the current state, I find it sad that if I want to run a group without a lot of hassle, I've got the quit playing TOR and play a different game.

When I think of Star Wars--I don't think about running around on Tatoinne killing wamp rats--I think about large scale space combat with lots of x-wings and tie fights zipping around a bunch of capital ships. Sorry the OP is running the game with a decade old computer. Let's hope TOR is around long enough for an engaging space combat expansion.

You can't compare TOR to Rift. Rift was created with far less money, by a far smaller development house. Rift shipped with almost all the modern game mechanics MMO players have come to expect in a game. It just isn't fair to compare TOR to Rift--maybe pick a worse game like DCUO, or Star Trek--I know--Battlestar Galactica Online. TOR is so much better than Battlestar Galactica Online!

Of the 2 million folks that bought TOR--1.7million are subscribed. There are no empty servers--you are simply a) logged on at the wrong time and/or b) in the wrong place. (Everyone is the "next" zone." Why would you need to merge servers when the game is so successful. Don't go by what you see in game--go by the press releases. Geez...people and their expectations...

It is sad that you have to pay $100+ extra to get macros in TOR. You can read the TOS as any type of macroing is not allowed, and I would have thought the same thing. Except, I don't see BW banning anyone for buying a SWTOR branded keyboard and mouse--are you supposed to drop the $200 and use it another game? Because EA/BW are selling the keyboard as part of SWTOR--common sense would say you are allowed to use those devices to boost your game play. The only thing I know--I can tell the other players that are using G13s and razers. PVP gets to be comical. All I have to do is worry about moving while I repeatedly press one of three buttons (depending on what the prey does)--and poof dead player. I know the folks that don't have the keyboard/mouse will be griping that its unfair, blah, blah. But that is only because they die and I live. I'll take every advantage I'm allowed and maximize the effectiveness. The point of PVP is to dominate and I'm not willing to gimp myself to level the playing field when I know a better way exists.

Next the OP will be able to post proof that EA/BW used time travel to go back and screw with the WOW launch....

Folks aren't quite at the point of inviting others standing around trying for the same quest objectives, but they have gotten nice enough to help dust elites. It is kind of nice that when ever another player sees you fighting an elite, that they lend a hand. So fokls aren't trying to be *****es, they are just trying to be nice. Say thanks and move on. Count yourself lucky that you actually SEE other players while your playing. I'll go for days without seeing another player.

Folks do know that a bunch of folks that unsubscribed were given comp time, right? I was shocked to see my subscription still inactive but with another 30 days. Perhaps giving away the free time to unsubscribed accounts help reach the subscription numbers posted on 2.1?

Do not compare endgame WOW content to TOR content. WOW content at release was extremely challenging and took months to complete. TOR by comparison takes hours. And don't compare WOW's current content to TOR either. The current content in WOW is extremely accessible. If you are a solo player and want a quick, cakewalk raid, jump in a queue and your raiding 10 minutes later. Compare this to the hours you will stand around looking for a group in TOR. Just don't compare the two games. Pick lower handing fruit. Compare TOR to DCUO or something more reasonable. please.

I was actually thinking there has to be an exploit fix or two in the patch as well for them to do two nights in a row. BW has to realize they are getting folks upset.

The population is lower on the servers at 7AM in the morning--why don't they just wait and have the day shift do the patches. Let the players play when they typically play. Knocking everyone from the west coast out of the game at mid night sucks.

As everyone has been saying--the only truly engaging endgame in TOR is to level an alt.

Go for the Naga and G13--tinker with it for a few weeks while PVPing. You'll find that once you get things configured correctly, you'll be very hard to beat. I suspect the only people that beat me have a similar style rig. With no macros or addons to level the playing field, the investment is well worth it if you like to dominate.

Why do people keep making the excuse that the game is new and endgame isn't needed? Rift was created by a much, much smaller studio in less time and it had better end game at release. Folks like to say WoW had no endgame--but WOW's endgame was massive and extremely challenging compared to TOR. Sure MC was the only raid, but the encounters had mechanics that made it extremely difficult for most guilds to clear before the release of the 2nd major raid. By comparison, the first raid in TOR takes a novice group somewhere between four and six hours to clear. (Plus the WoW raids were 7 years ago--expectations where much different.) So maybe WOW and TOR had the same amount at release. The difference was the WOW endgame kept you engaged for three to four months--not two days. Blame the smaller raid sizes, blame that folks whine when they are challenged too much, blame whoever. The bottom line is there isn't much to keep you logging onto the game after a week or two at 50.

Changing the level cap to 50 won't work either. The bot farmers are buying accounts. A bunch of folks from my guild sold their accounts and they have already popped back up.

I think the OP nailed the biggest issue with BW. BW is full of programmers, but none of the coders seem to be game players. I really have to wonder if the core developers play this MMO or any others. Why not create options? If you are going to have a closed UI--at least let the 1.3million players select what they prefer instead of expecting everyone is going to be content with the UI changes. There should be multiple options for the camera behavior. There should be multiple options for how cooldowns are displayed. I ain't holding my breath.

At least your guild mates didn't sell their accounts. We are seeing folks show back up as bots. Didn't realize there was such a thriving used MMO business until TOR.