I think some of you aren't paying attention to a key point OP is trying to make: The server merge has proven that the game can support a stronghold cap substantially higher than its current limit 10. This has been known to those of us who have been reaping the benefits of having our strongholds grandfathered in from that merge. Asking for additional stronghold slots that allow players to go above the current cap is absolutely reasonable and absolutely doable. Some of you seem to have difficulty understanding why others would want multiple copies of the same stronghold. Personally, what I ultimately want is the ability to create, save and load MULTIPLE design layouts for each stronghold. I wouldn't need to have 4 or 5 copies of Coruscant if I could create a variety of layouts that could be stored and loaded from just one. Since the game does not give us that feature the only other alternative is to have duplicate strongholds, and the only way to get those was to take advantage of the grandfather clause before the servers merged. Strongholds are one of the few creative outlets in the game aside from Outfit Designer. When you think about the hundreds of decos now available is it really that difficult to understand why some of us want to have as many "blank canvases" as possible?! On Satele Shan I have a great Jedi-themed academy that I put a lot of work into but what if I would also like to create a Repulic office, or a stylish apartment, or a hospital, or research facility, or gambling den? Do you get it now?

I tried to purchase the new Rishi stronghold today on Fleet and received this message: This confirmed something many of us in the Stronghold community were very concerned about. I currently have 22 active strongholds on Satele Shan and about 20 on Star Forge that got consolidated after the servers merged. Since these were grandfathered they obviously exceed the current maximum cap of 10. Remove this 10 limit cap!!! It is completely arbitrary! It has been months since the merge which proves the game can handle players with multiple copies of strongholds. This is not a small issue for me nor is it an isolated one. Some of us like to decorate, arrange and design because it is fun. Many of us use strongholds for RP and require multiple strongholds to create a VARIETY of scenes to help facilitate the stories we wish to tell. Over the last several years I have invested hundreds of millions of credits and countless hours of meticulous work arranging decos and creating detailed layouts. I have put in an incredible amount of time, effort and resources into this. The new Rishi stronghold received a huge amount of important feedback from passionate stronghold enthusiasts like me, many of whom are now experiencing the same dilemma I am, and now have no way of acquiring the new stronghold without deleting all the extra strongholds we gained from the server merge. This simply is not fair to those of us who have invested so much in this. There have been numerous suggestions made on the forums on how to address this issue. One player, JediBoadicea, made a very fair suggestion to allow us to purchase additional stronghold unlocks on the CM. It is a great idea and a fair one. Another suggestion I want you to seriously consider is to give us the ability to SAVE and LOAD multiple design layouts for each stronghold! I wouldn't need to own 5 copies of Dromund Kaas if I could simply create a layout, save it, then create a few other layouts and save those as well! Each "scene" would be given a file name and re-loaded from a drop-down menu. Players would then only need one of each existing stronghold but could then recall any custom layout they create! Decorations would load up normally provided the player had enough available for every active layout they are used in. For any situation where there aren't enough decos in a player's collection to meet the requirements of the layout preset, the decoration simply does not load until the player acquires more copies of that deco, deactivates a stronghold, or loads a different layout that doesn't use that particular deco. Unless there is some kind of solution currently in the works to implement ideas like the ones mentioned above, the Devs need to remove this arbitrary cap!!! I seriously have no desire to delete 13 of my strongholds in order to go back under the current cap just so I can unlock the new one!

I absolutely agree with you 100% and have encountered the same frustrations you have in dealing with this problematic hook tile system. When designing strongholds the Devs should have done away with tiles in favor of a more efficient snap-to-grid system instead, but I doubt there will be any major re-design overhaul at this point. The best solution I can think of is for the Devs to include a large variety of new templates to add to our Layout options. More diverse configurations like Centerpiece hooks that include a variety of Medium, Small and Medium-Narrow. Large hooks that include different variations of Medium, Small and Medium-Narrow. Providing a broader range of template options would be a tremendous help for decorators in dealing with these frustrating hook limitations. Ideally I would love to see a new feature that enabled players to create and save their own Custom hook layouts. That would be nice.

First and foremost, I thank you tremendously for finally giving us an opportunity to offer feedback on the new stronghold and allowing us to explore its features on PTS. If we had been given the same opportunity to critique other strongholds before they were released, especially Manaan, it would have helped alleviate a lot of the frustration and dissatisfaction many of us experienced. We want to be part of the process in helping you guys make the best quality content for us possible so I truly hope you continue asking for our participation and feedback! After some time exploring I'd like to offer my feedback. I'm going to break it up into general as well as specifics. Overall Impression Absolutely awesome design! The sheer scale is very impressive. The new PVP features and training dummy are very cool. The design aesthetic is appropriately dingy, and that's a beautiful thing. I also loved the roving advertising droids, the buried treasure and the little turtle. I've noticed a few posts expressing disappointment and frustration over the filth and grunge, but I welcome it with open arms. The visual tone of this stronghold is perfectly appropriate and this is wonderful backdrop for creating our own wretched hive of scum and villainy. It's everything I could hope for in an outlaw pirate town. I sympathize with those who were desiring a more pristine and neutral tropical environment but that was never really a design component of Rishi. For those who are truly upset with the grunge I suggest making your peace with Rishi and starting a new thread requesting the next stronghold be Copero or Rakata Prime or Alderaan, which would all be awesome as well. Every stronghold is going to feature its own unique atmosphere and some will be more neutral and universal than others. At some point in the future I would like to see these new features retroactively added to guild flagships, specifically the training dummy but an optional PVP zone somewhere would also be nice. Guild flagships are incredibly expensive and very time consuming to unlock. It would be appropriate for them to also have these new amenities. Hook Tiles More than anything else, I want the Devs to fully understand and appreciate how crucial it is for them to provide hook layouts that give players the maximum amount of freedom and flexibility possible. Hook tiles would be my number one area that needs the most consideration and improvement from the Dev team. Manaan proved to be a major disappointment for many of us, partially because of it's awkward, half-assed design but also because it was given one of the worst, if not the worst, hook layout treatments to date. Rishi is comparatively better, but there is still room for improvement. It is a simple principle: Cover as much surface area as possible using the largest hook tiles possible. Give us, the players, the option of either using that hook tile as-is or choosing a different layout to better suit our needs. I'll use the large sand beach on the north end of the map as an example. A wide open space that large can easily accommodate 2 Starship hooks with room leftover for some Large and Centerpiece hooks. Instead, there is one Starship hook flanked by 2 Centerpiece hooks and a peppering of Large hooks and, of all things, Medium-narrow hooks. Where is the rationale in placing a Medium-Narrow hook on such a vast amount of open space? At the very least those hooks should be Medium so players can choose a wider selection of decos. Precision and Symmetry I often notice hook tiles that are slightly crooked or a cluster of tiles that aren't aligned as well as they should be. It gives me the impression that the Dev responsible for its placement just slapped it on without much care or regard for quality and consistency. Some of this presently exists in the Rishi layout and I would like a Dev to do some quality control and make those minor adjustments. Slider Values I would really love you guys to Increase the slider value ranges for the X and Y Offsets. This would help us immensely in giving us more flexibility in arranging our decos. The present value range is +20/-20. Could that be doubled or increased to something like +50/-50? Okay, now on to the specifics: The Little Island I would like to have more hooks available on the small island out in the water (northeast portion of the map). Presently it has one Large tile flanked by four Medium-Narrows, but there is still plenty of flat, open space available, especially along the eastern and southern shoreline. It's a very cool little spot and I'd like more hooks to allow me as much creative flexibility as possible. Large hooks would be most ideal. Hidden Cave The hidden cave southwest of the starship hook has a wooden ramp that is a bit steep. Consequently I noticed my character tends to get snagged toward the top of the ramp whenever I'm attempting to exit back out. Is there anyway there can be some additional tweaking done to the collision box to make that path a little smoother? Building Facades There is a circular building facade located on the short footpath (X,Y: 259, 350) between the Staging Room and the Sun Room. Unlike most of the other building facades, this one is more prominent and I would love to see it converted into a functional room! There is another similar building southwest of the Hillside Room (X,Y: 66, 423) that would also make a nice, functional room. Thank you again for hearing us out and considering us.

I've been following Jedi Boadicea on the forums for a while now because her feedback is not only extremely constructive and insightful but absolutely spot on. My sincere thanks for helping spread the word about the new decos and dyes that that vast majority of players don't even realize exist! It upsets me tremendously that the Dev team has chosen to include new items into their latest Cartel pack format. I purchased a hyper crate from the previous release and vowed never to waste my money like that again. DEVS! What the hell are you thinking including brand new items in this pack?! Do you not realize how utterly ridiculous it is for players wanting these items to be forced to contend with such a massive RNG table?! It's absolutely INSANE and extremely unfair. Keith, if you are reading this, can you please do the math and tell us just how miserably low the drop rate is for any of these new items now that they are forced to compete with 99% of all items the Cartel Market has ever produced? I feel like I have better odds winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning. I was very dubious when they announced the new Ultimate format with the last release but, against my better judgement, I decided to purchase a hyper crate anyway just to see if it would be as worthwhile of an investment as the previous packs were. What I ended up getting for my hard-earned $40 was a ton of repeat items I had acquired long ago while getting almost nothing new save for around 1 or 2 items. It has been the most disappointing and frustrating experience I had with a Cartel pack to date. I vowed never to buy another Ultimate pack if they insist on continuing with that format. It's a waste of money and a huge disappointment for a veteran player like me who already has a large collection. Please keep new items in their own exclusive packs and stop dropping them into that horrible RNG abyss! You are seriously disappointing and frustrating your loyal customers!!!

I absolutely agree with OP 100%. I felt very strongly about this when they introduced this BS they call "Ultimate" Cartel packs. They are an ultimate ripoff. Honestly, I have no problem with them releasing these general grab-bag kind of packs so long as they keep NEW items separate and include the new stuff in a more focused pack like how they always had done it before. I'm getting really sick of these people constantly tooling around with this stupid stuff. I have no desire wasting money on packs where the chances of getting a new armor set, weapon, mount, deco, etc. is .001% because new items have been dropped in an oceanic abyss of all their old stuff. It's f**king stupid and makes the whole experience frustrating and upsetting. I don't mind spending some money on cartel packs so long as they contain new items to enjoy. I absolutely refuse to spend any of my hard earned money on this new Ultimate series.

I'm going to repeat what I wrote here since I've seen this in the General and Suggestions threads as well. I hope it gets some traction. I agree 100%. I'm a big SH fan and use them to create scenes for RP. I've spent a lot of time and resources amassing a huge deco collection. It's something I enjoy and feel is one of the areas of the game for players to exercise their creativity, but the biggest frustration I have is contending with poorly thought out hook layouts. It's an aspect of design that has made my experience extremely frustrating. I know that there are many in the SH community who feel the same. If Keith and his team are sincere about QOL improvements being on their list of priorities, they seriously need to make some major improvements on this front. For starters, assigning the task of hook layout design to somebody who knows how to maximize the space in each room to allow players as much flexibility and as many options as possible for a more satisfying experience. SH decorating may not matter to some but to others it is a major hobby within the game and it deserves to be improved. I feel the people responsible for designing the hook layouts on Umbara, Manaan and Yavin really had no grasp on such a simple concept as assigning the correct hook templates appropriate to the space. What makes it so frustrating is that most of the stronghold designs are nice (with the exception of Manaan. I was very disappointed with that layout) but they can't be utilized to its fullest potential because of the crippling hook layouts. I really wish they converted their system to a snap-to-grid interface instead. Their hook tile system is very limiting and short-sided and in serious need of improvement. For starters, they could provide us with more template options. I would even love to see a new tool feature added that allows players to create their own custom templates. Very, very frustrating. I agree with you, OP. Keith and crew, please don't let another perfectly good Stronghold get ruined by another shoddy, substandard hook layout.

I agree 100%. I'm a big SH fan and use them to create scenes for RP. I've spent a lot of time and resources amassing a huge deco collection. It's something I enjoy and feel is one of the areas of the game for players to exercise their creativity, but the biggest frustration I have is contending with poorly thought out hook layouts. It's an aspect of design that has made my experience extremely frustrating. I know that there are many in the SH community who feel the same. If Keith and his team are sincere about QOL improvements being on their list of priorities, they seriously need to make some major improvements on this front. For starters, assigning the task of hook layout design to somebody who knows how to maximize the space in each room to allow players as much flexibility and as many options as possible for a more satisfying experience. SH decorating may not matter to some but to others it is a major hobby within the game and it deserves to be improved. I feel the people responsible for designing the hook layouts on Umbara, Manaan and Yavin really had no grasp on such a simple concept as assigning the correct hook templates appropriate to the space. What makes it so frustrating is that most of the stronghold designs are nice (with the exception of Manaan. I was very disappointed with that layout) but they can't be utilized to its fullest potential because of the crippling hook layouts. I really wish they converted their system to a snap-to-grid interface instead. Their hook tile system is very limiting and short-sided and in serious need of improvement. For starters, they could provide us with more template options. I would even love to see a new tool feature added that allows players to create their own custom templates. Very, very frustrating. I agree with you, OP. Keith and crew, please don't let another perfectly good Stronghold get ruined by another shoddy, substandard hook layout.

I only post occasionally on the forums but I've been following JediBoadicea's posts and threads for many years now--very constructive and comprehensive feedback. For those who are interested I highly recommend you click on the Statistics tab in her profile and take a look at her threads. They are a treasure trove of great ideas, insights and suggestions that I would love to see gain more traction with the community. I'm here to throw my support behind her post because she pretty much articulated every frustration and grievance I had with this latest "Ultimate" pack. I've been playing since launch and have been purchasing hyper crates on a regular basis. I do this for 2 primary reasons: 1) New vanity items (armor, weapons, emotes, color crystals, mounts, dyes, miscellaneous) 2) New stronghold decorations. In regards to acquiring new items, this new format flat out sucks! A better name for it would be "Ultimate Disappointment". With past hyper crates experiences I had the assurance of knowing that unlocking multiple packs would usually yield around 50% of the new stuff I wanted (sometimes more, sometimes less). Whatever goodies I didn't get right away I could eventually acquire on the GTN for a reasonable price knowing there would be an influx of these new items on the market. This is a standard routine to which almost every player is accustomed. With this latest "Ultimate" pack I got absolutely NOTHING new. No armor pieces, weapons, ...not even a color crystal. My cargo bay is now overloaded with a bunch of older stuff I already have, unlike previous packs, where I at least had the satisfaction of acquiring both new items as well as older items that I could sell on the GTN. As far as I am concerned this surprise experiment you announced shortly before the release of this latest pack was a total disappointment. A pack like this works fine for newer players who simply want a gigantic grab bag of general goods, but when you include new items into such a vast RNG pool, it's like dropping a diamond into the ocean. That was a stupid decision and if this is the direction you plan to take the hyper crate experience going forward it's going to completely kill my enthusiasm to continue investing in them. I buy packs because I want the new stuff while also having extra things I can sell on the GTN. I have a feeling many of the new items that were released with 5.8 are going to be unreasonably rare and expensive to acquire as a consequence. Jedi Boadicea mentioned that there were some decos as well? If that is accurate I don't even think Dulfy had any previews of what these even may be. I'd rather not have to cycle through 241 pages in the decoration menu to try and find them. Ugh.

This is a solid suggestion and one that merits some serious consideration. I am one of those players who unlocked a full complement of strongholds on all the servers that eventually merged into Satele Shan. One of the things I enjoy doing in SWTOR is role play and having multiple strongholds allows me the freedom to create a variety of backdrops for the scenes I wish to create. I also get great enjoyment out of designing things and coming up with satisfying and interesting layouts. While I love stronghold decorating I am tremendously frustrated and dissatisfied with the hook tile system. It's extremely limiting and has been a major source of aggravation for me, all because whatever Dev(s) was responsible for arranging the hook tiles on Yavin, Manaan and Umbarra did such an awful, thoughtless job. I really believe that Strongholds need a design overhaul. The tile system needs to be improved. If we have to deal with poorly placed hook tiles, at least give players more freedom and flexibility by allowing us to create custom templates to better accommodate our design needs. One of the main reasons why I wanted to maximize the amount of strongholds I have is so I could have alternate settings to play around in. Presently, the only way to do that is to have multiple copies of the same SH. I would much rather have a function that allows each stronghold the ability to save your layout into a scene. Players could design a stronghold to their liking, save the layout, then design some more variations and save those as well. That way, all any of us would require would be 1 of each stronghold and we could simply load whatever scenes we have saved from a drop down menu. In regards to the amount of decos in our inventory, each scene would populate the decos based on their availability. If a particular deco is in active use in another stronghold, it simply wouldn't populate with the rest of the scene unless the player unlocked another deco. That being said, I think the OP's idea of simply making SH unlocks purchasable from the CM is a very viable and straightforward idea. I really love designing strongholds and I want to see many, many more stronghold varieties out there: Tython, Korriban, Alderaan, Makeb, Copero, etc... So many beautiful backdrops and possibilities.

I have been having this issue with GSF. I logged on at 5:30 PST this evening and queued up. When I got the match prompt I clicked to join. The prompt then disappeared and nothing happened. I re-queued and got the prompt again. Again, I clicked the join button and the same thing happened. I attempted this 4 times to no avail. It's now 10 PM PST and I have been queued the entire time while playing other content. The queue prompt has not appeared ONCE! PLEASE FIX THIS ASAP!!!

I wholeheartedly agree. Adding an RP instance needs to happen! I play on Begeren Colony and have been a member of that server since launch. Begeren was originally the West Coast RP server. My friends and I specifically chose that server because we wanted to be part of a community who share the same interests as we do. SWTOR is many things to many people. For the RP community, SWTOR provides a wide variety of environments for players to immerse themselves in their collaborative storytelling. RP communities conduct themselves very differently than PVE or PVP communities. There is a certain etiquette that is followed in order to make RP conducive. When these servers are merged the RP and PVE/PVP communities are going to experience a major conflict of interests. Hundreds of players who enjoy role-playing their characters will undoubtedly be subjected to severe trolling by casual players who have no respect or consideration for that element of the game. If the Devs added an RP instance, it would at least provide the RP community an option to play how they wish and help minimize being harassed by trolls.

There is a massive deficiency in how the Quality Assurance team handles bug reports that consequently is a source of major frustration for most of us. Players need to be provided with some form of communication confirming their bug reports have been received and reviewed. Even a simple form letter logging the date, the issue being reported, and either the name or employee number of the QA person reviewing the bug report would be better than just clicking “Submit Report” and crossing our fingers hoping it doesn't just vanish into thin air. A confirmation mail from the QA team would at least offer us some kind of assurance that people in the QA department are actually looking into these matters. Presently we are given the option to either submit a report in-game or on the Forum. Both options leave players with no tangible means of knowing whether or not their reports are being reviewed. Is it any surprise why this ends up becoming a source of frustration for customers? I don't expect every single bug issue in the game to be fixed overnight, but what I do want to see is QA institute an improved format for communicating with its players. From my perspective Customer Service should have access to as many tools as possible in order to assist players in resolving whatever issues they are experiencing. I have had a few conversations with CS reps over the years and many of them have told me they get inundated with bug reports all the time, in all likelihood because their department is the only one that actually corresponds with players. It would be a tremendous help if Customer Service forwarded any extraneous bug reports they receive to QA and provide customers a confirmation mail stating they have done so rather than do nothing and place the burden and hassle of resubmitting these reports back on the player. This policy impedes the process of getting pertinent information into the right hands. A simple form letter stating, “Hello, we have received your bug report and have forward it to our QA team for review. You should receive a confirmation mail from the QA department in the next few days” would be a welcome improvement. Additionally, Customer Service should have their authority to reset "stuck" characters reinstated. I have encountered several instances where my load screen became frozen due to some glitch involving my character having logged off while in someone else's Stronghold. In the past, Customer Service would be able to directly reset my character with little time and effort. When the issue happened again, I called CS and was informed that they no longer had the authority to provide that service and that I would have to submit a request by filing a bug report--much to my frustration. A matter that used to be resolved in the course of a short phone call can now take several days. I have been an active subscriber since SWTOR launched on December 20, 2011. I would greatly appreciate you consider what I have to say and take steps to make these improvements so your customers will have a better experience and not feel like they are being completely disregarded. Unfortunately that is how I have come to feel every time I submit a bug report.

Thanks to everyone for giving their feedback. It's crucial for the Devs to understand our various points of view and how their poor communication and short-sided planning impacts players. I enjoy strongholds and I put a tremendous amount of thought and careful consideration into my layouts. I regard stronghold decorating as an outlet for personal and creative expression within the game and I consider it a welcome addition to SWTOR. I want to see it expanded and further developed, but it is currently stymied by the Conquest system and I think Strongholds should be liberated from Conquest altogether or at the very least follow the recommendation to have its Conquest Bonus based off of number of rooms unlocked rather than number of decorations. The fundamental problem from the very beginning was that the Devs made the mistake of fusing something that is purely tactical with something that is wholly creative. I think this was the wrong approach. Tactical-minded players with no interest in creative expression are the ones who are only interested in the numbers and will therefore fill their SHs with filler in order to reach that 100% as quickly as possible (why these people decide to list their garbage publicly I have no idea). Conversely, creative players who may have little to no interest in Conquest simply enjoy designing, arranging and adding purpose to their strongholds. This is especially true in the RP community, where it is very common for role-players to use their strongholds as customized scenes for their stories to unfold. Let Conquest be Conquest. Let Strongholds be Strongholds, but don't let these two completely different entities continue to step on each other's toes. This is a marriage that should be annulled. Please take appropriate measures to remedy this and please do better next time to maintain communication with your player base. Remember: without us, you do not have a job. Learn from this experience and give us some assurance that you will make things right. I'm not in a major hurry to acquire my choo-choo train and I'm willing to be reasonably patient so long as the Dev team can give us reasonable satisfaction.

There are plenty out there--me included--who strongly disagree with you. If it's one thing I've learned from the countless critiques GSF receives is that it is despised the most by those who understand it the least. Pay attention to the recent posts by the Dev's regarding GSF and you will find 3 threads asking for specific feedback. If joystick support means that much to you I suggest you add your input to the pile. Rest assured there are already others who have voiced similar grievances. I don't share your opinion. Most of us who know how to play get along perfectly fine with a keyboard and mouse but I know this is a topic that has existed since GSF's launch and if there is a way to make the joystick people happy they should try to implement it.

I found this while doing some digging and wanted to share in hopes it gains some more support. It is a very thorough critique on the problems so many of us have been expressing over the Manaan stronghold. I really want this to be seen by the Devs. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=928730

I happen to find GSF the funnest activity to play in SWTOR. It is challenging and highly skill based and extremely underrated. The majority of people who dislike it ironically happen to be the ones who understand it the least. Unfortunately, the learning curve is extremely difficult due to the disparity between novices and veterans and the lack of any substantial tutorial. These issues have been discussed to death in the GSF forums and there are recent threads posted by the Dev team asking for specific feedback. We can only hope it will lead to some much needed improvement. As for starship design, everyone has their preferences. In regards to mouse sensitivity, you would benefit tremendously adjusting the sensitivity levels on your mouse. Many of us who play GSF decrease the mouse sensitivity to give us better control when we're flying. I have noticed that this crucial little piece of advice tends to get overlooked whenever a player is asking for tips on how to improve their game.

I absolutely, unequivocally support every single word of this. My profound gratitude goes to Jedi Boadicea for taking the time and energy to articulate so many of the glaring flaws that has made the experience of decorating Manaan a total nightmare. The images you provided as examples are absolutely spot on. Again, my sincerest thanks. Keith, if you are the man in charge, then please, please do something about this. There needs to be a serious meeting with the Stronghold team because it has become all too apparent that THEY SIMPLY DO NOT GET IT. Echoing what Jedi Boadicea already said, it is abundantly clear to me that whoever was in charge of laying down hook tiles for Manaan is grossly incompetent and needs to be replaced by someone with a comprehensive understanding of the limitations and challenges the decorating community faces with the hook system! The hook layout for Manaan is intolerable. Normally, I try very hard to offer as much constructive feedback as I possibly can, but the overwhelming disappointment and frustration I experienced with the Manaan stronghold dealt a serious blow to my morale. I'm a relatively level-headed and reasonable fellow, but this fiasco just took the wind out of my sails. It was so disappointing I could not even muster the energy to post my grievances to the forums. How does one even begin to untangle such a massive train wreck? Was this really not obvious to any of you? I am sadly disappointed by the utter disregard and short-sightedness demonstrated by the Dev team. Manaan is an incredibly bittersweet pill to swallow. It was something the community had been requesting for years and, when it finally arrived, it was like opening up a gift box only to find a bomb inside. I put a considerable amount of thought and resources into my Stronghold layouts. I have spent countless hours and resources acquiring decorations and toiling over every hook tile in order to create something that brings me a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment. I find it completely unacceptable for a Dev team to lack the fundamental understanding required for a project they are responsible for implementing. This can still be fixed so, please... fix it.

Each of these questions are excellent topics and are a good indicator the Dev Team has been doing their homework. For new players, absolutely. The learning curve is brutal and is fundamentally the biggest obstacle rookies face entering GSF. The tutorial needs to be improved and expanded. I also think GSF would benefit greatly if it featured the following: New feature: Test Flight. A training mode that provides players a safe place to practice flying their ships and the freedom to experiment with abilities, crew selection and load-outs without the pressure of being in a live match. This mode might even include the option to invite a friend or small group for sparring purposes. PVE mini-campaign. Designed to help bridge more players over to GSF, this would consist of a series of progressive space missions that followed a starfighter-themed storyline and included elements like cinematic cut-scenes and conversation wheels typical to the rest of the game. The series would essentially serve as a progressive tutorial that familiarizes players with every aspect of GSF: basic controls, ship types, weapon systems, targeting, engine maneuvers, power management, co-pilot active abilities, crew passive abilities, radar and sensor communications, buffs and de-buffs, etc. By the time the player advances to the epic final mission they would have a much more comprehensive understanding of how everything works and hopefully have more reason to invest in GSF. In retrospect, this is something that probably should have been implemented when GSF first launched. On larger servers where GSF is more popular there is frequent squabbling over the pervasiveness of bombers and gunships during matches. Many have suggested imposing a limit to how many gunships and bombers should be deployed for each side. Some veteran players argue that it has less to do with ship balance and more to do with skill level. Perhaps allowing a maximum of 3 gunships and 3 bombers for each side might help to break up some of the congestion, but I think putting a cap on any ship class would cause quite a bit of outrage from players who have no interest in flying scouts or strike fighters. I think balance issues are always going to be inherent with any kind of PVP. It's with deep resentment when I say that the GSF community is the unequivocal bastard stepchild of SWTOR. We have been neglected longer than any other community in the game. This gross negligence is responsible for decimating what used to be stable, consistent GSF communities that once thrived on mid-sized servers like my home server of Begeren Colony. Without any support from the Devs, the increasing disparity between veteran and novice pilots manifested into the Marianas Trench we see today. Guys, I am begging you. We need new content. Please. For the love of God. Please, give us new content. Match-making may not be perfect but it certainly works better on servers with a larger pool of players. Since I fly more frequently on a smaller server with a thinner GSF population, I've encountered numerous times where matches abort because one team ends up being short 2 or 3 players. Aborted matches are always a disappointment and I've often wondered if there was a way to place a stopgap measure that could prevent, or at least minimize, that from happening. For example, in an 8 vs. 8 scenario, if Team A has only 6 players enter the match while Team B has a full complement of 8 players, the 8th player from Team B would be barred from entering the match until Team A can acquire at least one more player. If there are no other players available to back-fill, then the 8th player on Team B will be returned to the queue until Team A gets another player to back-fill into the match. It may not be fair for the 8th player to be excluded but neither is having a match abort for the 13 other players who want to fly. Based on the comments I've read so far it's quite apparent this is one of many major issues people have with GSF. If GSF hangars were to become Legacy-wide I would request that the Devs give players the option of selecting and deselecting their upgrades from major and minor components. Some of us actually enjoy the challenge of flying stock ships.

Hey everyone, My sincere thanks goes to Keith and crew for opening up these discussion threads. For various reasons it has become a very difficult subject to broach and I hope that something positive and constructive will come from all of this. Like most people on these forums I am passionate about Starfighter and care very deeply for this aspect of the game. I would like to contribute by offering my input as well as a perspective that may be a little different from others I have read so far. Like many here, I am a dedicated veteran of the game. My favorite ship to fly happens to be the Tier 2 Strike fighter: The Pike and the Quell; a ship some will opine as being one of the worst in the game. After reviewing my stats across various characters and servers I discovered that since launch I have logged in over 3,377 battles on the T2 strike alone. That equates to an astonishing 468 hours, or 19 ½ days, I have spent flying that particular ship class. My intention is neither to brag nor invite criticism and ridicule over my preferred play style. It is simply to lend some credence and merit to what I have to say. When I think about balance issues in GSF I keep drawing an analogy of the process that goes into mixing a song. Most sound engineers operate on the principle of keeping all the components of the music relative to the core of its most essential components. You begin mixing your song while always keeping the median in mind. The more elements there are to a song, the more difficult it becomes to ensure everything is sitting properly in the mix. The ultimate goal is to avoid creating unwanted distortion because too many things are competing for attention. It's this fundamental approach which makes me inclined toward looking at what needs to be scaled down first before deciding when something else needs to be scaled up. Over-powered Sting/Flashfire. Continuing with my music analogy, I believe the T2 scout is too loud in the mix. Its weapon systems need to be tuned down, specifically Burst Laser Cannons and how it is used in conjunction with Targeting Telemetry or Blaster Overcharge. The destructive power of those weapon systems, combined with popular Co-pilot abilities like Concentrated Fire or Wingman, along with its speed, agility and engine power pool give T2 scouts far too much of an advantage. The extra missile break granted by Distortion Field, the shorter cool-downs afforded by maneuvers like Retro Thrusters and Power Dive on top of the extra Evasion stacked from Lightweight Armor make this particular ship the undisputed Gingerbread Man of GSF, except this Gingerbread Man happens to be armed with a semi-automatic shotgun that fires armor-piercing depleted uranium rounds. Many attest the strike fighter is under-powered, but I believe that consensus is based largely upon how it compares to the offensive output of the T2 scout. Strikes are the median ship in GSF. Like a rhythm guitar in music they provide the infrastructure for which every other ship is based upon. To me, that's a big deal. You don't want to mess around too much with ground zero because in doing so it may end up compromising the entire game design as a whole. I love strike fighters and I understand their limitations better than most anybody out there. Despite all this if I had to choose a plan of action I would first try leaving the median ship class alone and instead focus on toning down T2 scouts. This idea will undoubtedly sound absurd and outrageous to all the Flashfire/Sting aficionados out there. I would not blame them. Nobody likes the idea of their favorite ship getting nerfed, but as a seasoned scout pilot myself I readily concede that the T2 Scout is simply over-powered. Liquifying a bomber with maximum hull and maximum shields in less than 3 seconds isn't something that should happen as often as it does. That being said I know ultra-hardcore scout pilots will not be very pleased at the notion of relinquishing the power they have glommed on to to for the past 3 years. If players insist on leaving T2 scouts as they are, then strike fighters need to be bolstered to better compete against them. Here are some suggestions that shouldn't break the game: Un-nerf Barrel Roll for strike fighters only. Restore its original cool-down back to 20 seconds. Barrel Roll cool-downs for Gunships and Scouts should remain at the present cool-down of 30 seconds. Add Interdiction Missiles to secondary weapons. A 5-8% increase to their base evasion. A 5-10% increase to their engine power pool. A 5-10% increase to their hull. Over-powered Burst Laser Cannons. I can think of no other weapon system that is more destructive, destabilizing and in need of re-tooling than BLCs. This is the primary reason why T2 scouts have become so notorious. It needs to be scaled back and I think if this was done it would allow other ships more opportunity to shine. Proponents of BLCs will argue that they are necessary in order to stop gunships and bombers from dominating the game. I disagree with that. Dilute some of the venom in BLCs, assess how the new changes play out, then do some additional tweaking as needed until they sit better in the overall scope of the game. If doing something like reducing Ignore Armor from 100% to 50% ensures that a ship can survive a BLC assault for longer than 3 seconds that will be a big help. Under-powered Proton and Thermite Torpedoes. Decrease their lock-on time from 3.4 seconds to 3.2 or perhaps even 3.0 seconds. Also reduce their reload time from 11 seconds to 9 seconds. Concussion Missles. Decrease its lock-on time from 2.6 seconds to 2.4 seconds. Also reduce their reload time from 5.5 seconds to 5.2 seconds--maybe even 5 seconds flat. Quick Charge Shield. Against BLCs it's like trying to protect yourself with a kleenex. Perhaps increase its instant charge from 30% to 40%. Ion Cannons. They could use a boost in range. Increase it to somewhere between 4,500 5,000k. Rapid Fire Lasers. They are extremely weak even when used to their maximum efficacy. Fortress Shield. A defense system that requires a gunship to be rooted in one spot in order to work might as well be a death sentence. Rotational Thrusters. Essentially the same fundamental problems as Fortress Shield. The value of Distortion Field and its extra missile break is simply to crucial to give up. What most comes to mind when I think about crew members is that their general composition is different for each faction. For the sake of fairness and balance I would like to see each faction's crew member options be identical. As far as active Co-pilot abilities are concerned I think Slicer's Loop, Lingering Effect, Servo Jammer should be reviewed for additional tweaking. Thank you for reading. I don't intend to engage too heavily in debating with others here. I really just want the devs to have some additonal points of view to consider that may differ from others who post more frequently than I do. I appreciate how thoughtful the community is in offering their input. It is a testament to the love and enthusiasm many of us share for GSF. My hope is that we continue to offer the devs some great insight and solid feedback they can use to better improve this awesome little mini-game. ~Elaeis~

Thank you, Keith and crew, for finally giving our beleaguered GSF community your time and attention! I am going to be as succinct as possible. Here is my item wishlist for "GSF 2.0" : 1) GSF Custom Starfighter decos. A high quality, interactive decoration for every starfighter that exists in GSF. These exclusive decos would feature an option for players to apply custom skins ported over from whatever paint jobs and color modules are currently unlocked in their Cosmetics tab. This would allow players the joy of recreating any of their favorite starships or design something entirely new. Many of us have been longing to see our personalized starfighters come to life in our strongholds! Expanding on this idea, there could be an optional secondary skin slot for additional special effect modules that could include the following: “Factory New” A shiny, high gloss finish. “Used/Second-Hand Jalopy” Rust, grime, dulled finish, chipped paint, carbon scoring, etc. “Lightly Damaged” A few minor blast marks and occasional sparks. “Moderately Damaged” Smoldering, blaster marks, sparks, damaged paneling, etc. “Heavily Damaged” Fire! Heavy smoke, sparks showering all over the place, etc. Time to put that Emergency Response Droid to work! These starfighter decos could also feature an interactive cockpit that could be toggled open or closed and would allow a player to sit inside their ship. It would be great if these decos had actual landing struts and not those silly repulsor pads tacked on to the original starfighter decos. They should also be given a collision box, something the devs never bothered applying to the originals. 2) Space-themed personnel decos (Crewmen): Astromech droids Engineers Pilots Maintenance technicians Navigators Officers 3) A GSF mission terminal deco. 4) GSF/space-themed artwork decos including starfighters, frigates, freighters, capital ships, space stations, starship technical schematics, etc. Other artwork could include a variety of pictures from space such as planets, nebula, spiral galaxies, artwork from the original space missions (regardless of its repetitiveness, I always found the backgrounds of those space missions to be very beautiful). 5) Additional model ship decos just like Model: Ebon Hawk and Model: Eternal Fleet decos. These would include everything from starfighters all they way up to capital ships. I would love to see the iconic KoTOR Hammerhead Corvette included in this! 6) An exclusive GSF Sullustan companion! 7) New GSF character titles. 8) New GSF Stronghold title. 9) A Galactic Starfighter flair. 10) Additional color modules, paint jobs, gas canisters and engine reactants.

I wanted to offer Keith and his crew my sincerest gratitude for all the work they have been doing to provide us this outline for what lies ahead. I see many great things in store and am especially happy to see some movement on GSF. It may be small, but it is the most our beleaguered community of pilots have gotten in over 3 years! There are plenty of things to be excited and enthusiastic about, but where I really want to express my appreciation is Keith's new policy on communication. I can't express enough how truly important and vital this is for the health and morale of our community! Having a game producer who understands what it means to maintain communication with the players fills me with a lot of optimism and enthusiasm. I am very pleased so far with what I am seeing out of Keith's leadership. Please continue the good work. Your posts have been a welcome and refreshing change for SWTOR and I hope it continues. Reaching out to us, keeping us informed and responding to our feedback speaks volumes about your quality and dedication for this game so many of us enjoy. Thank you!

Heh. Yes, I think it's a shame that they nerfed the Cartel Slot machine as badly as they did. Many of us have been very frustrated that Cartel Certificates have been so scarce with no realistic or practical means of obtaining more. It boggles my mind why the devs, who seem to be obsessed with constantly tweaking the format of their cartel packs, have yet to acknowledge this shortage. I always liked Cartel Certificates. It is a fair and constructive alternative method for obtaining rare items and decos. I think the devs need to roll back their Cartel Slot Machine nerf a few increments. It's fair to say that the original drop rate was too high just as it is fair to say that the current drop rate is way, way too low. They need to make another adjustment--one that offers us a better chance of obtaining certificates. They also need to include them back into Cartel Packs and remove the BoL requirement so they can be sold on the GTN.

It would be nice if we had features like these added to a Settings menu for our strongholds. Having a day or night setting could be selected between manual or automatic settings. In regards to additional climate effects each stronghold could have specific weather affects specific to each planet. Tatooine could have a sandstorm effect, Alderaan could have snowfall, Yavin could have rain, etc.

Thanks to everybody for their contributions in helping to identify decos that are currently mislabeled or are not assigned the appropriate hook size. I really do hope the devs take a look at this compilation and use it as reference. This list goes to prove how stronghold decos are in need of more consistent and reliable organization.