Maybe it's just my viewpoint, but it seems like there's a sufficient, if not substantial, amount of content for players to do at end-game - datacrons, completing the codex, PvP grind, 6 hard mode flashpoints per faction and 2 operations should be able to keep many players busy until the next content patch assuming they are average gamers. Obviously not everyone will want to do every activity, but that's how these games work. That said, I would like to see Bioware make a hard mode for every flashpoint in order to ensure people eventually see the content of those FPs 6 months from now. I'd say the real issue is not the amount of end-game content, but the speed at which it can be consumed by dedicated players. Simply put, reading through these threads it seems like a player with a few hours a night can get the best gear, be it PvE or PvP with only a relatively small time investment and a healthy dose of RNG luck. There's also problems with bugs and balancing, but it seems like at the end of the day, a player can be equipped in full champions and columi gear by simply spending 3-6 hours a week on PvP and PvE respectively. By removing the skinner box addiction and turning everything into a loot pinata, Bioware made it easy for people to deck themselves out in nearly the best gear possible. All that's left is to grind to Valor Rank 60 or through Nightmare bosses for the last few pieces. Whether that's good or bad depends on each person, but I don't see how Bioware can change the system now without putting up larger barriers for everyone that didn't push to 50 early.

The solution (at this point) seems fairly simple to me. Have the set bonuses linked to the armoring mod and make each high-end armoring mod location specific (e.g. Chest Combat Medic Armoring, Legs Guardian Tank Armoring, etc.) and place them all on a gear vendor at the fleet. A raid/PvP chest token can then be exchanged for either the purple high-end chest gear or the chest armoring mod. This does mean that a person with orange gear may need double the amount of tokens as a purple geared player (one for armoring and one for mod and enhancement), but that assumes the purple player wants the exact secondary stats that come with default purple gear. If that purple person decides to stack critical and surge over the default power and accuracy, then both players will have a similar amount of work.

I think this thread shows 2 things: 1) Always agree on loot rules before your PuG enters an FP 2) SWTOR may have been better off coming up and/or using another system than the standard need before greed system for the majority of group loot (e.g. token system, loot containers, etc.)

I haven't read the entire thread, but for those looking for set bonuses for all PvP and PvE gear, they are found here: http://knotor.com/item_sets

Great read. I've said previously that I can't shake the feeling that Bioware developed their MMO using a "how-to" guide that's 5-6 years out of date. It's great to see it so nicely articulated and explained. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the game for what it is, of course. I'm just really hoping that going forward, Bioware takes a page out of Trion's (RIFT) playbook and releases substantive content on a blazingly fast schedule. Rift's gameplay may not be everyone's cup of tea, but you can't deny they introduce new contents and mechanics to their game at a rate that puts most studios to shame.

They exist for raid and high-end PvP gear (maybe more), but you can only see the bonuses if you have the items equipped or inspect the gear of someone who has it equipped. No idea why Bioware chose to hide set bonuses otherwise. To answer the OP, I haven't seen a list yet.

Only thing I can think of is that your consular did not perform the preceding quests. Quests are not always given out based solely on level, but some require that you complete the prerequisite quests in the planet quest chain.

Like others have said, the problem isn't that some players are too far ahead of the levelling curve to effectively do heroic content. Rather, the problem is that in 6 months from now, almost all non-50 group content will be completely unused since there won't be a critical mass of players at those levels (starting planet heroics and the first FP likely being the notable exceptions).

Much appreciated!

Silly question, but I just can't figure this out. The only way I've been able to split stacks at the moment is by using Shift + LClick, but every time I split, it also links the item I'm splitting into my chat box. Is there a way to split a stack without the item linking or am I just failing miserably at basic keyboard functionality?

1. Off-spec looting - you don't need easy dual-specs built in-game for people to have an off-set. My trooper can have a DPS and heal spec right now if I'm willing to pay the credits and time. Just as with companion and orange-gear looting, you just need to set up loot rules at the beginning (e.g. main/current-spec > off-spec > greed). Contrary to the doomsayers, most people in WoW and other MMOs are perfectly fine if you ask "Can I need this for my off-spec?" And yes, that's even after LFD was included. Also, given the generic stat system, you'll generally need the same gear no matter whether you're DPS or heals (tanks are a little different granted) 2. Being forced to switch to a new role - I'm sorry, but despite what you say, I don't believe this happens. Not unless you're in some crazy guild that demands an extra healer and you, Mr. Operative DPS are suddenly it. In this case, it's simply a matter of changing guilds. Because if that guild demands you become a healer despite your lack of comfort, familiarity and interest, then clearly they're a bad guild and would likely demand you switch and pay the credits to do so in the current environment. In other words, this is a problem with bad people with awful personalities, not a gameplay problem.

Why stop at dual spec? WoW isn't the only authority on respecs. I would love to have a Guild Wars type of solution where I can have an infinite number of respecs with the ability to save and load skill points and hotbars. To balance it out, make it so we can only change our specs in rest zones (i.e. ship, fleet and cantinas) so that there is a slight time cost involved if players want to min-max each encounter or a group's tank ragequits and they need to find a replacement player anyways.

I'm enjoying SWToR right now, but I definitely agree with the OP. As I play, I can't help but feel like Bioware took a 5 year old manual on how to create an MMO and went from there, ignoring the various quality-of-life improvements that have been introduced to the genre since then (although I do appreciate area looting).

All we know is that the devs are looking to implement more guild tools in the future. The example they gave is guild capital ships, but there's been little detail otherwise. Hopefully something will be in very, very soon since a guild bank is much more convenient than constantly asking online guildies if they need [Random BoE Armor].

If it was just a small fee, it probably wouldn't be too big a deal. However, it's also the time involved to travel to a skill mentor, reset all the skill points, change the hotbars and travel to wherever you need to be. That's a noticeable waste of time and it adds up over the course of multiple respecs.

Because most people have better things to do with their lives than spend 100 hours levelling up the same character just so that a different subset of abilities that they already had are more powerful? You do also realize that there are current respecs in the game, right? An unlimited number in fact, as long as people can afford the cost (credits, time and tedium) involved. You seem to be arguing for a regression to no respecs whatsoever.

Are you seriously saying that if I want to play a healing Operative in PvE and DPS Operative in PvP that I should make two separate characters, going through all the content twice instead of saving myself 100+ hours and just respec? This seems way too much like a very nerdy frat hazing. After being humiliated and tortured for so long when playing their old MMOs, all they want to do is see other people go through the same torment.

At the end of the day, it's a quality of life issue. We already have unlimited respecs (assuming you have the credits), so it's just a matter of how much tedium should be involved to switch skill points around. Personally, I'd like to see the Guild Wars version of respecs, where I can swap out my points at will at no spec at any rest zone. Ideally, we'd also be able to save a number specs and associated hotbars so we don't have to waste time rejigging the hotbars every time you go from healing to dps.

I would love chat bubbles. I don't think many players notice the chat box when they're levelling. Especially since the /say colour is the same (or at least very similar) to that of General colour. More than once already I went to kill a quest mob with an annoyingly long respawn timer only to find 2 or 3 players already there. Me: "Are you guys doing [quest]?" *no response* Me: "Can I join your group?" *no response* I'll then try to invite them to my group and be told they're already in a group. Then they go kill the mob when it pops and leave me feeling lonely. Thus far, the only way I've managed to get their attention is by standing in front of them and jumping like a maniac. Simply put, people simply don't bother staring at the chat box, especially the SWTOR default UI chatbox, which is placed in the out of the way top left section of the screen where all the other information players need is placed at the bottom of the screen (abilities, party status, map)

Assuming you're at a high enough level, all flashpoints are accessed from the fleet. I don't remember exactly where, but I believe there's an elevator in the fleet called "Mission Terminal" on something similar on the map that takes you to the area where all the flashpoints are accessed. Otherwise, there should be some droids in the fleet called "flashpoint couriers" that give you breadcrumb quests telling you exactly where to go to start the various flashpoints.

All MMOs have one immutable rule: Never ever go to the game's forums unless you're looking for an excuse to quit.

Last I read, you are able to use local chat channels (i.e. /say and /yell), but there will be no zone-wide or private communication (i.e. /General or /whisper).