This is so not true. I've been playing lotro since release and these "expansions" are far from what they delivered in Mines of Moria. As I said before, lotro's "expansions" provide them new ways to monetize their cash shop. The content continues to get lighters as the price goes up. Have any of lotro's recent expansions provided new classes, raids, dungeons, etc? No, no, and no. They did add mounted combat recently but that content is very much wedded to the cash shop and there are STILL complaints about how the engine can't handle it. About the only thing provided in these expansions is an increase in level, a new zone, and continuation of the epic story. Paltry when compared to WoW's or even Rift's expansions. SWTOR is headed down the same path.

Lotro expansions are far, far from full blown. Most of the content in these so-called expansions is just new ways for them to monetize their cash shop. Not only that, but some of the content from previous expansions remains in an unfinished state. Also, some major raid bugs never get fixed (Draigoch). Lotro had an initial boost when it went F2P but each additional expansion has seen lighter content with a higher price tag. The game is a shell of its former self. And this is coming from a formerly huge fan of Turbine. SWTOR is likely headed down this road as well. And to call ROTCH an expansion is a joke. As others have said, this was likely meant as a free content patch until the population tanked.

I very much enjoy SWTOR even though it's a WoW clone and gear treadmill; especially after the server mergers and group finding tool were implemented. However, I'm not sure I will be re-subbing because of the uncertainty surrounding the game. I like to play MMOs that have a bright future and I'm worried about the future health of the game for the following reasons: EA's track record of allowing their MMOs to wither on the vine rather than improving and marketing them. People are tired of raid progession/gear treadmill MMOs resulting in lower populations. Bioware's complete lack of communication about the current state and future of the game. Continued lay offs, resignations, resulting in more work with fewer resources for the remaining devs. In a nutshell, mismanagement of this game continues and I am losing faith. A little communication from Bioware about the future of the game would go a long way towards alleviating my concerns. I don't consider the little bit we know about Makeb and HK-51 to be communication. We need some info on how they plan on improving the game and not just tidbits on upcoming content.

It seems to me that there are two ways Bioware could proceed with server transfers: 1. Have free targeted transfers from heavier to lighter populated servers. All other transfers are paid. 2. Allow the player base to initially transfer wherever they want. In my opinion, implementing #1 will lose even more good will with the player base. Good will is very hard to come by right now for Bioware and how they do this could make or break the future of the game. What they SHOULD do is implement #2 for a short period of time and then MAYBE go to #1. This would allow them to make the current population happy, avoid the bad PR of server merges, and maybe grow the game god forbid! If BW was in sole possession of their game, I would expect them to implement #2. But with EA involved, I am fully expecting a money grab and implementation of #1. I have unsubbed but have re-rolled on The Fatman with my remaining sub time and have discovered how fun the game can be with people to play with. I would dearly love to bring my level 50 over when transfers are ready. But if they force me to pay, I'm gone and never looking back; especially with GW2 on the horizon and D3 taking a bunch of my time. Thoughts on how they should handle transfers?

i've unsubbed. a cross server dungeon finder would get me to stay.

i think it's the difficulty to find a quick group for a flashpoint or heroic. flashpoints are hella fun but they're inaccessible.

I have also unsubscribed. Since I was the GM, it has resulted in my guild falling apart unfortunately. I have 24 days left in my subscription and I'm sticking around because I have this strange and unfounded hope that BW will do something now instead of later. Or maybe it's just curiosity over a train wreck. My top 5: 1. Impossible to find a group for flashpoints and heroics due to dead server and lack of cross-server lfg tool. 2. Ilum. 3. Poor client and sound optimization. 4. Planets feel dead and static like a painting. 5. No economy of any sort whatsoever. I refuse to reroll on the Fatman server so I've resubscribed to lotro. The Brandywine server in lotro has way more people to group with than Daragon Trail does. Also, they have a global lff channel which makes it easy to find people across zones for grouping. Middle Earth feels vibrant and alive compared to even the best designed planets in swtor and it had a fraction of the budget. It's 5 years old and the graphics are almost on part with swtor. Hell Turbine knows how to code shadows! I guess it's expected when you purchase your client from a third party. Anyway I probably won't be back because I don't see them addressing my top 5 anytime soon. Hoping that GW2 is good and becomes my new home but I'm not holding my breath. MMOs always promise the world and never deliver. Why did WoW have to ruin things with pandas and pokemon?

why they continue to do maintenance at peak times boggles me. bw continues to show me where their heads are collectively located. notice my spelling of their?

i like it!

also seeing a moderate decrease in performance. it's quite annoying.

yes but that requires random sampling methods. i'm sure biowares methods were not random. so once again, a small group of hand picked (and if you believe they aren't...well I've got a bridge for sale real cheap) people represent the will of the people how?

i wholeheartedly agree with #1. biggest issue in the game. i am barely hanging onto my enthusiasm for this game because of #1.

and a hand-picked, small group of people represent the playbase how?

no cross-server dungeon finder will cause more to leave. it's too damn difficult to find groups and you can look to lotro to see how often a single-server dungeon finder pops. less satisfied customers = more people leaving = less community for the anti-cross server crowd = less developer dollars going back to the game = f2p and the game relegated to the bargain bin. enjoy!

i have a feeling that people that are against a cross-server flashpoint finder are either: 1. on a heavily populated server 2. play empire on anything but light servers 3. are in a moderately or large-sized and active guild also the swtor community is already composed of ******s. it won't get any worse with a cross-server flashpoint finder. as an example of a failed single-server dungeon finder, i point you to lotro. the community there *****ed and complained about this same issue and they got their wish that the finder will be single-server only. as a result, they are now ************ and complaining that the finder never pops. also if you are so against cross-server tools. DON"T USE THEM!!! simple as that.

it's a good casual game. seems the endgame was designed for hardcore casuals. there are many, many design flaws and bugs in the game that need to be fixed and many, many features that need to be added. but the main issue that will continue to keep this game from thriving is the complete lack of lfg tools. imo, flashpoints are some of the most fun to be had in the game but people (pubs mostly) on light and standard servers or people in small guilds rarely get to see them as intended. while leveling it's practically impossible to run flashpoints due to the game bleeding subs, remaining populations are now mainly 50, and the fractured nature of the game zones doesn't allow for efficiently finding a group. finding groups for hard mode flashpoints is equally impossible. who wants to spam fleet chat for an hour or more? there just aren't enough people in the level 50 pool on most standard and light server pub fleets. a cross-server dungeon finder would solve this issue and why it isn't in 1.2 is mind boggling. it seems that bioware lacks vision for the game and is very poor at setting priorities. it smacks of mismanagement and it will soon be too late to right the sinking ship.

the op nailed my sentiments concerning swtor. lack of group tools is really hurting this game more than anything else. it doesn't affect me much per se because my guild actively groups with our own members. but i hear this frustration on a daily basis from my server community.

the single most frustrating thing about this game is the difficulty finding a group. we need a great lfg for heroics and a cross-server dungeon finder with an option to keep the search on-server. i say cross-server now because many, many servers no longer have enough people to support a single-server dungeon finder tool without long waits.

thanks for the tips guys. going to try some of the ideas. one problem is that we don't have 3 healers so we'll have to deal with that.

wow. i thought one of our healers getting cycloned and getting dropped on a ball was bad. i hate rng based fights. its the lazy developer's way to make the encounter difficult. by all means make the encounter difficult. i'm all for it. and i don't mean increasing HPs and decreasing the enrage timer. just tune down the rng elements and add some additional, well thought out and interesting mechanics. it's not as if we are not executing. we've got the choreography down and we have the gear. we are doing everything right but just continue to wipe because of bad luck. i'm ok with endless wipes from lack of execution, gear, etc. those things can be improved. i'm not ok with endless wipes because of bad luck. how the hell do you improve your luck? this is just another example of lack of forethought along with ilum. i never thought i would miss wow raiding lol. those fights seemed well thought out and fun for the most part with little rng element to them. it's too bad i don't like kung fu pandas.

After battling the ancient pylon bugs and rolling through the infernal council loot pinata, we come to soa. ah soa. it seems to me that this boss is only downable with a very specific group makeup (ranged dps and two sages) or pure dumb luck. i personally can't stand encounters that replace difficulty with luck. the randomness of the phase two lightning balls is just not fun. almost every attempt we end up with both healers out of the fight (either targeted by lightning balls, mind trapped, or cycloned). sometimes both tanks are out of the fight. the difficulty of this fight is weighted way too much towards RNG and less towards skill and organization. hopefully this fight gets a major tuneup in 1.2.

Hi peeps! Redemption is an adult/casual, endgame raiding and pvp Republic guild over on the Daragon Trail pvp server. We've recently been featured on Corellian Run Radio's website! http://corellianrun.com/2012/02/13/guild-checkpoint-31/#more-10965

pandas. nuff said.

all i gotta say is don't like it? don't use it!

my guess is that mainly the imp players are against a cross-server dungeon finder. try playing pub side and deal with the frustration of not being able to find a group for flashpoints, then reassess. it really sucks not being able to play some of the more fun content because there aren't enough players pub side. i would gladly risk playing with the occasional ****** to be able to see more of the group content.