My comments when un-subbing : Poor performance: This game runs poorly. I'm playing on a laptop, but can support other games like TERA on the highest graphics no problem. SWTOR only runs on lowest graphic and it still has a hard time at times (like with smoke from smuggler nukes). I did not enjoy PVP : Everyone is our guild was looking forward to the rated PVP which didn't happen. After 1.2, PVP feels very broken. The time to kill is ridiculously fast, some classes can kill me in under 5 sec and I'm in full BM with 2 WH pieces. Healers and tanks are now pointless in PVP. Oh and don't get me started on Ilum : just fail... I did not enjoy the Flashpoints: flashpoints were fine while leveling. Hardmodes were stupid, hard, and with crap loot. So no one ever does them. (and the new one in 1.2 is just stupid if you have melee you can barely kill the first boss when everyone is in full Rakata) I have finished all current content : EV and KP were pathetically easy, we've cleared most of it on nightmare. The real challenge was keeping our cool when wiping to bugs or the never ending RNG stuff. There was never any point in doing it on story mode we could down hard mode bosses in green gear. EC is stupidly hard, we can hardly clear it in full Rakata gear and all ranged dps. This is really unacceptable, do you guys even proof test your stuff ? The game was imbalanced : 1.2 really killed the limited amount of balance there was. Scoundrel healing noob heal for more than full Rakata or BM commandos?!? Come on... The game was not fun : the amount of bugs that were left in a released version was appalling. Seriously, there are dozens of contenders in the MMO gaming world. How can you possibly find it ok to release game content that's not working properly. Someone from BW said in an interview lately "SWTOR is a triple-A MMO" and at first it felt like it was, except that it really wasn't. You can't call yourself that, and not have half of the functionality any other triple A mmo has (server transfer, cross server cues, LFG tool etc etc etc ad infinitum). Add to that the never ending string of bugs, and this makes for a poor experience indeed. I am done defending this game... I'm done with this game. My sub ends in 43 days... make something happen

So let me get this straight... 3 to 1 wz comms, for rateds comms pieces are more expensive rewards for losing are non-existent we just finished a long grind for BM (which most people haven't finished) can't cue with full group so we are still stuck with pugs healers are broken down, and don't want to pvp heal anymore still no open world pvp with an actual point How is this led by a top of the line pvp crew again? The only good point I can find in this patch for PvP is that my abilities finally seem to register properly when cast. So you've fixed a bug. What the hell is going on ?!

<Sit Vis Nobiscum> - Republic Captain: Amaunator (Vanguard/DPS/Tank) Player 2: Gearbox (Commando/Healer) Player 3: Snewfie (Sage/DPS)

You are right, I misread your post. Although I still don't agree with a Valor buff based on population. I think it would cause a lot of exploiting potential on the underdog side, and cause quite a headache to implement and fix in the long run. But it might make people reroll Rep (which might have been your point), but no one wants to be "highly encouraged" to switch faction or else the game is and stays broken... that would make me question BWs judgement.

@Scoobings Talking exclusively about Ilum, Im not sure what they can do to fix it. If they want an open world PvP, then there is not many ways to properly fix it other than having balanced faction. One way to do that is to instance the region like they are trying to do. But this is making it unplayable for a lot of Imps since their instance is empty. I'm not really fond of Tenacity type buffs, as there is often/always a way to exploit that and end up 2 shotting people. There are many ways in which they could fix this if they added zone benefits to capturing like objectives (like specialty vendors or what not) but this would also mean adding a timer type mechanic to the zone, which makes it not an Open World PvP and more of a long timer based Defender/Attacker warzone. They did mention that this is somewhat what they were intending before launch, but didn't have time to properly implement/test it before launch and had to pull it. So for now I think we just have to live with what it is now, a fishing contest (with harpoons) at chokes points in the base.

You guys are overthinking this... We have more imps because everyone wants to be a bada$s, and also because PvPers love to be evil. As one of my Game Designer friend told me (not working for BW btw) "You want to balance the faction? easy, make a sexy looking class on Rep side, problem solved" Population imbalance has nothing to do about game mechanics, animations or anything like that, it's pure psychology 101. bada$s looking = cool and Sex sells.

I disagree with most of what was written in the OP's quotted post. (Full disclosure : Republic Vanguard Trooper talking from Darth Bandom where Imps outnumbers 3 to 1 on a good day) 1. Heavily incentivise the underdog faction by doing the following - Although I do agree that Ilum is a bit pointless at the moment, giving Tenacity type buffs also breaks the game as we've seen before. It fixes some issues but raises others just as bad (like 2 shotting people). From what we've seen and what BW has written about it, they want fights to last for a while before someone dies, and they seem to be working that way with things like Resolve. - About the valor per kill issue, this is already being taken care of with the diminishing returns we already have in the game. Kill the same person twice in a short time (minutes) and you get no or reduced valor rank. Which is working fine in my opinion. - Dividing valor rank rewards by the number of people would make it impossible for the more numerous group to ever complete their quests as it stands. In fact, I do believe it takes way longer for Imps to complete their 30 kills quest in Ilum at the moment than Rep, which makes total sense since they outnumber us 10 to 1. Also, although this is just an opinion based on what I've experienced, it is probably impossible for 40 people to tag you for a kill. Tagging implies damaging for most classes, and after 5-8 abilities cast on me (as a tank) I'm usually dead. - Cross faction players, this is really a non issue. If you love PvP, you also love to hate your enemy. I know the guilds and names of a lot of Imps already that I would go out of my way to pwn in Wz and Ilum. The only reason I have an alt on imp side is to check the pop imbalance and to experience the PvE side. 2. remove pvp stats from the game immediately. - Just no. PvP stat is there for a reason, to differentiate play styles (PvP vs PvE) and keep players interested. PvPers want challenge. We play to win. We grind when needed to get the gear to allows us a chance at glory at the top of the ladder. Make every level 50 have the same gear "level" and it breaks this in my opinion. I don't want a new level 50 come in a WZ and have a chance against my full Champion set. You want to PvP, you are new, you start at the bottom of the ladder, just like the rest of us. Did we get there ahead of you and now it's harder for you to climb the ladder ? Well sorry, but I love PvP that much more than you. 3. The bolster system and brakets. - I love the bolster system, but the 50 braket was and is a necessity. It fixed all the problems I had with Warzone. Good job BW. 4. Population Imbalance, this one is a tricky issue, but since 1.1 and the level 50 brakets I have no more issue with it. At first it was breaking warzones as Imps had way more level 50 than Rep, and the bolster system was not cutting it. Now though, I really feel like the PvP community on Rep side has a more concentrated group of good players, while the Rep community of good players is spread over a wider base. This effectively made the Imps the underdog in WZ overnight, and I'm loving it while riding the wave . For the past 2 days, our guild premade groups of 4 have been winning at around 7 out of 10 matches. All in all, I want to congratulate BW on making instanced PvP great! But you guys must keep working on Open World PvP. Keep up the good work!