Could someone explain to me what all these 'haters keep out' threads are all about? Is it because people like being in cosy echo chambers?

Why not give the player options to tailor the game to make it fun for them? Companions for many spoil the experience, because it IS ridiculous that while levelling the companion has way more health and does way more damage, and if you use heals it's essentially impossible to die. Experience gains, even at base level, are so high that you are really encouraged and pushed to only do the main story, as being max level on a planet trivialises the content even further. How can anyone possibly object to a purely optional set of items that reduce XP and comp strength by half? You know if you don't want to have this effect, there's an amazingly simple solution. As far as development goes, you know I seriously doubt this is going to expend much resources, as we're talking about a change to stats not some kind of massive overhaul. There are debuffs that reduce stats, and there are experience effecting items already in the game.

Well then you switch off the crystal that nerfs them. Difficult concept to grasp I know. Does anyone here know what an OPTION is? This is the issue though, isn't it? Clearly most of you just scan and see the words 'companion' and 'reduce', and are too lazy to actually read what I'm proposing.

Actually they said PvE tanks are doing too much damage as well. It's going to be the case that regardless of PvE or PvP, if you wear dps gear you are doing too much damage for a non-dps class. The bottom line is, YOU ARE A TANK, not a DPS. You also seem to struggle to comprehend. The increased threat generation is purely to offset the reduction in damage output for PvE situations. As usual, the underline 'issue' here is people crying because they have their advantages removed. Want to do damage, don't role a tank. It IS that simple. It's also comical because you know it really isn't going to be the case - as so often is said on MMO forums - that you are suddenly going to be 'worthless' in solo content, because your damage has been reduced. It usually boils down to people crying because they aren't overpowered anymore. It really is the oldest and most repeated thing you see in this genre.

It just needs to be something completely new. One new full world to explore with plenty of side and group missions to me is sorely needed. A story that is party shared I think is a sensible expectation, as the resources needed for two entirely dependent stories for both factions would probably be asking too much resource wise. Let's be real here, the budget for this game is quite clearly tiny compared to what it was in the Rise of the Hutt days.

Well yes, by the current XP rates you don't have to do anything other than the main story. That seems a bit excessive to me, and I think you should have to do at least some side missions, either group or solo, or a combination of both. I'm playing through the game again and it is very frustrating that doing even the main planet story is going to overlevel me, and yes, overlevelling still exists because once you hit a planet cap you become far more powerful.

Well, it IS an MMO. It's not some minor point one can brush off, that IS the stated genre of the game. If you don't like seeing other people - and I fully admit sometimes I don't - then you can't really complain. To do so would be akin to complaining CoD has too much focus on guns. The issue with KOTFE and KOTET is the balance was way too much in the phased zones, whereas I feel the vanilla experience got it just right. To almost entirely convert levelling up to be a single player experience seems ridiculous to me. Having phased areas for important story moments is a good solution to the immersion breaking aspects normally found in MMOs - such as standing around waiting for a boss to respawn, or have some max level in luminous pink armour with a horrible name just one shot everything around you. You DO need those open world areas though, preferably with plenty of content that can only be done as a group. It is possible to have both.

No. Let's keep within the confines of my comparison shall we? The difference between specifically chapters and flashpoints is critical. Flashpoints are more future proof as engaging group content - once you've exhausted the story aspect - than chapters are. You are not going to argue with me about importance of story, because I fully appreciate that aspect. However, after doing that content dozens of times the actual mechanics and gameplay are rather more important. Chapters are not designed to be played as a group. Flashpoints are, and they are also designed with a solo mode. You may say "Well, make new chapters more group friendly". In that case the distinction between the two really is starting to blur isn't it. However, it is currently the case that a chapter is primarily a solo part of the main story. That isn't true for flashpoints. If there isn't an option to replay solo flashpoints with the story fully intact, then I would agree that should be available.

One thing I'd love is proper separate stories between the factions, but I suspect that is expecting too much. Personally I'd probably prefer a story twice as long but be very similar between the two sides, a la Makeb. Certainly though it'd be nice to have two rather than just one planet.

Flashpoints get more mileage out of the game than chapters. It progresses the plot and adds another dungeon to the roster, which is evergreen content, Really anyway, is there so much difference doing a story mode 'chapter' over doing a 'flashpoint' in solo mode? They both take you to a couple of locations, advance the plot, and offer absolutely no challenge to speak of.

Honestly, I am surprised they got Jaessa and Kira back, given both actresses are pretty big time in this line of work. Yes, when SWTOR was first made the budget was massive, but that really isn't the case and hasn't been for a long time. It could be a reason for the only DS version returning, and it might be a shrewd way of saving unequal work going to one companion if they try and continue their stories down the line.

No, not 'voila'. Breaking the game is not an answer. You are MEANT to run with companions, and it looks utterly ridiculous and completely immersion destroying having your companion follow just behind you doing nothing in combat. Dismissing them doesn't work, because fighting harder mobs is clearly not designed for one person hitting it. Are any of you getting it yet? Without companions you're underpowered, and with them you're comically overpowered-- hence my proposal for this feature. Even when I put the companion to tank and disable ALL of his abilities, the mobs die about three times as fast. They put in an item to stop the x12 bonus, and the companions is something that is in the game 100% of the time. Being accused of being a troll by two people already on here really does demonstrate quite perfectly the kinds of people that object to these kinds of potential optional features.

Projection much. Both of you.

Is that what I'm asking for here? Did you or the above person actually READ my post? I doubt it. Companions are overpowered no matter what you do, even when they're set to tank and auto attack only with no abilities on. I am asking for an OPTIONAL toggle to reduce their power. Disabling them or dismissing them is a ludicrous suggestion given how it's an integral part of how this game works, very like the even more comical suggestions of not equipping gear or underlevelling by 5 levels. Let's just ignore 90% of the game's features shall we, to make it 'fun'. They aren't going to force any more nerfs ever since the calamity of 4.0, because of the uproar from people who well, don't actually want to play the game themselves and have the companions do everything. They put their foot in it royally by accidentally giving people cheat mode, and when people decided they liked cheating, the devs couldn't go back. All one heard is screams of "they've nerfed them to the ground." when in truth they buffed them to the nearest star only a week before, and then they tried correcting that OBVIOUS oversight. Yes, I am still bitter about that turn of events, when the game was ruthlessly cut down. No, any changes to nerf companions MUST be optional now -- regardless of how I (correctly) think it turns SWTOR into a non-game. An OPTIONAL crystal thing that halves the stats, so companions are actually properly less powerful than the actual player. It's funny because an almost identical situation occurred with - that other - MMORPG. They buffed mobs significantly in levelling and precisely the same kinds of people cried all over the forums (it's funny how much I saw it coming "Aaah this is SWTOR 4.0 all over again). Fortunately for that game, they can afford to shed a few of those players (or rather people who don't want to play) and still be extremely profitable, and the devs stuck to their guns.

Like the XP reduction item during the 12x bonus, I'd really like to see an item which on use has the toggled effect of reducing companion power by halving their stats. For me this would be a purely optional method of bringing them down to levels where they are actually the companion in levelling, rather than carrying YOU, the player. Surely this is the most elegant solution to pleasing people who want more challenge in levelling, without forcing it on the community at large.