Right? I remember when UO came out, I am sure it is in this game too, but they only guaranteed ONE day a month of actual server uptime. The rest is gravy. Read your TOS some time, I bet its in there too! And unless you(the OP) have Zero hours of sleep a day, I think YOU cost yourself more time than they EVER will.

I actually don't know the server sizes, so it was a legitimate query. I do not honestly believe there are 850 total players on my server, Anchorhead, at peak times. Anchorhead is one of the larger servers to my knowledge, just based on the login screen its always in the top rung of population, yes I scroll down and check from time to time. MAYBE on the weekend, and that would be BOTH factions combined. Population BALANCE is critical for things such as Darkness Falls or Wintergrasp to work however, or one side keeps it and it just gives one MORE advantage to the larger faction.

I love this idea, DAOC did it with Darkness Falls. BUT what is server population like compared to WoW? Having a small server population doesn't really make a special raid enough viability to raid. Not knocking on state of the game or anything like that, WoW servers seemed to just be large. More people were afk in Ironforge than what I think is even on my server, and mine isn't small.

That is so true. Not to mention the fact that RIFT changed encounters in Experts so that it was not the same as leveling up. They even added new bosses in addition to new mechanics.

Noone knows. I sure hope they open up transfers/faction changes. It sucks to have to scrap a character when you put in all that time. So far I have not seen any official word other than the new servers.

I am pretty sure it was in last week's 10 answered questions, that they said they wanted to do this, but its a major endeavor so it will take some time.

Can I flirt with the opposite sex and make them feel uncomfortable? A sexual force persuade? I mean if we are pursuing EVERY option in a damn game why not? You can say its harassment, but we murder and do worse things by L5 so whats your point?

A few of your points. I have rerolled. I have done the "story" of BH and trooper, and even done it one more time for the different advanced class. SAME STORY!! I found a guild on Republic that I enjoy doing ops and pvp with and it would be nice to incorporate my current characters, instead of saying, hold on getting on my healer(other faction) to get his dailies out of the way. Armor is already skinned for each faction. Trade some stuff in the GTN in Nar Shadaa and you will see that something that looks like a BH will have a Trooper skin on Republic. Gear actually has an EXACT opposite. Look at the PVP weapons for ease of discussion. The assault cannon is also main hand trooper/bounty hunter with respec to the vendors and tokens. So it is an EASY swap. Offhand, same thing. I offered suggestions regarding story. Honestly, the person who takes the faction change route shouldn't expect it to be perfect, so if they have to have a tweak to story, that's all part of the transaction. I figure, they could do it one of two ways. Either wipe story and make you start again as if you were a L1 story-wise, or the more difficult conversion one for one quest swap, which I am not in favor of due to the amount of effort involved and potential errors. Companion affection would be easiest to remedy by simply wiping their affection. This could tie into story also, as you may lose all your companions if the story is wiped. Kind of sucks, but may be the only way to implement it. I said this before. I think someone who is primarily motivated by story, most likely would not choose this route, so I don't think that it needs to be a focal point. They are already voting no. What I do say to them I limit to, would it limit your game play in anyway to allow others to enjoy the game in another manner? Just with all the same-sex stuff that is being debated. I have numerous reasons why I want to preserve he characters I have developed extensively OUTSIDE of the context of the story. Others may have different reasons. I do think it is feasible to implement and am curious how people feel it could detract from their game play style. Hope its not too big of a wall of text.

Constructive helps to build, but offering solutions. Criticism is just making comments and moving on. I read it, found no value, moved on. Anyway, it is a game, a past time, and this is an option many would enjoy and it would enhance gameplay. HOW would it detract from yours to have more people on your faction if you are underpopulated? I am sure many would not mind if people made a personal choice to forgo some story components in their PERSONAL game experience in order to allow full game features to the masses such as more faction balance and grouping opportunities. Magical or not.

Well, its a solution. Not every solution is a perfect fit, but for those that WANT to experience the story could start the chain anew at L1. Why not? If you chose this route, then there is something OTHER than story that is most likely driving your actions. Otherwise, I am sure they WOULD choose the reroll route. Rerolling is the primary choice for those that believe story is paramount over all over issues. This is for those that have experienced story and feel that THEIR game experience would be better enhanced by a faction change over a reroll. Again I HAVE REROLLED! Enough WoW crap. WoW actually does have lore and a story for those that chose to read the quests experienced. A quest voiced to you doesn't inherently contain more story than one you have to read. There is just a class quest line which I have to relive despite advanced class.

This was actually quite fun, I wouldn't be opposed to it, but more than I actually hoped for to be honest. And to the poster above about WoW, other games do offer it as stated here.

This is a very good idea, but I was trying to give BW a simple way to implementing it. Honestly, the more we try to draw everything out into a long story/quest chain, the less likely they will devote resources to it. People who are opposed to it on a lore standpoint, I apologize, but to be honest lore does me no good when I can't find a group, or get farmed in Ilum. Where is the lore in base camping? Even the game out a bit, and this is a way to keep people from losing interest on the chars they invested time in, or tossing a perfectly good char on the sidelines because of faction.

How does a speeder magically appear under me? I did reroll, and the story does not magically become better the second or fifth time through. Thank you for the constructive feedback, it goes along way to a meaningful discussion.

Please consider a faction change. I will keep this short and sweet...I hope. Benefits: Faction balance. With balance it enhances all game play, groups available, more HMs and WZs, boosted economy (GTN activity). Items and crafted items are already mirrored in game. As a next-generation MMO SWTOR should offer services that previous MMOs offer. Players have an expectation that future games will include more, not less. Cost to the player: To simply it for coding simply add these penalties(for lack of a better term) Wipe friends list. Wipe companion affection. Wipe story line(if this makes it easier for coding, I am sure there is a log of quest completion somewhere. Either give all Bind locations, major bind locations, or let the story chain open them as they do now for any other character. What harm does it really cause? Those that chose it CHOSE to forgo the story of the mirrored class. Are they really missing out on much? Story accounts for what? 10% of the total quests in the game? Most are bugged..no holograms or blasters, which leaves it disjointed as it is, and takes away from immersion on their own accord. It does NOT harm community on the other faction any more than rerolling would, it just saves those willing to continue their journey on the other side to avoid a needless grind. I have already rerolled one 50, and can say with all of my heart that it will not be a great loss to never go thru that content again. Having a 50 on each side, I prefer the second one and would rather have my character moved. There is great deal of time invested in that character beyond that seeing the story on the other side does not replace(Battlemaster, crafting discoveries, etc). Not to mention, its the SAME story. I have a BH on one side and Trooper on the other. Anyway, trolls flame away! Off to the gym, I will defend myself when I return in a weakened state! Lol

I was an officer...so I am not offended with it. Carry on.