more than likely it's people with more than 1 account using a 2nd comp to get people to queue on imp side while the 1 pub side is queued and ready.

it depends on who you talk to. Ranking decay usually has the caveat that you are in complete control of your team, but in solo queue you are pretty much paired with complete randomness, thus your ranking is based on said randomness. the current system is really bad for solo ranked. Personally, I wouldn't mind a pure win ranking. Eliminates the effects of baddies and trolls have on your ranking. The only people that it doesn't benefit, or those who want rewards on all 16 of their toons.

but but but, there is something better than cross server coming..... chirp chirp chirp

personally, I don't have any issues with it. 1) it needs to use a talent point, thus not all sages/sorcs are going to take it. 2) it's only in melee range and doable by a class in light armor. 3) and granted, they don't have to toggle it, it just goes off randomly when shield is broken, thus it's unpredictable in nature. I'd say more than 50% of the time it's completely useless. 4) Other classes have much better 4m aoe stuns that guarantee someone will get stunned. Jugg smash, scoundrel flash bangs, targeted and as thus guaranteed to work.

realistically your main can still do all the farming for alts, you just need to rip the mods and legacy them over. Keep the shell and get the ranked comms needed to upgrade, then rip those mods, rinse repeat. The only real thing to keep track of is which piece(s) your main(s) are farming and which the alts are. That's really the only trick to it. Couple of side notes here though, if doing this process, prioritize the alt to get the reaver ears/implants/relics, and have main do most of the rest, add that I'd also when plague weekly comes around, get as many tokens as possible as that has the cheapest amount and easiest to get legacy weapons.

I know the extended universe. And realistically it doesn't matter if it's mara jade or not. He just had to get married and have a kid. Hell, he doesn't even have to get married. It wouldn't surprise me if they tried to keep that part the same, but it also wouldn't surprise me if they didn't either. But if not Luke's child, then who? As said, it would have to be a family that has a history of being strong in the force. Thus who? Or IMO, who else but a Skywalker?

when the title reads, STEALTH EXPLOIT in Corellia arena, you have to ask how it is an exploit? And it's not. Hell, it's not even clever use of game mechanics. It's a boring troll way to try and win that really just comes down to luck as to who is the last man standing.

ok, I'll bite and hopefully get this discussion going. 1) Lukes the one that's talking. 2) Since the movie is set 30ish yrs after RotJ, I'm going to guess that he had a kid. I'm going to guess it's the girl in the trailer, kind of has a skywalker type look to her. I'm going to say Lukes kid due to the fact that he call Leia his sister. If it was Leia's kid, the logical thing to say is "your mother". 3) if it's not his or Leia's kid, then it's another prominent force lineage family. Thus who would that be? Obi-wans? Palpatines? 4) with a title like Force Awakens - does that mean it's been silent for the 30yrs after the events of RotJ, both light and dark side. Doesn't really make sense. Or does it mean that the dark side has woken up and there's a new big bad, which would then lead credence to a Palpatine lineage bad guy.

here's the take away from this. l2play your class, but if you play a low performing class, try and get better.... really? That's one of the best pieces of advice you have? Then learn to carry people with said bad class? And then you follow it up with....find a different server....find out which side is bad and play the other one....lol, and you try and make it sound like skill.... Basic note: there is a reason that there is next to no correlation between grouped and solo. The "skills" it takes, err luck, win trading, off hour queues, queue-syncing, better faction v worse faction are not in actuality, skills.....

how is this an exploit?

I'm looking to transfer and/or make some new toons, but before I do, are their any consistent late night ops groups, meaning 1030p pst or so start times. My job and outside life prevent me from typically logging on during prime times. So, if anyone has an idea or 2 of guilds I should be looking for, it would be appreciated, on imp or pub, doesn't matter. I plan to spend a good chunk of this weekend with double xp to level a toon or 2.

how would stripping away a non-competitive form of ranked take away from competitive pvp. Again, as was mentioned, yolo ranked is not considered competitive pvp, and that's by the top rated players. They agree that it's a joke and it's a luck of the draw. Even the leaderboards prove this out due to the non-correlation between group and solo. This just makes it possible to try and boost solo ranked queue population. How could it hurt is this so-called competively non-competitive pvp? Hell, you'd still have ELO in place for grouped. You could implement solo queue without much effort on BW/EA's part, and see what happens. At least it's an alternative to something that's not working. All you have advocated for is.....keep it the same. And eery season, it's stayed the same. And what has been the result? Less pops, less people playing in every season. What we have is not working, it can't be made any clearer. Trying something else is trying something else. Giving another way a shot to boost participation. Outside that, they need to hire an entire pvp team dedicated to new maps, new rewards, class balance, maybe new ranked playstyles like maybe some ojbective based 4v4, etc... basically as something to completely change pvp as we have now.

I may have taken a stab at him, but if anyone probably knows the pitfalls of the ranking system it's him. And while he probably got better, chances are he also didn't get remarkably better to go from 850 to 2800 in one season. Realistically, it probably has more to do with getting lucky for the 1st 10 games, as well as the change to 3.0 and how OP the class became. This again just points out the problems of the system that is in place as it is right now. Kre'a has even said that he doesn't think he's the best, thus showing that the system doesn't reward the best players just those that have gotten lucky and mostly likely, at least for others, that have gamed the system. As many have said, lots of players just hang out on a vent server when they are queueing, and jump down a channel if/when they get in the same group. So grats to kre'a on your ranking, you've played a ton of games and have earned it. And grats again for winning in the class balance lottery.

and while i understand your point, my point is still that ELO isn't working, esp in yolo. There isn't enough of a population to support it. Therefore something NEEDS to change. And what's needed is something that helps boost the population, and if that's just a straight wins scenario, then I'm for it. Hell, I'd be for ELO if there was a high enough population to support it. Where you would consistently get matched between and against like rated players. But that just isn't the case and won't be the case unless BW/EA does some full scale changes in pvp. Such as just getting rid of bolster in ranked, min 2018 expertise to queue, better class balance, etc... And to respond to your fictious scenario, personally, I don't care if someone gets to 50 wins in 300 games or 52. Sure it's an outlier, but who's to say at the end of that 300 games that the guy wasn't a better pvper or at least equal to the 50-2 dude. They've had a ton of games to improve, hell, they could still have lost their 1st 248 games, and went 50-2 over their last 52 games. It encourages people to continue to queue, where ELO does not. And sure, it's based on the highest ranking you achieved, but if you run into a week of playing with badly balanced classes, trolls, quitters, etc... you're ranking will be irreversibly ruined. So I'm okay with a few abnormalities in the ranking system because it does encourage queueing whereas what we have now is a system that has consistently lost population since season 1. Basically, what we have ISN'T working, and therefore something needs to change.

yes and no. Wins does equate to a pre se ranking. It shows the person who has won the most games, and as thus, the ranking is based on that. And until we have a system that isn't full of loopholes and ways for players to undermine it, then said system needs to change. As it is, I do agree that ELO in and of itself isn't the issue. If we had a large enough population, then matchmaking would/should take care of itself. The challenge is...we don't. And we have a system that allows for people in non-pvp gear to play, whether that be bolsterized, or wearing high enough gear they you can't be bolsterized. If you want a system that does encourage the best and rewards the best, wins is just as much of an indication as any other. Sure, there might be a few outliers in there, as I'm sure there are just as much now in ELO with average people with high rankings that know how to game the queue. But a system that doesn't demolish someones ranking because of all of the loopholes is needed, and wins is about as simple a way to do that as any.

well said. Thus keep it as simple as possible. Base it on wins or just plain participation. And while some hate the pure participation standpoint, the idea is to get people to queue and to continue to queue throughout the season. As it stands with ELO, it actually supports people to stop queueing. Get your rank, and you're done, no point in continuing to queue. Might as well move to another toon Thus as you said, you need a system that doesn't punish people from getting the baddie and the trolls, and the queue dodgers and the people that just plain miss their queue. For some servers, getting into a ranked match can take a long time, and if they miss it due to answering the phone, bio, food, etc.. then there are 3 other people that pay that penalty. Even further, with the terribad class balance, it doesn't hurt the underpowered classes either, it actually encourages them to play. I would also point out that it also encourages people to get better. One of the examples given previously, the differently rated toons with the same amount of wins. And while it may have taken someone 500 games to get 100 wins where it may have taken someone 200 to get those, who is to say at the end of those 100 wins, the lower rated toon isn't the better player. They've had 500 games to learn and perfect their class. And they''ve probably had to make up for a lot of baddies to achieve that. You actually learn more from losses than you do faceroll wins. You think about what you could have done better and what you can do to improve. While with a win, you just move on like you're the **** and nothing can kill you, even if you had very little to do with the actual win.

when 2 of your 3 are mirrored sin/shadow, your ranking doesn't mean much. just means you play the op fotm class. Let me gues the other is a pt and you got your rating pre-nerf. Nothing impressive here folks. Just one person with an over-inflated ego about his skill level when he's queue-synced his way to a high ranking. Proving point, your group rank is 1080.

2 simple reasons to have tons of people at the bottom. 1) In ELO, the 1st 10 matches are the most important. Have issues on those, get trolls, get matched against a pre-made queue-synced team, might as well just stop, use another toon and call it season on the other one. 2) the bottom is also reserved for the trolls and the queue-synced alts on the other side of the queue synced mains. Thus a gropu of queue syncing have their buddies on the other side queueing on alts and under geareds, etc... not necessarily throwing the match, but are too undergeared to compete, but if it comes down to them winning or losing, they'll lose to the main teams. Thus not win-trading per se, because they did the try hard, though threw the match in the end. hell, a lot of those are also mercs and maurauders that regardless of player skill have little to no chance anyways, so might as well use them to get their buddies high rankings.

showing pre-picked arbitrary toons to prove your point does not prove skill. The only thing it proves are 2 things. 1) they have a similar number of wins. 2) one has acheived a high ranking and the other has not. That's all it does. Period. Without actually seeing said individuals, you can't determine skill. Hell, based on your links, I could just as easily say that they are actually the same person on different toons. And that they are doing it to prove how bad the yolo elo system is. On one toon, he's queue syncing, win trading, match throwing, etc... while on the other toon on the other side is the one throwing the matches, and when he actually wants to play the other toon, he can queue. Same set of facts, different interpretation. which is valid? Another clear example of of why ELO is broken. Check the difference in toons on the top 100-200 between group and solo queues. how many of the same toons are actually on both? maybe 5 or 6 in total. thus, no coorelation between group and yolo. Thus, if it's purely a skill game, then you'd see tons of group ranked people in solo queues with extremely high ratings. Yet you don't.

i'd guess pretty much every sage/sorc has had it happened to them before. hell, I had this question and had the combat log to prove it. Showed barrier, and in this case it was masterstrike that continued to hit me after barrier went up. 2 things to take away from this 1) I didn't realize that you could be pulled by a "friendly" and as thus drops barrier. Granted it makes sense, but sucks nontheless 2) force push? hmm....

but to be fair, your yolo ELO ranking isn't strictly yours. It's about all the people you've gotten in matches with. Those 3 random strangers. And therefore, only reflects that and not individual skill. And you might respond by saying, play enough games and it evens out. But the challenge is there just isn't enough of a population to support ELO in any way, esp with solo queue. There is very little chance you are going to get matched up consistently with and against like rated players.

I would only agree to this if it's 3v4 at the beginning of the match. And mainly due to a 4th person never showing up. And I'm on the fence pre-match becuase trolls in pve gear are allowed in, which realistically is a guaranteed loss that needs to be played out. Granted, I understand how this can be taken advantage of due to seeing the other team and leaving if the matchup isn't favorable, or you know you're going up against a group of a pre-made solo queue team. But then when you think about it, facing a pre-made solo queue team is also taking advantage of the queueing system, this would also put the hands back in the players hands.

I can agree and disagree with OP. On the agree point: ranking system is crap and designed for a much much larger player base than we currently have, whether that be grouped or yolo. System needs to change. Add that since class balance is pretty non-existent, it also stacks the deck against new teams trying to find out what works for your team, esp playing the ****** pvpers known to frequent grouped. On the disagree point: honestly it sounds like you are doing group ranked and as thus, a thrown together pvp group just won't cut it, and as someone that's played from the beginning, you should know this. Thus, things that need to change: 1) ranking system needs to change, on both group and yolo. Yolo because ones ranking should not be heavily based around on the random strangers you get when you play, esp for a smaller population of players. In grouped, there just isn't enough people to queue for it, thus the big dog groups consistently get matched with thrown together pugs and they roflstomp them. 2) there needs to be practice WZ's, esp death match where you can get your group together queue for 4's without a ranking at risk. New 4's teams just don't stand a chance to get any kind of the coordination needed if they just go in newbies and get roflstomped. It's just not an environment people can learn in. And while some people suggest that you only get better by playing better competition, that's not necessarily true. There's a much higher learning curve when you actually get to practice, than just going against better competition.

i would suggest a pvp only tree or 2, based on 2 things per class, for tanks, a tank and dps tree, heals - a heal and dps tree, and for dps classes, a burst and a utility spec. And balance pvp around that. Thus pve has there own trees, and pvp has there own trees. Thus. much much easier tor balance when one does not effect the other.

Honestly, the basics of a pre-made group vs a pug in regs just does'nt really matter. Because it's not about pre-made vs pugs, it's about skill s. I've been in pre-mades that got roflstomped, hardcore due to the fact that most of the people I was playing with were new and I was trying to help them along, but we definitely didn't have any advantage. And add to the fact that, since we were grouped, we got matched up against another premade, got pwned into the dirt. I have also been in pre-mades were we did stomp the other team, only because we knew what we were doing. I've been in pre-mades with other guildies, not in guild chat and just grouped becasue we were both pvping, thus no real advantage of voice chat because we weren't in vent. Add that the only advantage is that we both weren't mouth breathing keyboard turning clickers. I've also been in good pre-mades that got stomped by pugs. Again, it's not a pre-made vs pug thing, it's a which team has better skills. Gear can play in a roll in it, but realistically, and in regs, it's about who knows what they are doing to win that matters the most, esp in objective based pvp. And skill isn't just about knowing how to play your toon, it's about knowing how to gear your toon to take advantage of bolster, and knowing game strat in objective based pvp.