Ah... well, yes... and no... you know that you can actually download the normal game client? (just checking) So BW has to assume that people are willing to NOT buy the retail version and use the disks in there but to dl the full client. Given that the PTS went public AFTER the release of the game I would assume that BW may actually have looked at the numbers and figured that yes, it is okay to have people download SWTOR again for the PTS. You don't have the bandwidth for that? Welcome to 2011/2012 where download are slightly bigger than 2001/2002... Just a stupid question: Why was this thread actually posted in the General Discussion forum and not in the PTS forum? You know there is one, right?

Oh, in regards to PTS only being relevant for testing only 'endgame' content... have you guys actually ever looked at patch notes? You may want to: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=260938 (And maybe that is actually the reason why BW just doesn't do straight (lvl 50) character copy&paste to the PTS? Because patch modified content on all level should be tested?

/facepalm Jeeez... okay, it's the Public Test Server. Which means it is just like ANY other gaming server in SWTOR except that you get to test their latest non-'live' patch version. It is pretty much just like RP or PvP vs PvE servers: it is up to YOU whether you want to play on the PTS and test the upcoming release (or go on a RP server to play 'in character' or go on a PvP server to be able to go PvP etc.) or not. You don't want to... fine... just like BW doesn't force you to select e.g. a low pop server or a low pop faction on a server, they are OFFERING the PTS to YOU. You don't want to create a new character and level him/her up to lvl 50? Maybe instead of doing the very same thing on your established server? Maybe because you are afraid that you are not going to find anybody there you can PvP/group with? YOUR choice... so why blame BW for YOUR failure in trying to make SWTOR a better game?

Oh forgive me your royal wordliness! Of course, it couldn't be that BW may have considered purple crystal to be rare in the SW(TOR) universe and therefore has made it an exclusive item to a chosen few characters? You may want to notice the difference between the SW(TOR) universe lore and and the game mechanics. Or can you show me anywhere in the SW(TOR) universe lore that Reps are actually incapable of touching purple crystals? That they disintegrate upon contact with the crystal? To allow only certain characters access to purple crystals it is a game mechanic that BW has implemented so that purple crystals are considered to be rare. (You may also want to notice that when I say SW(TOR) I'm actually talking about both the SW Enhanced Universe lore as well as the specific SWTOR lore...)

Well, in that case I assume that you actually don't need a spaceship to fly from one planet to the other? I mean having to use some vehicle for interplanetary travel would be so realistic, we can't have that in SWTOR! So... why are you actually entering the spaceport in the first place?

Frankly, boy, I have no interest in knowing how young/old you are. You brought up the suggestion that I'm not interested in how my character looks. I countered that by advising you how long I have been caring about how my characters look. Condesending? If you say so *shrug* (And yes, that 'boy' was condesending, because I'm not your m8, simple as that) Fine, got magenta and purple mixed up... Fact still remains that BW considers purple crystals to be extremely rare. I assume you know why Samuel L. Jackson wanted a purple lightsaber? To stand out from the crowd. And if I recall correctly the reason for the rare purple lightsaber he was using was given as Mace Windu having trained in a large number of (lightsaber) fighting styles, including dark side. Which basically hardly any Jedi in SWTOR will achieve. That is the explanation somebody non-BW here on the forum would give you. Or at least me. If you want BW's official statement, maybe try raising a ticket with CS? Guess what: I like black (no emo!) Can I have black crystals by lvl 10? Guess what: I like red! Can I use a red lightsaber without ever having been on the dark side? etc. Your lightsaber is not a fashion statement! The SW universe has a mythology behind the colors/crystals. Whether BW actually followed that is up to them. But apparently they felt that yes, purple should not be a everyday colour for crystals. Live with it! Or play some social game.

You are serious, right? /facepalm Okay: it's not an elevator in spaceports, it's a blast door you are passing thru! Is there a reason for it to be there? Well, considering that on an airport the access/boarding gates are actually (usually) security locked to stop morons from running out onto the airfield, I'd say yeah... Not being able to land on a planet... jeez... okay, you may have missed it but the example has been brought up a number of times: Hoth, spaceship graveyard! It is *********** cold! Maintenance for keeping open large landing pad operational: too expensive. Setting up a spaceport: who would do that? The salvagers? The Reps? The Imps? Because you need to have a cruise liner drop in to allow the passengers a bit of sightseeing? Buy your 'I got eaten by a Wampa and all I got was this t shirt' shirt! Look at Hoth more along the lines of an oil rig: you got a boat or a chopper going in, no big landing strip on it. Why? Because it's cheaper/easier to just use that harbor close by or to use that small airfield close by. There are reasons! So, you don't like 'empty' spaces, you don't like to ravel thru them? Congrats: take a time machine, go back to the late 90s of the last century. I'm sure you'll find enough games there. Because that was how FPS was back then: very small map forcing player to constantly fight. Even MMOs back then tried to create a persistant world, not just a single map. To stay in a game that is not too your liking because you actually have to report back to a quest giver (or other person) in person and can't just holo call it in (how would you get your reward? Would it be teleported to you?) and because you are not dropped straight into a quest zone, well, that is your choice... Maybe save those $15 per month and play another game?

errr... nope? playing a game can have many points, like for example to relax... just standing there taking in the scenary... oh, wait, that is of course still doing something... Can you tell me which wall you are looking at? Might be a nice break from looking around a spaceport...

Strange, it actually take a few minutes for the game to kick me if I'm AFK... must be a special feature for certain people that they need to do something every single second or otherwise they get kicked? The special ADD edition of SWTOR?

Maybe try bribing the pilot? Oh, wait, he won't talk to you... too bad, I guess you have to make your choice at the time when you select a QT point... and sadly as there is no QT point in or next to your ship... well, you have to run from the closest QT point... of course, if you could get a QT point added... for which you should make a suggestion, not start a discussion... oh darn...

Guess how long it takes riding the ballon? 40 min Guess how long it takes to get thru the 'elevator'/airlock? (including transition screen) less than 5 sec. Let me guess: you are a 'I need to do something every second I'm in game' person?

On walking: Actually I doing it (with my character) ever so often, when I need to. Which is often in connection with datacrons due to male bodytype 3 being messed up on collision detection. On sprinting: Ever thought that somebody might be in a hurry? If I have to have to quickcatch a bus or train or need to be somewhere as quick as possible, I probably will make haste. So yeah, given that there are potentially loads of phases where you are not running (sitting on speeder, sitting in taxi, speaking to NPC, etc.) yes, I'm perfectly fine with the character running 'all the time'... Ha, all spaceships (or at least one of each type) in the hangar? You are kidding, right? You want those 'worthless' hangar rooms increased in size so that you can fit all the ships into there? Okay, fine... let the fighting begin: 'This is my ship!' 'No, it's mine!' You, get lost, this is mine!' Or obviously on low pop servers: 'anybody here? Anybody? 4 ships sitting here and nobody there? Hm.. I'll just take that one over there... I just don't like mine today... wait, why can't I get in?'

Nothing realistic about the game? Why is my character then falling down the cliff if I make him walk over the edge? Oh, wait, it's called gravity... which just happens to be part of reality... So give SWTOR at least that much credit that it is based on certain aspects of reality... Part of the 'reality' BW has designed for SWTOR is that spaceports are not just a door in and you are in your ship. Blander than airlocks? Ever tried getting the Jawa 'truck' datacrons on Tatooine? 40 min baloon flight over a sea of dunes... bland... but, well, not an airlock.

Do you really want me to copy&paste what I posted before taking your suggestion apart? Sorry, I'll have to make you work for that... all it takes is to click on the < button a few times. Well, I have to do that as I defend the 'elevator' button!

Ha, yeah, it's Goretzu to the rescue! Your suggestion(s) will make SWTOR the best game ever and will make BW tons of money... I'm still waiting for ANY proof that ANYBODY other than yourself is supporting YOUR suggestion... or that spaceports/'elevators'/hangars are actually artifacts of the story line(s)...? By the way: Can I please have your extension at Bioware... err... which location? As obviously you have designed the game and know exactly how much it would take to modify the game as per your wishes... oh, wait, you said 'likely'... so you are taking an (uneducated) guess? Nevermind about that number...

It's not worth investing energy into it? And please be very careful about using the word 'most'... I don't see a petition anywhere signed by 1,000,001 gamers that support your suggestion. (Based on 2,000,000 subscriptions, modify as needed)

No, it's not. Be nice for you if it was though, I agree. Whether there is a 'problem' rests mostly within the eye of the beholder. Just because somebody complains about something doesn't mean it's a problem for everybody else. Obviously me (and other people here) have 'problems' with your suggestion, you don't see and 'problems' with it. Well, who is right? Congrats, you have just taken yourself out of the race! Because from what I've seen here there are more people complaining about your concept than supporting it... so there MUST be something wrong with it... unless you want to suggest that those complaints are just done to 'troll' you? Hm... right, the conspiracy against Goretzu... don't tell anybody, it's actually the shadow government's best kept secret! This is just a moon... This is just, err, another moon...

Oh, the horror of 'logic': if something isn't worse it has to be better! Hooray, ever thought that maybe your 'improvement' just doesn't really improve anything? Oh, wait, nope, obviously you are of the faction that a) having the game do things for you, while b) you gain a few seconds over the normal routine is a HUGE improvement over the given situation. Bad news: if the game does everything for you, well, unless you enable to skip either selective or all cutscenes, your taxiing into the ship would be an extra cutscene (of the taxi getting there, you getting out) which obviously you are not going to abort because that would mean pressing a button (on your keyboard)... Goretzu, why don't you just go back to the drawingboard and try coming up with an idea that actually IS an improvement? And I hope, by now you know where suggestions need to go?

Right, so you want the taxi point IN the ship... Here is an idea: when the thread gets restarted, which sadly it will rather soon I assume, clear you mind, think about what you want, how you want it... and then, maybe you care to explain why there should be a taxistand in your ship? Because all the taxi stand I have seen in game are actually taxi stands and not QT terminals.

Okay, how many clicks does it take you to get from spaceport entrance into ship? 1 in the 'elevator', 1 for the airlock. Wow... hard work! Why clicking and not just being zoned in? Because you maybe made a mistake? 'oops, I forgot to buy that upgrade for my ship!' Thank goodness I'm still in the 'elevator' and haven't pressed the button, now I can just run out again to the vendor. Thake it up one level: get close to the airlock and auto-load into the ship... which takes on my system about 30 seconds... darn, I forgot another upgrade... now I hace to wait until loading is complete and then I have to load the planet again (e.g. Alderaan - 110 sec)

Goretzu... TO ship could mean that either it drops you (and everybody else) off close to your ship (non-instanced) or it just drops you (and just you!) off close to the ship (instanced) (for both cases you would still have to access the ship i.e. walk there, get the loading screen for the ships interior being loaded) or you are instanced into your ship (where the taxi stand 'Ship') is identical for everbody as an instance of their own ship. So, which 'to' are you talking about? One of the first 2? option a) you just selected for the game to load: one hangar with all ships of every person on that planet that would use said spaceport. Wait, is anybody complaining about that huge waste of space that is pretty much empty due to low pop on that server? No, it's actually those people complaining who need half an hour to find their ship amongst all the lookelikes... option b) you just selected for the game to load: an instance taxiing you into the hangar. Followed by you walking into the ship where follows a loading screen to load the ship's interior. (Unless you are suggesting that the ship's interior be loaded directly with the hangar for seamless access to the ship? I assume BW has better things to do than completely re-designing the game... maybe, if you come back in 5 years?) option c) you just selected for the game to directly instance you into the ship... ah, wait, nope, that wasn't what you wanted... The loading scenes (and just to make that plain for your sort of limited understanding!) are the screens with the nice picture, the loading bar, the friendly advice. Immersion thru those? Ah... nope... they are part of the game mechanics. So, what is your point? You want something even if there is really nothing to be gained from aside a few seconds won and that you don't have to move the mouse to navigate? Oh, and yeah, not press 1 button...

Because we have onboard assistance to do so? Or maybe you haven't yet noticed that you are actually getting a droid with your ship? A droid who clearly states that he has been taking care of the ship?

Err... sorry... I think you are playing the wrong game? FPS and pure-Kill-Baby-kill-MMOs are there on the other side of the aisle? It is a part of many MMOs that you have non-combat quests, simple quests of 'bring X to A and get Y, bring that to B, etc.' may seem dull... but what can I say: I made my way past a good number of unfriendlies by simply avoiding them, not killing them. So if not drawing your lightsaber for 30 min is an issue for you, wrong game! If you are complaining that having to travel to different planets to complete a quest prevents you from drawing your lightsaber, well, 'stupid is...' Because (as far as I'm aware) there are no quests that force you to drop every open quest on one planet and race to the next... and another one after that! Only to then go back to the first to complete other quests there. A smart person would first complete the remaining quest on the initial planet and then taken off for the next planet... *shrug*

Goretzu, please don't confuse taxi and speeder... that may acutually help both your thought process and your suggestion! TAXI points are there to allow for fast travel. Nothing wrong with that. Okay, so why no TAXI points in your ship? Because it is not your taxi! Or in RL are you saying 'thanks driver, I'll just park your taxi in my garage'? Taxi points are not instanced i.e. unique to each player but instead are shared. (Ever notived how your taxi might look slightly shifted or how when getting out you actually end up in a completely different body? Up until you move obviously... taxi travel is also not instanced... look around, you will see other people riding taxis! So, in order to use the current non-instanced setup for getting into the ship via taxi, one would either have to say that there is a taxi stand for everybody to land in your ship... ah yes... or just outside the ship... ah yes... but then one would still have to walk to the ship... not good! So, how about your taxi travel is actually stopped by a loading screen that loads you directly into the ship (potentially via cutscene)? Hm... possible... That would be like 'Taxi stand outside spaceport/taxi thru spaceport/hit instance wall/load new location (ship), cutscene/in ship' It could be done... and yet, I fail to se the benefit... you are still loading (because it's part of the game design!), you are riding an automated taxi that is, well, let's say twice as fast as a speeder (so 180% boost to normal speed) You obviously now skip the walking part in the hangar (30 sec) you now have only the travel part thru the concourse (also 30 sec). You now travel (not counting the loading screen and the cutting scenes) to your ship in approx. 11 sec - compared to 60 sec. And the system actually does it for you... Nope, doesn't sound like somebody being lazy, not at all... but onwards: where do you access that first taxi stand? Do you go to the airlock, klick on it, are offered to either go to the spaceport or get a list of all the taxi routes available? That means you actually have to go from an instance and spawn into the general environment to either fly to the second taxi stand in the spaceport city, or to another taxi stand somewhere on the planet... assuming that you have actually already discovered some... Worse: ever noticed how you may see things on your minimap when taxiing by, but obviously you can't stop, can't jump off, so you have to go back? Woops, did I just see a quest NPC while I was racing thru the spaceport on auto? And now I have to go all the way to the furthest taxi stand on the world because that's what I selected in my ship. Let me just grab a post-it 'Remember to check spaceport quest NPC!', yeah... coz I'm not going back yet! Despite the fact that I win 49 secs compared to walking thru the spaceport... Ain't ya laughing yet?

Wow... so MMOs are just for people who want complete removal from anything even close to reality? Wait... why are there humns in SWTOR? Humans are real! Argh, I can't play SWTOR anymore because there are humans, a RL species, in there! MMO stands for Massively Multiplayer Online. That just means that a large number of people are sharing the same basic platform via the internet (potentially via LAN if the platform could support it). Wether that happens to be a game full of Elves and Dwarves, or full of soldiers based on RL gearing, or sexy little schoolgirls played by 50 year old men, that is not relevant! And frankly, if you look at current FPS, some are maybe a bit too close to reality...