But when the game was released, and for the good part of a year, it was the other way around. PVP gear took *much* longer to get than pve gear.

Holy hell... so much for getting rid of the gear gap lol... That's ridiculous.

Come on, fhqwhgads... I mean... you know me...

Hehehe... silly operatives... dont go making people unsub now!

He's sol. That way it's all fair and everyone's equal. Isnt that what everyone wants? i suppose you could have a couple templates for each class, you can choose, like healer or dps template for your sorc, or whatever. But the whole point is that there is no customization of stats at all. Even out that playing field... those who want to take the time to learn the system and grind out a better set up need not apply. Which is where this road leads. If you dont have a problem with it, cool. i dont *really*, except that's not what I started playing swtor pvp for. I signed up expecting there to be differences in gear, along with all the other differences in a warzone. There's other games that go the template route, including your basic console fps shooters, and i dont particularly care for them. This homogenization of players makes for a boring game, imho. But if that's what will stop the hue and cry about a gear gap, then, so be it.... Get it out of the way, then maybe they can address some of the *actual* issues.

And I still maintain that the "gear gap" is nearly meaningless as it is *now*. If you are a skilled player, it rarely matters if you are wearing recruit mk2 or war hero. If you're in a situation where you are getting smashed in 5 seconds, no set of gear in this game is gonna save you. Sadly, that situation happens a *lot* because of the OTHER more important imbalances in the game. If you are somehow in a 1v1 deathmatch in huttball against someone with an identical build and identical class... then you may have a point (and also please get out of my wz.) But otherwise, the 'gear gap' has become a straw man. So go all the way... make everyone a cookie cutter. Scrap bolster completely, just put everyone in a template. Then all you people who are so worried about gear gaps will have nothing to worry about.

How many things, in the history of swtor's test server, have actually been changed in any fundamental way based on player feedback and testing? I'll wait, feel free to write up a multi-page report on your findings! Once things hit the PTS in this game, they are basically going live plus/minus a small adjustment in numbers... but dont count on it. It's a preview server, not a test server.

What you are describing is essentially GW2's s-pvp. I'm not sure how popular it is these days compared to wvwvw, but I did try it some and it was decent... but the maps kinda sucked and were smaller than swtor's if you can believe it. Anyways, been a while since I tried it. And I'm basically not averse to looks being the carrot. Totally fine with me, I'm just not sure its too late in swtor's game to make such a fundamental shift...?

How's focus generation? Or does the new talent offset the nerfs to the other forms? And ouch... *** @ unstoppable nerf. Yay more stunlocking.

What a retardedly op ability. Because shadows needed more help, I guess?

I sure do. If you're going to go down this road, just pull off the bandaid in one go. Just make it so that whenever you zone into a wz, you get put into a template of gear/stats for whatever class you are - the end. Might as well, since you are a) removing any reason to optimize gear for anything other than expertise, while at the same time making it so that b) if you dont have any expertise you'll be bolstered up to compensate. So, really... I am completely failing to see the point. What is the goal here? The gear gap between actual pvp-ers is now tiny at most. Are you trying to get pve-ers into warzones, and afraid of the fact that they get smashed in pve gear? Well, I've got news for you, there are a LOT of other systems in place that are causing new pvpers to get (lol)smashed in this game that make expertise gaps look like a joke. This is a class based game - therefor it will never be a purely player skill based pvp experience. We all have to play within the limitations of our classes, and the fotms will always do best. Then you go down the list... dps, healers, tanks, from most to least effective in swtor pvp. Thats the fault of the warzone design. Then you have the lack of matchmaking to try mixing up the archetypes on any particular team and balance the sides. Then you have premades stomping pugs. Then you have stupidly op abilities sitting on live for months at a time with no hint of change, when *everyone* who actually plays knows that they are a problem. If the goal is to prevent pve-ers from getting killed instantly because they want to play in pve gear, let me just say that that is a silly goal. If you want to pvp, get in a recruit set. You've already upped the standards so the difference is smaller than ever, it takes barely any time to get to full war hero. If that pve player was too dumb to pick up a recruit set before, this wont help. If the goal is to prevent frustration for pve-ers getting killed instantly, then this will not help one bit. Because if they werent smart enough to pick up recruit before, this wont change anything. They'll still get smashed by fotms, premades, lopsided teams, and stupid abilities, and the extra lil bit of gear wont change that at all. If the goal is to piss off what's left of your hardcore pvp community by rendering all their carefully min/maxxed gear meaningless, then you will surely succeed.

Probably into the 50-55 bracket, since there's not enough people for a 50-54 bracket and then a 55 only tier. Which sucks either way you slice it.

That annoy's the heck out of me....

Interesting, but I think expertise/bolster issues are probably among the least important atm.

So far back, it fell off the stove, onto the floor, through the floor and the next 4 floors down, only to land in someone's bathtub while they were taking a shower.

You know, what with the cartel market actually *selling* the hide helmet option to non-subbers, its entirely possible that that is the real reason we'll never see a hood toggle option... unless they sell that too...

You keep saying this lol... please quote me where... exactly... they said that the change they made to the gtn search was a mistake. And exactly where they apologize for instituting the change. Because he didnt. He said they apologized for the annoyance and inconvenience, and was sorry that he left it out of the patch notes, and serious about fixing "this" - being the crudstorm of complaints. That's it. That's totally not the same thing as what you are spinning that he said. No mistake, no error. You are a victim of pr aka doublespeak, hearing what you want to hear instead of what's actually being said. It's something the EA filters these bw people have to talk through are very good at, and they will never admit to any fault of their own unless someone big and high up green lights it.

2011 Imps called, they want their exploits back.

Yeah... no. But anyways... still not fixed! Nor have they revealed what their proposed fix is even going to be, since it's clearly not just putting it back the way it was.

I stopped giving them money, does that count?

Just a note here... the only error eaware admitted to was the error of not including the change in the patch notes. The change itself was totally intended... which is the real problem. The change itself was moronic and poorly thought out and obviously done by someone who doesnt play the game, like so many things they do. (Aside from the constant joke of things getting into the patch but not into the patch notes, again and again and again and again... just horrible, horrible QA. Terrible.)

I guess actually, you know, revealing what this "solution" is going to be... for discussion, and before it gets pushed live with zero testing, just like the last "solution"... would be out of the question for the sake of, you know... avoiding the same kind of mistakes you people make every... single... time...?

Never gone. I'm still not sure how to re-create it, but the bug hits me on a regular basis.

It might be interesting to try... maybe as a variation. But I think the current huttball ruleset is almost perfect (the traps should still be more deadly), and wouldnt want to see this made as a permanent change. Yep. Maybe one day they'll add some. Only $10 if you preorder...

Yep, this has always struck me as terribly lazy and obviously untested map design by devs who, if they did test it, apparently dont give a crap about spit and polish.