This! A million times this!

Downloading over 2 mb for me. If its not downloading as fast as it should be I'd suggest making sure nothing else is downloading in the background and all the usual stuff that could slow down a connection. Alternatively you could just be unlucky and are downloading slower than normal. It does happen guys.

See this is where Bioware kinda fell short. You experienced all that amazing Bioware story during the leveling and then at level 50 it just falls back into standard mmo faire. Its almost as if they forgot what makes SWTOR... well SWTOR. Its the story, its decisions that effect your character. Instead we were given a standard gear grind, which for myself is ok as I'm an MMO player. But for many it just wasn't fresh or new enough.

I don't think Bioware realises just how important fluff is in a MMO. Ok sure you can give us flashpoints, operations, warzones. But once we've done our daily/weekly what can we do? Thats where fluff comes in. Ok space missions are a start but its not enough. Lets give an example. Seasonal events are the greatest kind of fluff. They provide an excellent opportunity for people to take a break from the usual mmo stuff and just have fun. Theres a reason so many people came back to play with the Rakghoul event. Because it was different, it was fun and you can obtain items for a limited time. Thats a great incentive. Linked in with those things is achievements. Achievements are a great way for people to kill time. If someone sees a list, they want to complete it and achievements gives that extra content. Seriously its crazy how many people want to do achievements and boast to their mates. So i'm very much in favour of fishing and more fluff. It keeps people playing, its fun and it makes the game more alive.

I respectfully disagree. I've been in MMO communities long enough to know that if a developer gives themselves a date and they don't reach that date that a loud minority of the community will blow their top. It is just so much easier for developers nowadays to just keep quiet until they know they 100% they can hit the target date. Now don't get me wrong they can improve communication so much. As I said I still strongly believe that communication with the community is key. That if something does get delayed that they come out, tell us and say why it was delayed. But we as the community can't just forget the fact that people will absolutely crucify a dev and a company if they don't hit a target or if something changes. I'm not surprised devs don't come onto the forums with the hostility and trolling this game gets. Again keep in mind I'm talking about a small, loud minority which every MMO has. I think we all know how bad the WoW forums were. Not sure if they still are.

I think Bioware a now acting very cautious when releasing a new server. At launch to solve the heavy population problem they threw servers at it, which kinda bit them in the ***. I'm sure they won't make that same mistake again. I wouldn't imagine them opening a new server any time soon. Considering the server caps are much higher now. But you never know. Only Bioware know how many people are joining and trying to join a server.

Keep in mind things change. An MMO development is completely different to any other game development. Its an ever evolving world where problems can come up out of no where and they have to be sorted before anything happens. Priorities get shifted around. Now i'm really big into devs being more open with what they are doing. I truly believe that is the way to go. But if people just take everything they say and hold it to gospel, well no wonder devs are so quiet. The most logical guess is that when Makeb comes, the 5 level's increase will come at the same time. New quests, new xp, new levels. Yay! Bioware have stated that they are working on and its coming sometime next year. But won't give us a solid aiming date. Why? Well... this thread is proof of why.

For a sub the cash shop basically gives you cosmetic stuff and a few buffs if you want them (Such as an increases to space combat mission etc...) You don't need anything in the store but it can help. As Bioware has always said as a sub you get all of the games features completely free... so far. As for you continuing from your old characters or starting new. Only you can answer that. From the sound of it though u really enjoy the levelling because of the story. Either way its good to hear people coming back to sub and playing the game again.

Balancing takes absolutely years to get right. It really isn't as simple as increase a certain AC damage by some much %. It depends on sooo many factors. It might be a more suitable fight for ranged than melee, or the ranged have to cc more than melee so they can dps like there is no tomorrow. They also have to take into consideration PVP. Increase the damage of a class in pve will have a knock on effect in PVP. However, the community is doing the right thing. Showing the devs through dps metres and your own experience where you believe the problem lies. Thats really all you can do. To be honest I don't believe the class can ever be truly balanced.

I'm pretty sure that the original poster was commenting about 'his' own experience and thanking the devs for fixing 'his' issue.

Please keep in mind that this isn't FACT but a person's opinion, which may have some merit. I truly believe that the Doctors love Bioware and all the games they helped make and who wouldn't be hurt but some of the thing said about Mass Effect 3's ending and SWTOR. Just proves how much they care.

Props to recsa and everyone else contributing in this thread. This is the exact thing that can help the devs pinpoint nasty ickle bugs quicker. Well done guys and gals.

Ok I got to say the second I saw the thread title I though. Oh this is just going to be full of trolls disagreeing with a persons opinion, telling him/her that their wrong and their right and there is no middle ground. I was wrong. This thread is civil, polite and everyone is respecting everyone elses opinion. So people of this thread, I salute thee. (Kiss of death right there) Back to the topic. I'm like many others in this thread. I played GW2 but I just couldn't really get into it. Now don't get me wrong its a good game for the right person but it just doesn't grip me like SWTOR or WoW did. As QBSlide said in a previous reply. SWTOR has ruined MMO's for me. I simply can't play them without a cinematic cut scene, voice acting and a story that I can follow. Quest text just doesn't do it for me anymore.

If you don't like grinding. Then an MMO isn't for you.

corellia, daily area.

He's not leaving Bioware. He's just leaving the Austin office to have a holiday and work on other things. One thing you should know about the Gaming Industry is that people move around. ALOT.

]TOROcast Episode 154 - The Next Generation Join Tom and the new crew of TOROcast hosts in their chats surrounding Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Ahh I see. You believe that if something came out that was very different to the standard MMO formula of Get quest, complete and hand in, gear grind etc... It could rival WoW? Interesting. I don't think I could disagree with that. Something very different could bring in a lot of players, just due to the fact that its different. I'm sure many of us enjoy the tried and true method of questing but something fresh would be nice. I mean the reason I feel that F2P is the future of MMO's is because there are very few companies out there that would risk something different. And as the years have proven, you try to go up against WoW using the same formula and your not going to be as successful.

So you believe there is only room in the MMO market for one big P2P MMO?

Quality is subjective. Some enjoy a game, while others don't. World of Warcraft is the only P2P MMO ever that has reached those numbers. I don't believe a P2P MMO will ever reach those again. WoW is the exception to the rule. It was a freak that no one expected and no one could replicate. There is a reason why the big MMO's coming out are F2P (Planetside 2 and Guild Wars 2). I personally believe that a full P2P MMO is an out of date concept in the MMO environment and a hybrid of the two is much more suitable. I've only come to these conclusion from the facts that I've seen. Also it is in response to your saying it is not due to a marketing shift. I disagree and believe thats the direction MMO's are going.

We're unsure when F2P will be hitting. It could be as late as November. Theres no harm in letting some people try out the game till level 15 and possibly get a sub or two. Also would be a good chance to test out some of the limitations that the f2p will bring. Namely the limitation of chat, GTN etc..

Keep in mind that SWTOR is going a hybrid model. It will be sub and F2P. Those people who sub will notice virtually no difference apart from a monthly allocation of Cartel Points. What TOR has basically done is widened its potential player base by a lot.

Can you please name one P2P MMO that has come out after WoW that has been successful?

TOROcast Episode 153 – Good Run - This week we have a lot to talk about; Game update 1.3, Server Transfers, this weeks Q&A, SWTOR at Comic Con, Tom’s experience with the LFG tool, rewards for the server transfers.

Hmm kinda but if theres a bug that messes up your rank, your kinda screwed for season one. Its just better and safer for them to get it properly first time, rather than release a beta test into the full game.