He's got a point you, know. I've noticed (along with others) that there is a high amount of "consolidating" threads activity -- like my signature thread, it was just commentating and illustrating a prevalent issue in a fun way. Not all complaints come from trolls.

Yeah, I can see how it's an inappropriate post given it's posted in the suggestion box. I made my suggestions before in other threads/topics; along with everyone else. They know what they need to fix, or maybe they disagree or taking a long time to fix them, but all I know is that enough time has passed without said changes where my interest in the game has waned.

(Concerning an article about SWTOR struggling) "You stopped playing the game? How come?" "I love the game, but at the same time I can't help but agree that there are many problems with it. The managing of maintenance nights (3 days in a row for 4 hours each) and how they implement hot fixes for stuff that doesn't matter to the majority of players, the decision to take down ALL servers at the SAME time (international and national), the general censorship ("consolidating threads"-please! I've never seen such active "consolidation" of threads on a forum - ever) of all complaints on forums, combat animations (major factor here -- my double-bladed lightsaber animations made my Jedi look like an old man -- there was little sense that I was like Darth Maul) and certain gameplay decisions, identical WoW mechanics on various classes.. Yeah, it made a lot of sense when I read it and I had to agree. I stopped playing because it didn't hold my interest. I don't want the game to fail because the story is supposed to be good and there's been a lot of love given to the game by the developers... There is lot to like about the game, but there is also a lot that holds it back. I may go back to it to see the storyline, but I've grown bored with it -- and I didn't want that to happen. :(" My closed thread was just for fun, but it kinda shows that well, they tend to censor stuff that isn't about how awesome their game is: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=285363

I can barely keep up with reading these posts. By the time I get down to one page and refresh -- there's a new page of comments waiting! Whether people agree about the promotion or not -- this has damaged Bioware's image for separating the same group of players by using the word "loyalty."

There is a straw man argument floating around in this thread: "Don't complain about getting something for free!" I believe that most of the people who have a problem with this recent promotion is that they did not get anything at all despite them being subscribed to the game from day one. These people feel that they are just as deserving as the guy next to them, just that the guy next to them has a level 50 character and thus is more "loyal". "Stop whining! I'm in the same situation as you and I don't care, crybaby." The guy next to you got free stuff and you didn't. You're exactly the same as him, but you get nothing, even though by all intents and purposes you are just as and if not more "loyal" than him. You'd be hard pressed to find people who would *not* raise their hand and ask "why didn't I get this, too?" and feel a little disappointed when they hear the answer. A level 50 character does not a loyal customer make. It certainly can be, but it is not the only deciding factor for a loyal customer. Most would agree that loyalty can be safely judged by HOW LONG someone has been subscribing, their founder status, etc. This is hard to argue against because it also involves money and how much of it they have invested into the game. So: TIME + MONEY = LOYALTY --------- But also in case for an MMORPG: TIME = MONEY ---------- So why not: X AMOUNT OF TIME = LOYALTY And why not have the X = Founders? **Perception and presentation is a big factor. The word "Loyalty" should not have been used.**

Good intentions (free month) for a probable, bad situation (customer subscriptions are dropping/losing money/significant portion of customer base is dissatisfied with game) that was poorly executed (only accounts with a level 50 character). Surely, a company such as Bioware is able to create a list to tell who has had accounts for the longest and who are still playing, etc. Echoing the crowd --> Why was the decision made to give only the customers who had level 50 characters a free month? Did the powers that be think that the longest subscribers would simply be people with level 50 characters? No, of course not. The deeper answer lies in something that they would not like to make public. No AAA company is that stupid. Obviously, SOMEONE if not all the Bioware council members had the idea of giving it to all players who subscribed the longest, founders, etc, but someone in upper management - perhaps the Emperor - (it happens a lot and is probably happening here 10x over) said "NOOoo, NEOOOO, neooo!" and shot them with lightning until they made this agonized decision instead. Whether it is because said upper management doesn't know what they are doing or because of more logistical factors (maybe giving a free month to ALL long-time subscribers would BANKRUPT the franchise for Bioware); the fact is that this was their attempt to appease a growing number of customers who are dissatisfied with how this MMORPG is being managed. A nice intention, but it's execution was flawed by factors that Bioware would rather not reveal to the public.

A long time ago, in galaxy far, far away. . . . [Cue Star Wars opening music] FLAME WARS Episode MXCVIII Attack of the Trolls It is a dark time for the "Do not roll 'need' for companion gear" thread. After generations of civil war between the trolls and well-meaning but misguided players, their age old conflict has reached a 100 pages of endless metaphors and sarcastic name calling. The early crusaders of light and dark masters who once battled across the mysterious and all encompassing void of the internet wasteland have all but faded away. In their place, stand new champions of the threads both noble and obviously bored or misled, carrying on their predecessors' teachings. Whatever remnants of actual discussion that survived has been destroyed by the shadowy trolls and their unrelenting one-sided arguments. More obnoxious remarks, more carefully worded arguments falling on nothing but the choir... There is no end in sight, as the new generations of forum visitors discover and rediscover the thread or create similar ones in a long, ancient war between greed and sacrifice...

Hmm, a very interesting point this is! I dunno. Having an extra section of space just to reach another section of extra space without benefit is really just a waste of time. The extra benefit seems to be: "You are more immersed into the game" and "it is more realistic" therefore you should be more immersed into the game. Unfortunately, the more realistic it is, the chances are gamers will hate it or get tired of it. I think most people would get tired of repeatedly running through the same area if they feel that the space in question is not necessary. And to put it another way, if they did take it out, I doubt anyone would miss it. You wouldn't see a thread clamoring to bring orbital stations back so that people can run through an extra segment of space, unless that space was somehow so filled with thought provoking, sense tingling, and force powered goodness that it would make us laugh and cry like the best of times and the worst of times. Maybe make each orbital station more unique to the planet it's orbiting? There's just no looking forward to visiting those things, and having it there for the sake of it being realistic at the cost of enjoyment is not a good trade. I do recognize that some people draw enjoyment from varying degrees of realism no matter the type, and so be it. It's just that they probably could have had "realism" invested somewhere else without such a conflict of interest of time and space. Your rather LOUD footsteps doesn't help, either. Anyone noticed that the volume of your running is more on the distracting side?

Oh cool! Thanks for the info! Yeah, that's pretty slick! It's a lot more impressive than the static double-strike animation. That spinning wheel effect is pretty nice. ...And yet.... It's static! Couldn't help but feel a little disappointed still! Ahh, the conflict. Maybe I'm being ungrateful, but it still doesn't feel like you're flowing with that lightsaber. It's like: *Thawck* *Zrrr* *Thawck* *Zrrr* Standing here and doing the same move over and over! *Thack* *Zrrr* *Thawck* *Zrrr* Perhaps the trick is to not let the player feel this way, even though it's exactly what you're going to do--make them love to do it because it looks cool and FEELS awesome. The ability also uses the same exact animation as the Double Strike for your character. The lightsaber is just being tossed this time. Argh! It's cool, but then it still falls short imho. I was imagining an animation that twirls your lightsaber around (slashing at the target) and could give the effect of your character being able to infinitely loop that move till they fell down dizzy--you know? Since the mechanic would call for the move being used twice; your character would twirl the lightsaber around in a 360 degree or at least spin the saber around her body and bring it back to her ready position--set for another strike if the player chooses to use it again. This way, it would give the illusion of fluidity. The animation would be fluid and smooth as far as the idea is concerned, but I'm no programmer. grandmasterub has the right idea! --------- "A couple more animations would be sweet imo. Especially if the 3 flowed together. And if you use something else in between it could just start at 1 again or whatever. Id like to see my shadow doing some more turning in combat if possible, striking behind him and such." ----------------- (Slightly different topic--but wouldn't the Shadow Strike--the move you can only do behind your target--be cooler if your character held the saber from behind and so you would stab *backwards* into your enemy? Like Darth Maul when he struck Qui-Gon Jinn? Right now, it looks exactly like the riposte animation from the Jedi Knight, except you have a double-bladed lightsaber.) As both mentioned abilities stand now, it feels like the player is just slugging a punching bag repeatedly. It's very stop and go--stop and go. Gas, break, gas break. It's not fluid or flowing at all. Kinda like Karate punch and Kiai (shouting as you punch), pulling back and doing it again over and over -- very stop and go; as opposed to that same punch followed by a spinning roundhouse kick that can flow into another punch and roundhouse kick... and another and another... Onto infinity or until you run out energy -- the point is, it gives off the impression of the Jedi's fluid mastery of motion. Suppose it would be too much to ask to cherry pick some animations and put it into double-strike and clairvoyant strike at least? And what is up with that channeling ability that we see Sith Assassin NPCs use? They do a channeling move where they starting twirling their *double-bladed lightsabers* *Darth Maul* style with both hands and do fancy footwork. The Jedi Knight encounters a Sith Assassin like this on a ship a little before the first Chapter ends. THAT guy actually convinced me to roll a Jedi Shadow, for that move!! Is that move even in the game for players? I'm level 40 and feeling it's a little late.

Totally agree! Please give Consulars a way to wear their armors without hoods. The head pieces for the consulars are esoteric and bizarre--which is fine for a Star Wars motif, but I would simply like to wear my desired outfits without their hoods. Many of the Consular robes/chest pieces are very nice, but they force you to wear a hood that hides your character's face or hair--making you look bald. All this stuff was mentioned before, but I just wanted to support the addition of Consulars and Inquisitors as well. The tiara-like head pieces do not cancel out the hoods. The huge or bizarre looking head pieces do, but they cancel out the hair. I just want to wear outfits without being forced to hide my character's face and hair. Particularly, there are some robes with an armor like guard protruding up from the shoulders for Consulars. It looks great, but it also forces a very shallow and thin hood over your character--making your character look pretty much like a nun. There is no way to wear this armor (and many others) and not have that effect unless you wear a huge nun abbot hat, full face covering alien iron mask, etc. I'm currently trying to find any headpiece that does not cover your character's head and face while also canceling the hood effect on chest armors. I suspect there is no effective way to do this presently.

Creativity gave way to whatever insanity was going on in their heads. Part of the Star Wars lure is that you can imagine what kind of Jedi you want to be. Limiting lightsaber choice and usage to certain classes was never a good idea. Don't get me wrong, I love the game. Just wish some things weren't as such, like anyone else. *Ahem* --------------- Visitor 4: "Oh cool, I can be a Jedi." Visitor 1: "Yeah, it's awesome!" Visitor 4: "I think I'll be one that uses the force and has a single-bladed lightsaber." Visitor 1: "Great! Then you'll want to be a Sage!" Visitor 4: "Sounds cool!" ............ Visitor 4:"Wow, my lightsaber attacks are really weak." Visitor 1:"Oh, you don't actually USE your lightsaber as a Sage." Visitor 4: "... What?" Visitor 1: "You just hold them and get better ones to improve your stats, but they activate when you do your force powers! See that? Vrooomm...! You look all cool standing there with it on, right?" Visitor 4: "But what if I want to fight with my lightsaber and use the force a lot, like... Everyone in the movies, TV shows, comics, novels, magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and the U.S. Constitution?" Visitor 1: "Oh, then you wanna be a Guardian." Visitor 4: "Umm, alright fine. Can they use force powers?" Visitor 1: "You get a force push!" Visitor 4: "Is that all? My Sage can do that!" Visitor 1: "Actually, he can't. But he can force push pebbles! Small tiny ones, you can imagine them getting into your enemy's eyes! Maybe their hair, too--and they're all like 'noooo, you're messing my hair and I lost my contacts' and stuff!" Visitor 4: "Man, you're kinda freaking me--wait, what do you mean 'he can't?'" Visitor 1: "And he can wave his hand and put this little orange tint of something that shatters like glass on his enemies! It doesn't force push them back or anything resembling Star Wars though." Visitor 4: "Fun game, bro." Visitor 1: "I know right? It's awesome!" Visitor 2: "Jeez, keep it down already. Trying to read about this new hotfix they just scheduled in four hours." ------------- It was a major mistake to limit lightsaber type by what classes you play as. Every force user should have been allowed to choose whatever lightsaber they wanted AND be able to use it effectively. Abilities that require certain types of lightsabers should have been taught at the trainer so that the player can choose for himself what kinds of abilities he would want depending on what kind of lightsaber he was brandishing. Talent trees should have been left alone as far as riddling it with specific weapon types requirements. In other words, there had to have been a better way to set this up. --- I read that in beta, there used to be a sage specced class that could effectively fight with their single-bladed lightsaber. What happened to that? I ended up being a shadow because I wanted a balanced mix of force powers and lightsaber combat. My first choice was with the sage, because the single-bladed lightsaber was iconic and stylish (I see many who agree too ). Ultimately, I abandoned the class because I realized there was no way to play it effectively and actually USE my lightsaber at the same time. The train of my thoughts: ------------------ I thought the guardian would be master at lightsaber combat and have a meager use of a few force abilities. Was relatively right in that area. I thought the sage would be a master of the force and have a meager use of a few combat lightsaber abilities. -- Instead, you NEVER use it and are gimped if you try. ------------------ Boom! What happened? That is such a poor gameplay decision. Part of being a Jedi (and the fun of it) is USING your lightsaber! Who on the development team did NOT get that? Being a sage should not be a punishable non-lightsaber experience.

Totally agree. While Jedi's don't have to be Yoda-ing around all over the place all the time--you'd expect someone with a double-bladed lightsaber would be twirling that thing at least more than a couple of times during a fight and not at random chance. (That random twirling attack for the normal strike is awesome looking) Who's fooling who--Double-bladed lightsaber screams Darth Maul for most people, and that guy was raving it like he was in a nightclub. And here we are banging it over someone's head like a hammer. The double-strike is a staple in the Shadow rotation, so why make it look so dull? Was there a balancing issue with that ratio? X amount of style must be proportionate to Y amount of usage. The more you must use the ability to fight effectively, the crappier it has to look? More than one animation for double-strike would be great. Maybe we will see additions added onto later? Can't wait to see the Clairvoyant Strike. Trying to find an animation of it somewhere.

Not sure if the OP knew about this suggestion forum area. But here is the link posted in the technical support section. There's a very distracting glitch with some of the "shirt-style" chest pieces (assuming mostly for Consulars). The lower part of the body "breaks" through the back end of the chest piece. It's very distracting and looks really ugly. It flickers and glitches as you move or even when standing still. Please refer to the link to the original thread. The OP provided a picture of the problem. It's happens to ALL of the chest pieces of the same graphic type (not just one individual chest armor in the game, it's all of those armors that have the same model type). The armors themselves are very attractive and cool looking, but the graphic glitch just ruins the look. Please pass the word along to whoever will eventually fix the problem. The OP said: "I've noticed that shirt-style chest equipment clips underneath any leg equipment robe-style chest pieces work fine..." http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=100790

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=285363 No fighting, just laughing! Still sad they closed the thread

Laughter is the best medicine! Haha!