Sadly, dailies that require you to grind for gear seem to be the best devs can think of nowadays. If Ilum had been executed properly, it could've been epic. A daily PvP area in which the faction war played out with real objectives? Yes please! This was a sad case to as the engine tech broke down and the design of the system was so botched they could do nothing but shut it down. Perhaps one day we'll see an interesting idea like this return to SWTOR.

one. more. day.

For level 50s and allow them to be repeated daily to earn commendations. Seems like a good way to give 50s more variety at endgame.

The impatient fanboys that pre-ordered and left are going to be kicking themselves for not staying loyal! We all know that if the devs are making questionable decisions it's because pushy players drive them to it! It's our duty as the loyal few to snuff out anything negative in the forums and keep on playing no matter what! Once the F2P system hits, and everyone can buy armor reskins and carbonite healing chambers this game is going to have like 10 million subs! Everyone will be clamoring to come back and see all the new features and content. It'll be the Chevin event times a billion!

It's a brilliant strategy. They're going to lure people people in with the F2P offer, and then annoy them into subscribing! Given the proven success of this game's ability to retain subs, it's sure to be a smashing success.

Dear Jeff, Are you talking to your players or your investors? The investors may be gullible, but your players are the ones in the game. They know better, so stop talking down to them. Let me break this up for you: 1) People are willing to pay $15/month for a game. 2) Those who left did so because SWTOR wasn't (and still isn't) worth $15/month. Many public-facing BioWare employees have maintained that the game is awesome, people love it, etc. Before you are able to resurrect this beast, you're going to have to accept that your game design has some major flaws. The players have known this since week 1 (that's why so many left), so please stop blowing smoke at us. Now the expectation is people will pay to overcome a crippled F2P experience? This is very short term thinking. It may provide a quick infusion of cash, but those players will hit the same walls that drove away subscribers. So far, I've heard nothing to make me think the team there has objectively assessed "the state of the game." An honest discussion about what didn't work in the game will go much further towards building player confidence than this persistent PR spin.

This is a really good idea. You only get your guild ship after leveling your guild to max level. That would really give people something to work together on in a game that offers very little incentive to socialize.

Perhaps the community here should consider addressing the substance of posts rather than nitpicking playstyles. Just a thought. In that spirit--yes, it's a drag and obvious cash-grab when a game makes you feel inconvenienced and you have to spend money to overcome the inconvenience. At the same time, publishers have to make money. An alternative approach that seems to have worked in many other games would be to give the players a fun, non-handicapped experience, but make the perks and cash shop items plentiful and desirable. Combine that with some RNG (such as cartel packs) and you've got 1) players having fun and continuing to log in and 2) people spending money to increase their status within the community. Anyway, I too hope someone in the Biosphere wises up and realizes that the game needs to be fun before anything else and it shouldn't feel crippled.

1) Hoodless version of the Jedi Battlelord's set. 2) Gear that looks like outfits from the movies. Luke's rebel flight suit or Han Solo's pants/vest, even the classic bounty hunter armors. It may conflict with lore to bring these in, but I think it would be fun to give players those options.

This really scares me, as it reflects my worst fears about their view of F2P. If the premise is "we'll get these people in and once they check out the game they'll love it and stick around" then the system is doomed to fail. The response of the F2Pers will be the same as the majority of subscribers--they'll play through their first class story, get their fill, and not find incentive to grind up an alt or conquer the challenges of end game. There should be 2 goals going forward; first would be to milk more cash from current fans by giving them additional items to spend their money on--vanity items and boosts so anyone can easily play through every class doing only story quests. Second, add new and enticing gated content that players will feel a real drive to work towards. Maybe that's access to a new planet, or a dailies area with some kick-*** jedi/sith gear as a reward. Whatever it is, it has to feel fresh and different. The gear has to be unique and desirable enough that when you see someone walk by in fleet you're whispering them "Where did you get that!".

Amazing work Ben. Thanks for adding your personal touch to improve everyone's gaming experience!

I personally cannot wait to ditch the dress and look like a proper assassin.

With some games, I feel very certain about their long-term sustainability. With TOR, we can be hopeful and continue to support it, but I must say we have not seen anything yet that would make me think the team at BioWare has what it takes to keep the boat afloat.

I very much agree with this. At first, I thought you were using the term for effect, but when you started pointing to posts and individuals I realized maybe you do really think gankers and griefers are sociopaths. Having played with many of these types over the years, I'll provide some clarification, because it really just comes down to a different point of view. The positions you hear are the same in any MMO; one player sees uninvited actions towards them as "griefing" while another sees it as "that's what the game is about we're at war ROFL!!!" Generally the latter player is young, good at PvP, and takes pride in being able to beat other players up. If the exchange were occurring in real life, it would certainly be sociopathic. But of course it's not. It's part of the game. What you perceive as a transgression, the other player views as play. Ever get scratched by an overzealous cat? Kind of the same thing. You can get mad at it or realize he wasn't aiming to harm you; that's just part of what he considers play. That said, I'm sure there are exceptions. I'm sure there are a few sociopaths out there that aren't having fun unless everyone else is miserable, but I'd guess those players are few and far between.

YES, WE WANT IT. We want members of the opposing faction to jump us while questing only to leave them them beaten and demoralized. We want to stealth into zones where we can gank toons 15 levels below us. And we want that ganked player to come back with their lvl 50 and kick our *** for being jerks until we beg for mercy while our friends log into their lvl 50 toons and the brawl escalates to full guild vs. guild action. Objectively, the fun of World PvP is that you're not expecting it. Subjectively, those who don't enjoy this kind of thing in an MMO 1) haven't had a proper world PvP encounter or 2) are too uptight about how the game should be played and need to learn to chill and have fun outside the linear leveling path set before them.

I see your point there. Obviously, the fact that they're not doing anything is a good indication that they couldn't pull it off. Still, one can dream.

Yes, a zombie invasion sounds pretty perfect. A modified version of the Rakghoul event or something--a Dread Master has been experimenting with Sith immortality rituals. Create a dark and eerie environment on one of the planets where power has been cut and we all have to run around with the floaty lights above our heads. Totally doable, and in keeping with SW lore.

38, graphic artist and media professional here. Interestingly, no one would be surprised that I play games in my free time, though my boyfriend is always giving me crap about it.

So, it occurs to me; Bioware does not understand it's customer. No one wants to feel like they're playing a crippled experience, and pay to normalize things. People want to feel as if they're getting a full-featured experience, and will be eager to pay for a perceived advantage. In reality, there may be no difference between the two things. A 20% experience nerf becomes a buff when you add it back in, but it's all about how you position it. Seeing as most players (e.g., former subscriber #s > current subscriber #s) did not feel as if they were getting their $15 worth, I would have thought the way forward would be to give the game as it was at launch for free, and to give subscribers perks such as legacy. FTPlayers could then have the option of purchasing those perks to enhance their experience. Additionally, they need to launch this endeavor with things everyone can spend money on, because for every few FTP freeloaders, there's going to be someone who will spend a bundle. I've personally spent nearly $150 in Guild Wars 2 over the past couple months on boosts, dyes, salvage kits, etc. I'm happy to spend the money to enhance my experience as I'm a busy professional with limited gaming time that also loves MMOs. If I had a way to pay for boosts and play through nothing but the class stories in SWTOR, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But Bioware won't take my money. On the contrary, they gate legacy XP perks behind credits, which I do not have the time to grind for. The result? I don't get to see the class stories and Bioware/EA make no additional money. The people running SWTOR need to give up the idea that keeping players from content by gating it with a grind is good game design and let the better aspects of their game dictate the experience.

Now that the existing content has been out for awhile, will we see added features that allow us to more easily experience the class stories? Even with legacy perks, players must still do side quests or warzones and space combat to keep leveled with class quest content. Many would love to experience all the stories, but cannot invest the time to complete them. Will additional experience perks be made available through legacy or for purchase with cartel coins to facilitate more people being able to experience more of the story?

Many MMOs use expansions as an opportunity to revamp skill systems as they start to feel outdated. Is the SWTOR team actively looking at ways to improve the feel of combat and fight ability bloat?

Chat bubbles. A developer Q&A stated they were in work back in early July. Can you give us an updated status?

I witnessed this as well. I logged in Saturday night to find 5 people on the Republic fleet, and they were all standing around the PvP mission terminal. I thought maybe it was a phasing glitch in the new mega server tech. I guess not?

I don't know if it's been discussed, but I had a thought: What if chat bubbles were only enabled within your party? It would limit the stress on the game engine, as there wouldn't be as much on-screen activity. I think most RPers would vastly prefer it to watching the chat window.

Except that there's still no chat bubbles. I really can't RP without chat bubbles.