Server Mergers is the answer. Cross server LFG is not. The problem is far greater than not being able to do flashpoints. Cross Server LFG does nothing for: Heroic 2's Heroic 4's Open World PvP Operations Guild Management / Guild Creation I recently rerolled on The Fatman EC PvP. I have never waited longer than 10 minutes to do a FP now. Never longer than 10 minutes to get a grp for Heroic 4's. Every planet thus far, has had 80+ on it. Veela, my old server, I would go 4 days in a row without being able to ever get enough people to do Heroic 4's. I couldn't even complete the Jedi Prisoner - because I couldnt get 3 other people in their mid 30's to do Taral V. I had that quest for 2 weeks. Spammed the Fleet, and every level appropriate planet - could never get 4.

It's pretty simple really. BW has over 110 NA servers up. 50% Light , 40% Standard, 10% Heavy. Merge 2 Light Servers with 1 Standard and you will be left with 60% Heavy, 40% Standard. Offer free transfers for everyone on a Full / Heavy server at the mergers, and Voila - Population problem fixed.

BW's lack of action has caused this problem. I am guilty. I rerolled on Fatman. I have been asking for a server transfer since March 1st. My 2 50's are on Veela. 25 people in the Fleet during peak hours. You level an alt, and there are 4-5 people per planet. That is an unplayable MMO. 3/4 of the content designed is unplayable, because you don't have the population to support it. No open world PvP No Heroic 2's No Heroic 4's No FP's. You can't find groups to run them. I apologize to the Original Fatman members for being part of your over -crowded Queue times. But I refuse to pay for a game any longer, that excludes me from 75% of the content, becacuse BW can't get on the ball and merge servers.

Nothing will be mandatory. But BiS gear will be crit crafted orange. You will still have to raid, to get the best gear, to strip the mods out of. Once you strip the mods and place them in crit crafted orange + the augment, it will be BiS. You will not be able to just purchase the best gear from my understanding. The mods you strip will be bound.

The answer to number 1. E-Peen. It always has been the answer, and it always will be the answer. Since "Raiding" began 15 some odd years ago, part - NOT ALL, of the raiding crowd raids because they need some sort of tangible proof of self worth in a game setting. They need a measuring stick, or insecurity prevails. Having superior gear to someone else satisfies this need for some. Some people interact better in a social setting, if in their minds, they are speaking to people that are inferior to them. Superior gear - satisfies this. For some, NOT ALL, DPS meters fill this role. But in both cases, DPS meters and Superior gear, a portion of the player base uses both as measuring sticks of self worth and self validation. The very worst of this crowd uses both to belittle others, and it's unfortunate.

I've been all over this thread in the past. I gave up. I have a level 50 Sage, and a 35 Scoundrel on Veela. I just rerolled a character on The Fatman East Coast PvP server on Saturday afternoon. Best decision I made involving this game so far. In the starting zone there were 182 people. People from all different servers were doing the exact same thing as me. Looking for someone to play with. I had groups and people willing to do Heroic 2 and 4 man content without ever waiting longer than 10 minutes to recruit enough people and get together and start. That is the way it should be. All BW needs to do is take one look at what is happening on The Fatman server to realize the number 1 problem facing this game currently. Too many servers with low population forces people to skip all the cool heroic 2 and 4 man content, and level appropriate FP's. It is not new content. It is not debugging old content. It is not the lack of combat logs / meters It is not the need for dual spec It is not the need for LFG finder For the first time in 2 months, I had a BLAST playing SWTOR. And it was because of 1 reason. There were people to play with. There were 40+ servers up that said Light on Saturday. Start combining them now! This problem is going to get worse everyday until they do. People from Light/Normal Servers are re rolling to the only HEAVY/FULL server. I did, and glad I did.

Bingo! Let the accomplishment stand on its' own 2 feet. Titles, tropies - there are plenty of ways to let rest of the world know you are "The Best Player Ever" Exclusive speeders. Perks. Reduced Quick Travel Times. Excessive emergency fleet passes. I will respect the Hard - Core raiders that want to have vastly superior gear to everyone else, if they just admit the truth about why they want it. E-Peen. I must be awesome, you must suck, because I have 17k hps, and you only have 15.5. People like you sir, get the point about what rading is about. The accomplishment. I applaud you!

Couldn't be further from the truth. MMORPGS has everything to do with reliance on others for progression. For new gamers - (Post WoW) Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, simply means playing a game on a server that has chat options, and optional cooperative options. Role Playing used to mean a heck of a lot more, than the "weirdos" that want to stand around in the forest and put on a fantasy online wedding. You played your role throughout the community in combat to level - at every turn. If you were a healer, you healed. Your ability to DPS and solo stuff was very limited, and a slow grind - almost a waste of time. Your ROLE - was ever present, at every turn. It defined you. Everything you did, revolved around YOUR ROLE within a cooperative combat gaming community. PvP or PvE did not matter. It was your ROLE. That feeling and definition of who you are, defined by class choice - is absent from MMORPG's today.

I think the answer to this question is rather simple. This is not an MMORPG, in my opinion anyway. This is a single player game hosted on an online server, that has numerous cooperative OPTIONS. The more Solo - Friendly a game is, the less cooperation needed - on a every level basis it is, the less massive multiplayer needed. A lot of newer MMO gamers are going to disagree. They are going to want to compare to WoW, and how WoW was solo friendly - therefor all MMO's should be solo friendly. But that simply isn't true for some of us. I enjoyed gaming in 2002 when I had to RELY on others for progression, and they relied on me. I grouped with the same people for 7 years in EQ. 7 years! I didn't jump from guild to guild. Join pick up raids - they didnt exist. I progressed with the same people, made great online gaming friends. This will never happen again in my lifetime with a game that has a large commercial budget. Not because the games are better being solo friendly, because they aren't. But because gamers have changed. i want it fast, I want it now - it the prevailing thought, and no patience for long term progression is tolerated. I don't mind an epic class quest that takes 4 months to complete. Could you imagine the uproar that would cause in today's communities? Remember when the tag above your name <Guild Name> was more important than your own name? I do. Those were better days.

Thank you - that makes sense. I tend to look at every skill as how will it help me in a FP scenario, and it just seemed redundant sharing the same cd, and the same conditional as needing an incapacitated mob.

Not sure if someone has asked this yet - But what is the point of having both of these share a cooldown, and both only being usable on incapacitted mobs? One is 30m range, 1 is 4 m? Thats the only difference? And they need to share a cd of 45 seconds Seems to me this would be better with seperate cd's so when you are in a group, and you burn the first CC'ed mob in 20 seconds, you have a viable 2nd opener that is useful.

How do you group up at level 33, when you check Balmorra, The Republic Fleet, and Alderaan, and there are a total of 8 players between 30 and 36. You expect that half the player base should always want to group? It is BW's fault, sorry. It is BW's responsibility to maintain healthy server populations that provide players with a REALISTIC option to choose whether or not they want to group, or solo. That number of 8 needs to be between 15-20 minimum at every level range. Server mergers is the answer.

Very good points. Another way that BW could solve this problem if Raiders are so intent on having vastly superior gear, since it should only be available from a raid: Add an item slot that is STRICTLY a resist slot. The only time you will face an encounter that requires say a UNIVERSAL RESIST, is within a riad. Have an encounter specific debuff going off the entire time you are engaged in the encounter, and if you can't meet the resist check, then you suffer too much damage. This item would be useless in PvP. It would be useless in PvE content, outside of the raid zone. The only way you could acquire these progressive resist items is through defeating bosses in raids. It allows for meaningful progression - instead of hampster wheel grind. It works as a Key/Flagging system. Gavin wouldn't like this though. When he uploads his dps data with another player that has exact stats, from gear acquired in a different way, he might be "out performed", and exposed that a casual player that doesn't raid all that much, may in fact be more situationally aware, quicker with his dps/heal rotations, and quite possibly a "better player" It eliminates hampster wheel grinding raiders from out performing casuals based on gear alone. It allows for the accomplishment of defeating a Boss to stand on its' own merrit, and a meaningful step of progression based raiding.

I think the point that I have illustrated, and in my mind that Gavin confirmed - albeit not willingly, is that raid accomplishments are better rewarded by titles and trophies vs gear alone. As others have pointed out - the amount of time it would take to acquire a full set of 146 gear via dailies, is not viable for guilds that are interested in progressing through content while it remains cutting edge "End Game". Rading in a scheduled fashion as a guild is still and always will be the FASTEST way to gear up and progress. So allowing another means of obtaining 146 gear is absolutley the right thing to do for the casual player that doesn't want to committ. Coupled with the fact that Gavin has said not clearing HM modes for the simple reason that the last 2 peices of gear aren't worth the learning curve, or the time invested, makes an even louder point. So it is worth it to grind away the same raid material on normal mode, that isnt very difficult, and maintain a serious level of superiority PvE gear wise, because you like to hampster wheel grind average skill level material with either 7 or 15 other people? Doesn't make sense. You want far superior gear for average feats.

The problem is, in order to be a successful raider, you need to commit a ton of time to it. And in order to have the gear necessary to progress, it is a long grind hampster wheel. What about the guy that only gets to play on the weekends? He can't make raids during the week. He is a good player, but falls behind on the gear curve far too fast because of his time constraints - and effectivley gets eliminated from progression. That's why in my mind - trophies and titles should be the main focus for raid acheivements. It allows casual, good players the ability to advance at their own pace, without being left behind on the gear curve needed to compete, simply because they don't have 20 hours a weeek to devote to defeating the same encounters over and over and over.