WHY the game isn't more popular is actually a pretty complex question, because I imagine that there are a lot of different reasons people stopped playing. However, at the end of the day, I'd suspect that the #1 reason it is NOT more popular: This is what you get when you let suits run an IP and not creative visionaries.

It's F2P, so..... ?? Why not play? You can always get your feet wet, and if you find yourself having fun, pay for a sub. You've got nothing to lose, cept some bandwidth and time.

At least, until you realize that EA is going to nickel and dime you to play BattleFront 3 also. Expect a monthly sub.....etc..etc...

If it makes you feel better, and I doubt it will... but.. I was in an Arena match the other day and it wound up being 4 v 1. I just happened to be on the team of 4. Rather than just face roll the poor guy, we decided as a group, to 1 v 1 him. Only 1 of our team would attack him, while the rest just hung back and watched. Not giving them any buffs, heals..etc.. just to keep it fair. He beat each of the first opponents, we'd let him heal up to full before the next guy would go after him. He did ok. He beat both of his first opponents but usually lost to his second as his cool downs were all blown, but he got some good experience and likely had more fun than the pointless 4 v 1 slaughter it could have been.

How exactly does a person 'stay' in the lowbie tier? Are you bailing at the end of matches so you don't get XP?? If that's the case, that's pretty lame.

No - I don't think you read that correctly. IMHO - faction balance has more to do with the IMP stories being more interesting and lets admit it.. it's fun to be evil. Add to that, if you've leveled a toon to max, gotten gear... what are you going to PVP with most? For the most part, PVP players don't care WHO they get to fight, so long as they get to fight other players. Open world PVP, which is virtually non-existent, is another story entirely. There - pop balance will play a role. But I'll be honest here..... I wish my smug was maxed on a IMP hvy pvp server. I'd absolutely be taking advantage of that fact and enjoying some open world pvp on a regular basis. Sadly - my Ops can run around all night long just hoping to catch a glimpse of a REP to attack. And finally - players have the choice to flag pvp on or off. If they forget, that's their problem. Myself and Wicked don't discriminate. If it's red, it's dead.

You can only see your teammates expertise rating and your own. Its on your character sheet, in the pvp section. There is NO PVP gear worth wearing, pre-level 60 if you DONT already have a set from prior to 3.0. For example, Oboran or Brutalizer gear, and that gear would be level 55. What do you wear? The BEST gear you can equip, that DOESN'T have 'any' expertise in it at all. The PVP gear sold in game, prior to level 60, is garbage unless you want the shell. Once you're in the 55+ range, don't slot gear above lvl 162. Make sure every single slot has something in it, even if the stats are wrong for your class. You must have relics, implants, ear... everything. There has to be something in the slot for bolster to take effect.

Pre-order??? No way. I'll wait till after launch and bugs have been patched. Battlefield 4 anyone?? Mod tools? No way. I don't believe DICE has released mod tools for their games since battlefield 2. All that being said: I does look awesome, and I will be playing it eventually.

Unless the healer had old PVP gear from before the 3.0 update he wouldn't be wearing any PVP gear. The OP and his friend "should not" be wearing any PVP gear either, as gear at that lvl would be significantly worse than what default (even broken) bolster would provide. OP - GEAR CHECK. Make sure every single slot is filled with something. If you're missing relics, implants..etc.. you will not have the 2018 expertise bolster provides. Once you've confirmed your gear is correct, the rest is L2P issues, specifically how to deal with a Sorc healer who's stronger than you and your buddy. Hint: CC and interrupt. Between the 2 of you, you should be able to prevent him from healing himself up. You both have stuns for a combined 8 seconds unmitigated damage, plus 1 interrupt each to stop 2 heals/powers from going off. In essence, the fight is about timing, coordination and anticipation. If you're both just mashing powers trying to out DPS his heals, you wont win. Period. At level 30, 2 v 1...?? You've got the tools. Not everything, but you've got enough to get the job done. Seriously man. Just talk to your buddy, lay out a strategy so you aren't overlapping CC and go from there.

Easier than fixing Bolster? Yes.. most likely. The real problem is that by dividing PVP into MORE tiers, you'll wind up with even fewer Q's poping as the population is divided even more. This would have a very negative effect on lower population servers. It's better to just fix bolster.

They are going to merge them. It's just a question of 'when' and what impact will it have on players... IE..name changes, available slots...etc..etc.. It is not financially viable to keep paying for a server that doesn't generate money, and low pop servers don't generate money. So - the real question is: Are you patient enough to wait for it to happen, or willing to shell out $15 per toon to transfer before you are forced to transfer?

Bolster is broken in MIDS, as the devs have stated. They are addressing it... though.. if that's for the better or not remains to be seen.

Last night was the very first time I've ever waited for a PVP q to pop, and it didn't happen. Granted - it was tier 1, and after prime, but I've never 'NOT' had a q pop. I was surprised... what with the DBL XP, I'd have thought more people would be lvling lowbies and Q'ing, but...?? Apparently not. While BioWare has NOT explicitly stated they are going to do another server merge, it's going to happen for both financial and QOL reasons. (but we know the biggest reason is money) They've already implied that server merges are going to happen, as they have stated they are looking at ways to improve Q times for both PVP and PVE, while also being sensitive to RPG, PVP and PVE player choices, and character identify. How that translates is: We're going to do server merges again, but we have to figure out a way to do it without pissing everyone off... However - they also said; that aint gonna happen till late this year.

OP - I hope you've learned a lesson about expressing unpopular opinions in a public format. It will not always go as planned. Practice what you preach. Express your opinion, but do not begrudge others for expressing theirs. Even when they disagree with you. That is part of public discourse. Just because you have an opinion, does not automagically mean everyone will agree with it.

With all the "Metrics" these guys take, you'd think they'd be able to come up with a nice 'baseline' for class specs, and work around that. Rating can influenced (insert complex mathematical formula here) by things like: Objectives, Medals, Healing, DPS. Objectives are influenced by Class. Example: Tanks get more objective points for Protection, than they do DPS. They get NO points for healing. Healers get more Objective Points for, I don't know...?? Healing? But less for DPS? DPS classes get more points for DPS than healing...etc..etc.. Then figure out what your baseline is for each class, on average, per round. From this point we can now add weight to an individuals overall score, based on how well they perform above or below average numbers. This 'personal' rating, then influences your solo rating, so if you actually perform 'above average' in solo ranked, you aren't completely screwed by always PVPing ranked in a random pug. I'd don't know.. something like that... I'm getting a beer...

You likely got hit by more than 2 people at the same time, died in 2 GCD's and just didn't realize it. I 'looked' like one person smacked the snot out of you, but it was more than 1. I suggest turning on combat logging, getting a parse app, so you can review your damage, and damage done to you during match. Figure out your weaknesses... strengths.. etc..etc.

I agree "In Spirit" OP. Operatives are very well balanced 'as a class', but when it comes to end game PVE and PVP, they have room for improvement, at least when it comes to getting them on par with other classes. Certainly not in flavor and style. We can't nerf the other classes so they are more on par with Ops, that would make end game PVE extremely difficult to finish. Sadly - the bottom line is: Until they can separate ALL the AC classes by PVE and PVP specs, I don't think we'll ever see any semblance of overall PVP balance.

This whole conversation reminds me of one of the reasons I don't do ranked pvp. I'm an alt-aholic. I get my character to full aug tier 1 gear, then switch to another toon and gear them up. By the time I'm done... the season is nearly over and I still don't have more than 1 or 2 pieces total, of tier 2 gear. No way I'm entering ranked without being correctly geared. That's just... wrong on so many levels.

What's a mouseover focus??? (seriously) What's a focus macro? Is that some... kind of resource meter?? If you used macro's in SWTOR pvp, you would likely get crushed. This isn't PvE. You could 'try' to anticipate what the other guy is going to do, but... yeah.. that aint gonna work out so good. While your macro is trying to execute step 6, You'll be executing 'respawn'.

Hello!

You need to direct your frustration at Bioware. You are absolutely NOT alone in thinking their gear grind mechanic sucks. It does. Believe me.. it does. They (Bioware) just don't seem to give a rats behind what we think. They don't think we play pvp for fun. Their philosophy is more like: "I do coke so I can work harder, so I can make more money, so I can do more coke!"

As a PVP player, I didn't agree with this change either. The old animation was much better, and I'm not even sure 'that' many people actually complained about the .5 second difference in animations between the two factions. It was a stupid change. Just like the changes to Overload are stupid. Give me back my old flippy smash plz. I LIKED it. I didn't care that it took .5 seconds longer. I liked the animation.

The last PTS notes I read said we were getting a buff to AOE damage on our grenades. One of the few cases where power creep is actually good. (in this case up)

GREAT NEWS!! You can change your mind! Currently - I'm trying the countermeasures upgrade. The root is awesome, no doubt. It's hard to gauge which is better though. I'm liking the 'anti-root' from CM, but it isn't 'always' reliable. Sometimes I'll use it, it wont fire off immediately, I'm still rooted, I get killed and then on respawn it fires off.... "oh.. thanks CM...I was seriously worried about being rooted here in the spawn room..."

Well damn it... if we can't have ST at 60 meters, then at LEAST allow me to equip a pistol instead of a rifle. I'm getting SERIOUSLY tired of seeing my op pull out a pistol in cut-scenes. I've checked my gear!! I don't have one!! I'd love one... and a rifle too... that would be cool, and my Op would look even MORE bad-assededly (just made that word up) than he does...