Hence WHY the team leader CAN kick people from the match. This isn't a 'pug match' - in the 'classic' sense. Leaders are given tools to lead, penalized for doing a poor job, but not so much that 'normal' war zone comms are affected. Players are given rewards for following directions / commands, penalized for NOT following commands / directions, but 'normal' war zone comms are not affected. It is incentive, but only rewards you IF you actually participate. I'll give another example: Leader Quick Chats / Issues Command ( again.. this would have to be developed / implemented by bioware ) "ALPHA GROUP ATTACK MID!" Every player in alpha group that THEN goes and enters the 'mid' area and does 100 pts of damage earns 1 loyalty comm. Same can apply to Defense: "Alpha group defend East!" Each player in alpha group that then enters the east area and does 100 pts of damage or healing, earns 1 loyalty point. ( obviously.. my numbers are just used as 'examples'. Final stats determined by someone else who gets paid for this kind of stuff.)

So? You're saying you'll stay out of the 'gear controlled' war zones?? Excellent. Why exactly 'cant' bioware implement a gear controlled war zone?? Because it would be popular, and you'd suddenly find yourself playing ranked / geared war zones alone?? Is that the real problem here? You don't want to be alone? Or do you just like dominating new players with your elite gear? You feel 'ripped off' because everyone doesn't have to 'grind' like you did?? So? If you were allowed to continue to grind for your gear, ranked zones, geared zones.. you'd STILL be pissed because some people DONT have to and CHOOSE not to? They aren't just allowed to PVP for the fun of it?

As a matter of fact: YES.. I posted a very similar complaint shortly after 1.2 hit. It was quickly filled with 'trolls' mostly, complaining that I and every new 50 after me needs to 'pay their dues'. Unfortunately - yes, capped at 2000. Your only other option is to convert them to RANKED comms (30 -10) and then convert them back when you hit 50. You can max out at 3500 ranked, 2000 wz - before you hit 50, thus having 5500 comms when you hit 50............ IF you are willing to click 'convert ranked to war zone' .. like... 350 times. Also - Unfortunately; it's likely too later for you, if you are level 48 already. You'll hit 50 long before you max your comms out.

We wont "Pollute" your ranked war zones with our noobishness, if you don't pollute our 'GOOD IDEA" threads with your nastiness. YOU.. mr. epeen elite player - LOSE NOTHING, if Bioware did something like this. NOTHING. Edit: In hindsight.. I guess you would lose 'something'.. a bunch of players you can easily dominate with your gear, and longer queue times... most likely.

OP - NO..no...no......no... just no. Lets consider an alternative like this: To provide incentive for players to FINISH war zones, improve quality of matches, reduce the 'grind' to acquire new gear: Leadership / Loyalty Rankings and Comms. Add the following to the game: 1: VoIP - at the VERY LEAST for the OP's leader, so all teammates can hear him/her. Failing this; an improved / streamlined QUICK CHAT menu for OP's leaders, so they can issue orders QUICKLY, without typing. Quick chats like: "Group Alpha Defend East!!" 2: LFG / PVP Group Queue: Basically - 1 person decides to form a PVP team. (team leader) a: The queue shows which roles need to be filled. Random people cannot be randomly assigned to the team, you MUST fill a specific role. b: Team leaders earn / lose Leadership Comms / Ranks, based on Win / Loss ratios and various metrics within the match. c: Team leaders - CAN kick a player from a match, however they lose leadership ranking points / comms for doing so; After all a good leader will not have to execute their own troops. ( Limit to say: 2 kicks max per round, once the round starts? Each kick deducts 1/3 of your Leadership earnings. Hey? Nobody said being a leader was easy....) d: Players earn Loyalty Ranks / Comms - Every time you finish a war zone. e: Group leaders assign players to 'battle groups' within the team, for easier communication and instruction. 2: Loyalty Ranks / Leadership Ranks reflect your status and epeen. Maybe they (eventually) unlock a unique Helmet or Chest piece for your class. a: Loyalty / Leadership comms can be spent on PvP gear / items. b: You still earn the same War Zone comms you earned before. (provided you finish the match or get booted) I'd much rather see something like this (above) than a harsh penalty system that will only lead to player unsubbing.

I presume Bioware would be 'shocked' when their metrics show that these 'stat controlled' war zones are very popular.

Uh... yeah.. so you skimmed and skipped the part where I suggested reducing damage. Nice work. Without crits: Cull + 2 DOT applications does what?? 1400 damage? Add crit and it's still less than 4k. Hyperbole and pointless speculation does nothing for the discussion. Again - I suggested lowering the damage on 'cull' while slightly increasing the damage on the poison DOTs, which HAVE TO BE APPLIED / NOT CLEANSED in order to even tick. EVEN IF they crit, on all counts, it would STILL do less damage than a single rail shot. Edit: Again you miss the point and make another foolish point in the process. There should be NO PVP food chain. All classes / builds 'should' have a viable place / purpose in PVP. (not simply canon fodder)

Thank you for the comments: While I disagree, I should also clarify that PVP is my primary purpose, not PvE. 1: I play / have played (currently engineer sniper - trying it out ) Lethality sniper. Lethality OP has NOTHING on the sniper. It's not even a fair comparison. Just for starters; Snipers cull is not dependent on TA. So even IF they manage to 'cleanse' the DOTS, the sniper can at least get a little damage out of the attack. It does not 'suddenly disappear' as an option, due to lack / expiration of TA. 2: Respectfully - Acid blade IS the concealment OP's main attack (combined with Hidden Strike/Jarr ). The concealment OP is all about opening burst. Acid blade / Jarr IS your opener and if you lose / blow that opportunity you are dead. Plain and simple. It is the one move that keeps Conceal op's viable (debate for another thread) in PVP. IF in fact: Cull IS the replacement for Acid / Jarr; then you are correct, it is your main burst with this build. However it does, even with crit, less damage than Jarr / Acid blade. Not nearly enough 'burst' to be really effective, and nowhere NEAR the burst of the rail shot spamming PT's. (valid issue) 3: As you pointed out, hybrid lethal / med works well together, but lets be honest here, its the ONLY other option (really) to place your other points. Regardless - Kolto probe ( 30%) is not reliable enough to generate TA for you, AND you have to come out of stealth to use it. Lets not forget you also have to be out of stealth to apply your DOTS. Acid blade does not break stealth. 4: I will admit; perhaps 30 m range on cull / weakening blast, is too long for Lethal OP. (off top of my head) I think snipers cull is 35, so I'm just looking for a compromise / extension of the effectiveness. It's would seem logical ( lol.. I know.. what has Bioware done with OPs that seems logical right??) that an OP can SHOOT his weapon farther than he can throw a grenade, but I digress. 5: So further complicate issues: Lethal OP's not only have to contend with TA management, but Energy management as well. I don't think 'any' other spec, in any other class (besides mirror) has to manage two separate resources?? ( could be wrong here, but.. I've never noticed and I've played every class at least to level 30) I'm just looking to make lethality a viable spec, for both PVP and PVE. I know Bioware will never allow this... for some unknown reason. But again, I digress. It is particularly frustrating to me (personally) having seen my first 3 mains, reduced to doing nothing well, except healing / support. ( Merc, Sorc, OP) Lucky me, eh? I 'never' wanted to be a healer in this game. Bioware apparently had other plans, and I am starting to wonder, along with many friends, why they even bothered to create additional trees for these classes. I can dream.

The problem with lethality is your 'main' attack: Cull, is completely dependent on TA, which means you have to close to melee range, hidden strike to get TA, now you have only a few seconds to apply BOTH DOTS so you can use Cull for maximum damage. Proposal: Remove TA requirement of Cull Increase range to same as Corrosive Grenade and Corr dart. Reduce damage from: 780 - 912 to 580 - 712 - Each poison applies tick of 359 damage, up from 259. (dont recall the range of Weakening blast, but it needs to be same as Cull, Corr grenade, Dart, as well.) Wholla - lethality is now a viable operative spec.

Rock on old timer!!! Hope I'm still gaming when I'm 87. Though.. gonna need to find a new method of playing.. arthritis is making the keyboard / mouse combo a bit more.......... painful, with each passing year.

Kids... that's funny. I'd give you a million dollars to be 20 years younger. I take it your really friggin old?? We are not 'entitled' gamers, unless you count paying to have fun entitlement?? We simply do not find grinding for months at a time, in order TO BE competitive against your peers, fun. I've played GW, it was ok. Fun for awhile. GW2 may or may not live up to the hype. Who cares It's free to play, so does it really matter?? ( wife loves that last part ) If it isn't / doesn't, we'll likely all move on to something else. ( luxury of having a job and money to burn ) Unfortunately - Microsoft Allegiance died many many years ago, and pvp in COH / COV was eventually hopelessly broken. Regardless we played that game (CoH) for 5 years. ( 10 years invested in Allegiance ) Yes, we definitely know what we like. SWTOR PVP just doesn't happen to be "It". ( I have more money to burn than time. ) Not to worry. We've made our opinions known to Bioware, both here, and in the 'cancel sub' survey they send ya. I feel it's our duty, along with the other 400+ thousand players who've cancelled, to let Bioware know how we feel. I respect the fact that you AND Bioware disagree with how PVP should work. You are entitled to feel that way................. I'm just glad you were so mature about voicing your disagreement.

I 100% agree with the OP. Bioware got PVP completely wrong in this game, and everyone knows they grossly underestimated it's popularity. Add to this, the failure to understand what players actually want, has lead to the drastic decline in subscriptions. (imho) Since 1.2, pvp has become less and less fun in the Post 50 bracket. 1.3 just drove the 'gear disparity' nail in the coffin for me and several of my friends. None of us feel like grinding our way to augmented WH, nor do we plan too, just so we can have fun again.... ( between gear and lag / ability delay issues.. take your pick ) As much as I love this game ( and it does have some really awesome qualities), at the end of the day, none of us ( all casual players, all love pvp - juggling wives, jobs, children ) feel that having to grind to have fun, just isn't worth the subscription fee. ( So OP .. I guess we'll be seeing you in GW2 ) P.S. FYI - 3D space combat / PVP - would likely bring us ALL back... but??? Whether we stayed or not would depend on how they do it. Again - if we find ourselves grinding up to MK 6 lasers, Missiles, counter measures, etc..etc.... we'll likely lose interest again... but...?? Ya never know.

It is serious. It is intended. You don't think they knew the price when they set it?? It wasn't some random number generator that decided it would cost 1000 comms. It is INTENDED. They DO NOT WANT YOU TO CRAFT THEM. Or at the very least, regret doing it. Nuff said.....

Given the classes I typically play, I suppose you are right. If a stealth class gets the drop on me, I'm likely going to die anyway. Might as well warn the idiots on my team we're about to lose the node. Try as I might, regardless which class I happen to be playing, I cannot for the life of me, leave a node unguarded. If everyone else has / is running off, I'll stay behind. Even if I'm playing my healer. Who am I to argue with them over their death wish? The ONLY viable solution to this problem, is as i pointed out earlier. Find a guild that PVP's and uses VENT, and PVP ONLY with them. If you are playing on PUGs, you are doing it wrong. Bioware has made that pretty clear. P.S. As pointed out earlier, by another poster. How hard would it be for Bioware to make a 'quick chat' keybind, for quick obvious battle ground intel? Microsoft Allegiance had perhaps the BEST quick chat system I've ever seen in team / objective based game. There was literally NO info you couldn't relay in 3 - 4 key presses.

Part of the problem is it is VERY difficult to type: INC GRASS when: 1: You're the only fool guarding the node, and get attacked by a stealth class. In this situation you have 2 choices. a: Fight - try to CC, hope they don't have their protection up, then try an type INC GRASS. Sometimes this works, and you buy enough time for re-enforcements to arrive before they actually cap it. b: type INC GRASS and definitely die a GCD or two later, thus allowing them to take the node, regardless of the fact you warned you team. I play mostly Sniper or healer/Op, and get left guarding nodes ALL THE TIME, as everyone runs off to get their kills. Sniper is the WORST character to leave guarding a node alone. Let alone one still wearing some recruit gear. My healer is by far the STUPIDEST class to leave guarding a node alone. I can't even play on teams that do this. There is no excuse for such a lack of situational awareness. But honestly speaking here. These issues are EXACTLY why you should be playing on a pre-made, with a guild, using VENT. I'm guilty of not doing any of the later.

Tons of crits, but haven't bothered to try and slot anything. All greens that I'm REing to get the augment materials. If I notice a new crit, I'll examine and post a response here. I think I've got some old augments laying around.

*Buzzer* WRONG!! You cannot slot augments in gear you cannot wear / is above your level and or valor rank. So mr. smarty pants. IF you happened to make a full set of augmented war hero gear, that you cannot wear until valor 60, OR a full set of 45-47 purple augmented gear to wear when you reached that level; "That's on you?"??? Really? Something completely out of player control, is the players fault? Lets be clear here.......because you are just simply wrong on soooo many levels. THIS IS A BUG. IT IS NOT WORKING AS INTENDED. YOU CANNOT HOLD A PLAYER RESPONSIBLE FOR A MISTAKE BY BIOWARE! It doesn't matter if it is level 11, or level 49 gear. IF it crit crafted, the augment slot does not work. It has not upgraded to the level appropriate MK #. Gear that is ALREADY augmented and SLOTTED - is NOT upgrading to the appropriate MK # Slot of the item that is slotted. FOR EXAMPLE: I had level 47 purple crit crafted purple chest piece WITH a level 49 augment installed. 1.3 hits. I pulled this augment out to insert into a NEW piece of gear, and LOW AND BEHOLD.. I could NOT install the augment BACK into the piece I just pulled it from?? Slots are NOT upgrading when higher level augments are already installed pre 1.3 and then removed post 1.3 (making your ridiculous 'blame the player' post wrong yet again.) Slots are NOT upgrading to the level of the gear. I cannot insert a level 35 augment into a pre 1.3 level 47 augmented piece of gear. Augments slots on preexisting 1.3 gear are NOT showing the MK-# the gear has, leaving me to believe they simply do not work??? I have not tried to make / slot a MK 1 augment in any pre 1.3 augmented gear.

This had better be a BUG and not 'working as intended'. Either way: FAIL I have crit crafted lvl 49 augmented gear that I can't fit LVL 35 augments in?? Getting the message I need a higher level augment slot? On level 49 gear?? Really?? EDIT: While I'm at it... 'existing' augment slots DO NOT INDICATE WHAT LEVEL THEY ARE.

I tend to agree with the OP on this one. It's isn't about 'how hard' it is, or how long it takes, to get BM gear. The point is; that time can be spent doing something else that is MORE FUN than getting face rolled for 4 - 14 days. (pending your luck in PUGs or guild association ) Augmented gear FAVORS the WH and BM gear players. It doesn't favor recruit's. You will STILL be face stomped if you are wearing recruit gear. Augmented or not. Even with pre-mades: Recruit geared players are STILL a liability to their team. Teammates ONLY tolerate them because they 'have too'. Do you really expect people to believe that pre-mades WANT recruit geared players on their team? No they do not. They want that team member GEARED UP. With the addition of augmented gear; ranked war zones, and future level cap increases and likely MORE / better PVP gear.. the gap between the geared and under-geared will continue to grow to the point where no new players are willing to put up with the grind. This will leave PVP stagnant and boring, as you fight the exact same people, in the same 4 war zones, over and over again. IF PVP is to be saved, survive and thrive, they (Bioware) needs to innovate. It is too bad the 'hard core' crowd would feel butthurt and offended by any potential changes to the gearing system, but quite frankly, that is the direction bioware needs to go.

What exactly is the purpose of a shield rating for classes that don't use shields? Can someone at bioware please explain the purpose of this schematic? Or does it exist just to piss us off after RE'ing some 30 blue items, and finally unlocking a single purple shield rating recipe. Why bioware? Why do these recipes exist?

I would FULLY SUPPORT a deserter debuff - IF and ONLY IF - you joined with a pre-made team of 4 or more players. Beyond that - A deserter debuff has no place in PUG matches. Ever. This isn't even considering the multitude of RL issues that can force you to quit a match. If YOU want to stay and fight it out. Stay and fight. It's your time. Waste it however you want. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Edit - the mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm is a perfect example of a RL issue. My 11 month hit the keyboard right before I hit 'submit'.

Indeed they have left more than 2.. and I feel equally for those other people left behind as well. Communication is an amazing thing. They could have started out the whole process with: "Look gang, we are going to open transfers, this week, on these "X number of servers" per group. We'll be waiting a week after these transfers have started, to see how the whole process goes BEFORE we open additional servers for transfer. We APOLOGIZE if your server is not in the initial group, but we PROMISE we will get to your servers ASAP, AFTER this initial test phase is completed." Which is a FAR cry better than the absolute silence we've gotten on the forums regarding additional transfers and why the heck have the last few remaining servers not been grouped / sent somewhere?? They literally stopped with the job 80% done on Thursday and took the rest of the weekend off???

"Easy to Obtain" is a relative statement. What is easy for some, may not be easy for others. That being said: I feel entitled to everything because: 1: I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. 2: Everything wonderful in life has bee given to me. I have never had to work a single day in life, to earn anything. 3: I deserve it because: See reason 1 & 2. 4: I pay a monthly subscription AND I own both EA and Bioware stock. 5: I actually don't care about the new companion. I don't use the ones I have, so he should be given to me so I can 'not use' him as well. 6: Ummmm... wait a second, I'm thinking. 7: Because Venus is in the equinox of the seventh house. 8: Wait what was the question again? 9: Oh yes... now I remember... Please see reason 1 & 2. 10: I'm sorry... I'm just too tired right now to address this concern of yours and my time is far more important.

No - Biowares actions do not make any sense, unless they've already screwed up and dumped too many people onto Fatman and Pot5. Seriously - only 2 PVP east coast servers left to transfer and they just stop?? Even IF they were waiting to see how the weekend numbers played out, what difference would another 200 people make? Seriously? And if they were THAT worried about it ( the additional populations of a whooping 2 barely alive servers) why dump EVERYONE ELSE onto only 2 destination servers?? Why not START with 3 and just be done with it. It's not as if you couldn't do yet another server merge. Seriously - I'm baffled. It's like they intentionally work to piss their player base off.

You MUST be the luckiest guy on earth. If I DID THIS?? My wife would not stop talking for 2 hours, going into minute details, seemingly of every moment of her 9 hours out of the house. Then I would miss my server queue pop and be waiting again. I would not call this LAST point ( you gave ) any advantage, or activity of productive value.