I can't get that to work. The 'Dark Tidings' can't be claimed from my Collections, regardless if it's the first alt I completed the mission with or not. So unless I can get a GM to fix it, I'll have to blow a token to get one more Dark Tidings item from the vendor.

So you can play the story or buy the goodies from the vendor, but not both. You said it. Ridiculous.

So we've got to spend Galactic Seasons tokens to get more than 1 alt through the storyline?

The title says it all. I have been unable to find any legacy or Collections point where I can access the starter mission for Season 5. I can however buy the starter token from a vendor for one Galactic Seasons token. Is that the expectation?

Well *somebody* needs to start the slow clap.

None of the PvP or GSF Conquest achievements are counting. I've done 5 GSF battles on a Scout (and 3 of them using *just* a Scout, to make sure) and instead of getting the CQ points for 5 battles on a Scout, I am still at 0/5.

Are you also aware of all the other Conquest Achievements not working properly? PvP, GSF, and Activity Finder aren't tracking counts at all, just to name a few. For example, I've flown a Scout in 5 GSF battles, and the achievement for that still shows me at 0/5. (And I've flown 3 battles with JUST a scout, to make sure of what I was seeing.) Oh, and if I'm tracking a Conquest achievement, it becomes untracked once I change locations via any form of quick travel.

I find it hard to believe that Ultima Online (1997) didn't make the list, even though it's still out there, and Wildstar came and went in a matter of months. Not for nothing, but UO was the gold standard for years, and remained viable until games like SWG and WoW arrived and (especially WoW) siphoned off the vast majority of the UO player base.

For someone that obviously wasn't playing the game back when KOTFE was released or has just forgotten what happened you sure think you've got it all figured out. When Nico was first offered, people subbed in August and then quickly un-subbed, because they didn't want the coat, weapons, speeder, etc. Just Nico. Come time for the release of 4.0, it was revealed that if people weren't subbed for the full 4 months, (FOUR, not one) then no Nico. Sorry, too bad, so sad. It caused a massive uproar on the forums. I know that is correct because I was there. I have never been "unsubbed" for this game. Now you can go pull up all the old screenshots you want, but you're still wrong.

So you weren't playing then, and don't know what you're talking about, but smugly claim victory. Why am I not surprised?

Like so many others, you didn't read the Terms and Conditions, one of which said: "To qualify for the Early Access Bonus, you must have qualified for each of the four rewards by being a subscriber on each of the 4 listed reward dates. Once you qualify you may enter and play Knights of the Fallen Empire on October 20, 2015, seven (7) days prior to live launch on October 27, 2015." That was later interpreted to mean to get Nico, ya had to have been subbed for the full four months. Why do you think there was such an uproar? Were you even playing the game at that time? Because it sure doesn't seem so. Better luck next time.

Actually, I'm quite sure I'm correct because there was a huge uproar when people discovered that they weren't getting the companion they expected because they didn't read the entire offer, which included the notice that a player had to be subscribed for all the months to get all of the rewards. I was possible to sub in September and get things like the guns, etc. but anything previous (in this case, Nico) wasn't awarded. Look, you're welcome to bloviate to your little heart's content, but don't try and create what I'm saying out of whole cloth.. Where have I written that I have strong feelings either way? Aside from saying this is a failure on BioWare's part because a "subscriber reward" that an existing subscriber already has is no reward at all, but an act of laziness, I've expressed no opinion. As far as value, you would think BioWare would consider the value of a current continuous subscriber vs. the value of a one-month sub that many people will jump on to get the Nico and Shae companions. It's a bad idea to chase new subscribers while insulting your current subscribers. If it's a money-grab BioWare wanted, they should have just offered them in the Cartel Market for an insane amount of coins. But no. The current plan causes the kind of uproar which allows people like you to come and post your hollow little arguments like, "you know what you signed up for, you agreed to this and that, blah blah blah". Go you, I'm sure that's getting you lots of cheers and whistles from the cheap seats.

What bothers me the most about this latest little fiasco disguised as a subscriber reward is that there was apparently no one around with a solid memory of the game. I mean, imagine this discussion in the Community Relations office: First Person: Let's have a contest on Facebook and Twitter where players can vote for their favorite companions! In the end, we'll give every subscriber Nico and Shae as rewards! Second Person: That's a great idea! (What is missing is the) Third Person with institutional memory: Wait, what? That's a terrible idea! We gave out Nico as a subscriber reward as part of a huge multi-month ramp up to 4.0, and then we gave out Shae as a subscriber reward shortly after her Chapter in KOTFE. It's not much of a reward to loyal subscribers if they already have an item, now is it? Let's think of something original. So at this point, my "reward" for being an uninterrupted subscriber since pre-launch is "tough rocks" for the month of April 2018.

Yes, I would.

Yes, and then some! Nico was the "first" reward, and you had to be subbed by the August cutoff. The (first) war started when people found out that when they un-subbed after August, they wouldn't get Nico (or anything else), because of the offer specifically stating you needed to be subscribed for all 3 or 4 months. The second forum war started when people wanted BioWare to bring Nico back as a CM purchase or as part of another "event". It was not pretty either time.

Shae yes, Nico, most definitely NOT. Nico was part of a multi-month offer leading into 4.0 where subs got a duster, pistols, speeder, and Nico, plus the promise of an adventure while playing HK-55, and THEN only if they had a continuous subscription over several months. (There was even a huge forum controversy when people discovered that they weren't getting Nico because they missed a sub deadline.) That's where a lot of the outrage is coming from now, as players that had to sub for multiple months for a companion "reward" watch others get the same companion (advertised as "exclusive") for subbing for one month. I also remember several discussions on the forum about the idea that Nico might be offered again, and the implication from that time was Nico was a one-time offer. It's easy to sit back and spin the semantics now because it's obvious that the same situational amnesia that strikes people regarding so many things in this game has clouded the reality about how Nico was delivered the first time. This little episode is just another symptom of the institutional memory loss suffered by SWTOR's massive overhaul of development personnel. It's so much easier to just give out old stuff than come up with new ideas.

Now that you've "quit", you'll have so many many days to look forward to enjoying.

Saying "Gosh we're real sorry" ex post facto for something that so severely impacts players is not taking responsibility. My two guildmates and I quite literally spent the last week leveling alts to Command 300, and for me that was 2 Operatives and a Scoundrel, while one guildie ran up 3 Mercenaries, based on what was posted. Now we learn that we're getting NOTHING for the "mirrors"? What I would "have them do" as you mentioned is hot patch the code to reflect a 25% bonus for each alt that is at Command Level 300, just like they posted weeks ago. That is not too much to expect for a mistake of this magnitude.

Reading the plans for the expansion, I've got to say I don't see a lot of things to give a player enjoyment of the game. The concerns I have are as follows: SWTOR becomes a hamster wheel grind-fest for players interested in end-game content. Since the new "level" structure is tied to the toon and not the server, players will have to constantly push one alt along, hoping the RNG favors them with the gear piece they need. This will affect raid teams and people that like to PvP, because playing multiple alts will only slow advancement and gear acquisition overall. The cynic in me thinks that you're (BioWare) hoping players will be so busy scrambling to get gear that while the hamster wheel spins, players (subscribers) won't be reminded that it's been a couple of years since there were any new operations added. Raid and Flashpoint Teams suffer from a loss of flexibility. Trying to defend the point that players can still respec as long as they only open their loot crates in their desired spec is a strawman argument. (Not to mention I could write a novel on all the potential issues that arise when a tired player forgets to re-spec back and opens a crate with the WRONG spec, and invariably gets that coveted gear piece with the wrong stats/set bonus) A player that goes from their "main" spec of say, DPS, to healing still needs to have a set of healing gear to continue playing. In the early stages of the expansion when teams will be doing story-mode content, prior gear from KOTFE will most likely suffice; however, once teams start moving into hard-mode and nightmare content, that will no longer be the case. Continued trivialization of crafting in the game. I'm not sure why this game even has crafting, to be honest. With the coming expansion, even augments are now gated behind hard mode flashpoints and planetary conquest, as materials from those activities will be needed to make augments in the expansion. (More hamster wheel! Only this time it's against three other players that will all need the same material drop for their own gear optimization needs) Instead of allowing crafters to at least make a BiS set of crafted pieces (or crafted armors, mods and enhancements with stats that aren't screwed up), crafters are once again an afterthought. Loss of enjoyment from playing different classes It's obvious that playing different classes and/or factions will be a deterrent to gearing up I would hope that the genuine concerns of your players will spur the developer teams to re-think the process of gear drops, required materials, and overall usefulness of crafting, and then have the dev teams make the changes needed to provide players with less grinding and more fun.

So you checked two servers in the morning, when a lot of people are *gasp* working, or maybe studying, or in class, or on spring break, or just going outside to enjoy the real world (it happens, I saw something about people doing that on Facebook). Thus, using your vast array of information and flawless logic, you have declared the game, "dead". R.I.P. SWTOR. Alas, poor Revan, we knew thee well. Except for that pesky fact that there were actual people in the game, and the servers were up and running (i.e. not dead), and OTHER people may have been on the other planets or Odessen (which has all the bells and whistles of the Fleet except for exchanging raid gear tokens and getting PvP gear). You didn't seem to check those. Game is dead. Interesting conclusion.

Does this also fix the issue with Courting-type companion gifts? It's not exactly clear on that and there is no other mention in the patch notes., or is that fix scheduled for 4.2?

Then I suspect players will do raids and such that have never allowed companions, just like always. I wish people would stop projecting these ideas that ALL players are playing SWTOR for hours on end every single day. A lot of people get to log in for maybe an hour or two, and not every day. (That real life stuff keeps grabbing them.) For those players, the ability to log in, play a short time and accomplish something is why they have the game installed on their computers in the first place. Making SWTOR less or un-enjoyable isn't a good business model.

Feedback? Okay. Before you all went and decided to appease the people complaining that the game was "too easy now", did you even think to consider: 1. How many companion gifts it takes to get a companion to level 50 influence, and what costs in credits or time are associated with it? 2. That companions don't impact operations or war zones, the two areas that DO have a difficulty factor inherent to participation? 3. This game is meant to be fun, and such a significant change would have a massive negative impact on so many players that don't visit these forums? (Although I suspect they came to visit now, if they didn't unsub/quit already.) No, it doesn't look like those considerations were taken into account. Did you tell the players complaining to use companions that did NOT have high level influence? (I have 24 different companions I can call at this point in the game, with assorted levels of influence.) Nah. You just changed things to shut the complainers up. Did you remind people that they could turn companion abilities OFF, thus removing a great deal of their power? Nah. Better to just "nerf it and shut them up", right? You have an achievement for going solo in Hard Mode Star Fortress, with no buffs. I know a lot of people that are relieved to have gotten that little achievement out of the way before this happened. No, running a level 65 healer with a combo 216/220/224 raid gear (6-piece bonus) with a level 50 DPS companion is an adventure in and of itself. I haven't tried it with a tank or DPS alt, but I'm not looking forward to that little adventure. At this point, with all the replies here of some very unhappy people, I would hope your team there at BioWare would just concede that such a major change was unwarranted. If I want to make this game "harder", I can change my gear and use a lower-influenced companion, and turn off how ever many companion abilities are necessary to make the game I'M playing the challenge level I desire. I would NEVER ask BioWare to force thousands of other players to play SWTOR in the exact same way that I think would be "fun". Over a thousand posts in less than 24 hours, a conflict started because you changed something that wasn't broken. There's your feedback.

Really? I find that ironic. You have ZERO problems ruining the game for the majority of players, because you think things are too easy, but that's okay? Yeah, right. Yes it's a game, and the whining arseholes that are people like you constantly demand that BioWare "fix" things that aren't really broken. Companions were "OP" to you? Then don't use one that's been leveled to 50, and/or turn off some of the companion skills so they don't perform as well. But no, the whiny little babies had to go and get the game "fixed" because of what they didn't like. An MMO game isn't a mandate for grouping. Every MMO since Ultima Online back in 1997 has been, in essence, a game where people play solo first, and group up only for specific things. It doesn't matter that those are the facts, what matters is that the same fanbois and whiny babies will always bleat so bitter when the game doesn't seem to conform to what their idea(s) of the game should be. Companion capabilities caused no imbalances. They can't be used in operations or PvP warzones. But that didn't matter. "BioWare, the companions are WAY too powerful for MY tastes. NERF THEM FOR EVERYONE!" In essence, you sorry slabs of ignorance made BioWare ruin the fun for a lot of people, all so BioWare could shut you up. You know, if you want to pick up the cost of my subscription per month, then you can dictate terms. But since you haven't done that for about 4 years now, how about you stop pitching a fit about things that only affect you in your own negative opinion?

And I'm sorry for how harsh this sounds, but you're an idiot. A minority of people on the forums complaining about something being "overpowered" and demanding that BioWare make global changes, instead of these whiny-babies right-clicking some buttons on their own companions skill bars (thus reducing the number of skills a companion can use) and nerfing their own companions. A minority shouldn't be able to dictate how everyone in the game gets to enjoy it, since the companions in no way could affect Operations or PvP.