Thanks for bringing exploits up. They are a tremendous disincentive in PvP. I take the stance that people want to PvP and enjoy it. Get the enjoyment factor in there and remove the disincentives and the problems go away. Good managers know that they will get whatever their incentive system is set up to reward. Right now, the incentive system is badly flawed and rewards afkers, exploiters, and those who leave WZs. I think we all agree that leaving WZs is a problem, but we disagree on how to fix it. I think punishment is a very short-term strategy and won't solve anything, even in the short term.

I don't leave WZs as a rule (I left one once), but I'd much rather that BW create a new incentive system that rewards gameplay and achieving objectives rather than take the easy way out with a debuff. I think the unintended consequences of this decision will be significant and cause further damage rather than fix the problems. Leaving is a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself.

Patience, grasshopper. The flames will come to one who posts. Give the rose time to flower. Seriously, though... I think you have a lot of the issues down nicely. The arguments will come from your proposed fixes, and there already a ton of threads debating these topics.

In the context of your strategy, it makes good sense in my mind. After putting two points into IR Sensors, I'm questioning the value of that decision.

Trinkets are relics and appear on your character screen. You can place the two trinkets on a quickbar and click them as needed to buff yourself for a short period of time.

Nice guitar, I had one of the 50s models in Honeyburst. They play very well and are well made. Quite a deal for the price.

I'm specced to the top of the Pyro tree as outlined in the spec I posted. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300MzZMckZfhMbdGhrs.1 With regard to L2P, that's why I asked for advice on TD. Sure, it does damage, but my question was whether those points would be more effective if put into another skill. I'm fairly effective in matches, but want to be better than I am.

Truth, those who have an advantage want to maintain it. Otherwise, their skills might be called into question. A smaller gear advantage is fine if it keeps some of the player base in the game and participating. It does bother me that people seem to be playing for gear and status rather than from enjoyment of good PvP. However, I'm far less concerned about the gear advantage than I am about dailies counting the way that they do and the rise of exploits in the game. A lot of fun is sucked out of this game by leavers, AFKers, and exploiters.

Great idea tying the commendation drop to the valor of the "victim". I like that a lot.

I've concluded that most of the people in PvP don't really want to PvP unless they have a distinct gear advantage and are far more interested in gear and bragging rights than actual PvP. Thus the kill-trading and various exploits.

I'd love to see commendations dropping from players of suitable level. I wonder why they abandoned that idea.

There are some great suggestions here. I support changes that will engage more players and put them out into worlds rather than concentrating them on Ilum and in warzones. The element of randomness and surprise is part of what makes PvP exciting.

Agreed, these games die when the majority of the population tires of being cannon fodder for people who simply have more time to play so they can hold a consistent advantage.

I also dislike Skadge. In fact, I'm punishing him. I took the chair out of the ready room, so the slug has to stand up all the time. I never take him anywhere, so he has to stand up 24/7 and look at metal walls. I figure he'll crack eventually and off himself.

That's an interesting build. I've also been considering the value of the top of the Pyro tree. Thermal Detonator doesn't seem to do much for me in PvP, which is what I'd like to excel in. I've played with putting TD in different slots in rotation, but perhaps I'm missing something in the absence of a log to examine. After evaluating responses and thinking some more, I think my most significant weakness is the lack of understanding the weaknesses of some of the other classes rather than my build. My gear is bumped as far as I can take it without more commendations and drops in hardmodes. I may look more at tweaking the build, but I'm definitely studying up on tactics.

Yes, I'm 50.

That makes sense. I've never specced as full Arsenal, so I don't have any experience with the spec.

Good point on the first, I missed that. As for the first build, I wish I could claim credit, but it was posted here in a sticky. Perhaps I'm expecting too much when I'm looking for "punch". It's a bit difficult to assess the build in PvP because most PvP is Huttball for me. It's very chaotic and, chances are, I have 1-5 people casting on me at one time while I can only focus on one individual or group. I have a very difficult time quantifying how I'm doing other than to use the scoreboard and gut feel.

I'm currently specced to this build from Giamonti-prime's Merc Pyrotech Guide (sticky): http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300MzZMckZfhMbdGhrs.1 I've been fairly happy with the build both in PvE and PvP, but it lacks punch. I did some fooling around with the builder tool and came up with the build below. Basically, I dropped the top Pyro skills to get Tracer Missile from the Arsenal tree and the additional Afterburners knockback. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#300MZMIk0RMZMIMbdGbM.1 Has anyone tried anything similar, and what did you experience? What do other Mercs think of the new build? I'm considering a re-spec to try it out. Thanks for the input.

After one good cup of coffee a day, I drink a lot of water and the occasional juice. Very unexciting, but I don't drink and don't like too much caffeine.

I seem to recall a time when hardcore meant that you were really into something, e.g. PvP. So, hardcore players focused on PvP in games. I don't remember there being a lot of PvP-only gear back then. You run what you brung, as the racers say. There were also hardcore PvE players who raided and quested for new gear, titles, and achievements. Casuals were defined as those folks who didn't play much and were more interested in RPing and other "soft" facets of a game. Gear and stats weren't game-killers. Somewhere along the line, things changed. Now hardcore PvP seems to be defined in terms of gear progression (the old PvE model) and time spent to obtain such gear in the end game. The modern hardcores won that battle. Casual is now defined as players who don't play many hours per week regardless of how enthusiastic they are about how they play the game. The are also known as "baddies" by the modern hardcores, primarily due to their gear disadvantage. The early pre-level cap game used to take time to reach and now that time has been shortened because the endgame is all-important. The modern hardcores won that battle. Interestingly, both groups pay the same subscription fee. Both groups have opposite goals. Modern hardcore players want to maintain a consistent advantage over the casuals who don't play as much. I get that. Casuals want games to be on a more equal footing for all players. I get that too. I have concluded that these groups cannot be happy playing the same game.

I'm just happy because my experience with sex in marriage (after 24 years) is so much better than yours. Keep yer Battlemaster... I'll keep me sex.

EVERY official MMO forum I've ever participated in was like this one. There's always a great deal of contention on official forums. Most of the helpful information comes from fan sites and their forums. I guess whine is defined by which side of the issue you're on personally, and these threads represent a small minority of the player base. No one else in my guild ever visits this site.

I had this issue begin on Corellia before the patch. Last night, it was very consistent and I had to re-spawn Mako a number of times. From my experience, it's not this patch that's the issue.

None.