I never mentioned HM FPs, so /ignoring your straw man. Not sure what you think the link proves about tacticals. I never said they couldn't be done, I just said that a level 15 in a tactical FP has a different experience than a level 65.

That's not entirely accurate. Based on the numbers we've seen: Q2 FY16 showed 84M in subscriber revenue (swtor plus others) Q3 FY16 was swtor's biggest sub level in years (so presumably an increase in sub revenue from Q2 FY16) Q2 FY17 was 1M less than Q2 FY16 (mainly attributed to swtor) Now without knowing all the exact numbers (which the quarterly reports don't seem to want to show), the "obvious" interpretation would be that Q3 showed a large growth spike which didn't just "settle down", but was completely erased and accompanied by an erosion of the previous year's revenue. That's definitely not "dying" as some people have said, but it's clearly a signal that whatever BW accomplished short term last year (story > group) was not viable for long term. So it really isn't surprising that this year's expansion is 9 chapters (like what generated last year's spike), but instead of dribbling out additional chapters each month BW is trying to slow down progression (third time's a charm, lol) until they can get some more group content out. IMO, less RNG (keep old ops token and wz comm gear) coupled with GC's new RNG (for people who don't usually gear up through ops/wzs) would be less antagonistic, as long as *some* new group content (other than Uprisings, e.g., Star Fortress 2 -- i.e., new "traditional" FPs and OPs and wzs, return 8v8 ranked) is added, and a lot more palatable.

No, since if you use GF random for Daily/Weekly you have a chance to get any Tactical starting at level 15 and they all Bolster. I've done a few as a lowbie (with DvL chars), and not having your full rotation is a PITA. During one run I actually gained my interrupt when I leveled in the FP; ofc, players who don't usually use their best skills (not a small percentage, unfortunately) might not notice as much difference.

Yeah, I've been thinking that for a while. It pairs well with the XINO (eXpanion In Name Only) nature of 4.0/5.0.

Any choice you make matters, as long as it's LS JK. Apparently KotFE uses the Henry Ford definition of 'choice'.

There were no problems with this before 4.0. OFC, expansions before 4.0 provided new FPs (and OPs), so old content was just that -- old. 4.0 introduced us to Regression Raiding.

Naked level 15s or Naked level 65s? I'm not saying skill isn't a factor, I'm just pointing out that level skill may buff the skills you do have but it doesn't give you the other skills (including passive bonuses to existing skills). Skill may overcome some of these things, but the whole point we're discussing about pvp is that skill is what *should* differentiate people. The same player (so no skill difference) will have a noticeably harder time running a level 15 Bolstered to level 65 than a true level 65 (assuming comparable gear, which being naked should cover).

How did you get ganked on a PVE server? And what did they do that wasn't ok?

They should find a game that supports it. Neither Level Sync in OWPVP or the Bolster in WZs truly give a "fair" playing field. Level Sync (from what I've heard) doesn't sync tertiary abilities, and neither Level Sync nor Bolster eliminate higher level skills (or set bonuses or utilities). Try running some of the higher level tactical FPs with an all lowbie group Bolstered to level 65. Furthermore, level sync doesn't do anything to prevent unfair match ups like one side outnumbering the other or players using companions (and not sure how level sync interacts with companion bonuses from presence). OWPVP has always been a risk -- but other than 2012 (when PVP server populations were high enough to support gank squads, the main ganking areas were generally in areas at (or within a few levels of) level cap (Oricon, CZ-198, Yavin, Gree PVP, etc.). Yes, the Rakghoul event got a lot of grief, but most of the time (that I was on, at least) high level teams from the other faction would fight the "gankers". You know, actual OWPVP.

You know what else discourages high-level characters from going to low-level worlds to gank people? Playing in a PVE zone.

TBF, pugs, blind group invites, Group Finder, and requests made by randoms in general aren't exactly what I'd call "friends", and I'm not sure I'd want their assistance in that matter w/out some sort of [inspecting] done first...

Pretty much. Current OPs give random non-set gear in addition to token gear. I don't care if they move that part of the drop to GC (since it's already pretty RNG anyway), and I don't care if people who can't/won't ops occasionally get better gear than they can now, since it won't make them magically better at ops, but ffs there's no reason to prevent the few players trying to run progression ops from having the current rational token drop system. This way people running ops get tokens (and either know how to use them or are running with at least one person who can tell them) and people running Heroics and stuff just get the right gear for that char and don't have to worry about vendors. I'm doubleplus fine with removing Expertise, but BW could just keep tokens and sell Tier 0 gear for them (like the 208 gear currently sold, which is equivalent to the top crafted non-special-mat gear with set bonus and lower than the SM ops token gear). Set Bolster to improve gear to Tier 3 so PVPers can get into ranked in a reasonable speed without being at a disadvantage to people running ops or winning RNG in the GC, but they'd still need to PVP a lot (or run other content) to get the Tier 1-3 gear through GC, so "PVP gear" wouldn't be useful for anything other than getting an early set bonus (like it is now) or PVPing (which is what it supposed to be used for). There, everybody wins.

Not that it affects me much, but a number of people complain because certain gear is now difficult/impossible to obtain conveniently. Pre-4.0, many FPs had unique gear drops, and some people liked to use them, so it was easy to run the FP solo and get it (for the looks, not the stats). The new solo modes don't drop this loot. Also, open world mobs used to drop gear at their level (and like FPs, some of this gear was aesthetically desirable). Level-synced mobs drop loot at the players's level, which makes grinding for specific looks difficult/impossible once you outlevel the area.

ERP hand jobs on the Fleet Lower Ring (hangar level)?

Probably translated by whomever was responsible for "The Ruler" (instead of "The Prince") and "Allegory of the Cave" instead of "Allegory of the Den'). TBH, it was mainly some of the lyrics to Killing an Arab (inspired by the book) that I felt summed up the OP's review: ... I can turn And walk away Or I can fire the gun Staring at the sky Staring at the sun Whichever I chose It amounts to the same Absolutely nothing I'm alive I'm dead I'm the stranger ... And the 't' in Albert is silent.

Lolwhut? With Double XP I made level 25 when I hit fleet (I did all side quests on starter planet, but no grinding, no WZs, and no FPs). Just doing class quests and minimal other stuff (no repeats necessary) should get you to 65 no prob, especially if you haven't finished all the FPs (which you need on solo/tactical before you get the benefits from one level 65 of each faction, and three of the FPs are faction-specific).

I'm *guessing* it won't be an issue, since there could be chars level 1-9 who legitimately couldn't choose an AC, so they *should* have a process in place for that, and it would likely take extra effort to make it work for chars level 1-9 but *not* others (like level 65s). I'd be surprised if they do anything other than what they do for renames -- i.e., force you to choose before you can log in. That said, I don't doubt BW's ability to stuff things up, so if you *know* you're going to have to change in 5.0, there's no reason (other than getting a few more weeks of trolling) not to just do it now. You can always just use the shared skills that belong with the other AC and say you're RPVPing or whatever if you *need* to be a douche BTW, on a tangent, for those who play the "base class" characters, what currently happens when you get offered AC-specific loot (like Heroics / class missions/ etc.)? Just curious.

Actually, it was based on the short story L'Etranger* by French philosopher Albert Camus which was the basis for a song by The Cure, the lyrics of which more than adequately describe the OPs experience playing KotFE. IMO, KotFE absolutely captures the literary concept of bathos. *I was going to say "L'Outlandier", but since the French client actually calls the Outlander "L'Etranger", I figured I'd go with "Truth is stranger than fiction". So this is meta-amusing. [Edit] I'm actually thinking about using the french client for my free level 65 to play KotET because of this. I want to know if my "Mysterious Stranger" Title will be translated to "Mysterious Outlander", lol.

Neither MeNaCe-NZ nor I are discussing what is *fair* for [those you call freeloaders]. MeNaCe-NZ (and I) are more concerned about our ability to find groups of people (regardless of subscriber status) with whom to play. Because if I/we can't find groups, we're probably less likely to keep subbing, and we're probably not the only ones in that situation. OFC, I apologize to MeNaCe-NZ if I have misread him.

Check this post for more details...http://www.swtor.com/community/showpost.php?p=9112593&postcount=6

First, CXP Booster isn't actually in-game yet, so this is all speculation. That said, from what's been said officially, is that you get a Command Crate every time you receive a Command Level (which you get from Command XP), *and* your Command Level determines the Tier of items in the crate. So a CXP boost would give you *both* earlier access to higher Tier items *and* more Command Crates (i.e., chances to get gear). Either of those is arguably P2W (the combination just being a stronger argument), since this only involves end game gear. XP boosts and insta-60 (when level cap is 65) get you *to* end game faster, but a CXP boost would give you an advantage *at* end game. That is the difference.

TBH, Bolster is already pretty "stuffed up", but it can be managed. I haven't checked unofficial sources, and I just haven't seen enough specifics to make a call on 5.0 based on vague statements by Eric, but I don't doubt BWA's ability to screw it up, P2W or not. Unfortunately, I agree with your assessment if they do get rid of Bolster and let gear take over. OTOH, a good Bolster system (even the current one, actually) **could** (if implemented right) negate this problem. Bolster all players to Tier 3 *in WZs* and give ranked more CXP as BW has indicated. PVP is (other than set bonus, which isn't a factor for most players) skill based, but if you want to PVE (or, LOL, OWPVP), you still need to work for your gear. On the surface this may seem bad (encouraging PVE players to do Ranked PVP to get better CXP), but it might not -- if enough (even crap) PVE players PVP ranked, then there might actually be enough "lower tier" players to let the true PVP studs (not me) get real rankings without Win Trading. I don't consider subbing "pay to win" (especially when it's pretty clearly pay-to-even-play), but if they introduce anything like a CXP Booster that subs can buy to get an advantage over other subs, I'd consider that P2W. The current XP Boosters aren't P2W since all they do is get you to end game faster-- once you hit end game, XP doesn't matter. CXP is actually buying an increased amount of end game rewards.

Actually, it's the opposite. BW had previously announced that WZ Comms would be converted to credits, so there was no expectation of CXP, BW just hadn't said what the payout would be, or (most importantly) that it would be capped per character. So players knew that they wouldn't be able to buy new gear with their old comms and would only get credits, and since the Legacy Comm transfer tokens don't stack (and thus take prohibitively too much Legacy Cargo space for large amounts) just moved them onto their main(s), since the new gearing system is very alt-unfriendly.

Actually, pretty much everything has increased in price -- commodity items (e.g., 208 modifications) have been impacted less than "luxury" items, but prices have increased drastically. OFC, given changes in server (and game as a whole) population, the removal of many credit sinks (such as trainer fees), and a near-year of dirt cheap transfers, it would be difficult to attribute *all* of the price increases to inflation, but there were a number of exploits (in addition to increased in-game payouts) that can quite realistically be said to have increased the number of credits available per player at the same time as the number of players has been decreasing. Fewer players with more credits pretty much means that GTN prices will increase. And obviously BW is aware of the issue, as you can tell by the drastic increase of fixed in-game credit sink prices. For example, the Legacy Convenience Field Repair Droid and Field Mail Droid (from 1.x) cost 50K/100K/200K and 50K/25K/25K (and the price hasn't changed). The new Field Personal Cargo Hold and Field Legacy Cargo Hold introduced this last year cost 1000K/1750K/2500K and 2000K/2750K/3500K. That's over a 10X increase in price. The new Legacy of Promptness (reducing time to give companions gifts) costs more than 5x the old companion bonuses (increasing influence from gifts, influence from conversations, and, crafting crit %). So, yes, the servers have seen massive inflation in the past year.

You don't have to pay to get WZ gear -- leveling greens Bolster just fine (at least last time I checked). You need to buy (one-time payment) Artifact Authorization to get PVP set bonus gear, which is "required" for competitive Ranked play, but that can be purchased off the GTN. The devs haven't actually said how 5.0 PVP is going to work, but I would distinguish requiring a sub for maximum access as different from actual pay-to-win, since subbing is a flat fee -- i.e., subs can't pay *more* to secure additional advantages.