DawnAskham, you're using the term Diminishing Returns, but don't seem to get what it means... You conclude that you don't want influence-50 companions to be equal in power to anyone who hasn't put in nearly the same effort (that would be influence 20?), and end your post that they might as well make everyone equal. NO. That is not the point of diminishing returns. The point of diminishing returns is to be able to do level up content (including class quest bosses) with influence 15-20, be able to do 2+ heroics with 25-30, and do end-game stuff with 35-50 depending on the situation. So what's the incentive to get to influence-50? What's the incentive to get the highest-tier gear to be able to run the absolute cutting edge of end-game content? Why should others be able to do stuff without grinding to influence-50 like you have? Because it's a game (by definition, a waste of time), because nobody likes to grind to influence-50, and because, clearly, having to do it is driving people away.

So it's actually very simple: Before: - players had to put effort into getting drops for their gear to survive the end-game content - players had to put effort into getting gear for their companions if they wanted to use companions for end-game content Pre-4.0.2: - players have to put effort into getting drops for end-game content - companions don't have armor anymore (Bioware's change), so we put some effort into getting influence to 50, but basically we get the effect of armor for "free" - one companion can do all tasks (Bioware's change), so no need to gear up 3 companions Unfortunately, they were idiots, and didn't realize that removing companion gear results in people quitting after finishing the very short cinematic story, until after they made the change. So they nerfed; basically now companions don't have armor AND don't have the extra power that they had from armor pre-4.0. My suggestion was diminishing returns from influence, because if you look at the effect of giving armor to companions and using them for leveling up and for end-game content, it was diminishing returns before. Companions in green gear were ok for leveling up, and at the end-game, more and more effort with higher and higher tiers of purple were required for a few extra % performance. So influence 20, which is easily achievable with vendor gifts, should make the companions pretty "overpowered" for quests and leveling up 1-60, because believe it or not people still want to see that old content. And at the end, if influence 50 is required to get through the new KotFE content, well then there has to be a warning on the box or on login that grinding influence is a prerequisite and not an after-effect of the expansion. And let people decide to subscribe, or not, based on that. EDIT: But, to clarify, in my opinion if influence is supposed to replace high-tier purple gear on companions, then the maximum level of influence should provide the same power as a full suit of maximum tier purple on the companion. So that's how the balance has to be.

Yeah, use a companion in tank mode - they'll take some damage and probably die, but it will give you time to apply the maximum DPS that you can to the droid. Switch your trooper to a DPS tree, change your gear and/or mods for dps (mastery, power, crit), and figure out the optimal rotation for maximum DPS. And use stims and adrenals. If that doesn't work, ask someone to help you out. Despite the raging in other posts about etiquette for getting a group, if you just say in chat that you need help for this boss, like you said here on the forums, I bet you that you'll get several people willing to help you out. EDIT: Private messages are at the very top, where it says your name KrazieFox; click your name.

You're presenting a false dilemma fallacy. The "war" isn't between players, it's players trying to convince Bioware that although a nerf was needed, the way companions were nerfed is too much.

It does make sense for Bioware to at least read and consider, because it's customer feedback (you have to be a customer to post), and because it's easier to keep an account than it is to get them to come back.

We have, don't worry. You'll see the reduced population numbers, probably starting this weekend, maybe over the next couple weeks as people's subs expire. Thanks for taking the time to advise us, on Bioware's behalf, that they want their revenue reduced. I assume you understand that your post above can be used against you in a court of law (by Bioware), for driving away their customers?

For the website, it's every time you reset your cookies in your browser, which some browsers do it every time you close them. Of if you said "no" when it asked "do you want me to remember your password?"

Voss Specialty Items vendor still has them (I think they forgot to remove the vendor). Of course, that means that you can only get them at high level. Before 4.0, a variety of vendors had them, from the capital city to Nar Shaddaa.

Your guarantee is worth ****, because: - your 90% statistic is pulled out of your *** - Bioware will never release the real number - nobody cares about you EDIT: That said, the original post is **** too. After several days of pages of complaints and a 100-page thread that LISTS the reasons why, your theory about why people are leaving completely ignores the posted facts. I and others have told them why we're leaving; you're basically saying you know better and are calling us liars.

Exactly; they've had the first 4 pages of General Discussion full of feedback, daily, since the patch. And it's not all been flaming; quite a few of the posts (for and against) have been reasonable and quite informative. But no, NOW they're asking for feedback. As if they're going to read the 100+ pages with everybody's REPEAT posts. This is an attempt to validate the nerf / pretend they're listening / pretend they care. Here's my feedback: You nerfed too much; a smaller nerf would have been sufficient. You also shouldn't have a LINEAR relationship between influence and the power of the companion... it should be diminishing returns, because not everybody wants to grind influence and max the stupid companions in order to play the game. Influence rank 20-25 should be the sweet spot where the game becomes storymode easy. Also, I'm out. There are other games that are interesting and fun to me, I'll play them. Figure out your ****, fix your bugs, and then we'll see how this game compares to the others out there through the holiday season and beyond. Maybe I'll come back.

You forgot one of the main arguments against the nerf: they nerfed too much. They could have nerfed less and still answered all the issues with the companion healing. EDIT: Bioware is the one who made all the changes to companions, specifically that all of them can heal, and the change to influence that can improve their presence (and thus power) past the level 10 they were maxed at before. Bioware is also the culprit who introduced an expansion that requires grinding heroics. So yes, they have the right to nerf their own changes however they want, but it doesn't mean we should applaud them for being incompetent with the KotFE gameplay balance.

I'll have you know I do have a job! And I said RE-fortified, which in the context of your interpretation would mean I move BACK into my mom's basement and re-gain my virginity. She would probably welcome me, but unfortunately, hymenoplasty wouldn't work on me, as I am a male. Maybe I could "Born Again", but no, that wouldn't truly count to you, would it? So the virginity thing is quite impossible at this point. So yes, let me explain my previous sarcastic post (it's like having to explain a joke to people who don't get it, but hey, it's not your fault you were born this way): you see, I promised to re-sub when some impossible condition happens. I would have used "when hell freezes over", but that's such a used cliche.

So, like, Diablo has difficulty levels, and you can group and get achievements with the people who can match your difficulty level. For all their claims that they want to return to story mode, clearly BioEA's actions indicate they just want our money, and we were finishing the story and leaving too fast, so they nerfed. Unfortunately, you cannot force someone to grind your game once they no longer find it fun. There's always that choice.

To be honest, subscriptions are a big part of their revenue, but F2P accounts actually spend so much on unlocks and cartel market stuff that all they have to do is add a few more skimpy armors and speeders, and they won't feel the difference. The decision to nerf was made because we're chewing through KotFE too fast, bypassing the introduced grinds for companion influence and for upgraded equipment. They don't care how we feel, they're just looking at what we're doing, and what it means for their bottom line.

Yeah Bioware, hold your ground! Don't change anything, no matter how many subscriptions you lose! Hold on to your principles! You have data showing that people were blowing through your content too fast, so it was the right decision to nerf companions so now we HAVE TO grind through the heroics, raise companion influence to max, and raise those crafting skills to max plus get all the end-game recipes in order to outfit ourselves so we don't die so much! MMO's are all about the grind, and I'm glad to see SWTOR returning to its grass roots! Keep going, Bioware! Nerf some more stuff! For example, it's too easy to get companion influence to 23 by just buying the cheap gifts the Fleet vendor has. Nerf that. I haven't played the actual KotFE expansion yet; I resubbed a few months ago because I wanted to finish a few class stories first. I'm so happy to see you return the grind to us; I promise I'll re-resub as soon as my interest in KotFE returns, and my personal life is re-fortified to be able to sit for hours through the grinds you've returned to the game. Good job Bioware, keep up the good work!

Actually, there seems to be a bug, where the download rate is stuck at 50kbps when patching. I had to click the pause key and then unpause to get cable speeds (2mbps). Try that.

Actually there is one quest (not sure if it's part of the planetary quest or if it's a class quest), where you have to fight this NPC inside an area that has cold elemental damage. It's survivable without the cold weather equipment, but the fight is easier with it.

4.5 x npc vendor price.

Mat prices are determined by the GTN, and typically by how difficult they are to gather and how many recipes they are used for. Also, by seasonal things like the current 12x XP bonus. Level 10 mats are cheap, level 20-45 mats can be cheap or expensive or go back and forth depending on rarity, and level 50+ mats are typically cheap because so many players are at max level. So midway through your skill, when you go to a new tier, your new (orange) recipe could require mats that cost 2,500 each, whereas the previous recipe (now green) gives half the skill points but still requires mats that cost 600 each. And the tier after that could use mats that cost 1,100 each, so if you just skip the 2,500 tier you save some credits. If the product sells, by all means craft for profit. But if you're crafting to level your tradeskill, all I'm advising is to consider the GTN cost of the mats and do the math.

It can be used indoors, to move faster. Typically, most quests will send you into a building or cave of some sort; you fight your way to the deep end of it, have a conversation and then a fight with a boss, then you're done. At that point, you either: - run back to the entrance (this is faster with the rocket boots) so you can then get on your speeder and move on. - or teleport back to the city (it helps if you have the account-wide "I can teleport every 10 minutes instead of every hour" cooldown reduction). If you have option 2 and can return to town every 10 minutes (after each quest), then the rockets will rarely be used. Otherwise, they'll make it less annoying to run out of every single quest site so you can move on.

Also, to avoid spending a fortune in mats, of all the orange, yellow, or green recipes that you have at any particular time, craft the one that has the cheapest mats, repeatedly, until you outlevel it (it becomes grey). Don't craft at random.

If you're preferred, then yes the unlocks to use gear and access passes. If you subscribe, then get the account-wide unlocks like all the upgrades for your ship, account-wide extra inventory space and hangar space, race unlocks, etc. Solo play is definitely not an issue; between yourself and your companion this game is easy mode. Just ignore all the 2+ / 4+ heroic quests, do the solo quests. The only thing you have to have is a way to make some money, maybe take all the gathering skills and gather mats to sell on the GTN, or something like that. Because you'll need to keep your gear somewhat current with your level. It's not hard, it's just you can't expect to solo level 30 enemies in level 8 gear.

They charge you immediately and you can log in and play for 60 days. It's the same for recurring subscriptions, and it's the standard for MMO subscriptions. You pay first and you get a chunk of time.

^ This. A level 10 character with high presence will have companions that kill as if they were level 20. You can literally just walk into a pack of enemies and sit there while your companion blows them all up. It's diminishing returns, however; by the time you are level 20 your companion will function as if level 25, and by the time you're 30 the companion is merely equivalent to level 32 in destructive power. We typically don't bother with Presence gear or even the drinks, because it's better to fit all your armor slots with Str, Aim, Wil, or whatever stat is necessary for your character. In order for Presence to work, you have to put it on YOUR character's gear, not on the companions, and it never trumps your character's primary stats.

Munchkin is a min-maxer, or more specifically someone who maximizes their stats in a roleplaying game (esp. pen-and-paper games like DnD) where the plot should matter and the stats should not. Twink is a low level alt that's being equipped by a rich high-level main character. The player uses the money made with his level 55's to buy gear for his level 15 alt, thereby avoiding all the side quests that are typically needed to get gear. In reply to the original post: The 12x exp reward is a marketing promo, they give you the experience in order to entice you to buy the expansion, and to pay subscription for the couple months until release. They do NOT give you free gear with it because they want you to buy said gear from the cartel market. If your gear falls behind you're going to die vs. the many boss fights encountered during class quests, and if you only do class quests then you're not going to get much gear or credits from the side and planet quests. Therefore, your only choices are to spend cartel coins to get gear, or to spend the accumulated millions of credits you may have on your level 55's. Both are intended.