How about an alternative theory: BioWare refuses to learn from previous MMOs, and insists on re-inventing the wheel over and over again for basic mechanics, UIs, engine choices, etc.

If the Resolve bar was a diminishing returns bar, like it should have been, instead of the nonsensical all-or-nothing garbage it is right now, PvP would feel so much more natural. For example, imagine if Resolve worked like this: 50% Resolve: CC effects last only 50% of their duration. 75% Resolve: CC effects last only 25% of their duration 100% Resolve: Immune to CC effects. Edit: Though, honestly, I wonder if 100% resolve should still leave you slightly vulnerable to CC, at like 1/8th duration or something...Still, the key point is "resolve should be a smooth, predictable diminishing returns system"

I have a hard time even really remembering what the UI in EQ was when it first came out, other than "awful" (obviously). But it's worth noting that, in everquest, at least they introduced UI customization fairly early =P And macros, I think? I honestly can't remember.

A lot more engine changes than "supports DirectX 11" need to be made for this game to be viable.

Yeah. Afk-kick, a la WoW's implementation, is fine. Generally, I never saw afk-kicking abused in WoW. Vote-kicking? I fully expect to see "vote-kick the new 50 with 12kHP so that we don't have to carry him to victory" as a de facto rule among hardcore PvP'ers.

Either you didn't read the thread at all, you did read the thread but didn't understand it, or you're just a troll. Where the hell did you see "target least health" mentioned? Also, at no point since Molten Core in Warcraft have you been able to target people with the least health automatically, no matter what macros or add-ons you used. To refresh your mind, this thread is about three things: (a) the non-intuitive behavior of 'target next enemy', especially as compared to games where it's implemented correctly (Warcraft being the easiest example), (b) the difficulties in targeting people directly because of small hit boxes and an inability to target by nameplates / healthbars, and © various bugs relating to targeting (for example, friendly players not showing up in the Ops frames in warzones). Edit: to partially alleviate your shameful levels of confusion: "nameplates" and "healthbars" refer to the nameplates and healthbars that hover just over characters heads, not to the Operations Unit Frame.

Most people I've seen tend not to think that Kinetic Collapse is worthwhile, because it fills resolve a lot and doesn't help that much. Especially now that Operative's out of stealth burst was nerfed. Plus, it's not really obvious to me that enhanced dots are worthwhile in PvP, which makes the deeper Balance talents somewhat iffy. Sometimes. I go back and forth on that. But really, the single talent that's most valuable in PvP to me is Immutable Force (reduces activation of Deliverance by 0.5 seconds). Being able to dump heals is massively valuable as a Sage. I've been trying out a Psychic Suffusion build for the +10% to Force in Balance and Telekinetic Wave, and have rather liked it. One point in Telekinetic Effusion seems to be enough to make my Force last forever, even when I'm throwing out heals...plus, the 5 seconds off the cooldown of Force Speed is huge. http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#600G0bZfzMMdMzZcMcRsMz.1 Is what I use nowadays, but I go back and forth on some of the talents in Telekinetics.

Congratulations for not reading the thread. Also, congratulations for being a clicker.

I would like to guess "none of the questions that I care about will be answered". Bonus: it applies to basically everyone! Things I do not expect to see talked about: targeting UI, tab-target, awkward ability animations, macros, /stuck exploiters in Ilum

I haven't seen the "people not appearing in raid frames" bug as much recently as I used to, at least.

All the more baffling: some knockbacks have the correct behavior (like Trooper / BH) without the need for a clumsy, awkward animation.

Not to my knowledge.

I find it pretty awesome that your expanded companion ability bar BLOCKS YOUR *********** KEYBINDS FROM WORKING if you've keybound abilities to the bar that gets hidden. Example: I have alt-1, alt-2, etc bound to various worthless melee moves (I'm a sage) on my left ability bar. If I have my expanded companion ability bar enabled, hitting alt-1 DOES NOTHING. The companion bar not only visually blocks the entire ability bar, but also blocks the keybinds for that bar.

They've said "no"

It is mind-blowingly stupid that Force Wave, for example, has a hidden 1 second cast time and can subsequently be interrupted by knockbacks / cc's. Or that various Guardian strikes have cast times that can be interrupted. The cooldowns are still used, but nothing happens. And on clutch abilities this is particularly gamebreaking. Force Wave // Overload as the best example (again): especially in Huttball, knockbacks are the most important abilities in the game. So WHY does Force Wave have a 1 second hidden cast time for which the AoE effect is centered on where you WERE when you hit the button, not where you are when the ability finally goes off. Awful, awful design.

Honestly, I find the balance in this game pretty admirable. I really don't have that many complaints about PvP balance at all. If you're going to quit for any reason, it should be the awful UI, the awful targeting system, the lack of macros or add-ons to fix the aforementioned issues, the ridiculous ability animations, the non-mirrored ability animations, some of which effectively break ability functionality (looking at you, project and mortar volley), etc.

You either have no clue what you're talking about, or you are completely confused by the complaints in this thread. Yes, "target next enemy" "works" in the sense that it targets "a next enemy". It does not behave intuitively, however, because it seems as though it targets enemies in order of proximity, regardless of character facing. Play Warcraft for two minutes. Hit tab a few times. See how intuitive it feels? Your tab target preferentially targets enemies you are FACING. Not enemies that are behind you, or off to some side hidden behind a pillar. Also note that you can target nameplate/healthbars in WoW. And that targeting boxes are much larger (and more intuitive). Put another way: I never once in the four or five years of playing WoW *ever* heard someone talk about having to rebind "tab" to "target nearest enemy". I never felt like targeting opponents was a chore while playing Battlegrounds, and I never screamed in rage as my tab button targeted a guy that was 10 yards behind me instead of a guy that was 11 yards directly in front of me.

I find myself more angered by the continuing epic failures of tab ("target next enemy") to actually behave in a reasonable way than just about anything in this game. Tab should ALWAYS prioritize people directly ahead of you. Not behind you. Not off to some side behind a pillar you can't see. AHEAD OF YOU. As for ball carriers: an icon on your raid frames that indicates the ball carrier would be greatly helpful. I'm get tired of trying desperately to click a guy running in circles on the lowest level of Huttball, desperately hoping I can successfully target him so that I can Rescue (Life Grip) him up to a higher level so he can score. Of course, if "target next friendly" worked reasonably, that wouldn't be a great problem either. Or if "target next enemy" worked reasonably, at least I could tab-and-assist....

The amount of UI problems in this game is truly baffling. I often feel like I'm playing a game in which not a single developer had ever seen a hardcore WoW raider or arena player's UI and had no idea what was and was not important. Instead, we're left fighting the UI as much as we fight our opponents. Targeting: - Tab target is completely unintuitive and often worse-than-useless - Cannot target by nameplates or healthbars - Lack of mouseovers, help/harm contexts, or modifier context macros exacerbates this problem Keybinds: - Cannot rebind self-cast or focus-cast to Alt / Shift / etc. Alt-cast has been the standard for all MMOs ever--and it's stuck on Home?! - Cannot rebind space combat movement independently of regular movement: especially problematic if you unbind turn left/right - The soon-to-be-fixed bug report keybind Unit Frames: - No target-of-target frame - No ability to determine which dots are YOUR dots, which hots are your hots, etc Ability Bars: - Not enough ability bars, especially if you have expanded companion bar open - Having the expanded companion bar open blocks your ability to utilize keybinds that are 'hidden' by the companion bar - Not able to move / resize / reshape bars Character Select Screen: - Cannot hit 'enter' to select a character. Must mouseclick 'play' or double-click character. - Cannot select between characters with arrow keys Now, some of these issues ARE actually due to be fixed...but a lot have never been talked about by Developers. Especially notable to me are the targeting problems, as tab has probably the worst implementation of 'target next enemy' I've ever seen in any game ever, and it's impossible to correctly target small little people running in circles in PvP by clicking on their characters (instead of their nameplates / healthbars, which you can click on in every other MMO ever).

But he makes everything smell like Alderaan nectars and regulates the caloric intake of the crew to prevent them from gaining weight =(

So that my game doesn't have to render out to infinity at the expense of not rendering a few players right next to me.

Almost. SWTOR is almost an amazing game. If the UI wasn't such trash and the engine wasn't a series of grand accomplishments in the realm of "how not to make a quality MMO engine". SWTOR with WoW's engine, add-ons, macros, and UI would be the greatest MMO ever, by a huge margin.

I'm seriously tired of fighting the awful targeting UI in this game. Fix tab to preferentially target people IN FRONT OF YOU. And ffs, make nameplates and healthbars target-able. It's impossible to click on the person you want in crowded, fast-moving PvP fights.

Awesome advice if you know the ball carrier's name ahead of time. Not so awesome if you don't.

Which will also forever make alacrity a useless stat. Still, there are plenty of things they "could" fix (like animations for Force Wave, for example), but probably won't.