Kinda agree in a way. Its really silly to see names like these in RP server. Kriky Mangoes Ooomiiii Goosh Doubleee Teef etc... etc.. In a non-rp server, I would say anything goes.

Exactly my thoughts. I'd like to see it happen too but since I don't have the solution to it either, I'm not complaining. I look forward to seeing the OP come up with his own game that is set out to revolutionize the RPG industry.

I'm on Dark Reaper and I'm seeing pretty much the same thing.

Somehow this reminds me of RP in COH, where most of the RP happens in Pocket D. Personally, as much as I loved to see Spontaneous World RP take place. I kind of agree its a little harder in SWTOR context. As Guildrum stated very well. Just how conceivable is it for us to randomly bump into one another so often on a hostile environment/planet?

How are some minor elements of sandbox going to hurt the game? As far as I'm concern giving players an alternative & lateral ways of progression means giving players more choice. It also gives players who aren't interested in just raiding/PvP something else to do. Just because you disagree doesn't necessarily mean its a fail suggestion. Instead of just criticizing how about you come up with some suggestions on improvement of the game or point out the reason why its a "fail".

Talk is cheap. While I have played GW and enjoy the game FWIW. It remains to be seen how this can really be implemented. The way I see it.. it is still light years away for a game to be truly able to adapt what a tabletop environment / our imagination can do.

Aside from the additional of "Space Combat", Class Quest & VA. I can't really see what really sets this apart from WoW. The end game is the same, PVP or PvE (Raid/Instances). I can't really see why people who have played WoW for the past 4 - 5 years would find the end game here enticing. Unless of course.. they can't tell that its simply the same thing wrapped in a new skin or that they really enjoy running after the carrot dangling before their nose. Exactly, add some sandbox elements to the game which allows the players to create their own fun or content at our own pace. This allows players to feel more involved. It doesn't necessarily mean revamping the entire crafting system, but the addition of Housing, Ship Customization and etc could go a long way. And if concerns are due to where to place houses. BW could always be creative by having residential zones on certain planets as DAoC did before. Houses don't always have to clutter the landscape like UO or SWG. There are ALWAYS a way around it to implement something. It all really depends on whether BW sees the benefit of it or if they are willing to do so.

Might just as well remove Flash Points and HM Flash Points as it is too hard for the casual players. If you can only spend 20 mins in an MMO, you aren't going to really progress much in ANY aspect of the game be it Crafting/PvE/PvP. What you consistently fail to grasp is that game MUST be accessible and simple to learn but requires sufficient challenge to entice players into staying with the game.

Oh no... SWTOR is another WoW... in space. Not very enticing to me since I already given 4 years to WoW and I'm not looking forward to having the same routine in another MMO. I'd personally vote to bring on some aspects of SWG crafting.

In a way I agree because I have very similar approach towards Roleplaying itself. However, this really only works in a tabletop environment. Because in a tabletop RP environment, the story revolves around the players and the GM has every power within his/her right to make their experience a unique one. As others have already mentioned MMORPG are obviously limited in their way to deliver the same kind of experience. Infact, I would go as far as to say this game has done quite a fair bit by allow multiple players to partake in quest conversation. Because of this I come to accept that RP in an MMORPG is completely different. It REALLY is up to us players to be imaginative and create our own stories around our characters rather than rely on in-game events to establish our characters.

Agree... I spend most of my time questing and hardly on my ship except to do space missions. At most I hear him prattle 4 - 5 times a day, IF i ever walk past him. If not only twice a day.

Unfortunately, there are also others within the community that feels the RNG is a good way to sieve out the non serious crafters and act as a gold sink so that this game is more sustainable in the long-run.

I think there is a way to expand upon the current crafting system and gave it more depth instead of having a dedicated crafter class. Currently there are two playstyles. PvE and PvP PvErs run FP/OPs from Normal to HM etc PvPers run Warzones or fight on Illum etc Both requires the players to invest a certain amount of their time in order to progress. The same can be done for crafters by introducing Crafting Dailies. The dailies in turn reward the characters with points which they can use to purchase crafting specialization. The dailies could involve the following below and would have to involve the player to take direct action in some cases as opposed to just sending out companions. Which forces the players to make a choice. PvP or PvE or Craft? You can do ALL but you may not be able to focus on all three within a day itself. X amounts of raw materials of various quality in varying amounts X amounts of crafted goods of various quality in varying amounts X amount of credits - as a form of charity Retrieval of certain rare components - for <insert whatever> reasons Deliver X items to NPC on <insert planet name>

I went back and reread the post and wonder why I would put that in my first post. Might have gone off topic a little and caused a bit of confusion here. Anyway my stance on RNG & RE remains the same. Though, I don't have any issues with RNG as far as gathering missions or getting a crit on an item is concerned.

I would like to be hopeful and optimistic. Its just that BW greatest strength had always been Single Player MMOs like Dragon Age/Mass Effect/NWN etc etc.. I go as far as to say I'm really enjoying the story aspect of it right now but I'm not sure how long this will last since they don't have the prior experience running an MMO. And FWIW, SWTOR plays and feels like WoW, especially where end-game or crafting are concerned. Run Hardmode = WoW Heroics | Operations = WoW Raids. Personally I would like some form of lateral progression in game or SWTOR to offer viable end-game to people with an alternative playstyle. Which I don't expect to happen in the foreseeable future since WoW is such a huge commercial success and BW might just emulate exactly what WoW did. While some people may be fine with this. I'm not really keen to go back to the WoW's type of end-game. Below is s summary for PvE end-game. 1. Spent hours in advance preparing for raid. (Check pots/consumables) 2. Spent hours in raid 3. Get good gear to do raid in Hardmode 4. Raid Hardmode to get better gear to go to Higher level dungeon. 5. Beat last boss in highest level dungeon in game. 6. Repeat the same in HM 7. Wait for Expansion - repeat step 1 all over again It feels so much like the devs are stringing us along by dangling a carrot above our heads while we run the threadmill. Somehow this just doesn't scream fun to me and is an insult to our intelligence.

Currently I'm really enjoying SWTOR due to its story and VA but once I'm done with all the quests. I'm not sure what would entice me to continue playing. Because when I look at the end-Game right now and all I could see is PVP Grinding or Raiding which was what I was doing for the past 4 - 5 years in WoW. So what does this game offer that I have not yet experienced in WoW? Sure the universe is different, gfx are different, combat mechanics are slightly different but the overall structure of the game feels the same. And since I'm not a hardcore Star Wars fan all these feels just like the same car engine with a slightly different chassis and paint job. OTOH.. Star Wars despite all its bugs and how complex I found the system to be. Was one of the best MMOs I ever played along with DAoC & UO. It gave players a vast world to explore and interact with. It accomodated various alternative playstyles and rewarded players for putting in the effort. If you didn't want to PvE/PvP, you didn't have to. You could be a crafter or a service provider and become famous for it. Not only that, players could also have houses. You could put vendors in your house, set access rights to your house and decorate it as you see fit also. Later in the game players could create their own towns. Elected mayors can also select the type of amentities they want in their town, which can provide certain benefits to the residents or visitors passing by. The amount of customizations, ability to personalize your character and their living space as well as the ability for players to influence the world - had a profound effect on those that players. It made us feel more involved with the community and world as well as delivering a rather personal gaming experience. Compared to most MMOs nowadays. You do things in a linear fashion from point A to B. Raid ABC dungeon for Tier 1, then Raid DEF dungeon for Tier 2. Look awesome for maybe 2 - 3 months ,then ditch that gear for something better stat wise. You can't shape/change the game world, everything resets to the way it was before. Interaction is also limited due to instancing. You certainly can't leave your mark upon the world either. Although WoW was a huge commerical success... some of my fondest memories are still from SWG. Of WoW, I remember nothing but the grind & guild drama over raid loot. While I hope SWTOR would break the mould by becoming a really innovative MMO... I'm not so sure if it will succeed. Seeing as most games nowadays are aiming for a more simplified and streamlined approach to appeal to wider audiences. And these people that are being targeted might not be able to appreciate the complexities & gameplay depth that older sandbox MMOs offered.

I disagree. Some people can get incredibly lucky and learn a pattern on the 1st try. Some don't. To me this doesn't seem credit sink intentionally put into the game, more like something that happened by accident. In addition if it takes way too much effort to RE a higher level schematic then a player might as well not bother with it and just grind missions for commendations. That way they get the mods they want and also gain credits. Unlike an unlucky crafter who loses money but does not get the better schematic to make that mod.

Perhaps. But I feel that having a player RE 600 items to get a better schematic is just plain crazy when the another player may get lucky and get the schematic within a single try. Also consider this - if the current level of schematics are not the highest ones we can learn and future game contents adds even better base schematics. Crafters are going to have to go through the same thing all over again. For that unlucky player who had to RE 600+ items to get to what they want. Its going to make the game increasingly frustrating enough to make some of them consider rage quiting.

Thanks and I wholly agree with you. I had actually considered this point when writing my earlier post. The entire section under MANUFACTURING is potentially game-breaking if implemented w/o crafters being able to RE Social/PVP/Raid gear into schematics. To me.. this makes it even more important that Raid/Quest/PvP need to offer not just new items with more powerful stats but also completely new item models/skins. Which can be harder to implement as this means BW will have create new item models as opposed to re-using currently existing skins and changing its color or adding few extra details.

I have a rough idea to add on but unsure how it will affect the grand scheme of things or how it can be implemented. Haven't read through the entire thread but anyway here goes. The purpose is to give players with a preference for crafting another alternative for playing the game by introducing Crafting or Consignment missions. Completion of missions will reward character with specialization points which can be spent on skills to improve their crew skills. Most Crafting Missions will require either Donation of Credits (Variable amounts) Donation of Raw Materials (Variable quality of variable amounts) Donation of Crafted items (Variable quality of variable amounts) Points can be spent on various Specialization Skills such as... PROCUREMENT SKILLS Eye for a good deal (1/2/3) - Crew skills now cost (3/5/10)% cheaper Greater Yield (1/2/3) - Crew skills returns with more (3/5/10)% more items Successful Hunt (1/2/3) - Improves rate of success by (3/5/10)% Lucky Catch (1/2/3) - Crew skills that has a chance of finding artifact quality materials improves chance of getting artifact quality material by (3/5/7)% _________________________________________________________________________ MISCELLANEOUS Waste Reduction (1/2/3) - Items that you RE yields better returns on raw material used. Good Salesmen (1/2/3) - Items that you sell to vendor yield (3/5/10)% higher returns Expert Haggler (1/2/3) - Items or Services from NPC vendors is cheaper by (3/5/10)% Efficiency (1/2/3) - Crew skills takes (2/3/5) % less time to complete. _________________________________________________________________________ MANUFACTURING - ALL Built to last (1/2/3) - Items you craft has high durability by (3/5/7)% Durable (1/2/3) - Items you craft takes lower durability loss by (3/5/7)% Warranty Guaranteed (1/2/3) - Items that you craft cost (3/5/7)% less to repair Shock Resistance (1/2/3) - When wearer dies in PVE, there is a (3/6/9)% that durability will not be lost. Quality Control (1/2/3) - You have (1/3/5)% higher rates of a critical success to add an Augment slot to the item you crafted. Superior worksmanship (1/2/3) - Items you crafted will boost stats of the modifications place into it by (1/2/3)% Exceptional worksmanship - Items you craft now stand a 1% chance of improving the stats of mods placed into it by another 1% on top of Superior Worksmanship. Masterful worksmanship - Improves the chance of Exceptional Worksmanship occuring by another (1/2/3)% Perfectionist - Improves the bonus on stats increment for Exceptional Worksmanship by another (1/2/3)% _________________________________________________________________________ MANUFACTURING - WEAPONRY Potency (1/2/3) - Increases the maximum dmg rating of the weapon. Example: Rank 1 (3 - 8), Rank 2 (3 - 9), Rank 3 (3 - 10) Consistency (1/2/3) - Increase minimum dmg rating of the weapon. Example: Rank 1 (4 - 8), Rank 2 (5 - 8), Rank 3 (6 - 8) Light Weight (1/2/3) - Reduce the Cooldown timer of your attack abilities by (1/2/3)% Lethality - When your weapon scores a critical, there is a 5% for it to apply the following effect: Haemorragh (1/2/3) - Applies a DoT effect on target equivalent to (2/3/5)% of your maximum weapon damage for (5/10/15) seconds Breaker (1/2/3) - Reduce target's armor rating by (2/4/6)% for (5/10/15) seconds Overwhelm (1/2/3) - Reduce target's defense by (3/6/9)% for (5/10/15) seconds Debilitate (1/2/3) - Reduce target's stats by (2/4/6)% by (5/10/15) seconds Hinder (1/2/3) - Reduce target's movement speed by (2/4/6)% by (5/10/15) seconds Blinding (1/2/3) - Reduce target's accuracy by (2/4/6)% by (5/10/15) seconds Fervour (1/2/3) - Applies HoT effect to user equivalent to (2/3/5)% of your maximum weapon damage for (5/10/15) seconds Voracity (1/2/3) - Applies DoT effect to target, and applies a HoT to user, equivalent to (1/2/3)% of your maximum weapon damage for (5/10/15) seconds [*]Ferocity (1/2/3) - Improves Lethality chance of a Proc by (2/4/6)% [*]Overclock - Grants your weapon an activated ability Devastation - Temproraily increase your damage by 10% for 10 seconds Destruction - Temprarily increase your critical chance by 10% for 10 seconds Celerity - Reduce cool down of all attack abilities by 100% for 10 seconds Vigour - 10% chance for a proc to occur w/o a critical hit and increase chance of a proc with a critical hit by another 5% _________________________________________________________________________ MANUFACTURING - ARMOR Comfortable (1/2/3) - Reduce cost of your abilities by (1/2/3)% Light Weight (1/2/3) - Increase your def by (1/2/3)% Abalative Layering (1/2/3) - Increase armor rating by another (1/2/3)% Regenerative Module (1/2/3) - Increase health regeneration outside combat by (2/4/6)% of wearer's maximum health. Also reduce Cooldown of revival by medical probe by (10/20/30)% Improve Regenerative Module - Allows regenerative module to work in combat Advance Regenerative module (1/2/3) - Enhances effectiveness of Regenerative Module and Improved Regenerative Module by another (1/2/3)% Resistance Layering - Adds additional resistance to specific types of damage. Kinetic Resistance Layering (1/2/3) - Wearer receives (1/2/3)% less Kinetic Damage Energy Resistance Layering (1/2/3) - Wearer receives (1/2/3)% less Energy Damage Elemental Resistance Layering (1/2/3) - Wearer receives (1/2/3)% less Elemental Damage Internal Resistance Layering (1/2/3) - Wearer receives (1/2/3)% less Internal Damage [*]Trauma Module (1/2/3) - Decrease critical dmg against wearer by (1/2/3)% [*]Advance Trauma Module - When wearer is a recipient of a critial damage, there is a 5% chance of a proc occuring Emergency Kolto module (1/2/3) - Heals wearer up to (3/5/8)% of their maximum health for (5/10/15) seconds Emergency Adrenal module (1/2/3) - Injects an adrenal stim into the wearer and increase def up to (3/5/8)% for (5/10/15) seconds. Emergency Shielding module (1/2/3) - Projects a personal force field that reduces damage taken by (3/5/8)% for (5/10/15) seconds. [*]Enhanced Trauma Module (1/2/3) - Increase chance of proc rate for Advance Trauma Module by another (2/3/4)% _________________________________________________________________________ RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Expert Engineer (1/2/3) - Improves rate of success on RE by (1/2/3)% and learning a more advance schematic Dedication (1/2/3) - Allows the crafter to learn even higher level of schematics through RE the maxmium tier currently allowed. Example: Green -> Blue - Purple -> Purple T2 (Rank 1), Purple T3 (Rank 2), Purple T4 (Rank 3) Superior Components - Enhancements, armorings, barrels, hilts, mods, augments etc can now be critically crafted and improves stats of its original item by another 3% Replication - Allows crafter to RE dropped items/social items in order to learn a schematic. Base of 1% chance to succeed. Dyes - Allows crafters to apply colour dyes to the item that they craft. Require raw materials. Patterns - Allows crafters to apply patterns on the item that they craft. Verticle/horizontal/diagonal stripes. Various thickness & no. of stripes. Chevrons, checkered etc.. Symbols - Allow crafters to apply symbols on the item they create. Skulls/Heraldic or various icons etc.. Details - Allows crafters to add minute details to item they create. Targeter, Helmet Mini Camera, Antenna, Cabling, Diodes etc..

I would suggest that RE to work in such a way. The RNG stays but this time your success rate improves the more times you craft it. Green items - 5% base chance of learning a higher tier schematic. Every item of the same type you RE increase your chance by another 10% Blue items - 3% base chance of learning a higher tier schematic Every item of the same type you RE increase your chance by another 5% Purple items - 2% base chance of learning a higher tier schematic Every item of the same type you RE increase your chance by another 2.5%

Agree. I am 400 artifice and it frustrates the heck out of me that there are so many pairing of stats that makes no sense. The worse is that it creates such a duplicate

So in the end its all about - wanting our gear to be a visual indication of where we are on progression. Or at least this is how I'm intepreting this message. I personally don't see this as a problem. But then there might be tons of players who feel cheesed off because they get feel a certain sense of pride and accomplishment by parading around the imp/republic fleet in their l33t armor for a few months until the rest of the server catches up. And now they aren't so special anymore. Then again.. I'm also expecting that PVPs might get really shoddy and crappy looking armor and fill it up with super awesome mods. Giving your opponents the illusion that they are fighting a noob but is infact a really decked out PVPer.

I feel like this might work but I'm unsure of the implications that comes along with it. 1. Item drops from Raids. Only Crafters who raid will have the chance to get the item to RE it. 2. Since the item is now craftable. The said Crafter will be able to replicate the item even for those that never went to the specific raid - as long as they can afford his services. 3. This could reward the crafters but may grant certain crew skills far too much advantage over the others. 4. If dropped gear ends up being RE most of the time for people to learn the schematic. Then loot table might just as well not drop the item at all and just drop the schematic? 5. Gear may no longer be a visual indication to let others know where you are on raid progression. 6. People raid for various reasons, some for the challenge of it. Some for the looks of the gear. Will this remove the "incentive" to raid for the latter?

Am I not "FAILING" to grasp you or it was confusing? So it wasn't want the devs wanted but they change it because the players gave the feedback as to the lack of feeling of progression. To me that seems like the players do wanted something. Then now you are saying the issue isn't what people wanted. We could take this to private message if not to derail this thread.