So frickin' balance out the numbers. Make more characters and play in the faction that needs a numbers boost, You can't honestly keep on expecting them to find a fix for a problem we have created ourselves. On principle there's no reason for OPG to pop abnormally more than any other WZ. The only reason it pops abnormally often is when numbers balance is abnormally off. Nobody forced anyone to flock to one faction like a stupid mob and totally steamroll the other faction.

What is your target wearing when you hit for a 11k turbulence hit? Paper armour?

I know its like a madness/balance sorc/sage on steroids, and plays out this really fun game of "anything it cannot kite it melees, and anything it cannot melee it kites". Among the three disciplines for sin/shad hatred/balance is my favorite, almost perfect "middle-ground" hybrid between melee and range, although noticeably frail than compared to the other two, and requires really meticulous setting up and planning. When that works, it's awesome, when something goes wrong, everything comes crashing down. It should do well in ranked as well, IMO, but probably dumped for other class/roles since the current meta is just dominatingly slanted towards to "outheal+outlast". I think it's in one of those "it's not bad or anything, but why put one in the team when you can have other, clearly better class?" type of situation these days, along with a few other class/disciplines that are unpopular.

1. How do you rate the The Force Awakens out of ten and in relation to previous Star Wars movies? - worthy successor. opinion subject to change as ep8 and 9 rolls out. 2. Who is your favourite (new) character so far and why? - Rey. No explanation needed. 3. Who is your least favourite (new) character so far and why? - surprisingly, none. Maybe Hux. Charisma weak. People exepcted Hitler, but got Goebels. 4. Out of the returning Original Trilogy cast, who gave the best performance? - H. Ford. Han's still a bad-arse. 5. What was the most awesome/epic moment for you in the movie? - Rey altering the path of Luke's lightsaber flying through the air, to snatch it away from Kylo. 6. What as the funniest moment for you in the movie? - Han trying out Chewie's bowcaster. 7. Do you think Rey might be a descendant from the Skywalker line, and if so is she Luke or Leia's daughter? - Heaven forbid. 8. The death of Han Solo, your thoughts? Should he have died, should it have been done differently? - Required. Kylo needed a plot device to show his ascendence from a sith-wannabe, into a really bad guy. 9. How do you rate the lightsaber duel out of ten and in relation to previous lightsaber duels? - Too much bravado in the prequels even considering old Jedi were still flourishing. In that sense, ep7 duels weren't half bad, considering none of the duelists were masters. I give it 7.5 out of 10. 10. How to you rate the film score out of ten and in relation to scores from the previous movies? And if you have a favourite soundtrack/theme, which was it? - J. Williams is still the best. 9/10. 11. If you could change one thing with the movie, what would it be? - Use a different plot device than a straight-up homage/self-replication of the ol' Death Star. 12. Finn is featured wielding a lightsaber in the film and in promotional material, but he is never actually depicted using the Force. Do you think he is Force sensitive? - No. Too many force users remind me too much of the shoddy and boring EU disasters.

For me, it would be anyone who is good enough, or has enough friends to form parties, but still queues solo on principle, and actually crosses over during peak time zones when help is needed for the other faction. Responsible veteran players who thinks more than just themselves, are so difficult to find these days.

The problem is, Icy, that a more powerful and direct votekick system is essentially a double-edged sword. Especially among the more competitive people that play ranked games. The last game I played had a very strong votekick system that alloted a lot of its power to the party leader. The game had an ELO system with individual ranks and stats info like K/D ratios and stuff... and as it turned out, the amount of lame things happening were just unbelievable. People dropping games or forcing matching end to avoid being pulled down in rank. People continuously kicking out party members to force a draw or match-end when they think the players they are teamed with is too weak or bad in skill... etc etc.. I know how you feel, because in my server at my timezone there's a well known AFKer that enters matches with a stealther, and then just goes off into some secluded corner and does nothing. I dunno if its some kind of a script, but when people initiate a vote kick he enters active status for the time being, cancelling the votekick, and then goes back into AFK. He does this literally every game he enters, so us Reps are already disadvantaged from the start, like more than half the time the game starts off with only 5~6 people against a full Imp team, there are no support/heal classes among those 5~6, most players lack experience, and to make it worse that's an additional -1 person fighting. There's nothing more than I would like to get this guy and basically frickin' kick him off every game I see him in... ...but if it is made much easier to kick people out, what guarantees do we have people won't exploit this and make it even more serious and lame?

To give credit, SWTOR balance isn't bad at all. It's actually a lot more tolerable than most other games out there, and aside from very few exceptions (which, admittedly, those few exceptions do have a serious impact in game) generally plausible and viable for most. The history of maps from stuff like Alderaan → Novare shows they know how to analyze perceived problems and make things better, and design philosophy behind stuff like AHG and Queshball, and even the recent OPG shows they know how to experiment with new designs. Maybe others don't see it, but when I compare to classic Huttball with new Queshball I immdiately notice what their emphasis was about when they've expanded the field more 3-dimensionally, as well as seeing how AHG has a different set of objectives in mind compared to previous WZs, and how they've set out OPG to be more dynamic in its nature. No, the maps aren't perfect, but design-wise, its not half bad -- at least not as bad as the constant whines and ramblings some people would try to have you believe. Even class balance -- try imagining what it is like in the other guy's shoes. You receive complaints from a zillion different people who all say different things. Which one are you going to believe? We often think we have some sort of a consensus within these PvP forums, but honestly, folks, how much do we really "represent" the PvP players in the game? In most cases there isn't a consensus about how people in these forums view things and debates on what is right or wrong happens every day. So if you're a developer, would you be tweaking or fixing stuff based on complaints from a few people that's most vocal in the forums, about whom you have no guarantees or assurance that he is right? They can't fix anything unless they are absolutely sure that some things are broken. How many of our posts we write up everyday has really sufficient and unrefutable data and evidence to back it up? Besides, most of the grievances actually in-game are caused by faction/population/matchmaking imbalances, which in principle, is actually no fault of the developers. It's something that happens on OUR end, not theirs. Something like a matchmaking system would greatly help raise the QOL for the PvP games we play, but its not their fault the QOL is so miserable in the first place. They didn't stick us up at gunpoint to all flock to the Imps to create a pop imbalance, nor can they just force people to play certain classes or anything. Yes, there are problems that are genuinely the fault of the devs, such as Rishi arena maps that has unexpected problems due to quirky glitches or bugs. Stuff like overhealing sorc/sages are also something we may be able to request a fix (although someone needs to come up with a very convincing post full of stats, hard numbers, and evidence, as well as methodology for measuring how and why they are overperforming, to be able to convince them). But a lot of the problems we cause by ourselves. Really, guys, just blaming everything to the devs is not fair, and an easy cop-out to some of the mistakes the community have been making. Just look at the freakin' premade debates and the amount of excuses people try to come up with, in defense of LULZ steamroller gameplay harms the game.

IMO the more important thing would be pointing out the ranged people standing like 30m behind you while the melees are in the front. I mean, it is understandable if its healing classes that are doing that -- since nobody expects them to use attacks or anything, and their entire role in combat is to survive and keep people alive. Hence, for healing classes, standing at the furthest possible without any disruptions to just concentrate on healing itself, most people don't have any problems with that. But the problem is with ranged DPS guys who can't heal. Yes, it is a healthy good practice to stand behind the melees in the rear lines, but not that far out. The problem at hand most DPS players don't realize, is that if the ranged classes are much too far behind the melees, then what happens is a natural focus fire of utmost intensity that befalls upon the melee guys. Nobody expects ranged to just barge in like a melee, but still they need to be at a distance where they have most of the enemy players within range -- which means they themselves are in range of enemies. What this often creates is a spreading of focus fire which helps the team's melees to survive longer. It's not a faction thing, but there are some tendencies. Imp players are usually experienced much, and when you see them gather up for a big fight (like in the mid zone of AHG), you can see that their ranged DPS and support guys aren't afraid to advance and pressure enemies at a team scale. Yes, it's not as if their ranged come charging in along with all the marauders or juggernauts, but they still operate within close support range and often absorb some of the enemy fire, which otherwise, would just have been all concentrated at the frontline melees. Whereas, Rep players, often lacking in experience, stands way too far behind, trying to hit only the closest enemy within range, and staying away from other enemy ranged DPS. So if the enemy ranged DPS cannot think of firing upon you, take a guess as to who they are going to target : the melees. As often times Rep teams are totally devoid of any healers, what this means is simply instant death for Rep melee players. What are you going to do when all your melees die out within first 15 seconds of engagement?

...why are we even answering this? Why PvP players play PvP in SWTOR is our own. We're not obliged to give answers or convince people who frown upon it. We don't need to defend anything since its not a subject to be attacked about in the first place.

Tell that to the sub-Saharan continental Africans. I'm sure all their suffering is because they were lazy and stupid, and probably didn't try hard enough to get rich or stabilize their country, rule out dictators, and put an end to civil war.

EP8 could turn out anything so not really knitpicking, but I can't help but some of the interpretations are just a little too convenient. For example, there are a LOT of things Rey sees with her pyschometry. Among the most inspiringly featured visions is Obiwan and Yoda -- both have never really used/attached themselves to Anakin-Luke's light saber, whereas, Anakin, the creator and owner of the lightsaber only appears as Darth Vader (who never held that lightsaber), but not even visually but only through that characteristic breathing sound. The most vividly depicted vision Rey has, is of Kylo Ren and his knights, whom also have never held the lightsaber. Luke himself is also very superficial in Rey's vision. So if we follow your theory then it would actually be more likely Obiwan -- since unlike other visions which is a "playback" of what has transpired, Obiwan's voice spontaneously and specifically speaks out to Rey. So, if having visions must mean some sort of family connection, then why not Yoda for example? Maybe Yoda's species can somehow mix with human DNA? Who knows? Heck, maybe any one of the Ren guys are Rei's parents? Teenage relationships in single mothers in Star Wars universe? Why not Maz herself? She seems to be sort of force-sensitive, and if we just compare the time scale, Maz probably kept posession of that lightsaber longer than anyone! At least more than two decades! Visions are visions. Open to interpretation certainly, but not any kind of evidence I'm afraid

The difference is that the random nature of such events: (1) as in, without premades, the rules of random team formation dictates and fully guarantees some games are shi*, other games are too easy, and everything in between well matched and enjoyable whether you win or lose. (2) whereas, by definition a premade is a direct middle-finger stuck up the rear end of the random teaming rule, since it defies that rule and glues together people who would have been randomly distributed otherwise, and therefore most likely guarantees a solid advantage to the group of players that are part of the premade, or teamed in with the premade. (3) theoretically, when both factions have same number of PvP players that seek PvP matches most of the time, then (2) is a problem that can controlled and contained, because the randomness dictates that as much as there is a chance for a premade to land on the other team, there is also a chance for a premade to land on our team. So things can still be tolerable. (4) in reality, enter pop imbalance -- usually, across almost all servers, Rep PvP population is incomparably lower than Imp PvP population, and therefore, (2) goes out of control. There is almost always superior number of Imp premades operating at the same time, seeking for a queue, than there is a Rep premade. Therefore, in most WZs where it's split-faction, the likelihood of an Imp team being EMBEDDED with a premade for many matches straight, is absolutely higher than a Rep team's chance of having support from Rep premades. (5) conclusion: one-sided shi*hole = bye bye casual players = PvP population drops = even worse quality of PvP

That's kinda given, actually, if you think about it. Even if they did something to the queueing algorithms to include grouped players more often, the reality of PvP imbalance did not change... (1) the fact that there is a real pop imbalance, and (2) OPG teaming rules are most flexible and lenient, and therefore, most adequate to deal with pop imbalance. So even if we get regular old WZs a lot more often thanks to the patch, in all probability (so long as pop imbalance exists) OPG will still be the most commonly repeated WZs of them all. It's gonna be that way forever, unless pop imbalance goes away, or cross-faction teaming rules apply to all wzs.

It simply means that even after the revised "team/queue assigning priorities" the general numbers between the factions were still too imbalanced to launch other WZs. I'm not sure what they did, but my good guess would be that they tweaked some sort of prioritization issues between solo players and preamde groups, so whatever srtict limitation that prevented premades from being assigned to a team is now probably more lenient. Unfortunately, even with such restrictions made lenient, your server at that time probably doesn't have equal number of queuers on both sides, and therefore, simply cannot launch anything else than OPG. So before the patch, the only thing that was able to launch often was OPG, but premades were excluded/restricted from it. After the patch, premads are now more easily accepted for team creation and WZ launch... but the only available(launch-able) WZ being OPG. That's my take on things.

You still don't get it, do you. It doesn't F-IN' matter who is good or not. It is a matter of PRINCIPLE. Just which part of: WHEN PLAYING GAMES, EVEN OUT THE TEAMS FIRST do you exactly not understand? You know why I keep mentioning the "playground analogy"? Because making fair teams is what even 5~6 year old kids do when they play with each other. Even kindergarten age children instinctively know what is fair or not. Kids playing on the playground take the simplest measure possible to ensure that teams are split up in a way everybody can enjoy the game fairly. They pick out the team leaders, and then the team leaders take turns pick one person. It's a simple, and yet amazingly effective principle which guarantees random distribution every time a game is played. Frickin' 5~6 year olds know what this is, and why they do it, and how to do it, for crying out loud.

And which faction are you? Come to think of it, it's not even that important. What would be more important is, why not push for seperation of quieues so that you meet exclusively others who play with their friends, just like you play with yours. Makes everyone happy. Playing friends is fine. Do it against the same grade of people.

For what purpose? PvP? PvE? I'm assuming PvP because there's no real reason to clarify "DPS rotation" as an Immortal/Defense if its PvE -- am I right here?

1. People have a choice to make premades 2. People don't have any choice as to avoid fighting premades 3. Therefore, give people the choice to refuse fighting premades = seperate the queues. Solos are always solos EXCLUSIVELY. Premades only fight oher premades, EXCLUSIVELY. Problem solved. Everybody's happy.

Again, to the above load of krap, I give you the "playground analogy" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a playground here. Kids play all sort of games, but usually baseball. It's an open playground, so whenever kids play ball, kids make teams on the spot to have fun. Right next to this playground, is a baseball ground used exclusively by the local little league team. Of course, unlike how kids flock to the playground everyday, the little league has fewer matches in total, so a lot of the times when there's no upcoming match or training, they get bored, so they decide to crash the playground. The little leaguers come to the playground, and want to join the casual baseball everybody is enjoying. But there's a problem. They come in certain numbers, and they refuse to break up the team. They insist they'll only play with their teammates. So the kids try a few matches throughout the week, As expectedly, the playground kids are utterly crushed. The little league kids are trained as a unit from the beginning. The kids at the playground were never up to that level in the first place, nor did they even wish to compete with such people in the first place. So after a while, the playground kids protest. "Break up the teams guys. Break it up so you little league guys can be mixed in with other kids so there's fair share of good players." Then the little league kids refuse. "No. We're all friends here. Besides, we all trained together, so we know this is more competitive. Why should it be us who breaks up teams? It's not our fault we're good. IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT YOU DIDN'T MAKE TEAMS LIKE US." ...the playground kids decide there's no talking to the selfish idiots, and just decide to never play ball with them ever again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See, that's basically what's happening in unranked reg WZs. It's none of your concern, or business, why people like us don't make teams. We each have different reasons. Besides, whether we make teams or not is not even the point in the first place, because if the general rule of "fair teaming" was applied in the first place, we wouldn't even be meeting premades in the first place. The difference between the "playground" above, and SWTOR, is that unlike in real life, we aren't given any choice. In our version of the 'playground' we have here, the SYSTEM FORCES US to be matched up with premades whether we like it or not. Nobody wants that in the first place. It wasn't "voluntary". We just have no other alternative but to walk into that krap. Either that, or not play PvP at all. If using the above analogy, it's like the kids' teacher was passing by the playground, saw the kids arguing, and then just says, "Now now, be nice boys. Don't fight. Just go to the playground and you all play a game together." But teacher! That's why the kids were fighting in the first place. ... Rule number one of any competitive game that has teams -- even out the teams. Randomness with solo queuers teaming guarantees this fairness. "Premades" start off in the first place by breaking this rule. So, like have been said so many times, us solo-queuers don't really give a shi* why you make premades -- so long as you use all that 'competitive nature' or 'communication' or 'more organization' to play against others who are willing to fight against such odds. I can bet both my nuts most solo queuers across the servers, would not hesitate to press the "f***k 'em. I don't wanna play against premades. I just wanna play against same soloers" button every time, if such an option existed in the first place. (And for some sheer stroke of luck, people had the system doing that for them during the last couple of weeks... and we thoroughlu enjoed it) So don't force solo queuers to fight against premades, because we really don't want to. You like premades and competition and higher level of PvP? Fine by us. Support the separation. Premades get what they want, soloers get what they want. Think about it -- if premade players justify themselves on grounds of wanting better PvP experience, playing with friends.. and all that, then there's no friggin' reason ever, that they should refuse to splitting the queues. Premades are fine, so long as they face people who are same premades. Us soloers are not matched against premades because we like it or want it -- its only because the game never gave us a choice but to either risk that unfairness, or not play PvP at all. People have a choice to make premades? Fine by me. THEN GIVE OTHERS THE CHOICE TO NOT PLAY AGAINST THOSE PREMADES, and we're all good.

You said you owned a similar business Volt, then you know that whether a company sees the situation as "optimistic" or "pessimistic" is entirely determined by the figures from the sales record. In other words, so long as whatever other stuff they are doing is creating revenue at a good rate, then it really doesn't matter to them even if PvP and its community falls apart and goes the way of the dodo. I can make a bet that if they had some certainty or projection with good credibility that told them removing PvP totally would guarantee more revenues, they will not hesitate to simply be done with us. Every gaming business operates this way, since, unlike real life work where there's at least the union to consolidate the resistance of the workers, the gaming world is nothing more than individual gamers who are independent rabble at most, no real possibility of collective action or protest that could seriously affect their revenue. No matter how much we complain about the current state of affairs, like often said, PvPrs are a very small minorty in most games, and what we blabber about in these forums doesn't matter, since it doesn't affect the game in any way. It's not Bioware that's evil or abnormal or anything. Every game developer is like this nowadays, it's just how the times are. It's not like 20 years ago when every game developer was always glad to meet their customers and talk and share things about their common interest within the game. Nowadays, the developers are secluded and seperate from the masses, and handling our needs, issues, and complaints are under the hands of the marketing/support/customer service people. People who unfortunately, do not really understand games in most of the times. I dunno, maybe after another 20 years, where the kids playing games these days grow up to be marketing people, then maybe they'll understand the passions and needs of us gamers, but currently its hopeless.

LOL... You guys actually think any developer in charge of any project or certain area of the game, is under the liberty to answer questions or post responses, don't you! This isn't the 90's guys. Every response, every yes or no, every development direction goes through marketing first. They don't make any promises, or confirm anything, because any such mention in open forums could potentially become a liability. The best way to avert disaster or accountability, is by neither confirming nor denying anything. Get in with the times, dudes. That's not how the corporate business system works.

That's because you don't remember what happened between 1.0 ~ 1.2. Like said, you only remember what you want.

The numbers imbalance is large enough to turn that correlation into a direct link, m8. Not according to latest responses Volthammer. It seems I'm right.

God, I hate being right all the time.

The ability to keep fighting conditions fair, is more important than anything else in PVP.