"No One Escapes a Black Hole." If your travels take you to the sort of seedy spaceports frequented by petty gangs scrabbling for turf, where the value of a sentient life is often little greater than a bent credit chit, you may have heard the rumble of black Lhosan swoops heralding the passage of the Black Hole Gang. Always clad in black riding leathers covered in stitched-on patches, members of the Black Hole Gang swooper club prominently display the symbol of a jagged black spiral with a stylized vrblther skull at the center. Though few in number, members of the gang are notorious for being unusually violent and unusually willing to handle even the most rotten task. Previously implicated in running blasters to several separatist factions within Republic space, the Gang swiftly found a place on numerous Republic watch lists. Once a considerable nuisance for law enforcement and military authorities on several Outer Rim worlds, the Black Hole Gang recently suffered a setback following an SIS sting---many of the lower level soldiers and some fully patched members were arrested, and the though the Gang's leadership and chief muscle escaped direct implication, their illegal pipeline of low-grade blasters dried up. Other petty gangs said the Black Hole had vanished... swallowed up by the void. But a new brand of premium, high-grade deathsticks recently hitting the market on Nar Shaddaa, Tatooine, Hutta and even sporadically in Imperial space have been linked to these resourceful bikers. Rumor has it that the Gang has found a new specialty trade, one far less likely to end up on Republic radar---though the brains behind these high quality deathsticks remains a mystery to all but a few. "They're Mean as Gundarks and Twice as Likely to Charge if You Make Eye Contact." Though the gang's few remaining members have been struggling to keep a low profile following the string of arrests, they remain easily recognizable by their swooper patches and black bikes. Feelers have gone out into the underworld looking for buyers and distributors for their new brand of deathsticks, and some of the more notoriously violent members of the Gang remain available for hire as expensive muscle. The gang's leadership has been hesitant to recruit new patch members and prospects of late, fearing that should any of their currently jailed associates turn 'womp rat', then informants or undercover SIS could be right around the corner. But recent power struggles and setbacks in attempting to move their new product have convinced some that its worth the risk----the gang now always has its eyes open for the right sort of swoop-biking scum to carry their colors. The Gang's 'public' facades, intact for almost a decade, remain known to underworld contacts across the Outer Rim. Word has it that anyone brave or foolish enough to seek an audience with these swoop-riding cutthroats need only reach out to "Queelo Brothers' Scrapyard" in the wastes of Tatooine or one of several swoop garages from Nar Shaddaa to Mos Ila. OOC Info: Who are we? The Black Hole Gang has been a small family guild since the launch of TOR on Ebon Hawk. We've only recently begun immersing ourselves in the RP community here, but our experience RPing in other MMOs is extremely extensive. While we are presently few in number in terms of players, we have numerous distinct characters available for criminal RP of all kinds. We tend to enjoy PvP (a lot), and it's likely we'd be better recognized in that aspect of the game than any other---but we've always been RPers first and foremost, and are eager to become more involved in that part of the game. What can we offer? As rough-and-tumble swoop bikers, we're game for just about any criminal activity you can conceive. Need a couple extra enforcers / bodyguards / muscle for a shipment, meeting, party or other function? We're happy to oblige, and game to partake in any form of conflict resolution that may arise. Need suppliers of premium deathsticks? The Black Hole Gang has recently come to the market with an extremely pure derivative of the balo mushroom, one that has customers begging for more. Need an enemy or nuisance taught a lesson? We have goons just itching for a fight. Need a small shipment of guns, spice or other commodity transported at speed planet-side? Those bikes aren't just for show. What are we looking for in a potential member? Historically the Black Hole Gang has been a small guild that partakes in PvP, PvE and RP with equal enjoyment. We're self starters who are happy to throw ourselves into any aspect of the game. As we've become more involved with the RP community, we've finally decided to open recruitment to others with a similar frame of mind. What we're looking for are mature adults who enjoy all aspects of the game and are eager to RP a rowdy, tough-as-nails swoop biker. While we do try to run regular RP outings ranging from exchanges with other criminal guilds to dealing deathsticks at high traffic hotspots to stand-alone episodic events and gang meetings, we're also happy to simply get together and engage in social hijinks amongst ourselves at the drop of a hat. It's important to point out that as players, we also greatly enjoy the game's PvP and PvE content and so we'd ideally want players of a like mind. While we will provide RP content as much as possible, we can't promise to hold everyone's hand on an hourly basis. We're not aiming for a huge guild where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. What we hope to have is a relatively small, tight-knit group of scum and villains that regularly interact and are quickly recognizable. Candidates MUST own a black swoop bike (ideally a Lhosan Manta or Hyrotii Racer, but any black swoop bike is acceptable) and your character must wear some mix of black and/or dark gray. Vests/jackets/swooper gear is ideal, but we're open to anything that looks cool. Contact Us: If you're interested in employing the Black Hole Gang or reaching out to us to inquire about possible membership, the Gang owns several legitimate front businesses that can be contacted, per above. Simply send a tell to one of the following characters (your choice if you want to commlink us IC or inquire OOC) and we'll go from there: Gorax, Rotor, Z-Flare, Vor-Voon, Julilla, Velshia, Longspur. Alternatively, you can post here and we'll follow up with you in-game.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot there as well!

"No One Escapes a Black Hole." If your travels take you to the sort of seedy spaceports frequented by petty gangs scrabbling for turf, where the value of a sentient life is often little greater than a bent credit chit, you may have heard the rumble of black Lhosan swoops heralding the passage of the Black Hole Gang. Always clad in black riding leathers covered in stitched-on patches, members of the Black Hole Gang swooper club prominently display the symbol of a jagged black spiral with a stylized vrblther skull at the center. Though few in number, members of the gang are notorious for being unusually violent and unusually willing to handle even the most rotten task. Previously implicated in running blasters to several separatist factions within Republic space, the Gang swiftly found a place on numerous Republic watch lists. Once a considerable nuisance for law enforcement and military authorities on several Outer Rim worlds, the Black Hole Gang recently suffered a setback following an SIS sting---many of the lower level soldiers and some fully patched members were arrested, and the though the Gang's leadership and chief muscle escaped direct implication, their illegal pipeline of low-grade blasters dried up. Other petty gangs said the Black Hole had vanished... swallowed up by the void. But a new brand of premium, high-grade deathsticks recently hitting the market on Nar Shaddaa, Tatooine, Hutta and even sporadically in Imperial space have been linked to these resourceful bikers. Rumor has it that the Gang has found a new specialty trade, one far less likely to end up on Republic radar---though the brains behind these high quality deathsticks remains a mystery to all but a few. "They're Mean as Gundarks and Twice as Likely to Charge if You Make Eye Contact." Though the gang's few remaining members have been struggling to keep a low profile following the string of arrests, they remain easily recognizable by their swooper patches and black bikes. Feelers have gone out into the underworld looking for buyers and distributors for their new brand of deathsticks, and some of the more notoriously violent members of the Gang remain available for hire as expensive muscle. The gang's leadership has been hesitant to recruit new patch members and prospects of late, fearing that should any of their currently jailed associates turn 'womp rat', then informants or undercover SIS could be right around the corner. But recent power struggles and setbacks in attempting to move their new product have convinced some that its worth the risk----the gang now always has its eyes open for the right sort of swoop-biking scum to carry their colors. The Gang's 'public' facades, intact for almost a decade, remain known to underworld contacts across the Outer Rim. Word has it that anyone brave or foolish enough to seek an audience with these swoop-riding cutthroats need only reach out to "Queelo Brothers' Scrapyard" in the wastes of Tatooine or one of several swoop garages from Nar Shaddaa to Mos Ila. OOC Info: Who are we? The Black Hole Gang has been a small family guild since the launch of TOR on Ebon Hawk. We've only recently begun immersing ourselves in the RP community here, but our experience RPing in other MMOs is extremely extensive. While we are presently few in number in terms of players, we have numerous distinct characters available for criminal RP of all kinds. We tend to enjoy PvP (a lot), and it's likely we'd be better recognized in that aspect of the game than any other---but we've always been RPers first and foremost, and are eager to become more involved in that part of the game. What can we offer? As rough-and-tumble swoop bikers, we're game for just about any criminal activity you can conceive. Need a couple extra enforcers / bodyguards / muscle for a shipment, meeting, party or other function? We're happy to oblige, and game to partake in any form of conflict resolution that may arise. Need suppliers of premium deathsticks? The Black Hole Gang has recently come to the market with an extremely pure derivative of the balo mushroom, one that has customers begging for more. Need an enemy or nuisance taught a lesson? We have goons just itching for a fight. Need a small shipment of guns, spice or other commodity transported at speed planet-side? Those bikes aren't just for show. What are we looking for in a potential member? Historically the Black Hole Gang has been a small guild that partakes in PvP, PvE and RP with equal enjoyment. We're self starters who are happy to throw ourselves into any aspect of the game. As we've become more involved with the RP community, we've finally decided to open recruitment to others with a similar frame of mind. What we're looking for are mature adults who enjoy all aspects of the game and are eager to RP a rowdy, tough-as-nails swoop biker. While we do try to run regular RP outings ranging from exchanges with other criminal guilds to dealing deathsticks at high traffic hotspots to stand-alone episodic events and gang meetings, we're also happy to simply get together and engage in social hijinks amongst ourselves at the drop of a hat. It's important to point out that as players, we also greatly enjoy the game's PvP and PvE content and so we'd ideally want players of a like mind. While we will provide RP content as much as possible, we can't promise to hold everyone's hand on an hourly basis. We're not aiming for a huge guild where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. What we hope to have is a relatively small, tight-knit group of scum and villains that regularly interact and are quickly recognizable. Candidates MUST own a black swoop bike (ideally a Lhosan Manta or Hyrotii Racer, but any black swoop bike is acceptable) and your character must wear some mix of black and/or dark gray. Vests/jackets/swooper gear is ideal, but we're open to anything that looks cool. Contact Us: If you're interested in employing the Black Hole Gang or reaching out to us to inquire about possible membership, the Gang owns several legitimate front businesses that can be contacted, per above. Simply send a tell to one of the following characters (your choice if you want to commlink us IC or inquire OOC) and we'll go from there: Gorax, Rotor, Z-Flare, Vor-Voon, Julilla, Velshia, Longspur. Alternatively, you can post here and we'll follow up with you in-game.

"No One Escapes a Black Hole." If your travels take you to the sort of seedy spaceports frequented by petty gangs scrabbling for turf, where the value of a sentient life is often little greater than a bent credit chit, you may have heard the rumble of black Lhosan swoops heralding the passage of the Black Hole Gang. Always clad in black riding leathers covered in stitched-on patches, members of the Black Hole Gang swooper club prominently display the symbol of a jagged black spiral with a stylized vrblther skull at the center. Though few in number, members of the gang are notorious for being unusually violent and unusually willing to handle even the most rotten task. Previously implicated in running blasters to several separatist factions within Republic space, the Gang swiftly found a place on numerous Republic watch lists. Once a considerable nuisance for law enforcement and military authorities on several Outer Rim worlds, the Black Hole Gang recently suffered a setback following an SIS sting---many of the lower level soldiers and some fully patched members were arrested, and the though the Gang's leadership and chief muscle escaped direct implication, their illegal pipeline of low-grade blasters dried up. Other petty gangs said the Black Hole had vanished... swallowed up by the void. But a new brand of premium, high-grade deathsticks recently hitting the market on Nar Shaddaa, Tatooine, Hutta and even sporadically in Imperial space have been linked to these resourceful bikers. Rumor has it that the Gang has found a new specialty trade, one far less likely to end up on Republic radar---though the brains behind these high quality deathsticks remains a mystery to all but a few. "They're Mean as Gundarks and Twice as Likely to Charge if You Make Eye Contact." Though the gang's few remaining members have been struggling to keep a low profile following the string of arrests, they remain easily recognizable by their swooper patches and black bikes. Feelers have gone out into the underworld looking for buyers and distributors for their new brand of deathsticks, and some of the more notoriously violent members of the Gang remain available for hire as expensive muscle. The gang's leadership has been hesitant to recruit new patch members and prospects of late, fearing that should any of their currently jailed associates turn 'womp rat', then informants or undercover SIS could be right around the corner. But recent power struggles and setbacks in attempting to move their new product have convinced some that its worth the risk----the gang now always has its eyes open for the right sort of swoop-biking scum to carry their colors. The Gang's 'public' facades, intact for almost a decade, remain known to underworld contacts across the Outer Rim. Word has it that anyone brave or foolish enough to seek an audience with these swoop-riding cutthroats need only reach out to "Queelo Brothers' Scrapyard" in the wastes of Tatooine or one of several swoop garages from Nar Shaddaa to Mos Ila. OOC Info: Who are we? The Black Hole Gang has been a small family guild since the launch of TOR on Ebon Hawk. We've only recently begun immersing ourselves in the RP community here, but our experience RPing in other MMOs is extremely extensive. While we are presently few in number in terms of players, we have numerous distinct characters available for criminal RP of all kinds. We tend to enjoy PvP (a lot), and it's likely we'd be better recognized in that aspect of the game than any other---but we've always been RPers first and foremost, and are eager to become more involved in that part of the game. What can we offer? As rough-and-tumble swoop bikers, we're game for just about any criminal activity you can conceive. Need a couple extra enforcers / bodyguards / muscle for a shipment, meeting, party or other function? We're happy to oblige, and game to partake in any form of conflict resolution that may arise. Need suppliers of premium deathsticks? The Black Hole Gang has recently come to the market with an extremely pure derivative of the balo mushroom, one that has customers begging for more. Need an enemy or nuisance taught a lesson? We have goons just itching for a fight. Need a small shipment of guns, spice or other commodity transported at speed planet-side? Those bikes aren't just for show. What are we looking for in a potential member? Historically the Black Hole Gang has been a small guild that partakes in PvP, PvE and RP with equal enjoyment. We're self starters who are happy to throw ourselves into any aspect of the game. As we've become more involved with the RP community, we've finally decided to open recruitment to others with a similar frame of mind. What we're looking for are mature adults who enjoy all aspects of the game and are eager to RP a rowdy, tough-as-nails swoop biker. While we do try to run regular RP outings ranging from exchanges with other criminal guilds to dealing deathsticks at high traffic hotspots to stand-alone episodic events and gang meetings, we're also happy to simply get together and engage in social hijinks amongst ourselves at the drop of a hat. It's important to point out that as players, we also greatly enjoy the game's PvP and PvE content and so we'd ideally want players of a like mind. While we will provide RP content as much as possible, we can't promise to hold everyone's hand on an hourly basis. We're not aiming for a huge guild where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. What we hope to have is a relatively small, tight-knit group of scum and villains that regularly interact and are quickly recognizable. Candidates MUST own a black swoop bike (ideally a Lhosan Manta or Hyrotii Racer, but any black swoop bike is acceptable) and your character must wear some mix of black and/or dark gray. Vests/jackets/swooper gear is ideal, but we're open to anything that looks cool. Contact Us: If you're interested in employing the Black Hole Gang or reaching out to us to inquire about possible membership, the Gang owns several legitimate front businesses that can be contacted, per above. Simply send a tell to one of the following characters (your choice if you want to commlink us IC or inquire OOC) and we'll go from there: Gorax, Rotor, Z-Flare, Vor-Voon, Julilla, Velshia, Longspur. Alternatively, you can post here and we'll follow up with you in-game.

Listen man, you should just stop. You're on the wrong end of this gun. You're not a graphics professional if you don't understand the difference between a wide gamut display and an SRGB display (and seem to have no knowledge of the issues suffered by users of the former when it comes to content designed strictly for the SRGB crowd). Google the issue and you'll discover everything you want to know about it in ten minutes. It's a real thing.

As another person pointed out, my display is a professional setup with calibration hardware/software that handles this for me, and does so with pinpoint accuracy. I'm not going to manually sabotage that and risk creating inaccurate images in my work just to accommodate a bad graphics change in one game. Fortunately BW left us that nifty escape clause in the setup files so we can have our cake and eat it too. Why do you care?

I actually wondered if this might be the culprit in my case as well. I'm a professional illustrator and have a calibrated wide gamut display and had to do a ton of research when I first got the thing to figure out why certain apps, OS, browsers, etc tended to show images with insane saturation/contrast. Having finally done the homework on that, the new change in TOR reminded me very much of it. This could certainly explain why some are not seeing a huge difference on default while others are getting their retinas drilled out. Thankfully, I was able to reset to the original preferred color scheme. To each their own.

I wholly disagree with this. The original more drab palette was a stylistic choice I agreed with for a gritty setting---and honestly it isn't the colors that irritate me so much as the jacked up contrast. I turn my character away from a light source and his shadowed side basically vanishes into black. Way too stark, old way was better.

Hrrrm... in my client settings file, there is no listing for the color remap. Anyone hazard a guess as to why? Also, can I simply add the option and set it to false myself?

Yeah, on a solid display with settings at max this change is an eyesore. It's so dark on the fleet I feel like my character should be stumbling around, the level of contrast on previously brightly lit planets is horrid, and the new 'vibrant' colors are way oversaturated. This is Star Wars, not WoW. Will definitely be attempting to turn that setting off per the suggestion above. Thanks!

You've made your points on how realistic the matchmaking idea is, but they remain naive. You're gunning for a highly theoretical pie in the sky solution that BW's present devs not only couldn't accomplish, but are not likely to TRY and accomplish any time soon. Let's keep the bar low. Our chances of getting a minor change (an on/off button) are a whole lot better than a sweeping reconstruction of the guts of the queuing system and the addition of visible/invisible player stat tracking on numerous variables that may or may not even BE a good indicator of player skill/experience (not to mention all of those variables would probably start at 0 and require a lot of time to build up any useful data). If BW decides to sink a lot of money and man-hours into a system to help PvP balance, I think everyone is agreed we'd much rather see them put that effort into X-Server development instead.

God, that is well said. This is why I'm dying for new maps with the innovation of Huttball (but not just Huttball) where the best players don't have to spend 75% of the match with thumb squarely up ***. Objective PvP is fun, but there are a lot of ways to do it that don't require turning one or more players into glorified security guards reading a magazine at the desk.

I bolded one of your comments above because both you and Doom used a similar statement in attempt at rebuttal of this point. It's sort of... conveniently naive for two people arguing hard for the most pragmatic, practical solution to suddenly rely on the notion that BW could deliver on a complex matchmaking system when all evidence points firmly to the contrary. There's nothing practical about blind, unsupported faith. I love TOR, but you'll never catch me relying on the idea that the BW devs will figure out the Hero engine they cobbled together or that EA will decide to start putting resources into complicated ideas that don't immediately yield a bottom line. We all know that's not likely to happen (though I'd be giddy to be proven wrong on this point), and being a realist doesn't make me less of a TOR supporter than anyone else. Simple changes are (somewhat) within BW's ability to implement without many resources spent or possibility for game breaking bugs. Mathematically complex systems demanding a lot of resources and tons of variables are a train wreck waiting to happen. Let people play the way they want to.

I don't disagree that separate queues will still end up with lopsided matches, that's common sense. But your odds of a lopsided match when all players (good and bad and average) are shuffled randomly is a lot lower than if the pugs are queueing against premades for hours at a time. Ideally, via good word of mouth about the addition of a solo queue/toggle, more casual pvpers would stick around, come back or try TOR out and the population would grow enough for a matchmaker to be of use in all brackets/ formats. Matchmaking helps servers with already healthy populations find more balanced pug v pug and premade v premade matches, but does nothing to eliminate the advantages of premade vs pug unless you successfully build a fabulously complex and clockwork-perfect set of criterion-----which simply will not happen. Come on guys, this is BW. Theorycrafting is one thing, but we need a simple solution so they won't bungle it. A solo queue is something casual pvpers and solo pvpers really, really want. They are a large population. Give a large population what they're asking for, and the game gets healthier. More PvP for everyone.

Despite my politeness you're starting to get a bit snarky and accusatory again, so this might be my last post in here for awhile. Some folks are okay with it in an intelligent debate, but to me it's wearying. I apologize if this observation offends. In any case: The probable complexity you describe in your purple section is... let's just say it, BW would not be able to handle that. We're in eternal preseason and there still hasn't even been mention of any kind of ELO system, ranked matchmaking, etc; BW manages to constantly introduce new bolster bugs while failing to fix the concept; age-old issues like the backfill bug continue to pop up with sad regularity; and in the WZ queue 3 healers are put on one team while none are put on the other. What you're describing is as likely to be within BW's capabilities as a preschooler doing calculus. Simple in this case may not be perfect, but it's better than another monstrously complex undertaking likely to fall on its face by the time it hit live. And in this case, the simple solution might yield immediate dividends (good word of mouth, upsurge in the number of casuals / soloers pvping and subbing again) while the far more complex matchmaking may yield no results at all unless a premade team is not around. Also, you only attempted to address one of my arguments against the lopsided matchmaking example. Voice chat is an advantage, but so is experience working with your teammates, and most importantly: the ability to set up an optimal comp in advance, which most competitive premades will do. Unless you're suggesting that this theoretical matchmaker should also sort puggers by roles, but I'd submit that would hurt queue times far more than any other option so far put forth. Your later passage about the distinction you think I'm implying between casuals/solo vs casuals honestly just confuses me. I figured it was common sense that I was talking about casual and solo pvpers in general: the majority who generally queue alone, generally don't enjoy playing against a stacked deck, and are the most likely not to continue playing if they aren't having fun. Those most likely to profit from a solo queue, and those most likely to be hurt by the lack of one. Your tone is obviously hostile and trying to paint me as mincing my words, but the point you're trying to make beyond that isn't at all clear to me. Apologies.