That doesn't really have a lot to do with macro's. And sorry, but I know this is more of an addon thing, that they do more than macro's as far as providing information and making it visible for teaching players what it is they're doing wrong and how to get better, and the argument that if a player isn't good then you replace them doesn't sit well with me. I'd rather they could improve and not be a bad player. No mods or macros makes this game far too elitist by making everything as difficult, uncomfortable and clunky as possible and still having rewards tied to performance rather than opening it up to people trying to learn and get better. Yes, hardcores will stick with it and scream for everything to keep others down as long as they've got a guild and a list of friends who can excel without any assistance. But a lot of it comes back to "It's tedious". I'd rather the challenge lay with the content rather than the UI. Yes, it's easy and do-able without macro's or even addons, but not enjoyable. It's just annoying. And sorry, but even if they bring in these cast-sequence macros with 1-button rotation maps and people are silly enough to use them instead of doing what's needed, then that's a big win for pvp'ers who go up against them, as they (much like bots) are the easiest to predict, counter and take down. There are macros which allow you to have more control over your character, peripherals and UI and make your character more enjoyable to play rather than annoying, and then there are macros which do the opposite, and these are what most people are against. Bad is bad, and if a bad player is using bad macros they'll possibly be even worse. If mis-clicking is an issue, or mistargeting, then no amount of macros or addons will help you. And the game should not be designed around forcing these players to get better, especially in this day and age when children are almost brought up by computers and many can type better than can write, and by now very few adults aren't competent with a keyboard etc. Assuming we're not is the biggest insult Bioware could have made. Assuming casuals find macro's indimidating or macro's give macro-users such a massive performance boost non-macro users will be left dead in the water is the silliest thing I have ever heard, and makes me even wonder if Bioware has even read game reviews that are written by casuals with no interest in the game beyond presenting an outsider, casual perspective to other outsiders who's interest in the game could otherwise be zero, or paid any attention to what these people say about this and other games in general. Confusing casuals with elites was a little silly of Bioware. Making the game annoying for the rest of us was downright daft. The very fact that a gaming relatively high-end gaming computer (as long as it doesn't have too many CPU cores confusing the games engine) is even required to play the game along with an age restriction kind of should tell them that new players will not be so casual as to not know how to use macros or be turned off by having players that can and do. If the game design makes macro use significantly better and makes you a much better player, then something's wrong with the game itself, even before you go into what macro API they choose to implement and what is possible to include in macros. Other MMO designers made their MMO's based on their experience of what they had played, and used these games as a reference point for what they wanted in a game, and created that game as best they could with what they had. And included things possibly not important to them personally, but recognized that when marketing to the general public they needed to consider other people. A raw, stripped down MMO with an old-school style of play isn't what most people were expecting from this one. Even at launch. Was everyone expecting pretty much the entire game with only content to be included after launch? No. But we were expecting a modern game. Releasing it as unfinished as they did was a highly dangerous move and could be what will always put this game far behind it's potential in terms of number of players. Bioware's stance that no, this is what they intended and they actually believe is beneficial is pretty devastating. Then to publicly insult players while defending it is unbelievable. I know I'm probably supposed to feel complemented that they don't consider me to be a "casual" but in many ways I am. Yes, there were weeks when I put in over 18 hours a day into playing, but as far as love and attachment for this game goes, I am casual. And worse than that I feel betrayed, misled and burnt. Not burnt out - there is still a lot I wanted to have done in this game - but burnt.

no, it's the same. and I have to say

I'm a little curious about this 384 heroic firelands gear. I had some 384 gear from normal Ragnaros but the heroic gear was all 391. And for the life of me I don't understand why you were paying more attention to DBM than the raid leader in vent/mumble/TS other than for one move and one move only - to know to start moving for the leap on heroic domo. If you were flying for heroic Alysrazor I could understand wanting some warning so you could land next to the rings, but other than that I'm not sure why not. As a dk it wasn't your job to hit the meteors on normal rag. For heroic Baleroc I can't think of one single use DBM had. For Beth'tilac and Shannox all the raid warnings were default and the others were pretty useless. I don't know. Out of the 105 addons I use personally a lot are actually for art, or for making the UI more functional to me personally and be the way I like it (spend years looking at hours a day at a screen and you get a little bored) and most are disabled and only on when I need them, and many are for things which don't exist in this game. But for this game a threat meter is an absolute must as far as I can see. Some groups have tanks holding aggro, others have trigger-happy dps's who seem to have no idea. And the tanks don't seem to realize they've lost the aggro, but when the dps's don't see any reason why they can't pull (yes, I understand there are puller classes in other games) and a fix is so simple I don't understand why it could be considered wrong. I say let Bioware take care of the game. Let players take care of things like UI and features which will never be universally wanted or welcomed or which can be personalized in a million ways yet essentially perform the same thing. They've created a default which is good enough for a lot of people to argue that it's exactly what they wanted and pretty much all they ever want. Edit: Bots are external programs run alongside the game and have nothing to do with addons. Here's one for you: No addons yet and no addon support yet i'm already constantly getting mail from gold-sellers. I thought addon's were to blame?

Well I guess I saw different trailers etc to you. And I disagree that I was delusional. Gullible, yes. Delusional, no. I heard what I heard and I saw what I saw. Anyone else remember "first ever MMO with SGR"? The words "next generation MMO"? I completely missed the part where they specifically said before launch that to them "next generation" means missing features which have been pretty standard in games made for pretty small budgets, some of which are free-to-play etc since before the game went into development. Was I hoping for something different? Yes, but at the end of the day I understand what an MMO is and that there are naturally some restrictions to uniqueness due to the nature of the genre, but I don't see how simply omitting content and features to be unique is a good thing. Silly, delusional me I believed for some reason I was going to experience a new take on the game and have such an extensive, well, everything, that it would be THAT which would blow other games out of the water. I just didn't see it coming - they thought a guild bank was a big deal and didn't consider it a standard launch feature. I could never have guessed that having about 3 times as many developers as pretty massive MMO's, exponentially larger budgets, so many games made by now to use as reference points with things like player behaviour and interaction with the game and other players etc and what works and what doesn't. Seems a little odd they designed it around a boutique small market niche and spent so much money on advertising it in a big way which implied they were chasing a mainstream MMO audience. oh, and story?

as a general rule when something is hitting that hard you're doing something wrong. Try looking up bosses after a wipe when you've noticed something odd like that. You'll rarely find misinformation on a website or strat guide. If you're really not confident and you know someone who's done the content ask them to come with you and teach you guys how to do it. I haven't done the fight personally, but it sounds like you're hitting an enrage timer. Which means having 2 tanks is an absolute no-no as the damage from 2 dps's is required. 2 tanks is more of an operations thing than a flashpoint.

That's right, I haven't found one yet. care to enlighten me? Another question. Say I have a key bound to mount up which if in combat I want to use as an ability. To do that requires macros. Is that particularly wrong? I get it. You're against SOME combat macros. But the rest you've provided no real argument for other than people should be playing baseball with the bat they're given. So do tell. Why should I have to go out and buy a custom keyboard specifically for gaming even so without macros I can have a properly functional and easy-to-use set-up with enough keys etc? Or official products in order to be able to use them properly? OK you really seem to like sports. So I'll stick with that. Steroids are like bots and credits sellers (especially heinous as they get the credits primarily through hacking accounts rather than the more mundane hacks which duplicate items which they sell in vast quantities). Hated. With a passion. Banned. Illegal. Macros are more like learning the rules, learning health and fitness techniques and training. Same as UI customization. Like specialized, targeted training (that's actually the purpose of a LOT of addons - to be temporary until you've learnt a skill you were a little weaker on). Like measures to care for the body, like preventing RSI/arthritis in gamers, or preventing dehydration in sportspeople. Like using fancy drinks which provide electrolytes etc as well as simple hydration. And those who take it more seriously or have pushed it to a higher level use fluids intravenously administered by medical staff as it's quicker than drinking it. Some say they feel it boosts their performance, others simply say it makes them feel better. All like it and feel it's better with it than simply drinking. Considering it's WATER but done in a different way, should it be illegal?

no it doesn't. It means you're clicking a button and nothing's happening and you're standing there looking like a right derp. Unless, as like you said, you configured who you target to cast Guard on and then remember to make the macro target your last target and you've remembered to make that the right one. You also realize you can't cast hostile combat actions on friendly players and if you're trying to cast a helpful spell on an enemy target it'll cast it on you and if that's a mistake will trigger a CD whether or not you meant to, right? If you've gone to all that effort before the start of the run to configure which party member to cast Guard on in a macro, then I can almost guarantee it's not the result of a mistake when it's used. And sorry, but if making mistakes like that is an issue, then no amount of macros in the world will help you out. Again. answer my questions please.

REALLY????? I think it's definitely far overdue they actually BUILT their API and macro functions and took a serious look at this

Once again, can you please answer this one simple question? How does it hurt your gaming experience whether I use a gaming mouse to play or a keyboard? Why is it that you've chosen to use a keyboard and so the rest of us have to do it your way? Why can I only use 4 buttons on my mouse when the entire keyboard is available to you? and even worse only 1 modifier? Why can I not use the same buttons/keys for heals? Newsflash - if the wrong thing is targetted SOMEONE WHO NEEDS A HEAL DOESN'T GET ONE. Yeah. There could very well be drastic consequences of that and get this - all the macros in the world didn't prevent it!!!! Why should that not be allowed? Or did you simply not realize that while doing missions etc healers actually dps as well as simply healing our companions? What is so wrong about being able to learn my binds and heal on mouseover and not lose a target? Let me guess, you're one of those people who would then scream at me for missing a boss cast when I didn't have him targeted and therefore had no way to know he was casting because I targeted a player so I could heal them. Is it too hard? No. It's too annoying. And got news for you - who do you think are the biggest users of exploitative macros you seem to think macros in general are? Do you really think they're people who are serious about the games they play? I think you've been grossly misinformed about who gamers are etc. So do tell. How is it justifiable that in order to have access to what are basic functions I have to buy official products? Yeah. lets go back to encounters like Ragnaros in Molten Core. loads of fun to be had there...

brb rolling an artificer

oh great so now to be able to play this game however you want you not only need to spend the money on the peripherals but you also need large hands??? i call bs and yeah, i've looked at many various keybinding maps people use while playing and yeah. not for me. and no offense, but if you ever actually used macros you would know that they can be liabilities just as they can be advantageous. I know if I was a Bioware employee answering to EA at the moment I'd be running scared about explaining all this and reasoning behind their design choices which are flagrantly the opposite of what the majority of people enjoy (or find a pain but still prefer using to not) and hoping to hook people who dislike them and repel the rest

would really hurt to keep watching those people who got it be the only ones who can make it. In other games even when something has been in-game for literally years before being removed people move on, don't play the character with it or delete that one, server swap, become people you don't talk to anymore etc and there will only be 1 or 2 people on the server at any given time who can make it then charge pretty much whatever they want for them. No matter how far this game progresses there will always be a demand for those crystals, even after other expansions come in and if it remains the only magenta crystal in the game. Even if for characters who will use them for a week or so, or will stop levelling and simply stand around in Fleet waving it around. It's not a recipe that should disappear, and if what you're saying the last thing artificers need is to miss out on pretty much the only thing which would make them credits. And are u sure there's no credits to be made from artifice? My color crystals sell for an absolute pittance yet I pay massive amounts for crystals. And implants is something else I buy. Guess I just have a bad shopping GTN habit or something

Why must people always be so vocal about opposing something they don't understand?

Uhh, no. It was kind of marketed as an MMO WITH the X-Feature which would be a major drawcard and something new and fantastic, not as one with X-Feature and the rest being seen as an afterthought or something to oppose. I believe the words were "Next-gen MMO". I for one thought with this massive budget, LucasArts and Bioware being involved it would be that MMO for one thing including what is expected in an MMO and the absolutely MASSIVE budget which makers of MMO's can only dream of and can barely even comprehend would allow the inclusion of X-Feature which is generally given as the reason why others can't. Yet so far I've seen a lot of X-Feature which would be the next-gen but I haven't found the MMO part of the claim. And yeah, I was in it for the "it's a Star Wars MMO" and VO's were ONE single feature. And strangely enough, for many actually was something to laugh about how in this game it took so long to pick up a mission which was balanced out by how few there are and how quick levelling is.

as the devs have made very clear and many posters have also made very clear and defend is that this game is marketed to casuals who are not used to playing MMO's or are and despise end-game or anything which implies difficulty/simplification or elitism. What Bioware may not realise is that to keep casual players happy (but really, by omitting essential components of a game???) an INCREDIBLE amount of work goes into it. These people want endless mission hubs with rewards. They want each and every thing they do improved upon and tailored to suit them. They want endless amounts of game features many players don't even think about or use. They want vast amounts of variety in armour and customisation and aesthetically pleasing features. They want vast, vast quantities of different things to collect and see and do. Deliver, and they'll never, ever be satisfied no matter how impressive it is. So far this forum has shown me one thing - SWTOR fans are willing to take this even further to beyond believable extents - they want all this included TO THE EXCLUSION OF THE COMBAT AND COMPETITIVE side of MMO's. And what does that mean? No game as such to be made. They're not happy to have it in-game as something that exists but is not what they're interested in personally. They even trash people for asking for essential features being added. And for all this, what they tend to be looking for is not unique to MMO's much less this one. Now here's the kicker. Bioware, if they continue this game as marketing it as what would be the first ever casual MMO in history (Titan will be casual in terms of time-investment required by players), will discover one heart-breaking fact: These players once they've subbed and seen the content and done a month or 2 and achieved what they set out to do unsub and move onto their other game or their real-life which doesn't allow time for an MMORPG in a serious context. They don't stay subbed consistently as they aren't interested in what to more hardcore players take months and months to achieve. They don't log on every day and spend hours grinding to improve their character to be able to do the true end-game content which should demands commitment. To most MMO players you don't just unsub and resub etc. Casuals DO. Yes, guilds take breaks in between tiers SOMETIMES. However these breaks are normally only a month or 2. It took that long for them to do what they wanted to to in that content patch and that's all there is time for until the next patch and they generally won't unsub. Casuals? They'll sub for a months or 2. Then unsub and you'll see them again 6 months later when there's new content. When the actual game devs tell you straight out that this sort of mentality "creates entry barriers for casual players" and therefore isn't to be encouraged who do you lose? People looking for an MMO to be their next big time-sink and love. People who will be posting all over the net vids of their latest and greatest kill which will either impress/inspire/spark reactions of "so what that's easy" etc and in other words expand the game to beyond in-game to the gaming community. Word spreads that it's a hot GAME. And on top of that you can use light-sabers and play an MMO based on the movies you watched over and over again. Tell someone about a new game coming out first reaction before graphics is mentioned is "what's it like to play? how's the playability? is it what I'm looking for?". In the case of SWTOR it's like "cool concept. what's the game like to play?" Also "Bioware's making it? How awesome is that? These people know games" only to find, no, that's not really what they've done after all that, and they don't intend to take this direction at all. I'd love to know who had been advising them about MMO's in general and what they should or shouldn't be doing. Because so far their thoughts have been absolutely and completely off the mark. Also, player mentality. People who scream about "if you don't like it unsub" tend to be casuals. More hardcore players who are committed to the game and consider the sub as important as an electricity bill tend to be the players who will help you try to understand or explain how you can do something better. And then these casuals scream about "community" and how hardcores wreck the game.

OK so what is there for max-level characters that isn't end-game? Collecting datacrons. Is there anything else? Anything interesting I might have missed while levelling and I really should go back and collect/experience it? Any missions tied to unique non-combat rewards? I've found one speeder as a reward for dailies. Any factions you can get rep with for rewards or a codex entry? In other words, do I have anything at all to work to beyond grinding flashpoints to get social level 2 for a slave-girl outfit? I've tried to make other characters. Yes, the starting planets are different and the class stories are different and your companions are different ones. But the vast, vast majority of the content from 1-50 is EXACTLY THE SAME. So no. It does not feel like a completely new experience. And of these 800,000 are paying customers who aren't on trial accounts.

This. This this and this. Honestly, they should be included in the game as part of a package you buy. Like they bought a whole load of them at bargain basement prices and as a gift for buying the game you get the complete package you need to make the game closer to being complete instead of them actually doing the work to include them in the game like a sort of deal where Razer is a sub-contractor. Like a "OK so we won't include them in the game itself but here's something you'll like better - we hope. A brand new SWTOR mouse and keyboard". And as a standard feature and not a promotion.

This is pretty interesting to me because most of the hard-core raiding players I've ran with have had ridiculously high numbers of achievements, collected pretty much every collectable in-game, maxed out professions/crew skills, titles etc proving they'd done nearly every quest/mission in the game etc. In other words working on finishing an MMO before content gets removed/nerfed/diluted. Many on more than 1 character. I guess most of them simply have a big baddy that we're preparing to fight and it's one that no single player on their own could take down. And what's important to the story that at least someone actually beat that baddy so the story makes sense when it continues as a new tier/expansion comes out. Even if you didn't personally. In this game, it feels like I've fought to 50. Now what? I'm this incredibly powerful being in a galaxy where there is so much conflict and so much work that someone needs to do something about. And as level 50's we're supposed to be the best, or among the best in the galaxy. So now what? park toon and do it all over on another one and wait until another content patch comes out that I get called up to do something about? When that day happens what would my first mission dialogue be? To be accurate it would probably have to be something like "Well I hope you enjoyed your 18month/2year holiday but your services are required once more". Because without focus on end-game content that's what it would be. Character progression and story progression should not stop just because you reach max level. Time-wise? About a month to level. How long actively playing after that? Hopefully years and years.

that's some skill u got going there

And the best way is the one you're best at. Yes, in the world solo is a great time to learn a new playstyle. But when it matters the one you're best at and are able to be flexible according to what is needed when it is will always be the best regardless well we would if we could, anyway. for some reason keybinding to gaming mice other than Naga's doesn't work properly and it only recognizes 3 buttons and not modifiers bad bioware very very bad (although it stinks of EA)

and like your others a good one It won't be anywhere as good as a good group of players so once the LFG system comes in for pve it will never be too many people's first preference (especially if it means gearing them all up), but doing something is better than nothing and we have these companions so why not use them?

Is there a realm clock? I can't find one, and neither can a few other people. At the moment planning events and setting the time has been more than a little umm, involved. So if there is one, can someone please tell me how to find it? If not, consider this a suggestion for the game.

I think to attract and keep long-term players in the numbers needed to make an MMO viable without sacrificing features within and aspects of gamers people are used to they are going to need a bigger budget to pull it off. More like a larger investment and a parent company willing to hand over the $$ no questions asked and no strings attached. The payoff could be massive, but not without a price. VO's alone will attract and retain people - for a while, I can't lie about that. But once people have completed the storylines and are no longer doing new missions and going through new stories how much of an attraction will VO's be? Levelling in an MMO is such a short time most people when judging a game don't even think about the levelling process and reserve all judgements for max-level, and each and every opinion related to the game while you level is literally "hmm, I wonder what it will be like playing at max-level with/without this?". I mean, don't get me wrong, the sub-max level is the first look at a game new players will ever see unless they've looked the game up before trialling/buying, so it can't ever be neglected. It just felt to me that each and every single mission no matter how trivial came with a long story rather than a couple of sentences, and after listening to what's being told to you you're expecting a pretty major mission which seemed like the start of an important chain-mission. Only to read the log, see how trivial it is, turn it in and that be it. As of yet I haven't found anything else to do in this game besides pvp dailies and Belsavis daily missions and levelling alts, which doesn't really count. What do you do? I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious, by the way. I for one would love to see the double-sunset of Tatooine. You know how some planets have multiple moons? I would love to be able to look up into the sky and see that. Coruscant at night with lights? That could be amazing. Same as Corelia. Those giant cannons firing at night? yes please. Taris at night complete with bugs and crickets and beasts in the night sounds? I would like that. And I don't care if daytime cinematics look out of place. Not everything needs to be perfect - just polished. At the moment everything seems shiny but incredibly raw, even for a launch. And snow on Hoth? Of course the pristine clarity looks stunning, and hopefully it would stop snowing, but no snow on Hoth other than what's on the ground ever, just seems wrong. Things like snow and rain etc could affect performance and could be technical restrictions for both server and client-side unless the coding's tight, but things like night and day wouldn't be.

I have to say I'm still not understanding why they gated the release of the game based on country in the first place. My ticketed response was something about "maintaining the integrity of the servers" with no explanation whatsoever holding back on the release for people not living in the Americas or Europe would lead to more quality servers. Usually when new servers are opened up server transfers are free and not just for in the case of special servers like in a new location, like this scenario, for one specific reason alone - TO have max level characters on the server. So it isn't a server with credit-starved people meaning crafting professions and even gathering professions are pointless as no-one can afford to buy what you're crafting. Even when a game is properly developed at launch, or at the very beginning of an expansion, people will always do it far harder than people who begin playing later on or catch up a couple of weeks later for this very reason. So considering how false and how different this is to what any other MMO's do I don't think this would be the reason. A wide, varied community is generally considered healthy and flourishing. It's not a good marketing strategy to force people to have to start all over again without their mains and wait until they can have them all on the same server. Yes, some people do like to have characters on different servers, but this is something which should be purely individual and not due to the game itself other than exceeding character limit on a server. Because it's so much harder.

We need guild banks where people can donate items and credits, but I don't like compulsory donations. Generally whatever I put into the guild bank I'm putting in there because I think it could help people who need it, or who are friends I would also trade the items to instead. Call me selfish or whatever, but its an idea that kind of makes being in a guild a disadvantage. They need to make being in a guild an advantage for players, not the other way around.