Wow, so many replies. Here I thought I'd drop this in the suggestion box and it'd eventually find its lonely way to page 2. Of course you're right, UlaVii, that people with multiple characters in the guild could still withdraw the maximum with all of them. The solution I proposed and the variant by DarkTergon - also a good idea, simply letting you port with credits out of your own inventory after the guild allotment is used up - merely serves to allow GMs to keep that limit as low as possible without inconveniencing people. To the end of protecting the guild bank, I actually like DarkTergon's solution better than mine if it means you could set the allotment to 0 and people could still port using their own credits, just completely disconnecting the guild bank from the teleport mechanic or at least having that option.

This is an issue I've come across in several guilds, especially large ones where you don't know everyone personally, which is them not wanting to give a high credit allotment per week out of fear that members will empty the guild bank too quickly and not pay back into it. Only having 1-2 (or no) ports per week is very annoying for players who don't mind paying for their own ports, but don't want to have all characters in a private guild just for that purpose. To fix this, why not allow credits people pay into the guild bank go to refilling their weekly credit allotment? So say the GM allows 20k/week (one port), you use it, go to the guild bank, pay 20k in, now you have another port that week and can do that as often as you'd like for "unlimited" ports so long as you have the credits.

I agree with the OP. Choice in how you want your own character to interact with others, including going so far as killing them, feels like a good thing - after all, how can choice in an RPG be bad? - but it burns too many bridges. Once they've offered a kill option for a companion, that companion can no longer play a pivotal role in the story, keeping in mind that the devs no longer have the resources for multiple alternate storylines. One Rep story, one Imp story, both very static with at most a few L/D choices that change a couple lines and a bonus mission here and there is the most we can hope for anymore. Even in games with far more resources devoted to alternate storylines, like Mass Effect, you still have the issue of characters you could have killed off earlier at most making an appearance while the story progresses, but they're not a part of the story in a meaningful way. If they no longer fit into a story made for everyone, you can be 99.9% sure they'll never be back except for maybe a voice line here and there if we're lucky. That's why I'm always sad to see an option to kill a companion I find interesting, even if they were controversial, because it means that even if I leave them alive their story arc is essentially over and they'll just be another in an ever-growing list of combat companions.

Eh, I don't find the event that bad. Remember that swoop bike you ride for the Ziost daily? Yeah, that's how low my expectations were for this event in terms of the sporadic position updating and (clientside appearance of) lagging around. In that respect I wasn't disappointed, but I can feel for those who expected something more polished like GSF and were let down. I enjoy the event for what it is, grabbed all the perfect achievements that aren't bugged, and will go for legend with all 3 factions because I value being at legend with every faction. Is it something I'll do just for fun after that? Probably not, but it's still something different to do for a while. What's missing is a track on Taris right on top of the old swoop track from KotOR. That whole area would make a neat swoop track anyway, even without the nostalgia factor. If anything bothers me about it, it's how it invades with huge eyesores maps that would otherwise be used for story questing or dailies and ruins their atmosphere. Can't really compare it to events like Gree or Pirates because those occupy otherwise-empty maps designed for them and only them, and you don't even notice the bounty event if you don't know what you're looking for. Some way to go to a "story" or "non-event" instance would be cool, but honestly, they've never offered that possibility before and it's a pretty small grievance in the grand scheme of things. *shrug*

Wait, there's a mount with 15% damage reduction? That sounds like a pretty awesome defensive "cooldown" for stealth classes, at least on bosses in areas where mounting is possible.

Multi-kill in PvP with Carbonize has to be the best. Only happened once, and it wasn't planned, but nothing beats the reactions you get after that.

Having now experienced the changes for a couple weeks, what I find the most unfortunate side-effect of the change is that the only thing that counts anymore for conquest is sheer number of players in a guild. I've joined several conquest guilds in an effort to get that elusive "Conqueror of the Galaxy" title, and what's happened since the patch hit is striking. Before, mass guilds were still advantaged but didn't necessarily always win. In fact, the most successful conquest guild on my server was so despite maintaining standards in the players they invited, requiring a written application and a conversation with a guild recruiter, and they still managed to be on top despite somewhat lower numbers because of organization and constant conquest-related guild events. That created a sense of community that I never expected out of a conquest guild. Now, the only thing that counts is mass - pure body count and nothing else. The guilds that have moved into the "most successful at conquest" role are those that invite everything that moves on Korriban, Hutta, and Dromund Kaas, and have no sense of community at all outside of a very small core. Everyone else is just there to pad the numbers, and half just turn guild chat off to avoid the people writing inane nonsense turning guild chat into fleet chat. The changes are mostly good for people just trying to reach their conquest goals as a small guild, there's no denying that, and they're in the majority. It's just sad what you have to do to win conquests reliably as a guild now.

I played TSW for years. Most awesome story of any MMO out there with some amazing riddles and puzzle quests that don't baby you with marks on the map like most MMOs do. You have to figure them out or consult a guide the old-fashioned way. Unfortunately with the game's re-release as Secret World Legends they dumbed down the combat and build system (which is half of what made the game good) and made gearing pay-to-win. If all you care about is story and the quests, Legends is literally the exact same game in terms of graphics, maps, dungeons, and story, although parts of the original endgame still have yet to be implemented. My recommendation is that if you want to play TSW seriously and can find an old account for sale, buy one. Existing accounts that bought the original buy-to-play game can still play it, but you can no longer buy it new. If you just want to experience the story and the amazing puzzle quests and don't care about gearing or endgame, get the F2P Legends instead. Sorry @OP for off-topic reply, but he asked.

Can't speak for anyone else, but when I go to all the trouble of re-leveling and -gearing everything I want it to be good for a while. The primary enjoyment I still get out of this game is raiding, and being forced to re-grind everything comes like a big gut-punch every time because of how many boring hours of mind-numbing activities will be required just so I can keep raiding the exact same content at the same difficulty level. Been there, done that several times. Besides, bringing new content doesn't have to mean a new expansion. They can gladly take 3-5 years between level-ups and max gear score increases as far as I'm concerned. New FPs, raids, etc are always welcome, though.

I haven't played PvP since cross-faction came out, but from the numbers you're quoting it sounds to me like the PvP trauma debuff has finally outlived its usefulness. Without the inherent 30% healing received debuff, healers would be putting out 14k/0.7=20k HPS, making them as useful as a DD. That would be the simple solution and would solve the immediate problem of having healers and DDs put out equal numbers. The real solution is to finally balance the game separately for PvP so that they can tweak numbers in PvP without breaking something in PvE like they do nearly every balance patch, but I've given up hope of them ever putting in that kind of effort at this point.

Yes, I've let this thread get far too derailed and finally had to block that guy. Sorry about that, won't happen anymore. What's important is that they absolutely need to reconsider what these changes, ultimately directed at healers, are doing to a very average-parsing DPS class. I'm not opposed to them nerfing the set and by default making Apex Predator viable for Arsenal, but then the DPS specs need compensatory buffs to keep them from being the lowest-parsing DDs by a solid margin. The healer tactical nerf is pretty strong (and necessary) already even without touching the set, so hopefully they can find one way or another to make sure this nerf only hits the one spec it needs to.

This is what's on the PTS currently. They're nerfing the Concentrated Fire set in an effort to bring the Commando/Merc healer in line with the other two, and in so doing are indirectly nerfing both DD specs, which were middle of the pack at best. The hope is that they see the unintentional effects of their nerf and give DDs something to balance this out. If they have to swing the nerf hammer, they should at least hit the right target and not everything else nearby. Ad hominem assumes I'm deflecting by focusing on you rather than answering an argument, and that would require you to actually have made a substantive argument. There is nothing to be gained from arguing with someone who's willfully ignorant of what they're doing to the class (or just doesn't care) and insists on dwelling upon style and technicalities as though it were a graded classroom debate, not to mention now resorting to insults. I'm through speaking with you as this is leading nowhere and will only derail the topic further. I only replied to you to begin with because of how disrespectful you were to the OP. If you actually care about seeing the numbers, go to the PTS and parse and you'll see exactly what's happening. If not, don't. I no longer care.

Having multiple sets all augmented and with best-in-slot mods etc sitting around is definitely an advantage for classes like Sniper IMO, but in the already most expensive expansion of all time going through the expense of basically gearing a whole new class for limited payoff is too much for most players. It's a nice idea being held back by the sheer expense of it. That said, I agree with you about Apex Predator being interesting with the coming set nerf for Mercs. Operative DD is the only one I haven't played in 6.x, so can't comment there. Sadly it appears Merc DDs are getting thrown into the dumpster in an effort to nerf healers, but if they get some compensatory buff to make up for the set nerf then I can see Arsenal Mercs switching to Apex. I've been playing my AP PT with Veteran Ranger since the latest buff and have to say that's one thing they did right. It could still use a slight buff, but there's no single-target DPS check you could pass with Meteor Brawler that wouldn't now be possible with VR. So it appears they're moving in the right direction to make "play your way" a reality for some classes, just very, very slowly.

So you take an entire statement and discount it on the basis of a single word? From your last 3 posts I'm starting to get a picture of how you "debate," and it all has to do with evading the actual topic of the discussion by attacking the style of the person making the point. Almost like you're scared of actual substantive discourse. If that sounds overly harsh, it's meant to - we're here to discuss the game and air our concerns about it, not pass an exam in debate class where we're graded on prose style more than subject matter. DPS performance is an objective measure and not a matter of opinion, and we already have preliminary parses from the PTS. In that sense, "clearly" is directed at people who've actually bothered to parse or look at the numbers and inform themselves beforehand. The current Merc top parse is 23.8k (Arsenal) and 23.7k (IO). Average parses are 500-1k lower, as top parses are just pure crit luck. The very top parse is just over 24k and the lowest per class are around 23k for reference. That puts them very much in the middle of the pack. Check Parsely for verification. Very good Merc DDs have been parsing on the PTS (I've watched one of them in a parse group who regularly parses for 22.5-23k without crit luck), and average DPS numbers have decreased by 1.5-3k(!), putting both Merc specs at least 1.5k below a pack of specs/classes currently parsing fairly close to one another. So, sorry I offended your sensibilities with a word or by having a different style of argument than you, but this is a near-existential crisis for Merc DDs considering how long it takes between patches. Based on past balance patch frequency, they're unlikely to get any love for 6+ months if this nerf - which isn't even directed at them - goes through. There's a difference between parsing a few percent lower than the rest and being completely unable to pass certain DPS checks, thus unusable in NiM raids, which is what I fear if even their top parse dips below 22k at lv75, leaving actual DPS closer to 21k if not below. I hope the preliminary parses turn out to be mistaken, and perhaps with Apex Predator Arsenal will go back up a bit, but that still leaves IO with no set to turn to. The point of threads like this is to inform them how their Healer nerf has unintended consequences and that they should make changes to correct those before it goes live. This is very non-controversial; you were just trying to discount the OP's (and now my) entire argument based on stylistic differences and it's really beneath you. Or maybe it isn't, what do I know. Anyway, that was far more in-depth than I wanted to go in a discussion the OP already has firmly under control. My original point is, people should answer substantively or not at all; a poster's style is not indicative of the strength or weakness of their argument.

So the OP used some phrases other posters have used when their classes were in the dumpster. Oh, the horror. If I'm hungry, I'm going to use words similar to someone else who's hungry. It's called use of language. If we didn't use similar words and phrases to voice similar concerns, we wouldn't be able to understand each other at all. The OP was very specific about what the devs are doing and why it needs to be corrected. People in the hardcore raid scene have been disgusted by how OP Merc healers are since 6.0 dropped, and they're finally getting a needed nerf in a manner that also directly nerfs both DD specs which are currently very average in their performance. Average is a good thing, incidentally. In an ideal world, all specs would be "average," because it means they'd all be perfectly balanced. The nerfs will make them clearly the worst performing DDs in the game, which is unwarranted. What the OP is clearly not doing is "whining" because his class isn't parsing at the top, so I suggest you find a better use for that straw man elsewhere. Like every other bad thing in the world, the fact that it's inevitable that perfect balance will not be attained is just that: an unfortunate fact, not the ultimate goal nor an excuse to dismiss legitimate criticism for not trying to at least achieve some semblance of balance. If Merc DDs are overperforming, by all means nerf them, but when they're already struggling they don't need to be collateral damage in a nerf not intended for them.

I had this impression the moment I saw the current BiS Sniper set on the PTS. It feels like it was balanced on the training dummy with no consideration for either a) the fact that making a powerful defensive CD into an offensive CD inherently weakens it as a defensive, and b) that punishing players of the already most immobile class in the game even further for moving in a game riddled with boss mechanics that require you to move (even with 60% AoE damage reduction) is an extraordinarily bad idea. At the very least I think the stacks should remain if you stand up and sit back down. By contrast, the set that punishes Snipers the least for standing up and actually encourages proper use of their cooldowns (off CDs offensively and def CDs defensively) and allows for playing mechanics correctly without huge DPS loss - the Laze Target set - is never used because it parses too low on the training dummy.

In some ways it's better, in others it's worse. Overall I like the new gearing system, though, especially after starting to play WoW again on the side - things are much better here. That said, I think anyone who supports or opposes every single change made in 6.0 gearing is not being entirely honest with him-/herself, because the changes went in very different directions in terms of accessability. The good: What I really like about the system is that I always favored a gear-free, purely skill-based system. Only once gear is made a non-factor can you have a truly skill-based game where a new player signs up for an op and knows, if he gets out-DPSed by a veteran player, that it's because the veteran just played better and not because he grinded more or had access to gear the new player could never hope to get his hands on. That's a good thing! Locking gear behind NiM ops was always a double-edged sword: those who could get it didn't need it and later always complained the content was too easy because they were BiS and the bosses were tuned for less, while those who needed it to clear the content had no way of ever getting it. I'm glad that's long gone and that everyone can now get good gear - players are now only held back in end-game content by their own experience and skill, and that's how it should be. Also, alt-friendliness. A very good thing! No more farming left sides for 50 characters. The bad: insanely, obscenely expensive credit-wise. Never before did we have an expansion that cost this much, even adjusted for inflation. Far from solving the overinflation problem after the big credit exploit, the current gearing system serves only as a game-money paywall keeping new players from achieving best-in-slot gear while barely putting a dent in the accounts of people who've been making and saving credits for years (or who exploited back then). My guild often jokes about BioWare getting a kickback from credit sellers being the reason for the new system. While I don't think that's actually the case (who knows?), it illustrates how bad it's gotten that people would even think that. Also, "play your way" was a lie, especially for DPS: Of all the sets out there, they only balance specs around one set and tactical which are widely regarded as best-in-slot. There are a very few exceptions where you have a choice between two within a couple percent DPS performance of one another, but even then there's usually one regarded as "the best." They haven't even tried to make the others viable with one sole exception (Veteran Ranger). The only place they got it right was for tanks, where sets have different strengths and weaknesses and you can even optimize your performance by switching them out from boss to boss if you so choose. That, however, leads us to... The ugly: One thing any gearing system should always strive toward is equity in time and resource investment so that no one or two classes are unduly burdened while others get gear relatively easily. Unfortunately, with the Dxun HM and upcoming Dxun NiM sets not only are they going full-on regressive in terms of gating their gear behind content not everyone can do, it's also heavily RNG, the sets drop really rarely, and they're absolutely essential for certain classes just to compete for a slot against others in a raid group. Currently, PT tanks are most affected, being completely non-viable in Gods NiM without their Dxun set, but Jugg tanks will be even worse off come the next major patch because they're currently a bit behind the other two in terms of viability and are finally getting the buff they need... but in the form of a set only available in Dxun NiM or by dropping tens of millions of credits at the Kai Zykken slot machine. So while I ultimately like the changes and certainly would not want it to go back to pre-6.0 (and no Ossus ever again, please), they have a long way to go and are making questionable decisions on how they implement new gear sets that are non-optional for some classes because they come in lieu of much-needed buffs.

That, or some way to still influence how your character decided on things in the story when you skip. I mean, the skip assumes that you already know the KotFE/KotET story, so give a dialogue decision to either accept default decisions or make important decisions yourself. Upon choosing the latter, have a brief recap of each situation, and give the player another dialogue decision for what that character did in the situation. There aren't that many that influence the post-KotET story, so it would be optional and fairly short. Probably will never get implemented, meaning most of my characters can/will never skip and be stuck eternally in pre-KotFE because I never have any interest in doing chapters when it comes down to it, but a guy can dream.

I feel sorry for everyone who wasn't there during the Ossus craze, because the 25-kill achievements will be really difficult now. You want a full open-world raid group (24) to beat them with a random group safely, which makes it all the harder now that they're no longer being run multiple times daily. The bosses also drop ultra-rare gold-rimmed decorations that you were lucky to get even back when they were run constantly. Now they're pretty much unobtainable. All I can suggest is waiting for the WBs to be up as a conquest reward and building the groups yourself if no one else does. Be sure to post that it's for conquest to potentially get more takers. If you're on Tulak Hord I'd be glad to tank them for you - I'd love more chances at those decos.

I play with a constant 140-160 ping and have never experienced a wipe based on my ping that I couldn't have compensated for by anticipating the mechanic or just reacting more quickly. That's not to say I haven't died to voids when it looks like I'm 5 meters outside of them before, but those were all preventable deaths even with the ping and thus my own fault. All mechanics in the game have enough tolerance that up to 200-250 ms ping isn't going to kill you so long as you're aware of it and compensate for it. You just have a bit less time to react to things, that's all.

Definitely, being able to buy the end-game gear from every expansion would be awesome, and not just for the stats while leveling - having them available for optical use would be amazing! I don't find the Ossus gear a complete waste at 70, but it's definitely too late to be really helpful. At least at that point you can enter an SM raid (another thing I wish they'd change back to pre-6.0 when it was lv50!) and should be 75 well before the sellback timer runs out.

The drop chance is absurdly low out of those crates. I've opened hundreds since the set was implemented and have seen a single piece drop in that way. I know people who've opened more and haven't even seen that. The most reliable way to get it any time soon (soon = within a month) is to run Dxun weekly with multiple PTs and supplement that with Kai Zykken. But the real travesty here isn't even the drop rate: it's the inequality in the amount of work different classes have to do to get their BiS gear. When one or two classes require an order of magnitude more time and effort than the others to get equivalent gear to remain competitive, the game has a real problem. I just hope they fix it soon, and not 3 months before the next expac drops (if we ever get one).

As soon as you hit 70, travel to Ossus and buy the old 5.0 gear. It's really cheap now - 20k per slot for 252 and an optional additional 30k per slot for 258. I'd just buy the ilvl 252 gear - if you make it to 75 fast enough you can sell it back for full price, and if not it's a miniscule loss. If you buy the 258 gear, you can only recoup part of the total 50k investment per slot via sellback; 30k sellback plus the value of selling the 252 gear to the vendor normally.

I have a good guild, and enjoy raiding with them. I never meant to suggest otherwise if you took that away from my closing statement. An internal guild group doesn't need ML, I agree, and for that I love internal groups, but they don't raid every night, and the way they made the current loot system you have to raid constantly for weeks to get the gear you need if you're dependent on a Dxun set. It's a lot worse than killing Dreadtooth quickly for a mask. Unless you have a group that will spend every other evening for a month just farming your set with you, which very few will have, you're out of luck. But you do bring up the point that your internal group will prioritize what people need, and that that's an inherently good thing. I'm glad we at least agree that far, that not everyone's need of certain drops is equal. I just apply it to PuGs as well when it involves vital rare drops for classes that can't perform without. Everyone who joins a Dxun PuG I lead is informed of ML from the beginning and of the reason for it. If they don't like it, they are free to leave. That's not a dictatorship, which is where people are coerced into something and prevented from opting out. Some do leave. Some grumble but accept it. Most understand because of how incredibly bad the system is right now for PTs. EDIT: I'll make one final reply in the form of an edit that won't bump the topic, as I tire of this conversation and would just as soon it end as it's leading nowhere. It's clear that my opponent has no qualms about denying others the ability to play the game at all (in the case of PTs/Juggs) in favor of the ability for greedy people to steal gear away to equip their umpteenth alts, complete a collection, or do whatever else it is they want to with gear someone else desperately needs just to be viable with their main class. People with such views are a case in point as to why I run ML. If you need a particular set and know it in advance, just inform the group and the master looter. I've never experienced one single ML who has ever restricted access to a drop because someone logged onto what's needed for the group. I think because you drop ML groups out of hand that you have no idea what actually goes into the decisions an ML makes. It's usually as simple as just saying you need it in voice chat and rolling, which on its face is very similar to "need," but people just click "need" for everything whereas with an opt-in where you have to declare to the group that you need it, people only tend to roll who actually need it. That's the extent of most ML loot rolls. It only gets more restrictive when dealing with rare sets and there's someone in the group who's really searching for it vs. opportunistic people who just see it and think they want it for their third alt. I'm amused, though, that after you called me an egotistical dictator for using ML to enforce a fair loot distribution on a voluntary basis, where I make it clear in the beginning what the loot rule is and everyone has a chance to leave, that you now come out in favor of doing away with ML entirely. You are the one attempting to force all groups, even ones you don't join, to acquiesce to your way of thinking with no alternative. Even my solution of class-restricted drops as the default loot system would have alternatives because the ops leader could change it at will, but no, you want everyone to have to do it your way. ML is merely the quintessential opt-out of the default loot system to give players more control where the system fails. It's an unfortunate state of affairs when anyone feels the need to use it, but that's the system they gave us. The real solution is to make all sets obtainable from the class vendors, but we're not there yet.

Disallowing them from rolling on stuff they don't need is not an injustice, we see that very differenty. If something drops that their current or main class can use and they want it, or if no one objects for any reason, they have every right to roll for it. Every player in a group has just as much chance as everyone else to have something drop that they can use, and they'll be prioritized for that drop when it does if they need it. What I use ML for is to correct an inherent injustice in the system: that certain classes are put at a disadvantage by being forced to farm rare RNG sets just to be baseline viable to play. They put in a lot of time and effort to farm them, and to have that taken away by someone who mains something else and feels like taking it "just because," that's not okay. On a different but vitally similar topic, I wonder, do you believe that, in society, government aid or the resources of a charity should be distributed equally to everybody regardless of need? Divide whatever the welfare budget for the US is by 300 million and give everyone an even slice for example, rich and poor alike? Or would you prefer to have some set of criteria to determine need so that those limited resources go to those who need them most? Clearly it's more important than loot rules in an MMO, but it speaks to the same basic principle. Just about every society has come up with a way to divvy up limited resources based on need, and you don't go around calling those who make those decisions egotists, yet they're literally playing with peoples' livelihoods. Or maybe you do, I don't know. I call it a necessary evil to deal with the fact that resources are limited and people are greedy, and the same applies on a lesser scale to rare loot without which some people can't even compete in the game. "To each according to their need." If you think that anyone who is passionate about a cause to the point of opposing others only does so due to ego, you must think every activist on Earth is an egotist. Yet you also have a view on the subject, and would go so far as to quit the group and potentially deny the other 7 the ability to run the op just because you didn't get your way. I see no problem with you doing that, it's your right, but it's no less "egotistical" than insisting on a different loot distribution system. You think your system is more justified, I see it very differently, but ultimately it comes down to the arguments behind the systems; the people behind them and their "egos" are irrelevant. I'm just pointing out a bit of hypocrisy there. Now let's leave the ad hominem arguments behind us. You don't want to hear about ethics from me? Great, we can end this any time you'd like, that's up to you. By continuing to respond to me you indicate an interest in further discussion. Ethics was my minor, so it's a subject I can spend all day on. I'm far from the only player to utilize master looter, will not be the last, and certainly will not stop doing so (only in Dxun) until we get a new loot system. If that's not for you, don't join my groups. It's really that simple. Based on the beliefs you've espoused in this thread, it's better we not raid together anyway. I'm not preventing you from doing it however you'd like and am happy for you if you've found a guild that wants to do it your way. I'd never want to be a PT or Jugg tank in your guild, but I don't have to. Win-win.