Source of your fake news? I'm pretty sure Zenimax don't make the exact revenue figures public like EA do however last year they announced they'd sold at least 8.5 million copies of the game and 1.5 million of that between 2016 & 2017. While that doesn't equal logins or ESO plus that does mean a lot of people possibly using the in game crown store on top of the revenue from the game purchase itself. The problem with the sub only model is when you are shopping for a MMO to play long term the issue is this, a six year old MMO with a very uncertain future isn't worth £90 a year they want when you can get very similar 'fresh' MMO's or other massive multiplayer games for much less as a one time purchase & without major limitations. It's kind of like asking for premium price of a game when it should be in the bargain bin, not to say the game shouldn't make money but it needs to go a different way from beating the standard subscription dead horse. It doesn't have to be a full F2P model either how about a F2P premium annual add on that lifts some of the restrictions but at greater value than a sub or even something tied to EA/Origin access?

Never mind the fact that there's newer MMO's & other large multiplayer games out that everyone else is playing & don't require a subscription, lets all dump £8.99 a month on a 6-7 year old MMO that flopped and lost most of the player base within the first year (which has already been through 'two' lots of server merges)... The masses are ought to come back aren't they? Especially after the adding of even more restrictions & paywalls than there were since 2 years ago. It's really encouraging to those coming back having to pay the sub fee before they can even fart around with heroics or flashpoints at endgame without it being a pointless exercise.

Yes Bioware need to stop treating F2P as a stain on the games existence and embrace it, come up with a model that's fair rather than locking entire endgame behind a paywall. Other F2P games do this via progression rates i.e. not getting loot or levels as fast as subscribers and with the command system they could easily implement a system like this where F2P get much lower amounts of CXP than a sub (say 20%) as well as restrictions on legendary token drops from bosses. That would make a massive benefit to still sub while allowing F2P players to populate endgame. That's all they really need to do to keep this game relevant, the sub only model is a bit too much of a sting to those who feel this game died years ago... wasn't that why F2P was introduced in the first place?

Of course traditional style MMO's are still going to still be in demand but that doesn't mean they won't take a hit from new ideas. The thing with WoW while it's numbers have declined over the years it's still a massive beast for any promising game to attempt to slay, SWTOR on the other hand is a bit like a weak sacrificial lamb tied to a pole especially when you got EA themselves making moves against it. Not saying one big game will come out and everybody will suddenly migrate to it leaving SWTOR empty but there are at least 3 potential open world multiplayer RPG's on the horizon which are going to trim the player base a piece at a time, much like we've seen over the years with any fresh new title getting released but this games in a more fragile state to take the knocks.

There has to be comprises somewhere and I say instead of running around solo killing trash mobs for Lana Beniko like with the last 15 levels why not have an expansion that focuses the story arcs through to group content itself? I mean for the amount of effort they put into the eternal throne chapters we could of had a dozen operations that also have half decent story arcs behind them. It's not the question of having resources but how they use them. I know they usually start developing stuff months/years ahead but people have been screaming for more group content for near eternity yet we only get ops in blips. I fear swtor is about to become the next galaxies, traditional MMO's are starting to lose popularity to both MOBA's & the Division/Destiny style online games. So many prospective games are getting released even from Bioware themselves with Anthem, a Star Wars game from EA Visceral next year as well as Destiny 2 in October (beta's like ten days away) it's going to be hard to see this game hang on to it's numbers after that. The only way it can possibly survive all that is with a strong F2P model as well as fresh content regularly, massive changes needed from the current direction.

Things they could of done/do differently: 1/ Introduce a new PvE/PvP GC pass that enables F2P players already at level 70 to access the command center, enter content and earn CXP but at a much reduced rate. This would keep the players around who don't think the sub is worth it anymore after the initial expansion period while still allow Bioware to earn money from them through the cartel market via paying customers. Don't forget F2P saved this game from extinction, lets not go back in time shall we? 2/ They should of launched the GC with the idea that it was meant to supplement gearing, not replace it. I wasn't around when 5.0 launched but reading it's patch notes is enough to scare off anyone who raids. They've sort of fixed this now for at least SM & Vet but obviously MM ops got a little less love & PvP is a big fat grind for UC so maybe those two need to be adjusted to be more worthwhile. 3/ Also Command Tokens as a gearing currency are near useless bar from enabling other currencies/tokens, they should at least put Tier 2 & 3 Artifact vendors on the fleet alongside the Tier 1 vendor that currently sells 230 purples but just with a much higher command token price tag on them. Maybe also a Tier 4 vendor that sells non set pieces like implants & relics for a super high amount of command tokens alone to give players max rank some small goal other than grind the hamster wheel for hope of a lucky crate. 4/ There's been more than enough focus on story content from two/three expansions, despite if you feel it wasn't the story you were looking for. There now needs emergency life support on endgame group content specifically ops as well as PvP. What they've started to do with VotMG with one boss at a time is a start but it's not enough, maybe there could be another op done in tandem to that to add a bit of variety and make sure people don't get bored of one op before it's completed. 5/ With that said "IF" there's another expansion I'd like to see them do away with the single player story focus, instead base it around group content. I'd like to see a good couple of full ops from the offset of an expansion along with new PvP modes & maps and a well designed daily area (not another Iokath), in fact they should make operations the main leveling method maybe with it's own short stories & alternative boss instances for solo only players like done at the end of Shadow of Revan. There doesn't need to be a long story with a lot of voice acting, all that time and effort used creating linear story instances can be ploughed into new ops & PvP to create a richer endgame experience for people to actually stick around.

I won the gamorrean guard & the speeder within a few minutes of each other without spending a credit (using smuggler chips won from a tfb run and running to the kingpin machines when I got a kingpin chip + feeling lucky buff).

I'd say it largely depends on what boss & what group buffs , as well as bolster if SM. It's quite possible the 230's utilized a perfect group buff moment better than the higher geared people. Although 10k+ is the top end even if they had all group buffs, I'm suspicious not that they are hacking but you are measuring dps incorrectly somehow.

TRE is active however there's a substantial population decline since last year when I played last (I moved onto other games like Elite). There used to be multiple full fleet instances now it barely breaks 100 people most of the time, most I see now during peak time hours is around 150 which is quite a depressing reminder of the days before server merges. A lot of people seem to be blaming the lack of direction in regards to endgame content or decisions relating to that however a big empty voice here is the F2P/preferred players at endgame who pretty much relied on the passes to stick around to keep this game (and guilds) active for the people who actually spend the money. With 5.0 all F2P including preferred essentially got turned into a trial rather than an "inferior mode", and it's easier to see why servers are emptying after people have already reached the end of the "trial period".

The only downside is someone inspecting your gear during an op/fp & becoming a gear snob, there's a tiny chance some might try to argue that you don't have a clue because you're not geared for the right class and try to kick you on that basis. Probably an extreme scenario but people do get cranky on frustrating content and you will have people now and then inspecting other peoples gear just to blame them for a wipe.

One that aren't going to be left bugged for two updates....

Thing is sort of thing is happening a lot recently, and I'm not just on about the freebies either. Who can blame people for losing their patience on missed deadlines and things being pushed back further?

As much as I would like new content first myself we know that's not happening until next year and bioware aint prepared to make anything else they are planning at endgame PvE relevant to more experienced players. Also recent changes in both 4.1 and coming 4.2 bioware have pretty much started to U-turn on their position regarding NiM content and it's role in progression, which leads to the issue that four ops don't even have a NiM mode. Bioware have got two options to quench raiders/experienced PvE'ers thirst, either bring back NiM content as a focus and include it for EV/KP/Rav/ToS or bring out something to be an alternative to operations with things like more single instanced bosses and maybe new "tier 2/NiM" mode flashpoints.

First the annihilation droid should have a tank swap mechanic however I feel it should be something that affects the whole raid rather than something that just kills off one of the tanks (who can then get rezzed and carry on as normal). Maybe a stacking debuff applied to both tanks which directly affects the damage of missile salvo, they both have to acquire near equal stacks (say within 5) in order to reduce raid wide damage. Also another mechanic to add is during missile salvo give one random person in the group a DF like concussion mine type of debuff that does raid wide damage but unlike in DF where you have to move to the boss you have to move away from the rest of your raid in order for it to disable. Also the turrets should respawn multiple times during the fight to make it less tank 'n spank. For gharj I feel pounce should mean something however it's needs to be punishing for ranged DPS also. Not sure how they'd go about it maybe some sort of debuff you need to cleanse with pounce however make pounce do something like 60-70k damage to non tanks so you can't just stack everyone under it however the person with the debuff has to take that damage in order to cleanse it. For pylons I'd quite like it if it was like calphayus in DP in where both groups have to swap sides. After each wheel is solved a little circle should appear on the floor to teleport your groups north/south to solve the next wheel. Solving the wrong wheel or pressing the wrong direction would be insta wipe, also change the debuff so the same person can't press the same wheel twice so it should be a permanent debuff until the wheel is solved rather than timed and requiring the wheel is solved within 4 or less pushes. The adds should be buffed also, rakata should be elite and acklay should be champion. I think the council should have a ruugar like reflect mechanic added to them where every so often some of them reflect damage to the rest of the raid. As for SoA I do like the idea of lightning balls acting like brontes energy spheres, as for the mind traps yes they should be crucial to take down but I feel if they aren't taken down within say 20 seconds not only the player inside should die but SoA should enrage after absorbing the energy from the player in the mind trap. There does need a lot more going on throughout the fight though across all floors, things like AoE and adds spawning in to put more pressure on players. These are just some of my suggestions for HM, NiM should be even more than that.

How long are you going to keep doing this?

This isn't a pay for game time MMO (being F2P), you sub for the advantages early access being one of them. While a lot of people continue their sub for other reasons like full access to PvP & ops or no limits etc, a lot of people do sub for the subscriber rewards including the early access to content. That in itself is worth a bit more than 25 cents and if anything to some people that could be worth a full months sub time to have access to content first.

Unlike other MMO's we don't pay for game time (as it's F2P), we pay for subscriber advantages early access being a big part of that.

It's nearly 10pm here, any update?

Guild wars 2 does they charge gems to transfer characters cross continent. Not to say there aren't any legal limitations in this process but the copy pasta line posted over and over is probably not the whole reason why (if ArenaNet/NCsoft can get past them I'm sure EA's legal team could), any legal argument probably has less weight to why they can't do it than the technical and logistical reasons. As for why EU guilds would transfer, simply MMO players like to go where the action is especially hardcore/competitive guilds. You give people an easy way to change their mind on what region they like to call home every one will just pile in one place and that would drastically break the population balance between servers. In a way this is already sort of happening within continents.

I'm not upset about it, I'm merely stating what I think is the real reason rather than the hyperbole copy and paste that people keep on chucking on the forums. The EU laws are more to do with actual personal data like name, address, social security and credit card numbers etc. None of the in game data holds anything that personally belongs to you or can identify you in RL, you don't even own your characters all that data belongs to EA you are just given the right to play them as long as you follow the ToS. If such data was regarded as personal then every major MMO is breaking the EU laws whenever they allow people to copy characters to the PTS (and no you can't waiver this law via NDA's or PTS ToS). The real reason they don't allow live intercontinental transfers is more down to bioware's choice that they don't want one side of the world's servers overpopulated when the rest are deserted rather than some strict EU law. And as much as I would personally like the option to transfer some characters across the pond I do feel such a move would ruin the population balance as every major guild would transfer to the harb leaving the EU lacking a community of any kind, as well as ruining the experience for those who played natively on the harb.

Character data is not personal data, personal data is stuff like RL name/addresses/credit card details etc not what you named a character in an online game or how many mainhands he farmed from EV HM. Ingame data such as that belongs to EA not the consumer and they have the right to transfer that data to anywhere within their network. If what you said was the real reason any data wouldn't be allowed including things like account wide unlocks and PTS transfers, even a lot of things throughout the whole internet itself would be simply impossible if any data transfer cross border was illegal in the manner you describe. As for what I think the real reason is, I think it's simply because bioware doesn't want every guild deserting the EU servers and piling onto the harb. They want to keep the population spread across continents so people have the best in game experience rather than create one laggy server and a ton of empty ones.

I haven't tried in true 4k but I've tried DSR so see how the game runs on a gtx 970 and it runs well, however for playing games in 4K in general I wouldn't recommend a gtx 970. I probably even wouldn't recommend a 980 ti/fury X either I'd say if you are serious about 4k gaming wait for nvidia pascal/amd polaris. Edit: just seen you actually said 3440 x 1440 and not 3840 x 2160 but same thing still applies. The 970 is not a great card for super high resolutions, it'll run this game fine at that res but it might be a wasted investment just to be able to play at that resolution with this game.

I didn't even install swtor through origin (it's not even installed on the same drive as my origin games) yet I can see it in origin and when I click play it opens without redownloading. I'm guessing if you can't see it in origin either you are using a different email address when you made your swtor account or there's some other account issue you need to resolve with EA.

What side/character etc? Knowing tactics/having achievements doesn't matter for SM, what really matters though is the willingness to listen i.e. pressing buttons, burning down specific targets etc. Most SM bosses don't impose strict mechanics and can generally be carried through especially after 4.0 nerfs to certain mechanics. Only a few bosses require particular players to step up and save the group from a potential wipe i.e. EC minefield, the only other factor is DPS checks which are incredibly low in SM plus bolster gives you stats equivalent to full 216.

The reason they are not that popular is due to bioware putting the instance doors in places where you have to go through a ton of daily mobs to get there. Without a flagship transport it pretty much drags something that should take no longer than 10 minutes at the most to much longer before you even begin the fight. I feel single boss instances would be popular if some quick transport panel was added straight from fleet to the instance as well as maybe putting a priority transport clickable item with the quest itself (similar to heroics). Loot is another issue though, there doesn't seem a fat load of incentive to run then for a random piece when you could run ops and know what you're getting (as well as priority HM's). I don't think chucking more gear into raiding is healthy however, maybe they could make them more lucrative in other ways i.e. maybe drop "personal" exotics in SM and a DMC each in HM?