Nice thread with some cool opinions. I've played since launch with a couple of breaks. I still play for the immersion in the Old Republic world and the variety of characters I can have all with different flavours. I particularly love being able to play the story as you'd expect (light side Jedi) and then again the opposite (now play it dark side.) I get attached to my different characters and like to switch often. My dream SWTOR is mainly based on resourcing the game better - more content more frequently, bug fixes, continuining individual class stories and more classes. The 3 things I would love to change: 1. Revert to PVP only expertise gearing for PVP. Allow players to progress and gear to play PVP by only PvP-ing. Don't allow players who pvE well to have a gear advantage in PvP. Reward me with better gear in a warzone for doing well in a warzone. Reward me for doing well in an Operation with better gear for an Operation. I love PvP and just don't want to have to do pvE dailies or operations or whatever to max my gear. Raiders would complain if they had to do repeated warzones to gear for a raid. 2. Do something (I don't know what) so that level 70 warzones are actually more fun than lowbies/midbies, and incentivise lowbies/midbies again to increase pops. Seriously level 70 pvp is sometimes fine, but too often have I watched a match where ppl stand in a circle firiing off their rotations while healers keep everyone up and it's just a boring stalemate. Literally someone caps a node and then the whole game is 15 minutes of no one dying. Never happens in lowbies. Seems daft that people avoid endgame pvp because lower tiers are better. 3. Lastly, gearing seems just so bizarre and complicated. CXP, reputation, crate tiers, crystals. My head hurts, please may I be excused?! I took my Sorc through the whole story up to Ossus last week, and just thought "nah, can't be bothered." Collect x of these things plus y points of that to hand in a thing to trade it up for another thing with this or that rep or whatever. Argh. Going back to my point 1. Just have 2 kinds of points - PVE Points and PvP Points (with more elegant names than that.). You do easy content, you get few points. You do hard content, you get lotsa points. No RNG. Simples. Alt friiendly.

Waiit - you killed VETTE?

Beats 3 weeks of flippin snowballs:)

I've tested this - I was wrong. So it really is a totally dead talent. Which in spite of the fact that you would unlock toxic haze pretty quickly I still think shouldn't be a thing.

The tooltip is incorrect - I believe the talent that spreads your corrosive dart is noxious knives, not toxic haze. Occasionally some tooltips have not been updated properly when specs are modified or changed. Also though, some talents do indeed on different toons have a dead abllity which only becomes relevant at a higher level, but mostly these are talents that do more than one thing (e.g. "stuns your opponent for x seconds, additionally reduces the cooldown of y (future) ability")

All I've noticed in the 7 years since Founder is that you need to put in some more effort - but you can find a cool name for any character still. Here are some toons I successfully created names for in 2018: Abolished - Jugg Amanaki (meaning "hope") - Jedi Sentinel Elieth - (meaning Lilith , Adam's first wife ) - a Sorc, then a mirror Jedi Sage called Eliethi Leoti for a smuggler (city in Kansas and I play her wild west style) Vanodis - female vanguard (a title of the Norse war goddess Freyja, Vanodis means lady of the Vanir, a race of Gods) etc. All are names which have a meaning, are nice to say and easy to remember. Let me try and be constructive. Other posters have already mentioned interchanging letters which can almost get you the character you want. (I created a character Sylenz based on "silence" who was an operative .) A great idea that might help you is have a browser window open. There are loads of sites with lists of names that mean something in different languages and there are many cool ones. You can search names, cities, foreign languages etc. If you want your Jugg to come across like a war god, search war gods or whatever. My average time to create a good new name now is about 5 minutes. Good luck!

I wish it would return. I've hopped between SWTOR and WoW for a few years (SWTOR founder) always with a pvp focus. As one of those who loves to pvp and gets nothing out of end game pvE/random loot drops from bosses, expertise was always the right solution for the simple reason that I didn't have to pvE to progress the part of the game I actually wanted to play. SWTOR seemed to have a great iteration at one point - I think it was when you got blue "newbie" kit for warzones so that you could play while completing your expertise gear. I remember being able to get full expertise on many toons and so it was great fun to pretty much play all classes at endgame pvp. What was especially good was then that if classes got nerfed /buffed, or you just got bored, you switched. I played WoW when Legion came out and there was a terrible iteration for pvp. Raiders/high end pvers destroyed pvpers because of gear differences (they had created a separate profression path for pvp only abilities which was OK, but the artifact weapon, which could be massively empowered through pvE grind, gave you abliities and loads of extra HP.) These were days of TTK being 2-3 seconds and people in warzones (battlegrounds) with many multipliers of your HP. It was awful. Returning to SWTOR I was really disappointed to see expertise had gone. I have no interest in endgame pvE gear grind especially with a random element. So right now I pvp on lowbie or midbie alts (when it pops) and am working through the story on darkside and lightside. I can't really say I'm enjoying it. I still love SWTOR, but expertise gear easily obtained was such a great win for pvp. I can't imagine now playing all 8 classes in endgame pvp, and having a blast on them all. Sad.

ah, the ship idea is interesting! They do sometimes feel like an afterhought (and weirdly empty and echoey inside.)

Good points - I wasn't really addressing what the story would be (other than maybe returning to empire v republic) but yes i agree, SWTOR shines here compared to other MMOs. I was more thinking of what would be achievable and also affordable (hence the idea of new class stories of any length seems unachievable). I think SWTOR and WoW have certainly kept an eye on each other over the years!

Would be fun if that could happen.

So 5.10 returns to Empire vs Republic. It also has storylines where you can (somewhat) betray your original faction, and many players doing this will be influenced by dark side/light side alignments (e..g your light side sorc decides to help the Republic or whatever.) In expectations for 6.0, acknowledging the lack of resources/funds etc from the Devs means anything truly game changing like new vanilla class stories from 1-50 or even probably class specific stories is not gonna happen. Wish they were, but no. So this is my bluesky thinking: 1. They introduce Faction Swapping for real (maybe following on from 5.10 but not needed.) This generates new interest in players, allows consistency of character (that dark side Jedi just joins the Empire) and income from paying for swaps other than the first one. 2. This allows the easy, cosmetic introduction of new classes. People have always wanted an Imperial Soldier but Bio are never gonna create the new 1-50 story. But you dark side Havoc squadders can desert! One cut scene, cosmetic reskin/rename of trooper abilities where needed and you're good to go. You're sworn in as an Imperial Stormtrooper. And the sweet new Imperial Trooper sets come on the Market. And there's no class balance issues because it's just a reskin. You imperial agents can also become SIS spies. Again, no class balance issues, just new looks and cosmetics reskins. Players wanting to start Stormtroopers/SIS from scratch start at lvl 70 without a class story at the beginning. 3. They need to shake up gearing/abilities etc. I think they are going to use "artifact weapons" from WoW Legion. Again, a few quick origin quests to claim your famous saber/blaster/whatever. Then all your CXP points are poured into unlocking new traits, abilities and cosmetic looks on the weapon. Relatively cheap to implement and plays to SWTOR folks pre existing weapon fetishes:) TL DR I think we'll get faction defection, new classes based on cosmetics (Trooper, SIS) and an artifact weapon system in 6.0 Cheap and relatively easy to implement. Just posting for fun, shoot me down.

Thanks OP for introducing me to the phrase "ludonarrative dissonance." That alone was worth the time to read the thread. I notice you mainly focus on mechanics like range, shielding etc. I basically agree that gameplay mechanics, especially perhaps as games go on and rebalancing occurs - have tended to increasingly outweigh narrative issues in SWTOR. Maybe there is some inevitability here in PvP.....you mention shielding for example....if because of narrative only Jedi/Sith could reflect attacks then this was seen as making the class stand out too much....but the solution of adding it to more classes does seem somehow ridiculous from a narrative perspective. I'm not so sure about how crucial an issue things like range or range closers are....maybe because I guess SWTOR seems to be based on having a force and non force version of most abilities anyway in order to function? Force Leap vs Rocket Leap (or whatever its called), cryogrenade v force choke etc. Cosmetic changes to ensure class balance. For me personally there isn't much narrative issue in range issues or range closers. So is ludonarrative dissonance subjective? And does it depend for example on whether you like to RP or otherwise character immerse vs don't care? And occasionally (but only occasionally) it seems to me that the Devs actually went with the narrative side - e.g. sniper replacing the knife based stun with the 10m shot based maim? But probably an exception that proves the rule. For me personally there are some more fundamental dissonances which have always bugged me in SWTOR: 1. Dark side appearance on non force wielding characters. If Anakin Skywalker goes to the dark side and massacres the Jedi children, he emerges with the glowing orange eyes of someone who's gone to the dark side. If my bounty hunter kills some innocents, I'm just a bad person, not "dark side." 2. Playing a light side sorc for example, but all my abilities look dark side (lightning or the black smoke type effects.) It would have been great if a dark side Jedi Sage ended up shooting lightning and a light side sorc healer's heals actually look benevolent. 3. The Eternal Throne story arc has required a huge suspension of disbelief (to me) to have my cheeky smuggler be told by the Sith Emperor that of all the people in the universe I'm the most important blah blah. I can take that on my sorc or Jedi Knight, not otherwise. 4. Scoundrels punching people. Do these examples also count as ludonarrative dissonance?

IMHO all these ideas are great.

Having played SWTOR since launch mainly to enjoy PvP it's time to leave. Played so long I can remember at the beginning everyone laughed when you brought a merc to pvp! I've played regularly on most classes and variations, and have always enjoyed warzones more than anything. 70 PvP for a non ranking competitor player like me is, unfortunately, just a waste of time now. I'm pretty sad about it. In previous expansions I could max out in pvp gear in a reasonable time even without doing ranked play - I was happy to lag behind better pvpers in my journey but I got there in the end. And, I could do this through pvp, rather than through pvE content. I've been playing my main for weeks now (started playing 70 on this toon around November) and I have managed to max out TWO pieces of gear to 248 with all the unassembled components. I think my command stash level is something like 180 atm. I just can't be bothered to do it. And, I love alts. I am seriously not starting this gearing journey again. Previous expansions I would endgame pvp on 5-6 toons. Then endgame pvp as well as gearing is just hugely frustrating. Unkillable healers I pump 3 rotations in to see them get to 80% health then instaheal it off again. The games where you all stand round a turret with no one dying. The endless unbalanced wz where one side is so dominant that if they cap 2 it never changes, so you either have an easy boring win or a long drawn out fail. Where are the close matches? Same on huttball - either seems to be 6-0 or 0-6 these days for a lot of it. The feeling that you invest all this time into a class/spec and if its not FOTM you're just paying for pain. I loved the early days -the great stories. I loved lowbie pvp when ppl actually died- even healers! Where an ambush wasn't a tickle. But if you have to stay in lowbie to have good pvp then the game is broken. Endgame should be BETTER! not worse. It seems that MMO PvP will become a thing of the past. I don't have the motorskills for non MMO type combat, this saddens me. I noticed that WoW in Legion also changed to pvE gearing for PvP and how that ruined it there too. It was great whilst it lasted. But I've moved from the enjoying it to somewhat enjoying it to it just being a huge frustration fest. Best of luck all.

Absolutely not. If I enter a match in progress on a badly losing side and after a couple of minutes' play its obvious that my experience will be being ganked, I'm gone. If in a Yavin match my team is the one that is too hesitant to rush mid, the other side caps 2 and I have to listen to 15 minutes of canon noise where this state of play never changes, I'm gone. If I get an arena pop, and when the match starts I'm 3 v 4, or crap geared vs premade, or 4 dps against tank-heal- double dps, I'm gone. If it becomes one of those endgame matches where unkillable healers just stand there in a circle and no one dies for 5 minutes, I'm gone. If it's one of those matches where there are obvious cheaters and exploiters, I'm gone. If it's the 4th pop of the same wz in a row, I'm gone. If in Huttball it's obvious the other side is organised and will win easily, I'll stay and just have fun killing ppl. If I'm in the mood to not bother with an unwinnable wz but just stay to improve my skills or because Im enjoying it, I'll stay. If the class balance is OK, I'll stay. If it seems like an even match or even-ish, Ill stay. If its a WZ I particularly like I'll stay. If SWTOR introduces a penalty pvp will decay even more. Pops will decrease. Players will feel forced to endure the sheer boredeom and agony of the time when the match is just badly balanced and where you end up camping a node and chatting whilst the clock ticks down. I really like SWTOR, been here since founding. Since the loss of pvp gear and other bad class balance stuff it's all really on a thread. I tolerate the crap because I can exercise a choice to leave and re-queue. Take that away and why bother to pay not to enjoy it? If mine and others' behaviour like me detrimentally affects other players - really sorry but I don't care. It's up to Bioware to make a balanced, enjoyable game. Shining example: I've been in arena 1 v 4. At least do something simple that would have made that 2v2 - let alone talk about classes. That's 2 mins to queue to be destroyed then repeat it. Why would I pay for that?

100% agree with OP. Provide a vaccine or just allow players to be untargetable. It's annoying and ruins immersion, and also effectively allows other players to harass you.

Agree. Not just too loud and intrusive, but the noise itself is really annoying, and sounds like some kind of dishwasher cycle. It's also an extra incentive for players to leave one of those long drawn out fail matches where the enemies take 2 points and can't be shifted off em.

Disagree with previous poster about winner decided from start. Any game in this wz where your team gets 1/3 and the other 2/3 at start seems to be very difficultt to win. I mean, we've all seen in the Aldeeraan version where after a couple of successful tries to take the second turret, the losers just camp their only turret and wait for the match to end. Then there's the feeling this actually seems slower than Aldeeraan. But, much worse, the repetitive sound of the turrets in this one sounds like a weird dishwasher cycle and is pretty unbearable for 20 minutes.

Agree with OP. Have played SWTOR since launched, pvp-ed on all classes. It seems to be the only game I've played where lowbie pvp has consistently been more fun and more balanced than endgame pvp. Lowbie pvp : 3 turrets, quite often swapping who owns them, fast paced running to defend attack different turrets. Endgame: each side caps one turret. Middle turret uncapped. Players stand in circle around middle turret unable to kill anyone due to immortal/heal classes. 15 minutes later, no change. One player dies but 30 secs later they're back from rez. Watching merc or snipe spend whole match AOE same players who never die, pressing one button. Add to this the stupid loss of pvp gear and RNG based gearing, so what is your incentive to 70 pvp? (1) spend ages gearing up so your attacks are more than a tickle so that (2) you can stand around ineffectively doing nothing. Now I take some toons to max level for story, and pvp on my alts. When an alt hits 70, I stop bothering to pvp with it.

I share the frustrations posted here. A founding subscriber, I have all but given up on the game now since we moved into the chapter per month of KOTFE situation. For me, the game now fails on several fronts and has put me in a situation where my sub is cancelled and I may or may not resub one month to finish KOTFE out of curiosity....but probably not. 1. Fail 1: Kotfe is the opposite of what made the game good before. I loved the classic stories and it was sometimes worth levelling more than one of each class just to do the different lightside/darkside choices. SWTOR was a great game for "altaholics" like me and I enjoyed getting Legendary status. Classic companions were great with the romance possibilities etc, and the rising through the ranks of the different classes and where they ended up was also good. In addition, the strengths and flaws of Empire v Republic were great for immersion. The flawed democracy versus the flawed dictatorship; the blinkered Light Side and the self destructive dark. Everything's now been thrown away - everything, for me, that was good about game immersion. All classes follow the same route which whilst it made some sense in previous expansions, doesn't here. Companions, gone. All previous victories and advancements, irrelevant. LS vs DS - irrelevant now Marr spouts LS philosophies. Empire and Republic, irrelevant. The story has really killed my first few years of playing and I kind of wish I had never clicked that fateful button launching the expansion, which did warn me that lots would be lost! How right it was. My only hope now is that the last chapter ends when I wake up and realise it was all a force hallucination from Valkorion and Zakuul never existed:) 2. Fail 2 - Cartel Market. I've just become rather uncomfortable with the microtransaction focus. I think it promotes gambling and is borderline unethical as this is not an 18 rated game. Plus part of this fail is that Bio will always rush out some new thing to buy before they sort out real issues with the game. 3. Fail 3 - PVP. Having returned to WoW pvp (which will become gear free in the next expansion) then playing warzones in SWTOR what a difference. My endgame SWTOR pvp this week consisted of: - Arenas popping that were, 4/5 times, hopelessly unbalanced. Why a simple system of assigning 4 players seems to be able to put fully geared healers and tanks in one team vs none in the other, or 3 vs 4 is beyond me. It really does encourage quit/requeue behaviour - the usual server stability issues in spite of running top spec equipment over a great fibreoptic line - several of those warzones where all everyone does is stand in a circle dps-ing/healing with no effect at all, an endless stalemate while watching the clock ticking down - terrible seemingly never fixable class imbalance, unkillable sorc heals even 1 v 4, etc. The only thing SWTOR pvp has over WoW is cosmetic racials, which means that not everyone in SWTOR rolls one race for the pvp advantage. So I'm gone really. With a heavy heart. Really liked this game.

Thanks for taking the time to write this post. I fundamentally agree with it. The plot is terrible and it just wipes out everything you ever achieved or did in the classic storyline. For example, chapter XI preview is now out. Aric Jorgan is in charge of Havoc. Wait....I just spent hundreds of hours levelling my trooper and immerse int the story to get to that point, marrying Elara on the way and choosing her to promote over Aric, who bored me anyway. Now no Elara, and I have to go through some crap with a companion I never enjoyed and actively demoted, and who now has my old job where for some reason I as a non force wielding trooper have the Emperor inside my head. Lol what. I can only hope they do what us older guys call "a Dallas." In that show they did a couple of really crap seasons where key characters were killed off etc, and everyone started to hate it. So they just did a shower scene where the woman is in the shower, the curtain draws back, it's her dead husband and ta da - it was all a dream, rewind and start again. I just hope my toon wakes up to someone saying "he has survived the Eternal Empire holosuite programme and made the right tactical decisions, so we can now promote him to Colonel" or whatever. Then it can all get back to normal. It DOES make me wonder. What the hell are they going to do next, or are the rumours true and this is the end of the game.

Let's throw the peasants some crumbs and watch them dance!

This totally. One of the things SWTOR has over WoW is the *relative* lack of silly crap. Even if you're not an RP-er, it's nice to have a bit of immersion or flavour of the star wars universe while playing. Snowballing without being able to stop it ruins that. And what about harassment issues? Can players who are on your ignore snowball you and you can't do anything about it? *Sigh* Of all the things they *could* be doing....

Same here. It's bugged. Ruins the story.

Same problem. Very annoyed actually as not only are these pieces central parts of the early story, but they look good too! Fix it Bioware, and send all inquisitors who have finished the chapter these pieces please.