Initial evaluation Compared to an existing server, how is the performance? Basically the same as the European servers, slightly choppier than the US servers for me Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened? Only tested Tython so far, but no issues What region/country do you reside in? US-Midwest Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. Shae Vizla: 250, Star Forge/Satele Shan: 25, Tulak Hord/Darth Malgus/Leviathan: 110 Is grouped content working properly? Not tested yet, but choppiness increases with more players in the zone How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted? Not tested yet Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered? traveled to Tython, Fleet, Nar Shadaa Stronghold without issue Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality? Didn't notice any Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics? No issues noted Performance was about as expected with the higher ping, some stuttering in busy areas and during combats with a lot of ability activations (likely just a transmission time issue). At 250 ping, group content would be marginal, no issues with RPG content

So do the mails get deleted after 30 days like they did before. Lots of people lost items and credits from GTN sales because they didn't pull them out of the mail before it auto-deleted

The only problem here is that a not insignificant number of people buying CM items for credits are buying those credits from credit sellers (who generally obtain those credits through nefarious means) thus creating a cycle of buying and selling credits through third parties. Fix that problem and selling CM items for credits is not really a problem.

On Tython, the jump back from the Forge to the Jedi Temple (where you "turn in" that mission is at least 1000 credits.

There is no difference between credit sinks and lowering rewards as far as having less credits enter the game. If you had reduced rewards by 1% no one would have noticed and you would have accomplished much more (because people farming credits using heroic transports and other workarounds would have been "taxed" too, instead of just those running the storylines). Bioware has reduced mission credit rewards by at least 50% over the last two years and there has been no significant reduction in the rate at which GTN prices (and off-GTN prices) have risen, so there is no evidence whatsoever that the QT costs (which are extremely minor compared to the rewards reductions they have done in the past) will have any impact at all other than irritating the player-base (whether they can easily afford the fees or not) The issue with the implementation of the QT costs is that they will not have a significant effect on "cooling" the economy. Something like a hard coded transaction fee for all off GTN trades would both remove credits from the game and reduce the desirability of the items, thus lowering their cost. Just because Bioware says there are "more changes to come" does not mean they will actually happen. They have an extremely poor track record on following up on promises.

The problem is credits already in the game not credits entering the game. You could turn off all credits going into the game from missions and it would be years before the prices drop (and they would only drop because the people who have all the credits get tired of trading them back and forth with each other and everyone else has quit the game). The approach Bioware has taken with this "travel tax" is backwards of what needed to be done. You need to get the overall economy under control before you try to fine tune it or else you are just wasting your, and everyone else's time.

This is why the economy is broken

Core problem right here for the high prices on the GTN. It is far too easy (and far to cheap) to acquire huge numbers of credits in the player to player economy (and is also what drives the credit seller problem). At the very least, the GTN tax should be increased 1% and all transactions between players should have a transaction fee based on the value of the exchange (even if its only something as simple as 10K per transaction when only items are exchanged or 8% if credits are involved). If the top end of the GTN is raised, it should be done in 1B credit increments a few months apart and each of those new brackets should have an addition 2% tax (11% at 2B, 13% at 3B, 14% at 4B, etc) in addition to the base 1% tax increase. That would have far more impact on bringing the in-game economy under control that any "travel tax" ever will.

Completely false. A 1% increase in the GTN tax alone would drain more credits in one transaction than thousands of quick travels. 1% of 1 billion is 10 million (how many quick travels is that?). Now start taxing the stuff off the GTN (a very simple addition to the transaction) and boom, hundreds of millions drawn out each day.

make sure your abilities are selected in the character abilities panel (open the character sheet then select the abilities tab). Trainers don't do anything anymore (except for speeder piloting)

I'm fine with them when applied properly, which I don't think the QT ones are. They are way out of line with other travel costs, which was the most common thing mentioned during the PTS testing. It is insane to have QT on Coruscant cost 5K point to point when players using them are getting maybe a couple hundred per completed mission (costs on a lot of the higher level planets are lower because they are smaller so it is impacting low level players more than the high level players who have the creds to spare). Their pure distance formula is what I disagree with most. The jump back from the Forge to the Jedi Temple in the JK story is over 1000 credits when at that point you maybe have a bank of 5K or so, that's way too much. A formula based on the combined cost of using the taxis plus a small "convenience" fee would be the right way to go (A to C should cost about the same whether it is QT or two taxis).

But putting in pin-prick methods to take them out without actually doing something significant first to remove them (and these credit sinks are going to be anything but a significant impact) accomplishes nothing other than making you feel "good" you are doing "something". You put in the methods to take out large sums first, then you fine tune the day to day operations with small credit sinks. To use another example (or silly analogy), It's like patching a crack in Hoover Dam with a piece of Scotch Tape. When the Dam collapses, no one is going to care that it was delayed a few micro-seconds by the tape. Bioware needed to do something big first, then focus on the fine tuning with the small credit sinks (large credit sinks would fall under the "big" category - things like taxing all player to player trades whether on the GTN or not at some appropriate level)

Leviathan is actually quite nice to play on during evening hours in the US if you are interested in the RPG portion of the game.

You have misidentified the underlying problem. The high costs of Cartel Market items are 100% due to the credits already in the game not any current influx. People are capable of buying up every single one listed and then relisting them for whatever outrageous price they want. Credit sinks do have a place as a fine tuning mechanism but we are a long way away from anything needing to be fine tuned. A 1% increase in the GTN tax would not even be noticed and would actually pull credits out of the game. All these QT sinks do is slightly slow down the increase. To use your gym analogy, the current QT credit sinks effect on the economy are like going to the gym around the corner, looking at the workout machines, and then leaving (you burned some calories by walking to the gym, but didn't make a significant impact - it would take years of walking to the gym to have the same effect as a couple of serious workouts).

They would need to include information on how many credits were created in the game during the same period to get a true picture of if this is working. Just today I spent 20K on Quick travel but generated over 500K (with lvl 80 characters). That's a net increase in credits of 480K (not really much different than 500K) just from one player for one day.

How about a tax to log out.

You just hit the nail on the head here. The Quick travel costs are so insignificant on the scale of excess credits in the game that it won't make any difference at all in the economy but makes leveling your character or playing through the story on a new character more tedious (which doesn't generate many Tech Fragments or even that many credits compared to the excess already in the game). A faster drain on credits is what is needed (like making sure every player to player trade is taxed appropriately) or we will be in the same place three years from now wondering why the QT costs didn't fix the economy. Also, anyone who has been around knows that Bioware has a terrible track record when it comes to following up on things the "have planned". It could be years before they try anything else. This approach is sort of like trying to carve a statue out of a block of granite starting with your tiniest chisel and then wondering why it is taking so long to get anything done. The QT tax doesn't even remove any credits from the game only slightly slows the increase.

First they need a tax for using your personal speeder, then a tax for walking anywhere, then we'll start draining those credits from the game

It is working now, since the second "Mailbox downtime". It was my personal stronghold and was with multiple imperial characters

The problem is that at this point, those credits have been "laundered" so many times, figuring out where they all went would be impossible. The logs only work if they act immediately, years later there is no way to track those credits down to punish the original offender (who may not even be in the game anymore - having passed on their "wealth" to someone else)

It's not really that it exists as a credit sink but that it is way out of whack with other travel costs and targets a very specific group of players (players that have nothing to do with the "inflation" to start with), the ones who are playing or repeating the story content on new characters as opposed to those farming the repeatable content with max level characters.

Pretty much no one thought they were good. Just look at the PTS thread about it

Interestingly, the same exact stronghold (characters are in the same Legacy) when visited by a Republic Character is fine, but with an Imperial character, the vendor needs to be re-set after each time you leave and return.

Since the patch/update, vendors in the strongholds are invisible (for example Felucia Stato). You can make them visible again by picking them up and re-placing them but if you leave the stronghold and come back, they are invisible again. Location: Star Forge Server, Nar Shadaa Stronghold on an Imperial character

I'd expect lag to be up and down a bit over the next couple of days. The download was 35 GB and that's a lot of data transfer to accommodate over limited bandwidth legs. I'm up a little on lag as well but I'm chalking that up to internet traffic.