No, the biggest problem is that people like you think that it's the consumer's fault for why the game isn't successful. This is the reason BW is so slow to making changes, and this is why people who are still paying the monthly sub are so bitter about players leaving. It's a shame that the OP took that much time to make one point because that one point is being largely ignored. That point is that TOR does not feel like an MMO. This is a problem that no amount of time will fix unless the Devs completely change direction, which with their arrogant attitude, will not happen. They foolishly believe that transfers and LFG tools will fix their single player MMO.

It does not do anything better, actually. You will eventually realize that every story arc is pretty much the same generic filler using the same rehashed dialogue. And it only gives you the illusion of choice, as none of your choices actually make an impact on anything. The only thing they did differently was create massive amounts of VO that most people only care about the first time or not at all. The fact is, the main draw of TOR gets extremely old extremely fast (Fully-voiced quests) and once that is gone, you see how shallow the game really is.

Wait, so you're saying a game with a monthly sub has more replayability than one that doesn't? I would really, really hope so.

what's YOUR point? YOU were the one trying to call WoW out on their sub numbers.

Yes, it's much better to just hand out free months to players no longer playing and count those as part of the subs

The incinerate debuff on the droid and the poison stacks on the Doctor need to be cleansed. It can be difficult to see but you get used to it. You'll notice it in the upper right hand corner of the health bar (Buffs appear on the left IIRC). After a while you get the hang of seeing what it is that needs to be cleansed. The poison stacks you can wait since the damage is negligible until they get multiple stacks, but incinerate needs to be cleansed as soon as you see it. Players should NOT be stacking on the boss at all times - not only because of the Rot but because if they're even slightly off with positioning they'll get hit by cleave. And honestly, how difficult is it to move in whenever you see big red letters flashing on your screen?

...And I'm talking about Blizzard's history of making games. Starcraft was one of the most successful games of all time. It did almost nothing innovative. Same with Diablo 2. And Warcraft 3. And Starcraft 2. Somehow, WoW is just a fluke, right? WoW's numbers dipped slightly (About 10% drop) after Cata, but reports I've seen have it holding steady. In fact, many of the players I knew who left WoW have now returned, so I don't think I'd be off in saying by MoP comes out, it'll go right back to 11-12 million. Considering you think a 10% drop after 6 years is significant but don't take into account TOR's 50% drop after 6 months (2.4 million copies sold, 1.3 mil subs though many consider this to be much lower due to free subs) shows that you refuse to look at things with reason.

Just like any heal-intensive fight, people that say it's "easy" have never healed it before. If healer is doing their job, no one notices since no one is dead. However, there are a lot of things players can do to make things easier on the healer, I've noticed that a lot of times people ignore mechanics on this fight thinking they can just tank and spank it and the healer will do all the work for them. Make sure players aren't passing around the Voracious Rot, make sure players aren't standing in the cleave (Which can be really easy to do considering he can cleave after his stomp), and finally and most importantly, make sure all three other players are getting to the panel ASAP and hitting it at the same time immediately, NOT just whichever one Savrak is on.

Yes, "sliding in the shadows" with over 10 million subs. Could it possibly just be that Blizzard knows how to make games? Or are you also chalking Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3, Starcraft, Starcraft 2, and Diablo 1-3 as flukes as well?

^ There is no complexity in Operative healing. None. Whatsoever. Before I quit playing, I'd zone out during boss fights while using a limited DPS rotation (Corrosive Dart, Explosive Probe, Orbital Strike) and never missed a beat. The sad thing is I don't think this is changing. Mercs and Sorc had some complexity in their rotation but 1.2 just dumbed them down to almost Op level. PS. I quit for reasons unrelated to Operatives, despite the fact that a blind monkey can heal on an Operative I still enjoyed the class.

When I take the time to look at the scenery, here's what I see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Rrk6lgi24 I see a picture. NPCs just standing around. They LOOK like they're ready to do something, but there just... standing. No wildlife whatsoever. It's just static and dead. You can have the greatest scenery in all the world, but unless you make it seem alive, then it's no different than a photograph.

Yeah you're right, BW didn't take into account that players don't like running the same boring dailies over and over or leveling an alt through the exact same uninspired single player content over and over again. Who would have thought? When the only thing there is to do is raiding, and it sucks, then you have a problem.

Me, as well as most of my friends and guildies, were disgusted by the lack of content and lack of updates in TOR. We were holding out hope that things would change with 1.3 but when it was announced that there would be no content update... that means we'd have at least another 3 months running the same couple of raids over and over again.

Not bothered at all, and in fact, it would actually add replayability as I don't have to trudge through spacebarring through rehashed dialogue all over again. VO wasn't even anything special when you realize that none of the dialogue options really made any sort of difference.

Come on, Bioware. Stop working on useless crap like server transfers when legacy emotes should be the number one priority.

...And this is why you think they are enjoyable. I enjoyed all the FPs, all the Operations, the first time. Maybe even the second or third time as well. But Bowser is completely right. They just become a boring, mindless grind after that. There is no challenge other than "tank and spank, don't stand in the bad". There is no variation from one fight to another. And besides that, you still had to trudge through a billion trash mob pulls that weren't even difficult, they were just trash. Lost Island was a step in the right direction. But that's just it, it's just a step. Denova, after clearing it several times is just boring now.

No it doesn't. You either have a terrible memory or you never played vanilla. Not only were there far more instances while you level up, but the majority of them had multiple paths that you could take at different levels. Instances covered every level. There were multiple instances for each level bracket as well. At level 40, you can do Scarlet Monestary. Or you can do Uldaman. Or Dire Maul. Or Scholomance. Or Razorfen Downs. or Maraudon. If you're level 40 in TOR, you can do CWG or Foundry. Or let's look at vanilla Raids. It started with just Onyxia and Molten Core. But MC in itself was essentially two raids as it was absolutely massive. They then added BWL, Zul Gurub, Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, and Naxxramas. Most of which were much, much more massive than any of TOR's. Meanwhile, TOR is still sitting on its three operations after 6 months of release. I'm really not sure you're smoking by thinking TOR has more group content than vanilla WOW, but it must be some good stuff.

You think that, but you'd be wrong. Pops are so low because there hasn't been any content being released. My servers were extremely healthy post 1.2. As in 200-250 on the fleet, which eventually settled to 100-150 players regularly. Everyone could pug HMs relatively easily, people often even pugged HM Ops. WZs had pretty fast queues. Very friendly, tight-nit community due to being medium sized server, so I had very good relations with 4 raiding guilds. This was a month after 1.2. Now, population is about 10 on the fleet. All four raiding guilds that I was friends with, as well as my own guild, have quit the game. This is not an isolated incidence. There used to be quite a few healthy medium pop servers. They are all now low pop. There used to be more than two high pop servers. Fatman, the most popular server, has even dropped in population. You cannot just explain this away by saying it's because pops are low. Pops are low BECAUSE of problems with the game. But yeah, keep ignoring the actual problems and think that everything is fine. That's what BW is doing, let's hope that doesn't cost them another 400k subs in the next month.

LOL, so after all that math, you reason that BW broke even. And that's a success? I'm sure BW is certainly rejoicing that a title 5 years in the making, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, broke even. Which is why they are now doing massive, unplanned layoffs, right?

Completely wrong. Why do you think there are only a few high pop servers now? Why do you think the majority of the former high pop servers are now low pop? Why do you think that even Fatman, which was once constantly full, is now at peak hours just high? Some people may leave because of low pop servers. But the majority of people I talk to leave because of lack of content. I was in two raiding guilds. I was friends with four other raiding guilds. None of us had any problems getting groups because of the raiding we did with friends. Guess what? All of these guilds have now left TOR. Why? Because the game just doesn't hold interest when there is a severe lack of content and barely any updates in six months. Also, LOL at people trying to downplay WoW by saying it was just "Lucky". I'm sure you thought Diablo 2 was lucky as well, and Starcraft was lucky. None of them were very innovative. None of them had to be. Just do a simple history check on Blizzard's games and you will realize that they NEVER try to be particularly innovative - they just specialize in bringing quality to their products.

It's seriously an absolute joke. We have a basic rotation of two abilities. We have to watch out for one proc and keep one, maybe two abilties up. We never, ever run out of mana. I can basically sleepwalk through content while DPSing the boss and STILL never miss a beat. Seriously, would it kill BW to add just a little bit of complexity to Op healing?

Yeah, you're exactly right! It's also way cheaper than getting designer haircuts, a new car, and a college education. Talk about value!

I think it's common knowledge now that people are leaving TOR in droves. TOR lost 400k subs, possibly more including those on the free month still. Servers are emptying out. Obviously all this means is that there aren't enough legacy emotes being provided. Bioware, do you not realize what your lack of emotes is doing to this game?

So the OP thinks this is a great game because he barely logs in and barely plays. I'm sure logging in once a week for a few hours is worth a monthly sub

It's really not. While too many servers did contribute to the problem, for the most part, it's not the problem. I've played on two extremely healthy servers. Easy to get WZ queues, even pretty easy to pug for HM flashpoints and operations, 100-200 players on the fleet during prime time. This was post-1.2. They are now both ghost towns. The reason why has nothing to do with having too many servers. It has to do with players getting bored and quitting due to lack of content. The only reason servers like Fatman is still going strong is because of re-rollers to make up for the other players quitting. Once those re-rollers hit 50 as well, a lot of them will get bored and quit as well.