Yep, the real sad part is though when you can't save anyone because such choices: save or not, save 1 person you know personally over many (like in the trooper story) aren't there at all. From this perspective class stories are very unbalanced (for example you have such choice as a trooper or as an agent (Chance on Taris) but you don't as a bounty hunter or inquisitor) and given that, this tiny bit of the JC quest on Rishi makes me think that more of that (imo very uncalled for) drama is inbound.

Btw, this is more for a different topic, but since my jedi shadow character is male, hearing something like this kinda leads to think, presuming that was a hint/spoiler, that some sort of SGR thing with existing companions might be implemented in the future. I mean hearing "you were the best I ever knew" from "just a crew buddy"?

You make too many valid points and I already hate them all... Yeah, looks like once the Emperor is dealt with, no matter how many expansions it'll take, it'll be time for SWTOR 2. Or maybe not, who knows. I recall all the backlash BW got when the ME3 script leaked, how filled with companions' deaths it was and how they kinda had to change it for the final release. There's hoping that BW learned something from the Mass Effect 3 ending, gosh why can't happy end be one of the options? Bounty hunter story: death on almost every location, starting with Hutta and the meanest death of a kid / teenager, Mako's friend, on Nar Shadaa slaughtered by droids, and more after that. Sith inquisitor watching that cool dude (story npc, forgot his name) being killed on Alderaan by a jedi at the end of the class story, not making it on time to save apprentices on Quesh... really hate this stuff when you have no choice. Wouldn't want to turn out right about SWTOR just based on that one Iresso line which could be nothing or could be indeed a "spoiler" and in that case, Iresso dying or JC dying, damn it, obviously everyone will die one day but why do we have to watch it in a class story cutscene?

While you're preparing yourself for making your holcoron you hear voices from the past and future and the last one you hear is Iresso saying "You were the best I ever knew. Goodbye, Jedi". Anybody thinks it's a hint at some point in future story arcs where jedi consular loses at least one of their companions and for come reason it's Iresso that either has to abandon your crew or die (sacrifice himself for something)? I kinda like him and wouldn't want him to

Got pretty curious about The Division. Wouldn't really care about another 3rd person view Tom Clancy tactical multiplayer but they seem to be making a hybrid of that and an mmo. The holy trinity, trading, crafting etc were mentioned. And (what makes a special difference to me) there doesn't seem to be any raids / ops there though I don't know for sure

Apparently, not enough of it However, I tend to agree with another author who made a very valid supposition (which we'll never obviously have confirmed officially) that these slot machines have their purpose to make people focus on mainly buying and selling uncraftable cartel stuff. Any player can always use crafting skills for augmenting their gear, that hasn't gone anywhere. "Financial" interests of a very small group of top schematics owners, who are already rich enough, can be somewhat not taken into consideration. Apart from that crew skills have never ever been of much use, everybody knows that. So what, maybe it's time already to "let them go"? If 3.0 means so many changes, this might be one of them.

Maybe by the end of swtor? Like 6 months before server shut down so that everyone could feel like kings of pve?

If you want elements of real life in a multiplayer game which is what an mmo does then hello, petroleum prices have been dropping for months. And since there's no petroleum or gas in swtor, have a taste of a similar something.

We can only guess but I tend to believe they're no more than a few dozens. But then again, I personally would be somewhat embarrassed to continue playing a mmo run by such monsters as EA/BW where someone can freely use exploits and then just go to the forum, shout "hey I'm a founder and subscriber, don't dare touch my gear / credits or do anything against my normal signing in and playing because me and other cheaters are the feeding hands of this game" and get away with that. And BW would just frown, post a warning and allow them to go unpunished? We will see soon but at this point I don't wanna believe that BW will make such a laughingstock of themselves. Don't know about other games but EA did hand out quite a few bans to people who cheated in Mass Effect 3 multiplayer and in that game it means far less for it's pure 4 man cooperative pve.

"An exodus of cheaters" you mean? These several dozens of exploit users can start unsubbing right now for all everybody else cares. Good riddance

Well, they took time figuring out how far they can go, maybe they're still figuring it out, from ME 1 to ME 3 there's quite an evolution in regard to the topic. From pretty much nothing when swtor was launched to at least something. But I agree, in this case "still better than nothing" doesn't help. You finish the one time story and do not get Lana or Theron as your new (bisexual at least) companions. Story done, still no one romanceable aboard your ship. But I expect SGR to be on a completely different level in BW's next mmo project...meanwhile I will have to agree with OrinVlado, this thread probably needs to rest in piece, we don't seem to ever have this aspect fully covered as part of swtor experience.

Freaking cheaters / exploit users got so overly bold that it should be embarrassing for BW. A few dozens of cheaters think they can really damage BW income? Oh really, "don't bite the hand"? Read again Eric's post, cheaters are few and so are the feeding hands about to be "bitten". You are pathetic, lame and once again pathetic for using threats, trying distractions like petitions and posts about bugs and CS quality because you're so scared of being stripped of the stuff you had no legitimate right for and getting banned, temporarily or permanently. Or maybe you think that if you add a few magic words like "I'm a founder / subscriber" / "I played since beta", it will help? Besides, if cheaters, by simply using generic threats like "how dare you even consider banning a founder-subscriber, I'm the hand that feeds", will really "bully" BW into not taking any actions, it will be pretty damaging for BW / EA reputation and whatever future mmo they'll come up with.

Oh yeah they so are Even threatening that ooooooh sooooo many people might leave because you know, they'll be sincerely offended. Eric already said that exploit abusers are few....So those few can start packing their bags already if they feel like it

Enjoy your elitist self for now, just remember that this comms nerf is a huge stab in the general ops popularity and one step closer to them becoming a thing of the past. At this rate even 2016 doesn't feel 100% safe high-end pvp wise, let alone the next BW mmo.

Exactly

And I was talking about ultimates and people's choice to gear up in ultimate comms gear, willingly staying away from the benefits of the token gear in the ravagers/tos story modes. That could be achieved before, now hardly anymore. If you're happy about it, gz

It is still a change for the worse and I think at this point BW overestimates swtor attractiveness as a way of spending time to treat a huge part of its main player base (pve casuals) like that.

Old story modes gave useless tokens and ultimates. New story modes give useful tokens and ultimates, but new ops also are too hard to pug in most cases. Just like before 3.0 ppl would still run EV/KP needing nothing there gear-wise but just for the weekly rewards. If somebody agrees to spend their time running easier ops that drop outdated gear tokens, just for comms, it's their choice how they wanna spend theie raiding time. Now those options are gone. Hardcore raiders won't feel any difference while casual raiders' motivation to run ops at all is damaged. But surely you have the right to be glad about the fact that a large number of players who only bother with story modes or are only capable of handling story modes will now have much less things to do in swtor. Is that good? And what makes you think that this will inspire and motivate them to try harder stuff i.e. story modes of the new ops, instead of simply giving up on raiding for now at all? Swtor has been getting less and less casual player-friendly and that's most surprising.

I said "the best of what's available for comms" not just "the best". At any rate, what this really does is add more to the relevance of another post about the future of raids and people's general interest in them that will fade away within swtor now even faster.

If they bother doing something about their gear but are realistic about getting tokens, at least they want the best of what's available for comms, i.e. ultimates. Why is that surprising?

Yep, you can be in a great guild with great people, capable of clearing tough content but always remain a bystander of their raiding activities, because raid group spots are usually filled. And when they're not on mains, they raid on alts. And you end up doing solo stuff and trying to pug / pugging story modes and the only difference between going all solo and being in a guild is the green chat. Still leaves ops hardly appealing to the most.

As a matter of fact, for most ppl it is so. I mean it was so.

Google new cooperative mode games and mmo's that are scheduled for this year, you'll find some interesting alternatives, one will be out in a month Ever since 3.0 dev's have been making life of casual pve-ers worse with each patch, about time to step away from this pile of laggy-buggy-nerfed crap

Yeah, you're right about flashpoints. But making all level 55 ops irrelevant (nim's don't count for obvious reasons) is even more puzzling. Tos and ravagers are still too hard for most to even bother. So, BW Austin, one more move in the direction of cutting the casual' interest in raiding?

Your lady bounty hunter will have to wait till the next mmo by BW, star wars one or some other. They couldn't even give us 2 stories for both sides in 3.0 and you expect more than [flirt]'s?