To put the price of my proxy in context ... Cigars come 20 to a box. I smoke a box each week. Each cigar I smoke costs the same as a month-long SWTOR subscription. So, yeah, I spend around $1,200 each month on cigars. I.e., I literally burn $1,200 each month ... all while doing my body harm. I sustain my cigar affectation under legislative mandate. As a white-haired, middle-aged, tall, large, bearded, Southern attorney who always wears suspenders with his suits, I am required by law to always have a lit stogie to perpetuate the stereotype. Honestly, I am one bow tie away from being Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

If memory serves, Bud (Ed Harris) and the other characters in James Cameron's The Abyss never did recover from the Abyss. It took intervention by the water-aliens at the bottom of the Abyss. Under that precedent, SWTOR can recover, but only by means of altruistic water-aliens. In other words ... some new content for Manaan.

They need to add a feature to the forums similar to "Befriend". It would be called "Proxy." The feature would allow Forum User A to designate Forum User B to speak on their behalf ... i.e., would give Forum User B Forum User A's proxy. I look forward to being entertained by robust "proxy fights", in which would be soap-box-climbers battle for proxy rights to lend weight to their opinions. For the record, I would likely sell my proxy cheap. A stack of pancakes and a box of cigars might do.

I used to look forward to increases of level caps in MMOs. It only took a dozen or so cap increases in various MMOs for me to eventually realize that increasing the level cap is always illusory. It takes no appreciable time to achieve the new cap ... even for players like me, who aren't chained to our computers. I've never actually consumed all the new content released with a new cap to reach the new level cap. And with the new cap comes the monotony of re-grinding new gear (or deeds, or whatever a specific MMO calls upon us to grind). Within a week, we're back where we were ... level capped and facing nothing to do but grind.

I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that everyone in a minority of the majority of the entire player base really wants horses added to SWTOR. Having seen that suggestion, we (and I, of course, mean "we" in its broadest and most restrictive sense ... yes, both ... at the same time) cannot unsee that idea. Make it happen or you shall anger us (by "us", I mean me and my shadow).

I am reminded of an early-80s television show called "Wizards and Warriors" (starring the late Jeff Conaway). As an avid D&D player, it was like watching a D&D session on TV (the show was intended to be a comedy and included several "Meta" quips and observations). I recall an episode in which the Prince and his Companion visit the Wizard, who explains their quest, then offers to enchant the Prince's weapon by touching the sword with the Wizard's magic crystal. The Prince's Companion then shoves his sword forward, pleading, "Me too, me too!" I remember chuckling because that was how some of my D&D friends would react: "Hey, if you're giving out magic enchantments, can you help a brother out?" This Super-uber-weapon-of-super-awesome-and-super-superlativeness we get in SWTOR calls to mind one of the most annoying aspects (to me) of old D&D campaigns: Disposable weapons. How many characters began life with their Sword of Consanguinity (or some other family heirloom passed down father to son for generations), only to discard their bland heredity weapon for the first shiny +1 Long Sword they found? The way things worked, it only made sense for the players to trade up as they progressed. Players remained no more committed to a particular weapon than most men remain committed to a particular significant other. So, the Ham-Fisted Bludgeon of Arcann-Slaying may have been nice when we got it, but it's old news now. Today's upgrade is that shiny new shield thingy in the corner.

I agree that having separate class quest arcs did make SWTOR unique. But the demise of separate arcs for each class is not necessarily the problem. I've enjoyed playing plenty of MMOs in which the story was the same for every class. The difference lies in that, in those MMOs, the single arc was sufficiently entertaining to justify replaying it with other classes. In SWTOR, I play only Sages. Oh, sure, I leveled one of each class to 50 long ago for the perks. But the other classes were chores to complete. Completing those class stories was a means to the very important end of empowering my Sages. I mention this because, for years now, even "vanilla" SWTOR has only had one story for me ... the Sage story. But I enjoy that story enough to play it over and over and over again. I haven't completed KOTFE yet, but I imagine once I do, I'll not feel that same urge to ride the rollercoaster again with another character.

No, you're not. As other posters have said, there are better uses for CCs than crates if your goal is to sell items for credits. Yep. Nope. See above. Lots of ways to earn credits without buying crates. To go without. If an item is, in your opinion, overpriced, then don't buy it. If your opinion turns out to be correct, no one will buy the item and the seller will likely repost at a lower price (eventually). I think another poster counseled patience when buying from the GTN. That's good advice. Again, lots of ways to acquire credits without buying crates, so, no, I doubt anyone at EA/BW thinks you're going to buy multiple hypercrates. They may think you'll spend CC on something else you can sell for credits. And, by the way, I agree that buying hypercrates is a poor strategy for players seeking to acquire wealth ... which is why I don't buy them either.

No, they are not. They are selling us chances to acquire armor and weapons. I can relate. Last week, I tried to trade a tuna fish sandwich for a Mercedes. Turns out that a tuna fish sandwich isn't worth the same as a Mercedes. Perhaps if I had added a slice of tomato. Either way ... the dealer told me I needed a lot more tuna fish sandwiches before he would make that deal ... a lot more. Next time, I'll research the worth of a tuna fish sandwich before trying to trade one for something expensive. Lesson learned. How is that EA/BW's fault? They don't control the players' sale prices. They don't control the players' buy prices. Maybe you're better response would have been to send curt but sharply worded in-game mails to whomever posted the item for 60 million and the player who purchased your stuff for 20 million. Well, dang. Now, I have Iron Maiden's "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" in my head. Am I the only one who read this and heard Cartman from South Park? Mentally adding the "... I'm going home," of course.

I concur with Uncle Bob's analysis. That said, here's another idea ... I should insist that my breakfast restaurant provide softer butter for the pancakes. That's two days now that the ultra-hard butter roughed up my flapjacks. Oh! Wait! I just had another idea ... it's time to buy new boxers. I should do that this week. So, yeah, lots of ideas floating around ... this place is like a Think Tank.

As a bachelor, I have no experience with the "Honey-Do-List" (that list of weekend chores passed down to man by his significant other like God handing down the Commandments to Moses). But I would love to hear anyone married share the reaction given when the man tells his better half, "Sorry, Sweetie, but you should only include the 'far more important' tasks on this list." Anyone submitting feedback on this project should include: 1. The day, location, and time of day of the conversation (e.g., "Saturday morning in the kitchen"). 2. The state of dress of both participants (e.g., "I was still in my Speed Racer PJs; she was dressed for high tea"). 3. Any witnesses present and their reactions (e.g., "Our kids saw it, and they giggled when I said it" or "the dog was there and just shook his head at me"). 4. The name of the hotel where you slept that night. This is the Suggestions forum. That the developers have "better uses of their time" is pretty darn obvious for just about every suggestion other than "Fix all the bugs, please". I accept that we can legitimately question whether a given suggestion is worth the developers' time (e.g., "I want a Pink Princess Space Pony ... make it happen!"). But we ought not focus on whether every viable suggestion is the best use of development resources.

This is exactly why limiting GTN prices will never work. The "big ticket" items would just disappear off the GTN and appear in Trade. Were E-Bay to cap it's sales prices, we'd see (a) the immediate irrelevance of E-Bay and (b) a surge in use for alternative bid sites. That said, I welcome someone to posit a sound and viable method for capping credits traded in in-game character-to-character transfers. Also, the suggestion that they institute a subscriber's credit cap (I believe the suggested cap was 10 million credits per Legacy) is not ... I repeat, not ... Communism. Or, at least, it's not Marxist Communism (which is the brand of Communism I grew up with). The State taking our credits above 10 million is simple theft. It becomes Communism when they begin redistributing those credits to Legacies that don't have 10 million combined credits. This isn't the government taking from the rich to either (a) give to the poor or (b) pay for programs for the poor or © pay the expenses of government. The suggestion is akin to the government taxing the rich, converting that excess wealth into cash ... and burning the money. As for this thread's purported topic, even as an avid misanthrope, I see that reductions in the flow of credits into players' pockets need not create a boon for credit sellers. I've never bought SWTOR credits and never will. If I can't afford an item on the GTN, I employ a time-proven yet oft-overlooked alternative strategy ... I do without. If enough players opt to "do without" on high-priced items, we may see GTN prices drop ... eventually. But "hopeful" is not the same as "naïve" ... I don't expect that to really happen. Again ... avid misanthrope.

So, we have a thread title that the OP admits was merely "click-bait", followed by a post in which the OP expresses his dissatisfaction with the product, followed by the OP attempting to invalidate every opposing opinion as either off-topic, name-calling, or ... whatever. Must be Tuesday.

I have given this issue considerable thought. I have reviewed all the available research. I have interviewed the necessary witnesses. I have consulted with the best experts in the field ... all of them "top men". I discussed the question with my family, my waitress, my priest, my rabbi, and my stripper. I conducted random polls and led focus groups to garner feedback. I have thoroughly explored all the legal nuances and consequences of such a decision. I just finished reading my CPA's report on the financial implications involved. I met with representatives of the ASPCA and PETA to ensure that no animals would be harmed (ASPCA) or inconvenienced (PETA) as a result of such a development. I expect the FDA to complete its study by week's end. The EPA has already given the green light after it's preliminary environmental assessment revealed no concerns. I have scrutinized every conceivable scientific means to analyze the issue ... utilizing state-of-the-art methodologies such as coin-tossing and rock-paper-scissors. Having digested all of the data and opinions, I have reached an inescapable conclusion regarding this suggestion: Meh, why not?

What I learned in this thread: Subscribers who drop to Preferred are the reason we can't have nice things. If that's the primary impediment to introducing Legacy credits, then perhaps it's time for a draconian measure. Or, perhaps it's time to chillax. Either approach works for me. Draconian Measure: Any credits deposited in the Legacy Vault may only be withdrawn by the character(s) who deposited said funds. If my Guild Vault can track deposits and withdrawals, my Legacy Vault ought to know who among my cadre of alts are the sugar-daddies and who are the moochers. This would require the system to maintain a running balance on each character's "bank account" to know each character's withdrawal limit. Of course all such withdrawals would be subject to the Preferreds' credit cap and may require escrow unlocks. Chillax Dude: Does anyone really care whether a player uses Legacy credits as a means to move credits among his alts once he drops to Preferred? I don't. As a Preferred player, those credits will still be subject to the credit cap. Also, I don't see this feature as verdant ground for exploiting. Unless we expect a player will bounce back and forth between Subbed and Preferred, then we're basically talking about a one-time-per-character transfer of credits, subject to the credit cap. Maybe a scenario exists in which the player receives some great benefit, but on the scale of issues that cause me concern, this rates just below this morning's breakfast's butter being a schooch too hard ... it didn't spread well on the pancakes. Full disclosure requires me to admit that, in most instances, I prefer severely draconian measures. I wouldn't mind if they added Legacy credits for subscribers and just hung anyone dropping their sub out to dry ... i.e., cannot access the credits at all. For those who drop sub on purpose, serves you right and you should have planned ahead. For those whose sub lapses because of credit card issues or whatever ... all you have to do is resub to get access to your ducats.

You raise a valid point. Auto-loot would really be just like auto-mounting (a QOL improvement for those of us who are too "lazy" to bother with stopping so we can mount our speeders). And I, too, wouldn't mind if they made it a Legacy feature. Actually makes sense in the context of the auto-mount feature.

Regardless how one views the CM, we can all agree that the CM keeps the doors open. Without it, I question the viability of SWTOR as a business enterprise. Which is, of course, it's primary function. We players sometimes get that backwards. Sometimes, we think that a game's highest purpose is to entertain us, and profitability is a secondary concern. Of course, we're wrong when we believe profits should be subordinated to our entertainment. Regardless how we got here, here we are. It no longer matters whether one believes that the Cartel Market saved or doomed the game. The undeniable fact today is that SWTOR cannot exist without it. When I say it cannot exist, I concede that subscription fees may generate enough revenue to cover the cost of keeping the game active. As others have noted, it's not as if all the CM revenue is being channeled back into SWTOR. But if this game becomes a zero-sum proposition, why would EA/BW bother with it? Just to edify our love of Star Wars? Unlikely. They need profits to justify the game. And, for good or ill, those profits come from the Cartel Market. So, while this thread's title perhaps should be changed to "Cartel Market is Making SWTOR a Game I Don't Want to Play" (a very reasonable sentiment), the CM is not killing the game. It's the one thing keeping SWTOR alive. We can bemoan why that is true. Sure, more <insert whatever you like about SWTOR> might have changed the current situation. More or better <insert whatever players who left liked about SWTOR> might have resulted in a completely different player population today. And, certainly, had EA/BW done a better job in avoiding <insert whatever you believe caused the crisis early in SWTOR's life and, thus, necessitated introduction of the CM> was probably the preferred path to take. At this point, there seems to be no feasible alternative to the Cartel Market. Removing that revenue with the hope that the financial bind would somehow lead to the improvements players believe would allow SWTOR to flourish without the CM seems like a poor business strategy. And SWTOR is, first and foremost, a business. TLDR: An erudite and reasoned statement of why we're all screwed.

Agreed. You need no further training. You're a full-fledged dummy.

As would I.

Yeah, like I said, the advent of spaces in names opens up new options to replicate the name. The first thing ... and I mean the very first thing after the OP reads this post ... should be making an alt to hold whatever name she decides to give Hollie. I'd hate for some troll to see your suggestion and make a "Miss Hollie" just to, you know, act like a troll.

I spread the seeds of my Legacy across all servers, so I have the running-mount feature on all my guys. Now, ask me how many times I try to running-mount my horse in LOTRO? Every. Damn. Time.

You mean the thing many of us have known since the late 70s? Yeah, Star Wars is Space Fantasy. It never was Science Fiction.

I don't disagree with your skepticism about SWTOR developers' ability to program a landscape rock without introducing a bug. But that can be said about any change to the game. We shouldn't let that lack of faith in the developers inhibit our ideas to improve the game. Perhaps SWTOR is so fragile that they really should just stop making changes. Perhaps we're not really playing a Science-Fantasy genre MMO, but we're really just playing Space-Jenga ... waiting for the developers to pull on the wrong piece and bring the whole thing crashing down. Also, auto-loot was added to LOTRO years after its release without mishap.

I actually would dread losing a cherished name over any material asset in my MMOs. Like the OP said, credits and such can be replaced. Even with using special characters, it's never really the same. Though, you might try giving Hollie a surname and make use of the new space feature (OP has been gone long enough that she may not know about that). So, make your new gal "Hollie Smith" (or whatever). Another option is to reach out to the new Hollie and ask for the name back. That may require providing them with a free rename token. But you're on Ebon Hawk (as am I), and most players are willing to be helpful. I have crafting alts and, if a player contacted me to acquire one of their names, I'd probably go along with it.

First, this suggestion probably belongs in the Suggestions Forum. Second, my default setting is to agree with any suggestion that is optional while allowing players to preserve the status quo. I see no reason to deviate from that setting for this idea. I'd not want an "Ironman Click Box" to get pushed to the top of the developers' to-do list. But, after they address every other concern and complaint, sure, make it so. I doubt I know anyone in SWTOR who would make use of the option. Most of my SWTOR Guild and friends are role-players ... we invest significant time and creativity into our characters. For us, permadeath isn't as simple as starting over with the same character. When Thor dies, he's dead. Forever. I can make a new level 1 Sage and name him Thoronmir, but he won't be Thoronmir. Well, not unless I concoct some trite, contrived RP explanation in which Thor returns from the dead, but having been greatly diminished in power until he acclimates to his new existence as "Thoronmir the White." But, seriously, how many times can I pull that off? Even Gandalf only did it once. Third, as has been noted, we have this option now. Any player can opt to delete a character the first time they die. TLDR: I would never play on a permadeath server or make use of an ironman option; but I don't care if other players want it.