Not trying to be mean ... it's Friday after all! But, yeah, this isn't making any sense to me. Having purchased a Stronghold, why would you ever want to lose it? Like the other poster said, you can just deactivate it if, for example, you're at the max number of Strongholds and you want to add the new, shiny one. I believe there is an option to remove all decorations, so you can reuse those (again, like another poster said, decorations are tied to your Legacy, not your characters). Speaking as someone who deletes alts all the time, the first step should always be converting that alt's Comms into something you can transfer to other characters. I can't tell you how many times I've diligently moved all credits and non-bound items off a doomed alt, only to delete them before remembering about their Comms. So, now, I make that Step 1 in my character-deletion protocol. As for having unlocked a Stronghold using a specific character, I don't know whether/how deleting that character might affect the Stronghold. But I do know you can change the "owner" of the Stronghold. I've done it a few times. So, do that first, then delete the character to avoid any potential mishap.

Hyperbole much? I've never considered looting part of "playing the game". It's just a necessary nuisance. Moving through the landscape, interacting with other players, fighting enemies, overthrowing emperors ... that is playing the game, and I'd never want a button to do all that for me. But looting? That's just picking up the trash on your way out of the room ... it's housekeeping. I work with several gamers ... not one has ever recommended a game to me because of the looting mechanics: "Hey, Thor, you just have to try 'Frontier Wagon Train III'! Yeah, you spend most of your time in first-person view driving a wagon, but check out the animation for looting!" If seeking an auto-loot feature equates to wanting a global Easy Button, then every Quality of Life improvement is the same.

Marriage is too much like the commitment to a set OPs group. I prefer "PUGs" ... if ya know what I mean. Sure, sometimes I get grouped with someone who lacks the required gear, doesn't know the proper rotation of skills, or refuses to space-bar through all the conversations. But it's still better than running the same OP over and over with the same person.

LOTRO has quests like that too. When I kill such a mob, I auto-get their loot, but there is a gold quest ring over the body that keeps it there until I interact with it. Also, just consider how many times we're right-clicking to gather loot (aside from having to get within SWTOR auto-loot range to do so) versus how many missions require we interact with corpses.

Bouncing between SWTOR and LOTRO like I do, this is the most annoying aspect of SWTOR for me. LOTRO has spoiled me. My LOTRO Hunter can pew-pew from range and whatever drops off the mob automatically enters my inventory without me taking a step or doing a thing. In the olden days of the before-before times in the long-long ago, I would have to trot over to my kills and manually loot them. So, yes, please, this would be a great addition to SWTOR.

Good news everyone! The sandwich crisis is over. I managed to finish the sandwich without interference. But a new problem has arisen ... I plan to go home from work later today. Am I entitled to sleep in the house for which I paid? To that end, I also paid for the bed, sheets, and my pajamas ... am I entitled to use those too? And, yes, I only want to know if I'm entitled to wear the PJs ... whether I do so or not is a different topic.

Well, sure. My point was directed towards the other guy's supposition that migrating server populations via voluntary transfers is somehow less likely to result in mishap than forced server mergers. In either scenario, the end game (for purposes of discussion) is that the entire population of Dead Server moves to other servers. Certainly, the voluntary nature of transfers is a factor to consider if/when EA/BW starts considering server mergers. Also, I cited the LOTRO server consolidation. All character transfers were "voluntary" ... in that every player was responsible for moving his/her own characters off the closing servers onto the surviving servers. You could, of course, leave your guys on the doomed server, but that server was ... well ... doomed (first thing they did was disable new character creation on the servers they were closing). I had cadres of alts on all US LOTRO servers (and a couple of European servers) ... it took me days to complete all those transfers. One way LOTRO eased the load was phasing transfers to the surviving worlds. They rotated through the surviving worlds every few weeks, opening them to receive transfers. I should also mention that all the transfers were free. And, as I mentioned, there were problems and (MMO forums being MMO forums) complaints. But everything seems to have been worked out. So, overloading CS is not a big concern for me. My only point is that IF EA/BW decides to close servers, they should take a look at how LOTRO did it. It may not have been perfect ... and it took several months to complete from start to finish ... but they got it done and everyone settled into their new homes.

On a similar note, can someone tell me whether I am entitled to eat this sandwich I just paid for? My paralegal did not pay for this sandwich, but she's eyeing it like she thinks she's entitled to eat it.

Just to play "Vader's advocate" for a moment ... How are (potentially) massive transfers of all characters by Legacy really any different from merging server populations? Either way, we are trusting EA/BW to transfer our characters. Either way seems to involve the same risks of mishap. Either way, if you have 50 characters each on both the original and destination servers, you've got a problem. As far as moving characters from one server to another, I see no difference between a paid transfer and a server merger (other than to my virtual wallet). I'm a survivor of LOTRO's great 2015 Server Merger, in which LOTRO culled its servers from around 40 to 10. Not that there weren't some issues, but, overall, the process went pretty smooth. Granted, LOTRO has a completely different housing system that was pretty simple to transfer (they just remitted the cost of your house and all upgrades so you could buy a new house on your server). I (still) fervently believe that SWTOR's Strongholds and Guild Ships are the primary impediments to them merging servers. Until they figure out to transfer those elements, they're not going to merge servers.

That was perhaps the most simple and cogent analogy to explain that not all internet traffic uses the same tubes. Well done.

Succinct and to the point. Well done.

Yes, and I also realize that none of my Sages or Sorcerers are spec'd for DPS ... they're all spec'd for healing. The only role I've enjoyed playing in every other MMO was ranged DPS. I hate healing in all other games.

Yeah, we were specifically discussing the Warden class and, aside from the two players who actually play Wardens, the consensus was that it's too much work for casual players like us. Plus, I've never enjoyed any melee class in any MMO. I've always gravitated to ranged DPS (except in SWTOR, where I really only play healing Sages and Sorcerers). Besides, Hunter for life!

Christ, you really are bad at this game, aren't you? In the context of landscape questing, EA/BW decided to calibrate the fights to serve the lowest common denominator. They must assume that we all are bad as Ikinai, else new or stupid players get frustrated and leave. That makes the basic fights a tad boring for those of us who, unlike Ikinai, possess some modicum of skill and/or coordination. Sure, they could reduce the mob density. But making the fights harder conflicts with the goal stated above: ensuring that players who are utterly bereft of any scintilla of ability or knowledge ... players like Ikinai ... can complete the missions. That reality forces competent players (i.e., players other than Ikinai) to create their own challenge. It falls to us to become our own Ikinais. I channel my inner-Ikinai by downing a quart of bourbon before playing ... not only does working the mouse become more challenging, I'm pretty sure I'm fighting twice as many mobs as when I'm sober. { } implied.

Well thank goodness. I thought I was going senile when, the last time I logged into SWTOR, I found a group of Holo-Companions huddling in my main room. My immediate thought was that I must have placed them there and forgot. But this was my Nar Shaddaa home ... Thor-Central, as it were. It's really the only Stronghold I visit more than a few times each year. So, my second thought was that someone had broken in and left them there. But they left all the beer in the fridge, so that seems doubtful. It's good know that this is a bug and that I'm not going senile. Also, it's good know that this is a bug and that I'm not going senile.

We were discussing combat mechanics in LOTRO the other night. Most of LOTRO classes are like SWTOR ... essentially fixed skills (aside from a handful of triggered skills, i.e., my Hunter has a skilled that is only active after a successful evasion of the enemy's attack) that most players use in a specific rotation when raiding. But there is one class ... Warden ... which is very popular and actually has a more interactive combat mechanic. Wardens' most powerful moves are called Gambits. You execute a specific Gambit by first executing a specific combination of base attacks. Many players enjoy that style of gameplay. Many players do not. Many players enjoy it but find memorizing the right combination of base attacks to trigger the 40+ Gambits to be a daunting chore. The LOTRO Warden combat design is similar to the overall combat mechanic in Age of Conan. In Conan, utilizing specific directional attacks (e.g., Left, Up, Right, Right) activates more powerful finishing moves. Again, some players like it; some players don't.

The OP's scheme is perfectly clear to me. I can't believe the rest of you missed it. This is nothing more than a subtle attempt to recruit someone of corrupted moral fiber to set a torch to the OP's SWTOR account. Sure, the account served its purpose in the past, but its value has plummeted. Now, the OP is upside-down on his SWTOR account mortgage ... but wait. He has his account heavily insured. Realizing that his SWTOR account is now worth more as a smoky pile of ash and soot than as an active account, the OP seeks someone completely untraceable to him/her to light a match so the OP can collect on the account insurance. We can tell for certain if, upon reviewing the OP's account, we note that he/she has removed all personal effects (family photos, bowling trophies, their diploma from Clown College, etc.). That's the mistake so many make when hiring a burn job ... they try to save their mementos first, which raises a huge flag. Sure, some donut-infused flatfoot may look at the scene and comment, "Gee, OP, it sure was lucky that you took your favorite collection of McDonald's kids' menu maze-games out to be cleaned right before the fire." But any shamus worth his hand-rolled cigarette would see right through the ruse. Which reminds me of a funny, and true, story ... This lawyer (not me) concocted a scheme by which he purchased a box of expensive cigars. He then had the cigars insured against loss by fire. He then smoked said cigars. He then submitted a claim to his insurance company since, technically, the cigars were destroyed by fire. The insurance company denied the claim. The lawyer sued ... and won. The court concluded that the claim met all the requirements under the policy, so the insurer had to pay. The insurance company paid the loss, then referred the matter to the local District Attorney, who successfully prosecuted the lawyer for arson. Lawyer went to prison for smoking his own cigars.

As with the Nico thread, I'm not a fan of giving players swag they choose not to earn. As with the Nico thread, if EA/BW decides to make the titles available in the CM for a ridiculously exorbitant price, then sure. That said, I am less opposed to allowing Insta-60s to actually play the game before KOTFE. Sure, even with level-sync, they will cruise through the content. But it's not as if starting at level 1 requires much more effort. When I made a new Sage a few weeks ago, I was synced to Coruscant's max level the moment I stepped on-planet, and remained cap-synced on every world since (I do all the planetary missions and at least one pass through all the Heroics along the way).

And my point was that these hypothetical (and perhaps hyperbolic) risks seem easily avoided. One may wring one's hands at any change to a game as "stepping into the unknown". Who knew whether they would muck up the Outfit Slots feature? Yet, we wanted it and they gave it to us. To lessen the chance of any mishap, the conversion of Cyborgs would have to be a staged process (albeit, all stages can take place immediately after each other so it appears to be a single process): Step 1: Using the software from the Appearance Kiosk, convert all Cyborgs into Humans (they could leave all appearance options on the same settings ... not that that guarantees the same look, but it makes any bug less likely). Step 2: Add a Cyborg Implant slider bar thingy to the character appearance options (this seems like a cut/paste from the Cyborg screen to every other species' screens). Step 3: Mail out some free Appearance Change Kiosk tokens to every former Cyborg so they can reset their look as they want. Step 4: Profit ... or, if you like, only after the first three steps are complete, remove Cyborg from the character creation screen as an option. They do not need to erase the Cyborg race from the game. They need only make all current Cyborgs Human (again ... since all Cyborgs were, at one time in their life, Human) and remove Cyborg as an option for future characters.

There is nothing absurd about keeping an active subscription regardless of one's ability to play. It's nothing like ordering two meals at a restaurant. It's more like not cancelling your cable service if you're going to be out of town for a month or longer. In my case, it's not worth saving $15 to bother with cancelling and renewing subscriptions to MMOs. $15 is such an insignificant sum, I just can't be bothered to care. Plus, I enjoy SWTOR and have no qualms about subsidizing the game with my subscription fee. That said, your perspective is equally reasonable (as I said in my post that you quoted). It is a matter of choice. You choose not to subsidize the game when you're not playing ... which, of course, is fine. But don't pretend to know what is or isn't worth my $15. The only absurdity in this thread is the suggestion that players who missed out on a time-specific subscriber reward be allowed to obtain such rewards without paying the subscriber fee the rest of us paid (at the proper time). If you want them to add Nico to the CM for $15 worth of CC, I would support that. In fact, I would support them adding all of the time-specific subscriber rewards to the CM ... for $15 each. That way, completionists could complete their completions for the same cost the rest of us incurred.

Do characters who use the Appearance Kiosk Thingy risk any of those issues? That's really what the OP proposes ... force a Change Species on every current Cyborg to make them Human. It's been a while ... can one change one's Species at the Appearance Kiosk? If so, then the mechanism for making the change already exists and, one hopes, is relatively bug-free. As others have said, any such change would also require some kind of token that allowed a current Cyborg to reacquire his/her implants via the Appearance Kiosk Thingy without having to spend CC. There must be a way to restore the status quo for current Cyborgs. Whether they would also give a free Species Change token so a Human can become a Pureblood (or whatever), who then may or may not acquire implants, is another issue, but I don't see why not. So, yes, making Cyborg its own species was a mistake. No, it's not a galactic calamity if things remain as they are now. Probably, this change can be done without (a) bugs or (b) requiring players to spend their digital specie.

For years now, my microphone has been bugged. When using voice chat software (or using chat internal to other MMOs), I can hear, but I can't speak. So, I can follow instructions, but you'll never hear the dulcet tones of my bourbon-splashed Southern accent. I am not a ninja ... not of loot or any other breed of ninja. The game mechanic for Master Loot is working as intended. Perhaps it's time to remove that mechanic. That seems to be all one can reasonable ask of the developers. Until then, caveat emptor. Allow me to illustrate: Whenever the Power Ball jackpot gets over $400 million, most of the people in my office kick in a few bucks and we buy lottery tickets. My secretary buys the tickets. I know for a fact that she routinely plays the lottery herself, so she also buys "personal" tickets when she buys our "community" tickets. Running a PUG raid with Master Loot is like waiting until after the Power Ball drawing for my secretary to decide which tickets were "office" tickets and which tickets were "hers" (FYI, we avoid that issue by requiring that she scan and email to each of us copies of the "office" tickets before the drawing).

So, your decision to unsub was based on your decision to not pay for the game while you were unavailable to play, rather than any lack of incentive to remain subscribed. That is a perfectly reasonable perspective, but undeniably a matter of personal choice. You chose to forego the rewards in order to save money.

This news bodes ill for all my fans. I am a "technosaur" ... a technological dinosaur. My (flip) phone is no smarter than my toaster (which is the drop the bread in the top and push the lever down type, not one of those new-fangled variable setting, fancy-dancy toasters). I an certain that my phone is better capable of toasting bread than it is able to access the interzwebz. I am not on Face Page or Redditch (you should get that looked at) or even Missing-Linkedin. I do not use Twitter because I am not a twit. My entire "social media footprint" is pretty much limited to this Forum. While this Forum shall endure ... for now ... the announcement of the closing of other Forums seems like the faint peal of some far-distant death knell for this Forum as well. It may just be a matter of time. When, eventually, this Forum is silenced, so shall I be. No more irrelevant anecdotes. No more lauding of pancakes and deriding of eggplant. The bright candle of my wit extinguished. Well, perhaps not extinguished. Just no longer shared with the SWTOR community. And, trust me, it's not as if you guys are the only people upon whom I inflict senseless and meandering stories ... or my eternal enmity for eggplant. I suppose I will have to trade metaphorical demands for the certain SWTOR players to "Get off my lawn!" for actually shouting at the kids in my neighborhood. I'm sure the SWTOR Forums will be around for quite a while. Perhaps it's just seeing the demise of other games' Forums compels me to contemplate this Forum's mortality. Like those television commercials, in which the old couple comes home after a funeral and decide that, despite their age and health, they should sign up for Colonial Penn Life Insurance, so they don't leave their kids to pay for their funerals. I wonder how many CC we will each be charged for the funeral for the SWTOR Forum.

We must consider EA/BW's motivation behind offering a subscriber reward predicated on having an active subscription on a specific date. While it may seem counter-intuitive, they make such offers to encourage players to have active subscriptions on specific dates. Doling out those rewards to all subscribers ... even several months later ... would have a chilling effect on achieving EA/BW's goal of inducing active subscriptions on specific dates. There is also the cost-benefit analysis to consider. Albeit this calculus is simplistic, but let us assume that X equals the number of timely subscriptions induced by the swag; and Y equals the number of untimely subscribers who cancel because they cannot obtain the swag. As long as X > Y, it makes sense for EA/BW to preserve the status quo. Again, the goal is not to increase overall subscriptions; the goal is to increase subscriptions at specific times (otherwise, there would be no deadlines to subscribe in order to obtain the swag). In my opinion, the ultimate goal is to provide just enough subscriber rewards, at frequent enough intervals, to induce players to simply remain subbed all the time. TLDR: I understand why EA/BW probably won't make the rewards available to those who did not qualify to receive the swag. But I don't really care whether they do or not.