What gets me is that people take so long to realise that they're choosing to engage with something that is quantifiable, something we can study and learn from. It's as if they think that games today have become something other than revenue sources for investors.. o_o The days of the attic coder and his buddies knocking out something for themselves that struck a chord with the masses are gone - games are big business, we are consumers. Consumers need food - suppliers will find the cheapest ways of sating your hunger. :: For the epeen: I have papers with my name on it next to Computer and Visualistaion and Game Design. I have friends who work for EA (Boo!), Crytek, the-sods-behind-those-damned-lego-games, Jagex, Lionhead and a few others who flit between companies - the bottom line is product comes first. We need our fix, the supplier will provide - it's in the supplier's interest to give us as much as we're willing to pay for as possible for as cheap as possible. Gear/'itemisation' - is a classic example of milking us. Moo. 'E-Sports' are the up-and-coming platform for mass milking. Tune in, cough up, be quiet.

Movies come in many different flavours, The basics of cinematography do not change. Don't try to label me a troll, simply because you don't know what else to say. :: Game design isn't magic - good games reward good decisions. Qualifying 'good' requires the designers to provide a satisfying definition within the context of the game they create. The point expressed suggested that 'gear' will attract those who were 'on the fence'. I suggest that perhaps, perhaps, 'gear' is a shortcut, thrown in where quality game design, design that makes players feel rewarded through progressing their skills as players, would be better. Regardless of the format - be it chess, Street Fighter, Go, misc MMORPG. :: Gear is a cheap (in terms of labour/dev cost) way of attracting customers - generating revenue. Designing quality systems that reward effective play is hard - takes time - costs much more money.

There is nothing different between risk/reward ..and rewarding quality decisions. be it turn based, with pen and paper, in real time or in in 'real life'. The format changes, the fundamental design merit does not. If I have to explain this to you then.. ..no, lets not go there. :: Unless.... .. acquiring set gear, is suddenly a quality, respectable choice that constitutes risk. Well rewarded.

O-o Or maybe, Just maybe, They could work in some mechanics that played of each other ..and were.. ..I dunno, rewarding? o-o Street Fighter/Tekken/Soul Calibur - the gear keeps us playing! No, wait, um..

Perhaps we should let our rock take scissors while we go for their rock or keep their paper busy? I realise you want an edge. And unless that edge is born from our skills as players, then we cannot make claims of skills - and winning becomes something less - drinks all round, buy two for the gear as thanks. If we want to take scissors, we need to play better than scissors. If we play our best and scissors plays to a magically-equatable equal, then hey, we chose paper, they chose scissors - lets go wail on rock.

Dice rolling constrained by player made choices. The quality of those choices is a skill. Skill is knowing when and where to roll the dice, within the context of MMORPGs .. o-o and Blood Bowl. To my mind, skill is not 'Winning due to weighting RNG rolls in your favour' through purchases, rather, it is winning through decisions born of careful consideration and timely execution. Again, within the context of this most MMORPGs

You can make your toon better. Practice. Play better.

This - within the context of the OP :. :: :. Improvement that makes things easier erodes claims of skill.

o_o Time melee attacker spends at range en route to ranged attacker o_o Time melee attacker spends in range upon reaching ranged attacker :: Melee gotta chase, Range gotta run. Melee have to deal with the annoyance that is *just out of range* Range have to deal with the annoyance that is *line of site breaking/keeping target away.* Quantifying which is 'easier' / 'harder' is mainly reliant on player skill rather than class design. Personally, I've always found running in circles, timing CC/interrupts and keeping in melee range easier - does that make it so? No. Nor does it make it not so.

O_o Lovers love. Dancers dance. Cooks cook. Walkers walk. Sleepers sleep. .. ...... Profound!

*-* ...so the 'pro' operative named K' something something won't be able to spit on me anymore? I'm only 20 something levels lower than him, slinging my guns into his/her/misc rageful bits! Aww

Back peddle Bait 'Pro' Gamer

You Sir/Madam/Misc.. ..need a new computer. Mine is hardly a beast and if it takes more than half a minute, I get fidgety. Other than loading up fleet when it's busy, it doesn't take more than half a minute.. o_o

:: It's not just BW - the business model of most developers is becoming increasingly focused on 'How much can we get out of the consumer vs how much we need to invest.' It's good business. They'll no doubt play the 'Oh put Publishers demand returns' card - that's getting old, After the minions cranking out the crapola for X a month/year you find those making the most out of what 'us idiots' will cough up. We get what we pay for. - an idiot.

I spend my monies, Shopping online, I gotta trust in luck, I aint gonna whine, (CHORUS) Grinding gear, Every night day, There's gotta be, Another MMORPG way, (CHORUS) Gonna get me shinies, Gotta grind till the dust, It aint teh funnies, It's a PVP muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust....... :. :: :. CHORUS :. :: :. WHEN WILL THE LEARN! WHEN WILL THEY TRY! WHEN WILL THEY UNDERSTAND, WE DON'T WANNA DON'T WANNA THIS GAME TO DIE

219: Why does it take 6 people to take out 1 enemy? 220: Something about doors and bombs..

Sounds good... ! Such a shame SWOTR couldn't secure the finances to invest in real innovation, rather than rehashing the same old tricks.

Personally, to my mind, it's the same ole', same ole': Prolong play time - introduce carrots. The longer the carrots, the longer the play time. It's lazy, reliable and very cost effective.. :: Milk as much as you can, while you can, return that investment.

Here's an idea.. ..let's move MMORPG's *away* from gotta-get-gear-fests... o_o Granted, it's easier for 'designers' to add more shiny/sparkly things than.. ..actually, design.. games.. Cost effective!

o_o Wouldn't the rewards of having an organised PvP team to PvP with be..... ...having an organised team to PvP with? @_@ Unless, somehow, groups of organised peeps become *worse* than randoms with no organisation? o-O Why reward folk with an advantage? -.o Ah yes.. ..because I bet some branianc went: ''Ze rewards for organized teams v organized teams, they will build and bind fwendshipz, thiz will net a +16.2% rise in sustained subscriptions!1 :: Quasi-seriously- Too much try-harding.... ..why reward it? :: Or at least make such gear only available/fully active in ranked vs ranked matches.

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a smuggler....

Vlakrar, I have done so and they have provided everything I requested, thanks for the intent all the same. ''Customer support here?!?!?!'' To be fair, SWTOR have been very patient and prompt when dealing with my many requests for assistance. :: Thank you AdrianusIII - I hope you have a better day

Has anyone else had trouble purchasing SWOTR from g2play.net? :: They charged me for an 'already-used' code and after many emails in which I provided them with everything they asked for, they suddenly went quiet and still refuse to give a refund. I'd warn away anyone thinking of buying SWOTR on g2play.net. They also asked for login and account information - against my better judgement I supplied the information they requested. I shortly changed my password and security questions as soon as I contacted an EA support member and they informed me that they would not advise giving the details. Regardless, they still continued to fail to provide any support and after repeated requests for a refund they assured me they would but they needed to know when the code was activated. After contacting SWOTR support for the requested information and quickly supplying it, g2play.net still failed to provide a refund and simply stopped our correspondence. I tried to inform EA Support they simply advised me to buy through Origin in the future. I'm currently disputing the transaction with help from my bank - in 15 days, if g2play.net have not refunded the payment as they said they would, I can dispute and hopefully reclaim the payment. :: Anyone else have similar trouble? I used g2play.net on advise from a friend who actually managed to buy SWOTR and receive a working code from them, so I feel it's a shame that the company's custom support utterly failed to handle my situation and reflects poorly on them. I've seen a few posts mentioning g2play as scammers/they're running a scam/to avoid (all after I did business with them.) Does anyone else have any similar experiences with g2play.net?

Did a search, found an archived thread from.. ...sometime ago. In case it hasn't been mentioned since launch/recently: - Some of skills don't require the user to check them before activation. - Each block of quick slots takes up much-valued screen space. Suggestion: It'd be nice to be able to use quickslots that are hidden. Do it. Do it now. Do it now and I will buy you a pony. :. :: :.

o_o Every playtester that failed to feed this back should be shot. o_o Every designer who failed to listen if said play testers did feed this back should be shot. o_o Hell, lets just keep shooting everyone until.. well.. Please, for the sake of the good people in my local area, sort it out!