I thought about this some more. Augments for everyone for all gear pieces is the stupidest move I have seen in an MMO, ever. And I feel this way when I have a craft that would benefit from this move! WoW for example added items such as armor kits and magic threads of several different kinds--but they limited these to go on one piece of armor, and the kits were crated by different crafters. Also different crafters got extra crafting-specific perks. A balanced approach from Blizzard... Anyway, to add an item such as these new augment slots for everything and everybody (14 gear slots per toon, not to mention alternate gear sets and their slots?) will create sudden, huge demand that will drive prices for the slot kits/augments through the roof for a long time. This will be unfair to people who don't have a lot of credits (I read somewhere that 80 percent of folks have less than 1 million credits, I happen to have much more than that.) It will also be grossly unfair to those who don't have a craft which benefits from this change. And this could even create a huge boom for the credit sellers. And to those folks who think this will somehow benefit crafters because they can now add augment slots to their crafted items--think again. If, let's say, you have non-augmented items you want to sell, you and your potential buyer are gonna have to pay the price for the augment slot. And who wants to pay that for some inferior item (their will be no new craftable items in 1.3, as far as I know).

The whole idea of augment slots everywhere and everybody needing them at once is absurd. There is nothing fun about the pandemonium this will create (and the cost), and frankly, it might push more people into cancelling. L2Cancel

How balanced and well-thought-out a decision did Bioware make? If as you say, the demand will be "astronomical"? Let's see....nuke/ignore some professions while suddenly one or two draw absurd demand? Bioware is clueless.

The augment kits will be a dime a dozen...at the cost of removing the crit slot and value of augmented crafted items for a few professions. To me, it was fun getting the crits, kind of like a lottery. Now that will be gone. Personally, I think this is some kind of excuse for NOT ADDING NEW, HIGHER-VALUE CRAFTED ITEMS in 1.3... Think about it, a content patch without new crafted items?!?

Running FPs and Ops also relies on RNG to select the drops you get. You could run Ops ten times and still not get a drop. Why not just outfit everyone with BIS gear for every slot in 1.3 and avoid that annoying RNG altogether? Then you won't have to "waste time" by logging in and playing

As many of you know, they are adding "augment tables" in 1.3. These will allow you to put augments in--all over your equipment. My question is WHY? It was always fun being a crafter, and getting a "crit" sometimes to generate an augmented item. Crafting is already suffering badly, why would Bioware do something to make crafting less fun and less profitable? I don't get it. This change will negatively affect several crafting classes. Some people really enjoy crafting. Stop now Bioware! You are making a dumb mistake. This change will put another nail in the coffin for crafting. I'm a fan of this game but I feel like Bioware really doesn't get it. I might even unsub if they make this change, because it shows me Bioware has really bad judgement.

I formally submitted this kind of idea to Bioware a few days ago, and it would not take until 1.3. It is a five-day fix. FORMAL REQUEST TO BIOWARE FOR SOFTWARE CHANGE CODE NAME: "Light at the End of the Carrot" Update 01 05/10/12: Please mirror on the Republic side. Purpose: To give almost everyone at any Level 50 gearing level major incentive to log in several times a week--giving them something desirable and useful to do, and to complement/prepare for the new LFG tool (for HM flashpoints). http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=451278&highlight=day+fix%21

I tried to float an idea in the main discussion thread, but it got quickly transferred/buried in the suggestion box: It's a five day fix, and could be put in before 1.3. FORMAL REQUEST TO BIOWARE FOR SOFTWARE CHANGE CODE NAME: "Light at the End of the Carrot" Purpose: To give almost everyone at any Level 50 gearing level major incentive to log in several times a week--giving them something desirable and useful to do, and to complement/prepare for the new LFG tool (for HM flashpoints). ... http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=451278

Thank you. I have been unable to float this idea on the main thread cause they just delete it, and frankly I'm getting disgusted. Regards

I agree, nightmare modes of FPs would just add problems--and take a lot of development/tuning time. My proposal, on the other hand, is quick to implement, and adds exactly what you suggest. Moreover, it appeals to players of (most) all gear levels at 50. Further, people would probably run the quest on their alts too. So it would really draw people in, which is what this game needs.

All good points. But note, the Kaon/Lost Island route is chosen by so very few. Mostly because these instances are too aggravating or difficult, and require higher-end raiding gear. Denova is another story, it is very popular. Believe it or not, some very upper-end foilks already have TOO MANY BH tokens from Denova. So if there is anything in need of tweaking, it is the high rate of BH tokens dropped in Denova. This, while the normal player can get 6 per week by doing the BH daily/weekly. But note, my proposed solution would give even Denova people (who have too many BH tokens) a host of other reward incentives. Or they could run the new quest on an alt, who is not geared for Denova (of which people have many). The BH tokens were just one selection of several I made for a reward to the proposed new daily/weekly quest. For the doubters: Do you think they actually go in and write computer code for each and every quest in the game? No, they use what are called "object-oriented" design and methods, driven by data and tables that is extremely easy to change in a short time. Think of a data and tables as a list--like you would write down on a piece of paper for groceries. Imagine adding one new item to that list, by hand, say a bunch of carrots... So ya, three days to do that is very generous. Plus one day to plan out the design before, and one day to test after. SWTOR could have hordes of people with new incentive to log in--given this new carrot quest--in just five days. I assure you.

Ok, let me put this simply. It's NOT a new system, it's an additional quest that has a somewhat larger selection of rewards than others. The sub-system in question (quest management) is already an integral, tested, data/table driven piece of the software, designed to be changed quickly. Do you think they actually go in and write computer code for each and every quest in the game? No, they use what are called "object-oriented" design and methods, driven by data and tables that is extremely easy to change in a short time. Think of a data and tables as a list--like you would write down on a piece of paper for groceries. Imagine adding one new item to that list, by hand, say a bunch of carrots... So ya, three days to do that is very generous. Plus one day to plan out the design before, and one day to test after. SWTOR could have hordes of people with new incentive to log in--given this new carrot quest, which appeals to both mains and alts--in just five days. I assure you.

Sorry that was a kind of a typo on the daily/weekly thing. As you know, it is a set of dailies that must be completed within the week. I agree on the pulling/changing of mods. I do it myself.

The components I mention are all table- and template- driven, in my best reverse-engineering assessment. So yes, 3 days to implement. I agree that some people went through this game "too fast" (by the way, skipping many HM FPs). But I don't understand your logic, they just added content in 1.2 and a few weeks later...well, we all know what happened. I also don't understand your logic in saying this change will "do nothing but place another stick between me and the stick that holds the carrot." It sounds like gibberish. You don't HAVE to do the new proposed heroic weekly if you don't want to. No one is forcing you. Carrot. Carrot. Carrot. Must be adjusted now. Thanks for your response.

SWTOR is "WoW in space" plus a few fun things, minus some others--but notably minus the marketing/tuning savvy to keep players coming back, as is obvious by quickly dropping populations on the servers described on so many threads and reported in the recent quarterly results. So here, I propose a quick solution to retune--one big enough to draw like WoW does. I don't see many solutions on these threads...only small single suggestions and heck of a lot of complaints. And my suggestion dovetails nicely with a LFG tool, just announced. It provides the motivation to form a group, which is necessary to make the LFG work. A LFG tool by iself provides no draw to the many 50s in columi/rakata or above gear, which is probably the majority of subs. I, for one, do not see any difference LFG or not, without a reason to form a group for HM FPs. I've tried forming groups by broadcasting in the general channel when there are over 100 people in fleet to no avail. It's not that they too want to do HM FPs and don't hear my message, it's that they have no incentive to do them. As for estimates of time to do this. I'm a software engineer with over ten years experience with large systems. If you don't believe me, it's up to you. What you do is assign the project to the engineer(s) who is/are responsible for the areas I describe, and they are very talented and versed in making small (but in this case, far-reaching) changes. Thanks for your feedback.