I posted above about pvp on iokath, but since that is only one portion of the changes coming with 5.2, here is my current status as of now: commando rank 297 and I am confident by apr 11 I will have hit 300. Mind you: that took me from day one of the release 5.0. Now that I've reached it, I know I do not need to wait/farm for 242 gear because in 120 crates (180 - 300) I got 1 (one, uno !) 242 gear piece and that was an earpiece to boot. Yes, I know, the next 100 crates will contain the better gear and guaranteed 1 set bonus piece each. But: there will be countless doublettes it will not be the top-end but mostly blue or purple and the amount of CXP needed will increase further. So I fully expect it takes me at least 1 day per crate = 100 days to 400 and that with no guarantee whatsoever that I have all golden gear at the end of it. Plus: no playtime for my alts who still linger around with 230-gear or worse. A game has to be fun and the player needs to feel rewarded if he/she puts effort into it. That is no longer the case and you can see the result directly in player-numbers/server and # of subscriptions. All that had been said multiple times, but I still think I had to say it one more time. Arkira

Although I do not think this relates to the topic of this thread, just a quick comment: You are right. PVP'ers do not reach commando rank (CR) 300 that fast. Fact. But CR 300 is actually meaningless now, because from 300-400 you will be guaranteed gear in crates with set-boni. Whereas the PVE players do not have gazillions of unassembled components to mix & match their gear ON DAY 1! Absolutely nothing stops you from doing pve for a week just to get to 300. Having done that you have the best of both worlds - the pve'er (lacking your pvp skills!!) does not. Which of course is no harm done: In pve you can (and want to) take a more leisurely approach to the game. With that in mind, here is how I see PVP on Iokath going to evolve: The PVE instance will be cramped with people doing the story, resulting in the usual "You killed my mob"-chats in the general channel. Late night hours etc will ensue. After around 4 weeks the majority will leave this place mostly alone, having done what dailies/rewards/achievements etc can be done. The rest will quietly do their dailies and be done with it then. The PVP instance will initially also be cramped with many snipers locating the best sniping positions and mercs just generally running rampage all over. This "fun" gets old real fast so give or take 2 weeks the area will be deserted by all due to lack of "targets" and the dailies can be safely done in the pve instance then. Occasionally a tumbleweed will be blown tumbling by a lone sniper just taking a stroll... Sounds familiar, doesn't it ?

Your slideshow is really awesome! But, of course, just 28 pvp matches do not proof anything vs. the MILLIONS (© The Rock) of Fans out there

I am almost thinking: "Good title - KoTET 5.2 announcement: Where Dreams Die..."

For this discussion I checked, how far I got with Crate-Gear. While in theory I could have one or the other piece in OP's, fact is that by the time I did an OP and actually could have won something, I already did need nothing from that OP anymore: 230 crafting and 230 drops did their job. Then tier 2 - by the time I finally reached GCR 91, I already had 7-set bonus and 230 in every other slot. So all I wanted were set-bonus pieces 236 within 90 crates. I got 3. THREE! Plus an additional 2 234 Set-bonus pieces - two items still are 230 and now, since I get 181+ == tier 3, I don't need tier 2 anymore. But that's just plain wrong. A system that fails to deliver within its expected lifetime cycle of 90 crates. Now I will grind another 120 crates KNOWING the system will fail again to deliver - and then comes tier 4. No wonder the people are leaving swtor left right and center: No-one likes a game that is setup to demotivate you.

Sure, the only question then is: What is faster? Because the crate content also changes in the last rank (300-400)... ... on second thought: You are right. And it proves we are indeed full circle again

Well, all of the above is old news already, because with 5.2 we've been going "full circle" - only there still is GC and there still is the RNG system. The reason for me saying so are Eric Musco's recent couple of posts a few hours ago: DevBlog: Changes with 5.2 Basically, instead of vendors and crystals we now have to grind all our heroes through to GC rank 300 and then some way into new rank 300-400...

Sure, but until then, see above

I noted that too, but found the solution (as mentioned in my previous post): iLvl 234 in purple (not the green or blue nor the gold items) can be researched giving you a 100% (!) chance to learn how to craft it.

Perfectly right, which is why I quoted it fully again. To add to this, here is how I worked around "The System": Alt-Gearing I now do using the craftable 228 and/or 230 pieces of gear. Sure, the are fixed value, but that can be amended to some extent with augments. Also, Synthweaving und Armormech are completely inter-changable, which again gives you more flexibility. My main has reached the 90-180 GC bracket now and 7 set-bonus gear using 230 and 234/36 armorings in a mix and he, having cybertech, got all the receipes I ever need from the purple gear in crates now, them being the 234 mods/enhancements. The same I will do again once I reached the 180+ bracket and again when hitting 300. But... I am in no rush. The entire content of the game is still at "Level 50 difficulty". Sure, the numbers have risen, to provide a decent challenge to level 70's, but the mechanics are known and even new bosses can only offer what this old game engine can support - so no worries there. I do enjoy a little bit of UNRANKED pvp from time to time, but merely to let steam off, not as a way to gear. I've done the math (over 6000 components), so now "I pity the fools" I agree with the sentiment, that "expertise" should have stayed. But maybe it couldn't due to technical limitations of said old game engine, I don't know, but it clearly killed pvp for the casual player like myself. For the most part we are just cannon fodder there, so no point in even trying to be competitive and I won't. To sum it up: Tier 4 does not worry me. I will get to it at my own pace and I am sure that eventually 6.0 comes along and with it a complete new set of gear allowing me to skip forward again. Been there, done that in many MMO's and this one, too.

First of all, a very good comment on this topic, thank you for that! As you rightly said, the audience for this boost are not those, who are in a premade team and/or are experienced pvp'ers. The audience is your average, casual-playing Joe Bloke who simply does not have the time to earn 500 or so Command Crates in order to have a decent chance for his set-bonus armor. So Joe Bloke has to throw himself into the unranked pvp and yes, most of the time he will loose, because pvp'ers do, what they always do - go the route of the least resistance and/or maximum gain. That's natural and no-one ist faulting them for doing so, but for Joe Bloke it means he won't get the armor he is after. Again. At least not before it's already outdated due to patch 5.2 (.3, .4 ... .x) coming along already having newer gear. BEFORE (ie. 4,0-times) one could get the entry-level set-gear relatively easy. NOW it is next to impossible. I am NOT talking about the high-end setgear - that is supposed to be hard to acquire and I am fine with that. Although 236 or even 242 are still way too hard, imho, due to RNG, but that's all been said before. Right to the point. Even non-casual players who have the time and will to gear out several alts ("twinks") cannot do this anymore within a reasonable timeframe. After all, once you got the gear, you would like to play with it, right? Now you are only gear-grinding and that deletes all the fun out of it. Thank you again DenariusJay - well said and I hope, some people in BW take this to heart! Arkira EDIT: PS: They don't, here's the latest tweet Command Rank 400 is coming - even though all forums are overflowing with negative remarks about the gear grinding, they actually plan to make it even more so...

I was looking for a thread about companion gifts; this one popped up TOP. Now, I am writing this past Nov,29. As far as companion gifts go, no big change with one notable exception. Before: Rank 5 blue from vendor = 5 green data crystals. Gives X influence gain. Rank 5 pink from vendor = 10 green data crystals. Gives 2 times X influence gain. Rank 6 purple-blue from vendor = 30 green data crystals. Gives roughly 6 times X influence gain. Good show. Proper vendors. According to the conversion rate (1 green data crystal = 500 credits) these prices could have been just that, but we knew that wouldn't happen. So, now: Rank 5 blue from vendor = 5K credits. Gives X influence gain. Rank 5 pink from vendor = 10K credits. Gives 2 times X influence gain. Rank 6 purple-blue from vendor = 30K cre.. NO WAIT! That would be logical!! It is 250K credits !! Gives roughly 6 times X influence gain. So: 2 good vendors + one who tries to rip you off, if you cannot do basic math! That being said, even the 5K/10K are no "good deal", when you compare that with other possible sources, but ok. The 250K just is way over the top. So be careful, when you buy! Arkira

Spot on! I noticed, too, how they went all hype and giddy with exitement about something that is, in the way of reaching your goal, nothing but a slap in the face to any player. "You do not play your hero. WE tell you how you have to do it!" You want to get from point A to point B and you have to use a walker. Your skills, your abilities, the fact that you can sneak or kill 20 foes in a single strike, your gear - it all matters not. You are the machine. You may think you are steering, but in fact you do not. If it would be the only way to look at it, we wouldn't be talking here, right?. The first game there was, was a roll of dice (or bones if you look back even further). All participants had an equal chance, luck was the only deciding factor. It does not "hinder" a gamer. It's the very essence of gaming! If you want to adjust the rules to favor the luckier ones with better odds (making them even more "lucky" in order to progress the overall game progress...) that's when you look at games like this one. People who hve amassed 100+ millions of credits in the past years WILL have a better start in 5.0 than those who are just starting. Fact. But with the crates the Newcomers will at least have a fighting chance, small as it maybe. Yes, it could have. But it would also have favored the old gamers even further. BW needs "new blood", not those who are already disheartend and only look back to the "good ol' times". So, from the BW perspective it was the right thing to do; it is levelling the playing field a bit. By the same token, I am sure that in 6-12 months they will adjust things again, for all the reasons you have mentioned like: Should we now all riot and call for a revolution? I don't think so. I say: Give the system a chance, we know it's failures but maybe there are ways around them, right? Flooding the forums will do no good. Constructive criticism will be heard, however. but also with very expensive, nice looking teasers Perfect example for a failed advertisment, yes Thing is: They, too, are restricted. They recently posted a picture of their office. If that is any indication, then it is amazing to put out a multi-million seller game with so few on staff. For that they've earned a medal! Doesn't help us, starving for new content here, but still... So, all in all - I agree with you. I only come to a different conclusion

"Appearances can be deceptive" to quote from the game... Sorry, I did not mean to offend you or any other who dislike the "Dangnabbit ! Roll no good!"-system. Neither for gearing up nor for its usage in casinos The original question, however, was from someone who is still on the way up, way away from having the current 224 nightmare gear - and of course well away from any future "endgame" gear. To those folks (a.k.a. "the majority") the chance are pretty good to get something they can use. Meaning: Yes, you can get unlucky and in your 30 crates you hard worked for is absolutely nothing of use for you. But statistically you will definitely find something. RNG becomes bad, when you try to find the very specific piece you are after. Then, indeed, "you may never find it". But hey - you may never NEED it either, right? People were complaining about how Operations have become too easy (as well as how in 5.0 there are no new OP's as of now). This system at least gives you a theoretical chance (however small) to get the gear you need to get going. Combine that with the outfitter to look like you want to look like and it becomes not so bad. As for the 1% tough-as-nails hardcore nightmare-runners: Yes, bad system and yes, crafting what you need might be the better way forward. No disagreement here.

Since your post was very recent, I can only assume you've stumbled on a new bug or a temporary glitch. I checked the trainer on the fleet but could not spot anything out of the ordinary. Maybe go there and speak with him once more. He should have plenty of recipes for you.