[Justice for my people! Rank 300 and no gear at all in command crates!]

Go ahead and file a ticket. I bet if they respond it'll be something along the lines of "We're sorry, but this is within the realm of possible outcomes. Thank you, and do buy some cartel coins because we still need to fund Anthem."

 

I fixed it for you

(This post is not meant to be taken seriously)

[I have an admission to make...]

I'll never stop playing Command and Conquer: Generals.

It's the only other EA game I play.

I love C&C Generals (and the expansion pack Zero Hour).

 

Back in the day (summer of 2004), I bought C&C Generals and Zero Hour on CD, and it was one of the three games that got me through much of my time in college (the other 2 being Halo and KOTOR).

 

About a year ago or so, I bought something like the Command and Conquer bundle deal from Origin that had like every single C&C game. The only one I installed was C&C Generals with the Zero hour expansion.

Good times and great memories

 

If/When SWTOR gets shut down, I'll play some other MMO.

 

Games I play aren't dictated by the company that makes them, but rather how fun I feel they are.

 

I'm already playing other MMOs.

The the contenders for my attention right now (other than SWTOR) are BDO (Black Desert Online), FF14 (Final Fantasy), ESO (Elder Scrolls Online), and WoW (World of Warcraft).

 

SWTOR will always have a place in my heart, and I will buy subscription time as budget permits. But, SWTOR may not be the budget priority for me that it once was.

 

WoW and FF14 are great (of course IMO. I understand there are those who despise WoW) theme park MMOs that are actively producing a decent amount of new content. One strength that I myself place high value on for BDO and ESO is their exploration and huge world. And DBO is more of a sandbox game, which is kinda intriguing to me.

[Justice for my people! Rank 300 and no gear at all in command crates!]

I don't think you understand: I'm not saying I didn't get good gear. I did get no gear.

 

I feel for you, really. Sadly, those of us here on the forums can only sympathize with you. Glad you were able to craft some gear so you can have some decent gear that way.

[Justice for my people! Rank 300 and no gear at all in command crates!]

I was thinking of creating a ticket for this, but I thought the underlying ethical questions require a broad societal debate, so I am sharing my troubles in this thread, in the hopes that something can and will be done.

I have had this wonderful toon, called Fruitcake Tam (used to be just Fruitcake on Progenitor) and I have played him since around the 3.0 days. Fruitcake and me, we have not always had an easy relationship: many quests became chores, things that should be easy, weren't. But we have always had so much fun together. All through the class missions, the Makeb story line and part of the SoR one, we've managed to survive and overcome all adversity.

 

Then 5.0 hit, and things became complicated and much much harder (some might say impossible, but where there is a will...), so we picked up where we left, we got to level 70 just fine and then, something strange happened.

 

 

There was no gear for Fruitcake Tam in the command boxes at all.

 

 

Nothing. All the rest was there: cosmetic gear, companion gifts, reputation items, materials, mods, hilts etc, but no gear in the form of armor pieces or left-side items (ear piece / implant / relic etc). Nothing!

 

We've fought on, raging through many battles, be it in operations, flashpoints or even PvP, and in the end, we've made it to rank 300 together. I thought that perhaps, at that rank, something would change, and there would be something. I was wrong. But see for yourselves:

 

No gear at rank 300 at all, no gear for poor Fruitcake

 

All the gear I am wearing, I crafted myself. At item level 246, it's the best you can craft. But obviously it is missing something: upgradability to 248, and for the armor pieces, set bonus. Now granted, I could not profit from anything more than four pieces of DPS juggernaut set bonus armor, but still, it pains me to know there is almost no way for me to get that (short of ranking a DPS juggernaut I do not have to tier 3 ).

 

Now I'm not a complainer, I try to cope as best I can, and so far I have survived. But I have to wonder, what of others? What of all those that have trouble playing - and surviving - because of this grave inequality?

 

 

Something must be done! Bring justice and equality to my people!

 

 

In the name of Fruitcake Tam, basic hero from a simpler age

 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/106160051, right around the 24 minute mark.

"That's the excitement of RNG, or that's the excitement of the chase."

[Swoop Races, Pazaak, and Cartel Market]

Pazaak - I would love to be able to play against NPCs in Cantina's around the galaxy.... or even match up inside a queue and play against other players.

 

We could do this alot like the original Pazaak in Kotor 1 and 2, and also like the SWG card game they had.

 

People could bet credits, cards, or even items. You could arrange tournament events etc.

 

and last, how does the Cartel Market come into play? You could offer many of these items like swoop parts, bikes, paint jobs, and Pazaak cards from the Cartel Market. After all, EA the Hutt needs to be paid.

 

Do it!

 

I *HEARD* somewhere that it would not be realistic to put Pazaak into this game because it would essentially be gambling.

 

Whether it's true or whether that idea that Pazaak in game could be a form of gambling, I don't know.

 

That's just what I *HEARD*. And, especially given the incident with BF2 and lootboxes, I would think EA would want to avoid anything that could be construed as gambling in their games, at least for the time being.

 

Btw, I personally think some type of in game swoop bike racing could be a nice addition. It would be another type of PvP, player vs. player, rather than just "go kill each other." But, as someone said before, making it pay to win would be a no-no.

 

I think it's a great idea, despite what I just said. But, me personally, I'm not holding my breath.

 

Off topic a little, I kinda wish, if it were possible, someone (not EA) would make a Star Wars "Sandpark" MMO, maybe be a spiritual successor to both SWG (which, even though I never played, I was a very "sandboxy" MMO) and SWTOR. So, if you'd rather be Uncle Owen on a moister farm maybe just raising crops and defending your homestead against tusken raiders, you could. Or, if you wanted to be a Sith War Hero in the midst of battle all the time, you could.

 

I bring this up because Pazaak and swoop bike racing in game both sounds like they could fall into the category of "sandpark" features.

But, I digress. I'm getting too far off topic.

[The Importance of F2P and Preferred Players]

Raises hand.

 

I would never spend $20 for virtual currency for virtual cosmetic armor. I probably didn’t even check the CM till hundreds of hours in. The concept was originally alien to me ("Cartel Market with silly gear, whaaat??”). After a very long time, yeah, I started to prioritize cosmetics. And after amassing tons of free CC, I’ve “bought” some. But spend $ on it … never. How many people are like that? We’d all be speculating, but I’d be shocked if it was unusual.

I do not fault or criticize or hold any negative thoughts or feelings about you or anyone for not spending real life money on Cartel Coins. I'll admit, spending real life money on Cartel Coins is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, and I don't do it that often.

They say that the CM is a big reason this game is still alive, so I think its safe to assume enough people are spending enough of their real life money on it.

I even *HEARD* *RUMORS* that CC sales were helping to fund Anthem, but who knows how true, if it at all, that is.

 

I have no interest in PvP. Thousands of hours in, ZERO warzones, ZERO GSF. And ZERO Ops. Minimal interest doesn’t overcome the time, gear, and leveling curve apprehension. My interest is storylines. There’s 8 stories to do. And there’s still FP’s, crafting, Reputation / Achievement hunting…

That may not be the majority of players, but no doubt there’s a whole bunch of people who prefer solo RPG’s, and would have been happy just with a KOTOR3. SWTOR solo (non-sub) can scratch that itch.

 

I think you asked the questions honestly. Please take my reply in kind.

The 8 class stories and the content initially released with 1.0, to me, are like the crown jewels of this game. That content is actually the only reason I create new characters.

One of the major reasons I came to this game in the first place is that one of the SWTOR team members, at the time of the video, said something like "think of SWTOR as KOTOR 3, 4, 5, etc."

 

I might have still come to this game if it was just conceived as just a Star Wars set a few thousands years before the movies with minimal connections to other established SW storylines.

 

But, the fact that we were going to find out what eventually happened to Revan and the Exile was a big selling point for me.

I would have certainly bought a true KOTOR 3 if they had ever made one.

 

GFS, IMO, isn't worth it, so you made a good decision not bothering with it, IMO. I wish they had just devoted their resources to some other feature of the game instead of making and releasing GSF.

 

My question was asked honestly. Thanks for your answer.

[A new DvL (or similar) Event - a constructive feedback thread]

They can have an event called "Light vs Dark 2.0" or something, but I would facepalm and likely ignore such an event IF it was just literally the same thing as the last one or have most if not all the same objectives but add things like "must grind all 8 classes to CR 300" , "do Umbarra and Copero both SM and HM (or whatever SM and HM are now called)" and one objective related to the GotM op. And of course, it would be a shame to make you do all the same objectives AGAIN on brand new characters.

 

If we're going have another LvD, it would be great to have new content to serve as new objectives and/or goals. But, alas, I fear that is asking too much, and the "easy" thing to do would be just to more or less rehash the last LvD "event".

[The Importance of F2P and Preferred Players]

Actually, can't they still buy cartel coins? It might be a fallacy to assume they contribute nothing financially. I don't know know that they can or can't, and obviously not all of the would buy cartel coins. Still, if they can I'm sure some do. It's less support and probably not as consistent but it would still be money.

 

I've always wondered if the majority of preferred were former subscribers who also at some point bought some cartel coins. Or, at the very least only bought some cartel coins.

I myself would find it hard to run around in gear obtained only from vendors, crafted gear, or loot drops. How could you not be seriously tempted to spend $10-$20 or more on CC for a good looking armor set or a cool color crystal?

The last time they had the white crystals on the CM, I spent $20 on CC to buy and unlock the crystals. It probably wasn't the best use of my real life money, but hey. The crystals LOOK nice in game, IMO.

 

I started out f2p but subbed pretty quickly. Had it not been for the option to try it for free I probably would not be subbed now. So, yeah, it does have some positive influence on the game. I don't dis f2p or preferred. I don't know what a person might be dealing with in life and what sort of monetary restrictions they face.

I've tried to start new lv 1 characters as preferred (during the times I've had to let my subscription expire), and honestly when I do start new lv 1 characters as preferred, I find myself thinking "I might as well part with the $15.98 to get more subscription time." I think it would be very hard for me to play the game as preferred for an extended period of time.

 

What do F2P and preferred players do? Do they just play the story and then leave (or at least leave until they decide to buy some subscription time)? They can't PVP or do ops or wear purple gear (without that artifact authorization) and there's that credit cap. This is an actual question.

When I play end game (I only play end game as a subscriber because of all the restrictions as preferred), I do PVP and ops and quests specifically to earn credits. But, I wouldn't be trying to earn credits if I had that preferred status' credit cap.

 

I think a "fair" model (not taking into consideration if the game could survive financially since pretty much no one here knows anything in dept about this game's current financial standing) would be something like a buy to play.

 

(unlimited) Trial game: Starter planet, capital planet, Taris or Balmorra (depending on if you're an pub or imp). You can only group up for Essles or Black Talon as well as other restrictions.

 

Base game: The base game, the lv 1-50 content and everything else released in the 1.x era. The only big restrictions are that you can't access any other content that came out with and after 2.0, maybe some smaller restrictions where applicable. Maybe $10 is a fair price.

 

RotHC and SoR: all the content that came out during the 2.x and 3.x eras. No access to 4.0 and later content, maybe some smaller restrictions where applicable. Maybe $20 is a fair price.

 

KOTFE/ET: all the content that came out during the 4.x era to present. Maybe $15 is a fair price.

 

Future expansions (if any): buy to play, at a fair price.

 

Subscription: subscriber rewards. Off the top of my head, here are some suggestions.

Of course, as we already have, a monthly CC grant.

A "crafting bag": a place for your crafting materials so they don't take up space in your "regular" inventory.

Bonuses to ©XP and credits earned through quests, missions, and loot.

Real subscriber rewards: yeah, let's have some.

Other good ideas.

 

Please note that I am not married to any of what I suggested. These are just some ideas that I thought of off the top of my head one day some time ago. Of course, adjustments can be made and adjustments likely need to be made to ensure the game doesn't go into the red, financially speaking.

 

The general idea that spawned my thoughts about this is that the F2P and preferred statuses, while technically are a free to play model, are, as a lot of us agree, very restrictive. The game should be encouraging you to spend money on it, make you feel like it's more than worth the price, not feel like the game is punishing you for not paying.

[What if we had this instead of GSF]

When GSF was announced (but not yet released), I was hoping it would be something like the space combat found in SW Batttlefront 2 (the 2005 game) but alot better overall and a lot bigger with great group mechanics, like maybe having the group or part of the group man the capital ship and have the other part of the group fly the XWing or Tie Fighter equivalents.

(Please note, this is MY opinion. I really liked the space combat maps from SW BF 2, the 2005 game, and even find it fun today. If you think that game's space combat is atrocious, then to each their own.)

 

GSF got a little bit, just a tiny bit, better after the last GSF update, but still. I wish there were resources for the game that could rebuild a space combat PVP system from the ground up.

All signs sadly suggest that this game doesn't have the resources for such a project.

[Trash Mobs]

You might be in luck for new content coming.

 

I hear trash mobs will be released like OPS bosses. You'll get a trash pack about once every 2 months. The zone will be filled by the end of the year.

 

Please, DON'T give them ideas!

 

(Obviously, this comment wasn't meant to be taken that seriously.)

[Genuine Questions about the Road Map for @Keith/@Eric]

I had hoped, probably in vain, that if we made it easier for them to just see only the questions from the thread that they would get more response. I'm not sorry I made the effort to split them out from all the other chatter. If the worst thing that happens is that this thread gets no response, it's not the end of the world. I'm just kinda disappointed that they aren't talking more about this stuff anywhere.

 

You asked some very good but very hard questions.

 

I tend to believe if we aren't getting an official answer to a question it's either because they themselves don't know or we won't like the answer.

 

I am reminded of the 4.x era. People were asking pretty much the same question all the time, "when are we getting more ops?"

The best answer we got, I think, was "we're not ready to talk about it."

Looking back, we know that they weren't ready to talk about new ops back in 4.x because no new ops were being planned. The answer to the question about new ops would have upset people.

 

So, it's probably the same line of thinking. We aren't getting answers to the hard questions because a) they don't know or b) we really won't like the answer.

 

Just an opinion, though.

[The END of SWTOR]

Boy...I'll tell ya, with Ben Irving working on Anthem, I can't see that game being anything but "exciting"...if he does for that game what he did here, you'll likely be at least half right

 

A little off topic, I find it amusing that Ben's linkedin profile picture is him in front of a giant SWTOR poster. It's like "dude, your claim to fame is SWTOR despite you being the champion of the #EpicFail system that was GC?"

The jokes on me, though, since either future potential employers won't weigh that heavily against him if at all or he will find a way to put a very positive spin on it. He should have a lot of experience putting a positive spin on GC since he had to do that during the later part of his career as SWTOR's lead producer.

 

I wonder why he didn't put "Father of Galactic Command" as one of his achievements while LP of SWTOR?

 

Note: Really, I do not wish Ben Irving ill in real life and do not hate him at all. I hope he has a good successful career.

[Genuine Questions about the Road Map for @Keith/@Eric]

It was a bit oddly worded and they made it sound as if it were a temporary boost to the companion.

 

I had the same question after reading the "roadmap". I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that.

[Winter/Spring 2018 Roadmap Update]

...but we haven't even been told we're getting an expansion. Not in any form.

There are some YouTubers out there who seem convinced that we are indeed getting an expansion.

 

I don't know where this idea came from.

The only thing I can think of is that people read too much into Kieth's one off comment some time ago in a live stream where he said something like "I can't comment on next year's expansion plans" or something similar.

 

However, I would have thought all expansion rumors would be put to rest in the "roadmap" where Keith says

We heard feedback from some of you indicating you missed having a more “traditional” expansion and you’d rather wait so it all comes at once. I like having updates released regularly versus waiting long periods of time in-between patches. Although this remains our current plan, we are also laying out what we’ll include in a 6.0 Game Update.

 

But, whatever. I guess I should just let people dream.

[Winter/Spring 2018 Roadmap Update]

You know what's kinda striking to me? Oricon was released as a patch (2.4), not an expansion. We got a whole new world with reputation to grind, daily missions to complete and 2 FULL Operations as a freaking patch...comparing that to what we get now is disheartening. After a full year, Keith still couldn't release just ONE full Operation...

 

2.4 was like the game's best update, IMO.

 

As to why 2.4 could release all the content it did (Oricon story, oricon dalies, and 2 FULL ops) and why SWTOR couldn't even release 1 complete op in a whole year (2017), I *HEARD* that development for 2.x stuff was in the works long before it was released. So, if that's true, it sounds reasonable (at least to me) that the oricon stuff was being worked on when SWTOR had the staff it did during development and/or close to launch.

Again, that is what I *HEARD*, which may or may not be true.

 

Also, take into consideration that if rumors are true, SWTOR doesn't have the resources ($$$ + personnel) it once had since supposedly the large majority of the resources are now allocated to Anthem .

 

So if those two things are true, then I don't think it's hard to imagine why 2.4 released the amount of content it did and why 2017 couldn't see the release of one FULL op.

 

I doubt I'm telling you anything you didn't already know or hear before.

[The END of SWTOR]

I'm not sure another DVL event with new rewards would be enough to sustain gamers through the summer lull but I think tier 5 gear would.

 

I think we're pretty much on the same page.

 

So, do you really think if (when) they announce another 100 (or more?) GC levels that the majority of the player base will receive the news with "excitement" and be happy to grind out more CXP?

 

If I recall correctly and if the information was correct, they planned on releasing another 100 levels of GC some time this past year but held off on it due to how poorly the whole GC system was received in general.

 

I'm really trying to understand the mentality of the playerbase as a whole and to a degree the mentality of the SWTOR team.

 

Has the mood of the playerbase changed so much in a year or so that 100 more GC levels wouldn't be scorned by a significant portion of the playerbase?

 

I get what you are saying about the SWTOR team doing this because they need to give the players SOMETHING to do during the "summer lull".

And, I can't remember off the top of my head, but is summer light on game updates typically? The game isn't a TV show. They don't take a summer hiatus and then come back with a "new fall season" so to speak, do they? At my job at least, the only time things slow down really is around mid December to early January (for the holidays).

[The END of SWTOR]

I don't see a level increase in our future.

 

What I see is a Galactic command increase.

 

I fully expect GC to add the full grind for Tier 4 (300-399) so that as we get closer to 399, we get that better change at better gear in the tier 4 sets like we get for the other tiers.

 

Plus, I fully expect Tier 5 to land. Increasing that grind. They might leave it at 400 so that we have the lowest possible chance at better Tier 5 gear. They might go ahead and put in the whole grind from 400-499.

 

I don't see a point to adding more GC levels.

When GC was first released with 5.0, there were those who saw GC for what it was, a virtual hamster wheel, so to speak, to keep players busy but not really making actual progress.

 

Surely, the SWTOR team remembers just how badly GC was received, so shouldn't adding more GC levels be seen as the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

 

By the way, I wouldn't put it passed the SWTOR team to add more GC levels. But, I don't see it as a very wise course of action and would facepalm if they did.

 

Either way, I do not expect to get a level increase nor do I think we will be getting new skills. It's to much and to hard for bioware to do that now. They can barely get out any new content much less work on new content plus new skills or balance. Heck, it took a year for them to do the last balance pass and it didn't have utility balance. That had to come later and is still coming IIRC.

 

ATM, I don't see bioware being able to handle a level increase because with a level increase there are new skills. A level increase without new skills to me is a waste. Either way, I don't see it happening given the last road map.

 

What would be the point of a level cap increase at this point?

Now, if we were getting like a whole new BIG open world planet where mobs and bosses and quests were made for lv 70-75 characters and new FPs were made for lv 70+ (no scaling or other means to let characters lower than lv 70 participate) (not to mention the new abilities that would come from lv 71-75 would be very helpful in fighting enemies), then yes, I believe a level cap increase would be warranted.

 

But, it seems like we're got getting any of what I just mentioned. So, again, my question is what is the point of a level cap increase and/or more GC levels (and thus a new tier of gear) at this time?

[Regardless of doom and gloom, i am renewing my subscription]

... I still enjoy every minute I'm online in it. I hope everyone else can find the same level of enjoyment I do, despite flaws and despite the lack of development.

 

About a week or so ago, I created a new Sentinel. I'm only around level 25 or mid twenties with that new character, but I have been having a great time leveling it up and going through the main and side quests.

 

This brings me back to something that I remembered about how much fun I had leveling up my very first character back in early to mid 2012.

I had fun leveling, and this was at a time when they didn't award you like a mlllion XP just for walking from the space port to the cantina. I would "take a break" from the class quests and do maybe Mandalorian Raiders or complete the Revan FPs. I would take maybe 1 or 2 other people with me, and we would enjoy ourselves in the FP instead of just trying to speed run it.

 

Me personally, I get annoyed when I'm in a group that wants to just run through all the mobs and rages when someone wants to actually watch the cut scenes instead of just space barring through all the cut scenes.

I get why people are this way, but I don't like it.

 

Thankfully, some of the more story intensive FPs are soloable now.

[Regardless of doom and gloom, i am renewing my subscription]

Yes I have at times jumped on the doom and gloom bandwagon. more so out of concern that EA wont follow through with keeping this game at its best interests. But I am really hoping that 6.0 makes a change for the better. EA has an opportunity here. they have the power to turn their SW games into something amazing. regardless if you like EA or not fact of the matter is I don't want to lose this game. and I think a lot of people feel the same way.

Me personally, I do not see any signs that 6.0 will be a turning point. Actually, what I take away from the roadmap is that more of the same cadence of updates (quantity and quality) like we had in 2017 will be the new status quo.

 

Today was the day I had to decide if I was keeping my sub or not, and sometimes I feel this game is a train wreck that you cant stop watching over and over again. So with that I plan to get my 6 30 day time cards in hopes that even though I am just one person. people will make their decisions not based on whether EA is a good/bad company but just out of sheer love for the game and how much we don't want it to just disappear.

 

Anyhow this all might fall into oblivion. but I really hope that people can influence EA in a positive way for them to take notice and actually give this game a lot of TLC! Thanks!

 

There is a lot to like about this game. Really.

Yes, right now, it kinda feels like maintenance mode and that EA has this game as its lowest priority, but a lot of the existing content is fun, and good times can still be found in game.

 

I have a few days left in my current subscription, and I have not decided one way or the other if I will renew. And, even if I don't renew, it probably will just be a temporary break.

To say the least, even if I haven't renewed by the time 5.9 is released, I can see myself renewing to experience 5.9 and see what is supposedly the end of the traitor story arc.

 

Good post

[Things left unsaid]

Is that quest ever going to be fix My Assassin can't finish it

 

It will be fixed "soon" , and the fix will be "better than cross server."

(Sorry, I just couldn't help myself today)

[A few words from a loyal fan and customer. (no, I don´t really expect a reply)]

This game focus way too much on aesthetics. Actually, since the middle of KotFE, I think it has been focusing only on aesthetics. I don´t know who controls this game, BioWare or EA, but whoever it is they have abandoned this game. Maybe they said “There are too few players, it´s not a good source of cash, let´s not worry about it too much…or at all.”, and we were left to dry in desert.

EA bought BW back some years ago. It's all EA. So, EA controls the game.

I don't know for myself, but I "hear" that ever since the "TORtanic" started sinking like in 2012, resources for this game have been allocated to other projects. So, less resources for this game of course affects the quality and quantity of content being released.

Again, I don't know if this is a cold hard fact, but to say the least, the rumor is that EA has been reassigning even more resources away from this game to work on Anthem, leaving what feels like a skeleton (of a skeleton) crew to continue working on this game.

Me, personally, I don't blame the current SWTOR team for the short comings of the game since, if the rumor is true, the current SWTOR team is just trying to make the best of a bad situation.

 

The current plot makes no sense. When we form the Alliance, and when we defeat Arcann, we get the choice to be either a good leader or a tyrant, but it doesn´t matter. The only things that change are the speeches we give right after clicking on the choices; nothing that happens after is affected. So, regardless of what you do, Theron betrays you and calls you a tyrant, which makes zero sense. On the train, he starts talking crazy about some stuff that comes out of nowhere, and we´re like “Wait, what?”. But at the end of this Flashpoint, it´s very clear that he´s playing the double-agent, and is not really a traitor. Boring, and quite stupid.

You are not alone in your opinion about the current story arc.

There better be a good explanation of what's going on, but the cynic in me thinks the whole

Theron traitor arc will play itself out in a way not too different than this in a 1 or 2 minute cut scene.

PC: "Theron, why did you betray me?"

Theron: "I had to play along for the greater good. From a certain point of view, I was actually helping you. Do you forgive me?"

PC: "Yeah. Sure. Why not? Let's go beat up some bad guys and pretend like this whole thing never happened."

 

 

 

We haven´t had any real expansion for the game for some time now. The only things you give us are these tinny updates: a new Flashpoint and/or Op (that aren´t connected at all), that add nothing to the game´s ambiance. But we always get a new Cartel Pack with some (very hard to get) new items that don´t matter at all. So, we pay for it monthly to not get anything new; and when something new does appear, we have to pay more (those damn Cartel Coins). Well, it seems that SWTOR does bring you some considerable cash; you could use it to improve the game and stop people from leaving. There´s no storyline anymore, the plot has been abandoned, it doesn´t even feel like the original game anymore. All we get are cosmetic items for this, for that and so on…it´s turning into some kind of Barbie Doll´s Universe game.

Again, it seems like the game is being worked on by a a skeleton (of a skeleton) crew, probably due to reasons previously stated.

I even "heard" (just a rumor, but who knows how much truth there is to this rumor) that originally, RotHC was supposed to have 8 class stories and what was released as the story for RotHC was actually originally intended to be Makeb's planetary quest. But of course, the game wasn't the WoW killer EA was hoping for, so plans changed (that's what I heard, not sure how true that is).

I also *THINK* (but do not know for for sure) that Cartel Coin sales are just as important if not more important for revenue compared to subscription revenue. So, if that is true, then it's obvious why the CM gets the attention it does.

Some of us have joked that CM/CC sales are funding Anthem's development. Also, I think it's not unreasonable to think if this game was making a huge profit for EA, they would give more resources for SWTOR development, but who knows.

 

About pets: well, Blizzard got a bull’s eye with their idea of pets. What about you? They´re useless right now, and 50% of them are so similar to one another that I honestly can´t tell the difference. Make them do something, add a Pet Battle system for a Nar Shaddaa underground casino or something. Give them some use, and people will be happy, it´ll be something else to do in the game; and, also, with that, you would sell a lot more of those pets on the Cartel Market. You gotta be creative, you gotta innovate…even if Pet Battle isn´t such an original idea, but it´d be something new here!

 

In Black Desert Online, I have a pet cat. As long as the cat is not starving (in BDO if you keep your pet out with you while playing, your pet gets hungry and you "have" to feed it), the cat will loot dead enemies for you (in BDO, if my cat is starving, the cat won't die, but the cat will stop looting dead enemies for me) . I'm not saying something like this needs to be top priority for SWTOR, but I concur that it would be nice if pets has some small benefit other than just nice to look at.

 

The Family Tree on the Legacy panel is useless. Simply useless. It should have a purpose, both for you and the other players. For example, if you build a good and interesting Family Tree, you would have some benefits (and also some problems, gotta keep it balanced); you could be part of other players Family Trees, perhaps even having some sort of relationship with their characters and all. You know, create an environment where the interaction among players would improve the game´s ambience and feel. A good relationship among player should make the game better! You should focus on each word of the term MMORPG! But it feels like neither BW nor EA remember that factor; and that kills the game a bit more with each passing day.

I always thought the family tree was for head cannon and RP purposes. I was under the impression that was always its intended purpose. So, I've always just been neutral about it and never paid it much attention.

 

Now, something very important, as a costumer. Your Costumer Service is not good, it´s actually pretty damn bad. It never helped me. First of all, there are 0800 numbers for several countries, including some tiny little countries lost between Europe and Asia; but not for Brazil. You´ve heard of Brazil, right? The second biggest country on the west side of the world, right after the USA; has millions and millions of people; one of the countries with the biggest gaming communities in the world… What did I have to do to talk to you when I had a major problem? I had to buy a plan on Skype. I never liked Skype and such, and why did I have to buy (to pay!) to talk to you, when other countries don´t have to? They talk to you for free, I had to pay. Did you offer to pay me back? Of course not. And I didn´t talk to you just once, of course, since you did not solve my tech problems. There were many many phone calls via Skype, what made me have to buy that damn Skype plan more than once. I talked to your employees from south USA, Ireland, England and some other places, I forgot. Since they couldn´t help me with my problem, they told me to go to the forums. So I did. Luckly, a very nice guy (who knows a lot about computers) asked me to perform some tests and send him the results. Eventually, he solved it. So I sent you guys a few e-mails about that, and your employee asked me to send him a text file with the steps that were taken to solve the problem, and he sent that text file to the tech team. Major disappointment. I worked on Customer Service for over 4 years), if something like that happened in our company…I guess heads would roll. There was another incident where I had to contact your people (via ticket now, only!) because of tech problems; when I noticed it wasn´t gonna end well, I searched other places for the solutions.

 

It is my understanding that over the phone support is strictly for account related problems, not in game related or technical problems. Bugs should be reported to the bug reports sub forum of the general forum. In game problems should be reported using the in game CS ticketing system.

 

As for environmental problems (as in the game won't install/run/work on your specific system), I heard there is a technical support forum on EA's site that some people have found helpful.

 

I've also heard mixed reviews about SWTOR's CS.

From everything I've heard and from my own experiences with CS, these are the guidelines I try to follow when dealing with CS.

Don't expect resolutions to bugs since that is up to development and not the CS agent.

Be polite and mature and accurately describe the problem.

Don't rant.

 

Now, if you do those things, you may still not get a resolution or get the answer you were hoping for. I've heard it really just depends on the CS agent and how knowledgeable they are.

 

So, what I´m saying is that it´s a good game with an amazing potential to be much more than it is. There are resources and elements that could make it legendary and set it much higher on the list of The Top Most-Played MMORPG of the past years. But it seems like both BioWare and EA gave up on it.

SWTOR supposedly cost over $200 million (I've even heard $250 million) to make (as far as I know, EA hasn't given an official number on how much SWTOR cost to make) just for the initial release. In less than a year, to keep the game from actually dying, SWTOR adopted a free to play model. I imagine in the eyes of EA, their investment didn't pay off. Or, even if they did make some profit, it wasn't enough to be excited about (just guesstimating, mind you) and thus not worth more significant investment of resources. So, from EA's perspective I can see them saying "Why should we invest more into a product that has consistently failed to impress?" I suppose that in their eyes, making a significant investment of resources into SWTOR at this point is kinda the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

I don't know the details of SWTOR's development history, especially before its initial release, but it does seem like it was mismanaged and bad decisions were made, not to mention that EA, at this time at least, didn't have any experience in running a (successful) MMO.

 

My humble suggestions..SNIP...

While you may have some good suggestion, again, it all comes down to resources. With the current SWTOR team, it seems that they can only do one thing at a time. So, if they took time to implement any one of anyone's suggestions, that would mean something else couldn't be done.

 

My previous comment mentioned that it´s not a MMOrpg, but a SinglePlayer-rpg. Now, this points to no rpg element. Add both items and instead of a MMORPG, you get a "SPLSG" (SinglePlayerLinearStorylineGame). I don´t need to be online for that, nor do I need to pay a monthly fee.

Others have commented that at this point, the game feels more like an online RPG, a single player RPG with some co-op features. But, I think it's obvious at this point that SWTOR can't really deliver the same quantity and quality of content that its peers (other MMOs) do. I heard even LOTRO, which supposedly is truly in maintenance mode, is getting more content with their patches and updates than SWTOR.

 

Good thoughts, OP, even if they are lengthy.

Beware of the trolls who will reply and try to invalidate your thoughts with things like "well, that's just your opinion" or "Well, if you don't like the game, just leave."

Have a good day.

[The END of SWTOR]

Oh, I agree, but the Star Wars name doesn't mean as much to gaming these days as it once did. Destiny and Overwatch have enough of a following that Anthem will likely see a good chunk of their players and money for a month before people return to where they came from. EA will copy both games the best they can, but both Overwatch and Destiny actually care about their product - EA is just trying to introduce a clone to make a quick buck. It will lack all the enhanced features that those two games have improved since they launched, making Anthem old from the start.

 

Is this the EA business model or pattern of operation?

See a successful and very profitable game and say "I want a big piece of that action."

Try to imitate it without fully understanding why it's successful in the first place and/or wanting to cut corners with development yet still expecting to do BETTER than those who came before.

Release to great fanfare.

Fizzle out in a relatively short amount of time.

Slow the game's development down until it might as well be in maintenance mode.

Rinse and repeat with another game/project.

 

It seems that EA did that with SWTOR, and it looks like they might be doing the same with Anthem.

If that is their model of operation, then that is

[The END of SWTOR]

True, but Anthem is not Star Wars. It has only one class ( even if the armors and jetpacks are cool and i'm drooling) . No lightsabers, no moral conflicts, no love & loss.. Anthem seems a bit dry.

 

I *THINK* Anthem is appealing to a different subset of gamers, either ones that are all about Halo and/or Call of Duty type games or just general gamers and aren't going out of their way to appeal to MMO and/or RPG type games.

 

I *THINK* Anthem will have a strong start. But, once the luster starts to fade, so will the game's population, especially if there's nothing that innovative about Anthem that separates it from Destiny, the most recent Call of Duty, and other established FPS games and FPS franchises.

 

I doubt that Anthem will be considerably profitable enough to justify EA supporting the game for 10 years, as one of EA's VPs said (the reference is on the Wikipedia page for the Anthem game).

 

But, you never know. We will have to wait and see how Anthem goes.

[Updated Honest Thoughts on the Game]

I unsubbed here, but I was on the 6 month plan so I have until July to resub if I like what I see by then. I am also currently giving WOW another try, but I miss the dialog and companions TOR gives me. This game is much better with storytelling than any other MMO I've tried, and that story is what keeps me playing. I hate grinding gear and having to redo content all the time because they have cut the funding for this game to produce a FPS that I have absolutely no interest in. I kinda hope Anthem fails hard, but I also think that, if it does, BW will be closed for good. I'm going to see how things go until July. Hopefully things will pick up. Hell, we may have to wait until after the launch of Anthem to get anything really good out of this game again

 

Yeah. I don't know of any other MMO that does companions like SWTOR. It does add another dimension to the game.

 

I've heard others say that they hope after Anthem is released, some more resources will be allocated back to SWTOR. While that would be great for SWTOR, I don't know how likely that is.

 

If Anthem fails, who knows what will happen to BW:A. It's been speculated that Anthem failing could be the end of the BW studio which in turn, you would think, wouldn't be great news for SWTOR, but we don't know anything for sure.

 

If Anthem is successful, wouldn't that give EA reasons to keep Anthem staffed and funded? If Anthem ends up making them a lot of money, wouldn't EA be motivated to reinvest back in Anthem?

But, that is just a guess. Who knows how EA thinks and makes decisions anyway.

 

Either way, while of course it would be great to get more resources for SWTOR development, does EA even have a real motivation to do so?

[The END of SWTOR]

While this is true ^

 

If 2018 ends up being like 2017 the way bioware said it would. We are indeed in trouble.

 

I agree with that statement.

 

I guesstimate that the majority of players/subscribers are die hard star wars fans, who like me perhaps, have been waiting for this game quite literally their whole life and want to hold onto their dream of having their own customized character in the SW universe (even if no longer "official" Disney SW cannon) for as long as possible.

 

Someone made a post last week, I think, about how it would be a good idea to add extra incentive to maintaining a subscription. Keith mentioned some new subscriber rewards coming in the future; I hope those are good ones.