5.0 and it's 100%-random-gear-via-loot-boxes system was very VERY bad, bad enough that the devs soon had the sense to walk that system back to where you could get specific items from specific bosses again in 5.1 and later in the 5.x cycle it was relegated to a supplemental (redundant) gearing system. By the time 6.0 came out it was still there because it was easier to leave there than remove it. 6.0 was not so bad. IMO the biggest issue was the ridiculous method they used to de-bolster our characters for L70 content. I think 7.0 gearing is more similar to 6.0's system than it is different. You still build up your gear rating step-by-step, but your 2nd and subsequent characters can more-or-less start where your first character left off (or topped out). The biggest issue with 7.0's gear system is the lack of moddable gear. The real problem with 7.0, though, is that it's a bug-ridden mess. Certainly it's better than it was at launch, but it really surprises me how there can be issues with not just the new content and things that have changed, but also existing things that have worked fine for years but suddenly break because . . . why?

What the outfitter needs is TWO SETS OF WEAPON SLOTS, not just one. This way, you can slot two distinct, incompatible weapons that are appropriate to each of the two "classes" the character can have. Then the outfitter just needs to select the weapon slot that matches the actually-equipped weapon(s). If they both match, select the one in a "preferred" slot. That would eliminate the issues with loadout and combat-style switching while using an outfit whose mainhand (and possibly offhand) don't match the combat style. It would also allow us to use the same outfit in multiple combat styles without having to pay to change the outfit every time. If, in the future, characters are allowed to have three or more "classes", then the outfitter should also add the same number of weapon slot pairs. Also, to CommunityTeam: Please don't tunnel-vision on the crash issue with the Fractured Ashla Lightsaber and ignore the first poster's reported problem. When you select an outfit that has a weapon in it and then select a combat style and weapon that is different, you effectively lose the "Weapons in Outfitter" functionality which is not the expected or desired behavior. If I set up a character as, for instance, switchable between Shadow and Sage, I shouldn't have to make distinct outfits for single-bladed and double-bladed lightsabers, effectively requiring me to set up double the number of outfits.

Regarding the bugged Equipment Sets Achievements: After a bit of investigation, I was able to deduce that the large number of Wrists you have (for example: "68/1") is actually a sum of the following values: 1: Chest 2: Feet 4: Hands 8: Head 16: Legs 32: Waist 64: Wrists So the data is still there and still intact, just being displayed incorrectly. Note that if you just have a single checkmark next to Wrists, it really means you have the Chest and ONLY the Chest because the number that would be displayed is just 1. Hopefully this helps some people decode what they are seeing. (Yes, I did send in a /bug report with this information and more.) --Dianiss

This is how it should have worked from the beginning, and I still can't believe they rolled it out the way they did in the first place. And I agree, there should be some way of choosing to use your own funds. In the mean time, donating what you used is a reasonable work-around. Also, why no post from the devs on this one? You'd think they'd enjoy the good PR from this to counter-balance the beating they're (deservedly) getting over the new augments. --Dianiss

Dear BioWare: We're already three pages in and there is not a single positive reply. I'm confident we could go another 30 pages and still have 100% negative replies. We are watching closely how you handle this. If you don't change this DRASTICALLY before it goes live, you will forever lose any and all credibility when you claim to listen to your user base. I say again: 100% of the feedback is negative. Are you really going to go forward with this as-is? --Dianiss

On the subject of new/improved Ignore List: I'd really like to see a comment field there too, exactly as it is for the Friends List. It'd be helpful to be able to make a note as to WHY I ignored that person (or legacy). --Dianiss

Dear SWTOR Player Community: While reading this dev post I am reminded of something I was told by my first guildmaster. SWTOR Rule #1: BioWare hates you. Once you understand and embrace this basic truth, you will find that everything they do makes perfect sense. That is all. Thank you for your time. --Dianiss

My biggest beef with the current system is very simple (and very simple to fix): All lettered Mods (A/B) and 10 out of the 15 types of enhancements in the game simply don't exist in 252/258 form. (e.g. Bastion - Bulwark - Discipline - Barrage - etc.) There's literally no way at all to get them right now. Some of us have good reasons to want to choose these items over the ones that come embedded in the existing gear drops. And I'd like to believe that Choices Matter™. Those items should be available for direct purchase (for Masterwork Data Crystals: I would suggest 1 MDC for 252 and 2 MDC's each to upgrade to 258) AND be craftable by Cybertechs (just put the schematics on the Ossus CyberTech vendors). This is, IMO, a very simple and feasible patch that could be implemented in the near future, and would be received well by the community. Does anyone reading this thread think it's a BAD idea? Looking toward the future: If a future update comes that raises the level cap and introduces a new tier of gear, I'd like to think that Choices Matter™ is still something Bioware cares about. So again, ALL of the current mods and enhancements should exist and be reasonably available in some form. In addition, we need to see EVEN MORE variations to choose from, especially in the mods. We need Mods with Mastery, Endurance, and Absorb . . . Shield . . . Critical Rating . . . Alacrity . . . Accuracy. Not just Power and Defense. (Heck, bring back Presence!) We also need enhancements that combine Endurance, Shield and Absorb in various mixes. Yes, it's a lot of additional kinds of items in the databases, but it gives us choices. Choices are what separate a GAME from just watching a MOVIE. Choices Matter™. Do you agree or disagree?

I have a VERY simple question: Why is 1 CQ point equal to 2 Guild XP points? Why not a simple 1:1 accounting and having all the GXP targets be half what they are? Isn't that functionally the exact same thing? What purpose is served by doubling the total? Based on your description, there would be no possible way for a guild to ever have an odd number of points (unless by fractional bonuses that are GXP-specific and rounding). Just wondering.... --Dianiss

No, this tool does not do anything about your Outfit Designer settings (nor could it, nor could any such tool), because that information is stored on the SWTOR servers and not locally on your computer, as others above have said. If you are having an issue with outfits, then you have an entirely different problem and you'll probably need to put in a trouble ticket to get it resolved. ChadCloman's list covers almost everything that is stored locally, with only one thing missing that I noticed: The comments that you put in your Friends Lists are also stored locally. The normal, intended use* of this program is to copy the stored settings from your characters that are still associated with one of the 15 old servers that we had throughout 2016 into a new file that associated with one of the 5 current servers. It sounds like that's what you tried to do, assuming "my original server" means a 2016 server and not one from before the first two rounds of mergers (and technically, that would work too if you still had settings files laying there from way back when). Another thing that could have gone wrong is if you had the game client up and running at the same time you used the tool. The settings get loaded when you launch the game, and get saved when you exit. If you modify those files while the game is running, then the game just re-saves what it originally loaded (before you changed it) and you're back to where you started. I don't know if that's what happened to you, but it is a possible explanation. I actually posted an updated version of the tool that checks to see if the game is running first, and warns you to exit. Another possibility that comes to mind is if you log in to your own computer (when you first power up--I'm not talking about your SWTOR account here) with a different user ID than the one you use to play the game, then the program will by default look in the user profile of the current user ID, and either not find the settings files or find different ones. This is unlikely for most people, but I did account for it with "STEP 1" and confirming that the tool is using the correct profile directory. If you want to PM me (or post again here), I'm happy to help you sort out the issue. --D * Of course, I deliberately wrote it so that it could be used for other things, like copying settings from one character to a different character and/or copying settings from a character on a current server to a same-named character on another. I tried to make the interface as intuitive as I could, but I do get that what's intuitive to me may not be for someone else.

Much appreciated! I've updated the program to include those 2 as well, both of which put you on The Leviathan today. (Only 3 unknowns remaining.) Oops, my mistake. ...except for the saying "Thanks" part, which was NOT a mistake.

Thanks for the note on Progenitor. I've updated the program so that it associates 6131 with Progenitor (and Darth Malgus as the expected target server). Jung Ma was already ID'd. You can see it in the screen shot. BUT . . . if what you really meant is that those two servers didn't appear on your screen, then I should point out that the list on the left side will only show servers that you actually had characters on (or, technically, servers for which it found files in the given folder whose names contain the magic numbers), So if, for example, you only ever played on two servers, then those two servers will be the only ones that will be shown on the left-side list.

I've written a GUI tool that will do this for you. Link to Fortitude Guild Forum Post which explains it. Download Link Unfortunately, I can't post images here, but you can see what it looks like in the post above. If you have any questions or issues, feel free to post here or PM me directly. UPDATE: I've added Progenitor (6131) to the program based on user feedback elsewhere. UPDATE 2: I've added Battle Meditation (6136) and Darth Nihilus (6135) to the program based on user feedback elsewhere.

I've written a GUI tool that will do this for you. Link to Fortitude Guild Forum Post which explains it. Download Link Unfortunately, I can't post images here, but you can see what it looks like in the post above. If you have any questions or issues, feel free to post here or PM me directly.

Here's something so crazy they'll NEVER do it. Can we have more than 25 missions in the mission log? Pretty please?

And another thing: Overhaul the Friends List and Ignore List. 1) Make both of them legacy-wide and make both larger. Why would someone be a friend to me on one character and NOT a friend (or--worse--someone I want to ignore) on another? I'm not schizophrenic! ...and neither am I! 2) Add a comment field to the Ignore List, just like what the Friends List has. I'd really like to be able to remember WHY I ignored that person. Spammer? Loot ninja? Troll? Terribad player? Habitually says things like "F yer mudder, eye desrv wrld frsts!!" in Fleet General chat? Thinks that the 5.3 Seer Sage nerfs are fair and reasonable...? A month from now I won't remember. 3) Add a new feature to the Ignore List: "Timed Auto-Removal". Let's face it, most of our Ignore Lists are populated by Gold Spammers, using accounts that won't exist in another month or so. So make each Ignore List entry have an optional timestamp after which the entry is automatically removed. This solves the MY IGNORE LIST IS FULL problem for 99% of players by automatically cutting out the oldest entries that are--realistically--no longer needed. (Also, add a Preferences item for what the default timeframe for auto-removal should be.) 4) Add a "Report and Ignore" menu option to the UI. A lot of people just ignore without reporting, so this will encourage people to do both. BY THE WAY, choosing this option automatically adds "Reported Spammer" as a comment for that entry in the Ignore List which now has a comment field thanks to #2 above. (It also means it's easier for people to go back and manually delete JUST those entries.) 5) Add checkboxes to the Ignore List so that blocking the person's chat messages and preventing the Group Finder from putting us together can be selectively chosen. Just because I don't want to be grouped with somebody doesn't automatically mean I want him/her silenced too--and vice-versa. 6) Add another checkbox to the Ignore List entries so that I can be optionally informed when a Chat-Ignored player is speaking. Just substitute something that says "[PlayerName] (Ignored)" rather than just nothing at all. Maybe make it two checkboxes: one for open chat in a channel that I see and one for /whisper.

The single thing I'd most like to see is the ability to convert any Bound item into Bound-to-Legacy. I get it...it's not simple. It means a change to the item database schema so that the "Bind Status" (or whatever it's really called) can change from a static attribute of the item class into a variable property of the item instance. The static attribute would remain as a default value for the new property. Make it work like an Augment Slot does today. Find/win/buy/craft some item that you take to a Mod Station and pay your fee to install it to make the item in question B2L. (Here's a crazy idea: make it require the consumption of an unassembled Inheritance/Birthright item to craft the kit.) This has many uses, including allowing the sharing of "left-side" items between legacy characters, making left-side items dropped from GC crates transferable to other characters who could use it (particularly in light of how the crafted relics / ears / implants are inferior), and allowing us to use the mainhand weapon we want on a character since it's the only visual item that's not a part of the Appearance Designer. ...and best of all, it doesn't break anything economically. No player would be gaining access to something he or she otherwise couldn't get, because Bound items are still restricted to the particular legacy. This would NOT open up the transfer of Bound items between different players in any way. Finally, I'd rather it not go this way, but if it's the difference between having this and not having it, then I'll go ahead and say it out loud: You could also make a bundle on MTX's by selling the item on the Cartel Market.

Okay, Bioware (Keith, Eric, Combat Team, whoever), we need to talk. You are getting this whole thing wrong on two fundamental levels. Number 1: Everywhere you quote the Force costs of something, you are getting it wrong. (I wish I could use [TABLE] here, but I can't, and doesn't even flip to a fixed-width font, so this will have to do.) [code] [size="2"][b]Force Costs of Seer Sage Healing Abilities by Game Version[/b][/size] [u]Ability[/u] [u]4.0[/u] [u]4.5[/u] [u]5.0[/u] [u]5.3[/u] (proposed) Rejuvenate 30 40 [b]36[/b] 40->50 Healing Trance 48 60 54 [size="1"](n/c)[/size] Deliverance 37 45 [b]41[/b] 45->50 Benevolence 55 70 63 [size="1"](n/c)[/size] Wandering Mend 50 65 [b]59[/b] 65->70 Salvation 60 75 68 [size="1"](n/c)[/size] Vinidicate +50 +50 +40 [size="1"](n/c)[/size] Do you see what's wrong with this picture yet? YOU ARE PROPOSING TO RAISE THE FORCE COSTS UP FROM WHAT THEY WERE IN VERSION 4.5, NOT FROM WHERE THEY ARE NOW. Do you really expect me to trust that you know what you're doing here when you (someone, I don't know specifically who) couldn't do the basic research that ANY PLAYER with a Sage or Sorcerer (and not even Seer/Corruption) could do in 5 minutes?!? OF COURSE Sage healers are over-performing in your eyes because YOU DON'T SEEM TO REMEMBER THAT YOU LOWERED ALL THE FORCE COSTS in 5.0 - 5.2. Solution: Throw away your current plans for changes to Force costs and just set them back to their Version-4.5 levels instead, then re-evaluate for the next patch. Otherwise you are seriously overshooting the mark and there's really no need to use a sledgehammer to squash an insect. Number 2: You can dial down the Sages' HPS and achieve your stated goals without killing the class just by changing your approach a bit. Have you considered: Instead of across-the-board cuts in healing output, make your changes in such a way that it requires a greater degree of skill to achieve high HPS numbers? Here's how you get there: Raise the Force costs across-the-board back to their 4.5 levels as suggested above. This neatly brings Sages and Sorcerers back into line with where they were the last time you did a nerf to the class and spec. If you were okay with those levels then, why not now? Take Vindicate off the GCD (with it's own cooldown timer) the way Noble Sacrifice was in 3.x prior to the 3.3 changes (when Vindicate debuted). This will do 2 things: increase the skill level required, since it will require the player to be quick-acting to minimize the wasted time, and at the same time more careful with its use so as to avoid interrupting one's self with it. offset the increased Force costs against the 20% reduction in Vindicate's recovery from 50 points to 40, which I presume you'll want to leave in place. [*]Reduce the duration of the Amnesty buff from 10 seconds to 4 seconds. This will reduce the overall Force regeneration, requiring the player to be thinking more strategically about when to use Vindicate so that the Amnesty buff can be refreshed at 3-GCD(-ish) intervals. You can reduce HPS significantly by simply making it harder to sustain the Force pool. This is exactly the approach you used in version 4.5 and when you did, you actually increased the healing output of each ability by a modest amount as a part of the nerf. In doing so, you dialed back Sage/Sorc healing without making them useless--nor at a severe disadvantage to the Tech healers. But make it harder, not impossible, otherwise Sages and Sorcerers can end up being rendered non-viable for the hardest PvE content. That outcome serves no one. Other thoughts: Your stated concern over Wandering/Roaming Mend used as a single-target heal is valid and understandable. So why not actually attack that problem directly rather than skirt around it. Just adjust the Mend so that it will only tap a given target once. Problem solved. And yeah, it could stand to be toned down. I never really liked the idea of Wandering Mend being the Wave Motion Gun of healing abilities. That should be Salvation. Also, let's not forget that some of this rebalancing that you're having to do is because you dropped the ball on something you didn't do in 5.0.0 when you should have, namely: you raised the level cap, but didn't adjust the relevant coefficients in the player stats equations for levels 66-70. You DID do this with every other level-cap increase to date. You also introduced a new tier of gear to the game (244/246/248) in 5.2, and seem somehow surprised that stats inflation for all players has increased their DPS/HPS/Mitigation levels above your desired targets. So, to summarize: Just go back to the Version 4.5 levels and reintegrate some of the lost elements of version 3.0, then re-evaluate from there. Increasing the Force Management burden WILL lower HPS values all by itself; there is no need to drastically lower the healing of all abilities at the same time. There's also no need to make extreme changes all at once. Gradual, more frequent changes are what's needed here. I've asked you guys before, I'll ask again. It's time to invite Dianiss to the closed PTS.

More player choice is good. More reliance on random luck is bad. If you mean to frame these two scenarios as the only options, I can't believe you're even seriously asking this question. I would LOVE to see UC's become a part of PvE content rewards. You see, we're not gearing for ONE thing or THE OTHER any more, we're just gearing now. And players who primarily play PvE need the same choice-making ability as the players who primarily play PvP.

I'm actually surprised to see Seer Sage / Corruption Sorc on the list, but seeing as how they are being re-jiggered for negative dispatchment, here are some of my suggestions: (I'll use Sage terminology for consistency.) As a general rule: Seer Sage was just about perfect in 3.3. So a lot of these suggestions are inspired by that. Include the damage absorption of all Force Armors in the Combat Log of the FA caster. It currently does not appear there, which causes it to be undervalued (or worse--ignored) by many healers who look at parser numbers. Healing Trance should only remove one stack of Soothing Protection instead of four (one for each tick). I've already reported this as a bug. I sincerely HOPE it is not intended. Or ... even better ... move Soothing Protection off of Force Armor and put it on Vindicate. This way FA is no longer a danger during "healing this player hurts them" mechanics, and Vindicate doesn't represent a full GCD of no healing or damage output at all. (IIRC, one of the PTS builds at the time had a small heal on Vindicate but it was removed.) An alternative to adding a heal to Vindicate is to take it off the GCD and give it a separate one-GCD cooldown like it had in 3.3 to pre-4.0 ... and make an across-the-board reduction in healing output to compensate. This is actually both a buff and a nerf to the class, because it makes the class trickier to play--so a buff if you're good and a nerf if you're not. When Salvation consumes Resplendence stacks, reduce the Force cost of that Salvation by the same amount as what would be recovered by using Vindicate+Resplendence (currently 5 points per stack). This effect was in play during 3.3+ and was taken out in 4.0 and beyond. Most of those changes to the way the class is played also act as buffs. If the intent of the changes is to reduce healing output, then simply do an across-the-board reduction in healing output afterwards to the desired level.

The thing is: Wandering/Roaming Mend already IS a big Force hog, and it arrived in the game at the same time that a significant nerf to Salvation/Revivication was introduced. So yes, WM is powerful, but it's really not spam-able.

The Raid Leader for Team Dik Dik is Kaddak. (Somehow his name disappeared from the section you quoted, but it was there in the original post.) -- Now that that's out of the way.... Republic 45/51 HM -- 3/26 NiM <Republic Gentlemen> Team Cuttlefish Galadina (Dianiss)

Hello everyone! Team Cuttlefish from <Republic Gentlemen> is looking for TWO good DPS to backfill some people who can't run on our regular nights anymore due to RL conflicts. We have a slight preference for a taunt-capable class, but any class is acceptable if you can hit the necessary numbers and execute the necessary mechanics. We are currently working on Tyth HM, and plan to continue working through the rest of Gods from the Machine as it releases, so the DPS checks are (and I expect will continue to be) demanding. We run on Wednesday and Thursday nights starting at 8:30PM Eastern until 11:30-ish. If you have the skills but not the gear (yet), we'll work with you as best we can to gear up as quickly as possible. (We're ALL still gearing up to some extent.) Anyone who joins the team will be offered membership in R.G., though guild membership is not a requirement. If you're interested, you can post here, contact Dianiss or Galadina in-game, or apply at the www.RepublicGentlemen.com website.

I'm glad to see that the issue of CXP acquisition rates is being addressed, and I always appreciate when the announcement includes commentary on the why along with the what and the when. Thank you, sincerely. But... ...this is still putting the cart before the horse. The randomness is the real problem. Getting random rewards means we have no choice in what we get in return for paying our subscription and playing the game. The ultimate irony is that this is from the studio who insists: CHOICES MATTER Give us more choices, not fewer choices. It's that simple.

I have to agree wholeheartedly with those who've already posted that RNG is the problem. With that in mind here are my suggestions to the devs. Some could be mutually-exclusive, and so some choices will have to be made. But as the devs are fond of reminiding us: Choices Matter. To address the RNG factor: (with the underlying assumption that RNG will remain) The fundamental problem is that, as I just mentioned, Choices Matter, but the RNG factor takes choice away from the player. So to address that, it needs to be made LESS random. 1) Substitutions Give us a new UI interface tied to the Galactic Command page that lets us express our preferences. At a minimum, we need a Character-sheet-like interface showing the 14 gear slots and checkboxes for DO NOT AWARD ITEMS FOR THIS SLOT plus GIVE HIGHER PRIORITY TO THIS SLOT. Then you do a simple check each time a crate is awarded: If a gear item would have been randomly dropped for a slot with the DO-NOT-AWARD flag, then replace it with the comparable item for the HIGHER PRIORITY slot. This addresses the issue of being handed multiples of the same item, and allows a simple but effective way to work towards a specific item. (This could have completely replaced the complicated 5.1 system.) 2) Increased CXP rates without increasing CXP rates. If making the system less random is not an option, then make randomness less relevant. Make each crate drop 5 times as many items, and make the CXP gains from Disintegration one-fifth what they were. Super-easy to implement -- Changes nothing about CXP gains. (Or alternately, drop multiple crates each level.) This goes a long way towards mitigating the problem of not being able to collect a full 230-rated gear set (let alone a 2nd set for a different spec/role such as Healing AND DPS) before hitting Tier 2 by significantly increasing the number of chances you get to "roll the dice" for that item. If you're REALLY REALLY in need of that one particular item, then having many more chances to get it will significantly reduce the number of players who don't hit it. (Obviously, since it IS random, there will always be SOME.) 3) Tokens in Command Crates One obvious problem with RNG and the Command Crates is the very real possibility of getting duplicate items. Since v5.1 (re-)introduced Unassembled tokens to the game, why not drop THOSE instead? If you get a 2nd identical item that you otherwise wouldn't need, you can just turn it in for a different spec or even an entirely different class. This would be super-easy to implement and well-received by the community. To address the issue of CXP accrual and make the game more alt-friendly: 1) Rested CXP It's a good system for regular leveling XP, it would be a good system for CXP, and should be easy to implement. 2) Legacy Character Perks: Skip to Tier 2 / Skip to Tier 3 This should of course be gated so that you have to raise at least one character to the given tier to unlock the ability to buy it. (Gate it behind a high Legacy Level even.) But purchasing this perk allows the 2nd and subsequent characters to receive crates of the same tier as the player's main. 3) Daily Reward Wanna encourage players to play the game more often? Give each Level-70 character a free crate once per day just for logging in--or perhaps for logging in and completing a single mission that rewards CXP (Uprising, Heroic, Warzone, Op, Story Chapter, etc.) Don't log in that day? No reward. This would encourage players to play more often and to play all of their characters rather than just one--even if just a little bit. 4) Legacy Level equals Legacy CXP boost Wanna reward long-time players in a meaningful way? Make every Legacy Level a 1% CXP boost. LONG-TIME players who have already demonstrated their loyalty would get a significant boost, while new players will see that there is another way to improve their CXP accumulation rate for staying with the game. This also serves as an equalizing force against the increasing number of CXP required to reach each Command Level. Is a 50% boost really game-breaking for the few who'd qualify? It could of course be modified to something more like "for each 10 Legacy Levels, you get a 6% CXP boost" or ramp up the percentage as the Legacy Level rises. Okay, honestly, I don't see this happening since we already have the CXP boost legacy perk. But it would be helpful to do SOMETHING that's tied to Legacy Level. And finally: a tiny QoL change that I'd like to see: When claiming or disintegrating GROUPS of items (Command Tokens, Jawa Vendor items, etc.), set the slider on the pop-up window that requests HOW MANY? to claim/dump to the maximum value rather than 1. Honestly, what are we more likely to do here? All of them or just the one? This is a no-brainer.