Glad to see him away. How a wrong leader can waste a whole team work. Kotfe/Kotet were awesome quality parts, but not for this game (respect to all workers staff). But montly chapter plan was a clear unfair way to force people to subscribe (because the non stop subscription reward when all the chapters were available). Then he comes with the horrible Galactic Command system, another way to force players subscriptions, with the ops passes removal. So after ruining SWTOR playerbase numbers, he tried to force the rest to keep their subscription; looks so abusive behaviour for your most loyal players. Server merge is the proof of how much players he pushed away from the game (in case someone still thinks that he did a good job). No extra words needed for Anthem catastrophe. The guy must have a charm, or a sweet voice, or something that hypnotizes his industry bosses, because results doesn't back him up. His is the only name in game industry that i will be aware, before trying a new game. His footmark is just "I don't know how to have fun on a game". So glad to see him gone from Bioware. Maybe still the studio has a chance for recovery. Art design and overall quality is still there. Best wishes to all the staff.

Take a look at this thread to learn how to reduce experience while playing with the White Acute Module: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=938759&highlight=white+acute+module Shame that vendor of item is not permanent, only appears when double xp events are active.

As horrible, terrible, disgusting as the first day. Commendations was a much better and simpler way. The higher the GC rank, the game feels more frustrating to play, because it is like playing for nothing. The system designed for gearing is stupid and nothing can't change that.

Now that the double XP event is over, keep using the White Acute Module. You will see that your leveling progression is slower. Try a new character if you like and comment your new game experience.

Keep yourself 4 levels below enemies level. That is the bottom line for some difficulty. Then you can disable all your companion abilities, but keep him active with his basic attack, so you can listen to his comments while fighting (and keep the flavour of a companion at your side, not an embedded journalist). Two ways to keep you underleveled: · skipping all content that is not your class story missions · go to fleet, buy the White Acute Module at vendor at Combat area and use it to get rid of any extra experience boost you get from the game. This is my recommendation, so you can pick exploration missions or other content while being underleveled (slower leveling do that possible).

On monday the double xp event wasn't active. On tuesday was active. That is the difference. I can't prove why happens that because i don't know how they coded it, but in my experience WAM works on basic normal xp gains, and double is always active on xp events. Without double xp events, WAM gives you around 60% of normal xp (in my experience. It is not just half, but a little higher value than half; and probably each kind of xp dropper, being enemies, new exploration areas, missions and so on have different adjustments), so you get double xp of that around 60% value. You never get rid of ALL the bonus boosts that are active with WAM. That explains your 3 levels of difference between playing off and on double xp event.

Then the wrong with WAM depens on subscription status. I never replay class stories when subbed because to get rid of subscriber bonus (also not in a guild). It worked for me (non subbed) everytime i use it. I always could see the different amount of xp reward if WAM is active or not (lower when WAM is active). And if that is the reason, being subscribed or not, then i think it is top priority to fix it and make it work always. A game with options is much better game than only one way to play it.

XP event is back. Reminder to grab a few White Acute Modules for those that don't like to rush leveling when the XP event is over (and purchasing the White Acute Module is not available).

Same here. The only one that I feel that I earned it.

As reference, i did it without subscription (avoiding 25% XP bonus) and out of a guild (avoiding up to 10% XP bonus). That means, a smuggler lvl 41 starting on Balmorra and finishing Corellia at lvl 46, doing a few extra exploration missions and heroics (no pvp, no flashpoints).

The White Acute Module works always. Don't need to wait for an XP event to use it. If you have one, just use it. Makes the game very similar on leveling as the game was at the begining, and that is fantastic for those that don't want fast leveling. You can stay underleveled if you like, and gives you the freedom to choose some exploration missions and/or heroics to decide when to pass to the next level, making class story a better experience. However, when XP event is active, you gain more XP than without event. Something weird, as you are gaining extra XP but can't say where it comes from (as it is not double points exactly). If White Acute Module were working correctly, XP gains should be the same with or without event, but it is not happening this way. An advice: as WAM is free, stack some if you plan to level some characters, as it is only available for purchase during events, and it is bound to legacy, so can be transferred or stored in your legacy cargo.

It is not recent. They work in solo mode. They never worked in VM. Your companion is not a group member. No nerf, no change, always have been this way.

I consider myself a F2P actually. I decided to be F2P after 4.0, and never felt punished by restrictions. I have subscribed 4 or 5 months in the last 2 years. So these are my reasons to choose F2P status. The main reason to take that choice was the lack of content. Chapters was a wrong idea, because being new content it has a very low replayability, something to spend a few hours with no new aditional content to keep the game experience fresh. Also, better to subscribe at the end of the last chapter than getting small pills of game and realize that there is nothing more to do until the next month; better to feel the complete experience at once. Second, and as important as the main reason, was the change of the game experience, making it so easy that made a really bad experience from a veteran player point of view. Surely that decission was made to "bring" casual players (still don't know why casuals need to be carried on to endgame content as fast as possible). Story based on chapters and easyness (including the rework of old flashpoints to tactical mode) set clearly that the only objective was to pave the way for a fast reach of endgame content, as if the only fun was only there. I stopped supporting this kind of game: if Bioware aims for only one kind of player, i knew that i was not that kind of player. Only the addition of new things to do, like the Eternal Champion, kept me putting money again for a short time, but still the game looks in frozen growth in the last 2 years. Anyway, KOTFE and KOTET are both amazing good pieces, from art design to soundtrack, as usual, but for short life. Story plot is a matter of taste, some liked it (me one of them), some not. 5.0 was another big mistake, in my opinion. Locking rewards under a subscription established 2 class of players: the worthy and the unworthy. Being a subscriber by the time 5.0 came alive, the first 2 days the only i could do was to look at my toons at max level and wonder what to do with them. Before, I could go for reputation, or tokens, and work at my own pace for my own rewards, but then everything had changed, now I have to play content that maybe i was not interested enough, to start stacking boxes and boxes for random rewards. Not exciting, really. I felt that was not the way I wanted to play., feeling like being forced to play the game in a way that i was not interested to play. Others can get the reward playing endgame (repeating operations day after day, or pvping, or whatever they enjoy the game) and good for them as it is the way they enjoy playing. The curve for reaching "interesting" rewards is also very very steep, something that clashes with how less effort a player had to put to get other rewards (like reputation, or money, or the old crystals or commendations). You know: you are used to climb a ladder, now climb that mountain. And it is exciting!! Long ago this game should have had a challenge slider, or a 2 difficulty modes, or something to adapt the game for a variety of players. If a game aims to one game style, then will never attract / retain the most of players out there. And I am not talking about difficulty in chapters, but for the original stories, some of them ruined completely for a good experience with the level sync (and never addressed). The extra experience boost everywhere is something that i hate when playing the original stories while leveling. The only way to get rid of some experience, is, you guess, not being a subscriber (no extra xp, no rest xp). So briefily, what has been done to this game in the last 2 years has impacted heavyly for worse to me, because it is not easy to find good reasons to keep a subscription as a solo or a group player, or just supporting the game on the long run until next content is developed and ready. This is still a very good game, but for new players. For a veteran like me, the lack of enough new content that can be replayed to keep a refreshing experience in SWTOR (and changes to old content, like mutation of Flashpoints to a horrible leveling experience called Tacticals, or out of control level sync) is what made me spend money regularly no more. I can understand why other players left, maybe tired, maybe bored, maybe upset because of what this game has been in the last 2 years.

Some try to mix the no xp gain with no xp BOOST gain. This thread is about no BOOST, so players still gain experience but without the "events" boost, and it is fair to ask for it. Asking for 0 xp gain is a troll thing to deviate the debate and bad for this discussion.

Must be my poor english. I know that affects the same way to pvpers and pvers. I am on the same bandwagon for a turn off option as I explained before in this thread.

Yes, better they waste the time in the new map icons that worked fine (http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=913945), than in non selfish argumented changes that some players ask, something that has been implemented previously succesfully. Level sync never was meant to keep a challenging mode or something similar, but a way for the players to earn experience points everywhere they go so they don't complain that they "progress slower" because they only earn 6 xp points based on how much overleveled they are (we all know the consequences: another interesting idea and another terribly bad implementation of a new feature that broke some interesting fights with final class bosses).

I don't pvp. Anyway, the player still earns experience and won't stay forever in middle bracket. He is earning the NORMAL experience points, not the BOOSTED experience points, so he plays like he always do. For those who want to go to level 70 faster, they welcome the boost, do they play pvp or not.

I can give you a couple of tips: companions are still very powerfull, so i turn off their 3 right abilities in their abilities bar, so they don't crush enemies easily. Not the best solution, but still you can fight with them and listen to their comments. As they gain influence they are much better than you, so tweaking his abilities is the only help to make things "worse", but not much. Anyway, for some champions I found myself activating some of my companions' abilities instead of improving my gear for that particular combat when I realize that my gear got too old to have a chance of victory. How and when to improve the gear is up to you as you feel how the game is going on. 4 levels below is the way to play. 5 levels can make enemies untouchable (that is a game mechanic that we can't override). 3 levels or less make things end faster. So adding a couple of planet exploration missions is better than going to a flashpoint or a pvp match to keep you on that aim. The experience points earned are less and much under control to stay 4 levels below. The game starts to be more challenging (if we can use that term properly) in Alderaan or Balmorra, when the enemies start to use abilities that require your CC, interrupts, cleanse and they can pull and push to put you in troubles.

I am one of those supporting, from time ago, the option to turn off xp from events. There is a situation in this game in where you still can find some fun, and is playing underleveled 3 or 4 levels. You can miss shots, your enemies can dodge your attacks, they hit you harder. Gear not updated to your level helps to make things harder. Not every fight is demanding, but Elites and champions can still put you into problems. That kind of fun was removed in favour to those players asking for a faster way of leveling, so experience points were boosted everywhere and enemies made weaker, and the game broken for those of us that like the placebo of "game is challenging" growing our characters. So now, the only way to keep yourself underleveled is skipping a lot of content. Sure the game experience, from a story and lore point of view, is a little bit worse, but while you can stay underleveled in your story you still can feel some kind of danger in your wanderings over the galaxy. XP events force players to play in a way not originally intended, but to "gift" some players with a boost in their leveling, something that every player don't have to accept. The turn off has been asked for years, and should be implemented as they did with the Acute Stone that got rid of 12x xp event. A game with options is much better game than a game with only one way of playing, because aims for more players' tastes. And if a player uses the Turn off option, why other players that won't use it are so concern how other players play the game? As if that affects them somehow for worse. Level sync doesn't solve this situation, and it is not an answer to deny that the game needs a Turn off xp option.

Are you sure of this? I stuck at veteran in a couple of fights and gave up trying. Is veteran mode a little bit less tough than before the Master mode was included in one of the patches? I am really interested to know so I give it another try if i am not going to ram my face against the wall again, annoyed and frustrated because a kind of enraged boss damage output from some Elites and Champions.

When 5.0 came, i was preferred. I know that every update requires adjustments in new content, so I was waiting for adjustments. My first week as preferred in 5.0 was like watching my screen and wonder what to do. All the rewards were simplified to experience points and ingame credits. Then I played the usual solo stuff and loot had dissapeared (star fortress heroics drop nothing now, and eternal championship reduced items drops, or that is what looked to me). The fun through a challenge to obtain nothing bored me. So i leveled a character in vanilla story. Bait worked on me with a promotion for preferred, so i susbscribed. I have spent more time improving my crafting than playing the game, to realize that rating 228 is not enought to me to face chapters in veteran mode. Drove me to frustration, haven't even finished KOTET because I don't like to do it in easy mode (where there is no fun to me). My subscription ends in 3 days, and won't be renewed until i see changes that really are exciting. In the meantime, back to vanilla stories where the juice still exists.

Does someone there at Bioware Austin measure how much time are you wasting and still going to waste on this gearing system that is far from exciting, doesn't reward players' game time, nobody asked and seems to cost you more subscriptions than retaining them? Yours is a stupid way of wasting resources, time and brains. The misleading is strong on you.

I agree. And I add that playing story chapters in veteran mode, in full 228 gear, sometimes being a pain and a money sink, drops rating 210 items (below the basic 220 craftable gear). Really, developers? Unbalanced rewards for the effort. Special goods, even random or rare, are a must to incentivate the players to replay certain game content.

I guess the game might aim for any kind of players (at least, the widest possible), new and veterans. In case this system is designed only for new players, is very disrespectul for those who have been supporting this game for a long time. And some of the new players will do concern when they reach the max level and see how annoying the rewards system is, unless they have come only to play stories in solo mode.

I think you are wrong. In 4.0 you could check the gear price, and play for the crystals, or loot, that you needed to buy it. It could take you more or less time, but you could make plans and work for a progression. In the meantime, you could feel that you were "working" for something. Actually, for the same effort, you don't know if you are being rewarded somehow. Yes, you raise your GC levels, but rewards are a random mistery. For a new player, everything is new, so he can enjoy playing the game while getting random things, but for a veteran that has experienced the same game content in the same places against the same enemies until being fed up, this new system makes you feel like wasting your time as you can't see and feel instant reward (a few crystals, or "coins") for your gear progression. Of course, the lack of enough new replayable content mixed with the old one makes the game a deja-vu less interesting (and boring). New players will not complain until they reach the veteran stage.