This is ridiculous. The entire point of the vanish ability is to be able to exit combat so you can do stuff like revive an ally, escape a fight etc. You are taking away the core function of this ability because we are using it they way we are supposed to as opposed to playing the game they way YOU WANT US TO. Literally ***? This is some lowkey swimlane BS Eric. You're already gutting all the classes with your ill researched ability overhaul, now casually drop that battle rez will be removed from Merc/Op/Sorc if they are in a DPS spec? How does this work in Veteran FPs where there usually is no healer? Or grouping for heroics or class stories or Chapters or Star Fortresses? Win or die unless you have a healer, and if they can't rez you in time while they are keeping the rest of the group up, then wipe and try again? That is not a fun player experience. _____ What happened to player agency? You, collectively the designers and producers of this game, need to take off those big brain game theory hats and think about making the game fun for players to play. Stop with all this engagement metric, intended mechanics, etc. This isn't a mobile game, this isn't a looter shooter. There are some great changes coming to the game in 7.0, don't get me wrong, but the core of character class design and changes like the two I have highlighted are prime examples where you aren't thinking about the player experience, you are thinking about yourself.

I think that the Group Finder should be scrapped completely and we should be provided with a proper LFG system like many other successful MMOs have. Way more grouping happens in chat channels, so why don't we have a global system in place outside of trying to control player behavior.

Does anyone do crystal of nightmare fury runs to get nim achievements out of the way or for farming the rare drops like mounts? With all the sales runs I see advertised I figured there must also be groups of 'hardmode' level raiders who are good with eating crystals to help them focus on NiM mechanics to finish themselves?

TBH I have never been a fan of multiple difficulty levels in MMOs. Making a raid super easy so you don't need to even think is not fun. Making raid super hard so that only a very small percentage of players can complete it seems like an incredible waste of development resources. It's a design philosophy that separates players instead of bringing us together.

We need a faction competition in SWTOR. We have lots of PvP options (OWPVP, Regs, Ranked, Granked, GSF) We have GvG with Conquest We have good vs evil with DvL We have nothing to promote FvF in a game where we are literally at war with each other. I would like to see some kind of FvF systems added to the game to promote activity the builds power for either the Pubs or Imps. Maybe you have to commit to one faction for the week/month/quarter and for that period, certain activities will build power for that faction, leading to some kind of faction level rewards.

Bioware should release a new coffee table book to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the game. It can be filled with all of the concept art from post launch through to LoTS and come with a CE (and maybe a Founders) code as well.

Every operation has a breadcrumb quest, these ones just happen to require you to flag first by completing the story arc on Oricon. I remember back when Shadow of Revan came out after doing the solo Revan quest I thought that making operations have a solo mode would be a great idea. After giving it some more consideration however, the reason I wanted it was not to do it alone, but that grouping for operations has always been more difficult that any other part of the game, and made even more challenging by the lack of a modern LFG system to replace the terrible group finder system we suffer with today. Instead of looking for ways to make the game more solo friendly, the devs should be looking to improve the player experience for grouping.

Arsenal Merc Level 15 - no info on PTS passive augments for tracer missile, will update my review when they are actually in the game Level 20 - I'd prefer to see stealth scan be a standard ability, get the master utility added to it standard, and also work on NPC mobs so it isn't' just a PVP ability Level 30 - no info on PTS passive augments for heatseeker, will update my review when they are actually in the game Level 35 - Chaff flare is optional? Why is our threat drop optional? Level 40 - Another opportunity for you to prune, have serrated shot replace power shot on IO and combine all their effects Level 50 - a little underwhelming in the choices here Level 60 - I would rather you make Thrill of the Hunt a baseline passive on all merc specs. Level 70 - HO is optional? What? Again you take a core iconic ability and make it optional? And single target stun is optional here as well as you have done with other classes. Overall response here is the same as with IO. Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not? The combat rotation is fine, but the overall experience frankly sucks. When I play merc, I want to run and gun (or rocket). Instead of having dynamic choices on how my combat abilities work and how my defensive abilities work, I now have to sacrifice mobility so that I can have access to defensives and utility abilities. I get that Merc is one of the most "bloated" of all the classes, but this honestly feels like there was zero effort put into the changes. You have so much opportunity to combine similar abilities. On defense, you have a great opportunity to put energy shield on the ability tree and have it be augmentable. Put it as the level 10 ability instead and then at level 15 you can have us choose power barrier, power shield, or energy rebounder. That is a meaningful choice that makes sense. Please go back and rethink this class change setup you have done here. Just like on Jedi Knights round one there are just too many changes here that don't make any sense.

AP level 15 - Power burst is very meh, a total 20% increase in damage? Maybe add an autocrit to it at full stacks as well. level 20 - Another example of forcing us to choose between core abilities instead of giving us dynamic choices. I get having second contract and reel rattle to augment harpoon, but then I loose my primary class gap closer? Level 30 - I like to see augments to retractable blade, but these are all so similar that it doesn't feel like the choice matters. Maybe have one of the choices based on something other than the refresh? Level 35 - Stealth Scan should not be an optional ability. I would rather see it standard and also get upgraded to slow stealthers, as well as working on NPCs so it isn't just a PVP ability Level 50 - underwhelming choices. Very confusing that you still have Iron Will when you are planning to make HO optional kind of messy. Level 60 - another set of underwhelming choices Level 70 - HO and Dart are optional? No. Level 80 - Underwhelming Overall not a whole lot of excitement here for AP. I like that with some of the augments that it feels like you could break up the usual rotation and still deliver some devastating burst, but this trend of focusing on making punishing choices with regards to defensives and utility skills instead of creating dynamic choices on combat abilities continues. Especially considering AP PT might be the most glass cannon in the game. Hopefully you are planning to spend some more time on these ability trees to give some love to energy shield, take another look at gap closing abilities, and give some more interesting choices to blade. As is I probably wouldn't continue to play an AP for PT DPS if this is the plan.

It's not on the PTS

Shieldtech level 15 - channeled flamethrower returns? Nice, but there is no info on what these augments to Firestorm do, would be nice to know. Hopefully it makes it a conal aoe with some kind of slow/root level 20 - missing ability info, is this supposed to be an augment for harpoon? How about having harpoon listed on the tree underneath and then three morphs to give second contract, allow harpoon to also work on party members, or be a shorter range aoe pull (like Forex has in tank mode) Level 30 - passive descriptions missing on Heat Blast Level 35 - Stealth Scan should not be an optional ability. I would rather see it standard and also get upgraded to slow stealthers, as well as working on NPCs so it isn't just a PVP ability - Reactive missile is good, abilities that can cooldown taunts are always good to see Level 50 - underwhelming choices. Very confusing that you still have Iron Will when you are planning to make HO optional kind of messy. Level 60 - another set of underwhelming choices Level 70 - HO and Dart are optional? No. Level 80 - Underwhelming Overall I am thoroughly unimpressed. It looks to me like you got as far as level 30 and then stopped working on the changes. There is so little here that makes me feel like I am making dynamic choices that affect how I am playing. How about pulling in one of the merc shield abilities to give energy shield some more guts, as we have been begging for. How about looking at rocket punch to give it some morphs, perhaps to apply a slow for pvp, or integrate hitman into it so that every time you punch you reduce the cd on quell. Why do I not have an ability to set oil slick on fire with flame sweep? As with merc, this looks like a rushed attempt to get the changes on PTS and very little effort was put into giving us dynamic choices that allow us to augment our gameplay. Choosing between what should be baseline abilities and repeats of the same utilities we've had for years is not dynamic.

IO Merc Level 15 - no info on passive augments for supercharged gas, Level 20 - why is explosive dart optional for IO? This is a part of the IO ability cycle? If you want to take an opportunity to prune, then why not have thermal detonator replace explosive dart on IO? - I'd prefer to see stealth scan be a standard ability, get the master utility added to it standard, and also work on NPC mobs so it isn't' just a PVP ability Level 30 - no info on passive augments for Thermal Detonator Level 35 - Chaff flare is optional? Why is our threat drop optional? Level 40 - Another opportunity for you to prune, have serrated shot replace power shot on IO and combine all their effects Level 50 - a little underwhelming in the choices here Level 60 - I would rather you make Thrill of the Hunt a baseline passive on all merc specs. Level 70 - HO is optional? What? Again you take a core iconic ability and make it optional? And single target stun is optional here as well as you have done with other classes. Does the current combat rotation make this experience feel like you are playing a Mercenary? Why or why not? The combat rotation is fine, but the overall experience frankly sucks. When I play merc, I want to run and gun (or rocket). Instead of having dynamic choices on how my combat abilities work and how my defensive abilities work, I now have to sacrifice mobility so that I can have access to defensives and utility abilities. I get that Merc is one of the most "bloated" of all the classes, but this honestly feels like there was zero effort put into the changes. You have so much opportunity to combine similar abilities. As I mentioned in the level notes, you can have thermal detonator replace explosive dart at level 30 giving it the utility of spreading dots on top of its existing effects. You can have serrated shot replace power shot at level 40 and take its effects as well as using surging shots. On defense, you have a great opportunity to put energy shield on the ability tree and have it be augmentable. Put it as the level 10 ability instead and then at level 15 you can have us choose power barrier, power shield, or energy rebounder. That is a meaningful choice that makes sense. Please go back and rethink this class change setup you have done here. Just like on Jedi Knights round one there are just too many changes here that don't make any sense.

In 7.0 we are going to have major changes to the class system, some long asked for by players and others necessary for long term balance (or something) Pulling back and taking a look at how these systems are going to work, between having two Combat Styles (formerly Advanced Classes) with up to 6 disciplines to swap between with a new ability morph system replacing Utilities, and a loadout system to combine quick slots, gear, outfits, and key binds; that's a lot. The learning curve here for many players is going to be difficult if these systems are not incredibly intuitive and provide a superior UX to what we have in place today. Hopefully we are going to have these systems start to take shape on the PTS soon so we can provide the feedback needed to make sure this works as intended

If you have an existing character with the alignment already unlocked, you will be able to choose either. For new characters you will start with the faction choice and then when the option becomes available you would be able to swap to the mirror AC I don't think it is clear whether you would be able to pick Sage and Sorc for your two classes though, whereas you will be able to pick Commando and Merc.

You are already going to get this. Subs on 7.0 launch will be able to select a new Combat style from all available options. In the case of tech classes, you will have them all available, whereas Jedi/Sith will have all available in accordance with their alignment history. If you have an Operative today and you want to make them a Commando/Gunslinger in 7.0, you will be able to do that at launch.

You will 100% be able to access all 6 specs. We don't know how many loadouts we will have, so it's possible you will still have to do some manual swapping to actually use all 6.

Just GSF?

I've been using Authy for years as my go to 2FA tool. including for multiple SWTOR accounts. Never had an issue using on desktop or mobile, highly recommend

Yea this is a really interesting point; it's popular in SWTOR and if you look at the current big hitter MMO, FFXIV, this part of the game is absolutely massive. In my opinion this speaks to areas of the game that provide player agency, something that is usually associated with sandbox MMO games. I think that there is something to be considered, even in a theme park MMO, to have more player agency which allow for emergent gameplay, with game systems in place that still allow for the gating elements devs need to put in place to keep us on our progression tracks

I highly recommend this playlist for anyone interested in being a better product manager, especially when it comes to MMOs and other games. I definitely see areas of SWTOR where the team has and still does an excellent job of avoiding these sins, but they are some areas that stood out to me as glaring, particularly in Pride, which 4.0 was full of.

Deception Level 15 - Reaper, and at such a low level, this will really give Deception that feeling you can murder everything in a room. Nice Level 20 - Losing Overload to get access to some fun morphs. For deception maybe this is a little less painful since I've always felt it was more of a single target spec, but sometimes it feels like you are forcing experienced players to make difficult and uncomfortable choices about their build, where I'd think you want us to be excited to choose from the different options at each level milestone. Level 35 - I like that there are options here to choose different ways to give a self heal. This is a case where losing a standard ability (Overcharged Saber) doesn't necessarily need to make you suffer, if the encounter allows for Dark Forces to give a similar or better heal. Level 70 - Rip Severing Slash and Whirlwind Overall still fun to play, I don't think I would hate Deception after these changes.

Darkness Level 20 - Energized Shock looks like a cool passive. I've always liked abilities that extend taunts and lower the cooldown of taunts to allow tanks to focus on crowd control mechanics and not have to be competing with DPS as well. Level 30 - Some great choices here to augment Dark Ward, I especially like Gloom Ward for taunt cooldown reduction Level 35 - I like that there are options here to choose different ways to give a self heal. This is a case where losing a standard ability (Overcharged Saber) doesn't necessarily need to make you suffer, if the encounter allows for Dark Forces to give a similar or better heal. Level 70 - Rip Severing Slash and Whirlwind Overall not a terrible setup, I don't feel like Darkness loses it's core feeling, and in some cases you are allowing for reduction in active abilities while allowing their benefits as a passive. I really do like the passives to improve taunting and cooldowns.

Madness Level 15 - Death Brand! I'm not sure that the 5% increase makes this worth it, but a really cool idea for a morph to Death Field Level 20 - Why is Cloud Mind optional? Once again there is so much ambiguity to what you are doing with threat in 7.0, for threat reduction abilities to be missing, optional, etc, is very confusing to me that something I would expect to be a standard ability on all classes. - Finish them is a pretty cool morph to speed up rotations and add more burstiness to madness Choices for levels 30,35,50,60 are all fine, there doesn't appear to be anything that really stands out as impossible to me. Level 70 - Extricate and Force Barrier choice, oof that's rough as well. I would rather see Force Barrier moved into the choices for level 50 and move Sith Defiance up to 70. Overall again playability seems fine to me, I don't feel like you've broken the spec, but there are some choices that I think are unnecessary given the large number of 'utility' passives in the mid levels. It feels like you are forcing experienced players to make difficult and uncomfortable choices about their build, where I'd think you want us to be excited to choose from the different options at each level milestone.

Took about a half dozen runs but got a good group together last night and completed the sniper achievement. We had a bad toss on the boss fight and failed the laser achievement so I'm still looking to get that one finished this week hopefully, if you are interested.

Yea maybe someone who uses bold yellow font does.