So, I don't think banning ranked players from warzone PvP will fix your issue. Really it just comes down to simply turning off your chat while you're in the match and just playing your style of game. For example, I did some unranked pvp with two other friends. We're not ranked pvpers by any stretch of the imagination, but anyone who looked at us would be hard pressed to tell the difference. We simply played objectives, and had fun doing it. Meanwhile, there was a whole Ranked team (flairs, titles, flags) on the other side. Very coordinated, couldn't care less about playing any objectives, they were just farming kills and padding numbers. Was it a little annoying? Sure, you can say that. Was it wrong? No. If I could group up with my competent pvp friends, why couldn't they? Even told them "Nice premade, I respect it fr fr". Frankly, I believe a good solution to your issue would be just turn your chat off entirely. On dev side of things, I think repurposing pvp chat in warzone instances would be beneficial. Limit some of the trolling being done by disabling /say, /yell, /emote, and I'd argue limiting ranked flags to only ranked arenas cuz it just promotes an unhealthy pvp atmosphere. It's only a minor fix, but ultimately it's on you to stop feeding into those kinds of troll groups; they feed off your reactions.

As I've said numerous times throughout this thread, I'm not absolving Bioware and EA's role in creating the poor state the game is in.

I agree with this

Why do we have to wait for Bioware to fix an issue that starts with the players? Let's speak hypothetical for a second. Say Bioware and EA finally decide to listen to us players, implement the changes and fixes we've all been asking for and then some. The game itself becomes awesome, full of content that has something for everybody, but the player community is still toxic. Is still unwelcoming. Can look at FFXIV as an example, or WOW when it was it its prime. The inclusive, positive atmosphere that the players themselves established into the culture is what highlights such good content, would you not agree?

So me wanting to hold playerbase accountable for player-related issues is me being a "Bioware apologist"?

So that constitutes needing to flag people in unranked warzones? It'd be one thing if they were done to players who at least somewhat on par with said ranked players, but more times than not it just isn't the case. More often than not, ranked players go out of their way to flag players they know are at least average at best. I have my gold flares and flag from season 11, but I only pop my flags when I'm doing ranked matches out of respect for the average pvper that prefer unranked wzs. This in turns just promotes an atmosphere of toxicity. The ranked community would get a bad rep in this instance, and thus no new players would feel like actually trying to get into that form of content, or even pvp in general, outside of just getting dailies and weeklies done. Idk, maybe it's just me, but I just feel the concept of flagging people should be kept to ranked arenas. Especially since that's where you go to earn them anyway.

This isn't about putting blame solely on one side or the other. We as a community can agree that Bioware share responsibility for why things are the way they are today in 2022. However, as someone said a few comments ago, lack of content isn't an excuse for toxicity to reign through in a game we all play equally. That and we've been getting on the butts of the developers for months now. Years, even. Players hold blame for creating a diverse, unwelcoming environment; if only partially. To deny that would be ignorant.

Personally, I don't agree with this take. Why does it have to be a bruised ego thing to want flags be removed from unranked warzones? Why can't it be to just help create a better experience for the unranked side as a whole? Ranked PVPers generally are on a higher tier of skill / experience, so I think having your flares and ranks should be more than enough for that specific game mode. Now ranked is a different story, I can't make much of an argument for that if it's only in certain instances where it's deserved (i.e a player throwing on their team because their partnered up with someone they dislike / hate).

I agree that there's several issues with the current state of the game, and even more so I can understand how the general playerbase is frustrated with how things are given that the potential for SWTOR is so high. I'm not saying the developers have no fault (part to play) in how the community is behaving, but at the same time we can't ignore the fact that the general population makes things even worse with their mannerisms.

I definitely agree about FFXIV, I play that game on a religious basis. I would go as far as to use that game and its current success as a sort of standard for how MMOs should be; that said, FFXIV has a LOT more content, fun and diverse, to offer as opposed to SWTOR. Which will in turn keep the playerbase happy on a majority basis, so I didn't think it a fair comparison knowing the lack of care this game gets from Bioware & EA. But I can definitely say SWTOR's community could learn a lot from FFXIV's community in terms of how to promote a welcoming atmosphere.

So, this is really my first time ever creating a thread on the forums in all my years of playing this game, and I may not word this exactly how my brain wants to articulate this, but I've been thinking about doing this for a long while now so I'm going to give this a shot. I'm sure someone's already spoken up about this, but just in case nobody has yet, or this needs re-emphasis, I believe this game suffers more from the established player community than actual content itself. In other words, there's some "gatekeeping" issues that keep this game from feeling like an actual MMO. To elaborate, I understand that there's some serious issues going on from the content side of things. From class metas, to delayed endgame content that was originally promised to go live day of "expansion", etc.; however, MMOs only go as far as the community it houses. Take PvP for example, and the constant toxicity that goes on in that branch of content. Whether you're doing warzones, or ranked arenas, there's no shortage of toxicity coming from certain players (sometimes a group of players) that keeps the average playerbase away. Making them feel unwanted, that they can't get better or enjoy the same content that they pay equal amount of money for as the rest of their fellow players (toxic or otherwise). This is especially true in ranked (though things have slightly gotten better in that area lately, I admit). When it comes to PvE, I've seen endless amounts of instances where players trying to get into raiding aren't welcomed in that side of the community because raid groups / guilds allegedly can't be bothered to teach new folks. Which I find to be ironic considering the fact that they themselves didn't start out knowing every raid like the backs of their own hands. Even RP content, which used to be a focal point for majority of the community way back in the day, suffers from "gatekeeping". Not every character is going to be flushed out, much less will they always be lore compliant with the game. Some follow the general lore of Star Wars, which you would think is okay. If something doesn't sound right with their character, they get flamed or trolled about it instead of pulled to the side & talked about what can improve. At the end of the day, content may be slow, but I feel like this game still has plenty to enjoy but is ultimately hurting because the community of players aren't as inclusive or welcoming as they should be. Like c'mon bruh, our community isn't all that big as it is, why divide & shorten it even further by being so negative and toxic?