Why should I reroll them and lose all progress on my characters? Because a server that was doing ok a year ago is now mostly dead? A sub has something to do with paid transfers in this situation, I would not be transferring because I dislike my servers playstyle, my guild moved or for better ping. No, I require to move because my server is all but dead and has being slowly dying off for a while now. I'm not looking to transfer out of convenience but necessity, because right now I'm paying for a game I can't really play.

I pay a sub to play the game I shouldn't have to pay 20$ per character to transfer my 8 toons on a living server on top of that.

I play GSF, I play Star Conflict, I play starfleet Command (I and II, frak III!) I play War Thunder and this looks like a cross of all of those! Physics from War Thunder, fast passed space combat of GSF, Merc style guilds froms Conflict, troop transport, boarding parties, system damage and Electronic Counter Measures from Starfleet with multi player ship controls. I'm sold

I'm an average pilot and by no mean I claim to have absolute knowledge of GSF but this is what I have experienced. playing on my Starguard I have noted the following issues: - If I see a GS charging blue, targeting me and there is no cover nearby death is all but certain. - Even with Concentrated fire off CD, the enemy needs to be either unskilled or tunneling pretty hard to be killed. - Landing missiles happens mainly when someone is dumb enough to go "jousting" and decides a head on pass is a good idea against a SF with Retros. - If a Scout gets within close range unless I can time a Retro while he is in front of me I may not even damage it as it out maneuvers me to pieces. - The old HLC/Concussion/Directional does not work as well as the Quads/Cluster/Quick-Charge. - Even investing all components and crew slots to Engine power and regen it still falls short of being able to move at boost speed for long, which means chasing is a no go and shaking someone is an exercise in futility. Basically the Starguard, one of 2 starting ships is unable to kill anyone of equal skill in another ship frame. It's best weapon loadout is meant for mid/close range where it under performs, it is for all intent and purpose a slower, clunkier Scout with the wrong primary weapon and a fraction of the survivability. The Pike has about the same issues, difference is that without Retros I can't seem to get a shot at a good scout pilot targeting me. It does have the advantage of being capable of actually having a role: it makes for a good Bomber killer (sitting at a sat) with HLC/Protons armor build and with Clusters as a back up for Protons a decent chance of holding said satellite after. It is plenty vulnerable on the way to the sat though, which while true for all ships is particularly painful on a SF. The Clarion makes for a fun support tank/bomb killer/sat holder, it has Power Dive to, well, dive out of GS fire and re-position itself. It is the most successful of the 3 SF variants, mainly because it has unique components that gives it a niche role. But it's main/secondary weapons do not mesh well, I get the feeling it either needs Pods/Clusters as sec options or HLC for primary. In conclusion (IMO of course) - The Starguard needs: better fire power, survivability, maneuverability and engines. - The Pike needs: Power Dive or Retros on top of the above. - The Clarion needs: Better secondaries/primaries on top of the Starguard list. I can think of tons of ways to achieve this, but my idea is to add a second Capacitor to all SF, diminish lock time on missiles for SF only, increase base speed, install Retros or Power Dive on Pike and give HLC to the Clarion. I believe increasing base speed by a good margin and adding a second capacitor would be a solid start, it gives SF a damage buff and survivality in that diving for cover or losing someone might actually be doable. Before you say Scouts should be the fastest and what not, keep in mind that they would still out turn SF meaning that SF might be able run away from Scouts now and again but not out dog-fight them. To use the WWII plane analogy, SF would climb faster then Scout, who can out turn them in return.

I would agree, but the objective of the thread is not balancing GSF, making it more newb friendly or increasing survival of ships while under fire. The dev team has literally asked us how to buff Strike Figthers, which is why people talk about how to, you guessed it, buff Strike Figthers...

I agree, I don't have a lot of toons, just 8 lvl 60 in POT5 and even if I where inclined to pay to transfer them all I wouldn't. Simply because I still have 2 guildies that log in now and again that are irl friends I enjoy playing with, also at 20$ a pop it feels ridiculous to spend that much cash on a game I already sub for just to be able to play it and then there the possibility that it may happen all over again in the new server anyway... Right now I'm kinds feeling the need to stop subbing, seeing how I'm basically paying for a game I can't play, not because of time constraints but because the server I started on is dead and no one seems to want to do something about it. Merge servers, implement cross-server, give free transfers to subs once a month or do the "better then cross-servers" thing they say they would, please.

Which is sadly the sum total Pub population of POT5...

The only fear I have is that after all this the buff is going to come down to: "We increased base Evasion by 5%!"

The problem with said "individuality" is that with Evasion being the only viable defense it's makes them tankier, better armed, faster more maneuverable and overall just better then a Strike at anything but long range combat.

The controls and interface in GSF need some love (joystick controls anyone?) ,some of the UI issues like: knowing how much health my allies have, being able to find a team mate, knowing when a miss happened because I actually "missed" and not because of dodge and so on... P.S. Try Star Conflict by the same company as War Thunder, what I like is that the ship class that can snipe is an actual gunship, it's a slow moving/turning capital ship full of guns with heavy shield and a tick hull.

Basically, well, everything. The problem "IS" that it's a jack of all trades master of none in a game where specialization is king. What would help is an all around boost to: speed, maneuverability, shields and hit points (keep damage as is if you're boosting the rest). Not a huge buff mind you, but enough to make them viable. They should be only a step behind in maneuverability and speed if built for such against scouts (rather then limp way behind) and be much sturdier if built for long range combat. But if we are talking a single place to buff: defenses, it's what makes them fit somewhere between Bombers and scouts, their ability to take a hit and keep going is their saving grace and I would go as far as say their calling card. On the subject of defenses, keep in mind that armor is not viable for them, nor is dodge and shields can be bypassed so increasing hit points is my suggestion.

I'm making alts, so clearly holding my breath is out of the question XD Thanks for the info!

I have a maxed legacy on PoT5, but since it's mostly a dead a server I'm going to make an alt or 2 on another server. My question is, in the case of a merger what would happen to legacy levels and unlocks? Would the highest level one replace the lower one? Was something like that addressed last time around?

Even with 12x exp, PoT5 just barely made it into "standard" and I don't think it'll last very long.

I agree, which is why I feel there is going to be huge shift in the game. The amount of resources pulled into SWTOR could even indicate a new engine or a large new story line that will take place after the death of the Emperor. Personally I hope they upgrade the game to the point it feels like SWTOR 2, but I would settle for server merge...

Actually we have all heard of Ziost in-game, for a long time, just never quite remembered about it. One of the capital ships in the Empire fleet is the "Ziost Shadow" (OPs quest starter), granted I always thought it was the name of a Sith lord but I had heard of "Ziost" before XD

Good read and I agree, sadly the only real difference between classes/factions is which representative you talk to and what the speech to anger the Emperor is. Some of the speeches are right down funny though, the Agent simply claims to have found "weapons" to destroy the Emperor XD There is a big, rancor size plot hole as well: We learn electricity can kill monoliths and snap people out of their possession but we have several classes who routinely use electricity as part of their arsenal! Why couldn't they have the Achilles Heel be a sound frequency or a particular light spectrum or something, why one of the weapons wield by troopers, agents, bounty hunters and inquisitors? The scene where we beat the 1st monolith then it comes back to life because we didn't use electricity is just dumb after you *just* electrocuted the thing as a sorc... Also while Ziost was supposed to be the conclusion to SoR, it was more like a side quest or bonus material, there is still no end in sight. You could have skipped Ziost all together and the situation would have being more or less the same with the Emperor; still no way to kill him, no idea of where he will strike again and still feeding on kills.

The population is slightly lower overall, stay away from PvP servers who seem to be hit harder by this. Other then that it's as good a time as any to return, specially with the upcoming 12x exp.

The Sith Inquisitor played light side. There is a line in Alderaan that is juts made of awesome: "I have more light than you'll ever have... and I love!" Malgus, which I always felt was what Vader or Luke as a dark side Emperor would have being, a somewhat "benevolent tyrant.".

The second part seems more likely, since ganking is probably going to be the name of the game while leveling.

A legacy bank to pool credits into would be epic! But in all honesty "anything" at this point would be most welcome.

He's not saying the game will die, he's saying the PoT5 server is dying, which it is... For several months "Light" has being the default status for the server and since the status of a server as calculated on SWTOR is based on current total active population it means people have kept on leaving it faster then the server status can re-calculate the new total population.

I started my first post with "To me.." do I really need to insert "IMO" at the end of every sentence to remind people it's an opinion?

Correct it's my opinion, I defend it but I don't expect everyone or anyone to agree with it really. The thing is this thread is about "is it close to the end?" my feeling is yes, but I'm more then willing to give it a chance to see what's coming next though.

I've played all 8 story lines, he's the only common enemy still around, the final big bad not yet defeated, a force feared by both sides and the has being part of the story since the beginning. So yeah to me, ending him is ending the main SWTOR story line.