My reply was to the comment which had been non-specific. I took it to mean, like, everyone. heh Certainly in the examples you gave, yeah, that would be of great benefit to such people, and could apply to other people with special needs as well. There could be very beneficial aspects to it. As long as it's voluntary and isn't hurting anyone else, certainly they're be no need for any concerns. I think a great deal of technological innovation really is about making things better, easier, and more efficient. Let's face it, the computer has come to permeate into so many aspects of life. It's hard to imagine what people did before computers. It's become part of our daily lives as is a source of help, entertainment, even helps us at work. I suspect some day it won't at all be uncommon for some people, maybe even a lot of people, to have some micro chips in their brains that can do all sorts of things. Maybe even to help with the health of people. A lot of possibilities to be sure.

What Char said. That can actually work. I had a few in game bans in the past. Not for hate speech though and I wasn't the initiator. In one instance it was because of something I said in response to someone's hate speech. Might not get them perma-banned right off the bat, but, if they keep on doing it and get temporary bans a few times, than it's possible to get a perma ban. If memory servers, 1st time is a warning, second time is 3 days, 3rd time is a week or two (I can't remember if it was 1 or 2, it was like 4 years ago). I don't know what happens after that, I never got more than those 3. But I do recall in one of the emails they sent me that a perma ban is something that is on the table if they think it's warranted. Thing is though, in this game, anyone who spends anytime on Fleet knows the impossibility of 'keeping things clean' overall. They may do something in the case of hate speech because it's such a sensitive and serious topic with a lot of public awareness, so if the evidence of the hate speech is there, they will probably take some action in such cases if reported. And death threats, if that's proven, they'll nail someone for that too.

While I can your point from the POV that you don't want to waste your time with people who might not be up for the task, it does limit peoples ability to break into doing that sort of content. From my own experience, I can remember being very apprehensive about getting into raiding. It was something I was very interested in doing, but, my lack of experience and knowledge made me think I'd just be a liability. Eventually I worked up the nerve and started doing SM Operations. If I had needed permission to join an SM group (this was way back in the day in 1.x) I probably wouldn't have tried it. Did I suck, yeah, I did, as will everyone when they start out. But in a short amount of time, I got the ropes and some people noticed me and asked me if I was interested in joining their progression group. I told them, while that was something I certainly aspired to, I didn't think I was good enough. And the person who asked me (Shout out to Si'in) he said, "I've played with you enough in these SM raids( by coincidence) to know where you are at, and I think your good enough to start learning about the harder content and practicing." That was all I needed to hear. And from there, I practiced like crazy, I dummy parsed like a mad man to get the rotation down and make it instinctive. And it all worked out in the end. I ended up being in 3 different HM/NiM Progression raiding groups and was big into raiding until sometime in 5.x. After the last group I was with ended, I got into PVP and I started to really like that. People need to be given a chance if we are to have a raiding community that can thrive and grow, we need new blood to enter into the scene, and we need to be a bit helpful to those that are new but are trying. By permission only, even for SM, it would be too elites. It would be about who you know and who owes you something. It would make things very hard for those trying to break into that sort of content. Besides, there really isn't any group-finder for Operations that is actually used to get players. The groups form first and only after it's full is the group-finder used. People really don't ask anything when the operation groups are being formed, you just say "DPS for (insert Operation name)", and than they invite you. Even flashpoints are important to that path, because that's really the first stepping stone for group content. You shouldn't just go straight to raiding. It should start in Flashpoints, just for the group element, getting a feel for very minor and forgiving mechanics. To learn about communicating with fellow team members, making strategies, and trying different things. Just to get your feet wet. I know it can be annoying sometimes when people won't listen, or want to do their own thing, not doing their jobs, are toxic, but that just sort of comes with the territory, I think. We shouldn't let the bad apples spoil the barrel. If someones a problem and they aren't willing to work with the group, than you can always get rid of them than. We should also remember that other players are paying the same subscription as we are and so they are entitled to do have the opportunities to try all what the game has to offer. Again, of they're a problem, you just don't play with them again. Can always place them on ignore if necessary. Just something to consider.

Please quote me where I backpedaled and said that everyone who likes the multi-player aspect of MMOs wants a mega server. I dare you to provide that quote from me. If you cannot, which, you definitely cannot, you prove you're a liar. Your point is rubbish and totally unsustainable, you can back it up with absolutely nothing. You have zero evidence.

I disagree. You said all people who enjoy multi-player content in MMOs want a mega server. That is objectively false. Multi-player content is all that enjoy and I don't want a mega server and several other people said they didn't want it either. Unless you can read minds, you don't get to speak for everyone else.

I admitted no such thing. I do not, nor have I ever played on SS. I play on Star Forge. My server's GTN isn't low. I see it everyday. It is more than adequately stocked. I made absolutely no claims to the status of anything on any other server other than SF. I specifically stated that I don't have a clue on the status of SS. My point was, that even though I don't have a clue what the state of things on SS is, that doesn't automatically or necessarily mean that what you are saying is definitely correct/true, out of hand. What I do have, however, is several contradictory statements on the state of SS from people who also play on SS. There are several people in this string, and other strings that have existed on this topic in the past, that also play on SS and state that it's not dead and doesn't need a merger. Both claims made about SS can't possibly both be true. And I cannot see the logic behind someone playing on SS saying it isn't dead if it is, and doesn't need a server merger if it does. They also have to play on that 'dead server' and would also be effected by all the downsides that come with playing on a dead server. I would say, based on that logic, I am more predisposed to believe the people saying it isn't dead and doesn't need a merger because most people don't seek to perpetuate their own miseries (so to speak). Could they be lying/wrong and it's you that is being truthful/correct, well, that is within the realm of possibility. Lying and being wrong can happen. I agree. A server merger with SS wouldn't be to SF's benefit. If SS is in fact dead, than a merger would be solely for their benefit. Would it be better for SS? Yes. - Would it be better for SF? No. Would it be better for the overall health of the game? I don't believe so. One sever for all of North America = sinking ship. And most people don't book passage on ships that are sinking. It really wouldn't matter whether SS needed it or not, because even if SS did need it, IMO the ramifications from a such a merger would be the same either way. Signing the death warrant of the game. BW/SS know that. If they have to do it, than they'll do it. But at that point, the writing's on the wall. It'd just be a temporary reprieve for the people on SS before the end. I never said anything of the kind. I never said SS is fine, and I never said I have issues finding group content out of prime time hours on SF. Again, I have no idea what goes on on SS. I only know what I see people saying about the state of SS on the forums and what I see is several people not agreeing with your appraisal of the situation on SS. If SS is dead and there is very little group and things are bad over there, they should do it. If it isn't dead and there is adequate group content availability than they shouldn't do it. I don't need to check anything, I see it every day on Star Forge. The population, quece times, availability of group content and GTN stocks are all self evident to anyone playing on SF. They are all more than adequate.

It doesn't need any help on any category. The GTN is fully stocked, no issues there. The quece times are already very good. How many instances could we need, if we already have 3 instances, that aren't always full, than some more people isn't necessarily gonna lead to more instances. Also, I'd be interested in what you based your calculations on that lead you to the 60%/30% increases in the areas you listed. Lastly, if SS is as dead as you guys are saying it is, than I don't imagine adding that small amount of players to SF would have much of a noticeable change. Changes that are not needed at any rate. For me personally, the names thing is a total non-issue for me. I only play one Character and I doubt severely someone on SS (or any other server for that matter!) is also using the name Grim'alkun. All I will say to this is that, names are extremely important to many players in the game, as you have seen in these discussions like we're having here, the name thing keeps on popping up as a major concern for many players due to server mergers, and in many cases that is based on their personal experience from the last time they merged servers. Whether it is more important or not, that is a bit subjective, it really depends on who you ask. If I had to change my character's name after playing him in this game exclusively for over 10 years, I would be pissed as hell. This is however easily addressed to the concerns of players on SF by making it if a server merge does take place based on SS need for it, than all name conflicts should go in the favor of people on SF, and it should be the people who needed the merge who would have to change their names. - As you yourself said, in your opinion the name thing isn't more important, if that's so than I'm sure you would agree with me this is how it should be handled in the event of SS needing to be merged with SF. That's my only feeling on the name's issue as it isn't a small thing and I can understand how players on SF would be against such changes. That very well may be the case, so all we need to do here is to first establish whether or not SS is in fact a dead server with little group content. I can't say either way, I'm not over there. I don't have a clue. What I do have, however, is some very contradictory statements being said on the status of SS. There are several people in this string who have stated from their own personal experience playing on SS currently that SS is neither dead, nor has little group content. Furthermore, without accurate figures regarding the true active player populations on the servers, all of this is just speculative. The only people I'm aware of with the exact figures is BW/BS. If SS is dead with little group content than BW/BS will take the necessary steps out of that necessity. If they don't merge the severs, than the likelihood is that SS isn't as dead as some people are claiming.

Obviously you already know my stance on this, so I'm not gonna rehash that. I'd just like to point out a couple of things here. I agree with your above statement totally. It's not about improving the game for players on SF. Everyone knows that they don't need any help. What I would like to point out here is that while it wouldn't improve anything for SF players, it would effect them negatively. They only lose from it. Assuming that SS is in fact a "dead server", just for the sake of argument - Based on the notion that it would just be about helping players from SS and does nothing for SF, would you not agree than that in cases of name conflicts, legacy name conflicts and guild name conflicts, it should automatically go in the favor of players from SF. That it should be the people from SS who have to change their names wherein there is a name conflict with people from SF? Star Forge already goes down an inordinate amount of the time, much more than the other servers, adding population to that would only make that worse and very well might cause it to happen more often. DM, TH, and LV are the redundant severs for each other. SS and SF are the servers for the North American Continent. DM, TH, and LV are the servers for the European continent. Boarders between countries are imaginary lines. Europe has multiple countries in it and so does North America. So for example, people in California or Canada connecting to SS or SF are a lot further from the server base than people in Eastern France are from West Germany in the boarder areas. There is some truth to this. I only play on one server so when Star Forge goes down for the umpteenth time, the fact that SS is still up doesn't do anything for me. However, we also have to consider the countless players that do play on multiple servers. They count too. From a business POV, which do you think is better for a business, not providing a service to 40% of your customers that was paid for, or all of your customers? (speaking in terms of North America.) I think that's more or less common sense. I'm sure customer satisfaction is something that they give some consideration to. I don't imagine they think some of the customers in one area are more important than customers in another area in terms of customer satisfaction. I'm of the notion that nothing says a game is dead more than not having enough customers in all of North America to have need for more than one server. Now if SS is dead ,well than, yeah, I guess some people who only play on SS might get the impression the game is dead. So that would be a valid concern. But, people playing on Star Forge wouldn't get that impression. If SS is in fact as dead as you say it is (I'm not there, I have no way to confirm one way or the other) , than following that logic that than means not many people play on SS, ergo, those people would have a very limited impact on the games notoriety of being dead. I wouldn't worry too to much about it dude, if SS is really that bad, they're simply not going to have a choice, they will have to merge the servers. Whether some of us like it or not.

There is no argument on this. Not everyone who's into mutli-player aspects of MMOS wants megaservers. You're objectively wrong.

Well, I do agree there, I don't think that AI voice acting is at a stage that it can mimic specific individuals voices as to be unnoticeable. To this second point regarding ethical concerns, respectfully I don't quite share your opinion that. You're certainly entitled to it and I don't find fault with any of it. For me, I guess, it's more about the legality of it. Would it go against the terms of their contracts and would BW/BS honor their contracts with them. If there was nothing in their contracts that stated that they couldn't/wouldn't consider alternatives to voicing the parts the VAs originally voiced for the characters and what have you, I couldn't find fault with BW/BS if they did do that. Now, if there was something in their contracts that stated they wouldn't ever allow an alternate way of voicing said characters and that wasn't honored, than I would certainly find fault with them for that and find that unethical. Even still, I certainly can understand the reasons behind your thoughts on it. My thoughts on this is that if they did go with a text based format for the future, I kinda see that not much differently than if they used an AI to replace them because even if they went the text based route than the VAs still wouldn't be getting paid which is, I believe, part of the reasoning why some people find the notion unethical, because it would be effecting the VAs livelihood. You make a very good point here. And yeah, you're right, a change in the sound of the voices of the characters we've been playing, in many cases for many, many years, would be hard to swallow for sure. Yeah, this one is a bit of a slippery slope in the case of VA's who have unfortunately passed away. There would be need to be some serious consideration given to how that should be handled.

Yeah, well that may be their aim, but if they come and try and do that to me, they're aim better be a lot better than mine.

That's total BS. There's no good reason people in different parts of the world should have to pay more of less for the same exact service as other people. That's terribly unfair.

We all have our little nitche's, the things that we enjoy and the goals we set. That's why I feel it's important for them to have consideration for all aspects of the game, because what matters to players isn't always the same, but for players, what matters to them is often the determining factor as to whether they continue to stick around and play the game. Sorry they spoiled that for you. =( I'm by no means a completionist. I'm not really all that big on achievements in general, but in the aspects of the game that are important to me, end game, they sometimes do because sometimes they come with titles that demonstrait that you were able to beat a certain boss at a certain level of difficulty and even at times how fast you were able to do it (a.k.a. speed runs). Stuff like that can matter to a raider. Also the same for PVP, they're are some achievements that come with titles that let people know what you were able to accomplish. So some ranked titles and a title called Manhunter (You get that when you've killed 50,000 other players in PVP), they were things I wanted. But that's pretty much the extent of my interest in achievements. But for others there are other things that might matter to other players, and if they do, I can see why the achievements related to those other things might be very fulfilling for them to get.

Well, what are your thoughts on the fact that if you are a Jedi in the Republic (faction) and using the combat style of a Lightning Sorc (so you would be using Force Lightning)? Or are you saying that faction shouldn't effect the style combat in the case of just non-force users, which I could totally see and agree with? Just curious.

Gotcha. I can see that And you're right, it really is nice when you see that achievement pop up, especially when it was a hidden achievement. There's also a lot of achievement hounds out here, and if that's your thing, and they start to dry up over an extended amount of time playing on a server, sure, going to another server to get your 'rush' makes perfect sense. Thanks for the reply, it was always something I was a bit curious about. I've always felt nothing kills the enjoyment of game more than not having much to work towards or fulfill. Carrots hanging from the end of sticks is kinda the life's blood of these kinds of games. That is very nice. Free CC's is always something nice to be able to work towards. Right up there with gear.

Ohh, that's right! I didn't even think of the datacrons! The datacrons were a pain in the rear the one time, I'd hate to have to do that all over again! Just out of curiosity, what is the draw for playing on another server? I mean, if you like the starting over part because it kinda let's you relive the memories of the first time around, I could maybe see that. But given some of the downsides to it, why do people play on different servers if they come with those sorts of...limitations, not sure if that's the right word, but hopefully you get my meaning. Why not just make new characters on one server and be able to have access to everything thru the legacy?

That's to bad. I thought that was the whole point of Legacies. So when items say 'bound to legacy', that's not entirely true than. You have to do the whole gearing process from scratch on each server, instead of being able to share armoring, mods, enhancements, hilts, barrels. You need to do Zeek and Hyde on each server. You have to craft and sell on each server to make credits, and not have any nest egg to help you get started. Everything is from scratch. Can't use crafting resources you've collected and got from gathering missions and pool them like you can on one server across the servers. Your achievements only show the ones you earned on any one given server. Can't use titles you earned from the other servers. You have to redo strongholds and can't use the ones you made on another server. You have to redo all the class stories all over again if you want your characters on that server to have all the class buffs. Doesn't seem very fair to me. People put a lot of time and effort into some of these things over the course of years sometimes.

Yeah, that's a non-issue. Even in the case of lets say Lucas's The Clone Wars series. They took Bo-Katan from that series, put her in the Mandalorian, and the voice actress who played her in the series wasn't the same actress that plays her in the Mandalorian, and obviously in the Mandalorian the voice doesn't sound the same. But we can also look at that in reverse. Another example we can use from The Clone Wars series is Darth Maul. Ray Parks played Darth Maul in the movies. When Lucas brought Darth Maul back in his Clone Wars series, he didn't have Ray Parks do the voice. The voice was done by Sam Witwer, who has done a ton of voice acting. He also did the voice for the character of The Son from the Mortis Arc in that series, and after the voice actor of the Emperor in the series died, he also took over the Emperor's voice in the series after his passing. - He also did the voice of Star Killer in the Force Unleashed series and he did the voice of the Emperor for that series too, that's why when the voice actor from TCWS died, he was the natural choice to take over. So we can see that the actors that play that on screen and voice actors from the past that are no longer being used for whatever reason, don't need to have them replicated necessarily artificially reproduced. They can just get other people to voice those characters. I'm not sure about this, but when they say "using the likeness thereof" I know that applies to a visual representation of the character from a live action production (so like Mark Hamill's likeness as Luke on a cup at Burger King for example), yeah, they'll get a small royalty for that, but I'm not sure how much that applies to a voice. Actors/Voice actors, they move on, they become unavailable, they retire, they pass away, but the characters they played were never their intellectual property. They have no claim to them. They were already copyrighted by the owners/creators of the characters before they even played them. They need to avail to themselves alternatives for the future. You can't retire a fictional character, that makes them money, and is a character people want to continue see in new media because the original people are no longer an option for whatever reason. Certainly, authentic is what fans ideally want. But, like lets take Darth Vader as an example. I wanna see him in new media in the future. And if they have to get someone else to play him or voice him, so be it. Hayden Christianson has earned the right to be in that suit. I don't feel that that somehow insults the memory of David Prowse. (And I'm not suggesting that you feel that way. I'm just saying.) Far as the game is concerned, if they can't afford to pay the voice actors anymore, I'd rather have some other alternative, such as AI or some new voice actor do the role rather than have the game become text based or have to end. I get some people have moral issues with that, but (with respect) I'd be interested in hearing what they feel would be acceptable alternatives if they simply can't afford to pay those voice actors.

I only play one character on one server so I'm not sure about how that works, but, are you saying that you can have multiple characters who are part of the same legacy, have the same legacy name, on the same account and just because they may be on a different server you are unable to send or share anything between them? No mail, no nothing? If that is indeed the case, which it seems to be if I'm understanding correctly, than yeah, that's kinda lousy. You can send stuff to another character from the same account and legacy cross faction, I do that with my brother who plays pubside and we share the same account and he's part of the same legacy. Normally you can't do that if its to someone else cross faction. I don't see why they shouldn't allow characters from the same legacy to share between them just because it's a different server, unless there are technical reasons for it that may be problematic that I'm not aware of. Baring that, they should allow characters from the same legacy to share between each other, even across servers. I always thought that was kind of the point of legacies. I also thought that was what legacy banks were for. Otherwise would people need a bank if you could just mail things to other characters on the same legacy anyways.

I know pal, the comment wasn't directed at you or your suggestion. I think what your saying would be a great idea and I hope they do it. That way, anyone who is unhappy over there, for whatever reason, can make a change that they feel will improve their game play and not have to pay an arm and a leg for it. I get it, there are a ton of players who have lots and lots of alts, and they care about them and don't want to lose them and all the time, effort, credits and CC points they may have put into them.

You don't need to be concerned about that pal, as another poster pointed out, they will be suspicious about it, and that is why they will prompt you to use a security code password which they will send to the email attached to the account to make sure it is the same owner of the account using it at a different location from different hardware. It's the same thing that happens when you install SWTOR on a new computer using the same account, even at the same location. This just happened to me recently when I got my new Alienware PC, I got prompted to enter the security code to confirm it was the same owner of the account. As long as you can prove ownership of the account, you won't have any issues at all.

Unless I'm misunderstanding you (which If I am, my apologies): * Combat style, nor class, have anything to do with alignment (Dark Side/Light Side), they should in the case of combat styles for Force users, but they don't. Lightning Sorcs can be lightsided even though they are constantly throwing around Force Lightning which is an inherently Dark Sided force ability. It's using the Force for attack. A Jedi Knight origin story player can take Sith combat styles, be using the Force for attack, using Force lighting and Force Choke, stealing the life essence from others and the Jedi Order is fine with it and they not at all tainted by the Dark Side at all, which is silly. Players who level characters choose what alignment they are by their choices, irrespective of class or combat style. * In the case of Character boost tokens at character creation, wherein the player isn't playing all the story line's and thus is not able to make any choices, that is an exception and is merely a game mechanic.

Point being, genius, not "Every person that enjoys the MULTIPLAYER aspect of any MMO wants megaservers." Doesn't matter the reasons, it's an objectively false statement. Tons of people who enjoy Multiplayer aspects of MMOs DON'T want Megaservers.

Everyone's entitled to their opinions, and there are no 'right' or 'wrong' opinions, there's just opinions. But that's part of the issue I think some people are having with the OP's post. We all have opinions, but we don't all have the same opinions and we should be careful about making blanket statements and speaking for others. I'm by no means knocking the OP's post or finding fault with their expression of how they feel. Clearly the OP's intentions are good and borne out of concern for the game, which I think from all the posts on the forums we often see. I feel it's also important to recognize, and I am piggy backing off some of the other posters here, not everyone enjoys the same content or finds it important to their experience, and one of the areas I disagreed with was in the stating that end game content is the life blood of MMO's. Now, just for the record, I am solely an end game content player, and that's the content I enjoy the most and is pretty much all I do and so it is important to me. But, I don't think it's fair to say that the end game content in this game is the life blood of the game. I'm not gonna speak for any other mmo, just this one. While it is important to me and I'm sure many other players, and I would certainly like to see it get some more attention for sure (New OPs, new WZ maps, etc.), the truth is, and I say this based on things we all see and experience, the majority of players on this game, are not end game content players. The majority is filled with casual players, people who enjoy the stories, people who like to play many different characters and try different variations on the stories (Dark Side, Light Side, Loyalists, saboteurs, etc.) and people who prefer to play solo. - And in this, I'm speaking against my own interests. We can't treat the game as if "our game" is the same as everyone else's. It isn't. We all see things differently, have different likes and dislikes, and we want different things. We have different opinions. We have different complaints about the game. While I very much enjoyed the vanilla story line, as some of you who have read some of my posts know, I'm not a very big fan of the way the game presents "Star Wars". So when they OP said "SWTOR has always held a special place in our hearts, capturing the essence of the Star Wars universe and delivering a captivating MMO experience.", That's something I disagreed with. Beyond the vanilla story lines, I think they've done a bad job at capturing the Star Wars universe as it breaks with Lucas's vision of Star Wars. But, that's just my opinion. And that's why I'm mostly just an end game content player and don't play all the story lines and repeat them. But, Not everyone feels that way, not everyone cares about that, not everyone shares my view on that. That's why I'm not in favor of focusing too much only end game, because as we all may care about the game's well being, if we want it to succeed or stand a chance at getting better, we can't always find fault with what the devs focus on and don't focus on. Every aspect of the game needs consideration. When they focus on story, well, than it's the story player's turn, when they focus on end game and not story, than it's the end gamers turn. We shouldn't always base our overall approval based solely on what we like and what we want. There are many reasons why the game has lost players over the years, and those reasons were based on the peoples opinions. Steam can only give a representation of the population that connects thru steam, but there are many players, especially those who have been playing the game a long time, like myself, who don't connect through steam. While the population has undoubtedly grown smaller and smaller over the years, we as players simply don't know what the correct figures are and a lot of it is just speculative. The OP was sharing their opinions on things, all of which they are entitled to wherein they don't speak for others. But the OP's intentions were certainly good and I think their heart was in the right place. And for showing care for the well being of the game looking into the future, the OP has my thanks.

It costs about 3-4 million credits to raise a companions influence from 1-50, buying purple level companion gifts from the GtN. 3-4 million credits is nothing. That's like pocket change. For example I craft and sell War Supplies, not hard to make or to get resources for, and I can sell a 1 War Supplies for like 3-5 million. I always sell the cheapest too, most people charge more. Maybe your new to the game and are not familiar with the current economy, but as it is, a few million credits is nothing. If you are new, you just need to learn how to make creds either by crafting or selling decos or selling crafting materials in mass that are fairly easy to get. There's lots of different crafting paths too, so you have some choice in what sorts of things you can craft and sell. Naturally, if your not interested in making credits for whatever reason, well than you wont be able to afford things. It takes a little bit effort, but it isn't hard to make lots of credits. Just something to consider.