Your level: 65 Roughly Average Item Rating: 216-220 with set pieces Discipline: Mercenary / DPS Companion: HK Companion role: Healing Companion Influence level: Level 50 Which Mission or Star Fortress are you playing (Solo Mode? Heroic Mode?): H2 on all planets Your personal experience while playing this content: Many H2 missions are no longer solo-able at all. Particularly the Makeb H2 mission "Observer" is flat out impossible, I don't have even a remote chance of beating the Guardian Droid. The best I can do is get him to down to about 60% health before he kills my companion and me. Before the nerf I could take him. This isn't the only H2 that is too difficult or impossible to complete but it is my best example. After the nerf, it really doesn't matter which companion I have out or the level, the result is the same, death. I've tried companions at different levels and the difference is so minor as to not really matter. There are regular gold mobs on Makeb that can heal themselves almost as fast I can dps them down, really prolonging the fight and even then it's close. My companion seems to now need to spend most of the time self-healing rather than assisting me...and the companion is really only taking AOE damage since I'm getting most of the main hits/tanking.

So I have a BH-Merc, with 216 set gear plus a couple 220 pieces. I dropped a bunch of resources to get my HK up to level 50. Still total crap. I can't even solo the Makeb H2 mission Observer, I don't have even a remote chance of beating the guardian droid. Before the nerf I could take him. Roll back this companion nerf, until then, I'm done with this nonsense.

I totally concur with this.

They will still carry their weight? LMAO, not at all. This nerf that just made the game tedious and unnecessarily difficult. For those who want a challenge, they can go play hard and nightmare mode ops.

Totally agree. There was no need to nerf them. I was actually enjoying playing again and being able to solo through missions. Now, it's back to having to find a group for everything, no thanks.

Totally agree. There was no need to nerf them. I was actually enjoying playing again and being able to solo through missions. Now, it's back to having to find a group for everything, no thanks.

...but is this a companion related quest? It is required to complete another mission: Seek and Destroy.

A fix is needed for hook placement and the offset settings. The offsets need to range at minimum the full space of the hook. Example: A Large hook layout, if you place a Droid Engineer's Workbench, you can only slide it withing 25% of the actual edge of the large hook. What this results in is having a great looking item that always looks out of place because you can't slide it anywhere close to being up against a wall.

So I only give you one reason rather than writing a thesis on economics, then that must be the only reason? I’m sure people have already written various articles and theses on this topic. There are dozens of differences. The economics is totally different. A digital good has no real value. I can’t sell you digital drops for real world cash. My digital *bound* drops will also not appreciate in value over years and then be resold for real money. This simple fact introduces an entirely different scale of value. To try and say a pack of CCG cards $5 then a digital pack should cost the same is just ridiculous. I know companies are doing this, but that doesn’t make it right for the consumer. My sample size, while not great in quantity…I’ll give you that…does not matter if I can detect a trend. If I can detect a trend in fewer than 100 boxes, then the shuffle algorithm is skewing toward certain patterns. I have continued to open boxes and I can continue see the skewed trend in every set of 24 boxes. I absolutely can say that since this is not a tangible good that will appreciate and resell over the years that I can expect to get more for my money in a digital good. We as consumers should demand more value for what we are dropping into this real $ sink. LOL! I understand how it works and the math can be broken! What you are talking about is not simple math. There are rather long and complex shuffle algorithms used to produce these results and it is *nothing* like planned cut sheets of the strictly controlled CCG production, which as the production level are not random at all. Note the finite production is also opposite of the indefinite production possible by the digital goods copying this pattern, thus depreciating value over time rather than appreciating it. Game designers have been struggling for decades to produce flawless shuffle algorithms and if you can produce one that will never, no matter how complex, skew toward certain patterns, then you should be able to get a *really* well paid job with these companies. The more layers and items they add to the algorithm, the more room for skewed or biased results. This happens all the time in games and many game elements, not just reward boxes. If you scroll through dev notes on any game you will find refrences to adjust drop rates and mathematical outcomes…this is tweaking the algorithm to change the how biased the outcomes are or how they skew toward a series of results (usually within a sub-layer of the algorithm).

I would just be happy to see the various orange armor drops become trackable/collectible by legacy (similar to cartel sets).

...and I'm not doing anything you are ranting about. I gave clear indicators that I think their random/rarity generation may not be operating at 100% of what is intended. My suggestions are not unreasonable or insane. And your comparison to market card packs, while not far off the mark, is not completely the same thing. This is a digital product and with that comes limitations and restrictions that do not exist in real world goods, like CCG's. CCG's are also cut by sheet with a finite quantity of product. Digital packs such as this rely on code, which can produce different results. Feel free to disagree, that is your right, but I will continue to voice my opinion on the matter just as I would expect any other consumer of a product to do.

...and again and again and again....if you don't continuously make your voice heard then you can't expect change.

I have been a long-time supporter of the game and have invested a more than a few dollars but issues with the cartel crate system continues to frustrate me. I understand the model but this is something that should regularly be tweaked to keep players from feeling they are being abused by the system. I’m not talking about every little complaint but addressing broad issues that obviously reappear and are complained about regularly on the forums. Here are a few of my notes on current cartel crates and recommendations for improvement… Cartel Box Ultra Rare Drops: Drop chance on some items needs adjusting. After opening 120 crates of one type I would expect to get at least one of every type of item within that set. I can say from experience, that doesn't happen. 120 crates represents $165.56 of investment into the game. For that investment I would expect to get a pretty complete set, instead I saw only 1 ultra-rare drop (a grand emperor statue). Unacceptable. Cartel Crate Drop Randomness: The random drop generator for what a crate has seems to have a flaw in it. If you purchase a large number of boxes at once (say, one of the 24 packs), the items that drop tend to be the same few things over and over again from all 24 boxes. Open another set of 24 and you will get the same repeat times on that set of boxes. This is *not* due to the rarity; note I said this tends to happen (not always)/there is noticeable trend. With the exception of the ultra-rare drops, the other items will repeat across the various rarity chances. Example: a character opens 24 boxes and will generally see the same xp reward bonuses, a computer console, and the falcon sign drop repeatedly. The same character opens another purchase of 24 boxes and will get a different collection of xp reward bonuses, a statue, and a type of banner; those items will repeat for all 24 boxes. The trend here is that something is wrong with the generation of variance by rarity when you open a 24 pack of crates. Box Reward Temp Binding: At this point bringing up the 2-3 day temporary bind on items from lock boxes is just beating a dead horse since it is obvious by now that it won’t be changed. However, can we at least get it changed to Legacy temp bound? It’s bad enough waiting to market stuff or drop it in the guild bank, but having to wait to send a choice random drop to one of your characters who could use it, is just plain wrong. Cartel Reputation Grants: These are a pretty standard drop and take up part of your cartel crate rewards. Once you max out your reputation these become pretty much worthless and effectively deprive you of something usable that could have dropped in its place. They are bound and vendor for a pitiful amount of credits. I would recommend creating a cartel vendor that would buy them back for a reasonable amount of credits (for those who have max rep with that cartel faction).