Massively single-player online?

Um, I'd gladly take more PVP pops with someone who has non-set 232 crafted gear or whatever over less frequent pops. And SM OPS can be done pretty much naked due to bolster.

No and since you're scaled down it really doesn't matter, you're OP at any level.

Actually, what would be a positive change is giving F2P/Pref unlimited access to Ops, Warzones, etc. and selling a GC pass if they want gear. That way it will make pops happen much more frequently / easier to get groups for ops and BW can still make money off of GC passes.

The mathematical proof would be (assuming loot table of 20, so you'd get some relics, earpieces and implants you don't want): 1st piece: 1 crate for average, 3+ crates for unlucky 5% (remember, some relics/earpieces/implants that aren't optimal) 2nd piece: 1 crate for average; 3+ crates for unlucky 5% 3rd piece: 1 crate for average, 4+ crates for unlucky 5% 4th piece: 1 crate for average, 4+ crates for unlucky 5% 5th piece: 1 crate for average, 5+ crates for unlucky 5% 6th piece: 2 crates for average, 5+ crates for unlucky 5% 7th piece: 2 crates for average, 6+ crates for unlucky 5% 8th piece: 2 crates for average, 7+ crates for unlucky 5% 9th piece: 2 crates for average, 9+ crates for unlucky 5% 10th piece: 3 crates for average, 11+ crates for unlucky 5% 11th piece: 4 crates for average, 14+ crates for unlucky 5% 12th piece: 5 crates for average, 19+ crates for unlucky 5% 13th piece: 7 crates for average, 29+ crates for unlucky 5% 14th piece: 14 crates for average, 59+ crates for unlucky 5% So for a totally average player, you'd have to open about 46 crates to get a full set of gear. For someone who is unlucky, you're potentially looking at well over a hundred crates. (Keep in mind that you can't simply add up the numbers in the unlucky 5% column, because that would mean you're in the unlucky 5% on every single piece -- the odds of that are astronomically small (0.05 ^ 14, basically). Basically, on each piece you have a 50% chance of doing better than average, and a 50% chance of doing worse than average, and you have to calculate each draw separately. The formula I'm using is 1 - (1 - ((15 - set piece number) / 20) ^ number of crates for percentile. So for example, for set piece number 14, the formula is: 1 - (1 - 1/20)^14 = 51.2%, meaning that the ~ average player needs to open 14 crates. 1 - (1 - 1/20)^59 = 95.2%, meaning that the unluckiest 4.8% of players will need to open a minimum of 59 crates to get the last set piece they need. The numbers get astronomically higher as you get unluckier. The unlucky 1%, for example, would need to open 90 crates just for the last set piece. For the average player, I don't think 46 hours (assuming 1 crate per hour) is bad at all. But I pity those of you who are unlucky. That's the problem with RNG... As you can see, it's actually not so bad until you're trying to get your last few set pieces. Then, most of the crates you're opening will contain duplicates of what you already have. The first few pieces will come quite quickly though.

Yeah... uh... me too.

Trying to keep things simple ;-) At least you can mix-and-match the set bonus between the different tiers.

Ok, let's assume you have 5/7 set pieces so you just need a 6th to complete the bonus. Let's assume a loot table of 20 items (relics, earpieces, implants, etc.) You would have a 2 in 20 chance of getting one of the two set pieces that you need to get the 6/7 bonus. To have a 95% chance of getting one of the two remaining set pieces that you need, you would still need to open ~29 crates. (0.9 ^ 29) = ~5% Also, keep in mind that some poor schmucks are going to be extra unlucky and it's going to take a lot more boxes. To bring it up to a 99.9% chance, you'd need to open 65 boxes. And, 0.01% of players (which is still quite a few when you're talking about tens of thousands) STILL won't get what they need. Can you imagine their rage after grinding for 65 boxes and not being able to complete their set bonus?

I'm slightly mollified by giving out crates based on role/discipline, but RNG is still a very annoying problem. When trying to get your last set piece, you still only have a 1/14 or a 7% chance of getting the piece you need. Even if you end up earning a crate every hour (and that's a big if since it doesn't seem set in stone and they admitted the rate of earning crates slows down as you progress), there's still a very real possibility that you could go through 10+ crates and not get the piece that you want/need. Basically, to get a 95% chance of getting the 1/14 set piece that you need to complete your set, you would need to open 41 crates. (1.00 - (1 / 14)) ^ 41 = ~5% This assumes there are only a total of 14 set pieces in the loot table. It may well be worse than that as there could be more (and probably are) than 2 relics or 2 implants, and more than a single earpiece in the loot table. If you assume there are 20 pieces in the loot table, you'd need to open FIFTY-NINE crates to have a 95% chance of getting the set piece that you need. (1 - (1 / 20)) ^ 59 = ~5% And that's not even a sure bet, it might take someone who's unlucky even more boxes. But even at the rate of one per hour (assuming that doesn't slow down), you're now potentially talking about 60 hours of grinding to get the single set piece that you need? Just give us tokens or let us pick what we want from a list FFS. _____ Also, as a sidenote, I have to question the logic that this system is being implemented because things are complicated and there are too many tokens and types of currencies blah blah blah. Oh, here's a new type of token/currency called dark and light tokens! ????

well "stuff" includes credits so if you're quitting and you have lots of credits, you can send them to me. I will put them to good use

The inability of preferred players to obtain BiS gear bothers me, sure, but I don't think it will be the end of the world. They will still be able to obtain non-set crafted gear of equivalent ratings. Sure, lack of set bonus will make them miss out on a few hundred DPS but not the end of the world. I recognize that they will have problems paying for gear on the GTN, all I can suggest is getting in with a good guild, trading in rare materials, and/or crafting their own stuff. Do I wish BW would reverse course on this (e.g. perhaps a lower limit of GC points or slower rate of GC points earned for Preferred players vs subscribers so they don't earn gear as fast but can still obtain it?). Yes. But I can live with it, even when I transition to preferred (which I will absolutely do if the RNG crates stay). The RNG crates though are a total deal breaker. BW, listen to us, listen to the outcry. Give us tokens. Give us a list of gear to choose from. Don't give us a system where some poor schmuck is going to get (or could get) 12 bracers in a row. Please, do not destroy this game with RNG gearing crates. PS - I like having my sage wear tank gear. Don't take that option away from me.

Unbound cartel market items, credits and mats? Uh yeah I'll take them gladly. Sure, think of me as your garbage can. I have toons on various servers to accommodate your disposal needs, just PM me your server and name and I'll reply with mine so I can haz ur stuff.

I'm confused. Does this mean I can't haz your stuff?

Or at least a galaxy far, far away from ours (e.g., reality). at 29:03 "RIGHT NOW, we're seeing a lot of players FLOOD BACK to the game after the announcement, and um so we certainly don't want to do anything about server merges before the expansion goes live. Our experience last year was that suddenly people came back to the game and were really excited about the game and ALL THE SERVERS WERE SO FULL, and if we had merged ANY OF THEM we would have had you guys in queues waiting to play the game..." Then at 29:45: "Again, we're seeing so many people come back to the game I think ALL THE SERVERS will start to feel really full..." Bioware isn't claiming some servers were full after KOTFE. Oh no. Instead, they claim that "all of them" were "so full." That includes Jung Ma, Bastion, Pot5, e.g., servers on which there is an indisputable population problem. Even the most diehard BW apologists (and I know there a quite a few on these forums) wouldn't claim that those servers have ever been "so full" at any point in the past 2 years. At this moment. --Bastion Pub Fleet: 6 people --Pot5 Pub Fleet: 4 people --Jung Ma Pub Fleet: 4 people Feels really full to me all right. So seriously, what is going on at BWA / EA management? If anything exemplifies how out of touch BW / EA are with the community, it's the make-believe that all of their servers are so full and overflowing and that golly gee if they do anything at all to ameliorate the situation we'll all have to sit in interminable queues.

So... can I haz ur stuff?