Well, just another pointless critics vs. white knight trash in this thread. So let's hope a different point of view on this matter helps to stir the thread in a different direction. IMO, SWTOR has some serious problems and more than a few already existed in 4.0: Story: Yes, the game started with 8 different class stories, but it doesn't mean it focused mainly on single player content. IMO, the game was simply 'released', but it wasn't 'finished'. IMO, BioWare was hoping that players would be busy long enough for them to come up with the missing parts. It's imo even recognizable that BioWare started with the imperial & sith stories. The republic stories often felt a bit rushed: Less charming, blunt laughes & gimmicks and bigger story 'gaps'. So whenI reached Corellia, I was more relieved that the story is over than hoping for another episode. And most players I've talked to felt the same. Furthermore, let's take the initial state for granted and let's just focus at the patches BioWare released thereafter. There isn't an clear focus on the story and they actually never got close to the initial stories. IMO, it's more like: "You've got the boy/girl, married him/her. That's the end of the story!" KotFE changed thist... An improved the presentation of the story and a different type of storytelling (with cutscenes showing your archenemies). To me, it seems like there was a new development team and the new team focused - once again - primarily on the story.... history repeats itself IMO, it was a good step snd most of the characters felt 'lively', but the overall story arc was terrible and sometimes even childish. IMO, it was also a too drastical change to relase it in 'junks'. If you want players to accept the new stuff and forget about the past, you must give them something to immerse into and get addicted to. I would even go that far to state that it was contraproductive that the level sync revived a lot of the 'old' content the same time. So the new 'a chapter a month' kind of business model wasn't the luckiest decision to say the least. I mention all this because I believe this is the reason why so many players are so desperate about new group content (and 'group content' means a true 8-man challenge). Other game content: If you ask me, SWTOR never really managed to implement a good concept for their end game content. And unlike most threads seem to imply, it's not just about solo-mode vs. operations vs. PvP. IMO, these are over-simplifications and placeholder discussions. Let's see, we have: Story-driven solo content Story-driven team content Farmable solo content Farmable team content Farmable mass content callange/progress based solo content callange/ progess based team content callange/ progess based mass content organization / micromanagement trading, collecting, decorating player-vs-player Not only does BioWare not provide enough new content of each type, they also mix things up too much and the existing options aren't that great either, so recycling them isn't always benefitial. F.e., flashpoints can either be considered story-driven or farmable. And depending on the players' point of view, it might result in the known "SPAAACEBAAR" or "SKIP!!!" issue. Likewise, operations can also be considered as either farmable or challenge-based. And it even gets worse if you take into account that there are different difficulty levels and both 8-player and 16-player variants. Only in rare cases, a player is equally interested in every aspect. (F.e., I'm less interested in PvP, mass content, in GTN trades, in decorating my houses or dressing up my characters). But with BioWare's decision to introduce the Galactic Command, the 'farmable' aspect seems to get overly prevailing and IMO, that's the reason why the GC isn't really beloved and causing this huge indignation. And although players might be just deluded, most of them seem to give in. When fighting golden mobs was the most rewarding method, most players abused this. When farming platin mobs in Karagga's Palace was effective, players did that. Later, ranked PvP turned out to be the bestway, so everyone did that. And with the latest patch, players are rushing through a specific, incredibly short Uprising. So IMO, the most problematic thing is that it's always just a single, specific 'hyped' aspect and the constant fear of players to end up inferior. But if BioWare would have introduced a harsh weekly cap right away, who would have cared whether it takes 2 or 3 hours to reach it depending on what type of content you prefer? And that's the point BioWare won't fix with the upcoming patch on January either. Sure, players might get an easier access to the gear they want, but in order to get it, players will still be forced or at least intrigued to repeat the same simple content over and over again.... and it's highly questionable whether it will lower the grinding pace. Sure, an easier access to the right gear might solve some of the issues. On contrast however, the idea is still full of potential mishaps & failures. How many components are needed to get a specific token? - There are 14 different gear slots and at least 3 different ranks of gear! Does a player really get the best (golden) version of an item? Does a tier3 token require more components than a tier1 item? Won't it be predictable whether players end up farming an easy operation for the random drops or the seemingly more challenging sure drop? And if the lower GC ranks are cheaper and faster to get, won't it encourage player to level several low-ranked characters to speed up the gathering of components? And how to balance operations and PvP option in the first place? The former has a weekly limit, is depandant on lucky rolls and whether the teammates have it already, whereas the latter is farmable, but dependant on player constellation and enqueuing issues? And although most of the operations are pretty easy, some of them are pretty hard. Some bosses have a badly scaled enrage counter, whereas others have a mechanics that aren't character- but player-related. TfB might be challenging for those who aren't aber to decipher their name and the proper color on the red text line fast enough. ToS-Revan demands a player to adjust his view angle (and to use an external program to set up timers). And the Ravagers require you to first ignore the SWTOR-internal auto-targeting mechanism and later to quickly recognize AoE patterns (probably manipulating the max. zoom settings). Gear: IMO, the true discussion was never about who gets access to which gear and how long does it take. All these issues could have been solved seperately and easily. F.e. BioWare could have removed set bonuses alltogether. Or they might have transformed them into utilities that get available depending on your current GC rank. Alternatively, BioWare could have introduced a third gear set specifically for solo mode players (f.e. with companion-boosting and influence-increasing set bonuses, lowering the cooldown of Heroic Moment f.e.) What upsets most players is the fact that the obtaining the gear isn't rewarding (anymore). And in that regard, they don't really differenciate the types of players. The downside of the GC creates is that they produce an immediate reaction. Whenever you open a box, you'll instantly know whether the things you did were worth it or not... So even if BioWare introduces gear components as a replacement for commendation crystals, the negative touch of the Galactic Command system won't disappear. I guess, even more players will question themself why operation bosses don't drop any components directly (or any unassembled components just like in PvP). Why should a player have to kill a boss for CXPs, would then have to loot the boss for the the CXP boxes, would heve consume them to achieve the next rank, just to open a command crate that will reward them with necessary components.

Well, well... a good example of how to ruin a thread. Just because someone said "no" the first time, it doesn't mean that person can't change it's mind later on. BioWare introduced thissemi-f2p ('demo') business model several years ago and many things have happened that could made them change their mind. F.e. a GC system that is limited to subscribers (BioWare also removed the weekly passes); Or the fact that a higher the class level might cause higher selling selling prices and higher repair costs (a GC crate item f.e. can be worth 50k+); Or that the fact that the inflation changed the value of credits. Furthermore, the proposal can be combined with other ideas as well. F.e. should BioWare introduce GC components, they won't just introduce gear vendors, but probably all kinds of vendors. These components might therefore become a kind of 'currency' on it's own. Anything that is currently available for credits (or cartel coins) only, could also be obtainable via GC components (housings, decorations, personal character advantages, etc.). And players might ask for more convenient ways to store these components as well. All in all, I don't see any good argument not to add an additional 'slot' in the legacy storage that allows players to store credits (like they could hoard items worth the same amount). And similar to crafting materials, the GTN and vendors might be able retrieve the requested amount of credits from there as well, if needed. And if really needed, they could limit this option to subsribers only.

This isn't true. It's a simplification commonly used as a storytelling method to create tension, character divercity, etc.. So the question is more about how to introduce 'neutrality' in SWTOR.. and IMO, it wouldn't be easy. First of all, there are (at least) two major forms of 'neutrality'. The 'denial of choice / participation / believe' and the way to 'embrace everything equally'. In regard of the SWTOR DS/LS point system, it's the difference between having no points at all or an equally amount of points. The next question would then be, whether a certain alignment should give you special advantages or disadvantages. Right now, SWTOR is pretty 'pragmatic' in this regard (to avoid the word 'lame'). Your decisions have a minor immediate impact, but no long-term effect. The gameplay and the reactions of the NPCs doesn't change much in response. F.e. players don't become Sith just because they turn 'evil'. SWTOR even weakened this distinctive feature down to a flavor aspect within a unified storyline. The remaining DvL system feels more like a half-hearted compensation. My biggest concern is that the introduction of a thrid 'fraction' or 'alignment' would cause a tremendous amount of work without creating much of a benefit. The existing story won't change a bit.

If you have no current target and you activate a skill, it will automatically select a target. And if you haven't disabled this option, the next target is automatically selected as soon as the last one dies. You can also manually select a target by move your mouse cursor over the target and click it (almost identical to the hovering option that was proposed). In addition, double clicking on an AoE skill will automatically center it on your current target. So I don't see how the proposal would simplify anything. And due to the fact that the mouse is commonly used to position the camera angle as well, it would be awful to be forced to aim using the mouse cursor.

To some extend, it's already possible. The game uses the skill you've placed in the first slot of your first skillbar (IIRC), but you can't simply hold the key down. In addition, there's an ability queue and you can alter the configuration in your settings menu. Extending this feature - as you've suggested - is something I would liked to see as well... especially for skills that must be channeled (see Torchlight II). Right now, the channeled AoE abilities have an unnecessary max. duration that forces player to recast it. I would have loved it, if these skills would have continued to work for as long as I hold the key down. A perfect example is the (now removed) Flamethrower. If it would have had no cooldown (let's assume Explosive Surge would have had one instead), players could have spammed it for as long as they aren't over-heated. And should the devs ever consider to eliminate the cooldown of Full Auto (increasing the CD of Charged Bolts instead), it would be another perfect candidate for this feature. Last but not least, a Force Barrier (Sage) could simply drain force points continuously (per sec). And this would be a limititation for both the max. duration and the effectiveness of this skill. The same would be cool for Saber Reflect and it's variants... these skills shouldn't be 'background' abilities, but channeled active skills instead.

So why do you play a class-based RPG in the first place. It would be the same stating "I want to play a Wizard with a sword + shield"... the most likely answer would be: "Then don't play a Wizard". And if you don't want to be limited to the toolset of a single class... don't play a class-based game. BioWare redesigned their class & role concept, eliminating the base classes that 'forced' them to give certain skills to both adv. classes.

They removed it because it made it more difficult for new players to decide whether to use it or not. And the Commando wasn't the worst class in that regard, it was the Sage. This 'issue' got more severe now that there are no base classes anymore and the insta-lvl65 packets. New players might now rightfully assume that every skill they get has it's uses.

BioWare made countless of illogical skills, names and decisions since the beginning. The latest changes in 5.0 are more about how to define a role in a role-based MMO. They try to design a heavily armored close-quarter combatant (no force user). BTW: Their focus on roles also resulted in the removal of Phase Walk for Assassins. So IMO, BioWare made the initial 'mistake' to give Vanguards a rifle and not some sort of shotgun or wrist-cannon (see Handsome Jack). But that's something they can't simply change with a patch. It's a common mistake here on this forum that players often think in two only categories: melee or ranged. But in fact. there have been three different range categories all along: melee (4m), mid-range (10m) & high-range (30m+). In other words, PTs were never a melee class and BioWare haven't changed them into one. What BioWare did was to reduce the high-range abilities to mid-range abilities in order to emphasize the differences towards Commandos // Mercenaries and to support the player decision to favor a charge attack (Jet Charge), a taunt (Neural Dart), a Grapple, a Carbonize and a few other things over high-range attacks. So if you ask PTs to have a decent DPS at 30m range, you're actually requesting an all-around class and therefore a bypass to the typical over-stereotyping in RPGs. (f.e. why aren't Wizards allowed to wear heavy armor). And due to the fact that every other class could ask for similar or unique bypasses as well, the RPG game will end without distinct class roles.

Side note: The sugggested patch made me wonder how the irrelevant minority of operation lovers could beat the 'silent majority' of players that prefer solo-mode. The suggestions made are crappy, but It's not just BioWare to blame! With 4.0, BioWare simplified the commendation system. Only three different types of crystals remained... and it was good. However, the fix prevented them from introducing new gear for the old crystals. They could have introduced new 'colors' of crystals of course, but that would have resulted in the exact same thing the 4.0 change tried to overcome => The only logical step was to simplify the game even more and reduce it down to one type of crystal or no crystals at all. Furthermore, the level-sync introduced with patch 4.0 made all the operations viable again... and it was good. But it also resulted in players getting end game (BiS) gear by running the easiest ones. Even worse, due to a unplanned 'mishap' that allowed players to send otherwise bound items to their alts by placing the mods into legacy gear, BioWare introduced a grinding of unaspiring content with 4.0 already. Some players even had several characters of the same adv. class, just to bypass the weekly restrictions hy passing the gear to their clones. So IMO, you could state that the players who abused this back then have caused the system we have now. But more on the level-sync: Introducing it was a stroke of genius. It increased the amount of viable content massively without the necessity to developing new one. With their decision to release new chapters only every now and then, it kind of saved SWTOR. But I also remember the sheer mass of complains back then: "I want to stay overpowered!" or "#noLevelSync". In the end, a heavily tamed down version was released. But surprisingly, players who first stated that the want to stay overpowered, started to complain about the 'simple & mindless nature' of the game. And by the time BioWare finally introduced a workaround by nerfing the companions, players once again changed their mind and started to complain again....they already got used to run H2s SOLO and to receive millions of credits this way. These H2s then resulted in players maxing the otherwise useless KOTFE fractions as well as their companions! Speaking of companions: Some players still haven't realized that BioWare simply replaced the option to equip an companion with a leveling system. And funnily, it was a preview to the current situation: Players have now become the companions that BioWare feeds with 'instant CXP' drops that you could call 'companion gifts'. And in regard of the fractions: That was also a preview for the galactic command system. BioWare first attempted to replace the 4x20 = 80 levels of the fractions witn a single level-100 galactic command system. They've just increased the cap later on. Strangely, players didn't mind the useless KOTFE fractions, but can't handle the useless GC! But for players that didn't run any operations, nothing has changed! Because what BioWare actually did with 5.0 was to convert the credits & fraction tokens you've got as a H2 reward into GC crate content. And most of the money players got was used for decorations, cosmetic gear and crafting materials (like dark matter catalysts). Could it be that players have already maxed out their housings and that this kind of system isn't as appealing as it was before? So if you ask me, the galactic command system is just the logical continuation of what they've started and a consequence to what players abused. Making the GC system legacy wide won't access the true problem of the game. It would just give players some of the 'abusal' back thay got used to. And due to the fact that BioWare plans to introduce separate gear components from operations and PvP, I wouldn't be surprised if they would come up with a separate solution for the 'silent majority' of solo players as well. So the chances are good that you don't have to run any operations at all. Because seemingly, a garantueed gear drop is all it takes to make players accept the useless grinding. Guess that wearing gear they don't need for the things you like just makes them feel good.

ROFL! Not long ago, I wrote a reply on how another MMO I played changed their business model into a korean-grind-fest and how this resulted in a major downfall of the game and in remaining players begging for a 'clasics' server... and here it is! It's still a bit too early, so I suggest you wait a few more months. By then, the newcomers are gone, players have finished KOTET and have noticed that they don't have to stay subscribers; players will have an overdose repeating the same crap over and over again; the initial 'you're special' feeling by maxing the galactic command ranks faster than others will grow old... and by then, some players might have even recognized that BioWare can't simply change their business model back and that there is nothing but more grinding to come. That will be the time your suggestion will get more attention.

The original suggestion would fix one issue, but would create others. How do you collect gear tokens? How do you prevent that players swap characters just to bypass the weekly limit. How do you prevent players from using the most powerful class for a given task (f.e. playing the most broken class in PvP, choosing the fastest char for an Uprising, switching to healers or tanks only in case an operation or PF doesn't fill up)? Such a change would make me question, why I would have to swap characters, instead of sticking to one character and simply swapping adv. classes (like you swap gear or appearance). That way, you wouldn't be forced to level companions on all every characters either. And IMO, doing the same stuff over and over again doesn't get better if I swap roles. Running Karraga's Palace f.e. because it's the 'easiest' OP still stays annoying. So... ... sounds way better and more practical to me.

Although your analysis of an existing problem is fine, the suggested solution isn't... at least in my opinion. Even BioWare's attempted solution to give away gear components sounds way better to me.

Keep in mind: If BioWare limits the flashpoints to a certain minimum level, the likelyness for a particular flashpoint to pop up might be heavily dependant on the corresponding class level. In other words, Esseles might pop up way more often than Blood Hunt, discouraging players with maxed-out characters to even participate (they will either exclude these FPs or be more edgy when things don't turn out to be optiomal; right now, time = CXP) And that's also the reason why FPs catagorised into PvP-like groups might not be that beneficial either. A limitated access might just result in no match-ups found at all (especially for the mid-range FPs). One great thing the level-sync achieved was to increase divercity. Before 4.0, Kuat Drive Yards was the only "synced" FP... and everyone I know was peeved to do the same FP over and over again. A bit more on specific arguments: "A level 70 tank has about 4-6 defensive abilities they can use to stay alive without a healer in a boss fight. Those give the rest of the group time to hit a kolto. " Kolto stations were added for story-mode FPs run by 4 DDs. A level-synced tank might still receive less damage than a lvl-70 DD. And due to the fact that these stations are typically within arm's reach of a RDD, it doesn't take much to activate them. Setting lowest level requirement would also help new players to not get pop ups for FPs that have more difficult tactics. Players can always choose to exclude them. All it would take is to make the daily random FP quest available for maxed-out characters only. Furthermore, the high-level FPs don't really have more difficult tactics... most of the bosses are just scaled badly (2nd boss on Korriban); have unintuitive mechanics (1st boss on Typhon) or are plain silly (kicking players way to far). So if I were to fix the flashpoints, I would just fix the level sync. There shouldn't be a HP disparity between synced characters (with 60k HP in 4.0) and those with augments ( 80k+ HP in 4.0). Instead, a low-level character should receive a higher permanent // ongoing bonus to compensate the lack of skills.

The people aren't complaining about whether another player deserves to get access to a specific type of gear, they complain about the way BioWare solved this. An example: Let's say BioWare would have gone a different path and the commendation vendors would have sold the typical operation gear (the one that includes a set bonus) for a certain amount of crystals in SWTOR 4.0 ( 216 gear = blue glowing crystals // 220 gear = purple radiant crystals). (BioWare might have even introduced a crystal 'upgrade' / 'conversion' vendor) Any end game content would have rewarded a player with a low number of commendation crystals (like they actually did), but running OPs would have still been the best way to get the gear. But no matter how unlucky a player would be when it comes to the '/roll' part, he would have still been able to buy all the missing gear parts sooner or later. Problem fixed! And maybe this example gives you a glimpse at how incredibly disrespectful and short-sighted your response actually is. To me, it seems you don't even attempt to put yourself into someone else's situation. Because it's all the other stuff that has been introduced with 5.0 that pisses players off: - Be it the fact that the boxes are random and bad luck might prevent you from taking up a certain role in a group (f.e. being the main tank) or might even prevent you from finding a team that is willing to repeat a less-challenging content until you eventually catch up. - Be it the fact that the galactic command forces a players to choose between what he likes to do and what gives him the most CXPs per hour... You like to run FPs... well, Uprisings grant a higher reward! You don't want to kill the easiest first boss in NIM or don't want to do ranked PvP? Well bad for you, if the rest of your guildmates don't mind! - Be it the fact that they've level-synced all the operations up, stopping you and your teammates from running the OP you've tried to complete for several months. Well, half year and you'll have the gear to try it again! (Just imagine the KOTET story wouldn't be available until you reach command rank 50+) - Be it the fact that the lengthy leveling process prevents you to switch to an alt in case a teammate isn't able to play and your group is lacking a healer or tank. Who cares that 7 other players suffer or the whole team goes down... waste no sympathy for these elitist operation-lovers! - Or be it the fact that those players who will join the game in half a year from now literally have no way to ever catch up. So all that is irrelevant and all that is secondary to your wishes, simply because your ego couldn't handle to play single player content without PvP gear or group-based PvE gear! (But hey, who knows! Maybe your story mode character really needs the taunt cooldown reduction set bonus that much) And it's beyond your imagination that other players might not enjoy the new patch and can think of a game that fulfills the wishes of every player... Merry Christmas!

Well, I don't even know why I still bother, but it seems you haven't really read this thread. Otherwise, you wouldn't have brought up the arguments that have been discussed already. But let's start. In LeaqueOfLegends every champion can use two special forms of stealth: brushes and the fog of war. So yeah, even Jinx can use it, as long as she stays put in that sort of cover... 'cover' ... doesn't it remind me of something....maybe a certain adv. class in SWTOR... nah! Can't be! That would make ADCs op... There are also additional forms of stealth (described here). And although mainly limited to melee classes in LoL, Twitch could still be seen as a sort of Virulence Sniper, whereas Teemo is more a kind of Sabotage Gunslinger // Engineering Sniper. In regard of damage & skill selection, there are other differences between LoL with SWTOR as well. In LoL, not every melee champion has a Leap/Teleport or Charge attack to overcome the range disadvantage with ease. Nor are the ranged champions in LoL limited to skills with an activation time.... and that just highlights the relevant ones (ignoring the obvious changes, because I used LOL more for a visual reference than a comparison of the game concept in the fist place). But the biggest nagging thing: When I read the typical "If snipers were get stealth, they must deal less damage" statement, I wonder if you - and the others - can even imagine that a game consists of more than just plain old damage. So why shouldn't BioWare start and remove the Mercenary's Power Surge and Thrill of the Hunt, as well as the Sorcerer's Force Mobility. And why shouldn't they giva every DoT an activation time as well... just like they did whth Crushing Darkness. None of these things affect the damage they deal and mobility disparities don't seem to exist in this sort of argumentation. And it's the same thing with heals. BioWare could remove them because their presence or absence doesn't matter at all, right? And since you've mentioned Tryndamere's ultimate: I wonder what you think of Force Barrier, Responsive Safeguards and a boosted Kolto Overload boosted. How about these skills on other 'ADC's? Or is it just not suitable for a particular class? But let's stay on course: Another typical argument that comes up is the part about the defensivs skills.... or how you would put it: "mercs/sorcs can't improve everyone's DR or reduce the accuracy of the enemy". Well, not that I've already addressed these points, but let's repeat it. Every class has their own share of defensive skills and the Snipers aren't particular outstanding in this regard at all. Sorcs and Mercs focus more on self-heals, damage absorb and long-term incapacitating effects, whereas Snipers focus more on cover and accuracy manipulation. And instead of the typical offensive raid buff, the developers thought it would make sense to assign a defensive variant (Ballistic Shield) to Snipers, Because aside from the 'stationary AoE' aspect, the shield is quite comparable to a Energy Shield or the damage reduction utilities of a Sorcerer. (And just to repeat this as well: Yes, BioWare has decided that make it kind of random, whether a certain effects end up as a class-specific passive or a utility for divercity reasons. But with 8 utilities to pick from, the indispensable class differences are fewer than you might think of) Speaking of the Ballistic Shield: Is this really the skill you think of when someone asks you about the most flavorful aspects of a sniper? Do you really think of a large, salient bubble? Or isn't the variant that can't be seen by it's enemies a way more acurate stereotype? And do you think it was wise to give a low-range self-centered skill to a class that typically tries to stay at a 35m range? Do you think it's practical (f.e. in a typical PvE boss fight) or do you think snipers should just rush into every fight no matter what? Because that's one essential cornerstone of this debate as well: It's the question whether a class fulfills the mental image or model a player has about it and whether BioWare shouldn't focus more on that part, no matter how the 'implementation details' will turn out in the end. (f.e. whether they get a in-combat stealth option or not).