Other way to look at it is that flagship plan price has just not risen high enough yet to balance the equation. Clearly cmts are still preferable to take from conquest and dark project crafting is not a viable alternative at the moment ether. If there is enough demand on flagship plans then eventually the alternative methods for gaining them will start being attractive again...ceteris paribus ofc. Not saying that that any price increase will necessarily happen though. There are still the small conquest rewards where one does not get cmts and refined isotope prices seem to have been be mainly driven by gear crafting for a long time now. I don't play on Tulak Hord; interesting that it has caused that type of farming behaviour, have not encountered it on mine yet. Would increasing commander difficulty serve your goal better? Is dedicated solo farmers outcompeting entire guilds wrong?

I guess it is what each individual finds acceptable or not. Perks in pvp limit everyone’s choice of community and make it necessary to be a member in one. All perks do, what crosses the border of unacceptable is personal to each player. For me it is perks affecting individual performance in pvp. The same argument can ofc be used to oppose perks altogether, but I care for pvp and for me the philosophical line goes with that. If I cannot stand on equal footing in pvp without having to be part of some specific (or even any) unofficial organization then it might be this game is no longer for me. In addition to being able choose the people or style* of community you like, guilds add to the game shadow command structures and rulesets that are not controlled by Bioware or the game’s tos. Being “forced” into a specific one also subjects you to those. That does not mean most guilds would be unreasonable with such things. However, making the game have mechanics that require you to accept any or have your gameplay suffer is fundamentally wrong. * size, language, etc.

Same experience here, that is how it has worked.

Not sure how it's these days but if I remember from the past, some parts of the Star Fortresses can actually be more difficult with a high level companion if you are not well geared or experienced. For example healing comp. drawing all aggro in reactor rooms may be annoying.

A friend had this happen to some of her toons couple of weeks ago, I saw it too. I think it took a few days for the legacy name to return back to normal but did do so on it's own.

The OP's question was has it been addressed WHY they did it. So the answer was not correct. As to the actual thing, I agree with you.

No they did not. Well, beyon "we have done so"

It has been reported quite a bit that Ossus, esp in WB groups, lags for people that don't experience such lag in other worldboss groups elsewhere or in 16m ops / pvp. This is not new to this game though. Remember how much ability lag 5.0 chapters had when they were 1st launched?

You are forgetting the two other major ways of getting these. From conquest you gain 1-4 for large planet guild goals for as many toons as you did personals on. CMTs are also sold on the gtn in large amounts and for fairly reasonable prices, so do whatever pve you want and buy some with the credits you got from that. Also augments double on crit so you won't need 56 CMTs. Either pray to rng gods or negotiate a decent rate from someone. In addition one can buy the augment themselves off gtn. Many craters will testify that a lot of people have found that to be their method of choice.

The system seems to strongly favour large guilds over smaller ones. Not liking this at all. A system that is directly proportional to guild member count when it comes to leveling & perk costs would be far more fair if one must have this style of a perk system.

In my mind it's pretty much an insult to 99,7% of crafters for BW to so prominently advertise the gear as craftable in advance and then in reality make it only so if one is a NiM raider. Thecnically it of course is but the mats are pretty much an ops drop token. This has nothing to do with crafting. The harm is more in their communication than in the end result with all the other routes of getting gear. At least the ranked mats were available to all crafters and made ranked much more accessible to a lot of people. Not that that was a perfect solution either.Some hardcores ofc complained how it affected tr but most people actually liked the change in atmosphere.

Will have to see how bad the final implementation is and feels like. This gear update has a good chance to be something that makes me quit the game though.

Also not forgetting the rather capable shuttle services* that can fetch you regardless what buried tomb you happen to be in. *quick travel

Nice one!

You did say western but did you mean English names only or are, for example, German or Norwegian names fine?

Other social media does indeed reach far more people but are they the relevant people? This game does not even have 2,25 million players let alone subscribers or people who are interested in swtor's maintenance schedule. On the other hand this forum reaches the most active core players and 100% of the posters here are paying subscribers. Here the information is also not lost amidst the million updates one gets from all kinds of sources on other platforms. Of course we are not talking about swtor's advertisement posts or "It's bounty contract week now" type tings rather than the actually relevant announcement like the one of this thread. One should priorities ones core customers and not think of them as a side thought. Same information can naturally be posted on other platforms, and we do not disagree on sharing it everywhere, but this is where it at the very least should be. In practical terms I do not think it has been much of a problem, they have posted here just fine. This is more about the philosophical perspective.

I really hope you would consider reversing this policy. Please post on your official forum first and then try to post on other social media if you have the time.

My observations; Prices for main crafted items (new augs & 246 gear) have stayed very static for the past several months already. There is some fluctuation ofc, mainly correlating with mats prices, but no noticeable trend up. Most "desirable" CM items have gone down a. lot. during the last year; most rare armor sets, mounts and weapons are now a fraction of what they cost before. General cc to credits ratio has gone up when it comes to items only available directly from CM (tokens, renames, bundles, etc.), aka more credits per cc are demanded. Packs have gone up in price quite a bit in the last year. In genera,no, it's not out of control at all at the moment. I attribute most of it to ultimate packs and the availability of stuff on CM but the reason can be something else of course.

Out of curiosity, when was the cartel market significantly cheaper than now and what did ex. armor sets or lottery packs cost back then?

Used to be possible with the insta 60 token at least. You do get the hunt mission but do not actually lose any of the original 6 companions at the beginning of it and can esc out. Never go back and you used* to be golden. All class, etc content will ofc count as done though. I have a crafting toon like this done with the free insta 60 one got with 4.0. *I say used to since this was many patches ago so they may have changed something.

Total Galactic war seems better this time but still really really missing a proper crafting week. This used to be one but now has no meaningful crafting goals.

Yes. It was a Tuesday in September 2013, at least I think it was Tuesday, could have been wednesday too. They hotfixed it the next day.

Unless loot is spesifically mentioned as reserved when gathering the group it's free for all to roll on. One most certainly does not need to ask about it. One more reminder to not go into groups that are not lead by people you know or someone from a guild that is known to be trustworthy.

Others have given you great answers already, I just want to clarify that crafted 246 gear does not cost hundreds of millions. It is the new augments that are really expensive and you do not need them. However be aware that if you drop sub the amount of credits you can have at your disposal at any given moment will be limited. That will be a hindrance to any future gtn purchases.

The best gear for you (and everyone else atm. *) will be yellow 248 rated set bonus gear. You get this as a very rare drops from command boxes and buying from fleet vendors with unassembled components that you get from disintegrating gear you do not want from boxes. If you do no group content, this will be a long and slow process. (I can't remember if you get components directly from any solo content) Buying 246 purple crafted gear costs some but might still be your best option, esp for left side. Wether it is worth it or not for you depends on how much you want better gear right now and how much credits you have to spend. It is relatively cheap though. To give an idea of what comes after, a set of new 240 augments costs somewhere around 75-80 million. Some people would never touch them and some have bought several sets already; most are somewhere in between. * let's not nitpick about 246 B-mods, etc.