I don't typically chime in on forums much, typically I'm a silent lurker but I've been keeping tabs on the thread for the past few days and thought I'd say a few things just to add some perspective since I have a bit of a background in tech. You don't see splits and merges very often when it comes to corporations, typically it's only once it hits main news then you hear something regarding it (Or it's two big companies e.g Microsoft + Activision/Blizzard). The main purpose of this is control of information and to ensure the proceedings go smoothly behind the scenes at the board table, upsetting any shareholders as minimally as possible since markets can quickly go volatile. Not to mention rebranding is both annoying and expensive. I'm not too sure if the same kinds of procedures that're in Australia (my country) also happen in the US so I'm generally rolling by my experiences both from working with retail and having a family member who also worked in a industry that went through a split and merge with another company. (And yes the original company this group was split from still exists, its just the whole procedure was messy as f) Basic process is internal memos go out, meetings are had to discuss what's going on. From there the process is that the people directly affected go through a re-interview process to see if they're still good enough to take on. This is to try and ensure the procedures are as fair as possible and minimal favoritism occurs in management/upper management/higher levels. Anyone who doesn't fit the mold either moved or removed. My hunch is that someone who didn't like the process or was just generally really angry about this change was the one who outed to IGN to cause a panic/cause share market disaster. But by doing so this breaks a number of NDA's and puts things on pause while internal investigations go on. If they find whoever did it, they're going to be terminated from employment and probably frozen out of the industry since it's a fairly serious matter. If not legal repercussions first. Why Austin hasn't said anything is because the legal, PR and probably marketing teams of both EA AND Bioware step in to try and get things under control first, actively silencing them for the time being. They will likely issue a statement but they have to figure out the best way to frame it to reduce as much panic and rage as possible among the userbase so we don't get silly retaliatory measures like threats etc again. Its not that they don't want to talk, they CAN'T. I believe there's also several matters going on behind the scenes regarding EA's working relationship to Bioware in general, especially after Inquisition, Andromeda and Anthem were considered commercial failures by the former. If I recall some news in the rumor mill, it pretty much hinges on Dreadwolf and possibly the next Mass Effect depending on how far in the production cycle it is. If this split does happen and SWTOR is merged into Broadsword (provided they haven't run for the hills due to bad press now), several things will happen. Most of them minor such as logos being removed and changed and probably a new set of people being given moderator access behind the scenes. The account info, cc's etc doesn't get touched. Login point shouldn't be changed, launcher doesn't get changed. Servers for the game still stay where they are for now. You'd probably have a new contact number/email for any account issues but that's all. As for the AWS stuff...if that goes ahead I think just a few files are changed on the user's end to accommodate the new IP address to hook into. Shouldn't be too complicated I think. If Dreadwolf and/or other projects fail and Bioware happens to fold then Swtor is spared that and you can still play the game as normal. I can't/won't make a guarantee for new content though. But considering you have a section of core devs being moved AND adding what Broadsword already has, I can't see much issue with the game still receiving new content post 7.4...juuust probably at the same level as it is now and not full size mega expansions either. Especially since EA's been fairly ruthless in the past when it's come to cutting things/studios that fail. Dead Space (original), American McGee's Alice, Spore etc. Bioware's corporate has also been ruthless in cutting off BW Montreal after the Andromeda failure. Doesn't make much sense to offer devs to move over to a new place only to fire them. Not to mention SWTOR still makes a boat load of money, mainly through the cartel market but it's nothing to scoff at. Besides if you're going to make a guarantee for anything especially EA with a 7 billion revenue this past fiscal year, corporate greed wins. They're not going to let go of something that makes them a lot of money. I'd honestly only be scared if they did a content style similar to Dead Space 3 again, then I know we'd be screwed. *no I don't work for Bioware and I'm not under NDA, just sharing things based on my experiences and seeing news articles over the years about the company, heh.

This'll be a 2 parter since I had to stop half way due to outside work commitments and a bug. Will revise with further boss results as I go along and with a extra person. Attempted content solo on 320 gear and a rank 50 heals companion on tactics vanguard. How do you feel about boss balance? First boss would be almost a tank'n'spank though I found that I had to keep moving. I could live with the stuns and the bleeding dot, though I'd probably stick a max cap of five stacks rather than too much higher due to damage output. For a master mode I could happily go 10 stacks with that one, but for vet and trying to keep newer players who aren't as skilled in mind, I'd keep to 5. I'd also run into issues where I was clearly out of it's conal but still got swiped. Second boss....I'm not sure if it bugged out on my account or what but I honestly wasn't sure what to do and all the cores still remained green barred and unattackable. Adds that spawned for me just kind of sat in the middle of the room for a bit until I came close enough then they roared over. It was after they killed me eventually that I ran into the bug that stopped me playing any further. (I also shot him from the middle of the room with basic attack if that helps any) Bonus and Third: Still to be tested. How do you feel about trash balance? Trash is okay in it's current levels. Got startled a bit by roaming ranphax as I was exploring a ruin. Suits the mood quite effectively. Are you experiencing any functionality issues? Quite a lot honestly... I ran into issues where weak enemies would repeatedly disappear through the floor. Particularly on the initial area's ranphax and the droids that came later. Sometimes they'd disappear and there'd be no issue, other times they wouldn't die and I'd repeatedly get shot until I evaded. Another problem I noticed was scripted area ambushes along the Acolyte's Path, in a house and a long tunnel nearby where the enemies would repeatedly respawn if I walked over a certain spot in both. Rather than just spawn once and be done with it. Also for whatever reason a phantom Lana speaks when you're inside the house about the droids and that's not supposed to be there. There's certain droids that have stealth sensing to them and it says ranphax senses...which they shouldn't have since...well...being droids as well. If you hop up a certain ramp bit to get to the second boss's door a blood crazed ranphax spawns...which promptly ran away from me backwards into unknown oblivion and wouldn't let me escape the fight until I walked up to the door. Then it decided it wanted my trooper as a dinner time steak and came back. Dying and clicking return to medcenter sent me under the map entirely and no amount of /stuck'ing (which just killed me) or leaving the FP and returning fixed it. I just ended up in the same position. It was that point where I stopped entirely. Are there any friction points that hinder your progress? Beyond the areas stated above? No. But we'll see when I can actually do a proper run with a friend of mine. Are the objectives clear and easy to understand? Getting from A to B? Pretty fine. Bosses, thinking on a average pug group (and not someone who's played for ages on end and is very familiar with the content) 1 and 2 could be a little more clear in what they wanted though I need to confirm that what happened with 2 was a bug before I can confirm on that. How does pacing of the combat feel? Pretty alright all things considered, nice areas for exploration and to take in the creepy scenery. Music was a nice touch. On a slightly related note I was having a problem with two music tracks running at the same time. This's happened to me in the past where I'd have the Balmorra track just...stuck while say Coruscant's was on top of it. Or sometimes even Odessen's. Not sure if there is a fix for that but it's something to look at. Other comments: So far it's looking okay for a experienced group considering it's vet mode, however I do see average pug groups struggling a bit on boss content. Especially considering the higher damage output on first and repeated ad summon on 2nd boss. With some of the defensive prune in self survivability (particularly for shadow tanks which I also main) it puts them more reliant on healers to keep them afloat which they may not be entirely up to task. Which has the double effect of putting off players from playing FP's in general or only keeping to easier ones. Taking into account the high drop rates any time Blood Hunt, SoV, Copero, BoR or Umbara pop up as examples. I realize it's a awkward balance trying to keep two audiences pleased with the result. Hence why I'm trying to review from the pov of a average pug who may be fairly new to flashpoints in general and only recently using the group finder, rather than someone who's played a number of years and knows most of the content inside and out. Just for the added perspective. Anywho, that's my two cents so far. Will revise and edit once I drag in my friend to help me later with the second half. Edit: Part 2 The trash didn't phase through the earth when I brought a friend in to help me but there were a few extra issues I noticed instead. (Friend was a telekinetic sage in 318 gear, rank 50 comp that got flipped to heal with mine after first boss) Firstly the scripted spawns still occur whenever someone steps over the trigger points causing repeat fights. The weak enemies stopped magically phasing through the earth. Not sure what happened, maybe they were happy at the prospect of more dinner steak and decided to stick around. Second: while first boss is easier to handle with more people, the dot effect is still nasty on 4 stacks and melts through a vanguard due to lack of internal damage resistance. Laser beam could afford to be tuned up since it just bounced off my utility shield effect thing. Barely made a dent in my health. Cap on the dot stacks to 5, tune up the laser in short. Third: Second boss could be a lot more clear in what it expects you to do. While sure, it borrows off of secrets of the enclave, the fact that there's so many adds coming out at once, makes it hard to focus. Damage overall needs to be tuned down. I'd expect the current output in master mode but not vet. Less continuous adds would also be a good thing for average pug groups. On a side note: the second boss did bug out and kept myself and my friend in combat. While clicking on the item next to the box (not the reward one) actually crashed my client for no reason. Friend was fine. On a extra side note it also needs to tone down it's voice box since it talks too much. Fourth: Bonus boss could afford to be a little more clear as well in what's expected, otherwise we made it through the sequence just fine. No loot drop appeared though. Fifth: Final boss needs to put a cork in it and tone down the mouthing off A LOT. Mechanics for rage aren't clear and it's hard to assess what exactly it's doing in relation to his attacks. Some things hurt, other things barely scratched. Other than the basic don't stand in silly model it behaves more like a freeforall battle than something strategic. Final comments: The final trail up to the summit needs the add damage toned down especially considering the explosives being hurled at you. I can see average pug groups having a hard time. Doubly since it's unskippable enemies as well which slows the pace a lot. I'd expect a lot of the pain in MM but not Vet. The invisible boundary walls do need to be pulled in a fair bit since I was having a little too much fun parkouring outside of the boundaries which caused me to hover in mid air above first boss as well as elsewhere. Beyond that, just boss mechanics need to be more clear and damage output adjusted on first and second bosses. Otherwise I think it should be just fine to ship out once the bugs are cleared out.

It's a once yearly event that only encourages taking down R4-GL, Trapjaw, Snowblind, Primal Destroyer and Lucky (latter doesn't have a achievement attached. just title if you get killed by him). Once the event is over, the incentive is completely gone until the following year. That leaves; SD-0, The First, Ulgo Siegebreaker, The Ancient One, Subject Alpha, Grandfather, Rogue Cartel Warbot, Grandfather, Nightmare Pilgrim, Gargath, Dreadtooth on any stack, Lance Squadron, Ancient Threat, Worldbreaker Monolith and Dread Pirate Karvoy (who has no achievements or anything tied to him last I checked). That's not including the DvL bosses who also spawned whenever the dark or light was in power over the galaxy and disappeared whenever someone who didn't know what they were was unfortunate enough to get completely annihilated by them. Then there's Kil'cik and R8X8 that were introduced in Jedi Under Siege and haven't been touched since the equipment they were tied to was made obsolete. While the remainder's limited incentive is one of the aratech mounts for killing certain World Bosses 3 times and the rest either have some titles or just achievements. To put things in perspective a bit since I play on SS and mainly pub side, though occasionally imp as well, I've never seen WB calls outside of once in a blue moon on the gen chats. Dreadtooth and Lance Squadron are the ones most taken out when their conquest is in rotation. Last time I saw anyone attempt Ancient Threat was somewhere between 4.0 and 5.0 and it was someone insisting they could three-man the thing. They attracted a bit of a audience just to enjoy the popcorn and destruction. Even when I did the Feast event, the incentive was low outside of renown points for mission completion, conquest and the crates that only dropped 1-2 pieces of equipment. The DvL event when it was on, did provide good incentive to take them out since it was working toward a end goal, but once it was over that was it. Basically there needs to be something that's more ongoing to attract and maintain interest beyond a one off kill and done, not only that but also allow more player base access rather than being lucky enough to know someone who doesn't mind getting ops groups together.

Not sure if this'll be noticed, hopefully it will, but here goes. So I've been playing swtor since mid stages of 4.0, completed the Dark vs Light event when it came around and finished the boss achievements for Feast of Prosperity (finally) but I noticed a bit of a problem over the years when it comes to World Boss content in general. Sure there's achievements, the chance for decoration and obscure weapon drops etc. But overall there's been a lack of incentive for anyone to go in there and kill them. The Ossus ones haven't been touched since the mats requiring them have been made obsolete and the normal ones only dropped 1-2 pieces of random gear in a box or VERY[[/b] old unmoddable gear from prior expansions during the course of 6.0. While it has been nice to actually get in there for a fight during the Feast due to the daily quest attachment, it doesn't do much in the grand scheme of things and gathering groups in general is notoriously hard unless you know people who're willing to back you up, happen to be in a larger populated server that actually does rotate through them or there's a specific event on. Since the shared targeting and loot drops should (in theory) improve the odds for world boss group takedowns, I was wondering if for 7.0 there could be improvements to them to encourage more group formation or hunts across the worlds. Whether in the form of potentially gear tokens, gear in general (depending on difficulty level of the boss), encryptions, unique decorations/weapons with a better drop rate chance as well as better and easier to access conquest missions similar to a flashpoint weekly. Rather than having them sit constantly in the conquest tab and generally be pretty ignored by the larger populous of the game.

* Group consisted of myself, a tactics vanguard and dps/heals Aric Jorgan comp *Layout was a lot more simplistic than Spirit of Vengeance and I enjoyed this a lot more than the former. The map was also straight forward, little bit of a tendency to get lost when it came to backtracking under the temple but other wise it was manageable *Length was actually pretty good all things considered. Size wise it kinda felt like somewhere between Hammer Station and Athiss. It could be a little longer but not too much. *The bosses kinda all ran the same to me but they were straight forward and easy to understand for someone who's played the game for a long time and knows about interrupts and what icons on bosses mean. For someone who's new though it's not too bad as the mechanics in vet mode aren't punishing enough that people would just instantly leave group. Otherwise the bosses were straightforward enough to understand aside from the terantek, for a bonus boss he's not too bad however other than the control beacon thing being a little less obvious unless you hover over it to see what it is. I also feel it shaves a little too much health off of him. Otherwise I was able to kill him with ease. *The only ability that took health off in any major way was first boss's groundquake. Boss general attacks can afford to be upped just a little bit but not too much. *boss fights were short but on a comfortable level of short I feel. *Silver and gold enemy health could afford to be toned down a little, however it's more Spirit of Vengeance that needs that particular nerf due to the higher densitiy in enemies in most areas of the ships. *Animal packs could afford to be toned down a little in the initial part of the flashpoint. Particularly with the Kath hounds in the valleys. Otherwise it wasn't too bad. *In terms of bugs I only ran into four. I fell through the floor of the doorway to the terantek room three times. Final time I had to resort to walking off the edge of the world in order to get out because /stuck wasn't working and would instead just rebound me off of something back to my original position. Second bug I had was the entire room disappearing at certain camera angles within the terantek room. Just a short ways in from the doorway. the further I entered in the problem stopped. Third bug(?) was last boss's quake generator not working. I'm not sure if I was supposed to be taking damage during that or not Last bug was when I used sonic rebounder where one of the rings appeared on some unknown invisible entity and refused to disappear a lot longer than normal. This might affect similar aoe type shield/heal effects. *In terms of overall feedback; the flashpoint was enjoyable from my pov, a lot less punishing than some of the other vet modes I've played. The lack of enrage from what I'm aware of is also helpful. Some general notes: I ran into (only the enclave area) a number of "Missing grannys" that I presume are supposed to belong to rocks and things. I would look at increasing the amount the renown boosts give from the FP's that drop them to add extra incentive to players being willing to do them. Possibly expand the deco drops to being able to appear on normal mobs rather than just the bosses, if possible of course. for the SM experience potentially reduce the health of enemies just so players don't have the issues like they had in Spirit of Vengeance where, other than Rass being too low level to properly support, enemies were like damage sponges that took overly long to take down. It's one growing complaint I've noticed in some circles of the community on twitter etc as of late.

First time posting something, long time reader of the threads as a silent ghost. Soooo I recently played through Iokath's op a while after Nahut dropped and picked up one of the Tyth control modules. Great! I thought, I can go stomp on the Colossus droid that's been tormenting me for ages. But because I don't know the Iokath map all that well...annnnd its very difficult to get around to certain areas without requiring a long journey, like a idiot I quick traveled, while in Tyth, to the Alliance base and promptly got stuck. Big droid too big for small hallway... To make it easier to get around Iokath and prevent further stuckage for the SIX GODS!!!! in tiny hallways, I'd like to request that quick travel points be made for the Republic and Empire faction areas. Or at the very least, make the control modules reusable but maybe up the crystal cost to compensate a bit for the potential OP'ness that could be present from having a god droid running around. Also as a final suggestion, possibly provide more incentive for doing the Gods of the Machine operation by having exclusive missions, achievements and titles for each of the six gods on Iokath rather than having just PvP achievements of killing x amount of people. Heck, even introduce god droid PvP even with Tyth and Esne duking it out somewhere in the world just for the heck of it. With crazy legacy titles as a reward for the winner of the duel. Even a Tyth vs Tyth battle! But ultimately something more than just having the droids just wander around and occasionally stomping on people if they're in a PvP zone. Anyway just suggestions that I think would be cool to expand Iokath out and make it easier to travel around or just give more enjoyment to running around as Tyth or Aviela in the world.