What the dev's are saying by going down that route is: do content you may not have fun in (for an extended period of time), settle for having your time wasted (level synching removes most if not all of the reasons to have better gear outside of Ops), or go elsewhere. Not really much of a choice. It also removes a reason to sub if you don't do Ops: green and blue gear can be equipped by any subscription method. Admittedly you may want to sub for the other benefits but strictly from a game mechanics perspective, there is less of a motivation to do so. That's why I personally believe that the mod system was so much better: it catered to ALL playstyles and didn't prioritize one over the other.

There's one thing your not taking into account; it's not just 6 seconds. It's 6 seconds x176458372652 times - ok maybe not that many times but it's far, far, more frequent than you're letting on. For example, I've been running heroics so I can complete some of the cosmetic sets for almost 2 years now (with the time taken away because I'm so burnt out on running them). I don't want them to take any second longer than they need to be - they lost their magic quite a while ago. It's 10-year-old content and it hasn't been challenging or rewarding for eons now - even with many of the changes they made, they just take longer which isn't going to make them any more enjoyable to run. This next question is one of genuine curiosity since I don't raid. Why is the only answer "give us better gear"? Why isn't it "change the enrage timer"? Why isn't it "lower the boss's hp's so we can make the DPS checks"? Why aren't there any other things that NIM raiders want so they can get the challenge they are looking for other than "give us more powerful gear"?

Another vote for this as well.

But but but, it's a square wheel!!! It's so much better!!!

To me, this is the biggest reason why 7.0 is a failure: what it's done to the community. It's nothing but people snipping at each other, constant arguing, and insults being thrown around - either blatantly or subversively. The forums used to be a decent place - they are no longer.

How do you know so much about Keith's vision for the game? He hasn't posted anything about it even when pressed. Is there somewhere this information is availible?

Just to clarify, unlocking something in collections makes it available to all five servers as well.

I agree a compromise would be preferable, the one you suggested was brought to the devs on the PTS, many times. Who knows why they didn't try and come to a middle ground, that's one that everyone has been asking.

See, I did have fun here until they changed it, many people did which is why there is such an uproar about it.

Yes, I am surprised to hear you say that you find it fun. All I can say is I need to fire my current employees and hire MMO players. I'd love it if they payed me $$ to give them work only for me to take thier check back. Its really a great gig. =) Ps: I;m here because it's NOT like every other MMO

I would agree with this except for one problem: it doesn't matter how much time/effort you put into gearing up, they will invalidate everything you do the next time they need a big cash flow (an expansion). The more you put into gearing the more they take away from you when it does happen. I find nothing sweet about working for something only to have it thrown away in order to keep me subscribing, that's not fun to me. Why MMO players think this is normal is beyond me. Would you pay someone to give you a job (even a job you loved), work hard at being the best you can be (do everything right and never make mistakes), do that job for an extended period of time, all the while failing, only to have your boss come along and rip up your paycheck and say "Do it again". Would you find that fun? Would you pay someone for it? This is why the whole "earn" thing doesn't work for MMO's - they will eventually invalidate any gear you earn. I don't see why anyone would put forth the effort to get good gear knowing they will make everything you do worthless.

It's the fear of many of us...Just let me know now whether to stay or leave.

Count me as one of the people that would love some clue as to the future direction of Swtor. As much as I'd like that to happen we probably won't see one until the beginning of next year - that's the usual time they get posted. There are just too many fires burning atm and it seems like there's more with every fix they do.

Why rent the cow when you get the milk for free (or almost free)? Bioware basically gives the story away so you will never see the people that sub (or who would sub) for the story have any noticeable impact on the profits. Most other games charge a larger fee for an expansion, which I would be willing to pay providing the quality is there - as it stands right now LOTS isn't quality or quantity. Add into the previous reason, that there's almost no replayability to most of the post 50 story content, it makes no difference on any decision you make - only a few mildly interesting lines of dialog. At least with the 1-50, you can play through it a bunch of times on many classes, or LS/DS, or male/female if you are into the romances. None of the post 50 story content has any of that, which is why people spacebar past them. Play it 3-4 times and you've seen everything - there's nothing to keep people subscribing. Why would people pay for a sub for that? FF14 is successful because they do both, they didn't focus on one or the other like Bioware is. They used the story to gradually hook people into Ops, they realized that there is money to be made by catering to both camps and are willing to devote the resources to make that happen. I wish I could say I believed that was happening here but we all know it's not.

This is the part that I think many don't realize. Take my friends for example; they didn't post on the forums, they didn't give a farewell speech, they didn't take part in a survey, they didn't even write *why* they canceled their subscriptions. They simply just left despite me trying to sell the better parts of 7.0 to them. They now play GW2 for less money than they were paying here.