I'm complaining about exactly what I posted...re-read it. I'm complaining about the business practice. It's a cash grab because they're selling the service today and there is no actual service. There's no specification of the WHAT or the WHEN. If you're comfortable buying something today and not actually know what you're getting that's you're privilege but it doesn't invalidate my point of view. I know how to protect myself and, as you suggested, I will certainly not pay for something until I have more details.

GW2 doing something similar makes it OK? To pay for something without knowing WHAT you're paying for or WHEN you're going to get it is idiocy. For a company to offer a service or product under such terms is unethical and, at the very least, can lead to consumer alienation (just read the page count on this thread). Business 101. Past crimes do not excuse current injustices.

It's a CASH GRAB, people. Wake up and stop being sheep. Why is it a cash grab? Because they're asking for pre-order money on an expansion under the following terms: 1) No definite list of content 2) No hard release date This is exactly like a car dealership taking FULL PAYMENT for car orders that have: 1) No list of specified options 2) No delivery date A scam is a scam is a scam. How in the world can you accept payment from people (or be silly enough to pay someone) with no actual promise made on the service(s) to be delivered? It's completely unethical. You're all so willing to throw down your $10 and you don't even know what you're getting!!! It's all about taking your money now and sometime down the road they'll give you something for it. If it sucks well too bad so sad. -- I have been a continuous subscriber since launch (only after I tried the game in closed beta) so it's not like I don't put my money where my mouth is. I believe in supporting the games you enjoy but once again the failings of this hot mess that is EA/Bioware/SWTOR are readily and abundantly obvious. Shame on them for thinking so little of their customers.

The sky is not falling but I will say this....Fatman already has a queue at night after dinner. So if this is in fact one of the destination servers something has gone terribly wrong. I think the community was hoping to create more servers like Fatman with this process. No one was wanting Fatman to become unavailable during prime time as a result of this process.

I don't mind the idea of respec as a money sink to keep the economy going. I also don't mind stopping by Fleet to respec. What I do really, really, REALLY mind is having to redo my bars and my talent pts every single time I want to respec. Last time I checked, the year was 2012 and this is not a first gen MMO. Let's embrace the 21st century and put in dual spec or some similar system of saving your talents/bars across multiple specs. Like I said, I don't mind spending the credits, or visiting a particular NPC for flavor/rp, but let's get with the program. This is something that should have been in the game at release so I guess I will take it 4 major patches later.

If you use the escape pod on your ship, it thaws him out.

I will Give. Bioware. Time. when they Stop. Charging. Me. to play. I pay for a service and I expect quality in return for my money. Content and game mechanics aside, broken patches don't cut the mustard. I will not tolerate paying Bioware to flounder around like hapless fools. Nor should any of you. While I am willing to hold out hope for better results in the future, I don't blame anyone for leaving.

After 13 years of MMOs I've come to realize that PvP is not a skill thing. It's an IQ thing. Most people just don't have the tools.

So after BW killed my favorite class/spec, Merc DPS which was so full of flavor and made us all feel like Jango for a day, I decided there isn't much left to do with him but go out and unlock codex entries. Yesterday, I took the scenic balloon ride over Tatooine to gather the missing blue matrix shard. I then crafted my matrix cube and equipped it...after playing since pre-release it was a long time coming. For a brief moment, I enjoyed my Merc again since I had accomplished "something" rather than looking at the sorry puke of a character who has left me playing less desirable alts that people actually want to group with. Imagine my elation to find out today that the same cube I had equipped just yesterday is now gone.... So I want to join in with the OP and say: Thanks Bioware P.S. In retrospect, rather than breaking as many things as you supposedly fix...patch after patch...it would be much simpler to just email all your customers and tell them "TAKE A HINT - WE DON'T DESERVE YOUR MONEY".

Yes, I think making a Merc is a mistake. One of the reasons I also chose the class was for the flavor of dual wielding pistols like the OP mentioned. But, regardless of the state of the game, that too was a mistake. I quickly realized that we use missiles, grenades and rail shot a whole lot more than we fire our blasters. So the idea of dual wielding your pistols like a wild west desperado (or Captain Rex in Clone Wars) is a bit misleading. Would I trade my dual blasters for a grapple? Absolutely. Would I trade my dual blasters for a charging move? Absolutely. From a flavor standpoint they are both much cooler IMO. From a game balance perspective, yeah we all know where Mercs stand. They're the PT water boy. And as far as keeping the faith goes...I sincerely believe that by the time BW gets around to fixing Mercs appropriately, we'll be able to respec between ACs anyways. So I could not, in good faith, at any point in the foreseeable future advise someone to roll Merc over PT unless you strictly wanted a healing BH.

Minimally, BW has to do one of two things to "fix" us in pvp (both would be nice but whatever): 1) Give us a Leg Shot like snipers. We ARE a ranged class after all. They have Cover and Leg Shot, we get neither. 2) Make PPA procs on either Rapid Shots or IM ticks so that we're really, truly mobile. As many others have said...standing still to refresh Rail Shot is retarded. Either, or both, of those changes would help us dramatically.

Mara/Sent is a problem on so many fronts.... First, let's remember our Tech damage will have +10% accuracy over Ranged so our IM/TD are safe, and when we talk misses we're mostly discussing rapid shots, unload and rail shot (oh how I wish rail shot was tech damage). Now we really don't want to miss with rail shot but I have had no trouble like you said keeping accuracy around 101-102% minimum without any effort. There has been discussions about this point and whether or not you should use Rapid Shots against the classes you mention...some valid points have been made. Your attempt to kite them with CGC is weighed against the misses you generate that triggers their abilities. True to a point...this argument is subjective as it really only accounts for 1v1 situations against one particular class. Would I stack any amount of accuracy so I do better in 1v1 against one particular class, when crit/surge/power are good against all classes? No, I would not. For me, and again this is as much opinion as anything else, accuracy is a pve stat for boss fights, etc. We have to adapt around what we're given. I would be one to promote a change in play style more than a change in gear. Think twice about firing Rapid Shots at the classes in question and be ready to avoid 1v1 with them if you didn't get a clear jump on them. That's a must. An offhand miss on a Marauder is the least of our problems if they get the jump on us. Like I said, I promote modding crit/surge til you hit your soft caps then stacking up power in augments and the like especially. Besides it's very easy to hit your soft caps with WH gear and a minimal juggle with full BM gear.

You still want to stack crit>surge>power to maintain burst damage from rail shots etc. crit to 375 (30%) surge to 300 (75%) Then stack power. Accuracy can be ignored out of hand since you'll get enough from gear that you won't be gimped in any fashion for strictly pvp.

None whatsoever since so much damage circumvents our physical armor rating.

QFT. Geez, it's nice to see someone who actually knows what they're talking about. I've posted this before as well. Pyro is no more mobile than Arsenal because we have to STAND STILL to refresh Rail Shot. Pyro is better 1v1 than Arsenal but worse in group situations cause we can't burst down healers or tanks. Either way, both are pathetic in pvp compared to other classes. As I've also said before, there would be no issue here leaving Merc as this obviously PvE class IF (real big IF) we could respec between ACs and switch to play powertech for PvP. The fact that you can't respec between ACs is as big, if not bigger, failure with this game than the current state of PvP.

Nice anecdote but it just doesn't play that way. You're not spamming rail shot because it has a 15s cool down. And if you TRY to spam rail shot, you have to stand still and use Unload or Power Shot so you're not mobile. Yeah, Pyro can be good...against an under geared target. Or a target that is focused on someone else. But 1v1 you will not beat a skilled player of equal gear who has a good pvp spec. You just won't. We as a class are greatly constipated by a mass of 15s cool down skills. Other classes mostly rely on resource management with much smaller or no cool down on their bread and butter skills. Yet we are faced with both. We have to juggle heat AND gimping cool downs. How can BW make Pyro really, truly be mobile? They can put rail shot's refresher on either Rapid Shots OR Incendiary Missile's tick OR both. But please realize on the most basic level by having Unload and Power Shot cool down Rail Shot it forces us to stand stock still in PvP just like Arsenal. Players with real gear just eat us up. We should also get a sniper leg shot because snares/slows simply don't work in this game when every melee has leap, speed or vanish. Kiting does not exist, which makes our talented CGC worthless, and thus we need a true root on a workable cool down. Its damage tickles geared players and its slow is trumped by every melee class in the game. I love my BH, too. I also PvP as Pyro and I'm well geared. Some days you can get a good round in but let's not make this class something it's not. On the whole, it bites.

Merc is a fun class full of flavor. That is why I play it. I love BH, loved the story line, and love the look of the gear. It is a great class for PvE, too. Very satisfying experience in solo'ing, questing, and raiding. However, in PvP the class sucks. Honestly and truly. With patience and gear you can be a good healer. But can you be a good ranged DPS? No. Because "good ranged DPS" doesn't really exist in this game. Unlike other MMOs, BW has given everything and anything to the melee classes so that they counter ranged. You can scrounge kills in TDM fashion, but for the overall flow of the match you are pretty irrelevant. I have full BM modded appropriately and currently gathering WH pieces. I have been playing BH since closed beta. I have pvp'ed in all three specs and have pvp'ed Arsenal and Pyro post 1.2. My preference is Pyro for what should be obvious reasons but even Pyro is sub-standard. We dps Mercs are great for one thing and one thing only...killing people who are focused on fighting someone else. Boy isn't that fun. Sure, there will always be that moment where you wreck faces. But if you think your Merc is really a great pvp class in this game then you just haven't played many other classes at 50. My Merc will always be my main but I'm saddened at how much BW has forced us to be a PvE class. It seems like the PvP side of things was handed over to Powertech/Vanguard. Even that would be fine IF we could switch advanced classes but we cannot. So you kicked us twice. Thanks. Hey, I roll in premades every night with my guild. We easily win 90% of our matches (last night we went 12/13 against mostly premades). The WH gear is rolling in for all of us. But is it a satisfying experience? No, not really. My damage numbers might be on par. My medals might be on par. My kdr might be on par. But why? Because I know how to hide like a little girl and scrounge kills. I know that when ANY class focuses me I have to start running. I have to play smart, like everyone else who does well in PvP, but for a Merc playing smart means playing like a *****. Not much fun. Pyro is so great in PvP? Heh. Yeah, it's great when your dots get constantly cleansed or eaten up with a myriad of bubbles. The mobility is great, too, when we have to STAND STILL CONSTANTLY to channel/cast and cool down our rail shot. So much for that idea of run and gun unless you like Rapid Shots which tickles anybody with real gear. If you want to really pump out the dps needed to take down a healer or tank as Pyro you have to stand still so you might as well play Arsenal which is gimped out the butt with the way they backloaded its damage. Then if our mobility killing is left to the squishies we should be good right? Nah, they're given all the counters in the world to close the gap with us. The PvP mechanics are entirely borked for ranged classes because there is nearly no ability to kite someone in this game. Maybe it's time to give Merc/Commando a leg shot. I love my Merc only because I really like being a BH. But is it fun? Nah. My assassin is fun. My marauder is fun. My scoundrel is even fun under the right circumstances. Oh well. I guess when you go down the dark road of knee jerk "fixes" every patch, some class always ends up the black sheep. Too bad it had to be me.

Well said.

Nothing to see here. The rollface specs are quite obvious after playing wz's for 5-10 mins. However, the (bad?) publicity generated about the state of 1.2 could help in working towards better balance in the future. That's the optimist in me speaking. The realist in me says, unfortunately, the swtor devs have already taken the low road with this game. Knee jerk patches to quiet forum whining, month after month, will leave this game in shambles perpetually. "Fix" one class, "break" two more. There will be no end to this. It would have been better to change NOTHING at all and just let people adapt to the game as is. Darwinism in effect.

People should be punished for leaving a WZ. Period. I think a 15 min debuff like WoW is appropriate. I think wiping a player's current commendation total for quitting is also appropriate. Both punishments should happen simultaneously. Yes, they should also readjust the reward system to promote people to stay. You can punish and promote at the same time, it's not mutually exclusive. DCs will happen and that's part of internet gaming. I don't think you should punish people for that. Of course there will always be those who DC intentionally then they will tire of doing it. Trust me. A sore loser who quits early does not have the fortitude to constantly alt+f4 and reload the game every time they rage quit. They will weed themselves out over time. I'd rather have longer queue times and more quality WZs than insta-queue garbage play. I do not suffer from ADHD.

Is this a thread that is actually complaining about getting less for losing? Is it really? Maybe, just maybe, if they reward more for winning than losing people will actually start playing like a team. You know, playing intelligently, with proper specs and gear. You may wish to live in a cyber world that wallows in mediocrity. A cyber world where Daddy Bioware pats you on the back and rewards you for repeatedly sucking and losing. It's a multiplayer game. Make some friends. Practice together. Learn to win together. Have some pride in what you do, even if it's a silly video game. Stop playing it like it's a single player game, hoping the other 7 randoms on your team will carry you to victory or at least allow you to siphon valor/commendations off your terribad losses. This is not an epeen post. It's a call to have some self-respect. Pull up your pants, stop asking for handouts, and challenge yourself to actually earn what you're seeking through beating your opponents in PvP - something which is fundamentally a game of win or lose. There is no in between.

Too bad the damage isn't front loaded. You DO have to string out your damage through multiple tracer missiles in order to get the debuff that allows you to hit hard with HS. You guys act like HS is something that a Merc can lead with to magically reduce you to half health. Wrong. After a couple of tracers, and unload, and explosive dart, and maybe even a rapid shot, then I will throw the HS. Generally it still doesn't kill a well geared target. You end up having to finish them off with Rail Shot. I don't bother using HS on someone with > half health cause they will just shrug it off. Are you guys running around in lv 40 blues or what?

They just don't get it. They really don't. My HS crits went from 5k to about 5.6k. My tracer crits went from 3k to about 1.6-2.2k. Yes, overall we definitely do less damage. Now we have to work to finish people off with missile blasts, rapid shots, etc. No biggie, we learn to adapt. On a side note, I have really grown to enjoy getting a KB with rocket punch. In fact, I feel that if you kill someone with rocket punch it should delete their toon.

Before people start jumping on the bandwagon to qq about heatseeker, let's clear the air.... 1) Yes, heatseeker does more damage as per the patch notes, however it's a 15s cooldown so stop the qq. Nobody can spam it. Besides, it only really hits hard with 4-5 stacks on someone which means they stood still and ate 2-3 tracers. Shame on them. 2) The patch notes say "approximately" 10% less damage for tracer missile. Cute. It's more like 30-40% less damage, easy. Plus, the cast time was increased, and the talent that used to keep our heat down now lowers our cast time instead. Which means that for like the first time ever, Arsenal mercs can now face heat issues without a solid rotation. 3) Our +crit talent was HALVED. We have no real pvp defenses like powertechs, we don't have the mobility of pyros, so without a quick crit/surge burst to drop someone we don't have much of anything in the pvp field. People qq'ed and qq'ed to stop the tracer faceroll and you got your wish. Just because an arsenal merc can still kill you while you're fighting someone else doesn't mean we weren't effectively nerfed.

Twinking is an invalid argument against lower level brackets. Twinking in lower level brackets does not and could not exist. Why? 1) Bolster buff at lower levels (10-20 level gap) does equalize things tangibly 2) As others have pointed out, blue and purple gear is easily obtained 3) Most importantly, a player automagically levels out of a bracket BY GAINING XP Lowbie twinks only exist in an environment where you do NOT gain xp for pvp. They can then sit at the top of a bracket indefinitely and farm those who are newly entering the bracket. Earning xp for pvp and thus leveling out of brackets removes the concept of twinks as they will always, ALWAYS be pushed into the next higher bracket after winning some rounds. --- There needs to be some sort of bracketed system. It need not be as rigid as WoW or Rift with 10 level increments. There's nothing wrong with doing things differently, for example, 10-29 and 30-49. But 50s should only ever be allowed to pvp in warzones with other 50s. You never, ever turn the level cap population with their end gear upon the lowbies of the game unless we're talking about world pvp. Warzones, arenas and the like are meant to be competitive in the spirit of good sportsmanship and allowing players with end game gear to prey upon lowbies is just poor development strategy. The excuse that 50s would have no one to queue with in the short term is irrelevant. An MMO with a hopeful lifespan of several years should NEVER cater to the minority who wishes to powerlevel through the game with no respect for its content.