They changed it back when numbers where at an all time low because some brackets didn't have anyone doing them. I understand the reason why however I didn't agree then and I don't agree now. There are people that say the current system is fine but either they don't want to see the issues that are or all their characters are max level and fully geared and they haven't had to try to do PvP while leveling in years.

For you, casual PvP doesn't exist but for me - unranked = casual. Casual doesn't mean it's not competitive, that's a different thing all together. The difference in unranked and ranked for me is that unranked never ends, ranked has a ladder, it ends sometime and when it does - there is a ranking. It's unlikely that we will agree on this part so let's just let it go. You are very hung up on this that I for some reason don't want to be competitive and that's not what I'm saying at all. If I didn't want to be competitive, would I even raise the issues I'm having? No, I would just not PvP anymore or find a game where the system I'm looking for exists but I'm here and this is where I tend to stay. PvP in this game used to be about learning vs people of equal level and gear, each time you reach a new bracket you learn how to use the new skills in an effective way - when you take that away you get the situation you have now. Hell, people don't even talk anymore in PvP and when someone does it's just to throw out insults at the own team or the premade on the other team. I get that this experience varies but that has been my experience so far in the past month or so that I've been playing. I use the term max level quite loosely here, but like I said - if you are level 50 and decide to do some PvP, even if you are very skilled you are at a huge disadvantage when you meet someone that is level 73, even with bolster active and it shows. My point is, why even have bolster if you're still going to get **** on because you don't have the proper stats? And it's not only about getting killed in a stunlock, it's also hitting like half a wet noodle against superior geared people, even if you can balance it out with your personal skill you will lose vs a person of equal skill level if they have a few levels on you. When playing my 75 merc, I'm fine with getting my *** handed to me sometimes - I sort of expect it to happen because even as a 75 my item level isn't really up to par and I will suffer for it. That's fine but my lvl 50 shouldn't have to fight level 75's - That's all I'm saying. Now I see a lot of people complaining about new players using master datacron to reach max level quickly and therefor not learning how to use their skills properly in PvE situations, this apply to PvP too in it's current format - Leveling to 80 and jumping into PvP without knowing how it works puts you at a great disadvantage, a disadvantage you used to be able to offset by learning a little here and there as you leveled up. I'm still doing PvP but maybe not as much as I would like to due to the issues I'm having with the current system. I know it's not likely to change anytime soon or ever but I can still raise a discussion about it and see if there are others with a similar train of thought.

It really is that simple but the people that play in premades, be it just group with their friends or carefully thought out comp don't want that to happen. They want to be able to stomp the non premades, that's why they don't want this to change. You can sometimes see a premade leave because there's another premade in the match and they know they're better. They just rather take the 15 mins wait than get a loss on their stats. I don't really have a problem with premades, I'm used to them from my years in wow and you can beat almost any premade if you just decide to work together, someone has to lead and give instructions tho... My problems with swtor pvp lies elsewhere.

You still miss the point by quite a big margin. Learning how to pvp well is part of the game, I understand this but forcing low levels to play with/agains't max levels in optimized gear isn't the right way of doing it. A lot of us like to pvp while leveling to learn little by little and steadily improve as you gain levels and character power. This is impossible in SWTOR because you can't be competitive below max level, it's just not possible. Even if you're skilled, the lack of abilities compared to those that are max level hinders you from this. This is why brackets is a thing in other mmo's. Now you don't need to have 10-19, 20-29 etc brackets. You level too quickly in swtor for that to happen but 10-39, 40-69, 70-79 and then 80's by themselves could be a way. Probably has to tune the brackets a bit to make it work but it's just a quick list on how it could look that would serve the pvp community a lot better than having 80's stomp on people that never stood a chance due to gear and ability difference. This game used to have brackets and it was a very fun time back then, you got your *** handed to you by higher skilled people but at least they were around your level, not 40 levels above you. Now, I don't do ranked pvp anymore - I simply don't have the time but I do enjoy casual pvp (and unranked is meant to be casual) for some fun and I don't mind losing to better player, be it better in skill or organization. What bothers me is the massive power level difference there is atm when you want to pvp at say lvl 50 for a day instead of pushing on with story missions. I want to be able to pvp and have a good time, winning or losing doesn't matter (prefer winning ofc duh) but getting stomped, and I do mean completely stomped is neither fun or teaching me anything other than yeah, let's not do pvp until you have 306+ ilvl cuz that's the only way you'll be able to survive. It's a dumb system and it doesn't benefit the community at all. A lot of people that are interested in pvp gets put off it because of the reasons I mentioned above and earlier and instead of trying again at max level they just leave it all together and either focus on PvE or move to another game where the pvp is more balanced along the entire leveling process.

I get a lot more arenas than warzones, I don't really play during prime time hours so that's 100% the reason. I wouldn't mind being able to filter them out and have longer queues. I really don't like the arena format, at all.

It's not fair but we're not supposed to say anything cuz it will hurt the elitists feelings that want to stomp on newbies without effort cuz it's tied to their e-peen somehow.

You miss out on a big point here and that is having fun while learning. Getting stomped isn't having fun while learning. Never has, never will. PvP is also something that you should be able to do on all levels, not just max with with optimized gear. That's what ranked pvp is for, casual pvp is just that - casual and should be available for everyone to enjoy. There's a reason every other MMO out there has level brackets, so that people can learn while leveling, figure it out as you get stronger and higher level. Not becoming overwhelmed with everything and trying to figure it out while getting globaled by premades. But I'll humor you, please tell me what you learn during that 3 second window that you're stun locked and killed, over and over and over and over and over by a group of people that out gear you on every level.

Yeah I'm not new to swtor pvp but I haven't played the game in a while and haven't pvp'd since hybrid builds were a thing back at lvl 50 so it's basically like I'm a newbie once again. I deffo hit like a wet noodle, but it's more than that. You can see 1 person standing their ground vs 3 or 4 other people sometimes, just winning the fight and that shouldn't be possible unless you have a pocket healer. There are a lot of small things that turns into a big issue when you try to learn how to pvp in the current system. I understand it turned into this because of dwindling player numbers but frankly, there needs to be low level brackets. You can't slap a lvl 50 player with lvl 80 players in the best gear and expect the outcome to be balanced, you just can't and it makes it very unfair and yes I know, pvp isn't fair but it should be more fair than it is now. You don't learn anything when you get stomped by people that outgear you greatly, you just don't.

I'm really struggling in trying to figure PvP out in this game. I haven't really found my class yet I think so still messing around but I'm all dps, melee or ranged doesn't really matter. What gets me is that some people are just so difficult to kill, it doesn't have to be a tank even. Just stand there and take everything I can throw at them and they just shrug it off and then kill me in seconds. Granted I'm not lvl 80 yet, my merc is 75 which is the highest and the rest are lvl 50 so there's def a l2p issue involved in most situations. The merc is also the class I've had the best results with so far, it's fairly straight forward to play but it still feels like the field is very uneven.

Bye.

That's the danger of PvP, especially in warzones - You don't always get the 1v1. You can still survive for a long time, unless you're like me and haven't played in a hot minute and panic and start mashing buttons. That will cause you to die real quick.

Only reason I hate pvp in this game is the arena matches. I'm not an arena player, I stopped pvp'ing in wow when arena became the meta. It doesn't fit my playstyle and while that's fine - It makes me not want to do pvp in swtor anymore when all I get when trying to get some casual pvp in is arena matches. After I came back to the game I haven't seen a single warzone map pop, it's only arena and I'm insta leaving them at this point. I'll take a premade in every warzone map ever over arena all day, every day.

Fixed it for you since not everyone plays republic and don't know the mirror classes

If you don't want to rely on others to progress your character then sadly an MMO is not for you dude. I'm a father and an ex husband and while I do not raid anymore it used to be a big part of my MMO life to prepare and execute raids with my friends (both ingame and irl). An MMO caters to so many opinions and playstyles but if you want the best gear, the coolest speeders and so on you need to pucker up for a big *** kiss and join the raids or ranked pvp. Getting everything that raiders get or that ranked pvp players get for free without effort kills a game. Maybe not at once but slowly it will decay until all the raiders and ranked pvp'ers has left the game for something else and left standing alone is the casual player in his/hers shiny armor with absolutely nothing to do. Personally, I would love to get all that gear I see lvl 55's use. Some sets are so cool that I get an e-***** everytime. Will I get it? Probably not, maybe some of the PvP gear since that is my scene but not likely to get into ranked games anytime soon but this does not discourage me from playing the game. Anywho, most people these days buy the armor sets from Cartel Market anyways and buy mods for commendations. To sum it up.. If you want to mod your gear with raid mods, get your butt into a raid group. If you want that expertise in your gear for pvp, then get your butt into a pvp group. Easy, simple and it gives you something to do while the kids and wife are sleeping.

I don't mind the change to CL proc seeing I already play full madness. The extra root I get is worth it. Sure the damage is lower, but I have more control over every fight and don't have to rely on that proc to prevail. Kiting is easy in madness spec

Snipers are exellent in PvP but any half decent melee will most of the times totally destroy you, especially at lower levels. When you get a bit higher and get more talent points to spend and learn how to utilize your abilities and surroundings it will get better. Just hang in there and practise and the next time you duel him you will see the difference

I play for fun! I actually enjoy the pvp in this game. It's not the mindless grind like other games and the gear difference is not that huge. As a moddable/cent geared sorc it's difficult fighting some BM's but it's totally doable. Just need to be smart, watch your surroundings and use whatever you can to come out on top(wich most of the times won't happen). Every time I go into a warzone I learn something new about my class and others. I learn new ways to counter the others and when my gear matches them it will be awesome

As a fresh 50 and currently at a gear disadvantage I can easily say it's you that is the problem if you belive that imperial forces is stronger. I queue solo, but always end up with a premade on my side and atleast one on repub side. Depending on wich people I get on my team and its a fight vs repub team I would say the win/loss ratio is about 50/50. The repub team tends to win huttball most of the times but voidstar and civil war it evens out. Regardless of what you and other people think the Empire is not stronger in PvP. Sorc is not more powerful then sage etc. You just need to learn how to utilize your abilities, play with your team and talk through tactics before the game starts. Who goes where, who carries the ball and so on. I play sorc, when I hit 50 I was using the hybrid build 0/13/28 but without expertise and low hp it was pretty useless. After some experimenting I found a build that works and when I get up to champion gear level I'll try my old spec again to see how it pans out. Just so you know, Battlemaster rank/gear does not equal skill in this game. 75% of the players at that rank or higher explioted their way to get it. I'm not the best pvp'er, I would place myself on slightly higher then averege scale. I've faced several BM geared players and it's mostly their gear that saves them in a 1 on 1 battle. Like I said in another thread, when I come face to face with someone actually worthy of wearing the gear and have 60+ valor rank they totally obliterate me. It's quite easy to spot the difference in skill level and it has nothing to do with wich faction you play...

I don't agree. Healers gets focused pretty fast in this game, I for one tend to stay on the outskirts of the fight and use obstacles to my advantage so that they don't notice where the heals are coming from. (when I can) I do however use my dot since I'm a strange hybrid build so I use it as a slow but my damage in a full duration game never gets higher then 30k or so. There have been games, especially Huttball when I've been told to focus heals on one person (I queue solo) and that is usually a premade ballcarrier. I rarely do anything else then and there have been games that I have 0 damage done, but a ton of healing on that one person, following him everywhere. It's highly situational from game to game what you get to do.

Tbh who cares if champion gear will be available for credits? There is still a difference between BM gear and Champion gear. It's kinda fun tho, my main just hit 50 the other day and it's so easy outplaying those that exploited their way to BM gear... However.. When you do meet someone that actually is worthy of wearing it.. You get totally pummeled Fun times

Why is that? Just because you can do damage as a healer there is no law stating that you have to. It's nice to see some healers actually doing their job to the fullest and not running off trying to dps down someone when they could be healing instead. And FYI, not every sorc out there uses a hybrid build

Nvm, just got home from work.

I would quit on purpose to get Ragequitter title tbh I would even level a toon named Rage, get legacyname Quitter Rage Quitter Ragequitter would be awesome

Personally I don't want arena in this game, however I can understand that others do. I wouldn't mind BW adding arenas as long as it was for e-peen only. Cosmetical rewards only (like social gear) No special stats or so, just moddable gear without mods so the arena junkies can stroke their e-peen with having something extra. I enjoyed arenas in WoW originally, but when they started to force people into arenas to gain access to the best gear, that's where in my opinion they failed. Arena should be an e-peen game, e-sport or whatever with some rewards but not end game rewards. PvPers comes in different flavors, some like world pvp, some like warzones and some like arenas.. Those that like all the above are rare. I enjoy world pvp and warzones, and it would be a total bummer if I get forced into something I don't enjoy to be able to compete in my areas...

Thank you Jinnz. Playing MMO's is all about personal fun and when I decided to level my merc only via PvP I need to have fun doing it. PvP leveling is really slow compared to questing/space missions but I learn alot wich will help me at 50 later on. If this requires trying different builds along the way, even some that may or may not work that is my choice. Will look into your suggestion, not all that different from what I roll with now.