I think the problem is that the game is neither solo enough nor multiplayer enough. I'd like to see BW either allow us to take multiple companions with us, or make it much, much easier to group up. My preference would certainly be for the former.

This. The hate and vitriol that flies in that game is NOT the kind of community I'd want in a game I'm playing. The community is what made me leave LoL.

That's only if you also assume they play only one character. I have played every day since release, some days many hours, and I don't have a 50 yet. I do have a 47, 43, 37, 36, 32, etc. Why? I enjoy leveling. I like it better than the endgame. I very much enjoy character progression, and at endgame, that progression is either too slow (most MMOs) or over too fast (from what I've read about TOR's endgame). While leveling, my characters regularly and frequently get gear upgrades, and ability upgrades. In almost every MMO it's the endgame I like the least, because if you want to continue character progression, you have to jump on this once a week treadmill, and hope the RNG likes you that day. Really, what this post comes down to, is the old journey vs the destination argument. There's no correct answer for that, except to say, to each his own. So, for this player, it's certainly NOT all about the endgame.

I'm not bothered in the slightest. Acquiring the best in slot gear is the pinnacle of character progression in a gear-driven game (like most MMOs are). To lock that gear away behind a months-long, raiders-only fiesta is NOT something that all MMOs must have as their endgame. I, for one, applaud Bioware for not making it take dozens of wipes and the dedication akin to many rl jobs. Not all MMOs have to be that way.

Yep, I have to turn chat off for the same reason. Now if only Bioware would take that next step; scale all group missions to party size (1 to 8) and let us take multiple companions with us when we choose. That change alone would get me to sub for a year.

Or.... Level up a republic character? It's not that hard.

Why would anyone be bothered to do this?

My real concern isn't the current endgame, it's the future endgame. My fear is that future endgame content will take the form of nothing more than more raids that offer gear that is just slightly better than what the last batch had, and then the next expansion will be the same, and repeat ad nauseum. There's nothing wrong with current endgame difficulty. It's not made to be hardcore, nor does it need to be like every other MMO out there. What endgame needs is more to do besides raiding.

I sincerely hope this is true of TOR until they shut the servers off.

Another problem this causes is that when mobs drop green or even blue pieces, there's basically no point in even looking at it, I already know it's vendor trash cause it's inferior to what I already have. I think this takes a lot of potential fun out of leveling.

That's fair. I think it's equally fair to say that if this MMO had no PvE whatsoever, sales would be much, much less. My point is that a heavy PvE game always seems to have lame PvP, or vice versa. I wish the developers would stop trying to be everything to everyone.

Clearly there is too much sameness from one MMO to another. I think that games need to be both more focused and more generalized. They need to stop trying to be everything to everyone. If you're making a pvp-heavy game, then focus on making it excellent pvp, with pve as a side-game. Or make the reverse. Get rid of classes. Leveling, in whatever form it exists in, should allow a player to pick any power from a power tier. You want to build a non-specialized healer/tank/dps, go ahead. Make crafting interesting! Allow players to pick from a multitude of ingredients which each have a different potential effect on the outcome. Include randomness in the outcome. Make drops more interesting. I think one of the things that made D2 a success was the possibility that a great item could drop from one of many sources. This, I think, is much more fun than "Only Boss XYZ drops item GHI" Randomness should not be restricted to item drops. Have out of the way places where one day there might be nothing, then another a wandering merchant shows up with a wagon full of goodies to sell, or a ****** monster takes up residence and requires several players to take down, or a traveling circus comes to town, etc. Don't just have places to explore, have reasons to explore them Make a themepark game with LOTS of sandbox elements. An good amusement park has many things to do in it; rides, games, prizes, shops, etc. If the players feel like killing stuff and leveling, fine. But offer them many other things to do that are also fun.

Insulting the posting masses is not a good way to get helpful responses. Raids are exactly like group instances, only with 4 (or 12) more players, and added boss mechanics (read: tricks). - You group up - you go to the instance - you kill a bunch of trash that serves no purpose but to artificially inflate the instance length - sometimes you listen to a raid leader give you strats for a particular boss - you fight boss and (hopefully) win, argue over loot - repeat from the top Then you get locked out of the instance for a while. All MMOs have this same, boring pattern for raids.

Well, FWIW, my preference would've been to have NO PVP whatsoever in this game, and have raids as just one of several possible methods of endgame progression. Making best in slot gear available only through raids is a tired game mechanic that needs to either go away, or only be one method of acquiring it.

I think you made an honest and fair post. I'd like to respond to this part. As a soloer who hates raiding, I hate seeing group-only content. I wish every quest in every MMO would scale to group size, AND that at least ONE developer would have the nuts to create an MMO that allows me to make maximum endgame progression while soloing. That is, give me a way to acquire best in slot gear without forcing me to group to do so. As long as best in slot gear (read: meaningful endgame progression) is locked away behind forced-grouping instances, it doesn't matter how much else of the game is soloable, it's a forced grouping game IMO. You might as well say "Have all the cake you want, but no icing unless you group up."

Have you ever teamed with someone who pestered you to hit the space bar? Have you ever teamed with someone who can't wait for the healer to get his blue bar back, or people to heal up to full before pulling the next group? How about the teammate who goes afk for 20 minutes to have supper, or go to the store, or walk the dog? How about the ninja-looters who feel they have the right to roll need on anything and everything? Those are all good reasons. On top of that, I have never, ever joined an MMO for a reason other than to play the game. I have plenty of friends in RL, none of which are into MMOs. I don't join them to chat, or make friends, or even for the so-called joy of teaming with others. I know what I'm here for, I don't bug other people, and I'm not going to apologize because my definition of MMO doesn't match someone else's. Single player games I burn through in less than a week, MMOs take me much longer to go through. I just want to play the game, and I will resent anything that forces me to group up to do that. If they ever come out with a decent MMO that has a soloable endgame option, I'll sign up for years.

If they change nothing else in this game but add the OP's suggestion, I'll buy a year-long sub today. Best suggestion for this game ever.

This. Also, there's a crapton of rose-coloring that goes with the old game nostalgia. People only remember what they liked. As for me, I've been video-gaming since the 70's and I've no desire to go back to those days. AFAIC, MMOs aren't yet soloable enough. Grouping because you want to = great Grouping because it's the only way to make endgame progress = sucks

Almost all of your points are completely subjective. These two are flat out wrong. The monsters do move, they have animations where they pace. There are also plenty of mobs that patrol, usually 'strongs' or 'elites'. All the mobs have aggro range, just like Wow, and just about every other MMO. The aggro range is largely dependent upon your comparative level to them. If you are much lower level, that range is greater.

^Truth. I like a good book, but I can never go back to a quest-text based MMO.

None. I don't want to see any races added, ever. In this game, races are meaningless. Asking for more races is akin to asking for more starting costume options. Now, if races had bonuses/penalties AND had some bearing on the story, then I'd be all for 'em.

Make it possible for ALL datacrons to be acquired by ONE person. Improve the jumping controls. Other than that, I love the concept.

My only complaint is that, yet again, this seems like a change made for PvP that adversely affects PvE. Not by much, granted, but ffs STOP MAKING PVP CHANGES THAT AFFECT PVE. Making changes for one should never affect the other. In any game.

I'll be here for a while yet. Haven't finished a single story line, even though I've been playing every day. So far I've found exactly one datacron. So, once I've finished all the class stories, and got all the datacrons I can get solo, then I'll see about unsubbing.

At least up until endgame. I'm still waiting for ONE mmo to allow me to not put BIS gear locked behind group-only combat. As to this thread, when EVERY quest in the game has a soloable option, then we can talk. If there's even one group-required quest, it's not single player.