Comps are fine. Level Sync is fine. Having a blast. Stop overreacting.

[TravelersWay]

Actually, you are looking for most EFFICIENT way to solve problems. Because moving launch date for a year just to accomodate few players isnt really an option to effectively have SAME thing.

 

Obviously BioWare chose the quick and easy method of offsetting the level gains from the "critical path." Some are fine with how it is now; others are not. Only time will tell how things pan out.

 

Such as?

 

I have already provided thoughts on why it is effective, yet, you say it isn't because... you say so?

 

Pfft...

Actually these points were discussed in much detail before the announcement of the level syncing became official. There were many good points to be had on both sides, but the conclusion is still the same - there are proven methods of dealing with many of the issues better than the level syncing as implemented in its current form in this game.

[Djiini]

Neither addressed the real problems with the game, that is the reality of it. The "I'm loving the game today" crowd keeps thinking that the critics just hate level sync, but that really isn't it. It is the lack of new content, the lack of PvP maps, the lack of GSF maps, the lack of new operations, the lack of new flashpoints (that require a group, Star Fort is easy to solo in heroic mode).

 

How about I tell you what I see?

 

I see a group of people who picked the wrong MMO. Who can't understand that the vast majority--no matter what statistics or lackthereof that group can throw at me--wanted KOTOR 3, and now we're getting KOTOR 11 with KOTFE. A group who refuses to admit that TOR's PVP sucks. That GSF sucks. Level Sync, Companions--it doesn't matter. It's just a symptom of that kind of blindness.

 

Go play a different game if you want intensive raiding or player-vs-player or minigames. That isn't what Bioware does well. They tried it your way and it sucked.

[ZionHalcyon]

I'm not actually, you just are taking the short view, while I posted about the long view...

 

Those people probably never did a world boss before, lots of people are in fact doing them for the first time. That's fine, but it won't last.

 

This expansion, even early access, is less than a month old, the people cheering its praises are all looking at that short term. Those of us who have been around the block before know what is coming. The servers are already growing quiet, the populations are already returning to pre-4.0 levels. Give it until the end of November and see if it honestly holds.

 

Be honest with yourself, look at the game around Thanksgiving and see if it still seems as busy. I predict it won't be, due to there actually not being much new to do, it is simply recycled content with some varnish to look new, without being new.

 

By the end of the year, the servers will be as dead, if not more dead than pre-4.0.

 

Each time a story expansion comes out, there will be a burst of activity for a week, but not as much as today.

 

 

 

Again, you THINK you are taking the long view, but the issue is, as you said yourself, you aren't BioWare's target audience any more. Therefore, your long view is not really accurate. Put yourself in the place of the newcomers, and THEIR long-view, and you'll see what I am telling you is more relevant to both the short AND the long term.

 

 

Look. I know the changes have alienated you, and while I love the changes, I get the frustration that comes with something you enjoy being taken away - pre-CU Armorsmith from SWG here, so I REALLY get that. However, the changes on the whole are whats better and healthier for the game and to bring in more people to play it.

 

You are no longer their target audience. Hell, neither am I for that matter, even though I love the changes - I can be real about that.

 

It's all about the casuals now, and really, that's how it should be, if they want the revenues to build on success.

 

Which is why I don't think any of it is changing back. Its adapt or die time, and I am adapting quite nicely and loving it, but I respect those having a hard time with it. I just don't respect the veiled cries of rollback or the cries of nerf - not when the game finally is living up to its true potential.

[TX_Angel]

And that's the point, and yes it is true - it is jarring to people who hate change and are used to doing things a certain way.

 

You keep thinking that it is the change that is the problem. You are so focused on that, you can't hear anything else...

 

Level sync, meh, whatever, it doesn't actually have that big of an effect, you still stomp everything anyway.

 

It is the lack of group content that kills it for the old timers. No, I do not want to run Hammer Station again. No, I do not want to run Terror from Beyond again.

[TX_Angel]

So say you lose 20% of the old timers. But say you gain 33% in subs from people coming back and new people. Sorry, but that's a net gain.

 

Of course it is, because you made up the numbers...

 

I've posted my prediction, we shall see what happens...

[Halinalle]

"Level sync takes progression from us!"

"Level sync takes our overpower from us!"

 

Let's see:

- No companion

- Crappy gear, no augments

- I mess up my rotation multiple times, it's bad rotation anyway

 

Not really...

[TX_Angel]

How about I tell you what I see?

 

I see a group of people who picked the wrong MMO. Who can't understand that the vast majority--no matter what statistics or lackthereof that group can throw at me--wanted KOTOR 3, and now we're getting KOTOR 11 with KOTFE. A group who refuses to admit that TOR's PVP sucks. That GSF sucks. Level Sync, Companions--it doesn't matter. It's just a symptom of that kind of blindness.

 

Go play a different game if you want intensive raiding or player-vs-player or minigames. That isn't what Bioware does well. They tried it your way and it sucked.

 

Then they should release KOTOR 3 and be done with it... Frankly, they could, this expansion might as well be a single player game.

 

$15/month is $180 a year, for the story content you're getting, that is a really, really horrible deal. People will figure that out. Sure, they may sub for 1 month a year to play the prior year's content, but is that a good business plan for Bioware?

 

This is of course why the expansion can't be purchased and is sub only, because Bioware knows that huge numbers of subs would just go F2P to play it. Nothing the sub gives you is needed to play the story, so why pay it?

 

That is why it isn't for sale directly.

[Djiini]

Then they should release KOTOR 3 and be done with it... Frankly, they could, this expansion might as well be a single player game.

 

$15/month is $180 a year, for the story content you're getting, that is a really, really horrible deal. People will figure that out. Sure, they may sub for 1 month a year to play the prior year's content, but is that a good business plan for Bioware?

 

This is of course why the expansion can't be purchased and is sub only, because Bioware knows that huge numbers of subs would just go F2P to play it. Nothing the sub gives you is needed to play the story, so why pay it?

 

That is why it isn't for sale directly.

 

I don't care about the logistics or how 'good of a deal' it is. I really don't. This is just what most of the playerbase is, and I'm sure someone will see this and ask me to prove it, but hey. I'll be here next week. Will they? Will you?

[ZionHalcyon]

Obviously BioWare chose the quick and easy method of offsetting the level gains from the "critical path." Some are fine with how it is now; others are not. Only time will tell how things pan out.

 

 

Actually these points were discussed in much detail before the announcement of the level syncing became official. There were many good points to be had on both sides, but the conclusion is still the same - there are proven methods of dealing with many of the issues better than the level syncing as implemented in its current form in this game.

 

There is of course more than one way to skin a cat. But this is how they already decided to implement it. At this point, that's like debating whether a pitcher should have thrown a curve ball or a fast ball to a batter after he already struck the batter out.

[Jadescythe]

Er, that's a lame point. Didn't want to do world bosses in the first place? Players are HAVING FUN doing world bosses now. Seems to me it was nothing against world bosses, but that the fun to reward ratio for them wasn't worthwhile, and now that it is, people are doing them happily.

 

Step out of your own argument for a sec and see how silly that argument looks.

 

I just don't see what you're seeing. I've seen plenty of guildies looking for groups to do a WB, but none of them actually wanted to do them. They just wanted Qyzen and didn't want to farm Hoth to do it. I have not seen discussion anywhere about world bosses being so much more fun now, just people complaining they don't want to do them on every character because it's a chore.

[Pagy]

Its not hard. Just look at posts, and see its all different people praising the game, and all the same people criticizing it.

 

If you are asking proof beyond that, then you are just being anal for the sake of being anal, and not because of a lack of "proof".

really because i see the same 5 people making multiple thraeds and posts on how good the game is.

 

*see how easy that is?

[Reno_Tarshil]

really because i see the same 5 people making multiple thraeds and posts on how good the game is.

 

*see how easy that is?

 

Yay, I'm not included in those 5.

[TX_Angel]

Look. I know the changes have alienated you, and while I love the changes, I get the frustration that comes with something you enjoy being taken away - pre-CU Armorsmith from SWG here, so I REALLY get that. However, the changes on the whole are whats better and healthier for the game and to bring in more people to play it.

 

You aren't listening... You keep reading what you want to read, but your replies tell me you must be a reasonable person, so I'll try again.

 

Nothing I enjoy was taken away. None of the changes ruined the game for me. That is not the problem.

 

I loved playing the expansion story, it was wonderful. Once. It was kinda ok the second time. It was boring the third.

 

Regarding crafting, I'm a master crafter who had almost everything unlocked pre-3.0. I lost a lot in 4.0, but meh, whatever, change happens and the reality is that I lost a lot of OLD things that I wasn't using anyway. Even the 186 stuff like augments? Meh, I wasn't going to craft them again anyway, so who cares?

 

Soloing world bosses? I did it once each for the achievement, I did it a few times for conquest points, otherwise I never bothered. The fact that I can't solo them today bothers me not at all.

 

Ops and FP scaled up? That's fine, at least it makes them interesting, this change doesn't bother me.

 

Level sync? Thanks to our super hero companions, it means nothing, everything is just as easy as it was.

 

It's all about the casuals now, and really, that's how it should be, if they want the revenues to build on success.

 

Is this game simple enough for the REALLY casuals to pickup and play? I get the chase of casuals, they are a far bigger market than hard core raiders. But even in "easy mode", this game is shockingly complex, all the changes help, but don't really address the overall design of the game.

 

I see the attempt to make it easier, the move to "purple missions" helps, except that the only way to know what purple means is to read patch notes or come here, which casuals probably don't do. The actual "in-game" help still sucks.

 

Which is why I don't think any of it is changing back. Its adapt or die time, and I am adapting quite nicely and loving it, but I respect those having a hard time with it. I just don't respect the veiled cries of rollback or the cries of nerf - not when the game finally is living up to its true potential.

 

Again, you aren't hearing me. I'm not asking for a rollback, in fact I honestly don't think most people are. (a few really loud ones maybe, but I honestly thing they are indeed "few").

 

You claim to be a long time player, and that may be true, but you also sound like you're doing new things, which means you haven't actually played all that much. Time of sub and time in game are two different things.

 

I have at least 2 of every class, I have more than 22 toons at lvl 60 or higher, there is no longer anything in the game that I haven't done. It has been too long now since new content came out, the expansion story aside. But that took 2 days to finish going slowly and taking it all in.

 

That is the real problem, nothing new to do with friends, no reason to group for anything... just the grind of alliance, nothing more or less...

 

This isn't even a case of "Bioware can't produce enough story to keep you busy", because it isn't about story. When did we get our last PvP map? Our last GSF map? Our last operation? Our last flash point? (no, Star Fort doesn't count, that is solo content and it can't be queued for in GF)

 

That is what is missing. I don't really care one way or another about the issues that you think I do.

[ZionHalcyon]

really because i see the same 5 people making multiple thraeds and posts on how good the game is.

 

*see how easy that is?

 

The thing is, I could take 20 minutes and grab those names and post them.

 

You could try to do the same, and then I could take another 20 minutes and post another 50 names you "forgot" to include.

 

Then you'd come up with some really lame way to be dismissive of the fact that you were wrong and still claim to be right. Which would have meant I wasted 40 minutes of my life arguing with someone determined not to be wrong.

 

Pardon me if I use that 40 minutes in a more productive manner.

[Pagy]

The irony is that I'm the one in reality, you are not.

 

You think I want a rollback? The game wasn't healthy a month ago in 3.x, rolling anything back won't fix anything.

 

Level sync, no level sync, it actually doesn't matter. Comps low power or high power, also doesn't matter.

 

Neither addressed the real problems with the game, that is the reality of it. The "I'm loving the game today" crowd keeps thinking that the critics just hate level sync, but that really isn't it. It is the lack of new content, the lack of PvP maps, the lack of GSF maps, the lack of new operations, the lack of new flashpoints (that require a group, Star Fort is easy to solo in heroic mode).

 

I see the upsides to level sync, but it didn't fix the problem. Rolling it back won't fix the problem. It has nothing to do with what the problem is. Group content is badly lacking. Without it, this isn't a MMO, it is a single player game you must sub to.

 

It sounds like you haven't figured that out yet, but a lot of the newer people will in the coming months. Then they'll wonder why they are paying $15/month to play a single player game.

^ well said

[ZionHalcyon]

You aren't listening... You keep reading what you want to read, but your replies tell me you must be a reasonable person, so I'll try again.

 

Nothing I enjoy was taken away. None of the changes ruined the game for me. That is not the problem.

 

I loved playing the expansion story, it was wonderful. Once. It was kinda ok the second time. It was boring the third.

 

Regarding crafting, I'm a master crafter who had almost everything unlocked pre-3.0. I lost a lot in 4.0, but meh, whatever, change happens and the reality is that I lost a lot of OLD things that I wasn't using anyway. Even the 186 stuff like augments? Meh, I wasn't going to craft them again anyway, so who cares?

 

Soloing world bosses? I did it once each for the achievement, I did it a few times for conquest points, otherwise I never bothered. The fact that I can't solo them today bothers me not at all.

 

Ops and FP scaled up? That's fine, at least it makes them interesting, this change doesn't bother me.

 

Level sync? Thanks to our super hero companions, it means nothing, everything is just as easy as it was.

 

 

 

Is this game simple enough for the REALLY casuals to pickup and play? I get the chase of casuals, they are a far bigger market than hard core raiders. But even in "easy mode", this game is shockingly complex, all the changes help, but don't really address the overall design of the game.

 

I see the attempt to make it easier, the move to "purple missions" helps, except that the only way to know what purple means is to read patch notes or come here, which casuals probably don't do. The actual "in-game" help still sucks.

 

 

 

Again, you aren't hearing me. I'm not asking for a rollback, in fact I honestly don't think most people are. (a few really loud ones maybe, but I honestly thing they are indeed "few").

 

You claim to be a long time player, and that may be true, but you also sound like you're doing new things, which means you haven't actually played all that much. Time of sub and time in game are two different things.

 

I have at least 2 of every class, I have more than 22 toons at lvl 60 or higher, there is no longer anything in the game that I haven't done. It has been too long now since new content came out, the expansion story aside. But that took 2 days to finish going slowly and taking it all in.

 

That is the real problem, nothing new to do with friends, no reason to group for anything... just the grind of alliance, nothing more or less...

 

This isn't even a case of "Bioware can't produce enough story to keep you busy", because it isn't about story. When did we get our last PvP map? Our last GSF map? Our last operation? Our last flash point? (no, Star Fort doesn't count, that is solo content and it can't be queued for in GF)

 

That is what is missing. I don't really care one way or another about the issues that you think I do.

 

 

I get ya, although really, accusing me of not really playing the game is silly, especially when I already have said I have been here from the beginning, have completed NiM raids, etc. I've been a sub since day 1, and indicated I have legendary status, which means I've beaten the game on all professions pre 4.0. So yeah, I've been around. Me enjoying the changes has nothing to do with being naïve of what the game was - as I know exactly what it was, and think it is better now.

 

I do admit, I perhaps did conflate your opinion with some of those you are supporting who are in essence, if not directly are saying the things I accused you of. I suppose in that case it was less about you and more about the "friends" you keep, at least in this thread. For that, I apologize.

 

On the subject of when the last time you received add ons, I get it. But here's the deal - BioWare, for all the lack of communication they give, they DID communicate to not expect anything new in that arena for THIS patch. The changes were so massive that it required the full team to pull off.

 

But given that upcoming patches should be more content-focused and not focus so much on fundamental system changes, I do think that you WILL get those things eventually. The wait might be hard, but I do think you will see a day when PvP gets more regular updates now, OPs gets more regular updates, etc. I do think GSF was a flop and will not be touched going forward other than adding ships, much like the original SWTOR Space Missions.

 

I think in a post 4.0 world, those things will come, albeit I could see them being something like a year out to get things in a regular production cadence following 4.0. In the meantime, I get it, the wait is hard, and at times you wonder if it will ever come at all.

 

That much I can respect, even if the majority is satisfied with the changes.

[Pagy]

The thing is, I could take 20 minutes and grab those names and post them.

 

You could try to do the same, and then I could take another 20 minutes and post another 50 names you "forgot" to include.

 

Then you'd come up with some really lame way to be dismissive of the fact that you were wrong and still claim to be right. Which would have meant I wasted 40 minutes of my life arguing with someone determined not to be wrong.

 

Pardon me if I use that 40 minutes in a more productive manner.

whereas in reality there are plenty of people who like and hate the game and making a statement such as "its only a handfull of people" is both self-fulfilling, clearly incorrect and wholly pointless.

 

but keep on making that claim, whatever you need to do man. if you need to make stuff up to support your opinion instead of just having an opinion then go ahead.

[Djiini]

whereas in reality there are plenty of people who like and hate the game and making a statement such as "its only a handfull of people" is both self-fulfilling, clearly incorrect and wholly pointless.

 

but keep on making that claim, whatever you need to do man. if you need to make stuff up to support your opinion instead of just having an opinion then go ahead.

 

Good comeback, you sure showed him.

 

I am being sarcastic.

[ZionHalcyon]

whereas in reality there are plenty of people who like and hate the game and making a statement such as "its only a handfull of people" is both self-fulfilling, clearly incorrect and wholly pointless.

 

but keep on making that claim, whatever you need to do man. if you need to make stuff up to support your opinion instead of just having an opinion then go ahead.

 

See?

 

I saved myself 40 minutes of my personal time and still got the same answer I would have gotten otherwise.

 

Thanks for proving me right.

 

 

Oh, and you go ahead and stick with your opinion.

 

I at least know Forbes has got my back.

[Katahn]

Pre-4.0 I made sure to keep my companions' gear current. Every 4-8 levels I'd get them fresh blue mods to the adaptive armor I'd put them in. Was pretty easy to do actually, between bonus class rewards and doing daily flashpoints I was easily swimming in the necessary comms.

 

Then at 60 I'd go to Yavin and once a week get one of them in fresh gear that exceeded anything I could get since I don't do operations.

 

Companions now compared to then? Not really any noticeable difference to me. The only thing that feels "powerful" is being able to switch their role on the fly between combats. Maybe they are too powerful in certain cases or circumstances, but overall I haven't seen evidence of people AFK and letting their companion do all the work, maybe I'm just oblivious though.

 

For my money I'm enjoying it, and I will continue to play it. For the record I'm a Founder, max legacy, and legendary, so here's one veteran player who is in favor of it.

[Pagy]

See?

 

I saved myself 40 minutes of my personal time and still got the same answer I would have gotten otherwise.

 

Thanks for proving me right.

of course you were right; my entire point was i could say the exact same thing about you. you haven't figured that out yet, which is fine i guess. until you do, i'm stuck having to remind you every single time you make this unsupported claim about "x number of people in every thread" nonsense because the same erroneous statement can be said about you.

 

 

Oh, and you go ahead and stick with your opinion.

 

I at least know Forbes has got my back.

i just watched this brief vid. i don't necessarily disagree with anything stated in it. except it being a large expansion. it's remarkably small.

 

it surmises the 5 hours of content that was added on oct 27 and features for new players. good on them?

[Jadescythe]

See?

 

I saved myself 40 minutes of my personal time and still got the same answer I would have gotten otherwise.

 

Thanks for proving me right.

 

 

Oh, and you go ahead and stick with your opinion.

 

I at least know Forbes has got my back.

 

Literally facepalmed. This is one of the worst reviews ever and the Redditors who commented on the post you got this from agree.

[Jumajin]

Literally facepalmed. This is one of the worst reviews ever and the Redditors who commented on the post you got this from agree.

 

I agree. It's also written and submitted by a Forbes contributor, not a Forbes reporter, which is a huge difference in credibility. Just like the other contributor that called World of Warcraft in its final days because Activision, moving forward, will no longer be providing actual subscription numbers. Never mind that with the $20 WoW Tokens and other microtransactions, WoW's sub numbers are no longer indicative of actual revenue, anyway.

 

But just another example of the credability of the Forbes video game contributors.

 

Reading a Forbes Contributor is like putting stock into IGN or Massively.

 

And that's not saying I dislike KoTFE, because as a whole, I do not. I just dislike a couple parts of it, huge difference. But that can be said for any MMO expansion.

[RoboArthurDayne]

I can say levelling has been supremely fun and its actually nice how free and easy it is, as I don't feel like I NEED to do something to level - I just play the game, and the levelling almost happens naturally. There is no barriers now from me enjoying the story, which I feel is what makes this game set apart from other MMOs.

 

I find that is also what I am experiencing since official access (I didn't have early access), the level sync & companion power scaling makes for a pretty smooth and fun dynamic and normally I play tank but switched out my toons to dps and healing while having my companion do the tanking.

 

The newfound freedom of instantly porting to heroic missions and just doing them is great, the flexibility from this freedom is something that is made possible because companions are now tough enough to tank, mighty healers and strong dps.

 

The level syncing keeps the fights from being 1 shot kill affairs so there's still a need for me to go through damage rotations or risk wasting precious time because the companions are not so powerful that they will kill in seconds. I was disappointed though with the terrible armor/defense/mitigation stats for companions when trying to get them to tank Star Fortress Heroics- I finally got Lana to level 50 influence by burning through two alts worth of stored crystals buying companion gifts, farming heroic missions etc and was rather disappointed at how unspectacular she still was...

 

From now on I'll just leave most of my companions around 20-30 influence max since I have to leave them as healers anyway when doing Star Fortress Heroics, their dps/hp isn't so powerful at 50 influence to risk putting them in a stance other than heals. Other than that, level 15 influence companions are good enough for weekly heroic missions and general questing so I am pretty happy for the most part.

 

Saves a lot of time too- wish there was an instant port clicky for all quests

[ZionHalcyon]

The point is, a Forbes-vetted person posted that, and the article was straightforward, and not bombastic or over the top.

 

The only thing that has me facepalming is you guys ripping a Forbes review for essentially having an opinion different than yours. Right, like we should trust your opinion over someone Forbes lets post reviews for them...