Why the new gearing system is likely the death knell for long-time guilds

[GigasDK]

Let me start off by saying I've been here for a very long time, since that seems to be how everyone establishes merit these days. I created this account around 6 months before the game was released. I was one of the first rounds of closed beta for the game, and yes I remember all the famous beta quirks like pink boots. I've been subbed continuously since launch, etc. I'm not one of the OG 2008 Ubermensch, but I've basically played the game since non-Bioware Friends & Family could physically have a chance of accessing it.

 

I not here to rant or rave. It should be obvious from my forum account that I don't post very much. I'm here to logically and reasonably lay out why I believe Command Gearing has a decent chance to be the final straw in SWTOR's tenuous relationship with guilds.

 

I like to think of my guild as a dipstick for the state of SWTOR as a whole. We're a large, multi-game organization that had an absolutely massive contingent at launch. Over the years, we've dwindled as people get pulled away to other games, and SWTOR offered less and less for individual guildmembers.

 

RPers? Slowly left over a lack of story content and the recent shift away from any sort of "traditional" Star Wars story - i.e. Zakuul.

 

PVPers? Slowly left over a lack of new WZs, no true replacement for the large-scale PVP that Illum once promised, and a general lack of attention from the dev team - lackluster season rewards, etc.

 

The casual members who drift between games and came to SWTOR for the story? Subbed long enough to knock out KoTFE and left.

 

What was left for my guild, and what has kept the chapter together was twofold: the simple IP of Star Wars, and an enjoyment of classic MMO PvE Gearing - essentially Ops, since FPs were ever only a stepping stone to them.

 

Now, there's a whole other argument to be made how the removal of Empire Vs. Republic story in favor of this generic, homogenous Zakuul story dilutes the staying power of the Star Wars brand, and doesn't really even constitute an "Old Republic" story, but that's for another day.

 

Today is for the point that Command Gearing removes the need to ever do Ops; and thus the need for BioWare to ever make new Ops content ever again, removing the last thing holding many guild together as anything other than a loose association of individual players sharing in an XP boost and an apartment.

 

My concern lies in a "point of diminishing returns" for Command Points. Quite simply - what is the reasoning behind ever again struggling through the challenge of a NM Op? While we've been promised "Substantial" differences in point reward, BW has failed to account for the fact that these HM/NM Operations are not efficient for players. They never had been.

 

Progression Raiding has always focused on the challenge of slowly improving upon a difficult enemy - classic "git gud" challenge made enjoyable by your friends (most often your guildmates) progressing with you. Everyone from 1.0 remembers the feeling of finally getting full Tionese gear and joining your friends in SM Ops.

 

Now, why would any member of my guild feel the need to plan an Op? Why would we spend out Sunday night hanging out, diving into content, helping fellow members improve and get geared when even the most difficult content promises only the possibility of a new level that offers the possibility of a new piece of BiS gear, only assuming you managed to clear it all? Why struggle through?

 

Why not just, since everyone else will be geared to roughly a sufficient level, grind out medium/hard flashpoints/uprisings that everyone has played a million times? Why risk the possibility of a poor night of progression raiding when in that wasted time you've been passed in level by someone who's just been grinding thoughtlessly?

 

I maintain that people will recognize this diminished return and will move away from the traditional content that kept the guilds who have stuck with this game from the beginning alive. Couple this with inherent frustration with RNG, and the fact that helping a guildmember gear up is no longer basically possible, you've left guilds (again "traditional" ones), with frustrated guildmates who have no easy way of helping newly returning friends gear efficiently and have no real incentive to be pushing at the edges of progression content when they could just pug low-rate-of-failure group content. This, quite simply, will induce long-time members to leave for brighter pastures. Cue negative feedback loop.

 

Guild have already had a very hard time maintaining the players that kept them alive. I know people will comment quickly that Ops were a "niche" and that plenty of people play the "emergent" gameplay that KoFTE has developed with story - that's fine. All I'm saying here is that one of the last institutions that consistently supported this game is going to be very adversely affected by these changes, and that's REALLY not a good thing.

 

I'll leave you all with this thought:

 

This new gearing is paving the path to players being non-associated single individuals who have no incentive to engage in real collaboration or teamwork with others. Once everyone knows the mechanics of the Uprisings, everything will be on autopilot and there will be no need to engage with anyone. Everyone will have great gear.

 

Why at that point even be social?