Galactic Command Ranks - Is Anyone Happy?

[Kawiki]

Awful system. No one likes it except for the before mentioned white knights that will tell you it is only the vocal minority that despises it. The stream today on changes in 5.1 is going to be the tipping point one way or the other.

[Kirtastropohe]

No one in my guild is happy. Even those hardcore grinders, such as myself, realized the idiocy of the system in practice and stopped putting extra time into doing things for CXP. Waiting to see if the Devs finally understand the precarious position they have put the game in and announce immediate actions to save things before the TORtanic II heads to the bottom.

[Quraswren]

Truthfully, I guess some have to be happy. It's generally known people have real addictions and this game now plays directly off that issue..

 

So I'm sure those with some pre-determined addictions are happy with the online casino bw has created. Look how well most casinos do. bw is working that same angle.

[Shipwright]

I am not unsubbing, but I dislike the system. Painfully, agonizingly slow, with usually bad results from RNG. Ranks come slowly, and only get slower with time.

 

I'll be content with buying 228. How many others will feel as I do, stick around and rely on credits to buy gear, I just do not know.

 

The "crate an hour" estimate is off by a few orders of magnitude. Maybe they will dramatically increase gcx gains, and the frequently poor results of RNG might be mitigated by having more frequent crates. The system has only just been put in place, so if we're lucky they will make it less (much less, I hope) agonizing.

 

Sadly I have my doubts about that.

 

I feel that they may need to do something soon. I honestly see nobody but some posters on the forums here, who like it. Everywhere else on the net, and those I know in the game, dislike it.

 

For all I know, the idea is working well for the game; I don't see behind the scenes. But I do not see it that way.

[LastBrood]

I hate it. Before 5.0 I liked the idea of it, didn't think it will be that bad.

 

The grind is just terrible, I play games to relax and have fun. Played the class story and loved it and wanted a hassle free experience so I subbed and was extremely happy with the game. Now with 5.0.the grind is endless, worst thing is I am supposed to pay to grind. That's backward IMO, you know how Sub get a boost in exp and free and preferred get less exp, it should have been like that a relaxed enjoyable experience, I thought I was paying for a quality of life improvements but 5.0's grind killed my interest in the game.

 

I still have a week of sub left, will probably lurk on forum and I hope the devs will do something until January, otherwise I'll probably get lost for a while and come back when a new expansion is out.

[TUXs]

At least with crystals I felt that every little thing I did somehow contributed toward something relevant to my interests: gear, gifts, etc. But now when I do content I just feel fatigued and wonder what exactly my motivation is for doing ANY content for CXP. At this point I question why I subbed when all I'm really getting for my money is new story content, and even then that's not enough to keep me around.

 

I'm just confused; this system doesn't reward you.

This is such an excellent point and honestly, a great summary of how many people feel about the new system...it's unrewarding. It's VERY disappointing far more than anything else...it kills the fun...

[BoySaber]

This RNG system has turned the game into a slog that defies all previous expectations of gearing. When I re-subbed for 5.0 I didn't exactly explore the command ranks side of things because i never imagined that BioWare would introduce a system like this, wherein the player is not rewarded for doing content but is instead gambling for gear AFTER they complete content. At least with crystals I felt that every little thing I did somehow contributed toward something relevant to my interests: gear, gifts, etc. But now when I do content I just feel fatigued and wonder what exactly my motivation is for doing ANY content for CXP. At this point I question why I subbed when all I'm really getting for my money is new story content, and even then that's not enough to keep me around.

 

I'm just confused; this system doesn't reward you.

 

I am not happy. The idea of playing anything you want to get the best gear is good. The RNG being behind it is bad. Even the intended bioware's goal is bad as eventually everyone ended up playing or semi-afking warzones while I cannot get pops in PvE content. I like PvP and play it with friends but not at cost of losing group content in PvE. I simply have no time to waste by paying bioware for multiplayer game and wait 2+ hours in queue to pop for my PvE content and when it happens I am out of free time and have to go work or take kids out. I did all solo content there is and want to play multiplayer now. But they gave me no reason to stay subscriber. All there is to pay for is lottery with chance you never get gear you want. And players keep looking for fastest way to earn CXP, which is everything that isn't teamwork and skill. Not to mention that some players, like in guild, will get gear needed to proceed to next level of difficulty, and thus you will not be able to follow them because you either did not find another boring and legal exploit to farm CXP, or your PvE content queues are dead as everyone is doing legal farming exploits so you cannot get PvE pop and thus no CXP, or you did legal exploit yourself but you were just not lucky which results in your time and money being wasted = not worthy of subscription. It completely destroyed and split people apart from my personal experience and it did not make me happy at all.

Edited December 15, 2016 by BoySaber

[otisjerek]

Attitudes in my guild range from just about tolerating the new system, to outright hating it and consequently unsubbing.

 

Personally I think the system is utterly appalling. Across 3 toons I'm on a combined rank of about 55, so far I've had just 2 set bonus pieces and 6 relics. 3 of those relics were SA on the same toon, the other 3 were all reactive warding also all on one toon. Gee, thanks.

 

I used to do a lot of the repetitive stuff (same old ops with nothing new for 2 yrs etc) and losing repeatedly in wzs because there was actually some reward. Some of the stuff like the empty shells is just insulting, to the point I assume some of the devs must be having a good laugh. I just cannot be bothered now, would rather go play something else.

 

It's also a pain for other guild officers and myself as before the guild managed loot, to ensure it was evenly distributed and we knew who and which toons could be used for certain operations - now we have to constantly ask/check. There is pretty much nothing we can do other than crafting gear for people who are in our HM/NIM groups but don't play so often - and crafting just does not feel like a reward.

Edited December 15, 2016 by otisjerek

[shippper]

system is crap. Its all. Random drop is a *********** joke. FU Bioware

[Andryah]

In before the charge of the EAWare white knight brigade.

 

Other than the aforementioned white knights, I personally do not know anyone who likes the GC system. Among my in-game friends and guild mates, results range from indifference (from people who just RP and don't care about gear or levelling or endgame anyways) to annoyance to "Screw this, I'm done" quitting. None of the reactions have been positive.

 

The system has flaws which need fixing. Until then, I am ignoring it, and just playing what I like to play, which means I do get some Cxp and some crates..... but they are simply bonus play for me at the moment. Crafted and augmented gear is fine for the time being until they make needed fixes.

 

That said... I had a good day on a new alt yesterday as she ended up with rank 5 in GC and had one 230 set piece, and three 230 Blues/Purples, none were repeats. [stat wise there is no difference between blue or purple 230s.... so people ignore that if they like, but it's a mistake]. Literally got one 230 in each crate. But 230s are an insignificant upgrade from the crafted 228s, so I just disintegrate anything that is not a set bonus piece and continue on.

 

I'm in no hurry on GC and certainly will not try to work it until they get things fixed and settled down.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Andryah

[kodrac]

I'm pretty much ignoring that it's even there.

[TUXs]

You know it's bad when even the typical defenders admit they're ignoring it...

 

 

It doesn't take much to fix it...it's a decent addition to gearing, but a terrible replacement to how it was done. Keep the whole GC/CXP grind as it is, players will still grind out that counter just for the flair and bragging rights, but bring back alternative ways to gear up that are not connected to GC levels or CXP. Ops, FPs, Uprisings...they should all drop gear imo...at this point, I'd settle for bosses all dropping a box we roll on even...it's still RNG but it's better than it is.

[kodrac]

Ooops Edited December 15, 2016 by kodrac

[ImmortalLowlife]

I think my main is at command level 3. I'm not really into gear grinding/endgame so it's not something I really pay attention to. I completely understand the rage over the way it works tho.

[---AlterEgo---]

I imagine anyone who's into masochism and other kinky stuff to do with pain absolutely love this update. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say whoever designed this nonsense of a system must be a Fetlife member.

[Neshira]

I like it.

Previously I was unable to gear my character let alone alts. I don't do PVP, I don't do Operations more than once a week or so and all that jazz. The Ops were RNG in themselves but everyone has conveniently forgotten that. On the very rare occasions something dropped that I could actually use I still had to roll for it and I either chose greed because the other players were wanting it more or I lost the roll. I'm mostly a solo story player. If I wanted to do more ops with my guild I was SOL because I wasn't geared properly. You had to DO ops to get the gear to do ops. It was ridiculous.

 

I've been lucky with the RNG and been able to gear three different characters in gear that's more than sufficient for my needs. It's also made crafting actually useful and relevant.

 

My only complaint is that there's no way for others who are unhappy to get gear without relying on the RNG. I don't believe anyone should be able to gear in the highest stuff within a week. That's just entitlement plain and simple and it goes against the very nature of gaming to get the newest shiniest stuff immediately after a new expansion.

 

Either a vendor who sells the gear behind a cxp rank gate, legacy wide cxp, or a guarantee of set gear (even though the set bonuses are stupid and pretty much useless) every new command rank or something needs to be available. All three together would be best.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Neshira

[Wayshuba]

I got three of my toons to level 70. Rest I haven't touched other than to grind up the crafting on the crafting toons and pick up anniversary gifts.

 

My two main toons are Guardian/Juggernaut tanks. I also worked up my gunslinger. Between about 31 crates, I got 4 230 blues and a 230 orange saber on my guardian, got some purple 230 set pieces on my Jugg, and absoutely nothing on my gunslinger. The majority of stuff has been disintegrated.

 

I have lost all interest in playing. BW has gated all the content I was doing fine before, added a tedious grind and frustrating RNG system. When I thought about it, I realized why would I put myself through this JUST TO DO EVERYTHING I WAS DOING BEFORE.

 

To be honest, there was nothing in this expansion that needed a level raise. The story and uprisings could have been done fine with the level 65s we have.

 

Anyway, been with SWTOR since beta, took a break for a little bit then came back a while ago. Have been on constant sub since the second I came back and now my sub lapses in 16 days. This CxP system has completely killed any interest I have in the game. I would have been fine with the new story and Uprisings, and everything else staying the same. I would have worked on continuing to gear my alts doing a variety of activities depending on how many guildmates were on. We didn't need the level increase for anything. There isn't a single instance of new content that required the cap to be increased.

 

As a result of my frustration, I purchased the Ultimate Edition of TSW and purchased a 90 day sub there. I just don't see BW swallowing their pride, admitting this thing was a huge mistake, and taking it out and giving us what we had before with 4.0.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Wayshuba

[Exly]

dunno about all u guys, but i personally can't do more than 1 GC rank a day. it just becomes too boring after that. Mobs in flashpoints and uprisings need to drop more CXP lol.

like:

regular mob - 1CXP

silver mob - 2 CXP

gold mob - 10 CXP

boss - 50 CXP

 

also, the quest reward for groupfinder is ridiculously LOW.:D:D

 

I was thinking more like 5 cxp for silvers, and 20 for golds, but I agree with your concept.

[Tsillah]

The Ops were RNG in themselves but everyone has conveniently forgotten that.

 

There has always been some level of RNG but that's what the point is. The level of RNG has increased dramatically.

Before 5.0 the RNG was not so much in the loot drops when it came to tokens because they dropped reliably as a reward for killing a boss. There was no RNG about that.

 

To claim it's been conveniently forgottten is just an undeserved stab below the belt.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Tsillah

[TUXs]

The Ops were RNG in themselves but everyone has conveniently forgotten that.

That's absolutely not true. The Ops dropped the same set of gear at EVERY boss EVERY time. Your roll in your group was RNG, but the gear piece was most certainly NOT.

[AscendingSky]

That's absolutely not true. The Ops dropped the same set of gear at EVERY boss EVERY time. Your roll in your group was RNG, but the gear piece was most certainly NOT.

 

Exactly. And if you formed a team with friends, there was no randomness about who would get each piece, you could plan it out. You knew after X number of runs that everyone would have the gear they could get from that op. You knew that 5 out of 8 people on an 8 man team would get gear each run.

 

Now? Someone may get BiS set bonus in the first 10 crates, or they may not get it in 300 crates. Even if someone gets a crate during the op (not common after the first few Command ranks), 95% of the time they get garbage. It's completely random, with no reward for actual effort.

Edited December 15, 2016 by AscendingSky

[Allca]

Exactly. And if you formed a team with friends, there was no randomness about who would get each piece, you could plan it out. You knew after X number of runs that everyone would have the gear they could get from that op. You knew that 5 out of 8 people on an 8 man team would get gear each run.

 

Now? Someone may get BiS set bonus in the first 10 crates, or they may not get it in 300 crates. Even if someone gets a crate during the op (not common after the first few Command ranks), 95% of the time they get garbage. It's completely random, with no reward for actual effort.

 

There have already been tons of ideas how to improve the system. Another idea I can come up with is keeping the idea with the crates and RNG. Besides that you can also keep how the Operations work.

 

Having both will unbalance things and to compensate it, every time you get a gear piece in Ops you will not be allowed to get crates by GC. Bit of a penalty to balance things out.

 

The same goes for PVP, choose to get either cystals or RNG crates.

[Dunderheid]

There have already been tons of ideas how to improve the system. Another idea I can come up with is keeping the idea with the crates and RNG. Besides that you can also keep how the Operations work.

 

Having both will unbalance things and to compensate it, every time you get a gear piece in Ops you will not be allowed to get crates by GC. Bit of a penalty to balance things out.

 

The same goes for PVP, choose to get either cystals or RNG crates.

 

To actually get the gear piece, you need the gear token AND command tokens (Unspecified number yet) so if you don't get crates, you can't get the gear piece, and you're back to square 1

[Lunafox]

It makes me unhappy, because I want to play any toon I feel like playing, and any thing I do in game with any toon I play to go toward the pool of GCxp for the account, much like legacy was. It didn't matter what you did or which toon you played, anything they earned went into the legacy for the account. The idea of grinding GC for all my mains is nothing short of sadistic. I can't bring myself to do it, doing it for one toon is bad enough.

[MadCuzBad]

This RNG system has turned the game into a slog that defies all previous expectations of gearing. When I re-subbed for 5.0 I didn't exactly explore the command ranks side of things because i never imagined that BioWare would introduce a system like this, wherein the player is not rewarded for doing content but is instead gambling for gear AFTER they complete content. At least with crystals I felt that every little thing I did somehow contributed toward something relevant to my interests: gear, gifts, etc. But now when I do content I just feel fatigued and wonder what exactly my motivation is for doing ANY content for CXP. At this point I question why I subbed when all I'm really getting for my money is new story content, and even then that's not enough to keep me around.

 

I'm just confused; this system doesn't reward you.

 

I'm not happy. And my unsubbing to this game is the consequence of this galactic command.