Anyone explain simply the big uproar about the GC system?

[Lonewolf]

New player so?

What is it?

What did it change?

Why people so annoyed?

 

Sorry I keep seeing threads about it and have no idea what it is about so feel confused

[Tsetso]

Long story short. The game was extremely alt friendly. If you were in an active raiding guild you could gear in mid tier gear in a week at most. Coupled with the fact that BWA was running an event for 5 months which required making all 8 different classes( 4 rep/ 4 emp) and the lack of any meaningful new end game content, it's quite normal that people are annoyed that to be able to run the nim ops they were progressing in 4.0 they'll have to grind for 3+ months.

[Tsillah]

New player so?

What is it?

What did it change?

Why people so annoyed?

 

Sorry I keep seeing threads about it and have no idea what it is about so feel confused

 

When you get to level 70, you get a new XP bar. It's called CXP generally, Command XP. This means that when you play the game at that point doing stories, heroics, pvp or other group content like flash points and operations, you gain experience points in the Galactic Command system.

 

What the uproar is about that this is the only way you can get endgear in the game now and it's totally random. Each level you get a box and you open it for some rewards. There is no telling what you'll get.

 

In the past, gear was earned by completing certain objectives and you could plan which gear pieces you would go for so that you could collect your gear. The best gear you could earn in warzones for PvP gear and Operations for PvE gear. In essence that gear was only needed to progress in that particular type of content. You didn't need that gear for anything else in the game.

 

Now everybody can gain this gear, no matter if you will need it or not. Personally I am fine with that, but I am not happy that you no longer get rewarded for doing something more, like beating more difficult content. Also for the harder content you want to collect a decent set of gear so you can beat the next level difficulty. Not everybody is a fantastic player so that gear set is something that can help a bit in beating that content. Player skill is still king but not everybody is THAT skilled, so it makes the harder content doable by some more people. Make no mistake though, without any skill, no gear will save you.

 

But to get these gear sets complete you are now subject to a completely random system. Some people get lucky and get it together quickly but for most people it will take a lot longer or they will never get it together. That's what random gearing does.

 

Mixed with that, the harder content has been the same for over 2 years now. So in essence people who were playing already now have to take much longer to get gear together before they can do the same content they did already for the last two years.

 

Lastly because the content was already old last year, people found a solution in gearing alts and playing this content with different classes. The current gearing system make is pretty much impossibly to gear up the same alts before the next expansion is likely to hit.

 

That's sort of the best explanation I can give you without this becoming a book. Hope it helps you get what some of the complaints are about. Not everybody hates it of course, but Bioware are moving very fast on this and already are making changes next month to this. Normally it takes them at least a year to address and issue so I guess a lot more people stopped playing and unsubbed than they expected. Maybe the changes will change that, but make no mistake, I've been here since the start of the game and Bioware doesn't move this fast. So maybe end of January things will get a bit better.

[ShardODarkness]

...sad that a game which encouraged us to make alts for years now makes it impractical to play those alts in the new GC "grindfest" with any real hope of accomplishing anything.

[Lonewolf]

Thanks for the replies makes more sense now, only level 26 so didn't know about this new EXP bar etc

[Quraswren]

Thanks for the replies makes more sense now, only level 26 so didn't know about this new EXP bar etc

 

You wont get hit with the terrible design bw has implemented till max level. Enjoy the leveling up and story. It now really is the best part of swtor.

 

just don't put a lot of time in alts unless you really just want to see their story. End game design makes sure any alt play is nearly worthless as it takes focus away from your main and the massive grind just one toon has. Splitting it up between toons is a major hindrance. There was an easy fix for this by making GC legacy wide but bw seems extremely resistant to that. They just don't want you to play alts after encouraging you to make them for so long.

[AllisonLightning]

You wont get hit with the terrible design bw has implemented till max level. Enjoy the leveling up and story. It now really is the best part of swtor.

 

just don't put a lot of time in alts unless you really just want to see their story. End game design makes sure any alt play is nearly worthless as it takes focus away from your main and the massive grind just one toon has. Splitting it up between toons is a major hindrance. There was an easy fix for this by making GC legacy wide but bw seems extremely resistant to that. They just don't want you to play alts after encouraging you to make them for so long.

 

More like their demented logic 'if it all takes players a long time to gear their mains and alts, they'll stay subbed'. They forget that people can actually choose not to play this game.

[ekwalizer]

Well hello there "new player" with member number 9319.

 

There are several reasons why many players do not approve of this new system.

 

1.) We've done RNG before. In fact the game was like that From Dec 2011-about April 2012, specifically for PvP.

 

2.) 5.0's version of RNG (and by default the GCS) was meant to be a Jedi mind trick to distract the players from the fact that there has been no new multiplayer content since December 2014. 95% of the activities that grant CXP involve content that we have been doing for years, making the "grind" that much more boring.

 

3.) They aren't even hiding the stick or the string attached to the proverbial carrot.

 

4.) In every other version of the game (other than pvp 1.0-1.2) players could "work toward" specific pieces of gear. This meant that "within reason" you could obtain BiS gear by participating in the (often multiplayer) activities that you wanted to participate in. Even while working toward BiS gear, you could upgrade by using various currency (obtained through end game content) to purchase slightly less than BiS gear for most slots. This "timesink" was much lower than the "advertised" rate of 300 hours to reach GC300. And that is another point, there is no guarantee that by GC300 you will be finished with "the grind". Players not involved in end game content, didn't "need" to worry about end game gear because solo content ( and even flashpoints and SM Ops) was/were (all) designed to be completed in "at-level" greens.

[Lonewolf]

Well hello there "new player" with member number 9319.

.

 

May as well be considered new, its been so long since I last played properly

 

But well spotted

[ekwalizer]

I thought it was interesting. Welcome back

[SHAVEDKILLER]

In a nutshell,your grinding 1000 percent more time to min/max your toon.lol.Lack of group content or new pvp zones replaced with kick to nads grind with fancy name Galactic Command..But hey the money whores are giving us lots of shiny items in cc.lol

[Lonewolf]

In a nutshell,your grinding 1000 percent more time to min/max your toon.lol.Lack of group content or new pvp zones replaced with kick to nads grind with fancy name Galactic Command..But hey the money whores are giving us lots of shiny items in cc.lol

 

Could I just throw this out there....maybe the dev's looked at the old model and how quickly people were crunching through it and felt that they needed an artificial system to slow people down so they had more time to create content and push it out?

 

I mean I am playing devil's advocate but was just curious?

[Sargrith]

Could I just throw this out there....maybe the dev's looked at the old model and how quickly people were crunching through it and felt that they needed an artificial system to slow people down so they had more time to create content and push it out?

 

I mean I am playing devil's advocate but was just curious?

 

The operations are all 2 to 5 years old. People have already beaten them on every level. Making it so you gear up randomly now just keeps you from doing what you were doing 4 weeks ago....And random gearing. Seriously one guy has 27 command ranks and no set pieces another 4 and 2 set pieces....how does that sound fun or exciting?

 

It only serves to frustrate people and get them to stop playing. Its why they have reacted with "changes" and emails. But they are not willing to give up the random part and so their changes are meaningless. Until they accept its their system that needs to go, things will not improve.

[casirabit]

More like their demented logic 'if it all takes players a long time to gear their mains and alts, they'll stay subbed'. They forget that people can actually choose not to play this game.

 

I have a friend that was going to resub but when she read about the GC not being legacy wide she said not worth it as she really doesn't play that much anymore.

[casirabit]

Could I just throw this out there....maybe the dev's looked at the old model and how quickly people were crunching through it and felt that they needed an artificial system to slow people down so they had more time to create content and push it out?

 

I mean I am playing devil's advocate but was just curious?

 

It would be okay, in my opinion, if I could share it with my alts. I have 13 alts (and mine is low compared to everyone else). Think about running that many alts through the system without it being legacy shared?

[ekwalizer]

Could I just throw this out there....maybe the dev's looked at the old model and how quickly people were crunching through it and felt that they needed an artificial system to slow people down so they had more time to create content and push it out?

 

I mean I am playing devil's advocate but was just curious?

 

Ok. So how much time do they need? The last raid (two of them) was delivered in December 2014. Two full years ago.

Also, two expansions ago.

 

During 2.X they released three full raids (SnV, DF, DP) and a boss-in-a-box (TC). SnV and TC came with 2.0 and DF/DP followed later during that cycle. And then nothing for 14 months. When SOR was released, they promised that "we will never go 14 months again without a new raid". And here we sit, 24 months later.

 

Interestingly, they created enough adds and bosses for a full raid with KoTET. They just chose to make them all individual micro-flashpoints. So, in my mind, they had the time and resources ... they chose to continue breaking their promise.

[Sargrith]

I have a friend that was going to resub but when she read about the GC not being legacy wide she said not worth it as she really doesn't play that much anymore.

 

 

Your not the only one who says this but I have to ask how does that help? Why would I even want that? Yes it gets me to end game gear sooner I guess but it makes me play my main only because if I rank up on an alt, that alt gets the gear.

 

I'm not looking to race to end game gear, but I would like to be able to gear my people in a reasonable and reliable fashion. Not this random crate junk.

[Lonewolf]

All fair points made by people I feel

[ekwalizer]

Your not the only one who says this but I have to ask how does that help? Why would I even want that? Yes it gets me to end game gear sooner I guess but it makes me play my main only because if I rank up on an alt, that alt gets the gear.

 

I'm not looking to race to end game gear, but I would like to be able to gear my people in a reasonable and reliable fashion. Not this random crate junk.

 

I'd be a lot happier if it was:

 

1x piece of true gear, not an empty shell. All gear should be BoL at this point anyway.

1x BoL Crafting Schematic OR 1x BoL CXP Token worth 300CXP.

Edited December 19, 2016 by ekwalizer

[Nothing_Shines]

They've had years to create new repeatable group content and decided instead to give us the 25 chapter Valkorian soap opera (solo), eternal championship (solo), star fortress miniflashpoints (solo), x12 exp summer to level alts, DVL event requiring the leveling of all new alts, expanded character pools to 52, and then ten minute mini-miniflashpoints (uprisings) to go along with a completely new gearing system that adds an endless, soul-crushing grind that effectively ends running alts at endgame, unless you quickly and consistently win the RNG lottery.

 

Any time you spend not grinding CXP on your main role/class, say by leveling alts or grinding CXP on your alt tank or healer, is time essentially wasted if your interest was endgame group activities, as you fall farther and farther behind the people who are grinding on their main. Ops groups can do nothing to help people gear up now other than run easy content again and again in order to give their teammates the chance to roll the dice on yet another crate. With the potential to never actually get the gear they need. EVER.

 

BW latest announced changes coming down the line are quarter measures, at best. Detailed on this forum are a dozen simpler, more straight forward and logical systems than the cluster of RNG or the Frankenstein's monster coming in January. Hell, going back to 4.0's system, dropping the priority ops and changing the crystal allotments/costs, could have reasonably extended the endgame grind for BW "to give them time" more effectively than 5.0.

 

The biggest issue with all of this is Ben Irving decided to reinvent the wheel as a square and refuses to acknowledge that that was not only stupid, but destructive to the game and demoralizing to the player base. His pride will cripple this game and going f2p AGAIN is no longer a Hail Mary option to save it.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Nothing_Shines

[Quraswren]

SNIP...

 

1x piece of true gear, not an empty shell. All gear should be BoL at this point anyway.

 

All gear being BOL would be nice but what the whole GC system needs to be is legacy wide. The command stash needs to be legacy wide.

 

Play any character you want at 70, get some CXP in that massive grind bw shoved in our face. Make it a reasonable change because what we have no is not reasonable at all. Maybe for a struggling business who has limited ideas on how to retain customers but not for the gamer.

[Tessie]

Players want to play the content they want on the characters they want to earn the rewards they want.

 

The developers provided a system that encourages players to play certain content on a single character to earn a random chance at something, that is usually unwanted.

[DisIzMe]

Could I just throw this out there....maybe the dev's looked at the old model and how quickly people were crunching through it and felt that they needed an artificial system to slow people down so they had more time to create content and push it out?

 

I mean I am playing devil's advocate but was just curious?

 

Devs changed old model with moderate speed of gearing in 4.0 to super fast super easy model of gearing.

Pre 4.0

Operation drops only. Story mode drops tier 3, Hard Mode drops tier 2 and NIM drops top tier.

 

Post 4.0

Operations drop only,BUT : story mode drops tier 3,regular HM drops tier 2,every week there is highlighted different HM ops that drops top tier,NIM drops tier 2.

Yes. Very weird system. Even further,very very easy EV and KP hard modes were dropping top gear on weeks when those operations were highlighted. So people got top gear super fast. Is this bad? yes. But it was Bioware new design. It was not so previously.

 

So all Bioware had to do if they thought that gearing speed was the issue,is to get back to pre 4.0 system that worked perfectly.

 

New system is there not to control speed of gearing. Its to sell command experience boosts and in a year,sell crates themself with gear on cartel market.

[Desrao]

Thanks for the replies makes more sense now, only level 26 so didn't know about this new EXP bar etc

 

I'm relatively new as well. The system sucks for veteran players coming from someone who has played mmos and experienced endgame on other games I can say this system is pretty bad. But as a new player it might not be as bad for us considering all the content this game has to offer is new and fresh for us. By the time we are established in the endgame they will have 5.1 in place and it will be a little better if you want to start a new character. I personally have been playing all the class stories to find my "main". So far I really like the Arsenal Merc and the Vigilance Guardian play styles the most.

[casirabit]

Your not the only one who says this but I have to ask how does that help? Why would I even want that? Yes it gets me to end game gear sooner I guess but it makes me play my main only because if I rank up on an alt, that alt gets the gear.

 

I'm not looking to race to end game gear, but I would like to be able to gear my people in a reasonable and reliable fashion. Not this random crate junk.

 

My smuggler is fairly well geared already. She had some 230 blue drops from the crates and I crafted the earpiece, implants and relics and then upgraded my augments which has helped.

 

I am also crafting some of the enhancements and mods for my smuggler so I am gearing my smuggler various ways not relying on crate drops but it helps that I have over 13 characters and have about 4-5 slicers which can get the materials required.