Break free of your conditioning - gearing, OPs, ...

[Yomitako]

I do agree with the sentiment that RNG gearing is not the best way to handle such a situation in a new system, however, I do agree with the notion that gearing needed to be slowed down from the previous expansions. When I could have a guild carry me and have a fully geared toon within a week (then repeat for alts as needed), that needed to be changed.

 

What I am liking though, is that feedback is being seen and heard, for the most part. Yes, RNG gearing still exists, but new methods are being placed to try and reduce that impact little by little, to take some of the sting off of RNG gearing, but still keeping the timeframe somewhat extended so that people aren't fully min-maxed in a week. More changes are still coming yet as they fine tune it based on feedback and results.

 

Now I'm not a hardcore raider, I do participate in ops every once in a while, and I haven't been that lucky with boxes yet (1 set piece in 17 GC levels), but I do like the fact that I can enjoy multiple aspects of the game and it all works towards that goal. Maybe I'll get lucky with the next box, maybe I wont. But it's just a game, and I have the choice whether or not to expend the energy to be frustrated or angry at the game. I choose not to be. I choose to continue to play the portions of the game that I do enjoy, socialize with guild members, and enjoy this game as a pastime amongst a few others (after all, just because I play this one doesn't mean that I can't enjoy others, and I know it's not the argument here, but I thought I'd just put this piece there for the sake of it).

 

I think that people who aren't enjoying the game do need to take a step back and get away from this mindset that "Bioware didn't change the game to suit my needs, therefore the game is horrible!". Every game will go through this, whether it be here, WoW, LotRO, FFXIV, et al. Also the line that "These developers have no idea what the hell they're doing, they don't even play the game!" is probably false. That's why they're developers, and you're not (nor I for that matter). I know, a bit of a broadhanded statement, as there are some here who are familiar with the industry. A lot of the negativity can be curbed, just by altering ones mindset a bit. Not to say that opinions and whatnot shouldn't be voiced, but there does come a point where things like this become unnecessary.

 

I, for one, would still like to see more changes to come, to make things more enjoyable for everyone, but not to the point where it was before, with toons being fully geared before the next conquest week was up and running. But there definitely needs to be changes. 2016 has been a rough year. Let's see what 2017 brings.

[DarthSpuds]

I feel as though many mmo players cling to the past and are reluctant to change.

 

Really?

 

Remember it is Bioware that is going BACK to a 5 year old system the already FAILED at with RNG.

 

If anyone is clinging to the past it is Bioware.

 

Throwing badly done RNG gearing solutions in is NOT developing news systems for gearing up; it is, once again, failing at already very old systems.

 

All The Best

Edited December 26, 2016 by DarthSpuds

[DarthSpuds]

It's rather simple. If you don't find this game's gearing system fun, please just quit.

 

So you are looking forward to all 200 remaining players being on just one server then?

 

Because this "if you don't like it then quit" attitude has taken the game from 120 odd servers to less than 20 in just 5 years.

 

For any game that would be very bad, for this IP with the initial levels of development investment the game had it is an unmitigated catastrophe.

 

People like you clearly want the game to fail, you don't want Bioware to strive to make the game better and appeal to a larger, more committed audience.

 

All The Best

Edited December 26, 2016 by DarthSpuds

[CaptianFordo]

Clearly,

 

You must have geared for knee-pads this expansion. I went from an active guild of about (35+) who did HM and NiM content to maybe 2 online at most. Everyone unsubbed. I'm lucky if I can get a que pop for anything waiting for hours...just sitting and crafting. This isn't worth a sub anymore. I will probably be gone soon unless something changes. I am not pleased.

 

TL;DR - stuff is so grind-heavy now, it's more punishing than any Asian MMORPG. Even those players would be repulsed.

Edited December 26, 2016 by CaptianFordo

[TheKilltech]

The OP actually has a decent point regarding stagnation of gameplay in MMOs, which would have merited a discussion on its own. But you had to go and wrap your point in condescension against the section of playerbase you disagree with, and throw in a few taunts using words such as whine, conditioning etc.

 

So long as you refuse to empathize with your fellow players there will be no discussion and anything that was worth considering will get buried in the vitriol. Assuming it was a discussion that you were looking for, of course.

 

And I say this as someone who has never done an operation in this game, and haven't even done the new uprisings as they don't appeal to me personally.

of course you are right. but i have been on various game forums for too long. writing a wall of text (regardless of the content) only ensures that your thread gets buried with no responses. so you either have to hit on the devs (that's always most popular) or write it in a provocative way. that incites people to respond, bump the thread and get a heated discussion going and for as long as there is a steady heat left it will continue. of course it can easily be derailed if the heat grows out of control but if it doesn't (some) people start to make valid and interesting points.

 

it's sad but negativity and outrage is just how forums work.

 

as for empathizing with some fellow forum posters, that's somewhat difficult for me as MMORPGs were unplayable for me before therefore i have a very different mind set then veterans. however, as for the other players, well, that's another story. the thing i am observing is that that the vast majority of players seems to be complete solo players that at best occasionally queue for the group content but other then that stay for themselves. most of them don't seem to play for long hours nor go to the forums. these people are just so vastly different then those one encounters here on the forums.

 

besides, i have a few OPs i really wanted to play at least once but whilst my server is still quite vivid it is so incredibly difficult to find anyone playing that content.

 

yeah, in times where most games are MMOs in one sense or another new people who still get into MMORPGs don't necessarily do it because of the multiplayer aspects. actually i think that's even the worst selling point of SWTOR and it ain't much different for all other MMORPGs. seriously, it just isn't competitive with what other MMOs have to offer.

 

ironically it seems that focusing on solo content and story instead is just enough to keep it afloat. though i doubt BW will abandon multiplayer altogether but rather will look for ways how to get these solo players invested in some new kind of multiplayer content.

 

that said i think BW doesn't care (or cannot afford to care) much about raiders / MMORPG veterans anymore. it's a hard statement but it seems they tried going that road but failed to make it sufficiently profitable. now they are trying something else and it seems to work better even though it pushes their founding players out of the game. and that's a conflict for which there is no perfect solution.

[Shwarzchild]

The system is a work in progress. To me that's an unfortunate thing. With all the feedback they received on PTS and pre PTS about the drop rates it's unfortunate that the system was released as is. While putting a quasi universal token system is a step in the right direction, it only addresses 2/3rds of the overall issue. The last third is that the drop rate of set bonus gear within the command crates is far too low. A player should not reach a new tier without having a full six piece set of gear. Additionally, if crafting is to be the true middle ground the schematics need to drop for enhancements and mods more than the unmoddable junk gear along with the green trash that drops. Blues can be useful for some although they are also pretty much 99.9 percent of the time disintegration fodder.

 

There's still work to be done on this system. It can be successful, but it has to be modified further to make sure the rng isn't soooo punishing as it is now.

[Darimund]

With there being so few of these white knights, I'm wondering, almost betting, that most of them are BW employees using their personal accounts. Of course they won't ever be allowed to admit as much, which makes this idle speculation at best, still... BW are the ones that tried to convince us that chasing gear was fun and this command crap is the best thing to have happened to the interwebs since naked people were digitally photographed and uploaded.

 

Regardless of if the OP is a BW employee or not, my sub expired yesterday (merry Christmas to me!) and BW will not be getting any more money out of me with out some serious changes to the core of this game.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Darimund

[ekwalizer]

The OP actually has a decent point regarding stagnation of gameplay in MMOs, which would have merited a discussion on its own. But you had to go and wrap your point in condescension against the section of playerbase you disagree with, and throw in a few taunts using words such as whine, conditioning etc.

 

So long as you refuse to empathize with your fellow players there will be no discussion and anything that was worth considering will get buried in the vitriol. Assuming it was a discussion that you were looking for, of course.

 

And I say this as someone who has never done an operation in this game, and haven't even done the new uprisings as they don't appeal to me personally.

 

The brutal irony of his OP is that he is trying to shame people for doing repetitive content for rewards, while completely ignoring the fact that that is the only way to be rewarded. I don't think he grasps the concept of stale content.

 

I guess if I were new to the game there would be tons of fun things to do and see. But at this point there just isn't for a long term player.

[Transcendent]

I will say one post and one post only since I've been away. I will not be dragged any longer into a heated debate on the forums with people that dislike the game but are still here for some reason

 

BioWare is trying to push development of new systems in mmorpgs for gearing, to expand the way we get gear. But there are those that will NOT let that happen because they are reluctant to change or anything new happening whatsoever. Yes, they will adjust the numbers with time. Yes, they will figure out new ways to please us all. They will listen to feedback of mostly people in game, and of some on here meaning the rational and logical ones, and they will adjust numbers based on that.

 

I feel as though many mmo players cling to the past and are reluctant to change. Especially if that change is a brand new system for the game that was never in it. They don't let anything really "get going" because they don't like it and just like their own thing and that's it. That's why there is nothing NEW coming in the mmorpg genre. Because there are those that won't take it for what it's worth.

 

But, keep hatin' See ya guys. Just had to chime in here and say the new system is staying. Don't worry, the numbers will be tweaked and they will listen to your concerns. They listen, whether you think they do or not is not an issue. I know this, trust me I've never led you wrong. Game is not going anywhere. It will be here in 2020 and beyond. I guarantee you that. Just like you all proclaim it will "be dead" within 6 or 8 months or something like that. Just stop with that nonsense. That's trash talk.

 

Just enjoy the game for what it is. Have concerns, questions and thought filled posts. But no need to come to bashing the game or not letting new system in mmorpgs have a chance to even get going before you jump down the devs' throats. They will adjust the numbers and all that. It's mmos. Numbers and things are always changed. Just remember to stop being so negative and enjoy what you have in front of you.

 

 

I now pronounce you, to proceed with biting my head clean off!

 

Welcome back.

 

Also..... déjà vu....

 

You won't be hearing from the positive force Sarfux anymore. Somebody else now has to be the ultimate white knight defense force of the game.

 

.....

 

I will no longer be partaking in any of the shenanigans or nonsense that goes on here.

 

So which is it? Not posting or posting in defence of the game? Obviously the changes have irked you enough to bring you back here (either side of the fence), so obviously you see an issue here overall for BioWare or the players of the game.

 

The decision about including RNG boxes without mitigation for that RNG for even a part of the player base of the game is an issue. Simply ignoring all sides of the discussion does no player nor BioWare any favours considering the health of the server populations.

 

I could be wrong, but I thought the idea of running a business is to cater to the needs of your customers and to maximise profits. This is a simple win for BioWare if they can get it right.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Transcendent

[LordArtemis]

I dont think that asking players to quit that are unhappy with the current status of the game is a wise choice. Right now, IMO, the game needs all the players it can get.

 

Not only that, I tend to think that Bioware would rather see the players stay, even if it means some community members have to tolerate seeing negative feedback.

 

It is a small price to pay to fill the game with players and keep the game healthy. IMO asking players to leave simply because you do not wish to see negative feedback leans toward selfishness...it most likely also springs from protectionism and denial.

 

The game can ALWAYS use improvement. No game is perfect. To suggest otherwise is just plain silly.

Edited December 27, 2016 by LordArtemis

[Andryah]

When I could have a guild carry me and have a fully geared toon within a week (then repeat for alts as needed), that needed to be changed.

 

Exactly. The real core issue here is more about how absurdly easy it was to game 4.0 for BiS gear.

 

Now that this has changed.. people are accustomed to it find it hard to change or accept anything else.

 

That said.. improvements are needed in GC if they actually expect it to survive one expac cycle. No need to throw it away, but it does need actual mitigation mechanics for when a player has bad luck.

 

As to breaking free of conditioning, this is actually a relevant line of thinking. Players claim they don't chase gear, but I think it is pretty clear from the outcry over GC that players do indeed chase gear.

 

What I am liking though, is that feedback is being seen and heard, for the most part. Yes, RNG gearing still exists, but new methods are being placed to try and reduce that impact little by little, to take some of the sting off of RNG gearing, but still keeping the timeframe somewhat extended so that people aren't fully min-maxed in a week. More changes are still coming yet as they fine tune it based on feedback and results.

 

I do think they are listening, but it remains to be seen how far they step into a sequence of changes to address feedback.

 

Clearly they are going to ignore the current meme of #remove RNG.

 

Clearly they are making changes in 5.1 to at least partially address concerns, but it's not enough. It solves one issue, and creates new ones in the process.

 

GC, in my view should be treated like every other reputation grind in the game to date ---> as you level GC ranks, you open more access to direct gear purchase from a vendor.. period. No double grinding for unassembled pieces + grind for GC. Make it a straight up faction grind with clear and visible measure of what progress is required for what items. If you get something from a crate sooner, that is just good fortune and is fine.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Andryah

[Sargrith]

Only the removal of the GC system is right. It was released broken, and frankly nothing in a game 5years old should be released broken. If it is remove it. They clearly didn't do their research ahead of time, didn't work the numbers ahead of time. So now we suffer for their lack of effort and more so for their lack of listening. All these people claiming they listen what exactly do you think they are listening to? What have they listened to?

 

Did they listen when people told the in beta that this would not be acceptable?

 

Did they listen prior to release when people said it would not be acceptable?

 

Have they listened since that this is not acceptable?

 

If you think they have, please show me, show me real evidence in game that they listened? Don't tell me wait till 5.1 we all know that isn't even close to a fix, so show me evidence they really listened?

 

Wait people asked for companions back, espically the LIs...their all back right? Most of them are back then right?

 

How about breaks in the chapters so one doesn't auto jump into the next? Did that listen to that?

 

How about long known hacks in PVP? Dead servers.....

 

What are they listening to that all the white knight go on about?

 

Maybe they need to start. Start by listening to the problem that is the galactic command crates. Show some of that humility you keep claiming to have by removing it and saying sorry. Forgoing that just removing it and move one from there. If you think it can work move it back to beta and this time, really really really listen to the feedback. Act on it, and make it work. Don't force a broken system live just to do it. Do the right thing, pull this broken system and get back to adding real content to the game.

[Shwarzchild]

Only the removal of the GC system is right. It was released broken, and frankly nothing in a game 5years old should be released broken. If it is remove it. They clearly didn't do their research ahead of time, didn't work the numbers ahead of time. So now we suffer for their lack of effort and more so for their lack of listening. All these people claiming they listen what exactly do you think they are listening to? What have they listened to?

 

Did they listen when people told the in beta that this would not be acceptable?

 

Did they listen prior to release when people said it would not be acceptable?

 

Have they listened since that this is not acceptable?

 

If you think they have, please show me, show me real evidence in game that they listened? Don't tell me wait till 5.1 we all know that isn't even close to a fix, so show me evidence they really listened?

 

Wait people asked for companions back, espically the LIs...their all back right? Most of them are back then right?

 

How about breaks in the chapters so one doesn't auto jump into the next? Did that listen to that?

 

How about long known hacks in PVP? Dead servers.....

 

What are they listening to that all the white knight go on about?

 

Maybe they need to start. Start by listening to the problem that is the galactic command crates. Show some of that humility you keep claiming to have by removing it and saying sorry. Forgoing that just removing it and move one from there. If you think it can work move it back to beta and this time, really really really listen to the feedback. Act on it, and make it work. Don't force a broken system live just to do it. Do the right thing, pull this broken system and get back to adding real content to the game.

 

I would disagree with you that the galactic command system needs to be removed. It's pretty legit at its core. The RNG gearing portion of the system is what needs fixing. While they may not have listened to us about releasing this system with a valid catch up mechanic or a universal token system, they have since listened and accepted the need for a quasi universal token system. The catch up mechanic needs to be implemented ASAP since it's far too likely currently to get through all the tiers and not complete one set of gear (multiple friends of mine are in tier 3, and have yet to complete an entire 6 piece gear set, more are in tier 2 and have yet to, and even more are at the tail end of tier 1 and are no where close).

 

So in a round about way they are listening. It's a shame they didn't go into this release with more preparation under their belt though. Their modis operandi seems to be release something, gather data, then make changes. Which isn't a terrible process. It's just slow, and when you're not releasing new content all the while launching a brand new system like this the problems are exponentially increased and more problematic. Who knows.

[eriksarcasm]

It's rather simple. If you don't find this game's gearing system fun, please just quit.

 

Ugh. This game deserves a better class of defenders.

[eriksarcasm]

Only the removal of the GC system is right. It was released broken, and frankly nothing in a game 5years old should be released broken. If it is remove it. They clearly didn't do their research ahead of time, didn't work the numbers ahead of time. So now we suffer for their lack of effort and more so for their lack of listening. All these people claiming they listen what exactly do you think they are listening to? What have they listened to?

 

Did they listen when people told the in beta that this would not be acceptable?

 

Did they listen prior to release when people said it would not be acceptable?

 

Have they listened since that this is not acceptable?

 

If you think they have, please show me, show me real evidence in game that they listened? Don't tell me wait till 5.1 we all know that isn't even close to a fix, so show me evidence they really listened?

 

Wait people asked for companions back, espically the LIs...their all back right? Most of them are back then right?

 

How about breaks in the chapters so one doesn't auto jump into the next? Did that listen to that?

 

How about long known hacks in PVP? Dead servers.....

 

What are they listening to that all the white knight go on about?

 

Maybe they need to start. Start by listening to the problem that is the galactic command crates. Show some of that humility you keep claiming to have by removing it and saying sorry. Forgoing that just removing it and move one from there. If you think it can work move it back to beta and this time, really really really listen to the feedback. Act on it, and make it work. Don't force a broken system live just to do it. Do the right thing, pull this broken system and get back to adding real content to the game.

 

It's not really broken, it's working the way it was designed to. That's just not in a way that people find acceptable, as you say. The mentality that led to the implementation of the system (they thought you'd grind through the same ol' content in order to eventually gear up to be able to do content that you were fully able to do a month ago) is what's broken.

 

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the forums, I do believe they are listening, are aware of the discontent of many players, and have tried to implement a fix to try to satiate some of these unhappy players. It's not a complete fix, and not back to the way it was, but it's a start. More needs to be done, and it's up to the smart, experienced players who understand how these things work to point out to the devs how their system is flawed. Walking away doesn't help this, threats of walking away don't help. All this will result in is less people who care being around to make a difference.

 

Consider the following: all the raiders leave, saying they'll be back if there's new operations to do. After a while, no one will be doing operations. EA will see that and say "the players don't want raids" and Bioware won't make any. The raiders will watch and see no new raids and won't come back. They kill their own system by abandoning it.

 

Consider: all the raiders leave, saying they'll be back if the game ditches the RNGearing system. Same result. Do you think they know or care WHY you left, WHY no one's raiding? They do not, and that's the sad truth.

 

If you like the system as it is, the way to show them your point of view is to demonstrate in a reasonable manner how it is superior to the old way. Attacking other people, telling them to quit, calling them names doesn't in any way show anything good about the system; it only shows that you yourself lack class and any reasonable point of view.

 

For that one guy who actually wants the game to die and posts on the forums for years like the homeless guy roaming the streets with the sandwich board reading THE END IS NEAR.... I have nothing for you, sir, except pity.

 

If you truly love something you fight for it, you do whatever you can to improve it.

[Mowermanx]

I would disagree with you that the galactic command system needs to be removed. It's pretty legit at its core. The RNG gearing portion of the system is what needs fixing.

I think most say GC to mean just the rng box reward, well I hope so because GC as a system is really nice, better than i've seen in any other game, and I play a lot.

The single interface for most of the end game activities, where you can select the group finding, or difficulty and transporting to said activities is a really nice feature, and even the boxes are are fine.

If this system and how it was released, was released as an addition to the old system, with the removal of the weekly priority ops farm, I think it would of been received positively by most of the player base.

Edited December 27, 2016 by Mowermanx

[RobertFKennedyUS]

As for the conditioning thing in the OP it's nonsense. I say that as someone who is fairly well rounded in terms of what I've played in this game: 73% ops, 72% pvp, 100% gsf, 62% Flash Points and I enjoy the story as well. To me ops is the best part of the game and there's no real comparison between ops and flash points. I guess the op believes it fun to clear heaps of trash or maybe have some kind of player designed dungeons, but that seems pretty silly and it in no way diminishes ops, nor makes them the equivalent of tuned up flash points.

 

As for what can be done to fix GC, I'd say two things:

 

* You can't get the same implant more than twice, the same relics and ear more than once

 

* Give a 25% legacy buff to alt xpc gains every 75 cxp levels, to a maximum of 100% cxp legacy bonus

 

That's just undoing some of the damage though. The game needs new operations. I mean maybe they like what's going on, expenses perhaps are down, and subs perhaps are down too. Maybe that is an acceptable business model for SWTOR, maybe it really is SWTOR maintenance mode.

 

If that's not what they want, then they need a new ops pretty quickly.

Edited December 27, 2016 by RobertFKennedyUS

[Morkhaine]

This may be the single most impressive white knight posting ever.

 

Haha I logged in to post exactly this. And with these forums and its history of white knights/biodrones, this says a lot.

[Tsillah]

Don't try to deny it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_of_least_resistance

 

When I look back at what I've done in this and other MMOs to get gear already, I am confident I'm not the lazy one here. The lazy ones here are the Bioware developers who came up with this lazy gearing system and people like you who have loads of opinions and zero proof or reason to do so.

 

There is nothing to deny here, but if you want to use wikipedia links, here's one for you:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias

[LordArtemis]

I dont think the GC system needs to be removed. I think it provides quite a bit for a casual player.

 

I do think, however, using it as the sole mechanism to provide end game gear to hardcore players was probably ill-advised.

[Tsillah]

I dont think the GC system needs to be removed. I think it provides quite a bit for a casual player.

 

I do think, however, using it as the sole mechanism to provide end game gear to hardcore players was probably ill-advised.

 

I would agree.

 

I suspect that a lot of people who are calling for RNG to be removed, would stop doing so if there was an enjoyable alternative.

[Transcendent]

I dont think the GC system needs to be removed. I think it provides quite a bit for a casual player.

 

I would agree with that if they improved the CXP gains or set the levels of the ranks at a static amount instead of ever increasing amounts of CXP required per level.

 

If the Command Rank levels required 1000CXP per rank, and they increased the rewards for running content such as Heroics to 200CXP (and all the other content to be comparable for time to CXP gain, so an Operation provides roughly 2-3k CXP etc), then I think the system would be doing what BioWare themselves stated. By that I mean gaining a Command Crate roughly every 30-60 minutes of playtime, so players actually feel like they're being rewarded for running the content.

 

As the system stands currently, if you are attempting to gear, not only do you have RNG with zero mitigation included, but the actual CXP gains and the ranks themselves are an issue. That doesn't even include the problem with alts or legacy.

 

I still think CXP gains should be legacy wide, as well as making the Command Stash legacy wide, at least that way you would be able to hop onto a new character and open those Command Crates on the character you want to play and start gearing right away. It also means you don't get penalised for spending time on any particular character and gaining ranks when you could have been spending time gearing a different one.

 

The whole system itself is flawed, even for a casual player who is fine with the RNG aspect, it certainly detracts from playing more than one or two characters. It definitely doesn't deliver on what we were told about gaining x amount of crates per hour. It definitely doesn't fit into the legacy system itself.

 

It feels like a rushed system designed to extract the maximum amount of money from players. For me it's had the opposite effect to the stated goals of the system. It isn't exciting, it feels worse than the old Crystals / Commendations systems, it doesn't fulfill the design goals that we were told about.

 

I do find myself wondering if BioWare listened to the feedback they were given in closed testing, instead of letting it go live before polishing it properly.

Edited December 27, 2016 by Transcendent

[ALaggyGrunt]

OK, let's break free of that conditioning from years of ops and talk PvP.

 

Because conquest is over, all the no-lifers play PvP in the wee hours of the morning. Monday and early Tuesday morning are not the time you want to play PvP casually, because conquest is over.

 

One of the guys I got pugged with was supposed to be the #2 sorc in the world. He had a mix of 234, 240, and 242 gear, and linked a bunch of season seven titles-and, of course, set bonus. For whatever reason, this guy was in regs, maybe Jeezee showed up in ranked and did his usual thing?

 

If I wanted to fight this guy on "even" terms (generous, because he's obviously very good with that sorc), I would need a very similar set of gear. Most of my stuff is left over from before 5.0, and I'm not rich enough to buy 240s. Never mind the part where bought 240s can't be bought with set bonus, only ground out.

 

Because this system has been live for so long, he would be completely in the right to complain if gear like that got easier to get.

 

Edit: I'm already regretting buying the expansion. It hasn't been good for PvP.

Edited December 27, 2016 by ALaggyGrunt

[VirtualMorrigan]

I dont think the GC system needs to be removed. I think it provides quite a bit for a casual player.

 

I do think, however, using it as the sole mechanism to provide end game gear to hardcore players was probably ill-advised.

 

And what precisely does it provide to the casual player?

 

I probably do count as a casual at the moment, and I, personally, am no longer motivated to do anything that has to do with GC. I have three toons at GC level 8 each. The "a crate an hour" prediction is just a lie; I don't PVP because I hate it, in those oh-so-innovative Uprisings, my framerate goes to hell even if it's fine in FPS and similar, and my "normal" gameplay nets me so little GCXP that frankly I don't even need to bother. No. This system has nothing for a casual player, save the illusion that somehow some day the best gear might be obtainable. For me, that is not enough.

[Eli_Porter]

This system has nothing for a casual player, save the illusion that somehow some day the best gear might be obtainable.

 

Gear doesn't have to be the best in order to be usable. As a casual player, it's likely that every single command crate got you least one piece of usable gear at those early levels. Compare that to the crystal system where you had to play a while just to afford a non-set glowing/radiant crystal piece. Or the token system which required you to run the most casual unfriendly content in the game.