CXP Pros/Cons from a founders perspective

[AscendingSky]

As long as it stays you might, maybe get a piece of gear and it might, maybe be useful, it doesn't matter how fast they drop, you still can't be sure you'll get the gear you need for the content you want to run. Speeding it up still doesn't fix the fact that you might get 600 crates and not have a 6 piece set bonus. It's possible you won't have any, although the chance of that is slim, I hope. GC is no fun, it's frustrating and infuriating and it gets worse the more crates you open. No thanks. If I want to play something like that, I'll go drop quarters in a slot machine.

 

It's particularly bad when there's no safeguard against getting duplicates. On my scoundrel, for example, I have not only received the same pants twice (from two crates in a row even, that was amusing), but SEVEN relics I didn't need. Each of those purple relic drops could have been something I actually need, but nope, just seven relics that are the same as the two I'm already using. That's just sad.

Edited January 28, 2017 by AscendingSky

[MaximumOwnage]

They are clearly making strides to adjust this stuff. They asked for as much feedback as possible (feedback, not complaints). The grind may be a little bit much, but with a little bit of tweaking it can actually be an amazing system, especially if it allows new content to compliment the old.

 

I disagree. It is a decent gearing system and more fun than before BUT it does not need a tweak. It needs a sledgehammer and a baseball bat adjustment to the rate. They need to increase it by a very large margin or the cancer will continue to spread. And make no mistake it is toxic.

 

With a game that allows 52 toons per server, you can not have a Chinese gear grind. As you and everyone else playing this game has learned very clearly by this update it is cancer to a game like this.

 

The good news is fortunately for the development team that it is an extremely easy and quick fix. All they have to do it boost the progress 10-12 times of what it is now and the toxic cancer will be gone instantly. A "tweak" is NOT needed. It is way beyond a tweak. If the development team wants to instigate the disease and make it flair up than tweak it. You want people leaving the forums and return to playing this game increase the rates by a dramatic amount.

 

The choice is simple and it is the development teams choice to make. All I know is that I am on Harbinger on what was one of the most active guilds with nobody on but me. And every single person I talk to about this gear system ALL say it is way to grindy. And not a little bit too grindy, but to grindy by a long shot.

Edited January 28, 2017 by MaximumOwnage

[AscendingSky]

I disagree. It is a decent gearing system and more fun than before BUT it does not need a tweak. It needs a sledgehammer and a baseball bat adjustment to the rate. They need to increase it by a very large margin or the cancer will continue to spread. And make no mistake it is toxic.

 

With a game that allows 52 toons per server, you can not have a Chinese gear grind. As you and everyone else playing this game has learned very clearly by this update it is cancer to a game like this.

 

The good news is fortunately for the development team that it is an extremely easy and quick fix. All they have to do it boost the progress 10-12 times of what it is now and the toxic cancer will be gone instantly. A "tweak" is NOT needed. It is way beyond a tweak. If the development team wants to instigate the disease and make it flair up than tweak it. You want people leaving the forums and return to playing this game increase the rates by a dramatic amount.

 

The choice is simple and it is the development teams choice to make. All I know is that I am on Harbinger on what was one of the most active guilds with nobody on but me. And every single person I talk to about this gear system ALL say it is way to grindy. And not a little bit too grindy, but to grindy by a long shot.

 

I agree with you. To your idea of massively speeding up the grinding of CXP levels, I would add the following suggestions:

 

1) Code in a safeguard against getting duplicate pieces from a tier set. It's very disheartening to keep getting the same piece over and over when you still need so many more drops.

 

2) Allow people to directly spend Command Tokens to purchase gear from the previous tier, without needing components from PvP/GSF or unassembled gear tokens from PvE. That way, if you hit tier 2 and still are missing several 230 pieces, you can choose to either wait and see if you get upgrades for those slots from the RNG boxes, or spend accumulated tokens to get better gear now while you wait. Same thing if you hit tier 3 and you're still behind on gearing; you can directly spend Command Tokens to fill in the gaps with tier 2 gear or again wait to see if RNGesus loves you later.

Edited January 28, 2017 by AscendingSky

[MaximumOwnage]

I agree with you. To your idea of massively speeding up the grinding of CXP levels, I would add the following suggestions:

 

1) Code in a safeguard against getting duplicate pieces from a tier set. It's very disheartening to keep getting the same piece over and over when you still need so many more drops.

 

2) Allow people to directly spend Command Tokens to purchase gear from the previous tier, without needing components from PvP/GSF or unassembled gear tokens from PvE. That way, if you hit tier 2 and still are missing several 230 pieces, you can choose to either wait and see if you get upgrades for those slots from the RNG boxes, or spend accumulated tokens to get better gear now while you wait. Same thing if you hit tier 3 and you're still behind on gearing; you can directly spend Command Tokens to fill in the gaps with tier 2 gear or again wait to see if RNGesus loves you later.

 

Well to be honest, if they speed up the comm grind so we can purchase the gear pieces quickly like we used to be able to, I don't mind the "randomness" of the gear piece drops. In a perfect world yes I would like it to drop everything I need, but the randomness in a way is fun in the respect of you don't know how the luck of the draw will go.

 

If the gear grind was quick you and most everyone wouldn't really care as much if the pieces that dropped were random and luck because it would not impact us much. It is more or less of a bonus drop if you pop one. But the way the Chinese gear grind is now, it is extremely sour grapes when you get repeat pieces.

 

Again the bottom line is take away the grind and ALL the issues go away. Keep the grind and the cancer spreads. It honestly and truthfully is that simple. The grind is what is recking this entire game and system right now. And its not a little too grindy, it is way off. So much that it needs a 12 times boost ASAP. Like today would be nice.

 

I would like the players who all quit over this to come back and play. Its no fun for me to be in what was one of the most active guilds on Harbinger and I sit here with not even 1 player logged in. Remove the gear grind and most of them will start to play again.

Edited January 28, 2017 by MaximumOwnage

[DanNV]

Well to be honest, if they speed up the comm grind so we can purchase the gear pieces quickly like we used to be able to, I don't mind the "randomness" of the gear piece drops. In a perfect world yes I would like it to drop everything I need, but the randomness in a way is fun in the respect of you don't know how the luck of the draw will go.

 

And for me, that's one of the big issues with the RNG system. I need a set of gear to do progression raiding. I can't do that now. Between the grind and the RNG the system is totally broken. Just speeding it up won't fix the second half of that.

 

I would like the players who all quit over this to come back and play. Its no fun for me to be in what was one of the most active guilds on Harbinger and I sit here with not even 1 player logged in. Remove the gear grind and most of them will start to play again.

 

At the rate they are going, most won't come back. They had time before Christmas to stop the bleed, they had 5.1 to keep things from getting worse and now they just promise tweaks. People are gone or leaving and once they get invested in another game it will be very hard to get them back. It will take huge marketing incentives (free play time, free goodies, etc.) to even get them to think about it. And if BW doesn't actually start listening to their customers, they'll just end up in this boat again later if they save things now.

[MaximumOwnage]

And for me, that's one of the big issues with the RNG system. I need a set of gear to do progression raiding. I can't do that now. Between the grind and the RNG the system is totally broken. Just speeding it up won't fix the second half of that.

 

 

 

At the rate they are going, most won't come back. They had time before Christmas to stop the bleed, they had 5.1 to keep things from getting worse and now they just promise tweaks. People are gone or leaving and once they get invested in another game it will be very hard to get them back. It will take huge marketing incentives (free play time, free goodies, etc.) to even get them to think about it. And if BW doesn't actually start listening to their customers, they'll just end up in this boat again later if they save things now.

 

What are they waiting for? They should implement a 12 times boost right now until they figure out a permanent resolution. Agree?

 

Why are they waiting? Isn't that something they could do right away to help stop the hemorrhage of players quitting?

[RudeDog]

 

The current version (5.1) gearing in my opinion was an amazing upgrade.

 

TLDR;

 

Pros: Everything. It is a complete and total upgrade to anything we have had in the past. Every aspect of this gearing system is a step in the right direction.

 

Cons: And this is the sad part of this deal. Because the con is a absolute game breaker. The ONLY con I have is cost. And the cost isn't a little off, it is game breaking off as most players and guilds have already seen. I think a good starting point of this gear grind should be 70-75% faster than it is now.

 

 

I agree with some of your post and disagree with other parts of it.

 

I agree that is is good that they added a component to keep leveling after 70, however, they already had that with Legacy levels. Instead of creating a new Galactic Command they could have just extended Legacy levels with a crate for each level as a reward and new legacy unlocks. They could have left the gear system the same and just added various crystals to the crates to purchase gear. That would have been easy, fun, and not disruptive. RNG is not fun. Getting multiple bracers when I need a new chest piece is not fun. Having a clearly established price for gear with the ability to earn the currency required through all styles of play for me is fun. That way I can plan what activities I need to do to get the gear I want.

 

Frankly, this type of stuff is not hard, but this team seems to take 1 step forward and 3 to 4 steps back every time they try something. They put out systems (legacy, space missions, etc.) and abandon them instead of enhancing them. They break stuff that works (AOE reticle) and don't fix stuff that is broken (to many bugs to count).

[DanNV]

What are they waiting for? They should implement a 12 times boost right now until they figure out a permanent resolution. Agree?

 

Why are they waiting? Isn't that something they could do right away to help stop the hemorrhage of players quitting?

 

They promised EA shareholders they had a new system that would keep subs longer and get more subs. They know they don't have enough content to keep the sub numbers up and can't figure out what to do. At this point, I expect about anything that happens Ben gets fired, so he's trying to figure a way out that doesn't end up with him in the unemployment line or on a plane back to Australia (I don't know if he naturalized or if he's on a green card which would require him to be employed to stay.)

 

They definitely need to do something. They needed to do something when the PTS feedback said they were screwed, they needed to do something in October when they were told people would quit. They didn't do it then and now they act like they have all the time in the world to make changes. It's launch all over again except they've already played the free to play card to save the game then and they have a LOT less players now. I expect once EA has financials showing a huge drop in subs they will get directives to fix it, but that will be next quarter and probably too late.

[MaximumOwnage]

They promised EA shareholders they had a new system that would keep subs longer and get more subs. They know they don't have enough content to keep the sub numbers up and can't figure out what to do. At this point, I expect about anything that happens Ben gets fired, so he's trying to figure a way out that doesn't end up with him in the unemployment line or on a plane back to Australia (I don't know if he naturalized or if he's on a green card which would require him to be employed to stay.)

 

They definitely need to do something. They needed to do something when the PTS feedback said they were screwed, they needed to do something in October when they were told people would quit. They didn't do it then and now they act like they have all the time in the world to make changes. It's launch all over again except they've already played the free to play card to save the game then and they have a LOT less players now. I expect once EA has financials showing a huge drop in subs they will get directives to fix it, but that will be next quarter and probably too late.

 

If he doesn't want to end up in the unemployment line, do an emergency patch to get the returns on this new gearing system up 8x-12x quicker than it is now and the problem is solved. Everyone moves happily on and I can get off these forums and return to playing the game. Because the way it is right now, my will to play is broken. And from the looks of things, so are a lot of other players because of this grind attached to gearing.

[AllisonLightning]

If he doesn't want to end up in the unemployment line, do an emergency patch to get the returns on this new gearing system up 8x-12x quicker than it is now and the problem is solved. Everyone moves happily on and I can get off these forums and return to playing the game. Because the way it is right now, my will to play is broken. And from the looks of things, so are a lot of other players because of this grind attached to gearing.

 

^ This. I don't care as long as it gets fixed which is probably a negligent attitude but it's mine. Fix it and on retaining subs, I'll add another six months at the start of April. I don't want to waste my time posting here and complaining- I want to be playing and going back to 'I really should do more story but just one more PvP match'.

[MaximumOwnage]

^ This. I don't care as long as it gets fixed which is probably a negligent attitude but it's mine. Fix it and on retaining subs, I'll add another six months at the start of April. I don't want to waste my time posting here and complaining- I want to be playing and going back to 'I really should do more story but just one more PvP match'.

 

You know the state of the game is bad when Allison agrees with me

Lol, j/k tongue in cheek.

Glad we can be on the same page on this

[CrazyCT]

You know the state of the game is bad when Allison agrees with me

Lol, j/k tongue in cheek.

Glad we can be on the same page on this

 

Thought you had unsubbed? Did you "accidentally" sub again?

[RagnarAugustus]

For OPs PvEers I think it helped a significant amount. From a PvPer perspective it was a slap in the face. The UCs are not nearly enough or on par with what is possible from PvE and it is now quicker to gear for PvP by doing OPs. It is a disparity that can't happen.

 

The changes to bolster is big part of the above. 5.1 was extremely damaging to PvP.

 

Maybe for PVPers it helped but not so much on the Ops players since only the last boss is guaranteed to drop an unassembled armor token and all other bosses have only a 30-35% chance to drop a token. Most of my raids have had only the last boss dropping an armor token so that doesn't really help us gear like in 3,0-4,0 because we're still relying on crafting and RNG to gear.

[MaximumOwnage]

Thought you had unsubbed? Did you "accidentally" sub again?

 

Why do you love me so much?

[ShinDoRai]

Why do you love me so much?

 

ill give u a hand.

since 5.0 we only can love now each other. LI are fixed out of the game.

love to the devs went away a long time ago and the love to swtor fades away

 

so loving each other in the community is all whats left

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Why do you love me so much?

 

Why do you avoid the question so much? Vote with your wallet n all that ...

 

All you've done over this past year is become one of those vocal people who prove to BWA no matter what they do and how bad it gets you'll always come back.

 

You may very well have had some good point in this tread but you burned your bridges long ago in my eyes and thus I see your name attached to a wall of text and I just can't take it seriously.

[MaximumOwnage]

Why do you avoid the question so much? Vote with your wallet n all that ...

 

All you've done over this past year is become one of those vocal people who prove to BWA no matter what they do and how bad it gets you'll always come back.

 

You may very well have had some good point in this tread but you burned your bridges long ago in my eyes and thus I see your name attached to a wall of text and I just can't take it seriously.

 

And you honestly felt the need to post this? Really?

[MeNaCe-NZ]

And you honestly felt the need to post this? Really?

 

Sure did - in your case the saying "actions speak louder than words" is the most pertinent.

[Smuglebunny]

Everytime, I am surprised by the stupidity of my fellow man. I think, no people aren't that dumb. But they are.

 

 

Example.

[MaximumOwnage]

Sure did - in your case the saying "actions speak louder than words" is the most pertinent.

 

Been here since launch. This is the account I created for beta testing. Get over it.