Galactic Command vs Previous SWTOR versions

[olagatonjedi]

I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around the complaints towards GC, so I wanted to take a quick moment to bring some clarity to GC, comparing the current version of SWTOR to previous versions. All of these are in regards to level 70 toons

 

Scenario #1 - Hutta - level 70 toon CXP 1

Pre-GC (non-level sync)

Kill NPC

+5 credits

+level 10 green/grey item

 

GC/CXP

Kill NPC

+CXP

+possibly acquire 230 set bonus gear/mods/enh, otherwise free stuff to sell, convert or transfer to alts)

+150 credits

+level 10 green/grey item

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scenario #2 - VM flashpoint - level 70 toon CXP 1

Pre-GC

Kill NPC

+Credits

+level 208 green/blue/purple item

 

GC/CXP

Kill NPC

+CXP

+possibly acquire 230 set bonus gear/mods/enh, otherwise free stuff to sell, convert or transfer to alts)

+Credits

+level 208 green/blue/purple item

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Scenario #3 - Heroic Alderaan - level 70 toon CXP 300

Pre-GC

Kill NPC

+20k Credits

+level 140 green/blue/purple item

 

GC/CXP

Kill NPC

+CXP

+possibly acquire 248/246 set bonus gear/mods/enh, otherwise free stuff to sell, convert or transfer to alts)

+20k Credits

+level 140 green/blue/purple item

+Odessen trade-in item for legacy gear, companion gifts, etc

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scenario #4 - Operations - level 70 toon CXP 300

Pre-GC

Kill NPC

+50k Credits

+chance for Tier 1/2/3 purple shell (depends on which mode you run)

 

GC/CXP

Kill NPC

+CXP

+possibly acquire 248/246 set bonus gear/mods/enh, otherwise free stuff to sell, convert or transfer to alts)

+50k Credits

+chance for Tier 2/3/4 purple shell (depends on which mode you run)

 

I could go on an on with the comparisons, but I think those alone sum up the inherent benefits of CXP/GC. You get more for doing ANY content that interests you, no matter what zone you choose to revisit. Like ops? Do ops. Like Heroics, do Heroics. Like PvP, do PvP. Like the smell of Hutta, go to Hutta and finish achievements. Want to discover all the areas of every map in the game, go do it. No matter what you do, you'll get a chance at bonus set gear, all the way up to 248 BIS gear. It's pretty obvious that in 5.x, you get more than you ever could have in SWTOR 1.x, 2.x, 3.x, or 4.x. I just don't see where the complaints come from, unless you plan to complain because you are getting free stuff.

 

Feel free to provide feedback or corrections to my findings.

[ThrakhathSpawn]

For me, its not about gear, it is the experience.

 

GC put you on a solo path. Lots of people spawn into content they have no interest in doing, with people they would rather not play with just because it gets more CXP. It used to be I did HM FP's every day in all roles, now I do none. The toxicity of farmers and their impatience drove me away.

 

And this toxicity extends into nearly every form of pick up group content, not just FP's. Pick up group content is one of the major attraction of MMO's.

 

So ever since, I buy two months game time, then take a break. The MMO fabric is broken. It goes beyond gear drops, and also has to do with changes to story, removal of progression, and all level lumping.

 

There used to be great adventures with new players that I would help in chat; now the enemies are easier, just basic attack as companion heals. When they get into group content, it must be some one elses fault. The current system, with level sync, story, and invulnerable questing creates a toxic set of new players. This drives away the decent old players, and is resulting in a shift of the player base in pick up group content where things can't be cleared anymore.

 

I was much happier when the level cap was level 55. I also kept my 162's to run FP's in, even though I had 186's/180's available for most characters. Its not about gear or credits, it is about adventure.

 

And in the new system, the places you used to adventure are ghost towns. This bug of CXP levels on some daily areas suddenly has them occupied, but before this bug it was empty. Sad.

Edited September 3, 2017 by ThrakhathSpawn

[Rheshalea]

The idea of Galactic Command IS nice for people like me who play alone.

The reality is not.

 

Many, many people like more challenging content than I do. When GC started, most, if not all, of these people found that they weren't able to defeat the same content they had done just a few days before, with a gigantic grind before them until they'd be able to do that content again. They were progressing through Nightmare Ops, but to get back to doing that again, they'd have to farm and grind and farm and grind to get their RNG boxes that might or might not give them the gear they needed.

Compare that system to running specific Ops that gave specific loot from specific bosses. Sure, maybe that was a little too fast of a system, but it also enabled Ops teams to fill in vacant spots with alts or new players and quickly bring them up to a suitable level of gear.

 

For someone like me, who plays alone and can't/don't want to play all day, every day, the grind through increasingly slower ranks and doing the same things over and over was just horrible.

Sure, at first the boxes came at a decent rate, and knowing I might eventually get to the mythical rank 300 and possibly end up in the best and awesomest and shiniest gear felt fun.

Except that this was the only way to get gear. Still is for me, actually, because I don't really like PvP and I can't commit to Ops - not that I have much interest in that to start with.

 

So why is gearing up so important, especially for a solo player? The gear itself isn't, not for me at least. But the sense of actually making progress is.

It's the only "new" thing to do. It is the content we have after being done with the mediocre at best story. Farm and grind, farm and grind.

 

And the grind is gigantic. First get to rank 80 to start having a chance for T2. Then 100 more ranks for a chance at T3, then get to 300 for T4, and for just about every rank you need more CXP. And even then, you only get a chance at receiving an item you want in the next box.

Compare this to knowing exactly how many of insert-suitably-currency you need for your next piece of gear.

 

With this enormous grind came, for many players, the feeling of guilt when playing an alt. The game launched with 8 storylines, and a lot of players played all of them at least once. Now, though?

You'd better play your main, and only your main, because you have countless hours of farming and grinding ahead of you before you even get a chance at the gear you want/need. Playing the alt you actually want to play is counterproductive. Even worse if the alt isn't level 70.

Sure, you might argue that playing your alts never helped your main before, either. And that's true. Apart from crafted stuff, of course, which has made me level alts before and in more games than this one. But I never felt guilty before, because the grind was never this bad.

 

And that is, for me, the biggest problem with GC. Under normal circumstances (without the current daily CXP bug and double CXP on top of that), reaching the next rank is way, way too slow.

I don't need the gear. But it's a carrot on a stick - no, for me, as a solo player, it's a carrot cake, glazed and with sprinkles on top. Best in Slot gear is attainable even for me, theoretically, if I only sit my butt down and do the same old content again and again and again and again on the same character again and again and again and again.

Those who actually need the gear to be able to play the content they want have (quite recently, too!) been helped with new currencies and gear drops, but they still have to deal with RNG during the grind. However, since I'm a solo player, I won't speak for them, especially not since I don't know enough about the gearing problems they face - these things have changed a lot since we first got plagued with GC.

 

Anyway, as I said way back in the first few lines, the idea of GC is good. The execution is not.

[olagatonjedi]

For me, its not about gear, it is the experience.

 

GC put you on a solo path. Lots of people spawn into content they have no interest in doing, with people they would rather not play with just because it gets more CXP. It used to be I did HM FP's every day in all roles, now I do none. The toxicity of farmers and their impatience drove me away.

 

And this toxicity extends into nearly every form of pick up group content, not just FP's. Pick up group content is one of the major attraction of MMO's.

 

So ever since, I buy two months game time, then take a break. The MMO fabric is broken. It goes beyond gear drops, and also has to do with changes to story, removal of progression, and all level lumping.

 

There used to be great adventures with new players that I would help in chat; now the enemies are easier, just basic attack as companion heals. When they get into group content, it must be some one elses fault. The current system, with level sync, story, and invulnerable questing creates a toxic set of new players. This drives away the decent old players, and is resulting in a shift of the player base in pick up group content where things can't be cleared anymore.

 

I was much happier when the level cap was level 55. I also kept my 162's to run FP's in, even though I had 186's/180's available for most characters. Its not about gear or credits, it is about adventure.

 

And in the new system, the places you used to adventure are ghost towns. This bug of CXP levels on some daily areas suddenly has them occupied, but before this bug it was empty. Sad.

Toxicity of players has little, if nothing, to do with the CXP/GC system. There have always been toxic players who you will encounter, regardless of what you do - it's almost inviting when you join any society-based game.

 

As for new players, there will innately be less and less as the game grows older and older. This, again, has nothing to do with CXP. That sense of adventure that you crave is not gear or loot system dependent. It's nostalgia of the gaming experience. Nostalgia is what many people crave, but unfortunately, it is difficult to get it back. I remember the first time I played EQ, and how excited I was. I wish I could experience that feeling again, but I know it's near impossible with so much time that has passed, and the progression of MMO's to what they are today.

 

The MMO genre catering more to solo players is just a part of the real world progression. We are in a world of instant gratification, and everything has to be faster and more efficient - with cell phones, etc. Many people don't want to commit large chunks of time to gaming, and instead like to play casually.

[GrimTheGlutt]

I dont mind GC, it certainly helps get gear for the casual player, the issue is with the RNG of it, I must have opened near on a thousand crates on my merc but still dont have full 248, still need 3 or 4 items. Rest is 246, but it is demoralising trying to get those illusive last items when you open a crate and get a blue item and a reputation token for rep you have maxed out! Or worse a legendary item you already have - relic/ear especially which you cant share with an Alt.

 

There needs to be a way to mitigate in some way the RNG, i dont mind working towards an item, but having fingers crossed all the time just isn't working it needs a slight change.

 

I dont have a big guild to do nightmare Ops with, and i dont want to join one, had enough guild drama to last me a lifetime in multiple games. So no thanks I'm very happy with my small guild.

 

Also whilst the additional CXP is great for getting the alts up, I now dread doing the dailies due to the toxic players mentioned. Clearing a quest item of mobs only to have some S.o.a.B. come along and ninja it is infuriating, once ok it happnes, but time after time when doing daily quests is enough to drive anyone insane. I liked it when dailies were empty - it meant i could do them in peace. Now they are swarming with very impatient and downright rude players... No fun in that, so I have to grin and bear it as it gets the alts geared.

 

They need to make all quest goals instance based, only way to beat the toxic fools ruining the experience of others... Have group mobs/trash in the way which need to be cleared fine, but make the goal instanced. Couple of good examples on Oricon of this. But also some bad examples of ninja magnets in Oricon too!

[olagatonjedi]

I dont mind GC, it certainly helps get gear for the casual player, the issue is with the RNG of it, I must have opened near on a thousand crates on my merc but still dont have full 248, still need 3 or 4 items. Rest is 246, but it is demoralising trying to get those illusive last items when you open a crate and get a blue item and a reputation token for rep you have maxed out! Or worse a legendary item you already have - relic/ear especially which you cant share with an Alt.

 

There needs to be a way to mitigate in some way the RNG, i dont mind working towards an item, but having fingers crossed all the time just isn't working it needs a slight change.

 

I dont have a big guild to do nightmare Ops with, and i dont want to join one, had enough guild drama to last me a lifetime in multiple games. So no thanks I'm very happy with my small guild.

 

Also whilst the additional CXP is great for getting the alts up, I now dread doing the dailies due to the toxic players mentioned. Clearing a quest item of mobs only to have some S.o.a.B. come along and ninja it is infuriating, once ok it happnes, but time after time when doing daily quests is enough to drive anyone insane. I liked it when dailies were empty - it meant i could do them in peace. Now they are swarming with very impatient and downright rude players... No fun in that, so I have to grin and bear it as it gets the alts geared.

 

They need to make all quest goals instance based, only way to beat the toxic fools ruining the experience of others... Have group mobs/trash in the way which need to be cleared fine, but make the goal instanced. Couple of good examples on Oricon of this. But also some bad examples of ninja magnets in Oricon too!

Remember GC is a secondary gearing system. You can also upgrade tier 1 and 2 gear up to tier 4 via UC's, or run SM/GF or HM ops to get tier 2/3 gear that can be upgraded, specifically the ones you still seek. If you rely solely on the RNG element of GC for gearing, its obvious you will get frustrated. Take action instead of leaving it up to chance - thats the incentive GC provides to participate in content you may otherwise never have done before.

[xRohanx]

All gameplay has turned into an endless farm of CXP. Especially Flashpoints. Players do not even say hello. They just run ahead, kill the bosses and leave without saying thank you. And If you have disconnect, you will be kicked, because your group mates hasten to get their CXP. They have 2 hours CXP bonus, run around one FP all day and do not pay attention to mates. The same situation with Uprisings. People gonna mad. On Yavin, Czerka, Oricon, because of event, mobs and quest objects stealing now live more than ever. Four people and two invisibles will click and click on the spawn place of the quest object, but no one will join the group. If you're switch to PVP channel, you will be killed under the champion mob attack, taken blow to back from pvp-farmer. This is such a side effects of your vaunted system. Edited September 4, 2017 by xRohanx

[FerkWork]

I remember getting BiS drops from doing NiM off every boss. Now I get random blues and purples items that are for toons I don't even use while I still can't get half the loot table of 248 from Final bosses only MM and the new Op as I have to wait for the new boss to release. Meanwhile the EV/KP Farmer who afks in Ranked has full BIS on multiple toons. Oh and crates of blue worthless junk. I have cleared everything multiple times over but only have 1 BiS toon cause I prefer to do challenging content than farm more terrabads in regs or Ranked on my dead server. Just like the NiM loot debacle of 4.0 we seem to be having same silly decision although I had far more BiS toons in 3.x and 4.x than now. Such a great system where we reward mediocrity and discourage quality play. If CXP was supplementary than all MM Bosses should drop 248 gear and end this schenagians once and for all. I don't care if the casual gets BiS but let me gear how I want. Not VM, PvP Spam, not crates but by 248 on all MM Bosses. No no one needs gear but actually rewarding challenging content would be a good idea if you are going to actually make group content now. Edited September 4, 2017 by FerkWork

[olagatonjedi]

All gameplay has turned into an endless farm of CXP. Especially Flashpoints. Players do not even say hello. They just run ahead, kill the bosses and leave without saying thank you. And If you have disconnect, you will be kicked, because your group mates hasten to get their CXP. They have 2 hours CXP bonus, run around one FP all day and do not pay attention to mates. The same situation with Uprisings. People gonna mad. On Yavin, Czerka, Oricon, because of event, mobs and quest objects stealing now live more than ever. Four people and two invisibles will click and click on the spawn place of the quest object, but no one will join the group. If you're switch to PVP channel, you will be killed under the champion mob attack, taken blow to back from pvp-farmer. This is such a side effects of your vaunted system.

I hate to break it to you but this is how all MMOs are when they first begin, when there are events, and new expansion packs with level increases. Those players have every right to play that way, and you have every right to choose not to group with them via ignore. Blaming the system is a cop-out. You have tools in place that you can use to improve your gaming experience - are you using them? Probably not. Instead of being accountable, you would rather blame it on someones/omething else that has very little to do with your current in-game experience.

[olagatonjedi]

I remember getting BiS drops from doing NiM off every boss. Now I get random blues and purples items that are for toons I don't even use while I still can't get half the loot table of 248 from Final bosses only MM and the new Op as I have to wait for the new boss to release. Meanwhile the EV/KP Farmer who afks in Ranked has full BIS on multiple toons. Oh and crates of blue worthless junk. I have cleared everything multiple times over but only have 1 BiS toon cause I prefer to do challenging content than farm more terrabads in regs or Ranked on my dead server. Just like the NiM loot debacle of 4.0 we seem to be having same silly decision although I had far more BiS toons in 3.x and 4.x than now. Such a great system where we reward mediocrity and discourage quality play. If CXP was supplementary than all MM Bosses should drop 248 gear and end this schenagians once and for all. I don't care if the casual gets BiS but let me gear how I want. Not VM, PvP Spam, not crates but by 248 on all MM Bosses. No no one needs gear but actually rewarding challenging content would be a good idea if you are going to actually make group content now.

NIM is supposed to drop Tier 4 shells. If not, I believe it is a bug.

[Costello]

Galactic Command was the best option given the situation.

 

Some people want a return to operations dropping guaranteed best loot. Only there aren't the resources to put in enough new operations for this to be viable. It would instead be doing exactly what was being done through 4.0 to regrind the next level of gear.

 

This would have made the lack of end game content obvious to everyone. The story content and uprisings would have been played once and then there would be absolutely no point in playing them again, so the devs did the only logical thing, they tried to make any content viable so if you hadn't played dailies that much they were something 'newish' to play to get gear.

 

Where they failed horribly was now allowing you to work towards an identifiable goal, the grind is necessary but making it so you have a 2% chance to get something worthwhile and a .28% chance it being the slot you wanted makes for a very painful experience, if there is no progression attached to it. Get your tier 4 box, get junk its as if you never opened the box and that last (however long) was a complete waste of time.

[xRohanx]

I hate to break it to you but this is how all MMOs are when they first begin, when there are events, and new expansion packs with level increases. Those players have every right to play that way, and you have every right to choose not to group with them via ignore. Blaming the system is a cop-out. You have tools in place that you can use to improve your gaming experience - are you using them? Probably not. Instead of being accountable, you would rather blame it on someones/omething else that has very little to do with your current in-game experience.

I know what IMO is. Moreover, I know what the Asian MMO and hardcore grind too. I've been playing MMO for 12 years and I know what it's like to get equipment for 1.5 years, raids of 300 people for an epic boss, with a global PVP, and I know what it's like to sleep in shifts to catch the respawn boss moment and bring your alliance first. If I wanted to return to this system, I would return. And what happens to players in such gaming systems, I also know very well. You prefer to turn a blind eye to problems, this is your right, but I will not do it. There are certain problems caused by the eternal grind, and to deny them is just silly. Please stop playing clairvoyant, do not try to guess what I'm doing and what not.

Edited September 4, 2017 by xRohanx

[Ikaras]

Having come back to the game within the last month, not having played since just after the hutt xpac went live, so far I've been finding I quite like this GC system.

 

(so far) I ding often enough to pop crates on a regular basis, and I like the fact that if I stick with it eventually I'll have a chance to get the best gear.

 

At the same time, organized raiding is just not an interest for me anymore, been there, done that, got jaded and burnt out on it (Plus I like to play when I want, I dislike having to be on at "the time"), but I do like to do random queue content.

 

Sadly from what I've been reading and googling, and from personal experience, it seems the queuable story mode ops are not actually really used (Unlike the LFR in WoW or the 1st difficulty 8/24 man raids in FF14), it's actually really disappointing, as I still have yet to step foot into an Op, I'd actually expected when I came back "Oh I bet I can just queue for them"...no dice.

 

Anyway, getting back on subject, since queueable raids seemed to be denied me, I like that I at least have options to get gear. Otherwise I'd reach end game and...probably quit.

When the best gear/class set gears are out of reach, it feels like a waste of time. WoW made that mistake during WoD, and they quickly changed it during the next xpac.

 

That's what you need to factor in. Not the hardcore people that play all day, every day without fail for years. It's the people like me you want to encourage to stick around (Even if it's as a preferred/F2P), coz without us, there wouldn't be enough people to make the group content much fun.

 

Yes, I realize people like to "feel special", but what's the point of that if there's nobody to group with or even show off too?

Edited September 4, 2017 by Ikaras

[merovejec]

As some people already said CXP has turned the game into a grind fest. People go into content to farm cxp, not to play. They afk warzones, GSF, ranked just to get the stuff without work, since they are engaging into content they dont like, but it rewards the best.

 

People are not patient, they rush the Flashpoint or ops to get to end since weekly gives 10k cxp, they dont care about the drops anymore, they want cxp. Before it was patience, people rolled for gear drops and hoped for best. The worst that happened was a ninja looter who got away with it all or some pieces. Now its just run through and finish.

 

All you see on fleet is a call out for the latest farm method. Now its running fractured MM once, then spam Hammer Station Master Mode. When those will be nerfed people will find something else. They will not play what the Devs want, they will do what they see most efficient. I am not saying CXP was a bad idea, it just was applied incorrectly and hasnt been fixed until now.

[xRohanx]

I think the speeches of the defenders of the system are ridiculous. The system will probably work, but it needs a lot of correction. They arguing that in the end we can get BiS equipment. However, while this happens a few hundred players will leave the game, because it is impossible to find a group or a nerf happened. But they do not hear, continuing to insist that everything is fine. Stunning perseverance.

[olagatonjedi]

As some people already said CXP has turned the game into a grind fest. People go into content to farm cxp, not to play. They afk warzones, GSF, ranked just to get the stuff without work, since they are engaging into content they dont like, but it rewards the best.

 

People are not patient, they rush the Flashpoint or ops to get to end since weekly gives 10k cxp, they dont care about the drops anymore, they want cxp. Before it was patience, people rolled for gear drops and hoped for best. The worst that happened was a ninja looter who got away with it all or some pieces. Now its just run through and finish.

 

All you see on fleet is a call out for the latest farm method. Now its running fractured MM once, then spam Hammer Station Master Mode. When those will be nerfed people will find something else. They will not play what the Devs want, they will do what they see most efficient. I am not saying CXP was a bad idea, it just was applied incorrectly and hasnt been fixed until now.

Granted this is my opinion, and based on my style of play, but I only see people rush theough SM ops, mainly because the gear isnt upgrades for them by that point. In HM ops, they typically take time to distribute loot fairly and evenly.

 

As for flashpoints, there are story/solo modes if you are looking to follow the story. Bioware implemented those to allow people to enjoy the story at their own pace. If you join a group, you arent the only one deciding the pace of play, and it will typically fall to majority rule, or importance/rarity/need of class. I have been kicked from groups that wanted to do fast runs when I wanted the bonus. I have also dropped and joined another group whej the goals of the group didnt match mine. Thats part of interacting with others.

 

And as I have also said before, CXP isnt the cause of the rushed attitude peolle have, sibce that attitude has been around long before cxp ever cane out.

Edited September 4, 2017 by olagatonjedi

[olagatonjedi]

I think the speeches of the defenders of the system are ridiculous. The system will probably work, but it needs a lot of correction. They arguing that in the end we can get BiS equipment. However, while this happens a few hundred players will leave the game, because it is impossible to find a group or a nerf happened. But they do not hear, continuing to insist that everything is fine. Stunning perseverance.

Hundreds of people quit regardless of the system, so you are failing to make a valid piint. Hundreds of people also join, but im not clsiming its because of cxp either. Im defending cxp because it the best system I have seen that caters to all players, and includes all content the gane has to offer. Its a lot better than not rewarding players on 90% of content, while also not introducing new content.

[FerkWork]

NIM is supposed to drop Tier 4 shells. If not, I believe it is a bug.

 

It's not a bug. NiM intentionally drops completely random worthless (mostly) Blue or (rarely) Purple 244 or 246 gear off non final bosses and random as it can be for classes not even present in raid or anyone cares for. That's not BiS like we had on every NiM boss back in the day or even 4.X. Also, no Belt, Bracers, MH, OH, or Headpiece 248 is available from Ops atm. And thus it's a inferior system to the previous one for me.

Edited September 4, 2017 by FerkWork

[olagatonjedi]

It's not a bug. NiM intentionally drops completely random worthless (mostly) Blue or (rarely) Purple 244 or 246 gear off non final bosses and random as it can be for classes not even present in raid or anyone cares for. That's not BiS like we had on every NiM boss back in the day or even 4.X. Also, no Belt, Bracers, MH, OH, or Headpiece 248 is available from Ops atm. And thus it's a inferior system to the previous one for me.

Well thats stupid, but doesnt have to do with cxp.

[FerkWork]

Galactic Command was the best option given the situation.

 

Some people want a return to operations dropping guaranteed best loot. Only there aren't the resources to put in enough new operations for this to be viable. It would instead be doing exactly what was being done through 4.0 to regrind the next level of gear.

 

This would have made the lack of end game content obvious to everyone. The story content and uprisings would have been played once and then there would be absolutely no point in playing them again, so the devs did the only logical thing, they tried to make any content viable so if you hadn't played dailies that much they were something 'newish' to play to get gear.

 

Where they failed horribly was now allowing you to work towards an identifiable goal, the grind is necessary but making it so you have a 2% chance to get something worthwhile and a .28% chance it being the slot you wanted makes for a very painful experience, if there is no progression attached to it. Get your tier 4 box, get junk its as if you never opened the box and that last (however long) was a complete waste of time.

 

 

4.x problem was allowing HM to drop BiS loot. Having NiM drop mostly junk while faceroll content rewards it is a great way to discourage any new groups from even trying it at a time when they want to invest in group content is repeating the mistakes of the past.

[xRohanx]

Hundreds of people quit regardless of the system, so you are failing to make a valid piint. Hundreds of people also join, but im not clsiming its because of cxp either. Im defending cxp because it the best system I have seen that caters to all players, and includes all content the gane has to offer. Its a lot better than not rewarding players on 90% of content, while also not introducing new content.

This system has many problems. They are listed in this and other topics. Nerf characters and loot - this is not optimization, it's crutches. I hope that the developers will improve the system, but now it is more frustrating than joy, and many comments indicate this. If the developers go along the Asian path, this will be a complete failure. I have the best equipment and I'm ready to do more difficult content, it is very interesting. But I'm not interested in spending more than two hours looking for a group. Approximately half the content you are talking about remains unclaimed.

[olagatonjedi]

4.x problem was allowing HM to drop BiS loot. Having NiM drop mostly junk while faceroll content rewards it is a great way to discourage any new groups from even trying it at a time when they want to invest in group content is repeating the mistakes of the past.

In all fairness, im pretty sure NIM players make up a very small portion of the overall population.

[psandak]

This is as good a place as any to make my suggestion regarding GC...

 

The biggest problem with GC is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Even if a character has all rating 248 except one item modification, there is no guarantee that character will ever get that last item modification through GC crates alone. As a guildmate put it (commenting on the double XP/CXP week): "Yeah nothing like getting garbage in crates twice as fast." The problem is that the more gear a character gets from GC crates the more likely in becomes that future crates have nothing the character needs. item modifications from moddable pieces can be sent to other characters for mods and enhancements but even that only goes so far: left side cannot be sent at all, and armorings have limited transfer-ability.

 

My suggestion is aimed at giving us a light at the end of the tunnel; a way to finalize a character's gear (not to mention another way to get gear for alts) And that suggestion is: that instead of getting CXP from disintegration give us unassembled components instead. Even if it is a very small amount of UC and even if UC was only generated by disintegration of gear (not toys, or jawa scrap, or companion gifts, etc), it would give us a means to say, "OK I see a time WHEN character X will have full 248," not exclaim "OMG will I ever get to full 248?"

[FerkWork]

In all fairness, im pretty sure NIM players make up a very small portion of the overall population.

 

You can say that about lots of groups in Swtor or any MMO. Be that as it may, it's still a discouragement to set up it up that way and doing things to discourage running said content for anyone wanting to try doesn't benefit anyone at all. I don't mind CXP as a supplementary system but I do mind do mind when they make it worse off for people who do MM content for no benefit to anyone involved.

[abigfishy]

More realistic version

 

Scenario #1 - Hutta - level 70 toon CXP 10

Pre-GC (game was synched pre-GC)

Kill NPC

+50 credits

+level 200 blue item

 

GC/CXP

Kill NPC

+CXP now 1/100th of the way towards your next level

+150 credits

+ no item item

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scenario #2 - VM flashpoint - level 70 toon CXP 10

Pre-GC

Kill NPC

+Credits

+ MANY level 208 green/blue/purple item AND a 216 at end

 

GC/CXP

Kill NPC

+CXP

+probably one 228 non-set bonus gear/mods/enh, some worthless junk and a companion gift)

+Credits

+ no other item

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Scenario #3 - Heroic Alderaan - level 70 toon CXP 300

Pre-GC

Kill NPC

+20k Credits

+ Crate to level influence + legacy gear + comp gift

+ probably several level 200 blue or 190 green and if lucky a 208 purple item

Bad side inventory full

 

GC/CXP

Kill NPC

+CXP - but not enough to go up a level, not even close are you kidding?

+20k Credits

+no other items

Good side inventory still completely empty

 

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Scenario #4 - Operations - level 70 toon CXP 300

Pre-GC

Kill NPC

+50k Credits

+if running with guildies or geared players as many 208/216/220 non-set pieces as you want and at least one set piece. (depends on which mode you run)

 

GC/CXP

Kill NPC

+CXP

+Between 0 and 1 piece of gear very very likely to not be a set piece bonus most likely another ear that I decon yet again to crawl my GC bar a mircobe forward + the usual trash none of which I ever sell.

+50k Credits

+chance for Tier 2/3/4 purple shell (depends on which mode you run) Thank god they improved this when GC started you got nothing for running an entire op.

 

I could go on an on with the comparisons, but I think those alone sum up the inherent horrors of CXP/GC.