Galactic Command vs Previous SWTOR versions

[olagatonjedi]

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.

NIM raiders, in general, have never needed to be encouraged to run the content. They typically run it for the challenge, many already have bis gear, so its nonsense to say they are discouraged from playing it, when very little has changed from 4.x. HM content allows for faster gearing, if thats your preference.

 

As for all other content, GC has encouraged everyone to do anything they want now.

[cyrusramsey]

During this.. let's call it the 'dailies event', I've opened well over 200 boxes on many different characters. I've got maybe 5 useful upgrades out of those 200 boxes, and a lot of companion gifts... but pre-GC I could get more gifts, better ones and exactly the kinds that I wanted from the Odessen vendor just by playing my content of choice.

 

Waiting for ages to get that mainhand to drop. It doesn't drop--until exactly two minutes after I won a roll for it in an operation.

 

Secondary system? Yeah, so.. the progression order right now is SM ops, HM ops, HM FP, NiM ops? Because that's what the new item rating requirement turned it into if you do not count GC as the primary source of gear.

 

The thing is, I really like the interface that allows me to easily get to the content I want to play, I was even fairly optimistic about the concept when I first heard about it, because it would allow more people to get better gear, and elitism aside, it sounded inclusive to me, it sounded like it could give some players a shot at content they'd otherwise not dare dip their toes into.

 

The reality is that it's an utterly pointless system for me and many others. I was very relieved with the 230 vendor, allowing me to bypass the RNG on my many, many characters, and still be able to play HM FPs, but I used to be able to work towards specific goals on many levels, now? Now I keep getting junk to destroy.

 

It could be a nice system, but right now it is only a nice system for a very specific kind of player.

[FerkWork]

NIM raiders, in general, have never needed to be encouraged to run the content. They typically run it for the challenge, many already have bis gear, so its nonsense to say they are discouraged from playing it, when very little has changed from 4.x. HM content allows for faster gearing, if thats your preference.

 

As for all other content, GC has encouraged everyone to do anything they want now.

 

It has discouraged anyone new who may want to be a NiM raider from doing it and rewarding less than faceroll content is asinine to say the least. As for NiM raiders now it's asinine to have to gear outside of NiM to get pieces that don't drop and people decide to only log into raid as regs and crate farming is boring as mud and not worth the time when we didn't have to do that before. And that's the few that can farm consistently the final apex boss. HM doesn't drop as it shouldn't anyway 248 BiS which is the only gear that is relevant to drop in NiM as it has it done in the past. Ive already shown how it has changed. NiM drops garbage except for final boss. Arguing that people should instead of gearing how they want in NiM and instead farm faceroll Hm then do PvP is as absurd and contradictory and I would rather log off than do that. Same mistakes as the NiM loot debacle of 4.0 till they fixed it after only great cost. Half the loot table isn't on final bosses. Most people I know who log in only to NiM raid and not do faceroll content like PvP spam have one or no toon at BiS because if that 248 item doesn't drop in NiM then it's not available to them. If GC encourages to play what I want then why can't I get full BiS from NiM? That's the nonesense part and compared to previous expansions where I could get full BiS from NiM this system is objectively worse. From 4 toons in 3.X to 10 in 4.x to 1 now that is objectively worse for me I can say. And I have killed every MM Bosses multiple times over. So yeah the system is inferior for me and others until this is fixed.

Edited September 5, 2017 by FerkWork

[olagatonjedi]

During this.. let's call it the 'dailies event', I've opened well over 200 boxes on many different characters. I've got maybe 5 useful upgrades out of those 200 boxes, and a lot of companion gifts... but pre-GC I could get more gifts, better ones and exactly the kinds that I wanted from the Odessen vendor just by playing my content of choice.

Did you honestly try to say that paying for tuer 6 comp gifts (which you can still pay for, btw) is better than free tier 5/6 gifts in addition to raising comp influence via crafting? Lol, ok.

[olagatonjedi]

It has discouraged anyone new who may want to be a NiM raider from doing it and rewarding less than faceroll content is asinine to say the least. As for NiM raiders now it's asinine to have to gear outside of NiM to get pieces that don't drop and people decide to only log into raid as regs and crate farming is boring as mud and not worth the time when we didn't have to do that before. And that's the few that can farm consistently the final apex boss. HM doesn't drop as it shouldn't anyway 248 BiS which is the only gear that is relevant to drop in NiM as it has it done in the past. .

I dont believe that to be the general consensus unless proven otherwise. In fact, from personal experience, I didnt start doing NIM content before I was max geared in previous iterations of swtor, and in those cases, it was as max as possible, so i wouldnt be as much of a liability from the gear standpoint. Without knowing numbers either way, im certain Im not the only one hesitant to join nim raids under-geared. GC, and HM ops, lets anyone max gear BIS prior to nim ops to ensure preparedness from that standpoint. Learning the mechanics ia something else involved that comes with practice and studying.

 

And yes, everone had to fsrm something to get geared enough to do harder content, so to say people have never had to grind ops or content to gear up is foolish.

Edited September 6, 2017 by olagatonjedi

[Sundown]

GC is not the problem imho. Lack of new content is. Most people would happily farm new content to progress in it, but farm old content to progress in/replay old content? No, thanks.

 

GC in itself is not a bad idea. Each and every activity contributes towards your progress, and in contrast to credits token can only obtained by actually playing. So the only open things are: speed of progress and way of actually obtaining what the player needs. As the "event" showed: speed of progress was far too slow and most people see RNG as a nightmare. The added token drops in OPs and the unassembled components made it a bit better, still for pure PvPers it just sucks.

 

I am also one of the fans of having BiS gear only drop, so basically getting better gear only by clearing harder content. That is not necessarily tied to OPs only, it might also be different levels of solo-play, like was introduced with Vet and MM-chapters - issue is just that the chapters are not really well made and the difficulty mostly just comes from stupid damage output and health increases.

[olagatonjedi]

GC is not the problem imho. Lack of new content is. Most people would happily farm new content to progress in it, but farm old content to progress in/replay old content? No, thanks.

Personally, I agree with you, but only to an extent. Old content or not, letting it waste away is a stupid idea. The majority of mmos make this mistake, they spend so much time creating the original world that draws people in, but never keep it actively engaging. No one gave a 2nd thought about going back to Hutta until heroics and level sync allowed people to bring their main toon back and benefit from it. They arent keeping it completely trivial content by bringing a level 70 back, nor are they forcing you to help a friend level up with no benefit to your main toon, if thats what you enjoy playing. It should be expected that new content cant be produced and released fast enough to please everyone, or slow enough to please everyone (for that matter), so put a system in place that utilizes the dozens of zones already in game purposefully, amd add some new ones based on their plan - win win for everyone - except those that will whine that they are tired of old zones, lmao. Id reckon more people appreciate purposeful old zones than hate going back to them.

 

I am also one of the fans of having BiS gear only drop, so basically getting better gear only by clearing harder content. That is not necessarily tied to OPs only, it might also be different levels of solo-play, like was introduced with Vet and MM-chapters - issue is just that the chapters are not really well made and the difficulty mostly just comes from stupid damage output and health increases.

Part of my suggestion years ago for the level sync/bis for everyone was that of creating very difficult content for players who solo most of their gametime. I hope they continue to add more of these MM instances as well, and definitely wouldnt mind limiting bis gear for those and nim ops - as long as soloers and groupers have a chance to acquire them. Personally, thats ultimately what I seek in the games i am attracted to - equal chance for bis as long as im willing to put the work, time, amd effort in, regardless of the extent of each.

[FerkWork]

I dont believe that to be the general consensus unless proven otherwise. In fact, from personal experience, I didnt start doing NIM content before I was max geared in previous iterations of swtor, and in those cases, it was as max as possible, so i wouldnt be as much of a liability from the gear standpoint. Without knowing numbers either way, im certain Im not the only one hesitant to join nim raids under-geared. GC, and HM ops, lets anyone max gear BIS prior to nim ops to ensure preparedness from that standpoint. Learning the mechanics ia something else involved that comes with practice and studying.

 

And yes, everone had to fsrm something to get geared enough to do harder content, so to say people have never had to grind ops or content to gear up is foolish.

 

 

Well before 4.X the only path to BiS outside maybe vanilla was from doing NiM non Apex bosses or in 3.x from HM ToS and Rav. And thus you were always doing NiM sans 4.x without BiS so that's foolhardy to say you had max gear for it. And the point is that it's not about needing BiS gear but rather the absurd reward mechanism and not being able to gear up how I want too for future content. EV Faceroll spam + reg spam gets BiS while non Apex Bosses don't (random too btw) and no boss has Belt, Bracers Headpiece MH and OH 248. That's the point. Didn't need BiS to clear in 5.0 either but the fact that you can't get full BiS reward and minmax as a reward as well is asinine while faceroll farm is rewarded is absurd. My point that if I have far less BIS toons (1) than previous expac cause NiM is how I got my gear and others included. It went like this, do the bosses you could in your SM/hm starter gear or previous tier gear and get rewarded in NiM with BiS and work your way up. Now it's random pieces of blues no one needs.

 

Until I can get all my gear from NiM and the New Op this system doesn't provide benefit more than previous system of all NiM drops BiS loot. I and others only gear from NiM so so any claim that I should do faceroll boring content goes against the entire idea of gear how I want to. From 3.0 4 toons to more in 4.x from NiM to 1 toon now full BiS is the proof there that's it's worse off for me and others. I prefer to gear from the hardest content alone as I have done in every expac before and if I can't get all my loot from there it's worse cause I could in every other expac before I have played.

 

All they need to do is remove the random loot from NiM and make it drop from all bosses there 248 Unassembled gear tokens. Simple, I don't know why you are arguing in the first place cause I care little if they keep the rng gambling boxes or Afk PvP simulator 2017 for people that want gear and can't do NiM, just let me gear how I want as was stated I could with this system but is not true as of now.

Edited September 6, 2017 by FerkWork

[Quraswren]

SNIP....

 

Feel free to provide feedback or corrections to my findings.

 

I find GC to be one of the worst ideas a game could have. The RNG aspect of it is detrimental to the entire gear process because of the nature of RNG. It's designed to screw over the gamers, the majority of the time if not every time depending on your luck and talking about luck, I've yet to meet someone in game that just got lucky all the time and got everything they wanted in any short amount of time. However, I've met plenty that are still unlucky to this day and have been unlucky since day one of GC.

 

What I think should have happend was keep the 4.0 gearing system and expanded it.

 

bw preached about the 4.0 system having to many currencies and yet look at the total garbage currencies we have now vs 4.0. It's like bw has a gas leak in the office.

 

They should have taken the 4.0 system and could have accomplished the same thing without all the convoluted garbage GC brought. Design venders to have the gear crates provide all the way up to BIS. Design all the content to drop crystals allowing them to accomplish the "do any content" for gear.

 

Gamers were already used to 4.0 and didn't need a completely new system that screwed them over so much. Adjust values in crystal price to gauge gearing speed and not rely on RNG.

 

So much more could have been better for this game if they had adjusted 4.0 VS launching GC and the trouble that crap brought to SW. Now bw needs to overhaul the entire thing again because the damage is done from what GC brought and few if any are returning to the game as long as GC is here. The ywill have to launch something NEW to get away from it's stigma if there is any chance to get gamers back.

 

So while comparing 4.0 to what we have now isn't really an honest comparison 4.0 was still better on many fronts but even if you only compare it to the ability to choose exactly what piece of gear you needed to fill in that random slot hole in your gear; even if it wasn't the best optomised, it was good gear and that ability to choose blows GC out of the water - everyday. On top of having less currency than we do now.

Edited September 6, 2017 by Quraswren

[Sundown]

Personally, I agree with you, but only to an extent. Old content or not, letting it waste away is a stupid idea. The majority of mmos make this mistake, they spend so much time creating the original world that draws people in, but never keep it actively engaging. No one gave a 2nd thought about going back to Hutta until heroics and level sync allowed people to bring their main toon back and benefit from it. They arent keeping it completely trivial content by bringing a level 70 back, nor are they forcing you to help a friend level up with no benefit to your main toon, if thats what you enjoy playing. It should be expected that new content cant be produced and released fast enough to please everyone, or slow enough to please everyone (for that matter), so put a system in place that utilizes the dozens of zones already in game purposefully, amd add some new ones based on their plan - win win for everyone - except those that will whine that they are tired of old zones, lmao. Id reckon more people appreciate purposeful old zones than hate going back to them.

No objection here, which is exactly why I support any means like keeping the CXP-boost on dailies alive - it was thrilling to see so many people in the zones. Of course it will only temporarily bring people back there, but it IS a quick win. But again: just adding a new reputation faction (or "command rank" for that matter) will only feel grindy, if there is no real new content.

Part of my suggestion years ago for the level sync/bis for everyone was that of creating very difficult content for players who solo most of their gametime. I hope they continue to add more of these MM instances as well, and definitely wouldnt mind limiting bis gear for those and nim ops - as long as soloers and groupers have a chance to acquire them. Personally, thats ultimately what I seek in the games i am attracted to - equal chance for bis as long as im willing to put the work, time, amd effort in, regardless of the extent of each.

I don't really mind tbh - games should focus on strengths, else you will not satisfy any of the customer groups. The focus on solo players has not really helped the game as it seems, and quite frankly: an expensive MMO infrastructure for solo-gameplay is simply a waste of money. Any Steam- or Origin-Platform is far better suited and less expensive for that. (I know that it is not black and white and there are "grey zone players", but still...)

[olagatonjedi]

Well before 4.X the only path to BiS outside maybe vanilla was from doing NiM non Apex bosses or in 3.x from HM ToS and Rav. And thus you were always doing NiM sans 4.x without BiS so that's foolhardy to say you had max gear for it.

Max available gear for non-NiM raider - as an entry-way to raid NiM and not hinder the team from a gear perspective.

 

And the point is that it's not about needing BiS gear but rather the absurd reward mechanism and not being able to gear up how I want too for future content.

I agree, 248 gear should drop from all NiM bosses. That's a small change that has nothing to do with GC, and perhaps it can be implemented because it will not, in the grand picture, over-inflate the world-wide gear level. I could very well envision that being re-implemented. However, it won't stop me from trying to put myself in their shows to understand why, which many people who are complaining do not even attempt to do.

 

I find GC to be one of the worst ideas a game could have. The RNG aspect of it is detrimental to the entire gear process because of the nature of RNG. It's designed to screw over the gamers, the majority of the time if not every time depending on your luck and talking about luck, I've yet to meet someone in game that just got lucky all the time and got everything they wanted in any short amount of time. However, I've met plenty that are still unlucky to this day and have been unlucky since day one of GC.

I think you put way to much emphasis on the GC system as a primary gearing system. As has been mentioned before, it's free loot that you get much the same way random loot (worse loot, btw) used to drop from trash mobs in flashpoints. If you base your opinion of GC on it being the primary gearing system, you will never change your opinion, because you're setting GC up for failure. If you are open minded and see the big picture, that there are more effective ways to gear up, you will understand that GC is a bonus boss, if you will, that is like getting free Cartel coins every so often with no purchase involved.

 

No objection here, which is exactly why I support any means like keeping the CXP-boost on dailies alive - it was thrilling to see so many people in the zones. Of course it will only temporarily bring people back there, but it IS a quick win. But again: just adding a new reputation faction (or "command rank" for that matter) will only feel grindy, if there is no real new content.

I have no issue with the rate at which I gain CXP - playing part time, I already have 5 toons (almost 6) at 300 CXP, and I don't feel it has been very much of a grind to accomplish that. If they want to increase the rate, or have bonus cxp more often, I'm fine with that, but there is a cost. The faster they make CXP now, the larger the increase they will make the next GC expansion - like another 300 levels (at the faster rate) vs 200 (at the slower rate). Also, if more and more people hit 300 faster, that means likely more and more 248 geared toons, which means an increase in difficulty of ops and flashpoints to balance it out.

 

Again, I'm not opposed to any of it, because I'll adjust my gameplay, but most people just want the rewards without giving any thought to the consequences of said changes. The world we live in consists of people who act hastily, and look back at things that went wrong instead of having foresight to prevent wrongs from happening in the first place. BW can be included in that too, but the player-base plays a significant part as well.

 

I don't really mind tbh - games should focus on strengths, else you will not satisfy any of the customer groups. The focus on solo players has not really helped the game as it seems, and quite frankly: an expensive MMO infrastructure for solo-gameplay is simply a waste of money. Any Steam- or Origin-Platform is far better suited and less expensive for that. (I know that it is not black and white and there are "grey zone players", but still...)

Solo content, even in an MMO, is a huge draw for players at all hours of the day and night. Everyone wants something enjoyable, and for me productive, to do when they log in, and if groups or ops can't be formed for some reason, players will look at doing solo activities. If there is no purposeful solo content, people will log off and do something else, leaving the same dilemma for the next person that logs in looking for group content.

[t-darko]

Version 2.2 was the best . . .

[Stellarcrusade]

Nutshell differences for max level chars with galactic command:

 

PvP GEARING:

4.x : 2 weeks of playing alts and your top level char has full BiS set before ever joining a level 65 warzone.

5.x: 52 weeks of playing to get full BiS set on your main. Due to how long this takes, no way will anyone want to do alts afterwards.

 

ALTS:

4.x: Fully supported and usable.

5.x: Meaningless. Alts are no longer a part of the game.

 

Those items are why it has been a complete failure. The one good thing to say about it though, is PvPers can dabble in OPS because there is only 1 set. They should have created a system which did that, without breaking how long a PvPer takes to gear up and without eliminating alts.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Stellarcrusade

[xRohanx]

I have no issue with the rate at which I gain CXP - playing part time, I already have 5 toons (almost 6) at 300 CXP, and I don't feel it has been very much of a grind to accomplish that.

How many hours do you play per day? My sister plays 2 hours a day since patch 5.0 (Uprisings, FP's). She still has Eternal Commander MK-4 Jacket with her IV tier. That's what the RNG system is. Of course, we could have craft for her a better jacket, but with every new tier she waited to receive a jacket with bonuses or premium 244 jacket at least. This has not happened yet. Of course, you, as usual, can ignore this message and answer only those messages where you have something to say.

Edited September 7, 2017 by xRohanx

[Quraswren]

SNIP...

I think you put way to much emphasis on the GC system as a primary gearing system.

 

Not really. I'm a raider. I get my gear from OPS but that is not how bw designed GC origianlly as a secondary system and that origianl system is what people remember because thats why they left and not likely to return as long as GC is even mentioned in the game. I hinted at that because thats what I hear about old swtor gamers. No matter how much you preach about it currently being a secondary system. The ones I talk to want nothing to do it with.

 

As secondary as it is and as cliche as I'm about to sound. GC has to change in such a huge way to remove the stigma it bought to recover from the damage it did. I'm not sure bw is willing to do that.

 

As has been mentioned before, it's free loot that you get much the same way random loot (worse loot, btw) used to drop from trash mobs in flashpoints.

There is nothing free about that loot. Gamers put in the time for that RNG chance and I think I would have rather had the FP drops adjusted to appropriate level vs what GC has brought.

 

If you base your opinion of GC on it being the primary gearing system, you will never change your opinion, because you're setting GC up for failure. If you are open minded and see the big picture, that there are more effective ways to gear up, you will understand that GC is a bonus boss, if you will, that is like getting free Cartel coins every so often with no purchase involved.

 

There are more effective ways to gear up sure but they also have problems. PVP taking way to long and PVE OPS that most cannot do when it comes to HM or higher. Forcing gamers to fall back on that RNG which is just terrible. All that grind time for nothing. Thats why I bring up the old crystal system. Even with gear that is not optimized, you at least didn't have to deal with RNG and could choose gear to fill in your gear gaps. That will always be better than GC even as a secondary system. Hell, turn the entire game into an unassembled component hunt and let everything drop those UC (amount varies of coures). At least then the RNG would be taken out of bw's hands and design because right now I consider it broke.

 

I mention that old crystal system so much because with even the slightest adjustments, it would have been a better system than GC could have ever been. Put in some real work to the old crystal system and you have a gearing system for PVP and PVE that would rival anything GC could have ever hoped to be.

 

GC is decent enough as a random chance gamble but overall its a flawed system that needs to change or go as the name and what it started as has done to much damage to really move the game forward and out of the black hole were in.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Quraswren

[Tsillah]

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.

What a wildly ridiculous statement. Do you even remotely understand how many flash points you have to run before you can actually filter out all characters of those players who are in a hurry? That is so not a realistic possibility.

 

The only thing that could effectively do that is to have a flag you can check that separates story players from farmers.

 

NIM raiders, in general, have never needed to be encouraged to run the content. They typically run it for the challenge, many already have bis gear, so its nonsense to say they are discouraged from playing it, when very little has changed from 4.x. HM content allows for faster gearing, if thats your preference.

 

As for all other content, GC has encouraged everyone to do anything they want now.

And another fabrication. Part of running NiM is being able to show that off. This was possible with BiS gear and rare mount drops. Now all that's left is the mount drops and those who farm NiM already tend to have them.

 

Also I remember very well the stink it caused in 4.0 when NiM didn't drop BiS gear reliably on all bosses. And BW changed that, so clearly you are wrong and just making things up that suit your opinion.

 

And most people that left because of GC command was because of the initial 5.0 release which was terrible. Also the statement that was made that GC is not the only gearing system is wrong because you do not Command tokens to be able to use the gear tokens in operations. So it's still kept in the same system.

 

The other problem is that PvP and PvE gear are the same and the most efficient way to get 242 gear is PvE and for 248 upgrades it's PvP. That means that PvP'ers started ninja looting HM EV and KP runs to gear their PvP characters. Sure, you can put them on ignore but you'll never see them again anyway cause that alt has the gear it needed. I won't name names but there's even a guild on my server that is specifically dedicated to ninja looting HM pug runs for their PvP alts.

 

Also the PvE crowd in return has started afk'ing warzones for UCs.

 

Now tell me this: How does it make sense that standing around in warzones is the best way to get your 248 BiS gear? And how does it makes sense that actually killing NiM bosses does not grant you this gear?

 

You see, no matter how you twist it, you can't explain that beating actual difficult content is rewarded less than just showing up in warzones and doing nothing to contribute to them.

 

GC should've been kept separate from PvP and Ops gearing and everything would've been a lot better for it.

[Xina_LA]

Here's my biggest problem with Galactic Command --

 

I'm always inviting friends and co-workers to try out SWTOR. Obviously, these are middle-aged people, not kids who play video games often. They are people who think nothing of spending $100 on Cartel Coins and buying 6 months of subscription at a time, so they're players the game could really use.

 

Previously, there was a lot to learn, but everyone was able to get geared up and enjoy the class story. There were some systems that weren't intuitive, but they weren't critical to playing the game and could be picked up later. Now, the interface intimidates everyone who wasn't already familiar with SWTOR. It's very off-putting and overwhelming. Even before hitting level 70, they're confused by the Light vs Dark notifications and other things going on. It seems like too much to learn all at once. Friends who try out SWTOR are much more likely to quit the game and try it for less time.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Xina_LA

[RagnarAugustus]

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

 

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.

 

What most of us hate about galactic command is RNG. We want control over our gearing, and 4.0 was much better for controlled gearing than 5.x. Since I don't see GC going anywhere I feel the best compromise would be to completely bring back 4.0's gearing system and then have Galactic Command as an ancillary gearing system on top of 4.0's system. That would allow players to control their gearing with effort bringing reward and also give the small RNG chance that you can get good gear from GC packs - which also meets BW's stated purpose for GC of allowing non-end game players access to BiS gear. I'd personally also like to bring back the old "Op of the week" from 4.0 to round things out.

[Vember]

What most of us hate about galactic command is RNG. We want control over our gearing, and 4.0 was much better for controlled gearing than 5.x. Since I don't see GC going anywhere I feel the best compromise would be to completely bring back 4.0's gearing system and then have Galactic Command as an ancillary gearing system on top of 4.0's system. That would allow players to control their gearing with effort bringing reward and also give the small RNG chance that you can get good gear from GC packs - which also meets BW's stated purpose for GC of allowing non-end game players access to BiS gear. I'd personally also like to bring back the old "Op of the week" from 4.0 to round things out.

 

I disagree, because in 4.0 you needed two sets of gear. Getting one was easy, the other was not and required specific modes of gameplay.. Now, you only need one set, and you can get it through every activity in the game. While I agree with some extent about the RNG complaints, it is as the OP pointed out: the RNG aspect is to supplement your gearing and not meant to be the primary source of gear.

 

I have four and am working on a 5th character since 5.0 that is fully geared - or close to it, and I quit playing SWTOR for two months when Morrowind dropped. I also divide my game time between SWTOR, Endless Legend, and XCom 2, while working a full time job and going to the gym four days a week So to me, 90% of the complaints about GC are just complaining to complain.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Vember

[olagatonjedi]

What most of us hate about galactic command is RNG. We want control over our gearing, and 4.0 was much better for controlled gearing than 5.x. Since I don't see GC going anywhere I feel the best compromise would be to completely bring back 4.0's gearing system and then have Galactic Command as an ancillary gearing system on top of 4.0's system. That would allow players to control their gearing with effort bringing reward and also give the small RNG chance that you can get good gear from GC packs - which also meets BW's stated purpose for GC of allowing non-end game players access to BiS gear. I'd personally also like to bring back the old "Op of the week" from 4.0 to round things out.

You have the means to control your gear by doing the same things you did in 4.x. In 4.x, entry level 216 gear was acquired via ops and flashpoints. In 5.1, entry level 230 set bonus gear can be bought from vendors, gotten from ops (shells for 236, actually), or relying on free RNG from GC. According to my math, its easier now, with more available options.

 

For 4.x, end-game, non-NiM 220 gear, you had to run HM ops, in addition to getting crystals. In 5.1, you can run HM ops (in addition to running pvp to get UC's), OR you can run SM ops and upgrade all the way to tier 4 with UC's, OR you can rely on free RNG from GC to get tier 3 242 gear. Again, more options, and easier.

 

In the later 4.x versions, you had focus HM ops which gave bis 224 gear shells, in addition to running NIM ops. In 5.1, you can run all the stuff I listed for tier 2 or 3 gear and still end up acquiring tier 4 248, bis gear. Still more options, but not completely forced to run HM or NiM ops.

 

Please help me understand where the math doesn't add up. I truly hope to see where the fuss is coming from, because I pride myself on learning as much as I can before taking a stance one way or another, but Im just not seeing any hidden elements of this argument that would make me hate GC in its current implementation.

[TUXs]

You have the means to control your gear by doing the same things you did in 4.x.

This is demonstrably false. How do you think PvPers gear up exactly?

[olagatonjedi]

This is demonstrably false. How do you think PvPers gear up exactly?

The switch from expertise to all pve gear has nothing to do with the cxp system.

 

If the removal of expertise was done even without CXP in the game, pvpers would still have all the same opportunities to gear up that PvE'ers do. However, since it is in game, if they choose not to rely on the free RNG, both sides are still required to participate in each others activity to gear up outside of RNG.

[DzastinBiberi]

RNG is bad.

 

Here's one of many examples.

 

I went with my sent from around 120 Command level to 287 lvl.

 

I've tried to make the most of double cxp week as I could.

 

So that's 167 levels right?

 

I only got ONE chest piece 242 rating and only ONE implant 242 rating and I got 3 relics but I can use only one, 'cause my Sentinel benefits from only that one that I can use.

 

So, 167 levels for what?

 

I'm almost TIER 4 and I had to craft hilts and stuff, cause yeah...RNG is exciting...my *****.

 

In my opinion, they dont have to change the gearing system, cause that's never gonna happen, but at least they can make better drops, 'cause nobody needs blue and green stuff, ugly mounts and pets and other crap.

[Tsillah]

The switch from expertise to all pve gear has nothing to do with the cxp system

You've really created your own alternate reality, haven't you.

 

The cxp system is galactic command and the move to make pvp and pve gear the same is most definitely part of the galactic command system.

 

The problem is that it's the same gear but there is a great inequality between how easy it is that gear between effort put in in pvp and in pve. For lower tiers raiders have it easier, for BiS gear pvp'ers have it a lot easier.

 

Although you can still choose your activity it will put you at a huge disadvantage when you do not want to either do raids or pvp. The other activities that give cxp all are much slower and the gear boxes that come from gc levels are subject to horrible RNG which can make you lucky or unlucky, in which case you will take a really long time gearing your alts.

 

There is no equality in this system. But then if they can't balance classes across the board, I guess we can't expect them to balance rewards across the board. Of course that wouldn't have been an issue if they hadn't introduced galactic command in the first place.

[olagatonjedi]

How many hours do you play per day? My sister plays 2 hours a day since patch 5.0 (Uprisings, FP's). She still has Eternal Commander MK-4 Jacket with her IV tier. That's what the RNG system is. Of course, we could have craft for her a better jacket, but with every new tier she waited to receive a jacket with bonuses or premium 244 jacket at least. This has not happened yet. Of course, you, as usual, can ignore this message and answer only those messages where you have something to say.

i play about 12-20 hours a week, sometimes broken up into 30-60 min chunks.