252/258 Gearing System not viable for Casual/PvP players

[Syal]

Wondering why Bioware is pleasing 10% of players with this new gear... or may be there are more hard corp player than i tough !

[Andryah]

Wondering why Bioware is pleasing 10% of players with this new gear... or may be there are more hard corp player than i tough !

 

^^ Normal hyperbolic rhetoric here... nothing to see.

 

According to the forum... the studio only ever pleases about 10% of players.. and displeases 90% of players. Given the wide diversity in player wants/needs, and different player interests.. this is not surprising.. though the 10/90 rule that gets applied a lot in the forum is contrived in my view. It's probably most often 50/50-75/25-25/75 depending on the actual topic of discussion. The normative point here being.. the studio rarely pleases everyone... and this same conclusion could be applied to ever MMO in the market to be honest.

 

Nobody is forced to acquire this gear... no matter how much stomping of feet takes place.

 

Back on topic... this gear is clearly available to anyone who wants it.. through one or more of the multiple pathways the studio has revealed. Now.. is it worth the effort and resources for the reward?... totally different line of discussion.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Andryah

[Kiesu]

Considering crafting this gear with cost you almost 500mil a toon if you are going to purchase all materials, I don't see anyone who isn't already rich ever getting this gear without the random Command Crate drops or nim Gods. It's ridiculously expensive.

[Andryah]

Considering crafting this gear with cost you almost 500mil a toon if you are going to purchase all materials, I don't see anyone who isn't already rich ever getting this gear without the random Command Crate drops or nim Gods. It's ridiculously expensive.

 

UC trades.. and a lot of PvPers are sitting on hoards of these.

 

As long as you don't want to convert all your UCs to MWS on week one, it's not that big an issue in my view.

 

And the UC diminishing returns if you try to rush it all in week one is clearly designed to prevent one PvPer with tons of unspent UCs quickly gearing and leaving other PvPers who have a much smaller hoard of UCs behind or at a significant disadvantage.

 

Also.. the 500Million meme is being pushed around right now by those complaining about the gear, and is based on current market rates and assumptions for materials. There is absolutely no evidence that this will remain true when 5.10 drops. Until we see actual drop rates (which can and do get adjusted periodically) we have no idea of true player economy trade rates. IF the meme turns out to be true ... there will simply be almost no market for crafted gear because even wealthy players (who generally got wealthy by not spending foolishly while accumulating wealth) will simply not buy in. Which means crafters better tread carefully... because if the meme remains true.. they could easily craft themselves into poverty and be sitting on gear almost nobody will buy.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Andryah

[phalczen]

Well, casual players won't need the extra gear.

 

The first two pages of this thread are mostly posts just like this, or people agreeing with this sentiment. This is a falsehood, or at the very least, a fallacious argument against the existence of a pathway for casual players.

 

I work shifts, and I have a family of young children, both of those things limit my ability to commit to a progression team. That doesn't mean I don't want to be the best I can. In fact, an argument could be made that its even more important for someone like me to have better than average gear because if I fill in for my guild's one and only progression team that is currently working through VM DF, I'll need a small amount of wiggle room to compensate for errors. The race to 248 gear/240 augments for multiple alts is as much end-game content for me as is GSF, ops, Master mode chapters, MM FPs and Uprisings, and unranked pvp. I want the gear because it is part of the definition of making my character the best it can be. Would I like to have the mechanics of every fight down to farm and every rotation down pat? Of course, and there's no question mechanics, and in the case of dps classes, rotations, are more important than gear at high gear levels. But that's an achievement that will take considerably longer for me and unfortunately requires a lot more input from other players.

 

So, quite frankly, I'm sick and tired of all the posts about how filthy casuals don't NEED 248 or 252 or 258 gear because they'll never be able to have MM GOTM on farm. The truth is even the elite raiders who will eventually have MM GOTM on farm won't need that gear either. Case in point: The Devs said you'd need 248 gear and 236 augments to do Vet Mode Izax (balanced for MM Izax) when it first came out. The top-end raiding guilds disproved that within the first week. I fully expect guilds like Black, It's Lit, etc. to clear MM GOTM within a month, if not sooner.

 

Now, all that being said, I do not feel entitled to acquire gear at a commensurate rate as a MM GOTM raider. And, its not like players like myself had a pathway to top end gear prior to 4.x anyway. But, since the paradigm changed over the past 3 years (4.0 was on 10/20/15) to provide a path for more casual players to get top-rating gear, I've grown to appreciate it. I would be disappointed if that was suddenly changed.

 

Finally, I've said it before and I'll say it again. I think PvP'ers are overly worried about this gear. With even the sparse few details we have from Dulfy's article, the availability of the materials to craft this stuff is going to be sufficiently rare as to make 258-geared players uncommon. Honestly, I think if someone is good enough to do MM GOTM so much that they have a full suit's worth of 258 then they are probably pretty competent in pvp too. Nevertheless, PvP'ers should have a pathway to end-game gear too, and definitely faster than a filthy casual like myself.

 

I do think the most salient observation is that this system is very alt-unfriendly, and if the bound-to-slot restrictions are final design, then it really does seem like gearing only one or two toons to 258 will be viable. With the amount of CMTs required, I am torn between the value of upgrading 228 augments to 236 or 240, which can be placed on legacy gear and shared among mirrors, vs saving them for crafting Tier 5 stuff. I suspect I'll get the most bang for the buck out of the 236 augments, and just acquire 258 gear by Masterwork Shards infrequently. I have to change my whole strategy, in fact. Since 5.0 came out I've worked on getting about 12 toons viable, by that I mean in 246+ gear. Because of that I don't have a 50k UC stockpile like WayoftheWarrior. My expectations of gearing out all those alts will have to be tempered considerably.

[Kiesu]

The first two pages of this thread are mostly posts just like this, or people agreeing with this sentiment. This is a falsehood, or at the very least, a fallacious argument against the existence of a pathway for casual players.

 

I work shifts, and I have a family of young children, both of those things limit my ability to commit to a progression team. That doesn't mean I don't want to be the best I can. In fact, an argument could be made that its even more important for someone like me to have better than average gear because if I fill in for my guild's one and only progression team that is currently working through VM DF, I'll need a small amount of wiggle room to compensate for errors.

If you do NIM raids you are not a casual. Simple as that.

Casual player is someone who plays only story or solo content in non-competitive environment. What you are picturing here is not a casual playstyle. Simply having less time to play than someone else doesn't make you a "casual".

[phalczen]

^^ Normal hyperbolic rhetoric here... nothing to see.

 

According to the forum... the studio only ever pleases about 10% of players.

 

I don't think that statistic is necessarily hyperbole. Didn't the developers once comment on a live stream that only 10% of players did hard mode operations? I seem to remember it from back in the Ben Irving days? I remember being quite surprised actually at the numbers of players who had ever done ANY operation.

 

With that memory in mind, I think that regardless of the snark implied by that poster you were replying to, the truth is that only a very small percentage of the player base is at a level of competence where they could get MM GOTM on farm, and if someone told me it was in the single-digit percentage points I wouldn't be surprised.

[phalczen]

If you do NIM raids you are not a casual. Simple as that.

Casual player is someone who plays only story or solo content in non-competitive environment. What you are picturing here is not a casual playstyle. Simply having less time to play than someone else doesn't make you a "casual".

 

I dunno, I think you're playing semantics here. The only time I've ever done a MM operation since the 3.x era (when we were over-leveled) has been in a sales run. I certainly don't have any VM op on farm except VM EV/KP which arguably don't count, and I've never even set foot in VM ToS or Rav. I haven't done ranked pvp since season 4.

[Kiesu]

I dunno, I think you're playing semantics here. The only time I've ever done a MM operation since the 3.x era (when we were over-leveled) has been in a sales run. I certainly don't have any VM op on farm except VM EV/KP which arguably don't count, and I've never even set foot in VM ToS or Rav. I haven't done ranked pvp since season 4.

Well, the reasoning why "casuals" aka non-competitive players don't need this gear upgrade -especially if you're not going Gods nim- is because you should be able to complete other content just fine with non-new-bis gear. Master Mode story chapters are the hardest current solo-content, and they're perfectly doable with current gear.

So where do you need the extra gear? Hardmode ops and fps certainly don't need even current top gear for completion.

 

Only place where semi casuals would really need the gear is PVP, since gear hogs are going to dominate not only ranked but regs as well, since the better gear will win vs 2 equally skilled players in mirror match. There the gear difference is simply unfair.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Kiesu

[Przemo_No]

I have more than one toon fully outfitted in 248 gear, all from the RNG cxp loot crate drop system. I keep reading stories like the one above and have to wonder how it is I can routinely get those drops and everyone else decries their scarcity. Getting hard to believe after a while.

 

I will say this, though, I have enough alts (36 toons on Star Forge) who are enough mirrors of each other to pass drops around via legacy gear, who then feed my mains. I've no shortage of drops.

 

whether you got a better RNG on one toon I can understand even on 2. But to me it is basically BS. I also have 36 toons on Darth Malgus and I also play the game since the start. 10 of my chars are on rank 300, only ONE has received full 248 gear via "lucky" drops (and it was before the changed the loot chances). The rest are nowhere, having maybe 1 or 2 items of 248. But that would not be a biggest problem, the problem is that you get literally zillions of useless duplicates and not the part you are missing. If you say use the UCs and buy it via vendors, well, you need about 5000 UCs per character to get tothe BIS gear. Good luck with that if you are NOT an avid PVP-er.

 

Luckiily I could save up some, so I geared 2 more chars, but the rest...forget about it.

 

And now, while i am slowly reaching the end of the Mother of All Grinds, they are introducing another gear level, even more difficult to obtain.

 

Mind you, you need at least 12 full sets of gear to cover all classes.

 

Jugg/Guard x 2 - Tank and DPS

Oper/Smuggler x 2 - heal and DPS

Sin/Shadow x 2 - tank and DPS

Vanquard/ BH - x 2 - tank and DPS

Merc/Commando x 2 - heal and DPS

Sage/Sorc x 1

Mara/Sent - x 1

 

How is that reasonably reacahble by a single person with a job, family and other duties???

 

Gosh, even if I was unemployed, I would die by that repeating the same content forever to get a single piece of gear...

[Rion_Starkiller]

.....

 

From what I can tell, this looks like the quickest way to gear:

• Do any Weekly mission per toon for 1 crystal each
  
• Do your Weekly Ossus mission per toon for 1 crystal each
  
• Buy 1 crystal per toon per week for 500 UC's
  

Edited October 16, 2018 by Rion_Starkiller

[Khevar]

I don't think that statistic is necessarily hyperbole. Didn't the developers once comment on a live stream that only 10% of players did hard mode operations? I seem to remember it from back in the Ben Irving days? I remember being quite surprised actually at the numbers of players who had ever done ANY operation.

I have seen any information about HM specifically, but at the guild summit before 1.2, it was stated that 38% of level 50 players had participated in an operation.

 

http://dulfy.net/2012/03/05/swtor-guild-summitlive-blogging/#2

 

Not sure what that statistic would look like today.

[Khevar]

Only place where semi casuals would really need the gear is PVP, since gear hogs are going to dominate not only ranked but regs as well, since the better gear will win vs 2 equally skilled players in mirror match. There the gear difference is simply unfair.

The gearing change of not having separate PvE and PvP gear sets had it's pros and cons.

 

We're seeing an example of the con. If the gear sets were separate, they could make the PvP gear quick to obtain and it would be much less of a problem. And for the PvE side, NM GotM runs would get gear quickly. Everyone else slowly. That would be fair in my book, if it didn't affect PvP.

 

As has been mentioned plenty of times before, upping bolster would be a decent solution. If they're not willing to go to 258, at least to 252 to at least make it more balanced between the haves and have-nots.

[Kiesu]

Not sure what that statistic would look like today.

It's a little hard to tell for sure.

The Summit was recorded only less than 6 months after the game even released. There was like two ops i think, and very buggy, plus no group finder functionality of any kind.

During Ben's time we already had F2P player-base, who can't even participate in ops even if the wanted to.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Kiesu

[Andryah]

Just in closing comment to this thread... there is not, nor should there be (in my view) anything casual or easy about obtaining BiS gear in an MMO. And as such.... BiS gear is really NOT for casual players in MMOs.. and in particular not in this very casual friendly MMO. PvPers should be spared the need to even do so... either by removing gear from the PvP equation entirely.. or by a proper bolster that works as intended (ie: no silly bugs). In fact.. I think bolster should be set above BiS.... so there is no nuanced differences at exactly setting bolster to = the current BiS. Why not make it 260+ and make sure it works and scales correctly regardless of gear actually worn. Then all PvP can be done nekkid.

 

That said.. I also think it's a bit over the top to have a 5th tier within one expac, particularly for a studio that historically releases small expacs. But I get that they are doing this to give a shiny grinding target for players to chase in the short term. But I think players will really hate it when they get their tier 5 gear and then when 6.0 drops.. green drop gear from mobs in the new expac will be as good or better... and all the teeth gnashing over having to grind for new items in a new expac. Most players simply should not take the bait being offered by the studio here, in my view.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Andryah

[Rion_Starkiller]

That said.. I also think it's a bit over the top to have a 5th tier within one expac, particularly for a studio that historically releases small expacs. But I get that they are doing this to give a shiny grinding target for players to chase in the short term. But I think players will really hate it when they get their tier 5 gear and then when 6.0 drops.. green drop gear from mobs in the new expac will be as good or better... and all the teeth gnashing over having to grind for new items in a new expac. Most players simply should not take the bait being offered by the studio here, in my view.

 

^This. There's not really enough new content to warrant new gear tiers, imo. Hence the rage from pvp'ers and casuals.

[Totemdancer]

From what I can tell, this looks like the quickest way to gear:

• Do any Weekly mission per toon for 1 crystal each
  
• Do your Weekly Ossus mission per toon for 1 crystal each
  
• Buy 1 crystal per toon per week for 500 UC's
  

 

And it takes 4 crystals to buy 1 item.

If you can get 4 crystals in a week.

14 items = 14 weeks = 3.5 months per character

 

If you can only get 3 crystals because you can’t do MM flashpoints or whatever that weekly is, then it will take longer

14 divided by 3 = 4.66 months

 

Either way it’s a damn long grind for pvpers or anyone who can’t afford to pay astronomical prices on the GTN.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Totemdancer

[PennyAnn]

I have seen any information about HM specifically, but at the guild summit before 1.2, it was stated that 38% of level 50 players had participated in an operation.

 

http://dulfy.net/2012/03/05/swtor-guild-summitlive-blogging/#2

 

Not sure what that statistic would look like today.

 

I would imagine for a variety of reasons that the percentage of people playing operations then was vastly higher than now.

 

#1 - The overall population itself was higher and included a wider variety of player type and skill than currently.

 

#2 - The game was still relatively new, and people were still interested in checking out all parts of it.

 

#3 - The raids were fresh, not 3 to 5 years old and repeated to death by that point.

 

Granted, these are just educated guesses, but I think they are pretty reasonable reasons to suppose that the raiding population is not nearly what it was back then. Then you add personal experience of trying to find raids, raiding teams, or even raiding guilds and that just supports these guesses to suggest that a very small fraction of the population actually plays operations in the current state of the game.

 

.

[Khevar]

I would imagine for a variety of reasons that the percentage of people playing operations then was vastly higher than now.

I agree, and your points as to why are the most likely answers.

 

If I could have access to any SWTOR stats about operations, I would be most interested in the 2.x days when there was a world progression going for NM TfB and NM SnV. I remember the event, and many different servers contributed, even those that weren't considered "hard core PvE" servers.

 

It also spawned the infamous "mathematically impossible" debate which was put to bed by 7 different guilds that managed to beat NM TfB before the first nerf. Good times!

 

With that many people (several hundred based on the total number of guilds that showed up in the competition) participating at the furthest tip of the pyramid (world first competition nightmare ops), then it would follow that an even larger pool of players would be participating in non-competitive NM ops. And likely more for HM ops. With a larger pool yet of players in SM ops.

 

Subjectively, it seemed like a truly significant percentage of players in the game were engaging in some sort of "end game PvE" in 2013. But I've always wondered what hard numbers would have said.

[phalczen]

Well, the reasoning why "casuals" aka non-competitive players don't need this gear upgrade -especially if you're not going Gods nim- is because you should be able to complete other content just fine with non-new-bis gear. Master Mode story chapters are the hardest current solo-content, and they're perfectly doable with current gear.

So where do you need the extra gear? Hardmode ops and fps certainly don't need even current top gear for completion.

 

Only place where semi casuals would really need the gear is PVP, since gear hogs are going to dominate not only ranked but regs as well, since the better gear will win vs 2 equally skilled players in mirror match. There the gear difference is simply unfair.

 

Again, you're missing my point, which is that it isn't up to you to decide what I need in order to have a sense of achievement for my character. Obtaining highest-rating gear may be part of how a person defines their end-game, along with all the other things they do. Like I said in my first post in this thread, getting min-maxed gear is as much part of my end game as:

• GSF
  
• unranked warzones
  
• operations once or twice a week if my schedule permits, maybe more if GF is popping or someone is LFG on Fleet
  
• SM through MM flashpoints and uprisings, schedule permitting
  
• story through master mode chapters, schedule permitting
  
• Conquest
  

If I didn't have two young kids and a busy job maybe I could commit to a hard mode team and progress through VM and MM operations, but that's not in the cards right now. I may not be a casual according to your definition, but I don't routinely do MM ops either.

 

In other words, I think the argument that, "Who cares how grindy or inconvenient the pathway to 258 is, or if there even is one at all, because people who play like YOU don't need 258 gear," is a fallacious one. It certainly hasn't been the paradigm for the past 3 years.

[Lhancelot]

UC trades.. and a lot of PvPers are sitting on hoards of these.

 

I don't think this is true. I am a heavy PVPer, do nothing else and I run through my UCs regularly gearing alts. I am not sitting on hoards of UC. Don't judge off the two PVP guys that literally said they only play one class and have hoards of UCs saved that other PVPers have hoards too. I could be wrong, but honestly I know of no PVPers that have hoards of UCs saved up, but can see how some would if they do not play alts and only focus on 1 toon.

 

I agree with your statement though, that they ought to consider trying to find a way to separate PVP from the gear grind they are wanting to add, whether it is by adjusting bolster or they create a separate gear set/grind for PVPers. I don't have a lot of faith in them managing to make bolster work properly and so consider them adding a PVP gear grind additionally to the game not a bad idea.

 

Well, whatever I am reaching a point of apathy on the topic. They will do what they do. We can choose how to respond to whatever it is they decide to do.

[Andryah]

I don't think this is true. I am a heavy PVPer, do nothing else and I run through my UCs regularly gearing alts. I am not sitting on hoards of UC. Don't judge off the two PVP guys that literally said they only play one class and have hoards of UCs saved that other PVPers have hoards too. I could be wrong, but honestly I know of no PVPers that have hoards of UCs saved up, but can see how some would if they do not play alts and only focus on 1 toon.

 

That is your choice. Others do not try to gear all their alts and as such are sitting on tens of thousands of UCs.

 

See... choices do have consequences.

[darthscotty]

1. Many PvPers don't do PvE. Obtaining the means to gear up through a PvE gearing system is forcing people to participate in an aspect of the game they may not enjoy in order to grind gear.

 

This is really the one issue I have with your post. Many of us that PVE were basically forced into pvp to get crafting mats to make augments. While I understand the point you are making, and I agree with you. As a PVE person who chocked down a lot of pvp I did not want to do in order to get those mats now it is your turn to choke down content you do not want to do in order to get matts.

 

On a side note crafting the top tier of gear is dangerously close to pay to win. I could buy an insta 70, sell cartel packs on the GTN and then buy top tier gear without ever leaving fleet. Top tier gear should only be obtainable by playing the game and doing content. If you want to make 248 craftable I do not have an issue, but how it is now is uncomfortably close to pay to win.

[Totemdancer]

Wall of text incoming. But please read if you love the game and want it to live.

 

At the end of the day, this new system is only going to benefit the MM OPs players. Which is what the Devs are aiming for.

Unfortunately they haven’t considered all of the other players or what the other affects of this change will have.

 

MM OPs guys will have these things gifted to them for playing MM content :

Get gear drops for faster gearing

Get Crafting mats for crafting 258 items

Will be able to sell those crafted items for astronomical prices and become mega rich

Will be able to sell the mats for astronomical prices and become mega rich

Will not have to play the game as much or grind as long to get gear and become mega rich.

 

How does this affect Ranked pvpers :

Ranked pvpers who also play MM OPs will have max BiS gear months before ranked only players

BiS ranked/MM players will dominate over everyone of equal skill

Ranked/MM players will top the ratings due to gear and not just skill for most of the season

Ranked/MM players will get most of the good rewards

Ranked/MM players will be the ones complaining and yelling at people who affect their ratings in solo because of lower gear

Non MM players will get frustrated and stop playing

Some Non MM players will WinTrade, this will frustrate other players who will stop playing

Less people will play ranked pvp that season and Bioware’s “holy grail of pop times” will be negatively affected by this.

Ranked pvp will become an even bigger joke than it already is

 

How does this affect reg pvpers :

PvPers, either ranked or regs who also play MM will be gear gods in reg pvp for 3-6 months.

Casual pvpers who play MM will be gear gods and have a big advantage over those of better skill levels.

Dedicated Pvpers get frustrated that they lose close fights or matches just because MM players have better gear

Causal pvpers will get decimated by gear gods and not have a chance to learn

Casual pvpers will gear even slower than dedicated pvpers due to lack of UCs to trade

Both Dedicated and Casual pvpers will get frustrated and won’t enjoy pvp.

Dedicated pvpers will either grind it out and hope superior skill will close the gear gap or stop playing

Dedicated pvpers who play against equally skilled (closely skilled) players who MM OPs will always lose

Less people will play, the queues will get longer than now and prime time bracket will continue to shrink

There will be more rage, more toxicity and more rage quits from those players remaining. Including the MM gear people because they won’t want to play with lower geared people.

This will kill and semblance of skill based pvp in this game and kill pvp fast.

 

How does this affect casual and story players :

Casual or story players won’t need the gear for current content (but will want it anyway)

Casual or story players may want the gear for the new area to make it easier (if it’s harder than current content)

Some still need 248 with max Augs to finish some content and will demand quicker access to the new gear to make it easier for them

 

How does this affect Strong Hold and Barbie dress up players :

There will be increased prices and inflation on the GTN due to MM players becoming mega rich and dominating the GTN.

Some people will use the CC market to take advantage of these high prices to sell stuff so they can afford to buy the crafted gear (de facto P2W in a round about way)

Mega rich MM players will be able to buy this gear before anyone else and relist it much higher and wait for it to sell because they are in no hurry. They will get even richer.

It will make it harder to buy the items they want at reasonable prices. Even hard to get green or blue armor to get the patterns for outfits.

I also believe even more of the less in demand cartel items will plummet in price (this is more complex and too hard to fully explain. Let’s just say it’s a gut feeling from past experience)

SH/Barbie players will be annoyed at the high prices and demand more credits be available to farm in the game. If Bioware do this, hyperinflation will be out of control.

Some will stop playing when they become disallusioned by the situation

 

How does this affect everyone in the long run :

There will be a tsunami of credit seller spam

More People stop playing

Queues for group people get longer during prime time. Outside of prime time is dead and buried.

Primetime gets small and small and eventually there isn’t one.

People start demanding server mergers to fix the queues and combat the even higher than normal hyperinflation affects on their server.

Accelerate the amount of players leaving means less people want to try a dying game

Bioware have no choice but to merge servers or no one can play group content

Hastens the closure of the game.

 

Who does this benefit :

Credit sellers are going to have a field day and make lots of money

Bioware will get a quick, but short lived injection of people buying CC.

MM OPs players will be mega rich and the rest of the game’s population will be supporting them (they will never need to use CC again to buy anything)

 

I’ve formed all of those above points by following logic and they are the conclusions I came to (%my logic could be off on a few, but not the majority)

 

Now, let’s consider the fact that Bioware themselves said (in a podcast a few months ago) that the pvp subscriber community is the most stable in numbers compared to all the other player types who come back when content is new and then leave again. Why would you want to alienate the pvpers so much and make them want to stop playing and unsubscribe.

We also need to consider that the MM OPs guys are the smallest percentage of players in the game. Why is Bioware catering to them so much at the detriment to everyone else?

We were told that GOTM Op would never be MM. Even the Ops designer didn’t think it would ever happen and it wasn’t planned for. It wasn’t until Keith decided he wanted to push it into 5.10 at the last minute did the designer find out. That is not how Bioware usually plan stuff, it’s usually months in the planning.

 

So consider this, Keith belongs to a progression guild. They are bored doing OPs that are now too easy for them. It could be coincidence, but it would appear to the outsider that he is catering to demands of his guild or his own wants/needs over the rest of the player base.

Keith will also benefit from all of the things the MM OPs guys will get with this system, like being mega rich.

Keith also plays pvp and will be able to “gear god” over people.

None of these changes will negatively affect Keith’s game play and all of them will benefit him.

This is why I think he can’t see how problematic these changes will be for the other 90-95% of the players.

I don’t think he is exactly doing this to be selfish. I think he is looking through rose coloured glass from an ivory tower and he will be getting a lot of his feed back and possibly ideas from similar people.

 

 

If you follow the logic tree to the bottom, you can see how this is going to be as big of an impact on player enjoyment and retention as 5.0 was.

That 5.0 gearing system was a disaster that took nearly 9 months to make work, but still isn’t great.

Big chunks of the player base left over it and only some came back when it was adjusted 9 months later.

That lose of numbers cumulated in server mergers and moves. That lost us even more people with most APAC and some West coast players quitting the game. And it’s continued and never recovered.

IMHO, this whole gearing idea is going to do the same thing as we saw with 5.0, but worse because at least with 5.0 there was a lot more content to keep people around longer to grind the gear. There won’t be near as much content and people will get borded really fast grinding less content for another 5-9 months till 6.0 comes out (if it doesn’t get cancelled due to how many will leave)

 

If a proper risk assessment was done to see how this gearing will affect the whole game, I think they would see everything I’ve mentioned and change course. Not changing course at that stage would be completely illogical and borderline incompetence.

 

My hope is Bioware are reading all these threads, even though some of them are harsh criticisms (it’s not personal) and will come to same conclusions as I have and change how they intend to implement this system.

 

Thank you for reading and congratulations if you got to the end.

[lokimogor]

Overall analysis of it to me is that this really isn't a big issue in change. Its not that far from the original gearing system with crystals for pieces that the game launched with so I think folks are spreading doom and gloom for nada