Itemization in 7.0

[chaharbagh]

Will all the items in the Renown Stash be removed forever if we do not get them before 7.0?

[TrixxieTriss]

Will all the items in the Renown Stash be removed forever if we do not get them before 7.0?

 

That’s a good assumption

[John_Daemons]

Why? Just why are you doing this? It is SO WRONG

[robwettengel]

Simple questions:

-- Is the new 7.0 gear we will be buying BoP, BoE or BoL?

-- We currently have 27 FPs on the live server. Since the GF changes are not up on PTS, can we have more information, please? How many FPs are going to be in this weekly rotation? 25%? 50%? 5 of them? 3 of them? If specifics have yet to be settled upon what is the numerical range you're considering setting the number within? While my preference would be for 12, I wouldn't mind having 6 rotating weekly.

-- Why do we have a philosophical 180 being performed from 6.0? This is tantamount to a dyed-in-the-wool of a particular political ideology morphing into their politically polar opposite. Even though the gearing numbers indicate to me that the performance boosts are minor, enough folks have indicated they'll stop playing on this thread for me to be concerned.

--Why haven't we heard anything about what to expect yet in the Dec-Jan time-frame regarding the anniversary celebration?

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"Another key component of our philosophy is to remove randomness (referred to as RNG) from the equation as much as possible. When RNG is used often, it causes a variety of issues, such as inflation in the game’s economy, bloat in a character’s inventory space, and removal of player control in acquiring and equipping gear. The Renown system was meant to mitigate issues caused by RNG by providing alternate opportunities to earn gear; however, it wasn’t effective in that goal. Issues caused by RNG can lead to a frustrating gearing experience, and we want to remove these hurdles."

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While I applaud the elimination of RNG, this passage is quite concerning to me. Does the average casual player know that BoL gear can be for mats and schematics? The only way that "bloat in a character's inventory space" can still be a problem these days is if they don't know about deconstructing and, if, they aren't interested in crafting anything but are harvesting mats from nodes for some reason. I have not recently seen any complaints on the forums, in game, or on the SWTOR sub-Reddit about anyone complaining about insufficient storage space. Where has this complaint originated to reach the Devs' ears?

 

Why should there be issues about getting one or two pieces of gear causing "player frustration" when gear practically rains from the sky in Onslaught from all other game sources. To single out renown like this strikes me as very odd. Why should the most trivial manner to obtain gear be seen as "frustrating?" Just deconstruct the gear and get back to doing heroics, FPs or whatever.

 

I would like to know how RNG for gear that is BoL causes inflation. The only way this would be causing inflation is if the gear is sold to vendors. But who controls whether or not items can be sold to vendors as well as the credit value each of them fetches? The Devs. Why not just make the BoL gear have a value of 1 credit a piece if sold to a vendor if it is a genuinely serious source of inflation? Inflation is only caused by an increase in the credit supply, and the Dev's are in complete control of the amount of credits awarded for vending every item as well as completing missions, matches, FPs, and Ops as well as the percentage of the GTN fee and the value of the GTN deposit. Inflation is not a problem, rather the problem is speculation. Speculation can be combated by raising the barrier to entry--increasing the GTN deposit fee--and on the sale end by increasing the GTN fee for sold items. The DEVs are the only ones who can definitively remove credits from circulation. GTN transactions between players only TRANSFER credits from the buyer to the seller minus the GTN percentage surcharge. There is no creation of new credits.

 

I think the gold spammers have been effectively neutered for the time being. I cannot recall the last time I saw an ad in chat on DK or Korriban or received an in-game mail from one of them. I can only assume they have either given up or efforts to detect and ban them have vastly improved.

 

While I don't mind certain armor sets being gated behind certain content, I am greatly concerned about several other long-term players such as myself, who have played since beta, expressing that they are likely to leave. Such sentiments are not good indicators for the health of the game going forward. If these changes are being done to possibly bring back the previously lost "hardcore" Ops players, simply introducing a single new Op is likely not going to tide them over for long. I imagine that to truly please them, development cadence would need to introduce a new Op every 4-6 months, and dev teams over the years have shown that they are likely incapable of meeting such a schedule (just look at the long gestation period for GotM). Therefore, if the Devs are seeking to entice back such players by offering them to be the only one's able to get moddable gear and unique armor, it will only be a brief bump before a sufficient number of them have beat the new Op on MM. They will then grow bored and commence the incessant complaining for a new Op--and, once the raiders in their guild all have the top set, they will likely leave until a new op comes along. However, I am uncertain as to the overlap between the serious Ops player with the serious ranked-PVPer. However, over the years, I have come to an anecdotal understanding that there is little overlap between these two sub-communities.

 

I can understand wanting to provide unique items to MM Ops players, since taking on the most difficult content in the game successfully, should be rewarded. But was it really necessary to throw out the baby, bath-water, basin, sink and house? Why not just reward them with a special vendor that will provide unique gear with a new gear level just for them? Or unique cosmetics and decos perhaps? No need to yet again reinvent the wheel and impose it on all of us when most of the player base likely fines the current wheel to be mostly ideal.

 

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"As an example, Group Finder will only feature a limited set of Flashpoints and Story Operations each week. Players who queue for this random set will earn a guaranteed upgrade to their lowest equipped gear slot as their weekly Group Finder reward. Players can run the content multiple times per week, but the guaranteed upgrade mission reward will only be awarded for the first three runs. Beyond the first three runs, players will receive currency that can be used towards upgrades."

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The wording here is imprecise. By the use of the word "players" to what is the author referring to in-game? Does "players" translate to individual character, legacy or account-wide? Clarification is needed.

[RBWTOR]

6.0: Play what you think is fun, but you may never get the rewards you want

7.0: You'll know exactly how to get the rewards you want, but you have to play the content we want you to play in order to get it

 

I'm very curious to see how this goes. A pessimist would say that 6.x already drove away the people that need a clear reward progression and now 7.x will drive away the people that only want to do particular content. An optimist would say that this will breathe new life into an end game that has stagnated while the casual players won't really notice the difference.

 

For me, I'm all for trying it out unless I have to play a bunch of GSF or join an ops-focused guild to get anywhere.

[supercometl]

So really quick. WHO IS THIS FOR?

 

Like seriously, the players that are still playing this game have been playing RNG gearing since 5.x, and for all of 6.x we have been using horizontal gearing. So now we are going back to what is basically 4.x gearing? Those people who liked that gearing left the game, at the start of 4.x because you had no raiding content that update. It has been years since you made these changes. So now we are resetting the game to a state that the majority of players don't enjoy for what? Because one or two head devs from that time period came back to the game and thought their way would be better?

 

Do I get annoyed with spammer station? YES

Does this mean that I think that shouldn't be an option? NO

 

We have had all these systems on top of systems for years and to take them away is gutting your own game. The class changes already had me VERY worried, but this seems to be the last straw on the horses back. I am not even a solo player, I don't NiM raid, but hard modes are where I reside mostly. However, you made your game targeted at the solo player, and now that is what you have. So yes, I don't need the top gear tier, and I will probably be fine with the HM gear tier as at least it is moddable, but that doesn't mean it is a good system. Side note, how will this work for alt. gearing? 7.X literally made alts seem to be the focus, but now we are going to a gearing system that requires raiding and in essence stealing another's upgrade so you can gear an alt. Keep kai in, make it so after you get that piece of gear you can rebuy it for another class for a farmable currency outside the tokens. You can have your "content completion lock" cake and eat the alt aspect too.

 

But yeah, this is probably going to be the end for me. I see no reason to stay around past the initial story content. You destroyed my classes I play, and now you are destroying the grind. 6.x made all content worth something, now once you do a certain piece of content once, why should you ever consider doing lesser content outside of story.

[Revenaught]

So you believe that you should receive the highest grade of gear, the gear that people are striving for the most, for some people, the main reason as the why they have decided to get in to participating in end game content, by defeating Darth Malgus on Solo mode?

 

Yes, yes I do. There are plenty of ways to make the more difficult content feel rewarding other than gear level. I pay the same amount to play as they do I should be able to attain the same playing power by playing solo content as they do playing group content. Those who mainly play solo content will effectively be barred from the group content once the group players have higher gear then they will never want the lower geared players in groups for the higher difficulty content. I have witnessed this in the past and there is no reason not to expect it to happen again.

 

Now I have no problem if the solo path to top gear is slower so long as in the end I have access to the same level gear and modding capabilities as other players.

[supercometl]

There are plenty of ways to make the more difficult content feel rewarding other than gear level.

[...]

Now I have no problem if the solo path to top gear is slower so long as in the end I have access to the same level gear and modding capabilities as other players.

 

The speed of gearing quite literally is the reward. That was primarily the issue with 6.x that master mode flashpoints geared faster than NiM operations.

 

However, NiM operations also have extra rewards that people seem to forget. Want wings? farm NiM DF. Want corrupter blades? Farm NiM DF/HM DF, in that case the harder mode makes the drop consistent vs random.

 

There are ways to make harder content feel rewarding, and the devs barely have touched on a lot of them. What about adding emotes for completing NiM? What about new resting animations? Why can't DP NiM drop a "focus on the dread holocron" recuperation item? It is just silly that we have to use numbers as the primary way to reward raiders who push the hardest content, and if I am honest I don't think raiders should be fighting for a lazier reward system implementation when they should be treated as the royalty they are.

Edited November 4, 2021 by supercometl

[Malkosha]

The only thing missing is the obligatory "If you don't run hardest content you don't need the top gear". Classic elitist WoW thinking.

 

This game was unique. Anyone could play how they wanted and advance their char's to the top. It may take longer to play it solo for instance, but it could be done. Now? Climbing to the top is gated behind hard mode ops. Just like Wow. What's worse, is you waited this long to tell us which means you're too far along to make any changes and still expect it to launch this year.

 

I could create conspiracy theory's about how you want the game to die for instance but that type of thinking is useless and serves no purpose. What I do know is you're changing the game in a way that I can no longer play. I refuse to run in an elite OPs group to advance my chars and knowing that I can never advance past a certain point with my current play-style ruins my experience and sets limits ... limits you've created for no reason you're willing to discuss with us.

 

While I've read all the previous posts and it seems these gearing changes aren't welcome, this hardly represents the majority of the population. Perhaps people will love the restrictions ... and make no mistake this expansion creates restrictions that previously didn't exist ... and for those players I hope you will enjoy the expansion. For me, I'm disappointed and at a loss for what to do next and seriously thinking about why I would let changes to a game upset me so. I'm thinking that perhaps I need to move on and get a life. After all, I've spent a wonderful 10 years playing a great game. Nothing lasts forever.

[KookieMaster]

So really quick. WHO IS THIS FOR?

Spoiler Alert: Not for us.

[JaeOnasi]

One of the best things that happened in 6.0 was decoupling BIS gear from NIM play and allowing any player to earn it through playing anything. Why on God's Green Earth would you go back to locking it behind NIM play? You'll be going back to the tired closed loop of "You need BIS gear to raid with us in NIM" but you can only get BIS gear in NIM....

 

I've heard the argument of "You don't need BIS gear to do SM or Vet ops."

 

My answer: "So what? Who cares if you don't _need_ it to do vet mode?"

 

I've done some NIM raiding, but since I work in the Real World, and NIM raiding is a second job, I don't do it very much at all. Plus, I enjoy doing Ops with my guildies, most of whom are not at and never will be at NIM level. Having min-maxed BIS gear in vet and smops helps me help other players new to Ops or vet-level content actually survive long enough and meet the dps checks so that the new players have time to learn the mechanics. I can make up the dps that the new players can't generate until they learn the mechanics better. I can stay alive longer when the tank or healer is new and reaction times are slower. Because I can stay alive longer in a boss fight, we have a better chance of seeing the entire fight and learning mechanics better.

 

Helping other guildies and players succeed in smops and vmops is enjoyable for me. Take away BIS gear from me? You hinder my abililty to help my guildies and other friends, and you make it harder to get through group-finder Ops successfully. I've done nearly everything in this game that I can, and I've done everything I want to do. Helping my friends and running Ops with them is why I continue to sub. Make that a lot more difficult, and there's no longer a reason for me to stay.

 

You're already taking away a lot from end-game players at 7.0 launch--taking away ("pruning") skills, taking away set bonuses and tacticals (and theoretically replacing it with something else, but I'm not holding my breath that it'll be specifically better), taking away the ability to min-max except only with NIM gear.

 

I get letting NIM players earn BIS gear faster by doing NIM content. That makes sense to me. Give NIM raiders additional non-gear-related rewards, even. But going back to preventing non-NIM players from ever being able to earn BIS, min-maxed gear? That's an idiotic idea.

 

I'm usually one of your supporters with major changes--I know that a lot of people gripe the first few weeks, get used to the new system, and then quit griping and maybe even decide that it's better. I groused about the tech frag grind when 6.0 came out, but once I got to 306, the new gear available at fleet vendors and Kai and especially BoL gear was great, and a definite improvement from previous major updates.

 

The question is if current end-game players will stick around long enough to get through the griping phase, or if these changes will completely alienate too many of us.

Edited November 4, 2021 by JaeOnasi

[Augustus]

What is even worse that is rarely been mentioned before, is that there are separately named sets for each aspect of the game. 1 named gearset from Conquest, 1 for PvP, 1 for Ops, think there are even separate ones for FPs, as well. Also seeing how on PTS conquest rewards one kind of item upgrade currency and PvP rewards another, it would seem that you are even forced to play the same content type through which you've acquired your gear if you wish to upgrade it at all... meaning you won't be able to just upgrade a gear gotten from FP through PvP or through Conquest reward currency, you'll have to keep grinding FPs... this just triples down on forcing everyone to play one way or another. Sound strategy, what could go wrong?

 

DvL was very Star Wars like, even though devs could not make it work properly due to either bad faction imbalance (one side rules them all) or huge opposing side kickstart making it a 1-1 side win balance regardless of anything.

 

Amplifier min/maxing costs were high with all the gambling aspects to it, but it was a strong credit sink (strongest one at this live state?). So kudos for acknowledging the need for more credit sinks and then removing the largest one at the same time (shall we expect modding at iRating 334 to be an even more costly stat gambling?).

 

Do I read it correctly that this round devs got completely influenced by Keith's elitist raiding guild members? It will be fun seeing them posing on fleet with all their leet gear to that ever smaller player base that will certainly follow these changes (is anyone even checking other player's gear out at all, unless they seem to play really bad or supposed to wear tank gear instead of DPS?).

 

But if the entire expansion won't turn out as mind bafflingly horrendous as it sounds, I'll eat my words with some juicy pineapple pizza.

 

Nonetheless cannot wait for a bug&exploit ridden release right before holidays when dev team will have their 4 weeks of annual leave. Also hoping that their dev version of the game is miles ahead of what we can see on the PTS, where even basic UI windows are broken and non-functioning.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Augustus

[Irishdoh]

 

We'll be keeping an eye on this thread to answer questions that may have not been answered in the post.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

 

See, I really don't see that happening based on actual past performance. And, as each new "Exciting Announcement" shows more reasons for me not to be excited, I also don't see your success in retaining my subscription come January.

[afwhoefuwov]

I dont understand why we cant even mod our gears until max irating. This seems so restrictive. What if I want to "play my way" and mess around with something like a Turbo Mara? Guess I have to grind till max irating..... I think they're trying to remove RNG due to the different versions of mods, armors and enhancements drop. But they can solve this by having some buttons that dictate what the players want. So if I want high power mods and enhancement, I can toggle and choose. For enhancement, there maybe a different button for Alacrity, Crit, Accuracy,....etc. You still rely on drops, but this time you have more control and less RNG

[Araberen]

Hey, i have a question about pvp gear:

 

if we have max item lvl 326 at start, but players can get 328-334 via operations...how it will be balanced for me as pvp /ranked pvp player?

 

I see it the way that PvE players can get into ranked and have better gear than me, exclusively pvp player

[Eli_Porter]

Hey, i have a question about pvp gear:

 

if we have max item lvl 326 at start, but players can get 328-334 via operations...how it will be balanced for me as pvp /ranked pvp player?

 

I see it the way that PvE players can get into ranked and have better gear than me, exclusively pvp player

 

Since the operation is delayed a month there will at the very least be a month of release where ops players won't have better gear than you. In addition, PvP will be capped at the max obtainable PvP gear level so ops players won't outgear you (though it's unclear how it works with moddable gear)

[limenutpen]

What is even worse that is rarely been mentioned before, is that there are separately named sets for each aspect of the game. 1 named gearset from Conquest, 1 for PvP, 1 for Ops, think there are even separate ones for FPs, as well. Also seeing how on PTS conquest rewards one kind of item upgrade currency and PvP rewards another, it would seem that you are even forced to play the same content type through which you've acquired your gear if you wish to upgrade it at all... meaning you won't be able to just upgrade a gear gotten from FP through PvP or through Conquest reward currency, you'll have to keep grinding FPs... this just triples down on forcing everyone to play one way or another. Sound strategy, what could go wrong?

 

TBH I could live with the changes if we had PvP gear like in Vanilla till 4.0. But this is not PvP gear like it was.

PvP gear is just a lower spec of gear compared to the one you get from Operations.

At 5.0 we had the statement that BW wanted to make gear simple and PvP open to everyone. Now we get all this confusion of tiers. They made a fantastic Horizontal progressing system in 6.0, why the heck would you change it.

The only bad thing of 6.0 was Amplifiers and its RNG. The rest was very good

BW is really killing its own game slowly slowly with each expansion, With the exception of 3.0 we never really had a decent one.

[Contristo]

Hey folks,

 

With the release of our Itemization in 7.0 article, we wanted to add some clarity around some of the details of that article in addition to providing some supplementary information.

 

In addition to the removal of the Renown system mentioned in the article, we are changing the Social and server-wide Dark vs. Light systems.

 

What will happen to Renown Achievements, Legacy Perks, and Boosts

• Achievements will for the most part be moved to Feats of Strength, and have their point values removed (with the exception of Social achievements, as described below).
  
• Legacy Perks related to these systems will be removed starting in 7.0.
  
  • Starting today, Renown and Social Legacy Perks will have their Cartel Coin price reduced to 1
    

  [*]Renown Boosts will be removed from the Cartel Market next Monday, November 8th. Until then, they will be discounted by 90%

  • Upon 7.0 launch, existing boost items for these systems (Renown and Social) will no longer work, and will be able to be sold to vendors for a small number of credits
    

 

What will happen to the Social rewards?

• We are converting the system from awarding points based on conversation choices to instead reward grouping for activities. Details of the changes are:
  
  • Achievements have been reworked to now require Group Finder activities rather than Social Levels.
    
  • The character titles which previously came with the achievements are now exclusive to those who already completed the Achievement. For 7.0 and forward, the updated Achievements will grant Legacy Titles of the same titles (rather than Character ones).
    
  • These Achievements will gate the visibility and purchase of the items on Social vendors. As players progress through the achievements, more items will become available.
    
  • The two fleet social vendors will be moved to the Cantina area on both fleets and have all Social items previously available.
    
  • The old vendors around the galaxy will still be available, but they will only have inventory based on the player's achievement progress.
    

 

What will happen to the Dark vs Light system?

• First, let’s clarify exactly what we’re talking about with the Dark vs. Light system. The individual character alignment system, where morality choices made throughout the story in conversations or via the Diplomacy crew skill in order to move a character’s alignment between Dark and Light sides of the Force, will remain unchanged.
  
• The server-wide Dark vs Light meter which would pop up every so often to reflect the balance in the galaxy will be removed.
  
• The small alignment widget in the UI will be removed
  
• The alignment choice every time group finder pops will be removed
  
• The DvL bosses that spawned in the world when one side was victorious will be removed temporarily. We plan on re-introducing them in a future update.
  
• The DvL rewards vendors will remain in place on both Fleets
  
• To compensate for the loss of constant alignment gain, character alignment levels and thresholds will revert to pre-Dark vs. Light system totals
  

 

We'll be keeping an eye on this thread to answer questions that may have not been answered in the post.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

 

So, yet again you are going back to catering for the extremely small player base of elitist Ops players. 334 rating no longer available for the vast majority of your player-base. My subscription expires at the end of Jan next year...just enough time to play the new content through with a few characters, after that I will not be renewing.

334 should be available every type of player, albiet a harder and longer journey for those who don't run MM ops & ranked WZ.

[Lord_Arawn]

Ok, my gears will be unusable, but I ask who will return the money spent to leave them in their maximum state? I used my money, the result of my work, to buy Cartel Coins, buy items and sell them on gtn, just to get my gears at the most. With this decision, will Bioware reimburse the money spent? It's easy to wake up, make a decision that will affect an entire community, regardless of whether or not it affects the player base. In this case it will affect me a lot, it will affect me financially, since you will be throwing my money in the trash and my evolution in the game, since I hate group games, operations, etc. and my evolution will be restricted to participating in them or not. If the intention is to get more players to subscribe, don't force those who don't want to participate in Operations etc., offer another type of game, or another tool like allowing registered players to create their own missions as the dungeon master of an RPG, or simply grant the Subscribed really famous new worlds in StarWars and new character races.

 

Now why do you want to end the game of Subscribed players or casuals?who don't like operations? Do you really think that doing so will actually force these players to do operations?

 

There are WOW players who left it precisely because it works the way you intended, in which the casual player is not important. SWTOR was a differentiator for these players!

 

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/why-im-leaving-for-swtor/607598

 

The current item system is friendly to both veteran and new players, not to mention it avoids friction with veteran Operations players and offers equality to everyone, without exception.

 

https://happygamer.com/gearing-in-swtor-6-0-a-step-in-right-direction-after-years-of-not-getting-it-right-31589/

 

Isn't equality the word so much in vogue today, especially at Disney? Why work so that players who don't feel good in a group are forced to join one, to be called names and kicked out of an operation, because they don't play like the other members of the group? This happened to me and it was terrible, I felt very humiliated because I was doing my part, facing the monsters, as I do on solo. Why make everyone go through this?

 

Wasn't it new players you wanted? I'm a new player, I joined the game in August 2020, I'm a fan of games like The Wicher, Skyrim, KOTOR and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I hate games that force me to play in groups with other players and clearly with these changes, the intention is to end the solo game. Electronic Arts hasn't learned yet that a good game isn't just one that's multiplayer? See what happened with Anthen, while SWTOR is still here.

 

Now tell me, what will this version 7.0 offer me so that I can continue to be Subscribed? So far it's only making me discouraged and seriously thinking about canceling my subscription, since they're making me lose money and gears, they want to force me to participate of Operations, solely so that I was demotivated by being kicked out of the group and they weakened my characters, taking away many of their abilities.

 

What does this XP offer me now for me to continue to be Subscribed?

Edited November 4, 2021 by Lord_Arawn

[Genophage]

non-raid players should also have the opportunity to get the best gear in the game. I got back into SWTOR 3 months ago, because it's currently very fun, I also go heroic raids. The mindset of embracing the BIS Gear in Heroic Raids is an old World of Warcraft story. If I only get my gear in SWTOR via Heroic Raids in the future, I will be back to another modern game.

[AdjeYo]

First off glad to see amplifiers gone, they were always an incredible nuisance. Not entirely sure about the changes in gear acquisition though. I can live with the most difficult PvE content dropping a slightly higher tier of gear than otherwise obtainable, but how much difference will there be? Say if the highest tier of gear earned through the latest NiM operation is 334, then the cap on conquest/fp gear could be 332. Which should have only marginally less stats. Also consider combining conquest and flashpoint gear, I think there's too many different types of gear right now.

I would really advocate for expertise to make a return to PvP gear. This way we would have three different progressions:

- Operations gear upgradable to 334 (last tier only available to current NiM operation).

- Flashpoint/conquest gear upgradable to 332, with only marginally lower stats than 334 gear.

- PvP gear, upgradable to a lower tier, but with expertise to ensure it is the best gear for PvP.

 

I'm glad that you are also addressing RNG in gearing, but I'm not sure I like the change to non moddable gear. If you just remove a lot of the 'R-variant' item modifications introduced with 6.0, that would go a long way. So no more Lethal BR-16 mods. Just back to having unlettered, A mods and B mods for mods for instance. That significantly cuts down on RNG as well, as we would no longer have to search for the exact stat variant out of 20 slightly different high alacrity enhancements. Still if mods are available at the highest tier of every gearing path (so for conquest/flashpoint and pvp gear as well), that'd be somewhat acceptable.

Edited November 4, 2021 by AdjeYo

[demotivator]

Good luck with your failure of an expansion.

 

Personally I'm out. I already gave a second chance to the game after a 3 year hiatus and coming back last year. There won't be a third chance.

[Exly]

Let me ask you this then, what makes the gear special anymore at that point, or the power that it gives? What makes you feel special, from the guy next to you, who only logs on from now and then, then unsubs until the next piece of story content comes out? Nothing. You know why? Because that gear you have obtained has effectively lost what made it special. As a great villain once said:

 

It's not about feeling special. It's about enjoying the game. Better gear makes the game more enjoyable for a lot of people, and that's a good enough reason for wanting it, in my opinion.

[JakRoanin]

Better gear makes the game physically less tiring for players with disabilities.

[Eli_Porter]

Dear Bioware:

 

1. I'm sure your new operation is great, you don't need to force players to play it

 

2. Players get discouraged when they're told they have to run niche and extremely challenging content to gear up

 

3. Players get discouraged when they're told they can't upgrade the armor they got from Flashpoints after hours of GSF/PvP/Conquest

 

4. Players get discouraged when they're PvP'ing and fight alongside/against players with higher item ratings, even if there's an effective cap (most players won't be aware of it)