Itemization in 7.0

[GritHazard]

Speaking as someone who likes to hunt for achievements, will the Set Bonus that currently resides in live still be in some way shape available to collect in order to complete the gear collection achievements?

[Lakemine]

Also a question for the devs. Why can't the current system stay and just have this <REDACTED> get added onto it? What is the reasoning?

 

What is the harm or bad horrible things that would ruin the gameplay experience for many many MANY players by NOT keeping the current system? Because I fail to see how keeping a system that many many many people like is something bad and horrid.

 

The ONLY reason I see it being "bad", is because the elite raiders don't have something to hang over pleb players. (I am guessing thats why the MOBA numbers of 'Damage", "Survivability" and "Support" are being added, for a quick glance of "You do not reach this threshold, "KICK!". Too give the toxic MOBA crowd a "comfort" in looking down on other players at a quick gold fish glance. Correct me if I am incorrect, and explain why. It would be interesting to see how mindsets are formed and choices get forced on others.)

 

Which.....is that really a good reason to chase? I mean, if that is, then at least be honest about it and please stop trying to lie, be deceptive about it and manipulate with "excitement!", so us players who dislike greatly toxicity and just want a fun game to play could make the choice ahead of time to leave and find a game that is not designed for only toxic selfish elites.

 

And I really can't tell you devs just how depressing these changes are. I REALLY don't want to quit SWTOR. It is a fun game, I love Star Wars, I LOVE the lore, The Old Republic is my favorite era and a few of the things incoming with 7.0 I have been asking for, for 8 years. But those few good things do not outweigh the amount of poor choices with most of the other systems. (Gearing, ability gutting, removing achievements, removing wholesale entire systems.)

 

It really does feel like a death.......and it hurts. And I don't think I am alone in these feelings.

[Lakemine]

Speaking as someone who likes to hunt for achievements, will the Set Bonus that currently resides in live still be in some way shape available to collect in order to complete the gear collection achievements?

 

Nope. All of those gear set bonus achievements are being moved to the "Feats of Strength" category and all point values being deleted. Only the tacticals remain. The current set bonuses are removed from the vendors, but the tacticals are still there. and Tech Frags are still earnable, but they will be only used for Tacticals and the gold augment mats.

 

(Mind you, also be aware this could change. But since they are still on the PTR, it shows either the devs have poor communication skills or they still havnt figured it out yet. Which is VERY concerning since we are 45-60 days from launch.)

[Lakemine]

I have been an active subscriber basically without break since the release. I mostly play with a small group of friends and fairly casually (ie, not competitively, no operations, no hard modes). My main concern is having enough of PvE stuff to do without having to repeat the same thing for fiftieth time. As far as itemization goes, I am okay as long as I am able to gear up enough to be able to do an occasional flashpoint without getting slaughtered.

 

The greatest gift would be making sure that we can play all Flashpoints and ideally even Operations in some story mode - meaning playable even without some über top level gear, just for the story. (I am looking at you, Dread Fortress finale of actual planetary storyline, never finished because, well, it's an Operation).

 

That would be "play your way": no content locked out if you somehow don't want to or can't click yourself to death in some hyper fray.

(Remark however, having the extra healing support droid in solo flashpoints was almost an overkill bc they are fairly easy to begin with, but at the same time it would be super handy to have an option to summon that in ANY activity if you are eg in a group of two very casual players doing a normal veteran flashpoint. Introduce also "solo" version for those and leave it up to you whether you want to make it easy for yourself by summoning the droid or keep it as a challenge. Maybe exactly do something like you do it alone or with the droid - only basic reward, versus you do it without the droid - bonus reward that can get you some more competitive gear.)

 

But I digress. Anyway: I think it is important for the devs to sort things out "on the upper end", balance everything top-tier players care about. But also keep in mind that there is probably a fairly large chunk of players who play not big scale ops, but also not just "single player", but who play for the lore and world and who want to experience as much of the game content as possible. And to be able to access ideally all the content with just the humble gear they have. If they then want a challenge, they can play some hard modes. But if I got my gear by doing the planetary quest on Nar Shaddaa, I want to be able to do my Hammer Station. That's the bottom line.

 

As for Light vs Dark, I am personally okay with the alignment being "faithful" to my characters' behaviour, it worked like that before, HOWEVER, I am saying this as a person who managed to get their characters to Light V and Dark V already and I am fully aware that it may be difficult for some to achieve this without the alignment toggle. For that reason, I'd think it may be the best solution to have the toggle switchable either on or off. That would be play your way, again.

 

Been asking for that GSI "God" droid for years. It helped my mom with some FPs since I couldnt duo them with her anymore (due to a poor design mindset) but it was made worse by removing it and adding a VERY low leveled storyline companion to them, and not even her lv50 she could use, no a level 1. It took her 3 hours to get through SoV, and I had to finish OM and SoE for her, because she grew tired of dying over and over.

 

This is a MMO, its a VERY poor choice to prevent players from playing with each other, and then removing the help for them because they couldnt get help from another player.

 

I wish they would add that GSI droid back.

[Lakemine]

BW seems to emphasize on getting good gears. But, is that the only thing players can do? Gearing? Or are we just gonna stuck with doing the same old contents, which get rotated every week, to grind for gears. Once you're done grinding, there better be lots of new FP, new OP, new stories....etc. Our last story update is only a few minutes long....

 

And remember, they are removing 80% of the OPs and FPs from the GF, so you only have the same 3-5 per week. That is not going to be fun.

[Toraak]

Nope. All of those gear set bonus achievements are being moved to the "Feats of Strength" category and all point values being deleted. Only the tacticals remain. The current set bonuses are removed from the vendors, but the tacticals are still there. and Tech Frags are still earnable, but they will be only used for Tacticals and the gold augment mats.

 

(Mind you, also be aware this could change. But since they are still on the PTR, it shows either the devs have poor communication skills or they still havnt figured it out yet. Which is VERY concerning since we are 45-60 days from launch.)

 

They didn't technically say that. What they said was under the renown achievements, Legacy perks and boosts section.

 

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

 

 

 

This means the achievements for getting characters to renown rank 100 per class, and getting a character to renown rank 999, as well as getting all base classes to renown rank 100. This says nothing about the Spoils of War achievements what so ever.

Edited November 3, 2021 by Toraak

[Lakemine]

Is it possible that everyone is reading this a bit wrong? If you look at what they said, I think that this is an important statement.

 

 

 

Then you get this.

 

 

I take this to mean that doing a Veteran Mode FP can upgrade your gear up to a point. IE it will upgrade your lowest irating item up to 320. However if you already have 320 gear or higher, you get currency for future upgrades. I can't look at the vendors on the PTS, but I do see that Conquest Vendor requires armor fragments. Can't see the upgrade path since I don't have anything to upgrade, but it would make sense that you could use those armor fragments to upgrade past 320. It gives a path for all players. If you want to skip VMFP's and go straight to HM ops you can get better gear faster. But if you want to grind out a million VMFP's and get the currency, that is cool too.

 

I am not sure one way or another, but I do think capping casual (story?) players isn't the right move. Having them on the gear treadmill will keep them playing too. Having the hardest content be the fastest way to get gear isn't wrong though.

 

I do think that there is a ton of negativity on this thread and I wish people would stuck to giving feedback rather than ranting at the changes.

 

As someone who plays every aspect of the game (PVP, NiM, story, FP's, etc), the gearing is fine. I do see why people are concerned. I also can see that the devs are trying to balance the gear treadmill around many different playstyles and I do think it is a case of trying to make everyone happy and I don't think there will ever be a gearing system that will do that.

 

The feedback is "Why not just keep the same system we have now and add new tiers to it?" Or better yet "Keep the current system and add the new system that the elitists love. Then its a win/win for everyone!"

 

As to why they remove something a lot of people like, and add something a lot people don't? That seems like a very poor choice. But then again, when the mindset is influenced by a enclosed communities, it can't hear the feedback from outside the gate keepers gate. So sadly we are too locked into this <REDACTED> being forced on us.

 

(Its why they didn't say anything about these changes on the live stream, so people wouldn't know. And its why they waited so long to say anything, so we don't have a say in it. It doesn't matter what feedback we give, the most they can do is change a few values of a currency, that's it. We are getting this <REDACTED> doesn't matter if we like it or not. And from the looks of things......there are A LOT more people that dislike these changes, then the very few I see that do like these changes. From the forums, discord and YouTube.)

[Damask_Rose]

Thing is, this is basically just going back to how it used to be. Playing solo used to get you nowhere.

 

We didn't like it then, so no reason to think we will like it now. Not to mention MMOs as a whole have shifted away from that raid or die mentality and we've had 6 years to think that maybe, just maybe, the developers don't think of solo & casual players as a permanent underclass.

[Lakemine]

They didn't technically say that. What they said was under the renown achievements, Legacy perks and boosts section.

 

"Achievements 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)."

 

This means the achievements for getting characters to renown rank 100 per class, and getting a character to renown rank 999, as well as getting all base classes to renown rank 100. This says nothing about the Spoils of War achievements what so ever.

 

Yep. But this is how "we forgot" happens. (Like what happened with the heroic credit reduction. It just happened. And THEN "Oh we forgot to add it!" when it was actually 'Dang it! We tried to sneak it in, but they noticed! Great, now we have to redact it." THEN they gave a heads up of "Hey, in some months were reducing the credit payout." They only "changed" and did the right thing in communicating correctly because they got caught, not because they changed to be better. (IMO, its actually deceptive communication, but I doubt most people have studied narcissists or had to live with one.....or multiple....)

 

There are still unanswered questions to A LOT of things connected to what has been shared already, and it poor form to not have them answered. I agree with you, they should have stated if they are being deleted or not, because atm its up in the air and an unknown answer.

 

I am going by what they have said (all reknown achievements are being removed) and whats on the PTS now atm. (The spoils of War vendors are still there, but all set bonuses are removed and the vendor names are renamed to only the classes tacticals. Yet we can still earn tech frags. And Kai is still there and you can get set bonuses from him, but not the regular vendors.) Also they have said ALL set bonuses will NOT work at lv76, and that set bonuses are being phased out for the new legendary gear (implants actually).

 

So why would they leave the set bonuses there for us to get achievements on, when they are making them completely not work at all AND removed them form the vendor?

 

I agree with you though, a CLEAR yes or no answer from the devs is needed. I really really REALLY detest ambiguity on things. (Course narcissists and people who don't like responsibility LOVE it, so they can get away with whatever selfish they are doing at that moment.)

[Lakemine]

We didn't like it then, so no reason to think we will like it now. Not to mention MMOs as a whole have shifted away from that raid or die mentality and we've had 6 years to think that maybe, just maybe, the developers don't think of solo & casual players as a permanent underclass.

 

Yep agreed. Sadly it seems the devs mindset has been swayed by people who WANT it to go back to that system.

 

As to why? Digital <REDACTED> measuring. And lording over others "lower" then themselves.

 

I still fail to see (and no one can explain it well) as to why we can't keep the current system AND add the new one on top. It caters to both types of players. The causals can gear up alone or duo, and the raiders can gear up each other, and the pvpers can gear up. Everyone wins! That should be a GOOD THING.

 

I mean......I can think of a "bad" reason as to why that idea won't work, but its a lot of selfishness. And its sad that selfish people are who the devs seem to want to focus on and invest time and resources into.

[chaharbagh]

Are Renown stashes being removed?

[Gokkus]

So let me get this straight. We are going from a gearing system that is friendly to everyone, to a gearing system that is friendly to almost no one? Sound strategy.

 

I can't wait to buy new augmentation kits for all of the gear for all of my alts every few months.

Or to know that there is modable, high level gear which I will never see because I dont have time to raid for hours on end.

Or to be forced to complete weeklies within a week to gear up decently. Sounds fun for my 23 alts.

And GSF/PvP will pretty much be pointless for me too because I only join them occasionally.

 

Compared to 1.0 the new system isnt that bad. But things got a lot better since then and reverting to a crappier gearing system will make a lot of people unhappy. Nostalgia can be good, regression is not.

[KookieMaster]

And remember, they are removing 80% of the OPs and FPs from the GF, so you only have the same 3-5 per week. That is not going to be fun.

 

I can already see people skipping out on the weeks that are Crisis on Umbara and A traitor among Chiss...

[Herbertllew]

Are Renown stashes being removed?

 

Renown itself is essentially gone.

[Pricia]

Are Renown stashes being removed?

 

Of course. No more renown.

[chaharbagh]

Of course. No more renown.

 

I still have items in a number of my characters' stashes.

[AlCiao]

If I understand right, this system will mean that solo players (like me) will no longer be able to achieve max-tier gear, the way we could in 5.0 and 6.0.

 

I hate this change. You can't tell us that we can play our way, and then punish us for doing so by capping what gear we can get.

 

Sure, people who do challenging group content or PvP should be able to get max gear quicker, but the ability to get max-tier gear at all should not be restricted to just them.

 

I'm a solo player, I enjoy doing heroics, daily areas, single-player missions, and so on. Please don't punish me for playing my way by capping my gear.

 

And yes, I know max-tier gear is hardly required for that sort of content, but the better gear I get, the better and quicker I can do solo content. Even with planetary level caps, stats like Alacrity and Critical aren't capped, and then there's that special gear-based boost you get too.

[NeoBlakkrstal]

Once again gear will be locked behind content. Something I abhor. I feel that NOTHING that is stat effecting should be locked behind content a player does not wish to do. I feel that there should always be an alternate path to obtaining any gear. It can be a harder, slower path, but that option should be available. I should not have to do MM or VM Ops or PvP in order to obtain the best gear. That system is not fair to the entire player base, it is elitist at best.

[jkdshbr]

I was so excited for this expansion that I re-subscribed when it was announced, but this is making me doubt that decision. The current gearing system is the most accessible you've had, and now you're doing a total inversion by making it punishing for everyone but your highest-end players.

 

I don't play operations because I find SWTOR to be more fun solo, taking away my ability to mod my gear because I don't enjoy operations isn't going to get me to play operations, it's just making the way I play the game less fun. This design choice is directly at odds with your stated philosophy in the beginning of your Itemization article.

 

"Whether a player is here for the story or to take on the most powerful challenges in the galaxy, we want there to be something a player can look forward to that makes their characters stronger."

 

As a solo player, what do I have to look forward to once I hit item level 226? I can't even get item mods to tweak my own stats. These changes make sure that there will actually be a definitive point at which there is nothing more for me, as a solo player, to "look forward to that makes [my] characters stronger".

[JattaGin]

If I understand right, this system will mean that solo players (like me) will no longer be able to achieve max-tier gear, the way we could in 5.0 and 6.0.

 

I hate this change. You can't tell us that we can play our way, and then punish us for doing so by capping what gear we can get.

 

I'm gonna tell now something which I have stated again and again since 2016/17:

 

Mr. Keith Kanneg is responsible for all this horrible mess that we have now and what we will get with 7.0.

 

From the beginning, his approach was to go back to the MMO part of this game which had proven to not work in 2012/13. He wanted to punish solo play from the beginning of his reign, but he couldn't because of the backlash he constantly got since the majority of players likes solo play.

 

Now he goes full-in with his approach. 7.0 is the culmination of Mr. Kanneg's vision for this game.

 

Well, now at least they finally officially admit that "PLAY YOUR WAY" has always been a lie. It was and will be more than ever "PLAY MR. KANNEG'S WAY".

 

This is what we get now. They force players to play the content the players don't choose by themselves (because they don't like to play that content), but Mr. Kanneg likes that content. So we can CHOOSE OUR PATH: Play our way and get punished regarding rewards or play Mr. Kanneg's way and progress. I sure know what I will be doing and not doing until my sub ends in January.

 

I don't understand why the lead producer isn't getting as much critique as his predecessors for what's happening. I mean, he is in charge of all of this, yet, no one says anything about it. The game has been constantly gotten worse since he got in charge. People blame the budget or the pandemie. But no, the main reason is the faulty vision he forces on this game.

 

I'm tired of this. Mr. Kanneg has been on his path to bring this game back to the beginning. But we all know how that worked out for them. Why do they make the same mistakes again? What is their endgame here? I don't get it.

 

I needed to get this off my chest. At least one person here needs to call Mr. Kanneg out for what he is doing. I'm beyond disappointed with what happened to this game. And I don't blame the budget. This is an internal mismanagement issue, as well as a faulty vision issue. I believe that he is in a bubble from where he got and gets a completely wrong perception of this game. And he is fed metrics that confirm his bias. Because he is the boss.

 

(Disclaimer: This is not meant personal against Mr. Kanneg! This is solely my opinion about his work as lead producer for Swtor. I'm very displeased with his vision for this game during his reign. I would nonetheless go out with him for a beer and spend a relaxed evening chit-chatting about random things, since I do think that he's a nice person.)

Edited November 3, 2021 by JattaGin

[The-Kaitou-Kid]

WTB communication from the dev team, PST if interested.

 

Seriously. Can we stop with this current trend of dropping these news articles or updates on PTS, creating massive amounts of negativity on the forums due to the changes, and then burying your heads in the sand and refusing to respond to any of it? The idea was that player feedback would be listened to on the PTS, but as of now we're going on a good, what, 3+ months since any feedback was actually responded to on the PTS forums? The closest we've gotten was David responding to concerns about Conquest in the 7.0 changes thread, but even that was an incomplete response repeating something that had already been realized without responding to the actual issue (aka, the individual Conquest goal being doubled). Just silently making changes and never actually responding to feedback doesn't do a great job of making it sound like you're listening.

 

Is it really too much to ask, like I have been for months at this point since this utter silence has been going on that long, that you just respond to some of the feedback you're getting? You don't have to make changes if you truly believe this is the direction the game should be going in, but a lot of players here on the forums are unhappy about it and you won't even say anything to them to try and ease their fears or defend why you think this is good for the game. A huge part of my concerns regarding 7.0 are coming from the fact that we've had clear issues raised on the PTS that were never responded to. Things that should have been immediately addressed and weren't even so much as acknowledged. You keep promising, year after year, to do better at communication and you keep getting worse. This is unacceptable. I have never been less excited for an expansion than I am right now for 7.0, and this is the 10 year anniversary. Everybody should be excited for this, but your utter mishandling of communicating the changes and responding to feedback around those changes has turned everything into dread.

 

I love this game, please don't misunderstand me here and assume I'm just trying to bash you because I hate the game or something. It's because I love this game as much as I do that I care enough to say anything at all, because if this were any other game I'd just be gone by now. I expect better of this game, but what you're doing right now isn't working. This goes beyond just the changes and into how you're putting them across and reacting (or, more accurately, not reacting) to the feedback. You can, and should, do better.

[GritHazard]

I also want to throw in my two cents in the itemization changes, and what I agree with and disagree with relating this topic.

 

One of the main complaints I am seeing with this topic, is how people cannot "play your way", in regards to content with the implementation with the gearing changes, so to be fair let's look at these 1 by 1.

 

PvP : Not much to be said here, I agree that the PvP gear, if it's going to be it's own method of gearing, should definitely not be capped lower than the high-end PvP gear, as seeing as how the high-end gear will be custom for PvE at least, this will create a balance between people who only do pvp on the side and have Nim level gear, or possibly even HM level gear (depending on whether any of that will be custom or not, but still), and people who are hardcore PvPers and want to primarily focus on such. At the same time though, there should be some difference, which I'd vote for the return of expertise, this would give PvPers an advantage over Nim level players for thier respective content, and you can still balance the stat allocations for the PvP gear to not carry you through high-end Op content.

 

Story/ Conquest : This is where I highly disagree with the community as to what has been said thus far. Many people are complaining that they cannot receive the highest end of gear through doing whatever you want. I take issue with this, as so far whenever this has been stated, it's in regards mainly to Story and Conquest. 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? By farming mats and crafting? By killing X amount of enemies on Section X? Or the most well known from the begining of 6.0, farming Hammer Station, Veteran Mode or otherwise?

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:

 

"Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, (evil laugh) no one will be." - Syndrome

 

It's like applying a cheat code to video game to have your character be the highest level and the best gear. You'll certainly feel your adrenaline pumping from excitement for the first day or so, but eventually it will then quickly begin to lose the satisfaction. Why? Because it took nothing to get where you are now. Getting gear should feel satisfying and well earned. Gear should feel as exciting as it is, because of the challenges you have to face to proclaim such grandeur. The whole reason why sets such as Rakata, Dread Guard, Dread Master, or Revanite were sought after in the first place, was because of hardships you had to endure to obtain these sets.

 

In 6.0 I saw people in full 306, still the highest rated gear, in the first week. I soon followed within the next. It felt like I had nothing to look forward to from doing the higher difficulties other than the occasional mount, maybe some titles, and bragging rights. To me, asking that everyone under the moon having access to the highest gear possible, with having to do very little work for it, just seems self-centered when you consider conquest gear can go up to 338 currently on PTS if you work for it. That should be plenty you need to get you to handle your story and conquest, as well as enough to transition into some group content if you decide that's the route you want to take.

 

If you want to continue to claim that 6.0 is their best iteration of gearing, or that how gearing is going to be handled is not to your preference, go ahead. Do your thing. But don't blindly go putting development down for wanting to try to improve the gearing and social experience with what they're attempting to do. No one's immune to criticism, but try to be objective with it.

 

If there's something I'm missing, feel free to reply. That is all I currently have to say on this topic, have a nice day.

Edited November 3, 2021 by GritHazard

[casirabit]

WTB communication from the dev team, PST if interested.

 

Seriously. Can we stop with this current trend of dropping these news articles or updates on PTS, creating massive amounts of negativity on the forums due to the changes, and then burying your heads in the sand and refusing to respond to any of it? The idea was that player feedback would be listened to on the PTS, but as of now we're going on a good, what, 3+ months since any feedback was actually responded to on the PTS forums? The closest we've gotten was David responding to concerns about Conquest in the 7.0 changes thread, but even that was an incomplete response repeating something that had already been realized without responding to the actual issue (aka, the individual Conquest goal being doubled). Just silently making changes and never actually responding to feedback doesn't do a great job of making it sound like you're listening.

 

Is it really too much to ask, like I have been for months at this point since this utter silence has been going on that long, that you just respond to some of the feedback you're getting? You don't have to make changes if you truly believe this is the direction the game should be going in, but a lot of players here on the forums are unhappy about it and you won't even say anything to them to try and ease their fears or defend why you think this is good for the game. A huge part of my concerns regarding 7.0 are coming from the fact that we've had clear issues raised on the PTS that were never responded to. Things that should have been immediately addressed and weren't even so much as acknowledged. You keep promising, year after year, to do better at communication and you keep getting worse. This is unacceptable. I have never been less excited for an expansion than I am right now for 7.0, and this is the 10 year anniversary. Everybody should be excited for this, but your utter mishandling of communicating the changes and responding to feedback around those changes has turned everything into dread.

 

I love this game, please don't misunderstand me here and assume I'm just trying to bash you because I hate the game or something. It's because I love this game as much as I do that I care enough to say anything at all, because if this were any other game I'd just be gone by now. I expect better of this game, but what you're doing right now isn't working. This goes beyond just the changes and into how you're putting them across and reacting (or, more accurately, not reacting) to the feedback. You can, and should, do better.

 

Nicely said thank you.

[arunav]

If I understand right, this system will mean that solo players (like me) will no longer be able to achieve max-tier gear, the way we could in 5.0 and 6.0.

 

I hate this change. You can't tell us that we can play our way, and then punish us for doing so by capping what gear we can get.

 

Sure, people who do challenging group content or PvP should be able to get max gear quicker, but the ability to get max-tier gear at all should not be restricted to just them.

 

I'm a solo player, I enjoy doing heroics, daily areas, single-player missions, and so on. Please don't punish me for playing my way by capping my gear.

 

And yes, I know max-tier gear is hardly required for that sort of content, but the better gear I get, the better and quicker I can do solo content. Even with planetary level caps, stats like Alacrity and Critical aren't capped, and then there's that special gear-based boost you get too.

 

I'm not sure where BW devs lost it along the way, but this sums up what 7.0 gearing misses entirely.

 

And I would be stunned if there aren't loads more players like the one above that spend way more money on the game than NiM Ops players.

 

The worst part about all this is it pits different parts of the community against each other.

 

There's an easy fix, even with the 7.0 gearing system: change each track to have moddable gear, and each track to eventually reach the BiS tier.

[AlCiao]

I also want to throw in my two cents in the itemization changes, and what I agree with and disagree with relating this topic.

 

One of the main complaints I am seeing with this topic, is how people cannot "play your way", in regards to content with the implementation with the gearing changes, so to be fair let's look at these 1 by 1.

 

PvP : Not much to be said here, I agree that the PvP gear, if it's going to be it's own method of gearing, should definitely not be capped lower than the high-end PvP gear, as seeing as how the high-end gear will be custom for PvE at least, this will create a balance between people who only do pvp on the side and have Nim level gear, or possibly even HM level gear (depending on whether any of that will be custom or not, but still), and people who are hardcore PvPers and want to primarily focus on such. At the same time though, there should be some difference, which I'd vote for the return of expertise, this would give PvPers an advantage over Nim level players for thier respective content, and you can still balance the stat allocations for the PvP gear to not carry you through high-end Op content.

 

Story/ Conquest : This is where I highly disagree with the community as to what has been said thus far. Many people are complaining that they cannot receive the highest end of gear through doing whatever you want. I take issue with this, as so far whenever this has been stated, it's in regards mainly to Story and Conquest. 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? By farming mats and crafting? By killing X amount of enemies on Section X? Or the most well known from the begining of 6.0, farming Hammer Station, Veteran Mode or otherwise?

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:

 

"Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, (evil laugh) no one will be." - Syndrome

 

It's like applying a cheat code to video game to have your character be the highest level and the best gear. You'll certainly feel your adrenaline pumping from excitement for the first day or so, but eventually it will then quickly begin to lose the satisfaction. Why? Because it took nothing to get where you are now. Getting gear should feel satisfying and well earned. Gear should feel as exciting as it is, because of the challenges you have to face to proclaim such grandeur. The whole reason why sets such as Rakata, Dread Guard, Dread Master, or Revanite were sought after in the first place, was because of hardships you had to endure to obtain these sets.

 

In 6.0 I saw people in full 306, still the highest rated gear, in the first week. I soon followed within the next. It felt like I had nothing to look forward to from doing the higher difficulties other than the occasional mount, maybe some titles, and bragging rights. To me, asking that everyone under the moon having access to the highest gear possible, with having to do very little work for it, just seems self-centered when you consider conquest gear can go up to 338 currently on PTS if you work for it. That should be plenty you need to get you to handle your story and conquest, as well as enough to transition into some group content if you decide that's the route you want to take.

 

If you want to continue to claim that 6.0 is their best iteration of gearing, or that how gearing is going to be handled is not to your preference, go ahead. Do your thing. But don't blindly go putting development down for wanting to try to improve the gearing and social experience with what they're attempting to do. No one's immune to criticism, but try to be objective with it.

 

If there's something I'm missing, feel free to reply. That is all I currently have to say on this topic, have a nice day.

 

If it makes a difference to you, I have no problem with players, who do challenging content or PvP, getting access to high-tier gear quicker than those who, like me, would prefer the slower road of solo content. I just want to be able to get max-tier gear at all while still playing my way.