The OP may be wrong in a legal sense, but the spirit of his post is completely legitimate. We are all flawed broken humans, broken by the world, seeking to fill the holes in our being. I myself have succumbed to the dangers of the cartel market. I am Trakon Bazzak, and Im a Cartel Coin addict. I have destroyed everything I love with the purchase of cartel coins, collectible card games , and texas holdem. I nearly made the ultimate sacrifice. In a previous life I was a successful businessman, the representative of a large engineering firm who specialized in bridge building, with a beautiful wife, and several small children. We had barbecues, went out to the beach weekly, walked in the park, went on bike rides. The Cartel market has destroyed all that. The first few packs were free, as any drug dealer would tell you, THIS is where you get hooked. When I purchased them, the suspense seemed palpable, you could almost cut it with a knife. There it was in my bags, my ticket to never completing another daily....Millions.... nay BILLIONS of credits would be mine within the hour. I was trembling with anticipation every time I opened a new pack... It was all part of their insidious plan. "CMON DADDY NEEDS A NEW SPEEDER!!!!" I would say, and every time I would hit I would get a euphoria akin to winning the swtor lottery. The excitement was seductive, taking me on an emotional roller coaster I just couldnt get enough of. When those packs were nearly gone, I started to come down. The high wore off and I went into an emotional lull feeling almost like a zombie. "I must have MOAR" I thought...wrestling with the fact that if I did purchase them I should get the largest package available so as to get the "Best Value" , and my credit card bill would read -39.99 Origin, Star wars the old republic I knew my wife would question me, but I just didnt care. I had to have more. I bought them, and BOOM I opened a Tythonian lightsaber that would sell for MILLIONS. I just knew that after this bunch of packs I would never return to the drudgery of dailies again. I opened another pack.....crap..... and another.......crap crap crap. 19 packs later and I had a million credits for my trouble. I felt drained, beaten and stupid. Then a brilliant idea sparked in my mind. "I can beat the house, I can buy more and Im bound to recoup my monies worth eventually" That night I spent $120 on cartel packs. I ended up filling every bank slot on every toon with useless garbage. From Jawagrams, to useless emotes, I really felt the hard reality of being a loser. The following morning my wife approached me, she said that our credit card company had alerted her through an email notification that we may have been victims of credit card fraud. " They said there was 120 dollars charged to something called Origin. Ill have a look at the online statement." I knew I was caught. Perhaps not today, or tomorrow, but eventually. It didnt matter to me, I would lie, maybe claim my account was hacked. I didnt care, all that mattered was my next coin fix. Immediately I tried to downplay it. "Honey, its just a hundred bucks, let the credit card company figure it out, its what we pay them for." "Thats not the point!" She exclaimed. "I just feel so violated!" "I do too honey." I said. She didnt know how true that statement was. I was going to beat the damn Cartel market one way or another. Eventually as time went on the effect of one hypercrate wasnt enough for me. I spent more and more until there was no denying it. I had a problem. Not long after my wife had figured out that there was no credit fraud and it was infact an inside job that had robbed our perfect family of our disposable income, the inevitable had finally caught up to me. "Trakon, I want a divorce. The kids and I are moving in with my sister for the weekend. I want you out by monday." I simply had no argument to present her that fateful day. I managed to eek out the words " ok ....I understand", and hung up the phone. I deserved this, it was my fault. I grabbed all the money I could, a photo album and my laptop case. My addiction to the market and the sale of items from said market forced me to begin playing at work, missing important meetings and forgoing personal hygiene. After all I was a degenerate gambler living out of a 1998 Chevorlet Cavalier. The final step into my full transformation was the loss of my job. I took odd jobs here and there, making what money I could to fund my addiction. Finally I made matters worse by selling my car. With that money I entered the circuit of back room Texas Hold-em games, and high stakes Magic the gathering tournaments, to fund my habit. All to no avail. Today I am living in the parking lot of the central library, leeching their wifi, and living from the kindness of strangers. My abode is a small makeshift shack made from garbage bags, boxes and old pulp romance novels. Dont make my mistake. Stay away from the allure of digital gambling. Thank you OP for bringing my plight out into the open for all to see. Pray for me.

Judging by your previous posts in every thread I could find, I would say you are the staunchest defender of even the most inane blunders by this dev team. So even though your heart may feel like its in the right place... I say this to you. This game is a turd. A person may stand next to a turd, staunchly defending it, pretending it doesnt smell, inviting others to enjoy its aromatic aroma, extolling the virtues of its sheen, but at the end of the day, no matter how much that person loves that turd. It doesnt matter how much they say it looks exactly like a diamond, or how it may some day cure cancer....its still a turd. A lifeless, static, good for nothing, no future other than the flies eating it and the kids stepping in it....turd. but if were all going to stand next to the turd...at least its a Star Wars turd amirite?

Runescape isnt the answer. I actually applaud this dude for his caring about the future of the game if nothing else. Fanboyism doesnt help solve the problems the game has. Fanboyism just reinforces the old adage "Why feed a pig cherries, when he will happily eat muck?" Maybe one day someone like OP will put out a hairbrained scheme that will actually take. I have no trust in these devs, they are the interns he speaks of in his OP anyway. Whatever happened to Georg Zoeller?

If the game isnt making profits above and beyond the licensing fee by the time the current agreement is up for renewal, then yes, its sunset time for swtor, ala swg. Thats how all Star Wars mmos die.

Looking for Revans sash and Gloves. Send Mail to Varios with prices. Thanks!

You CLEARLY do not understand the technical prowess of the OP. He is simply testing you all to see if you are worthy of being invited to his SUPER SECRET SWTOR project. HE IS THE PERSON WHO REMADE NAR SHADAA IN THE FLYTHROUGH!!!!! Where you all have failed I will succeed. Challenge accepted OP, Challenge accepted. SWTOREMU ACTIVATE.

Disney owns the entire Star Wars IP. They own every single subsidiary Lucas company as well. As you said Disney loves making money, but its EA who would be pulling the plug when the licensing agreement has matured. THe same thing happened to Sony with SWG. It made sense to keep the servers up as they were generating income.....just not enough income to justify renewing the licence from Lucas. This will be the same tale told when they sunset SWTOR. The game is in no danger until the licensing is up, but when its time for a renewal.....the game is dead. The Star Wars ip is one of, if not THE most expensive licensing rental in the industry.

The game will be up as until its licensing term is up with Lucas Arts, by then EA will move on to other projects rather than fork over another huge licensing fee to Disney. Translation: 6 or 7 more years of squeezing blood from a turnip. Selling outfits for the Old Republic Barbie dolls game (Swtor).

People are entitled to demand things. Game companies are businesses. Its economics. Right now the demand for this game is very low. Not liking it is a very good reason to ask for change. From both the players perspective and EA's perspective. You can bet your bottom dollar they have metrics they are reading right now to see what the people who play this game want. The people who play it now though are mostly collectors and people who like measuring their wallets against others. This is why most of what you are being served to supply your demand is needless fluff from cartel store packs. The entire expansion was fluff to make way for double xp. An easy game for an easy to please audience with a very small community of cash cows there for the milking. This is what you have, and of course it makes the internet angry. The internet gets angrier for less.

Thanks for the replies, seems Im seeing more positive stuff about deception when I ask a direct question as opposed to reading the guides posted here. Ill let you know how the specs pan out.

Im currently leveling a deception assassin as my alt, Dps Guardian being my main. Im lvl 45, looking up at voltaic slash, and its calling to me. My current spec is 0/25/11 All the guides ive read seem to say the same thing. Voltaic slash sucks, its a waste of a point and the best specs are all hybrids. With a good amount of players also using full tank, or full madness... So my question to the rest of you deception assassins out there is.. Do you think Voltaic slash should be buffed to increase the viability of full deception, or are you happy with the current menu of specs people are using?

WHy necro this?

OP is right, they have it bass ackwards GIVE AWAY THE UI, SELL THE STORY CONTENT!!! Who ever designed the ftp experience should be fired, like yesterday. I love the layout and functionality of the shop, just the implementation of ftp seems really retarded. Give away the meat and potatoes......but charge money to use a fork?

They arent a drain on anything other than our fun level. "Omg I cant hide my helmet!!!!??? OOMGWTFPHAILIHATEJOOEAAAAAA"

Was that an attempt to rub in my face that I lost at gambling? Grow up kid. I thought the thread was about the cartel market and our experiences with it. If you have nothing to contribute I think you know what to do.