I've stopped playing Flashpoints for the most part because I can't be bothered spending so long doing just the one FP thanks to multiple lengthy dialogue scenes. I'm all for story and that, but I'm playing a game not an interactive novel.

Bioware says no. But give it a couple of months and once GW2 and MoP come out BW will be doing everything to stop from tanking.

Either you guys have been lucky in getting fast runs, or I've been unlucky with a bunch of my runs and got the groups that go the long routes etc.

Also, it is possible to tell a story without resorting to long bouts of dialogue. Having to stop every ten minutes or so (or even less at the beginning and end) of a FP to go through speeches and dialogue options really breaks the pacing of a FP. I'm not saying remove all the dialogue scenes, I do like some of them, but it'd be nicer if there wasn't so many of them in FP's that were already quite lengthy.

This does help, but communication is the key and unfortunately with pugs that's something that can often be forgotten or ignored.

That's really rich coming from you, the person whose first post was a tantrum as if my suggestion was a personal attack against you and then suggested I just leave the game. No I'm afraid that does not remotely qualify as a mature response. And I call you a liar at doing Esseles in 25 minutes. But please, prove me wrong but providing video evidence of you completing it in that time, at the required level for it.

I'd love to know which Flashpoints take less than 45 minutes...unless of course it's because you seriously outlevel or outgear it. Even with a decent group space-barring our way through it without wiping once, most Flashpoints still take around one hour + due to the amount of trash mobs and running around through different loading screens going from maps the size of some worlds.

There is a spacebar, but that has no effect when like I said someone in the party doesn't use it. And it's very difficult to get a group who all agree to spacebar through the dialogue. My suggestion doesn't go against BW's choice of a story driven game, I didn't say remove all the dialogue I just asked that perhaps in future there wasn't so much of it.

I usually ask at the beginning if everyone would be ok with skipping through the excessive amounts of conversations, however if it's someone's first time there and they want to know the story then I won't complain to them about it. My first time running the FP's I wanted to hear all the stories, it's just once it gets to your third and fourth time you get a little bored of the amount of dialogue.

Kindly put your toys back in your pram and act like a mature adult please.

Perhaps this is just me, but as much as I enjoy Flashpoints (despite being incredibly repetitive, honestly no more space stations for a while...) I do feel they are a bit too long. I sit and think "I've got just over an hour to waste, maybe I could do a Flashpoint?" but half the time that statement ends up false. Putting aside however long it takes to get a group we usually have someone who doesn't spacebar through the dialogue and that combined with the sheer length of the FP usually means it'll be over an hour and a half before we actually get finished. That's if the FP isn't bugged as well. Take for example the Esseles. That is stupidly long. After spending about half an hour or so dealing with all the invaders on your own ship and running around that, you then spend about another half hour or so on the enemy ship running around and dealing with enemies there before finally coming back and spending another ten/fifteen minutes waiting on the dialogue finishing. Perhaps in future, cut down on the amount of dialogue and have Flashpoints be a little quicker. I'm not saying I want to finish one in under half an hour, but I don't want to be spending between an hour and two hours doing one.

You can predict the future?! With such superpowers, why are you wasting your time on here acting like an ***** because someone dares have an opinion?

And I'll continue to say it! Until GW2 comes out. Then I won't be saying anything on here.

Anyone else feel like this game is still pretty much in a Beta state?

BW has not yet shown any effort in putting news on their home page, I don't think they ever will. Instead customers are expected to hunt the forums or twitter for information.