It only states that you need to be eligible for all four rewards to gain early access at the VERY BOTTOM OF THE PAGE - in the Terms and Conditions. There is nothing that directs you to the bottom, as a matter of fact - if you continue to scroll down the page, you see videos and other information about the expansion. The Subscribe Now call to action is above all this. From a marketing/sales perspective, the entire page is designed to mask the Terms and Conditions and keep the customer above the fold. So no, it does not clearly state - it hides it, intentionally.

Has nothing to do with "plenty of time" - you needed to know about the expansion, and have subbed before like August in order to get early access. I myself didn't find out about the expansion or anything until TwitchCon, at which point I instantly went home and subbed up - but even that was too late. EA/Bioware also purposefully used extremely vague wording in their promotion to subscribe "Choose to be a Subscriber from August 10 to October 19 to receive the Early Access Bonus Reward!" . Which can be translated as either if you decide to subscribe between those dates, you'll get Early Access - just as much as it can be translated that you have to be a subscriber the whole time. Thus, a number of people who subbed recently assumed they would be getting Early Access - when in reality they will not. It's obvious that EA/Bioware knew this communication was vague and would drive people to subscribe thinking they would get early access - this is why if you scroll all the way down on the Bonus page, there are Terms and Conditions buried that call out the real requirements for Early Access. However, there is no * next to the EA call out above that alludes to additional requirements. The call to action to subscribe, is actually nowhere near the Terms - so most people have no reason to scroll down that far. If you click on subscribe now, at no point through the purchase checkout process are you provided the Terms clarification again. Is a pretty slimy cheeseball money grabbing move from EA/Bioware

Yeah - sorry I didn't see the search functionality hidden in the top right. That... is pretty poor, especially since the wording they used is intentionally cryptic in order to drive subscriptions without people understanding they aren't actually getting early access. They could have put an * next to it so people knew it was conditional - similar to how they did with the EXP call out. Instead they put the huge yellow Subscribe button, and don't explain you don't really get early access until the very bottom of the page in the Terms and Conditions. It doesn't even explain the Early Access call out while you go through the check out process. I'll be submitting for a refund, T and C's that explain conditions specific to a purchase should be included in the purchase pipeline, and not buried at the bottom - 2 pages down from the call to action to make the purchase.

Could a dev clarify how Early Access for Knights of the Fallen works? The wording used on the main page "Choose to be a Subscriber from August 10 to October 19 to receive the Early Access Bonus Reward!" makes it sound as if you decide to become a subscriber within that time period, you will get Early Access. However - I've heard that instead of "choose to be...from.." it's actually that you MUST be a subscriber from August 10th until October 19th to be granted Early Access. If the second is true, that's horrible wording in the advertisement - so I want to understand what I actually got for becoming a subscriber. Regards, Omg

Step 1: Remove all modifications from purple/deep purple PvE & PvP items. End Game PvP/PvE Items would simply drop with empty slots. End Game PvP/PvE Items would have bonus base stats, i.e. the base Rakata items would have +20 (stat1), +20 (stat2) and all empty slots. Explanation: You've now made all crew skills that can create item modifications relevant at end-game, while not alienating hardcore PvPrs and PvErs - as the End Game items they recieve will have base stats incorporated into them that once fully modified will keep them as best items in game. Step 2: Redistribution of Modification and Items across crew skills, and addition of crew skill restricted items. Armortech Mods: Creates Armor Modifications & Enhancements for Tech Armor Armortech Items: Medium/Heavy Tech Armor Armstech Mods: Creates Barrels and Crystal Modifications for Tech Weapons Armstech Items: Tech Based Weapons + Tech Off-Hand. Synthweaving Mods: Creates Armor Modifications & Enhancements for Force Armor Synthweaving Items: Medium/Heavy Force Armor Artifice Mods: Creates Hilts and Crystal Modifications for Force Weapons. Artifice Items: Force Based Weapons + Force Based Off-Hands. Cybertech Mods: Creates Mod slots for all items. Cybertech Items: Earpieces, Grenades, Mounts, Gadgets.... Biochem Mods: None. Biochem Items: All Consumables, All Implants + Add Food/Drinks (as from Cantina) Explanation: In redistributing the balance of item crafting and item modifications more evenly across all crew skills, you "balance the wealth" in essence.. and thus balance the relevancy of each crew skill at end-game. Biochecm remains king of the consumables, but sacrifices the ability to make any item Modifications to do so. Step 3: Rework the functionality of Reverse Engineering Add 100% chance to learn schematic equal to item you are reverse engineering (if applicable to your crew skill) Explanation: This keeps the "luck" associated to Reverse Engineering discovery, while alleviating the frustration associated to Reverse Engineering discovery at the same time. With the new system, some people will get lucky and continue to discover blue/purple schematics through Reverse Engineering. However, those people who experience bad luck aren't limited to spam RE'n and keeping their fingers crossed - they can go to the GTN, and purchase the Blue/Purple item if available and Reverse Engineer it in order to learn the pattern. This also makes it so people could collect mats for blue/purp item and use Trade to find a person who has the discovered item... ask them to make it for them, and then RE it.... expanding even more upon the social aspect of Crew Skills. The End. P.S. I'm not delusional enough to think this is the end all be all. However, these changes would make crew skills relevant at end game + expand the social aspect of crew skills. There is also talk about adding unique bonuses' to each crew skill, but that is beyond the scope of my suggestions.

Someone had posted a mathematical analysis each of the tank types at one point - showing their base shield %, avoidance % etc..etc.. I seem to have lost the link to it, does anyone else remember this post and have the link by chance? Thanks, omg

I don't mind it being moved - if the designers actually take the suggestions into consideration. I posted it in General simply because it is the most viewed forum, and I wanted to get feedback from others on my thoughts about a possible fix. I think in the "suggestions" area I will recieve much less feedback, much less brainstorming on other potential solutions and less visibility - and thus less of a chance of the design team reading and taking into consideration the suggestions. However, I've been known to be wrong about most things So maybe that's just paranoia

kk, glad the explanation made more sense Yeah - seems like a relatively easy thing to implement. Wish they would provide some insight as to their plans for crafting moving forward.

The top tier would not be craftable - Top tier drops from PvE & PvP would have stat bonuses already on the gear. So you'd get a Deep Purple Rakata Crown of Ownage that had +30 Endurance & +20 Power w/ Open Slots for Mod, Enhancement, Armor. Thus - you could then go to a Cybertech, an Artifice, an Armormech/Synthweaver and get them to make you purple mods to put into your gear. Turning the item into one of the best piece in the game, all the while also incorporating crafting and making it a social and functional part of the game. Hope this helps explain the basic idea a bit better.

Not a single comment? Does everyone really think crew skills are okay in their current state?

Thanks for feedback, glad this issue isn't just in my head

Currently It feels like there is no real reason for using Crew Skills in SWTOR other than Biochem (I am speaking from an end game perspective), as even after the nerfs it is the only Crew Skill that offers any sort of end game benefit. All other crew skills become irrelevant due to: A) Money saved while leveling from infinite use BioChem med packs. B) Infinite use adrenals/stims are still the best end-game stat boost over all other crew skills. C) Dropped gear tends to be significantly better than crafted gear at end game. D) All decent gear from Crew Skills is BOP, negating the social aspect of taking up crew skills. How to address the curret limitations of Crew Skills across the board: 1) Remove all pre-installed mod/enhancements/armor etc.. from end-game dropped items. The benefits of raid/PvP gear would then become unique look of the gear and bonus stats associated to the gear (i.e. deep purple with base +30 endurance, +20 power etc... and 3 empty slots). By doing this you have now made Cybertech and Artifice relevant. As even people who obtain end game raid gear will now seek out these two professions in order to get the best modifications/enhancements etc.. made to slot out their equipment. 2) Remove Armor slot creation from Cybertech, and split it amongst Synthweaving and Armortech(Force/Non-Force). Cybertech already has the ability to make Mod slots, and moving Armor slots to Synth/Armor would keep in sync of the fact that Hilts are associated to Artificing and Barrels are associated to Armstech. 3) Allow Armortechs/Armstechs/Synthweavers to be able to add Augment slots to gear. The result of these changes to crafting: - Biochem remains the king of consumables. - Cybertech gets the PvP Grenades, and can make the best Mods in game that people will seek out for their Top Tier Raid AND PvP Gear. - Artifice can make the best hilts/crystals in game which people will now seek out for their Top Tier Raid and PvP Gear. - Synthweaving/Armortech get the best Armor mods in game - which people will now seek out for their Top Tier Raid and PvP gear. - Armstechs will get the best barrels in game - which people will now seek out for their Top Tier Raid and PvP gear. This also allows for higher stat customization as people can slot the gear the way they want it, instead of using the predefined slotting that you have already associated to gear. I realize I'm oversimplifying this - but hopefully this conveys the general idea. Thanks, Omgthisnamesux

Dear BioWare Development Team, Please re-evaluate the current Social Tier requirements associated to Flight Commendation rewarded orange gear. Space Combat Missions are THE most single player aspect of the game. You do not even have the option to group to complete these. Thus, the requirement of Social Tier 3 on these items seem unjustified and completely out of sync with the reality of Space Combat. If you were to invest the same amount of time in PvP as you did in collecting commendations to acquire the Space Mission gear - you would get some of the best equipment in the game, and have no Social Requirements. Again, please reconsider the Social Tier restrictions on this gear, it does not sync with the reality of Space Combat. Thanks, Omgthisnamesux

Yeah - I considered Brute Force, as you suggested above. However, that is still not Customer Support.. that's "omg someone take care of this really annoying person". I'd like a real response back from a BioWare person on when they plan on having real Customer Support for the game? I'm sure even they are aware that currently it doesn't exist.

Just curious as to when actual customer support for SWTOR will start? There are numerous bugs in game that impact playability of the game - currently these bugs are being addressed at a development level , but there is no support for the game to address the players impacted by the bugs. Example: The currently loot system for Operations is bugged. If you set the loot to Master Loot, and then do the Operation - instead of allowing the raid leader to distribute drops the game auto-assigns who the drops go to. When my guild did Eternity Vault, a helmet dropped that was a huge upgrade for a Sorcerer in our Operation. It was a downgrade for me on all levels - yet the game decided I should get the item and auto-assigned it to me; thus the loot was completely wasted and the other Sorcerer recieved no upgrades at all. I opened a ticket for this, to ask Support to transfer the item to the proper player and resolve the issue. In WoW, customer support does this... and actually helps the playerbase. However, in SWTOR I recieved a canned response back stating: "Thanks for contacting support, we are closing this ticket and you will not recieve any further updates - please watch future Patch Notes for any additional information" That... is not support. That is dismissal. I really enjoy the game, and think it's alot of fun and a great framework to build upon. However, obviously the Customer Support for this game is non existant. So - back to the original question - when is it exactly that SWTOR will have Customer Support?.. and not simply blow off in-game issues that could be addressed (at a customer level, not a code level).