Super mega necro! As part of the upcoming 10th anniversary celebration, this quest is STILL BUGGED.

First, the argument isn't rewarding achievement over non-achievement. Its simply acknowledging that you can reward different types of achievement. The "why do you need better gear if you are not raiding" argument frequently gets trotted out, and I've never understood this take. Its an RPG. Whether is online or tabletop, multi-player or single player, a core aspect of almost every RPG ever made is progression. You interact with the world to improve your character and get new shinies. Did I need a vorpal blade when I was playing D&D? No. But it was still fun to get one. Heck, even in SWTOR you don't need 224 gear to clear operations, so why does ANYONE get it? You do a great job crunching numbers for the community, but why does anyone need to min/max? You can clear the content with good but not optimized gear, why does anyone strive for optimized if you don't really need it? Because a core part of any RPG is to keep trying to make your character incrementally better each time you play. I don't think the progression that is core to the RPG experience should be content locked. The point is, telling an entire demographic in a RPG (non-raiders) that "okay your done progressing because you don't really need the upgrades" kinda flies in the face of what a RPG is and is poor game design. Please understand, I'm not advocating "okay, you logged in today, here's your 224 gear." I'm just suggesting that, maybe, just maybe, in 2015 raiding doesn't have to be the only end game in every MMO.

I guess this highlights my point. Why do they have to be bad just because they aren't in 224 gear? Isn't at least within the realm of possibility that they are very skilled players and simply don't find operations fun or entertaining? Therefore, they have put together the best gear they can through the activities they enjoy. Them being a non-raider doesn't by definition make them more or less skilled. It just makes them someone who, for some reason, has chosen not to raid. Being "bad" isn't the only reason people don't raid. I guess I'm just fighting against the notion that only "skilled" players should get the best rewards and the only way to determine if a player is "skilled" is to see if they raid. Lets just make operations (or any other potential end game activity) fun in their own right and let people chose the end game that fits best for them. If operations players are provided with consistently new content that is balanced, fun, and challenging, shouldn't the entertainment value of that end game activity be its own reward? If you are running operations and enjoying them, why would it bother you that someone who doesn't enjoy operations has another way to earn the best gear?

Yeah, this is probably just agree to disagree territory. I simply think the notion that the best gear MUST be tied to one and exactly one end game activity is outdated. You use terms like "effort", "grind", "accomplishments" and "great player" to describe who is worthy of the best gear. Why are operations the only metric to measure this? Is a raider a "greater" player than someone who has mastered PvP or Galactic Starfighter? Is he greater than the one who was mastered playing the GTN? Who has put forth more "effort" or has greater "accomplishment", the person who raids two nights a week or the person who never raids but plays every day and has 16 level 55 characters with every companion at influence level 50 and all four alliance operatives at level 20? Its not that I'm think operations are bad. I run them myself. Its just that I think there should be multiple paths in the end game without worrying about which end game activities are "worthy" of the best rewards.

This is a bit off topic and I don't mean to pick on this quote, because I don't think it was really the thrust of your comment, but I really do think that a lot of these conversations would be more productive if we stopped conflating the terms "casual", "raider", and "solo" It is quite possible to be a casual raider. Log in once a week for two hours or so to finish the highlighted HM OP and then call it a week. Pretty casual. And technically, you could be someone who is not in a guild but enjoys GF OP's and logs in occasionally to queue . You hop in, queue, don't talk much during the OP and then log out after you complete your GFOP. Aren't you at that point more a less a "solo casual raider"? Or maybe you don't enjoy operations at all, not because you are "teh bads", but its just not your thing. But between PvP, alts, playing the GTN, heroics, story, etc. you play more than 20 hours a week. At that point your not a "causal" and yet you still don't do operations. And again, most the activities that fill your time could either be done with friends or completely by yourself. So you might be a solo or group player regardless of whether you ever touch operations. I find that usually the labels are just used to describe players whose playstyle we disagree with and don't think the devs should cater to. It seems like the healthiest attitude would be simply to say "I don't mind than any player can get the best possible gear by spending time in the game doing whatever he or she finds to be fun." The the conversation could simply be about whether the content the devs is putting out is "fun" (challenging OP's, interesting story quest, balanced PvP) and not whether one particular group of players is "entitled" to good gear as a reward. In all fairness, this is more or less the attitude most posters in thread or expressing, but I still think the "us vs. them" mentality of the various player bases underlies all of this. TLDR: I have no problem with the absolute best gear in the game being craftable. The reward for NiM OP's (or really any content) should be that those operations should be fun, not-buggy, challenging and engaging for the players who enjoy that content (i.e. the enjoyment of the content should be its own reward, and worries about which content gets which gear should really be secondary).

That is probably a legitimate criticism of the survey, but my point still stands: people are railing against Bioware for being out of touch, when its much more likely that the forums are out of touch with what is popular with the "typical" SWTOR player. Feedback that essentially insinuates that they are too dumb to understand their own customer base, or that they are malevolent and for some reason intentionally trolling their customers, is arrogant and unhelpful. Feedback that suggests the tools they use to gauge customer interest needs improvement, or that the PR team should be more measured, is probably useful to them.

I really don't understand the outrage. I clearly remember them sending out a survey that specifically asked subscribers what they would prefer for subscriber rewards. This reward system is clearly a direct response to that. The forums are acting like they betrayed us, when they have probably given almost exactly what was most popular in the survey. I think all this angst is really more about these forums (and reddit) being very slow to realize that people who frequent the forums, or those who prefer group content over story, are not the majority in this game, and the majority simply likes different things than you. Apparently the majority prefers a story focused game They "story focused single player MMO" probably has been as well received as they indicated. Its just that the folks that like it don't then go to the forums to kvetch. For most of their audience, this will probably be a well received reward system. Look, as a founder and subscriber since the get go, I'm not thrilled with these rewards either. But can we stop saying that they are lying about how well received KotFE was, or that they have somehow betrayed us. If you don't like what SWTOR has become, that's fine, but we could we please stop accusing the devs of being clueless (with the arrogant assumption being we have mysterious knowledge that they don't), when its much more likely that the things we may like in our MMO are not as popular with the masses as we would prefer.

My character: Level 65 Jedi Knight Vigilance Guardian in mix of 208/216 gear w/ 186 augments. My companion: Influence level 30 Lana in healer role My experience: Prior to 4.0.2 I was able to solo Heroic 2 missions and Heroic Star Fortress rather easily. Probably a touch on the too easy side. However, I will echo comments that Lana was only a usable healer because of her burst. Too often she is trying to DPS even in healer mode, and this was only overcome pre-4.0.2. because she had excellent burst. Post 4.0.2 : Heroic 2 missions are noticeably more difficult, but still quite doable. However, I agree with other comments that there is way too much variance in the difficulty levels of any given Heroic 2. I am still able to complete Heroic Star Fortress, although now it requires a handful of deaths. Particularly, the Ephemeris room and the third reactor station feel way overtuned. With specific regard to companions, Lana spends way too much time DPS'ing during intense encounters like this. EDIT: I'll add that I tried switching her to tank stance for some of the harder fights. That . . . did not go well. What seems odd, it that the Exarchs themselves feel relatively easy compared to those two encounters. Its probably not good design for the final boss to not be the most difficult encounter. Long story short, before 4.0.2 is was a little on the easy side but fun. Post 4.0.2 it seems to be hitting your identified difficulty targets, but its not fun. As others have said, you have made the end game for solo players tedious. Its really quite discouraging for me personally, as a primarily solo player, in that I thought you had finally provided an end-game alternative to operations. Yes, the Alliance system and related Heroics were a little grindy, but it was fun to power through them. Heroic Star Fortress was not too hard, but still had some mechanics you could not ignore if you wanted to finish it. I think its okay to occasionally include mechanics you have to pay attention to in solo PVE, but that quickly becomes tedium if overtuned. As it stands now, I don't intend to run Heroic Star Fortress in its current incarnation, and I probably won't spend as much time leveling up my Alliance since the Heroic 2's are more tedious. In my opinion, the difficulty challenges you seek to impose should be reserved for Hard Mode Flashpoints, Hard Mode Operations, PvP, and Achievement Hunters. Its probably misguided to impose this level of challenge on anything related to solo PVE. I think its unfortunate that several allies are now gated behind a Heroic Star Fortress that is doable but no longer fun. Finally, on a somewhat related noted, I really wish Story Mode operations would start to live up to that name (i.e a way for casual/unguilded/solo players to see all the "story"). I really think they should be PUG-able, and while some are, most are not. It would be nice as a solo player to queue up in the OP's finder and be able to see these operations and slowly earn some 216 set pieces. I tried a few random story modes, they are generally not puggable. Again, I think the challenge (Hard Modes) should be there for those who are looking for it, with requisite greater rewards (220/224). However, I think solo PVE'ers should be able to see all the content and have alternate ways to keep progressing their characters. I know the argument is "why do you need better gear if you don't do ops?" The answer is easy: progression is an end unto itself and progression is core to any RPG.

Tried to complete it solo mode today, still bugged. Hadn't read this thread yet, so I tried it with my companion. She would get instantly killed a few moments after she tried to follow them to the ledges. Fight would continue with Jos and Valk unreachable, and eventually reset. Guess I'll try it with my companion unsummoned. I am somewhat surprised that this is not a higher priority for them, given that you can't complete the storyline without completing this FP.

Thanks for the clarification. It sounded dirty, good to know its not . . . so a fast and hot fix will be a "fast and fast fix." Awesome!

If nothing else, I think this post is genius for coining an awesome new phrase. I, for one, look forward to the day when devs (of any game, not just this one) stop implementing hotfixes, replacing them instead with "fast and hot fixes." I'm not sure what the difference will be, exactly, but I'm sure it will be glorious.

Hello everyone. I have two subscriber accounts (my wife and I play together), but I am about to make one inactive (wife no longer has time to play). The one I am about to make inactive has a rather sizable cartel coin balance. What is the simplest, easiest way to convert that balance to credits on the GTN so I can mail them to my still active account?

That's just a silly statement. There are lots of "skippable" quests that have gotten bug fixes, and this quest is required if you want to complete the Balmorra planetary story.

EDIT: Never mind, my comment was incorrect, sorry

I believe this is one of the best posts I've ever read summarizing why most of the "causal vs. hard-core, us vs. them" back and forth is quite misguided. I think most "the game is getting to easy" complaints are just misguided. As pointed out in the above post, SWTOR has a balance of "easy to learn" content for those seeking such, and it has "difficult to master" content for the rest. Everyone is looking for a fun experience, for some challenging is fun, for some it is not. A think a good balance of both is needed for any current MMO. I also think the contention that 12XP makes for bad group content because people never learn their class has always seemed dubious to me. Its just a fallacy. Leveling isn't "practice" for group content, its just leveling. Without fail, in every MMO I have ever played, I have never played my class leveling the same would play it in any group content. Leveling has never taught me how to group well. Heck, many MMO's have dual spec specifically to that end: so you can level in one spec and do end game in another. What teaches one how to group well is taking the time to read guides and watch strategy videos. The people who are bad in groups are not bad because they "leveled too fast", they are bad because they are entering group content and have no desire to do the "homework" necessary to understand the demands of said group content. Those people probably would have refused to read or watch a guide whether they leveled to 60 in a week or 60 weeks. All 12XP does is separate the wheat from the chaff: I can level a toon from scratch and focus strictly on class stories. Finally, another fallacy I see thrown around a lot is: "you don't need/deserve better gear if your not doing OP's." (or sometimes phrased as Q: "why do you play a MMO if you don't like to group?" A: Because I like playing a persistent character in a persistent world that is periodically updated). Yes, you do "need" progressively better gear even if you-gasp-chose not to participate in end-game group content. Its an RPG, and even if your end game is soloing dailies, progression is core to any RPG. Whatever I'm doing should be improving my character to some extent. I have no problem if certain choices (choosing solo content over group content) lead to slower progression. I have no problem if operations are the fastest route. But all content should be at least a slow grind to best-in-slot. I think operations would be better for raiders and non-raiders alike if they were less "hey, its the only way to get the best gear" and more "hey, here is an ALTERNATE path for gearing for those who like really challenging group content." Or, if you prefer, if end-game solo content was less "well, operations are the only way to gear up, but I can't/won't/don't want to do those, but I have to do something at max level so its either this or roll an alt" and more "hey, here is an ALTERNATE path for gearing for those who have time constraints or just dislike group content. It will likely be glacially slow compared to operations, but you will progress." Neither has to be superior. Anyhoo, TLDR: I think the quoted post is great because it really identifies why so many forum debates go in circles. Its okay for Bioware to cater to different groups of people who want totally different things from their content (cue the, probably valid, complaints from pvp'ers wondering when their preferred content will be catered to).