EA is probably trying to save money by only testing the features that are explicitly listed in the list of defects and features rather than everything that is affected by the modified code.

OP is providing what is called "customer feedback". In general, it is a Good Thing for companies to pay attention to customer feedback especially when it references competitors and customer expectations. I agree that the cartel market has gone too far. I can accept unique cosmetic items and unlocks for F2P accounts but content that should be accessible from within the game is now exclusively cartel market. I would have loved a long and difficult quest line for the mask of nihilus but getting it is only as difficult as how much cash I want to gamble away on cartel packs. What irks me the most are the "pay to win" items. I watched a naked level 11 marauder tank Black Talon the other day armed with a single Gamorrean Axe which he'd apparently fitted with a +41 endurance crystal. Later on Dromund Kaas I saw people soloing 4 man heroics while dual wielding pink / purple sabers.

Playing under the F2P restrictions wasn't too bad once I got used to the restrictions on chat and having to carefully select what I wanted in my quickbars. What I found most annoying were the limitations on inventory space. Even with sending my companion out to sell the junk every five minutes I still found myself either having to go back to base to find a vendor or leave loot on the ground.

I wish it were as challenging as Space Everquest: Naked corpse runs, XP loss, world boss camping, no map, limited quick travel. Playing MMOs these days... I did some programming for MERC so Smedley is working on a variation of my design.

The law of unintended consequences rules all. Bioware added companions to stay in line with KOTOR and to cater to those who complain about having to find groups when leveling tanks and healers. Unfortunately, the result is that nobody groups except for the heroic missions and most people drop group as soon as it is complete, not even waiting for the turn in. Not a single one of my 50s made it past Social I and I spent months grouping with just about anyone who was interested.

Avoidance tanking is best tanking.

I was on the forums pre launch pushing to ensure that the game wasn't too easy. The response I got from other forum members was that the game was targeted at casuals and that I should stop pretending to be hardcore. Nothing from Bioware. Come launch I start playing and by the time I finished Coruscant I was outleveling the content. Add in a little pvp and a few space missions and I'd started crushing the content by the end of Taris and new missions were green or gray. Literally the only way to move through the class story without outleveling it was to skip missions along the way.

I think you need to take a little time to remember what the game market was like when WoW launched. I'm simply pointing out that WoW launched with fewer features and less content than is expected of a current MMO but didn't run into the same exodus of players because the curve was steeper and they had some breathing room to patch in new content.

WoW didn't launch with a lot of what you listed. No guild levels, no achievements. End game armor was T0 or T1. The T2 armor set wasn't until patch 1.6. The rare mounts in vanilla were *rare*. I don't think I ever got the Deathcharger. I think had TOR make the leveling slope a little steeper and done what WoW did with attunement to end game raids we would have seen players make it past the 3-6 month window. Had they done something like WoW did with AQ and the war effort to open up new operations it would have been a great way to engage players and keep them subbed. My WoW guild worked tirelessly to get those gates open only to be stomped to death repeatedly by what we'd helped release. Good times...

Thanks, that's probably the detail I overlooked. I asked if she could use mail and she said no. I didn't think to distinguish between sending vs receiving.

One of the reasons WoW was able to launch with only a single raid was that leveling to 60 in vanilla wasn't something you did in a month. Once you hit 60 the raids required attunement quests or item drops like the UBRS key. Once you hit MC you got beat down by the first boss for weeks if you weren't wiping on the "trash". For the "casual" player, WoW had BRD which was an absolutely huge dungeon for a five man. A complete run took hours. The problem isn't that there wasn't any content at end game in SWTOR. The problem was that it was too easy to get to and too easy to complete.

Maybe I've missed something but my kid started playing SWTOR when it went F2P and I was looking for a way to give her some unlocks from the cartel market. She doesn't seem to have access to in game mail and trade seems to be similarly restricted. How do I go about purchasing something from the Cartel Market for another account if I have no means of delivering it directly to them? Considering that Xmas is just around the corner, if would be odd if a feature like this was left out.

But but but... you might have to spend coins to play as a furry! Where is your outrage at this obvious attempt to profit from furries?

Is that what happened? I seem to recall the game launching with 8 races, all of which subs have access to. No, it isn't and I think you're blowing things out of proportion. SWTOR isn't like other MMOs where entire starting areas and quests are based on race. If it were a new class and CC restricted you'd have a point but race is just a skin (pardon the pun) in SWTOR. And if it gets to that point EA will have killed the goose that lays the golden egg. At the moment, players get a CC stipend and unfettered access to game content but not all skins. If subs lose that unfettered access to mission / story / operation content there is no good reason to keep subbing and EA loses money. I think we are already seeing how it will go. Subs get access to the new operation. F2P have to buy access to it. Everyone has to buy the new species skin if they want it but it will be priced on a par with other species skins and effectively free for subs with the stipend.

I know. But for new players who want to pad their bank balance and aren't farming those dailies it's an okay way to make some in game cash without going to a gold farmer.