As a returning player myself, I completely agree with you. I used to enjoy (unranked) PvP, but now the win requirement just sucks the fun completely out of it. Before the change, getting a bad match-up and end up losing because of it, you could just "take it on the chin" and move on (or even have some fun) as you were still getting some progress. Now with the "do or die", there truely isn't any incentive to play PvP, unless you're running a premade and focusing only on winning, rather than being able to enjoy some random shenanigans with a random group of people online. I really don't get why unranked PvP has to be so "serious business", rather than a place to have fun and learn how to PvP? Do Bioware think this will somehow get people more engaged to PvP and/or more competitive, by making it less fun and punishing mistakes, rather than rewarding participation and having fun? Sure, for that small minority of very skilled players, for whom playing with anyone of less skill (on their own team) is painful, it's probably an awesome change. For those who aren't very skilled or play for other reasons than to become a PvP-legend, I really don't see any appeal in this change.

Might I suggest a bit of reading for your pleasure? Perhaps with a bit of critical thinking and reflection over the subject? http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/10/03/ask-massively-dancing-on-wildstars-grave/?cps=gravity Quote from the article: "Some players seem to think that when an MMO with the "wrong" design (or business model or target audience) capsizes, the industry will think to itself, "Well, we won't be making that type of MMO again!" What they're really thinking is, "Well, we won't be making an MMO again period." They aren't always looking at themepark vs. sandbox or free-to-play vs. subscription or raiding vs. roleplaying or the details of why a genre sometimes seems to have been circling the damn drain since 2004" In short: - (Justified) critique based on factually driven logics = Win for MMO gamers & the industry - Usual alarmist "Chicken Little: the sky is falling" retoric = Not really helping anything or anyone

I heard that "Of Sound and Fury" is the number one provider of Bantha convoys on the Rep fleet, is that true? (Yep, shameless bump)

The actual animation displayed has no effect what you can, and can not do. Regardless of whether the animation is shown or not, activating any ability at the start of a GCD will activate the ability. What you're experiencing is merely the graphical representation and not the actual "calculation" of what is happening in the encounter. Having a slow GPU/CPU could cause you to see a delay in the graphics, but it doesn't affect what's actually going on, unless your connection is lagging aswell.

Some people do like to arrange the design and look of their strongholds as well as their character. And again, going by the succes of the cartel market, this probably isn't an insignificant amount of the playing population. Just becaurse it isn't group content (in the traditional sense) doesn't mean that it isn't content. What people do in the game, as meaningful things to do for -them-, IS content, whether you like the specific content or not. And who gets to decide what good or bad content is then? If people wants to turn themselves into little ponies and would happily pay Bioware to do that, how would that ever be "not good content" then? Housing is a popular feature in several MMOs on the market currently, so Biowares decision to add it here aswell is simply a logical one. Firstly: What exactly are you basing the premise of Bioware losing subscribers on? Losing subscribers would be a sad thing indeed, no arguements there, but where's the evidence that they are losing them? Secondly: You claim Bioware has not put allot of money back into development. What do you base that arguement on? Simply that you don't like the content they have released with Strongholds or what? Creating entirely new features in the game, that relies on alternative mechanics, such as space-pvp and stronghold-editor, isn't something you just do in an afternoons worth of programming. It's something that requires allot of man-hours and a significant investment into the product, even on relatively similar additions to the standard game mechanics, even more so on mechanics that require, more or less, complete reworkings of the game mechanics available. A small budget? And ofc, you have something to back up this claim, such as a comparative analysis of the content-releases and budgets commonly used in the MMO-industry or anything to that effect? Or are you simply grasping at straws based on a assumption that Bioware isn't using the money they make to further develop the game while still maintaining costs and wages, just like any business would do to survive a competitive market? The MMO-industry is a highly competitive market with allot of "fickle" customers (if you base it on forum opinions atleast) so withholding investments would be a poor idea for any developer, if they wish to retain their customers. But where is the evidence that Bioware, more than any other company, is not investing their profits into further developing the game. They are continuing to implement new features and content in the game at a very competitive rate with the other MMOs, so what exactly do you base this opinion, that Bioware isn't investing in the game, on?

If you can't find anything more to do with housing than simply stack in chairs and find no reason to attempt to find more things to do than that, then that's really just your own fault. There is plenty of things to with this new content and simply becaurse you don't like to do those things, doesn't make it objectively "unplayable" by any means. Loads of people find plenty of enjoyable gameplay in decorating their stronghold and characters, as mirrored in the massive success of the Cartel Market, which predominately sells cosmetic items. As for indications of how the game is going, it is true we have no directly varifyable data to go by, but we have plenty af indirect data that clearly shows that SWToR is by no means in bad shape financially. The "metric ton of content" is one such unambigously clear indication of the game doing very well indeed, as all businesses as to keep some parity between income and outcome. And creating so many different new features in the game over such a short period of time that Bioware has, will entail a massive expenditure in terms of development cost, meaning that they're most likely also recieving loads on income to finance those cost. Indeed some independant reports seems to suggest that SWToR is even the fourth highest grossing MMO on the market currently, only surpassed by WoW, plus Aion and Everquest(due to extreme popularity in Asia). And while even these reports also contains a fair amount of "guess-work", it's still a more reliable source to go by, than the usual forumposter trying to argue against a mountain of evidence to the contrary, that SWToR is "content-starved". If you don't like the content, then that is entirely fair and something you're entitled to feel, by all means. But there really isn't a need(or purpose) to try and "validate" such feelings with, more or less subtle, "doomsday" narratives of the game failling or your feelings mirroring the majority of players or anything to that effect. Simply stating "why" -you- don't like it is valid and constructive feedback in of itself. Trying to paint a ghastly picture of a "sinking ship" to justify your desire to leave doesn't really add anything worthwhile to a debate in general.

It isn't new content? GSF, new raid tier, new dailies, new flashpoints, Strongholds, Conquest, an abundance of new packs and gear(quite allot reskinned, but still a fair amount of new models) and teasers of the story for the upcomming expansion, just to mention some of the new content having been released over the last year. Compared to what, exactly, isn't this at the very least a competitive amount of content being released by this MMO compared to the others on the market?

Nothing wrong with a rant every now and then, to let off some steam. But did you really have to "necro" such an old thread to do it, rather than simply start your own? Your math is a bit off though. Dread fortress and Palace was released with patch 2.4, which came out october 2013 = 11 months ago (Hint: Americans put the month first, not the date, when writing in the xx/xx/xx date format (Unlike the european format)) Also I'm also rather puzzled as how people can continue this trend of "Bioware has not released the content I want, so they havn't released any content at all!" completely disregarding all the content they have actually released, simply becaurse they don't like it. As well as not providing any sort of coherent argument that SWToR hasn't been releasing content at a competitive rate with other MMOs. But anyway, ranting is ranting, hope you got to let off some steam...

I imply nothing of this sort, so stop putting words in my mouth. There is a whole lot of grey between "not exploiting" and being "treacherous bigots" as you claim me to assume, so please stop trying to debunk my argument with such blatant strawman fallacies I do state however that the moral aspects of their current business model is something that we should be discussing, as it leaves plenty of room for Bioware to exploit us by neither exposing the actual odds or give us the garantee of having proces subjected to third party review. Just like the various other industries offering up "chance-based" gambling is subjected to, by law, in the exact effort to prevent the consumer unknowingly being exploited. An exploitation that by no means needs to involve Bioware actually lying to us at any point in the proces, but can be done by simply offering unreasonable terms of sale by obscuring the actual saleproces and basic product we're buying. Such as offering chance-based packs without providing the actual odds for the content, but instead obscuring it behind ambigous terminology. In the current model Bioware is left to freely turn the odds of any item appearing in packs up or down, as they please, without us as consumers being able to factor in such changes, or even the base chance, in our conscious decision of whether or not the purchase is worth it. By making these odds apperant, the consumer will have a chance to make a honest decision rather than simply "go by faith". As for Bioware also upholding these odds: Of course they will. They're a big name in the gaming industry with a global audience. Any attempt to post false odds would quickly be discerned and the backlash of doing so would bury the company in short order

Nothing would ever change people complaining about various things. As a CS(from WoW I believe) put it: "You could give people a magical hat that allowed them to play the game exactly the way they want to, and stil they'd complain about the colour of the hat". But it doesn't change the fact there is much more at stake here, than simply people "not understanding math", as the "go-to" explanation seems to be for people on these forums. RNG isn't just a neutral mechanic based on some objective mathmatical basis, it is something that has a huge potential for exploitation by manipulations of the consumer, especially when the consumer is left with nothing other than faith in a companys business ethics as a mean of ascertaining the basic product purchased. The whole issue which I'm trying to point out, is that we don't even have a chance of making a conscious, empirically-driven descision even if we have a doctorate in statiscal-mathmatics, as the chances are obscured by the lack of any transparency in the actual product. We can't discern whether buying cartel packs for 50 dollars will yield us any worthwhile chance of getting the desired products, leaving us simply to trust that Bioware is offering us a fair chance, rather than actually being able to make an informed decision ourselves. So the whole "understand math" argument, which seems to be the "go-to" argument for allot of people when any debate of the fairness of this model is presented, is really rather misleading. Bioware has with the Cartel packs created a business model that leaves wide room for outright exploitation of the consumers, most of which could be negated by something as simple as creating transparency of the actual odds. That way we can all simply decide for ourselves if the odds are reasonable enough, aswell as see it clearly when Bioware decides to alter the odds of various items. In the current model we have nothing but faith in Bioware and ambigous terms to base our decision on, and no way of ascertaining whether or not they're actually delivering the product on fair grounds.

Actually I think Heatwave has a point, when he/she tries to argue that there's also a moral aspect to Bioware current business model for the Cartel Market. Think of it this way: In various Casinos and other gambling enterprises such as matchmaking companies offering odds on various sporting events, there is transparency in which odds we're offered when we choose to gamble our money in hope of a return profit. We know the odds of winning, or will at the very least have the assurance that the odds of winning is regulated by state-law in terms of slot-machines and the like. Even if the proverb "the house always wins in the end" is absolutely true, we can go into a casino/matchmaker/lottery and gamble knowing that the games aren't "rigged" and we're offered a fair chance to actually win, so we can make an informed conscious decision of whether or not we want to risk it(for the legal companies atleast) In the Cartel market we're subjected to the exact same mechanism. Here, however, there's neither transparency nor any third-party regulation of "drop-chances" of the items in various packs. We don't know the odds of winning, nor have any way to be sure that the odds of winning are "worth it" as a conscious choice prior to buying. We instead have to rely solely on a belief that Bioware offers a "fair" chance for us to get the more rare items in said packs. And while I firmly believe that Bioware wants to act in the interest of their consumers and offer fair odds, this will be solely down to a belief, as I have no way or chance of verifying that the proces is not "rigged". Enter the moral aspect of Biowares business model. Bioware can easily and without the consumers knowledge "rig" the drop chances in packs, falsely inflating content value of unique items and such, and we, as consumers, are entirely reliant on them displaying a fair game towards their consumers. And while I personally believe that Bioware would want to remain a "consumer-friendly" cooperation, one cannot deny that the gaming industry(as a whole) as been displaying some "morally-borderlining" behavior over the last couple of years (with increasing DLC-content, exclusivity deals and so on) that would make taking such desire for being "consumer-friendly" at face-value seem like a rather naivé disposition. So my suggestion would be as simple as this: Bioware should post a list of the exact dropchance of each item in the various packs, so that we as consumers have a fair chance of deciding whether or not we think the gamble is worth it. Instead of hiding the RNG behind ambigeous terminology such as "rare" and "super-rare", the consumer will actually have a honest chance of deciding if they want to spend their money on the product you offer. And you'll negate any suspicion of the proces being "rigged" to provide a false "content-value" inflation, by simply gating the content behind overly slim chances of acquiring desireable items in the pack, as well as actually provide a bit of "good-will" back to the gaming industry as a "morally-stoic" industry rather than just a greedy industry trying to exploit gamers.

Isn't it? Isn't Bolster, and now conquest points, indeed very good excuses for not having to put loads of effort into understanding the pvp-mechanics before you even join? (and then hopefully learn by trial and error) That, simply put, the entry-level requirements for PvP'ing, just as it is for PvE-content, is set at the lowest denominator allowing people to try it out without having a "masters-degree" in the theorycrafting beforehand? (A.k.a. the exact reverse of the entry-level requirements of LoL, as a hardcore experience, where you WILL be kicked if you do not "play as a pro" straight off.) You can still be useful to your team and provide a good effort, even if your gear is *****e, because of the design-direction this game has taken. If you are looking for "quality, not quantity" then why not just limit your PvP'ing to top-end team ranked PvP, where you will probably be far more challenged, than the random warzones with no-entry level requirements, which is catered to the casual player with bolster and conquest points? Again, with a game catering to casuals with its core mechanics, complaining about having to play with the unskilled casual players at the entry-level pvp-content seems slightly illogical to me. How is this influx of new players anything bad, when its a prime source for more "pops" meaning quicker done dailies and some hillarious moments of "pure-ownage" of these noobs? So what if it means you'll lose a few more wz's because of people not understanding tactics or how bolster works? Who truely cares about whether you win or lose in these warzones, when they're ultimately worth nothing more than grinding coms for any dedicated PvP'er? Furthermore Warzone victories are usually based on a collective effort of the team, meaning that any loss isn't a negative reflection of your personal skill, unless you think yourself a "godly skilled" PvP'er that "turns the tide" of a warzone match by yourself. You could simply brush off any defeat as you being on a team with less-skilled players and be "none-the-sadder" for the experience (meant as a general remark to people complaining about "noobs" in pvp, not nescesarily you MitchPB (just to clarify))

Then why don't you go elsewhere, where you would indeed find a generally high level of PvP-competence in the community? (And no, this is not a "please leave the game" sort of response, I'm simply honestly curious) Why stay in a game that so obviously caters to casuals players, if it annoys you so much that some people joining PvP are "pathetically unskilled" as you put it? Why not go to WoW or LoL, where your own merits as a PvP'er would be tested much more than it would ever do here?

And everybody who decides to give PvP a chance because there's a new incentive to doing it, will, without variation, conform to those standards of simply afk'ing and trolling then? Or perhaps, those people are a very small minority, with the majority of players being simply unskilled (as we all were a one point or another) and therefore playing poorly? As for rude and insulting players, people who don't take advice, etc., that's supposed to be something new? Seems to me that this is more a stable of PvP and MMO-gaming in general, that something that has just appeared with this new incentive for people to PvP. The amount of people using ops-chat in pvp to complain about losing a match because of other people, using various "colorful" terms, doesn't really seem to have risen to any significant degree in my experience. If that is your experience, and not just because its easier to remember that one truely obnoxious a..hole, then I feel sorry for you, but I'd still doubt there's any significant correlation or causation between Bioware implementing new incentives to PvP and such behavior. So that it is only the most puritanical "PvP'ers" that can and would want to PvP? However great that might sound, in theory, that is actually somewhat that which Bioware has implemented up until this point. The result of which has been a slow, but steady, decline of the PvP-part of this game, which Bioware probably doesn't think is a great thing for their game. Probably why they implemented bolster aswell. To turn the issue a bit "upside down", I think the real question might actually be: Why would any serious/dedicated/puritanical etc. PvP'er ever chose SWToR as their game, when there are so many other MMOs out there that offers a truely hardcore PvP-experience, with this "no catering to casuals" attitude, that they apperantly seek? League of Legends or Arena in any of the top-tier battlegroups in WoW would be much better options for such players, just as any who wanted to be truely competitive about PvE would probably choose WoW or Wildstar over SWTOR. Far more competition and much less "catering to casuals", compared to a game(swtor) that time and time again shown themselves to be more concerned with delivering a good experience for casual players. And I'm not trying to troll people or be mean to them here, but don't you ever stop to wonder if you're simply "barking up the wrong tree" trying to implement a hardcore PvP(or PvE for that matter) experience and dynamic, in a game that has many times over shown to try and fill one of the casual-niches of the MMO-market? Developers has to choose which direction to take a game in, and it does seem to me that Bioware has time and time again shown themselves to focus on a direction that's probably more aptly coined "casual cosplay" than anything else, with the big focus on the Cartel market equipment over all else. A niché where, even though there are some branching out into more "hardcore'ish" PvP and PvE experiences, is predominantly focused on the casual players needs and wants. The "Bolster" mechanic would indeed be a good indication of this, as any developer who'd even suggest such a thing in LoL, would most likely be promptly fired, simply because anything that even might seem to cater to a casual playstyle there, would be seen as offensive.

It's a sound bit of advice. And I agree that people responding in the manner you described it, indeed does take a toll of enjoyment out of one. As a raidleader of many years and in different MMOs I'm definately not inexperienced when it comes to people reacting poorly to even sound advice, so I do sympatise with your experience on that point. What I've found helpful in that regard is simply to remember that we're often biased towards remembering the a..holes poor manners, rather than the ordinary peoples behaviors (whether we're talking PvE or PvP content). So our feelings of a game and/or part of a game having grown a worse social experience, can usually be attributed to us remembering the one a..hole amongst a crowd of decent people trying to have fun. And I also agree that carrying a second gearset is not difficult. I firmly believe the majority of players new to PvP'ing will probably realise this eventually, as so many people have before them. I just don't think it's realistic to expect people to learn this "overnight" or learn exactly how bolster works in regards to what gear is good to use, if you do not have a full pvp-set already. People will need time (and motivation) to learn these things. So in short (and unjokingly): Have patience and try to help these new people (and ignore the a...holes). More people playing will hopefully eventually lead to more competition, even in ranked, as these people learns to become good at pvp'ing