I too just bought a two month subscription so I could return to the game specifically for this expansion. So now I'm expected to spend those two months playing the same version of the game that made me quit in the first place? They really need to do something as a gesture of good will. Maybe not a refund but at least some sort of special event like bonus xp or something.

They're about as "evil" as any corporation whose bottom line is more important than the well being of their consumer base. The draconian business practice of pretending lockboxes aren't gambling is a prime example. You say they're catering to the majority but I would love to meet the so-called majority who prefers gambling away money on lockboxes filled with garbage reskins instead of actual content and stuff to do. EAware has been in the business of milking whales ever since their incompetent management drove away the majority of the game's subscribers, causing the F2P shift to even be necessary in the first place. The game is only still running because there are just enough whales who like playing Star Wars Barbie Doll dress-up to justify EA keeping it in glorified maintenance mode. You are right though that producing content at a respectable cadence now would not necessarily turn things around. This game has already been written off by the majority of people who would ever know of its existence, let alone actually play it. That's why I came back recently to run through some stuff because it's not going to get any better than this before it inevitably shuts down. The only thing saving it is the fact that there's nothing remotely like it in the pipelines to replace it so they're leaving it be for now.

Yes. That's exactly what I imagine when I think of the Monsanto of the gaming industry.

This is why I won't ever do the "Knights of.." expansions on my favorite characters because I like the base game far more than what they've come up with since all this Zakuul crap started.

The list of things Bioware should do to turn things around is far longer than what they're actually capable of doing. This game lost its capability of ever living up to its potential when the corporate suits realized they failed to produce the fabled "WoW killer" they arrogantly expected it to be. Since then, the game has been in a prolonged downward spiral where they've been trying to milk as much money from us as they can while investing as little back into the game as possible. I do believe that the team working on this game at least cares but their hands seem tied by EA's Dark Council. I've recently returned to the game for one last run with it because it very much feels like the end is nigh. I would love to be wrong but the writing currently occupying the wall isn't giving me much hope.

It's not just our damage output and our survivability, or even the recent range nerf. It really boils down to the fact that most of our Utilities are absolute garbage. They need a severe overhaul. When looking at other classes like Juggernaut/Guardian, there simply is no comparison. The Jugg/Guard utilities are vastly superior in every way, regardless of spec. It would be nice if the Van/PT class gets even half the attention that the Jedi/Sith classes get. Our only niche was our ranged capabilities, and that was taken away with nothing given to us as compensation. The buff/nerf cycle of our damage output and survivability will always fluctuate, but we could more easily weather that storm if our utilities weren't so god awful. Please, Bioware. Give us some Utility love.

It's simple. The token would include a new weapon set. All the other gear is the same. And there is still such a thing as base classes and advanced classes whether they call them that still or not. There might be sixteen classes, but there's only eight stories. To get the Legendary Player status, you have to complete all eight stories. You don't have to level all sixteen classes. Changing from a Vanguard to a Commando is not going to affect the Trooper story at all. It's just one step up from changing your discipline. Given how much they've caved on everything else they said they wouldn't, I could see them adding this functionality at some point. It's one more thing they can sell on the Cartel Market.

I think it's high time this be implemented. There is literally no difference in the story between the two advanced classes of any given base class. We should be able to change our character's advanced class without losing our character's progress with the base class. If Bioware makes it the same cartel coin cost as a new character boost, you can't say they won't do it because they're trying to sell the new character boosts. I'm sure plenty of people would sooner buy an advanced class change token than they would buy a new character boost. Why not sell them?

Uh yeah, can this get fixed already?!?

Of course it's a Bioware issue. Nobody is blaming the players for Bioware being short-sighted once again. At least I'm not. I didn't create this thread to bash players and call them "skank tanks" like so many others are doing. I think tanks in dps gear are one of the more glaring balance issues in PvP right now and it needs to be added to the list of balance changes coming with the new warzone and/or ranked season when Bioware finally returns to acknowledging the existence of PvP in this game.

Yeah it's not a new thing and that's why they put modifiers on every tank stance reducing their damage output back when this problem first cropped up. Obviously with 4.0, they're back to hitting too hard again so the modifiers have to be readjusted. It's not rocket science. Tanks are supposed to be tanks and the trade-off to being a tank is reduced damage. A tank's damage shouldn't be as high as their protection just like healer damage shouldn't be as high as their healing. Without trade-offs, there is no balance.

It's also an issue with two of the tank classes. The Powertech can't get away with wearing DPS gear because so much of the spec and abilities are based around shield rating. You actually do more damage in tank gear than dps gear as a Powertech tank. This is how it should be for all the tanks. Their ability procs need to rely on defensive stats. Hell, perhaps even their damage should come from Defense Rating while gaining nothing from stats like Power. Something has to change so tanks only want to wear tank gear. Unfortunately, I don't see an elegant solution happening anytime soon. They're more likely to further adjust the damage modifiers on tank stances while buffing the threat modifiers to compensate in PvE.

The GSF population is too small to divide up now. Yes, the learning curve is steep and it's not going anywhere, but there's things Bioware needs to do to make GSF more accessible and get more people doing it regularly. All four ship types need to be available from the start. You shouldn't have to buy a bomber just to test out flying the damn thing to see if you like it. You shouldn't have to pay for new components because the ones Bioware stuck you with are garbage. And there should be a tutorial that is effective. It also shouldn't cost tens of thousands of ship req to max out a ship. Maxing out a ship should take about as much time as getting a full set of ground PvP gear. Skill will always trump gear so why not make it take less time to max out a ship? The motivation to do GSF should come from a desire to get better at it instead of getting farmed enough so one day you can master a ship and farm the new players just like you were farmed. GSF in its current state is too grindy, too inaccessible, and too unforgiving to new players. And before we get anymore content for GSF, Bioware needs to correct these glaring issues.

I am a PvP'er in full PvP gear. 208 in every slot and fully augmented so stop trying to derail the thread with stupid phrases like "get pvp gear lulz". Jugg and Sin tanks in PvP DPS gear are doing too much damage given the nature of everything else they bring to the table as tanks. Getting to have comparable damage on top of the survivability and control of a tank is just absurd. Tanks have their role in PvP and should continue to do so, but doing just as much damage as a DPS is not their intended role.

It's time for this to stop being a thing. It's getting ridiculous.