Ive been here since the beginning. Beta tested two or 3 builds. Early access. Launch day... the whole nine. And Bots have been a problem since the beginning. Its a vicious cycle. The whales buy cartel packs and sell the items at stupid high prices. The whales can sell them at stupid high prices because the Bots are flooding the economy with credits. This causes inflation The Normal players have barely been able to keep up with the inflation by running these Heroics. With this Nerf it really only hurts the Normal subbed player because it doesnt stop the bots from flooding the economy with creds so it wont bring prices down. Most non subbed players wont be affected since they have a credit cap any way. Normal subbed players will now just farm companion gifts or turn to regular planetary dailies since the dailies now pay almost double what the Heroics do. Which will lead to more complaints since most of the dailies are open world and the competition for completing them will increase. Ya, I think this is a bad move by Bioware. Edit- Im calling it now... Incoming nerf to companion gifts

I rarely post much any more, but Im curious about this change. I dont see the point. I did some looking around today and found that the Weekly Heroics are paying out about 7300 creds, but the normal planet Dailies are paying out about 12300. Thats 5k more for dailies. Almost double the pay out and easier. Since Im maxed on my Alliance rep, I dont see any reason to really do the Heroics any more since I was just using them for credits any way. Now that the normal dailies are paying out almost double what the Weekly Heroics are, then I will just do the Dailies instead. Not sure what they hoped to accomplish.

Sorry for not reading this entire thread. I rarely come to these forums any more. But I do like the level sync. I always thought that it was odd that in MMO's once a character gets around 10 levels beyond an areas (planet in SWTORs case), then that player becomes God-Like in that area. Able to pretty much one shot anything and almost everything. Which in my mind kind of diminishes the Lore in that area when the biggest baddest threat can be one shotted. I find it especially so in the SWTOR setting since nobody in Lore was ever invincible or God-Like. Sure they were powerful but not immortal. Jango Fett wouldnt be able to land on Hutta and casually conquer the entire planet with a single hold out blaster. Level sync helps make the game more realistic in my opinion, plus it allows people of all levels to play together, plus the loot and rewards from even the lowest planet (area) are level appropriate for the players actual level all the while still not crippling the players. I like it. I think it makes the game more enjoyable and has a lot of benefits. Just my 2 creds

That would be tragic. Im only to 15 on all of them and Im already tired of that grind.

Apologies but Im not understanding the point you are trying to make. You say to wait and see if the Pierce Alert Mission gates anything. But the Pierce Alert Mission as it stands right now, in game, is a Gate in itself. If that Pierce Alert Mission is not completed, then any future Alert Missions in that line can not be accessed. So Im not understanding why you're wanting people to wait and see if actually does Gate any future content (whatever that future content may entail), when it does that right now. Now whether or not the Pierce Alert Mission is a gate to future PvP Alert missions is any ones guess. Nobody knows and BW isn't telling.

They already said that they are gated. Eric said himself that they are looked at like a chain in which one alert has to be completed before another one can open. Whether or not we choose to recruit the companion is up to us. But we still have to complete the alert mission requirements before the next alert mission for the next companion (or whatever the future alerts may entail) can be unlocked. Although to be fair, he did say that they were not sure if future companions will have PvP requirements or not

Its a no win scenario. I don't want to PvP. But if I don't, then I could very well be locked from future content. If I decide to go ahead and tough out those 20 matches, I am met with despise from the in game PvPers. They don't want me there, and I don't even want to be there. If I come on to the forums and ask for some kind of compromise, then the PvPers here on the forums are insulting me telling me to suck it up. Which is ironically the opposite of what the PvPers in game are telling me. No matter which way I go with this I lose, and makes for a very un-fun experience. Which is kind of sad because I thought this game was supposed to be for fun and recreation. Edit- And the scary part is that these companions probably wont be the last ones that they put behind a PvP gate. I toughed out this one in the hopes that they don't do it again, but I suspect that they will in an effort to liven up the PvP environment.

But its not just a 'Skin' that's gated. Any achievements associated with that 'Skin' are also Gated, along with any future story aspects that would be in that story line are also gated. So its not just the Skin. Its everything that can be blocked after that too.

I no longer Pug because of people like that. And its not always because of "Spacebar". The Pug environment is very toxic here in SWTOR and generally unfriendly imo, so Ive decided to simply avoid them. As someone earlier said: I am easily replaced. Which is very true. Im just one insignificant person that wont be missed. However for me, I feel like Ive saved myself a lot of frustration and headache. To each their own I guess.

Meh.. Ive noticed the Shills have been out in force lately. Any kind of opinion that is not pro Bioware is being attacked heavily with insults and rudeness in an effort to belittle or somehow trivialize anything that would be considered negative feedback. I don't feel that it is really needed in this thread though. This thread is just opinion and preference. No matter which way people go with it, it doesn't have any impact on the game. I mean, its not like anyone is calling for changes or bad mouthing BW in this thread. But I guess they have a job to do, so whatever

As far as story goes for me, I had grown attached to my original companions. Ive had them since I was a Beta tester. I had done all their conversations and all of their little missions and maxed out all of their affection and spent an insane amount of time gearing them up. So for me its not really about their influence, or crafting, or any of that. I just kind of miss them. What can I say? Im a nerd. And I know that I could use the terminal to get certain companions back, but my terminal don't seem to work, and even if it did, Im not sure I would use it because I would be afraid that I might mess up the story later on. I know this is going to sound very nerdy of me, but whenever I finally do find my original crew in the story again, and if they talk to my character like some nobody from around the corner after all that time I spent with them, and on them... I would be kind of heart broken.

Its funny because I was just leveling my Scoundrel alt through SoR today, and was thinking that I probably wouldn't take any more of my characters through KoTFE. The Alliance grind would be brutal with multiple characters, and plus the fact that I lose all of my companions that I would have to unlock later sometime in the story doesn't sound very fun. Especially since its looking like they will all be gated. Im already kind of regretting taking my main character (BH) through KoTFE. Im not sure KoTFE is really worth it. At least not as far as companions go anyway.

I agree with the OP. I personally hate PvP in this game so I avoid it. Making PvP a requirement for certain companions when I will only use them in PvE anyway seems kind of rough. Especially for 20 gloriously painful matches. I don't want to be there, and the PvPers don't want me there, so please reduce the number of required matches. Its a win win for everyone. Or at very least, don't make them gated so I can choose to bypass the PvP required companions and not be locked out of future companions. Pretty please?

Has anyone tested these buffs? Because they don't seem very different from yesterday. Maybe its just me though

That's pretty good. Thanks for the update and thanks for proving me wrong. I didn't think you guys were going to do anything and if you did, it wouldn't be until after the holidays. So thanks. But I STILL say the problem with KoTFE is the lack of non heroic dailies that KoTFE has. Had the expansion came like previous expansions with lots of non heroic dailies and a few Heroics scattered in there, most of the casual players wouldn't mind have less powerful companions. But as it stands right now, the Alliance grind is almost entirely Heroics. There is no avenue for the casual solo types to take unless you make Heroic 2's very solo/casual friendly. Im afraid that unlike previous expansions, the strength of companions are now going to be measured by how well they perform in Heroic 2's solo, which will make them very strong in non-heroic encounters. Totally backwards compared to the game pre-KoTFE.