Alternatively, you could look at it as an opportunity to run operations with players who couldn't figure out how to gear properly in this game (which is the dead nuts simplest of any MMO I've played to date) and who therefore probably do not have any clue about how to play their characters solo, let alone in a group setting in which they must do exactly the right thing over the course of a 5+ minute fight or the group wipes over and over and over and over again.

 

Sounds...fun?

- I couldnt help noticing that you are playing ranked in non-auged PvE gear?

- Yeah I just dinged 55 and just wanted to get gear as fast as possible. Still learning my class too.

That's a convo I wish I never had.

Alternatively, you could look at it as an opportunity to run operations with players who couldn't figure out how to gear properly in this game (which is the dead nuts simplest of any MMO I've played to date) and who therefore probably do not have any clue about how to play their characters solo, let alone in a group setting in which they must do exactly the right thing over the course of a 5+ minute fight or the group wipes over and over and over and over again.

 

Sounds...fun?

You could also look at it as an opportunity for a player thats new to the end game aspect to learn the process of running an OP. Learning the ins and outs and what to do and not to do. I think its great that they are going to give the average player an opportunity to learn how OPs work and have a better than average knowledge of them before moving on to HM and NiM. I myself, who not having done any OPs, went to the forums to get some insight on what was expected from me and what I could expect in an OP. I can tell you the first thing I learned was, having zero knowledge of how the OP worked was not tolerated at all by anyone, and you would more than likely get berated and then booted from the group. That can be kind of intimidating to a new end game player and discourage them from even trying to learn OPs. People always forget they were new at one point just like everyone else.

Alternatively, you could look at it as an opportunity to run operations with players who couldn't figure out how to gear properly in this game (which is the dead nuts simplest of any MMO I've played to date) and who therefore probably do not have any clue about how to play their characters solo, let alone in a group setting in which they must do exactly the right thing over the course of a 5+ minute fight or the group wipes over and over and over and over again.

 

Sounds...fun?

I wish I could like posts here, but since I can't, QFT.

IMO, the reasons most people stopped running operations via GF is 1) the rewards for clearing the whole OP were less than you got from a 16m doing just the weekly, and 2) you had almost no control over who you ended up grouped with. Tanks in DPS spec without shields, Maras that stacked cunning, and that guy that just couldn't resist going to help kill red team in S&V made GF runs far less attractive than doing a LFG in general chat.

The first is easily fixed, but #2 isn't really addressed with bolster. If you want a successful run, you are still going to be better off forming/joining a group from general chat, and just using the GF for the extra comms, and maybe to provide you with replacements once the inevitable "wife aggro" or "guild raid" comes up. Coincidentally that is rarely an issue before the weekly is done..

Although for pure entertainment purposes, a full GF group might be better.

See: WoW Raid Finder for answer (hint: trolls and bads galore, mechanics made stupid simple, plus a stacking 5% buff to damage and healing for every failed attempt such that players say things like 'hey guys, if we keep wiping, we just might have this').

Now there's a strat. Take off all your gear, wipe on the first fight a dozen times, put your gear on, own the place.

You could also look at it as an opportunity for a player thats new to the end game aspect to learn the process of running an OP. Learning the ins and outs and what to do and not to do. I think its great that they are going to give the average player an opportunity to learn how OPs work and have a better than average knowledge of them before moving on to HM and NiM. I myself, who not having done any OPs, went to the forums to get some insight on what was expected from me and what I could expect in an OP. I can tell you the first thing I learned was, having zero knowledge of how the OP worked was not tolerated at all by anyone, and you would more than likely get berated and then booted from the group. That can be kind of intimidating to a new end game player and discourage them from even trying to learn OPs. People always forget they were new at one point just like everyone else.

You must be new to MMO's. They're so cute when they're new!

The average player already had the opportunity to get into ops. Like I said, the path to them is far easier in this game than in any MMO I've ever played. It's easy to learn your class. Gearing is crazy simple. If you can do a basic Internet search, you can read how to play your class well enough to be very successful in the entry mode ops.

That is to say, everyone who's average is already doing ops.

It's the dredges that can't be troubled to care or try or even think that are left. Those will be the players you get in Group Finder ops once this change goes in.

Have fun with them.

See: WoW Raid Finder for answer (hint: trolls and bads galore, mechanics made stupid simple, plus a stacking 5% buff to damage and healing for every failed attempt such that players say things like 'hey guys, if we keep wiping, we just might have this').

Really!!??? Is this for real? LMAO.

You could also look at it as an opportunity for a player thats new to the end game aspect to learn the process of running an OP. Learning the ins and outs and what to do and not to do. I think its great that they are going to give the average player an opportunity to learn how OPs work and have a better than average knowledge of them before moving on to HM and NiM. I myself, who not having done any OPs, went to the forums to get some insight on what was expected from me and what I could expect in an OP. I can tell you the first thing I learned was, having zero knowledge of how the OP worked was not tolerated at all by anyone, and you would more than likely get berated and then booted from the group. That can be kind of intimidating to a new end game player and discourage them from even trying to learn OPs. People always forget they were new at one point just like everyone else.

What will happen now is that people will show up even more unprepared because they will think that bolster will do the work for them, just like they do in PvP.

Additionally, the only ones who ever should be in need of bolster are those who are on their first characters. Are those really the people that should be skipping content, such as a few flashpoints, and jump straight to raids? Everyone els will have enough elite comms on alts to gear their characters.

speak for yourself, i have been a subscriber since prelaunch and frankly i am looking forward to the content they are presenting. not everyone is a lootwhore out for nothing new lewts d00d. I have probably spent more money on the game than you have as well via subs, CE, CM etc...

 

I do agree that the game needs newer and faster content, but dont assume everyone is like you

i agree with everything Kurin said in his/her post..as for what you i don't agree with you..just because you spend lots of money on the cartel market for fluff stuff, u have a right to be happy with this lackluster content roadmap/upate because it sounds to me... like you get happy with anything they tell us...the rest of us unlike you have a right to be upset with this underwhelming roadmap/update of whats to come over the summer...they release 2.8 semi patch notes and expect people to be happy about it just because they release it as a roadmap/update.lol get real dude..2.8 looks like its going to be straight garbage for an update that was suppose to be the biggest update of the year so far...what did we get in place of them removing GSH a new slot machine event..Really.wow......nim dp is the only thing thats worth a damn in that udate..and even that is old content from last year with higher difficulty setting..nothing new in that update has gotten Marjory of people on this thread excited included me...

I was waiting for this question to pop up as I figured someone would catch the Chevin event missing from the list. As it stands right now, the Chevin event was a one time event and will not be returning.

I applaud the BW team for making some events unique. Please continue to do this.

I can tell you the first thing I learned was, having zero knowledge of how the OP worked was not tolerated at all by anyone, and you would more than likely get berated and then booted from the group.

I'm sorry you had bad experiences. Truly I am. When I organized SM ops, the only thing I asked was that you tell me ahead of time that you don't know the mechanics. And that you be able to follow an instruction as simple as "wait here with everyone else, go grab a coffee, whatever, but do not go past this door until my guildie with the star above their head moves." Or alternatively, "follow bolt, hit what he hits".

Having said that, if you were willing to join our voice chat to listen to instructions (you didn't have to speak, just be able to hear us), you would have already elevated yourself above 70% of the PuGs on the server. If you headed over to Dulfy.net to read the operations guide ahead of time to get an idea of the SM mechanics, you were above 90%.

Nar Shaddaa Casino. For the first time, players are invited to the casinos on Nar Shaddaa to try their luck on the slot machines. Credits can be used to purchase tokens, which in turn can be used on slot machines. Lucky winners will receive certificates that can be traded in for unique rewards that will only be distributed during the Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event. This event will run from June 10th to August 19th.

How can you possibly add Casino support without adding Pazaak?!? You can no longer claim that you wish to avoid the Gambling ESRB tag. You can't claim it's a "tech limitation" even if that's true, since every time you've said that in the past it's really just been shown to be a lie. You can't say it ain't Star Wars, since it's more Star Wars than slot machines are...

Y U NO!?

why the funky color text, you on the payroll?

I have used this color text since the start of the forums and before on other things. It's easy to read, it's not too bright and it's a nice color.

How can you possibly add Casino support without adding Pazaak?!? You can no longer claim that you wish to avoid the Gambling ESRB tag. You can't claim it's a "tech limitation" even if that's true, since every time you've said that in the past it's really just been shown to be a lie. You can't say it ain't Star Wars, since it's more Star Wars than slot machines are...

 

Y U NO!?

It's actually a lot more involved than adding the card game. There's lots of numbers to do with everything and algorithms to get it right so it feels fluid and dynamic.

Sounds a lot like PvP....so welcome to that world.

 

- I couldnt help noticing that you are playing ranked in non-auged PvE gear?

- Yeah I just dinged 55 and just wanted to get gear as fast as possible. Still learning my class too.

 

That's a convo I wish I never had.

I LOLed. I played way too many solo ranked games yesterday with players who queued DPS and did less than 10k damage each round . Needless to say I lost every time one of these folks was on my side (why couldn't the match scheduling put one empty suit of armor on each side!!?)

How can you possibly add Casino support without adding Pazaak?!? You can no longer claim that you wish to avoid the Gambling ESRB tag. You can't claim it's a "tech limitation" even if that's true, since every time you've said that in the past it's really just been shown to be a lie. You can't say it ain't Star Wars, since it's more Star Wars than slot machines are...

 

Y U NO!?

I concur, What he said!

Welp. Once again I entered the thread, read the Bioware post, and smiled, before declaring it to be, in my mind "Cool."

...Then read the community comments and immediately sighed as my moment of happiness was wiped out by everybody telling Bioware how much they suck. Parts of this forum are REALLY depressing, yo.

Anyway... The Casino event has me VERY intrigued!

I don't like the idea of double warzone comms, its just making it easier for those with not a lot of skill to get geared.

It really shouldn't matter how fast they get the gear or not. If two people are equally geared, but the other sucks, the other will win. Not seeing the problem aside making a window of opportunity to close the gap between those who have grinded for months on a single character and win their duels on the basis of gear and those who just began who know their rotations but get trounced because they gear have is ****.

I don't like the idea of double warzone comms, its just making it easier for those with not a lot of skill to get geared.

Just a question, but if you are skilled and geared, and the unskilled become geared, don't you still win, or are you one of 'those' PVP players who say they win through skill but mean through gear?

I'm sure someone has already pointed this out but on certain fights 16 man isn't all that more forgiving than 8 man. The ones where we have to spread out come to mind.

maybe but in general it's true, as it is DP and DF aren't on the GF so assuming it's just TFB and S&V yeah 16 man is pretty forgiving

Here's the thing, I have been a consistent supporter of SWTOR's content cadence. I also completely agree with what others have said that the right approach for BW/EA to take is to make sure that they are releasing different types of content to cater to different segments of their player-base. For that reason I don't particularly mind when an update doesn't have Content Type [A] because it is focusing on Content Type and Content Type [C] instead.

Heck, I even happen to think that the Casino Event, in-and-of itself, sounds kinda cool.

But, even taking all that into account, this patch still seems incredibly light on content. One new Op difficulty level and one new Event just isn't enough volume of content, even setting aside the issue of how they've been distributing their content among the different "constituencies" of players. And while bringing back the Gree and (presumably) the Rak Events are obviously intended to off-set that a bit, they're no substitute for genuine new content.

I am fully on-board with the decision to move back the Strongholds content in order to give it the release they feel it deserves - and I accept that, as a result, this patch is of course going to be lighter on content than originally intended, but this is too light. Moving Strongholds and stripping out the new Starfighter class from the same update was just too much.

If the Casino event is, in fact, more complex and engaging than the description makes it sound, then maybe I can see it being enough to carry a content update (alongside the NiM DP), but it really doesn't come across that way right now.

I'm not jumping ship, I'm not saying SWTOR is in "maintenance mode" or is "dead", I'm just saying this particular patch is looking really disappointing right now, and that's the first time I have been able to say that about an update for this game in a long time.

Don't worry Collinc They will keep giving us information about stuff as time goes on. It always works out in the end. I can understand you though.

I understand. I just want something to look forward to. Thank you.

Just curious. What is it that you are expecting exactly?

A roadmap? not a update haha.