End Game Woes & the LFG Tool without an iLvL ?

I should have known better than to attempt to make a constructive post to try and explain some of our concerns.
Unfortunately, some of the replies received further go to illustrate the types of mentality we're dealing with in-game.

To the trolls, please at least take the time to read and comprehend the initial post before simply replying to a)raise your post count, b)start pointless flame wars.

The original post was made from the perspective of people who have already done their hard work grinding out their base lvl 50 gear, then their Tio gear, then their Columi gear, and also ground out countless hours of dailies to get Rak pieces. Then we also ran EV NM's & KP NM's to get further gear. We've put our time in working our gear sets up before any LFG tool, now all we ask is a tool to enable us to get to the next level without being forced into disbanding and joining larger guilds.

Let me explain iLvL again in more detail for the couple of trolls in particular who seem to be unable to read.

iLvL takes the average level gear of the individual and places them in a group of other people with a similar range of individual iLvL's. Therefore, you would be gearing up together, in the same way as those of us with better gear also had to do. It seems to me so far that the loudest repliers are those that expect better geared people to boost them up. That is fine when we offer to do so, but to expect us to do so as the norm for the lfg tool is simply wrong. We also have the right, as longer term paying customers, to enjoy our game experience. We're not simply here to provide educational and boosting services for newer players!!!

I appreciate the comment that one other poster made about having the same level gear being no guarantee that the player would be of the same playing ability. I entirely agree, and again, if you read my initial post clearly you would see that I did state that. I said that it gives you a more reasonable expectation that they would be closer to your playing ability.

Finally, as an example, if said tool did exist and we were queued as a 4 man party with 2 tanks, 1 dps, & a healer in full Col/Rak/BH gear for a KP HM or an EC SM; surely it is more than reasonable to expect that the remainder of the players found via a tool would also be geared to a similar standard in order to give us a fighting chance of completing hard mode operations. Obviously then we still have communications issues for synchronisation of puzzles/bosses etc etc, but at least half the party wouldn't get wiped by the trash mobs in their Tio gear...

so... let me get this straight... you think it's a good idea that I need to run Taral V 8 times in normal mode to be able to do Maelstrom Prison on HM? (this, y'know, you need to do T5 to be able to do Mealstrom)
how about no?

and if I already ran operations with my guild and geared up like that - without doing hm fp... I should still be locked out of doing it with the group finder? heh. yeah.

how about we just leave the system exactly the way it is? if you don't want to do pug runs, then don't. easy enough.

and if your guild is not big enough to do operations alone find people to do them with regularly.

you find GOOD people with the group finder aswell. in fact I've done a normal mode KP run with some other guild - through the group finder - a while ago. we were done in a little more than 30 minutes and didn't die once except for when that stupid stun droid was bugged out and we had one dps less the entire second boss fight... (and even that wasn't a wipe)

Unequip your gear and write down your stats.
Equip your gear and write down your stats.
Compare them.
Post them here.

Then tell us again how skill based this game is. Because, as far as I know... this is all a big gear check. And, no matter how good one player is... it will NEVER be able to compete with a rakata, being in tionese. (we are, obviously, talking about players, not trained chimps.)

amnie, try reading the last reply I made above your reply. In particular the last section

Many Thanks.

Again, that doesn't mean it can't have options that are also useful for people like myself. You seem to say that only undergeared people should have fun or nobody.

Nowhere did I say running the same thing 8 times, once should be enough to unlock the next stage is what I wrote.

And as for doing it with a guild, yes, you should remain locked. Doing it with a guild is one thing, considering as to how for example EV and KP nightmare can be 7 manned or even 6 manned as guild, you have little need for those other 1 or 2 and can just drag people along. Within PUGs this is simply not always the case.

And sure you find good people within the group finder as well from time to time, however, it can also become a time of hell if people just blindly start joining in for everything. Ultimately leading to a situation in which people will simply stop using the tool to its full extent.

Your aware that stats are more important then Ilvl right? Take for example, a tank with properly modded columi gear has better stats then a tank with Rakata gear bought straight from the vendor because the stat gearing on most gear is crap, however the columi geared tank, despite having better stats, would be excluded from certain things using your Ilvl check.

I understand you predicament I am in full 61 mods and currently us the LFG tool to do 1 HP FP for comms I don't even need, the rest of the time I spend on a training dummy practicing, however I'm sorry to tell you this but if you want to run the content, then recruit people who are like minded and want to do it too rather then relying on Bioware to do all the work for you.

I have 8 characters. going by your idea I will have to run NORMAL MODE TARAL V which all of them to be able to run HARD MODE MEALSTROM PRISON.

obviously you can't drag through with a pug. that wasn't my point. my point was that I could theoretically be dragged through hard mode KP to get me some rakata stuff the day I ding 50, run around with a few rakata pieces right away, obviously know the runs because... well.. I've already have a few 50s... and I still won't be allowed into a normal mode run of said operation because your idea says 'nope you have to do a hm fp first' (where in turn I'd have to do the normal version first)



I honestly don't understand all this drama anyway. am I the only one who so far has had mostly really positive experiences with the group finder? I've done a 20min group finder completely random LI run without a single death before. I can't be an exception.

I imagine they can make a tool for SWTOR where it checks stats instead of gear. The problem is also that we just got onto a new server with tons of people we don't know and have to figure out who the decent players are. So far the results have been a bit disheartening. It's easy if you just care about the raiding and not the people you're guilded with...just join any big raid guild, but expect lots of egos. Not my thing.

Or you go to a social guild where raiding is not important and everybody's welcome. Expect a mix of people who mean well and a number of ******es.

But it's when you're in between those groups and just want some decent people who you can have a laugh with and still have people with decent skill and gear.

Sure, you can do that without the LFG tool, but I think that since you want to gear up, you are pretty much forced to used the LFG tool.

All in all though I think that in its current state the LFG tool will be used by premade teams (which defeats the purpose of the LFG tool) and the new 50s who don't have a clue. I would think that it'd be better to get more out of this tool, but it will need some adjustments. Rewards need to be reviewed and player matching also. Just my point of view.

Wrong, I'm saying the tool wasn't designed just for you. You want fast easy mode fast runs for your precious, don't pug with the LFG. HM's shouldn't have even been added to the LFG tool