What is the poison pill, if there is one, for TOR?

Maybe not so much a poison pill, but it doesn´t feel right when other troopers e.x. run round with "my" companions.
I get that if we want companion stories we probably need a same companon, but i wish the storyline companions were fewer and with a bit more story. Then add the option to ask friendly npc chars to join your team to fill the last spots.

Story, i like story, but from a RP point of view the heavy fokus on class story is maybe not so much wasted, but you cant use class story in roleplay. There can be only 1 leader of havoc f.x. If you want to roleplay, and yes i know it´s the vast minority, then you need to filter out class story. With the heavy fokus on class story i feel more like a clone than a unique trooper. All troopers have the exact same story. Works great in solo games, but this is a mmo. It still works, i´m just not sure that was the right way to go.

Worldstory. That could work even in roleplay. But there´s not enough of it. Some phasing might have helped or just more fokus on the history and lore of each planet. The only planet i feel i got to know the story of is Taris, and i hate Rakghouls.

About scaling. I would like it if you got boostet maybe 2 level when not using companion. I dont agree mobs are too hard. Just adapt and do easier content if mobs are too hard. Also, a big lesson especially for sentinels. Cooldowns are there to be used. I used Kira on my sentinel all the way to 50 and it did probably cost extra wipes, but mobs die faster and you realy learn to make good use of cooldowns.

Gotta admit I stopped there because IF ANYTHING,

TOR is to simplistic and easy
NOT to difficult

Before joining a guild and running OPS (the only truely challenging content in game and even KP and EV become simplistic on SM and HM after you run it a few times) I 2 maned TOR

1-50
EVERY 2 man Heroic
MOST 4 man Heroics
4 or 5 Flashpoints (pre 50)

ALL done with 1 other person and our companions
heck ALL the 2 man heroics and even some of the 4 man ones I would solo

In the counsular storyline I required zero aide until the last fight of storyline on Corellia

So anyone that thinks this game is to difficult is complete out of touch

What hurt TOR early on is people ripped through the content in a month and left having seen what they wanted to see.

EXACT same issue that plagued RIFT just after their launch as well

Games DONT need to get dumber and easier
They need to get more difficult so players have a sense of accomplishment when they do finally finish storyline 12-18 months after release.

/agreed

This is, hands down, the easiest MMO ever made.

Not only is it simple, it is repetitively simple. PvE combat never changes, never progresses in difficulty. It's exactly the same from start to finish.

That repetitive simplicity is what kills this game for most people within 2-3 months of starting it.

I'm joining in with the "Not difficult, too repetitive" group. Pretty much once you figure out a good way to do something, you really don't have any reason to change out of it. Your companions for example. Only one or two are good, the rest don't really fit in, especially the latecomers after you've figured out how to survive without them.

If your companions actually did more than just stand around offering support and dps...

If mobs did more than just stare at you and occasionally heal each other...

If space combat was more than a glorified arcade shooter...

If you had actual vehicles to change things up a bit...

...suffice it to say, at no point in this game did I think to myself "gee, I wish this mob was even easier to kill".

I have to agree with this post.
This Game has an amazing story.
Just seems 1 group made the game then another came in and stretched it out as everything inbetween story hot spots seems to be either fatigueing or obviously planted in your way.

Not all classes or specs are created equal for levelling.

My first playthrough was a Bounty Hunter Powertech (Shield), the tank spec, with Mako for companion the playthrough was solid but predictably slow. No issue with boss fights or any other aspect of the story.

Sith Warrior Marauder playthrough was a struggle as I chose to level as Carnage spec (probably a better PvP tree) and with a DPS companion (ranged at first then changing to melee). Became far easier when changed to Anihilation spec for survivability with the self heal.

After these two the legacy system was introduced so I started to get multiple class buffs and a significant presence buff to my companions. Hard not to walk through the opposition now when levelling, when I have the companion on the starting world they can take down strongs and elites faster than I can.

At no point would I consider Mob difficulty an issue, if anything for the majority of the game they are far too easy and it's a struggle to keep your character at an appropriate level for the quests you are on.

If you think general mobs through levelling are too difficult wait until you find the Green Jedi Duellists on Corellia and the Jedi Commanders who use the double bladed sabres in [Poisonous Strategy] on Ilum (both of these will only be experienced by Imperial players). Or the good old school MMO overcrowding of mobs in Section X.

General hints.....

1) Learn the classes basic rotation. They tend to be no more than 3-5 abilities that have a sequential order to maximise DPS.

2) Put your interrupts somewhere easy to reach (keybinding is good, if you play multiple classes keep them in the same hotbar slots). Use them on strong/ elites/ healers.

3) Take out mobs in this general order: healers> weak> normal> strong> elite

4) If you have crowd control available use it (elite/ strong as the better targets don't waste it on a mob that's quick to kill), just remember to turn off your companions Area of Effect abilities.

5) If someone is telling you they can solo Heroic 4 it's most likely they are severly overlevelled with lots of legacy perks or playing a class with stealth and crowd control.

If I end up finally walking from the game, it will be due to a lack of forum moderation and community management during off-hours and weekends.

If anything "killed" TOR, it's this...

Bioware Executives and EA Executives

If the solo pve in this game is too hard for you then i think you need to find another hobby, mmos just arent for you.

As for what killed this game? it happens to all games that are released half finished and not up to speed with its competition as far as game mechanics/qol features are concerned, and it will keep happening as long as game companies keep over looking the problem.

No, OP, I disagree. I didn't find the mobs difficult as I leveled, nor do I find them difficult at endgame. You just have to work on your gear. Whenever I had trouble as I was leveling, it was clearly a sign that I needed to work on my gear a bit... I'd upgrade some mods/barrels/armoring, go back and kill those mobs with ease.

The poison pill is the story and the lack of end game content, as someone else said earlier. The story is great, don't get me wrong. However, it draws you in, you enjoy it immensely... but then you get to the endgame, and it just drops off from there. You run the same OPS, FPs and dailies many times over, press the spacebar many times because you've already seen the story and no longer care to watch it... you gear up... and then... not much. Had they spent as much time working on the endgame as they did the story, the game would be wonderful. Perhaps the endgame will improve over time. I really hope it does. Until it does, people will continue to leave the game... it's inevitable. People get bored, and go do something else.

Honorable mention: the game engine. It's a mess.