The insane (double XP) plan to get everyone to 55 fast

Jesus....this thread again? Really?

Lets debunk all the reasons to hate double XP weekend:

1. My gear gets outdated too fast.

Debunk: run the side quests to get gear...it doesn't matter if you are a couple levels over the quest target. I still drops gear. Put on said gear.

2. I level too fast and it makes content too easy:

Debunk: This is a GEAR based game. The gear you get for quests is appropriate to that level. You can be level 25 on a level 20 planet and YOUR GEAR determines how well you will do. See point number one. If you really want to stay level appropriate, don't visit the trainer right away. Except for hits and misses the level means next to nothing if you just base your gear to the planet you are on. Shoot. You can be level 55 and wear level 30 gear.

3. It forces me to skip content.

Debunk: no it doesn't. Nothing forces you to skip content. You can see any content you want. Just run it even if you are a few levels past it. Don't put brand new gear on if you want it to be "hard".

4. I worked for my levels and now you just hand it out?

Debunk: this tired old argument needs to die. No one is "working" in this game. It's a video game. You aren't being paid.


Anyone who quits over double XP is really complaining about nothing. It's a useless complaint and silly at best.

All of your "debunking" is trumped by one thing: some people don't like fast leveling. Who are you to tell them otherwise? Obviously they are the ones asking for change so the burden is on them to get it implemented, but that does not somehow invalidate their desire to play the game the way they want.

A THEORY AND EXPLANATION OF DOUBLE XP

It's clear enough that some people like double XP and some people do not. I do not understand people who love SWTOR, but hate the content and don't care about the story lines, but hey: To each his own. Unless someone is yelling at me for moving too slowly, it doesn't hurt me if they want to go fast.

However, from Bioware's point of view, not that of us subs, it looks like a near term gain for a long term loss. Double XP levels people faster, so they'll buy the Hutt Cartel (Yay! Another $10 for Bioware!), but they get to the end faster, and that's when the boredom sets in. It's kind of like cruising down the freeway at 70mph and suddenly you hit a 55mph zone. It feels like you are crawling along. So Bioware has created a problem for itself. To retain these customers, they must provide new content, but the fact is, except for the 5-level Hutt, which some people did in a few hours, they have not provided any significant new content--unless you want to count the CM and I know you don't.

So you have to ask yourself, was this on purpose? Of course it was. They don't make decisions just for the sake of it, but why? Well, it's either the result of short-term thinking or long-term thinking, both designed to increase revenue.

By short-term thinking I mean the corporate tendency to pay attention to quarterly profit figures. American corporations aren't the only ones to do this, but they are certainly famous for it. If EA is pressuring BW to contribute to the quarterly bottom line, this could explain double XP. They need a quick profit NOW, so double XP and an expansion of the Cartel Market would tend to do that, but at the expense of losing long-term players eager for new content and not getting it.

But what if they've thought of that and are thinking long-term? What if they don't particularly care about older jaded players who tend to be impatient, complain a lot, and know the Cartel Market for what it is and do not indulge in paying extra for more coins? My guess would be that the "Jaded Player" provides much less revenue per subscription than an F2P player, who absolutely must use the Cartel Market to buy stuff given to subs.

And there you have it. If Bioware is relying on churn and F2P to boost revenues, it's in their best interests to starve older players out of the game. They are a drag on resources and angrily push for new content. However, with new players, all the content is new and the pressure is off.

I really don't know which is true, but I'm convinced one is.

The point is, it doesn't matter what your level is. That is just a counter. That's all. A person can easily wear lower level gear or not go to their trainer and effectively be the level they want. I've done it myself when I was too busy to seek out a trainer. I just completed the planet with my current gear and skill level. Shocking right?

It may not matter to you (and it also does not matter to me), but you seem incapable of understanding that it does matter to some. If an option to toggle off double XP and rest XP were added to the game, would you care? And if so, why?

It just adds more complexity to the game and most likely takes developer time away from other things. Right now I assume there is a simple variable that they adjust and voila, it's done. Adding additional complexity just makes it more complex when there is zero need to do so. That's the point I am making.

And if someone's counter goes up faster than they want, I can recognize their opinion but it doesn't force me to recognize it as valid.

can you turn double xp off?

they should at least give you the option to disable double xp.

All of my characters im leveling up are borderline about to out level their planets, all the missions are green. The last thing I want is double xp making all my missions go grey And no, I do not want to skip content, I like seeing all the missions on a planet no matter how boring lol.

And that's a fair response. If you don't think it's worthwhile, of course you don't think it's worth expending development effort.

The concept of "validity" does not in any way apply to opinions of personal preference. You cannot reasonably say "I prefer blue to yellow" is valid or invalid.

Actually, the UI team is independant of the content team. I can't imagine it'd take too much to add a switch or slider to the options screen.

I said this in a previous thread on this subject, but I think the sider should be:

*XP off - You never gain XP while on this setting.
*Hard - XP gain is reduced (All boosts disabled and unusable), enemies hit harder if they are tagged to a player that has this setting.
Normal - Current functionality,
Double XP - Double XP functionality.

If the hard setting adjusts enemy power, then the slider would be a bit more complex though, but I know some people loved that functionality in STO, so....

Happy that double XP is coming back, so I can level some of the other alts I have.