The Question I Messed Up at the Vancouver Community Cantina Event

I imagine that's more entertaining than grouping solo content... even though it's inherently contradictory.

So how far into group content do you think someone should be able to solo? The Heroic-2's on Oricon & Czerka? Heroic-4's on Voss and Corellia? Story mode level 55 flash points? Hard modes? Story mode operations?

Where do you draw the line at eliminating the group content available in the game? (Because once it can be solo'd by competent players, it's no longer group content; it's solo content.)

This is an MMO for god sake. Why do people feel like Bioware should make adjustments so that soloers can experience the *****GROUP**** content? You don't need any gear past 69s to solo any content you plan on doing. They even allow you to buy 180 gear with ultimate comms so I don't see why people keep insisting that they should be able to get the best gear when they really have absolutely no reason for it. If you want the gear then get outside of your little box and play the game the way its supposed to be played.

Speaking as a player who pretty much solos exclusively, I agree with this. I have no need for OPs-rated gear because I do not run Ops. Were I to ever decide to dip my gnarled toe into the Ops pool, I accept that I would be woefully under-geared (158 gear), and would demand (well, ask ... okay, yeah, beg) that the raiders in my Guild help me upgrade.

My only concern about the level cap increase is that it include a new crafting tier so I can continue making mods, armor mods, and enhancements to tackle the new PvE solo content they will add. Of all the issues I wish EA would address in this game, making it easier for soloers to solo end-game group content ain't even on the list for me.

But, hey, doing so wouldn't hurt me, so I'll endorse the OP's request subject to my new, universal caveat for all proposed changes to the game: The OP can have what he wants, but only if they also add appearance tabs in the same update.

See, I think this is an excellent point.

As a player that likes both the solo-leveling experience, AND group content, I like the fact that players are encouraged to do group content to get better gear. Because it widens to pool of players that try group content, and discover they like doing it.

Pre 2.0, Best in Slot gear was craftable, and the primary mat (Molecular Stabilizers) were easily obtainable by RE'ing PvP gear. Mods/Enhancements were selling for 600K, armoring for 900K and hilts/barrels were selling for 1.2K. It didn't take that many dailies before you could buy a full set of BiS gear (you could even put it in the free Tionese shells and get a 4-piece set bonus).

During this time period, I found it harder to get groups together. When 2.0 dropped and make BiS exclusively the purvey of raiders, I found groups much easier to gather.

I agree with the OP's feelings on the "glass ceiling".

The thing that boggles my mind is that Bioware created an alternative progression system for this game that isn't dependent on character level or the gear treadmill and they've left it to wither on the vine: the Legacy system.

I'm an altoholic... I hit the Legacy cap long before the F2P transition. Can someone explain to me why there is a Legacy cap? You don't earn anything meaningful with Legacy XP. Why do they stop counting it?

Currently I spend more time playing Diablo III than this game. There, my level capped characters are earing Paragon points. They slowly but inexorably earn tiny stat bonuses that don't impact the "power" of my character to anywhere near the same degree as gear upgrades. They do, however, preserve the tiny thrill of "ding-ing" and the feel that my character is progressing.

They could do the same thing with Legacy XP in this game. Over months (or years!) of game play, Legacy XP could slowly award tiny incremental power boosts that cumulatively might approach the equivalent of set bonuses.

A fresh new level-capped character who chooses to pursue Operations would quickly outstrip the power these Legacy bonuses would provide. A hard core raider would have his gear and his set bonuses AND these Legacy bonuses. And a level capped "hard-casual" who chooses not to raid would still have a means of progression.

Because many of the readers misunderstood what I meant and possibly didn't read my follow ups, I've added a section to the end of my original post that should hopefully clarify my intention.

Honestly, I am so not looking for easymode gear: I just want to feel like I'm still working towards something as I run through CZ-198 dailies for the 700th time. I am far, far more had-nosed about gear progression and group content than many assume: I think that gear progression should be enforced (IMO characters should have to unlock tiers of gear by having acquired the previous one); and I think that group content absolutely should require groups. However, there's really no point in dragging that into the conversation at this point when it's clear that I really didn't communicate my original intentions very well... again.

And just so everyone is clear about where I stand on this:

I absolutely believe that the most powerful PvE gear in the game should be exclusively the reward of those who have completed the most difficult large group PvE content in the game. I also happen to believe that those who choose not to run Ops should be able to continue to advance their characters, but just in smaller increments.

Your complaint is about the very nature of an MMO, and the restrictions you place upon yourself while playing it. Everyone is going to hit a wall at which point they no longer "advance" their characters, at least in the way they want, if they focus on only one aspect of the game.

The top-tier raiding guilds will finish the content - get the topmost raid on "farm" mode and have all the BiS gear - long before another is released.

The best PvP players have long complained at the lack of variety in the maps, are capped in gear, and rarely face a challenge in war zones when grouped with others like them.

It's the nature of MMO's that content can never keep pace with player consumption.

Now the interesting thing of it is, if you're willing to vary your playstyle - to consider playing more than a single facet of the game - you might just find that you can't outpace the content any longer. If you're strictly a soloist, try PvP or Space-on-Rails or GSF or, heck, even crafting. If you're strictly PvP, try raiding. And so on.

Your point is completely valid, and it's not like one should expect to never hit a ceiling in terms of gear advancement ever again. However, gear advancement in this MMO specifically has been designed to be far too fast compared to the rate of content releases, even under ideal circumstances. I have a few ideas on how that could be changed, but I'd prefer not to get into that topic unless it seems like the conversation as a whole needs to move in that direction.

Perhaps it does need to be brought into the discussion though. Maybe we need to be engaging the development team in a discussion about not just progression tracks for raiders and non-raiders, but on how gear progression as a whole could be better made to work the content release schedule so the it takes longer before players hit that point where they feel like they're just going to be spinning their wheels for the next six months.

I might be missing the forest for the trees here, but it seems the only way to do that (i.e. slowing gear progression without increasing the pace of content release) would be to make the end-game content more difficult.

While NM content is plenty hard enough, that only applies to the very highest tier of gear. To really slow down gear progression, the other aspects of end-game would need to be harder.

Prior to 2.0, there was a distinction between "Tier 1 Flashpoints and Operations (EV/KP)" and "Tier 2 Flashpoints (LI) and Operations (EC)". It was my hope that this distinction would continue, with both Tier 1 and Tier 2 content added to end-game. Instead, things moved in the opposite direction.

More recently, the devs are focusing on tactical flashpoints. This is beneficial for dps with long queue times, but hardly challenging. Perhaps HM versions of these will be added later that require the trinity, but I'm not holding my breath.

Now, with bolster in SM operations, another stage of gearing has been removed. The devs are moving towards easier, not harder.

I believe you are wrong on that. People already solo H-2s and H-4s, yet people still group for them. People already solo lvl 50 hard mode flashpoints, yet people still group for them. People already solo lvl 55 story mode flashpoints, yet people still group for them. People 4 man ops, yet people still form full groups for them.

Some people will always test their abilities on harder and harder challenges. There is no tiered solo content. Until they make hard mode and nightmare mode solo instances, soloing group content will have to do. People don't stop running story mode and hard mode ops just because other people are clearing nightmare.