Break free of your conditioning - gearing, OPs, ...

I do agree with the sentiment that RNG gearing is not the best way to handle such a situation in a new system, however, I do agree with the notion that gearing needed to be slowed down from the previous expansions. When I could have a guild carry me and have a fully geared toon within a week (then repeat for alts as needed), that needed to be changed.

What I am liking though, is that feedback is being seen and heard, for the most part. Yes, RNG gearing still exists, but new methods are being placed to try and reduce that impact little by little, to take some of the sting off of RNG gearing, but still keeping the timeframe somewhat extended so that people aren't fully min-maxed in a week. More changes are still coming yet as they fine tune it based on feedback and results.

Now I'm not a hardcore raider, I do participate in ops every once in a while, and I haven't been that lucky with boxes yet (1 set piece in 17 GC levels), but I do like the fact that I can enjoy multiple aspects of the game and it all works towards that goal. Maybe I'll get lucky with the next box, maybe I wont. But it's just a game, and I have the choice whether or not to expend the energy to be frustrated or angry at the game. I choose not to be. I choose to continue to play the portions of the game that I do enjoy, socialize with guild members, and enjoy this game as a pastime amongst a few others (after all, just because I play this one doesn't mean that I can't enjoy others, and I know it's not the argument here, but I thought I'd just put this piece there for the sake of it).

I think that people who aren't enjoying the game do need to take a step back and get away from this mindset that "Bioware didn't change the game to suit my needs, therefore the game is horrible!". Every game will go through this, whether it be here, WoW, LotRO, FFXIV, et al. Also the line that "These developers have no idea what the hell they're doing, they don't even play the game!" is probably false. That's why they're developers, and you're not (nor I for that matter). I know, a bit of a broadhanded statement, as there are some here who are familiar with the industry. A lot of the negativity can be curbed, just by altering ones mindset a bit. Not to say that opinions and whatnot shouldn't be voiced, but there does come a point where things like this become unnecessary.

I, for one, would still like to see more changes to come, to make things more enjoyable for everyone, but not to the point where it was before, with toons being fully geared before the next conquest week was up and running. But there definitely needs to be changes. 2016 has been a rough year. Let's see what 2017 brings.

Really?

Remember it is Bioware that is going BACK to a 5 year old system the already FAILED at with RNG.

If anyone is clinging to the past it is Bioware.

Throwing badly done RNG gearing solutions in is NOT developing news systems for gearing up; it is, once again, failing at already very old systems.

All The Best

So you are looking forward to all 200 remaining players being on just one server then?

Because this "if you don't like it then quit" attitude has taken the game from 120 odd servers to less than 20 in just 5 years.

For any game that would be very bad, for this IP with the initial levels of development investment the game had it is an unmitigated catastrophe.

People like you clearly want the game to fail, you don't want Bioware to strive to make the game better and appeal to a larger, more committed audience.

All The Best

Clearly,

You must have geared for knee-pads this expansion. I went from an active guild of about (35+) who did HM and NiM content to maybe 2 online at most. Everyone unsubbed. I'm lucky if I can get a que pop for anything waiting for hours...just sitting and crafting. This isn't worth a sub anymore. I will probably be gone soon unless something changes. I am not pleased.

TL;DR - stuff is so grind-heavy now, it's more punishing than any Asian MMORPG. Even those players would be repulsed.

of course you are right. but i have been on various game forums for too long. writing a wall of text (regardless of the content) only ensures that your thread gets buried with no responses. so you either have to hit on the devs (that's always most popular) or write it in a provocative way. that incites people to respond, bump the thread and get a heated discussion going and for as long as there is a steady heat left it will continue. of course it can easily be derailed if the heat grows out of control but if it doesn't (some) people start to make valid and interesting points.

it's sad but negativity and outrage is just how forums work.

as for empathizing with some fellow forum posters, that's somewhat difficult for me as MMORPGs were unplayable for me before therefore i have a very different mind set then veterans. however, as for the other players, well, that's another story. the thing i am observing is that that the vast majority of players seems to be complete solo players that at best occasionally queue for the group content but other then that stay for themselves. most of them don't seem to play for long hours nor go to the forums. these people are just so vastly different then those one encounters here on the forums.

besides, i have a few OPs i really wanted to play at least once but whilst my server is still quite vivid it is so incredibly difficult to find anyone playing that content.

yeah, in times where most games are MMOs in one sense or another new people who still get into MMORPGs don't necessarily do it because of the multiplayer aspects. actually i think that's even the worst selling point of SWTOR and it ain't much different for all other MMORPGs. seriously, it just isn't competitive with what other MMOs have to offer.

ironically it seems that focusing on solo content and story instead is just enough to keep it afloat. though i doubt BW will abandon multiplayer altogether but rather will look for ways how to get these solo players invested in some new kind of multiplayer content.

that said i think BW doesn't care (or cannot afford to care) much about raiders / MMORPG veterans anymore. it's a hard statement but it seems they tried going that road but failed to make it sufficiently profitable. now they are trying something else and it seems to work better even though it pushes their founding players out of the game. and that's a conflict for which there is no perfect solution.

The system is a work in progress. To me that's an unfortunate thing. With all the feedback they received on PTS and pre PTS about the drop rates it's unfortunate that the system was released as is. While putting a quasi universal token system is a step in the right direction, it only addresses 2/3rds of the overall issue. The last third is that the drop rate of set bonus gear within the command crates is far too low. A player should not reach a new tier without having a full six piece set of gear. Additionally, if crafting is to be the true middle ground the schematics need to drop for enhancements and mods more than the unmoddable junk gear along with the green trash that drops. Blues can be useful for some although they are also pretty much 99.9 percent of the time disintegration fodder.

There's still work to be done on this system. It can be successful, but it has to be modified further to make sure the rng isn't soooo punishing as it is now.

With there being so few of these white knights, I'm wondering, almost betting, that most of them are BW employees using their personal accounts. Of course they won't ever be allowed to admit as much, which makes this idle speculation at best, still... BW are the ones that tried to convince us that chasing gear was fun and this command crap is the best thing to have happened to the interwebs since naked people were digitally photographed and uploaded.

Regardless of if the OP is a BW employee or not, my sub expired yesterday (merry Christmas to me!) and BW will not be getting any more money out of me with out some serious changes to the core of this game.

The brutal irony of his OP is that he is trying to shame people for doing repetitive content for rewards, while completely ignoring the fact that that is the only way to be rewarded. I don't think he grasps the concept of stale content.

I guess if I were new to the game there would be tons of fun things to do and see. But at this point there just isn't for a long term player.

Welcome back.

Also..... déjà vu....

So which is it? Not posting or posting in defence of the game? Obviously the changes have irked you enough to bring you back here (either side of the fence), so obviously you see an issue here overall for BioWare or the players of the game.

The decision about including RNG boxes without mitigation for that RNG for even a part of the player base of the game is an issue. Simply ignoring all sides of the discussion does no player nor BioWare any favours considering the health of the server populations.

I could be wrong, but I thought the idea of running a business is to cater to the needs of your customers and to maximise profits. This is a simple win for BioWare if they can get it right.

I dont think that asking players to quit that are unhappy with the current status of the game is a wise choice. Right now, IMO, the game needs all the players it can get.

Not only that, I tend to think that Bioware would rather see the players stay, even if it means some community members have to tolerate seeing negative feedback.

It is a small price to pay to fill the game with players and keep the game healthy. IMO asking players to leave simply because you do not wish to see negative feedback leans toward selfishness...it most likely also springs from protectionism and denial.

The game can ALWAYS use improvement. No game is perfect. To suggest otherwise is just plain silly.