Why all the hate?

I get it people are frustrated. I myself left some time before anarchy storyline. Around that time they provided a generous boost to companions health. However not was all well in the Kingdom, a group of anti fun people set out to destroy the nerf, by complaining day and night here. The Dev's caved. I lost interest shortly after.

I warned people the nerf on companions ..would cause people to lost interest. However the chapters are great. I enjoy the solo play. I like being able to dive into each chapter without the need for an elite group each time. I can progress naturally through the story on my own.

I'd noticed though. People almost daily seem to be discouraged. I understand RNG sucks or more PVP content. Take it from someone who left before majority of chapters were installed. The game itself has improved. It may not be perfect. It's much better then it was at launch.

Everyone plays the game for different reasons and has a different experience. It might be good for your game play goals in the game but it's not for the people that are unhappy now. Ask all the disgruntled people what the problem is and you get a variety of answers. Each person plays the game to get something a little different out of it.

The companions are fine for me, but the game feels like it being made for only one playstyle, one I don't have fun with. I play for the fluff stuff and that is getting gated and cut out hard. No amount of ops or pvp will fix this for me, but I'm just as unhappy with the state of things as the people who hate GC or the lack of new ops.

MMOs should be a place where people who play differently can inhabit the same game. SWTOR, on the other hand, feels more and more like there is only Bioware Approved (tm) play. Don't you dare try to have fun any other way. This is why I will probably be gone after the next maintenance. I will probably lose forum access. Buying a sub for a game I'm not interested in anymore makes no sense.

That is the bottom line. If a player likes the game in actual state, good for him. But also put a lot of players out of the fun. Bioware Austin don't understand it as nobody in Austin plays the game for fun. it is just a job.

Alice: "I want a multiplayer-focused game"
Bob: "I want a story-focused game"
Chris: "I want a multiplayer-focused game"
Donna: "I want a story-focused game"

BW: [Focuses their game significantly more on story than multiplayer.]

Alice: "Well, guess this game isn't meant for me. That's cool, I'll go play something else. But I do want to let BW know that if they make it more multiplayer-focused, I'd consider coming back."

Bob: [Happily plays the game]

Chris: "I am personally offended that they made a game that isn't catered to my own tastes! BW should be ashamed of the utter disrespect they have for the property and the arrogance they are showing by not making a game that suits my preferences. Clearly they just don't care at all or else they'd be making the game the way I want it to be. Rawr!"

Donna: [To both Alice and Chris equally] "How dare you say anything bad about this perfect-perfect-perfect game! Rawr!"

[Chris and Donna fight back-and-forth on the forums ad nauseam]

(Rinse and repeat with "I like the Zakuul story" / "I don't like the Zakuul story"; "I hate Galactic Command" / "I don't mind Galactic Command"; "I like chocolate ice cream" / "I like strawberry ice cream"; etc.)

While the above does represent a lot of the problem. Bioware has a slightly different problem in that they had a better balance which they have quite thoroughly destroyed. There will always be unhappy people, but it doesn't have to be as many as their are now.

Bioware lured players in with the promise of options then systematically removed or hamstrung those options. Now you have a bunch of players in a game they didn't come to play and weren't told they would be playing upfront. It's not fun for them, which causes discontent. Further, most unhappy players remember when they still had fun.

This leads to people complaining that Bioware destroyed their own product because those players remember when Bioware had met a variety of needs much better. It's not like they were 5 years in and still trying to figure out whether or not they had players who liked different playstyles.

Someone within Bioware management decided to rip the rug from under players for their own personal vision and now players who don't fit into that vision are upset. Their money was taken in addition to having the rug ripped from under them. BUT, the most vocal complainers complain because they still want the game. They don't want to leave. So now they are stuck with two options, either campaign for change or walk off.

Both are disagreeable, but only one stands a chance, however remote, of seeing a return to having fun in SWTOR.

Or, alternatively:

"I am upset that this game which I have invested over $800 in no longer provides content except for one portion of the game. I find it offensive that the game was marketed and sold as an MMO, while the latest expansions have done very much to minimize the 'massively multiplayer' aspect. Although I understand other players enjoy the solo aspect of the game, it is ridiculous and disrespectful to loyal subscribers and supporters of the game that the developers can not work to cater to many different subgroups."

It's also quite amusing how they managed to screw with every aspect of the game from Pvp to Collectors.

Amusing isn't the word I'd use for it.

This sums things up so perfectly! For me, it is like this:

I like to play solo because I can do my own thing.

I enjoy grouping up with others because I am a social person. "Group content" has a much broader definition for me - it includes 4 people, 8 people, Flashpoints, Operations, PvP, Conquest.

My love for a handful of characters that I have created are what keep me in the game. I just want to be able to play them. And since I don't binge on content, it isn't old for me even after four years. Do I like or agree with all that Bioware has done? Absolutely not. However, I will continue to sub until the game shuts down.

We all play for our own reasons. I don't know how it would be possible to make a majority of people happy.

Simple answer to the question really.......

Expressions of hatred are what fuel much of the social expression on the internet, particularly where digital games are concerned.

You cannot reason with it. Why? Because it is an unreasonable response to a frustration. Some people are simply unreasonable, or looking for their 15 minutes of fame on the interent.

You can offer contrasting narratives to help less hateful people see through the hatred. This counteracts some of the chaos from all the hatred as it helps less informed player avoid falling into the hate .. but it also makes you a target for hatred as well. Some people don't like their hatred questioned or contrasted, and will then make you their target for their hate and frustration. So if you go this route, you need to be dispassionate and detached from the hatred, even when agreeing with the expressed frustrations.

TL;DR: some people never learned how to manage their frustrations in a positive manner.