I just cancelled my subscription but I wanted to post my reasons why here in the hopes that someone may actually read it. Here is what I posted in the "Reasons for canceling your subscription:

"Your art, writing and voice acting teams were all superb. A shame that their excellent efforts were tied to a game design that was sub-par at best. Oversize maps, uninteresting gameplay and combat that never flowed or allowed actual strategy all formed a game that was simply not fun to play. Above and beyond all that, however, was the fact that this game did not play well as a multiplayer game. For years my group of friends have gotten together every Monday to play together. We know how to work as a team, how to control the field of battle and cover for each other. But playing as a four man group we found ourselves bombarded with what we came to call "magic adds". Elite enemies dropping out of nowhere with no chance to crowd control or even arrange our positions. We were wiping on content six levels below us due to two elites and three silvers dropping into fights out of nowhere. Out in the general world we found ourselves taking the same amount of time to do quests six levels below us as we did to finish quests at level. At no point did we feel like our efforts and leveling were actually making us any more powerful, simply raising our hit-points so that our deaths could be slower and more painful. Thus I, my family and my group of friends are all leaving your game. You have a good team of artists, writers and actors but please spend some time and money on some decent game designers."

TL;DR explanation is that I think that the art of this game was well done but the actual game part was horrible.

Actually, my team went to SWTOR becasue we had played WoW to death (and because we all love Star Wars and Bioware). We won't be going back to WoW for another expansion or three just to make sure we have plenty of content to munch. When you play as a dedicated five man every Monday you move pretty steadily through content.

Anyway, my crew are all going over to Guild Wars 2 for now. The art style is quite lovely and I'm enjoying the clean simplicity of the combat system.

Actually, my team went to SWTOR becasue we had played WoW to death (and because we all love Star Wars and Bioware). We won't be going back to WoW for another expansion or three just to make sure we have plenty of content to munch. When you play as a dedicated five man every Monday you move pretty steadily through content.

 

Anyway, my crew are all going over to Guild Wars 2 for now. The art style is quite lovely and I'm enjoying the clean simplicity of the combat system.

i was almost taking you seriously... and then you mentioned guild wars ... an empty shell of a game.

Have you been keeping your gear updated? Do you have a healer in your group? Do you use health packs in emergencies and keep your rotation up to date with the most efficient abilities for your build/level?

I ask because I have solo leveled 7 characters to 50 and the gameplay is incredibly easy for me--and I do not consider myself an extraordinarily skilled gamer in the least. I don't understand how a 4 man group could wipe on content 6 levels below them unless the things I mentioned above weren't being met.

What I will agree with is that there are way too many silvers/golds around. The golds definitely have made me wipe when they show up during a fight with a bunch of adds, but I can normally either CC it or, at worst, die, heal up, and take it down with full health. No different from any other MMO, really... eventually you'll die to the golds. Most golds can be avoided by situational awareness though (which I suck at, but still).

I just hate to see people leaving when the game is too hard, when many people complain it's too easy lol.

I agree with this one. I have regularly found that I can solo quests 2-4 levels above my current level. But that will only work if you are well geared and stay up on your training and skill tree every time you go up one level. It still amazes me to see the drastically different view points on this game. I've seen people say the planets are undersized and content too easy, while OP seems to feel the exact opposite. I really question you saying that you are wiping content 6 levels below your level only because at 5 levels difference, it is almost impossible for them to even hit you. Maybe you are trying to run heroic 4's without a full group or no healer?

Have you been keeping your gear updated? Do you have a healer in your group? Do you use health packs in emergencies and keep your rotation up to date with the most efficient abilities for your build/level?

 

I ask because I have solo leveled 7 characters to 50 and the gameplay is incredibly easy for me--and I do not consider myself an extraordinarily skilled gamer in the least. I don't understand how a 4 man group could wipe on content 6 levels below them unless the things I mentioned above weren't being met.

 

What I will agree with is that there are way too many silvers/golds around. The golds definitely have made me wipe when they show up during a fight with a bunch of adds, but I can normally either CC it or, at worst, die, heal up, and take it down with full health. No different from any other MMO, really... eventually you'll die to the golds. Most golds can be avoided by situational awareness though (which I suck at, but still).

 

I just hate to see people leaving when the game is too hard, when many people complain it's too easy lol.

I tried to get into guild wars i find it so boring i would rather play a broken game with bad customer service..

I just played wow so much it was burnout and needed a long break from that game.

Not sure how long i'll stick with swtor i started in beta with this game played at start stopped for a while came back i see that they are still practicing the ignore player concerns feature so i'll be heading out soon, if BW/EA changes there ways i'll stay if not i'm gone i used to buy many EA titles i stopped and was very hesitant when buying this but i said lets give them a chance, all i can say nothing changes at ea just the cover of the case and the same bs .

i guess we can hope but this is one game obi could not pull a rabbit out of his magic hat because those who run it careless about players by the way they downgrade and disregard our complaints.

I would not want to be the spokesmen at the next E3 the barrage is going to be flamed filled by angry players.

One day all the negative reputation will come back to haunt this company and there won't be any bailouts and player support will be limited,might want to do a reverse and change the way of things while you still have a players willing to trust.

Yes, we were running a balanced team with a good tank (me), an experienced healer and two DPS capable of stepping into those roles in an emergency. Between the four of us we had every crafting skill covered and were keeping up our gear. I'm not surprised that you didn't notice this problem with a solo character because it doesn't happen when you are solo or in a group of two. It only starts to be noticeable in a group of three and then with a group of four it gets out of hand. The problem is that they seem to have tried to enhance the difficulty for full group by dropping in these "magic adds". We actually experimented to check and no, they do not drop in when you are below three players. Thus we found ourselves being actively punished for trying to run instances and class quests in a group. Since we are a dedicated group who want to run together we decided that SWTOR just was not working for our sort of multiplayer, that is playing the game all the way through together.

As to the comments about GW2, could you please elaborate? Since we are playing it now I would like to know why you so dislike the game. It will help my group to know if there are bad bits later on in the game.

Actually, my team went to SWTOR becasue we had played WoW to death (and because we all love Star Wars and Bioware). We won't be going back to WoW for another expansion or three just to make sure we have plenty of content to munch. When you play as a dedicated five man every Monday you move pretty steadily through content.

 

Anyway, my crew are all going over to Guild Wars 2 for now. The art style is quite lovely and I'm enjoying the clean simplicity of the combat system.

Have fun with Guild Wars 2.You will defently not regret playing that game.Currently im taking a short break from it, cos was playing straight for 6 months, and was burned out.

i was almost taking you seriously... and then you mentioned guild wars ... an empty shell of a game.

I really enjoyed Guild wars 2 Better game then swtor on almost every possible way, except story (my opinion), Yet Swtor is still a good game

Well, that's really strange then... and I agree that is bad design, if they really do have more adds for groups. I have only done quests solo or in a group of two, aside from Heroic 4s.

As for GW2, it's just like apples and oranges. I think the game is nice for what it is but it couldn't hold my interest. It has practically no quests, which is nice on the one hand, til you realize that it isn't really all that exciting to run around repeating the same daily and random quests over and over either. And as a person who ALWAYS plays a healer main, the lack of traditional MMO roles was an interest killer for me. I don't hate GW2 or anything, just my opinion.

No MMO is perfect in the end, though.

Heh, I know what you mean about GW2 lacking traditional roles. You should have heard my group trying to get their heads around that one, it was pretty hilarious. We're so used to carefully setting up our classes and talents to balance each other and here we have GW2 whose general philosophy seems to be "see it, kill it". I really chose it for the group as a break from micromanaging and heavy thinking. I'm sure it won't last but I hope we have fun for a year or two.

I'm still sad about SWTOR not being more group friendly. I really wanted to play just for the stories, they really are well written. I know that no MMO is perfect but it was just becoming too long and frustrating a slog between the excellent writing and voice acting.

By the way, as I stated before I am posting all of this less to complain and more in the hopes that someone Bioware side will see it and maybe it can be in some way helpful for improving future titles. A wild hope I know but what can I say, I'm an optimist.

I really enjoyed Guild wars 2 Better game then swtor on almost every possible way, except story (my opinion), Yet Swtor is still a good game

problem of guild wars 2 to me is that there isnt any character progression... no carrots, just bores me after a month.

Have you been keeping your gear updated? Do you have a healer in your group? Do you use health packs in emergencies and keep your rotation up to date with the most efficient abilities for your build/level?

 

I ask because I have solo leveled 7 characters to 50 and the gameplay is incredibly easy for me--and I do not consider myself an extraordinarily skilled gamer in the least. I don't understand how a 4 man group could wipe on content 6 levels below them unless the things I mentioned above weren't being met.

 

What I will agree with is that there are way too many silvers/golds around. The golds definitely have made me wipe when they show up during a fight with a bunch of adds, but I can normally either CC it or, at worst, die, heal up, and take it down with full health. No different from any other MMO, really... eventually you'll die to the golds. Most golds can be avoided by situational awareness though (which I suck at, but still).

 

I just hate to see people leaving when the game is too hard, when many people complain it's too easy lol.

QFT. If this game is too hard for you, I don't really know what to say. I fight most things at my level getting my 4th toon to 50 (some at 55) and die rarely. I'm not some uber awesome elite, I generally play casually and do some seriously dumb moves that can get me killed but pull it off and survive. Mostly If I die, its to my own stupidity. That or I haven't played that character in a while and realize how undergeared he/she may be.

So your saying that if you level in a full group the solo stuff gets that much harder? Hmm may have to check that for myself again but I've never experienced that problem before when I leveled toons in groups for solo content. (though often when we hit a class mission area we would split and come back to save time and not spoil the story for others)

Yeah, though I'm sorry to see the OP leave I'm really not sure what to make of the reason. It's like he's playing a different game. Generally, I find the content fairly easy solo, and WAY too easy in a group. And I'm not a very good player. I tend to go for style > efficiency.

Two elites and three silvers six levels below you? For a four player group? You could flatten them with one eyelash.

Really hate these threads about being under powered, and then quit because not one of the people in these said parties as come to the conclusion, it isn't the game its the player.

When levelling a character I tend to do things solo, now don't get me wrong I lead a fantastic Guild and group of people and do event regular with them, but I like to go out in the field with a new toon and get a feel for what it is and can do.

Now my 1st char was a BH and man I got the Belsavis and things went nose diving, and I lost interest, the same thing happened mobs became "too powerful" so I rolled a Juggernaught and took to it again and thats when I actually became aware of stat changes. I then took a break from all gaming to focus on real life for a bit and when I came back I made a Jedi Consular whom I tried to keep geared best I could to get back into the game.

I never had any issues and found even out of sorts geared I could clear my content with minimal fuss and by time I made my Main (Jedi Knight Guardian) I was well and truly understanding the concept of gear and keeping up to date.

When you say your under powered it isn't the game's fault, or bioware but yourselves between the 4 of you, you should have been complimenting with crew skills that covered all the armouring, mods, hilts, barrels and enhancements you would need to keep up to par for your level between the lot of you, you had the chance to make your gear better than what drops in flash points by taking the time to do it.

My Guardian and my new Gunslinger have had adaptive gear with mods done infact the bank for the smuggler even though she is Lv38 contains every armour, mod, barrel, enhancement to Lv50 and even Bowdar's equipment is the same.

Yes the game punishes you for not being "on par" but had you taken the learning curves everyone of us have had to make you wouldn't be cancelling you would be owning FPs together in your 4 man party!

Solo levelling, or even with one friend, is extremely simple. I do know what the OP is talking about, but I don't share his opinion. Once you reach 3 players in a party, in every instance, every pull has adds that spawn on the initial pull, it adds a little more intensity to the fight, and by that, I mean very little. We have a group that runs together regularly, none were carefully planned out to cover for any perceived weakness, we just rolled characters and went out to curb stomp some missions. Honestly, we didn't even really notice the extra adds right away, because as a group, they all melt so fast anyway.

Honestly, if a group of self-described 'very good' players is wiping on content 6 levels below your current level while trying to cover each others weaknesses, it's not the game I'm afraid, it's the players. I run as a pseudo-tank on my powertech, meaning I pull aggro while DPS spec'd and using combustible cylinders. Our 'healer' is an Operative DPS spec'd and to round it out we have a Mara and Assassin (again, DPS spec'd) I can't even say it's your gear, because when we're out stomping around, we really fall behind on maintaining our gear and it doesn't slow us down at all.

TL;DR OP, It isn't the game, it's your party.

I really enjoyed Guild wars 2 Better game then swtor on almost every possible way, except story (my opinion), Yet Swtor is still a good game

I just come from gw2 I just like SwTOR a bit better. GW2's pve is kinda boring and the combat aint so great but good yet. But mostly it's because I like the Star Wars universe alot and compared to GW2's weak world and dank conversations SWTOR wins. GW2 however have much newer graphics and I'd say SWTOR was never a graphic heavy game.