Unfortunately, a legacy ignore feature will expose player anonymity to exploits. We all have to hope that the feature they implement doesn't list the actual legacy (Or worse, all the legacy's characters) on the ignore list. By "hope" I mean hopefully they are smart enough to understand that's a bad thing and consider it before rolling out the design.

 

Now, even if they think the above through and design the feature to not reveal that information on other people's ignore lists, you could be exposed to an exploit allowing someone to identify one of your characters by using the legacy ignore feature. Let's say you have a friend or group of friends that often request your help or game time and some days, you just want to do your own thing, but don't want to hurt any feelings. So you change characters to one they don't know about so you can enjoy the game via anonymity. Now if they see your character (the one you changed to) and suspect either by a name similarity, a character look or whatever that this anonymous character might be you, all they have to do is add their friend's character (the one of yours you logged off of or they know is you) to the ignore list and see if the name of the character you are currently on shows up on the "who" list.

 

Remember, that's just a scenario involving friends. Don't forget that people that harass others can also do this. So your legacy ignore may prevent you from seeing chat message or grouping with them in PvE content, but if they follow you around with their character you will still see them, their emotes, their toys, their abilities, their snowballs (for the people that get bent out of shape over those), custom emotes, etc... They now have a way to identify some of your other characters if you change to them to avoid harassment.

 

Congrats, people, you got what you asked for. Now you'll have to deal with it. The only changes they should have made were:

 

--Faction based import / export ignore lists.

--Doubling the current size of the ignore list.

--Automatic removal of banned characters (usually credit spam bots) from lists.

 

Anyway ... I'm very curious to see how this effects queue times for PvE in GF because there are a lot of people that add people to their ignore lists for the stupidest reasons.

Some Ranked players already falsely use the report legacy name of players to find out a players legacy name and then all their alts.

Chris at BioWare knows this because it’s been discussed on the discord channels. His response is they are breaking the rules and also they know not all people want their whole legacy known.

So it begs the question. How will this legacy ignore work.

If BioWare know players want some privacy, they must design the system to prevent it being exploited like the report legacy feature is.

If they don’t put safe guards in place, then they are going against what they want in their own design.

Which brings me back to the question we would all like answered before this goes live, how will the system work?

What "changes" to augments? There's been no changes to the previous augments. All they've done is added some high-end, not needed by most people, augments. 🤔

I suspect that the changes they are referring to, are the chances in the method of acquisition, namely having to do specific content to acquire them that goes against their "play it your way" motto. Specific and opposing content mind you. I mean ranked PvP and NiM raids aren't exactly in the same corner.

And compared to the previous attempt at this, the change is that now you have to win in ranked PvP and you have to do NiM raids instead of any raids.

So no matter how you turn it, there's changes in that respect.

Really? A ranked player that doesn’t know that the ignore function doesn’t work the same in pvp as in flash points or operations group finder?

Dude, you’ve been here long enough to know that ignore in pvp will still put you in the same teams as people on your list or theirs.

And if you really didn’t know, I’m actually surprised and apologies for not explaining it.

Yes, I really didnt know how it worked. I know players that have played this game for 8 years and they still didnt know basic stuff. They just didnt care or bother or they just never came across some parts of the game.

I mean you're replying to the same guy who claimed the virus was a total hoax.

 

On topic and not directed to you, it's great they're doing something I guess. Like everything else BW, too little too late.

Never said its a "total hoax" read the thread a bit more.

Some Ranked players already falsely use the report legacy name of players to find out a players legacy name and then all their alts.

I have been wondering how it was impossible to hide on an alt. Sometimes I would just like to chill and enjoy some pvp matches in peace. lol. Good to know.

I suspect that the changes they are referring to, are the chances in the method of acquisition, namely having to do specific content to acquire them that goes against their "play it your way" motto. Specific and opposing content mind you. I mean ranked PvP and NiM raids aren't exactly in the same corner.

 

And compared to the previous attempt at this, the change is that now you have to win in ranked PvP and you have to do NiM raids instead of any raids.

 

So no matter how you turn it, there's changes in that respect.

Nope, not a conflict. Augments were never part of the "play your way" philosophy. They always required a very specific, "play our way" path to creation. That being high level crafting with specific materials. One of those materials is only available by playing flashpoints, operations, and warzones. Processed Isotope Stabilizers are a fairly common drop, but they do require playing specific content in order to acquire them. Or one can purchase them from other players on the GTN. These new augments will be no different. They being a new, higher tier requiring a much more exclusive crafting material will still only be available to high end crafters with access to materials that drop from specific locations. And just like PIS's, if one does not want to run the content then they can buy the material from the GTN and craft their own, or purchase precrafted copies of the item. Just like now. Or, they can ignore them like a lot of people already do with the current highest tier of augments.

Nope, not a conflict. Augments were never part of the "play your way" philosophy. They always required a very specific, "play our way" path to creation. That being high level crafting with specific materials. One of those materials is only available by playing flashpoints, operations, and warzones. Processed Isotope Stabilizers are a fairly common drop, but they do require playing specific content in order to acquire them. Or one can purchase them from other players on the GTN. These new augments will be no different. They being a new, higher tier requiring a much more exclusive crafting material will still only be available to high end crafters with access to materials that drop from specific locations. And just like PIS's, if one does not want to run the content then they can buy the material from the GTN and craft their own, or purchase precrafted copies of the item. Just like now. Or, they can ignore them like a lot of people already do with the current highest tier of augments.

What's with the "always"? Current augments do not require specific gameplay. So you are false just by that account. And besides, buy them with credits is just a cheap cop out. I won't accept that as an argument. Even if it's just because not all activities are rewarded equally in credits.

And processed isotopes are cheap and that matters but also don't require specific places to get. There are in fact many places and different difficulties where you can get them. It's not even close to as specific as NiM raids and group ranked PvP.

And listen, I'm not a fan of "play it your way", so don't get me wrong on that but when 6.0 came out it was very inclusive for achieving BiS gear, no matter how casual you are you can attain it within a reasonable time frame.

What my problem is, is the amount of mats required and that they have to come from two sources, namely NiM Raids and Ranked PvP. If it was either/or then I wouldn't care as much about the exclusivity. It's just an observation that BW has done another backflip on their own words, that's all.

But if there was one cybertech schem that used NiM mats and another one that used the ranked mats to make that same item required for creating augments that would solve my issue, well, that and reducing the amount of mats required.

What's with the "always"? Current augments do not require specific gameplay.

Where do Processed Isotope Stabilizers drop?

For those freaking out about Legacy Ignore, my guess is that it will work the same way as the Guild Ban system that was added a while ago. With that you click the Add button and type an online character name (or do it via the right click menu). In the list it looks like this: Character (Legacy) for example: Mero (Ray)

If you try to add them again with another character you get a red text message in chat that says something like "This player has already been banned from guild". It does not say which name or legacy they have already been added to the list with.

The name/legacy it displays in the list is just for show. The list entries do not update when renamed. We've had lots of trolls try to sneak back in by renaming their character/legacy but since the list is controlled in the background by their unique account ID they remain blocked.

Having run one of the largest guilds in the game for over 8 years I am certain a lot of people will be surprised when they find they are ignoring their friends. A lot of people seem to have particular characters that they like to troll with and act in a totally different way when logged in with them. In my books, it doesn't matter which characters they use as it's the same person hiding behind the keyboard spouting abuse to hurt the community so they deserve to be ignored/kicked/banned.

For those freaking out about Legacy Ignore, my guess is that it will work the same way as the Guild Ban system that was added a while ago. With that you click the Add button and type an online character name (or do it via the right click menu). In the list it looks like this: Character (Legacy) for example: Mero (Ray)

 

If you try to add them again with another character you get a red text message in chat that says something like "This player has already been banned from guild". It does not say which name or legacy they have already been added to the list with.

 

The name/legacy it displays in the list is just for show. The list entries do not update when renamed. We've had lots of trolls try to sneak back in by renaming their character/legacy but since the list is controlled in the background by their unique account ID they remain blocked.

 

Having run one of the largest guilds in the game for over 8 years I am certain a lot of people will be surprised when they find they are ignoring their friends. A lot of people seem to have particular characters that they like to troll with and act in a totally different way when logged in with them. In my books, it doesn't matter which characters they use as it's the same person hiding behind the keyboard spouting abuse to hurt the community so they deserve to be ignored/kicked/banned.

If I read this correctly ..

As long as the "name" that has been associated with the "Legacy" name is blocked without divulging all related names to that list or making those names public knowledge that should be fine.

When requesting player communication or request to join guilds etc ... the responses are something as you have suggested that would be an acceptable dialogue.

Well said.

Chris,

Now that you've tapped into the 'Legacy' feature of a acct/character. Any chance you can do what other MMO's like ESO does and have guild membership based on legacy instead of alt by alt by alt by alt by alt by alt by alt by alt basis?

Where do Processed Isotope Stabilizers drop?

as far as I know in Flash Points of all difficulties and Operations of all difficulties. Not sure about PvP or Uprisings.

In any case that's a LOT less specific than Ranked Warzones for one mat and NiM Ops for the other.

You can split hairs over the word "specific" but the point I'm making is that they are available and accessible for many more players than the new ones are, because those types of content are really much more specific.

So please get over trying to fight definitions over a word and just accept that the current mats are much more readily available than the new ones will be and leave it at that. You should've realised that that's what I meant rather than trying to mince words.

as far as I know in Flash Points of all difficulties and Operations of all difficulties. Not sure about PvP or Uprisings.

 

In any case that's a LOT less specific than Ranked Warzones for one mat and NiM Ops for the other.

 

You can split hairs over the word "specific" but the point I'm making is that they are available and accessible for many more players than the new ones are, because those types of content are really much more specific.

 

So please get over trying to fight definitions over a word and just accept that the current mats are much more readily available than the new ones will be and leave it at that. You should've realised that that's what I meant rather than trying to mince words.

It is almost like I already said that. Oh wait, I did...

Processed Isotope Stabilizers are a fairly common drop, but they do require playing specific content in order to acquire them. Or one can purchase them from other players on the GTN. These new augments will be no different. They being a new, higher tier requiring a much more exclusive crafting material will still only be available to high end crafters with access to materials that drop from specific locations.

Funny how one material being exclusive to particular content is okay, but the other being exclusive is a problem. It is okay for the first to be exclusive to certain content because you play that content. Now that there is a mat that is exclusive to some other content, oh, now it is a problem. Or is it only okay for mats to be exclusive to some content if it is in content that some unknown number of "many more players" play, but if you do not play that content, well, sucks to be you?

It is almost like I already said that. Oh wait, I did...

 

 

Funny how one material being exclusive to particular content is okay, but the other being exclusive is a problem. It is okay for the first to be exclusive to certain content because you play that content. Now that there is a mat that is exclusive to some other content, oh, now it is a problem. Or is it only okay for mats to be exclusive to some content if it is in content that some unknown number of "many more players" play, but if you do not play that content, well, sucks to be you?

What you were doing was arguing the word "specific". I know you said those things but you kept comparing it to the new set up which is not an equal set up.

The point that I'm making, again, is that you have to do NiM Ops and Ranked Warzones for the new augments. Those are FEWER activities than now and certainly more niche. So can you at least get over yourself and agree that the current set up is a LOT broader than the new one? Cause it feels like your arguing just for the sake of arguing now.

Currently we have a single chat right click option for reporting people: Report Spam

I suggest adding another: Report Abuse

That would automatically include the last few minutes of the reporting user's chat channels merged together. It would be useful to also separately include the merged chat for the person being reported so you can see things from their side. Sometimes the abuse spans multiple chats like when somebody starts griefing in ops chat, then goes to fleet and whisper.

The new option should have a confirmation box to help limit accidental usage.

The only way to report abusive players at the moment is to /bug->Cancel->Yes or System->Customer Services and then Create Ticket->Report Harassment which is buried away.

legacy ignore sounds greeat, but how about we get it both ways. friends and ignore list, legacy wide. i dont like and have never liked 10 friends on one toon, and 15 on another, totally different from each other etc. or the logging in of one toon on the fleet, ignoring 10 gold spammers, then logging in another, and having to do it again.

if we can add in legacy ignore for the love of god can we fianlly make our ignore list and friends list account wide for ourselves?

As a Founder who's been in and out of this game since it first opened its servers, one of the biggest and fastest growing issues for me in this game has been toxicity. By toxicity, I'm not talking about smack talk in PvP - I'm talking about players making jokes about the Holocaust, bragging about sexual assault, and frequent bigotry and racial slurs (to put it mildly) in General chat. When you start placing these players on ignore and reporting the most egregious cases, you quickly realize that you're spending most of your time doing that rather than playing the actual game. I don't pay my subscription to police SWTOR for Bioware - I pay it to enjoy this amazing game in relative peace, respect and safety with likeminded players. So on my account, I've turned off General chat and I rarely come to the Fleet hub anymore to mitigate the problem and insulate myself from the worst of it. Needless to say, that's a sad state of affairs.

To underscore this point, both my wife and I play this game together, and when we finally allowed our 9-year old daughter to join us (she's becoming a gamer like her parents), the very first time she played the game I had to explain what the word "r a p e" meant as she read players joking about it in Dromund Kaas general chat. And while it's part of my job as a parent to responsibly prepare my child for the world we live in, I don't feel it's appropriate to have a discussion about sexual assault with a 9-year old little girl. My wife and I discussed it, and even if we disable every chat channel, it's still possible for her to be exposed to some truly horrific toxicity that we'd then be forced to confront with her, and we just don't feel the game is worth that risk until she's older and more capable of processing and dealing with some of these aberrant players herself. That's truly unfortunate that my child can't enjoy this game because of some mentally and emotionally malformed individuals who use the public chat channels for their own personal, sick amusement, and they do so with impunity.

One of my sharpest criticisms of Bioware/EA in the last few years has been their inability or unwillingness to police their own game. The tools they've given us to help them have been largely ineffectual. Ignore was for a single character, which didn't prevent players who are intentionally trolling and griefing from jumping to another character to continue their corrosive behavior. Reporting someone often takes weeks to months before their account is actioned, and even then, it often would merely be a slap on the wrist. And if we're being honest here, the bad elements that are festering in this game are not confined to toxicity. Ranked PvP is so replete with cheating that Bioware has to expend what precious few resources they have to audit each season. That's time we could be getting for bug fixes, QoL issues, or even more new, robust content.

So to see this post from Chris about how Bioware is not only taking this issue seriously but also taking decisive action to reduce toxicity in their game is extremely surprising and encouraging. FINALLY, but I suppose it's better late than never. From my perspective at least, it's long overdue that they get control back of their own game. I'll be honest here and say that I never thought I'd see the day when we got a Legacy-wide ignore feature.

It's therefore my hope that when Bioware starts swinging the ban hammer around, some of these people will finally get the message as it also serves as a deterrent for others. It's also my hope that Bioware sends a very clear message here that internet anonymity does NOT entitle you to inflict other players with your depravity, that it is NOT acceptable to check your maturity and civility at the login screen, and that you WILL be held accountable for creating a toxic game environment that ruins this game for regular, considerate players who just want to play this game together in relative peace, respect, and safety. If these proposed changes have the intended effect and we start to see a dramatic decline in the level of toxicity currently plaguing this game, my wife and I will reconsider letting our daughter join us again.

Thank you, Bioware.

I mean, if people are win-trading, they are participating. They're playing the content.

No. Win-traders aren't playing the content - they are cheating the content - and when they get caught, the content will have played them.

Removing Vote Kick from PvP had to happen. It was being excessively abused. Don't blame Bioware for being forced to do something about it. And if there are some misguided players out there who feel they need to start win-trading (again) in Ranked, perhaps Bioware should start banning their accounts instead of just stripping their ill-gotten gains from them.

Regardless, please don't condone cheating on the forums. There's absolutely no justification for it.

I'm so happy about Legacy-wide ignores!

Now if they'll just implement Legacy-wide stronghold keys...

What you were doing was arguing the word "specific". I know you said those things but you kept comparing it to the new set up which is not an equal set up.

 

The point that I'm making, again, is that you have to do NiM Ops and Ranked Warzones for the new augments. Those are FEWER activities than now and certainly more niche. So can you at least get over yourself and agree that the current set up is a LOT broader than the new one? Cause it feels like your arguing just for the sake of arguing now.

You decided that I was arguing over the word specific. You are the one who keeps trying to make this about the width of the gate rather than the gate itself. Why? Likely because it is easier than acknowledging that you are okay with the current crop of augments being gated but have a problem with the gate blocking off the next tier because it affects you. I have already acknowledged, more than once, that the current gate is open to more players, but there is still a gate. A gate that blocks access to some players. The new gate will be more restrictive, and it will block access to more players than the current gates. If feels like you are arguing just for the sake of obfuscating your hypocrisy that some gates are okay but others are not because they affect you.

What is most funny is that these augments that so many people are pining over will only amount to a relatively small increase in tertiary stats (possibly minorly significant if one uses all 14 augments of the same type). The Endurance and Power will be useless in the vast majority of content, and the content where it will be of some use is the exact content where the mats required to craft these augments will drop.

You are so focused on the tree you can not see the forest.

You decided that I was arguing over the word specific. You are the one who keeps trying to make this about the width of the gate rather than the gate itself. Why? Likely because it is easier than acknowledging that you are okay with the current crop of augments being gated but have a problem with the gate blocking off the next tier because it affects you. I have already acknowledged, more than once, that the current gate is open to more players, but there is still a gate. A gate that blocks access to some players. The new gate will be more restrictive, and it will block access to more players than the current gates. If feels like you are arguing just for the sake of obfuscating your hypocrisy that some gates are okay but others are not because they affect you.

 

What is most funny is that these augments that so many people are pining over will only amount to a relatively small increase in tertiary stats (possibly minorly significant if one uses all 14 augments of the same type). The Endurance and Power will be useless in the vast majority of content, and the content where it will be of some use is the exact content where the mats required to craft these augments will drop.

 

You are so focused on the tree you can not see the forest.

Well in a roundabout sort of way we finally reach consensus. You don't see the tree through the forest as far as I'm concerned by arguing that point with me multiple times and I just kept trying to get a consensus...anyways.

So we agree that there is a much more niche area of content that will yield the mats for these augments. oh I for one am not planning on getting these because I don't need them. I'm just here arguing from principle. I already know I don't need them but I think that the way this is done by BioWare is just a bad idea. If they were easier to get then I might have gotten them just for the sake of getting them, but at it's current cost it's not worth it to me. I don't PvP anyway and for NiM raids I do not need them cause the current gear is good enough to beat those Ops.

Again, I'm just here arguing the principle. This goes about as far as it can against "play it your way" as it can get. But that's an observation, not a complaint. I never liked the democratization of BiS gear simply because they were rewards for beating harder content and they took them away and put nothing back in return for it.

And to make it require mats from NiM ops and ranked PvP is a mistake from my point of view and the cost of crafting such an augment is beyond ridiculous. But I'm not gonna get them anyway. I've skipped gearing steps before when I thought they were ridiculous. The current augments are ok. I can do that. But the new ones are not. So there it is.

What I do wonder about is PvP and how these are going to affect them. Not because I PvP cause I don't, but because I can imagine that people who do PvP aren't that happy with these and I understand why.

legacy ignore sounds greeat, but how about we get it both ways. friends and ignore list, legacy wide. i dont like and have never liked 10 friends on one toon, and 15 on another, totally different from each other etc. or the logging in of one toon on the fleet, ignoring 10 gold spammers, then logging in another, and having to do it again.

 

if we can add in legacy ignore for the love of god can we fianlly make our ignore list and friends list account wide for ourselves?

Only if we get to approve the "friend". I do not like how you can add someone as a friend without a person's permission. I do not need a person adding me as a "friend" and then pestering/bothering/harrassing (and yes some can actually go to harrassing) me. If I haven't given you permission than kindly respect my wishes and don't add me to your list which is the problem in this game. You don't have to ask the person's permission.