Bag RNG System: Aging Poorly

20 bags is a little over 1 week worth of dailies pretty much. You shouldn't be getting 5 pieces in a week. Some people have and that is what's bad. The rate should be something around 1 item per 20 bags and if they move away from the bag system that is exactly what it will be: 2 items every 3 weeks or so.

Nowhere did I say the bag system was good, but my argument with all the people jumping in this thread saying "Bag 20 with no loot" is that you aren't really entitled to 1-2 battlemaster pieces a week just because you said so.

I love this idea sososososo much. As someone who recently hit 50 and started opening bags filled with lots of nothing, I've already been turned off to the gear grind just because I can't stand putting in all the time for only a chance at anything. It wouldn't be so bad if said gear didn't create such a large gap in usefulness, but the way the system is now the bags are awful. If something even close to your suggestion was implemented, I'd actually PVP a lot more and more importantly, have fun doing so.

This is an excellent idea and I hope Bioware seriously considers it against the current strategy of 'ensuring' (fallaciously, IMO) longer-lasting customers.

I too was among the '35 bags and nothing to show for it' crowd and when I finally received three pieces in one burst, I was elated for the rest of my play session. However, when it came down to logging in again the next day and playing that character, I felt absolutely no desire to run through another 30 bags with nothing to show for it but centurion commendations whose rewards are negated by a lucky roll of the RNG.

So I started an alt. Until the weekly quests roll back around, I have zero intention or incentive of playing that level 50 again knowing the most efficient method of advancing that character's strength and effectiveness would be just to take part in quests that yield the most bags in one shot and hoping for the best. Earning enough warzone and mercenary commendations for a bag or two a day stopped being fun very quickly.

Reward us for our skill and time spent, Bioware. It seems to work well in other online games.

To be perfectly honest, I think that the Champion's Bag RNG loot distribution is possibly the single worst example of game design in an MMO I have come across in the last decade. I genuinely think that the designer who developed it is inept, and really needs to listen to the community on this issue.

It baffles me how such a wildly unpopular method of loot distribution can just be blindly maintained despite widespread complaint and objection. I can understand to a degree why Bioware Austin are so arrogant about it all; some of the devs there are perhaps some of the most talented and diverse developers the gaming industry has to offer. However the community is full of people who want to love this game. Patch 1.1.1 goes a way to fixing the FEW major issues with the game that are pretty much universally reviled by us players.

Sadly Champion's Bags seem to have missed the boat yet again.

If it was a simple case of porting the Battlemaster's Bags over to a fixed currency system, why couldn't they have done it at the same time as flipping Champion's Bags as well?

When I PvP, I PvP hard. I frequently top damage, kills, medals, sometimes healing if I'm playing to the objectives particularly. I really don't feel like I'm getting awarded for any of that. I may as well go in, afk, and not really contribute because - even though I often make a significant impact on the game as a whole - I find that when I come out of a warzone with enough commendations to purchase a bag... I invariably end up with Centurion Commendations, or duplicate gear.

PvP loot distribution really does feel like I'm being punished because I PvP. I feel like I'm being encouraged NOT to PvP. It's really not a pleasant feeling.

Today was a particularly amusing day. For the past 8 days or so I've been opening roughly 3 bags a day. That's 24 bags. Out of those 24 bags I just got duplicates of gear I already have (more precisely, 2 more gloves (now 4), 1 more Focus (now 5), and 1 more head piece (now 3). Today, I had my dailies as well as my weekly wz quest to complete, which I did, and I also went out and ground Ilum. I got another bag from wz whoring, which brought me up to 6 bags.

This is how it went:

First bag I opened - 1 commendation
Second bag I opened - 1 commendation
Third bag I opened - 3 commendations
Fourth bag I opened - 1 commendation
Fifth bag I opened - 2 commendations.

At this point I was in a position where I needed to do a couple more warzones before I could get the last Champion's Bag for the day, but luckily I had enough commendations to fill in a glaring whole in my PvP set. I picked up the Centurion bracers, and went on my way.

Got the last bag, really hoping for a good end to the day:

Sixth bag I opened - 1 commendation, 1 Force-Master's Bracers.

Whilst I certainly got to pick up and additional piece of gear, I was dismayed that I had dropped my commendations on the Centurion Bracers. I really did feel like the game had just given me a rather harsh and rude slap round the face.

I didn't PvP for the rest of the night. I couldn't bring myself to. The thought that I could spend a few hours grinding out another bag, only to get the typical 1 commendation was really off-putting, and made me quite frustrated.

It should really be apparent to the developers now that the loot bag system is not working. I think they are aware of this as well, otherwise they would not have altered Battlemaster's bags. Whilst it's all well and good maintaining that you'd like to ensure steady and paced gear progression in the game, which is understandable, it's not OK to continue on with a system so reviled and so degrading. It's not OK to award PvP effort with a loot bag that cost 3 hours and all of my commendations, and then have that reward obstruct me more by throwing in horrifically small drop rates and a most tedious RNG system.

In reality, where we all live... or some of us at least, the entire loot system needs to switched over to a more stable and moderated fixed currency system. I wouldn't even mind if it takes me longer to get the gear; I'd just like to be able to focus on the end goal. I'd like to be able to say, "this is how much I need, this is how much I have, and this is how much the game will reward me, so it'll take me this long to get the next piece." I'd like more choice as to what items I purchase and when. I'd like to be able to put effort in and be rewarded for that effort with a currency that allows me to go to a vendor to buy a PvP item of my choosing (that is relevant to my Valor rank, btw ;o).

I'm not going to stoop to begging. All I'll say is that - if the ability delay is really fixed in the next two months - it really is the only thing left that is directly inspiring the thoughts of abandonment I feel towards SWTOR. I think that's pretty much true of everyone who PvPs as well.

Here's hoping Geof gets round to making a post on the issue. If they are going to keep the system, I'd really like to know WHY they are intending to keep the system, and why they won't switch to a more robust and rewarding system for the plaers.