4.0 = Resetting toons to lvl 55 and 162 gear, fresh grind, same content...

Yup and I would have to gear from scratch as I should have to having skipped all the set bonus gear for this iteration of raids but at least there would be a start up community for progression raiding right from the start ( well once you hit 65 ) .

Casual raiders are happy because we get pugs/gf boost from having so many ops at max level and progression raiders are as happy as can be expected with no new ops because they aren't forced to do the faceroll SM content unless they choose to and can jump right into HM+.

Raiders are now saying it would be fine to get next tier end game gear because they did last tier end game efforts...lol
People would have been shot for bringing that to the table in any other expansion or in any other game.
"Cats and dogs living together...lunacy!!"

I don't expect to get a single piece of free gear or a single level 65 mod for free.

I just expect that my level 60 characters with ~192 mods in all the "sockets" won't be weaker than they were against the same exact mobs the day before. (Not "expect" as in "I think Bioware will have the integrity to follow that path", but "I expect it of a company that's not full of crap, so what does that have to do with Bioware? " )

Well, this particular situation is unusual.

A new level cap (par for the course), a new tier of gear (as expected), invalidating the previous tiers (totally understandable), but with no new end game content.

The gear grind is part-and-parcel of most themepark MMOs. The raiders that I know don't mind this -- it's just a fact of this style of game.

However, it's easier to "see past the curtain" when gear grind isn't accompanied by something new. Even the "NM mode" gear grid tends to add new mechanics to learn.

At least try to take the discussion in context before making posts like that.

No one is asking to give them anything for free but to give them what they have now. They have gear that might get them 3/5 on ToS HM, when 4.0 launches they'll have to go back through SM operations just to start building up gear to get to the point they were already at. There is no new operations etc. coming so they aren't getting an advantage they had not already earned***.

This is ideally the first time this has occurred for this game I believe? Where something you are working towards has had it's level increased and you've got to more or less start again.

***Ravagergate may be a massive reason for BW not caring that most have to re-gear. Many people made out well from that and only ended up with a small ban as a result yet keeping all the gear they got thus rewarding everyone who had 198's with free end game gear would exasperate that issue.

This is because most players can't play a game without the thought of gaining levels and not just going through a story and killing things

A level increase in less than a year is bad design, especially with it resulting in running the same end game content as before.

I actually been playing MMORPGs since their dawn of time (1991 on aol) and have no clue what you are trying to say here.

Expansions in MMORPGs have always added content, group content.

Thus far with 4.0 I see a ton of content being removed (crafting conquest, nightmare modes, mats, companion gear, and more)

and only see 1 hour a month of new single player content + old ops and flashpoints being upgraded (but lets be honest about the ops and flashpoints,, that should have been done long ago so really doesnt count as expansion content).

Care to try and make another self satisfied and obnoxious comment that you can be called on?

is going to change.

I know for myself I'm only leaving account sub'd until 4.0 launches.
If the conquest crafting destruction is not reversed to acceptable level (many ideas in the conquest thread that would be acceptable) I will be cancelling. And I know I am not alone in that

I can live with the 1 hour a month single player update
I can live with the change in mats and recipes
I can live with the old content (FPS and OPS) being bumped up to level 60 (they should have been all along so long over due)

But the removal of stats on companions and their gear and the removal of conquest crafting are game breakers for me.

I think EA will get a slight bump when 4.0 hits,
not as large as it should be because that bump will be mostly off set by cancelled subs over the bad ideas they put forth

but couple months after 4.0 the population will be down dramatically as people figure out 1 hour of solo player content each month is ate up in a few hours of play.
Leaving rest of month with nothing interesting to do.

4.0 started strong and sounded good but once again EA shows they just do not understand these games, their audiences, what needs to be done to succeed.

I'm not screaming doom and gloom
Just this is going to have a negative over all impact on population in long run
When at first it sounded so promising!

Heat -wave is right there is nothing actually new outside of the story. Do we even get a new daily area? No new pvp aka like arena was or quesh ball. No new GSF starfox stuff like bombers being introduced. No new end game pve content just giving mobs more hp and more damage doesn't count, no new actual mechanics in raids . Only new content is going to be the story which you can do in greens and supply vendor crap plus from the looks of it companions are getting buffed because it was so hard to do before.....

Tbh with the path they're taking with just increasing the level on a bunch of things I really hope they fix all the old bugs because swtor in general when it comes to bugs doesn't do that well.