I think this is why people are frustrated to the point of leaving the game, its the adjustment from 4.0 to 5.0. 4.0 was a very pvp friendly expansion for top level players as such:

 

4.0:

1.) You could earn pvp comms on low and mid level characters. And then send those to the high level chars.

2.) It would take maybe 3 weeks to earn a full top tier pvp set for one char using mult chars.

3.) Because of the above, you could easily buy a full top tier pvp set BEFORE you step one foot onto the level 65 pvp field.

 

5.0:

1.) You CANNOT earn any with low/mid, so they are somewhat worthless. it kills low/mid pvp.

2.) Maybe a year per character to full gear. So if you have 30 chars, I hope you live another 30 years.

3.) Most pvpers have a mindset, when they get to top level, they want to pvp without having to worry that everyone on the opponent team can face-roll them due to gear. They want skill versus skill (at least the real pvpers do)

 

In 4.0 the bolster was pretty much just to even up the level descrepencies in the low and mid, many people never really had less than max gear in 65's. Or at worst if you didn't use alts, you'd have a few weeks of gearing to sweat through. So the reason people are fixated on top level bolster now: Because they didnt have to worry about bolster in 65's, everyone had T2.

 

It may sound strange, but the problem isn't the existence of the bolster, just that we never had to use it before. How to solve: change the system so that pvpers can gear up top tier in 3 weeks per character again. It is so over-wealming a task currently. Instead of finally making it to top level and feeling like "whew, now I made it i can finally start top level pvp", instead you have to decide if you want to play another year or so before you can have top gear and have an even playing field.

Either the gearing system being easy or bolster being easy would both work.

Bolster is just friendlier to new players. So yes, it is bolster.

I think this is why people are frustrated to the point of leaving the game, its the adjustment from 4.0 to 5.0. 4.0 was a very pvp friendly expansion for top level players as such:

 

4.0:

1.) You could earn pvp comms on low and mid level characters. And then send those to the high level chars.

2.) It would take maybe 3 weeks to earn a full top tier pvp set for one char using mult chars.

3.) Because of the above, you could easily buy a full top tier pvp set BEFORE you step one foot onto the level 65 pvp field.

 

5.0:

1.) You CANNOT earn any with low/mid, so they are somewhat worthless. it kills low/mid pvp.

2.) Maybe a year per character to full gear. So if you have 30 chars, I hope you live another 30 years.

3.) Most pvpers have a mindset, when they get to top level, they want to pvp without having to worry that everyone on the opponent team can face-roll them due to gear. They want skill versus skill (at least the real pvpers do)

 

In 4.0 the bolster was pretty much just to even up the level descrepencies in the low and mid, many people never really had less than max gear in 65's. Or at worst if you didn't use alts, you'd have a few weeks of gearing to sweat through. So the reason people are fixated on top level bolster now: Because they didnt have to worry about bolster in 65's, everyone had T2.

 

It may sound strange, but the problem isn't the existence of the bolster, just that we never had to use it before. How to solve: change the system so that pvpers can gear up top tier in 3 weeks per character again. It is so over-wealming a task currently. Instead of finally making it to top level and feeling like "whew, now I made it i can finally start top level pvp", instead you have to decide if you want to play another year or so before you can have top gear and have an even playing field.

 

We already know, even BW said that in their post. But what that clearly fail to understand (or they do and acting dumb) is that pre 5.0 I can hit full PvP gear easily, so the bolster was nothing more than a supporting mechanism for non PvPers and first week farming for PvPers.

 

With the byzantine, grind gearing system we currently have, you need a couple of hours per day per toon to just be able to get tier 1. Heck, I have played ~100-120 WZ over 3 weeks on my sentinel (GC 34 now) and all I got was 1 230 set piece, 1 relic and 1 OH and 1 ear piece. At this rate I will need like 2-3 month to get a full 230..

 

We need the bolster to be more effective because gear is not accessible.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Ottoattack

none of that is the problem. could care less bout bolster tbh its the fact the devs stated this patch was to be alt friendly and it sure in holy hell isnt. on top of that i dont want to take 3 years to get toons set up in first tier then 8 other tiers come out before finishing secound tier. this system is bs. Edited January 26, 2017 by falkron-kerupt

the amount of time it takes a pvp'er to get gear is def an insult right now. either make it easier to get gear or make it so that bolster makes things even. most pvp'ers prefer a fair fight. the extra rewards you get from pvping once you are geared should just be able to be used for cosmetic stuff, not months and months and months of hours per day grinding just to have equal gear. if only they were thinking about the happiness of their players...

To fix pvp they could change it so that you can fully t3 a char in about 3 weeks. Problem is then all PvEers would do that to get geared up too fast. So how about this solution:

 

Change it so that gear means nothing in pvp. Everyone is the same. No gear stats in pvp, no problem. Then your bolster would instead give each class/spec whatever stats they should have and you are done.

 

How about the tweaking people want to do to customize their char for their playstyle? Well, either forget that, or you could have a selection of 3 or so buttons you can select in your settings something like priorities you choose from without ever seeing the stats you can just put them in the order you like for priority, but it will balance based on what you pick: Alacrity, Power, Armor, Defense, Crit, ...., etc. Or it could be written in english like "Prioritize faster cast times". Simplify.

 

Imagine not having to research for 100 hours to find out what stat tweaks work best, just play the game. Then the gear upgrades pvpers get will help them gear up for OPS and other PvE content, no affect in PvP.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Stellarcrusade

The real problem, as many others have said, is that 5.0 + 5.1 create one huge cluster**** where before we had a working, healthy system that required nothing more than tweaking to accomplish the goals of both the devs and playerbase combined. That and some new content for the longest-playing, most loyal segments of the playerbase. If I had to guess, I'd say that someone who thinks he knows far more than he does about MMO dynamics sold upper management on these "exciting" changes and has painted himself into a corner from which there is no escape this side of breaking the game. But that's only if I had to guess

I would really love the Devs to answer one simple question every business should ask for each decision, :who does this benefit?" As far as I can see it benefits no one, including the health of the game and certainly not new or existing players, players with tons of time are now forced into one character to get "elite" and those with little time are left undergeared, stuck between overpower bolstered lower tiered players and heavy geared elite players with tons of time and one character, Its terrible, needs a total rethink fast.

I would really love the Devs to answer one simple question every business should ask for each decision, :who does this benefit?" As far as I can see it benefits no one, including the health of the game and certainly not new or existing players, players with tons of time are now forced into one character to get "elite" and those with little time are left undergeared, stuck between overpower bolstered lower tiered players and heavy geared elite players with tons of time and one character, Its terrible, needs a total rethink fast.

 

I think they figured out if heavy grind is brought into the game with that galactic command thing more people will be glued to the screens and subscribed, since without a sub there is no gc stuff. So more subs and income in their case.

 

What is forgotten is that we are not in early and mid 2000s - mmo days have past as has the interest in them. Some come up, get busy for half a year or a year and quickly fall out with player base who goes on looking for something new.

 

Few of the old games, or theme parks as swtor is, are kinda holding it up due to dedicated fan base - that is about it.

 

Anyways, I am just passing by and leaving a record why I am not a yearly sub for quite some time now....

 

About gear and pvp, maybe they could try making all stats flat - no gear, no nothing just skill. There you go, pure pvp. And they get subs from time to time.

Edited January 27, 2017 by wababab