With the move to Broadsword, the number of people working on the game decreased. Removing one system by combining it's functionality with another equates to time savings down the road.

I've been playing MMO's for 24 years now, I've done contract work for a game studio. For a short while I had an insight, a window into the other side of this equation. I can tell you, the majority of the complaints I see leveled here and elsewhere on these forums stem from a lack of understanding on what is and isn't possible on the developer's side, much of which they simply cannot disclose for various reasons, chief among them being if they did even more negativities would result. Good MMOs player base size typically peaks in 5-7 years, even WOW's peak, the standard every other game is compared to, was 6 years after it launched. Every title I've ever played long term has reached a point where the same complaints are leveled for the same reasons. I expect nothing different from SWTOR, simply because the way the player base is handling the expected evolution of the game in the same manner. Eventually like most long running games, a point of equilibrium will be reached or the decision to pull the plug will be made. That is just how the lifecycle of an MMO works. What I can tell you is this. Nothing is going to draw players back in mass, they've moved on for one reason or another to either other games, or other interests besides games. You may see peaks and valleys around major updates or publishes but slowly but surely the player base is going to drop in numbers until that core of diehard fanatics is all that remains, or the servers go dark. You bring up lack of communication, what exactly do you want. Do you want them to daily/weekly/monthly update you on upcoming content which isn't finalized? I can pretty much guarantee whenever they put out patch notes it is done shortly after the content of the patch is deemed ready for publish. Have you ever thought that they don't go into detail about upcoming content, because until right before it is released, they simply don't know what is and isn't going to make it live? For the same reason they have to limit transparency, it would be far worse if they kept promising things, and showing things that later they would have to back track on for some reason. It's a balancing act, trying to decide what can and can't be put out there and unfortunately if you say too much and it doesn't pan out the results are disproportionately negative, as compared to when you say too little and actually put out a solid publish. People love to yell about the economy, the recent "taxes" on trade and mail are one of the few things they can actually do to try and address it yet seems to be universally disliked. What should they have done? Stripped credits from loot drops, make junk loot unsaleable to NPCs, wipe everyone's credit balance and start over? Currency in MMO's is an unlimited resource, the game keeps generating more, redistribution of infinity is still infinity. All they can do is try to slow the accumulation of credits; they're never going to be able to "deflate" the economy, at least by any means that won't cause a mass exodus of players.

The folks clamoring on about hearing from people at Broadsword, simply don't know how Broadsword is structured, they are used to larger studios like Bioware, or EA itself with a much more tiered hierarchy. The only person that Keith would be reporting to is likely Rob Denton, the founder and owner of Broadsword. From my experience, and I've been following a Broadsword title since Broadsword was founded, he rarely if ever directly communicates to the players, he expects the individual games teams to handle that.

Of course there is most likely some cross connection, well sorta. There likely is a login server does a hand off to the individual game servers, handling that client side would be absurd for a game like SWTOR and open it up to all kinds of potential issues. Think of it this way, when they were moving Leviathan they would need to get this login server configured to interact with Leviathan's new setup, be that some type of pass through for Load balancing or anti-DDOS protection. This would likely require taking the login server down, doing the reconfiguration the bringing it back up. It's a good opportunity to reboot the other game servers as well, since while the login server is offline you wouldn't be able to connect to anything anyways. Doubtful, it's most likely some anti-DDOs protection, or a load balancer, just because we can't tell exactly what it is, doesn't mean AWS's systems don't monitor or track everything in a manner they can use to come up with a diagnosis of any issues. AWS is only one of the oldest and largest cloud hosting solutions out there. They've been in the game since 2006, and by now I'd assume that AWS knows what they are doing as far as providing the tools and information to their customers so the customers can manage their businesses.

Of course they aren't but you also can't apply real world economic theory directly into the game on an apples to apples basis. They can't control how many credits are in circulation like a real world nation can, otherwise you'd see even worse problems (imagine if mobs didn't have credits as loot because of players hording). They're doing the only thing they can do to try and stabilize the game economy by trying to pull credits out at a rate help offset the rate they are being introduced in. Before this the only controls were the much more limited sinks in place, and credits being held on inactive accounts. It will cause a market flux but eventually it with either stabilize, or they will have to adjust things again. It is simply how it has to happen in games like this or the game economy will get beyond the point of being brought under control.

I'm not really sure what to think about it. If and when it goes through, it will be interesting. Nothing has happened like this before with Broadsword, and if half the SWTOR teams joins them it will likely more than double the size of the studio. That is where the uncertainty comes in on my part. I can't really make a good guess as to how a new title making up such a large portion of the studio would be handled by the head man Rob Denton, or how much EA is going to demand knowing that SWTOR will be the biggest project they (Broadsword) have as part of the contract for Broadsword to manage, develop and maintain titles on EA's behalf, which incidentally is 100% of Broadswords revenue, they have no IPs of their own to fall back on if their deal with EA turns sour. I know that with UO, it's team and producer have a good amount of freedom in their creative choices, but they also make up the smallest portion of the studio's total employee base. As for interaction, I don't know about how Broadswords other title DAoC handles things, but UO has individuals contracted in to create unique content for each server, in addition to content that comes from the development team that due to the team size makes up a minority of the content added to the game. The Producer backs contractors in that endeavor and manages the team of contractors personally. I can't see something like this happening with SWTOR however due to the greater complexity of the game. As for interaction, they used to do regular meet and greet nights that rotated through the various servers, but those seem to have fallen to the wayside about 2 years ago, as they have been working on a seasonal server format that is occupying the very small development team's focus. They still publish a newsletter, and the producer welcomes emails from the player base.

I help run one of the oldest continually running gaming fansites on the internet, it's centered on Ultima Online, keeping up with Broadsword is part of what we do. They had an office based in VA, when everything went remote for COVID the company decided it worked well enough they would continue on that way and save the money over renting a physical location.

Why would they when all of Broadsword works remotely?

I'm with you on this, I float between games, though I keep my subs active the entire time. I've been here since beta and have I believe 3 level capped toons and a bunch of middling alts. The boost is really helping because I get to bypass a bunch of the side missions I've done multiple times which have begun to feel like a grind.

https://live.staticflickr.com/3884/15009777531_8bab1cb179_b.jpg Cowboy, though I do use a set of the Recovered Hero's Armor for the body. I think it works pretty well as an outfit.

First thing you always have to look for from any Mass build shop, and since the Dell buyout Alienware is one of these, they almost always put in too small a Power Supply. Also the Graphics Card is sorta on the lower end of the GTX 700 Series.

The good news? You can do it within your budget, Here's what I'd do. i7 4.0ghz Quad Core CPU that will fit your current Motherboard. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369 $399.99 (Leaves $400) Upgraded Cooling for the new CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106219 $85.99 (Leaves $314) This should do you, if it doesn't then I'd look at a beefier Video Card. I know the 270x isn't that bad (I have 2 in Crossfire) but AMD cards really aren't the top of the line when it comes to gaming. But looking at your Build it seems that the Core i3 CPU is probably your biggest bottle neck.

Honestly, I took the back off one of the cheap office chairs, and use it like an adjustable stool, so much less annoying. Works great for me.

They Cyberpower one isn't bad, except the Video Card. If you go that route, pay the extra for at least a r9 270x , 280x, or a 290x they are much better cards. That 240 that's selected is really an low end card in the r series. I just built a new one a while back and if you have the confidence to do that, I'd suggest using custom build sites as a place to "Mock up" builds then price and source the parts yourself. The cost difference between the one I built myself and what Cyberpower asked came out to me saving about $500.

I am known as Jedi Master Triberius, oddly I am a Sith Pureblood born on the planet of Korriban, fortunately for me the normally aggressive nature of my species never manifested. At a young age I discovered I was force sensitive, and knowing the methodology of the Empire in training force sensitives I smuggled myself away on a trading vessel to Hutt Space where I was able to contact a member of the Jedi Order. Becoming a member of the Czerka Family is attractive to one such as myself for many reasons. In the position of Organism Handler, through my work I would be able to collect data and catalog the behavior of various creatures. In my duties to the Jedi Order I have developed a fine analytical sense, allowing me to make connections between what appear to be non-related occurrences, having the force as my ally, guiding me in the right direction is also a major benefit. Non-Classified data obtained on creature behavior would be of great benefit to exploration and prospecting teams across the galaxy, resulting in fewer casualties, lost work days, accidental death and dismemberment settlements, for Czerka Corp. while allowing me the fulfillment of bettering and protecting the lives of those that benefit from this information. As an added benefit to Czerka, my ability with the force and my natural tendency towards healing, and overall condition of physical fitness has resulted in my having a high resistance to most diseases, as demonstrated on the planet of Taris, when I intentionally allowed myself to be infected with Rakghoul Plague (which my immune system defeated) to help in developing a vaccine. Ended the Dark Plague that was corrupting members of the Jedi Order turning them into killers by finding a cure. Gained the ceremonial title of Barsen'thor (Warden of the Order) of the Jedi Order as a result of afore mentioned actions, a title not used in millennia. I raised an army by forming alliances with the Esh'Ka and the Voss to root out and capture numerous "Children of the Emperor". Deadly darkside force users who threatened the entire galaxy. Rash decisions often had the most potential for disaster. Only through careful consideration of facts, and weighing available options can the proper decision be made. If by "whatever it takes" you mean exploring all possibilities in order to set out upon the most efficient, safe and productive path then yes. Possibly, though if a questionable act must be done to serve a higher good, then it maybe what is necessary. I would forgo the snacks, I don't drink cocktails, they diffuse clarity of thought, not only is my esteemed colleague possibly in danger but damage to Company property is likely to occur. Failure to point out and attempt to remedy the situation immediately is wasteful.