That and the feedback, but title too long.

I've been here for some real stinker patches that had to be backtracked in key ways and hurt the playerbase a lot. As far as I can tell, in the past, people have generally fought a lot harder for the game, with a sincere belief it can still be better. The mood I see most surrounding this expansion is one of giving up; accepting it will be terrible and already getting ready to move on from the game, not just to another game temporarily, but mentally move on from it too. A mixture of apathy and desperation from long time fans of the game. Only some starry eyed new players with no previous knowledge of your (BW's) patch history seem to be immune to the bleak outlook entirely.

Idk if you ever actually read this stuff, but I don't think your typical way of handling things of backtracking unwanted changes with small tweaks after release is going to save you this time. There is too much people don't like, too much senselessly wrong, it becomes impossible for people to focus their energy on directing you to changes that are palatable. I don't know what's going on internally, hopefully not too many covid cases (wishing you well if so) but something is very wrong with what's on the road to being put out and the fans of the game deserve better. I don't mean me, though I'd prob qualify as a fan, I mean the sort of people who have stuck with you through everything, no matter how bad it got. They deserve better than what they are facing getting as an "expansion" (which seems to be more of a systems rewrite in ways people don't like than an expansion of the game). Maybe you think you can take them for granted, but the mood I've seen says otherwise.

Honestly from what I read BW just needs to do 1 thing, and most of the gearing concerns will be fixed.

Many people want Armorings, Mods and enhancements to tweak stats to how they wish to play. If BW were to put in a vendor that would give you access to those mods when you reach the even levels of Gear scores much of the complaints would go away.

As an example. When a player reaches item level 322 on all of it's pieces of gear, a vendor becomes available to sell (for currency or massive credits which may be a good credit sink as well) for 322 armorings, 322 Mods, and 322 enhancements. When you acquire 324 gear in all of your slots the 324 versions open up to become available. This method could continue in higher gear levels, and as gear increases over time.

Honestly from what I read BW just needs to do 1 thing, and most of the gearing concerns will be fixed.

 

Many people want Armorings, Mods and enhancements to tweak stats to how they wish to play. If BW were to put in a vendor that would give you access to those mods when you reach the even levels of Gear scores much of the complaints would go away.

 

As an example. When a player reaches item level 322 on all of it's pieces of gear, a vendor becomes available to sell (for currency or massive credits which may be a good credit sink as well) for 322 armorings, 322 Mods, and 322 enhancements. When you acquire 324 gear in all of your slots the 324 versions open up to become available. This method could continue in higher gear levels, and as gear increases over time.

That would definitely be a step in the right direction and proof that our feedback and concerns are listened to. However, it's not the only thing that has people concerned about...

Honestly from what I read BW just needs to do 1 thing, and most of the gearing concerns will be fixed.

 

Many people want Armorings, Mods and enhancements to tweak stats to how they wish to play. If BW were to put in a vendor that would give you access to those mods when you reach the even levels of Gear scores much of the complaints would go away.

 

As an example. When a player reaches item level 322 on all of it's pieces of gear, a vendor becomes available to sell (for currency or massive credits which may be a good credit sink as well) for 322 armorings, 322 Mods, and 322 enhancements. When you acquire 324 gear in all of your slots the 324 versions open up to become available. This method could continue in higher gear levels, and as gear increases over time.

That's exactly what Bioware did with 5.1 when they introduced new vendors to try to "solve" the huge problem, it created even more problems. Your suggestion would alleviate that.

The current system 6.3 is very very good, they don't have to change it, just fix and add some minor QoL's here and there.

There's four big concerns about 7.0:

1 - Gear progression locked on a single game-mode. i.e if you run flashpoint you HAVE TO run flashpoints again to upgrade your gear, anything else you do will not progress your gear.

2 - Removing the freedom of customization.

3 - The amount of new currencies and time-gated progression (you need 6 WEEKLIES to upgrade a single piece of gear).

4 - The horrendous "ability pruning" removing essential mechanics of classes.

I do like ability pruning but not the way Bioware is doing it, they're doing it all wrong.

I lost my hope already, the only thing I like in 7.0 so far is the Loadout.

Honestly from what I read BW just needs to do 1 thing, and most of the gearing concerns will be fixed.

 

Many people want Armorings, Mods and enhancements to tweak stats to how they wish to play. If BW were to put in a vendor that would give you access to those mods when you reach the even levels of Gear scores much of the complaints would go away.

 

As an example. When a player reaches item level 322 on all of it's pieces of gear, a vendor becomes available to sell (for currency or massive credits which may be a good credit sink as well) for 322 armorings, 322 Mods, and 322 enhancements. When you acquire 324 gear in all of your slots the 324 versions open up to become available. This method could continue in higher gear levels, and as gear increases over time.

YES, YES, YES.

This is something I’ve been saying too with a small variation (by the way I like your approach better than mine).

Although, I’m still not sure it would go far enough to save the expansion. I would also suggest they back track on the ability/utility pruning. Letting us keep 99% of the current live setup with some miner balance tweaks is what I’m assuming the majority would prefer.

As an example. When a player reaches item level 322 on all of it's pieces of gear, a vendor becomes available to sell (for currency or massive credits which may be a good credit sink as well) for 322 armorings, 322 Mods, and 322 enhancements. When you acquire 324 gear in all of your slots the 324 versions open up to become available. This method could continue in higher gear levels, and as gear increases over time.

This is a very good idea. The only problem I can see is that they appear to be trying to attract new players to the game - making those items cost a lot of credits wouldn't be a problem for veterans who sit on billions but would exclude newcomers.

After WoW's recent shenanigans, I have zero patience with any game developers that try my goodwill.

There are plenty of other good MMO's these days.

After WoW's recent shenanigans, I have zero patience with any game developers that try my goodwill.

 

There are plenty of other good MMO's these days.

I'm still looking for the next great MMO ok maybe even just good.

I have seen the negative posts, yes. I also know the majority of people making any posts here, let alone posts about 7.0 is a fraction of a fraction of a minority. I have played for a very very long time, since 4.0. And if there is one thing I have seen time and time again is people posting about new xpacs saying how its terrible, and they should not do it, yet most of the time this is based off of what they "read" and not what they actually "played". If the PTS even has a recent build, there is much missing from the final product. And there are other things they will not even implement until launch.

No one, none of these people know what the final situation will be with 100% certainty.

So, instead of repeating the past 10 years of mistakes by wasting your time posting new post after new post and after new post; rehashing what was already said in previous posts (why not comment in those posts instead of a new thread?)

Why not, *gasp*, wait and see? Try it and see how it is, then come here making a post when you are actually 100% informed on all the new changes, systems and content. I know its a crazy idea and brilliant! I mean, no one has thought of this before in the history of the game. IKR?

So lets try this different approach and wait and actually play the actual xpac and then come here to "review it" in the form of 1 of 1000 posts saying the exact same thing.

Lets do it!

I have seen the negative posts, yes. I also know the majority of people making any posts here, let alone posts about 7.0 is a fraction of a fraction of a minority. I have played for a very very long time, since 4.0. And if there is one thing I have seen time and time again is people posting about new xpacs saying how its terrible, and they should not do it, yet most of the time this is based off of what they "read" and not what they actually "played". If the PTS even has a recent build, there is much missing from the final product. And there are other things they will not even implement until launch.

 

No one, none of these people know what the final situation will be with 100% certainty.

 

So, instead of repeating the past 10 years of mistakes by wasting your time posting new post after new post and after new post; rehashing what was already said in previous posts (why not comment in those posts instead of a new thread?)

 

Why not, *gasp*, wait and see? Try it and see how it is, then come here making a post when you are actually 100% informed on all the new changes, systems and content. I know its a crazy idea and brilliant! I mean, no one has thought of this before in the history of the game. IKR?

 

So lets try this different approach and wait and actually play the actual xpac and then come here to "review it" in the form of 1 of 1000 posts saying the exact same thing.

 

Lets do it!

The problem with the wait and see approach is that the release of 7.0 back in December would have been a complete disaster. At best it would have been what is currently on the PTS which is still massively broken. It was the feedback before "waiting and seeing" that caused Bioware to delay the launch and fix the probems that were pointed out in the PTS forum. The PTS system works exactly as it is intended to. What is on the PTS now is not perfect, but it is miles better than it was when they closed down the PTS back before Dec 15th and read through the feedback..

The problem with the wait and see approach is that the release of 7.0 back in December would have been a complete disaster. At best it would have been what is currently on the PTS which is still massively broken.

You believe that the PTS is the only server they have for testing new builds? Thats adorable.

Why do you think they call it "Public Test Server"? Hint: its in the name....'Public'. And you dont believe they have a "Private" Test Server? You know, to make sure builds work before pushing them to PTS? Like testing UI didnt get broken, its dont crash on boot, etc? Come on.

I have seen the negative posts, yes. I also know the majority of people making any posts here, let alone posts about 7.0 is a fraction of a fraction of a minority. I have played for a very very long time, since 4.0. And if there is one thing I have seen time and time again is people posting about new xpacs saying how its terrible, and they should not do it, yet most of the time this is based off of what they "read" and not what they actually "played". If the PTS even has a recent build, there is much missing from the final product. And there are other things they will not even implement until launch.

 

No one, none of these people know what the final situation will be with 100% certainty.

 

So, instead of repeating the past 10 years of mistakes by wasting your time posting new post after new post and after new post; rehashing what was already said in previous posts (why not comment in those posts instead of a new thread?)

 

Why not, *gasp*, wait and see? Try it and see how it is, then come here making a post when you are actually 100% informed on all the new changes, systems and content. I know its a crazy idea and brilliant! I mean, no one has thought of this before in the history of the game. IKR?

 

So lets try this different approach and wait and actually play the actual xpac and then come here to "review it" in the form of 1 of 1000 posts saying the exact same thing.

 

Lets do it!

BW are the ones who have been repeating the same mistakes for the past 10 years. The game is down to 5 servers with very slow content drip. The wait and see approach ship sailed long ago.

What is the point of the PTS server, if we are supposed to "wait and see." That doesn't make any sense.

The fraction of a fraction narrative, idk who started it, but it doesn't actually make sense on a closer look. Although it is technically the truth that people on forums and such are a fraction of the playerbase, it does not automatically follow that they don't represent the playerbase in any meaningful way. It would be pretty odd statistically if everything forum posters complained about or asked for was something nobody outside of forums also wanted. It's one of those things that has become a staple excuse for studios to ignore or condescend to public feedback, even though it doesn't really make sense.

In reality, the people who bother to speak up need to be listened to carefully if you want your game to succeed. Those who don't often just leave silently if they are dissatisfied and that gives no info as to what is wrong. Doesn't mean you have to do everything they say, but this "ignore them it's just a fraction" narrative is tired and silly.

That's exactly what Bioware did with 5.1 when they introduced new vendors to try to "solve" the huge problem, it created even more problems. Your suggestion would alleviate that.

The current system 6.3 is very very good, they don't have to change it, just fix and add some minor QoL's here and there.

 

There's four big concerns about 7.0:

1 - Gear progression locked on a single game-mode. i.e if you run flashpoint you HAVE TO run flashpoints again to upgrade your gear, anything else you do will not progress your gear.

2 - Removing the freedom of customization.

3 - The amount of new currencies and time-gated progression (you need 6 WEEKLIES to upgrade a single piece of gear).

4 - The horrendous "ability pruning" removing essential mechanics of classes.

I do like ability pruning but not the way Bioware is doing it, they're doing it all wrong.

 

I lost my hope already, the only thing I like in 7.0 so far is the Loadout.

1) I see some flaws here. Gear progression isn't completely locked to a game mode. If I get a piece in FP's to 322 for example if I go do a raid and that is my lowest gear piece I can get the same piece drop off of a boss (which will have the Operation set instead of FP), so you can decide which of those 2 you will want to upgrade.

2) As I posted my suggestion I previously posted could fix that.

3) You don't need 6 weeklies to upgrade one piece. You need 1 weekly that will give you an automatic upgrade (if FP weekly or Ops weekly)

4) The ability pruning for DCD's needed to happen. We had way to many DCD's on every class in this game. Many of these fights were created without the intention of players having all of these DCD's.

I'm still looking for the next great MMO ok maybe even just good.

Have you tried FF14?

I have seen the negative posts, yes. I also know the majority of people making any posts here, let alone posts about 7.0 is a fraction of a fraction of a minority. I have played for a very very long time, since 4.0. And if there is one thing I have seen time and time again is people posting about new xpacs saying how its terrible, and they should not do it, yet most of the time this is based off of what they "read" and not what they actually "played". If the PTS even has a recent build, there is much missing from the final product. And there are other things they will not even implement until launch.

 

No one, none of these people know what the final situation will be with 100% certainty.

 

So, instead of repeating the past 10 years of mistakes by wasting your time posting new post after new post and after new post; rehashing what was already said in previous posts (why not comment in those posts instead of a new thread?)

 

Why not, *gasp*, wait and see? Try it and see how it is, then come here making a post when you are actually 100% informed on all the new changes, systems and content. I know its a crazy idea and brilliant! I mean, no one has thought of this before in the history of the game. IKR?

 

So lets try this different approach and wait and actually play the actual xpac and then come here to "review it" in the form of 1 of 1000 posts saying the exact same thing.

 

Lets do it!

Or you could do what some of us have done and spend time on the PTS. Then provide actual feedback on the systems they plan to implement and hopefully encourage them to improve it or not do some of what is going to cause more players to leave than it attracts to the game.

How about we do that instead so that we can actually influence the game before they make mistakes and drive players away!

Have you tried FF14?

Trixxie, you play? You wouldn't by chance be on Aether would you? If you're on one of those servers, PM me. My life long friend and I are and we're real close to completing Endwalker! We play M - TH. Best.Game.Ever!

4) The ability pruning for DCD's needed to happen. We had way to many DCD's on every class in this game. Many of these fights were created without the intention of players having all of these DCD's.

But that’s not what’s happened and is flat out misinformation. Some classes who weren’t super strong are being nerfed into the ground and others who are super strong in DCDs have hardly been touched (aka Mercs).

Trixxie, you play? You wouldn't by chance be on Aether would you? If you're on one of those servers, PM me. My life long friend and I are and we're real close to completing Endwalker! We play M - TH. Best.Game.Ever!

No I’m not playing it yet. I tested it a few years ago during a free trial, but didn’t continue because swtor still had my attention.

I had planned to start playing when endwalker released, but with queues and then SE putting a halt on new accounts, I decided I’d wait till the APAC servers were launched.

I’m pretty excited for the 25th Jan when they’ll be opening the servers and start selling digital copies again.

But that’s not what’s happened and is flat out misinformation. Some classes who weren’t super strong are being nerfed into the ground and others who are super strong in DCDs have hardly been touched (aka Mercs).

I didn't see many classes to hit that hard. Snipers lost a DCD, as well as a utility choice for Damage reduction. Other classes had to choose between some as well. I haven't seen much that got nerfed to hell.

I didn't see many classes to hit that hard. Snipers lost a DCD, as well as a utility choice for Damage reduction. Other classes had to choose between some as well. I haven't seen much that got nerfed to hell.

DPS Juggs/Guardians are being nerfed hard. And Maras/Sents are being destroyed. While Operatives and Mercs (two of the most survivable classes) have been mostly left alone.

Why not, *gasp*, wait and see?

BW runs PTS to get feedback before launch. If they want more positive feedback they shouldn't make changes so many players dislike.

Wait and see... lol. Releases would be a buggy nightmare if we actually did that... and that's what the PTS is for, FYI. For, you know... feedback.

But not being able to mod gear is not the only concern, OP. It's :

- being forced to do specific content every week (only some are available in group finder)

- soloers getting the shaft (people say "but you get gear drops so you can choose which one to upgrade" but soloers get NO GEAR DROPS. EVER)

- having to level gear from scratch for every character

- Conquest being nerfed (double requirements, minimal rewards)

- LOSING abilities even though we're gaining 5 levels

What we get for it (second combat style for subscribers, weapon in outfitter) I would gladly trade to keep the systems we have right now.

 

Many people want Armorings, Mods and enhancements to tweak stats to how they wish to play.

To let you play how you want, BW also needs to do away with hard caps on stats when level syncing.

Again I must point out that there was the same sort of 'forum' hysteria before 6.0 came out, but that turned out to be a big nothing-burger. I suspect 7.0 will be too. 🙂

I agree with this.

6.0 had a lot of people on the forums up in arms before it launched, and when it came out people enjoyed the expansion. People will always complain about every expansion simply because THEY DO NOT LIKE CHANGE.