I would disagree that the only relevant justification is for raiders to feel super awesome compared to the common man or woman. That's taking things a bit too far in my book.

 

The question is really, to me, will the gearing system stop a solo player from playing the content they want to play. the answer seems to very well be "no" from a matter of fact honest examination. A lot of stuff that's being thrown around is nonsense.

Well I'm sorry if me not wanting to do some content for no rewards except credit is "nonsense" to you.

Put BIS behind crafting (or PvP) and see how fast {NICHE CROWD} is either on here, or their "special Discord" whining like a five year old who can't attend their friend's sleepover.

I put the over / under at about one nanosecond.

Well I'm sorry if me not wanting to do some content for no rewards except credit is "nonsense" to you.

This is one of those BS arguments. Credits are rewards. You'll still receive those gear tokens, and you will still be able to upgrade your gear (I have not been on the PTS so what that gear may look like is for someone else to comment on). Nobody likes running any content for rewards that don't match their effort level. Correct? This also isn't answering the main question I've asked which was "in 7.0 will a solo player be able to run their desired content without issue". The answer is yes as stated by a previous poster saying the bar is so low that gearing doesn't even matter for solo content. If a solo player can play their way in 7.0 then this forum talk is an over reaction no matter what people may or may not want to see in the expansion. There's plenty I want to see, but will not get.

Question to you (honest question here please actually think about it): If the gear treadmill for a solo player is long enough to keep a solo player striving for more while not ruining their ability to complete their desired content will that be satisfying? Or is it strictly "I want best in slot and nothing will matter unless I can get my hands on that"

Not judging you either way,

Put BIS behind crafting (or PvP) and see how fast {NICHE CROWD} is either on here, or their "special Discord" whining like a five year old who can't attend their friend's sleepover.

 

I put the over / under at about one nanosecond.

I actually would very much like it if crafting had BiS gear on it. After all there was a time you could craft a lot of stuff that was absolutely relevant to raiding like relics for example. This was a hit back when the Gemini stuff was out. Raiders were all about this from what I can remember. Right now, you can craft absolutely relevant augments. You are right that crafting should be expanded to further fit into the solo play model. That's an absolute solution.

Your name calling for no reason...takes away your credibility.

Here is another aspect to consider, though, especially regarding moddable gear (this is entirely aside from the irating aspect). Leaving aside the fact we've had moddable gear available to all playstyles at all but the lowest levels for many many years, they are changing the way level sync works with 7.0. It is not a plain cap on stats, but is now based on stat distribution. The stat distribution available in the static gear is going to suck for everyone at the outset, but it by design will suck hardest for the green (Conquest) gear that solo/casual players will have. In theory, it should suck less for the FP gear (but since the blue and green gear on PTS had the same stats, this is unconfirmable), and then suck the least for Ops players in purple gear. When the 334 gear comes out for Ops players, they will also unlock moddable gear - the only playstyle to do so until some unknown but undoubtedly distant future date when somehow the other playstyles eventually catch up to 334 irating as the ceiling continues to rise (note: this does not mean they will gain access to the same quality of mods either).

 

This is problematic precisely because solo/casual players are going to be playing the older content to fulfill their gearing needs. That's the bulk of Conquest, and the majority of FPs (there will only be the one new daily/weekly area and the one new FP). As of the last round of PTS, the stat distribution on the green (and blue) gear was much worse than that of the current 306 gear most players have (because everyone could play their own way and still achieve at least a decent stat distribution). Without access to moddable gear, there's no incentive to even step foot on the treadmill. Modding is the only way around BioWare's hamstringing of stats. Playing the older content in the new gear was slower and more frustrating, with some classes suffering more than others.

 

It was definitely less enjoyable.

This is a very very good post. Thank you for this one.

To me the removal of the renown system and gutting of the conquest system seems like they have invalidated/removed the vast majority of content in the game. Where previously ANYTHING I did contributed to my advancement, now only a couple things do, and only one of those things actually leads to the peak.

This.

Over the past couple years we have moved to “play your own way”.

I have been subbed since pre launch and I would argue this is the most active the community has ever been as far as people playing various content at end game.

TC groups are being formed every second, groups for 2 person heroics and WB groups are constantly popping up .

If you think people will continue to group up for content that does not advance their character;; well when was the last time you have seen a group for Colicoid War Games. You dont,

We put top gear behind ops before and people kept running the same ops over and over and other content went to the wayside.

Rewards for playing the way you want to, opened up the whole game to us. This is current system is going to be a huge step in the opposite direction.

I play all aspects of this game, including NiM Ops and I am not looking forward to just going back to farming the same ops again.

Right now, if a new player wanted help with something I could help them and maybe even get an upgraded augment or piece for one of my many alts, but why would i would I waste me time playing 10 year old content that has a gear rating cap on its drops.

There is no benefit to tanking a flashpoint anymore for anyone when Im only doing ops for rewards, i got a lot of alts to gear up.

This.

 

Over the past couple years we have moved to “play your own way”.

 

I have been subbed since pre launch and I would argue this is the most active the community has ever been as far as people playing various content at end game.

 

TC groups are being formed every second, groups for 2 person heroics and WB groups are constantly popping up .

 

If you think people will continue to group up for content that does not advance their character;; well when was the last time you have seen a group for Colicoid War Games. You dont,

 

We put top gear behind ops before and people kept running the same ops over and over and other content went to the wayside.

 

Rewards for playing the way you want to, opened up the whole game to us. This is current system is going to be a huge step in the opposite direction and Im not what the angle is when the population is finally so active

This is actually not correct. Collicoid was removed by the developers if my memory serves me this morning.

How are TC groups being the only thing around any different than highlighted hardmode of the week? How is it any different than hs or rr spam? I don't see a difference in principle, and I don't know if that example should be used to describe how wide open the game is to everyone now.

Regarding conquest: This is something I've really been up and down with. I have 3 characters I've been playing. I have 2 million conquest points or more between the three. Are we REALLY sure that the conquest changes are going to REALLY be that hard to achieve? Is it really that awful that we can't hit our weekly conquest goal on a character by logging in and breathing? I'm pretty skeptical of this attitude as well. Live will tell the tale for sure there.

There is noooooooo way this is the most active community this game has ever seen. Nooooooo way. If you've been here since pre launch man how do you forget not even being able to log into a server due to how busy it was? Sure there were issues but strength of community back then was enormous. I'd say it lasted through 2.0, fell off a little bit in 3.0. A litle bit further in 4,0. And then cratered in 5,0 to now.

Play your way is also a bit of a question to me. What does that ACTUALLY mean to players? I'm not going to lie here, this is sounding more and more like the pot calling the kettle black. Or at least potentially it could be the pot and kettle gig. Let's say the gear treadmill is long enough and satisfying enough for a solo player to be able to enjoy their content including conquest unencumbered. Let's just speculate (since realistically we are speculating a whole lot about the gear that isnt on live servers yet anyway) that all that is true, then this becomes a "I want bis rewards so when people look at me they see how good I am" and IF that's the actual case here then this whole argument is washed out and irrelevant. If it's more a statement of "I refuse to accept green or blue or even purple, gold or ****" then we should call that out as greedy and unnecessary just like people seem to want to do to the raiding community. or whatever is left of the raiding community that is.

I do get what you're saying about progressing your character. But, I also kind of think that idea along with play your own way are more vague than we kinda need them to be. Like I can say "a solo player will be able to become more powerful by playing heroics and other solo activities by upgrading their gear via conquest vendor over time and upgrading that gear from that vendor will make that content easier" and be completely correct.

I don't think I get the angst from the solo crowd that's on the forums. In 7.0 will you be able to:

 

1) Run daily areas - yes

2) Run solo flash points - yes

3) Craft - yes

4) Create a new character and re-run one of the 8 class stories (or run one for the first time) -yes

5) Create a new character and run Kotfe or Kotet - yes

 

What can't a solo player do in 7.0 that they can do right now?

 

Is it conquest? I don't really understand that either.

 

Does solo play REALLY revolve around the gear treadmill?

 

I am putting this here since I really don't get it, and I'm sure there's someone who can tell me here.

 

This sounds like a raider saying they can't do the story mode version of Terror From Beyond because they can't get 306 BiS gear...which is not true at all. Is this the thing we are dealing with here? Not having unfettered access to all tiers of gear does not kill or limit the solo experience. No, it does not hurt anyone if a solo player has access to BiS gear, but that's not the question in this thread or posed by many. The solo experience simply does not change it just gets a little bit more content added and 5 more levels same as any expansion.

Depends on what solo experience you are talking about. The gear from 7.0 (for solo players) is not as good as the gear I already have on my characters right now. Yes, I have tested it on 3 characters and my 306 did better (even without the bonus) than the gear that a solo player can get so depending on what you do or if you want to take forever to kill an enemy. I tend to do some of the story chapters on Master mode (because I like a challenge sometimes) and with the gear they are giving solo players it might not work well.

In addition, I do conquest for our guild to get the encryptions and with that being doubled it will be longer (if I get to finish them all or not) and am not sure they are doubling the conquest for guilds because of them doubling it on our personal conquest.

Next, some of the weeklies you will have to finish in one week and there is one flashpoint that requires 6 flashpoints and I normally spread that out in 2/3 weeks but now you can't.

Depends on what solo experience you are talking about. The gear from 7.0 (for solo players) is not as good as the gear I already have on my characters right now. Yes, I have tested it on 3 characters and my 306 did better (even without the bonus) than the gear that a solo player can get so depending on what you do or if you want to take forever to kill an enemy. I tend to do some of the story chapters on Master mode (because I like a challenge sometimes) and with the gear they are giving solo players it might not work well.

 

In addition, I do conquest for our guild to get the encryptions and with that being doubled it will be longer (if I get to finish them all or not) and am not sure they are doubling the conquest for guilds because of them doubling it on our personal conquest.

 

Next, some of the weeklies you will have to finish in one week and there is one flashpoint that requires 6 flashpoints and I normally spread that out in 2/3 weeks but now you can't.

Thanks Casi, this is another good post. From the good posts I think I can actually have the ability to look beyond the the none sense.

While it may not ruin the actual ability to play the content a solo player desires to play the problems could potentially be:

1) The gearing treadmill leads me to gear that's worse than my current gear which no matter what does not allow me to continue to progress my character

2) Time to reward could be too long and take the time effort ration to a place that's out of whack for a solo player

I think those two points are probably hard to refute and definitely worth seeing if those get fixed when things go live. Oddly enough, neither of those revolve around the ability to get BiS gear. Or rather, it very well might not.

This is actually not correct. Collicoid was removed by the developers if my memory serves me this morning.

 

How are TC groups being the only thing around any different than highlighted hardmode of the week? How is it any different than hs or rr spam? I don't see a difference in principle, and I don't know if that example should be used to describe how wide open the game is to everyone now.

 

Regarding conquest: This is something I've really been up and down with. I have 3 characters I've been playing. I have 2 million conquest points or more between the three. Are we REALLY sure that the conquest changes are going to REALLY be that hard to achieve? Is it really that awful that we can't hit our weekly conquest goal on a character by logging in and breathing? I'm pretty skeptical of this attitude as well. Live will tell the tale for sure there.

 

There is noooooooo way this is the most active community this game has ever seen. Nooooooo way. If you've been here since pre launch man how do you forget not even being able to log into a server due to how busy it was? Sure there were issues but strength of community back then was enormous. I'd say it lasted through 2.0, fell off a little bit in 3.0. A litle bit further in 4,0. And then cratered in 5,0 to now.

 

Play your way is also a bit of a question to me. What does that ACTUALLY mean to players? I'm not going to lie here, this is sounding more and more like the pot calling the kettle black. Or at least potentially it could be the pot and kettle gig. Let's say the gear treadmill is long enough and satisfying enough for a solo player to be able to enjoy their content including conquest unencumbered. Let's just speculate (since realistically we are speculating a whole lot about the gear that isnt on live servers yet anyway) that all that is true, then this becomes a "I want bis rewards so when people look at me they see how good I am" and IF that's the actual case here then this whole argument is washed out and irrelevant. If it's more a statement of "I refuse to accept green or blue or even purple, gold or ****" then we should call that out as greedy and unnecessary just like people seem to want to do to the raiding community. or whatever is left of the raiding community that is.

 

I do get what you're saying about progressing your character. But, I also kind of think that idea along with play your own way are more vague than we kinda need them to be. Like I can say "a solo player will be able to become more powerful by playing heroics and other solo activities by upgrading their gear via conquest vendor over time and upgrading that gear from that vendor will make that content easier" and be completely correct.

Colicoid War game is still available in the drop ship missions hanger, and it is still one of the more fun flashpoints; actually now I want to log in and play it again lol.

By active, I mean active in grouping at end game. Sure we went through bursts of players, but "lack of end game content" was like the first major complaint.

Some of the selling points of this game was gear modification, legacy perks and using Alts. It has a taken a decade to get it where we are.

We are approaching the 10 year anniversary and we are back to shelving alts and for first time in history of this game, you no longer mod your gear. After this many years, i have one character of each spec on both factions. Aside from sent/maur.

I love modding gear, in fact I chase those perfect numbers for my Tank.

See I like Raiding and i enjoy the hardest content. I dont like not getting rewards at all though. I am certainly not going to play content that doesnt even drop moddable gear. That seems so ridiculous. Forget B.i.S, just having no control over gear stats. No thank you.

So, now Im sitting on a ton of alts, that will not see the light of day again, because im just going to log into my tank, play the new ops, then play alt tank and then that is that.

Right now I can just play for hours every day and still progress all my alts, but Non Moddable gear, I mean that is just terrible. Even if my alts dont have the B.i.S gear, that is just a boring system.

Colicoid War game is still available in the drop ship missions hanger, and it is still one of the more fun flashpoints; actually now I want to log in and play it again lol.

 

By active, I mean active in grouping at end game. Sure we went through bursts of players, but "lack of end game content" was like the first major complaint.

 

Some of the selling points of this game was gear modification, legacy perks and using Alts. It has a taken a decade to get it where we are.

 

We approaching the 10 year anniversary and we back to shelving alts and for first time in history of this game, you no longer mod your gear.

 

I love modding gear, in fact I chase those perfect numbers for my Tank.

 

See I like Raiding and i enjoy the hardest content. I dont like not getting rewards at all though. I am certainly not going to play content that doesnt even drop moddable gear. That seems so ridiculous. Forget B.i.S, just having no control over gear stats. No thank you.

 

So, now Im sitting on a ton of alts, that will not see the light of day again, because im just going to log into my tank, play the new ops, then play alt tank and then that is that.

 

Right now I can just play for hours every day and still progress all my alts, but Non Moddable gear, I mean that is just terrible. Even if my alts dont have the B.i.S gear, that is just a boring system.

Your post here...I'm in agreement on I think. I'm extremely skeptical of non moddable gear. Extremely.

This is one of those BS arguments. Credits are rewards. You'll still receive those gear tokens, and you will still be able to upgrade your gear (I have not been on the PTS so what that gear may look like is for someone else to comment on). Nobody likes running any content for rewards that don't match their effort level. Correct? This also isn't answering the main question I've asked which was "in 7.0 will a solo player be able to run their desired content without issue". The answer is yes as stated by a previous poster saying the bar is so low that gearing doesn't even matter for solo content. If a solo player can play their way in 7.0 then this forum talk is an over reaction no matter what people may or may not want to see in the expansion. There's plenty I want to see, but will not get.

 

Question to you (honest question here please actually think about it): If the gear treadmill for a solo player is long enough to keep a solo player striving for more while not ruining their ability to complete their desired content will that be satisfying? Or is it strictly "I want best in slot and nothing will matter unless I can get my hands on that"

 

Not judging you either way,

You're joking right? I don't care about doing something for credits. I care about getting gear upgrades out of them (or rep, obviously). Or even Galactic Seasons goals. Frankly I don't think anyone would bother running old content for no rewards but credits, unless they're desperate for credits (and I'm part of those billionaires who are definitely not.

Also, you will NOT receive any gear token by doing any of that content UNLESS it's part of a weekly/daily. It's what you don't seem to get. So we'll have to actually do content WE DON'T WANT TO DO to get rewards (like long, annoying heroics because we'll have to finish the daily in one day to get upgrade parts). We don't know yet what will drop off story flashpoints.

So again, just because you CAN do something doesn't mean it's worth doing it at all. And if it's not worth doing... what's the point? I mean... I've barely played my maxed characters in the last few months because there hasn't been new content and nothing to do once Galactic Season was done. People complaining about renown being useless but at least we were getting something out of it...

The gear treadmill - it just gives us something to do. As I said, I haven't been playing much because there hasn't been any reason to with max gear/no GS, so that will happen faster if gear rating is reached faster. Personally, I don't care if I don't have max gear, I just like improving my character, unlocking things like in Galactic Seasons etc. It's what makes me want to play.

Same reason I'm pissed off at the limits that were on PTS for CQ rewards - why would I bother playing once I've reached the limit then?

You're joking right? I don't care about doing something for credits. I care about getting gear upgrades out of them (or rep, obviously). Or even Galactic Seasons goals. Frankly I don't think anyone would bother running old content for no rewards but credits, unless they're desperate for credits (and I'm part of those billionaires who are definitely not.

 

Also, you will NOT receive any gear token by doing any of that content UNLESS it's part of a weekly/daily. It's what you don't seem to get. So we'll have to actually do content WE DON'T WANT TO DO to get rewards (like long, annoying heroics because we'll have to finish the daily in one day to get upgrade parts). We don't know yet what will drop off story flashpoints.

 

So again, just because you CAN do something doesn't mean it's worth doing it at all. And if it's not worth doing... what's the point? I mean... I've barely played my maxed characters in the last few months because there hasn't been new content and nothing to do once Galactic Season was done. People complaining about renown being useless but at least we were getting something out of it...

 

The gear treadmill - it just gives us something to do. As I said, I haven't been playing much because there hasn't been any reason to with max gear/no GS, so that will happen faster if gear rating is reached faster. Personally, I don't care if I don't have max gear, I just like improving my character, unlocking things like in Galactic Seasons etc. It's what makes me want to play.

 

Same reason I'm pissed off at the limits that were on PTS for CQ rewards - why would I bother playing once I've reached the limit then?

You're right. I'm joking, and I'm the biggest dumb dumb out there. There's no point to play this game. We should all quit right now.

I don't care about doing something for credits.

Yeah that wasn't fun on PTS when I saw that happening. Credits, given today's inflation in the game, are constantly depreciating in value, so credits alone are not a very powerful reinforcement feedback loop, to put it mildly.

Yeah that wasn't fun on PTS when I saw that happening. Credits, given today's inflation in the game, are constantly depreciating in value, so credits alone are not a very powerful reinforcement feedback loop, to put it mildly.

At least someone is getting it...

All solo and group players share two things: time and money.

A solo-play subscriber pays the same amount exactly as a group-play subscriber, or one who plays a mix of those styles. By capping gear quality for solo players, BioWare is devaluing one playstyle in favor of another, especially if those caps make completing solo content slower and more difficult. Group PVE, PvP, OPS, you name it--participating in those group activities is a matter of choice. The solo player's product must not be devalued due to a group player's choices.

Activity-specific gear and items are appropriate: PvP-only, OPS-only, etc. Outside of those activities, gear and item quality must not be gated or capped. Otherwise, consumers aren't receiving equal content for monies paid. The bottom line is...the bottom line.

Some of the selling points of this game was gear modification, legacy perks and using Alts. It has a taken a decade to get it where we are.

 

We are approaching the 10 year anniversary and we are back to shelving alts and for first time in history of this game, you no longer mod your gear. After this many years, i have one character of each spec on both factions. Aside from sent/maur.

 

I love modding gear, in fact I chase those perfect numbers for my Tank.

 

See I like Raiding and i enjoy the hardest content. I dont like not getting rewards at all though. I am certainly not going to play content that doesnt even drop moddable gear. That seems so ridiculous. Forget B.i.S, just having no control over gear stats. No thank you.

 

So, now Im sitting on a ton of alts, that will not see the light of day again, because im just going to log into my tank, play the new ops, then play alt tank and then that is that.

 

Right now I can just play for hours every day and still progress all my alts, but Non Moddable gear, I mean that is just terrible. Even if my alts dont have the B.i.S gear, that is just a boring system.

The same points I’ve been trying to make for months. But keeps falling on deaf ears. Not being able to mod my own gear takes a huge amount of enjoyment out of the game. Especially as a pvper, who will be the absolute last to get access to the mods vendor (eventually) because we will have the lowest rated gear in the game.

The way it seems it will work with the ilvl increases is every other 7.x iteration will get an increase up starting with 7.1 when OPs players will get first access to the mods vendor. But because pvpers are so far behind in ilvl rating, we won’t get access for many months. Conquest and flash point players will actually get access before pvpers do (that’s assuming ilvling increases don’t jump more than one gear lvl each 7.x iteration).

So if pvpers want to be able to min max their stats after 7.1, we will be forced to play operations or we will have operations guys in pvp with better optimised stats than we can get. Which will theoretically give them a big advantage and negate the stat caps BioWare have put it place to make pvp more fair.

That is why I don’t like this system. It’s not just because the BiS max gear lvl will be behind OPs, it’s because we won’t be able to optimise our own stats in pvp or other parts of the game. I categorically HATE static gear that you can’t mod.

BioWare could very easily have made the ilvl gear ALL moddable like the current 268-278 green gear and added a mods vendor that sells them for each ilvl. They didn’t need to make it static gear.

All solo and group players share two things: time and money.

 

A solo-play subscriber pays the same amount exactly as a group-play subscriber, or one who plays a mix of those styles. By capping gear quality for solo players, BioWare is devaluing one playstyle in favor of another, especially if those caps make completing solo content slower and more difficult. Group PVE, PvP, OPS, you name it--participating in those group activities is a matter of choice. The solo player's product must not be devalued due to a group player's choices.

 

Activity-specific gear and items are appropriate: PvP-only, OPS-only, etc. Outside of those activities, gear and item quality must not be gated or capped. Otherwise, consumers aren't receiving equal content for monies paid. The bottom line is...the bottom line.

I agree that, "A solo-play subscriber pays the same amount exactly as a group-play subscriber, or one who plays a mix of those styles." I think that gets lost in play style discussions. The lack of Dev response (as far as I can find) to those solo players with concerns about 7.0 bothers me. It could mean Devs are working on something and, understandably, don't want to announce it beforehand. Or, it could be a Dev "whatever" non-response type of response. I hope we aren't returning to a situation where communication is initiated based on how many subs are dropped, rather than discourse between players and Devs.

I posted this to another thread...

"They shouldn't limit Higher Item Gear, to only 1 Level 80 Operations (Master) yet also all 80 Level Content! Yet maybe it will include all Level 80 VET/MASTER Flashpoints or Operations? I never really tested that aspect...

Still I don't think they should stop there either!

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

♦ Revise Weekly's Master Flashpoints/Operations to only 75-80 Level Content, exclusively for Master Mode.

♦ Master Mode Flashpoint / Operations Boss still give 75 Level gear, yet doing 5 / 3 of each get 1 Level 80 Crate.

♦ VET Flashpoints / Operations should focus on 55-75 Level Content, and award up to 75 Level Gear.

♦ PvP or GSF should also award 80 Level Gear, provided your 80 or 318+ to offer more choice.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I've heard new Mod Gear will start at 334 Item Level, yet likely will continue upwards of 350-359?

That be a far more balanced, and easier sell the MAJORITY of players! There will just be far too few things to do with 80 Level Content at Launch. Doing or running just 1 Master Operation over and over, isn't exactly rewarding..."

The part that worries me the most about not being able to mod our gear is that the devs have shown over and over and over that when it comes to stats, they don't know their (donkey) from a hole in the ground. Now we will be forced to use gear with what they thought were the right stats? Lord have mercy!

I am bothered too, that their stated design philosophy is to give *******r stats to lower tier armor, so non-raiders get a triple whammy. Can't reach max iLevel ever. Intentionally worse stats. Won't get access to modded armor until months later. (Taking bets that the mods will be in quality tiers with non-raiders getting only undesirable stated mods as well.)

The lack of moddable gear is what really sticks in my craw. Moddable gear has been a heavy part of this game's design philosophy for a decade, and now it is going to be going away for most players? (At least until the crafting expansion that Jackie talked about coming sometime next year.) And, to add insult to injury, the green and blue gear for 7.0 is intentionally not optimized with distinct items per combat style?

I decided to solo Elom on PTS and was stunned that I--in 306 BiS gear with full 276 augs and a lvl 50 comp--was able to nearly kill the first boss. Once I double-checked to see if it was vet mode, I was anticipating possibly being able to widdle its health down by a quarter to a third before the enrage timer expires and the boss goes all beast-mode and slaughters me. This leads me to conclude that the new gear is inferior to the 306's we have now (that everyone who plays regularly should have).

I will collect the currency for the new gear, but I seriously doubt that--based upon play on PTS--I will be buying and equipping any of it for anything but the R4 if I decide to ever run it. The horror vibe in describing it has me interested.

I imagine being able to steam-roll through all the story content this xpac based upon what they've indicated is the irating they're shooting for for story content.

EDIT: Hypothesis re: the lack of moddable gear:

The Devs want to do this as a way of resetting everyone to zero in terms of stat balancing. I'm more than happy to toss a wrench into that by sticking with my 306's and 276/286 augs if they are vastly superior to the crappy new gear despite its higher irating. But how many folks are just going to click on them because the UI puts that little green "up" arrow on them?

I have said multiple places why the new gearing system along with the other changes is a bad idea.

It is going to drive casual players away. Firstly the change is taking something from them (ie access to the best gear). The lowered conquest rewards mean people are going to do it less. Not only is the solo gear going to be worse, the grind to get it has been limited. Modding gear is even out for a solo player. All of this means casual players are going to put less time in the game. Less investment means less players and less money flowing in. This is bad for Swtor. It doesn't matter if you think the system is how Swtor ought to be. It is going to hurt the game. Casual players are the majority of players. Just like in every other game. Bioware is literally giving them reasons not to play the game.

This is further compounded by how light the launch is in content. One fp and no raid at launch is just not enough if you want layers to focus on group content.

The new gear system isn't just saying that group content should be the focus. It is saying that Master Mode Ops is the best way to play the game. That type of raiding has always been for a select few. I think I saw where "interruptive storytelling" (ie playing alts) is not what Bioware wants to do. In short they want to really focus the players base in a few characters at most and doing one activity. In other words, Bioware wants to seriously control how players play the game. No longer is it play your way, it is play our way or we will toss you crumbs. This isn't just a slap in the face to casuals but Pvpers as well.

In answer to the question, yes it is doing just that. People are going to vote with their wallets. Swtor is a product. The changes reduces the value of that product to a large amount of players. Doesn't matter how any of us thinks the game ought to run. Swtor is a business and it is going to loose customers over this. That isn't good for anyone.

Wider Implications for Lack of Moddable Gear in 7.0

Crafters are not going to see any immediate financial gain from 7.0.

What are going to be the wider potential implications on the economy? Crafters want to make credits; I think it is safe to say that the price points for augs, aug kits, and the materials (likely only the rarer mats) used to craft them are going to rise from level 1 all the way up to 11 because the casuals likely aren't going to care about moddable gear if this new leveling gear is suitable for their needs--and this appears to be the case based on my playthrough that I played through up to a story BT run. If the leveling gear is "good enough," we can anticipate seeing the market for lower level mods gradually drying up, with the exception of augs. Mods will only be of interest to those who might pick up a piece of moddable gear and wondering what all those empty slots are for and finding out. This may lead to a spike in prices across the board for mods at all levels. I have been putting up quite a few lvl 10 blue and purple implants for sale on SF and am surprised to see them selling for hundreds of thousands of credits each. Sure--it is the amount of credits in circulation that is primarily fueling it, but the GTN could be in for a rocky time over the next few months as sellers have to adjust to new market realities.

Raiders (and their guilds) better be ready to pay through the nose for the augments they will be needing for R4.

I definitely hope that inflation will be confined just to items associated with augments and other CQ-related stuff (invasion forces, etc.).

I have said multiple places why the new gearing system along with the other changes is a bad idea.

 

It is going to drive casual players away.

The worst part is we have evidence it will, Shadowlands launched exactly the same ways, it made loot even more scarce and hard to get and only mythic raids had decent loot. (Vault it just 1 rng piece per week)

They also gutted all forms of casual content so their l33t raidloggers dont feel forced to do dirty casual content.

The result? A huge exodus of casual players with only addicts and raidloggers remaining, WoW had record sales in shadowlands that from memory were at around 10 million, and the game now barely has a million and a half from most estimates.

When 80% of your subs leave after the first few months because you chose to make only high end raids rewarding, it should be quite a clear sign that casuals arent gonna stay for this terrible design philosophy