So first off, on the live server I have 21 fully geared and leveled toons and attain CQ on everyone every week. The limiting of weekly earning of commendation medals just seems punitive, why only let me benefit from 5 toons CQ each week when I play all of them (are the encryptions really worth it? lol... no). Furthermore, how am I expected to be able to gear and play all of these characters going forwards? Will it take me months of CQ just to get to the point that I can gear up my slightly less played toons? Then have them lag behind again when you drop 7.1,7.2 etc? Why cap the currencies if someone is willing to put in the time to grind the CQ, WZ, FP, OPS? The gear will already be suboptimal at max until further patches come out, so why not let us benefit if we are a highly active community member engaging with all aspects of the game? Also, please start awarding the new currencies (Aquatic Resource Matrixes) at level 75 as we will need to level our toons, then gear them, don't make us double or triple grind just to get there (grind Dalies and heroics to get to 80, then grind dailies and heroics to get the currency to get our gear? Those should happen together). I would like to make all of my classes and spec's playable from the start, but the way it looks like we will be limited on commendations, it looks like I will have to work on one set of gear at a time until it is maxed, which means I can play 1 class per side for the foreseeable future, is this the goal of the update? Do you intend to completely pigeonhole us into one role? The combat styles seem to be completely counter to the unavailability of gear/currency.

 

 

I predominantly tank, but also DPS. For the PTS I chose to playthrough as an Immortal Juggernaut (warrior story), and I attained all of the achievements on this one toon. At the same time, I was leveling a toon on live so I could see them side by side, and it was fairly alarming. The rate at which one receives skills is slowed significantly to the point that a live character 20 levels lower than the one on the PTS feels stronger and is more survivable on the same planet. This tells me balance is still quite off. Some of the FP bosses have an effective enrage that is not currently in the game due to a combination of their health and the mechanics ( e.x. enhanced duneclaw on Czerka Core Meltdown, burn it within the 4 machines, or wipe to the sandstorm mechanic).

 

The big choices that classes have to make are definitely out of balance, for a sorc it's a choice between somewhat useful but not game breaking abilities (whirlwind I use once in a blue moon, phase walk is useful at times, though I personally am bad with it and have killed myself more using it than had it be a benefit, lastly volt rush is only used if you run a couple tactical's), and , for a juggernaut it's a choice between 3 different key defensives, and as part of this update, I have already had my best defensive changed permanently with the rewrite of Grit Teeth. It might be better for PVE but will make my juggernaut borderline unplayable in PVP unless I queue with a healer. Choosing between intimidating roar (AOE stun), saber reflect, and mad dash is just insanity, I can defend myself with a reflect, or stop them from attacking (IR) or run away with a DR (oh and I've already lost some ability to run by losing chilling scream), but not be both mobile and stay alive. The only other class that has nearly as much grief is the mercenary. Playing on my juggernaut I have lost much of my AOE ability (which was already weak) and lost defensives (and had Grit Teeth changed). I do not see the benefit of completely changing the viability of the class, if a class seems overpowered for one type of content, fix it for that type of content i.e. people hate intimidating roar in PVP because of Force Bound, however I do not see a Force Bound implant, so is that grief not already removed? Is it too much to be able to get out of a tight situation by using intimidating roar to briefly stun the opponent, mad dashing out and using a saber reflect to ensure survival? If an Assassin gets into trouble, they can just stealth out and hide, this is not an option for a non-stealth class.

 

Overall, I look forward to new content, but do not want my enjoyment of the game destroyed by not being able to progress my characters based on my activity. I think that the developers need to put some serious consideration into their ability pruning, it is not even close to equitable, the choices should be more like the earlier ones where you choose how a skill works, not like the later ones that literally strip you of abilities you have played with for years.

 

I am trying to be excited about the expansion, but I almost dread it due to the concerns outlined above. I will almost welcome another delay if guild perks just got fixed without a full update.

I am in the same boat. I have 30 toons at level 75. I too hit CQ with most of my characters. I agree with everything you posted, and more. If 7.0 drops, I will be canceling both of my subs.

I think I have too much characters. And although not that much , I struggle which ones to save. I have every class but i want to join them in an interesting way, but i have to sacrifice some in order to do it.

 

Seems very bad when I spent millions on one toon, for it to become obsolete in the future...