With 1.4, story mode EC gives no black hole comms from bosses or chests.  Same with Terror From Beyond Story Mode.  We probably would have known this sooner, or even been able to discern it from the patch notes, if Bioware didn’t utterly fail at communication (again).

This. Blows.

Where Can I Get Comms?

Now I can get Black Hole Comms from:

• The weekly turn-in for EC story mode and, presumably, TFB Story mode
• Weekly black hole dailies quest (ugh)
• Group Finder Daily (more ugh)
• Flashpoint Weekly thing (?)  (one of my guildies claims this exists, sounds dreadful)
• Ops Finder (kill me now)
• Hard Mode EC or TFB (falling off my chair laughing)

Why This Is Bullshit

See, I had it really good before this patch.  I could earn commendations to buy raid gear from raiding.  So I could get better gear for something I enjoy by doing something I enjoy.

Now, I have to do shit I have little to no interest in doing  just to get to the stuff that I do want to do.  Having to grind stuff outside raiding takes my limited time away from crafting and alt-ing, and all the other stuff I actually like doing.  At least my guildies, in the same miserable boat, will group with me, allowing me to do group content for comms without too much contact with the unwashed pug masses.

And don’t tell me that I can get the gear I need for Hard Mode EC from doing story mode EC, or that I can saunter into regular mode EC with all columi gear without doing hard mode EV & KP for the rakata.  Unfortunately we’re stuck in this weird cycle of needing X tier gear to be successful in the raid that drops that same tier gear.  It’s a catch-22, a dinosaur and an egg, a mobius strip of fail, or whatever stupidass metaphor we’re using this week.

All Of This Has Happened Before And Will Happen Again

This isn’t a new thing.  In WoW, I had to do a ton of grinding to get commendations to get the gear I needed.  It’s a necessary evil, and I’m not horrified by it.  Just annoyed… and possibly a little nervous.  Grinding commendations was one of the reasons that led to me quitting WoW, because I got so burnt out on doing the same boring shit over and over.  I don’t want to put myself in a position of getting burnt out on this game too.

In Practice: This Weekend’s Raids

We had planned to do EC story mode but, ha ha, no comms except from the weekly quest.  OK, we decided, we are going to work on EC Hard Mode.  We had been consistently getting the first encounter to around 5% so it’s reasonable to think that we might pull it off this week.

Nope.  I swear, I’m not just making shit up, but I think that they stealth-buffed hard mode as they openly-nerfed story mode.  We were pretty demoralized that we seem to have gotten worse in the last week.  I don’t think we even got them to 30%, a far cry from the “near misses, butting up against the enrage timer” from last time.  But then we start hearing around the fleet about other guilds that formerly had the hard mode on farm wiping on those encounters.  So it was probably the bosses and not any sudden newfound incompetence.

Player Reactions

I gotta say, and I’m not just threatening for the sake of melodrama, that this might literally make some people flat-out quit the game.  I’m hoping that doesn’t happen in my guild, but at the same time, I can see where they are coming from and I’m not going to begrudge them the opportunity to jump ship and have fun elsewhere.

(Being a GM is toooo haaaard.)

When Will The Game Companies Ever Learn?

Look players just don’t like when the devs just change the rules, and to the players’ disadvantage.  That’s why things shouldn’t be removed or nerfed unless it’s absolutely necessary.  This is customer relations 101.  Do NOT make me bring up the SWG NGE, because I goddamn will.  See, I just did!

What This Means For Me

Well, really, nothing.  I’m not quitting the game.  I’m not quitting blogging.  But I am becoming more irate.  I’ve looked over my last few posts, and they’ve been more ranty than usual… a lot more ranty.  Maybe I’m just getting cranky in my old age, or maybe it’s Bioware.  I suspect the latter.  (Now get off my lawn!)

Of course, things will change for me if enough guildies get fed up and leave the game.  But I’m not even willing to entertain that notion right now because it is full of woe.

An Open Letter

Dear Bioware, EA, and Lucasarts,

I’m trying to be positive about your game, because I genuinely like it.  However, a word of advice:

STOP FUCKING SHIT UP!

XOXO,

Me