The latest Star Wars: The Old Republic blog on the official site lays out "quality of life" improvements coming with the v1.4 patch. Included are new facial emotions, a way to leave flashpoints and return to where you were gaming, a delayed binding mechanic and customization of companion armors. 

Companion Customization Improvements – Finally, starting in Game Update 1.4 players will be able to hide the helmet, or unify colors to chest, for their companion’s gear (see the screenshot at the top of this article). No more mismatched, silly outfits (unless you like them that way)!

Read the full post on the Star Wars: The Old Republic site.

Originally posted by NomadMorlock
I see the ability to create Chat Bubbles still eludes them. Sharp team...

rofl..i like that one.made me chuckle

Originally posted by tawess
Why woudl anyone care to make chat bubbles..? Not trying to be insulting but honestly curious.

It's another one of those very simple things that hundreds of people were asking for from beta through launch ( seriously, their were multiple looonnnggg threads with people requesting chat bubbles lol ) that EAware simply ignored.

Many people get used to chat bubbles in other games ( particularly those coming from asian games ) and expect to see them in new games they play ( I personally hate chat bubbles but I have no problem with having them as an option for those who like them ).

Many people prefer the chat bubbles because text in the chat box may be too small for them to read quickly or the chat is just going by too fast for them to keep up with their own particular conversation.

EAware's downright refusal to implement small things like chat bubbles regardless of how many people asked, while trying to claim "We listen to your feedback.", is just another of the brilliant moves that helped SWToR onto the road of failure it travels today.

I know it's in vogue to dump on Tor, but honestly it's still a pretty fun and heavily active game. A lot of people coming back to the game now and servers are pretty packed. Once the game goes f2p and BW starts putting in more content regularly, I think the game will bounce back.

And let's be honest - the pvp is a 1000x better than GW2. So that's reason enough to keep subbed.

Originally posted by Izik

I know it's in vogue to dump on Tor, but honestly it's still a pretty fun and heavily active game. A lot of people coming back to the game now and servers are pretty packed. Once the game goes f2p and BW starts putting in more content regularly, I think the game will bounce back.

And let's be honest - the pvp is a 1000x better than GW2. So that's reason enough to keep subbed.

Well considering that EA just did a server merge I would imagine that servers would be packed?  Their new Mega Server technology even had server queues with no real differeence in people joining / playing. .. just longer waits for existing customers to log on.

PVP in SWTOR stinks.  There is no large scale PVP, it's only tiny instanced PVP.  How is this better?  The pvp maps in GW2 are huge and the SWTOR maps are the size of a small building (like HuttBall) or a small town hub (like the others).

So lets be honest? lol

Originally posted by tawess
Why woudl anyone care to make chat bubbles..? Not trying to be insulting but honestly curious.

It mitigates the need to constantly watch a small text window where chat happens.  With Chat Bubbles, you can observe who says what and note their character appearance to boot.  It's like a comic book caption.

Without Chat bubbles, there is a separation between an avatar and what is said.  Chat bubbles add to immersion.

Originally posted by Karteli

Originally posted by Izik

I know it's in vogue to dump on Tor, but honestly it's still a pretty fun and heavily active game. A lot of people coming back to the game now and servers are pretty packed. Once the game goes f2p and BW starts putting in more content regularly, I think the game will bounce back.

And let's be honest - the pvp is a 1000x better than GW2. So that's reason enough to keep subbed.

Well considering that EA just did a server merge I would imagine that servers would be packed?  Their new Mega Server technology even had server queues with no real differeence in people joining / playing. .. just longer waits for existing customers to log on.

 

PVP in SWTOR stinks.  There is no large scale PVP, it's only tiny instanced PVP.  How is this better?  The pvp maps in GW2 are huge and the SWTOR maps are the size of a small building (like HuttBall) or a small town hub (like the others).

 

So lets be honest? lol

Prior to the merge my server was still packed. The game is still the #2 or #3 highest subbed game.

No open pvp outside of fighting in The Black Hole which can be entertaining, so I will give you that.

Wzs in Tor are tiny? Gw2's maps are extremely small, and they are all identical: 3 capture points with some PVE thrown in. How is that better? Civil War is easily bigger than any of the maps in GW2. Not to mention the awful camera and controls in GW2 that make pvp almost unplayable...the quality is just not there in that game sad to say.

Originally posted by OG_Zorvan

Originally posted by tawess
Why woudl anyone care to make chat bubbles..? Not trying to be insulting but honestly curious.

It's another one of those very simple things that hundreds of people were asking for from beta through launch ( seriously, their were multiple looonnnggg threads with people requesting chat bubbles lol ) that EAware simply ignored.

Many people get used to chat bubbles in other games ( particularly those coming from asian games ) and expect to see them in new games they play ( I personally hate chat bubbles but I have no problem with having them as an option for those who like them ).

Many people prefer the chat bubbles because text in the chat box may be too small for them to read quickly or the chat is just going by too fast for them to keep up with their own particular conversation.

EAware's downright refusal to implement small things like chat bubbles regardless of how many people asked, while trying to claim "We listen to your feedback.", is just another of the brilliant moves that helped SWToR onto the road of failure it travels today.

 

^

That about sums it up.

I would add the thousands of upon thousands of players who did Beta testing and requested a "Founders" in game title, only to be given the middle finger by EA/Biowaste with a promotion later ran by EA/Biowaste for game subscriptions (read $$$$$$$$) that granted such a title after the release.

Player housing in the open world would be a better quality of life. Not a face expression.

Originally posted by Izik

< SNIP >

Prior to the merge my server was still packed. The game is still the #2 or #3 highest subbed game.

No open pvp outside of fighting in The Black Hole which can be entertaining, so I will give you that.

Wzs in Tor are tiny? Gw2's maps are extremely small, and they are all identical: 3 capture points with some PVE thrown in. How is that better? Civil War is easily bigger than any of the maps in GW2. Not to mention the awful camera and controls in GW2 that make pvp almost unplayable...the quality is just not there in that game sad to say.

 

Well it was the highest #2 or #3 game .. I think this has changed a bunch.  Going by the June 2012 investor call they had 500k+ subs, but this has fallen, enough to call for another server merge.  This game is way below the 500k to cover operational costs .. hence why it is going F2P.

I have to call you out on the red highlighted part because thats a load of crap.  The PVP zones I've been in were so big I could only explore a portion of them during the hours I spent there.  In my estimation, they are the equivalent of the size of Tatooine.

I could only guess that you never actually played GW2, but you are just repeating what trolls have fed you.

Originally posted by Izik
Bro I'm talking about the instanced pvp not WvWvW. I played GW2 extensively before deciding to go back to Tor. The WZs in Tor are much more varied/dynamic than GW2's. 

You are an interesting person :-)

SWTOR WZ's are varied and dynamic .. please explain?

I don't see how new facial emots is going to make you quality of life better.  They go so many other things that need a fixing that emotes is not going to help the game. 

Originally posted by erictlewis

I don't see how new facial emots is going to make you quality of life better.  They go so many other things that need a fixing that emotes is not going to help the game. 

 

SWG had visible moods your character could be in... but this was not a feature, it was just there.

Why do game companies continue to point to themselves saying "see what I just did for you?"  

Stop releasing games that are not finished.

Originally posted by tawess
Why woudl anyone care to make chat bubbles..? Not trying to be insulting but honestly curious.

It seems like a simple thing.

Look at GW2 ... one of the things that really draws you into the world are the random npc conversations.  Both voice and chat bubbles really help in this regard.

Much of the time, I don't read the text in my chat box anymore and that's a good thing. 

Companion Customization Improvements – Finally, starting in Game Update 1.4 players will be able to hide the helmet, or unify colors to chest, for their companion’s gear (see the screenshot at the top of this article). No more mismatched, silly outfits (unless you like them that way)!

.....How about a standard friggin outfit system.  This is just inferior to so many MMORPG's... much like many of TOR's other features.  I don't enjoy disliking SWTOR and picking it apart... it makes me sad because it is what it is instead of what it should have/could have been imo.