State of the Galaxy: Player Edition

Increased pressure but no additional avenues for the required resources - Players are being asked for deeper and deeper buy-in to new characters and higher relic levels but there are no additional avenues to acquire what we need - and in fact it feels like CG is actively putting obstacles in the way in the form of the most expensive cantina farms in the game, removing signal data sources in the form of assault battles, and reducing crystal income with the GAC squish

I largely agree with this point, but I want to push back slightly -- or perhaps just clarify something with which you already agree. 

The new raid income makes relic mats much more customizable, but Signal Data is in very short supply. A long time back I made the comment that the ever increasing requirements for Bronzium Wiring and CCBs were unsustainable and that CG should not require those for higher relic tier recipes. People were absolutely clamouring for increased access to CCBs and BWs, and many solutions were proposed on the old forums, but all the proposed solutions were essentially increased income, which was too difficult to include without messing with the economy for players who weren't at the endgame. People who were just getting their first relic toons shouldn't have a waiting stash of hundreds or thousands of BWs and CCBs, but that's what would have happened if CG gave endgame players what they needed.

So I repeated, several times, that the best solution is just to cut BWs and CCBs from r8+ recipes. Lo and behold, a couple months later they did just that. 

The time might have come to delete Fragmented Signal Data from r9+ recipes, possibly even from r8+. While we don't need all the new toons at high relics, it's ridiculous to think that taking all those toons to r3-r5 every other week won't have a negative impact on our ability to r8 and r9 toons. My point here is that the relic mat requirements don't seem like they'll be problematic even with a bunch of new toons to take to r4ish, but signal data is already a problem and this makes it worse. 

You say increased pressure but no additional resources, and I just want to clarify: yes, for signal data. Relic mats are probably fine, though.

We need a fix for this that doesn't compromise the economy for midgame accounts, and the simplest way to do that is to drop Fragmented Signal Data from advanced recipes. Then there's no worry about people getting extra income that they shouldn't, but the resource pressure when attempting to r9 toons (and maybe also to r8 them) is separated farther from the resource pressure to r3/r4/r5 toons. Obviously they wouldn't be wholly independent even so, but this would help considerably. 

Separately... 

CG, I don't mind having lots of new toons. I love the idea of having many new toons. What I don't like is making new toons mandatory. Heck, I'd love to have a new marquee a week if none of them were required for challenges or Conquest for at least 6 months after dropping. 

The point is that once upon a time I got to make decisions about what to prioritize. More and more this is a game with only one path to success. We're not allowed to create light-side focussed or DS-focussed or Sith focussed rosters. With Raids, Conquest and Challenges all building in heavy requirements for nearly every toon that gets released, I feel less like I'm playing a game and more like you're playing me. 

I don't mind you making money. You're a corporation. I get it. 

But I would feel far better about the new system if instead of requiring each marquee, you required a choice between the two marquees from the same episode. 

Imaging that in the first episode of any Era 2 marquees are released. Neither of them is required for that episode's rewards. instead existing toons that fit the theme are required. Next episode the player needs ONE of the 2 toons released in the last episode, but either one is just fine. You don't need both. The player gets to make choices about where to focus resources. In the third episode you require the player to use one of the 2 toons from Ep2, but not both. In Ep1 of the next era you again require existing toons, not new toons, but different ones, ones that fit with the new Era's theme. 

Even this, I fear, constrains players too much, but in a resource management game you must allow players to make decisions about managing resources. The existing schema pushes too hard to force players to devote resources to what CG wants and not what the player wants. Having nifty advantages in PvP is enough of a bonus for people at the tip of the spear. We don't need everything to be required in PvE. And if the existing schema permits players too few choices, then the new one seems, if anything, even more restrictive. 

I really like the ideas here, but the worst parts of the game right now -- That you (1) spend to tread water on raids and GCs instead of improving and (2) are too constrained in your choices -- seem to be getting worse. 

The update is the answer to a lot of past prayers, I'll grant, but I still fear the outcome of your new emphasis.