SWTOR Bug Boosts Command XP -- And BioWare Approves

Ah, Command XP. It's been controversial from the day it was introduced in Star Wars: The Old Republic and for many days since. It's been nerfed, it's been expanded, and -- with a bug that was introduced in last month's Crisis on Umbara update, it's being exploited.

But here's the weird thing -- unlike most exploits that crop up in MMO releases, BioWare is OK with you using this one. In fact, its own employees are boasting about taking advantage of it.

As MassivelyOP's (and occasionally MMOBomb's) Larry Everett explains in his latest column, dailies that were worth 75 CXP before the Umbara update are now clocking in at 1,125 CXP. That number that was even higher during a recent double XP event.

There are some other bugs in the release that the devs are quick to point out will have consequences for people who exploit them. But this one is different, to the point that they're using them themselves. As he explained on the forums, Producer Keith Kanneg went to test the bug out and gained 200 CXP levels over a weekend. While he said the team might take action to lower the CXP rewards -- though not all the way to 75 -- in the meantime he encouraged players to "take advantage of this massive CXP change." Larry states that Community Manager Eric Musco said today that the rewards would remain "crazy high for the time being."

On the one hand, you could say that BioWare is being generous and rewarding its players who stuck with the Command XP system during its unpopular rollout. Another possibility is that fixing it would be too difficult or would enrage players who have now grown accustomed to the higher rewards. The real test will be how CXP rewards for future content are rolled out.