Probably mentioned already, but the options for tweaking the companion UI elements are so lacking. Would be nice if we could reverse the orientation, have buff/debuffs appear at the bottom and even disable the hotkey display entirely so we could get something similar to the "Target of Target" display.

I always liked this game despite it's shortcomings as an actual MMO. I played it at launch for few months and have come back at least two times since. I usually sub a couple months at a time before I move on to something else for a while. Bioware kind of ruined this game as a single player experience as well though. I enjoyed the old leveling progression and it makes me really sad that there isn't any kind of way to get it back (via some kind of character creator option or such). Now there is this event and there is no way to opt out of it?

Any word on if this can be turned off?

I have a different take on the whole thing. For me, from day one this was single player experience. Sure, the MMO aspects were there, but the meat of the game was the class stories and the occasional story heavy Flashpoint. It wasn't what I expected when I was looking for a Star Wars MMO, but I just kind of accepted it as some kind of co-op RPG. I enjoyed trying different classes and builds. I eventually left because I just got invested in other things. No big deal, happens all the time with MMOs. I left the game with a positive impression. I knew I would come back eventually. This game shortcomings as a MMO were always present. Even back then I recall these same forums having these same discussions. But not only has this game not delivered on that front, the single player portion has had some huge failings as well. This game was never Baldur's Gate in terms of single player challenge, but damn what's been done to this game is depressing. Complete removal of builds, companions buffed to the point were players become bystanders, getting gear and leveling is completely trivial... they took the casual approach to the extreme. I think some of the changes are good. Level sync, multi purpose companions, removal of affection. But the game is practically on rails. It wouldn't be so bad if there was an option for all this stuff. But there isn't. Those who enjoyed the game before are just out of luck. I really regret resubbing.

wrong thread

I read they had that option for the last XP event. I really hope it's here again becuse if it's not I probably won't be playing at all. Levels come insanely fast as is.

So this event just happens? How long is it?

How does this event work? Is it automatic or do you have to do something to activate it?

When the game launched I thought the difficulty was fine. Easy for the most part, manageable when Elites and Champions were in the mix and occasional the difficulty would spike at the end of a story arc. You just tear through everything now. The biggest things I've notice now is that you are always at least 2 levels higher then anything you face and companions are ridiculously powerful. My ideal solution is having some kind of option when you create a character. You can choose your difficulty and essentially all it would do is alter the amount of EXP required to level and the amount of influence required for your companions to level up (even though I personally feel they are too powerful even at level 1).

I know there isn't an issue, temps are higher then normal but still in a very safe zone but... BF3, max settings, 1080p, Karkand w/ 64 players and running at 60 FPS without dips... 65c SWTOR, max settings, 1080p, 4xAA/trAA through control panel on Alderaan with no other players within viewing distance (hell, 20 players on the entire planet)... 75-80c while not even being able to maintain 60FPS.

Yes. Now that the new game smell has worn off it's really easy to see how a lot could have been handled better. For example, and this is just from my experience with the SW story. Balmorra, Nar Shaddaa, Tattooine and Aldeeran are the four planets that make up act 1. This is exactly how KOTOR handled it's story. Go to four planets in any order, collects bits and pieces of story that lead you towards the next goal. This is a good system, gives you an illusion of choice, gives you replay value on your next game when you want to try another order and maybe discover something a little different. This could completely work in SWTOR, the relevant story pieces of each planet are completely interchangeable, but for whatever reason you are forced to go in a certain order.

You should at the very least be able to send companions away and not have them be part of the group until you go pick them up again (give us some an option to sucker punch them ME style instead of flat out killing them). In general I don't like how every class is basically a pet class though. If it were up to me companions would only be there for crafting, crew missions and relevant story events. You could still get affection and unlock dialogue options too.

What is considered fine? This is my system. i5-2500k running at 4.6GHZ, 8GB of Ram, dual 580GTXs at stock speed and SWTOR installed on a SSD. Like anyone who has invested this much into his/her PC I've done a ridiculous amount of testing and benchmarking and my system is incredibly stable (prime 95 all night long with zero issues). I run the game at 1080p, max settings and I force AA (the in-game setting is terrible) and trAA through nvidia inspector. There is something very wrong with the way this game utilizes hardware. Game is barely multi-threading, ram usage is pretty minimal and although my SLI usage indicator is pretty on par with other games, performance and SLI usage goes to hell as soon as I enter the fleet, a Warzone or even any area with heavy vegetation like Alderaan. This is pretty ridiculous for a game with so many graphical shortcomings. So yeah, I don't consider this fine at all. EDIT: Also this game runs incredibly hot. BF3 on the most graphic intensive map barely hits 65c on GPU1/2. This game however sends it shooting to close to 75c just sitting on Alderaan with no one else around.

Incredibly depressing thread to read. I really regret subbing for three months now. I really wish I could express my opinion with my money.

Sad but true. I still enjoy the game and I'm here for another three months but it is looking quiet bad. Every time I even try and explore I get smacked over the head and basically told there is no exploration, go back and follow the straight line. This game could have really had the best from both worlds. The main class quest could have taken you along the guided path and for the most part kept your at an appropriate level. Side quest and heroics would involve more exploration the co-operation.