YES! These are a MAJOR pain to get. Only run rich/bountiful missions or grab a discovery as the previous reply suggested. Having leveled all mission skills to 450, I find the low-level TH purples to be the hardest mats to get. Maybe it's confirmation bias on my part, but I've always felt like I had the hardest time getting Chrysopaz (sp?) & Krayt Dragon Pearls. On another note... maybe this should go in the crew skills sub-forum.

Pretty much what I want has been said, but just in case they're counting votes I'd like to add mine to: -Everything that's been said about buffs/de-buffs. Maybe even have party members' panels change color in the raid frame when they get a cleanseable debuff/dot. -Grey out party members that are out of LoS. This annoys the @#$% out of me as a healer. *I* can see my tank, so why isn't this heal going off? Oh, crap... my dude apparently can't see over that 4' tall crate. Oops, tank died. -Target of Focus Target. This would be a healer's best friend. -More obvious procs - even the ability to set a notification when ability on quickslot X, Y, or Z is available -EXPORT/IMPORT KEYBINDS!!! This is a serious PITA when setting up a new character, especially since my setup is pretty radically altered from the default. Oh, and one that just came to mind - have toolbars lock in combat, whether you've locked it manually or not. Would have saved me embarrassment that one time I stealthed up to a CC target with my Sawbones and hit what SHOULD have been my CC but had apparently been inadvertently swapped with an attack during the heat of the previous battle.

Yes! I suggested long ago that we have the option to choose what level of darkside corruption we show instead of the straight on/off toggle we have now. Dark I-II was perfect for my Inquisitor, as it gave me the eye color I wanted but couldn't choose for a Rattataki (sp?). I liked the yellow eye look so much more than the light blue I had to go with. Now I get to be all purple veiny and red-eyed or the pale blue eyes again. So again, what I say is we should be able to choose the degree of corruption, not just a "yes/no" choice. So if you've acheived Dark V, you get to choose any of 5 degrees for your appearance. Shouldn't really be hard to do, and I really don't think they should have to charge us CC for it.

I've only got Scoundrel healer, so pardon my republic terminology, but I've never had trouble on this fight. (It is slow going and more than once my gunslinger raid-leading guildy has stolen the killshot to pad is DPS for a half-joking e-peen contest he has ongoing with our top shadow DPS. ) Keep your HoTs rolling on yourself to build upper hand (tactical advantage?) so you can use your insta-cast heal when stuff hits the fan. Remember, that's your "you cannot die button." First time I ran this someone said on vent "uh oh, looks like Desperot's in trouble" to which I replied "no i'm not: watch this" *pop pop pop pop* 4 casts of emergency medpack (forget the Op term) thanks to the first refunding UH for me being under 30% when i hit it and I was good as new again. As long as you have your UH/TA in reserve, you're golden. In fact, you should have them built and your HoT rolling BEFORE the fight starts. As far as the actual fight - don't forget you can be stealthed and use your stealth attack to open. You can get 2 shots in with Shoot First & Backblast (again, unsure of Op term), then start your XS Flyby (Orbital Strike) before the dude even turns to face you. (Just be sure your AoE won't catch someone else's target. Might be good to let your neighbors know you're going to do that so they don't pull into it). Keep your DoT going (Corrosive Probe for Op, IIRC). Don't try to burst, because you can't really - just peck away at him and watch your health and energy and you should be fine. Also make use of your interrupt and defensive abilities. Remember, your strength is not dealing damage but fixing it. As long as you heal it faster than he deals it you can't lose. In BH gear you should at least be able to stay alive long enough for the rest of the party to finish theirs, then each get one shot in to help you.

You do realize those are REPUBLIC starter planets, right? You can't possibly run into any Imperial players there. You won't be sharing space with Imps until Nar Shaddaa in the level 20-24 range.

First, I'd like to see whoever thought black cores would look good dragged out back and flogged. Other than that: more hues of the colors we have, particle effects, skinnier blades as others have noted. Then we take the black core people out back for another flogging.

I prefer to kill the big boy first, then commander, then the one on the left. The "pin" just annoys the crap out of me that much, plus if the healer gets pinned things can go south pretty fast. If the group wants to kill the commander first I can live with it, but it's not what I'd choose. The trash is still more dangerous than any of the bosses in Kaon, IMO. The chairs are downright deadly!

I haven't tried a tank yet, but leveling as a healer (Sawbones Scoundrel) was far and away the easiest of my 4 50s (plus another on the way at 38 now). It never even got hairy unless I did something stupid like aggro half the planet. Me & Corso just stomped our way across the galaxy and finished the class story at 47, having leveled on the way to the final boss so i still hadn't picked up my 47 abilities. Not bragging, just saying that healers aren't slow or grindy to level. You have plenty of punch to deal with the standards while your tank keeps the strongs/golds interest, then toss a heal or two and clean up. As an op/smuggler you don't even get your AoE of doom until 48 - at least a Merc/Commando healer gets to level with theirs. I think people just think it's slow to level with a healer but if they gave it a try they'd change their mind. Tanks... I have no experience as, so I can't comment. All that said, I'm one of those who doesn't do flashpoints as I level. This has more to do with the fact that leveling is something I do when I want to play solo and/or might have to suddenly and without warning drop everything. When I'm sure I have time to dedicate to group content I'm either running an op with the guild or HM FPs for comms.

Yes, people exaggerate here big time. It's human nature to remember the negative exception more vividly than the positive norm. It IS true, however, that when a pug is bad it's really bad. You can usually muddle through one weak link, but when there's 2 or more and/or they're fighting amongst themselves. (I've seen a healer or tank start fighting with one of the other members more than a few times and it all goes downhill from there). Still, I can probably count the number of times since GF launch that I've had a PUG fall apart and fail to finish the FP without taking my shoes off. Instead by a HUGE margin I've found the group finder & daily PUGs to be almost comically effective in crushing this "hard mode" content. Most of the time on my healer I'm not even throwing out my big heals - just AoE and HOTs while adding my own piddly little DPS to the mix because the tank & DPS just aren't taking damage before stuff gets burned down. All bets are off at low levels, though. You never know how new your groupmates are to the game and/or their class/role then. But I don't group much while leveling anyway.

5. Four times for my own 50s plus one more for my wife while she was on doctor-ordered bed rest and couldn't sit in a chair for long periods. She then used her cartel coins to unlock him on 1 or 2 alts. I am stingy with my coins and credits, however, and utterly refuse to do it that way. Plus I don't usually level with DPS companions, his gear doesn't scale, droids are a pain to gear, and even on a crafting alt I can usually get a sensor for the ship droid that makes him as good or better. The quest is really, really easy. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've never had to spend very long at all scanning for parts. The FPs are beyond easy and can be taken care of with the GF and the camping griefers left the outlaw's den long ago - even on the first day I simply had to switch instances to avoid them anyway.

When I got my Naga I had to RADICALLY change my UI and keybinds to force myself to adapt. At first I tried to leave everything as I had it as a keyboard-only player and just replace the numpad with the Naga, and I'd get all confuddled and just go back to the keyboard mid-fight. So I took a chainsaw to my old ways, and within a day I loved it. Here's what my UI looks like for all characters, and my sniper's toolbars as of level 21 (31 now, but no screenshots in my folder) the 4x3 set is quickbar 2 and matches the shape of the keys bound to it for my left hand to hit, the 3x4 is my Naga and also matches that layout. 3 & 4 occupy the space 1 & 2 do by default and are mapped to ctrl or alt + a naga button. (ctrl-12 is also mapped to T, and is my stunbreaker). I move forward with F, back with shift-F. Y replaces F for rolling into cover. I still have my arrow keys mapped for movement if I get tired of holding the mouse for long, safe speeder trips, but this arrangement forces me to mouse-turn in combat - which was the idea. The sniper is set to be my 5th 50, so much of where I assign abilities is based on past choices and habits developed on other characters, but there's a method to my madness. Since my index finger is on F for movement I assign abilities I need to not be moving for to R, G, C, and V. V is always my interrupt, R is always my big hitting long-cast attack/heal. I now have "Ambush" there on my sniper, even though the attached pic shows it on Naga 1. Things that can be used on the run go to the rest of the letters I can hit with my left - primarily W, E, A, S & D. Procs, cleanses, and other such situational things go to Q, Z, and X. With my Naga on the right I put my leap, knockback, or damaging stun (like dirty kick or debilitate) on 5, where my thumb rests most of the time. My other most used right-hand abilities go to 2, 8, and 11 so I spend most of my time moving down the middle row. For my sniper I hit 2 for cover, then in cover it becomes snipe. While on the move 6 is shiv and in cover it becomes explosive probe (i think that's what it's called - the IA version of sabotage charge). Aimed area abilities go to 1 and 3, which keeps me from accidentally right-click autoattacking. I put defensive & regenerative stuff on 7, 9, 10, and 12. In the end I have 25 abilities I can access without hitting a single modifier. I save the alt- and ctrl- modifiers for situational, infrequent, and convenience things like medpacks, CCs, and speeders - again standardizing their locations between characters. tl:dr - If you're having trouble adapting, I recommend blowing up whatever you've got and come up with something radically different. It worked for me. Also be sure to standardize the location of similar abilities between characters to minimize confusion when switching between them. Hope that helps. I know I love my Naga now and literally can't play without it.

I've gotten to where I just laugh, shake my head and say "oh Kaliyo, you silly girl". Seriously - why run with an IMPERIAL Agent if she hates it when you show your IMPERIAL superior officers respect. And does she really want me to taunt a sith lord? That's very bad for your career and your internal organs. BUT she kicks butt in a fight, keeps the heat off me better than most tank companions I've used somehow, and she likes it when I get snarky - and I do get snarky with people I don't report to/fear will force-choke me and drop me down one of the many open shafts in this world - so it's a wash in the end. Real affection comes from gifts anyway, as others noted - especially for your first couple companions because of their low conversation base gain.

Anything that can be crafted and equipped directly on your character produces an augmentation component 100% of the time on RE. So all crafted armor, weapons, offhands, earpieces, and implants will get you a component. Any thing else - armorings, mods, enhancements, crystals, consumables, augments, ship parts, vehicles, etc - will NOT.

If they share the codex entries legacy-wide then I'd hope they'd share the datacrons themselves. I use the codex entries to check which ones I already have when starting the great datacron hunt on a new 50.

C2's tinkering with the engine trying to get another .001% efficiency will go horribly (albeit predictably) wrong one day.

Naga for the win! Seriously. My main is a Sentinel, and before I got a Naga I considered it to be a "piano player" class. I would get muddled up hitting all the modified keybinds (ctrl, alt, or shift + numpad) and often hit the wrong thing. Now I'm set up so that all the abilities I need to hit frequently and without thinking too much just take one key or Naga button to activate - no need to remember "is that bound to ctrl- or alt- 5?" in the heat of combat. I even changed my primary and secondary quickbars to the shape of their layout for my left hand on the keyboard and my right-hand Naga abilities with the UI editor. http://i46.tinypic.com/if0bqc.jpg Keep at it. I'm glad my first character was the Sentinel. Everything else has been trivial to get the hang of since.

I've only noticed a few on The Harbinger - one was on a sage healer. Kinda made sense, really - they just stand there holding their weapon anyway, so at least an axe doesn't scream "HERE I AM! GEEK THE MAGE!" like a glowing, stationary lightsaber. I'm eventually going to put one on Bowdaar, and maybe a future Juggernaut I plan to roll will use one. I think it would look silly on my sentinel. I don't get why some people are up in arms over it though. The item is totally in canon - it's a Gamorrean axe... you know, the guys in Jabba's palace in RotJ? Plus there's plenty of lore around force-sensitives using weapons other than lightsabers because they weren't invented yet.

No you wouldn't "of" stomped him. Balmorra comes in faction-specific instances - like Taris does. They swap positions in the two faction's stories. Plus if you were waiting to kill the world boss and were at-level for it you would "of" been the one getting stomped by the 50.

Proof once again that the dumbest question is the one which goes unasked. I had no idea you could do that, so I never sought out how to do it. I learned something new today, and can't wait to use it next time I buy a stack of low level gifts for a new companion. See? If the OP hadn't asked here instead of the fleet I (and maybe others) might have never learned.

Just did the Imp side Section X for the first time last night, and I have to agree. I even got marksman I was spawn-camping "stolen" because I was a split second too slow. (Sure, I'll blame lag ) The Pub side doesn't seem to have any similar issues with spawn/drop rates. In fact, there's one where I think they respawn TOO fast, as you can easily find yourself overwhelmed by strongs that appear out of nowhere while you're fighting another group. Like the Mk 3 Shields for Republic Ilum and the crates for both in BH, I'm sure they'll be able to adjust the timer/drop rate to fix - or at least mitigate - the issue. It'll work out. This is hardly a rage-worthy issue.

YES! 1000x yes! I would drop a stupid amount of cartel coins on this... like my entire FTP launch grant - and I'm so stingy with those things I've done the HK quest 4x rather than spend them. All I've actually bought is the legacy rocket boots. I've wanted this plus field cargo hold access (to both personal and legacy bank) for a long time. Again, I'd drop coins on that in a heartbeat.

I support this just so I can banish black-core sabers from my screen. They are disgusting and I seriously hope whoever at Bioware thought they were a good idea is one of the devs that are now gone. I really thought it was a glitch the first time I saw one. I couldn't believe anyone would CHOOSE to make something look that bad.

What does "demaning" mean? Also, all these rage threads over the "PvP requirement" or having to group up in an MMO to do this quest are hilarious. In the time people have spent screaming on the forums I've done the quest line 3 times. (yes, I could just legacy unlock... but I'm not gonna waste coins/creds on that for 50s when I can just spend a couple hours getting him) This quest is what I call the "Tour de TOR". It's meant to make you do a little of everything. Nobody is being required to do anything. If you want HK then this is what you have to do. Deal with it. Seriously - I'm not trying to be an e-peen flexing elitist jerk here. I'm not an uber-geared raider or anything. I fully understand there are people who play their game different from me - really, I get it. Just fire up the groupfinder and DO IT. If you're having trouble getting a competent group out of that, start asking around on the fleet. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would do the FPs again to help those who are having trouble with it.

Ask 16 players and you might get 16 answers. My 3 50s are a Sentinel, Assassin DPS, and Scoundrel Healer. All 3 are fun in their own way. Sentinel is just a wrecking ball - leaping to mobs and ripping them to shreds. Fun for just feeling like a bad***. Assassin has a nice mix of DoT, AoE, melee, and force attacks. On top of all that you get stealth, making for nice variety in gameplay. Plus you get to be a real evil jerk in the story. Scoundrel - even in healer mode - is like a cross between the 3 Stooges and Quentin Tarantino. Kick 'em in the nuts then run around behind and blast 'em in the back with a shotgun. The mobile healing abilities you get make fights like Mentor in Directive 7 lots of fun, too. So really "fun" depends on YOU, and possibly even your mood on a given day.

Wow. Of all the crazy, baseless rumors I've seen surrounding F2P/Cartel Market, this one has to be the winner. No, unless I missed it somewhere no dev has said or hinted at anything like that and I highly doubt it will ever happen.