I personal am more worried then a few of the other posters in this forum about the no gear need for companions but as other have said there will always be a way to make credits. As I mention earlier for me one of my main market is droid parts and it looks like it is going to be complete lost, as well as all the advance schematic which I worked hard getting. So that really isn't cool and kind of upsetting but it not the end of the world either. I'm not as confident as other posters that the market won't be hit hard. I think it will take a bigger hit then they think because most the people I known who buy gear buy it for their companions to save the basic com for later use. Of course this might just be my experiences. I'm sure there will be other doorway to make credits, of course players will still buy mods etc. So there little point in freaking out, as the changes are coming good or bad. All we can do is wait and adapted to the changes.

You've got a point, guess we will just have to wait and see how it all turn out. One thing for sure I'm going to sell as much droid parts as I can before it goes away. As I note before there will always be something to sell, even resources sell for a nice junk of money. I just wish they'd tell us more about the changes to crafting but I'm sure they will eventually.

Sadly no not all of us are billionaires. I been making most of my profit off selling driod parts but I'm not that wealth. It just made me enough money to cover my cost and buy decoration for my house. If I understand everything correctly droid part will be complete gone and I will have wasted my money, resource, and time making all those purples. . Oh well I'm sure I'll figure out something new to sell.

I agree for player there will still be advantage for crafted good as there is now "it will be cut down due to not needing to gear companions." but there probably will be some market there. The problem I'm worried about is the fact that companion won't need any gear after the new expansion beside using armor for customized looks. This will take a hug junk of buyers out of the market, who wont need gear for there companions. At least for droid part my main market, they will become complete worthless as player don't use droid parts on themselves and companions won't need them at all due to the new changes. I'm not saying there won't be a market, there always is.

Thanks for answering so many question. I hope they give some new thing to crafters, as they confirmed today that the no gear thing for companion is form 1-60. That mean droid part are complete worthless as no one going to need them as they don’t even change the look of the driods like armors do for other companions. Maybe they could give cybertech customized droid looks or something. Sadly this is also going to hugely impact mod, armoring, implants, etc because the only thing players will need is the one for themselves (which the basic com/ questing) should cover easily. I also think it funny that they will mail those back to you, as they are worthless but I guess you could vendor them for a few credits. I know purple and blue (mods, implants, etc) might still sell some but it going to be a very small market. I just hope they realize how much the crafters market are being ruined and give us other nice items to craft. I’m so sad I ground out so many purple droid part as that was my main crafters market and it sound like right now it will be a complete waste of time. I’ll adapted but still it sort of a bummer as all my work appear to be going down the drain. Not that I won't like having to not gear my companion on a side note.

I hope they give some new thing to crafter, as they confirmed today that the no gear thing for companion is form 1-60. That mean droid part are complete worthless as no one going to need them as they don’t even change the look of the driod like armor do for other companions. Maybe they could give cybertech customized droid looks or something. Sadly this is also going to hugely impact mod, armoring, implants, etc because the only thing players will need is the one for themselves (which the basic com/ questing) should cover easily. I know purple and blue might still sell some, when come to what players need. I just hope they realize how much our market are being ruined and give us other items to craft. I’m so sad I ground out so many purple droid part as that was my main crafters market and it sound like right now it was complete waste of time. I’ll adapted but still it sort of a bummer.

I’m divided on the new companion don’t need armor thing. On one hand it will be a nice thing to have when leveling fast but it also make cybertech droid part complete pointless and limit people need on mods, armor etc. At least if this feature applies from the first level as the above post make it sound like it may only start after KOTFE but in the live stream it sound like it would be the new norm for the whole game.

That a good question, I hope they make sure to use the customization we have on them. As you said I'm so use to them looking one way and I hate if Kira drop back to her default look. Of course it's not a game killer for me.

Question 1: Can you give us any more details about how the companion play into the alliance system you mentioned early this year. Question 2: Could you go deeper in what you mean that people will be able to use their companions even if they haven’t returned in the story? I got the impression from what you said in the stream you can just call them even if it doesn’t fit with the story (does this include elder game) or am I wrong? I actual think this is a good move, one it solves the crafting problem and it also stop people complaining about the fact they can’t use so and so. I know it kind of break story but of course we can choose to ignore our companion till they return in the story. Question Three: Does the new gear thing with companion start at level one? As another poster mentioned this would make droid parts complete pointless and really reduce play need for mods, armoring, implants etc. If so I see it as a good and bad thing. One thing I’m happy to hear is that they will be doing companion roles again; I love it when they had it in beta and I was sad when they pulled it. So good move on this one!

Thank you guys for the information!

I'm wondering why they are removing this and it makes me worried about other content that could face being removed. At least they are giving us a head up, which is better then nothing. I would like to hear the reason why it's being removed. To anyone who has complete the achievement could you give me an estimated on how long it takes to complete as I haven't start it. I would like to get it done but I'm very busy right now.

I hope none of the old companions get axed in the new expansion. That would make me very sad, as many of my favorite aren't the one I play with simple because they are not my healer.

I wish we'd learned more. I known we got a little but I really thought we get more information at Gamescom. I feel like the missed a great chance to get people excited about the new expansion. Oh well it nothing new.

I think it be great if you could but I don't see it happening. After all they need to make sure all the characters end up in a similar place or it'd be a nightmare to continue the story. I just wish they let us switch sides within the Empire and Republican, it be prefect time to let our character join the other fraction because we now all have the same story. My fallen Jedi really need to get kick out of the Jedi order and join the Sith but I don't think it will happen.

Lol my bad, my computer didn't show that post until after I had posted.

Sorry I believe your wrong. I too remember them saying they weren't going to let people buy the new expansion even if they have in the past. Like others have said you have to buy a subscription for at least one month and then you get all the chapters that have come out plus you don't loses them when you drop your subscription. Then you can wait three or four month sub up again and get any new chapters that have come out. I actual think this is a great deal, if you are going to be unable to play due to school, military service, etc. You can drop your subscription to save money, after you get back you sub up and get everything you missed. You then can choose to go back to F2P or stay sub for a few months.

I'm a sub and I don't feel offended by them extending it, after all I still get the new companion. Beside I plan to stay sub for all the rewards and with them at Gamescon it might get some people to sub who otherwise wouldn't have.

I think it is a great thing that there is so many new players, the more the better in my opinion. Yeah it can be a pain to teach new players but it better to have new players then see the game wither and die. I just hope they don't mass leave right after the expansion come out. Of course some will but hopeful a good amount will continue playing.

I don’t think raiding is just hardcore elitist but I don’t agree that it will keep people playing. You say that operations/pvp are what keep people playing when story end, I don’t agree as I have stayed playing since day one and I have never done operation. I couldn’t care less and I have many friends who play the same way I do. Yes some people keep playing after the story to do operation or pvp but other stay to decorate their house, get rich off the GNT, play new alts, or RPG. You say people just burn through story but the same can be said about operations. Many guilds clear it in the first month or so and then complain they have nothing to do. That is why we see the crowd of people who jumps from one game to another and then maybe comes back when there something new to do in a few months. This doesn’t matter if this person burns through story or complete the newest operation in the first month or two; they are always going to be hungry for new content. So there no reason to think any sort of development team can keep up with this need and thus they should never be the focus of longer term investment plans. The fact is none of us known what percentage of the player’s actual do any of the content, so we can’t say what really keeps people playing. I’m just assuming that it such a simple fact as you suggested, all game would focus solo on end game so they could be profitable but the fact is they aren’t which suggest that operations/raiding alone isn’t keeping players interested in the game. Now as I said I could be wrong and this could hurt the game but I don’t think they would risk losing more players if they simply could use operations to keep people playing. I’d imagine it would be easier to make a couple new operations, over story, but they aren't. This decision wasn’t something they just made lightly or without any facts. I think you make a fair point but we will just have to agree to disagree and see how it turns out.

I for one like most of the changes and I have been a player from day one. I’m sad the raider didn’t get any new content but the fact is there is a reason they chose to skip the operations for other content. If it was as important as some people are making it out to be they would be focusing there efforts on new operations/pvp. People claiming that raiders are the loyal and longer term player are just making assumptions, that there way of playing the game is more important. I’ve played since day one and I’ve never drop my sub but I also have never done the operations. I know I’m not the only one and that doesn’t make me less of a loyal and long term player. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of long term and loyal players who never do operations. As others have point out there has been a lot of data from other game showing that operations/raids are not done by the majority of the players. Am I saying they shouldn’t do them at all, no. I know many raiders who defeated the new operation and then drop the game till the next operation; this is no different than people who burn through the story. No matter which way you go with these type of players, they can’t be pleased because they will burn through the content too fast. What you want to do is keep the casual gamer who doesn’t complete everything new in the first month interested in hanging around. Of course that just my thought and they could be wrong. Question I have are, with new solo operation will I be able to get decorations? Will I be able to have a friend tag along in solo mode, if I want to without it turning into a tactical flashpoints? What about those not include on the list are they just staying the same. Overall I’m happy there making the old content useful again and I can get my own loot when doing flashpoint etc.

I think you make a great point about MMO meaning different thing to different people, as many MMO have shown a lot of people play MMO solo. That doesn’t change the fact it an MMO as there still playing online in one world. As other have stated people play MMO for different reason. I’ve never played them for raiding and only occasionally do group content but love playing with my sister online and helping the random player who’s having trouble. Not that I’m against these types of content but saying that everyone expect large scale group content is wrong because date from other game have shown very few people do these large group activities. Obviously Bioware’s own date shows this too or else they would focus on operations/pvp. I’d suspect it would be easier and cost less to make an operation or pvp map then the new story content but that not going to keep a lot of people engaged in the game longer term or hasn’t been. They just mention with the PVP changes how so few people actual had a full PVP gear. I don’t remember the exacted percentage but it was small. I actual like pvp in swtor but it come in second to story. So no matter how much raiders want to claim that they are vital to the game, they are no more important than all the other playstyle. They need to stop acting as if there playstyle is the only thing keeping this game alive.

I believe I read today on one of the new articles that we should be able to do spectator mode like we do with class stories. It might have been Lady Insanity article but I could be wrong as I read a lot of article today.. Anyways you will have to rerun the quest for each of you, just like if you do two Jedi Knight together. My sister and me duo alot, so we end up doing this already with the class stories, so it no big deal to me

As others mentioned I assume it a performance issue which doesn't say much for the engine and they are losing easy cash. I would have bought it for sure (even if I had to buy an extra stronghold house slot on top of it) but I've spent too much credit and time decorating all four stronghold to just throw them away. Plus it will only be worse when the next stronghold come out and I again have to choose, maybe if I move on to another serve I'll buy it.

So it confirmed, no increase in strongholds and you have to deactivated one to use the new one. I suspect it due to the game engine or something but it a big turn off. I don't want to have to choose each time a new stronghold come out. between it and my old homes. Not to mention it a hug waste of credits or cartel coins. I'm sure a lot of people will buy it but I think I'm just going to pass as I've worked hard on the old ones. It sad they could make way more money if they sold unlock for multiply strongholds. Maybe I will get if I start playing on another server. I suppose if the deactivation is very smooth, so I can jump back and fourth between the two I might change my mind. If it cost to much or all my decoration get removed each time, then it no good to me.

I can't believe they won't increase the number of strongholds and you have to deactivated one, it really tell you just how poor server performance is if it can't handle five strongholds (If this is the true cause). I can't think of any other reason to not increase it. I'm really sad about this and it make me unlikely to buy them as I don't want to give up my other strongholds. I don't want to choose between my old house and the new one ever time a new strongholds come out, talk about a waste of credit and money. Also I think they are losing so much money with this design flaw. I just don't get why they designed housing this way, as it already very limited compared to other games I've played. Sadly they would make a ton of money if they could just sell access to more strongholds but I guess the engine is that bad. Oh well I guess I'll save some money.