This is true on so many levels. I've done over 600K healing in one WZ, and there is no medal award. You get one for 75K and 300K and that's it. I was with another healer who did a little over 800K and no medal for that, either. For example: There is no medal for keeping somebody alive through persistent/immense damage; there is no medal for healing X-amount on the same target; healed X-amount in 1 life; etc. I could go on, but you get the idea. The system is pretty much geared so you have to try to get medals other ways, even if it is just a killing blow or pathetically pelting people with dirt and rocks. Because I am a Jedi Master... and I fight the Dark Side with dirt and rocks.

I appreciate the story just fine. But I don’t spend 99% of my time in dialogue; I spend it playing the game. When it feels like the developers cheeped out on actual playable game content in favour of focusing on an over-abundance of dialogue and cut-scenes, I feel ripped off. I’d have been much happier if they had simply left the class-quest and main world-quest fleshed out, but assigned the side-quests to mission boards in a tavern. Honestly, I don’t need a voice-acted animated cut-scene about killing X-number of whatever. They could have devoted all that time and resources to, gee, I don’t know, a fleshed out guild system complete with upgradable bases, banners, PERKS (for all the work players do), achievements/rewards for team activities… working PvP… zone goals for each tier to encourage/promote open world PvP (and race-mode for PvE servers) … cross-server warzones… more than three warzones… I’ll stop here, but lord knows I could go on.

Grind.

I don't konw, I think they might give us access to different races. Like the Cat-people. I've noticed that most other NPC models are fairly generic. However, the cat-people (whatever their names are) are usually very different and detailed. I bet if they go the way of additional race-choices, they will be one of them.

On my PvP server it seems that 1 specialization from each class is heavily favoured; Sage over Shadow, Scoundrel over Gunslinger, Commando over Vanguard, etc. I cannot believe this is just coincidence. If BioWare intended to optimize 1 specialization for PvE and the other for PvP then they should have just said so. Right now it feels like I’m running a PvE build in PvP -- no matter what spec/hybrid I try. At level 43 I am having my butt handed to me by operatives and bounty hunters half my level in WZ, and Open-World PvP is an exercise in frustration. Is there anything that doesn’t break our LoS? But please don’t get me wrong; PvP is not impossible. I’m not saying I lose every time… just enough that it feels quite disproportionate to my other toons. Thus, I feel like I’m forced to do 100X the work for 1/10th the reward. IE: actually having a chance to win. Every other class seems to have a relatively simple, straight-forward and, basically, idiot-proof play system. Spamming Tracer Missiles, for example. They also have mobility. The Gunslinger player needs to work the perfect rotation of skills and hope holds don’t get broken and there isn’t a blade of grass around to break our LoS. I’ve spoken with many other ‘slingers who feel the same way. At this point, I’m very seriously considering ditching the ‘slinger and rerolling a Scoundrel (even after the nurf). I want to PvP with a smuggler-class, but the Gunslinger, while a fun idea, is not providing me with even a remote sense of being on an even footing with most other PvP players. Does it get any better? Even a little? Or is this basically the ride I’m in for all the way to 50? If so, I want off now. Thanks for your time and consideration.

I reported this issue as a bug and spoke with a customer rep about it. I also had the quest indicator pointing me to the Imp base, because I had not explored the upper right of the map, which is where it should have appeared. (Regardless of that area being visible or not.) Hopefully it will get fixed soon, so that other players don't run straight into an Imp base and get picked off by guns/players.

Sages have 4 base healing abilities: 2 big heals: 1.5s and 2.5s cast time – cannot move while casting 1 HoT: instant, 6s cool down – can move while casting 1 Channelled: 9s cool down – cannot move while casting If a player invests 31 points in their healing tree, they also get an AoE heal: 2s cast, cannot move, 15s cool down. Also, if you invest a perk in a certain skill, your affliction-removal ability will heal for 150-250hp. Instant, can move while casting. Big whoop. So that’s it. I don’t know where you get ‘spamming heals’ from, but I certainly would love to learn that trick. Perhaps you’ve seen someone who has invested extensively in Alacrity (which lowers casting times), but that skill has no impact on cool down. Force Armour has an 8 second cool down. It also causes "force imbalance" which lasts for 20s so you cannot reapply it right away. It has 1 perk that lowers the cost and cool down by 3s each time you take it (2X), and another perk that increases damage absorption (2x). The amount of damage it absorbs is limited. I think the most I’ve heard of is around 7k-8K. However, to get that you have to divide your skill points between two trees to reach second tier, where the Shield skills are. For most sages, a couple missiles will bring it down (I think BHs can crit for 4.5K each or more). A good melee attack and it is gone. Agents can cut through it like butter most of the time. I promise, Shield can be a help, but it is in no-way a game-changer when facing off against serous aggro.

I’m glad to hear that many of you are not experiencing similar issues. However, some people are. I’ve spoken to many individuals in-game who are in a similar position, thus I was prompted to post. Many of the suggestions that have been offered are worthy of a sticky, especially to new players. With that said… It occurred to me shortly after posting that the economies on various servers would be different. My skill is Synthweaving, and there are ample posts about it so I won’t repeat them here. However, suffice it to say, it is not exactly a money-maker. At least, not in my neck of the woods. I stopped sending companions on missions a while ago, but costs still increase, especially in the way of damaged equipment. My companions are not twinked out. I make the equipment for my main, and leave the rest as is. I am aware that space missions bring in money. However, I loathed rail shooters like StarFox when I was a kid and I will not be forced to play its evolution so many years later just so I can scrimp credits. Out of curiosity, how many of you have yet to start pulling in repair bills in the tens of thousands? In closing to this post I would like to emphasise that I absolutely support economies that require players to prioritize spending habits. However, as a way to increase revenue for those of us not inclined to play Star Fox (etc), I would like find alternative sources of funds. For example, I would like BioWare to consider enhancing open-world PVP rewards. Right now they are non-existent. This does nothing to promote the experience on PVP servers. I also feel that it would be beneficial for those of us with armouring/synthweaving skillsets to be able to repair our own gear for a reduced fee, or perhaps at the expense of materials/credits. If players with BioChem can craft non-transferable reusable stims/packs than I think we crafters should be able to get a skill-specific bonus, and this would be a useful one. I am interested in offering suggestions to help curb the drain that some of us are feeling insofar as credits are concerned. Thank you for the thoughtful replies. I hope my comments have touched on the key points many of you made.

... Great. And I've already made the 3 toons that I wanted to play. LOL I hope some of those changes can be made retroactively, if indeed these are what they have in mind.

This was an issue many testers commented on frequently during the various closed betas I participated in. Credit-based money sinks are not fun. They force players to engage in credit-questing and AH-cuddling for the purpose of getting enough credits to keep skills levelled, to purchase required items (IE: speeder licenses), to repair items, to respec, to raise crafting skills, etc. By enforcing an economy based on high credit costs, many player's focus is disproportionately split between enjoying the game and earning/saving credits. In short… I have a second job. Of course nothing should be free, and people should have to save up for the best items. But when repair bills can climb to 50K, it can get a bit overwhelming. (Especially if a player hopes to one day have multiple toons.) At this point I’m considering rolling a Twi’lek just to peddle her lekku on the mean streets of Nar Shaddaa! BioWare, please call in your team and talk about fixing the economy like you were running from President. (But actually do it. ) Thoughts?

I'm nearly at 400 synthweaving on my main and I have to agree. A part of me wants to forgive the aesthetics due to the fugly outfits that supposedly dominated this timeframe (based on cannon and lore), but then I see completely awesome looking reward items at a lower level than I’m crafting. (On a closely related note: isn’t it interesting how my sage can craft pants for other people, but not himself? Hmm.) Anyway, I do agree with you. The aesthetics for synthweaving are not very ‘rewarding’ for all the work that can go into raising the skillset. At this stage in the game I doubt it is high priority to the devs, but I think it is important to let it be said nonetheless.

I read the posts, but I didn’t want to believe it. I figured most people just weren’t equipping him well enough. On that note, I imagined I would have an advantage because my alt has 300+ Synthweaving and knows most of the blue schematics for def-based Heavy Armour. Thus, armed with a Bowdaar wearing all blues I set out on Tattooine – confident that my meatshield could do the job. His stats: Armour Rating: 1612 Damage Reduction: 21.75 Shield Chance: 25% Shield Absorption: 20% The result? He wipes constantly, even on some regular groups. It’s embarrassing. My Knight’s T7 rules for tanking compared to this rug – and that’s what he spends most battles looking like: a rug. I'm still enjoying the game, not trying to QQ. But wow what a big let-down. Though considering how terrible he is, it does make his bio all the more amusing the read. “Undefeated” lol. Against what, baby Ewoks? I hope this issue gets addressed, because I want a Wookie not a rug! Thoughts?