Guild Name: Bad Motivator Units Faction: Republic Focus: PvE, Progression Raiding, Social, Conquest Website: http://badmotivatorunits.enjin.com/ Notes: Currently looking for active raiders for HM content.

add my account to the list...I'd say I was disappointed, but that would require surprise. *shrug*

I'm pretty sure Dulfy is wrong about this one. I wasn't able to recruit Lokin until after I acquired Qyzen...so basically all of the Alert system companions (non-star fortress) are needed to be complete before his appears.

I've always felt the "Broken promises" issue was less with the wall of crazy features like guild capital ships, but more with how the game was marketed. Read or watch any pre-launch quote from people like James Ohlen. Then login to the game, and analyze that feature. It's almost always deceptively oversold, which greatly damages consumer confidence. You talk about a "robust companion AI customization feature a la Dragon Age 2" ...and deliver a bare bones binary ability toggle, and 2 "stances" that do very little in terms of actual effectiveness. Yes, the player base will not trust a word you say. At the end of the day, however, players just want to know there's a plan. They want to not only enjoy the time they're currently playing the game, but know there's a stable foundation within the game's development to continue to grow the game they love. Quality, and consistent communication/messaging and honest transparency helps provide this. It's hard to have faith in a company when one week they're touting the advantage of "having the team that built the game, continue to work on the game post launch" ....only to have massive layoffs weeks later. EA/Bioware is trying to sell this game to two groups of people with conflicting interests: Players and Investors. as a result the messaging is disjointed, and often contradictory.

Actually it's not an artifact, it's very much intentional, when they revamped the stats in beta....They separated stat bonuses based on class instead of based solely on the actual mechanics. Early build setup: Str = Melee Damage Willpower = Force damage Cunning = Tech damage Aim = Ranged damage This lead to awkward and confusing stat priorities for many classes, an assassin/shadow needed both str and willpower, an operative would need aim for his primary attacks, and cunning for his specials. While a JK/Warrior could just stack strength, which lead to some late game balance concerns, This got even more confusing when trying to figure out companions, especially the ones with unique backgrounds & storybased abilities (i.e. Ensign Temple, who was a healer at the time or Gus). Ever find those Aim/Defense Vibrokinves and wondered "what the hell?" That's what that was about. They eventually revamped the system to a much more streamlined and easier to balance approach: Force = Force using Melee class Willpower = Consular/Inquisitor type Aim = Bounty Hunters and Troopers Cunning = Scoundrels / Imperial agents Since Qyzen is a Bounty Hunter, his primary stat is Aim. Even though he uses melee weapons. Same theory applies to other melee tech companions like Yuun or Torian.

Not taking a position on the Op, mostly because I don't care.....but how exactly is that a bad thing? >_>;;;;

So, at that point, you're basically asking to use different animations cross-class/faction? Like a Sage able to use lightning...or a commando dual wielding pistols? Or are you asking to be able to "reset" your level 50 Knight to be a level 50 Juggernaut with zero quests completed?

I agree, when applying the effective health theory to swtor, I prefer absorb to raw endurance. Given the healing mechanics you want to take consistently smaller hits (shield/armor), over hard hits with a high health pool (endurance) or rely heavily on mitigation through rng (defense) . The tech healing classes in this game just are not designed to heal large, unpredictable bursts of damage or have super high sustained healing throughput.

I'm still waiting for those "loot bags" they promoted back in pre-release. I want less RNG in my boss drops. Not More. PvP shouldn't be gear biased to begin with.

I'm currently playing a Pyrotech Merc (Mirror spec) as well as an dabble w/ my Assault spec VG when i tired of tanking...so while not identical, I'm pretty sure the same ideas apply. I'm also assuming you're asking about PvE. I have little experience in PvP I personally stack AIM and swap out +crit enhancements for power/surge. So far, loving the results (even if my tanks don't). To my knowledge, primary stats do not have any DR. Get the Med-Tech BH generator. The DPS one is stamina heavy so it wastes a lot of it's itemization budget. And it goes both ways, should you go back to combat medic every once in awhile

James Ohlen said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "We want players to explore! The ability to summon limits this freedom"

While there's rarely a simple answer to this type of question...I'm currently leaning strongly towards the opinion of stacking shield/absorb for PvE end game tanking, regardless of class. as for PvP...I have no idea, after the damage nerf in 1.2, I have not really tried a tanking spec in warzones.

Calling customer support is not the most secure way to remove a security key. They ask for basic account information and your security questions...All of which can be stolen or hacked. Every other MMO I've attached a security key to, had an automated system in your account, which not only required those credentials, but also required you to input at least 2 sequential codes from your current security key, which is considerably more difficult to hack. not only is that process faster, more convenient, and cheaper to service...but it's more secure.

The biggest barrier to a treason arc, I believe, is how do you address future content expansion? It's a safe bet that a plan is still in place to continue class stories...at least through chapter 4, even despite the current restructuring of the game. How exactly would you address a defector in these story-lines? Even if you find some unrealistic way to fold a imperial class's story into a republic one (Say something like, an Imperial Agent defector is now working under Garza to complete whatever chapter 4 task is assigned, and is now completing Trooper class missions,) there will still be a need for significantly more voice over work, Player VO, Flavor dialogue, companion dialogue.

They're not available anymore. They were available for purchase for a limited time before the 1.2 patch dropped, then they removed the NPC =/