The Ebon Hawk and Begeren Colony (the two RP servers) tend to be heavier from the various times I've checked the current server loads. With that said, they're both RP servers and the non-RP servers I've never seen to have any real major difference between.

It's actually more likely that Smilodon, and similar sabre-toothed cats (and sabre-toothed marsupials... yes, those were a thing) would've used those teeth to slash their prey at soft spots and cause them to effectively bleed out. Could've also been a response to how large prey was during the time of sabre-toothed murder machines, as longer teeth would be needed to reach deep enough to puncture blood vessels or the throat. Unfortunately, there's no known extant animals with a killing method like that of a sabre-toothed cat, so it's a bit of a mystery. Only thing in the fossil record similar to the various sabre-toothed animals (it's actually something that's evolved, independently, a few times) is Allosaurus, we believe unhinged its jaw like a snake and struck with its upper teeth like a miniature hatchet, cleaving its prey so it'd bleed out. Though even that's just guesswork, and some even think Allosaurus may have been a "flesh grazer" that simply cleaved chunks of larger animals off of said animal without killing it. This part has zero to do with zeldrates, but it's really freakin' awesome. And I don't think I can quite get on board with the tusks being used to help down bormu. The strongest bite force for the zeldrate would be towards the rear of the mouth (where the rest of their visible teeth are located), the force they could exert at the front of the lower jaw would be significantly less - especially considering those tusks have no upper jaw to help exert that force against. Though I could see how they may have aided in gripping a bormu while using the rest of their teeth at the back of their mouth to deliver a crushing bite. Even so, they would need sharper teeth in there somewhere to aid with actually tearing and eating meat.

Interesting points, and I had considered the possibility that the large "tusks" are indeed ornamental and used for mating rituals. Their size, however, I think supports the idea that they may possess tremendous jaw strength. As for their toxic spit? Absolutely useful for subduing a beast as large as a bormu. However, given the difference in size I'd theorize it is still used as part of a pack hunting behavior among the zeldrate. Even with the intended victim weakened from the poison, a long zeldrate would almost certainly struggle to keep it safely separated from the rest of the herd. I postulate that a zeldrate pack would attempt to single out a weaker (young, old, sick) member of a bormu herd that is less able to resist their toxins, ambush and weaken it, while the rest of the pack cut it off from the rest of the herd while using the threat of further poisoning to keep the rest of the herd at bay long enough for the targeted bormu to weaken to the point of helplessness, at which point the zeldrates would move in for the kill. Given their high intelligence (they almost have to possess a higher degree of it if they can be successfully domesticated for usage as mounts), they would most certainly be smart enough to coordinate pack tactics like that of hyenas, wolves, orcas, or similar highly intelligent predators capable of pack hunting behavior. Frequent sightings of solitary zeldrates on Balmorra is likely a two-fold process: 1. Given their likely pack structure, adolescents of some gender (likely male) may spend part of its life without a pack and living a solitary lifestyle until/unless it can find acceptance in a pack later (much like that of a spotted hyena). 2. Recent events on Balmorra has seen the dramatic decline in the bormu population, meaning the zeldrates primary prey is no longer in enough abundance to keep them fed (this part is confirmed by in game information). Given that now they've taken to hunting smaller, sometimes sapient, prey, it may benefit an individual zeldrate more to conduct solo hunts. An average human is probably a solid meal for a single zeldrate, but wouldn't be enough to feed an entire pack.

Amusingly, I typed this up at work. It's been a slow day here at the museum.

Hello, my name is Comradebot and I'm a paleontologist (and thus obviously dabble in zoology from time to time as well). And, pun SO intended, I have a bone to pick with Bioware in regards to one of my favorite creatures they've introduced to the Star Wars universe: the Balmorran Zeldrate. A Zeldrate in its native habitat: http://tor.zamimg.com/uploads/images/3475.jpg Truly amazing creatures, from the adorable way they scuttle along like seemingly every other non-Dewback reptile in the Star Wars universe, to their gentle old man faces, to their under-bite that reminds me of Beavis of "Beavis and Butthead" fame. And shucks, you can even ride them around! My Jedi Knight has gone on many an adventure with his Zeldrate which has been affectionately named "Lenny". Let's take a look at what the codex has to say about the majestic Zeldrate: Apex predator of the planet, eh? While personal experience tells me their population is considerably denser than any hyper carnivore in reality, we'll hand wave that as "yadda yadda space biology yadda yadda population explosion", because it's an MMO and every single creature in this game is far more abundant than they should be. My problem is elsewhere. Here's the real issue: And let's take a closer view of the Zeldrate... http://tor.zamimg.com/uploads/images/4558.jpg Namely, I want you to pay very close attention to the teeth of the Zeldrate. With any hyper carnivore that hunts prey of a respectable size (in this case, Zeldrates evolved to primarily hunt the native Bormu, a creature significantly larger than the Zeldrate, supporting my theory that Zeldrates are primarily pack hunters), they will have have either incisors capable of ripping/tearing flesh or serrated teeth (like that of a shark or theropod dinosaur) capable of slicing flesh. We do not find that with the Zeldrate: despite claims that these animals are the top level carnivore of their ecosystem, every single one of their teeth are large and flat; they are designed not for rending flesh, but for mashing plant matter. In fact, their under-bite and large, blunt "tusks" at the front would indicate that they are adapted to digging up roots (which their large, blunt teeth would also be adapted to chewing). So how is it that Zeldrates, despite having a dental structure that in no way supports a carnivorous diet, have managed to become the apex predator of Balmorra? I'll conclude with a few theories: 1. The Zeldrate has a highly complex jaw and it has longer, sharper teeth that are normally not visible but are retractable like a cat's claws (or the fangs of a vampire on True Blood or Supernatural), and are typically protected by a "sheath" along the upper and lower jaw. The large, blunt teeth then serve with a powerful jaw like that of a hyena's in order to crush bone (even that of the mighty bormu) in order to reach marrow inside. The more delicate teeth are then protected in their "sheath" while the Zeldrate crunches down on bones that could damage them. 2. The bormu's alien flesh has a consistency more similar to that of most plants than it does to animals, which could explain their odd appearance and their incredibly slow movements. Teeth then very similar to those typically equipped for eating plant matter may, in fact, have adapted to the highly unusual flesh of a bormu. Without further information regarding bormu biology, however, this is speculative at best. 3. Bioware made a model for a lizard, decided it'd be the Zeldrate, and didn't care about/didn't think anyone would ever notice the glaring biological problems with calling something that only has large, flat, blunt teeth a hyper carnivore.

Bah, stop releasing Banthas and Orobirds I'm already trying to scramble to afford! Oh well, some day? I'll have em' all. They're like Pokemon. And they'll go into my zoo, should anyone ever help donate to it. *points down at sig*

It's already been established from various other sources outside the movies that there's been very, very little technological progress. Technology in Star Wars has reached such a level that further significant progress is nearly impossible and current progress is pretty minor stuff. Not sure whether it's believable or not, but that's the story the Star Wars universe is going with: we have laser swords, miracle drugs and cybernetics that can keep someone alive if even all that's left is a brain, eyes, and a handful of internal organs, true artificial intelligence, and even starships capable of traversing the entire span of the galaxy (the Milky Way is 100 light years wide, SW galaxy is probably comparable) within the matter of weeks if not days. Once you've reached that point, what else is there? Slightly deadlier lasers? Maybe some material that can withstand a slightly harder blaster shot? Kolto modifications that make it slightly more likely to keep someone alive? There's only so much progress that can be made (in theory) until the next big step is incredibly difficult to make.

I noticed that too, especially with WoW: there was a clip in the linked video of a team running Wailing Caverns, and it looked rough. Even my old laptop that I played WoW on when it launched looked better.

I'm personally a huge fan of my Vanguard. You don't feel all floaty and pansy-esque like Jedi, Sith, and Powertech tanks, instead you feel legitimately like a walking tank. You just walk around spraying electric and explosive death while blasting away with an assault rifle while shrugging off insane amounts of damage like you're the damn Terminator. Opposite of the poster above me, I LOVE how "heavy" the class feels. He should feel heavy: Force users are modern action stars like Jason Statham. Vanguards are 90s/80s action stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger or freakin' Dolph Lundgren. Easily the most fun I have in SWTOR is tanking with my Vanguard. And personally their rarity makes them more attractive: always fun to be something less common in MMOs.

I've heard they buy cowboy hats for their corvettes.

Last night I decided to buy my very first Hypercrate off of the Cartel Market. Between a new job, a recent birthday, and apparently $20 still credited to my Amazon account from I don't know when, I figured now would be an all right time to burn some cash on something absolutely and completely frivolous. What's absolutely and completely frivolous? Cartel Market items! I carefully scanned through to see which items were contained in the currently available packs on sale and eventually settled on the Hotshot's Starfighter pack as my choice. Threw down my CCs and there it was, a nice big pack of CM items in my inventory. First Impression: Seeing all those unopened boxes is a wondrous feeling, just a bunch of potential staring you in the face. Reminded me of that time as a kid when I received an entire box of Star Trek CCG booster packs: part of you feels like there's no end to this and being satisfied is a guarantee. Not an accurate feeling, but HOLY CRAP LOOK AT ALL THOSE PACKS. While Opening: Fun in the same way as opening all those card packs. A bunch of it is crap you quickly toss aside, with a little bit making me go "Ohhh, that's nifty". Though as you press on through the packs some of that "nifty" turns to "Hey, look, more of that", and you almost get a sinking feeling as the boxes dwindle and you haven't yet got any of that really, really awesome stuff that should be in here. The Final Box: Got to my very last box in the hypercrate. I'd picked up a pair of the Dessler mounts, full Underwater Adventurer, Mandalorian Hunter, and Sogan Sur sets (along with Casual Vandal and Unburdened Champion, though they excited me significantly less), got the Jawa Mood, /dud emote, a pistol with a laser target that's pretty nifty if I ever roll someone who can use pistols, and a bunch of rep. Still, nothing super awesome... and one of my "ultra rares" was freakin' Juhani's Boots. "Yay, the shoes of Bioware's most forgettable party member ever". Well, guess I might as well get this last box of Lower Casual Vandal armor and... HOLY CRAP THAT'S A BANTHA!!! THE LAST PACK HAS A FREAKIN' BANTHA IN IT!!!! SQUUUUUUEEEEEEEE!!!!! I have to say getting the item at the top of the list of my wanted ones from the packs, in the very last box no less, was pretty incredible. I can get plenty of other Tauntauns and already own every single Dewback, so this was a pretty nifty finale to the Hypercrate. In retrospect: Bantha and a couple of sweet armor sets aside? Kinda underwhelming. The bulk of what you end up with are crafting materials that are of dubious value, companion gifts, XP boosts that are of basically zero value to me (near worthless in GTN, don't personally like using XP boost items, can't even be vendored), and reputation items... which are nice, but only if I were to continue to buy yet even more packs off the GTN. Don't get me wrong, it was a fun experience and I walked away with a chunk of pretty amusing items. My GSH will now have its Bantha, my future BH will have some sweet Mando and/or pyromaniac armor to choose from, and if Manaan is ever more than an FP I'll be able to go their in style. Also, I can now endlessly annoy teammates by throwing dud thermal detonators at them. Still, my heart was hoping for just a little bit more. Final thoughts: Happy I did this, if at least for the Bantha. With that said, I was mostly underwhelmed from a Hypercrate after picking it up on a sizable discount (-40% if memory serves, compared to the regular -10%). I honestly can't imagine myself at this point ever picking one up at full price, and if I ever grab another while on sale it'll have to be something potentially chock-full of goodies I can't resist. Please note that I'm NOT asking for BW to permanently drop prices or give some kind of guarantee for certain items (that'd be silly), this was just my personal experience from my first and currently only Hypercrate purchase. I'll just happily go back to the occasional purchase from my monthly allotment of CC and saving up credits for any big ticket items I'd want (lookin' at you, Marsh Raptor).

Sorry. I recently got accused of being a scammer because I was actively trying to buy Dewbacks on Trade chat rather than paying the GTN prices (because, hey, if someone is willing to shave off a few credits to guarantee they're the one who sells the lizard, why not?). Apparently trying to put forth a little effort to save a few credits is "scamming" people. Only GTN transactions aren't scams. EDIT: With that said, spamming chats with links to your referral or misrepresenting what it is in game is still bad form, I'd say. Being called a scammer, however, is extreme and not super accurate.

Not to mention that it's completely subjective. I've had games, even streaks of em, where I'm dominant and maybe dying once at most. To the people who only played me in those games, I'd appear to be an "ace". I also have games where I'm middle of the road at best. Thankfully, I think my "hopelessly sucking" days are past and I can consistently push my way into the middle of my team. Point is, I'm most certainly NOT an Ace, but if a player only sees a handful of those "good" games, they may think otherwise. At the same time, you may be a true Ace and no one ever bothers to discover that this thread exists and mention your skills on this rather obscure corner of the forum. And there's nothing stopping you from nominating yourself: not like your forum name has to match up with your in-game characters' names.

Well then, you'll just have to deal with it. It's ready when it's ready means, by the very definition that they don't know the timeframe for the actual release until it's upon them.

I'll argue against being able to add BoP items to LS. That's just begging for... 1. There will be even less people queuing for lower level FPs. I honestly don't like the idea of new players coming in and being told "Oh, yeah, that content is basically dead until 50+ because most of the veteran players have zero reason to visit it beyond solo runs for shells". And if people can just shovel their awesome gear they acquired from a previous character in a FP to an alt, they'll have even less incentive to ever run that FP with the alt. Even with some people still going in just for fun, it's still less people in a pool that's already shallow. 2. People WILL start rolling need on basically everything. Hell, people already do stuff like this. Make it so you can send that shiny blaster rifle that just dropped in a FP to your alt? Matter of time until the Vanguard who just tanked the place for you watches as a DPS Scoundrel rolls on it "Cuz his alt is gonna need it soon". The last thing we need is to encourage ninjaing, and this would absolutely do that. "Only go with guildies and people you know!" someone might say. But I'm pretty confident that mentality would continue to lead to a lack of folks actually playing some of the lower talent. Only way this would be acceptable in my eyes might (might) be if BW were to finally make it so you can't roll Need on items your current character can't actually make any real use of. Even then, less people running lower content means the game is just a wee bit less accessible and "empty" feeling to new players, which isn't healthy for SWTOR. Again, maybe if BW were to implement cross server queues it'd alleviate that problem some. So unless BW takes some steps to prevent dead lower-leveled FPs and excuses for ninjaing, it would be a terrible idea on their part to implement it.

And if I catch it early enough, I absolutely do. Easy money when that happens. The problem comes when the 75% discount undercut happens when I can't do anything about it. If no one else buys any of those super cheap stacks fast enough and other people simply list their new ones based on that one's price... boom, whole market on that item will, at least temporarily (until/unless there's a massive enough drive for it) , tank. Happened to Lacqerous on my server (Shadowlands). A couple weeks back? A full stack of 99 could net you about 50k-70k. I came home one day from work, saw my Lacqerous hadn't sold, and discovered that someone had undercut prices by three quarters with just a couple stacks (might've been more earlier in the day), and everyone else had started undercutting those. All that's it's done since then is spiral, and you can pick up a stack of Lacqerous on Shadowlands right now for well under 10k. Now that I'm comfortably rich again (I went on a Dewback buying spree... long story), I might start looking for an opportunity to buy up the cheap stuff and see if I can't personally artificially re-inflate the already artificially deflated prices. And it's not like this was some big "supply and demand" issue. The number of Lacqerous actually on the market hasn't changed much, and I doubt the actual demand for it has actually decreased so dramatically. If anything, during the double xp week the prices for all the other crafting mats has gone up as people are probably leveling their alts with new crew skills. They're leveling twice as fast, but leveling crew skills is still based on that non-double xp rate. So why I can get amazing profits from farming up Plasteel, Chanlon, Mythra, Turadium, Electrum, and Polyplast (they're the highest I've seen since returning to SWTOR a month ago), Lacqerous continues to plummet.

Meh. Even with legitimately "expensive" items is a pittance. This seems like an unnecessary change that would only benefit those lucky enough to not get undercut (so, probably someone doing the undercutting). Only problem with the GTN I really have is that some players seem to absolutely have zero clue how to use it. Nothing like listing a stack of mats for a unit price pretty close to what the rest are being listed for, going to work, finding none of it sold, and it was because someone decided to throw in a million stacks for a quarter of their unit price just hours earlier, and now other people are listing them at that price. When people undercut they either tend to: A. Only do it by one credit, thus insuring at least I will go ahead and spend one credit to spite them. B. But such a silly dramatic difference between the previously cheapest that it drives the price down the gutter. Because no, folks, MMO economics are pretty much nothing like the real world.

Only one I've put any thought into is my Tatooine GSH: I plan to turn it into a Dewback Ranch. I've collected all four kinds of Dewback currently available, will probably pick one or two to use Collections to give to all my characters, and I will fill my Stronghold with as many Dewbacks as I can.

Beats me, but it's their choice so I have zero problem with it. And I'm guilty of skipping the occasional Heroic quest, myself. My only hang-up is people who join FPs/groups and constantly scream to skip the conversations.

It'll really depend on your server, to be honest. Go to the GM sometime and do some searches for the things you can farm or craft and you should get a feel for the big sellers on your server. As a Scavenger/Armormech, I usually find my most productive way to build up cash quick is to farm Shadow Town for Chanlon/Plasteel, while sending out my crew to collect Tier 9 metals/compounds. Though to be honest, i need to dig deeper and see if there's anything I can reliably craft and sell that'll bring in even more credits. Though at the moment I'm cool supplying my server with a semi-diverse array of crafting materials.

Even as a primarily Dark Side Trooper, I haven't struggled in the slightest with getting Dorne's affection up (and I bring her along all the time, since as the only healer she allows my Shield-spec Vanguard to solo some pretty silly odds sometimes). Then again, my "Dark Side" trooper is roleplayed so I'm not constantly just smashing the most "dark sidey and dickish", typically located on the bottom of the wheel option. And anytime I suspect a strong Dark Side choice is coming up? Nothing stopping me from switching to M1-4X, Jorgan, or Vik depending on the upcoming choice and just giving them some affection. And there's nothing stopping me from making the occaisonal light side choice while Dorne is with me.

Can't disagree more. One of my favorite side activities in SWTOR is the platforming stuff to get datacrons. It's a nice diversion from the typical MMO offering of kill X of Y to get some planetary commendations.

BS. I remember before SWTOR even launched there was a vocal group clamoring for Cathar. They rest I have no quarrel with, but there have most certainly been people wanting to play Cathar. Cause people seem to love playing as cat people. The clamor for it in STO was even louder. STO added their cat people, and now 80% of Starfleet is playing with balls of yarn.

1. Eh, I can't say double xp super excites me. Leveling is already pretty quick paced in this game. Not gonna ask to "opt out", but beyond maybe a little GSF action and some crafting, I'll probably steer clear of my main. 2. I'll second what someone else did: not my favorite choice for characters in the link's picture. Like, I could almost see the guy on the right being a legit Sith lord. The other, the middle Jedi in particular, look far more Final Fantasy than they do Star Wars. Maybe if that Trooper had a slightly less silly looking helmet... but seriously, that Jedi/Sith/whatever she is? If someone wants their character to look like that, cool for them. But I don't think I'd advertise my Star Wars game with a character that doesn't look remotely like what the casual fan would picture from Star Wars.

As a relative newcomer to GSF, I honestly never saw the problem. Can they be problematic? Yes, but so can literally any class of ship. But if I'm getting railgunned to death non-stop, it's almost always my fault. The wind-up to fire takes ages and they can't move while they do it. If there is ANYTHING I would argue is a huge turn-off for newer players, it's getting matched up regularly against pre-mades. As a newbie, that's really the one thing that you can't quickly learn how to deal with. Ain't like you can go create your pre-made when you're only bringing inexperience and non-upgraded fighters to the table.