Regardless it would be nice if he could come in and talk a bit more about it in addition to looking at it on PTS. Obviously some confusion.

Easiest thing to do in any case is just log into the PTS and check. Doing it now.

How he mentioned it earlier was what I thought was the obvious interpretation: to bring people to something similar to MK-2 levels. Didn't they say earlier they are removing the entry level PvP gear? This would seem to be the obvious replacement. He also said later that there would be a point where bolster provides no extra stats, and then says that PvE will be worse than PvP gear.

The bolded portion is not what I got from this series of posts at all. I got the opposite: they want to remove any question of what type of gear top end PvPers want to go after.

People in PvP gear will have the same expertise. Not everybody. That's the benefit of the PvP gear and the point I think where people are getting confused. Hinkle mentioned earlier what their intended result was: top end PvE gear is worse than top end PvP gear. He said there's a point where bolster returns nothing. You bother with two separate gear paths for a lot of reason, but most importantly: 1) It's easier to keep down gear inflation with a dominant PvP stat and 2) you keep people from feeling like they have to do the other path to progress quickly down their chosen path.

? That's not what I've been saying at all. I've been exactly whats in your post: Hinkle has said the most power in PvP will come from PvP gear with this change.

Why bother with expertise, the stat that makes PvP gear better in PvP than PvE gear? Is that your question? I'm having trouble identifying at which point you are getting misled in this statement.

I know. Even with trauma and no healing boost, if you just start giving players flat damage reduction for expertise, time to kill just goes up and up and up. Healers heal less but have more time to keep people alive. Really not a good idea.

Damage boost and damage reduction cancel each other out. If you remove damage boost, healers become unkillable again. Yes, even without the healing boost.

I don't think you understood the post. It said top end PvE gear will be worse than top end PvP. I even bolded it. I'll do it again. Now I'll narrow it down even more: This is exactly how it works with PvP gear in PvE by the way.

MMO trope No. 31 - The other side always wins!

Sigh.

The "point of balance" he is referring to is mentioned earlier. You are assuming that it means something else.

Yes, it does.

It's the same for Warrior and Agent, as well, IIRC. They are all unique in some way. I believe this is a link to all of them (and their Republic equivalents): http://www.torhead.com/items/catg/2/bop/eq/1/and/price/gte/335/and/quality/4/slot/7/level/16-16

Not everybody is though. I'm not arguing for it. I'm explaining to you why.

Frankly, because of people like you and me. They don't want people to feel like they have to do the maximum every day to get what they want. Additionally, gating it keeps it from becoming irrelevant content earlier than intended.

To be honest, I know you don't have one. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=320129 Anyway, for me, the unique shell is one of the two reasons I bother with the quest line on new characters, since the shell can't be acquired in any other way. My guild mater in particular is annoyed that he vendored his Saber Marshal's Robe more than a year ago. If the OP wants that shell, he should consider rerolling.

Mind providing a screenshot? You're either mistaken or somehow have access to a schem that nobody else does.

It is a unique skin. It has the same model as other armors but the particular skin can't be acquired anywhere else. Ex: http://www.torhead.com/item/2dOV9NB/saber-marshals-robe and http://www.torhead.com/item/6AdvSTQ/traditional-nylite-vestments

Worth mentioning that this particular shell can't be acquired in another manner. Only from this quest line.

I don't really feel like wasting the credits to test it, but it seems my lesser geared characters actually pay a heavier repair cost.

I thought they were just grouping up for Orbital Strike.

I mainly PvP but rarely die in PvE. Even if I died a lot more, I have more than enough money to pay for these costs and not be noticeably affected. But my question would be: was the bug deemed less desirable than the actual intent, or was it just fixed to be fixed? Sometime a bug makes a lot more sense than the intent. See: Starship transport 1 HR CD versus their intent.

With help from the wonderful Dulfy who put together this great chart for the SWTOR community. Gree Reputation weekly cap: 12000 Available rep per day from PvE daily quests (before Newcomer rank): 1440 Available rep per day from PvE daily quests (after Newcomer rank): 2070 Day 1: 270 (one-time rep for introduction quest) + 1440 rep from PvE dailies = 1710 total rep. Day 2: +1440 = 3150 total rep Day 3: +1440 = 4590 total rep Day 4: +1440 = 6030 total rep Day 5: +1440 = 7470 total rep Day 6: +1440 + 1440 from one-time newcomer quest + 630 from new daily = 10980 total rep Day 7: +2070 rep = 13050 total rep (1050 over cap) Addition PvE sources of reputation listed in the chart above.