Purely my own experience, and not from a big enough sample to be statistically significant, but I bought nine hypercrates (so, 270 packs, 540 chances at items) and got two Lightning Weapon Tunings, and four Unstable Arbiter's Lightsabres, so the tunings seem to be rarer ... Ok, so I got really lucky on the 'sabres, but seriously here's a breakdown of all the gold items I got:- Unstable Arbiter's Dualsabre - 0 Unstable Arbiter's Lightsabre - 4 Triumphant Predator's Upper - 4 Triumphant Predator's Lower - 0 Triumphant Predator's Supplementary - 1 Shadow Corsair's Upper - 4 Shadow Corsair's Lower - 4 Shadow Corsair's Supplementary - 7 Ginx Handler Licence - 2 Correlian Stardrive Spark - 5 Stormcrest Vorn Tiger - 2 Analog Load Lifter - 2 Lightning Weapon Tuning - 2 That's 37 Gold drops across 13 items, giving an average of 2.85 per item, so I should have expected 2 or 3 Lightning Weapon Tunings, I got 2 so a tad unlucky but in the expected range. Let's be generous and say the average for Tunings is 3 in 270 packs, so if you do better than 1 in 90 packs you're beating the odds They do look rather nice though, couple of short hi-res videos I made:- My normal graphics settings (no bloom) 5Mb Ultra graphics setting (with bloom) 6Mb They also make a slight crackly noise, which can be heard in the no bloom video (the second seems to have picked up some music I had playing too, sorry).

Depends, they're always adding new weapon looks (usually to the Store, but occassionally in-game too). Several times I've thought 'Oo, I love this weapon / outfit / mount, I'll never use another' and then something I like even more turns up A few years back I had 20 characters sharing about three looks, now I have 40-odd charac ters getting more unique all the time

Sorry, guess I misunderstood. Selling CCs (almost) directly could work, I guess. Use CCs to buy token that grants CCs, put token on GTN. Knowing BW though, it would cost 1000 CCs for a token that grants 750 CCs EverQuest introduced a gameplay token, which could be bought directly from their store, then sold to another player who then redeemed it for a month's gameplay, other games probably have too. It cost a little more than a normal month's sub iirc. For it to work in SWTOR though the token would have to be buyable only directly for cash (same as the digital upgrade), not with CCs as people with lots of referals could then effectively stop subbing. The gameplay token could also be a good way for some Preferred or FTP people to effectively become subs, but only if the token had a fixed price under their maximum credit limit. One 'token-subbed' they'd have no limit of course, but they'd still need to buy that first one

Buying a CM pack for real cash and selling it on the GTN for credits has the complete opposite effect on the in-game economy than directly buying credits from the Store, which is why BW will never sell credits directly. When you buy a CM pack (or unlock, or any other item to sell) and put it up on the GTN, credits that were (ideally legitimately) earned in-game by one player are transfered to another player, and it removes credits from the game, because the GTN eats 6% of the sale price. Thus if you sell a hypercrate for 20 million credits, 1.2 million credits just vanish from the game. This is pretty much the only remaining credit sink in the game, and at least keeps infaltion down a bit. If BW decided to directly sell credits however, these would be credits being magically added to the game, out of nowhere. No-one earned them in-game, they just appeared. And they would be effectively limitless, because people could just keep buying them. That item you want is 50 million, just buy more credits. Except now it's 75 million, because the seller realised there is no real upper limit now, someone will pay idiotic money for it. Which is why it's now 100 million. Oh well, best buy more credits... Sure, the companies that sell credits exist, but they are at least somewhat limited. They have to generate those credits somehow (legitimately play, spend time using exploits, sell packs bought with stolen cards (which would still result in credits being removed overall) etc), so there is a limit to how much can come in. And they're against the TOS, not to mention highly likely to steal your card info, so sensible players steer clear of them. But if BW sold credits, with no risk of a ban or card fraud, you'd best be prepared to spend hundreds of dollars a month if you want to be able to buy anything off the GTN!

I picked up six hypercrates and got one Weapon Tuning (in the first crate, in fact), so the drop rate is indeed pretty low. I did finally get an Arbiter's Unstable Lightsabre though, so that was a nice surprise I don't mind the low drop rate, rare things are good to have in a game, would have been nice for the tunings to be part of the collection system though, with them being as rare as they are. (Yes, I knew in advance they weren't, just would have been nice) Oh well, hopefully can sell the pack fillers for enough to pick up another Tuning so I can at least dual wield them

I opened 300 packs (10 Hypercrates), got everything bar the Warbot companion and the lightsabres. I was mostly after the creature mounts and pets though (see 'Zoo' in sig... ), so overall I got what I really wanted. I do rather like the Warbot and Unstable Sabres though, so I'll see if any crop up at an affordable price (at least I have loads of junk to try to flog to cover the costs ) I used to buy a few Hypercrates each time they came out, but the last couple only had a couple of things I wanted in each so I just bought the items off the GTN. That combined with the long delay since the last pack came out meant I had a fair amount of my usual Hypercrate splurge money saved up, and figured 'why not' and got 10 of this one. Not sure I'll buy the next set though if the cubes still drop so much, I said some rather rude words when I opened five packs in a row and got two cubes in each...

Actually, it goes even deeper than that... I got a Chance Cube emote from my Grand Chance Cube from my Arbiter Pack from my Hypercrate...

The new limit won't magically add more resources to the game. If you had five stacks of 99 before, you still only have 495 now even if they stack together. It will take just as long to go out and gather X mats as before, they'll just take up less space as you do so. So I doubt the new stack size will have much if any effect on prices.

If it helps any, my experience from opening 10 hypercrates (300 packs, yeah I was bored...):- Gold items:- Koensayr Revolution (Monocycle Mount) : 3 Prairie Kybuck (Goat Mount) : 3 Swamp Rancor (***** Mount) : 3 Zakuulan Luxury Sidecar (Other Mount) : 1 Droid Companion : Personal Warbot : 0 Unstable Arbiter's Lightsaber : 0 Unstable Arbiter's Dualsaber : 0 Obviously everyone's mileage will vary, but at best I got a 1% hit rate on any specific Gold item per pack, and three of them I never got at all.

1 Gold item:- Kalakar Strike Fighter Simulator 6 Silver items:- Vindicator's Lightsaber Polar Exploration Armor Set CH-R1 Power Droid (Pet) Title: Enforcer Black and Dark Purple Dye Module Andronikos Revel Customisation 9 24 Bronze items:- Tarisian Head Hunter Grek (Sniper Rifle) Etched Dueler's Lightsaber Razalon FC-6 (Mount) Tirsa Victor (Mount) Ikas XK-13 (Mount) Ikas Shark (Mount) Advanced Black-Pink Color Crystal Enhanced Surveilance Armor Set Dynamic Brawler's Armor Set Emote: Angry Dance Emote: Boo Hoo Supply Pack (Regen Item) HY-G9 Vanity Chamber (Regen Item) Nefarious Blurrg (Pet) Chocolate Lobel (Pet) Rancor Holo-Replica (Toy) Andronikos Revel Customisation 10 Lieutenant Iresso Customisation 9 Treek Customisation 4 Dark Blue and Light Brown Dye Module Medium Brown and Medium Green Dye Module Title: Shadow Collector Title: Constable Title: Space Jockey 1 Decoration:- Life Day Holo-Tree (Pink) Of those, the items I was interested in and didn't already have were:- Kalakar Strike Fighter Simulator (Gold) Ikas Shark (Bronze) Rancor Holo-Replica (Bronze) Life Day Holo-Tree (Pink) As far as bronze items go, a reasonable haul (particularly as I effectively got 1 Gold and 6 Silver in place of Bronze), however it's all OLD stuff that I have very little interest in. Even the four items listed above I only had mild interest in, otherwise I'd have got them long ago. In terms of losing out on 32 chances of NEW items from the NEW pack that I was actually interested in, it was an absolute waste of time and CC.

Hi folks, Logged in today and my HK-51 Jungle Customisation had vanished. Slot was empty, nothing in my inventory, nothing in my cargo holds. Bought a new one rather than waste time with Customer Disservice, but thought I'd just mention it as an FYI.

Hi folks, There were a few things I fancied in the new packs, so despite knowing the ridiculously low odds of getting any of them, and the abundance of the new 'no new stuffs for you' chance cubes, I decided to blow some saved up CC on a hypercrate. One Hypercrate contains 30 packs Each pack has two chances at an item Therefore, in theory, I had 60 chances at getting one of the items I wanted. In fact, I got:- 19 items 32 chance cubes 9 decorations Items:- R1-H1 Astromech Droid (Silver) Classic Vibrosword x2 (Silver) Insurrectionist's Blaster (Silver) Insurrectionist's Rifle (Silver) Advanced Desert Green Hawkeye Crystal (Silver) Advanced Desert Green Eviscerating Crystal (Silver) Advanced Desert Green War Hero's Crystal (Silver) Underworld Anarchist's Upper Body Armor x2 (Gold) Zakuul Knight-Captain's Supplementary Body Armor (Gold) Resistance Fighter's Supplementary Body Armour (Gold) Darth Skotia's Lower Body Armor x2 (Silver) Exiled Knight's Lower Body Armor (Silver) Squadron Ace's Supplementary Body Armor (Silver) Mercenary Slicer's Upper Body Armor (Silver) Mercenary Slicer's Lower Body Armor (Silver) Mercenary Slicer's Supplementary Body Armor (Silver) By far the least impressive haul I have ever had from a Hypercrate!

Path of Confusion - A Sith Warrior's Story WARNING: COMPLETE SPOILERS FOR THE SITH WARRIOR STORY. IF YOU HAVEN'T RUN IT AND INTEND TO, STOP READING NOW!!! Last weekend of 12x XP, hoping to get Chapter Three done while it lasts! So, with that in mind, Back to Quesh again. Chapter Three Stumbling back onto the ship, freshly vacationed, I eventually realise that one of the twinkling lights dancing round the main deck is not like the others, and is instead the Message Waiting light on the main ship Holoterminal. Damn it, I think I lost one of the fairies in the airlock! I send Jaesa back to check, while I randomly push buttons until suddenly Darth Fatass is looming over me. Definitely not the fairy I was looking for! It might just be the nose full of Nar Shaddaa's finest, but he seems to have fewer stains down his tunic than usual. I'm so busy counting them to make sure that I miss what he says first time round, but a bit more random button mashing makes the picture break up, giving me an excuse to ask him to repeat himself. I shouldn't have bothered, the first ten minutes are him crowing about his new seat on the Dark Council, and I tune him out again. I realise he must need them custom made, but I really don't understand his obsession with chairs. The sudden glaring silence lets me know that it's time to tune back in again, and fortunately this time he repeats himself without any prompting from me. Bow to him? Right now I can manage vertical, barely, or horizontal, getting more likely by the minute, but there's absolutely no chance of both at the same time. I turn the volume down until he finishes pouting, and finally gets to the matter at hand. Now that the war is official, instead of everyone coughing and saying 'what pile of dead bodies?', I finally get to really have some fun, and apparently that fun starts back on the planet Quesh. There's a sentence I never thought I'd say! As ever, there's a down side, and this time it's that I'll have to put up with Do-Rag mooning over me yet again. I so much prefer being feared to adored. Still, one of the main advantages to war is that people get killed all the time, for all sorts of reasons. Right everyone, to action! Quinn, get this ship to Quesh. Chirps, brew up the hottest, blackest coffee this Galaxy has ever seen. Pierce, go and rescue Jaesa from the broom closet. Skidmark, sorry Fluffy, lie down outside my door and eat anyone who tries to wake me up before we arrive! Sadly, Dromund Kass to Quesh is a short journey compared to some of our recent trips, and a mere twelve hours later I'm woken by the sound of firstly Quinn banging on my door, and secondly and far more amusingly the sound of Quinn realising he'd not told Fluffy we'd arrived first. Stepping over the whimpering figure, being careful to step in neither the pool of blood nor the pool of urine, I head to the air lock. Jaesa is already there waiting for me, her bloodlust seemingly the perfect antidote to spice. My contact on Quesh is Commander Oily, who apparently also has a Granny who loves him, and thus is the first person I've met who also sports a neat little face mask. You'd think these things would be standard issue down here, but I guess the idea is that an army desperate to get back to a planet with clean air is an army who go all out to win as soon as possible. Unfortunately this tactic might have backfired: after all our troops sprinted to the front lines to get the war over and done with, the Republic troops wandered in and set up explosives everywhere. And now guess who has to go and try not to get herself redistributed around the landscape while she defuses them all. Good guess! Locating the Republic saboteurs is easy enough, as is overcoming their security forces, but their commander, Captain Try-Again, is a different kettle of fish entirely. Instead if pointlessly throwing himself on my blade like all his compatriots, he instead tries to blow the entire place up, with both of us still in it. He might be a few crystals short of a lightsaber, but you have to admire his approach. Unfortunately, he's let down by inferior Republic equipment, and much like that Rodian I picked up on Nar Shaddaa, instead of the big bang I was expecting it's just a small, non-functional unit and a lot of excuses. Still, if he wants to die, who am I to deny him his wish... With no more playmates left, there's just the matter of the explosives to disarm, but before I can make a start the holo starts beeping. People do call at the most inconvenient times! And talking of inconvenient, it's Do-Rag, finally showing his face. And his other face. Ah. Well, I guess you have to hand it to old Fatass, as far as traps go an explosive lined cavern is a pretty good one. One way out, easily sealed, and even if the explosion itself doesn't get me there's always the follow-up few dozen tons of rock landing on my head. I'm going to enjoy killing him even more than I'd thought! For his part, Do-Rag seems pretty cheerful too as he pushes the button, but like all inferior men - i.e. all men - he neither thinks things through nor sees them through. Assuming that the trap will work, he turns off his holo and goes back to whatever he does to pass the time. I'm guessing 'Communing with the Dark Side.' The cavern shakes like Fatass in a belly dancing competition, and rocks like a rancor eggs rain down, but what was it they overlooked, let me think... oh yes, Master of the Force here, hello... While Jaesa blasts half of the rocks to powder, and having the time of her life in the process, I deflect the other half away from us. It would be quite tedious, although the pitching and yawing of the ground beneath us at least added a bit of a challenge to the affair. It also proved something of a challenge to my head, not quite recovered from my vacation it seems, and in an attempt to make the room stop spinning I decided to have a little lie down once down decided exactly where it was. Rock doesn't make the most comfortable of beds, however, and in my restless state I had the weirdest dream, where two sunburned squid were leaning over me mumbling nonsense. Ok, time to find a real bed. There's bound to be one in the Imperial outpost, even if I have to tip Commander Oily out of it first. Arriving at the outpost, however, things just keep getting weirder. Firstly, it seems those sunburned squid might not have been a dream. I pinch myself just in case, and Jaesa joins in too, perhaps a little more vigorously than is really needed, but no, apparently I am indeed awake. Poodoo. Secondly, the Emperor wants me to give him a bath. I've had some strange requests over the years, but that one might just top them all. I stare at the two Sith Purebloods standing becloaked before me, and shake my head, which causes a small pebble to dislodge itself from my ear. I run a finger around the other one, and scoop out a wodge of dirt. Ok, would you mind repeating that please? Ah, the Emperor wants me to be his Wrath... nope, sorry, that still doesn't make any sense. Does he farm out all his sins, because I know the ideal candidate for Gluttony! In an attempt to clarify themselves, one of the Sith explains they are the Emperor's Hand. So, it's body parts too? Well, I know a right 'little lightsaber' if that part is up for grabs... It's at this point that the second Hand chimes in, and makes everything far less clear. Thanks, big help there number two! But finally, the one apparently not just returned from Nar Shaddaa says something that I can grasp on to: the Emperor wants Darth Fatass dead, and he thinks I'm the right woman for the job. Okay then, all hail the Emperor! Fatty, it seems, is pretending to have a direct line to the Emperor, who is on vacation at an undisclosed location, and is using that pretence to try to take over the Galaxy. So it's not just about lunch that he thinks big, then. Well, I couldn't give a lobel's backside why the Emperor wants Fatass dead, I just want to be the one to kill him, so Wrath me up and send me on my way!

Both the Malgus and Shan holostatues unlocked in the Collection for me, and were further unlockable to allow all my characters to get copies. Hope you get a nice Support Droid fresh out of an oil bath who's in a helpful mood!

From a reply I posted in a similar thread a while back... Maybe I'm just the glass half full type, or its the way I play, but I don't see the changes being a problem. When I'm leveling a character, I only ever make them Blue quality gear, never purple (three sets, L15, L27 and L39, from L47 onwards they're Bolstered on Makeb or wearing the constant gear upgrades from Forged Alliances onwards). Blue gear is the new baseline, no more crafting Greens and REing, so the fact that my Cybertech is losing Armourings to my Armourmech / Synthweaver and my Artificer is losing Enhancements to my Cybertech won't affect me in the slightest in terms of making gear for leveling characters. In fact, it'll likely be much easier now with fewer resource types and faster crafting times. As to the purples, I never craft Purple gear for a character that's leveling up, does anyone? Seems quite a waste of expensive materials for something you'll only use for a week. The only purple items I craft are for max level characters... and max level is going up! Thus even if crafting didn't change at all, and everyone (me included) kept all their existing purple schematics, I'd *still* have to learn a whole new set of max level purple schematics (and never use the existing ones again). So, in real terms, I don't think it's nearly the upheaval people are thinking it will be. I'll be making the blues with a different character, but I'll have instant access to them (even if I had to buy them, they're a few hundred credits, kill one group of mobs and you'll make that back). I'll have to learn a whole new set of purple anyway, so what does it matter if it's with a different character. Plus, the majority of the current items will be obsolete anyway, with the stats changes. Currently we have separate Armourings and Mods and Earpieces and Relics etc for every Main Stat (strength, cunning, aim and willpower). In 4.0, those are all being replaced by a single Mastery stat, and from what I've seen not on a 1-point strength = 1-point Mastery basis that would make conversion simple. Obviously that's just me, personally. I have at least one of every Crafting, usually more. I can see that someone that only has one (or perhaps a couple) of crafting skills would have issues I don't. And I only craft for myself and friends, I don't craft to sell, perhaps people do sell mid-level purples? No idea why someone would buy them, but each to their own But overall, if you already have all the crafting skills, you still have access to every Blue schematic (even ones you didn't have RE'd before), and would still have to learn all the new high end Purples regardless, so really it doesn't seem much of a disaster to me. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go smother myself in hickory sauce so I'll taste nice after all the flames...

Copying a reply I added in another thread, just to make it easier to find... When you purchase an item from a Reputation Vendor, it has a two-hour return window timer on it, which you can see ticking down if you mouse over the item. You can sell the unused item back to the vendor until that timer runs out. One of the bugs in the Collections system is that an item WILL NOT unlock until that timer runs out and the item permanently binds to you. If you use the item while the timer is active, it doesn't go into the Collection even if it should. If it is a modifiable item (a piece of armour or a weapon), then you can force the timer to expire by putting mods in the item (doesn't have to be every mod, just one will do it). That will expire the timer and bind the item to you, and then allow it to unlock in the Collection when you equip it. But you must do it in that order: put mods in to force the timer to expire, and then equip it once you're sure no more timer. If it isn't a modifiable item (for example a mount or a holostatue) then you can't force the timer to expire, and you have to wait for the two hours to be up. Please note that the timer stops when you log out, so it's two hours logged in on the character that bought the item for the timer to expire. They don't have to be two continuous hours, you could log in four times for half an hour each, but it is specific to the character that bought the item. Time logged in on an alt won't count. I've bought a couple of dozen (or more) items or sets from Reputation vendors, and by following the above all of them have unlocked in the Collection, and I've been able to use CC to unlock them to get copies on any character.

Someone else mentioned it earlier in passing, but I thought I'd just expand on it. When you purchase an item from a Reputation Vendor, it has a two-hour return window timer on it, which you can see ticking down if you mouse over the item. You can sell the unused item back to the vendor until that timer runs out. One of the bugs in the Collections system is that an item WILL NOT unlock until that timer runs out and the item permanently binds to you. If you use the item while the timer is active, it doesn't go into the Collection even if it should. If it is a modifiable item (a piece of armour or a weapon), then you can force the timer to expire by putting mods in the item (doesn't have to be every mod, just one will do it). That will expire the timer and bind the item to you, and then allow it to unlock in the Collection when you equip it. But you must do it in that order: put mods in to force the timer to expire, and then equip it once you're sure no more timer. If it isn't a modifiable item (for example a mount or a holostatue) then you can't force the timer to expire, and you have to wait for the two hours to be up. Please note that the timer stops when you log out, so it's two hours logged in on the character that bought the item for the timer to expire. They don't have to be two continuous hours, you could log in four times for half an hour each, but it is specific to the character that bought the item. Time logged in on an alt won't count. I've bought a couple of dozen (or more) items or sets from Reputation vendors, and by following the above all of them have unlocked in the Collection, and I've been able to use CC to unlock them to get copies on any character.

Hi folks, I originally posted this in the middle of a thread in General a few weeks back, and figured it was worth bringing up here, particularly with Level Sync coming... The thing I'd most like to see added to SWTOR would be an end-game system NOT based around Raiding! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying remove Raiding, just let's not have it be the only thing left to do. By far (far far far!) the best end-game system I've ever played in any MMO was the Alternate Advancement (AA) system from EverQuest. It was a simple enough system: instead of just the one XP pool, you now had two. You then had a slider to determine how much XP went into leveling, and how much went into AA, in 10% increments. So you could have 100% to leveling, 0% to AA, 90% / 10%, 80% / 20% etc all the way to 0% leveling and 100% AA. At max level, you automatically go to 0% leveling and 100% AA. The AA XP was used to earn AA points, which were then used to make your character more powerful. You could for example buy a small boost to your stats (say +2 Strength) for a couple of AA points, or an upgrade to a skill for 6 AA points, or even a whole new skill for 12 AA points. Most things were multi-stage, and got more expensive as you went up (L1 = 3AA, L2 = 6AA, L3 = 9 AA so 18AA total). As I said, a nice simple system, but it had a lot of wonderful advantages:- 1) XP was still relevant, even vitally important, at max level. Even at max level, you always need to earn more AA points. 2) You could earn AAs doing anything. You could be Raiding, you could be doing Flashpoints, you could be doing PvP, you could be soloing, you could be grinding Dailies for cash, doesn't matter, whatever you're doing you're earning XP, and that means you're earning AA points (unless set to 100% levelling, of course). 3) Continual character development. Currently you hit max level and your character stops. The only way to improve them is to get better gear, but even then there's a limit. Get the best gear, and there's no more progression at all. Your character basically becomes stagnant until the next Raid is released, and that's not exactly speedy. With the AA system, that doesn't happen. You hit max level, you get the best gear, but there are always more AAs to earn and buy. 4) Level at your own pace. Levelling too fast? Bump the AA slider to 70% levelling and 30% AA, and you slow down without wasting any of that lovely XP. Want to stay in one place for a while? Perhaps you like that planet, or you're not wanting to out-level a friend who can't play as much. 0% to levelling, 100% to AA and you stop levelling, but without wasting any of that lovely XP! My two 'main' EQ characters stayed at level 80 for over a year (max was 100) just enjoying themselves and boosting their AAs before continuing. However, for the AA system to be a viable end-game system, there are two caveats that HAVE to be met:- 1) The points must take a lot of XP to earn. The whole point of this system is that it's something you work at over a long period of time, it's not a quick thing. If you can earn every AA skill in a week, we're back to 'game over, no more progression'. As a rough example, I'd say one single AA point would take at absolute minimum 10 hours of playing to earn. 2) There would have to be thousands of points worth of skills to buy. Even playing non-stop, you couldn't earn everything in a year, and every expansion sees more AAs added (of course, they could also be added between expansions). So, what sort of things could you use AA points for? Some would be general, things that every character has access to, for example:- +1% run speed up to a max of 10%. 1% costs 1AA, 2% costs 2AA (so 3AA cumulative), 3% costs 3AA (so 6AA cumulative) etc. A similar one for Speeder speed. Some would be archetype things, that characters of a certain type had access to, for example:- Healers : +1% healing, up to +10%. 1% costs 2AA, 2% costs 4AA (so 6AA cumulative), 3% costs 9AA (so 15AA cumulative) etc. Tanks : +1% damage reduction, up to +10%. 1% costs 2AA, 2% costs 4AA (so 6AA cumulative), 3% costs 9AA (so 15AA cumulative) etc. DPS: +1% damage, up to +10%. 1% costs 2AA, 2% costs 4AA (so 6AA cumulative), 3% costs 9AA (so 15AA cumulative) etc. Some would be base class things, that anyone of that pair of base classes has access to, for example:- Bounty Hunter / Trooper - Vent an extra 1 heat per tick - 6 AA, Vent an extra 2 heat per tick - 12 AA, Vent an extra 3 heat per tick - 18 AA Some would be Advanced Class things, that only that advanced class (and it's mirror) got, for example:- Mercenary - 1 extra charge of Kolto Shell - 6AA, 2 extra charges of Kolto shell - 12 AA, 3 extra charges of Kolto shell - 18AA Some would add entirely new skills, for example:- Bodyguard Mercenary - Emergency Kolto Spray : Heals all allies within 30m to full health, cooldown 1 hour : 30AAs, requires level 60 and Extra Kolto Shell Charges level 3. You get the idea. Some things could be specific to a given Discipline, some could have level requirements, or require other AAs to be bought first, etc. The important thing is that at the outset there should be a minimum of 1000 AA points of things any given character could buy. At 10 hours of gameplay per AA, no-one, absolutely no-one, is going to be able to buy them all before the next expansion lands and another 1000 AAs are added. Thus you have to choose very carefully what to spend your AAs on, and you have continual character development regardless of how you play. You could be constantly improving your character without ever setting foot in a Raid, or you could do nothing but Raid and even with the best gear available get that little bit better every single Raid. No RNG to worry about, no losing 50 rolls in a row, you put in the effort you get the reward. Every MMO I've ever played, 'End Game' has meant exactly that for me: the game ends! Sure, there might be a few things to do, get some achievements I missed, explore somewhere I never uncovered, but no real advancement. Every MMO but one... The only MMO I've ever played where I've felt the game continues, even improves, at max level was EQ, and that was purely because of the awesome AA system. As I mentioned at the start, this would tie in very well with the new Level Sync system: you could do any content on any planet, regardless of your level or the content's level, and still earn XP. Even at max level, you could go run a Heroic on Tatooine and work towards your next AA point. Might even make the Level Sync system more popular!

The free (or any other bought) level 60 have all their CLASS story decisions set, Republic all LS, Imperial all DS. However, Companion romances aren't part of the Class story, they're part of the Companion conversations as you gain affection with the companions. Affection is changing to Influence with 4.0, but I believe it works the same way. From what I've read, once you start KotFE you're also locked out of Companion conversations, but I'm not sure if the insta-60s have automatically started KotFE or not. If not, you might still be able to use Gifts to raise Influence and go through the Companion conversations before starting KotFE, and thus romance whoever you like.

Well, I'm working through a Sith Warrior write-up at the moment, finished Chapter Two so far... http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=835284 Might not be exactly what you're after though

Path of Confusion - A Sith Warrior's Story WARNING: COMPLETE SPOILERS FOR THE SITH WARRIOR STORY. IF YOU HAVEN'T RUN IT AND INTEND TO, STOP READING NOW!!! Back to Dromund Kaas again. Chapter Two While Jaesa disciplines Quinn, I call up Darth Fatass to deliver the good news. I have to turn the Holo all the way up: Quinn's quite the screamer. As ever, Fatty is full of both praise for my brilliance, and cake. What I had initially taken to be distortion due to a poor signal are, upon closer inspection, crumbs all down his tunic. Also, his mask is on upside down, an obvious sign that I interrupted him mid face stuffing. I'm amazed he still hasn't had it remade to include a moving jaw piece, to save taking it off every five minutes. But his focus is on me right now, so I should probably return the favour and at least listen as he yet again reiterates all my recent achievements: Mung mown down, the Wipe Trust wiped out, and now Surrender slaughtered and Whynot wasted. It's been a fun week! Such a good week, in fact, that Fatass wants to throw me a party, back in his Suite on Dromund Kaas. The fact that he'll use any excuse he can to stuff himself is no surprise, but that he's willing to share food, that's a real shocker! Of course, he has to go and suggest this now, while I'm in orbit around Hoth, pretty much the furthest point from Dromund Kaas in the galaxy. Ok, Master, I'll see you in a week... A week that ends up feeling like a year. Despite Jaesa's enthusiastic and thorough punishment of Quinn, the actual problem is still at large: my ship is infested with an eight-foot tall walking carpet equipped with a personal cloaking generator. Chirps was initially delighted with the idea of having a pet on board, and left bowls of food outside her quarters hoping to entice Skidmark to her. She rapidly went off the idea, however, after the third night of being woken up by scratching on her door, only to find nothing there when she opened it. Two sets of six-inch claws really make a racket when scraped over durasteel, not to mention her favourite poster was ripped to shreds. Pierce was a lot more proactive, placing booby traps and nets all over the ship. After the third time I had to cut him loose, I'm pretty sure the ones placed around Quinn's quarters weren't aimed at the Talc at all. Also, the percussion charge rigged to the engine room bulkhead 'in case that's where it nests' was probably a case of overkill, in that it would have killed us all and not just our unwanted mascot. For her part, Jaesa has taken to swinging her lightsaber at every noise she hears. Quinn is now down an earlobe. There's also the matter of supplies: being from an icy world where keeping your temperature up is a major energy expenditure, a Talc eats like Darth Fatass after a week of starvation. If we hadn't happened across that republic pleasure cruiser we'd have run out of food before we even got half way. I could say 'at least it's house trained', but therein lies my biggest gripe: it appears that underneath all that fur Skidmark is in fact female. Either that or Talc can't read bathroom signs. Every time I go for a shower I have to dig what looks like an albino Ewok out of the drain first, and Granny's old mask practically melted when I tried to use the toilet. As a temporary measure I have swapped the bathroom assignments (but not the signs, just in case): the girls now use the boys' bathroom and vice versa. I want that damn thing OFF MY SHIP! Fortunately Quinn is completely in agreement with me, particularly after this morning's mishaps with the gas-filled food can trap and near-loss of the other earlobe. He's really developing some fast reflexes these days! Putting that big old tactical brain of his to work, he comes up with a plan to rid us of the furry menace. After several hours on the holo to a clearly insane friend of his on Dromund Kaas, he's rigged up a device that should overload Skidmark's cloak if we can get close enough, and to do that he's connected the rest of Pierce's trap gas to the ship's ventilation system. Donning breathing masks, we pump the ship full of gas and then go room by room, firing off the anti-cloak device until finally in a shower of sparks the Talc appears, curled up on the meeting room table. Occasionally her paws twitch, like she's dismembering something in her sleep. Sadly the cloaking generator seems to be fried, I'd have rather liked to keep that, but the loss is more than made up for by the chance to finally being able to use the bathroom without wondering if I'm being watched. I ignite my lightsaber, and it's already in motion when Chirps dives in front of the monster, with a pleading look on her face. Fortunately for the Twi'lek, Jaesa had the same idea as me but was going for a backhand slash, and her front blade blocked mine. Even more fortunately for Chirps, my blade prevented Jaesa from finishing her move, as the grin on her face clearly showed she considered the situation a twofer. Before I can Force-pull Chirps out of the way, she's already babbling. Can we keep her, oh please, please can we keep her? I'm far from swayed, but surprisingly Pierce weighs in, pointing out that with no more stealth capability Skidmark would be easier to keep under control, and that if she could be properly trained she'd make one hell of a guard dog. Chirps' eyes are like saucers now, big, wide, pathetically pleading saucers, and so I reluctantly relent. I have conditions, however: you're feeding her, yes, and walking her, yes, and cleaning up after her, Yes, and keeping her out of my bathroom!, yes Yes YES!. After peeling the atwitter Twi'lek off me, I leave her to find out if it's true what they say about letting a sleeping Talc lie. Glancing back, I see Chirps gleefully putting a clearly home-made collar around the beast's neck. Fluffy, really? With the matter dealt with to at least someone's satisfaction, I tell Quinn to get us back underway to Dromund Kaas, and then sanitise my bathroom from top to bottom, twice! Departing the ship at the spaceport of the Imperial Capital world, I am at least properly showered again, although my dress is covered in strands of white fur. If Chirps can't clean it up faster than Fluffy sheds it, I'll have her at least dye it crimson so it won't show so much. Darth Fatass greets Jaesa and I with a suspicious amount of bonhomie, and a gargantuan amount of food on display. I'm not sure if he expected me to being the entire crew, or if he was just planning on having seconds, but Jaesa and I barely even make a dent. Fatty makes up for it, and makes a crater. And with his robe straining at the seams, the other shoe finally drops. Despite the order coming from Darth Venetian, it seems that Plan Zero was really Fatass's idea all along, and he's using it as a way to steal Venetian's seat. Master, I've seen Darth Venetian, there's no way you'll fit in it! Undeterred, Fatty continues to expand upon his plan. Venetian is in hot water with the Dark Council for starting a war without them, and as an added wrinkle he's just discovered that his apprentice Lord Do-Rag is actually another of Fatty's little pets. If we act fast, we can sink Venetian entirely. Venetian's quarters are only a short walk away from Fatty's, but the journey isn't without incident when an over-excited Jaesa, eager to kill her first Dark Council member, doesn't look where she's going and steps straight off a walkway. Has no-one in the entire Galaxy ever thought of putting up some guard rails, or perhaps not leaving honking great holes in the floor? Fortunately she managed to grab something as she fell. Unfortunately that something was me. As we dangle precariously over an impressively deep drop for some living quarters, I find myself questioning the whole Master - Apprentice set up: with dead Sith's shoes being the only way to advance, is training your own assassin really the best idea we could come up with? She's not going to kill me today, however, and with a fierce yank I Force-pull a nearby guard over the edge of the platform and into the abyss behind us. Thanks to conservation of momentum, this propels Jaesa and I back up to safety, and we carry on to Venetian's quarters. Which are, of course, guarded, but to be honest not very well. And now not at all. We find Lord Do-Rag tied to a table with some interesting-looking attachments. Jaesa tries a few of them out, while I fish the bottle of smelling slats Fatty gave me out of my boot, where it fortunately landed after I dropped it in the fall. Once revived, he blames all his injuries, old and suspiciously new, on Darth Venetian, and swears himself to our cause. And now I get to kill a Dark Council member: Squee! Do-Rag informs me that Venetian is in his Inner Sanctum, 'Communing with the Dark Side', which turns out to be a euphemism. There's a sight no amount of brain bleach will ever allow me to unsee! It seems a little unsporting to attack a man when he's so indisposed, but I would have done it anyway, had Do-Rag not clomped along so noisily that he gave our arrival away. Putting away the little lightsaber, Darth Venetian pulls out the full size one, and begins the usual boasting ritual that was apparently a requirement in the older editions of the Sith Code users' manual. Fortunately I have a recent edition, which has been condensed considerably into just one word: attack! He puts up a decent fight, for an old guy, but what's decent compared to masterful? As Jaesa again does her splishy-splashy victory dance in Venetian's viscera, Do-Rag starts gushing too, about what a wonderful team we make. Hey, back it up there pretty-boy, this doesn't mean we're dating! Dragging Jaesa with me, I tell the love-struck sap to clean up, and head back to Fatass to report in. This time, Jaesa keeps a careful watch where she walks. What I'd taken to be an earthquake turned out to just be Darth Fatass dancing a little jig of joy. With his former master dead, not only does he get the chair he's apparently been coveting, but also Venetian's place on the Dark Council. And me? All I get is a week's vacation. Not even paid vacation, either! My earlier questioning of the Master - Apprentice deal takes a little twist, as I view it from the Apprentice's side... End of Chapter Two

Maybe I'm just the glass half full type, or its the way I play, but I don't see the changes being a problem. When I'm leveling a character, I only ever make them Blue quality gear, never purple (three sets, L15, L27 and L39, from L47 onwards they're Bolstered on Makeb or wearing the constant gear upgrades from Forged Alliances onwards). Blue gear is the new baseline, no more crafting Greens and REing, so the fact that my Cybertech is losing Armourings to my Armourmech / Synthweaver and my Artificer is losing Enhancements to my Cybertech won't affect me in the slightest in terms of making gear for leveling characters. In fact, it'll likely be much easier now with fewer resource types and faster crafting times. As to the purples, I never craft Purple gear for a character that's leveling up, does anyone? Seems quite a waste of expensive materials for something you'll only use for a week. The only purple items I craft are for max level characters... and max level is going up! Thus even if crafting didn't change at all, and everyone (me included) kept all their existing purple schematics, I'd *still* have to learn a whole new set of max level purple schematics (and never use the existing ones again). So, in real terms, I don't think it's nearly the upheaval people are thinking it will be. I'll be making the blues with a different character, but I'll have instant access to them (even if I had to buy them, they're a few hundred credits, kill one group of mobs and you'll make that back). I'll have to learn a whole new set of purple anyway, so what does it matter if it's with a different character. Obviously that's just me, personally. I have at least one of every Crafting, usually more. I can see that someone that only has one (or perhaps a couple) of crafting skills would have issues I don't. And I only craft for myself and friends, I don't craft to sell, perhaps people do sell mid-level purples? No idea why someone would buy them, but each to their own But overall, if you already have all the crafting skills, you still have access to every Blue schematic (even ones you didn't have RE'd before), and would still have to learn all the new Purples regardless, so really it doesn't seem much of a disaster to me. And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go smother myself in hickory sauce so I'll taste nice after all the flames...

LotRO introduced a system similar to #1, and it was initially a complete farce. Firstly, anyone that did any damage got both XP and loot. This lead to people just running round plinking one single arrow into every mob someone else was fighting, and raking in XP and loot far faster than the people actually doing the work. Secondly, it was entirely geared around damage. I realised this when I noticed my Healer had barely gained any XP at all while my Tank and DPS had gained half a level (I played three chars at the same time). Yup, someone in the group that killed the mob didn't get XP. *sigh* They fixed the Healing thing fairly quickly, it became if you did any damage or healed anyone eligible for XP and Loot, but never came up with a solution to the first issue while I was playing. Admittedly I quit LotRO shortly after that change, as it was also the expansion that brought in Mounted Combat, and that wasn't really conducive to playing three chars at once So, they might have come up with a fix later. It was also a pain when I was grouped with friends, and one had to go AFK for some reason: previously we'd always carried on with them on auto-follow, but now as they didn't damage the mob or heal anyone, they didn't get XP even though they were grouped with us.

Path of Confusion - A Sith Warrior's Story WARNING: COMPLETE SPOILERS FOR THE SITH WARRIOR STORY. IF YOU HAVEN'T RUN IT AND INTEND TO, STOP READING NOW!!! Sorry for the delay getting this one out, I had a minor case of the sniffles and Quinn put the entire ship into quarantine. He's still in his cabin now, convinced he's dying of Rakghoul Plague, typical man. Moving on, one of my favourite planets next: Hoth! Chapter Two As always, Darth Fatass is delighted with my progress, and waffles on for some time about how brilliant I am. Whilst I can't deny the obvious, I do find myself wondering if he was ever a Lt: I'm beginning to suspect he's trying to give me the flirty-face from behind that mask. And now I need another shower. That'll have to wait, however, as my next playmate has been located. The supposedly brilliant Jedi Knight Surrender is hiding on Hoth. While Fatty waffles some more about how brilliant Surrender must be in order to continually outsmart him - so, somewhere around 'mollusc' then? - I dispatch Quinn to start polishing my skis, and make me a flask of cocoa to go. For once, neither Quinn nor Chirps are pouting at being left behind, in fact both go out of their way to mention how much they'd rather stay on the ship this time. Which makes me want to drag them down there just out of spite. But when you have a nose as pretty as mine, spiting your face is never an option, and so of course I turn to my demure, self-effacing apprentice who is discretely jumping up and down screaming 'pick me, pick me, pick me or else!' The waste of skin I have to meet on Hoth is Commander Lacking, who it turns out is MIA before I even get there. Oh, this is going to be one of those days, I can tell... His second in command, Ensign Snit, is clearly in an agitated state. I have to wonder what happened to be rest of Lacking's company, if his second in command is three ranks below him. After listening to a list of excuses for his failures, my instinctive response is to slit Snit open, but then I'd most likely find the janitor is next in seniority around here. So instead I decide I'll just have to go and rescue Lacking, and hope that he at least found out something useful, presumably by accident. According to his MyPlace Holonet feed (someone still uses that?), the last place he checked in was 'heavily defended pirate base' a little south of here. Pausing only to buy Jaesa some thermal underwear - apparently the Jedi teach neither preparedness nor 'suck it up', just 'suck' - we set off into the beautiful frozen wastelands of Hoth. Call me sentimental, but a landscape that can kill you in a dozen different ways every step just does it for me. The pirate base was indeed, as advertised, heavily defended, although now they'll need to update their profile to include that past tense. Locating Commander Lacking inside was a simple matter, I just followed the loudest whimpering until I found the wimp in question. He quickly justified my lack of faith in him by asking 'Are you a Sith?', as I stood there with my lightsabers out and the last crackles of Force lightning still skittered around Jaesa, but before I could issue either a scathing or a scything reply he'd already moved on to 'Are you here to rescue me?' Oh, right... It's such an unusual concept that it had slipped my mind, but yes, I had indeed come to rescue him. But did I still want to? Hmm. He's already listing his excuses, but they're not quite as pathetic as Snit's, and so I reluctantly allow him to keep breathing a little longer. Apparently Lacking had been captured by some Talc, giant mobile powder puffs that the Republic use when it's too cold outside for their poor, delicate little tootsies. He at least partly redeems himself by having found out where their main compound is, but not enough to warrant anything further from this rescue. Leaving him to make his own way back to an Imperial base, we set off to introduce ourselves, and out lightsabers, to the Republic's little pets. By the time we're half way there I'm already wondering how many Talc it would take to make a nice thick coat for Jaesa: she's not stopped complaining about the thermals since I bought her them. Look, you can have an itch down there or an icicle, the choice is yours. When we arrive there's certainly plenty of material to hand, unfortunately very little of it is suitable for tailoring. Most of it has been ripped to shreds, and its former contents have made it rather sticky as they oozed out. Someone, or something, has apparently arrived before us. At first glance, the culprit appears to be a Jedi Padawan, Sewer, a reference it seems not to tailoring as I originally hoped but to the state of his own thermals. Apparently the pathetic wretch used to belong to Jedi Surrender, but at the first sign of trouble the coward ran off and let him to the mercy of ... ... aha, something actually capable of inflicting so much slaughter. I knew a Padawan wouldn't be up to it! Disengaging its cloaking device, a particularly ugly and foul smelling Talc appears behind Sewer and twists his head off. Nice approach, I like it! It introduces itself, I think, but if that was in fact a name it's completely unpronounceable, so given his effect on the Padawan I'll just call him Skidmark. This does not go down well, and overconfident from the ease with which he dispatched the pathetic Padawan the monster tries attacking me. But of course I'm not one to lose my head so easily, and within seconds the furry fool is kneeling at my feet. Finally seeing eye to eye, we quickly come to a compromise, and in return for some interesting information about Jedi Knight Surrender, I allow Skidmark to live. Reengaging his cloak, the beast slinks away as Jaesa and I head to the nearest Imperial base to update Fatass on the latest turn of events. This proves easier said than done, however, as due to his lack of staff Lacking is running the holo himself, and making a right Gamorrean's ear of it. Somehow he's managed to get a crossed line, and got both Fatass and Surrender on the line at the same time. Each safe in the knowledge that they're hundreds of parsecs apart, both are taking advantage of the situation to trade insults. If they were actually in the same room, they'd more likely be trading recipes and podracing cards. Reaching over, I flip the channel selector on the holo to 'private', and Surrender vanishes nearly as quickly as he had in the Talc cave. Fatass tries to reassert his dominance by giving the former Ensign Snit a field promotion, via the time-honoured method of dead man's boots. Not that I'd recommend wearing them, at least not before giving them a damn good wash out! With the distractions out of the way, I finally get to give Fatass the news: Surrender isn't so much hiding on Hoth as he is seeking, specifically his former master Whynot. I guess it's the Jedi style, if things don't go your way then run home to Daddy. Fatass is somewhat surprised by the news, having thought Whynot dead for many years, but that too is the Jedi way: if Daddy isn't available, go hide out somewhere inhospitable the moment you get a boo boo, and hope no-one comes looking. And finally, I also get an answer as to why Fatass is so cantankerous all the time: it seems Whynot once took his favourite toy, and he's spent the last few decades sulking over it. Fine, if it'll make him quit whining, I'll go get his toy back for him. Pausing only to order Snit to dispose of his ex-boss, I head out to find Fatass's bully and teach him how to share. Mostly by sharing his parts around the immediate area. Emotionally attached to it as he is, it occurs to Fatass - only thirty years or so too late - that he could reach out with the Force and locate his toy, thus making my search much easier. Except of course it doesn't: like most bullies, having taken the toy Whynot lost all interest in it, and threw it away. Instead of a Jedi to chastise, I find a base full of mercenaries and blackmarketeers, your general scum of the Galaxy. To be honest, it's an improvement. Still, they're currently playing with Fatass's sliceums, and in this case it's most definitely finders weepers. Just as I pick it up, and while Jaesa is still jumping up and down in the blood pools, giggling and making 'splish splash' noises, a familiar scent causes me to turn just in time to see Skidmark drop his cloak. He chitters and warbles on about how I stole his kill, but at least learned his lesson the last time, and instead of attacking me again he offers me more information. Whynot is playing forts with bits of broken old spaceships, and Surrender has gone to join in. Time to go break up their little party! Eager as am I to dole out generous portions of Sith justice, I still take the time to stop and enjoy the breathtaking majesty that is the Starship Graveyard. It's quite possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen outside a mirror. The sheer scale of death and destruction it represents is exquisite. And I get to add my own little daub to the canvas! Between me and my artistic endeavours, however, stands yet another Talc. This one I shall call Festering, because there's no way it's meant to smell like that normally! It turns out to be something of a self-solving problem though, when Skidmark decloaks and asks - quite nicely - if he might kill Festering on my behalf. Well, it would save taxing the filter in Granny's mask any more than it already is, so have at it. While the two beasts fight, Jaesa and I place bets on the outcome. Both of us fully expect Skidmark to win, but if he takes less than thirty seconds then I get to flog Quinn for his next minor failure, if Festering somehow lasts more than thirty seconds then Jaesa does. That seems fair enough to both of us, so I start the stopwatch, which seems a little self-contradictory. Unfortunately either Skidmark relishes his work too much to hurry it, or Jaesa's cheating again, but either way I'll not be the one wielding the whip when we get back to the ship. And on that subject, Skidmark is now somehow under the impression that we're friends, and that he'll be coming back to the ship as one of the crew. Oh hell no! Before I can spit and roast him to make my point, Skidmark recloaks and skips off to start packing. From this deep inside the wreckage, I can't even contact Quinn to warn him to be on the lookout, or at least smellout, for an intruder. I guess Jaesa will be cashing in her winnings sooner rather than later. Venting my spleen on the remaining Talc warriors - which causes more than a few vented bladders - I eventually find the Jedis Surrender and Whynot, hugging and babbling away as they try to catch up on recent gossip. I interrupt the apparently scandalous tale of which Grand Master has a secret love child to deliver the far more interesting news of their imminent demise. Surrender lasts as long as one would expect, but Whynot actually puts up a bit of a fight. Not enough of one, but at least it was fun while it lasted. With Fatass's toy in hand and bully in pieces, I return to my ship to cheer the grumpy bugger up, only to find that the entire place stinks like a wet Bantha. Jaesa, go get the whip...

I think that's a great idea, I'd love that. Also, a couple of things others brought up I'd like too:- Stackable companion gifts: Oh yes please, 'Here, 99 gifts' *big Affection boost* Non humanoid-template playable races: I know it'll never happen, but I'd love to play as a Jawa!