I don't really see how player created content could work in an MMO as "themepark" as this one. OTOH - Community created UI mods in games such as WoW have created a huge and active community around them (just look at Curse.com which mainly started off as WoW mod repository and now seems to own half the gaming internet). I would love for Bioware to intergrate some sort of LUI-type coding interface into SWTOR and let people alter and customise their UI to the degree that they like. This is a big part of the WoW-subculture and I suspect helped it retain players far more than people expect. After all, the way you keep players in an MMO is largely based on making them feel like they have dedicated too much effort to easily give it up - and getting your UI just perfect or - even more so - coding a UI mod to help with that task really adds to feeling that accomplishment. The in-built customisation introduced in 1.2 made me stop tearing my hair out in frustration at the UI but there's still things that, if we had mods, I would like in there - especially since we've heard nothing about further UI options being developed. For example: more options on how to heal. I would love to be a healer in this game but with no click-to-heal, mouseover healing or easy way to see dispellable debuffs; more options on how to display buffs on yourself (especially procs) or debuffs on your target (ermm...which of the 4 different afflictions on the boss is mine and how long does that barely visible line on it mean I have left before I have to cast it??). People may argue that mods ruin a game - and I think that maybe Blizzard helped create that impression by allowing too much access to the underlying systems of the game by LUI - but there's no reason that BW would have to give the same access. BW doesn't want real-time combat meters? Simply don't allow LUI access to that data. APIs like this only are able to access as much, or as little, as the developers let them - so allowing UI customisation doesn't necessarily imply that you would automatically have Deadly Boss Mods* or Recount that some hate so much. So yeah, I think that a modding community would help this game - but UI modding rather than content creation. I quit WoW for this game and don't regret that at all, the only thing I miss from WoW is the UI modding. *although I tend to think that things like DBM have been a good thing for WoW since it's forced the developers to be more creative with boss mechanics as simply having an enrage timer and a couple of phases on a tank-and-spank boss isn't interesting or challenging with such mods so the bosses have had to have far more going on...IIRC one boss in the last phase of Cataclysm had more abilities and mechanics than all of the bosses of Vanilla WoW's first tier of raiding combined).

Absolutely 100% no. This has been going on since beta and the answer has always been the same - and the majority of the people that respond to the thread have always been against it. A minority don't seem to get the fact that an "Advanced Class" isn't like a spec in other games that let you respec - it's your actual class. When you choose your base class, all you're really choosing is what set of class-missions you're going to play (i.e. your story). You choose your class at level 10 in this game, not level 1. AC respecs would be like WoW - which I'm using only as it's the most likely point of common reference for MMO players - letting you "respec" your shadow priest into a combat rogue (Inquisitor / Consular) or respec your Resoration Shaman into a Marksman Hunter (Agent / Smuggler) etc. Because someone knows how to do range DPS and keep up their DoTs with their Madness Sorceror doesn't mean that they will be able to do melee tanking with a Darkness Assassin (and vice versa). So if you allow people to change class at 50 you've suddenly got a load of people in Group finder switching to a class they have no idea how to play with completely innapproriately itemised gear just because tanks are getting faster queues today than DPS or Healers. Maybe you think that you are special and, of course you wouldn't jump into a queue without fully researching how to play your new spec. However, even if that were true there's plenty of people who wouldn't and would completely screw up HMs for the rest of us and make PuG Operations an absolute nightmare. So yea or nay? NAY.

This has already been complained about A LOT. However, it can't be complained about enough IMO. I specifically levelled a Sith Sorceror to 50 with Cybertech as his crafting skill soley because that way I could find a moddable robe with no hood and keep updating it with my own mods and armours. With the "unify to chest" panel on the character sheet there's even a place in the UI to put the option. Also that "unify to chest" and "show/hide head armor" option also needs to be available in Companion character sheets. .

I really love this game - and in fact would even quite like a "short race" option in it (although my preference would be for George Lucas to finally give Yoda's race a name and let us play them). However, if we got either Jawas or Yoda's race in before Togruta or Nautolans I would rage SO HARD.. BW. Gimme my Nautolan Jedi Guardian NAO.

There's two lists of things I want to see added. One list of things that just need to be added to the base game and things that I would like to see that I would expect to spend Cartel Coins on. Things to be added to base game: 1. Better healing options. I was a healer for 5 years in WoW and really miss mouseover healing or, even better, click-cast healing (ala Vuhdo, Clique, Healbot) while I can, and have, healed in this game I just don't find it fun to do full time with a UI that's designed around DPS. 2. Better display of DoTs, Procs etc. and a choice over how to display them. I want to be looking at the boss, not squinting at my character picture trying to see if my tiny proc icons are there or trying to guess by squinting at the boss's character picture which of the 4 afflictions on it is mine and guessing from where the line is on the icon if it's about to fall off or not. 3. Character re-customisation in-game for credits (with possible "appearance packs" that you have to get from the shop). 4. The ability to customise your ship - the ship is this game's player housing. Let us customise it like player housing. 5. Some form of multiplayer space content. 6.. Proper dual-spec. 7. Same-gender romance arcs. Things to be added to the shop: 1. New races - especially iconic Star Wars races - Togruta, Nautolan, Kel Dor, Rodian. Basically anything that can reasonable be expected to physiologically speak basic and has been in a movie (or the Clone Wars animated series - which I still argue is way better than any of the prequels) with a speaking part. I would hope these would be automatically available to subscribers but available for F2Ps for cartel coins. 2. Extra character slots per-server. I would expect both F2P and Subscribers to have to purchase these with coins. 3. Guest passes - so that if you have a F2P friend and want to run a FP or OP with them and they've used their allowance up or they don't have access to that content because they haven't bought it, then you can use your own Cartel Coins to get them a one-off pass into it. Things never to be added to the shop: 1. Anything that gives a specific gameplay advantage to a player - I think we'll have to accept that XP boosts etc are going to be there, and medkits...but when you have biochem as a crew skill I would argue that even adrenals can't be in the cash shop since it completely screws that crew skill over more than it already has been. No non-cosmetic gear (orange gear with empty mod slots only), no in-combat speed boosts...no Pay to Win, basically.

Having said that, I would say that as an altoholic-type who loves customisation I would presonally rather see new races added before more advanced character customization. Playable Nautolans, Togruta, Rodians, Kel Dor, Devaronians...maybe even Voss.

People play MMOs in different ways. And the way your character looks in an MMO is incredibly important to some players - you spend much more time with an MMO character as your avatar than you do in non-MMO games. Also, that avatar is basically a reflection of you to all the people you encounter in game. The way you choose to look actually does affect the way people think about the person behind the keyboard If I see people with really dumb-looking characters...body type 4 with the worst hairdos and weird hair and skin colours that have been deliberately made to clash etc. and a stupid pun for a name I'll generally make the assumption that the player behind it thinks they are hillariously funny but is really probably just kind of immature. I'm sure that those same people judge me for making my characters mainly according to my definition of what looks "bad ***" means that to them I probably seem like someone who takes the game way too seriously and am probably their definition of boring. Therefore people want as much character customisation, and recustomisation, as possible. This is not a "fluff" feature - MMOs are about more than just raiding and high-end PvP and need a broad spectrum of features to appeal to many different groups if they are to succeed. This is what all those so-called "hardcore" players of these games need to understand. Development of your part of the game is quite largely dependant on the income generated by the "non-hardcore" players (those things have to go in "s because I find it hard to imagine what a truly "hardcore" player of SWTOR would be). The people that like single player stuff, minipets and games, character customisation and more casual-friendly stuff in the game are always going to be in the majority of paying players since, generally, most people that earn their own money don't have time (or aren't willing to make the sacrifices in other aspects of their life) to commit to a full hardcore raiding or pvp schedule so will gravitate to more casual-friendly aspects of the game. OTOH, casual players need more hardcore players to be there because they are the main drive in an MMO to get content made at a reasonable rate and drive the developement of PvE and the balance in PvP to make it more entertaining for all. Also, there's the ever-present reality of...do you really think the guys that design the barbershop are the same guys that are designing boss encounters for endgame ops? Really?

Both - have seen the original trilogy countless times, managed to force myself to watch the prequels a couple of times each. Played numerous SW games etc. and used to spend more hours playing WoW and Guild Wars than most people do at work. I remember when SWTOR came out and the naysayers were all "This game sucks - it's just WoW with lightsabers". To which my immediate reaction was "OMG! WoW with LIGHTSABERS...that sounds awesome!". XD

As I said, I'm not buying a laptop for gaming - I'm buying a laptop mainly for travel, writing and work. However, I would like to have the option of occasionally being able to fire up SWTOR on it and do some questing or dailies when I'm away from home. I already have a desktop gaming rig which is, and will continue to be, my main system for playing SWTOR and all other games. I was just looking for what the minimum reasonable specs would be to get SWTOR running in a playable state (even at low settings) so I could have that option - since I know nothing about mobile CPUs or GPUs and the SWTOR listed minimum & recommended specs all refer to desktop components.

Thanks - this is exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

Or -160, Vette is a whiner who can DIAF if she hates me doing evil things so much XD

Thanks, it definitely gives me a starting point for what specs to look for. Looks quite nice, but I don't know if where I live I'd be able to get a refurbished one.

Well...that's useful. Thanks for that.

Hey, I normally play SWTOR on a gaming desktop PC which I'm very happy with - and which will continue to be my main machine for the game for the foreseeable future. However, I'm looking at buying a laptop, mainly for purposes other than gaming. The laptops main qualities are that it should be CHEAP, have reasonably long battery life and be very portable. However, it would be quite nice if I could occasionally fire up SWTOR on it when I'm travelling or whatever and have it play at more than 3 frames per second. Doesn't have to play at max settings or incredibly high resolutions* or anything like that, quite happy to turn shadows to low or lower the number of characters on screen (although it would be nice if it was good enough to turn the character atlasing on high and maybe have a bit of anti-aliasing). I'm not even a big PVPer so if it can't cope very well with WZs it's not a huge loss. Just enough to make the game playable so I can do some questing/leveling and the occasional flashpoint. I'm totally out of touch with laptops and the technology they have in them these days. Can anyone out there give me some advice about what I should be looking for to fill my, I hope, fairly modest needs? TLDR: What do I need to look for in an inexpensive, portable laptop to be able to run SWTOR at medium/low settings when I'm away from my main PC. Thanks to anyone that can help *as portability is a big factor I will be looking for a laptop with a fairly small screen anyway.

You are not comparing like with like. SWG, UO and Eve are not the same kind of game as SWTOR, Rift and WoW. They are "Sandbox" MMOs - where the developer basically just creates a world with stuff in it and lets you do what you like, a lot of the content and story is player driven and without player involvement and work on the player community's part the game falls flat. SWTOR, WoW et al. are "Theme Park" MMOs - which have much more structure, clear objectives and a clear path and storyline, with story and content updates having to be constantly provided by the developers. Some people like one type of game, others like the other - neither is intrinsically better (although Theme Park MMOs have undoubtedly been shown in the past to be wildly more popular). Sounds like you are more of a sandbox type of guy/girl.