I'll have to agree with the sentiment here. Tanks are the toughest to find generally (which is good for me, I enjoy tanking the most). While my guild has really great DPS players, the need for great DPS becomes painfully obvious when you start HM's. No matter how great your tanks and healers are you get smoked on enrage if you don't down the boss fast enough . If you want the shortest GF que times, tanks .

My participation trophy says otherwise. My mommy told me I'm special. These two things tell me I don't have opinions, I have facts!

I am really enjoying Ebon Hawk, but I was also looking for some RP. It's population is nice, sits at standard most times that I've checked. Harbinger is big, huge pop. I have heard of ques to play at the busiest of times after expansions launch. The biggest servers do seem to have the most issues though, so be aware of that. Harbinger seems to have the most issues out of the NA servers, likely due to the load it's put under. As others have said, I've heard good things about Shadowlands too. I left Jung Ma, for what it's worth. Loved the server and community that was left, and I miss the OWPvP, but that rarely happened due to such low pop and ques for group play could be long .

While what you said about gear vendors being removed is accurate, there is still a lot of orange gear in the game. Once you get your alliance you will get an orange gear piece from each box you open. You end up with a glut of it, a lot of it is older end game skins that were removed from the game previously. It's also legacy so you can pop it in your legacy hold or trade it between all your characters, so that is nice at least . I'm not the biggest fan that a majority of new gear skins go into the CM, but it may be one of those concessions we have to make for the game to be financially solvent. I do like the new way of armor packs that give a full set rather than the old system of RNG a few pieces out of the crates. Being able to sell the gear after a couple days at least lets the player base disseminate the gear we get from packs and allow players to get the skins without spending CC's if they want. All in all, not the best system, but if it keeps the game going I'm willing to live with it.

Recently joined a guild on my latest character, they were looking for a tank to start raiding again, so I've been getting into that. When we're not raiding, or I can't get on until later and miss the run I focus on anything to get us conquest points. I've never really done conquest before and my guild leaders just started trying last week and are pretty into it. We placed in the top 10 our first week and we're doing good again this week, so that's a lot of fun. I try to focus on grabbing anyone in the guild available and run FP's this week to grind out those conquest points . On the RP side of things our guild story is going to start soon. I've not done much RP so I'm looking forward to gettibg more involved in that and crafting a story for my character. Failing that stuff I try to get in the group finder, being a tank I know I can be useful in there for folks.

I've just recently started doing Ops with the guild I joined and noticed this. A large majority of the random pieces that drop for me (I didn't notice they were labeled for me, but realized they were for me when I looted them) are DPS pieces. I didn't think much of it, as I'm more concerned with learning the boss mechanics and the like, but did think it odd. I've just started putting together a set of DPS gear for my character should I ever need to DPS.

... Ultimately, this decision came down to our own goals for Companions, along with data on how they were performing. What we saw in those instances is that Companions, simply put, were just way too good. Their healing and damage output could be greater than that of a very skilled player with a fully maximized character. In order for you to understand why we are making these changes, we thought it best to explain our goals for Companions in Fallen Empire...

I like the nerf, but then again I like more challenging content. I'll try to answer your questions as best I can (I'm doing this on my phone, it's a little tougher ). I did not dismiss my companion as I do like having them there, I also am kind of a sucker for "playing dress up" with my character and companion, I enjoy trying to make them look good and seeing them look good. Stupid, I know, but it's fun for me, it was a big plus to the gearing change in 4.0 for me, though I did also enjoy customizing their stats, that was a bit of a bummer. Passive mode? Ehhh, yeah, I do enjoy the the companion working with me. Especially in this game, they're a part of the story too for me. You are right on that one, at the very least in part. I never thought to toggle off abilities, if they put them back to how they were I will likely do that. Then again I never really crusaded on the forums for the nerf, I just solo'd the hardest stuff I could to stil try and present a challenge to myself. This is a decent idea, not my ideal solution, but still it could help. I will not lie to you. I wasn't upset over the OP companions, I thought it wasn't right, they were out healing players, that's just silly . I would never want to make the game impossible for "bads and casuals", to insinuate such of me is wrong sir. I appreciate all the help my guild gives me to get better in FP's, Op's and HM Op's and I do what I can to reciprocate that to other players. I'm the guy that answers questions on fleet chat, helps players who are struggling with quests and gives money to new players to give them a head start if I help them and think they could use a quick 50k credits. The problem with the way comps were was that I started to say to myself "Man, I can do this FP easier with just my companion than if I get a group that isn't great". My companion at rank 20 did better dps than many upscaled players for killing trash in the FP and healed me to the point that I didn't need to ever worry about health on a boss. My companion was discouraging me from running with anyone but well geared guild members to do Operations, that's just not a good thing man. Now, I will say, I like where my companion is now, however, due to the dislike of their current state I think BioWare does need to do something with them. This game does need it's casual player base, it's the life blood of this game and I think the game does a great job drawing those players in and catering to them. We can't have companions be better than players though, so a middle ground must be found. As for me wanting to keep players down because of my ego and feeling superior over them, that offends me and how I try to play the game, I would respectfully ask that in the future you refrain from insulting such a broad swath of people like that.

I would respectfully argue that any quest with Heroic in the title is supposed to provide a challenge. I agree that the standard daily quests should not be terribly difficult, but the weekly ones should provide some challenge for a single player with just their companion. There is plenty of content in the game that is faceroll easy, a large majority of bhai the story, the 9 chapters of KotFE. A little challenge is not a bad thing for people. As the OP said, he often wasn't using many of his abilities and after using them he succeeded. It's all still doable, it's just now the player is the one who has to carry the load, rather than the game carrying it for them via the companions. Now, I'll openly qualify what I've said with I agree with the companion nerf. My character was invincible with a healer comp and I didn't like that. I realized this after soloing elite named mobs on Corellia that were 2 levels higher than me and soloing the Battle of Ilumn on tactical at level 50 or so. I would agree the tune down could have been done more incrementally, but again, having players encounter some challenge in a Heroic quest is how I feel it should be based on it being called heroic. It should be able to be solo'd, but only through skill or overgearing, which is how it seems to be now. I understand if folks disagree, as we're all entitled to an opinion, but based on Eric Musco's post it seems the Dev's may have intended it to be that way. For what it's worth at least.

I think it is important to note that it's the Alliance story that parts of become inaccessible due to not completing the PvP objective. Not getting M1-4X will not prevent you from doing any of the new chapters. From what Eric posted it also looks like you'll still be able to recruit other allies, just not any more from that alliance leader until it's done, so whoever M1-4X is classified as (I'm guessing he's military, I don't remember off hand)will not give you any further alerts until you acquire M1. So while some of the story does get blocked, not all of it does. The good news is, as Eric mentioned they are discussing this and changes to it for story purposes. I don't mind doing the PvP, I like the variety in the quests, but I understand it's not for everyone and locking PvE content behind PvP Warzones doesn't appear to have been the best idea. Maybe a fewer number of WZ'z or completing certain Op's as another option to finish it would be a good idea.

I have to admit I was quite shocked at that price point myself. Is this the first armor set on the CM priced that high? I thought that Thexan's armor for 1400 was a little expensive, but I liked it and payed it. When I saw the price on this new one (I thought it was 2200 or 2400) I immediately dismissed it before even really looking at it. This could be BioWare simply testing the market. Just like any market the cost is subject to player demand. They may be tweaking the prices to try and maximize profit, which we can't blame them for, they need to make money, but I think this may be too high of a price and will result in a loss due to the high price point. It resulted in me not even considering the set before really even looking at it due to cost. Hopefully sales on it at this price point will be poor and BioWare will see that more sales at a lower cost results in a better profit.

That's where I got that title from. I like that one. There's also an achievement for finishing it solo with all Hey four buffs and the other things you can click in there.

I recently turned bloom back on, and I love it. The way lights pop and the vibrant look of the game with it on is amazing. Though admittedly I do have a laptop, so my screen isn't the best and can use any help it can get.

I'll be honest. I have a tendency to white knight for game companies when people complain. The OP's post however is calm and logical. I have recently bought a surplus of CC's and just can't bring myself to buy a Hypercrate with the changes that have been made to them . Thank you for your post OP, your (LONG) list of suggestions shows you care for the game and your support of it in the past is appreciated. The good news is I think BioWare is listening to our feedback on the changes and hopefully will implement it so it convinces me to spend money on them again in support of the game.

The beauty of this is that now, due to the hated level sync, you can go to fleet, grab some dailies, and hit up old planets doing said dailies and gain experience on par with your current level. Or do the exploration quests, or any planet arcs you may have skipped. Stupid level sync giving you options!

Vector isn't terrible per se, but he can be, weird. Other than him though I avoid romances on the female characters. Doc needs to get the old smuggler kick to the groin . The male romance options do seem a lot better. Except for Jaessa, girl dang near got a restraining order and a force choke, and if she goes near Vette shes getting stationed permanently on Hoth or Quesh naked without stims.

Seriously, can I preorder them?

I really enjoy the expansion, for me it's the best of both worlds, a great single player RPG story and an MMO with group stuff to do when waiting for more story. I enjoy both the single player aspect of this game and the multiplayer aspects. I'll have to argue with your reasoning as to why so many people left after launch though OP. From my recollection of the fall of SWTOR it was specifically a lack of end game content that hurt the game so bad in the first few months. BioWare had no experience with MMO's and didn't realize how fast players would blast through the story to get to end game content just to find there wasn't much there yet. When people started to complain BioWare told them they should run alts, as this is what they thought people would do, play all 8 stories before going all out on end game. This of course was not how the MMO industry was built at the time. A majority of players played WoW and MMO's of that style encouraged end game type play on just one character. Many players complained that running through the planet arcs and side missions to stay on level was boring due to how repetitive it was (I agreed with them) and didn't want to level alts as a result of this (this was the reasoning for 12x XP and the current system that only needs story and maybe some planet arc). This lack of a lot of end game content and the repetitive nature of dailies caused a lot of players to return to other MMO's with more for them to do. I would say that had a lot more to do with the failure of SWTOR in the early days than people being shocked by going from a primarily single player experience to a multiplayer one, from my perspective at least.

My grant from last month was whacky. I got the security key coins a day after I was charged but the sub coins took a week or so. I hadn't noticed it until a week had passed and was about to call when the suddenly showed up. System must be a bit overloaded with so many folks coming back to try KotFE. If they don't show up give them a call, they should be able to help you.

Hey guys, I'll shoot a message to one of your members listed above to contact. I've got a Juggernaut I'm leveling up at the moment that I plan to tank with. Are you guys willing to run with me through tacticals to get him geared for raids, or should I plan to get that done first before applying? Let me know, toons name is Kráyhû. Also, what are you requirements for raiding and such? Will it be a strict schedule, or more of a flexible one where you set them up and run when you can? Being a father sticking to a set schedule is sometimes not possible for me, kids are so needy .

Based off the fact that they are done in the "classic" style of conversation a la KotOR they are classified as an alliance quest, identified by the black bars, more choices, and your character not talking. The chapters we've completed were all done in the story style SWtOR has used, so I am going to say you're not going to be required to do those quests to advance in the main chapters. As was mentioned though, you'll need to complete them to get the companions. As for doing them you can always look for a tank friend. My guardian in 208 gear (well I have old aug'd relics that I think are 150 and a 216 bracer) with a rank 14 companion solo'd the heroic with no challenge, only time I died is on the droid boss when I failed to put my companion in healer mode . Rest was really just it took longer cause my damage output is sad with a healer companion. So if you happen to be able to pick up a tank take the opportunity to hit it with them. Hope that helps.

I feel like the voice actor for Arcann did a good job, but I agree the voice isn't a good fit for the character. I was taken aback when I first heard him. Not how I had expected him to sound based on his appearance and age. It just doesn't feel right, I struggle to stay immersed when he speaks.

Hey guys, first and foremost, if you just sit in the spawn room in WZ's you'll get booted out, so don't do that. As for tthe actual playing in the WZ's, doing anything is better than nothing, like TUXs said. You WILL get hardcore raged at if you do nothing. That being said, PvP is not hard to get the basics of. A quick read up of each of the WZ's will get you enough info to contribute to your team. A very boring job for many people who PvP is guarding the objective your team holds, you mostly just sit there, but it's an incredibly important one. The most important part of that job is calling out in ops chat if enemies are coming as soon as you see them! This is a huge help for your team and a job that people don't tend to want to do. That's just one way off the top of my head, there's a lot of then, but please don't just sit there, that all but guarantees 7 other people to lose.

I haven't done any yet, but I hope they are a bit harder. I was bummed when I heard all FP's went Tactical for normal mode due to how easy the other tactical FPs are. I just took solace in knowing that HM's were still there. Good news if they're a bit tougher I say.

I'm not sure, but if I ever find Doc and Kira on my ship with no pants on again I'm gonna lose it