"What were they thinking?" is a very good question and one I keep asking myself. I can tell you from a perspective of a 400: armormech, scavenger, and underworld trader I will not be spending one single credit more on my crewskills. period. Until I know what it is they are planning on doing about the major issues here. 1) Issue one is the obvious benefit to Biotech that you just can't compete with in the other trade skills. To have basically a perma buff to your stats, a 3 minute adrenal that basically equals another cooldown, and a medpack you never have to spend money on is insane. Having something close to these in the form of a trade-able consumable is only balanced if they were FAR FAR more affordable. The bottom line is that someone could spend ~100k of these consumables in a 20 minute WZ. To have these stats and abilities permanently available to Biochemists just blows away the handful of stats you would get from say the Armormech Rataka gear even IF you crit when making it. 2) Issue two: now you could argue what about all the other cool stuff you can make with Armormech?? Well after RE-ing roughly 80 high level crafted greens and a few blues I got nothing to show for it. Never mind the fact that even if I DID get a schematic who's to say it would be one that was useful to me or even useful in general (OR you could get the same one more than once). While other screwskills (Cybertech, Biochem) get a linear progression for their RE's - in other words its just a matter of getting that blue schematic then the purple schematic just once. Now there are other issues that I am sure people would list but these are the 2 that really stand out to me and I can not believe that anyone designing these systems thought this made sense. Is it just unfinished? Did they really plan this out? Makes me really wonder "What WERE they thinking"... and can they think about it some more 'cause it is not done. As I mentioned, I will not be spending anymore time on this until I find out what the plans are. One last note that really makes me a bit sad - this could hurt subscriptions. Here I was last night trying to figure out what to do at 50 - here was my experience: Logged on at Ilum and did a couple of the dailies - got bored and flew over to PVP area and was promptly invited into a 12 or so person operation. Drove around for 10 minutes or so looking for pubs to engage - only 2 we found were right outside their base. I jet charge to one and instantly die - guess that's too close to the base now... Drove around for 10 more minutes and did not see a pub soul - most of my operation either disco-ed or left. I joined the WZ queue. Did a Hut-ball. Drove around a bit more on Ilum 'til I heard someone asking for a tank for HM Flashpoint. I start talking to her letting her know I am probably not geared well enough - she thinks I will be ok but they are still looking for a DPS. I joint a Voidstar - mid way through the flashpoint person lets me know its a bust cause they just can't find another DPS (What?). Half way through the WZ I lock up jet charging to someone (never have I once every had a lockup or crash in this game before 1.1) Done. bored. did not bother logging back on. My point to all this? Crewskills could be a great distraction - something to work on in between all of this stuff - something to strive for but the only thing that makes sense is to reroll Biochem. More experiences like last night will definitely = cancelation.

Regardless of all the other points on this thread. (e.g. low polygon counts, weak textures, no/ minimal spell effects). The one thing no one points out is that if you watch later into the video there are no character models showing. Literally just floating nameplates to keep the framerate up I guess. If SWTOR used that as a FR fix imagine the uproar... I have also seen videos of Aion with black character models (no textures) when there are tons of players on screen.

Ha! This post quite literally made me flashback to my EQ days when I group camped a flowing blacksilk sash (haste belt) for about 10-12 hours straight just to lose it to a Wizard... I can't remember being so frustrated...

Oh and I just read your post again... your at 22% damage reduction? You mean the reduction from armor or your shield%? Both of those are too low. I am over 40% from armor and I think 26% from sheild (not sure cause I am at work...). Your gear might be right on par but you are too squishy from the damage spec? Also as a side note I do not turn off any of Mako's skills. She prioritizes heals AND she uses her CC which helps a ton. I would try using Ion gas cylinder even tho you are Adv Pro just to see if the added defense helps... I did that for some tougher fights when I was AP spec around level 20.

This is not bragging but if you want a comparison I am a 30 PT specced in shield fully. I have about 6600 hp. My rocket punches crit for over 700 max - rail shots are over 600 max. This is on level 28-29 mobs on Alderan. With Mako healing me I can take on huge groups. I can handle a strong with 2 normals without losing much health and I can solo a single elite and sometimes 2. I can definitely handle 2 strongs with some normals without too much trouble. Now I think the factors making the difference here is that I am taking on mobs a couple levels below me and that I am an armormech. All of my gear is right around my level and that includes Mako so she can actually heal for a decent amount (I make sure her gear has the highest cunning stat I can make). So my question is are you taking on mobs your level or higher? Also I know your gear is not as updated as it could be because you are bit under where you should be HP wise IMO. Hope that helps...

I must admit I am getting a bit annoyed by all of these "I'm just gunna get oranges and be all set to level 50 and beyond threads". Have you played the game past level 15?. Let's just pretend you found a whole set of orange gear by level 20 with no help from a crafter (oh yeah they make them too). Did you get a whole set for your companion too? (and you only have one companion now imagine when you have 5...). Now that's not the tricky part. Your trying to tell me that upgrading EVERY single one of those oranges with 3 mods each is easier than switching it out for ONE item that you can have crafted cheaply? So that's what, 3 mods multiplied by 6,7,8+ slots multiplied by 2,3, or 4+ companions?? Yeah. I don't buy it. This is an ALTERNATE way to gear your character not a better way. It allows you to have control over your appearance but at a cost - instead of just wearing something and having whatever stats you really want on the gear underneath (appearance tab). I really don't get the QQ - it is mind boggling - you let me know when your gearing all of your slots and companions in oranges and keeping them updated without pulling your hair out and I will call you a liar.

Lol. I am running an Nvidia GT 240 (1gig) and I run this game at 1920x1050 on high with full shadows. Draw distance and ground clutter is not full but it does not need to be. What gives? How are you people running this crazy hardware and have it running on low or medium settings? I have 4 gigs or ram and a dual core Athalon if you are curious.

I take that back! 10/2 and I got my email.

I hope this is a joke. My early access registration code says 10/2 on my account and no invite. Too many damn trolls to know what is going on here.