The truth is, I don't play the game because of HOW it plays. They could turn the game into a shooter like Dark Forces, or limit skills severely, like Elder Scrolls Online, and it would make little difference to me. I play the game for two reasons: First, it's Star Wars, and decent Star Wars at that. The setting holds much of my interest. Second, it offers a more immersive RP experience than any other MMO ever made. That we can hold conversations as part of the missions, and that we are required to make CHOICES, often ones that MATTER to the course of the mission, is one of the singularly best elements of the game. All else is secondary to me.

I can't say I like the changes. They diminish the classes, and force players to play only one way. More, it's a waste of developer time. With SO many things they could have spent time on, THIS is what they chose to do. It disappoints me.

Many of my characters are recreations of characters I made YEARS ago as part of an P&P Star Wars game. As such, their names are very important to me, as it connects the TOR characters to the original ones. Other of my characters are based on respellings of my own name. In fact, the names are so important to me that I paid extra money to get early access to the game after beta, so I would be sure to get all the names of my characters. However, when they did their first server merge, I lost Shien and Ahriman. So, I renamed them to Shein and Arhiman. Tolerable, I thought. After all, I was being moved to someone else's server, and he had dibs on the names. Then they did another merge, and I lost those names again, along with Rath. Now, there was no way to rename them with normal letters, so I was forced to use goofy symbols and characters in the names. It's always rubbed me the wrong way, but there it is. Again, I was going to someone else's server, so dibs were theirs. Then they did ANOTHER merge, and this time people were coming to MY server. So, I figured I had dibs this time. Nope, they took ALL my names from me again, forcing me to rename or respell or adjust everything once more. It's a sore point.

I've never been a fan of the scream/growl. As the class is more or less based on Vader, it always seemed out of character. I don't know if I'd go for lightning, but some kind of Force wave to blast the enemy might be nice, perhaps something like Disturbance.

Especially 4X. Every time I do anything, there they are, hovering over me, standing on things I'm trying to interact with, getting in the blasted WAY... https://scontent.fyyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16836026_10155007267673899_3661738862447124310_o.jpg?oh=53193e38785203c628bf0cc8c32842d5&oe=592976CF Here he's run right up to stand right in my face. https://scontent.fyyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16797802_10155007267528899_9182773827567555230_o.jpg?oh=13f83b8b67a97031c9aac086b91e345e&oe=594121E9 Here he is, looming over my shoulder right after battle. https://scontent.fyyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16826222_10155007267473899_7066582549931960632_o.jpg?oh=0237ef7d0cdf288821569f10d6667b20&oe=59463EF7 Here he is, standing on the guy I'm trying to loot. https://scontent.fyyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16797364_10155007267448899_5435018760341640412_o.jpg?oh=c0a5b6e5b7e2a8451fcce217a4a0a62a&oe=58FEB395 Looming over my shoulder again. https://scontent.fyyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16836188_10155007267378899_6458035407366593197_o.jpg?oh=01640a1613458d9651c21872f5b32261&oe=59343D3B Here he felt he HAD to get RIGHT in front of me to shoot these guys... https://scontent.fyyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16804100_10155007267338899_9165355198326922441_o.jpg?oh=5906fcb1af6bf4ad720f1cc2b06c6efd&oe=5949EAE6 You may notice there are feet behind him. That's because he's ONCE AGAIN standing on the guy I'm trying to loot. https://scontent.fyyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16797726_10155007267308899_4220089977035185332_o.jpg?oh=52815eb12f18a52661b2bcb8ea493104&oe=592B568B Here's Jorgan, standing on something I'm interacting with. 4X is corrupting the guy. https://scontent.fyyz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/16836312_10155007267243899_7312119306538298938_o.jpg?oh=8477ae3f0c21a3e48c5e9e3863a9d693&oe=5930A442 Here, Jorgan is SO attached to me, he's literally standing RIGHT where I am. Can we get the pathing on our companions adjusted so they don't crowd us so much? Personal space! This has been an issue forever.

There's a number of reasons I don't play a Shadow/Assassin. First, I don't like the saber staff. Second, I like playing a healer. Third, I've played the character since beta, and I don't want to start him over. Fifth, I don't like the short range style of the Shadow/Assassin. Sixth, it's beside the point. Whatever character I'm playing, the Sage and Sorceror STILL won't be getting any use of their lightsaber, which is inappropriate in a Star Wars game (my opinion, shared by many, I think).

Well... there's more backstory. He's an orphan and a child (well, very young), so he lacks the physical chops to be a Knight. His Batman aspect is that he's there in the slums of Coruscant, cleaning up the streets and waging war on the gangs.

I've been trying really hard to get back into my Sage. It's the class I've played the longest, going all the way back to the first beta testing, and I always enjoyed him until now. Part of the reason is the WAY I play him. I conceived of the character as a kind of Jedi Batman, so he was quick to go into melee and mix it up with his lightsaber. 5.0 took away his only real lightsaber ability. Oh yes, he has Saber Strike, but the damage it does is SO tiny that it's barely noticeable, and the animation is weak and boring. The character is actually better off just punching the enemy. It's really destroyed my ability to enjoy the character. I know, it's something relatively trivial but the impact it's having is enormous. I mean, Conuslars are JEDI. The thing that is most iconic about a Jedi is the LIGHTSABER, but now it's little more than a cosmetic item. It's diminished the class and made it feel less like a JEDI. This can be a crippling thing. Now, I get it, you want to force players to only play a ranged combat style. I don't understand why, but if that's the case, give the saber some OTHER use. Include it in the activation of some of the other powers. Change something to let the character THROW the saber. Do whatever is needed to make the class feel like JEDI again. Of course, the simplest solution is to give us back that one skill (Dual Slash for Sages, Thrash for Sorcerors). Come on now, Bioware, remember this is STAR WARS.

You can, now. Originally, you could only use a single name, but that's been expanded to allow you to put in one space. That's why I thought I could do Lord Rath instead of just Rath.

According to customer service, it is the use of the word "Lord" in the name that's causing the issue. A shame, I thought I'd found a way to get my name back the way I wanted it. The character was originally called Rath, I even paid extra for early access to the game so I could be sure to GET the name. It was taken away when the server was merged with another. I adjusted it, but that got taken away in the following merge, and I adjusted it again. Of course, even THAT got taken away in the last merge, even though I was the one already on the server with the name. So, after having the name taken from me three times, I thought I could use the title Lord in his name to give me back the appearance, at least, of his original name. Alas.

What's worse is the Gravity shot... sounds like your gun is passing gas... Some of the Cannons sound ok. My problems are more about the special effects on the guns and characters.

Not because the mechanics are difficult. In fact, the class is quite strong, and I have no issues with that. All three specs are very good at what they do. The problem is an aesthetic one. The specs are UGLY, because of all the ridiculous effects constantly playing on the character. I tried Gunnery, but Boltstorm looks idiotic, and there are frequent big yellow ribbons and things flying around the character. I tried Assault, but the character giggles like a fool all through every fight. Also, I recently reached a level where there's a buff (Blazing Bolts, or something), that makes the character glow with a swirling yellow pattern. Medic doesn't have these issues, but MAN it has no dps or power to speak of. Since I play solo 99% of the time, it makes the game really tedious. I've been asking for years that the devs make the giggling an option, so those who don't like it can disable it, and those who do like it can keep it. I'm now asking the devs to make ALL such effects optional. I've seen it done elsewhere (Lord of the Rings Online springs to mind), so it should be possible to do here. I know, this may seem trivial, but as I've said before, it makes playing the character hard to enjoy, there's just too much of it.

But it wasn't disallowed 5 minutes before...

Still can't use the name. I thought perhaps it was still in the database or something, so I've been waiting and trying it periodically since I first made the character. No dice yet. Still looking for an explanation.

So... I decided to restart my Juggernaut. He's currently called Ràth (with the little accent over the a because the name was taken away from me each time they merged servers). So, I created a new character and called him Lord Rath, intending to move the original character's cash and gear and such to the new character. However, after creating the character, I realized I'd made an error in his appearance, so I deleted him and recreated him again. However, when I went to enter the game it said "Invalid name." Why? It was valid 5 minutes before, why would it suddenly be invalid now? Any ideas?

I don't want a 5 button game (though I do play ESO), but I don't think I should need 5 BARS of buttions to play.

I don't mind the bonus xp because the planets are level capped. If I go to Hutta, I'll behave as if I'm L12 while I'm there. The problem is that so much of the game is unlocked by LEVEL instead of STORY PROGRESSION. For example, my Trooper has JUST arrived on Voss, and right there is a guy telling me how impressed he was that I had gone into the nightmare lands. In other words, the Bonus Series was already unlocked, even though I'd never done ANY quests on Voss. My Sniper couldn't finish the Voss story quests because of this exact issue. I apparently did the finishing quests BEFORE the setup quests, breaking the storyline. Likewise, I've no idea what order I should be doing Flashpoints in, they're ALL unlocked. This led to a devastating spoiler when my Sniper spoke to one of the NPCs on the Fleet who was offering me a Flashpoint before I had reached the appropriate point in my class story. In a game so heavily invested in the STORY, it's a critical problem.

I would agree with this, but that they don't want to give us a choice over anything. My character giggles like an idiot in every fight, I don't have a choice. I'm forced to use Boltstorm, no matter how idiotic it looks, I have no choice. I can't play my Sage as a melee oriented Jedi, all my skills were taken away to leave me no choice. It's a disturbing trend.

As a stickler for "realism," I like that the new reticle is not so easy to see. I always found the look of the old one a bit disruptive to my immersion. However, I do agree it's more difficult to target things using it, so I would be behind putting it back the way it was. Even better would be to redesign it so it's more "realistic." Perhaps making a faint line to indicate the edges of the radius, with a small rising smoke plume at the center of the effect? That way it wouldn't be as intrusive as what we have now, and could still be targeted a bit more readily on more difficult terrain.

In my opinion, EVERY class should have four basic attacks: Ranged single target Ranged area effect Melee single target Melee area effect (cone is likely most sensible) After each class has these attacks, the rest of the skills should reflect their general playstyle, be it ranged or melee. I think classes should be streamlined to reduce the number of redundant skills. This should be done by giving the player a CHOICE of one skill or another, to suit their playstyle. For example, Gunslingers might be made to choose between Charged Shot and Overload Shot. Each one does essentially the same thing, but has slightly different advantages (Charged Shot does more damage, but leaves you immobile and takes time to fire, while Overload Shot is quick and allows you to move around, but uses more power and does less damage). This would allow players to choose their preferred style. Also, skills that replace other skills at present should instead be ADDED to the skill list, but share the cooldown with the skill they're meant to replace. For example, Boltstorm replaces Full Auto. Instead of this, Boltstorm should be added to the skill list, but share the cooldown with Full Auto, making it impossible to use both. This would allow the player to CHOOSE which skill they prefer (likely for cosmetic reasons). I could go on, but you likely see what I mean.

You know, it occurs to me that the Rakghoul virus can be used by the playerbase to be rid of the spammers. Just get infected, then stand next to a spammer until you explode. They'll be infected and eventually explode too. Ah, blessed silence.

It's not a mechanical problem. It's that there are so many people who have shelled out a lot of cash (even REAL cash) and spent a huge amount of time getting the gear so they can have an advantage, all of whom would be VERY irate at having that advantage taken away. It's not really that they can't DO it, it's that they don't dare.

Same thing happens on the Commando with his shield, and I assume the Mercenary too.

Ya, I guess I agree. I just don't know what can be done to remedy the situation.

What if they implemented a system to allow the PLAYERS to police them? I've found many of these vermin standing around Fleet, spamming away. If I could have, I would have simply attacked and KOed the character, ending the spam. How about, if a character has X number of spam reports against it, it becomes targetable? Then the players (or wandering NPC guards) can attack and silence them.