It's an interesting idea, and might be something fun to do with the Legacy system, but I forsee a lot of story issues and a lack of real gameplay significance that would keep it from being a real possibility. From an RP perspective, yeah, it'd be cool to pass down companions to children, allies, etc, but there's the issue of timelines to consider. I mean, if I have a smuggler in the middle of Act 1, and my Jedi father sends Lord Scourge to be my companion.... well, Scourge hasn't defected yet, and there's a continuity issue. It's a small thing, but something that a lot of RPers would be upset about. On top of that, there are a lot of companions who follow ONE character for reasons of serious loyalty, some forced, others willingly. How would characters like SCORPIO, Khem Val, Scourge, or Qyzen be explained following someone else considering how much their devotion is tied to a specific character? Now from a gameplay perspective, the main issue I forsee is that there wouldn't actually be any interesting gameplay added. I suppose having an extra companion at the lowest levels might help with crafting and such, but by the mid levels, there's nothing really to gain. If I have 4 companions and I could only send 3 to craft, what use is a 5th companion for crafting? What use is it having Qyzen to tank if I already have Bowdaar, considering that all melee tank companions are nearly identical in abilities? Like I said, it's a really cool idea for Legacy, and I like where it could go. I just see it as causing issues with the RP crowd and not really adding anything gameplay-wise to the game.

Here's the thing, when they wrote and animated the SI story, they put a lot of work into making it very full of lightning and sorcery and ancient Sith magics. And, I mean, the Assassin can do some pretty great Dark Side stuff, but the story was clearly written for a Sorcerer who likes to Assassinate, rather than an Assassin who likes magic, if you understand my meaning there. Now the Consular's story is a lot less focused on the "magic-y" side of things (Force-y just didn't feel right). The first act of your story has you learn some powerful Force tricks, but a lot of what happens throughout is diplomacy and general Force combat-styled stuff. And since the Jedi don't just send you to make peace, but also to take down threats, it works quite well (even better for me, actually) as a Shadow. Plus, visually, the Sorc and Shadow are the better lookers in the group, just IMO. The Assassin's higher-level abilities are, visually, pretty ******, but the Sorcerer trumps him, and the Sage's animations are a little plain vanilla for my taste. TL;DR Go Sorcerer and Shadow.

Correct me if I'm wrong about this, I haven't crunched any numbers but I have some anecdotal evidence. We can all agree that if we do a basic grenade/missle spam on a BH/Trooper, we'll end up with 4 heat left over compared to 0 ammo cells. However, I've noticed (and this could, of course, just be a weird quirk of my observation, but bear with me), that, if my ammo is sitting at, say, the lowest regen speed (around 5 seconds per cell), it seems that the first cell recharges much quicker than the subsequent cells, even though my regen rate (the single arrow) remains constant. What this may mean is this. 1 ammo is ~ 8 heat. Meaning 1/2 ammo is ~ 4 heat. I think the game keeps track of ammo in discrete units, in the same way as heat, so that even if I have 0 ammo visible, I still have that 1/2 ammo sitting, which in turn means that my first ammo regens that much faster. Like I said, this isn't backed up by math, just intuition and observation. If anyone's got the math to prove I'm crazy, I'd love to see, because that would mean that ammo and heat ARE NOT, in fact, balanced, in which case we'd need to either move heat into a 12-unit bar (my personal preference) or else have troopers manage 100 ammo cells.

I'll give you that the comparison was a bit of a hyperbole, but you honestly can't say that the Sage is a mechanical fail. You can argue that most every Jedi we see in the films and such have used lightsabers more than the Sage, and it's completely true, but that doesn't mean that the mechanics of the class don't work, and that doesn't make them any less Jedi than the Yoda we saw before Ep II. It's a different age, and there were many enemies in KOTOR 1 and 2 (including toughies like Kreia) who would only use their saber in melee range, and preferred to pelt you as much as possible with rocks and lightning until they had to defend. Every game needs ranged casters, and while it's a shame that the Sage doesn't get other options, mechanically, it's a perfectly built caster. But again, I miss hybrid Sage melee. Even if I never actually got to use it.

Game mechanics and lore are not the same thing. Just as a "real" Jedi would use their lightsaber more often, a "real" Jedi wouldn't live after taking unguarded lightsaber hits or blaster bolts to the face. A "real" Bounty Hunter couldn't Grapple half the things I've grappled, and a "real" Smuggler couldn't call his ship to fire into a space station during combat without experiencing a serious lack of oxygen. As much as I miss the idea that Balance Sages could work as a melee hybrid, calling Sages in their current form "not real Jedi" is as ridiculous as calling a Gunslinger "not a real smuggler" because he can't smuggle in combat.

Wait, so the guy who posts every possible solution to gearing up your character gets shot down because his ideas take too long? Come on guys, it's an MMO. If you played your class story you already sunk 50+ hours into this game, you clearly have the free time to do a daily once in a while. I'm a full-time student working a job, this game is a hobby to me, and I give it some time when I'm out of important things to do. Doing dailies every day isn't a necessity, hell, I barely did any of mine once a week and I still managed to get my guys geared.

Most every class gets a companion with a bonus to scavenging, honestly, you'll be able to pick up whatever metals and compounds they need with their own scavenging. Unless you're really hardcore crafting, sending out all companions at all times, I'd stick with Diplomacy or pick up a moneymaker like slicing.

It's definitely around the 30-range for most players, I'd say between 28-35 is the range for the vast majority. Regardless of level, your first Act ends when you finish the proper planets and any class quests you get immediately after. The last set of planets for both factions is Tatooine and Alderaan, so if your class quests are sending you to those, you know you're close to finishing Act 1.

Well, once the storylines expand, it's almost certain they'll continue in such a way that any choices made in the previous story be nullified. So while the Consular's story could include the deaths of characters like it's almost certain the storyline of the next expansion, or even of a patch that continues class stories, will not include those characters in any meaningful way, beyond a cameo appearance or a bonus scene. Similarly, while the Agent's story can end with it's sure that the next chapters of the Agent's story will have him performing secret missions and such for the Empire, only the contexts of the missions will change.

Actually, this is something I liked about the Inquisitor story. Unlike the Warrior, you're not eliminating threats to the Empire, attempting to kill and corrupt Jedi, etc. You're involved in a selfish and destructive power-grab. You're climbing the ranks in the Empire, so many of the folks you fight ARE Empire. There's some good Jedi events happening on Taris, a few planets down the road, if I recall, there's nothing too major before then. Also, the Empire is currently (as of the game's start) miles ahead of the Republic in the war effort. Treaty of Coruscant, destruction of the Jedi Temple, distrust between Jedi and Republic, etc. And with that power (being Sith at heart), comes infighting. Next story expansion will, I'm sure, have more cross-fighting.

Well, look at it this way, there are 6 companions for each character (including the ship droid) and 6 armor types, in general terms: Light armor with Willpower Medium armor with Cunning Medium armor with Strength Heavy armor with Aim Heavy armor with Strength Droid armor with Aim So at first glance it seems like it would be a simple matter to make sure that everyone gets one companion that uses each type, but then you have to look at story considerations. --If we can't have 2 droids using droid armor, there'd be no T7, no Forex, no SCORPIO --Strength and Willpower gear looks strange on non-Jedi or Sith characters, which is why Strength-using non-Jedi companions like Khem Val and Bowdaar don't show their armor and the only non-Sith Willpower user is Vector, who has a unique story --Cunning is used by almost all healer companions currently in game (not including ship droids and Dorne, I believe), meaning there's little room for Cunning DPS companions So most classes don't have a "perfect mix" of characters. I believe the Jedi Knight hits the most different armor types with his companions (all of them besides medium Strength) while the Trooper has only heavy and droid armor Aim companions and the Bounty Hunter has only Aim and Cunning users.

Did not notice the dates there, I just saw the date 14 on each and figured they were teh same month ><

I had forgotten the Emperor's Hand mentioned that the Emperor was gone, this would definitely point towards Act II not being the "true" Emperor.

If I recall, those were added as of patch 1.1, which I think may have come after this thread was started. If it was started post-1.1, you get a major e-cookie for finally pointing it out =D

The simple explanation for the increased chance to block for the Consular classes is the fact that light armor reduces damage less than medium armor. I agree that Sentinels still feel squishy, but I'd argue that that is mainly a function of not having the healing abilities of the Sage or the tanking abilities of a Shadow, as even their DPS roles get good defensive and healing abilities. Not that the Sentinel doesn't get good defensive CD's, but their survivability should be increased (if needed) by another source, not the added defense chance used to balance out light vs. medium armor types.

He's pretty much quoting Malak from the end of KOTOR 1. Finally reconciling his mindstate to come to sympathize with that of his old friend and apprentice was a really interesting moment for his character, IMO, I look forward to seeing him return in a future patch/expansion, because, like a certain False Emperor, if you don't see a body, HE AIN'T DEAD.

Like the previous poster said, Willpower >> Endurance, since YOU should be taking the hits, even as a Sentinel. Crit is probably her most useful stat, followed by power, surge and accuracy, though I can't really give you a definite order for those. She doesn't have much to gain from alacrity since most of her abilities are instant, and none of the defensive stats are particularly necessary for the above reasons.

Defense has been fairly solid for me in PVP, shielding a healer, Guardian Leaping and Taunting basically ensures neither of us will die unless we're heavily outmatched. You won't be dealing huge burst numbers, but you can still get the 2.5k crit medal and the first damage medal (75k?) in most warzones if you play your cards right.

She's definitely closest to a Shadow, but she's trained by yourself and Master *******, so she has some Knightly abilities too. Like people above have said, most companions come close to a player class (lots of Scoundrel healers, Vanguard tanks, etc), but add or subtract some important parts. For Kira, that means she doesn't have the stealth or tanking of the Shadow, because 1) stealth would be weird in a companion and 2) we already have a melee tank in Scourge.

Well, for starters, don't tank in Vigilance spec! It's not a tanking spec, it's a DPS spec. Honestly, at lower levels especially, Guardians are not fantastic tanks, and you'll usually have issues with groups of multiple mobs. I assume the FP you mention with a bunch of hounds is Athiss, which would put you in the ~20-25ish range. This makes things tough. First off, spec for Defense if you're going to play as a tank in Flashpoints. If you want to play Vigilance, that's fine, but plan on playing DPS and offtanking. Before a fight, make sure you're in Soresu Form for the defensive bonus, and make sure you have a member of your party Shielded, most likely the healer, but if you have a heavier healer like a Commando, you may want to Shield a lighter DPS. Whomever is taking the most hard hits needs your protection. As far as actual strategy goes, start out a fight against a group of mobs by Force Leaping onto one, hitting him with another ability (preferably a free Blade Storm from the Momentum talent), target a new mob and hit the taunt button, and use Force Sweep to hit all nearby enemies at once. This should give you some solid threat on two enemies, as well as a little bit on the rest of the group. At this level, it's not a huge deal if one or two enemies go after the other members of your party, but try to focus attacks on any mobs that aren't focused on you. It helps to make sure your party is all focusing on one enemy, so they aren't gaining threat on all the others. This is especially important in these lower levels, before you have an AoE taunt ability and abilities like Cyclone Slash, which gives you an AoE cleave without the cooldown of Force Sweep. Also, remember your cooldowns! You've got Warding Call by level 20 as a Defense Guardian, which reduces the damage you take by more than 30%, and you have Blade Ward, which reduces damage by (I believe) a flat 25% as well as increasing your defensive stats, and they're usable every 3 minutes, so don't be afraid to use them even if it means waiting a minute before engaging a boss.

I've thought about the math too, and it certainly FEELS like something should be off. However, having played both classes well into the 20's, I just haven't felt any differences that would be noticeable to any but the most hardcore min/maxers. At a guess, I'd say that since some BH abilities would use slightly greater than the equivalent cell cost for a Trooper, while some cost slightly less, over the course of a long fight, the tiny bits that differentiate would balance out. I still say it'd be a simpler system if heat were used in a 12-unit format (or energy cells expanded to 100, but I love the UI icons too much!), and perhaps this will be changed sometime in the future to ensure perfect balance, but as it stands, even though I want to believe there's a minor difference, I just can't feel out any playstyle changes between the two classes.

Kira's affection is set up so that you can't have certain conversations until AFTER the asteroid facility. So you've been gaining affection past a few conversation thresholds, but she hasn't been "allowed" to talk to you because the story hadn't progressed. Once it did, she opened up with a lot of new info.

They didn't tell anyone he was in-game... people datamined and found abilities and dialogue from him as a companion.

You don't need a combat log to see how much damage you do, relative damage can be easily assessed by having 2 DPS attack identical enemies alone, weaker enemies to test out burst, stronger to check sustained. I have noticed my Operative (read: =Scoundrel) do damage on par with the Assassins and Marauders I play with Empire-side, in both fields. Not saying we're top-tier players, but there are plenty of ways to assess the Scoundrel as a competent DPS (or otherwise) without straight numerical data.