This is pretty much where I'm at. To the OP the EU never was on the way (and yes I'm including Zahn). Oh there are some enjoyable books occasionally but they just scratch the Star Wars itch. The EU is pretty much just a collection of individual writers trying to be the "heir" to the Star Wars legend. I have no problem with that and I read the stuff, but I really can't take any of it to seriously. Its just an alternate universe. Take it for power creep journey that it is.

Your reward is not looking like you got mugged by a Jedi looking for a way off Tatooine lol. Unfortunately my SW soon to be Dark V can't say the same.

Its about time sinks or the lack thereof. WoW became so huge not because of graphics, or awesome world PvP, or difficult challenges. It became popular because people with full time jobs and families could play and not be locked to their machine for massive amounts of time. A player could have a free hour, get on craft, gain a level, mess with the AH etc. WoW was a game that allowed players to step away if the wife needed you for something without letting down a group of people who spent two hours just to get a group together. Now back in the days when we had to group to level, had to spend hours upon hours in resource gathering and such, we had strong communities. Your reputation mattered, and people really paid attention to things. There was a quality in accomplishment that is starting to die away. However, we were niche gamers in those days. Blizzard introduced a niche pastime to mainstream audience. Yes there have been sacrifices for that. But honestly any major producer from this point on will be looking to hit that broader market now. As an old school gamer I have to admit that while I wax nostalgic over the past glory days, I have to recognize that if things were like they used to be, I simply wouldn't be able to play. Its the direction things are going now. Anyone can enjoy MMO's now. And as much as I miss some of the victories of the old era, the transition is more than likely a good thing.

Yup, I've said this many times myself. When you can do most of the game easily without having to even speak to anyone, you tend to just not see much value in being social. Its an unfortunate side effect of games not being such total time sinks.

In a strange way you kind of made his point. If PvP and Raiding are in and of themselves so boring that people will only do them to in order to get some gear. Then perhaps those aspects of the game need to be removed and replaced? That is basically the argument you're making. If however, PvP and Raiding are actually fun and worthwhile endeavors then people will do them regardless of the power level of the rewards. Which then I guess brings us to the real issue here, and why people are so against the idea of top end crafted gear. Fear. Its a fear that an aspect of the game you (meaning any individual player) really enjoy may become more difficult to accomplish unless a large segment of the paying population feels forced to do it with you. Believe it or not I'm not saying any of that as a bash. I can totally understand. Gamers tend to have the conceit that only the things they personally like in games are of value. However the truth is since its a form of entertainment everyone's likes and dislikes are valid to some extent. I know many people who only care about leveling toons, running auction house PvP, and crafting items. I also know many who love Raiding, and PvP. I personally enjoy all of the above. Nothing wrong with any of it so why not make all these endeavors worth while? I personally think that crafted, Raided, and PvP gear should be equal, but with different focus. PvP gear should be set towards being the best for PvP. Raiding gear should be set for upping effectiveness in hard group content. Crafted items should be geared towards solo play. By solo play I mean maybe it gives bonuses to Presence, or towards Crew Skills or something of that nature. That way the people who enjoy those different aspects will all get the gear that's best for their interest. But that's just my idea. I'm also not against just going with the idea that the OP gave. I don't think I've ever queued for PvP with visions of gear in my head. I do it because I wanted to PvP. Don't think I ever raided just caring about gear. I did it because I wanted to see the content, and beat the fights.

That's a bit strong. EU is a parallel universe and subsists on its own Canon which can used or ignored entirely in the absolute Canon of George Lucas. So the poster you're responding too is not incorrect in their post, if their going off of absolute Canon. If its in film, screen play, or the old radio shows then its absolute Canon. If its in novelizations, comics, games and what have you then its in its own universe. Now everyone is free to like and dislike which of these realities as they see fit. But you can't exactly blast someone who has chosen to only accept GL Canon. So yes, it's completely legitimate to hold to the view that Emperor died on the second Death Star. Because according to the absolute Canon of GL that's where the story ends. It doesn't end in the EU but in G Canon alone, as far as we know, the Emperor's dead.

I find this amusing considering that Vader and Palpatine are the ENTIRE basis for the Sith. The only reason we have all the additional EU waxing passionate about this order of space Kim Jong Il's is because of speculation on Vader, the Emperor and that mysterious "Dark Lord of the Sith" title. Exar Kun, Tulok Horde, Darth Bane and all the rest are just after thought fluff meant to give more context to Vader and the Emperor. The Truth, is that the Emperor is the only Sith that even matters. Without the EU army of Darths the Emperor goes on as the king D-bag of the galaxy. Without the Emperor the other guys would have never even been thought of.

Well some of the EU stuff does seems to take that spin, so I see you're point. To be honest I base my theorizing on Force from the OT, and while I do read EU media I tend to view as alternate universe not "real". But that is admittedly that's just my perception.

That's part of the moral play. The Darkside is easier to master, and as such its seductive. Since technically anyone who is Force sensitive can easily take to the Dark Side the Sith attempt to inject some form of "discipline" in order to produce masters of a similar quality to the Jedi. Their chosen method is a sort of extreme Objectivism path. However, the Dark Side is still largely self destructive (evidenced by the body's corruption with excessive use). Which is why the Light Side always prevails in the end. But inevitably there is always some Jedi who eventually thinks he/she knows how to approach the Dark Side in a way that will lead to perfection. At the end of the day though the same mistakes are made. Star Wars has always been a tale of good vs evil with the lesson that evil no matter how attractively packaged leads to a bad end. So if you're looking at the Sith as a practical and sustainable philosophy then yes its completely absurd. If however you take it for what it is, an embodiment of self indulgence, and fear then you can appreciate its place in the Star Wars mythology.

I really don't like going to the novelizations when it comes to these sorts of things. Albeit the new series kind of requires some sort of extra input due to their lack of layers. However the original series always stood well on their own. The EU stuff in my opinion is largely best ignored. That said given the relative design of the OT it always appeared to me that Luke clearly dominated the final duel in RotJ. Vader wasn't just holding back because he wanted to convert Luke. Vader's dialogue in that movie demonstrated a lack of conviction in the path he'd taken in life and possible regret. When Luke surrendered on Endor and Vader said that it was to late for him. The sadness in his voice to me seems clear. Vader had come to a point where he felt he'd fallen so far that he felt he was a prisoner to Dark Side and the Emperor. Trapped by the weight of his mistakes if you will. Luke on the other hand clearly was filled with conviction and clarity of purpose. The Force was with him as they say. Even when faced with two of the most powerful Force users the galaxy had known. Luke for the most part seemed totally unconcerned. The battle of wills wasn't between Vader and Luke it was between the Emperor and Luke. Vader was only a pivot point. Luke wished to rescue him, and the Emperor wished to use him to convert Luke. Vader was torn between the two and as such, he was "weak". As to the quality of the duels to be honest, I felt more tension and emotion in those slow deliberate power swings of Vader and Luke than on any of the pristine scripted battles of the NT (beautiful as they were).

I have to agree here. Sadly Empire is too close to "real world" to really be enjoyable as an escape. Oh its more up front about it than real world nations, but the Empire more or less represents the social cesspool that the more progressive elements of humanity have been trying to drag our race out of since the beginning. The Empire represents a hardline, superstitious, ethnocentric world view that is honestly prevalent in most of humanity. Makes it hard to get into. I mean what's exciting about playing Kim Jong Il in space? But like you I'm trapped in it because my friends all wanted to giggle about being douche bags lol. So here I am rolling my eyes at dialogue all the way to 50

Oh! Well you came at this from a completely different angle lol. Thank you for the input

Sadly what I've experienced is that while you can set up a good theoretical priority rotation, the times I've been allowed to implement it is very seldom. It really all depends on timing, and what you're DPS is doing. DPS will not wait for you to glue down the encounter, I've given up on chasing that mythical beast. The most I hope for is that they'll actually let me attack first. Anyway, for groups (99% of encounters) I usually try to gauge the best opener. If its a heavy armored "trooper type" I know they'll knock me back instantly and "stun" me. So I don't charge in. I either run in take the knock back and stun (often there is a multiple knock back and stuns) pray the party will chill to let this pass, and then when I come too enrage, smash, sweeping slash, sunder, then I basically try to keep my mitigation buffs/debuffs going (retaliation, shout, smash) while making sure I can drop the sweeping slash whenever possible. Ideally you should be able to jump/run/loS your mobs, have the DPS CC one or two outliers and when this works out things go smoothly. If you're nailing your aoe abilities, and hitting your core mitigation abilities, and tabing through targets for your single target abilities. Then you're doing all you can. If the DPS pull off of you they need to chill, its not your fault. Because of cool downs (global and ability based) there is only so much you can do at a given moment. I think there is a level of relearning every position is going to have to give into in order to make encounters run smoothly. In SWTOR there is a one size fits all rotation or method.

Hello all I just recently rolled a Republic toon who I plan on focusing on PvP with. I chose BioChem for my crafting skill since I thought it might be a solid choice for both PvP and PvE content (good benefit to both). However, I'm wondering what the veteran BioChem players think about Blue verses Purple crafts? Purples are essentially reusable greens (for the appropriate level) while blues are consumable with better effects. Now at first brush the purple medkits and such seem better as its a one time craft and you're done. However, as a BioChem just the normal process of leveling my Crew Skills tends to give me plenty of medkits, and materials (at least at lower levels). So it caused me to wonder if It might not be better to just go for the Blues with the slightly better affects since currently its not much trouble to keep a stack. Anyway, I just wondered what other people's experience was with this? Since I'm lower level on this toon currently I realize EVERYTHING is "easier" so I didn't want to base an opinion solely on what I'm currently experiencing. Thanks for any input.

I don't think the DS choices for Consular are any worse than the ones I've seen on the SW or SI. It just seems that way due to environment. When you play a Sith you accept that you've been raised in a self-destructive and fascist culture. So when you make a DS choice it just seems like more grist for the mill. While a LS choice seems really daring and as you say magnanimous. I think its a situational thing, as opposed to a "superior" dialogue choice. Whereas a Jedi in the Republic is expected to do the right thing. So LS can come across as preachy because you often find yourself trying to help people who really know better to not go down the path of evil. While the DS choices just seem jarring because they're fully exposed as arbitrary and needlessly wicked. When you're a Sith killing someone for no reason other reason than to get an order of evil pancakes doesn't seem like a big deal because well you're a Sith. Sith do stupid things like that. Having seen the story lines for SW, SI, and JC I really think the JC storyline is more subtle and interesting. The SI quests start off really good by seem to get really weak once you're off the starting world. Sith Warrior starts off REALLY slow then suddenly at the end of Chapter one gets really good. Then after Chapter one SW starts to slow down again.