Those two statements imply a general rule that all the balance updates, new abilities, etc. are available... ...With an exceptionmade for the level cap (and by its nature, the new lvl 51+ abilities) and the new operations, which is tied to the purchase of the RotHC.

The invasion has already happened. Their reach is so great, they've hacked the SWTOR servers themselves in a meta-invasion and crashed everyone's logins.

Reposted from another thread: 1. In previous events, vendors for these event items have stayed around longer than the event itself (A week, for the Rakghoul event, I believe). This is far more likely for what is explicitly a recurring event. 2. With 3 weeks worth of Cap, that reaches 36000 reputation possible. 3. With the "go close to Cap then use Artifact for big gains" technique, one can get roughly 1500 or more reputation beyond the weekly cap of 12000. Assuming 1 is true, and that the reputation requirements for each level progresses as suggested, it is quite possible (though difficult) to obtain Champion level reputation before the items become unavailable, temporarily or otherwise. Further additional calculations, for the curious. 14 helix from the Heroic, + 8 from SM Operation boss (x2) +12 from HM Operation boss (x2) +2 Ancient Gree Relay +2 Unity Assessment (according to Dulfy). That's a maximum of 38 helix components possible, enough for 2 single-handed weapons or 1 larger weapon.

A few additions to the calculations. 1. In previous events, vendors for these event items have stayed around longer than the event itself (A week, for the Rakghoul event, I believe). This is far more likely for what is explicitly a recurring event. 2. With 3 weeks worth of Cap, that reaches 36000 reputation possible. 3. With the "go close to Cap then use Artifact for big gains" technique, one can get roughly 1500 or more reputation beyond the weekly cap of 12000. Assuming 1 is true, and that the reputation requirements for each level progresses as suggested, it is quite possible (though difficult) to obtain Champion level reputation before the items become unavailable, temporarily or otherwise. Edit: Further additional calculations, for the curious. 14 helix from the Heroic, + 8 from SM Operation boss (x2) +12 from HM Operation boss (x2) +2 Ancient Gree Relay +2 Unity Assessment (according to Dulfy). That's a maximum of 38 helix components possible, enough for 2 single-handed weapons or 1 larger weapon.

Well, LOLsmashers are fairly simplistic in their approach, and you can be quite effective with a few buttons - leap, other leap, smash, slash, rage/focus cd, strike and sundering strike, and choke. There are other tools, and learning to use them will help, but with just the aforementioned buttons, you can do quite a lot, especially if you can time your smashes for when the enemy is bunched up. Really, any class you play will have simplistic and complicated rotations. The more you play, the better your reflexes, the more you'll learn. The only real ceiling would be keybinding. Once everything is keybound to a convenient place (I use alt- and shift- +other buttons to make everything in easy reach of the left hand), you'll learn through muscle memory and be slowing, stunning, interrupting, etc., like a champ.

I'd sign that. I sincerely doubt it'll happen, though - too much money to be made forcing customers to by one for each and every customer.

Do you mean something like this? That was found in link #1 when I searched "flashpoint guides" through google. If you're looking for a FP that isn't listed on Dulfy, you could try putting in the name of the FP you're interested in playing in the search bar of youtube. Google is your friend. Edit: You really shouldn't need a guide for a particular FP or Op when it comes to how you play your class, so long as you know even the most basic of priorities and/or rotations. There are a few caveats to that, of course. When it comes to a guide talking about burst phases, or automatic enrage timers, or things of that ilk... you'll want to save up both your own burst tools (Adrenals, on-use Relics, that sort of thing) as well as any raid-wide benefits you can bring (you don't have it yet, but once you hit lvl 44, you'll get Inspiration, which is a group-wide Damage Increase buff). Similarly, you should be aware of your defensive cooldown and when group-wide or raid-wide damage will be occurring, so you can negate some of it with said DCDs. As you play and become more familiar with each FP and OP, you'll learn to read the telegraphed signs that a boss will be doing something unusual. Experience, more than anything else, helps you learn when to be DPSing the boss like a fiend, and when it is best to get out of an point blank area of effect smash, while being able to get another Saber Throw and Leap in. General tips include not standing in circles of any color that aren't created by your teammates, not standing in the frontal arc of the boss to avoid frontal arc AoE damage, and being passingly familiar with when additional mobs come (as a DPS, it is generally your job to kill those ASAP) and the phases of any bosses that have them.

If anything, they would be the OLD Skywalkers, would they not?

It gets worse, in that while you have a good initial investment (Your starting 50 won't die when glanced at by min-maxed EWH-geared folk), you'd find those pieces you may want to eventually trade in for EWH on, well, the wrong 50. To get your EWH whatever for your new 50, you'd have to PvP on your old 50, or be forced to buy the same piece again.

How is the Implementation mechanics of future SGRA content related to Story and Lore? The forum mods are not really big on Visibility when it comes to placing SGR topics.

That was just as an example, but you don't need to make up the full amount of comms, or even any. Let's say, after purchasing A, you get back 600 comms. First, you buy 900 comm weapon B, and then you sell weapon A back to the vendor - you now have a new 2 hour limit on reselling, and you've not wasted any of the 900 comms you used to purchase weapon A.

It does, doesn't it? I've never personally done it, just explaining the logic behind it. Frankly, if I end up having the time, I may end up doing it myself. I wasn't able to get any Ranked Comms when I hit 50 recently on my Guardian, and I'm reeeeeeeally not enjoying the Recruit grind. When my Smugger gets to 50, I hope to be able to purchase as much of a full set as possible, and if I can keep my Ranked Comms for Elite War Hero gear rather than converting them back to regular WZ comms... That might be worth the effort for me. YMMV. Edit: One also need not do this until, say, level 48? Start doing it then, and I bet you'll have at least a few weapons AND maxxed comms with only a day or two of extra effort.

BM stalker gear is plenty fine for a DPS to successfully run HM Flashpoints (I assume that's what you mean by "t1 hcs"), and if you have even a moderately over-geared group, SM Operations (EV and KP only - probably not EC or TFB). This would be run, obviously, as a DPS spec. Completing these will net you Columi drops, which you can then convert into Survivor gear. Once you're mostly Survivor gear, you shouldn't have any issues doing any of the tier 1 FPs and SM Ops specced as a tank (again, depending on the group), at least after you've (re-?)mastered your tanking skills. The other option would be to grind WZs for War Hero Survivor Gear, which (while a little light on End and Willpower compared to its equivalent PvE gear) should be more than enough to kick Tier 1 HM FP and SM Op ***.

By buying and selling those weapons in the right order, one can effectively "store" 900 comms for 2 hours at a time. Example: Joe the Assassin has full WZ and RWZ comms, and he's still a few levels away from 50... but he still wants to PvP and benefit from the comms! Joe buys a 900 comm weapon (call it A). He now has 1850 wz comms. Joe continues to PvP, and before those 2 hours are up for A, Joe is right back up to the full 2750 comms. Joe now buys 2 900 comm weapons (B and C), his WZ comms now at 950. Joe now sells A back to the vendor, for the full price of 900 comms, and comes to 1850. He now has B & C, both on a 2 hour timer, and room in his inventory for more comms from PvP. Rinse, Repeat.

A similar progression, except PvP is not a HM FP or SM Op, it's the rough equivalent of queuing for GF but having HMTBF as an option that you can't turn off. In PvE, you can pick a tier of difficulty, and meet it. In PvP, you could be facing 8 full-recruits or 2 premades on voicechat. Ranked should be where all those HMTBF equivalents should be, but... well... This wouldn't be quite as big an issue if Ranked wasn't a joke. =/ I really don't feel expecting players to have 100% knowledge on the necessities of post-50 pvp as a sub-50 player is reasonable. You wouldn't know you'd need to know until you hit 50, at which point, well, damn... it's too late, isn't it? Expecting people to come to the forum for lvl 50 pvp gearing as a sub-50 player (who may or may not be interested in pvp at the time) is similarly unreasonable. OP: It's going to suck. You're not just a target because you're a sage (that is, squishy and very vulnerable to Focus Fire), you're a healer. It's going to be awful for a while. Stick with it, get that gear, try to keep calm and unflustered, and you'll eventually be geared enough that you won't die quite so quickly to focus fire. It's also worth it to friend and try to group with tanks you meet pvping. A pocket tank, as a healer in a WZ, is a godsend. A GOOD pocket tank... bliss.

Personally, I have three different specs, depending on what I'm doing. For Operation or Flashpoint sorts of PvE, you can't fulfill your role better than Leafy Bug's skill tree. A few tweaks here and there, but that's a good, solid build. For PvE that doesn't include a lot of CC-immunity, I tend to shift a few points from Psychokinesis and put it into Infiltration Tactics. What I lose on force, I feel I regain from the big hits and low force cost of Shadow Strike. Gives me something worthwhile to do when my CC is up. With PvP, I tend to go 22/2/17 hybrid. that 30m AoE really helps on the interrupts.

Does it take many, many, oh god so many hours to have a capably geared pryo when your demoman isn't needed? That's probably the difference.

SW:TOR has, over the course of its existence, continually expanded and improved upon the ability to customize the appearance of our characters, notably including the 1.3 updates to social armor and the augment kit that allows any gear to be augmented. There is, however, still a very blatant gap between the ability to have one's character look like one wants and the ability to wear gear that is the most useful regarding stats and abilities when working through the first few tiers of gear at level 50 (Tionese, Columi, and Rakata... edit: oh, and Battlemaster!). It has been repeatedly asked, and repeatedly answered, that the armor mods for these 3 tiers do NOT have the ability to carry their set bonus onto the (ever-expanding choice of) modifiable gear. The reasoning stated has been that the armor sets are somehow coded differently. Will SW:TOR ever attempt to fix this gap discrepancy between the stated intent to allow players to look how they wish while still having the potential to have BiS items? It really seems like new 50s are left to choose between looking how they wish to look and (literally, for a sorcerer) wearing the Dunce Cap of Ultimate Power and Clown Costume of Unending Force...

We need a character on both sides of the conflict to get HK-51? I really, really hope they're adding extra character slots sometime soon. I've got all 8 slots filled, and I'd rather not have to delete a character just to access new content. Any chance you'll at least allow something like, oh, 4 50s to bypass that requirement? Also, why would the Devs worry about players stacking a single stat when Diminishing Returns already limits the effectiveness of that tactic?

Important thing to note: A skilled and gifted practitioner, in attempting to absorb a lightsaber, had his heart, a saber's worth of flesh, and part of his spine disintegrated in the process. It takes a Mary Sue to turn a "screw you for killing me" technique into "Huh? Oh, yeah, that won't work. Also, unharmed! (But, like, its totally a struggle, so its cool, right?)" Not to say that absorbing attacks always (or even necessarily should) hurts you. Corran Horn was mostly unharmed from boiling water and stray blaster bolts (they, if memory served, stung... but left no lasting marks aside from on clothing). Lightsabers are whole other beasts, and should seriously maim or kill anyone who tries to block such a blade with their flesh for ANY appreciable length of time.

Smuggler armor is medium, not light. Concerning the "running in full skirts" thing, sorta... but not entirely. One of the most beneficial aspects of a skirt for a melee combatant is the concealed nature of the skirt-wearer's leg movement. The same effect could be had with looser pants, perhaps with less tripping... but then, we don't really see the INSIDES of all these light-armor skirts. They could already be separated compartments ala Skorts.

So noted. I was mostly responding the statistical aspect of that quote, which was sending all sorts of misinformation out there. Personally, I would much rather see a progessively better chance to RE as failures incur, as stated by a previous poster. It fulfills all the requirements of a variable ratio rewards system (The most efficacious form of rewards to encourage more participation) while still providing a practically guaranteed success eventually to ward off the most frustrating of RNG streaks.

20 heads in a row is an extremely unlikely statistical event: roughly .000095%, or so. The likelihood of getting 17 failures in a row when there is an 80% fail rate rather than 50%, however, is a far less unlikely 2.25% or so. That is to say, around 1 in 45 items you try to RE will give you 17 failures in a row (with, obviously, only a 20% chance you'll succeed on the 18th, etc). Thinking of it alternatively, roughly 1 in 45 people who attempt to RE a given item will have at least 17 failures. Statistics are most valid across broad ranges, and one aspect of chance is that any PARTICULAR situation can happen in ways that most certainly do NOT fit the average. Think about how many people play this game. Think about how many of those people craft. Think about how many items are being RE'd to a higher tier, sometimes multiple times. Now, add all these together... and you'll find that a few (damnably) lucky people almost always RE's within a few attempts (There's roughly a 50% chance of 3 failures in a row, by and by), while a few (pitifully) unlucky people will fail 10, 20, even 30 or 40 times in a row. Those would be the outliers, the small percentages on either side of a Bell graph. The vast majority of us? We'll have a mix of luck, from REing in 1 attempt to failing after 40 REs, with most people successfully REing in a reasonable number of attempts. That's the theoretical statistical side. It does require the 20% number to be accurate, and I'd wonder if even Bioware has numbers to confirm that their RNG is producing an accurate 20%. As is almost always the case in programming, the RNG is not completely random, but is a formula based on a seed number that SHOULD (but is not always) random that comes from outside sources. I'm not intimately familiar with RNG programming, but from what I've heard, something like the time of day on the computer (or some cycle of number of seconds, milliseconds, whatever) can be used. I'm not saying Bioware's RNG is for sure not to blame for streaky RE issues, but I CAN say with a fair amount of certainty that even an extremely unlucky person does not necessitate that Bioware's programming is at fault. With as many people playing this game (many with multiple characters), a few unlucky folk are almost certainly going to fall in the "needs at least 10 attempts to RE anything)" category while a few lucky bastards will find 1-2 attempts REs practically anything. Most of us are in between, and as time goes on, most of the exceedingly fortunate AND unfortunate will probably regress towards the mean. Such is life.

I believe BW is planning on having social armor scale to from light to heavy depending on the wearer, so while you might not be able to wear it now, you should be able to wear it eventually. The real question is, could a trooper obtain such armor? Seems like it would only be available to imperials. Is it BoE or BoP?

The thing about NPCs is that they are rarely the special snowflake flowers of uniqueness that a Player Character, by dint of story, will necessarily be. NPCs going against the grain would be contrary to the purpose of providing greater distinction for characters that are supposed to stand out. You'll find a metric **** ton of EU/book/game characters that take convention and throw it out the window. Why? They're special snowflakes, that's why! Despite the fact that this is a MMO, it still follows the "Special Snowflake" principle for players. We ARE the exceptions. We ARE the unusually powerful, specially inclined, willing-to-throw-tradition-on-its-*** folks that can, should, and DO choose to show their colors in ways that would make the Dark Council and Jedi Council **** themselves in anger.