I got added into a queue for "The Shadowlands" as well. The Server Status shows the server population as Light.

Unless there is a bug which changed this behavior, courting gifts tend to be a bit more effective when you are in a romance with the companion you are gifting them to.

As a former resident of Prophecy of the Five, I have enjoyed my transfer to Shadowlands. I don't think region matters so much in SWTOR though since all of the US servers come from the West Coast (Last I checked), so you could head over to Harbinger if you wanted the largest population.

Porting to DirectX 12 would be costly and would exclude people not using Windows 10 from playing the game, unless they maintained an older version of the graphics subsystem with an older version of DirectX 9. Maintaining two engines is also costly. Most of SWTORs performance problems are not caused by the graphics engine; they are caused by the game's engine making inefficient use of CPU cores due to doing most of the processing in a single thread. That's why you can experience so much lag and never see your CPU pegged at 100% (unless you still have a single core CPU). A 64-bit client might provide some benefit in being able to allocate more than 2 - 3 GB of memory, but that would also be costly and some people are still using the x86 (32-bit) architecture. Most people who release MMOs tend to favor making them as compatible with as large a variety of hardware as possible to allow the game to be played by a larger audience. Using older technologies is one way to help ensure that, within reason.

Porting to DirectX 12 would be costly and would exclude people not using Windows 10 from playing the game, unless they maintained an older version of the graphics subsystem with an older version of DirectX 9. Maintaining two engines is also costly. Most of SWTORs performance problems are not caused by the graphics engine; they are caused by the game's engine making inefficient use of CPU cores due to doing most of the processing in a single thread. That's why you can experience so much lag and never see your CPU pegged at 100% (unless you still have a single core CPU). A 64-bit client might provide some benefit in being able to allocate more than 2 - 3 GB of memory, but that would also be costly and some people are still using the x86 (32-bit architecture). Most people who release MMOs tend to favor making them as compatible with as large a variety of hardware as possible to allow the game to be played by a larger audience. Using older technologies is one way to help ensure that, within reason.

Pro: I really liked that the story tied into some earlier choices that were made. Pro: I thought Kaliyo was interesting, though I'd be curious to see how she reacts to my Imperial Agent. Con: Forced fights were frequent and annoying. I don't mind the idea of being forced into combat, but the battles were uninteresting and repetitive. Something with some mechanics would make them more interesting and rewarding. Maybe fewer forced encounters and some more boss fights (maybe not a full on boss fight, but something between champions and bosses). If you're going to force me to fight something while I'm trying to stealth around it, at least make it a rewarding fight. Overall: 6/10.

I find more enjoyment in the game when I have fewer restrictions. I'm not a hard-core PvPer or Raider, but I prefer to dabble in both things and having a subscription seems cheaper in the long run than having to buy authorizations from the CM. Not to mention that I like having full access to my crafting (you can only send out half the number of companions while preferred) and having access to all of my in-game credits. Sometimes I'll downgrade to preferred in the "off season" when RL is busier and I can't spend as much time in SWTOR.

I'm not sure what their intentions are in regards to that, but I personally think if they're trying to be less of a traditional MMO, then that is a good thing. Bioware is known for good storytelling, and that is what has kept me in this game where so many other games have failed. I don't mind that it copies other things from other successful games to justify it being an MMO because I enjoy multiplayer games, but a multiplayer game with good story content is a win-win in my book. It creates this unique experience of going through a story and then participating in this universe with other players who have also have a story (even if it is similar to mine). It's also cool experiencing your friends' stories while you level up and seeing how their choices play out in things.

I would like to see the Sarkhai (Nadia Grell's race, I believe) added to the game as an option. I thought those characters looked pretty cool.

I'm a PC gamer myself, but I have several friends who bought Macs because they aren't really gamers but found this game to be intriguing sometime after. I can't say whether or not there is a market for a Mac port for this game, but it seems like it would definitely serve those people. I've personally investigated using Wine or Wineskins as a free alternative for them, but I know that I'll have my work cut out for me trying that. That might be a possible approach, though.

All they really need to do (and probably should do, honestly) is track down the people who spread or otherwise made the exploit available to other players as those are the individuals doing the real harm. We know that those people know that the game was behaving in an unintended manner as they were taking advantage of it by making in-game credits off of it. If they go after those individuals and take a light, but still noticeable action, that will send a clear signal to them that (1) cheating is unacceptable and (2) a harsher punishment might come the next time they try to break the terms of service. I'm not sure what Customer Service suggested, but you could probably help the situation by reporting anybody you see offering the exploit by using the in-game reporting features. Realistically speaking though, it doesn't make sense to punish the hundreds or thousands of other characters that benefited from the exploit. It's an unfortunate situation, but all that can really be done is to make the best out of a bad situation. In the end the cheaters will lose, because they'll be the ones looking for more content to do once they've maxed out their gear so far ahead of everybody else. The same kind of applied to the people who exploited Illum back in the early days of the game's launch.

I'm experiencing the same issues with the Prelude to Revan content. It doesn't load initially, and then all of the content for the flashpoint (the mobs and such) seem to be for the level 60 hard mode version, not the [sOLO] version that I intended to play.

I guess I should take this as a sign to finish up that Christmas shopping I've been putting off...?

I think it's time-based, so I believe you would be accruing rested XP while it's down, but I'm not totally for sure.

The server is down for me as well.