Based on the previous Q&A it looks like BW likes where deception is sitting, as a class with limited mitigation utility that focuses on a 'hit and run' based selective gameplay, to be considered an 'extreme' gameplay style rather then balanced .... So what I'm getting from this is that everyone wishing for an increase in survivability shouldn't hold their breath .... however what BW may have not realized is that the change to passive relics in 1.3 severely gimped the so called 'lone wolf' potential quite some bit, seeing as deception is a very tactical spec, it should have the utility to be played as such - removal of on-use relics, horrible idea for this class imo. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As far as an increase to dps, one way to do so would be: Increase the proc potential of Static Charge by making it 100%* on hit when Surging Charge is active rather then 100% on damage dealt by Surging Charge, this would ensure that maximum threshold (5 Stacks) be reached per rotation. --or-- Duplicity to include: Spike has a [33/66/100%] chance to grant Exploit Weakness * Random Value ... please note i feel our class is perfectly viable as is, however the extremes in dmg vs. mitigation in PvP also offset our intended effectiveness as well the current gear gaps for those just starting. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .... No need to increase regen (When played what i feel to be properly, force upkeep is more then sufficient, try using Force Cloak offensively for Dark Embrace proc during those slightly prolonged 1v1 fights ... SS under 20 force, Blackout used above 50 force on rotation, wait for Induction and Exploit Weakness procs.) .... No need to increase mitigation (pending on our consolidation of 1v1 dps) .... No need to re-imagine the tree as a whole (changes will come and go, be patient, our time will come) .... Make Electrostaves usable please! .... Fix bugs! Nothing worse then being spotted at 30+m while in stealth

If legality is the problem couldn't they just make a 'sticky: terms & acknowledgment of submitted content' or something of that nature with the terms of posted material / artwork becoming property of BioWare to use freely as they so choose, and if a person disagrees with this transfer of ownership they are not to post the material in the forum? ... If not then perhaps they should host a contest, get the community externally involved, make it feel like our game rather then your gross profits.

Created a thread shortly before finding this one: New Playable Race in 1.4 (Cathar to stay or go?) Please feel free to add to the discussion these as well and promote the security or change of the new species.

1) No 2) Because like Panda's in WoW, Cats in my opinion draw in a certain target demographic i personally don't wish to see more of - no offense to the cat lovers out there O.o 3) Togruta (Ashara), or Nautolan (Big Eyed, Squid head people) 4) Yes, seeing as Cather are view negatively on the Empire Taris missions, it make little sense to be available for play 5) One big concern i have is all the playable races are far to human in structure, Selonians would be a cool change of pace. 6) My biggest concern is only implementing one species that all in all doesn't feel to fit into the empire collaboration very well, 2 faction specific species (legacy unlock-able) would feel more lore orientated.

During E3 2012, EA previews a video with future features for SWTOR. One of these features was a new playable species, the Cathar. After having browsed the forums in search of information and concerns with this being the implemented species i came across almost an equal split of love / hate towards the humanoid cats. So in hopes to consolidate the overall opinion of the community regarding the issue I've created this thread as a sort of questionnaire. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Structure: 1) Yes or No to Cathar being the new race? 2) If Yes, why? If No, why not? 3) If Yes, Species you would also like to see, if any? If No, Species you would rather see, if any? 4) Do you feel Cathar are too Republic aligned to fit well as a section for the Empire? 5) Do you feel Cathar like most already implemented species resemble humans to greatly? 6) Addition Pro/Cons towards or against Cathar? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank-you for taking the time to read and involve yourself with this questionnaire, hopefully we can shine some light on how the community as a whole feels about the Cathar.

This is a simple breakdown of all three Assassin (Shadow) builds and what i believe their viability in each scenario to be ... please note these are as of 1.2 with minor speculations to their viability come 1.3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - In PvP ... Deception (Infiltration) are still a viable class (until removal of self-governed relics & adrenals) to roll, I've currently obtained my 5th WH piece (weapon, feet, belt, legs, gloves - only one augment on weapon atm) and for the most part have the capacity to burst 18k targets in < 10 seconds (using recklessness + relic + OS), however the aforementioned change to relics and adrenals will hence disable the continuation of the selective tactical gameplay that is deception (Infiltration) and may possibly render it a 'harassment' class rather then a threat. - In PvP ... Madness (Balance) has a greater sustained damage over the course of a match then Deception (Infiltration) does and a greater utility through use of DoTs and self-heals. Although I've only briefly explored the class, others would swear by it in PvP. Reason being Madness (Balance) provides the player with the means to damage opponents at <30m over a prolonged amount of time while providing itself with self heals and improved CC capabilities, this makes Madness (Balance) far less susceptible to being kited. However note, Madness (Balance) lacks the immediate 'pressure' Deception (Infiltration) can achieve. - In PvP ... Darkness (Kinetic Combat) has the highest survivability, slightly less however still comparable damage to Madness (Balance) however lacks single target pressure that Deception (Infiltration) can achieve. Also note unlike the other builds, Darkness (Kinetic Combat) can effectively utilize guard to support friendly players. Darkness (Kinetic Combat) has amazing self heals and rather simple proc mechanics, rendering it one of the most viable, if not the most currently in PvP due to its utility in objective based gameplay. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - In PvE ... Deception (Infiltration) have unsustainable damage output in comparison to other classes, our abilities rely on a macro managed rotation in addition to micro managed re-stealth to maintain force upkeep. Although i personally don't explore PvE content as deeply as most i do know my class and as a build in its own, due to damage sustainability over the course of a long fight, Deception (Infiltration) is not a viable class in PvE because it focuses on high output for a short period of time with limited opportunities for force regeneration and poor utility. - In PvE ... Madness (Balance) is the only viable dps build available, with greater sustainable damage then Deception (Infiltration) over the course of prolonged encounters and improved utility through means of survivability. Madness (Balance) however currently doesn't have the ability to match the numbers other classes can at top tier content. If you're heart set on playing as a dps assassin in PvE, you'll be best off rolling Madness (Balance) - In PvE ... Darkness (Kinetic Combat) is completely viable filling the main tank role through means of powerful self-heals and improved defensive shield proc rates. It is however important to note Darkness (Kinetic Combat) has only one protective cd against force + tech based attacks. players should aggressively time the use of Force Cloak (Resilience) as it completely removes DoTs and resists all incoming force + tech abilities for a very short amount of time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hope this clears up the use of each build and please note regardless of mentioning upcoming changes in viability for each role, they are speculated and subject to change come 1.3 ... as well these are based own experiences as an Assassin with the addition of a little research ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Breakdown: - Darkness (Kinetic Combat) ..........PvP - PvE - Decption (Infiltration) ....................PvP - PvE - Madness (Balance) ......................PvP - PvE

This is a simple breakdown of all three Assassin (Shadow) builds and what i believe their viability in each scenario to be ... please note these are as of 1.2 with minor speculations to their viability come 1.3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - In PvP ... Deception (Infiltration) are still a viable class (until removal of self-governed relics & adrenals) to roll, I've currently obtained my 5th WH piece (weapon, feet, belt, legs, gloves - only one augment on weapon atm) and for the most part have the capacity to burst 18k targets in < 10 seconds (using recklessness + relic + OS), however the aforementioned change to relics and adrenals will hence disable the continuation of the selective tactical gameplay that is deception (Infiltration) and may possibly render it a 'harassment' class rather then a threat. - In PvP ... Madness (Balance) has a greater sustained damage over the course of a match then Deception (Infiltration) does and a greater utility through use of DoTs and self-heals. Although I've only briefly explored the class, others would swear by it in PvP. Reason being Madness (Balance) provides the player with the means to damage opponents at <30m over a prolonged amount of time while providing itself with self heals and improved CC capabilities, this makes Madness (Balance) far less susceptible to being kited. However note, Madness (Balance) lacks the immediate 'pressure' Deception (Infiltration) can achieve. - In PvP ... Darkness (Kinetic Combat) has the highest survivability, slightly less however still comparable damage to Madness (Balance) however lacks single target pressure that Deception (Infiltration) can achieve. Also note unlike the other builds, Darkness (Kinetic Combat) can effectively utilize guard to support friendly players. Darkness (Kinetic Combat) has amazing self heals and rather simple proc mechanics, rendering it one of the most viable, if not the most currently in PvP due to its utility in objective based gameplay. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - In PvE ... Deception (Infiltration) have unsustainable damage output in comparison to other classes, our abilities rely on a macro managed rotation in addition to micro managed re-stealth to maintain force upkeep. Although i personally don't explore PvE content as deeply as most i do know my class and as a build in its own, due to damage sustainability over the course of a long fight, Deception (Infiltration) is not a viable class in PvE because it focuses on high output for a short period of time with limited opportunities for force regeneration and poor utility. - In PvE ... Madness (Balance) is the only viable dps build available, with greater sustainable damage then Deception (Infiltration) over the course of prolonged encounters and improved utility through means of survivability. Madness (Balance) however currently doesn't have the ability to match the numbers other classes can at top tier content. If you're heart set on playing as a dps assassin in PvE, you'll be best off rolling Madness (Balance) - In PvE ... Darkness (Kinetic Combat) is completely viable filling the main tank role through means of powerful self-heals and improved defensive shield proc rates. It is however important to note Darkness (Kinetic Combat) has only one protective cd against force + tech based attacks. players should aggressively time the use of Force Cloak (Resilience) as it completely removes DoTs and resists all incoming force + tech abilities for a very short amount of time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hope this clears up the use of each build and please note regardless of mentioning upcoming changes in viability for each role, they are speculated and subject to change come 1.3 ... as well these are based own experiences as an Assassin with the addition of a little research ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Breakdown: - Darkness (Kinetic Combat) ..........PvP - PvE - Decption (Infiltration) ....................PvP - PvE - Madness (Balance) ......................PvP - PvE

As a class it feels like dps builds could use more sustained damage definitely - this is exceptionally prominent come the changes to relics and adrenals for pvp in 1.3

Personally i find it baffling this wasn't introduced in launch, looking at KOTOR all you would see were sith assassins using those cool collapsible staffs - PLEASE incorporate this in 1.3! Edit: As well powertechs cant use Blaster rifles? Boba Fett is the inspiration for this class and he uses one? make it work

Looking back on pre-beta days and guilds, there was a heavy emphasis on 'allied / rival' systems. Can we expect to see further development regarding UI integration for these features and if so perhaps an increased chance to join a queue against a rival guild with allied guild chat channel?

Wouldn't it be interesting if they just created a forum for fan-based works regarding armor sets for inspiration, I'm sure the community of a million knows what it wants more then simply a group of say 20 artist .... This would be a nice way to collaborate fan creativity with swtor concept artists 'unique game look'

Regarding Mod Extraction & Legacy Perk costs ... Way to expensive! ... but then again i can understand EA not caring about player populous and simply see it as a marketing gimmick. (Make NEEDED features cost lots --> Customers spend more time acquiring the credits required --> Greater upkeep in subscription --> Profit) ... Words cannot describe how broken i feel gross profits are! Corruption begins with taking more then you need.

Look at the war-hero gear, the set-bonus is attached to the armor-mod, i recall them saying that this is going to be implemented throughout all future sets of gear however the resources needed to reconstruct the current pre-1.2 sets is unfortunately too high when they could just be investing in new features.

To hopefully help clear up some confusion, these are the locations my guild and i have found them to occur. - Missing 1 person in the ops frame happens almost every other match, regardless of the warzone, although i personally find it will always happen in hutball - The laying down bug which disallows you to move and usually get kicked is highly associated in Voidstar - The infinite stun locked bug (mind tap animation) that causes a player to be unable to move however still attack commonly occurs in Civil War ... These may be different for others however after talking with a sample group (my guild) these locations seamed to be where the bugs would originate. Voidstar also seems to induce the 1/2 sound bug until the client is reset.

Completely support OP and this reply, weapon previews and preview zoom should certainly be implemented!

Quite an innovative idea - however it feels like this would only consolidate and simplify features that demand respect, such as: - Guild listings / recruitment ... Either in guild tab for guild-less characters or as OP stated, Billboards - GTM already exists, if people want an item they can find it there, although GTM could be greatly improved - Guilds for the most part allow players to have access to others able to craft what they may need, more emphasis should be placed on joining guilds (WoW introduced a perk based level system which was nice however drove small guilds into the ground seeing as they couldn't compete with 100+ member guilds to gain the perks, guild perks would be nice, but shouldn't favour larger pop. guilds ... sorry bit off topic) - Group finder coming 1.3 - Revenge in PvP is a horrible idea, sorry to say it, too many under-geared and inexperienced players would take advantage of this to QQ. Not to mention all the "they are a hacker" claims you would see - it draws unneeded pressure on players, and it would be expected to become a list of "these are the healers, kill them" In general, despite my rebuttal against, an innovative thought, keep it up

With 1.2 we saw the introduction of 'unify to chest'. However taking into account the love BioWare puts into companion refinement, it was strange seeing this feature limited to only a players character. I'll simply leave it at: Please extend this feature to companions. Thank-you.

As of the moment World PvP offers very little in terms of 'player gain'. A buff for controlling objectives in Ilum promotes valor gains in both that environment and for warzone completions however offers little more then simply "cap 5 points, then run warzones" in terms of intensive ... If world PvP was to offer perhaps: - An area only available for entry every few times a day, where for a limited amount of time players must compete in an objective based game and where the victorious team at the end of the session unlocks the ability for their faction to enter a specific flashpoint / operation at least until the next battle (implementing this to Ilum could potentially work: one of many ideas being to insert a gate and close the flight paths, shortly before the battle begins, a message could be broadcast on fleet and Ilum saying something like "The Battle for Ilum will begin in 10:00 minutes ..." upon the time of it starting the gate and flight paths will be opened. The gameplay would merely remain the same, with the exception of a 'majority of controlled points at the end of the game would result in a victory' the rewards for winning could be as simple as commendations in addition to the buff already gained. - World PvP Space battles may sound like a ridiculous idea at first however when you take such iconic games as Starwars: Battlefront space combat was so refined it became almost funner then the core first person gameplay ... Clearly it would be foolish to expect this to be a simple implementation but it could more then likely open up the potential of space related gameplay tenfold. Picture if you will 2 teams, each player starting on their factions capital ship, an announcement goes off in addition to an alarm "We've encountered an enemy craft, all hands to deck ..." Player then run into the hanger and into their ship (4 are shown, only able to enter their classes) then take off and fly off into un-railed space PvP. Objectives could be to externally destroy their capital ship or simply protect a small craft transporting explosives? This would not only open up the importance of buying components and 'gearing' your ship, but could support the fleet commendation system immensely through means of these purchasing ship parts - I know this is pretty much incorporation another game into the game as is, but damn would this be cool! Thank-you for reading, although an ambitious suggestion, just trying to help the game grow into the beastly MMO is deserves to become

As the game grow and more players join the community the amount of available names for characters inevitably declines. Hence becoming common to see names with special characters (á ú ü í .etc) My suggestion pertains to the difficulty of either whispering, mailing to, or simply inviting characters with these names. - An 'alt' / 'ctrl' modifier when typing that changes characters such as 'a' into 'á' - A 'left click' chat option that allows a selection of special characters to choose from - By default, all server wide characters a player has could be available from the 'auto-fill' option in the mailbox Thank-you very much for reading this, although perhaps not an A-list problem, it certainly would make the accessibility of the game significantly more user friendly.

Post server transfers, It has become more common to see characters with special letters in their name (á, í, ú .etc) Has there been thought for implementing a 'ctrl' / 'alt' modifier when typing to create these letter (ie. typing alt+i = í) to support non-numpad laptop users?

PLEASE NOTE: This post only looks at the ability in a PvP atmosphere - the proposed change wouldn't gimp it's use in PvE and is entirely intended to stimulate theory crafting among the community for Advance Prototype class. Flamethrower can deal a tremendous amount of damage when paired with a 50% damage increase from Prototype Flamethrower talent procs. The issue at the moment however is even regarding it's additional 70% slow when used at 5 stacks is that more then half the time that ability isn't dealing a full duration worth of damage due to it being a 100% user controlled and easily avoidable - In certain situations when paired with Carbonize or other stuns it can be extremely effective, but seemingly relies heavily on those abilities - hence being limited to their cd's rather then its own. Other comparable abilities like Ravage lock onto their target making it impossible to evade, but must rather range or interrupt the ability, granted these are single target and not AoE like Flamethrower. So what does this mean? Sure Flamethrower maybe a bit more difficult and situational to use but that's the fun of it right? Admitted there isn't all that much wrong with it as it is now but that doesn't meant it cant be improved, and you may ask yourself why does it need to be? considering Flamethrower is THE 'Climactic Ability' of AP as Railshot is to PT, shouldn't its use be equally user friendly and damage almost as guarantied? The answer isn't as simple as yes or no, but rather why? The reason it may be desirable to have flamethrower stick to a target is it would actually 'hit' that target but that may come at the expense of the ability being 'fun' as it is now. So that excludes is as mirror of the Warrior ability. And it certainly cant be an instant cast 30m ability like Railshot, so where does that leave us? It leaves us pondering the question, does Flamethrower need re-imagining as an AP ability or should the spec itself be changed to allow for a more comparable output like PT? Changes to the ability are certainly an option, below is an example of a potential change that may put AP at par with the burst potential of PT using Railshot procs: [Prototype Flamethrower] "Flame Burst, Flame Sweep, and Immolate have a (50/100%) chance to grant Prototype Flamethrower, increasing the damage dealt by your next Flamethrower by (10%*) and granting movement during next channeled Flamethrower.[/i] Stacks up to 5 times. At 5 stacks, Flamethrower becomes immune to interrupts. --or-- Perhaps the AP tree could allow for more source damage to come from abilities like Retractable Blade / Flame Burst / Rocket Punch, with greater burn / bleed effects. Maybe even a change to HEGC to allow procs for free use casts? Its certainly difficult to weigh the options of changes and the potential effect if may have. Would a mobile Flamethrower wrack havoc in PvP or would it give the class a little added boost to put it on par with PT burst? Please reply, do you agree or disagree, other potential changes, or simply your experiences as a AP using Flamethrower in PvP.

Current 1.3 information shows a change (and complete removal to extent) of 'on-use' external items (Relics & Adrenals) to eliminate burst. Much of the active PTS community feel this removes depth, individual strategy, and coordinated timing in PvP. Why has the development team decided to remove rather then readjust the values of 'on-use' relics and the reason behind boosting survivability in conjunction with decreasing selective dps?

Can anyone who's in the PTS clarify the change to relics - I play as a deception assassin and a big part of my 1v1 tactic was to pop [relic/recklessness/overcharge saber] which gave me a moderate amount of burst / constant dmg to mitigate cd's an opponent may pop. I could see why a relic/adrenal combination would be nerfed, however changing the function of relics and purely removing burst potential in-spite of feels like a horrible change - again haven't played PTS and would like clarification on my speculation please and thank-you

Can you shed some light on the 'current' in development model for the upcoming free server transfers? (Server A moves to server B ..or.. servers A and B move to new server C ..or.. something unheard of?)

As a developer, you've chose to adopt an 8v8 model across all current war-zones. Will this structure continue to flourish and has there been consideration for non-objective based competitive implementations (i.e. 2v2 / 3v3). Might cross-server be introduced to eliminate wait times and offer a greater diversity within the PvP community as a whole?