Many of us are "gear addicts" and like not only stats but also appearances. We want to have characters that look unique - which is not as easy in this game as in others, except through gear. Our characters matter to us, and unlike in many MMOs, in SWTOR we actually get to SEE them a lot (via conversations cinematics). Players, like myself, have been acquiring matching sets of gear since early access, and to suddenly make that gear sub-par will make a lot of very angry gamers - and you should know that we gamers love our rage fests! Conversely, I can see the reasoning behind this, to a point. The problem that is glaring (the gorilla in the room) is that many of the amour sets are not complete at this time, at least not in orange. Parts of a set are obtained through flashpoints, heroics, and crafted items, with the end result being a mish mash of running all over the game. That is entertaining for some the first time, but few of us are just dieing to do it again. Yes, I admit, I am a gear addict. I currently have 12 sets of matching armour, with 5 more sets that I can not find all the pieces for, or the same name pieces do not truly match (green and white head, chest, legs, with a yellow and purple set of boots, as an example). If the change allows crafters to gain access to all schematics for the matching set, then I see no reason not to retro fit old gear, BUT, if that is not the case then older gear will need to be retro fitted. See, I really have no interest in running a level 21 heroic to get a "bind on pickup" helmet that is the only one that matches the set I love, just so I can have an augment slot. Instead, I won't buy that 13th set of armour from the crafters (or in my case the set of schematics from the GTN, since I took armour crafting). Diatium Onslaught greaves are a good example; I've NEVER seen a chest that matches. If someone had looted a matching chest, to have a unique set of armour, and thus a unique appearance for their character, only to find that the morning of 1.2, their entire gear and effort is basically worthless, I would understand them being upset about it. TL' DR - either make a way for augments to be retro fitted, or make sure crafters can have access to schematics for all parts of a set of armour if any piece is crafted.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I can say that I am VERY picky about the guilds I join. I am too old for drama, and I don't care what some 13 year old boy thinks about some girl at school. I don't care to listen to some one rant about politics in vent. I don't care to spend my "leisure" time being inundated by the drama in other people's lives. With that said, I have a wonderful small, mature, raid centric guild that I'm very pleased with right now. Took me only 3 months to find it. As for grouping, the same thing. I have played less then 3 hours 'solo' in my 14 days of continuous game play (per /played, and that was a while ago!) My husband and I enjoy our "date nights" every night, and running content as a duo. We love inviting real life friends, and we love playing the game our way. We're actually very social, BUT.... I don't want to HAVE to group into a 16 person raid just to make a vambrace. I don't want to be forced to do X before I can do Y. What if I had no intention of raiding, and then am invited on a hard mode ops.... but have to decline because I am not geared up? It's the gating that is the problem. I would be thrilled with a sliding scale system, where I could duo a flashpoint, and have a 1 in a million chance of a drop. It'd be EASIER to get the item in a full group raid, but I would still have the option of saying "screw you guys, you're annoying me today" and drag the poor mistreated man out to tank for me. See, back in the 90s, we had "hard core" groups who just did things. Now, a "hard core" group requires me to commit to a game as if it were a second job. Since I already have 2 full time jobs, and a family to think about, I really don't want to make my HOBBY into something I dread. It's the 'forcing players to" and "make players" and "have to" parts that people have problems with. Not the option, but the lack of options.

I play a light side BH, a light side IA, and a dark SI so far. For me, I've come to realization that I'm simply a goody two shoes, as even when I try to be evil, I just fail But seriously, playing light side on Empire is very doable. I have more of the feeling of "I want to make the Empire a good place" through out my stories, rather then that I'm some type of freak in the populace. Of course, I'm also drawn more to the pew pew types of classes then the force wielding ones, so take my personal experiences with a shaker of salt.

I actually like it. For me, it lends a touch of reality to the game, and brings in a bit of the feel of the movies. Of course, much of my opinion is based upon the way I've played my character - as that of an aspiring and talented agent hoping to work her way up the ranks. I noticed that when Watcher 2 was promoted, she didn't get larger shoulder pads, nor did she get crazy heavy armour plating. For me, this same mentality applies to my own character. As an example THIS is what I think of when i think of my agent's clothing options.

I have a Dell Dimension E 521: AMD 3500+ xfx 7800 gt with 3MG RAM Yep, I'm under even the minimum specs. Yes, I can play the game smoothly (except for some sound lag when entering new areas). Now, knowing that my machine is a complete Piece of Bantha Poodoo, I can't really run much else at the same time, or I experience problems, but when I get ready to play, I just turn off anything I'm not using. Oddly, the game plays fine. My character is responsive, my friends don't want to kill me due to long waits or inept reactions in combat, either. My only real "complaint" (which I have no room to complain about) are the long loading screens. Kind of a "dur" thing really considering what I'm running on. My point being that maybe it's not the game that's the problem (necessarily). ISP bottle necking, multiple computers on his network hogging bandwidth, or unnecessary programs (adware? Spyware?) could cause the problem you described.

Nope, and was actually commenting on how filled some of the planets are (my PC is a PoS, and people make me lag). The higher end of the curve has seen a drop off (less people on Voss, as an example) but lower level areas are jammed packed, and fleet keeps getting more populated every time I go there.

Here's the thing. It took me about 10 minutes to realize that the world quests were the same across classes. It took me around 30 minutes in game to realize that there was way more content available then I needed to attain the level I wanted. And so, using a very small bit of logic, I figured out that I can only do the content I like, and level up with out over leveling the class quests. Get a mission to free a guy, and skip the bonus(Kill X) section of it. Find a quest that is totally out of character for my toon, and refuse the quest. Get part way through the quest and get bored, so delete the quest from my log. I now have a level 47 Bounty Hunter, a level 25 Inquisitor, and I'm currently playing a level 18 sniper, with little more then the class quests (yeah, she should be 21 right now, but I'm still acing the content like it's on easy mode). I've only repeated the quests I liked, and wanted to repeat. Hell, I have yet to do a single non class quest on Taris, I missed out on so much content on Alderaan, and while I did get into the story on Voss, that's because I actually was entranced with the world quest story there. My next character through might just skip most of it. But, I like the challenge. I think I'll try doing my powertech with nothing but class quests and flash points. Should be a nice challenge, and keep things interesting for me.

Thank you for this. You have just made my day.

I always thought it was pretty easy to figure out. When the baddie turns to look at me, it's never a good thing (I'm a healer). When it turns to look at the tank, then things are going well. If the DPSer has it facing him, I need to up my healing a bit. Seriously, the baddie actually turns to face the guy it's most angry at, and that is a clear indicator of threat. A good tank can pull it before the MOB casts, hits, or causes any problems (at least mine can). And some of them will cast at multiple people, but this is always indicated by some type of graphical feature. A swirling white light on the ground means a flame spitting probe is about to land there, so I should move. A large white square thing means a missle is about to hit me... so I should move. An add shooting at me is indicated by (usually red) blaster bolts streaking at me from the source. Well, you get the idea.

Personally I could care less about day/night cycles. At best they were an inconvenience, and at worst I never noticed them. At times needing to alter my gamma settings did break my immersion, and with as dark as some areas already are, well, you get the idea. I do have to disagree with you about the NPCs. A few examples: on Taris, I knew that the Rakghouls were going to have force sensitives simply from listening to a pair of NPCs talk about it. On Hutta, I giggled as some guy tried to pick up a girl in the cantina, and obviously failed at it. There have been more, and a few times (Belsavis) I even stopped to listen (and giggled at the writer's sick sense of humour). Of course, I also didn't blaze through everything, and I'm well known to simply stop and smell the roses at times. I will say that weather would be a WONDERFUL addition though. I miss the rain storms, or dust storms, a bit of fog, and the like. Those things really bring immersion to me.

I have a level 47 Bounty Hunter, a 20ish Inquisitor, a 15ish Trooper, and a few assorted barely out of the box characters. I too found the game to be exceptionally easy, and was a bit disapointed. That was before I began playing with a friend who is new to MMOs. You see, I have controling the companions, and using my character to it's maximum advantage down to habit. Playing a ranged class I can see the proper distance, and such. No, nothing that makes me special, just a sign of way too many hours of free time, and little life. My new to MMO friend though, is still learning how to play within the roles of the group, and how to maximize his potential. His mad agro skills have created some truly amuzing and challenging content for me! So, I can now see why the difficulty level is set here, but I only have ONE complaint. If you are too low of a level, you can't even touch something above you, and the gap isn't a large one. I want to say it's like 3 or 4 levels (it's been a couple of weeks since I tried, and sadly I didn't commit the gap to memory). I tried to do some content on Alderaan at level 21, and got nothing but "miss, miss, resist, miss". Take this away, let me hit the thing for 1 or 2 points of damage, and I'd be thrilled! I could challenge myself with super over leveled flash points (wonder how badly my level 20 would get smoked in a level 50 flash point! That'd be GREAT!). If that one thing was fixed, I'd be just fine with the difficulty level of the game.

I'm always a little confused by the statements saying "it's just a WOW clone" or any variant thereof. Now, I've never played WoW, which might be a part of the problem. So, the game is just like wow... because it has quests? Skills? Hot keys? Skill bars? So does every MMO I've ever played, even SWG and UO (which are not theme park games like the rest I played). I mean, what is it that makes it such a clone? From what I'm seeing, no one can say, and I can't seem to wrap my mind around it. From what's been listed, even the F2P Asian grinders count as WOW clones. Now, complaining about bugs, that I can get. If you don't like it, show the company with your sub, they won't listen otherwise (most don't at least, although I have to give BW credit for listening some, as the patches suggest). But the WoW clone thing, I can't understand.

And denied, and confirmed... all in a vague way. Will they allow UI modification only? Complete add on systems? No one has said. If they have, no one has dared to link to the source. Plus, keep in mind that the game was scheduled to release in "spring 2011" too. So we do tend to take things with a grain of salt.

I also think it might be a bit generational. I mean MMO generations, not player age. Those of us who started in the UO/EQ age had it rough. Dialup was the best we could get, we had to walk uphill in the snow, both ways... No wait, wrong story. But seriously, we learned to love a feeling of struggling to overcome. That feeling is mostly removed by many (not all) of the add-ons that people are begging for. See the comments about grid healing. I used to have a rush trying to heal a 20 person group, as the only healer, with only a mouse and a single hot key heal (bandages, which required an item stack in inventory!). The thrill of keeping up is what made me addicted to the genre of MMOs. Compare that to the crowd that came in with EQ2, WOW, and even more modern games. Those games made a brilliant decision to market to more casual gamers, and then give those casual gamers everything that they need (via add-on systems) to be successful. And successful they were/are. For that MMO generation, their excitement is in chasing the next level of loot, or in game recognition. There's nothing wrong with either play style, but they are vastly different. When you try to make both of these styles of gamers happy, well.... we get the debate we're having. And thank YOU for forming intelligent and coherent questions, as opposed to the common "so you hate add-ons, doesn't that mean you just suck" type of questions.

Oh my. You're serious? I have to say, I'm a bit taken aback that this is something that needs to be explained. I thought it was one of the concepts of real life. My appologies though, let me try: I kill faster. I have less group members die. I am able to complete more challenging content. These are simple examples of competing against yourself. If at first I don't succeed, then I try again, and enjoy the attempt. Here's a specific example for you. Attempt a 4+ heroic on Alderaan with only 2 players and 2 companions. It's a 4 person group, right? Get smoked when we first start. Improve our gear, discuss tactics, and try again. Make it half way through. That's progress. Change tactics a bit more, and try yet again, and complete the heroic. Each attempt made progress, then journey was entertaining, and working within the group with the group dynamics is a form of competing against myself and my previous attempts. End result: great date night, much giggling and foul language yelled, and a memorable event that I will be able to recall 10 days later. Unlike raids where the entire group is using an add on, and I couldn't tell you about how it went the day after, except that we achieved the silly virtual reward. My enjoyment is the experience, not the loot.

I don't think add-ons make the game easier, per se. Rather I think that they stupify the community, but that has nothing to do with my personal opposition to them. You see, I feel that a game is a game, and meant to be enjoyed within the rules. Just as you don't use a baseball bat when playing pool, or ride horses to score touchdowns in football, there are basic rule sets for a game that constrain the players to a level of difficulty which is meant to enhance the experience. Requiring a tool to tell you to not stand in the fire, is not "exactly" making the game easier to play. But, to answer your question, yes, I also oppose inspecting other player's gear and stats. I was shocked to see that I can look at another player and even see what atribute points they have (aim, endurance, strength, willpower, etc). Am I butt hurt if it's left like this... no. Do I oppose it, yeah.... in the same way I oppose diet coke. (Seriously, you think drinking diet coke will make you lose weight, type of oppose). I don't mind being able to see the name of the item they are wearing (so if I find that awesome yellow BH gear, I will know that it's the TTRB-19A elite what ever set and can start shopping) but I don't need to know the mods you have in it. Trust me, as a healer, or well... competent player at all, I can tell when you suck, with or without an add on. But, reading all of the threads on damage meters, target of target, and such kinda makes me die a bit inside. Let me see if I can explain this in a way that makes sense to others. Sure, it's probably easier to use damage meters, but in my little head, half the fun of the game is trying to better myself against myself. Not against a print out of what I coulda/shoulda/woulda been. I've seen healers crying that they can't do this or that because there's no target of target something or other (never played WOW, so don't know the proper names of all the goodies used there). I head into a flash point, and heal, with nothing more then a common ergonomic keyboard and a simple 5 button mouse. I bind my quick heal to button 5, click on the raid bars, and pay attention. End result, I have focused on my game, my team mates, and the encounter, and had a great time doing this. Now, compare that with some raids in another game I've played (no, not wow, never played it I said) where the main healer had a macro and the tools to auto target the player with the lowest health pool. Healer then sets up, gets started, and totally becomes involved in some show on TV while we're all killing the boss. Is the healer doing well... uh, yeah, kinda. I mean, we're all alive and going, but the experience is some how lacking. It is this lack of community, interaction, and base level of involvement in the game that I would hate to see go. Easy, hard - it doesn't matter to me. But I play games for a specific escape from reality that I can sink my mental teeth around. To have the meat (keeping with the metaphore) turned into jello takes some of the enjoyment out of it, even if it's not necessarily "easier" to digest. I don't need to know if that hunk of perfectly cooked and seasoned steak is 12% or 27% protein in order to enjoy it though. Of course, I think that everyone is trying to make this a black and white issue, when in reality it's just a lot of shades of grey. Am I opposed to ALL add ons... no.

Try this, it works great! Once in game, his escape, click on preferences, at the bottom of that window, click the Keybind tab. Scroll through there, and find the option which has the key you do not like, and click it. Select "unbind" then click "ok". That key will no longer be in your way, and you can even choose any key you want to have that functionality instead. Literally less then a 5 minute job. It's a very annoying problem that can be fixed with almost no effort, if you prioritize it as such. It makes no sense to require a full development team to make this adjustment. Hope that helps.

Happened to me as well. Someone tried to get auto flagged off my AOE (actually my companion's AoE). It didn't go so well for them though. By the time I even realized it (why did I get a PvP pop up? huh, that's strange, oh wait, where's Torian?) their companion was dead, Torian was wholloping them in a serious way, and the griefer couldn't even think well enough to run out of the room. (and of course flagging me, flagged my team mate, who they probably didn't realize was grouped with me until then). So, yeah, the 1 v 1 fight turned into a 4 v 1 (2 players, 2 companions) quickly. Was good for a laugh. I've only seen it happen on Hoth so far. Not sure if it's a planet specific bug, or I just have been playing captain oblivious. Both are very possible options. Just keep track of who is around you, if you see them (yellow names), then go for a focused type attack. Avoid splash damage as well, as it can do the same thing. Yep, it's a gimp for those who don't want to PvP, but your only other options at this time are to rage quit, or fight back. And when it happens, remember to /bug.

In your opinion. In MY opinion, orange gear is the best idea ever. I can use gear that looks nice, do quests for commendations to see if I can get more outfits, that look nice, and I know that all of it will sit safely in my bank, and be modified to meet my character's needs for combat. I already have my tanking suit, my DPS suit, my heal suit, and my all around set.... and alternates of each one, just because I can! Who needs silly "clothing" or an appearance tab, when I can make my character look how I want in a functional way, while enjoying the chase of the modifications to put in it - AND supporting the crafting community while I'm at it. In other words, you and I disagree, and our opinions cancel each other out. Oh, and in case you haven't started the orange gear chase yet, lemme tell you, it's WAY harder to find a matching set of oranges, or even a nice looking set (i.e. not newbish) then it is to find a set of purples. Some orange items are loot drops from flashpoints only (at this time, I don't know if they will be schematics that are rare, or what). It means, for me, that the gear grind is diverse, I have a reason to do ALL the flashpoints over a few times, and I have fun doing it.

Oh add me to this! About trashed my group last night because the stupid companion popped up with my goods in the middle of a few elites kicking my hiney. I had my area radial up, about to Kolto Missle, and the area I was targeting was..... behind the window. It's interesting trying to click "ok" with that radial up. While we're at it, targeting through the chat box would be nice too. =)

:meekly raises hand: Yeah, I do it too.

MMOs are never created to be just creative. They are made to make money. With the games out there, a developer can get enough statistics to see that the market population (people who pay money to play these games) all gravitate towards one specific style of game play. The theme park, class based, quest filled, minimal grind, easy to get started in MMO, such as WOW, Rift, etc. Games with harder learning curves (i.e. SWG) tend to have rabid fans, yet fewer overall consumers. Games with harder skills (GA, PS, etc) tend to have fickle consumers (on again, off again subs) with small numbers. When you are looking at borrowing millions from a group of people, you have to have numbers that look as if they will make a return that is large. In layman's terms, the investors aren't gamers, they are money makers, and they will demand a model that will make money. So, are you really shocked that we keep seeing the same thing over and over? We keep buying it. With all that said, I'm a fan of the sand box, skill based, open world style of game. Yet, I'm also aware that I'm in the minority, and that logically, my favored style of game will not become popular until people start putting money into the "smaller" versions (which sadly are not as good quality).

When I started playing, I thought that the lack of chat bubbles would be a nice change. Make things cleaner, and more streamlined in looks. And then, some where along the way, it hit me. The game feels very quiet. The lack of social interactions can almost completely be traced back to the lack of chat bubbles (in my mind). There's no way to walk into a group of people, and "break the ice". Conversations occur almost completely in general (global) or whispers, and this means you meet fewer "new" friends. I can't count how many times someone has helped me out, I said thanks, and they didn't see it until they were half way across the map, sending me a whisper saying "welcome" many minutes later. Chance to make new friends almost obliterated by lack of visual cues.

I am one that sits in front of my computer ALL day. I work from home, and this is my off season. I also have a smart phone. I can't see any way that this would give the phone user an advantage over me. Rather the opposite in fact. While I am running crew missions/crafting, I am also making credits, and maintaining a decent bank balance. If I was ONLY crafting, I would run out of money pretty fast With that said, I would LOVE for something like this to be implemented. I only have one crafting skill. I've been desperately trying to find an item on the GTN, and haven't for days (Tech Staff for my Torian companion). If other players could craft and auction their items, my chances of having my game play improved (due to finding the gear I need) increases as well. I actually think this is very fair, and the game mechanics are already available to prevent any unfair advantage from it.

The customization kit goes in a slot on the companion tab of your "character" sheet (press C, click "Companion" tab at bottom, drop icon in bottom left corner where it fits). Also, with the companion paperdoll visible, you can right click (by default) the customization kit, and it will go where it belongs. You can buy new customization kits for some companions at specific planets across the galaxy. For Empire, the first one is on Balmorra, in the cantina. There are others on planets in your future as well (Taris I believe has one for Empire). For republic... I don't have a clue. Often they are in the cantinas though, so be sure to stop there on each planet.