Come Terror From Beyond, Denova SM and HM will most likely be slightly nerfed. However, putting them on the same difficulty as EV/KP isn't that good of an idea. The biggest reason why is that the operation would require mechanics to be cut. The mechanic centric fights are actually why Denova is a lot better experience AND tougher overall than EV and KP. I could see a reasonable nerf being to cut out trash encounters - since it's mostly just filler. 1b. is legitimately crazy, btw, unless Denova was nerfed so hard a group of 8 or 16 fresh 50's could do it with relative ease. If we use general MMO development progression along with what we've seen in SWTOR, SM operations 2 tiers behind the highest gear tier will be nerfed to the point that bugs will be non-existent and it should allow a pug group to complete it with ease. The gear these operations drop won't change, and in fact, the drop rate of items on the tier the operation was on will be improved to allow people to gear up for HM's 1 tier behind the highest and the current progression Operation. Considering that SWTOR will keep a tight progression path (for now), and that Terror From Beyond SM will be dropping Campaign (maybe), the operations for now won't be obsolete. People will just burn through them faster because they most likely want to make it to the highest gear tier as fast as possible. People still do EV and KP in order to get some Rakata from HM for Denova. People will still do Denova HM to get Campaign for Terror From Beyond. They just won't spend forever on each tier. Operations become obsolete when a level cap is raised, though. WOW presents a good way for these old operations to stay alive by creating a Heroic mode of them that has the level of all the mobs bumped to the level cap. SWTOR has already demonstrated that it's capable of this through flashpoints. There's no reason to postpone finishing an operation that long, especially when the current amount of content in SWTOR is very low. If the devs live up to their promises (but when have they have recently?!), then Denova NiM will actually subvert common (or, most likely, nearly exploitative and safe) strategies for Denova HM in order to make the new mode a legitimate new tier in progression. And, if people don't like that, then Terror From Beyond should be available at the same time or soon after. Honestly, if SWTOR wants the F2P model to work, they either need to provide big incentives for free players to subscribe or pay extra money OR they switch to a completely non-subscription model. Until the non-subscription model comes, Operations need to be severely limited to free players. However, a good way to get money from those players would be to charge a small (like, $0.50 per day or something) to do an Operation while having only Eternity Vault Story Mode available to do as a pug through the LFG tool if they never pay.

For nearly all world bosses, you need at least 8 on-level players. This means for Gargath, you're best with 8 or more at level 50 and reasonably geared. The Nightmare Pilgrim is the only one so far that requires exactly 16. Any less and the Enrage timer will most likely not be beat. Any more and the anti-zerg feature will kick in and wipe the group.

Bioware Austin hardly has the development and QA team to make frequent content updates if the rumors from ex-employees are true. :\ Even then, a way to keep the game fresh without "BRAND NEW CONTENT" is to throw events in the mix every month or so. Unfortunately, SWTOR has only had one good event with the most recent being rather lackluster if that's what to expect for events every half-year. So, in effect, SWTOR is like this: - For PVE, it's a grindfest of one operation - For PVP, it's a grindfest of 4 Warzones for a month + - For leveling and rerolling, the non-class content is no more exciting to do again than in any other MMORPG. The class storylines, though, are still the crown jewel of SWTOR. - For roleplaying, it's dependent on how many people stay active on your server or how wide your group of friends are. Neither are going to look good in the long run since the number of people available for RP hinges on PVE and PVP aspects despite what people might claim. So basically, from a pure gameplay standpoint, SWTOR is a grindfest. It's monotonous. People get bored of it eventually. It happens in WOW as well, yet WOW has the advantage of it being a grindfest spanning several different raids and dungeons - which severely reduces monotony. SWTOR doesn't have the benefit of huge content. It needs more breaks in the monotony to keep interest. That entails either creating content faster or creating spontaneous world events at a regular rate. Neither has been done, nor does it seem like it's going to happen with Bioware Austin's current condition and EA's lack of marketing for SWTOR (how much a publisher markets a game, even post release, is a good litmus test of how much the publisher is willing to risk on the game). This leads many people on both the PVP and PVE side of things going, "Welp, we're BIS after 8 weeks, and I don't feel like leveling another alt. /unsub" Though, I will say this, Bioware Austin gave too many promises about content updates, then kept their mouths shut for too long when development goals changed. Even then, the apparent cuts in development funding and the QA department are too big to expect much out of the company for now.

>Want to play neutral character >Play a game with a didactic moral system that rewards leveling players with stuff if one side is chosen >Still choose to be neutral >Play with lower level *Relics* >Still complete the content with relative ease >Reach endgame >Endgame Relics have no morality limit >Went better then expected

For all classes, including Agents, they benefit from two main stats. For Agents, it's Cunning and Aim. However, all classes have their attacks split up into two different categories. Agents use Ranged and Tech attacks. Each mainstat will *always* boost a certain type of attack no matter the class. - Aim will always boost Ranged attacks - Cunning will always boost Tech attacks Each class will *always* receive a boost to *both* types of attacks from *one* main stat - For Agents, it's always Cunning. Therefore, with Agents: - Ranged attacks get a boost from Cunning and Aim - Tech attacks get a boost from Cunning As an agent, your gear should always have Cunning so that your Tech damage and crit does not go down. You should also collect all Cunning *and* Aim datacrons to min/max your damage and crit. Also, all mainstats boost damage and crit at the same rate, so there's no reason to avoid your Class's mainstat in favor of the secondary main stat.

Sub 50 PVP is actually more skill based than gear and class based compared to 50 PVP. Levels and gear are relatively balanced due to the fact that while low level players don't have the talents than near 50 players do, these low level players have ridiculously high damage reduction. Check out a low player's stats during a sub 50 match and you'll see it. You'll also notice that classes that should be "terribad" or "OP" are actually the opposite depending on player skill and experience.

As others people say, it's very easy for F2P to become Pay 2 Win. Yet, that's whenever a studio/publisher takes the easy *and* wrong way to implement F2P. The goals of the cash shop for SWTOR should be: - Gives F2P accounts the ability to access specific content they are otherwise locked out of -- And certainly do not force subscribers to pay extra for new content that is otherwise free for subscription MMO's. They're paying monthly for the full MMO package. - Allow for a lot of purely aesthetic customizations that F2P players have to pay for in full, yet subscribers get at a discounted rate due to the monthly acquisition of Cartel Coins. -- These can include: unique items (that don't add any advantage in gameplay), character and Legacy name changes, barber shop (with unique character features not available in the default character creator), etc. - Unrestricted server transfers can easily be a cash shop feature. - General quality of life packages, such as short time XP or credit boosts, shorter quick travel and fleet pass cooldown, etc. Anything such as selling Battlemaster gear is leaning heavily on Pay 2 Win.

Either or would work so long as the developers weren't keeping everything so secretive. The waits for more content should have been expected out of all reasonable subscribers. However, it's been apparent that the development goals of Bioware Austin for SWTOR keep rapidly changing. The first month or two, the devs seem to have the goal of creating more content. After 1.2 was completed, their focus shifted to quality of life enhancements (with, unfortunately, a lot of focus on Legacy rather than many other now common MMO featuers that SWTOR is missing). There was a promise for more content, yet it's become clear that Bioware Austin shifted their focus to F2P. There are rumors from former employees that even smaller, more immediate development goals keep frequently changing without much warning. This leads to a lot of projects being put on hold and nothing ultimately being finished. Because of that, I don't think even Bioware Austin could handle more frequent updates, especially with their QA department supposedly having been nuked.

It's not required, yet it makes everything significantly easier to manage and explain.

More subscriptions won't solve the problem. Former employees of Bioware Austin cite the marketing department being the driving force of the company with development goals and milestones being frequently changed without discussion. Departments aren't synthesizing their efforts to make a better SWTOR experience. The majority of the staff are contract workers who are quickly fired and replaced before their contract ends. Few contract workers are signed on as full-time members for Bioware Austin. The QA department has been downgraded. SWTOR also had all the subscribers and money it could need to start growing and expanding when it first began. The money and potential was there, yet management squandered. Unless someone new takes creative authority over SWTOR, don't expect much even if subscriptions rise.

Copapasta from my explanation for why I'm unsubbing, though I'll be a cynic and say BW won't take any of the suggestions: The game was fun for my 6 month subscription, yet it isn't fun to keep playing for now Do not assume this is because I don't like the monthly subscription model. If players, including me, really enjoy the content of a game they will pay to play. So far, the content is extremely lacking and not fun, hence why I am unsubscribing My suggestions to actually bring back players like me: - Frequent minor balancing patches. Classes that have been unbalanced since 1.2 are still unbalanced. This makes PVP matches won by class composition rather than role composition and strategy. Rather than the minor tweaks week by week at launch, it seems that balancing patches now only come from the 1.X patches. This is too long of a wait for most subscribers that did not pick a strong class - Better QA. A lot of major bugs have been released recently. While a constant PTS is not required, having situations where a fix attempt to Denova's minefield boss actually breaks the boss is unacceptable. There are too many accounts of this occurring - More world events. When raiding and PVP content is low, this is the only cheap way to liven up the game and keep people from feeling like it's a grind fest until more content is released. Events during real life holidays will keep subscribers interested and reel in any F2P people that aren't sure if they want to subscribe or not. - Faster responses to apparent problems. Low server populations were a major reason for unsubscribers until server transfers were implemented. However, it had been almost 7 months before this happened when there were low server populations as far aback as in 1.1. Lots of subscriptions could have been saved with faster implementation of the server transfers - Better communication. This is no time to be quiet about nearly everything. It's fine to keep storyline content under wraps, but players appreciate knowing what the goals of the devs are And more, but there's a 2k limit. Had my fun at first. Now for something else (inb4 see you at fall)

Their QA seems to be very bad recently. In this event alone: - The missions from the mail seem to be intended to be mailed when the content was actually active and previous missions were completed, not prematurely. - There is an exploit that gives you all the items for 5 minutes of work. - Smuggler Crate bug and all - Quests breaking and locking out people

An event like this isn't totally horrible. It's the first day so far, and I believe gated content is waiting to be unlocked for it. As other posters says, it's actually making people do things other than the monotony of getting on just for raid nights or afking when in PVP queues. However, the event is poorly designed in several aspects. The wait lines for objectives on DK is ridiculous. The Smugglers Crate (a time sink during peak times just to find one) has a chance to not give an apparatus piece. Rewards are lackluster at the moment. The storyline isn't fully realized at the moment. Plus, there's the fact you get missions that can't be completed through mail when the mail should come out when the content is available. Also, there's the biggest problem with this event: sequence breaking. I feel like I just ruined myself out of the entire event for at least one character by doing the autocompletion exploit just to see if it was legit. It was. I'm finished with the scavenger hunt even if 3 items can't be retrieved legitimately at the moment and I've recieved one of two titles available and a new pet. Hopefully, tomorrow unlocks something interesting to give me a reason to log back in. Otherwise, I'm done with the event other than to get a weapon for my Vanguard.

You get the debuff by either healing another player or attacking a boss that's already in combat with another player. The Infernal Council can be beaten by less than 8 people by having people kill their own boss then killing any bosses not taken.

I think it's mostly just matching the icon with the model, which can apply to any rifle (even unmodifiable ones). The Inheritance Legacy Sniper Rifle looks just like the bottom row, fourth column (just left of the author's name). Top row second column looks sexy, though.

It affects: Explosive Probe Fragmentation Grenade Suppressive Fire Orbital Strike Plasma Probe Corrosive Grenade would need to be tested, but since all its damage comes from a DOT, it's unlikely.

End game level 50 World Bosses have a respawn timer of 2 hours, while leveling bosses may have respawn timers from 4 hours to more. You can create an ops group by creating a party first, then right click on your portrait, then go to "Group" and choose "Convert to Ops Group". The minimum number of people required for most World Bosses is 8 geared and on the same level as the boss. Any more decreases the difficulty of the boss. Higher leveled players can solo many bosses. The Nightmare Pilgrim is the exception. It takes 16 people geared for EC HM to beat. Any more than 16 people causes a wipe.

Pull out your companion and put him in a corner on passive near the boss. Just stay away from the companion.

No, what you want it F2P and continuous Imperial civil wars. - EA

Grab all MK-1 Bulwark. Get the fewer Defense back with one or two War Hero Relic of Imperiling Serenity or Redoubt augments. Now you're ready to own face for Terror from Beyond HM.

Soresu Hybrid pulls more threat due to higher DPS (>650 DPS in a tank and spank with Rakata on mine), regardless of the slightly smaller threat generation in Soresu compared to full Immortal. Unless the hate abilities such as Crushing Blow and Backhand make up for the higher DPS Hybrid has, then Hybrid will always get the most threat.

They ideally do close to the same amount of damage, yet the biggest legitimate difference in PVE is that Powertechs have act as melee DPS in a fight.

Bombad Radio, a Star Wars podcast having interviewed Jennifer Hale, James Arnold Taylor, Sean Williams, and Corey Burton, had an interview with Hall Hood, now head writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic. [Listen to the whole podcast episode] Hall Hood covers his beginnings in video game storytelling and just the story portion of Star Wars: The Old Republic, hinting the storyline of Makeb and what storylines he did major contributions too. He was one of the first writers on the SWTOR project and is one of the few original developers still on the project and is a major Star Wars nerd just like a lot of the biggest SWTOR players. The Hall Hood interview is in the first 30 minutes for those just interested in that. Topics after the Hall Hood interview at the 30 minute mark include the Olympics and Dark Knight Rises. [bombad Radio's Homepage]

If you're decently geared after getting to level 50 (nearly all blues), attempt to run SM EV and KP. Do your group the kindness of looking up fight walkthroughs beforehand. If you're still in obviously low level greens, either: - Buy the Recruit set, go immediately into a SM EV and KP - Grind Dailies for armoring mods and level 50 Prototypes, go immediately into SM EV and KP Buying the Recruit set is faster, yet you get more money grinding out Dailies to finish getting level 50 Prototypes. Your gear progression should be like this: At least get level 50 Prototypes for everything -> Columi (Run SM EV and KP, then run HM Flashpoints to fill the gaps) -> Rakata (HM EV and KP, SM Denova) -> Black Hole/Campaign (Grinding LFG tool and other stuff, plus HM Denova) Getting as many BH comms as you can also help in getting ready for the next tier faster.

It doesn't need to be removed. It doesn't need a gear check. It's separated from the rest of the flashpoints for specifically allowing undergeared and inexperienced players to avoid having to deal with the flashpoint. That said, the majority of Lost Island's difficulty is in the mechanics, not the gear needed. Once the mechanics are handled by all players, the flashpoint is not difficult. Most PUGs I have with the LFG tool now end up with one or two wipes before clearing all the way, all due to mechanic check failures.