I love this suggestion (not the only one to make this suggestion on this forum)! Along this line, I made a suggestion on a different forum about adding personal capital ships, something to be not as big as guild flagships but bigger than the personal starship everyone gets, to basically be a mobile stronghold, complete with all of the stronghold features (imagine the space vistas you could get from that, or the types of ship designs, features and color schemes you could come up with -- think Booster Terrik and the Errant Venture [look it up]), and it really isn't my suggestion alone: this has been a topic in many game chats while I have been on that other players have been excited about! Imagine owning a fleet as well as a penthouse on every world....!!!

I don't agree with hiking up most of the costs they propose (others' comments explain it well enough), and I agree with several comments that this will affect newer players the most. I don't even like subscriptions to things like online games (or lots of other things), and the only reason I'm subbed to this game is because it's Star Wars. It's just a bunch of 1s and 0s, but it's Star Wars! I'll probably cave for a little while with these new changes to see how it affects me, but I'm already considering dropping down to Preferred and save my money by not playing as much, because I don't have the time to play a game that costs me more real money and just gets a little bit harder with a lot of seemingly mundane (I use the term VERY loosely) but ultra-convenient features. It's bad enough that it's slow going starting off to build up enough credits to afford a whole lot of stuff that's on the GTN (yes, I know those are set by players, and from reading various posts, I'm understanding why a little better, but still; and yes, I know I can always spend real money, but I have a subscription, so I already do, and I have a family and a life, so "no"), but now what I acquire as a new character has added help being whittled down. You want "sinks?" Make it less expensive to craft stuff (if you want some sort of "difficulty" or "seniority," pick something besides credits), so that I can have a better chance to "sink" my credits (that you otherwise wouldn't be nickel-and-diming out of me) into cool gear, or even into crafting my own (right now crafting seems like a nebulous enigma to me, but I'm willing to learn). The storyline gear rewards are decent, but I also like some variety. Make the whole crafting-to-sell/use process more inclusive of the "consumers." Give players a reason to spend, not holes in their pockets! Today the GTN has gear posted at $millions that a year or more ago I could buy (the exact same gear) for under $1/2million easily, and that's a shame if you ask me (no one has yet, I know). Case in point, my wife teases me that I'm playing with Barbie dolls in this game, because I love "dressing up" my characters in cool gear (and I've seen others' characters with awesome outfits and very accurate sci-fi characters). Maybe she won't have to tease me about that much longer? When I play, I try to help new guys out, because I like the game, and I want to help them see that they can succeed at it, and then go on to play the rest of the material. I'll still do that, because that's just the kind of person I try to be, but I want to play the game, and I want to enjoy it as much as possible, but I've had no problem dropping other games that just became cumbersome to progress without paying more real money, and that's what I feel like I'm seeing here. I'm no economist, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I'm inclined to agree with all of the other naysayers that have posted about how this will affect the "wealthy" vs the new/"poor" players in the game. I don't claim to know the "silver bullet" that will work better/best, but I don't see this being very effective, or maybe the devs are focused on inflation somewhere besides where I see it being a problem? Read the posts! I see what these folks are posting about when I play! Good luck, BioWare!

That's true; they totally minimized all Leia could have been (nothing against Carey Fisher). I do think as well there would have been whining (me included), but I would have swallowed the pill at some point as long as they made a good story (screw the special effects)

I'm on LinkedIn, and I posted a couple of rants related to this topic, one about the sequel trilogy here, and later for an article published about Mr. Waititi's upcoming work with "new material" I wrote this. It's all on LinkedIn; it's not a cyberwhatever trap or ploy to ask for money, just my rants.

Thank you for what you do, what you're able to offer. Maybe another possibility with all this is to create an Operation that is multipronged (say 3 prongs), where players fill slots in each prong (minimum of 4? no minimum? combined levels added up are greater than 80? It wouldn't need to be about difficulty - I think some of the flashoint/operation ideas forget that - I just want a good story). Each prong would have milestones (not limited to cutscene choices, maybe also completion of certain bonus missions or main missions for the prong, like destroying something, that can make something else easier for a different prong/affecting the gameplay of the others (like a central hub controlling droids, gets destroyed, all droids/autocannon emplacements no longer work/go away in all prongs). It almost seems like you would be incorporating game/storyline settings into the game itself (or maybe as a separate feature?), so you can affect how everything plays out: make it easier by taking out something or making a choice, or keep it harder by leaving something alone, or making another choice, nothing that makes it impossible, maybe some choices you can somehow go back and change your mind on? Anyhow, If one prong is waiting on actions in a different one, then maybe insert something like a rest area to logistically tag players as eligible to temporarily transport (take summons) to help the other prong along, then dump them back in their original prong once the milestone is completed. I give up. I just wanna see something more productive with something like the "Family Tree" Legacy feature, and I would love to see something - anything, even purely passive - where my characters on a server can/may visibly interact with each other, stare at each other from across the room, show some moves together, share drinks, huddle and pretend to talk, spar, whatever.... And I would like to see a multi-pronged storyline so it can be something like a movie from the original trilogy where they did it best. I don't even mind missing part of the story if I get to play it again and try out a different part of the story the next time! *sigh* ...oh well.

I like this idea, actually! They already give us Tacticals, and they give us Customizations for companions, and Tuning and color crystals for weapons, why not a voice slot that offers a few modulations?

I REALLY appreciate your response, so if you don’t mind, I would like to pick your brain a bit more with what-ifs before I give it a rest, and let/beg you to (probably easily) shoot down all of it, but it will be worth the stab (for me at least; I hope you don’t mind/somewhat agree) 😊, plus I realize I’m just haphazardly throwing around ideas like there’s nothing to it, and you are gracefully showing me how much there really is to it. You make some good points (I didn’t consider those possibilities for a full campaign, because I would try to be a committed player who's unlikely to do those things contributing to weirdness), so breaking it into pieces wouldn’t destroy the experience for players like me (kinda what I’m looking for), so what about using framework like flashpoints, tied together like ET chapters (actually reminds me of what you do with the Ilum ending, only use the special feature I’m soliciting of multiple characters). As in flashpoints, if they drop out in the middle of a chapter/segment, then all progress for that story-segment/chapter/pseudo-flashpoint is lost and the segment is short enough that there’s not much of a loss overall if that happens, not too much of a drag for the user to restart the chapter (maybe they decide they'd rather use a different other-character... who knows?). I would guess (purely a guess) a flashpoint-length segment could reasonably rotate through say 3 story prongs 2-3 times. Companions? I see the conundrum you propose. I suppose one possible answer, as it might as well be for any expansion, is to significantly limit the options. You did this with ET, but you made up for it with later allowing companions from other classes to be recruited (thank you, btw). Just for kicks, let’s say this idea had 4 chapters; chapters 1 & 2 could have new companions (no choices), specific to each story prong (maybe some “unlikely-but-capable heroes of opportunity” that are otherwise very likeable [like/as if giving a lightsaber to Charlie Brown], instead of your classic genius/guru/superstar companions you’ve blessed us with so far); chapter 3 could be a wildcard chapter where the user can choose any companion the player has with no real story contribution (not any?), just so they can have their favorite/preferred companion(s) for part of it; and then chapter 4 could be back to the new companions to make it all mean something. I don’t know what it would take to cross streams with characters (maybe you’ll easily dash my dreams with this point alone), but (and maybe this should be obvious; I don’t try to insult your intelligence - sorry btw) perhaps establish a “main” prong of each chapter that would default to the character that’s logged in (I guess it would have to be their story, wouldn’t it? to make it easy [like I would know what's easy] the other characters would have to do their own story as the main in their own login, as if stories where they were secondaries for other characters never happen), the not-logged in characters (maybe some kind of eligibility filter - if its even needed - not too difficult to achieve [help newbs kinda know what they’re doing, right?]) would be eligible for the other roles in the chapter. As much as I’m shooting for the moon here, I’d even settle for being only allowed one alternate character (2-prongs, but whatever)! I'm afraid you're just gonna come back with, "it's just not going to work," and not worth explaining why (and I won't hate you for that), but if not, I'll be absolutely thrilled, even if it still won't work!!

One thing Star Wars is known for is story content moving along on multiple fronts, especially during battles (best classic example is Return of the Jedi: Throne Room, Endor, Space Battle - no surprise; you get the idea, also happens in the better novels). Idea: what about a storyline that utilizes a user's own multiple characters on a server (maybe two Force-users and two Techs for instance, or maybe not limited to that sort of balance, if that's not too complicated - but perhaps four or less characters so F2P can use it), and they each have key pieces in separate "prongs" to the same storyline (seems reasonable since you already manage to basically streamline all of the character classes into the same storyline once you hit the expansions), albeit separate enough from each other that they know each other exist (flesh out the "family tree" legacy aspect somewhat... maybe, might even be fun to choose responses for multiple characters in the same conversation a time or two... but that's closer to wishful thinking than the rest of this idea) and some of their choices in their respective arenas affect the direction of the storyline for the others, storyline-wise maybe a tug-of-war between 2-4 possible final confrontations. The final culmination (however that plays out, even if you just script it one way instead of 4) could be staged and sequenced, one stage for each character that builds to/sets the stage for successive stages for the other characters (to keep them logistically separate) until the final stage, that being a culmination/showdown with the last character. The idea is to do something operation-like, but with your own characters so you can do it solo, and even walk away in the middle (unlike flashpoints), and it's fun because it's dynamic interaction with the story. You (the developers) sort of do this with the Eternal Throne stories, except you control the other "prongs" with cut scenes (and I love the variation in the story it provides), and there we just flesh out our solo character's part in it when it's our turn to play. With this idea, the storyline itself that we get to interact with is more dynamic (already mentioned that, I know, but it bears repeating, and it beats literally running to literally every key point in the story)!

I like your list. Might as well keep the list going: Nomi Sunrider (captured in SWTOR with the noetikons), Darth Zannah; dozens of secondary female characters were anything but weak, like Winter Celchu; Aurra Sing made it into Clone Wars, even "newer" characters like Vestara Kai. There's a reason these EU characters (especially female ones) have shown up in Celebrations & conventions, and its not because those characters sucked!! I have more than half a mind to say these movie makers care more about making movies than joining the "family" of Star Wars! Being hired doesn't make you a fan, and if you're not a real fan (not just excited because you get to have a SW movie with your name on it), please go make different movies; I'd rather go without than know another just-because-you-can-make-it episode comes out! Tell the dang story! Like I have said before, someone started it for you; I really don't think they'll mind you continuing to fill gaps (they already loved it, and you can still draw more fans), developing already-loved characters (you bought the rights for Pete's sake), even mildly redefining them like the poster before me suggested (we might still gripe about it, but if we can see the character we came to love in the character you present, we'll get over it... the characters in the sequels we got felt more like severe redefining). A columnist recently had the gall to suggest to fans-since-childhood like me that maybe its time to let it all go with all the "change" happening... I would think you'd want to add to the fanbase, not rotate people through; how's that ever going to be successful? I apologize for the extra rant (believe me, I have more). If you bothered to read all of this, you're probably amazing!

I believe you're on to something. In the Expanded Universe there were a few hundred novels, most of which were in a series or trilogy, so someone in Disney caught onto the pattern that was working (thank you Mr. Filoni). I think it's laughable that Lucasfilm Ltd. had a good thing going putting out novel after novel, expanding more and more story, more new characters that every fan loved... the authors knew how to make the story (even with continuity errors I feel they did a fantastic job), and all Disney had to do was resume; but instead they decided to start over. Directors for reported upcoming films are saying expanding the Skywalker Saga would make for a very short story (reminder: hundreds of novels pre-Disney), and I read about this and dread that I may one day soon end up joining my Dad who declared he'd seen his last Star Wars movie after episode vii.

I love the capital ship idea! From talking with other players, this is actually a popular idea! I mean you give us a stronghold and a starship, and capital ships for guilds; why not maybe a smaller class capital ship that functions with a legacy (for instance) to provide more personalized "assistance" to the legacy, not quite (maybe even not nearly) as nice as a guild ship, but better and/or more functions than the personal starship (you kinda do this with the Gravestone, but no personalization options there). This could even open up giving better guild perks to differentiate between the two starships without rendering either ship pointless, and the perks for the legacy ship could be more applicable (only applicable? to help with balance?) when in orbit above the planet the character is visiting (which might be a little tedious, unless you keep perks universal otherwise), maybe also comparable to the planet's orbital space station (dock there in your starship's hanger instead of at the orbital station), but personalizable (décor like strongholds [maybe not as much space], outer color?) and mobile (obviously). I guess it would be sort of like a mobile stronghold with a slight tinge of an orbital station and a touch of a guild ship; possibly even microcosmically comparable to the Alliance setup on Odessen in the expansions, only much more simplified and easier to manage (unless you want to make making it more complicated allowable without posing a disadvantage to those who would rather keep it simple?). If you were to make them comparable to strongholds, you could work in a few different designs (maybe each design tied to a very few unique tactical specialties/boosts, perhaps depending the manufacturer like some of the character gear items) so players can own multiple small capital ships (maybe cap how many? if that's even needed?), like owning multiple strongholds (including allowing visits from players on your "Friends" list so you don't necessarily have to move your own ship around to follow a character if you're rolling through the storyline), and maybe even be allowed to "park" them together somewhere (like Tatooine's dual star system for instance, or also just somewhere in deep space, away from it all, like you have Andronikos describe to the Sith inquisitor) to present the aesthetic vista of a ship/fleet in orbit/somewhere, owned by the player's legacy. Maybe extend the Legacy Family Tree idea to positions on the ship, similarly not necessary to the gameplay but fun to work out anyway, or something like what you have done for the Starfighter side of the game with the crewmembers. Any character whose starship is docked in a capital ship and logged out while aboard would go with the ship if it gets relocated, unless you put in "orders" to jettison (another check box somewhere in settings maybe? or else a message box with Y/N option to jettison) when you dock if you want the character to stay with the planet/location when you log out with that character instead of relocating, or it will auto-jettison if a logged-out character is still planet-side when logged out and that character defaults to normal leaving the planet (not like traveling back to a world would be complicated: it's not complicated now, especially with the current mission log setup). On a side note, I always thought it would be cool to see my other characters on a server at least as non-interactive NPCs somewhere when I'm playing a different character (Nintendo does it with Miis). Maybe something like that could be worked in at least for characters docked on the capital ship, like an officers' mess or something; I mean, you already let us place companions/companion-holograms in all the different strongholds we own viewable by all other characters on the server.... Just a thought (maybe that's asking too much)! Who knows? This could even take space battles to a new level? Imagine using a star destroyer in a space battle instead of (or even instead of just) your starship, or perhaps missions designed specifically for both, making capital ship upgrades functional for tactical support, helpful if not pivotal to the outcome of a mission! Upgrades could have tradeoffs (limit which ones, or allow only one), sort of like how the companions are limited to one of either tank/damage/heal ability sets, or like character tacticals that only have one gear slot. Anyhow, I apologize for the brain-vomit, but think similar to or a little lower key than Booster Terrik and his Errant Venture! ANY of this would be SOOOO fun!

I feel like these are supremely awesome ideas... and I have a few more! I would like to see a whole new faction, some form of "reject" faction that consists of classes of the "others," or "non-aligned." For instance: Padawan failures that find a niche away from the Jedi with their latent skills with the Force, not necessarily Dark Jedi (that could be its own class/variation, though maybe with a similar starting point), and/or someone who never got identified as a child as force sensitive (you've already done this with some of the companions; why not something resembling a back story - not necessarily for those companions - in the form of playable material?); this could also work with dark side force sensitives maybe hidden away by loved ones (similar to Ensign Temple's story, but perhaps with more attunement with the Force), someone who hides in the outer rim to avoid being confiscated or killed by the Sith for not joining their ranks. Actual failed or disenfranchised Sith acolytes who, similar to failed Jedi described above, escape failure's fate on Korriban (escaping could be part of the adventure, a little more dynamic than Clemral, Alif and Phyne, like maybe they were a little more promising - not necessarily the shining star - and then betrayal sends them off running for their lives) to end up in the same mix of Force adepts. Bounty Hunters who follow more discreet jobs vice the "glory of the Great Hunt," kinda BBA-like, but with more of an overarching storyline (kinda like chasing down Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I mean we sorta see that with Skavak in the Smuggler story, but that's more about revenge than "just a job" professionalism, and we got a small taste with Gault Renault). Maybe the antagonist(s) could be systematically eliminating something like competition for themselves, or preparing something comparable to a coup (something macrocosmic like what Palpatine did; you barely touch on this sort of paradigm with Darth Jadus, but in that story you find out in the end, and then you have one decision, do-or-die, whereas what I'm suggesting would be more akin to seduction, all along the way, like Palpatine and Anakin, but bounty hunters), that might end up adversely affecting the protagonist, like culminating in a choice to either align with the antagonist, or else undermine and defeat them (like Zash in some ways, but with the option to align). Smugglers who somehow get themselves into very, very sticky situations with seemingly no way out, except maybe to compromise some of their principles (nothing risque, more loyalty and betrayal based, looking out for "number one," but with "light side" options perhaps to give up some self-interest that somehow help to work things out, maybe a very dynamic/dramatic love-hate relationship with a companion, along with several I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this and several classic I-have-a-really-bad-feeling-about-this moments - maybe even being chased by a persistent yet patient bounty hunter [sorry, Rogun the Butcher didn't put up much of a chase, so plenty of room for material to outshine that angle]). Droids: protocol & astromech (support roles - VITAL support, not just mundane - and unique missions) or assassin (self explanatory), think R2D2, HK47, IG88, K2SO etc., for Pete's sake they made a whole cartoon series on R2 and 3PO back in the 80s; there's so much potential story not tied to much else that this could go virtually anywhere! The media and Star Wars "legends" (whatever "they" are calling pre-Disney lore) is replete with side characters that eventually received their own story, backstory or lime light: Boba Fett, Asajj Ventress, Mara Jade, and even the Bad Batch (I know, they're Disney, but they succeeded similarly), to name a mere few. I am suggesting that the established storylines in SWTOR in some ways set up their own opportunities for side/non-aligned character types, and my opinion is that all of the suggestions on this thread (not just mine; those are great ideas too) would open up a gold mine of material! I'm not even asking for credit: just give the material to play!

Why limit to helmets? It would also be nice to have a small handful of choices that vary the pitch of the character's voice, higher or lower, and maybe one or two absurd sounding choices for fun, just so it isn't the exact same voice every single time you play a particular class-gender combination.