Heh, lot of people don't seem to get it. Go ahead, vote with your money...but be wary; EAware determines what the votes mean. So, back when 1.5 million people "voted with their money" to say that they had found an excuse to not want to pay a subscription, we got a game based heavily on microtransaction cartel purchases. People voted "no more sub" with their money, Bioware listened. The game wasn't going to just fail so people could feel smug that their money-powers had gotten them angsty revenge--it simply found a way to profit based on the "no-sub" vote. Personally, I'm happy for them; I still find the game enjoyable, and worth my sub, and it's good to see fewer and fewer people having cause to complain about their monthly fee, and to see Bioware's profits up 400%. Looks like the game will be sticking around, and that's worth my sub.

Bingo! That's a MK-II enhancer behaviour. It's quite helpful, though. Consider that normally, the probe checks the location you specified, and if it finds nothing, a pulse from your present location is used to scan in a 25 meter radius. A hemisphere is filled in, to indicate the direction of buried stuff, if there is any. But, it's actually indicating a 180 degree range. The object could be anywhere between you and 25 meters away from you, along any angle within that hemisphere. If you were very close to the object, this could result in the player covering a tremendous search area, when in fact they were nearly on top of the object. So, when you are close, the enhancer offers a more precise directional range, in order to save you the trouble of scanning such a wide set of angles Odd little system to get the hang of, but neat!

I've run this quite a few times now and have not had this problem occur with shield carrier. That being said, I *did* have all sorts of hilarious wipe scenarios with my group when we were still figuring out the fight. We had both tanks get lost once, and we've had the shield carrier get the huge knockback as well (different from being lost; bad timing on getting the shield just as he does it). And a lot of the fight mechanics were initially a bit confusing to us because the boss does some threat changes entirely on his own initiative (when he knocks a tank straight up, he switches, then switches back--but he doesn't switch at all on a knockback). Combinations of those mechanics can cause it to appear that impossible things have happened. One thing I'll definitely confirm, however, is that aggro does not make you immune to getting lost. Shield-carrying should. We've had our main tank get lost at least 3 times that I can think of off the top of my head; we deal with it by having offtank carry the shield and taunt. It's a tough slog, but can be accommodated.

When Bioware rolled out the Cartel packs, many subscribers said "this suxorz--I don't want those and shall never spend a token on them <insert gambling nonsense>" Well... Bioware responds. Here are other, diverse things in the game to spend your cartel coins on. Things you might want!! Wait..we're complaining about this? Good grief.

The stipend isn't free, true. It's $7. Since F2P still has to pay $8 monthly to unlock raiding, unlimited WZs, and FPs, Bioware supplements the remaining sum with coinz. And, of course, with larger cap on alts, unlimited credit capacity, artifact gear unlocks, all of the original race options, etc. In other words, for the same $15 subs always used to pay, they get all of the options they used to have, plus an allowance of coins to spend on the new cash shop items. So it depends upon one's point of view. You might say that the "value" of a sub has gone down, since the core story missions are now free, so the value is brought back up by the additional coins. It's a bit of an overzealous argument, though, with 2 race choices, 2 character limit, fewer appearance customizations, no titles, no artifact gear access, fewer inventory slots, slower XP gain, no access to Ops, limited access to repeatable content, etc, to contend that "free" has devalued the general experience for subs. Maybe it has by some amount, but not by the cost of a sub. And again, you might also say, from a sub point of view, that $15 gets you everything you always had for $15, plus some new things. Still paying $15, regardless of where Bioware gets its justification for giving away coins.

Yes. As a day 1 ega subscriber and player, I am *still* waiting for quite a lot of players to stop whining. The notion that access to everything in the game should cost 15 bucks is foreign to every game that has continuous post-release development. Pay what you can and play what you can--you'll find that the 600 tokens a month goes a long way, and in the meanwhile there's a whole heck of a lot of game out there to be played.

I support cartel-subscription ideas. Might be nifty to be able to gift them as well. Can't see a reason not to; money is money~

It's a tricky thing. You'll find that if you play *only* class story missions, then you won't level nearly as quickly--in fact, you'll frequently be several levels under the mission (which offers a nice challenge). But if you do the side quests as well, then you'll be massively over-leveled (and certainly, if you add space missions, PvP, and Flashpoints, even more so). The first character I made in this game was level 50 by the time I reached Voss, and I did almost no PvP, no space missions, and only 1 Flashpoint along the way. By contrast, however, I've skimmed over many of the side-quests on my other characters because I already know those story bits and I want to see more of the class. And when I do skip side stuff, I quickly find the game challenging, and I find myself exploring the diverse options for gaining XP in order to make up the difference whenever I fall 5 lvls behind. So in short, I think the XP is perfect for raising alts and playing casually. If you're a thorough completionist, it'll seem way too easy for your first few toons, but presumably, the thrill of 16 side-quests per story mission will wear off in time.

So much noise, so little reason. Visual customization is a perfect candidate for Cartel coins. I find it rather hard to believe that subscribers should feel entitled to continuous free access to re-doing their characters. Sounds more like wanting something for free just to feel privileged. But I'd much rather pay to change my character infrequently than pay to unlock Ops, higher gear, etc. Quick tip to all subscribers: character customization is completely free!!!! Just hit that New Character button... I am a subscriber, and I approve this message.

The only problem I see with the community is in this thread. And these forums. I come here often, usually in the idiotic hope of finding solid discussion of stats, strategies, and content. Invariably, I find posts citing, out-of-hand, that the game sucks, the people suck, and the developers suck. And then the defensive "nousuck" posts. And then the "nousuckmoer" posts. Look, I never played an MMO before Swtor. I despised the very idea of some of the communities I'd heard about in other MMOs. And I do take offense to mean-spiritedness. Initially, even SWTOR didn't seem the right game for me, in spite of an enthusiasm for all things Bioware. But honestly, this game--it isn't so bad. I'll take credit for at least having come to the game expecting complete jerks. And when I see something arbitrary and offensive pop up in general chat...yea, I just ignore that person. To be honest, there's not a lot of it these days, and my ignore list is most certainly far from full. I *know* other folks out there must be having a tough time, but I just am not seeing it. I'm on Shadowlands (originally Corellian run, originally originally Mind Trick)--did I just luck out and get a great server? I *do* indulge in the ongoing Jawa-movie-titles marathons, I've got several toons on both sides, I joke about Dromund Kaas being worse than Mos Eisley. I run warzones pretty much all the time, flashpoints from time to time. And I can literally say that I've never quit a FP, never been kicked, and only left a small handful of Warzone matches in the thousands I've played (yea, guy who was running the huttball to our own goal and dancing--looking at you). From the posts here, it sounds like my experiences with finding decent people of a variety of skill levels, who just want to complete things successfully, is completely uncharacteristic. But surely a few others out there must be finding the game tolerable? Even, dare I say, fun? Mind you, I'm an elitist--proudly willing to tell people I was in 37 minutes after early game access went live, happily willing to indulge in speeder-summoning egoism, and most definitely of a mindset when I enter a group that I most certainly know what I'm doing in the vast majority of circumstances. But I'd like to think I'm not a ******* about it, too. I don't rage at people, I don't make the unrealistic assumption that everyone knows every tactic, strat, etc. And more importantly, I've met very many people who act in a similar fashion. So: sorry you haven't found what you're looking for. But before you go off on the community, I'll say that there *is* a community out there, within the rather vast TOR galaxy, that's really quite fun to play with. Wish we'd found you.

Active sub numbers? Is there a new submarine mini-game somewhere? I assume that this "active sub numbers" has something to do with new content in the game, and isn't merely an over-frustrated cry for some useless data to draw meaningless speculation from. 'Cuz if we're talking about "subscriptions" then...who cares? My brother-in-law is an active subscriber--has been since day one. Guy goes entire weeks without logging in thanks to real-life stuff, but enjoys the game when he's on. And there's non-subscribers (one is a friend of mine) who are on all the time. The flat numbers mean nothing; mindfulness of the game means everything. Head in the game!

That is the claim and it's correct. Sorry that your mind is apparently blown by your own failure to notice an opposite-gender romance, but I can't really be bothered at the moment; my male consular is a bit too busy sitting in the corner with a young geologist, making out. Dibs.

Bioware has already addressed this, and in a more elegant way, I think. They have provided an *enormous* number of XP points, so if the leveling is a challenge, you can do side quests (which have their own faction and local stories) and space missions or daily PvP missions (only have to do a few Warzones to level quickly). You get lots of options to over-level for content, and the game becomes very easy when over-leveled. (And in artifact-quality gear, with a companion, at-level stuff is already quite easy). For end-game story continuation, they've taken story mode Ops out of the progression line, allowing anyone in Columi-grade gear can take on all of the game's Operations. (And since hard-mode flashpoints--which are very doable in a pick-up group--drop Columi gear and higher, getting geared is no problem either, now). The game has added a casual, pick-up-and-play track, while maintaining a very challenging, coordination-heavy track. I don't think they need any sort of ludicrously over-powered gear at this point.

I would love to see a change implemented in the game such that FtP could Reply to any message. Would circumvent the spam issue, I think.

It is? I logged into the western shelf and found about a dozen people there. Went over to the now-defunct pylon in the FFA zone and there were 8 people having an arena match. It's like saying Outlaw's Den is a ghost area... It's there for players to make their own fun, and some do, some don't.

Yoda is a Midichlorian ...j/k

Exactly. We knew this weeks before the reputation system existed, *and* the cap still prevents further gains. It's not possible to get more than 1000 reputation above the weekly limit, which is such a small amount that it is nearly negligible. In short, exceeding the cap--as Bioware says you can--gets you to Legend status at...exactly the same time as anyone else. And you have to use...exactly the same number of trophies.

Sounds like a good idea. I'd personally love to see them add a way to list our "main," and then have alts listed indented under it, to better organize and keep track of everyone. But either way, the cap would have to go up; a few hundred unique members isn't necessarily an overly large guild, and with a few alts each.....

Players will now be separated into three level brackets for normal Warzone play: 10 – 29, 30 – 54, and level 55 Bolster? This is a huge improvement over 10-49...

With regards to the level cap, look at the page for the release of patch 2.0. Not the page for the PTS notes. http://www.swtor.com/gameupdates/2.0-scum-and-villainy So, it's entirely possible that the new level 55 FPs are part of the free patch. But they might be rather difficult without being level 55. (Or, maybe lvl 56 Columi gear will be enough?)

It does--and does not. The patch notes linked there are the "Game Update 2.0 PTS Patch Notes." And undoubtedly, everyone on the PTS can now reach level 55. But, we'll keep out fingers crossed. The statement I quoted is for the actual expansion, on the page where it's being sold, and indicates that buying the expansion gets you the extra 5 levels. But *technically*... it doesn't actually say that buying the expansion is the *only* way to get those levels. I'd love to see them included in the free patch...but we'll see.

Press release from RotHC "Test your group’s strength in upgraded Level 55 Hard Mode Flashpoints (Athiss, Hammer Station, Cademimu, and Mandalorian Raiders) and Operation: Terror from Beyond to acquire new elder game gear! The level cap increase to 55 is included with the purchase of the Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel."

Hmrmrm: "Test your group’s strength in upgraded Level 55 Hard Mode Flashpoints (Athiss, Hammer Station, Cademimu, and Mandalorian Raiders) and Operation: Terror from Beyond to acquire new elder game gear! The level cap increase to 55 is included with the purchase of the Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel."

I think it's more the idea that you think you've lost somebody who's tracking you, only to find that the sneaky professional has managed to pop back up when least expected. While it's technically teleporting you, it doesn't use a teleporter--it's a function used to represent your ability. Kind of like how you don't see them use combat medical probes to res in the films.

The vendors will be sticking around after the event. You may need to try to earn as many reputation trophies and helixes as possible now, though, to have the reputation level required to purchase the gear. Edit: Bioware has also called this a recurring event, returning many times this year.