Ditto. If the western shelf still flags you like it does now, I'll never go in there. I've been in the game since the head start and I've done exactly one warzone in all that time. I just don't enjoy pvp (in any game), I'm not competitive like that. I hated having to go into the Outlaw's Den for the Rakghoul world boss to get the containment title. I currently hate going into the Outlaw's Den for the HK park. So there's no way in the world I'm going into the flagged area on Ilum to do anything. I do not pvp, period. And I never will. So on one hand I'm disappointed that there's an interesting looking aspect of the game that it appears I will be completely locked out of, but on the other hand I do hope it's great for the people who enjoy that kind of play. Mixed feelings on adding reputation. I don't really need to add more grind to my life. But I like adding more grind to my life.

Has anyone made any headway on this? I'm still searching away, 13/14.

Blaster wise, you can see the difference in your ship stats. Tier 6 was 100 damage x10/second. Tier 6 is 200 damage x6/second. There's no data given for missile damage, but they clearly hit harder as well. And as I mentioned earlier, I did Impossible Sector to test this out, the previous highest-level mission, and there was a definitive difference in the damage tier 7 weapons did versus tier 6 (I kept the old set to see for myself - reequipped and did with the old gear after using the new gear). Do that mission, and just fire your missiles at regular fighters. It takes 2 of the old to kill versus 1 of the new. (and as I mentioned earlier, 18 on the bonus mission fighters, versus 9 with the new missiles). Then run through using blasters. It won't make much difference if you're running with your power converter set to weapons, because all the fighters will die in a half a second with either set, but switch to shields with the converter and fire old blasters versus new. The new blasters with the new converter kill fighters almost as quickly set to shield recharge as the old ones did with it set to weapon boost.

Regarding New Cov, the problem I had while learning that one on the test server was that I was not wiping out all the Shield Satellites on the first flyby. I always seemed to miss one or two, and didn't see them until I came back for the 2nd pass. So I had to waste time on that 2nd pass clearing the leftover shield satellites. And that for me (keep in mind this was in largely tier 6 upgrades - I didn't have the stuff I have on life) was generally the difference between finishing that mission and not. So make sure you try and get all those shield satellites the first time you fly by. Don't hit the main target at all, just focus on the shields. If you can get them all down on that first pass, you have two more full (long) passes to take the center satellite itself down. With the tier 7 gear now, I can take down 60 or 65% of it's health on the 2nd pass, and have it finished on the last pass before I get anywhere close to it. (The other problem there is the swarm of ships that buzz around it, they can pull off a lot of blaster bolts and missiles if you're not careful, but that's not nearly as much of a problem with tier 7 stuff as it was with tier 6).

I apologize if this comes across as rude, but if what you're trying to do isn't working, then perhaps you should try another approach... I'm not nearly the veteran that you are, I'm no self-proclaimed 'EXPERT' that posts on youtube, but I did complete all 6 of the missions yesterday. And the only one that took more than one attempt was Thanium Disruption (that took 5 or 6, it was very frustrating until I figured out the method I described in another thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5563702#post5563702) One other word of advice: don't underestimate the new concussion missile lauchers. They're not weak little pea-shooters like we had before when it was okay just wasting them on fighters. Because they weren't really good for much else. They hit much, much harder than the old missiles. Just ran Impossible Sector a couple of times to verify what I assumed I had figured out while I was running the heroic missions, and this is what I found: It takes 18 of the old missiles to kill an ace plug-6 fighter. Takes 9 new missiles. Something else I verified: with the new tier 7 stuff, your blasters are not much less powerful with your power converter set to shields than your tier 6 blasters were with your old power converter set to blasters. Using Impossible Sector, it took 4 bolts with the old blasters/pc to kill a fighter. It also takes 4 bolts with the new blasters, and the pc set to shields. Which outlines the other big lesson I learned doing the heroic missions with the new gear: you can now kill fighters using your blasters with your power converter set to shields. You don't need to use missiles to do that any more (or if you do still want to use missiles, it only takes one...). So when you see that big swarm of fighters coming in, you don't need your electronic warfare pod, you don't need an EMP, you can just go in with the PC set to shields and blast them away, a few bolts each. I can't speak for anybody else but that was, for me, a major change to the way I play these missions compared to what I did pre tier 7 gear. So, basically, things that I've changed in my approach yesterday, that helped me immensely with the new missions: - I use my power converter now much more than I did before, and in particular have the 'to shields' setting on a lot more than I used to while in combat, since it's actually viable against fighters using blasters - I rarely use missiles on normal fighters anymore. I use them primarily on hardened targets like shield generators, or defense satellites, or bombers, or sith fighters. - I use EMP and the electronic warfare pod much more strategically than I ever did before. EMP in particular, which is great for softening up multiple targets (generally Frigates grouped together) before I finish them off with missiles. Maybe that won't work for you. But I'd give it a try. 'cause it definitely worked for me. Got me through every mission and 13 of the 14 bonus missions in the codex (I wish I could figure out what #14 is )

Unfortunately I'm in exactly the same boat. 13/14. I've tried taking down the Minelayer (and I think I have successfully done so) but that doesn't appear to be it. I guess tomorrow I'll run through all the missions again to try and see what I'm missing. Including trying the Minelayer a few times just in case.

They're not that hard once you get them down, but they are definitely more challenging than before. The way I figure it, the people who enjoyed space missions to begin with already did their grinding anyway, and likely won't mind doing more in the future (especially now that you can get more comms in less time with the new missions). I think the cartel shop is really only helpful to people who didn't and wouldn't want to run the missions anyway (old missions or new). And I doubt they'll get a whole lot of benefit in the long run out of buying the upgrades now. Other than having absolutely everything. Which does motivate some people. The people that I think have the most reason to complain are cybertechs and people who saved up fleet tokens to sell stuff on the GTN now. Although I can't imagine anyone really taking the time to grind space missions for that anyway. So cybertech's basically. But me, I spent weeks gathering up 2900 fleet commendations so I could gear my main up for the new missions (Ironically I had just spent thousands getting crafting boxes when the patch went on the test server, lol). Does it bother me to discover today that people can just buy them? Nope. Not at all. I enjoyed the missions to begin with, so the grinding never really bothered me, and I plan to get gear on my other characters the same way. Stuff being on the shop doesn't detrimentally impact me at all. Nor does it mean I'm obligated to spend money for it. And I really enjoy the new missions. They're a nice, fresh change-of-pace from the old.

How I beat it: -activate the electronic warfare pod *after* the Minelayer/1st group of mines. Avoid as best as you can up to that point, have your power converters set to shields - once they can't target you, shift converter to blasters and start pounding on the shuttle (you'll see it near the frigate) - in the middle of the 2nd group of mines, just before they'll be able to start targetting you, hit your emp, this will clear the mines and take nearly everything on the frigate down (you'll need to hit the shield generators with a missile each, and maybe have to blast another thing or two, but it's mostly done). - as you go past the frigate, the mandalorian commando will show up, lower left corner of the screen. Start blasting him immediately, hit him with missiles. this guy you want to kill as fast as you can - if you get confused later when they're together, he's the one that looks like the PC Bounty Hunter ship. - you're about to hit the 'bad asteroid spot'. Just try to aim for the middle between the 2 asteroids, you can make it without hitting - once the commander is down, you can target the other 2 mandalorian ships and the shuttle (which you've already damaged a bit...) when you're able. basically, I keep my power converter set to shields when i'm close to asteroids, then flip to blasters when i have some empty space. You have time to kill everything so don't worry about trying to blast while you dodge rocks - you'll just get yourself killed.

I read somewhere that a different one(s) will unlock tomorrow, but I have no way of knowing if that's true or not.

I've always played them. They're always been pretty key to my method for leveling up, and the (previous) three level 40+ ones were always a fairly quick way to get some easy credits and fleet commendations. They're good for blowing some downtime waiting for a flashpoint to pop as well. I guess I enjoy them as sort of a detach-mind-and-play-side-game kind of thing.

New Cov Asteroid Field/Kanz Minefield is definitely doable as well - you just have to learn the ins-and-outs of the shield satellites. My tips would be: - Make sure you get the upgraded power converter, EMP, blasters and missiles as quickly as you can. - Get used to switching your power converter early and often. Use your EMP whenever you can, too (twice if you can in the time the mission allows). - You can shoot down weaker ships with your power converter set to shields. You don't need it set to blasters for them, if you've upgraded. They go down very quickly, even set to shields. - Not really any point in using your missiles on fighters. They're actually good for something now! Namely blowing up frigates and bombers and sith ships. - Be patient and learn the paths through the asteroids. This will probably help you more than anything else. - Don't worry too much about shooting ships down while you're flipping through asteroids. You have time to get them later, and you'll probably end up crashing. Just turn your converter to shields and try not to scratch the paint... Others may disagree but that's what's worked for me.

Once you finish all six of them you unlock repeatable quests for a lot more. I think today I totaled something like 260 fleet comms, a handful of black hole and daily comms, and a couple hundred thousand credits, all told. Obviously won't get that much every day, only get the starter missions once, but still, it's looking like a pretty good chunk of comms and credits.

I thought they were pretty significant taken all together. I'm just going from memory, from a discussion I had earlier with a friend, but your ship's health goes from 3300 to 4000, your shields go from 600 to 800, your shield regen goes from 30 to 40, and while you fire at a slower rate and have fewer missiles you do significantly more damage now (as mentioned earlier in the thread, blaster damage previously was 1000/second, now it's 1200 - and the missiles hit much, much harder). Specifically on the missies, don't judge them by how many you used on Impossible Sector or Ascendency Barrier. Missiles back then were basically useless for anything but killing weak ships while your shields charged. Blasters did much more damage. It's not like that with the new gear on the new missions. You can still use missiles on fighters if you want, but what they're really good for now is knocking out frigates and bombers and sith ships. And it doesn't take many of them to get the job done. One tip to save missiles: if you set your power conversion to shield recovery with the new upgrades, you can actually kill weaker ships with your blasters. This is particularly useful trying to finish bonus missions. So don't be shy about trying that in between hardened targets or while you're flipping through asteroid fields - you can essentially regenerate your shields and cut down on the number of fighters all at the same time now. I've even killed a few bombers that way, although I usually flip the converter to blasters for those. Another tip: several of the missions give you a chance to use the EMP pulse early on, and then towards the very end. Do it. If the mission's long enough for two pulses, it's probably a good idea to try to use two pulses. Anyway, in practical terms, on the PTS with 3 upgrades I could only complete one mission, New Cov Asteroid field. And I tried a lot of different missions... Today, with access to all the upgrades, I finished all the missions inside of 90 minutes after logging on. And 25 of that was waiting for my 3 upgrades from schematics to craft. Since then I've managed to finish 13 of the 14 bonus missions (I can't find the one I'm missing ).

Nobody is forcing subscribers to pay to complete the space missions. How you get the tier 7 upgrades is completely a matter of choice, between time (running missions), credits (on the GTN) and cash (cartel shop). Speaking for myself, I chose time, over the course of the last month, finished the new missions hours ago without spending an additional cent. And I'll probably do so again in the future, especially now that I have learned the ins-and-outs of the missions on my main (meaning I can complete them without selected upgrades, rather than all of them). And I think it will be much, much easier to accrue space commendations now than it was before, since the new quests reward so many.

Yes, although I picked it up at the same time that I picked up Operation Thanium Disruption. I finished them both.