Originally he wasn't even going to be summonable, he was just going to sit on the ship and never shut up. I mean, sit on the ship and run Crew Missions. But during beta people demanded he be usable so they could have healing companions earlier. Bioware met them halfway: He's usable and can heal, but he's useless otherwise

It wouldn't destroy the market. At worst, the market would remain exactly as it is--Stagnant in biochem. Bear in mind that blue medpacs, stims, and adrenals are BETTER than the reusable purples of the same quality. They last longer or have a better effect. In the case of Exotech stims, they both last longer AND have a better effect than Rakata. The mistaken assumption is that people aren't buying because they have their own stuff. The fact is that people who don't want to buy simply won't. Whereas min-maxers who are always looking to kill a boss faster, hit players harder, do whatever, will pay for the Exotech over the reusable. Realistically what I believe would happen if this change was made is that the medpac/stim/adrenal market remains unaffected; the Implant market becomes viable again as now not everyone has a Biochem character that can craft Implants for every single alt they have, every three levels. That leads to a double-standard, though. It's okay for some people to switch, but not others? How is this a fair system? I was telling people that before 1.2 Back when they were complaining that Reusables were so good that there was no market for anything. Blues were better! It was just a matter of other crafting skills being so bad by comparison... I agree with you--and in actual point of fact, I started my main on Biochem with that exact goal in mind. But I hit 400 Bio in January, crafted my Rakatas within that week, and have not crafted a single item since then--Not until just recently when I rolled an alt and he's in need of Implants. Now, I realize, some of that is on me for not crafting for profit. But some of that is also incumbent on the system, if everyone else can swap after 400, then why can't I? Just to clarify, I specifically stated that Rakata stuff should stay BoP. Totally for sure 100%, yes, stay BoP. What I'm saying is that they should no longer require you to have Biochem 400 (or whatever) in order to use the medpack, stim, adrenal, whatever. Just as how you don't require Armormech 400 to wear crafted and augmented Rakata gear.

Long story short, other crafts have been bumped up and are good. Specifically Armormech and Synthweaving, Artifice is a little iffy (Not bad, but not as good either--that said you're not going to get much use out of light saber hilts, so you probably won't use this craft). Bio's still good, though. I like Bio--but the problem is once you've finished your Rakata reusables you're done and have nothing left to craft, but you're still locked into the profession just to continue using them. *shrugs*

So let me start by saying, right off the bat, that I understand and agree with the various balance changes to Biochem from the start of the game until now. Bio was truly busted at launch and even with the changes made pre-1.2 it was still king of the crafts. But things changed with 1.2 and I feel it's time to remove one restriction: Please remove the Biochem requirement on Reusable items. Bind them on pickup, of course, but take off the requirement of Biochem 400 for Rakata medpacs, stims, etc. I know, I know, people are going to think I'm crazy but hear me out. Assume you're an Armormech and you craft yourself an entire set of custom gear--even crit on your gear for augment slots--now what? You can switch to any craft you want and keep your gear. As a Biochem you're locked in once you make that level of gear, switch and it goes to waste. So that's reason #1. Reason #2 is that the stuff that locks you in isn't the best any longer. Exotech has been promoted above Rakata, so people would still be able to make money off the profession if they stuck with it. So that's all I'm saying. I think the game has advanced to the point where restricting reusables to the profession is no longer necessary.

I'm a much lower level so my Companion input is limited. But I heal and prefer to use Gault as my companion. *I* tank the boss, he kills it. I just heal and heal and occasionally do damage, but Gault with an up-to-date weapon wastes enemies pretty quickly.

Yes and no. Yes, inasmuch as all the unlocks in your Codex are Agent-specific (ie: You won't find yourself having one left over because only Bounty Hunters can get it). So you should be able to get 100% for every planet. No, inasmuch as a bunch of the unlocks in your Codex are bugged... Like in Balmorra, the Heavy Arms Factory (or whatever it's called at the end), right by the entrance there's supposed to be a console to interact with for an unlock about the Resistance. Buuut it's not there! You can run into it and be stopped by it, but it's invisible and can't be interacted with. I'm sure eventually the unlocks will be fixed, but I'm also sure it's rather low on the priority list =\

I had a hard time getting gear for her and I really liked Temple, so I stuck with her the entire way. BUT, then I bought her a bunch of presents and got to 4k, did the conversations and bought even more gifts to get her to 9k and finish off all the conversations. Her dialogues are great! Slightly creepy, but fairly compelling, and wryly hilarious. "I'll be with you a long, long time..."

YA RLY! Sniper is one of those interesting classes in that it's really, really hard to play effectively early on because all your early attacks are so high-cost. Between Sniper's Nest, SoS, and improved Followthrough you (almost) don't even have to worry about energy anymore. Or, alternatively, you can go balls out on teh DPS and put yourself into massive energy debt for burn phases or in PvP. It's remarkably well-balanced in that way, too. As for Rapid Fire... Eh. I don't particularly like it compared to the 3 points freed up by ignoring it and the AoE damage reduction talent whose name I forget. But your mileage may vary! So if you like it, more power to you!

Play someone in Medium armor sometime and you'll stop complaining about Heavy Armor real, real fast. People need to learn how the game works before complaining. It's only Internal and Elemental damages that bypass armor. Take a look at the sheer number of attacks that deal Kinetic or Energy sometime.

I realize people are going to tell me to shut up because I'm a johnny-come-lately to the BH party, but I don't really care. I've played (and still play, but less so now that I'm leveling a Mercenary alt) a Sniper since beta. I was saving alts for after 1.2, once Legacy was enabled. I've been healing in PvP and solo-healing PvE since then. I don't really see the big deal. I know the picture will change at 50 when I'm using s--- gear compared to what's expected (Much as my Sniper sucked until I started getting some pieces of Centurion/Champion), but that happens to everyone. It certainly happened to me on my main, hence the parenthetical statement above. I've got to watch heat, yeah, but I fail to see how that's any different from watching energy on my Sniper. Everyone on every class has this problem: Resource management. We don't get to just spam our high-cost attacks. Good players make even a bad class look like they need a nerf. I'm not saying I'm a good player, I'm average at best, but I can get by in spite of my averageness. (For example, I hadn't even picked up Supercharged Gas until reading the OP. Every time I start to think I'm good, I read something that brings me back down to the depths of my mediocrity).

Stop using logic and reason! It's worthless and we must complain! The truth of the matter is that early in the game Slicing and Biochem were the best things in the game period, bar none, end of story. After a number of patches, balance changes, fixes, and so on and so forth Biochem is a shadow of what it used to be, but that's only because what it used to be cast a pretty damn big shadow. Even after everything I still haven't changed. My only complaint is that now that I have a Rakata Stim, a Rakata medpac, and a Rakata Adrenal... I don't really have anything to craft. I mean, yeah, sure, I could make Exotech if those ever drop, but meh. If I was any other craft I could make my high end stuff and then switch professions and not lose those items. With Bio I'm locked in or else all my reusables become worthless. *shrugs* Still good, though.

I've always wondered what was up with some of our rifles. Specifically the Columi and Champion rifles, which have not just one scope, but TWO scopes, directly in front of one another. So you're staring at a scope, through a scope. It's like our guns were developed by Xibit.

You're overlooking something. You're not just poisoning slaves for a quick death. You make yourself out to sound like a mad-poisoner who's trying to murder anyone he wants. Far from it, you're putting down a violent rebellion that's inflaming Dromund Kaas. They're not slaves any more, they're enemy combatants. So you're fighting an enemy army, essentially, and poisoning is a way of fighting that doesn't get your own people killed. So the poisoning is going to happen anyway, what's important is HOW it's done. I assume you did the rest of the quest and know how it happens--either a long, drawn out death that doesn't have any grand strategic purpose; or a short, quick death that ends the rebellion faster. I should also point out that there's another bit you may not have thought about. Aside from storyline quests, all these things are optional. You can refuse a quest if you don't like it I refused the one where you had to kidnap a force sensitive Jawa because I thought both the NPCs were stupid

Fair enough, I fought the knockback once in normal mode and raised a hissy-fit when they asked on hardmode (Jokingly, of course, we're all friends in-guild ). I didn't expect the fight to change that much between modes, let alone get easier. *shrugs* As for what to use with your newly freed-up point when getting rid of Rapid Fire, you might just finish off Explosive Engineering. Another 5% on Orbital Barrage helps quite a bit, especially in this fight since you can start casting it before the fight starts and get a nice bit of front-loaded damage.

Which one were you fighting? Some of the mobs are your freaking bane, like the guy with the knockback (forgot his name, I just know that I refuse to fight him again and have married myself to the Sithsassin mob instead).

I'm amped about the rated warzones. Not so much because I want to do them as it is because I get annoyed with how seriously everyone takes warzones right now. "OH MY GOD YOU GOT CHARGED ONE TIME DURING A 15 MINUTE WARZONE YOU BADDIE!" Now I can play casually again and have some fun.

I'm not entirely sure what I want to do once the patch goes live. I like the overall changes and don't think we're being nerfed, so that's not the question here. Right now I'm thinking I'll forego the two points in Sniper Bunker and stick those into Engineering for its extra AoE damage (I already have the extra endurance). Has anyone been on the PTS to see the effect of the new Sniper Volley? I'm not amped about the alacrity for reasons that have already been gone over a million times since release, but the energy regeneration might make it worthwhile. Opinions?

This. You can tell a good balance update when everyone is complaining equally. It's when one class is complaining and everyone else is gloating or telling them "Nah, it's not so bad if you're good." But, by and large, aside from Sorcerers/Sages everyone is just moaning to themselves. Having never played a Sorc I can't speak knowledgably, but it looks like they got hit something rough.

Because most Sniper PLAYERS are bad. The class is alright. Not the best, not the worst. But it takes effort to play well, and people don't like putting in effort when they can just Tracer Missile their way to victory instead.

If you don't like PvP, then do Hardmodes and Ops. If you DO like PvP, then get ready to have your head repeatedly kicked in for about a week. But if you stick with it, after a week you should have enough Centurion gear that you can compete again--and you'll only do better as you get even more.

So the DoT we have--THAT EVERY CLASS HAS--is gone, leaving our unique cast-and-run AoE and spammable weaksauce AoE and short cooldown AoE knockback, those all stay the same. BUT OUR UTILITY IS GOOOOOONE!

Are you looking at its stats at the vendor, or on TORhead or some other website? Because websites are notorious for showing outdated information.

I only ever solo-queue, and even as a fresh-faced 50 my single DoT would lock a dude down for 12 seconds. It doesn't matter if you're level 50 and naked, put a DoT on a Battlemaster and they have to twiddle thier thumbs and stamp their feet until it's over. That is bad. There's no excuse for being able to fire and forget and win.

One thing people haven't mentioned that might be affecting you is the range thing. Having such long-*** range is sometimes a hinderance as it means people break LoS a lot easier. It's easier when you have some mobility and/or DoTs to do that damage while they can't see you, but as a marksman you don't have either of that. This leads to a situation where you DO have that immense burst capability, but they slip away from you and the potential was wasted. I've noticed that the reason I have a lot of trouble getting the 300k damage medal is that I tend to have a lot of downtime between targets (exception: If I just immediately switch targets I can continue to do damage, but as someone else said, there's a difference between doing damage and getting kills. This is great in Voidstar where all you're trying to do is scare people away from the door, so any damage is productive damage. But in Alderaan or Huttball you're trying to bring a specific target down.) What this means is that you may want to consider switching to Lethality. It's a playstyle thing. Both Lethality and Marksman are valid builds, but they play completely differently, so pick the one that you like more. If you find yourself not doing so well with one, try the other and see what happens.

Just a request, can people please be more specific when they say a set bonus is useless? Just saying "The four piece sucks" doesn't add much when there are three different four pieces... This is really disingenuous. You're not thinking about how to put these to good use... Orbital Strike isn't a DPS ability in PvP, it's a tactical ability. You use it to deny an objective (which is something your second statement seems to indicate you don't think we can do) for another 3 seconds. Fire and forget in Voidstar and you've shut down that door for 12 seconds, during which time you can focus your efforts elsewhere. You use it to force people to move OUT of areas, specifically those healers and Gunslingers/Snipers who like to plonk down in a nice area (or out of LoS) and do stuff without moving. (The extra tick doesn't help here, but this is about tactical applications of OS anyway) +5m on Takedown and Distraction is AMAZING for PvP. As a previous poster said, you're not using it when you tunnel-vision on one target. You keep your eyes open on the whole fight and switch targets to that straggler who's trying to break away from the main fight to recover, or that healer who's spamming the same heal over and over. Tactics. This game haz them.