Here's a critical issue I've been waiting to hear an answer to: Ability channeling -> activation -> animation bugs! Problem: Frequently, mixing up instant-use abilities with those that have activation times/are channeled will result in one or more of the abilities getting totally munched, (i.e. resources are consumed, specific cooldowns activate, GCD activates, channel/activation progress bar appears, animation at least starts if not completes - but the ability has absolutely no effect whatsoever). Munched damage abilities will cause no damage; CCs will completely fail to apply their snare/stun/etc; heals won't heal, etc. etc. This has been going on for a long time, and server -> client latency and packet drops have even been ruled out as possible causes (though there are some very plausible theories circulating as to what might be causing it, ranging from ability queue malfunctions to engine limitations). Ultimately, it forces expert players to play at much lower levels of efficiency in order to avoid wasting abilities left and right. Fortunately, there isn't enough in the way of challenging PvE content yet for this to be completely game-breaking in that regard - but it does completely wreck PvP for those who--completely reasonably--expect their skill to be the only limiting factor in any given encounter. Most casuals don't manage their rotations tightly enough to notice, but all the power gamers I know have been religiously submitting bug reports on this issue since beta - yet I have yet to see any mention of a planned fix, or even acknowledgment of the problem. There are still dozens of active threads on this bug, but afaik it's being ignored.

I can confirm this. Unfortunately I never played with Cybertech in the beta at all, so I don't know if this is a recent change/new bug or if it's always been that way.

Hey folks, has anybody successfully RE'd any Cybertech space upgrades? I've got a couple dozen stacks of Mullinine that I have no more use for, and I was thinking about blowing some to see if any of the low-level prototype upgrades can be RE'd into artifacts for the new toons - but before I potentially throw away a few hundred thousand credits worth of product, figured I should ask first =p Please don't recycle hearsay or rumor; I'm specifically looking for people who've done it themselves - and please provide exact item names of the finished products (if they exist). Thanks!

For anyone ordering through Amazon in the USA; if your shipping arrival date got bumped further away since you originally placed your order (for example, if you chose the super-saver free shipping when preordering, your order probably says delivery now due after the 25th rather than at or before the 22nd), I strongly recommend chatting with a customer service rep (the fastest way to get ahold of someone is live online). Why? -- They're currently doing reduced-cost (and in some cases free) upgrades to expedited shipping for most, if not all, people who contact them about SWTOR orders before December 25, even if you are ineligible to modify your orders through your account due to how close the ship date is. Make sure you explicitly ask for the shipping upgrade at a *discount*, as it's strictly an "internal" thing - if you don't, they will do the standard procedure and charge you normally for the upgrade. You may need to ask for a supervisor/senior rep if you get somebody who isn't in the loop on this. Take advantage of it fast if you're gonna - I have no idea how long it will last, and neither did the very helpful senior rep I talked to. In any case, I doubt the deal will be around for more than a few days.

It seems a lot of people still haven't realized the fact that--if there actually is any kind of general order to these proceedings at all--your preorder code activation date is not the only factor determining when your early access begins, i.e. your place in the queue. This is verifiable (with video) through numerous trusted online gaming sites and blogs, as well as the personal experiences of countless random people (including myself). If you haven't already heard this, google it; the first verifiable source I was able to find went live about 20 minutes after the first wave. It's just been snowballing since then. The most constructive thing to do while you wait would be to call Bioware CS, repeatedly, and ask why your preorder early access slot has been given to somebody who redeemed their code much later than you did (assuming, of course, you redeemed yours early; so far, people with redemption dates as late as September have been confirmed to have been granted early access today). Obviously you aren't going to actually be granted the early access you should already have, but it sends a clear message that the playerbase expects accountability for promises made--and broken--on this scale. Happy gaming when you do finally get in!

Hrmm... well, so far, my sister and two buddies are currently in-game now; she activated her preorder on 8/25, and both friends in late September. I activated my preorder long before them, and have yet to receive my early access code Thankfully, I got to play a few weeks of beta using... alternative... means, but if I were one of the many people waiting to experience the game for the first time via early access--and who're counting on their individual early access date actually being based on when they used their preorder code--I'd be pretty pissed (if not surprised) right about now - since that's clearly not how the prioritization is happening. It's not just this wave, either, but I'm sure most of us know that by now. If you want to help prevent this "unfortunate oversight" (usage of that term based on my predicting the future, of course) from happening again, I recommend anybody with preorder code activation dates prior to September (or later, if you're sure that somebody with a later activation date is in-game now) get on your phones and kindly ask the CS department why folks with much later dates than you are nevertheless being given your early access slot. No - you're not going to actually get the early access that you should, so don't think that; you'll simply be punctuating their mistake here - taking the red highlighter to their uncrossed "t," so to speak. Because, unless I've missed a dev post in the minute or two it took to write this, Bioware must just obviously... not realize it yet! Yeah, that's definitely what's going on. "Solely" : Bioware as "Soon" : Blizzard? Jeez, I hope not. Seriously, though, this fiasco IS quite disappointing However... seeing as how it is the legend responsible for Baldur's Gate, Bioware gets a free pass in my book, at least -- though just this once.