@ Eric & Team I'm very much enjoying the increased level of communication and engagement you folks are providing the community. The forum environment is feeling a whole lot less hostile and much more enjoyable following the recent changes. Keep up the good work

Let me know what you find Traejen, I'll run with ya. I have a Dread Guard geared healer and a 80% DG geared DPS and I too am bad at the game (but I relentlessly pursue mediocrity)

I can craft the 27 Resolve Armoring as well as the 27 Force Wielder Armoring As with any other member of Silent Council there is no crafting fee - just mats (Tips are of course appreciated ) Contact Optimax

Talk to Progeny of Sorrow - one of their members has the schematic for the 27 might hilt

The new graphics are fantastic! Hopefully the CTD's will be addressed at some point in the near future, but while everything's running it sure looks nice!

Silent Council won the draft lottery and we were able to pick them up Great addition I might add

Sweet! I stumbled on this a couple of weeks ago and got hook right away. (I've been experiencing a bit of withdrawal this week.)

Best advice is to speak up right away and let the group know you're either unfamiliar with the instance, undergeared, or both. Most folks will slow the run down a bit to get you through and as long as you're not wondering off or getting ahead of the tank, you should be fine. (Spacebaring through cut-scenes will help to make up the extra time for the rest of the group and they'll appreciate it) Undergeared is a little different, but if you know the fights and how to play your toon you should be ok. BUT - If you don't know the fights AND lack the gear to survive, you're probably better off running story modes and dailies to build up some experience and gear before getting into the harder content.

I really wish you'd wrapped that in a spoiler tag - The sudden trip through reality has my head spinning

Something's up with this guy since 1.4 because the run past him this week was mechanically different than previous encounters. During our HM run this week I was one of the healers and I noticed that BT did several snap 180's ending in either a smash or unusually quick swipe on his new target. His animations were either much quicker than normal or he wasn't winding up like we're accustomed to, because people were't able to get out the way, so swipe damage was well above the norm for us. Raid damage in this fight was generally greater than previous runs and was more on par with NiM than HM. We did 1 shot the boss so my post is more of a bug report, or heads up to groups going in with number under-geared toons than anything else.

Silent Council may be a good fit for you. We have active members playing in all areas of the game (RP, PVP, & PVE) and have a very active Mumble server. We a few Ops groups going at the moment; 1 progression group, 1 that focuses on teaching our newest members the mechanics of the Ops as well as gearing, and our newest, which RP's their way thru Ops and FP's. Our PVP is a big part of the guild (just check out the Shout-out Thread) with Panopticus, Dashto, Lamech and others leading the charge. Look for any of the names I mentioned for more info, check out our website (Silent Council) or seek me out on either Hoover, Carneys, or Optimax. Good luck in your search

I'd have to say that unless there's significantly more challenging content in the pipeline, I'm happy with the gear I have and would rather see more looks become available than I would more powerful upgrades. Because of the gear I have today, I faceroll thru the bulk of today's pve content (besides HM EC) and unless there's more challenging content coming soon, equipping more firepower really won't accomplish anything besides nullifying mechanics and make EV/KP and all the HM FP's even less exciting (if not obsolete).

I too would like to see some kind of way around the lockouts but only for the purposes of gearing up or teaching guildies. As a well geared player with nothing to gain from running EV or KP, I'd appreciate an option to either run the instance with no looting capability, or be allowed entry into the instance as a coach to walk alongside the team to advise newbs on positioning, mechanics, ect.

That's too bad, I genuinely enjoyed reading his posts because they were never canned, and his passion for this game was evident in every thought he shared. He'll be missed!

There're plenty of people playing, we're simply spread too thin among too many servers.

^^This^^ and ^^This^^

IMO the planetary level ranges has a bit more to do with gear level than character level. If you're lvl 46 with 80% of your gear "at level" you shouldn't have any problems, but if your gear isn't keeping pace with your character progression, you may want to hold off for a bit.

Come on now!! think about that. The Kaliyo relationship is fun because of its unpredictability and realism. I also think that making us the jealous lover, rather than letting our characters 'love em and leave em' beginning to end, is one of the high points of our stories. Of my 4 toons and 16 affectionable companions, she's the one I have the most fun comparing to some of the nut jobs I've dated in real life.

@ OP - great review and insight! Although I don't agree every last point, I think you're dead on that with the current state of end game, and concept that its possible to "win" the game. The game seems to be built around the saying "It's about the journey...Not the destination" and although the journey is spectacular the 1st time; the journey becomes a commute to work through rush-hour traffic by the 3rd or 4th roll.

Its a known Bug Although it doesn't show in the crafting screen it's available to use. (Just make sure you have the required amount for the particular recipe) Another issue is the fact that Bio Alloy doesn't stack, so you'll have to count your stacks in your hold/inventory and judge from there whether or not you have enough. Both issues are in the works to be fixed in 1.2

My biggest criticism of this game is the PVP. Revisiting the Resolve system to reduce the number and frequency of Stuns/Snares would be a good start as far as improvement.

Although I play on a PVE server I'd enjoy the scenario you laid out and I'd like to build on it a bit... * So I was in Kaas city driving along minding my own business - driving along - driving along - and BAM! >Establish "Happy hour" events or time-frames (ex. Sundays between 6a-9p) >Establish "Objective" cities for both factions (announced in advance) >During that time all players in (and upon entry) of said cities, are flagged for PVP and given the lvl 49 WZ buff. >When a force of "X "or more members of opposing faction approach within "X" meters of an installation, a planetary message alerts of possible enemy invasion. >Destruction of the front line NPC defender(s) spawn a system wide distress call, begging for assistance. >Capture of the objective by enemy forces spawn a galaxy wide announcement from the victor's leader (ex Darth Maul) proclaiming victory, followed by a Call to Arms from the fallen's faction's leader.

Ready? HA!!! We're 55 members strong (2/3's of that Alts) and usually no more than 3 of us on at a time. **Sorry about that, that didn't contribute to the thread, did it... I've been P/O'ed with my lackluster guild's sleepy nature lately and I had a taste for whine. (Probably time to find a new guild) I'm better now

My 1st character during the 1st open beta was a sniper, the 2nd beta weekend I rolled a tank. By far the story for the sniper was the most captivating, so as a result I rolled a sniper to 50 upon launch. The only regret I have with my choice is that the agents are geared more for PVE players than PVP, and I'm not dedicated to either camp. That said, I rock in PVE with him but I struggle in PVP, especially WZ's. Snipers rely on stealth, concealment, and cover to take out targets but need a viable exit strategy if they are to survive if one of those elements are compromised. Stealth - No issue there Concealment/cover - Flashing Red strobes activate upon entering cover blow it. (Offering a Light Discipline (go dark) skill from cover would solve this.) Exit strategy - Our primary defenses are dependent on being stationary with the exception of Flashbang. If that's is on CD, or the enemy's resolve bar is full, we have no means of opening up the distance to avoid melee attacks. There will always be a minority population, but if the Dev's want more players to roll Agents/Smugglers, they need to take a look at our stand up abilities and reduce our reliance on cover for self defense.

Great Guide - Sticky worthy