It was almost like having my own server. Now I see others occasionally. Player market is still useless, but otherwise Jung Ma is still the most open, trouble-free server.

Still happening at 8 Eastern: Login server unavailable

That is Wonderful. Good news.

Is it all as it should be? Shouldn't there be an avenue for crafted armor and gear to gain equivalence? Wouldn't it be better were players empowered to enter the most dangerous and challenging environments for the first time appropriately geared and at the same time improve the high end crafting game? You look at the complaints and half of them, I estimate, are about improperly geared players. Shouldn't there be an alternative to being a burden to groupmates until they have a decent full set?

</wave>This is not the sarcasm they are looking for...

How long does said buddy live?

Attempt to play all of them. Eventually at least two will fall to the wayside. Cancel those. Then, if your time is evenly split but you think you would get more out of either if you dedicated yourself, then make an informed decision. Otherwise play both.

I wouldn't define them like that at all. I'd define them as Employed and Unemployed. Each has its subdivisions, Old and Young.

The mindset that replies "L2P" when many players report something is too hard is a mindset that loses subscriptions for a game. Every customer counts. Many players are not interested in paying for more frustration and stress in their lives.

Whereas I'd say it is their storytelling in general that separates SWTOR from the pack: I don't get the emphasis on 'Class' as a standout example. Are the class stories good? Certainly. Must new stories be class stories to be good? I don't think that is true. It would be great if the class storylines were extended with another chapter, no question. But I don't think extending the class stories are necessary if the writers have something else in mind. I just want MOAR.

I wouldn't maintain that narrowing the focus of interesting plot lines to 'class stories' is a good idea. There were and likely will be interesting tales to tell where the plot involves the character's class, but to me the important thing is that interesting stories will be told. I wouldn't confine those to be 'class'-centric any more than I would confine any other potential more than necessary. There are many aspects that could serve as objectives toward which plot lines can lead, from armor to implants to weaponry, and so on. There is also the potential of adding epic talents, and other avenues that don't so much provide a specific boon as much as they explore the vast array of the lore. There are stories to be told that open a new planet, or delve deeper into existing ones that become available under specific circumstances, such as specific dark-side/light-side alignments. There could be tales that bestow lore for entire guilds. There are stories that could more closely integrate GSF into traditional stories and vice-versa. The big thing for me is the story, not so much the class.

If they abandoned the game? Sure they should.

I'm not concerned about a specific name. I'm concerned about a new player amped on finally getting into the game, taking an hour to get their first character just right, then having to spend hours trying to get a name accepted. I think that experience is a let-down, and would like as many names available for that new player as possible. Now you and I might be creative types. As a native westerner (now in the East) I do rather well using the names of American Indian tribes. But not everyone has a natural gift as we have, and they are just as well financed as the rest of us. Valuable customers. They should have as many available names to come up with as possible to label their toon and get into the game while they still have an excited, good feeling about it.

There is a type of gamer, according to Bartle, who enjoys exploration most.

'grats! It has been a very long time since I tried the space combat stuff. What can you get for those fleet comms?

Single-handedly you just blew away my argument that nobody is arguing for specific names. How much did the Bard pay you to post that sabotage? Just because a character hasn't been played doesn't mean it is on an inactive account. FINE, Robert: You win. There really are such people around. /disgust

Availability appears to be a very good reason.

Except I don't see anyone pushing for a specific name: you have an argument against something nobody is talking about (that I have seen). The position you are arguing against is a strawman fallacy. There isn't a good reason why abandoned names should be kept reserved for players who have clearly moved on.

Did he let the sub lapse that he endowed with his late loved one's name and the cartoon character he made of her? Such an emotional investment clearly wasn't present when he left the game. Why should it be more present when he returns?

Should exceptional cases force the universal rule?

How about upgrading the ship's valet droid to become a viable combatant, to include morphing its personality into something like R. Lee Ermey of Mail Call?

Is it possible that working the game rather than playing it is a questionable approach? There is no 'winning' an MMO, just like you can't 'win' the internet. Isn't the value of a game supposed to be in it's playing?

Why should he have to? Whyever would anyone want to? Subjugation should not be compulsory unless we are a darkside culture. Even if we often seem a darkside culture...

You must be in law, because reading between the lines isn't lawyery.

Oh sure they are. You are one the few who thinks otherwise that I've read. Bioware is superbly clever, it's just that they have this layer of overhead oppressing creativity, gambling, risk taking, and other brilliant but risky behaviors. Once it was only the imaginative Doctors, but no more. The great hope, for me, is that something about ME3 gifted them a powerful lesson about imposing managerial parsimony on the growth of creative dynamics.