So very much agreed. That current system also makes it ridiculously hard to distinguish between bugs and features (because it takes a fairly large sample size to distinguish chance variation from a true effect). I imagine customer service gets a fair number of reports from unlucky players, and so has a hard time tracking trends that are true bugs. So they send back canned responses, which is more like salt in a wound than a helpful reply. Badness all around.

You collect some pretty amazing data on player behavior. How about opening that up to the community and letting us play with it? (An API? Armory?) Is there someone we can talk with about looking at data?

TorStatus tracks the status of each server (light, standard,... full). They track EU servers separately, and you can even check population by time. http://www.torstatus.net/shards/eu (Paige's most-excellent math is translating status numbers into estimated population, which I helped a little on.) That said... sometimes I think its better to look for a guild that is a good fit, and then just check that its on a solid server. A few resources to find guilds across servers: http://www.oldrepublic.net/forum/#guild-recruitment http://www.reddit.com/r/SWTORGuilds/ http://www.forcejunkies.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?10-Guild-Recruitment

+5 scav efficiency / + 5 cybertech crit +5 arch efficiency / +5 synthweaving crit +10 inv efficiency / +2 armstech crit +10 biochem efficiency / +2 diplomacy crit +10 artifice efficiency / +2 treasure crit +10 armor efficiency / +2 underworld crit

Ooooh, just got the chance to check the forums. I think the analysis is brilliant and clear - and a big hit on the general forum! (Thanks for the link!) I had a slightly different approach in mind, where I was going to model the population via the latent values from an ordered probit, using some boosting-based methods to validate those estimates. .... but that probably sounds a bit like Greek to most folks. Oh, and totally emailing you now. I love the Sanctum estimates, btw.

I don't know with certainty, but I've got a reasonable approximation. For a while now, I've been collecting data on server status. When a server changes status, I'll log onto a republic and then an empire character on that server, and /who until I've tallied the whole population. So far, I've collected data on just over 100 transitions. (I'd do more, but this stuff takes ages.) Approximate cutoffs: Light -> Standard: 500 Standard -> Heavy: 1500 Heavy -> Very Heavy: [2250-2500]? Very Heavy -> Full: ~ 3000 Since there are several potential sources of error with this process (how close to the transition I can be, internal rounding errors I don't observe, bugs with the /who system), those numbers are really approximations. I'm also uncertain whether they've changed over time. For a handy graph, etc, see: http://inquisitive-myths.blogspot.com/2012/05/population-numbers-behind-server-status.html

As noted by Heriana, this isn't unlikely. You'd have a 5% chance to crit 1 out of 21 objects. To put it another way, suppose that 100k of us went out to craft a 21 items. Of that group, ~1k wouldn't see a crit, and around 5k would only see one crit. If you assume that folks post bad results to the forums more often than good news, this makes for a fairly large number of "X is broken" posts on the crew skills forums. Unfortunately, accurately capturing the influence of small effects with statistics isn't that easy. Assuming you're comparing a baseline 15% chance to crit to a 20% chance with the +5 crit bonus, after crafting 200 items with the droid, you'd have a ~25% chance of seeing a bonus that was statistically significant. Even worse: you'd have a 7% chance of seeing a crit rate worse than that without the bonus. (It'd take about 1500 items to get a decent sample size... which even with grade 1 items is about 25 hours of continuous crafting. I did that once, and promised myself never again.)

If you take a look at TorStatus, they track the status of a server (light, standard,...,full), which is pretty close to the population overall. You can take a look at servers by region, type, etc. http://www.torstatus.net/ If you're not a fan of TorStatus, two months ago Dulfy did a survey of US PVP and PVE server population: http://dulfy.net/2012/02/24/some-numerical-population-data-for-swtor-servers/ http://dulfy.net/2012/03/01/numerical-swtor-population-data-for-pvprp-pvp-servers/ Regardless of where you look, for US servers, the most populated server is definitely The Fatman.

Since 1.2, I've run 400ish of the abundant grade 6 sliced tech parts missions, and crit on around 18% of them using companions at 10k affection, so well within the reported 20% chance to crit (15% base on yellow +5% chance for 10k affection). http://www.swtor.com/blog/community-qa-april-27th-2012 Within that sample, I've had streaks of bad luck. I've had runs of 20 and 21 missions in a row without getting a crit. It is just luck. Eventually everything reverts to the mean. (Personally, I feel better if I go ritually slaughter some jedi to improve my chances, but I'm fairly certain there isn't a game mechanic to back that up. Alas.)

Yup! The 340 mission discoveries sell best. You can get those from running the Grade 6 slicing lockbox missions. Yes. The current bug does not change the returns from Moderate missions. They were profitable pre-1.2, and remain profitable now. Abundant missions are still profitable, but their returns are reduced on crits due to the bug (though... if it crits, you have a mission discovery...). Both are safe bets on average. I posted a graph of the returns here: http://inquisitive-myths.blogspot.com/2012/04/slicing-lockboxes-post-12.html That said, because slicing is guaranteed long-run income, the returns on lockboxes are small. You'd likely earn more credits crafting, if your server's GTN is active.

Its because abundant missions return green lockboxes on crits, and white otherwise. Rich missions return blue lockboxes on crits, but green otherwise. Because of this, a crit on an abundant mission is a slight loss, while a crit on a rich mission is a huge gain.

Just to end this 'affection doesn't increase critical crafting' myth: It has been confirmed by the devs: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=1896308#edit1896308 Datamined from the game files: http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/Thread-Crew-Skills-Compendium?pid=10146#pid10146 And tested extensively in game: http://inquisitive-myths.blogspot.com/2012/03/critical-missions-and-companion.html What Grade of slicing mission was that? I've been testing stuff out and hadn't observed a crit without a schematic yet, but the Grade 6s take ages so I haven't run many yet.

Lockbox missions do not give augment schematics: at least, I didn't observe one after running 400 grade 5/6 lockbox missions post-1.2. Maybe the earlier poster was referring to the cybertech speeder / ship schematics? You'll get 1-2 augment schematics on crits of sliced tech parts missions. (So, more affection or a +slicing crit bonus will yield a better chance of schematics). So far, I've been fairly lucky, and have found schematics on 20 out of 100 Grade 6 Sliced Tech Parts missions run (with companions with 10k affection / 400 slicing). Slicing mission discoveries (like A Test of Intelligence) have a chance to return 1-2 augment schematics.

Just bad luck, I'm afraid. I've crit-crafted one of those items for a guildmate. Downside: I keep humming the Jaws theme when I see him approach.

You have about a 3.5% chance to not research an item with a 20% reverse chance after 15 REs. Ouch. That is some icky luck. (But still possible.) You can also use MrRobot's "super evil frustration calculator" to check this stuff out (my name, not theirs) http://blog.askmrrobot.com/2012/04/swtor-re-luck-caculator/

I did the math (see #191, above). Admittedly, I only ran 400 missions post-1.2 for that analysis, but given that the standard errors are so small for everything but the rich missions, and I can work around that with the math I went through above... running more missions to collect data... isn't the best use of time. Maybe a better way of presenting the previous post is like this: Average earnings by type / grade of mission 5 Abundant 5 Moderate 5 Rich 6 Abundant 6 Moderate 249.2381 368.2857 178.8148 166.3246 229.7692 (38.61) (57.31) (250.38) (29.95) (30.76) As for why this wasn't in a patch note... *shrug*

If you're on Po5, I've got the schematic and craft it for you, just send me a PM for who to send it to.

I'll hide the wall of text inside spoiler tags, but after comparing 500 pre-1.2 Grade 5 & 6 slicing lockbox missions to 400 Grade 5 & 6 missions run after 1.2, these are my results: Moderate missions are unchanged, and remain profitable. Abundant missions were slightly reduced, but remain profitable. Rich missions were significantly reduced, but remain profitable. If this change is intended, it is definitely strange that they'd only reduce the returns from green lockboxes, and leave the rest unchanged. If you're a pictures person, I put up a slightly clearer version of this analysis with images http://inquisitive-myths.blogspot.com/2012/04/slicing-lockboxes-post-12.html

Agreed. I'd really appreciate the option to use the old layout. These colors blend too much, making my eyes work harder to read the text, and causing strain.

Rocket Boosts - after purchasing the Rocket Boosts legacy unlock, the ability does not appear within my legacy abilities panel - or any other panel of abilities, on any character. Only my character that purchased the ability can use it - because it was automatically placed on her bars. None of my other characters on the server have Rocket Boosts, or even find it, in their ability panes. It is, however, unlocked in their Legacy Window. Anyone else having this issue, or figured out how to resolve it?

I had one companion running a 340 slicing mission before the shutdown. On login, I got the new slicing materials - Advanced Neural Augmentor / Subelectronic Data Module. No clue what would happen if I was running more than one, though.

http://feature.mmosite.com/swtor/companion_customizations_guide.shtml Has images of the looks and a description of where to purchase each (scroll to bottom).

About 6 weeks ago, a SWTOR blogger checked out the population on PVE / PVP servers by /who-ing players on several planets + fleet. http://dulfy.net/2012/02/24/some-numerical-population-data-for-swtor-servers/ http://dulfy.net/2012/03/01/numerical-swtor-population-data-for-pvprp-pvp-servers/ A few things have changed since then, but that is as close as I know of.

Welcome to endgame! Before you hop into flashpoints, it might help to finish up your class quest and do the belsavis / ilum dailies. They're great for credits, and one day of the heroic quests gives a lvl-50 armoring / mod / enhancement. I skipped them on my main, and it was a complete mistake. It might help to take a look on the server GTN - it really varies by server, but at least on mine you can pick up a full set of 126 gear (Tionese quality) for around 200k. If you want a guide... Geared at 50: http://feature.mmosite.com/swtor/endgame_gearing_guide_for_empire_players.shtml As for what instance to run first... HM BT is pretty freshly-50 friendly. The normal versions of Battle of Ilum / False Emperor aren't to bad either. My guess is a couple days of dailies and a GTN trip, and you'd be completely fine for any HM.

The devs have confirmed that affection increases crit rate. source: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=1896308#edit1896308 The numbers have been datamined from the game files Source:http://mmo-mechanics.com/swtor/forums/Thread-Crew-Skills-Compendium?pid=10146#pid10146 I've confirmed that those numbers hold up in game by tracking my crit rate on 1400ish slicing missions with a variety of companions. http://inquisitive-myths.blogspot.com/2012/03/critical-missions-and-companion.html