Hi, and welcome to SWTOR! One big advantage of the Trooper is that all your companions use Heavy Armour - that means that you can let your companions use the leftover armour that you yourself replace with better pieces as you level up. Now for a few tips on Orange/purple armour and the way you can modify it: Be aware that as you level up and move from planet to planet you wll earn planet specific Commendations - these you can use to buy equipment or modifications (Armorings / mods / enhancements / barrels). Modifications are used in Orange / Purple gear and let you design your stats and look as you please. Keep in mind that unless you want to repeat Heroic missions every day on the various panets, or kill trash randomly there is no other way to farm such planet commendations. I always check out the vendors when I arrive on a new planet and make a shopping list so that I know how many commendations I need to buy what I want. (You often have to choose between a commendation(s) reward and a gear reward when you complete missions. I always take the commendation if the item offered is not a modification.) The planet commendations earned on one planet (Like Ord Mantell), can only be used to buy equipment/modifications from that planet's commendation vendors either on the planet or on the Republic Fleet - you cannot buy Voss items with Balmorra commendations for instance. If you get a purple/orange piece you like the look of, don't throw it away even if you pillage it for modifications: Keep the empty shell in your cargo hold (bank) for possible future use. Oh, and a big one: If you want your squad to have a uniform look, i.e everyone in the same type of armour, be aware that you cannot use armour with class restriction "Troop", because even though all of them wear Heavy Armour, and are employed in the same army as you are, they are not considered "Troopers". I just realised I could keep writing for ever, but will stop now. May come back later with more Check out the class forums and the role forums for more info specific to your Trooper/(Commando/Vanguard) and I can also recommend this site: http://www.dulfy.net for general information about the game) Have fun and enjoy your Trooper!

I have come to terms with my choice. I also love seeing the responses to this thread, but would like to hear more about other situations in the game. Have only finished the Consular story before, and am soon done with Trooper now, but am looking forward to slowly experiencing the rest of them (It will probably take me years but so be it )

All opinions are welcome of course. It was a good experience for me. Please share one of yours in return to elaborate

It is not often that I actually care about characters in a computer game but last night I was in a cut scene conversation where I had to make a choice and I spent 10 mins pondering what to do because BW gave me such a difficult choice. It sucked bigtime, and that is why I loved it. How often do I care that much about what happens to a computer character? Please share your similar stories in this thread, but bear in mind that spoilers should be hidden. Here is what happened to me last night: I have been levelling my Trooper (Commando) alt, and he is at lvl 43. He is a pure Light sided kind of guy, he has romanced Elara, even though she is a bit uptight, but he has also always had a place in his heart for Sgt Jaxo, an NPC that pops into the story from time to time. While not on an RP server I decided that my Commando and her shared a special bond the first time they met and thus decided to Last night I was sent to an Imperial prison and eventually had to So thank you BW for making me care about my character and Sgt Jaxo the NPC; that does not happen too often in games I assure you. Good job! Now please share similar experiences, people

I played WoW and AoC for years and have to say SWTOR has been the smoothest experience so far. I think they are doing a good job to be honest.

Hi, The server seems to be down. Information or preferably a fix would be welcome Best Regards StarDaimyo

Kinetic Spec 1. I believe other players perceive the Shadows as undefined right now; the perceived nerf in 1.3 makes many think we are no longer viable tanks (PVE), and "everyone knows" that Balance and Infiltration Shadows have been looked upon as semi-meh since launch. 2. I solo a lot (PVE), and do group runs (FPS/Ops) but never PvP. I feel the survivablility as a Shadow tank is good when I solo, but think that it must be a bit hard for the healers in FPs / Ops since we are victims of spikey damage. It is kind of sad that most bosses are immune to our strengths (shield etc). I hope this will be balanced out in the future; I want to tank; both solo and wen in groups.

You keep on contributing to the community, Iwipe. Thanks again.

And keep contributing; we should all help them expand the database so that we can all benefit from it

While I respect your opinion, bluerobe, I do not agree with you. From the interview: "Austin: Philosophically, I want each tank to be competitive with the others but have a different feel." I think this is a refreshing thought, and I think it is very nice for us who want to tank to have several choices of how we want to do that, not just in terms og armour type, but also of melee vs ranged. I don't see any reason why a tank must be a heavily armoured player in a universe/realm with magic (like in WoW or AoC) or in our case; The Force. And to get back on topic; I think the interview is perhaps the most detailed and consice information we have received about tanking from BW since release. That alone gives me reason to hope this thread will survive as a good place for constructive discussion.

I am married and have a little daughter and a boy on the way. I work full time and am studying on the side. I actively spend as much time as I can with family and friends. But I love good games, be it computer games, board games, role playing games etc. The little time I have for gaming these days is spent on SWTOR, as it has been since early access. I have postponed other games like Mass Effect 3, Diablo III, The Secret World (as I had Beta access) and many more. While I love my life and would not change anything I wish I had more time for SWTOR, because I keep wanting to log in to run flashpoints, do Operations, level an alt or four, do some crafting, try to get the Datachrons, heck - maybe try some PvP (I have never PvPed in any game previously.) All in all; I can't get enough of SWTOR.

Not very constructive in my opinion. Care to elaborate?

Yes. Nothing is saved.

This is very true actually. It is a very hands on post with detailed infformation - exactly what people keep asking for.

Loved that interview. Good going Tanking TOR. Edit: Have to say I am a bit amazed it was moved from the Classes-Roles-Tanking thread though. I have never seen a more tanking specific post.