The character I most identify with is Corso. Southern accent, idealist, clingy... As far as the farmboy, growing up we did raise chickens and grow a lot of our own food, but that's about it. I now know how much fun my ex-girlfriends were having by treating him like crap myself on my female smuggler. Damn, we don't learn. I don't know how the male smuggler is, but I'll bet the female is as good or better a storyline, just from who you can mess with. My female BH's story was... meh. Agent as well (female.) Same with Sith Assassin (female again- but all have nice rear ends to look at for hours.) My Juggernaut, male, has some other interactions, but none as good as the smuggler has been. I have problems, though, (as a male!) with female companion love interests... who came up with these fools? My BH absolutely rejected Torian. She's a wealthy independant woman who deserves more than someone who looks and acts like his most gainful employment (other than running in the woods with the boys) would be operating a ski lift. And trying to impress her with his cooking skills? "Wow, fire and skillet, who would have thought?" Please. My agent may be body type one and she has her own mosquito bites. She doesn't need a bug man. Someone pass the DEET. Quit scenting the crew chamber and eat your own jelly. Sorceror- the one I've relented on, and I rue it- "I'm your man!" Where are the Empire's divorce lawyers? Trooper, I gave up on. I couldn't stand her overcompensating voice. (I don't care who's behind the voice, it's -just-not-right.- I did find that her romance companion was... HAHAHA... no. For me, voices matter as well. There is none better for me than the female BH voice. Dayuuum. Even the trite responses "Let's not waste any more time." sound shmexy. (Body type 2, face 2, hair 21, hair color auburn, eyes dark green, complexion 39, skin tone 18) and the voice just fits. The smuggler is her sister, and has brown hair and slightly darker skin tone, and that works as well. My agent and assassin are body type 1 and the lighter voices work well with them too. (I know this is a tangent, but some voices don't work right. Again, the trooper female voice. I can't see it in anything but a body type 3 and just begs a backstory of trying to live up to her father's expectations. If her father was a John Wayne fan. And John Wayne fans often give their sons the middle name "Wayne." Now cross reference middle name "Wayne" with mass murderers and people who've had their things amputated and thrown into the gutter by wives and you'll see where I'm coming from.) Umm... what's was the topic again?

I'll elaborate a bit further (I haven't been drinking enough to think too much into it. Yet.) on the problems mentioned in the first question regarding the economy. When the game launched, there were plenty of vendors for every planet that virtually gave away mods, armorings, barrels, enhancements and hilts. There were plenty of quests that gave as rewards mods, armorings, barrels, enhancements and hilts. Those vendors and quests are still there with the mods, armorings, barrels, enhancements and hilts. Why is there a (supposed) surplus of materials? Because no one's making mods, armorings, barrels, enhancements and hilts. I'll argue there isn't a vast oversupply of materials, just a vast supply of overpriced materials because no one has an incentive to gather. If the market had enough reason to need the materials demand would go up. Since the economy is depressed, prices would GO DOWN as more people supply goods and the ones who repost again and again would have to lower their obscenely priced materials (Rubat Crystals at 1200 each? Really?) to compete. People generally don't flood the market with 500 boots they made while levelling, at least not in this game. They RE them to get the mats back to level more. In other games they disenchant or whatever to get parts for other tradeskills. Not allowing reverse engineering of orange items just passes the buck to crafters, who by and large aren't making the hideous amounts of profit off augmented items some would think. Suppose the vendors were removed. What would happen? Some small voice would ask in trade, "LF 2 Level 21 Mods!" and trade would begin. A crafter would take up the banner and see, "Hey, there's no one selling this on the GTN!" My cybertech has all the trainer taught mods/armors RE'd to blue, and most to purple. Guess where I get my mods... the commendations vendors. Those materials just stay in my inventory, and the ones I might have needed just stay on the GTN. An economy works or it doesn't. Right now we have an economy hand-held by vendor mothers that isn't going to go anywhere anytime soon. It'll end up in its 30s in a dark room in front of a computer talking about the economy in a video game before you kno... um... I mean it needs to develop on its own. Vendors need to be removed, or at least their inventory reduced to greens, not blues. What should be the crafter's milieu should be made by crafters, not a weapon given to players at level 8 or 9 as they leave a planet. Not a piece of armor looted from the lowest level flashpoint. Not a best in slot item crafted with 100 armstech, armormech, synthweaver or artificer. Hiding things throughout the world (Magenta Lightsaber Schematic/materials) artificially inflates cost and demand. How was the demand and price artificially reduced? By adding a vendor. (So to the person who asked where to find a purple color crystal, just wait, when the price goes up a vendor will show up to sell it.)

The economy also flattens out when new vendors are added that sell as good or better items than players can make (hint hint.)

Just one, and it goes across the legacy. If you're supposed to unlock it on all the characters, then mine is very, very bugged.

Since no one's asked, do you already have the same bonused companion unlocked on another character?

What? You miss the days of people asking in chat for whatever they wanted, "paying 1.5 Million credits!" two weeks after launch? Whatever could have been imbalanced in that kind of income? About 40 or so years ago someone I knew sent off for a book called something like "How to be Wealthy," by mail. He got it a week later, a little paper-bound thing that had printed on every page, "Go to work. Go to work. Go to work."

/waves hand "Force persuade is good. I will not be killed when I listen to the Force user. Move along, move along."

I agree with most of what you say, but I'll add that there are plenty of ways to get credits- people buy them simply out of laziness. I'll also add that in the past two weeks I've put augmented armors- chest, legs, head- from Synth and Armormech for 20k each on the GTN for 48 hour sales. More than half came back unsold. The already announced change in the future of adding augment slots to existing gear will remove all of the value left on making items other than a generic shell. Even if armormech/synth/armsmech make these as attachments (and the augments) that will make us one (two in this case) trick ponies. Provided, of course, that we even see the ability to make them outside a random drop and a random roll on that inside the latest operation... (WoW did that and aside from the most hardcore raiders who had a license to print money, no one liked having crafting gated to raids.) In my opinion the whole system has lost track and it'll take a radical change to fix it, possibly even requiring an expansion to do so.

Well, if we'd known that there was to be some bonus for it, maybe, but since it was near impossible to send things to same account alts on the other faction I made alts on one side and the time invested (crew skills at 400, levels in the 20s and 30s) it's a bit late to change now. And since the presence boost drops off compared to stats on better gear around 30 I'm already far enough not to worry about it. I also need the alts on the same faction since there's a 50 item limit on the GTN.

Could you give some examples? Like what levels you're talking about, or what flashpoints/operations?

Since you have an UT and Scavenger elsewhere, Armormech would be the way to go. Having other toons to send the materials you'll need will mean that you can actually keep the level of items you make equal or above what your character can use. But I have to agree, the best bang crew skill wise is going biochem. The only things you can make that are good are Rakata belts and bracers which are BoP and require crit crafts to make them worthwhile, whereas without biochem your alt will be like the brother you give money to every week (making or buying stims) if you want to do anything other than shelve it at 50. So far as Armstech crafting, there's absolutely nothing they can make that's BoP or skill specific.

This is what I do. It's much cheaper commendation-wise to make your own armor, barrels and hits since they cost 8 commendations. It's much cheaper material-wise to make your own mods and enhancements, since they only cost 2 commendations. As far as orange gear goes, I usually skip flashpoints at level in choice of continuing to solo. I go back into flashpoints later to do the quests in there and to farm items for companions. If you have several companions of the same armor type as you this is a good way to get the shells while levelling (which annoys me as an armormech, but since most crafted orange items at low level have a class requirement, companions can't use them anyway.) Note that flashpoint loot will have a bias toward your armor type, so if your companions have different armor type it will be hit or miss. Also, the first thing to check before buying things for your companions with commendations is the light/dark vendor, depending on which one (if either) you're building on. They can have good gloves and boots for you and your companions that are relatively cheap early on. They're empty, but you can use commendations to buy mods, etc. After those options, then I'll buy orange items for companions, keeping in mind that I'll want commendations left over to put in modifications as needed. Any leftovers I find use by saving for alts' mods later or buying mods/augments and selling on the GTN. On my first character I did buy the purple boxes, but all around I found that by being persistent with the GTN on mods and augments I could get more credits that way over time (and a sure thing is better than a pig in a poke in my book.)

I try selling them first. If they still don't sell, I advertise. If it still won't sell, I'll put them somewhere for alts/companions or try again later. Also, I usually RE green leftovers. The first reason is quest rewards usually offer the same level blues which are better at some point on a planet. The other is it gives me a chance at the mats to make blues to upgrade to purples which have a better market value. Also, if people buy your greens they won't buy the stuff at the same level you sell that's better! One idea to reduce the blue leftovers is to pick out which patterns you want to RE ahead of time- say, Reflex and Skill 7,9,11,13,15,17 or whatever. Stay online to RE the greens since those usually don't take long at all. Queue up your companions to make one of each of the blues until you run out of crafting space. Then switch to an alt. When you come back you'll RE the ones made, and if lucky get a purple schematic or two. Take the ones off the list and queue them up again when you want to go offline again. I did this on my cybertech/slicing/investigation alt (I have UT and Scavenging on my main.) While two of the three available ran slicing missions (the remaining missions usually being companion gifts) I'd have the third make mods and armorings this way. It didn't take long to get all the blue recipes and I've only got a few purple mods to go and about 1/4 of the purple armorings remaining. (No, I don't think anyone would ever want them made, I just want them all!)

The problem you're going to have though is once you get into the rank 4, 5 and 6 missions they take a very long time to get you points in the crew skill, particularly if you only have one companion to send. Even getting the ship droid will help in this case, and now that you don't have to wait until level 14 for sprint it's a lot easier to get at least that far. I have all 8 slots filled on my server, and all (but one) is 400/400 in crew skills. I'll send the others's companions off on long missions so I don't go crazy switching toons while focusing one one toon at a time when I need to run some faster crew missions or do whatever.

Yes, at least from other perspectives as well. Fewer sound files to assign, fewer to download for updates, and, unlike the voice actors currently used for player characters, they wouldn't neccessarily need to use the same people to provide new "dialogue." I don't know, though, how actor/talent unions would look at the idea of a scab Jawa.

All the cool kids at the Sith Academy smoke death sticks and wear black Leatheris Jackets.

Centuries from now your offspring will be an Imperial Stormtrooper on the Death Star, sent to check out a disturbance and find two droids... and be immortalized by banging his head on the door while entering the room.

That's about as far as I want to get into making a list. If anyone wants to take it from here, go for it, just remember where you got it from!

Medium Armors (Armormech): Polyplast Ultramesh- Level 50- Any Medium Polyplast Ultramesh Headgear Polyplast Ultramesh Jacket Polyplast Ultramesh Leggings Polyplast Battle- Level 47- Any Medium Polyplast Battle Headgear Polyplast Battle Jacket Polyplast Battle Leggings Gunslinger Elite- Level 43- Smuggler/Jedi Knight Gunslinger Elite Headgear Gunslinger Elite Jacket Gunslinger Elite Leggings Sniper Elite- Level 43- Agent/Sith Warrior Sniper Elite Headgear? Sniper Elite Jacket Sniper Elite Leggings Fortified Lacquerous- Level 39- Any Medium Fortified Lacquerous Headgear Fortified Lacquerous Jacket Fortified Lacquerous Leggings Lacquerous Battle- Level 35- Any Medium Lacquerous Battle Headgear Lacquerous Battle Jacket Lacquerous Battle Leggings Plasteel Battle- Level 31- Any Medium Plasteel Battle Headgear Plasteel Battle Jacket Plasteel Battle Leggings Hooligan's- Level 27- Agent/Sith Warrior Hooligan's Headgear Hooligan's Jacket Hooligan's Leggings Spec Ops- Level 27- Smuggler/Jedi Knight Spec Ops Headgear Spec Ops Jacket Spec Ops Leggings Laminoid- Level 23- Any Medium Laminoid Headgear? Laminoid Jacket Laminoid Leggings Gunslinger's- Level 19- Smuggler/Jedi Knight Gunslinger's Headgear Gunslinger's Jacket Gunslinger's Leggings Sniper's- Level 19- Agent/Sith Warrior Sniper's Headgear Sniper's Jacket Sniper's Leggings Agent's- Level 15- Agent/Sith Warrior Agent's Jacket Agent's Pants Rugged Smuggling- Level 15- Smuggler/Jedi Knight Rugged Smuggling Jacket Rugged Smuggling Leggings Drelliad- Level 11- Smuggler/Jedi Knight Drelliad Jacket Drelliad Leggings Hardweave- Level 11- Agent/Sith Warrior Hardweave Jacket Hardweave Leggings *? means I don't know it but expect there to be one of that name

Heavy Armors (Armormech): Electrum Onslaught- Level 50- Any Heavy Electrum Onslaught Chestguard Electrum Onslaught Greaves Electrum Onslaught Helmet Diatium Onslaught- Level 47- Any Heavy Diatium Onslaught Chestguard Diatium Onslaught Greaves Diatium Onslaught Helmet Commando Elite- Level 43- Trooper/Jedi Knight Commando Elite Chestguard Commando Elite Greaves Commando Elite Helmet Lacquerous Mesh- Level 39- Any Heavy Lacquerous Mesh Chestguard Lacquerous Mesh Greaves Lacquerous Mesh Helmet Phobium Onslaught- Level 35- Any Heavy Phobium Onslaught Chestguard Phobium Onslaught Greaves Phobium Onslaught Helmet Chanlon Onslaught- Level 31- Any Heavy Chanlon Onslaught Chestguard Chanlon Onslaught Greaves Chanlon Onslaught Helmet Outcast- Level 27- Trooper/Jedi Knight Outcast Chestguard Outcast Greaves Outcast Helmet Vagabond- Level 27- Bounty Hunter/Sith Warrior Vagabond Chestguard Vagabond Greaves Vagabond Helmet Tempered Laminoid- Level 23- Any Heavy Tempered Laminoid Chestguard Tempered Laminoid Greaves Tempered Laminoid Helmet Commando's- Level 19- Trooper/Jedi Knight Commando's Chestguard Commando's Greaves Commando's Helmet Mercenary's- Level 19- Bounty Hunter/Sith Warrior Mercenary's Chestguard Mercenary's Greaves Mercenary's Helmet Hydraulic Press- Level 15- Bounty Hunter/Sith Warrior Hydraulic Press Chestguard Hydraulic Press Greaves Republic Trooper's- Level 15- Trooper/Jedi Knight Republic Trooper's Chestguard Republic Trooper's Greaves Hardened Plastifold- Level 11- Trooper/Jedi Knight Hardened Platifold Chestguard Hardened Platifold Greaves Professional's- Level 11- Bounty Hunter/Sith Warrior Professional's Chestguard Professional's Greaves It would seem that there's a level 43 set specifically for BH/SW that's missing...

Regardless, the more people who buy it and play for even one month has the chance to enhance your own playing experience, whether it's socially, someone to buy your stocked up stuff, someone to run flashpoints with, or someone to stun in the fire in Huttball.

"The Girl With the Krayt Dragon on Naboo" Jar Jar Binks. "A Farewell to Arms" You can put a couple of names to that one.

Alderaan on 2,000 credits a day (and 15 thousand more when we arrive.) Obi Wan Kenobi How to Burn Friends and Mind Influence People. Obi Wan again. Under a Tusken (Raider) Sun (and the other Sun.) A Tatooine love story written by an unnamed sand person.

At last count, 20 million. Though it's probably 25 or so now. Edit: 29,053,661.

Max Rebo vs. Ray Charles Both excellent musicians at the keys. Who is better?