Agreed. If you're going to overcharge us for dye you may as well at least let us USE it. Besides, Red and Black Triumvirate Armor looks amazing in previews... < . .>

Kira and my knight got new duds. < ._.>

More twiddling with outfits, everyone but Lord Scourge now has a unique outfit (well okay in the case of T7 it's just my favorite customization for him)

I kinda agree, my 41 Guardian is absolutely awesome to play in large part because I can do hilarious stuff like Force Push -> Throw Saber -> Force Leap all in one chain. Or heck just Force Push some poor jerk off a railing <,< that's always good fun.

Sadly I've swapped servers several times, so legacy-wise I'm only at level 4, can't get field respec except via cartel coins. Good grief I'd love to be able to do that though. Focus was indeed very effective, it just... bored me senseless was all. It lacked the cool animations of Vigilance and the ability to just stand there and take it when needed like Defense. Personal preference and all that.

So, I have a bit of a conundrum going... I've been having loads of fun on my Guardian of late, and particularly I'm enjoying the heck out of Force Push. Tossing mobs around is silly amounts of fun. I'm also enjoying having Force Stasis not require a channel time - it lets me, within 10m, basically control the opponent to the point where my Companion can kick the crap out of them without concern. All this has inspired me to look at the Consular again. I've had a Shadow in the past, but I only got to level 25 with it, largely because I wasn't a fan of Theran or Qyzen... however I'm willing to push past that this time I think. The problem is: I'm just not sure which class to go with. I love lightsabers, so that'd push me toward Shadow since they get actual saber attacks to go with their force powers... but on the other hand I really love the idea of tossing mobs all over the place and pummeling them with rocks, and that's more a Sage's domain I think. I guess what I'm asking here is: Just how much battlefield control (particularly knockdown/back) can a Sage leverage vs a Shadow? Range isn't a huge issue to me, but being able to send mobs flying is, or at least locking them down. If the Sage and Shadow are fairly close in that department, I'll lean Shadow, but if the Sage is head and shoulders above the Shadow I may just go with it instead.

Just a slightly amusing update here: I respecced twice - once to full Focus (effective but kinda boring imo); and now I'm full Defense. Strange thing I've noticed since going full defense: Despite using a Shield generator and losing one of my more powerful attacks? I don't seem to have lost much DPS in practice, but I have gained a LOT of defense - I nearly took 2 Elites at once. Granted I blew all my cooldowns during that fight, but still, considering where I was before that's a pretty enormous performance leap. Is it just me? Does Defense just suit me that much better or is it (at least for leveling) that much stronger? <o.@>

I like and dislike this idea at the same time. Personally: I love the idea of being able to actually fly my ship around and fight in it. I hope that's what they're working on with the super secret space project. (My ideal would be to divide space into small craft and fighters, and have that work like the old Jump to Lightspeed expansion from SWG, while having larger ships available, and handle those like STO) On the other hand I'm not so keen on having to wait while I cross the vast distances of space. It's one thing if I go looking for trouble in space on my own, it's quite another if I want to get stuck in on Hoth but have to wait while my ship travels from the Fleet to get there. That's one of my big annoyances in STO actually, and one they partially remedied with the ability to Transwarp - so I don't think that's a good idea.

From my perspective each class has positives and negatives. My favorite class in terms of story and theme is Trooper, but I dislike the way it actually was put together in terms of powers and abilities. Jedi Guardian is also a lot of fun, but has some other irritating design decisions (some of your most important abilities involve glowing in ridiculous fashion) as well as some fugly end game gear (and most of the cartel market gear isn't pretty for it either.) Imperial Agent I love mechanically, but the story ties my stomach in knots and I never feel 'right' playing one. Sith Marauder and Jedi Sentinel are both boatloads of fun at least at the lower levels, but like the Guardian have some fugly gear choices and now the weird DBZ flaming effect when they've built up enough stacks of their inherent buff. I haven't played the others far enough to judge; but from my experience every class has things I love about them and things that drive me nuts about them, and so it's impossible for me to say "This class is best for me."

I actually liked the 500cc grant myself. That said, I feel like to thank subscribers they should just add that to our normal monthly stipend. 15 bucks a month netting you 10 bucks a month in cartel coins + a few small perks seems pretty reasonable to me. *shrug* I don't want something unique, I just want to be able to keep my fashion up without going entirely broke in RL.

Thank you, that's a big help <^_^> And yes Death From Above is pretty awesome, probably one of my favorite animations in the entire game heh

Ah < . .> Thank you. That's kind of what I was afraid of *sigh* Oh well, maybe it's time for some respeccing, see if I can find a way to make this all work out.

So, I'm level 38 and on Hoth - first time in a long time I've been this high a level in SWTOR. Thing is... I seem to be getting my tail kicked across the planet pretty severely whenever an Elite shows up. Prior to Hoth, I was killing elites without much thought, just having Kira start the fight then taunting them away from her (if my DPS didn't pull them to me anyway) about halfway through her lifebar and that'd be that.... On Hoth, to kill an elite it seems like I have to blow Call on The Force and Focused Defense at a minimum to stay alive. Heck, normal mobs in sufficient quantity are getting me down to 1/3 pretty routinely.... not something I like. Worse, after my first encounter with this situation I respecced for a little added defense* My armor is all level 37 blue, with 37 blue enhancements and mods; so I don't feel like I'm undergeared or anything. What's really strange is that Kira seems *tougher* than I am, despite me only giving her Green armoring, and her Adaptive armor counting as Light rather than Heavy like mine... I don't get it. It just seems like things are hitting far, far harder on any previous planet, despite my handling Quesh and Balmorra quite easily with level 30 gear even when I was approaching 38... now that I have upgraded gear things are that much tougher. I'm seriously considering going full Defense at this point. About the only things I can figure at this point are that Hoth is a lot harder than any previous planet, by an order of magnitude just about... and also Unremitting might be more significant than I realized, which would really stink since I hate the glow. Is that my problem, unremitting? Or is this normal? Is there something I'm just blatantly missing that's making regular fights much much harder than they were on Quesh? Sorry if this is rambly, it's late and I'm frustrated. *I was full Vigilance, now I'm Vigilance/Defense (21/8) - I'll be throwing everything else into Vigilance of course, but I wanted to grab Guard Stance, Dust Storm and Victory Rush... and I nabbed Master Focus too because it was there.

I just hope they maintain a single player option. Not that I mind playing with other people, I don't, but there's times I just want to get my Star Wars on and I like that even today I can load up BF2 and play solo (I grant the AI is pretty weak, but it's still fun if I shut my brain off.)

I did not know that. Interesting.... also bizarre.

Intriguing... I'm going to have to take a closer look at Powertech I think. I don't mind being a bit weak (I don't group at all, just run story stuff), so it's fine by me if I'm not as good on the top end as what I could be as long as I can get through my leveling without too much hassle.

Yes the entire class - both advanced classes, not just one or the other. There are so many things I love about Trooper - the story, the characters, the armor* - I love the concept; and I don't strictly speaking mind the Commando's playstyle either, so there's a mechanic within the class that I like even. I want to state right here and now that A) No, you don't have to agree with me. This is just me venting about a class I genuinely want to play but cannot get in to. B) At no point am I accusing anyone of being stupid for liking the way the class is set up - I may occasionally say things like "this is stupid" - but please understand that's just me venting. You're free to like what you like. I just wanted to get that out of the way lest this post leave folks with the wrong impression. Then there's the things that drive me Up. The. Freaking. Wall; which is why I have such a hard time leveling another trooper after taking one to 50 in my original excursion in this game. It all starts here - the Vanguard get a rifle... but rarely fires the actual rifle portion of the gun, and spends most of their time in melee range. I know some people think that's cool, and more power to them, but for me, personally, it just seems incredibly stupid. At no point since the advent of modern warfare has a soldier decided to go smack someone upside the head with their gun in combat in preference to actually firing said weapon. It's one thing if there's no other option... but the Vanguard seems to do this in preference to shooting the weapon. I mean, logically, if the Vanguard is really so hard up to be in melee, why don't they have a Vibrosword? They make more sense, exist in universe, you see tons of enemy soldiers with them over the course of the game so it's not like you could genuinely say it doesn't fit their aesthetic... If they have to have a handful of ranged attacks too, why not give them an offhand pistol to go with a mainhand vibrosword? Now I grant, this is largely the Jedi/Sith area of expertise, but that kind of doubles my level of confusion as to why the class is designed like this in the first place. In a universe where powerful melee-oriented combatants with magic powers and swords that cut through nearly any material, why on earth is a well trained soldier trying to get in their face? At least with the Vibrosword option you could mumble something about 'cortosis weave' and be done with it; but as it is it's just... baffling to me. Even when the Vanguard actually fires his/her weapon, the vast majority of the time they aren't actually firing blaster bolts. I get it, Star Wars is a sci-fantasy setting... but where in Star Wars history other than this particular game do you see soldiers armed with weapons that seem capable of firing every round under the sun except actual blaster bolts? Maybe I just missed it in the course of all six films and having played most of the other Star Wars games and read a fair few novels... maybe it's somewhere in the expanded universe but... seriously, this is our iconic soldier? Shooting lightning like a tech-based Sith? The whole "cell' idea is weird enough, but I can at least live with that - but what's with the pulse cannon? The lightning blast attack? Explosive Surge, which unless they've changed the animation looks kinda like you just farted an explosion? Oh yeah, and why, with all this, does the Vanguard *not* get a Bayonet attack? I mean no really, think about it - you have a soldier in close combat with a rifle; if you've come that far in the class design, how is it you could not say to yourself at this point "Hrm... needs a bayonet too"? There's a frigging companion gift called "Energy Bayonet" - you've given yourselves an excuse for a bayonet that doesn't have to be permanently displayed on the rifle and you didn't even use it! I mean for crying out loud, if nothing else it could have been the animation for Gut. Instead you yank out a knife and slash someone with it then put it away again. Who does that?! And another thing - Why did the Smuggler of all people get Frag Grenade? In who's mind was that a good idea? I'm not saying Smugglers shouldn't have an attack with that effect, but since when does a civilian starship pilot have access to military grade explosives, while the active duty soldier has to make due with tiny rockets that are so pathetic most people just take them off their bar? Yes yes I know we get sticky bomb, and that's nice, but it's hardly the same thing. If the knockback made that unworkable couldn't you have just made it a knock-down? Or give it to the Commando? And yes I know there's Plasma Grenade, but that's hardly the same thing, and it's not like every grenade you carry is likely to be an incendiary; that'd just be weird. Another thing: Mortar Volley. Very effective attack... also incredibly weird looking. It's bizarre enough that your rifle can fire tiny little rockets in rapid succession without reloading, but why would you call that a 'mortar volley'? No mortars are actually involved in Mortar Volley. I should add, the Bounty Hunter equivalent? Much cooler. Neither makes a lick of sense, but the rule of cool can cover a myriad of sins against logic. Okay so at this point you're probably thinking - "If you hate Vanguard so much, why not roll a Commando?" Ahh but you see... Commando is at least as annoying to me. First up - the assault cannon. I understand why it exists... I also desperately wish it weren't the only weapon option for Commandos. It's not that I mind people who want to use it - go right ahead, I 'get' wanting to be The Heavy... but I don't want to be that. I'm the squad leader and assault specialist - why on earth am I bringing a fire support weapon with me? That's what Jorgan's for. I'd really prefer a "heavy blaster rifle" option or something. Maybe make the AC required for Gunnery spec specifically if you want to set it up that way but still. Furthermore... Grav Round - argh, more of this nonsensical "fire anything but blaster bolts" crap... it's one thing to fire it once per enemy in a fight (and 2.0 has apparently pushed us closer to that, so yay for that) - but functionally it's practically a replacement for Charged Bolts, except it looks stupid. It doesn't even look like a round of any description, it looks like some sort of ghost energy or something... has my cannon learned to use the force and not told me or something? Demolition round I can live with; though it still irks me just in principle. I have a huge repeating blaster - how hard is it to think of a an awesome finishing attack that isn't basically Explosive Round 2.0 in terms of graphics? I know during the lead up to launch there were some posts by developers saying things like "there's only so many ways to shoot a gun" - and this is true... but that hasn't stopped some other games from managing to allow characters built entirely around actually using their firearm. Instead we've wound up with something not that far removed from the late City of Heroes' 'frankengun'.** The difference of course being City of Heroes was a game about superheroes where that kind of thing is more acceptable. Okay so what about Assault spec? Incendiary Round is... boring. Wow, explosive round except with fire! And then Assault Plastique which is, well... Sticky Grenade 2.0. I don't hate this spec as much, it's just kinda boring, but at least tolerable. Well except that if I want to use it effectively as a Commando I'm still stuck with the Assault Cannon, and if I want to use it as a Vanguard I'm stuck being || this close because of other abilities not related to the tree. Medic... I've never tried healing, I have no opinion there other than "I'm glad that spec exists since it makes all-trooper groups viable." Oh yeah and one other thing - I know mechanically why we don't have it, but, why don't we get Cover again? I mean in multiple places throughout the game you see soldiers crouched and in cover; yet my elite special forces character is apparently too stupid to do anything but stand there and take it on the chin? Yeah yeah, MMO, balance, I know - I can live with that aspect, but it still makes me a bit grumpy since it really does make no sense whatsoever. ----- Now then, being a silly person and being too dumb to give up, but too smart to suggest something liable to annoy people happy with their characters, I've come up with a possible solution to this annoyance. Make a third Advanced Class for every class*** - for the Trooper, have this class wield a blaster rifle and focus on mobile ranged DPS, away from the turret style of the Gunnery commando and the Melee style of the Vanguard. Heck, give it Stealth if you need it to have some variety of unique mechanic. Anyway, that's enough out of me, that's just a few things that have been driving me crazy about this class since launch. Sorry to be so windy and, as I said, you're not required to agree at all. This is merely something I've needed to get off my chest for awhile now. *Well, most of it... there are some fugly pieces, but not as bad as some classes that's for certain. **Frankengun was the nickname given the the Assault Rifle powerset in CoH, so named because the same gun fired rifle rounds, shotgun shells, had a flamethrower, a grenade launcher, and if you took the right Ancillary Power Pool, could fire a rocket. Sounds familiar, eh? ***I don't feel we'll likely ever get a brand new base class due to the shear quantity of story work involved; but there's no reason they can't come up with some additional advanced classes for each base class.

I redid my outfits recently, am slowly working on doing my entire crew, but I've only done myself and Kira so far. Still messing with them, may change the outfits further as I get new ideas.

Strange question I know, but I've had this bizarre desire of late to cross Battletech and Star Wars, and oddly enough Bounty Hunter kind of fits the bill, with both varieties having a fair number of suit mounted weapons (rail shot, flamethrower, missiles of varying description) in addition to their pistol(s), and of course having jump jets... But I'm curious - which advanced class has more suit oriented attacks, powertech or mercenary? I haven't gotten far with BHs in the past so I really have no idea beyond the basics. I know, strange line of thinking, but... just curious.

If it's big enough and good enough, I'll pay it. 60 bucks = price of a new game; you give me a new game's worth of content and you get my money. After all, I like SWTOR, and I'd rather play more (new) SWTOR than buy another game for 60 dollars that won't keep me interested after I beat it once.

The only two things in the entire pack that interest me are the Volatile Derelict sabers. I love the Derelict saber hilts, and I love the Volatile effect, so those two things are nice. The Primordial Assault Cannon Besh is OK, the Primordial Sniper Rifle Besh is... meh, I actually prefer the standard version.* The Primarodial Blaster Pistol Besh is "ok"... still hate the Primordial Blaster Rifle. Had you just given the thing a stock it might have been interesting, but without a stock it just looks goofy imo. I'm not a fan of something as basic as hood down Jedi robes being in Cartel Packs btw... that's something that should go up on the regular market, not in a gamble pack that's going to go away eventually. I don't mind more exotic stuff being in gamble packs (though I'd still prefer to buy it outright); but traditional Jedi robes just seems low. Finally... something that's really starting to annoy me: Why does every other class get stuff they could reasonably wear, particularly Jedi... but the poor Trooper gets next to nothing? Agents, Smugglers and Bounty Hunters can all wear standard civilian clothes or light armors of various description without issue, Jedi and Sith are both specially catered to routinely... but the Trooper seems to get just about nadda. I grant, putting a big old republic logo on heavy armor does pretty much mean "This is trooper gear" and excludes most other classes... but c'mon, it's not like you don't already do that with Jedi and Sith gear. And no, for the record, huttball uniforms don't count. Without those giant shoulderpads they might actually be workable, but... no, just no. *Why on earth have a holographic targeting sight next to the scope? I do not understand the purpose of this... at all.

I believe Jennifer Hale also had a 'small role' in the ME series as well. Kinda you know, being the female Commander Shepherd. < ._.> (Why yes I DO find it quite awesome playing Commander Shepherd in Star Wars when I'm on my trooper.)

This leads me to suspect there's a fairly significant bug then... My new Trooper has only a specific set to choose from at character creation, but a brand new Jedi gets everything. My old level 50 is a Cyborg... on a different server btw; I'm not sure if that could be part of it perhaps?

Nice stuff, I like it! <^_^> That tuning-fork saber is a bit odd; but not in a bad way, just in a "huh, never thought of that" way.

An interesting set up I decided to try on my old Trooper: Here Sith Trooper helmet, boots and gloves, I forget the legs (one of the kinds you can craft at level 50), and the Laminoid Chestplate I believe.