More Specifically the Tanking ones, from Defense to Shield Rating on the basis of Shield Rating be a more universally desired stat than Defense Rating. Thoughts?

As a rather rabid Stronghold user, there's quite a few annoyances, issues, and improvements that I feel could be made to Strongholds currently to vastly improve their usefulness and player friendliness. As a member of the Roleplay Community on Ebon Hawk, its been rather difficult to bring people together in places such as Strongholds where custom content has been assembled, or even where an event may be being held. Often it requires juggling alts, or relying on friends on opposite faction to handle inviting people. Any player you may wish to split cost with or share with must merely sit on the sideline while the other collects Decor, and fills out the Stronghold. To put it short, a number of changes would make Strongholds all the betters, and I'll list them here. Increase the Keyring Limit from 5 to 10 or possibly more. Allow players to give out Gold Keys to their personal Strongholds. Allow Players to set their personal strongholds to always populate on the Public list. Allow players to invite and send keys across Faction. Allow Guild Strongholds to be decorated from the Personal Decor of a Gold Key Member. I think all of these changes would have very little negative impact and would only serve to improve the experiences of anyone who enjoys Strongholds, and Decor Collecting. Hope to see some criticism in the comments

Read the whole post and don't cut little bits off you can cry about when it removes the context of the thing said. And rollbacks do exist in their toolkit.

One day bans Eric, for what amounts to months of skipped content? This gear tier and the one following are virtually ruined because of the exploit and the worst I've heard of across the forums for this game is a day off. A lecture isn't really something I expected to need to do but the point of a punishment is to diminish the gain of breaking the rules, therefore the punishment needs to equivalent or greater than the act. In this case, Month long bans, Gear Comm and Schem removals, and outright Permanent Bans. Its far too late for any of this now, but the Management needs to understand that an action like this is an open invitation for exploitation because you've shown leniency on its punishment. Exploits (especially economic and gameplay centric ones) can literally destroy a game in weeks, look to Elder Scrolls Online -- it was devastated by a Duplication Glitch at launch that didn't get patched until Five to Six weeks into the game's release. Players left the game in droves and what was anticipated to be a competitor to World of Warcraft is now seen as Shovelware.

Crafter. I need someone who can craft this -- and I know I saw it on the GTN so don't tell me its not something you can learn. If anyone knows someone who can craft them, please let me know.

I personally think the only thing that needs fixing is this small group's opinion of Full Auto/Unload. That and the 3% bleed damage getting raised, that'd be nice... so nice. Also Flame Sweep/Explosive Surge only really needs a way to reduce its cost. Currently, with the right rotation, Tactics/AP is actually one of the few static rotations in the game. The only thing it really lacks is Oomph. Anyways, I most people these days are using the priority rotation but I think I came up with an improvement last week. Next time you parse try this rotation out: Gut/Retrac > Fire Pulse/Immolate > Ion Pulse/Flame Burst > Stockstrike/Rocket Punch > Ion Pulse/Flame Burst > Pulse Cannon/Flame Thrower > High Impact Bolt/ Rail Shot >Full Auto/Unload

So far that's your opinion. As is Rollbang ours. However, Scatter Bombs was one thing that made Engineering Spec viable, different, and fun. It also made you use up a Defensive Cooldown in order to do. Now, there's no reason to use it, even for AoE fights. As well, at the moment the damage 'boost' they supposedly did for the bomblettes didn't actually go through, so now its the same as it was, with a hit limiter. To be honest, Engineering was why I rolled a Sniper -- because I already have a Sage and a Commando who can nuke from the back line. Now, there's no reason for me to play it -- and I know a few people feel the same way. As well -- Lethality has a Roll Bang talent -- it DoTs people who were at the origin point and slows them when you Covered Escape away, and the DoT is affected by the end talent ability. So -- was Rollbang -really- not intentional? @The Poster: Engineering was never the Meta Spec -- it was the Hybrid or pure Lethality, so why does Rollbang even concern you?

Got an update that might need some testing for the Tactics rotation. I think it provides a DPS increase, and eliminates the Auto-attack downtime. I haven't gone and developed the CD rotation yet, but I think this will eliminate the Hammer Shotting we have to do *when we're standing still already. It also seems to fill out the CDs of Fire Pulse and Pulse Cannon for a more static rotation. Gut > Fire Pulse > Ion Pulse > Stock Strike > Ion Pulse > High Impact Bolt > Pulse Cannon > Full Auto > Repeat Full Auto lasts a minimum of 1.5 seconds unless interrupted, which is the equivilent of one Hammer Shot at its worst with a little more than twice the damage and thanks to the cast time, 4 pips of Regeneration, and Cell Generation, we make back our expenditure and a little more. My gear's not awesome with my Vanguard, so I need some confirmation if anyone's willing to test this. Gonna move this comment to the VG section...

Not even sure I'd want 20 million credits. I know what I'd do with 5... I'd help new 55s get into 148s , help them max their abilities out and teach them how to best do what they want to do or make friends who can teach them what I can't. And get my Satele's Tunic... because those boots are sexy... Maybe I'd get together my old Monday PuG raids back together...

There are somethings that always remain the same, stats make your stick bigger, health makes you take more punches to the face. What stat is better than the other. How much damage will this attack do. What's the best build/spec/talent tree. All that is determined by mathematics. And that, is something that will always be apart of MMORPGs. There's a time investment, expectations to be met, you don't have to spend every waking minute, but the enjoyment in a game like SWTOR, is the idea of forever improving. If you can't take the time to get geared enough for the content, why should you even be allowed to waste someone else's time? Of course there would be ways around it, inviting them to your group and queuing with a full group etc. We all came to have fun, my fun shouldn't be sacrificed for someone else's because they can't put the same time in, and I don't play taxi unless I know the person and want to see them get better -- even then I usually supply them with information rather than gear. I spent time so I could do my job, bollocks to anyone who won't.

Except this already exists. We have a Gear Level system. We have people who refuse to make themselves useful until poorly geared players are removed. We have elistis, and we have casual players who don't like wasting what little time they have on someone who doesn't bother to learn the game. Face it guys, MMORPGs are -not- casual games, they involve use of upper level mathematics (College Algebra), pattern and trending watching, and many more College-level concepts and methods. A Casual game is something mindless, a time sink, like Call of Duty, PopCap Games, or Battlefield, somewhere your time and effort invested does not equate proportionally to progress made in the game. Gear Check in Group Finder: Yes, give it a minimum score of Campaign (61), and make those that don't make the grade ineligible for queuing-- its level 55 Hard Modes for pete's sake, not Story Mode -- it already does this for the Story Mode Operations. Its entry-level endgame, and there is no such thing as a true casual player at that point.

There's several reasons for a big no, mainly due to animations. Heels in the games the OP likely has played before are apart of the character's ENTIRE animation set (off the top of my head, Lineage, Aion, TERA, Neverwinter, Rafflez, PerfectWorld), take off your boots and your character still has stiletto heels on. So in order to actually put heels on your character, you have to change EVERY animation your character uses in order to look right. You see that with off-hand weapons but those already came included in the game and are a major item that contributes to your animation set -- Boots don't. Second reason is the whole objectifying women, feminist argument that plagues games like the ones I stated above. Not to mention the lack of sense there is for a Sith Juggernaut to wear Stilettos, they'd snap after the first Force Charge! Third reason, after seeing so many sexed up characters, I and alot of other people have come to appreciate the normal alot more, and that includes our ugly boots. Its not a Fashion game, its a Roleplaying Game, and Soldiers, Snipers, Warriors and Mages don't wear heels.

So there's been feedback on Animal mounts, why not this thread? Its the least amount of work that needs to be done for a product that many would purchase (at least based on the numbers represented on the forums).

Most of the stuff I saw browsing your photographs was of gear... that was in the game at one point (Pre 2.0). The Jedi Sentinel's gear is a mish-mash of Sith and Jedi gear. The Jedi Knight pictures are both also in the game -- but unfortunately come with hoods. The Inquisitor at the start looks hideous -- no Meshing or 3D Texturing... BWUH (I hate gear that doesn't seem to be represented in 3D space, thanks to all my years of WoW).

@Above 1. Except the Story IS class defined because of how BioWare designed the Quest system. There's not one story for every base class, there are in fact two -- one for each 'ending' to the Advanced Class selection. They've stated this. On-topic 2.Changing your class (which is in fact your AC and not your Core Class) isn't permissible in ANY MMO because it devalues character and time investment by the players, which is very BAD for business. The closest I've ever seen this come to happening was in Tabula Rasa where when you reached a Class Branching Point, you were given a Cloning Credit, which created an exact replica of your character AT the time of using it in the Character Creation Screen (you could chance appearance and Race as well), and we all know the story of Tabula Rasa, the Titanic of Rich Garriett's career, even if he won a lawsuit over it. @ OP 3. Arguing the finer points of a discussion that has the same conclusion on both sides is pointless, and idiotic. Drop it. Not a single poster has come to your defense, that is a sign that its time to stop arguing, especially when you have to turn to insults and baby-tactics. @OP's Post on pg. 6 4. People have accepted the fact that if they want both ACs, they need to level two characters, because they've accepted the idea that Advanced Classes are the True 'Class' of the game. A Sentinel doesn't even stand in the same boat as a Guardian, neither does a Shadow with a Sage. Its poor business to offer a service very few are pining for, that reduces the amount of time people will spend in the majority of the game's content. If this was something drop and go like Guild Wars 1 it'd be more understandable to offer a service like this, but its not. Just for clarification of how BW and EA make money on this venture, is by people paying for time allotments that allow them to play -- and these people intend to play every minute possible of that time. So, when ever something makes something 'quicker', or 'easier', it means a loss of money.

Why isn't this stickied yet?

Short version: No. Long Version: Use the Search tool.

Well, lets address the setting and the events that follow... #SPOILER ALERT!#~ The Republic Wins, the Sith go extinct, the Empire falls, Dark Jedi led by Palpatine take over the Republic from within (Prequals) and create the New Galactic Empire. I could give you more info as to why, but that falls into Spoilers.

No -- he actually makes a point, its the use of his vocabulary that misconstrues what he actually means -- and every Vanguard here will agree I'm rather sure. Vanguards are most static, and stale tanks of the three. There's not much we can do actively to change how we work -- if we don't work in something, we just don't. We have the fewest defensive tools (in some cases possibly the weakest), the fewest offensive tools, and the fewest utilities, not to mention we've actually lost our crown of highest mitigation tank in the game (Guardians... ). We're Passive tanks, which really isn't that entertaining or useful unless we're gathering up a pile of minor enemies for AoE. We don't have a Defense Chance Cooldown, or a maintainable Accuracy debuff -- instead we have a Static Cloud that's supposed to take the place of both. We don't have very good threat -- especially when you have spike-heavy DPS like Gunnery Commandos or Focus Knights. I can hardly keep up with my guildies in Threat generation -- its getting to the point where I've seriously considered subbing in some of my DPS Gear to boost accuracy. From my understand as well Vanguard damagers were left in a sorry state on the hardcore front, which is sad to see because I've always enjoyed the damage my Vanguard could put out. In fact, even worse I was able to get onto the DPS Leaderboard for my server (The Ebon Hawk) with tanking gear (from a lack of people playing Vanguards at this time) -- My raid features only me and our Commando DPS as troopers. Its hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong, or what needs to change, but there is something definitely not right with my class, but I do have a few grievances Also A Ranged AOE Taunt is worthless, just a heads up -- its difficult to use in the same effect as Mass Mind Control and Challenging Call, often it only ends up effecting one or two targets in a situation where I need 5 or 6 targets to be effected. Its situational at best and is not a dependable emergency ability. Hold The Line is brokenly OP, and its something every tank should have in Talent for (Unremitting, remember when you had that Guardians?). Extend the CD on it by 15 seconds or make it a passive that proc off Storm... or something. Battle Focus isn't enough -- its the only Offensive CD the class has (Resource Management doesn't count -- those are utilities not offensive increases) . Reduce the CD by 30 seconds or give us another active ability. Shoulder Cannon, its a nice concept -- however its damage is too meager and the use of charges encourages saving it instead of using it. Turn it into a 15 or 20 second cooldown that is a single attack (And have Tactics reduce the CD). Would make it feel less difficult parting with the charges for the 1.5 minute cooldown that follows. Riot Gas -- I do have to admit a little Noobishness here, I only recently discovered how dire the effect of Accuracy Debuffs are, but it kinda still doesn't change the fact we don't have a 5% debuff. I'd take 10% off just to have a passive (included) that made Ion Pulse and Explosive Pulse cause that debuff. Another 10% if became player centric -- or had an actual smoke screen effect ( IE shooting through it is more difficult ). This one I can honestly live with -- not having to move when fighting Battle Lord Kreshan is great.

Hybrid Tactics/Assault Vanguard || 8/22/16 Gear's a little poorer than I'm liking but I noticed my DPS was high enough to land in the Leaderboard, yaaaay. Half my gear is Tanky stuff -- would love to see what I can do in the real stuff. DPS 1,750.2

At the moment many states' tax legislature excludes most online purchases of non-tangible physical items. Which is the case here, even if EA/BioWare has physical offices in the state, they shouldn't be able to collect taxes on things they are putting in your actual hands -- that especially holds true in Texas. I can't hold a pile of Cartel Coins or Bioware Points or Mass Effect Credits or the Rise of the Hutt Cartel Digital expansion, therefore its not a tangible item. If they want to collect taxes they should do so with their cards -- not their pixels and hard-drive space. I'll certainly be informing the Attorney General with a letter of this practice.

My thoughts exactly. Such a thing would require so little work on the developer's part, not to mention they could add all of these items to Cartel Packs and kill two birds with a single stone. I imagine two people working for no more than a week could have adaptable armor versions made of both side's Tionese, Columi, Rakata, Recruit, Battlemaster, Centurion, and Champion gear finished, tested, and packaged. But to be fair, lets do the math of the number items this would create. 5 items per set, per class. 4 classes to a side, 7 sets, 2 sides. (5*7)4)2=1470 1,470 total items that would need to be created, by plugging a Model code, a Texture Code, into an item template. Even better they can release the sets in tiers, and stagger their release from 2 groups to 7. Come on BioWare, people would pay for this, and it would cost almost nothing to make since 90% of the work is already done (If I understand the system correctly in which items are created). Also, long distance bump.

As the Echani/Thyrsian are species based cultures wouldn't it be better to use something that actually accepts a broad range of species into the fold rather than limit it to either pale, white-skinned, silver hair and eyed humans or the polar opposite (still human)? Just some for food for thought, but what about the Matukai and the Death Watch instead (because there can never be enough Mandolorians, amiright?)? Republic Side. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Matukai Empire Side. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Death_Watch

Incorrect, the Defense and Absorption Proc Relics are independent of each other (I have them both on my Vanguard and I enjoy seeing both of the buffs on at the same time). The line that says an item doesn't work with similar cooldowns, it means cooldowns that are EXACTLY like it, for example, you can't have two Absorption Relics, two healing proc relics, or two damage proc trinkets. However, in the Shadows case (and like that of the Justicar in Rift), the healing proc relics are the better take as they passively increase your effective health, and threat. There's not many times when I'm in a HM FP that I'm completely topped off even as geared as my VG is, Raids are the same story and if I had a steady source of self healing even for .01% of my HP, I'd take that HoT Proc Relic.

Satele is a wasted character in the game. She is flat, stale, a tasteless pair of robes that anyone can wear. Whatever is interesting about her is not made apparent any fascet of the game's exposition, or experience. Even in private she is a Jedi copied and pasted. She shows none of her former motivations, traits, or qualities; I honestly didn't even know about her son until I Googled Satele Shan and read half of the Wookiepedia page about her. That such an interesting thing is not even given in the codex -- or the lack of her son being a Character in the game -- really seals this case. The OP is correct, Satele -- not The Grand Master of the Jedi -- is a boring character in the game. The only time Satele interested me at all was during the Black Talon story where laid a verbal smack down my Agent, which is really a dissappointment. Give me her Robes, and send her away, tell her to go get cuddly with Jace again, maybe they can still concieve an interesting character between the two of them. PS. Trask Ulgo's reference was better than Bastila's -- what is the matter with you BioWare?