Most people are too quick to discount the hardware issue. Software runs on hardware from countless manufacturers. It could very well be that specific manufacturers of specific cards and motherboards and RAM have some issue with the way TOR is trying to run. Personally, I think the developers will try to address as many of these issues as they can, but people who are still having serious issues (aside from FPS dips on the fleet) might want to start looking at their hardware. I'm paranoid, but I use a special anti-static foam to set components on during the build as well as use a wrist strap when installing. Even the device I use to blow the dust out of my machine is designed to reduce the chance of static discharge. I had a stick of RAM years ago that caused performance issues due to static... taking proper precautions is always cheaper than buying new components because you killed them by being careless.

I've had very few problems. Far less problems than any other newly launched MMO I've played. I get the error where my connection status goes red and I drop from the game once in a while, and my UI freezes and needs CTRL+Ux2 multiple times. Phenom II X4 + 12GB of G.Skill Sniper DDR1333 + 7200RPM Seagate hdd + old Zotac GTS250 512MB. Friends with newer and older cards sometimes have performance issues, but I wouldn't say "most" players are having issues. Just like "most" players aren't level 50 already.

My /played is well over 200 hours, even subtracting idle time, and I'm level 44. If you spend every single minute you're logged in gaining xp, and never socialize, roleplay, help lower-level guildmates with quests that don't reward xp, etc, then yes... you can grind to 50 in under 100 hours. However, if you're a more typical player it will take you closer to 200 hours to hit 50. Sometimes I like to sit around and socialize, or buy lots of companion gifts to spam for that next tier. Or I'll send most of my companions out crafting, or I'll spend time farming for mats. Or I'll go run lower level flashpoints with friends just because I like the flashpoint. I haven't done 100% of the quests on any planet except for Korriban. I had about a dozen quests on Belsavis left when I hit 44.5 and went to Voss. I haven't even touched Balmorra or Quesh. There are significant parts of Nar Shadda I haven't done, either. I guarantee that if you hit 50 in less than 200 hours, there's still story, codex entries, and locations you haven't seen.

The problem with social points is that they're only for participating in group dialogue. They don't actually reward other forms of socialization in an MMO. My guild has a habit of just running Black Talon over and over again once someone decides they want something at a higher social rank. We have characters all over the level range and players from disparate time zones, so it's hard to "level with a friend" enough for the sparse group dialogues you get post Black Talon to amount to anything.

Because it's an MMO. Seriously. The game needs places for the player to do things. That's why the Sith Lord giving you your mission is always too preoccupied with other things to do it themselves. If I remember correctly, the Jedi Knight had a dialogue line along the lines of "Am I the only competent person in the entire galaxy?" which poked fun at the common "Help Me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!" conceit that MMOs use for player characters to have a reason to do things.

Rating for moar muzak!

I've never heard an MMO with less music, to be honest. I rarely use an external playlist when gaming, but with TOR I don't have a choice... it's music from one of my libraries or nothing.

It's simple. Critted crafts are very rare. I've crafted lots, and lots, and lots of items in my grind to 400 Synthweaving. I can count the number of critted items I have made on one hand. The time and material cost to make critted items with augment slots is not worthwhile. I spend enough time RE-ing green to blue to purple.

It seems to be a trend.

Yep. Dromund Kaas looks and feels like an afterthought compared to Coruscant, including both quests and design. The Sith Inquisitor story looks like it got less experienced writers than the Jedi Knight story, etc. I would say both factions currently have their "meh" issues. I think the ability delay he's talking about has to do with the animation for Project being longer than Force Lighting. With no combat log, it's impossible to tell if Project actually does less dps than Lightning. Only Georg can say that.

Yeah. I mean nobody, and I mean nobody, enjoys the social and mechanical/achievement aspect of raiding... at all. Raiding is the most poorly designed idea for an endgame in an MMO that I have ever heard of. I mean, I know there's already raid-only gear drops, but come on... if lightsaber colour crystals aren't a raid-only drop nobody will raid! Bioware, you will kill this game if you allow people to customize their lightsaber colour crystals without raiding!

I liked the diversity of colour crystals available in KOTOR II. Yes, as a game designer I do understand the need to have rare gear that requires effort to obtain, but I think the current lack of color diversity is detrimental to character customization. We currently cannot customize the colour of our armour, and we're limited to three or four lightsaber colours per alignment. I would personally like to see white/silver, purple, bronze, and cyan obtainable at all levels by all alignments. There are already many orange gear sets only obtainable via loot drops and purple pieces of gear crafted with raid drop mats (AFAIK the Rakata stuff requires raid mats). PvP players already have armour that is visually distinct from non PvPers, as do raiders. Lightsaber (and blaster color given this is an MMO) is pretty important to many people. I had a very specific idea about what kind of lightsaber my character would wield once he was no longer a Sith Apprentice. I've managed to grind, buy, or trade for most of the gear, but I can't for the life of me find the white/silver crystal.

As one of the few working commercial semioticians in the world, this bothers me too. Signs should be visually distinct.

It was a nice quick little break after Taris, I guess. I didn't need to use Quesh to level, so I just did my class quest there.

It's an MMO. If you've ever played an MMO at launch, you know what to expect as far as bugs and end-game content. There will be bugs. There will not be the same amount of end-game content as games that have been out for 12 years (e.g. EQ). There will not be the same polish or value-added features as a game that has been out for years. Bugs will get fixed. Content will be added. Features will be added. Yes, it's always frustrating. The Star Trek Online launch was bad, and there wasn't much content. Less than 50 hours /played to level cap. I have close to 200 hours on my main in TOR and I'm still level 42.... and there's still plenty to do before hitting 50.

Well, I have to be at the hospital at 6:30AM. I need 30 minutes to commute there. So this means at least one day a week I will have had a few hours of sleep before I'm shoving a Miller #4 and an ET tube down someone's throat. I don't see a problem with this.

This is an MMO. Customization is important. Players need to feel like their character is actually theirs, especially considering we spend so much damn time looking at our characters via cutscenes in this game. We have very limited options for clothing/armour color customization via crafting. Many color options require grinding mobs for world drops or world heroics for blue boxes. We have very limited options for character creation in terms of heads/faces/body types. I saw my clone fairly often until I hit Dark IV. Even then I still saw a large number of people wearing the exact same outfit I was. So far I haven't seen the "thousands of appearances" Bioware alluded to. We're restricted to three colors per alignment for lightsaber crystals. In beta, white and purple were easily available, and there was more diversity in terms of lightsaber/blaster color. In beta it was much less of a grind to customize your character and have your character look like you wanted to instead of how Bioware wanted your character to look.

You're kidding, right? I over-leveld Balmorra and Quesh. I only did about 60% of the quests on Nar Shadda. I didn't need to do the Bonus Series on Balmorra, Taris, or finish the one on Alderaan, and I'm 42.5. I didn't need to do the heroic misisons on every planet, although I did many of them. I still have Belsavis, Voss, and Corellia to get through. I've done every Flashpoint up to Collicoid War Games. My crafting skill is 50pts from being maxed out. I'm currently working on maxing affection for Khem and Ashara. There's still tons to do. I tried to hit 50 over my extended vacation, but 42.5 is as close as I was able to come. Maybe I'll hit 45 tonight.

My /bugs on this issue keep getting closed and presumably deleted without a response. Don't think crafting is on the radar for BW. RNG-based RE system. No ability to customize the color of the items. Missing schematics... etc.

Find a guild that raids but isn't "hardcore" about it. I have a very busy and somewhat unpredictable schedule. I enjoy raiding, but I don't enjoy raiding enough to be one of those people with the TV Dinner at the desk promptly at 7:00PM three nights a week. My guild has a pretty relaxed schedule for raiding. Once enough of us get to 50, we'll pick a night (or two if we can) and start raiding with a core group of guild members. If real life intervenes and people can't make it, that's okay. We don't want any WoW widows or neglected children because we just have to clear NM Pylons on Tuesday so we can do the next boss on Wednesday.

The first visual "wow!" moment I had was twofold, I suppose. Republic: Arriving on Coruscant and seeing the Senate District. Visually, it's spot on, and I enjoyed the ambiance. Empire: Walking the sands of Korriban.

I was Ruhil the FailOfficer. Mostly I hung out with ECHO and -BZ- people to either run heroics or PvP in Restuss/open world. I also had a weaponsmith called Acigo. He mostly just made pistols and, later, carbines for my FailOfficer.

Gold mobs can be Elite or Champion. These mobs are quite a bit more challenging than normal trash mobs. To be honest, they seem a bit more challenging than equivalent mobs from other MMOs, too. You will need reasonably up to date gear that is either green or blue. Your companion will need to have reasonably up-to-date green gear and weapons. You will need to understand the mechanics of your class and that of your companion's skills. You will need to use crowd control, interrupts, heals, and other class-specific abilities. You may need to pop a stim and/or a medpack during the fight. These mobs are actually good practice for getting to know your class skills and role.

RE appears to be a completely random process. I had a heavy armour chest take me 30 greens to get a blue and then no purple procs after 30 blues. The current RE system is pretty poorly designed.

Apprentices and Acolytes probably outrank most officers who are not flag rank or holders of a political rank like Moff. A full-fledged Lord of the Sith probably technically outranks everyone except a Moff or Grand Moff in that Moff's own territory. A wise Sith isn't going to ignore the council of senior officials on a whim, however. Darths appear to be a bit more nebulous. If the Darth is a member of the Dark Council, then there's no question that he or she outranks anyone except for the Emperor. If they're a "second rate Darth" like Malgus, is seems to get a little nebulous. The Sith, for the most part, act outside of the normal military and political hierarchy only moving within it when they choose to do so and/or it benefits their personal goals. Sith are also highly political creatures, so if they can make an ally by helping out a particular Moff or officer, it's probably a good idea to do that... A Sith has got to look after his own power base, after all.