Okay, so this could easily devolve into a lot of me whining, and nobody wants to read that, I'm not even there, yet, but I've read that, somewhere along the way, the great game of eight stories (three of which I've even liked) will become the one story, no matter what you play, and somewhere in that, all of your companions disappear; some may even die. As that WoW-style story plays, you will get some new Companions, and some of the old ones, from across the eight classes, might even return, regardless of what class you are playing. I really don't like this. I'm not even going to whine about money spent on gear, as I do like that they can wear whatever, now, and i don't have to get them upgrades, too, but as I said, I won't sit here and just further complain. I will, however, ask WHEN does it happen, in game? I have a Knight, and a Trooper, both standing around on Ilum, a positively BORING intermission planet, trying to wrap that up, prior to starting Rise of the Hutt Cartel. Will I get to play that expansion with Kira? Elara? Will they disappear in Shadow of Revan, or wait until KotFE? Since MMOs won't allow me to "go back", or copy the toon, I figure I should inquire. Also, and this might be purely opinion, but how good are the post-story expansions, story wise? If I am to be truthful, my current plan is to finish up my Inquisitor (she is starting on Belsavis, as of this posting, and I presume there are two more worlds, after that), and get her through the expansions. I have little attachment to the Companions for her, besides Khem Val, and look forward to her meeting Lana, and the rest; finally, another Sith follower, but not one who feels like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. If I follow this plan, is it really worth it to also carry the others into the newer content? Sure, I'm paying to play it, but one of the best things, for me, about this game, especially compared to WoW, for instance, was the myriad stories. My Trooper was a bit boring, compared to the story for the Knight, but it wasn't because my Knight, and my Inquisitor, had already done these things. I very much like Mass Effect series, but I'll never play them again, just to see how different Shepard is, as a different class; I replay them because the story is fun. If the new stuff is all the same, regardless of what class/faction I am, is there a strong reason, besides better gear, to carry 3+ characters through it, or just stick with the one? Most don't have Guilds, waiting for me to catch up to their skill, and I solo pretty much everything, so I'd think my gear is, overall, good enough, as I update it. Will it feel really any different for my Knight, my Trooper, than it will for my Inquisitor? Enough so to be worth the loss of romanced, high Affection Companions? Lastly, the new variant of crafting has thrown me for a complete loop, with the new, weird stuff I need to make stuff, almost none of which I've found (assume it's for sale, on the fleet), but do your characters still have anything to do with specific jobs, beyond their Affection level? Kira used to be better at Synthweaving, while Val was good with Artifice, I think, and some had improved Crit opportunity. Are all of these things gone? My Trooper was my Cybertech-crafter, and I liked that M1 was good for that, but now I don't know if he is, and he's Aff 8, to Elara's 14, or 17, I don't recall, so is he still contributing to it, in a way she isn't? Nothing I break seems to make Research happen, and I can't buy blues, anymore, I've noticed (been playing since the beginning, but I took a six month break, in November), so I was going to make them with M1-4X, but I haven't learned many, don't seem to, now, and new, weird crafting components confuse me, but if Elara's better now, due to higher Affection, I would like to know. All right, that should wrap it up, for me. Again, sorry for the whining part, but these followers were part of why I really liked SWTOR, and maybe we get good new ones, too, I don't know, but I won't mind knowing where this little river is flowing to, before I get in the boat. Thanks much.

Well, my Presence seems to float around 700 on two characters, and the Followers in question for each, Kira (Guardian 40), and Elara (Medic 45), are both level 10, with both their stories completed, minus that one bit of Kira's since she makes me finish the Knight story, before that last, little bit. Not sure yet where that will put them for effectiveness, but I might need to go get some more gifts, just for fun Thanks again, everyone, for helping walk me through the changes. My game is still the bit unresponsive it's always been, but I think I'll get past that, and the game should go back to being the fun I always thought it was (at least the Knight and Inquisitor stories; sorry Trooper, but your followers a a tad better than your quest). Have a good one, everyone. May the 4th be with you!

Apologies; when I say "solo", I just mean that I want to be able to go do Story Missions, like taking out the various super weapons, or finding the relics of a certain Sith Lord, for another certain Sith Lord, and not get killed because the bosses are always gold, accompanied by silver elites, or the occasional gold+silver combo bosses. For instance, in the Knight story, I know I was getting ready to go kill some Gen'Dai, and while i don't know how tough they'll be, I know how tough cartoon Dirge was, blah, blah, blah. I've had times where I and my chosen Follower couldn't hack it, even when leveled for it, and while I accept that, if the Followers had gotten weaker, due to a lack of boosts from their gear, I'd be screwed, whether it was their veiled attempt to try and remind me it's an MMO, or not. As for their value, I wasn't trying to downplay it, and think I'll appreciate their flexibility, but if they can all do pretty much anything, then the game will find it hard to possibly make me WANT to use Tanno, or Doc. Part of learning their stories was having to use them, and now, I may not HAVE to, which could be good, but also risky. I'll be glad if I can have more reason to use Kira, Elara, or M1, and ignore many of the rest, but it sort of worried me. I have several I rarely used, and if that will now handicap me, to the point I might as well NEVER bring them along, then I wanted to know, because their stories might never get told, in my game. Without spoilering it, I'm thinking back to a certain fight the Knight has, where they must bring a certain Follower I NEVER field, and if his Influence will suck, I'll never finish that story line. Also, and this is likely my computer's fault, I'd frequently have the Companion disappear/become invisible. They'd still be there, but I couldn't target them to heal them, or stuff, and they'd go down. Not sure if the game will still do that. This, and my game going into single digit frame rates on Alderaan is why I haven't moved my Scoundrel in ages. Kind of glad Alderaan gets blown up, to be truthful. As with them, I wasn't trying to downplay the crafting, but I often fail to see the reason to craft armor, or weapons, as the game gives you plenty of access to moddable ones, which you often CAN'T make, and now your Companions can't even use that benefit. Seems most people would just make a Cybertecher, for their own upgrades, and otherwise focus on the skills that get them loot, or really rare schematics, which I, at least, never found, otherwise. Certainly, I could be missing an aspect of this part, but not sure. I certainly got the mails full of old gear, but was a bit confused by it, seeing as few of them looked cool, and that's petty much all there was to that aspect of them. By this point, my Companions are all in armor, robes, or a bikini, so I don't really need their "remember when I joined you, wearing this?" gear. "Yes, Kira, I DO remember, and then I got you the cool armored robes, and NOW you look cool, while Elara is wearing a plasteel bikini (needed ONE follower to). Also, I hope either the game will port in my old followers, WITH their gear, into KotFE, when they become available, or I'll have the chance to swap out their gear, and give it back. If it eats my fancy gear, and being an MMO, there's no going back, or reloading a previous save file, I'll be quite grumpy. I hadn't had a chance to field-test them, after the 7-hour update process, so sorry about that. I started up my Inq, because I wanted to see where she was (Nar Shadaa), and saw that Khem Val wasn't in his usual spot; then I realized his gear slots were gone, and I flipped out. Switched to my Com. Medic, and saw Elara still had gear, so was less worried. Then, I hopped off, started reading the Internet, and thought I better come here, and inquire, before I flipped out entirely over all the changes in the time I was gone. Thank you very much, everyone, for your help. I don't have to work tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have a good opportunity to pick through the changes, and see if I can still play this without acknowledging it as an MMO, and, if so, happily see where the Inquisitor, Knight, or Trooper story leads. Please have a good one.

So, first, please let me start by saying I took a vacation from SWTOR for a few months, and have come back to a rather different game. Wondering if they really mailed me all the starting gear, JUST in case I actually liked any of it enough to want to copy its skin onto something else? Also, some of this will probably just be me complaining, or at least appear that way, so I apologize, ahead of time. What all has happened to followers, in the last few months? I got on, and now their gear is utterly pointless, beyond cosmetic taste? I hear that they can each play any of the three roles, so now most have very little value, unless they happen to be your "I use this Skill!" bonus-wielder, or the follower you like/happen to be trying to woo? Here comes some of the whining. I'm well aware that this game is an MMO; it's too bad, as they won't make a real Star Wars video game while they still have so much content they have to sit on, and I don't really WANT to play with strangers, on my server, while my friends quit either after finishing a toon, or when "free to play" turned out to be a bit false (it's "free to demo", even if you HAVE been a subscriber since the beginning). Thing is, I always liked this game because the Followers let me get around some of the "want to be solo" I was having. I put some effort into getting them orange gear, or better, and keeping their parts as close to max as I could, but now this is unnecessary? How good will they still be? Will I still be able to solo most of the story missions? I get that the Heroics will be a bit harder, but that was always intentional, so no loss there. Will my regular play still work well? I read that, for a while, they got way overpowered, then way weak, and now...I don't know if Kira/Elara and I will still be able to play, without needing another player to bail us out, even if we are leveled. Onto class skills. Do many of them still matter? I'm not in a guild, at moment, except for one character, my Knight, so no one is hoping I'll make them a sword, or a piece of armor. Making armor never seemed so critical, with all the cosmetic suits they've always tossed out, and weapons are now equally irrelevant to Followers, so I only need mine, which the game is rather free with. Making Mods, and stuff, I can still see, but only my own, as Followers won't benefit from them. Cybertech, and some of the other crafting ones, never seemed to give out the ship parts, the orange suits, or such, anyway, so I'd see Cybertech as it, and Commendations will help offset making those, too, by buying them from vendors, now that I only need the one set every so many levels. When I finish a story, say the Inquisitor, the Knight, or the Trooper, and get into the post-game stuff, will these Followers even carry over? I'm very fond of Kira, and Elara, and would be sad if they don't stick around, even if Lana does seem interesting. Okay, I think I'm done, for the time being. Sorry to ask/whine stuff I'm sure has already been asked, but if I lump all my thoughts together, I'm more certain to not forget any, and to get answers to them, so thanks very much for reading it, and for any advice/information you might feel like sharing. Please have a good one.

Hmm, this is sad. I expected people to post, sort of like in WoW, when they would brag where they found certain stuff. I was hoping some people had some knowledge of how they got these schematics, and under what not-GTN circumstances. Starting to remind me of Torhead, with all of its No Screenshots/no Comments entries

Okay, so in several threads, I have commented on being interested in finding suits/sets of mod slot gear, nice looking sets of orange stuff that I and my companions can wear, as the game progresses, that I can slip new armors, mods, augments, what have you, as they become available. My first hitch is that many of these equipments have a class requirement, and Companions don't have a class, either yours or one similar to their own. This eliminates many of their options. I decided between four Rep characters I am building to run Synthweaving, Armormech, Cybertech, and Artifice; these four professions SHOULD get me decent gear for my characters, their comps, and upgrades to put in both. My second dilemma hit me after I started this plan; many schematics are NOT available for purchase from the vendor. So, if I am reading things correctly, the only ways to get, say the Republic Trooper's Chestguard schematic, which would make the same named piece of armor, a nice option for Elara, for instance, are to buy it off the GTN (my server's is strong in the greedy side of the Force, and the lvl 50 required region), hope that it drops from a random mission (screw planning now), or forgo getting it, and have someone else make it for me (again, greed-strong people, and my Guild, for their pluses, might not care too much about me, since I haven't got a lvl50, yet). So, I didn't just write this to whine; that's a side-effect of the game making me grumpy; the armor isn't "awesome" till I further pay out to get the mods for it, so I don't know why it tries so hard to keep so many things I want from me. The point here is for me to ask this: are there any clues/hints one might know for how/when I might start finding schematics for orange gear, as rewards for missions? I have run numerous for various Crew Profs, and others besides, and don't believe I have gotten any of them. Is there a level to expect it, or a likely reward type, in Crew Missions, that could result in schematics being a prize? I just want to know because I put a bit of my hopes on four characters and their prof choices on being able to make such gear, without having to rely on the kindness of strangers, or the greed many more of them have. Any advice on how I might go about finding these schematics, without making a trip to the GTN, would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I apologize ahead of time, this is going to be a bit of a whiny rant. Well, here goes: This is the sort of thing that makes me unreasonably grumpy. I whine some when I want to plan for stuff, and I go to Torhead, or some such, and the item's entry page is effectively empty; game's 8+ months old, and that site is still a skeleton, but that's just how it is; it's a work in progress. When I can't necessarily plan due to the game saying "well, you MIGHT get this, but it will be rather random, so you can't strive for it, just hope", that makes me sad. I'm trying to lvl up Synthweave, Armormech, Cybertech, and Artifice between my 4 Rep characters so I can make cool gear for them, and for others, just to find that many of the things I want, like the moddable orange gear that DOESN'T require a class, since Companions don't inherit yours or their approximation, are totally random. I can either pay out my ***** for them, on GTN, and even then, there are next to no pieces or schematics on my server, or blindly hope and pray that I luckily find them, though with no idea how likely that is. Nothing says how likely the receive of such a schematic is, or what level of the Crew Skill is necessary to even start hoping for it. The orange gear schemes should be easy to get, especially when I will possibly have to also pay out the usual place to get the mods to shove in them, as I go; they are more "look how you want, if you can afford the legos". I know it is supposed to be an MMOrpg, but many of the best things in this game, for me, stem from the fact that, if I want to, I can ignore many of the people around me, and conduct much of what I am required to without help, beyond my Companion. If I do need help, either in battling or lore, I can ask, an actually get an answer, sometimes, without having to wait for a few hours for someone to post on a thread, but I don't NEED them for everything. Then this happens. Why can't they just let me enjoy the best parts of my crafting professions, without having to pander to greedy lvl 50's, or play roulette till I accidentally get lucky? For my example, I've been just trying to find moddable stuff for Kira, where she doesn't look dumb (I think that the R1 Soc gear looks kinda that way, sort of like a wedding dress), or like a slave dancer (seems just too easy, after I pay out for it and bits, since my Social is a slow-rising number). Any other few options are buildable by my Synthweaver (that character), except that I apparently can't intentionally get that scheme, or the ones for my Elara to get moddable armor. I could try PvP gear, I suppose, but again, not as social, and PvP kills me instantly, without me inflicting much damage, which I'd get if I was a 50, going up against pimped PvP gear, but I'm a 30s, and was 27 lvl last time I PvPed, so not sure what advantage they had over me, beyond pure skill. Okay, that's the end of the rant. Perhaps, if I am lucky, I can get someone in my guild to help me, if they care about their not-50s (a rare trait in MMO's), or someone here might give me some constructive advice/tips. I acknowledge I am not the best player, or even close, and one of my favorite aspects of this game's "can go it alone" attitude is that it means my mistakes won't elicit endless jabs of insult from the strangers I was teamed with, but one of the joys of here is I can choose to ***** two paragraphs, and if someone doesn't want to read it, they can skip it, or they can help me learn to improve. K, thanks for reading.

Now, I'm sure that there are numerous threads that cover this, but I don't feel like peeling through them, and figure this will give me the most up-to-date answers. I am having a conundrum; how might I best kit up my lady Companions? Now, I know three of the better options; Soc 1 gear from Coruscant, Soc 2 gear from Nar Shaddaa, and the Dancer gear from the Sec Key vendor, but I'm feeling a bit odd of late, and actually want to dress them up in something a bit more "looks like their character", rather than ****ty dancer or my bride. Between most moddable gear having a class limiter 9which the Companions don't meet), and my seeming inability to increase Social rating at all quickly, and looking at the 30,000 cred price tag the Dancer outfit will have, I find myself with few options. Are there any good ones I am missing? Are there ANY Jedi-looking light armor sets Kira might be able to wear, or heavy armors for Elara? If not, what's some good gear to keep and eye out for, to make them good as I play? Thanks much, and have a great day.

It's a shame they don't do anything to discount the cost of pulling out Mods and stuff. Seems weird, when I'm doing all the work, that I am paying so much money (almost 1,000 cred on some of my mods, and I presume it only gets higher as I proceed) to recover one, just to put in a better one. Paying GTN, and thus someone else for the manufacture, that's fine. Paying a courteous player who spends a half hour just making me stuff (and I DIDN'T have to pay for it, so it was even more awesome) is also fine. But paying to pull a mod out, myself, so i can put another in myself, that's like me just lighting cash on fire, at a safe distance, while I change my own oil. One supposes that I could argue I won't need the mod again, since EVERYTHING in this game Soulbinds, and some Comps don't use the same stats I do, but I think I can still make them useful, and wish it didn't cost so bloody much to do it, again, especially when I do all the work. If it was different between in-field modding, and taking the time to trek back to civilization, leaving your mission behind, that would make a bit more sense, but nope. Oh well.

So, as I may have mentioned in the past, I am playing a J. Guardian for my current primary toon. As I progress, I find myself wanting to sport a particular look; heavy armor + robes. Ideally, I want to look something like Master Ven Zallow, in the Deceived trailer, and the intro load screen, but his armor, the Jedi Battlelord set, is WELL out of my reach, at least at present, if not forever. Are there any other sets of armor Jedi Knights of the Tank persuasion can acquire that look SOMETHING like that? Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Customizable is preferred, but "regular" could work, too. Thanks much.

What do you do when you get a new comp? I have been using Kira since I got her, and could easily end up like a friend of mine, not using T7 again, till the game says "hey, you know that one companion you got, way at the beginning? Yeah, he's the ONLY one that can go with you to fight Darth Vitiate, because the Sith Emperor will turn anyone else who accompanies you, so I hope you kept him up to date." but I assume I'll have to use characters like Doc and Scourge, when I get them, and they work totally differently, stat-wise, then Kira. Did you just find them each some moddable stuff, during their time, and ignore Kira till you 50'd? What might be a good set of orange gears for my Guardian? He's around 30, now, and I have to keep playing him to unlock Legacy, so that my other chars don't do stuff, and NOT add to that XP bar.

I suppose. It's just that it's hard for me to know if I'll be able to keep the orange fear competitive, compared to the relatively nice stuff I find as I go. I never seem to buy from vendors, unless they are comm vendors, so it's usually thanks to completing missions that I get newer stuff, or the GTN, if I feel the price is appropriate. I haven't shelled out for the Rep Dancer or Social oranges, yet. I'd been considering it, just to give one piece for mods to go in, but my cybertech-toon is my 14 Commando, so he's got a long ways to go before he's making life for himself, my Guardian, and my Scoundrel any easier, and I'm not in good enough with my guild to get offers of services in the crafting dept. If there was good "regular" looking orange gear, but the Social usually looks silly, and the Rep. Dancer is SPENDY. Oh well, I'll keep my eyes open, maybe find a good orange piece or two on one planet, and then put them away till I buy their mods on the next one.

At the risk of just sounding dumb, or simple, is there a good way to rate the orange gear I might find? Of course, it's going to look like ***** when I first peruse it, because all of its mod slots are empty, and I don't inherently remember what bits are sitting in some other piece, on me, or in the Hold. They might be great kitted up, but I'm going to have to guess, and waste cred/comm to find out, and then pay more to wrench a mod out of my old gear (a mechanic I hate, as i wonder where my money goes when I pay myself).

At the moment, the Commando cybertecher and Scoundrel artificer are lower level (C.Lvl 15 and 12, respectively, though they both get played with some regularity), so I will be building them up, both to help themselves and my Guardian. The Guardian, my "primary", is my Synthweaver, so I'll have to see how well that helps him. Right now, the Jedi only has two moddable gear pieces, a Fusion-core lightsaber, and some Exemplar's or something robe. The robe has turned out great, and with me keeping its mods consistent, though maybe not the highest they can be, it has stayed ahead of every chest piece I find, as I go. The lightsaber, on the other hand, always falls behind on everything but Endurance, compared to ANY lightsaber I find as I progress. That is part of why I began this thread, so this is working nicely. Kira's DB-saber is moddable, and that has worked well, but her stat depends are different than Ender's, so I can't make his better the same way. I haven't been given any other orange gear, or felt like shelling out comms for it, over the mods, and I have no idea how to get the orange gear from the Coruscant Legacy vendor, while the PvP gear is too high lvl for even my 30 Guardian (another moment where I whine that the game only cares when I can't get better, except with mods). I'm running through Alderaan right now, so maybe while there, or right after, I'll look into finding some orange gear that I missed. I'm sure one of my biggest fails is that I don't usually do Heroics, Flashpoints, or PvP. This game so often lets me get away from needing groups, that I often forget it's an MMO, and when I do want to run, that's when no one else is looking to. As for PvP, I can't stress enough how bad I am at it. I die constantly, and can't land a point of damage. I've never killed anyone before they killed me, and that was at lvl 25, even. It's disheartening because I'm playing a Tank, so one would think I could absorb a bit more damage. I guess it's that I don't know anyone in the team, so no strategy. It happened in WoW, too, but at least as a Mage, i expected to be glass, while here, I expect a Jedi Guardian to be wall-worthy, not floor-deco. These limits on my playing have likely denied me some good gear, but learning that helps. Maybe I can fix it. Thanks for the advice. I'll try to take it to heart, and check back for if any other thoughts are shared.

Why are these in here? I might like that the mod benches are available, but I can do that on the fly, away from any such table, and it works the same. I still pay out the ***** to remove a mod (some of them), if I want to keep it for some other piece of alterable gear, whether I do it myself, or on the bench. What purpose do they serve? I note they can sometimes be elusive, and even my ship doesn't seem to have one, so how important are they?

Was wondering if anyone might be able to advise me. I am playing a few characters now, and the primary one, a lvl 30 (almost) Guardian, is not performing as well as I would like. I suspect that, along with my own ability, or lack thereof, his gear might be to blame. My problem is, at least in part, the Web. If I was playing WoW right now, I could go to Wowhead, or some such, and find tons of info on gear, powers, progressions, and more, but SWTOR seems to still be in its infancy, when I go to Torhead, and many things have NO Comments, or helpful directions. When I get the option for Commendations or..., the ... is often a gear pick for Kira, which is better than what she has, so I don't get quite as many Commendations as I might, to spend at the Fleet. I have a nice Fusion-Core Lightsaber, but I can never shove enough parts in it to make it better than any other lightsaber I just find, and that makes me shake my head. I have moddable robes, and they stay better than any other armor I find, but that's it. For the other armor spots, I rarely find options, and the shops are a bust. GTN is also a bust because I am lvl 30, not 50. I know that I will eventually find gear that ups my max HP, or increases Shield, but I don't know when, and the web chooses not to tell me. My three Rep Characters are working on Synth (Arch + Dip), Arti (Arch + TH) and Cyber (Scav + UW), so maybe I just have to grind with them, and they'll fix my ailes, but I don't know. Is there any advice people might have on keeping up with good gear, knowing what gear to look for, etc? I know what the colors mean, so please don't just repeat "blue is better than green, and purple is better than blue". I don't PvP much, as I am terrible at it, so I haven't grabbed that gear yet. Thanks for any help.

While I can see where allowing you to change your char name at will could get troubling; that's how they log your character, and every character that has Friended you would need to know you changed the name, or lose track of you, but I don't think the Legacy Surname has anything to do with BW's records keeping, and my friend still shows up as just his character name when I click him, not with the Legacy name, or his titles. The Legacy name is just there to be there, and therefore, changing it once, or changing it four times a day, shouldn't really be a problem, anymore than changing your equipment. I can see why they wouldn't want will-nilly char name swaps, and the AC is a big amount of mess, though only for the character/player, but cosmetic things, like your appearance, and Legacy Surname, are just extras, and have no impact on the game, or Bioware's files, and should be allowed. I very much appreciated that WoW had barbers, and allowed me to change my face, even if my race, gender, and such were sealed. If you want me to feel a connection, and an RPG-esque relation, the character should grow, maybe change their hair, or grow a beard. I don't want my young Padawan to look like a grizzled, old wizard, but I wouldn't mind if that same character, 49 levels later, looked a bit more distinguished. In a game where so much has been implemented dealing with looks, and social gear, these little cosmetic extras almost seem like a no-brainer. If I have to go to Coruscant, and pay a Clerk of the Republic Court to change my Legacy name (gives it a bit of the real-life feel, minus the two-week wait, the newspaper article, and the court hearing), then I am okay with that. If I can earn a second Legacy, so some characters could have a different last name (not sure why Human Jedi Master Joran Starkiller and Kissai (Pureblood) Sith Lord Darth Pestilence (formerly Karia Starkiller) have the same last name, being two different species, and vile enemies), and select which "family" they are a part of at the prompt (how hard would it be to have two on the account?) I feel that would be very nice.

I confess ignorance, so if I already have a character on Jedi Covenant, where my current primary Toon started his adventure, will I get said rewards, or must I transfer one to said server/from said server? When last I checked, I couldn't transfer characters from Empress Teta (the other server I built two characters on back in November 2011, before any of my friends were playing) to Jedi Covenant with this option, and I don't really want to build something, just to transfer it. That does appear to be what the above says (the bolded part at the end, but I like to be certain. Please explain? Beg forgiveness for ignorance.

Must say, it would be very nice if the Hood toggle was in; so much other stuff seems to be devoted to just "looking good", and having a choice on my hood would be a simple element of that. In canon, most Jedi don't keep their hoods up most of the time; I've almost forgotten what my Guardian's hair looks like, as his moddable robes have stayed better than other stuff I've found (unlike my other moddable gear). I would very much like to toggle that up or down, as much as I'd like to have the "Hide Headgear on Companion" option; Kira's hat makes her look like a nun, or something. Please, give us the hood toggle, Bioware?

I think, before I put in some crazy effort to get this still-unavailable Comp, I'd like some idea of what he'll do/how he'll work. I already know he isn't HK-47, which is a shame, because he was one of my favorite real KOTOR characters (along with Mira and Brianna), but if he's going to be rather like him, I'll accept some differences. Still, if he's not much better than any other Comp at lvl 50, not having some really awesome abilities, or some such, then the work won't be worth it. As it is, I'm having enough trouble leveling one Toon (I only blame myself here), and haven't even started leveling another for alt careers, much less one on the opposite faction, who can't relate much to my Guardian, beyond some Legacy stuff I don't yet have, and and getting one Companion who is mostly a mystery. They should give us some more clues, keep us salivating in anticipation. Quit acting like telling us some stuff is going to ruin some big surprise; it's not a whole new game, just a new character in it. If they were planning to add the ability to make new Droid PCs, that would be one thing, but that's not what it is. Anywho, still looking forward to this character, if only to see how ludicrously difficult he'll be to get, and if his abilities are worth that effort.

Well, while my Synthweaving is pitifully low at the moment, being the one that I can't increase as I walk (I have to send a Comp to make stuff, and of them, I USE Kira, so I often don't have her floating to make stuff), I'm not sure I want to drop it, and pick up a different Crafting skill for my Guardian. I could grab one for my Trooper/JC, whichever I choose, and try to lvl them to 30, also (around where my Guardian is now). One of my potential mistakes, I often take the Kira prize, rather than the commendation(s), because she is my damage dealer, as I rarely run with anyone else of the Player persuasion. I was on the Fleet earlier yesterday, and laughed at how few Commendations I had fore each planet. At the time, though, it has kept Kira rather competitive, and that has helped. Occasionally, her gear piece isn't better ENOUGH, so I forgo it, and ignore the boxes, for they usually have gear for another class, in favor of the Comm, but it hasn't been often. Part of it, for me, is the lack of an effective strategy form; I don't know now what I'm expecting to want to get later, and how much it'll cost, so I find it hard to set aside the correct amount of a specific resource to get it. The game's SG is a funny joke, briefly discussing each class overview, and having maps, but nothing about what you'll be doing, or charts of abilities and gear. Much of the Web has fared little better, with many entries being empty. In this, I end up making some bad calls, and now, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to fix it. Oh well, enough whining. I will see what I can find, and if I can, maybe, drum up the energy to start another Toon, and actually play it. See if it can get some skills that can help both of these characters out.

So, if I was going to play an Alt, and I feel that one way SW whips WoW is the replay value of 8 different class stories, what are the best Jobs that I could pick for, say a J. Consular or Trooper, to make mods for my Guardian's orange armor and gear, and the new character's own? Like I whined, I find it difficult to find stuff that says what makes what, or where some stuff is found; WoW's longevity has gotten Wowhead to be more fleshed out than Torhead. Assuming I just wave the orange gear off for now, since finding bits for it has proven a bit difficult, and my Guild is filled with 50s, what sets of orange stuff should I eventually try to acquire, between Lvl 30 and 50? I'm playing a tanky Guardian, right now, who doesn't PvP if I can help it (I SUCK at PvP, and always die in 3 hits, while my best attacks are negligible, like in WoW) and who does most stuff alone, with just a Comp (I prefer Kira, but will probably have Doc healing soon, even if he won't be as much fun). Thanks for any help.

This is my first, primary character, so I can't depend on Alts to fix his problems yet, and since I want to get through it with him, I haven't been able to devote time to getting an alt to his current lvl. I doubt that the specific orange gear I have is worth a toss at the end, when there is leveled orange gear available. As for paying to swap mods, I meant that when I pull one out, it bills me, for doing a job myself. Maybe if I don't care about the old mod, I could just overwrite/destroy it, but the mod might fit well in another piece, like one my Comp is wearing, I don't know, so I'd rather it not just explode. Sadly, I can confess that, to some extent, I chose the Profs I did because they fit with the current Comps I had, and I wanted their Criticals to potentially apply. Since the game, at least to me, does a miserable job explaining what all of the jobs do (this is like early WoW, where you don't know what the future abilities are till you can buy them), I wasn't really aware of what most of them would do, so I just guessed, possibly poorly.

So, as I look at the orange, customizable gear I have yet been able to acquire, I notice that, even with most of the best mods and bits I can conveniently collect, it doesn't seem to outstrip the regular gear I find, as I adventure. "Regular drop" lightsabers far outstrip the fusion-core one I grabbed on Coruscant, and stuffed the four best upgrades I could get into it, while only my current robe beats this trend, staying better than the heavy chest armors I have found. Is there a level range when it starts to balance out, and become superior to "mundane" gear I find? I want to get the Rep Dancer gear for Kira, and eventually the on-Coruscant Legacy gear for my Guardian, but even with multiple pieces having multiple slots, that just seems like a money sink, and not as good as the gear I find for completing missions, for me or my companion (then add in the cost for removing mods, to get the next better one in.) I haven't found the "easy way to make creds" things yet, so I make about double what my new Abilities cost. My server's AH skips from the teens to 40s in almost every variety of item (I know, mid-adventure characters don't matter so much ; it's the 50s everyone cares about), so even with lots of money, I can't use much that I might find, and with Synth, Archaeo, and Slicing, I won't be making any mod bits. Am I missing something obvious? I am a bit new to SWTOR, and not quite to lvl 30 yet, so I can hope that I am just not there, yet, but I want to plan for the future, and know if those items will ever be worth it? If so, when about should I start to care? I don't want to sound like a whiny noob, but I am curious if these are worth the repeat expense. Thanks.