I just wish, at this point, that they would come out and say whether there is an intention to make the new companions customizable or not. If not, I can stop wasting my time working on influence with them and just use the machine to get my old companions back. Personally, being able to customize the companions is important, so I'd rather focus on companions that can be customized. Yes, I'll be disappointed if there is no intention to make the new companions customizable, but since they could have done it and haven't, I rather suspect they saved some man hours and just went with static models.

I actually have the same issue. My shadow is 65 and my sage is at 63. I don't raid (apart from pugging Ops) and haven't done much PvP, but both are fun. It really comes down to what you like and level 20 is hardly high enough to choose. You have melee vs. ranged, both seem similar in damage, though I'd give the edge in AoE to the sage. One thing to consider is that the stealth of the shadow makes doing the weekly heroic quests much easier, since you can skip a lot of mobs.

I'm just really curious why 90% of the gear in this game has mudflaps on it. I thought those were things you stuck behind your tires when you drive a truck to keep the mud from splattering. My character has legs, not wheels, so I really don't need the mudflaps - I mean, I run, but not so fast that I'm in danger of splattering nearby pedestrians with mud. . . . I would love to see more outfits without the mudflaps!

Actually, we do have seductive outfits for females . . . or, at least they would be seductive if they didn't have mudflaps. I have yet to actually see mud in game, so I'm not sure why 90% of the outfits in the game have these mudflaps. I'm not really a fan. In the movies I've seen, there was only one outfit I can think of that had the flaps - the iconic Princess Leia slave outfit; it had flaps because there wasn't anything beneath the flaps. Love to see versions of the tops that just nixed the flaps.

As a casual, the damage nerf is annoying, but nothing that will　end　the　game.　　The　3　second　channel　is　annoying,　but,　again,　not　game　breaking.　　Losing the snare for PvE because of PvP is what finally just has me not playing my sage now.　　I do mostly solo content and a few HM when I can get past the queue. The lack of a snare makes it less fun, and makes me spend much more time healing. So, yeah, for me, the issue isn't that the damage was nerfed too much (even though it probably was), but they took away a lot of my survivability and fun.　　Game is supposed to be fun, but they kind of ruined the class for me, unfortunately. I'll just end up leveling something else.

I don't do progression raiding, so in some ways the damage nerf has less of an impact on me. At some point I would like to, but I just returned to the game and haven't been able to do any raiding yet. However, I do go out and do dailies for fun . . . or I did until the latest patch. I'm squishy, take away my snare and give me this short channel and I am much much squishier. Maybe they needed the snare gone for PvP? I makes no sense for PvE, especially soloing - maybe the Devs forgot about that part of the game. I just don't enjoy playing the sage as much. Just give me the snare back when I am doing PvE and it would restore a lot of the fun. (Yes, I'd prefer the 6 second channel, too, but I can maybe live without it if I got my snare back.)

Just returned to the game recently and was looking for a guild. Basically, everyone just spams LF commando dps for HM. So, clearly sages needed a nerf . . . . Sages will be viable . . . if they heal. Then all the commandos and maybe a few smugglers can do all the dps. It just seems like the game I play and the game the devs work on aren't the same game.

What they also don't seem to get is that sage/sorc is squishy and people actually use them to do quests and dailies. Drop the stun on quake/storm and, well, just not fun to play anymore. Too painful to take on multiple mobs.

Well, the nerfs were really overboard, but I still don't get the point of removing the snare. Now playing my sage for dailies is just painful. Pretty much retired now . . .

I am not convinced I really shine here, though. If I was, for example, playing another ranged dps with AoE, all the mobs would just die faster, instead of just the one I can focus as a shadow. And, then, at the boss, I'm great for 30 seconds, then not so great. I love this burst when I'm out doing dailies. Sneak up on an elite and just burst him down insanely fast, but in group play, it just doesn't cut it. I'll still play my shadow because its loads of fun and I'm no progression raider, but I do hate being so underpowered when it comes to group play.

Well, we have great burst, then . . . nothing. There just isn't much sustained damage, so unless the boss dies in the first 30 seconds, shadow falls way behind. I think this is the real problem, because they are scared to buff shadow because that will make them too strong in PvP, but PvE really suffers. And the lack of AoE is annoying - I just feel like I'm tagging along for the ride on fast FP runs. Everything dies while I whack on one mob and contribute little.

I'm not sure you have to stay away from shadow because you are new. Really, they are nice for leveling and I love doing my 55 dailies because I can stealth past everything I don't want to fight. However, I just feel weak when I'm in a group due to lower dps. One thing that would help is just to give me some AoE - as infiltration I have nothing. My one weak spin is a joke and I might as well not even bother.

Actually, what I would love to see is some attack like throwing the light saber. I don't really think this is a melee class that needs to use melee attacks, but I agree with the OP that it would be nice to have it for something other than a colorful stat stick. Just give me a cool throw attack and I'd be totally happy.

I like the gameplay and the dual lightsaber, but it really does get annoying to be bottom of the barrel dps. And from the latest 2.6 comments, no love in sight for shadow it seems.

Just came back to the game and have a shadow that I played before and I just hit 55 on it (infiltration). Not really interested in tanking, so wondering if shadow/assassin dps is really as bad as I hear in chat and on these forums. I have a couple of other 50s that I can level, but just curious, from a PvE perspective if the dps is really that bad, and if it is bad enough to hold you back. I eventually would try and join a guild and do ops, so if people just don't want shadow dps, that would concern me. Any input appreciated.

My companion dresses . . . in very little. I like it. I like having the option. I don't care if you like it or not. End of line.

Glad to see some class balance changes on the horizon. However, very disappointed not to see any improvements to shadow/assassin PVE DPS. We are very bottom of the barrel, even with the 2.5 so-called buffs, that didn't really do anything. It would be nice to see those added into the plans for 2.6 - something so that people don't laugh and snicker when you ask to join an op as a shadow/assassin.

I expect that many of the people that are transferring toons to the Oceanic servers already play alts there, at least some of the time. So, while there will be more players on these servers, it might not be as many as you think. Hopefully, more servers will be added if it turns out to be necessary.

No, we players in Japan cannot transfer toons. Check the FAQ - we are not part of the very limited Oceanic/Asian countries that are supported by Bioware. Perhaps at some point we will be eligible for paid transfers, but no word on that yet. On another note, I get much better ping playing in the U.S. than on the Oceanic servers, but not many players on when I play . . .

The Oceanic servers were badly located for Asian players, so most of us get much better pings to the U.S. West. Really, what Bioware has done is fracture the player base for players in our time zone. I'm in Japan, so no free transfer - well, no transfer at all for now, since Bioware hasn't yet said when/if other players can transfer. I'm also stuck with the really tough decision on where to play now. Do I play with my bad pings on Oceanic servers (which means rerolling) or play in the U.S. with better pings, but few people to play with. I think its great for the people in Australia, but kind of leaves Asia out in the cold.

I can probably give some insight as to why they are played less. My sniper is now level 48 and I have a level 50 BH mercenary, and the difference is dramatic. I played the BH first and leveling was easy with my healing companion right from the start. You don't get heals on the sniper until much much later in the game. Quick comparison, BH has heals from the start, heavy armor, good single target damage, range, good AoE fairly early on and good CC (including a one min CC for those pesky elites). Sniper, gets . . . a good AoE at level 48, a few very short CC and knockbacks, medium armor, heals late in the game, good single target damage. Oh and you are stuck in cover and have no escape moves. Basically, I love the story, but the sniper is just soooo solo unfriendly while leveling compared to any other class I've tried. I think people just give up on it and try something easier. For sure, I've considered dropping it a few times, especially after a few too many trips to the med center. I may try it for a while at 50 and see how it goes, but am likely to go back to the much more survivable BH for dailies.

I have the same issue. I live in Japan and been trying to decide between rolling on The Harbinger or on Oceanic servers. Ping is 120ish on West Coast and around 280ms on Oceanic. Really can't decide because I don't know if enough peeps will stay on The Harbinger to make it worth going there, or I just have to eat the bad ping and play Oceanic. Decision, decisions.

First, calling them Asia servers is somewhat misleading. Most Asians I know get much worse ping on the Oceanic servers than the West Coast servers. I live in Japan and am faced with the unenviable choice of playing on a West Coast server when no one is on and getting a 120ms ping or playing on the Oceanic servers with lots of people, but a 280ms ping. Currently, I'm waiting to see what happens after transfers to see if enough Asian players stay on The Harbinger to make it worth playing there. If not, I guess I eat the horrible ping and play Oceanic. Kind of a sucky situation, really.

To be honest, I'm waiting until the Oceanic transfers before I decide whether to play on Harbinger or eat the nasty ping and play on the Aussie servers. I'm in Japan and playing on a normal U.S. server, but only on weekends can I ever actually find groups for things. Just not sure if there'll be enough people on in the Oceanic/Asia time zone to make it worth playing on Harbinger after all the Aussies transfer out.

I have a 50 arsenal merc and my MM sniper just hit 41. Here's my take: Story: IA wins easily. BH story had some fun parts, but was pretty generic - go kill this person type of stuff. IA is just overall fun. Gameplay: Merc is easier to level hands down. Heavy armor, simple rotation, CC, good damage healer companion from the start. Snipe is much more difficult. Your only really long CC is droids only, you do good damage, but much squishier, very complicated rotation (I have about 25 keybinds already) and you get companions really slowly. Fun: Its all subjective, but I prefer the gameplay of the sniper. I do find it frustrating at times because I have to really work hard to do content the BH just blew through. If I get a patrol add, especially a strong, its usually lights out, whereas on my BH, I could just CC and then deal with it later.