100 coms is 5 full item upgrades plus an additional barrel / hilt / armor piece. Heck, hold off on upgrading your enhancements, and you can get two more barrel / hilt / armor pieces. It's not a full upgrade (depending on how many slotted items you actually use), but it's pretty damn close and you can finish the job with coms that drop while doing missions. As for the Original Topic, as someone else posted, the 'free tionese / recruit gear' system was just a band-aid they put on to allow newcomers to catch up with veterans and get into 'elder game' activities: With the new expansion, everyone was put back to square one, so the band-aid came off.

It has it's uses while doing missions outside of instances: My Sniper likes to drop an Orbital Strike AoE on top of the ranged mobs (or those strong 'toads' on Makeb that sit and channel for a while before closing) and then roll into the group before it goes off, which insures that the melee mobs will run to me and everyone gets caught in the big 'Boom! Boom! Boom!'. So, I guess what I'm saying is that snipers love to get closer to trash that isn't going to hurt us anyway... Beyond that, the Sniper roll is more of a 'Get The Heck Out Of The Big AoE' tool. On the original topic, my Vanguard Trooper just feels weird without a closer ability: I think making the 'jet charge' a core ability would probably be a decent improvement.

Be Certain You Are In The Correct Zone (They're hard to miss with the champions wandering around) Try to NOT stand in water: That can obscure the triangulation graphic. Start by dropping a Seeker Droid on a 'root-like' structure. If you dig up the seed, move on to the next planet. If you don't find the seed, look at the triangulation graphic around you after the seeker returns: RED = You are way off, so move at least 30 meters before using the Seeker again. PARTIALLY GREEN = Turn in the direction of the 'Green', move forward 10-20m, and drop another seeker droid. Lather, Rinse, Repeat as needed. Try to remember the last couple of results when adjusting your position (e.g. if your second scans points you back the way you came, drop the next one between your previous two dig sites) Seriously, I'm not finished with the missions yet, but the planets I've done so far have gone pretty quick (Travel time to and from the sites almost certainly exceeds actual dig time by a good margin).

Individual dailies are available in the questing zones: They just don't show up on the 'terminals of convenience' until you have finished the main story. As for the weekly quests, well, they're all about dealing with post-disaster Makeb, so why should you be doing them before the disaster actually occurs???

The WoW developers have gone through quite a few variations of this system over the years, so let's look at the upsides and downsides: Expansion #1 - Add a new 'capstone' talent. This option would require creating (5 trees x 8 ACs =) 40 new abilities that all need to be 'more valuable' than the 'baseline' ability from the other available trees. Beyond that difficulty, this option still makes the class feel 'incomplete' until you cap, and you will still cap later than you would have pre-expansion. On the plus side, it means your tank in that level 40 instance is has all the tools he did before the expansion dropped, which helps leveling a bit. Note: For those that might have played, this was the era of the 'Succubus-Sacrifice / Shadow-Destruction' Warlock hybrid spec that topped the charts while making Arsenal Mercs look extremely overcomplicated. Probably the epitome of 'successful bad design' (as opposed to 'unplayable bad design'). Expansion #2 - Cut the tree size in half and award a skill point every other level. All this really does is keep the tree size a little more manageable, so it doesn't really mean much. Still, 31 point trees are a lot easier to build and handle than 61 point trees, so something like this is very likely as expansion continue (though focusing on 5-level expansions will delay the need for this option for a while). ]Expansion #3 - Require players to pick a single tree and lock them into it until they have spent enough points to 'cap' it. This is actually a much better option that it sounds, as it allows the game to give you your 'baseiine' abilities at level 10, making you 'feel' like a specific spec right away, rather than forcing you to wait until at least level 20+ to keep players from 'double-dipping' and the only options it takes off the table are 'hybrid' specs and 'out-of-order' specs (dipping into another tree early in your progression rather than at the end, but still picking up the 'capstone' ability eventually). Of course, once you make this decision and officially remove hybrid specs, the next step is fairly inevitable: Expansion #4 - Ah, Screw it: You pick a tree, and we'll choose your spec for you! Again, not nearly as bad as folks make it sound, because when all is said and done, there really aren't many options when assigning points. In SWTOR, you often have exactly 5 options to spend 5 points per tier, and most of the 'other options' you do have are not particularly good (the first two tiers usually have skills specifically aimed at the other two trees). While this option seems like it is taking away 'choice', what it is usually doing is taking away the 'illusion of choice'. Of course, sometimes the illusion is more important than the reality... So, there's the evolution of this system in that 'other' game. Generally speaking: You can't just keep adding new tiers to the trees, as the trees eventually become too big and unwieldy You can't keep adding new 'active' skills, as there is only so much room in rotations (not to mention keybindings). You could add more 'Passive' skills, but they generally feel 'underwhelming' to the players. You could 'halt' tree progression at a fixed level (rather than the level cap), but that could lead to confusion (i thought I had 10 more skill points coming!) and a bit of dissatisfaction (I don't 'feel' like I'm progressing anymore / why am I paying for an expansion without new skills?). I'm not in favor of this option, but mostly because it seems awkward...

Personally, I liked using Andronikos on Makeb because he uses the same gear as Talos: Any time I need to pull out a healer, I just give him Andronikos' gear and I was ready to go...

So, whatever happened to that super-weapon that I helped build for the Imperial Navy? You know, the one that obliterated clashing Republic and Imperial fleets with a single shot? Of all the storylines I've played, this subplot must be the one dropped the fastest. When I went to Corillia and the fleet followed me, I was so hopeful that I would be able to use it against Thanaton. Since his disapproval of the project is what caused the admiral to support me, I thought this would be karmic. Plus, it would be nice to actually use my resources in a duel of, well, resources! Heck, when Thanaton's headquarters was discovered, I thought "let's turn that cruiser around and see what it can do to a city!" Alas, no, I had to sneak in and kill everyone by hand. Fulfilling, but rather inefficient. Maybe the Silencer plotline probably should have been in Act II instead and been the target of the Trooper's Act II plotline instead of the 'Gauntlet' weapon.

It seems really hard to fit a 'class story' into a five level expansion, and fitting class stories into Makeb would have been really awkward (okay, lets add an individual reason for each class to visit the same obscure planet just before it explodes!), so leaving them out was probably the best option. Really, you're looking at the equivalent in size and position to Belsavis (large planet at the start of an Act) and I for one couldn't tell you much about that planet's class plotlines off the top of my head beyond the final encounters (and even some of those aren't memorable). If they went with ten level expansions, they could probably fit the class stories in (though probably awkwardly as our characters generally no longer have bosses telling us what to to), but that might not work too well with the F2P model (Larger expansion = more expensive = Non-subscibers might decide not to buy it).

Just to clarify: ARMSTECH uses Scavenging and Investigation to make barrels and guns ARMORMECH uses Scavenging and Underworld Trading to make Aim and Cunning based armor. Many a player has been confused by the similar names.

My personal list: Legacy Based Inventory Tracking - If I'm looking to build an item that requires Titanium, the UI currently tells me how many this particular character has. It would be nice if it would also mention 'Alt #2 has a stack of 75, and Alt # 5 has 19' so I don't have to log onto every character to manually check. Honestly, what I'm looking for is the 'ArkInventory' mod that was written for a competing game. Legacy Based Profession Tracking - If I'm looking to upgrade the gear on my Jedi Knight, I'd like to be able to open my Sith Inquisitor's synthweaving schematics list and review both the stats and graphics while still on my knight. GTN UI - Implement an option that shows only ONE instance of each item: Clicking on this item would then bring up all of the specific listings. I really don't want to go through 30 pages of the four lightsaber recipes every time I look through the available Artifice schematics. Chat Bubbles - I've 'stolen' quest objectives from other players who were just standing around the item and not using it, only to realize after the fact that one of them was telling the other to 'go ahead' in the chat channel. Likewise, I've seen comments in chat that make we wonder 'was that aimed at me, or someone on the far side of the planet?' Simple chat bubbles would be nice. Crafting Schematic Naming - When you add a 'reverse engineered' blue or purple to your schematic list, it would be nice if it was still listed under the base item name (i.e., 'Critical Powertech Bracers' show up on your Armormech schematics list as 'Powertech Bracers, Critical') so all the similar items are together on the list. Reverse Engineering Procs - would be nice if RE procs were weighted away from inappropriate stats (i.e., items that are endurance-heavy or have tanking stats would proc 'redoubt' versions first, while other gear would proc 'redoubt' versions last). I must admit, reverse engineering a 'dps piece' and learning to make the 'redoubt dps piece' is a pet peeve of mine... Sidekicks on Mounts and Taxis - I found sidekicks despawning very annoying on my assassin tank, as I'd have to re-'guard' my melee dps companion every time I dismounted. I also died once when I got off the taxi and walked into a fight with an elite without realizing that Khem was not with me. I presume the taxis were originally designed to hold sidekicks as well, but that was scrapped when they realized how problematic 'T7' and 'M1-4X' were going to be.

Personally, I suspect the reason for the 5 level expansion is the 'F2P Sticker Shock' factor: $40 just seems like a lot to pay for 10 more levels of a game that you are already playing for free, while $20 for 5 levels is more likely to be accepted as 'reasonable' despite having the exact same 'dollars per level' ratio.

Take your pick of the following options: Because nothing in the game outside of heroics calls for a partner? (Grouping up typically takes somewhat interesting content and makes it a yawn-fest.) Because I want to work at my own pace? Because your character will kill everything before my stealthy melee guy can even attack? (Seriously, my low-level scoundrel was once reduced to just tossing grenades whenever she could.) Because your lack of stealth means we have to fight though content I could just skip otherwise? Because something about you just rubs me the wrong way?

It's not a bug, it's a feature! No really, the admiral puts three stacking debuffs on you that penalize just about everything you do, including the damage you do and the heals you take. Basically turns the last phase of the fight into a dps race.

Inquisitors have it slightly worse: We also get our healer on Hoth, but he's not even our last companion: We get our 'ranged tank' in an interlude between Voss and Corillia. Imperial agents are nearly as bad, but they get their healer two planets earlier (if you call Quesh a full planet). If you really need heals, you can gear up your ship droid: It's a PITA to do (since he uses droid parts and can't use a weapon) but he can keep you alive. My Marauder went this route on Balmorra until he got his 'real' healer at the end of that planet (mind you, this was before they improved Warrior leveling back in 1.2 or so).

As an assassin, I found this ability incredibly useful while leveling: It's good free damage when you use CC. Now, I can understand sorcerers not using it much (due to its short range), but for an assassin, it's a very solid (if situational) ability. In fact, I distinctly remembering having to wait to break CC on occasions because tumult had a few seconds left on its cooldown. Every class gets at least one version of this ability (I believe my sniper has two: one melee and one ranged) and for some reason folks love to complain about them: Usually, the complaint seems to comes down to 'I can't use it in PvP, so what good is it?' It's not the best ability in the game, but it is a very solid addition to your leveling toolbox.