I wasn't saying the relationships don't exist. I was saying that, from my understanding of what I have read, it is possible that instead of using the words "gay" and "lesbian" the SW universe has another/other word(s) for SS relationships. I see your point and I agree. But, until I hear something from BW, I'm still holding to my theory that BW is most likely trying to see how they can implement SGRs without breaking any current story lines or making the implementation of SS relationship story lines feel awkward. Of course, if they already have all of this written, recorded and ready to go and are just waiting for the go ahead to implement it from the main man or woman in charge, then that is another story. If the first theory is true, then I would rather BW take their time on this. If the second theory is true, then all we can do is be patient. There is a bit of prejudice toward aliens, at least on the Imperial side, I haven't seen it so much on the Republic side, unless I missed something. I wouldn't be surprised if some people in the Star Wars universe do have some misgivings about inter-species relationships, at least on the Empire side. That being said, it is possible that there would be misgivings about SS relationships in the SW universe. Take a look at the real world. The Civil Rights movement happened about 40+ years ago and racism still exists today, though I don't know that it is as extreme as it was then (of course that is also dependent on the area you are from). I won't doubt that prejudices against SS relationships still exists 40 or so years from now, but, hopefully, won't be as prevalent. (Sorry. That was my very, very feeble attempt at comparing the real world society (as a whole..ish) to the SW society (as a whole...ish) in regards to race (off-topic, I know) and SS relationships.) But, you are right, people in the SW universe would be a lot more open to SS relationships than people are in the real world. I hope all this makes sense. Late night and socially awkward don't mix very well. Side note: To anyone who reads this post, please don't take my opinions as facts, because they aren't.

From what I understand, and I could be mistaken in saying this, but what BioWare was saying is that the words "gay" and "lesbian" don't exist in the Star Wars universe. I never saw anything, again I could be wrong, of them saying these types of relationships don't exist. Just like in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, the words "gay" and "lesbian" don't show up, but there are instances where the author has eluded to the fact that these types of relationships do exist, he just called them "pillow friends". Perhaps what the hold up is - besides possibly needing to best figure out how to implement SGRAs so it doesn't ruin any story lines or feel awekward- the fact that the writers are trying to come up with a Star Wars type of word...name...version of "pillow friends"...for SS relationships, if that makes sense.

It's not just this particular boss. I and my husband have seen this error with random mobs as well. Just thought you should know. Thank you for stating that you are aware of the issue and adding it to your 'To Do' list, which I imagine is quite long.

roflmao I couldn't pull that off, but it would be entertaining to see.

Hmmmm choices, choices... I know I had already cast my vote before and I went with 2b. After looking over option 3, I think I will change my vote to 3, however I don't like the idea of making every companion Bi, because, in my opinion anyway, it doesn't seem to fit with certain companions' personalities. The fourth part of 3 I'm not so sure about either, but I like 3, for the most part.

http://www.theminionslayers.com/?p=1256 This one is my favorite so far. Awesome comic by the way.

Ummm really? Please tell me you're joking or even trolling... Just in case you are not, I've been playing pen and paper and online RPGs for years and I have never once felt "forced" to play as a guy. If I make a male toon it's because I choose to.

My first character in DnD 3.0 was a Half-hound Arcon Monk who got kicked out of the monastery for having an obsessive compulsive gambling problem. Every time a fellow player RPed their character saying, "You wanna bet?" to my character, I had to roll a Will save DC 18 to see if my character actually did bet (that was my idea, not the DM's). I had actually been playing on Wheel of Time MuDs before being introduced to DnD 3.0. But, the Half-hound Arcon was my first truly memorable character. I tend to give my characters flaws or personality quirks that don't normally fit their class role. I don't like stereotypes or cliches and try not to fall into that. I fail at times, but I do try. To be honest, with all of the personality types in books and movies it's getting harder to not fall into something that hasn't already been done. How it's implemented, on the other hand, is another matter, if that makes sense.

+1 I think BioWare employees need to see more threads like this. I'm sure it would be a nice reprieve from all of the negative threads out there.

What is going on? Why all the Q.Qing? Bugs I see a lot of posts about people fussing about BioWare's CS just because an issue a player reported isn't taken care of right that second. Relax, people. BioWare's desk is full of bug reports and they need time to sort through them all and run tests to duplicate the issue to see what triggers it so they can find the problem and fix it. (This guide says it lot better than I ever could: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=219091) I've been playing this game since a few days before launch and the only bugs I have seen are: - The healer's perma-green glow on toons: Fixed - Nodes not being scannable. - The 'I want to talk to you on the ship' icon popping up when the companion doesn't really want to talk to my toon (right click on the companion to see if this is the case). I've actually seen this pop up on toons that don't have ships yet. - The BH shooting from the hip glitch, which doesn't happen very often. - Companions not showing back up after arriving at a destination using the scooter routes (if that makes sense). I have to re-summon my companions. While these can be annoying at times, they aren't 'game-breaking'. I don't PvP, so I can't say what bugs are there, and I can't speak for everyone. This is just from my perspective. Computer Now before getting all huffy and puffy and blaming BioWare about this issue and that issue, make sure your computer can actually play the game. Sometimes, at least from what I hear, issues a computer might potentially be having won't show up until you push it to its limits. From what it sounds like, this game does that really well. If you need help with this I found this thread while browsing the forums: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=3898 My husband and I got the parts for my computer off New Egg for close to $800 and it runs SW:TOR just fine. Yes, all graphics settings are set to 'high' except for shadow quality, which I have off, because I heard there were problems with it and I haven't bothered to turn them back on. My computer specs if anyone is curious: CPU: Intel Core i5 2400 3.10 GHz Mainboard: ASUSTeK PCI-Express P8Z68-V x16 Memory: DDR3 Dual DRAM Frequency 800.1 MHz Size: 8192 MBytes Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Core: 50MHz Shaders: 101 MHz Memory: 135MHz Size: 1024 MBytes I actually have no idea what any of that stuff is. I used CPUID CPU-Z to tell me what's inside my case. My husband is the Computer Science major; I just study society. Did I leave anything out? End Game I'll be honest, I have to laugh whenever I see someone quitting because "end game" content wasn't good enough. Now, I haven't gotten that far yet, but it's an MMO (to state the obvious). There are going to be expansions and new content... Right, BioWare/EA. Right? So, it might be safe to say that there really isn't any 'end game' content until the very last expansion is released. Basically What I am saying and what others have said, is be patient, people. BioWare is doing what they can to fix the issues that have been brought to their attention. Throwing a hissy fit because things aren't done RIGHT THIS SECOND won't get things done any quicker, if anything posts like that will likely get put to the bottom of the pile. As a side note: I know I just baited myself for being flamed and trolled. -shrug- People get flamed and trolled for saying puppies and kittens are cute and flowers are pretty.

Kaisar, named after a world that is the setting for a book I'm working on.

Trolling, yes/no? Regardless, as of 2010 the average age of a video gamer is 34. (source: http://www.esrb.org/about/video-game-industry-statistics.jsp) I'm 34 and my husband is 32. We both game. I can't say how much I average during the weekdays as I am in college right now and get on when I have spare time. On the weekends, I think I average about 12 hours. Some of those hours are spent soloing, some are spent questing with my husband.

Don't get me wrong. I don't despise EA, I'm frustrated, but I don't despise them. I actually own, and rather enjoy in spite of the glitches, all of the Sims 3 expansion packs that has come out so far. And, I do enjoy a lot of the other games that have the EA stamp on them. This game especially and I'm looking forward to the content that is coming out. A lot of which looks and sounds like it is worth waiting for.

This. Anyone who has played Sims 3 would know this all too well. As far as SW:TOR is concerned, BioWare is the producer, EA is the publisher. I could be wrong in saying this, but the publisher has some if not most of the say when a game is put on the market. Theory: What could have happened is the publisher wanted this game out on the market on the launch date, which resulted in a lot of content that should have been in at launch being left out (but will be added later). I get the feeling that if BioWare had more say in the matter, they might have released this at a later date just to make sure there weren't any so-called game-breaking glitches (which I have yet to run into), or very many glitches and certain content was added when it should have been, if that makes sense. For those who say, "They had x-number of years!" Look at the scale of this game. It's fully voiced and it's an MMO (basically it's an interactive movie). How many movies do you know were thought up, scripted, approved, gathered the funding for, found the director for, found the cast for, found or created the location, filmed, and then released in the time the "Now! Now! NOW!" crowd expects? Whenever this happens, people complain because the end product is crap. To be honest, it doesn't matter what is done, how well or when it's done, one group or another will complain. Not everyone can be satisfied. I just hope BioWare listens to the more sensible people of the community. BioWare is doing what they can to fix the issues. Be patient. TL;DR EA is the publisher, BioWare is the producer. The publisher might have more say on release date than the producer. Good works of art take time. People will complain no matter what. BioWare is doing what they can; be patient.

If you are looking for a casual guild full of friendly, helpful players, check out 'Hope' on the Krath server, Republic side. We have close to 300 members and the max number I've seen logged on on a given night is 30. Our sister guild is 'Despair' on the Empire side. It's smaller, but looking to grow. Ask any member of any of the mentioned guilds for an invite. The only rules, that I know of (I'm not the GL), are that you aren't a huge jerk and you help out your fellow guild members when you can.

That's cool. All of the reasons you listed are reasons I've seen listed. I was just offering another possible reason on top of all the others. But, then again I also tend to think like a psychologist sometimes and find myself doing a psycho-analysis as to why people do things. It's gotten me into trouble a couple of times.

First, I apologize to the OP and any BioWare employee monitoring these forums for going a little off topic. Just so you know, I don't explain things well, but I'll do my best. Allow me to clarify. I am new to the field of Sociology. I'm currently working on getting the core classes out of the way so I can attempt to get into the Masters of Sociology program at my current university. I have often heard that gender is a social construct and this statement has often intrigued me as well. How can something that seems so black and white be made up by society? I suppose the better way to say this then is: Gender roles are a social construct. Take a look at how gender roles were viewed before, during, and shortly after the Women's Rights movement. Women had a specific role to play. Men had a specific role to play. It's because of those views that some people, even in the 21st Century, still view women and men as fulfilling certain roles, because, as someone had mentioned earlier, it is so ingrained into our society. But, who actually came up the with 'Men are the Breadwinners', 'Women are the Homemakers'? Jesus? Muhammad? Buddah? The Bible? The Book of Mormon? The Qur'an? Or were these roles created by Man and thus Society (as Society was once male dominated) as a result of subjective interpretation of religious text? This is why I say and how I understand the concept of gender being a social construct. Obvious statement (HK47 FTW! ): Society is changing. The ideas of what is male and what is female is changing. And because Society is changing, - women in roles once dominated by men, men playing Mr. Mom - there is a call for men to be more sensitive and women to be stronger. So, there are times when a woman has to...think like a man?... show strength to fulfill the role of the police officer, firefighter, or even dad in the case of single mothers raising children. The same could be true for those men fulfilling roles once dominated by women. Sometimes they have to wear the compassionate, nurturing hat to work as a nurse, teacher, social worker, or even fulfill the role as a mom for single fathers raising children. I could be wrong in saying this but, maybe this is one of the many reasons why we are starting to see a rise in people choosing to be gender neutral, because they can wear the Hat of Strength or the Hat of Compassion as the need arises. I hope all of this made sense. It's okay for anyone reading this to agree or disagree. Everything I have said is based on my very inexperienced observations and my opinion. I'm not a psychologist, but I'm going to try and hazard a guess and hopefully add some perspective as to why some women/girls play male characters. This isn't just for Kabjat, but for everyone. Perhaps another reason why women play male characters is because they view themselves as strong women and the best way they know how to project this in game is by playing male toons. The same might be said for some of the men who play female characters, though they would never admit to it, is because some may see them selves as compassionate and sensitive and the best way they know how to project this is by playing female characters. There's nothing wrong with that guys. I promise you won't lose your masculinity by showing your more compassionate side just as women won't lose their femininity by showing they can be strong too. Just a thought. (And, what I said earlier about people who try and guess why women have male toons and men have female toons comes back to me like a boomerang with a mission.) -puts on a blindfold and waits for the oncoming *THWACK*- Again, sorry if I went off topic. I'll return you to your regularly scheduled program.

I'm 34. As I mentioned in another post, I model my toons after characters in stories I'm working on. The personalities I'm listing is only a skim off the surface of who the chars are. This was the best way I knew to answer the questions. Empire and Republic Corcaiza: LvL 14 Sith Sorcerer; Evil; Doesn't like torture, as she doesn't like to prolong death. If the option is given, she will kill a person after they have given her the information she needs. Kachia: LvL 14 Bounty Hunter Mercenary Pyrotech; Evil; Ruthless. Kills because she can. Kodarish: LvL 14 Bounty Hunter Mercenary Arsenal; NE; Treats ladies and his allies with respect. In true Bounty Hunter style, does missions for the credits. Naitel: LvL 28 Sniper Engineering; NE approaching Good; She won't kill unless she has to and knows the values of allies and contacts, but doesn't trust easily. Evani: LvL 28 Commando Gunnery; NE approaching Good; She'll take money if it's offered. She respects authority, but at the same time uses her own judgement. Won't kill civilians if the option arises. Celina: LvL 25 Gunslinger Saboteur; NG; Robin Hood type of character. Calathar: LvL 11 Sage Seer; NE; Prideful. Knows the value of allies. Doesn't like to kill. Turns prisoners over to the proper authority, whomever that happens to be. Shameless flirt. Nisela: LvL 14 Sage Seer; Good; Always chooses the Lightside. Respects authority. TL;DR 1: Republic and Empire; 2: Depends on the personality of the character, this also goes for how the character treats their companions; 3: DPS/Heals

I'm apologizing ahead of time if I sound like a know-it-all. That is not my intent. I'm just putting in my two cents. First, gender is a social construct, it was created by society. What a person looks like on the outside doesn't always reflect what is in the heart or mind. (My major is Sociology, so I find this thread interesting.) Second, only the player of the characters know why they play the gender they do. If anyone tries to guess or assume the motive as to why guys play girls and girls play guys...well, to put it nicely, they will most likely be wrong. That being said, I am a woman and I play male and female characters. The toons I create are modeled after characters in the stories I'm working on. I don't consider myself a gamer, but I have played various other games including WoW, DA I & II, KOTOR I & II, ME I & II, Sims 1,2 & 3, Exalted, BESM, PoTP (a MuD based on the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan), DnD... In fact, I met my husband at a DnD session. But, I'm not a gamer, just a geek.

Ah, missed that part. Sorry. According to my husband, the majority of the money comes from gathering nodes in the field, when you first start out. Also, from my experience, Slicing missions don't usually produce enough credits from the credit boxes to cover the cost of the missions much less make a profit, again when you first start out. However, you might start seeing profit at higher levels.

The ones in the ship, yes. I haven't tried them either, but I have heard from fellow guildies it is a good way to earn money.

I'm not very good at giving advice, but I'll give it a try anyway. Your toon is level 23, so I assume, now I could be wrong in this, but I assume, you're working on getting your riding skill and a speeder. This is what I do, and it usually works for me: I stop sending my companions out on missions at level 20 or 21. I pick up and complete every quest I can get my hands on and sell most every thing in my bag that I don't need. The only thing I spend money on are training abilities. By the time I reach level 25 I often have more than I need for a speeder and the riding skill. However, seeing that you are at level 23 and probably want to get the riding skill and speeder once you hit 25. I've heard a few things to help with money: If you can avoid sending your companions on missions, do so. Do quests. Do space missions. Sell items that you don't need. Get the gathering crew skills. Use the GTC. As far as your friend getting mad at you, have you considered a compromise, such as taking turns scanning nodes? That's what my husband and I do anyway when we team up together. If that doesn't work, then try picking some crew skills your friend doesn't have so there isn't competition. TL;DR --> Get money: Gathering skills, quests, space missions, GTC, avoid sending companions on missions (if possible), sell not needed stuff; Friend doesn't like you taking nodes: Take turns, or, if you want/can take the skills he doesn't have. Sorry in advance if this all really bad advice or even obvious, but I was trying to help.

ooooooOOOOOOOooooooo If this is true, I'm all over the Legacy content.

The PvP content doesn't really catch my interest, but then again I don't care for PvP. I am looking forward to the Legacy and UI customization content. To those who are fussing and saying, "We want new species!" or "We want SS relations!" Isn't that the kind of content you see in major patches before expansion packs or the expansion packs themselves? Besides, if a project gets rushed just to satisfy all those impatient types, corners will be cut and chances are there will be more bugs/glitches/annoyances than there were before, so just relax. Good things come to those who wait. Keep up the good work, Team SW:TOR. And, don't sweat it if you can't please everyone. Sadly, there will always be whiners.

I honestly don't see this happening because it does seem as though it would be a lot of work and would most likely delay future content that includes more companions and the SS options. However, it maybe delayed anyway if the more companions/SS content is added with either the first or second expansion pack. (WTB a fully Dark Side/Light Side ship crew as it's kind of hard-ish to RP a fully Dark Side character - or a Dark Side character going Light Side- when you have a Light/Dark Side companion frowning at every choice you make and vice versa for Light Side.) I hope that made sense. This sounds more reasonable. However, that is not to say that the Storyteller Team couldn't try and work with what is already there with some of the existing companions. (Just please don't make them all Bi, BW. This option doesn't seem fit with the personalities of some of the characters, IMHO.)