Yup, I think BW may want to look at when they open up certain space missions to characters since the reality of being able to have a fighting chance of completing it is directly related to the upgrades available. Thanks again for the guide! I can't tell you how helpful it is! Hopefully in a level or so when I try again after getting the missile upgrade I will beat this mission (hah).

Your guide is really helpful (especially the video). I have a question though. I only have 36 missiles (level 29). You have 70+ missiles. I am going to assume this will be easier with 70+ missiles. Is that because your level is much higher and you have grade 3 or higher upgrades to missiles? Now I am wondering if the problem is lack of equipment. I tried the mission after watching your video and I got a lot further but I run out of missiles shortly after the canyon part. Edited to add: I do see that you recommend Grade 3 missile magazine or higher which is a level 31 item. Perhaps this quest is labeled wrong in terms of level? (meaning, it's probably easier when you have the higher level missile magazine despite getting the quest at level 28. So really, for 3 levels, you do a dis-service to yourself and your time to attempt this )

This quest has also been difficult for me (ok, undoable really). I understand using missiles for the frigates and I do that. However, when I fly out of the canyon, the ship I am escorting is reduced to half health no matter what and after that, it becomes nearly impossible to keep it from getting damage even if I am totally precise with my missile usage and keeping the flyers off it. I wonder what I am doing wrong? (edited to add: I have every upgrade I can get for my level. I saw that someone recommended a power generator, that is the one thing I don't have)

As I have stated repeatedly in this thread, I am on a heavy population server with queues and yet the server is sharded to death resulting in very few players per zone despite the high, high population and server queues. How does saying the game feels dead and static take a 'huge bite' out of my 'credibility'? I recommend reading through the comments (since as I stated repeatedly, I love the game and this *is* my constructive feedback).

If you read the post + the subsequent comments you will realize it is about more than just the sharding but also the overall ambiance and activity in game zones (not related to PCs).

This.

Except people who are noticing that the game is lifeless/passive/empty/static are on full population/heavy population servers like myself (server has a queue!). So, no the whole 'it's the holidays' thing is completely irrelevant to this discussion and the multiple other threads that have launched regarding the problem of the world being devoid of life and players.

Related to the original post here: Another thing that grinds my gears is when I group up with people and the (in-game) group defaults to letting the higher level Sorc take their companion and dismisses my companion and then I get to the heroic/flashpoint only to find that they either 1) don't know how to use their companion properly and/or 2) clearly haven't geared up their companion. Frustrating!! It's sort of why I started just collecting Heroics and out-leveling them until they are green so I can just do them by myself with my companion.

That would be awesome. I support the idea of mini-games in the Cantina!

Agree. This would be one small step in making the game feel more alive and social.

As the original poster and someone who sees how instancing changes the feel of a server (a full population one, at that), I agree with this sentiment. For the people who mentioned the design of the environments (more specifically the massiveness of everything) contributing to the static/lifeless feel, I am starting to see this more and more as I level. The enormous buildings with nothing much in them aside from tiny clusters of mostly static mobs and the enormous design of the cities (planets and hubs) with very little going on in the way of NPCs or PCs (for example: the cantinas which are for the most part dead and around the GTN terminals which are also dead) is leading to the lifeless/soul-less feel of the game. To reiterate: I am not a slathering WoW fan-girl. I am not looking to 'go back to WoW'. I quit that rodeo a year and a half ago. I love the Star Wars universe and would love to see this game flourish.

I stated this in another thread but it bears repeating here. One great example of the empty world/lifeless feel phenomenon is Nar Shadaa. I love the design of this city so much (Blade Runner fan!). When I first got there, I expected tons of NPCs and lots of commotion because it has the look of a major hub. I took a space taxi to the casino expecting it to feel lively but it was dead. Few NPCs, tons of empty tables, things just feel lifeless even in a zone that could feel the most alive out of any of the zones. In regards to the empty rooms even in quest hubs, I agree so much with this too. I actually like the quest design aside from the strange endless tunnels of nothingness I keep encountering. Exploring also seems stifled because each world has clear parameters of what the designers clearly want you to experience and what is off-limits (invisible walls or blocked off places so you can't fully explore). This leads to further tunneling. Tunneling + overly instanced worlds = a world that feels static.

Great comment. Agree on many levels.

Actually I quit playing WoW a year and a half ago. I am not looking to return to anything. In fact, I am looking for ways for this game to improve because there are things it does that I think are stellar. Do realize that critiques you see may not always be the product of people wanting to go back to WoW but rather helpful brainstorming addressing issues (which there are if you read through these comments and others on the same subject, just because in your own anecdotal experience you haven't experienced these issues doesn't mean they don't exist).

To some extent you can move your ship with your mouse to dodge and weave past things (and to avoid colliding into planets/space debris) but sometimes you have to prioritize dodging meteors/ships over attacking because yeah, I think attacking doesn't retain the dodging you are trying to do.