Make one of everything and level it to at least 20 - and as someone else said, just because you pick 'republic' does NOT mean you must play 'a good guy'. You can go dark or light side on ANY character of either side, or you can be 'neutral' ( i have a few who are neither all good nor all bad - just like most real people would be) I have a character of every class (on 2 servers) - and I play them all. When one gets a bit boring I go play another one, and then back and forth among all my characters. After a while you will find a couple whose playstyle and/or story you prefer and you will likely gravitate towards them. The idea is to have fun not blow through all the content inside a week (unless thats your idea of fun) - and discover your 'ideal' class and spec.

Oddly enough I had the opposite issue - and I prefer to play solo due to my casual playstyle (and work hours that are unforgiving). I found I was outlevelling areas far too fast - although it DID mean I could do the Heroic 2s with just me and my companion fairly easily with good CC. I love the space missions - they are easy and fast if you do the lower level ones - and give decent xp (until they go grey in the quest log) and I get a lot of credits too. I will do an instance / mission every now and again when I have time, but I don't usually do those unless I see people asking in general on the fleet. This was also how I played WoW - and I think both games are casual friendly.

I like Khem val beleive it or not. He can be grumpy, and often tells me he's going ot eat my Sith Sorc but then he comes out with lines like 'I have a great sabacc face. That was a joke. I do not like sabac' That one always makes me grin. I also like Mako, she's just fun and sweet. Vette is another good companion - spunky and smart. On the Jedi side, I like Tharan - I know he can be egotistical and annoying but I enjoy his company - the other JC companions for me feel a bit insipid or just irritating. The love interest 'Iresso', is another insipid character - just needs to be tougher imo. Zenith come across as a 12 year old boy. Kira is 'ok' but I do find her annyoing - oddly she comes over as less sweet than companions like Mako/Vette and more of a smart mouth, but not in a humorous way. Corso is another one not too bad, I do buy the 'farmboy' personality, and Aric Jorgan has just the right amount of bluster/sense to make his military career believable. Revel (Sith Sorc) doesn't strike me as piratey enough - and he also has the arrogance of a much younger person without the wit you'd expect from someone like his character (the Jedi side smuggler has the right personality, a missed opportunity for Revel I feel)

Would you link that 1/12/28 spec? And your priority list of abilities? I'd appreciate it as my spec is currently undergoing a re-do as well (although my sage is pretty low right now), and I've been leaning back towards my old spec (tk/wave hybrid) but its been a while since I played so I'm not 100% on the correct spec/ability priority. Thanks

Treat Fess as if he were another player and heal him and keep force shield up on him at all times. It will take longer to kill things but he won't die so fast. Sometime he still dies though (at times like that, as long as you kill a couple of mobs befre you die, the next pull is easier) but good use of CC and heals should see you right on most heroic 2s.

Some excellent links and info guys tyvm! And yes I think I *was* playing the TK/wave hybrid (that sounds familiar) - or at least a low version of it - my sage isn't really high enough for Ops yet and I was levelling/questing more than any pvp (I'm not a great pvp player and I'd rather not gimp teams by including me in them lol). I'll look through the links/discussions and the builds linked also - once again thanks to both of you.

Before 1.2 hit I was a sort of regular player - however work demands meant I had to stop playing for the last month (or 2) and although I didn't unsub, I didn't get a chance to log in. I see now that our talent points were refunded and I'm pretty sure before I was playing as TK (or tk hybrid spec) but I'm darned if I can remember where I put my points exactly (I remember some of them from the abilities I was using but not all of them, and I know I had some in balance and a couple in seer). I was certain there was a sticky on this forum showing different builds, but i can't seem to find it. I found one on the Sith forums for their builds and here on the JC shadow side but nothing for Sages. Anyone got a link - or a bone - to throw me now I'm back to playing again? I know I could play around with different builds btw - but although I have time to play I don't have so much time to experiment the way I'd like to (work is still around alas, and they insist I actually WORK for my paycheck - the cads!). A few hints to get me off and running again would be awesome. TIA.

So I've been with TOR since launch, never unsubbed but due to work have been away from the game for about 2 months or more. I return to a brand new look forum and reading some of the posts here it seems a bunch of new 'stuff' in game too. I've looked over the patch notes but don't see a MASSIVE amount that affects my toon. Many of the posts I'm reading seem to be the 'oh woe is me' type for my spec, Inf Shadow (I was running the upheavel spec btw and only play PVE). Is it really as bad as all that? Or is it 'just the forums'? What 'new things' should I look out for or should I just play the same way I was a couple of months ago and not worry about it? TIA.

I have one of everything in PVE and play them all. Some days I like class A and other days class B seems best - so I just play the one I feel like playing and enjoy it. Some of the most fun ones I have aren't 'the best dps' but that isn't important to me - nor should it be. I play to enjoy myself, and get the most out of the class Im playing, (even if it is currently seen as 'subpar') first and foremost. As someone else said, the 'flavor of the month class' will change probably weekly.

You are most welcome. I would ignore the stalking behaviour - remember any kind of response from you is still a response. Keep ignoring it, do NOT acknowledge it in any way and it WILL cease. It may take some time though, but the lack of any kind of response from you (this includes getting angry, which will have the opposite effect than you intend) is the best course of action. Try not to judge his responses or feelings btw on how YOU would respond - this person is NOT like you, (if I was at work Id say he had a definite pathology! lol), but continuining to disregard his actions will eventually mean he leaves you alone. I would still not let his actions dictate yours - go on which ever toon you WANT to go on, and continue to ignore any and all actions by this person. Again best of luck.

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking here, but personally I have 2 different servers for Republic and Empire toons - partly because I too do not want them sharing the legacy name I have on my highest toon (republic). To me, it makes sense to seperate the 2 factions on different servers. As for alts having the same quests over and over - well that's not really THAT much different in other MMOs, although I do agree it can get tedious if the levels of your alts are close to each other.

All you can do, is what you've been doing - just politely refuse every offer of help (even if you need help). If he asks you 12 times to group and you say no 11 times and then give in, all it teaches him is that it takes 12 times of asking to get your help. He is not seeing that you actually don't want help / don't want his company. You may have to stop answering him altogether (in fact I would advise this, but i am aware from your posts that you want to be seen as nice and polite because HE is being polite). You don't have to put him on /ignore if you don't want to. State firmly that you do not want his help. If he continues asking after this, he is actually NOT being nice, despite his innocuous language, he is ignoring your request (which is rude). After you have FIRMLY stated that you do not want help/do not want him to ask you about help then you must ignore future requests. You do not need to cuss or be rude yourself but you DO need to IGNORE WHAT HE IS SAYING. Just do not reply. Do not reply nicely, do not reply rudely - just DO NOT REPLY AT ALL. Also don't let him dictate which toon you are playing - using my advice should ensure that it doesn't matter which toon you are playing, because you will be ignoring every whisper he sends. Best of luck

Yellow name plates just means that the mob will not attack you UNLESS you attack it - other than that it is no different to a red name plate (aggressive) mob.

If it helps at all, I'm running a desktop with 8GB RAM and quad core cpu - runs like a dream and that set up isn't too bad price wise either cos this machine is now about 2 years old (at least).

You could check out the forums at darthhater.com - they are number crunching and theory crafting..so you don't have to.