Ive read and re-read all the posts, or so I thought, about 5.0 and Im just not getting how we will gear up. For example, Ive been farming Radiant Crystals, mainly for weekly heroics. Im about 65% in 216 gear at this point. When all that goes away, how will I get the remaining 216 modifications? And will there still be weeklies? If so, what will they reward now? Gracias Jin

About to turn 54. ;-) BETA tested Galaxies some time ago, BETA tested this game - lol. And a handful of other games. I dont have a lot of time to game, lots of things going on in me life. But its a fantastic distraction and way to unwind. And Im a massive SW geek, read tons of the EU books, even wrote a SW blog post once that got over 225,000 reads. I think gaming keeps ya young as long as thats not all your doing. Fun post, OP- Gracias for asking.

Interesting. I got the speed buff from transcendence but Im not noticing anything and my alclarity stats remain the same.

Greetings My Jedi & Sith Comrades So lots written on the saber ya get from Chp 12, which I just finished. But I cant find anything that definitively states what the perks are in the here and now, if any? I've seen the posts on the buffs breakdown, but nothing factual and tested on when these buffs apply? Only a final boss fight? All Arcann baddies? All the mods in it were weak compared to what I had, so I just stripped it, noticed the buff promise remains. Would appreciate some insights. Thanks Jin

Ive always loved Bioware storytelling, in most all their games. Although since EA bought them, where games were almost flawless technically before EA, now days- lots more sloppy launches, lots more bugs. So is Bioware what it once was? No. But they still know how to tell a story? Yeah, I think they do. In spite of the many bugs, i really enjoyed Dragon Age: Inquisition. But when it comes to SWTOR, the love hate continues. I was in early BETA and very hopeful for this MMO. Less because I was looking for a traditional MMO, which I also play, and more because I really liked a Star Wars game that I could enjoy over many years, kind of like an RPG on steroids with friends. But SWTOR keeps on making such poor choices. So I re-up to play a few chapters and then disappear for many months, then re-up. Wherein I was a subscriber for the first few years, which during HORRIBLE bugs, the worst Ive seen, since then- probably 4-5 months of every 12, I play. #1- I spent years building relationships with toons I no longer have access to in any meaningful way. No matter what they try and sell the community, obviously, the coding to bring the old toons in the new framework is massively broken. Or not even possible, given their choices. So what, NOW we should invest with new toons and promise, this time we wont take them from you? Incredibly poor decision making. This one is a really big one with me. #2- Stripping mods and such. Sigh. Some work. Some dont (in terms of switching the componets out). And don't even get me started on the many challenges if you need hilts past 208. No warning either way, so your hard earned commendations (radiant, whatever) go bye-bye. I dont mind having to grind some, buy some, craft some to upgrade my gear. Even being a 4 months a year player, my main is almost entirely in 216 level stuff. But when I come back, all the headaches the devs give me, yeah, thats what costs them my loyatly. If I grind, if I do my part, I want to be able to EASILY switch out my mods and such, as I see fit, to JUST BE ABLE to play the game. #3- Choices. Everything you need to click on now, of any type, glows loud and large. I get that helps people find things, but its to the point now where immersion is starting to suffer. Its just a screen filled with glowing things. #4-Crafting. Will we ever have a legit crafting aspect to this game? Something that excites people? Somewthing with depth? #5- The Cartel Las Veags gambling wheel. Finally, Im seeing more and more posts on this. Ive written entire articles on this on sites. Im all for microtransactions, I think its a smart business model and the players benefit. But thats not what this is. At all. Not even close. If they had some epic stronghold items, maybe some cools mounts that are credibly different, that I could buy directly like WoW and about most other credible micro transactions, cool. But this system is a typical EA money pit play. Sad. I''ll get caught up over the holidays on all the chapters and then come January, I will be gone until fall of 2017 because all the same problems that existed a year ago, remain today. And now with a nasty bug during my cutscenes. Sigh. This game has always had a ton of potential. Still does. And they have made a lot of really good changes, which I am grateful for. But until they get the fundamentals right, thats all this game will be, the game you visit every now and then, versus a game and community you feel inspired to invest in. May The Force Be With You Jin

All my cutscenes have blinking, black artifacts. Its almost looks like what the wire frames may look like from when snow is tossed on you, versus the fully rendered animation (black and gray). And Ive never had that happen before. Its just during the cutscenes for chapters, although thats the only thing Im playing, so it may show up during other cutscenes. It does not present during gameplay

While I have gotten some cool Zak items, my casa is on TATT. It would be AWESOME to be able to grind planet specific decor based on the planet the SF is over. As in the TATT SF would drop Zak & Tatt decor.

There was really no compelling story element that grabbed me, 4/10. If felt like a bloated - get another ally for the Alliance, mission. I REALLY like all but one of the Fallen chapters. Super enjoyable. But this one- meh. Rather than force feeding meh content, I would rather they only release six new chapters a year but REALLY good one and on the off months, add new companion quests (like they did), new daily heroics (which we desperately need) and new ways grind new kinds of decor or whatever you're looking to drop. I did enjoy the Blitz storyline, cracked me up multiple times. I have yet to do the HK one, probably tonight after I go get the ingredients for white russians.

I really like KOTH, I feel like I got Will Smith with me when I quest with him. Who cares what other people think. If you like him, have take him along, have fun. He's your companion- yes?

My routine is grind a bunch of dailies each night for upgrades and then end each run with a solo Star Fortress to grind out my Paladin achievement to get that decor item plus you get decor items from SF runs.

Not that I agree or love this system, but like most end game scenarios- you grind. You can get to a strong mix of 216/220 by grinding heroic dailies from Obsedian, because every even number two levels you raise the four main NPCs that are your Alliance leaders, you get a decent drop of Radiant/Glowing & Common plus those you got from the heroics. I was able to go from all 190s to 220/216. Im wrapping up grinding CC to buy mods for my mainhand saber and I'll be done. Also, the one thing I do is there are few of the dailies that take FOREVER so I immediately delete those. I dont do anything on Makeb, because those take forever. So once you get a routine going, you can bang them out quickly each night.

Ethical micro-transaction scheme = I want the big Deadpool rides a Bantha statue! That will be X number (a REASONABLE number) of Cartel Coins, Sir. *Hands over CC *Places epic statue in living room for all to see. Im a happy customer, I think I'll keep my eyes out for other cool items they may come out with. Gambling scheme = So did you hear they made a Deadpool Riding a Bantha statute? Its SOMEWHERE in the new Cartel Packs. DUDE! No way. *Spends $20 IRL for CC. Buys a bunch of packs. Get a few cool items, mostly junk and NO Deadpool Riding A Bantha! Now I have a decision to make. Do I want to GAMBLE on the chance that I might get LUCKY with my next IRL $20 and get my DBS? The only one brainwashed is you.

You clearly dont understand MMO business models. The very nature of a truly successful MMO model is to have a game that has its act together (bugs, events, community, customer service) to such a degree that it attracts a HIGH VOLUME of players. Volume is the key when your APP (average price point) is $15 a month. Where this is MASSIVELY important, is the proverbial "micro-transaction" and it operates per the exact same model rule- volume is king. Designing and producing an insane amount of items (the total number Cartel pack items over a given year) is bad ROI, a huge waste of Bioware resources and as time goes on, will offer diminishing returns. Plus the free Alliance packs compete against their own products. They have set themselves up very poorly, because more and more, people will just stop buying. Early in the game, I found adaptives that I loved for two of my main toons. They've had the same look for years, it feels iconic to the SW world. Ive seen many posts that say the same. And the AVERAGE customer, not the exception, will only collect so many mounts and pets. The basic laws of supply and demand, and the basic laws of retailing. A good model that offers REAL microtransactions versus the expensive roll the dice and hope you get it model, knows how to play they volume game. Rather than produce TONS of items on a sub-par level, hoping for the occasional hit that will inspire people to gamble on packs for it, you reduce the number of items you are producing by 60-70%% or more, but the remaining 35-40% are epic AND people can buy them DIRECTLY at a TRUE micro transaction rate. The SWTOR system is by its very nature, designed in a way that will inspire resentments and tick people off. And Bioware knows this and yet they continue to shoot themselves in the foot. A truly customer-centric MMO, which EA has never been and never will be, would simply get good at producing the items people love, selling them for a SMALL amount and thus effectively drive tons of volume. SWTOR customers say, "I would REALLY love item X" to which TOR says- cool, well then here it is at a fair price. The customer leaves happy and willing to buy again. Rinse and repeat. Quality goods sold directly that inspire trust and volume. THATS how you monetize microtransactions. GW2 did an insanely good job with this (which all the MMO trades talked about some time ago) with their dye packs system. There were no games, no gambling and THAT is what has people so upset (among many other things).

Although I dont agree with everything he or she wrote in this piece, I do agree with the Cartel Coin part. http://moviepilot.com/posts/3737329

Ok, coolest video ever in terms of, "WHAT?!? No way/!"

mine has never worked

Ok, so here is what I dont understand. Im a maxed out artificer and the best recipe I have been able train on is a 190 hilt. Ive reverse engineered it, I get better stats but its still a 190. Where do I get the recipe for a 220?

Also, I should have asked this first- are you catching on fire that wont go away? I had heard something about a very rare but legit bug with regards to that fire. If not, my walkthrough will have you through the fight in one pass.

Very little of the feedback you have gotten will helped, some of the feedback was ego free but most was not- so let me plainly state how to get around this. #1- The Revan fight was very poorly designed and as such, it is NOT a fight. Get that out of your head and follow the next steps and you will be fine. #2- Your ONLY two jobs, here is job #1. Run through the glowy ball things and then use those to free your various companions when they get stuck. Make sure to get a feel for what types of actions free them. For example, I found with Lana, I had to do this kind of rocking back and forth for the ball to free here. #3- Your second job is kite. When you you are running around freeing people, always be aware of where Revan is and just stay against the back wall, away from him as you are freeing people. Thats right, dont engage Revan. Like I said, its NOT a fight. #4- FYI: Every once in awhile he will jump on you, just kite away and Shan will start slapping on some wicked heals. make sure she is your top priority whenever she is trapped. Do this and you will win the "fight". Good luck!

Just read a blog post on this that I didnt necessarily agree with everything the person said but yeah, so no true microtransactions just a better seduction to encourage more legalized gambling for goodies. I stopped spending my money on packs for just that reason. If Bioware ever decides integrity is important to them again and thus offers a true microtransaction system that doesnt require me to gamble, cool- I'll check it out. But yeah, MEH

I have not looked at the new crafting changes, so those may solve this but I've been working my butt off grinding heroics and leveling up Alliance relationships to upgrade all my gear, turned 65 a month ago. Im about about half 208 and half 216, with one only my headpiece and mainhand saber below 208. The headpiece will be 216 level as soon as I bang out a few more heroics. But I am seeing no way to bump up my main hand saber outside of Ops? All my gear but my relicz are MK-8 augmented, its been a lot of work (and mostly fun). But I cant believe that outside of crafting and ops, there is no main hand saber I can pillage for mods? Really? Would appreciate confirmation of this oversight by someone or a big ole arrow of where I should be going. Radiant mods. The grind for those is much slower, which is fine. But being Im not doing ops, as a Sentinel- thoughts on what I should save up those Radiants for? Many thanks for your time

Maybe the crafting changes will help but Im a maxed out artificer and I cant craft 216 level hilts nor can I buy that level mod/enh. Which makes zero sense if I can run heroics and get 216 gear for everything but my maindhand weapon?

Howdy Ive been 65 for about a month now. I have all my mods upgraded to a mix of 208/216 gear. I have two remaining items to upgrade, one of which is my main hand saber. Everything I see with Radiant Crystals is off hand. How does one upgrade main hand without doing ops? I raided a lot some time ago, outside of SWTOR but just dont play enough for that but I want to be able to do Heroic Fortress runs. Thanks for your time Jin

You're smoking crack. Seriously. Just say no. There are still tons of posts on this, here and other places and the memory leak is every bit an issue today as it ever was. My Google Fiber + decked out computer can go form 115FPS to 15 at the drop of a hat. Alderaan, oy, dont even get me started. While it is much improved from launch, the issues very much remain.

Do not like. It breaks immersion (as does the 10-15FPS on Odessian) and its not how of the rest of the game plays. I just dont get their decision-making process. Its like for every 2-3 awesome things they do, they immediately and often simultaneously, do 2-3 really dumb things.