8/11 Agreed. Those others are pretty bad and you're right: Status Quo Is God trope is in full play in them, and most of the pre-NJO EU which caused me to quit reading Star Wars HOWEVER! I stand by my favorite series, The Black Fleet Crisis as it has many things the other books didnt or at at least that others didn't do well. Its heavy on war and political intrigue. It has more characterization of Chewbacca and wookies in general, somewhat humanizes the Empire, is critical of Leia and her Chancellorship, shows Han out of his element as a General, features new craft and tech and so much more. That's just the main plot. Landos subplot with the Vagabond is interesting and mysterious and characterizes Lobot. My only criticism is Lukes subplot which boring as all hell. I skipped most of it. finally, while Good triumphs over evil just like we knew it would it feels good in this series considering what bastards the the Yevetha are

I don't think thats true, I believe if it was a class skill as a Scoundrel it'll be a class skill as a Guardian. I have a save as a Scoundrel just before picking your Jedi class but I'm at work and can't test it until later if you still haven't an answer. Regardless a Scoundrel/Guardian is a very good combo because of Sneak Attack, a bonus perk given to Scoundrels every few levels that adds bonus damage when attacking from behind or if enemy is unable to respond (stunned, choked etc). Furthermore you'll get another Scoundrel perk that gives you bonus defense every few levels as a Scoundrel. Lastly I don't recommend holding levels at 2, there was a bug that would prevent your companions from gaining XP if you did so so I feel 4 or 5 (next rank of Sneak Attack) or 6 (next rank of +def perk) before going Guardian. This has an added benefit of giving you more skill points to bank because once you hit Guardian you'll get very few. speaking of stats you'll get an attribute point every four levels so +5 at 20 and odd attribute scores are wasteful and a little known fact in KotOR1 every Jedi class gets a free (and hidden) Lightsaber Finesse feat which uses your DEX to calculate hit vice STR if its higher. This is a good thing. I don't remember the attribute total you can assign but shoot for 12 or 14 in STR, 12 or 14 CON, 12 or 14 INT, 10 or 12 CHA, 12 or 14 WIS (for Force powers along with CHA, and FP pool) and most importantly 15 DEX. Your 5 level up attributes will go here for a base DEX at 20 of 20. You'll have superb defense and chance to hit. As a Guardian you could also prioritize the higher STR or CON I listed before but with an ending DEX of 18. This'll make your starting DEX 13 a little low so you could also drop your starting DEX to 15 and starting WIS to 10 and add 3DEX/2WIS and still end in the same place without gimping you on Taris and Dantooine too bad Important powers are Force Speed 3 and choice of Wound/Choke/Kill, Stun/Stasis 2 or 3, Push 3, or Horror 2 or 3. These will make an enemy unresponsive , procing Sneak Attack , and all the extra damage from Critical Strike and attacks from Master Speed devastating. Another very important power is Slow 3 which is a huge stat debuff and irresistible by enemies (even Malak) which will let your other powers stick even better you big oaf of a low Wisdom and Charisma having Guardian you. lastly for reference you need 17 Repair to do all HK repairs after bonuses from items *added* whoa whoa whoa, I dunno what version you're playing but I know on my old XBox copy you can't choose which class to assign levels. Perhaps a mod or something unique to PC version?

Dig deeper and you'll find the series of novels from the 90s that timeline wise span from the day after Episode 6 (The Truce at Bakura) to almost 20 years after (Specter of the Past & Vision of the Future) stopping just before the New Jedi Order series, which people have mixed feelings about. notable series in this time frame are the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn, Rogue Squadron/Wraith Squadron by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston, the Jedi Academy trilogy (can't remember author or series' name but its about Luke starting his Praxeum and the search for new Jedi, plus Daala!) and my personal favorite The Black Fleet Crisis by Michael P "Cube" McDowell. Ofcourse they're not all good, avoid The New Rebellion and The Crystal Star among a couple others I've mercifully forgotten all in all it'll be about 20 books but many great stories. as to the New Jedi Order it starts off good but gets really really bad after Star By Star, Destinys Way, and Balancing Point. The rest of that series after those three I hated but form your own opinion enjoy!

So I'm still confused, do you erase your identity in *all* the options except SIS and Sith? In other words, I want to give the Codex to Keeper or keep it for myself but *not* erase my identity (because it makes no sense in an MMO) how can I do that?

I have a Warrior but not sure if I want to stick with Male or Female so I thought I'd ask the boards herr how does a romance "feel" with Quinn? What kind of relationship is it? Is it a normalish relationship that wouldn't be out of place in say the Smuggler story or is it more hero worship? How does the game treat Force/Non-Force romances? for Males: I know you can only romance Dark Jaesa so for a greyish Warrior what kind of relationship develops? Are they cackling madly into the sunset or is it no pun intended a power relationship? Would my grey Sith just be constantly annoyed with a dark Jaesa? finally, I'm not interested in romancing Vette

I'm in a similar bind, OP I'm leveling a PT now and 42 but wasn't able finish before 12x ran out. I agree with you that PT combat feels weird with moments where I wasn't sure what to cast next. I leveled a Commando (same as Merc in case you're not familiar with the class system) and it felt more "natural" for my playstyle although the Trooper suffers from a severe lack of cool with their abilities and animations that the BH has oodles of. That's one thing I can say my PT had over my Merc and VG, they're much cooler. Bad ***, even. in any case, since I suffer from the same problem as you the only advice I can give is my own conclusions which are that generally speaking I prefer wholly ranged classes to melee or melee hybrids like the Vanguard and PT. This means I'll probably reroll to Mercenary despite how cool my PT is. Cool factor fades, gotta stick with what'll be more fun in the long term

I can understand the dilemma, Risha gives off this princess of the underworld vibe but Akaavi is quite the ***** devil and hey, its all about framing: its not a cover generator, its a blast shield for the sabo charges

Okay, first off I'm a soloing story RP player. The highest group content I do is Heroic 4s and the occasional PuG FP I want to drop Biochem from my team of toons as I find it annoying and don't find much use in the craftable stims and adrenals considering I'm not pushing content, but I'm worried about Implants. At 55 ( and soon 60), where does one who does almost no group content or pvp find the many implants id need for my team of 5 toons plus companions? admittedly I haven't yet seen the 50+ game so I don't know what availability looks like but I know 1-50 there's one implant comm vendor and that's only in Act 2 I believe the obvious answer is the GTN but generally speaking, where else can one get implants?

I get that, but the motivation given by the game breaks down when you consider what your smuggler accomplishes. Its more than money since you get more than plenty at the end of Acts 1 & 3 (Act 2 hazy, ask again later) it feels like the only plausible way is as a patriot or a hard line anti-Imperial

exactly, what's the hook other than playing some odd independent patriot going full light side. Another EU example is Kyle Katarn but even he was working against the Empire for very personal reasons and then later became a Jedi

Glad to see you've figured it out. I'm in a bit of the same predicament for rerolling my Scoundrel as Gunslinger to match my beloved Sniper. Punching droids and kicking rakghouls in the crotch was a bit silly, especially on my Body Type 2 female Scoundrel-ess but admittedly it would've looked pretty good on a Type 3 female or Type 3 or 4 male in any case, good luck. You're gonna need it

funny, that was close to my own RP for my first Smuggler, but to be clear I already played a Darkish Scoundrel, but this time around I wanna play more Grey as far as ending and goals (choosing the "just gimme the money" option at the end) what I'm hoping for from all of you is some guidance or references of other Smuggler-type characters that would make to somewhat model in game. Or in other words, *why* work for the Republic as a privateer while not being a flag waving stooge like those "respectable" suckers Han and Lando?

This thread is similar to my "Who is the Inquisitor" thread I recently completed a Smuggler play through and I've been considering rerolling her but I'm having difficulty with some aspect of her personality. Mainly why does she do what she does? Why does she fight for the Republic? If she was more Mercenary why work only for the Republic? If more Privateer why do all the bad things she did (She was rather brutal and greedy, think South American Cartel Boss) from the movies we have two main examples of the Smuggler as Han and Lando. Han strikes me in game terms as a Light Side type who was always anti-Imperial since deserting and by series end (and into the EU) is a part of the [New] Republic. Lando is Light Side as well though more self serving and Independent which is hard to play as with the Faction system the way it is can anyone think of other EU examples of leaning-Dark or Grey Smugglers that would also make sense working solely for the Republic? bonus question: i like to have my Advanced Class help inform characterization and personality. I went with Scoundrel last time but it felt too, i dunno, cartoony punching droids and "dirty kicking" Kath hounds but it seemed to fit the Cartel Boss model. Who is a Gunslinger though? Ability and tree names seem to imply an anarchist or sapper/saboteur. What does that sound like to you? What type of person has those types of skills and works as a Republic privateer with connections to the Underworld? as for story decisions IM shooting for

that's what I was afraid of. Act 1 feels much like a Sidious (Zash) / Maul (You) relationship, but yea, from what I do know of Act 3 especially but Act 2 to a lesser extent, you become much more like Palpatine or in a different setting, the Wizard searching for hidden magiks s'okay since I'm not terribly fond of the Assassin playstyle anyway but id like to hear from Assassins who were able to interpret their SI's in a way more fitting of that advanced class too

Sigh, my phone must've been hungry because it ate my long, thoughtful post so now the short and stupid version I like the discussion on the SW but if I may interject with one about the SI and the light side. with the backgroundof the SI in mind (slavery and all the abuses and indignities that entails) a friend and I were brainstorming this very thing and could come up with only 3 reasons for playing the Sithiest Sith Inquisitor: you're a product of your environment like an abused puppy who became a snarling dog, you're an entitled thug on the other side of the table and willing to dish out what you were served in your former life, or you're an extremist just trying to fit in (odd but plausible to, say, murder because its expected of you) now what I find interesting (and relevant to this discussion) is that none of this precludes you from being the embodiment of the Good Is Not Nice trope (because how would one survive slavery under the Sith and the Academy by being nice?) and is precisely what I have intended for my current play through, though to be fair this does not mean "the light side ending" in any case I am glad we do have more of a choice in SWtOR than in other Star Wars games, that is White Knight or Stupid Evil, but I lament the fact that we have an MMO which prevents is from truly exploring the possibilities http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoodIsNotNice for reference

This is primarily a question of Advanced Class as it relates to the Inquisitor's storyline events *disclaimer* I will keep spoilers to a minimum both for myself and others *disclaimer* so I'm doing my first real Inquisitor play through and I chose Assassin mostly because it felt "right" considering the events of the Prologue and Act 1: skulking through tombs, killing your Master's rivals, stealing things etc all as apprentice to Zash. now I know by the time of Act 3 you're an accomplished Sith and finish the 1-50 game in a very high and powerful position. This all says to me "Sorceror!", but what about in Act 2 (broad strokes please) considering at the end of Act 1 you're no longer an apprentice (?) , are you acting on your own behalf or still on the behalf of another?

Hell, the BH is questionable too. Would John Wilkes Boothe have done a show the next night? and depending on the ending for the Smuggler you're either a dangerous Pirate Lord or a millionaire (or Star Wars equivalent) sigh, SWTOR could've been the greatest *singleplayer* RPG in years

I've never understood the 'erasing your identity' dynamic. I've chosen it before but at that time there wasn't a 50-55 game, and if SWtOR was a more 'normal' game that, y'know, had an ending, it would make for a very satisfying one: fighting the good fight as some kind of Space Batman. unfortunately we have an MMO so what does 'erasing your identity' mean when the game continues on Ilum or Makeb or wherever and you're still Agent So-and-so doing missions?? I think this fact alone will prevent me from keeping the Black Codex for myself and erasing my identity...but wait: isn't that what happens when Keeper/MoI does if you give it to him?

On the second account I disagree. In another thread I opined how obvious a choice it was to spare a whole unit versus Jaxo. I feel Saving Sergeant Jaxo was there for selfish or corrupt officers or those that were pursuing her psuedo-romance option. in your first account though I have to agree, it was heart wrenching. to submit my own two albeit from a different interpretation of 'emotional': the first is in the Agent's Act Two finale on Quesh. Your character has suffered from a mind control and brainwashing and numerous times were you a prisoner in your own body until finally you've overcome it and you have your first real moment with the perpetrators before they've realized you've broken the mind control. Its a crossroads moment where you must choose to put your emotions behind you or take your revenge. One of my favorite video game quotes of all time is in my signature below from when my Agent decided enough was enough and that these people would pay for being party to what they had done to her. the second moment was the Act 1 finale for the Bounty Hunter. The target is a Jedi master on the bridge of the ship in which you've just landed. As soon as you board its a roaring romping rampage as you slaughter all the ships defenders between you and your target. On your way there you find your rival, your antagonist, the one person who has done the most to cause you to fail going sofar as to murder the surrogate family of your companion and friend. He has been captured and is at your mercy but tries to appeal to your sense of honor by requesting that you free him for a fair fight, a gentleperson's duel. Your companion wishes him dead for what he'd done to her family but doesn't want to see his blood shed, instead hoping you'll leave him there in his cell to await the coming sabotage and explosion. My hunter had another idea, opening the cell to grant this man his fair fight only to see my hunter draw her pistol and with a sneer shoot him in his chest because some people deserve exactly what happens to them. Once on the bridge the Jedi and his padawan try to dissuade you, the mind trick you, until finally the Jedi realizes there is nothing left but to fight. Outmatched they fall, and weeping the padawan clutches her dead master. She is overcome with agony and pain and lost until my hunter again drew her pistol and silenced the cries. The hunter's partner is shocked, but silenced by a sharp word. Together they sabotage the ship and flee, triumphant. after finishing that mission I felt so pumped, literally my heart was surging in my chest as I came down from a brutal, bloody adrenaline high. I felt powerful, I felt dangerous, and later returning to be crowned the winner of the Great Hunt I felt victorious. It was amazing

http://www.torhead.com/mission/d1Xf16d/the-battle-of-corellia was reading the different responses and it looks you're off scot-free for executing Rakton, and even Tavus to a slightly lesser extent. Get a Senator killed however and Mom's mad though I love that its not because Garza feels bad but because his death will make things difficult for her command I'm very surprised. I was expecting the Chancellor to berate you for executing a prisoner or what not. I questions to anyone that can answer: does she mention the POWs or the lost opportunity of a prisoner swap? Is she still thankful and giving out accolades or is she more terse? How did Garza react? and I'm glad to see threatening to resign makes the Chancellor reconsider. I wonder if you get red points for it

So my Trooper met the Chancellor after capturing General Rakton and was informed that the prisoner would be traded for POWs. Alas, alls well that ends well, so to speak but my Trooper is too much an officer and a gentleman to have a publicly expressed political opinion unfortunately SWtOR is not a conventional game which would allow me to just reload a save and "try it the other way" so my question is how does the meeting with the Chancellor go if you execute Rakton? bonus question: what does she say if you threaten to resign if Rakton is released? bonus bonus question: what does Garza say if you execute Tavus at the end of Act 1?

http://www.torhead.com/mission/2J1nVBj/vivicar-awaits#comments I'm not so sure, if you expand the dialogue options in that link it implies I didn't misunderstand

OP here with an update: I get it finished Act 1 and boy was I disappointed. unless I misunderstood the dialogue that's a big Eff-You to the player and poor writing: Nyah Nyah, everything you just did didn't matter. I haven't the heart nor the patience to continue the story especially considering my complete lack of interest in any of the companions. Ohwell

So I finished Trooper Act 3 the other day and I realized I didn't recall seeing Dagger Squad on Corellia. Is this because I didn't choose that option on Belsavis that would've "cleared their name" or did I just miss them?

I can see that. I feel that if I was playing the Consular more normally the very subdued nature of the story would overshadowed by some of the planet mission lines which could be in part a source of the criticism to the story. in any case I'm looking forward to finishing it