Each tunneling tentacle in P1 and - from what our partner guild told us yesterday -TTFB itself in P2 have an enrage timer. My group saw neither of them, we either died during the second orb phase or some other silly mistake before that until we kust killed it by surprise. As long as the Black Hole Gear is sitting in Tionese/Columi/Rakata shells it's equal to Campaign gear.

Gameplaywise having no delay and a longer reach and distance on the knockback makes a lot of sense. I'm just sad about the old slow animation being gone, I used to use the skill from time to time on my tank just for the bullet time like jump.

Run towards the Mob and hit Saber Strike ... there you go.

Just highlighted the part of your post I agree with.

Having already one raid member rage quit over this news I really got to say ... learn to read people ... L2R. For all who already pay subscriptions (and plan to continue to do so) nothing changes but we get new stuff and small chunks instead of large expansions. Subscribers get 200 coins per month nad while nobody can say for sure how much that actually might be I'd guess it will be covering almost all your possible cravings for cash shop items. Since if it wouldn't be, there would be no point in subscribing and people would switch over to the F2P model, leaving EA without regular monthly payments. F2P is an option here, developed fo multiple reasons: # Get people to play the game and get them to subscribe. # For casual gamers who are not the Operation kind of player in the first place, but might appreciate cosmetic items etc # For people who simply prefer the model and think subscription is something that the devil makes you sign with your firstborn's blood So ... you're a subscriber and plan to stay one it will be business as usual. Overall the twin business model looks a lot of what LotRO had and it worked rather well there.

Strapons make it possible ... especially with Kaliyo.

Not being on these part of the forums much I just noticed this thread. Honestly, as fan art you obviously can do whatever the hell you want, but the pictures you quoted displaying Sith in various not 100%-clothed forms got me thinking. I would really not take well too some of the Agent, Trooper or Bounty Hunter proposals (also really could do without the slave girl outfits) ... since they're just silly ... but for Sith it could make sense to just show off. Make it black & red or purple and it would actually fit the game quite well. And yeah, I'm aware this thread is no where near serious, but the basic idea opens things up for lots of new (actual) designs. ps: Just to put it out there ... Bioware why u not make more green BH armors?!

Thankfully once you /ignore someone you won't be put into the same group by the LFG tool. A lot of players in my guild share if someone really messes up so you can already make sure to get around the bad experience of grouping up with them without having to meet them first. This might sound harsh, but keep in mind I'm not talking about turning up in insignificant gear, accidentially pulling or not knowing the instance. Leavers, slackers, flamers, people who roll need on absolutely everything or use no more than two skills (yes, had someone like that for NMP just a few days ago O.o) ... watching every single cutscene in Black Talon ... those are things where I simply don't want you and me in the same group.

GW 1 had FOTM classes, just as any other PvP MMORPG. As did any other game before ... especially the ones that are held in very high esteem by the PvP crowd. And this isn't anything that'll change anytime soon ... even GW2 beta weekends show serious effects of different class mechanics that put apart it's classes. Longbow? Elementalist? Hammer Warrior? PvP and class based MMOs will always have their FOTM. Sure this is sad and it's unbearable if the developer makes FOTY out of FOTM by not applying changes, but we can't escape the fact that very different mechanics split up into 8 classes result in different strenghts ... quantitative as well as qualitative.

Stock market and actual revenue or income are two entierly different things. Or have you forgotten the fun some NY and London Bankers had a few years back when they learned this lesson? The game is doing O.K.. It really needs the next game update, but the content we have is pretty enjoyable. And if you want a F2P game I really think you should go and play, you know, a F2P game. Changing the business model would probably turn away more people than the game would gain at this point ... something like this might help with older games that get a lot of publicity with a crowd that never considered or heard of the game, but not with a new MMO.

1. Yes. There are 3 stages of gearing up ... 1 - get BH gear 2 - start gaining Campaign gear and additional BH pieces to optimize crit & power 3 - get additional Campaign pieces for 2-3 68 Aim Mods. 2. Unless it's a piece of gear that has too much endurance on it 61 is always superior to 58. 3. See 1 ... first gear up then start maximizing. One piece that's especially important here is the Healer Boots since they only cost 50 token.

Farming EC hard mode with my main and having it completed with 3 other characters I don't own a single Aratech Fire ... but when filling up for spontaneous story mode or twink runs we usually state that gear and experience is not optional. This also means that either you're a twink of someone we know or you'll have to be in at least full Rakata to be taken into EC story mode ... this might seem counterproductive, but in the end it pays for all members of the raid. We're not looking to progress through the raid, but blaze through it in as little time as possible for BH tokens. This is also true for Flashpoints where even some that struggle to keep up with the pace thank me and complement the group on the run ... it's a really common mindset to play to get things done and have fun because of it.

They spawn in certain intervalls and stop doing so once the walker is destroyed. The reason for the extra bomber is simply that the walker didn't die fast enough.

I never really liked the change everything feature WoW had. Faction change is somewhat interesting as it completes the server transfer option, but since you could have toons on both sides right from the beginning it's not really needed. Anyway ... anything that does make sense in a Star Wars reality is fine ... coiffeur including coloring, beards etc and even going from human to cyborg would be quite fine by that.

As a tank your gear limit depends on the healers gear and your and their ability to use cooldowns. Fully min/maxed healers and you might just be able to drag a Tionese geared tank through the instance - except that he might not be able to tank Kephess or hold aggro reliably. Anyway ... the Rakata gear dropping in SM Denova is more of a 'fill the gaps in your gear' kind of thing. Just Columi or worse on all 8 people and you'll wipe a lot.

Even if half the world's population would be subbed to SW:ToR, the whining will never stop. It's just those people ...

Oh boy, when people forsake this rule it really pushes my buttons. I never flame and don't kick anyone from the group unless they show up in greens and 13k HP for Lost Island, but not respecting this rule grants you a guaranteed /ignore once the Flashpoint is finished. As non-tank you should simply never ever pull unless you're supposed to CC a mob. As a tank you're supposed to pull as fast as the group can handle it without stressing the healer, which needs experience, knownledge about the healers gear and class and can be tricky. But of course you have to actually wait ultil everyone is in 30 yard range since you'll slow the run down otherwise since the group will lose their sprint buff and won't deal damage for a short time. Once your gear simply gets so far ahead of the content you can start pulling almost whatever you like as an Assassin tank and just start killing it, in almost all cases as long as there are only strong and normal mobs you can solo the mob group without any help when using cooldowns. There is one instance where pulling as a damage dealer is ok though - if you can kill everything you pull without needing any help or healing in less than 10 seconds you can pull the group. Example would be the courtyard on Ilum after the bonus boss where one DD can sprint ahead if sufficiently geared and solo the group at the northern most generator.

In some cases games try different business models, servers get cut severely or in the worst case they actually get shut down after only a few years. Never months though - the investment once made is way too big to do something like that. The number of servers and the player numbers on them seem quite healthy right now. With GW2 turning out not to be the hope some have thought it might be (no Raids for instance) maybe some players return, some new ones pick up the game and some will simply leave and don't look back. It really comes down to their next move, since right now even those that have great intrest in everything the game has to offer are starting to get bored when even their twinks start farming Denova hard mode in well under two hours. My guild got 3 8 man raids with two seeing the effects from the mentioned starting boredom and one being just put together by a few very dedicated players (that raid in one of the two main raids and the third one with an alt) so that the lesser skilled or MMO-experienced players can tackle the content.

True. I can assure you that for example the level cap raise and 1.4 are two entierly different things.

Bioware already tested the water for many different Mechanics: Various Forms of Adds Damage Shields DoTs, that apply other non-pleasant effects (still missing a Wrack-like mechanic that really spices stuff up) Mutli-Boss Bosses (which I think they done a lot better than previous games) Plattforming with Soa Bosses, that even arn't Bosses like Mentor 'Interrupt-now-or-press-to-respawn' and 'move-your-***-or-be-dead-stuff' recently, that really get's my hope up for more content (no more Void Zones that don't deserve the name) All in all, even if your group is perfectly geared all encounters are so mechanic heavy, you basicly don't really outgear Denova hard mode - you get it done in quite close to an hour, but standing in ****, not tank swapping and not interrupting the stuff you're supposed to still wipes the group in no time. Denova was really a step up from Tier 1 raids and I really hope the reason why there aren't a lot of yellow posts recently is because they're sweating away in dark rooms for us, so we can sink our teeth into new encounter mechanics sooner than later. ps: I'm not sure we're ready to face the Dread Masters yet - story wise. They really make a good puppet master and main antagonist for both factions. pps: On a side note, we lost one of our Raid groups Damagedealers this week due to boredom.

What bothers me isn't people wanting to watch the conversation (unless it's Black Talon), but that they don't tell you that before and you're stuck in the 'waiting for players' screen. Coincedentially it's often the same players that don't know the encounters and don't tell you so, which is rather unpleasant as well, adding up to a fowl mood and politeness going out the window.

Infinite until the class is fixed.

Problem is, there's a lot wrong with the class ... and Interrupt ability and protection for filler skills is already 2 points. The fix to survivability and healing is just revert it to where it was before getting nerfed (what genius had that idea I really don't want to know). And the Powershot nerf? I thought I misread something when reading it in the notes ... breaking a spec that doesn't need any attention and no nerfs at that isn't very fun. Good thing for me (and Bioware to some point) is that I'm part of the playerbase that has a lot of twinks ... and my sniper is nearly geared up with BH stuff and ready to roll if 1.4 is as disappointing as 1.3 was. I'm just a little sad about all the mounts and cyan/white crystals I got for the Merc.

Those that like F2P games usually don't pick subscription games ... and vice versa. It's just a preference and I might even not have chose SW:ToR if it was F2P (which is a quite misleading label in almost all cases).

Despite all that speaks against the AC and my 3 other characters that would perform way better in their roles than my Merc I still am not willing to give up. So what do you think would it take to fix the class ... or rather each specific spec. Bodyguard is simple I think. The outrage was rather loud once the heat nerfs were thrown our way and rightfully so. Reverting all changes done to Supercharged Gas and Kolto Shell in addition to making Kolto Missile a smart target heal might be enough to make the spec competitive in all regards. Arsenal. A long list of things that are missing here ... overall damage is lacking since the hammer hit us, there are no roots or snares, no noticable defensive cooldowns, no interrupt, no group buffs, no escape ability. For the damage part it's just tweaking numbers. Like reducing the cooldown on HSM and RS - which also adds mobility as well. Tracer Missile can no longer be interrupted. Power Barrier wasn't broken and should return to 10%. A basic root attached to either Barrage, Unload or Heatseaker Missile or as a new ability. Pyrotech is a big one since it's the shared spec with one of the best damage dealers available right now and it's still quite gimped. For PvE even subpar to Arsenal and that really means something. Power Shot keeps it's animation and roots the player for 1.5 seconds but is instant cast. (Yes, alacrity will no longer benefit Power Shot, something I'd like to think no one will miss.) Cylinder proc raised to a level where it is guaranteed - as long as this doesn't happen Pyro PT will always be better than the Merc version. Fusion Missile get's it's heat cost reduced to 16 and cooldown set to 20 seconds in order to make up for all the special stuff Powertechs have that Mercenaries lack while being the same spec (eg taunts, Explosive Gas, grapple). Stuff any spec could really use: New ability that launches us 30 meter backwards away from where we're facing - makes sense in any way you look at it. A basic interrupt ability Power Surge cooldown cut in half to 60 seconds and it increases the augmented ability's effect by 10-20%. Kolto Overload - cooldown and effeciency should be revaluated for Mercs as well as Powertechs. I hope the readability is fair enough and despite the recent lack of yellow posts I still hope that as long as we throw sufficient masses of feedback and ideas at them they might come up with something that makes Mercs more fun to play again. (As in: not knowing that your just dragged along.)