For Empire, you can run a loop around the area outside the Dark Temple and by the time you get back to where you started, the nodes have respawned. Repeat until you have enough mats. For Republic, you can run a route through The Works and by the time you get back to where you started, the nodes have respawned. Repeat until you have enough mats.

From the point of view of the devs, 'not working as intended' is the same as 'broken'.

Yes, from my experience so far it feels like there are more Arch nodes to make up for the fact that Scav and Bio can harvest some mobs.

In all fairness, he probably doesn't know for sure which patch it'll be in/when that patch will be released. Generally, in a live environment, dev teams don't finish something then sit around and wait to add it to the game - they try to fit in everything they can and are still working and testing stuff right up until the day before a patch.

I'm not sure I see how fixing a bug with RE rates is a slap in the face for anyone?

Just a suggestion, but it might be an idea to check the dev tracker regularly before giving the devs a hard time. They've already said that they are working on improving the 'end game' viability of all crafting skills: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=2417047#edit2417047

She's generally happy to make a profit. But yes to the other two.

You have seen the movies, right? Not a lot of moral relativism in evidence.

Just thought the above was worth repeating. Companion affection counts for very little in terms of actual gameplay, and having a companion actively loathe you isn't anything to gets stressed about. Even if it does bother you, just bribe them shamelessly with gifts.

At the risk of sounding like a BW fanboi, I don't think this is actually very fair (or accurate). The game's been out for just over a month, and BW have already made two noticeable changes to crew skills (Slicing and Biochem). You may not agree with the reasoning behind them or the action taken, but there's no denying that the devs are paying attention to crafting. Also, in the last week alone Georg Zoller has made two posts that confirm that they have plans for crafting and are paying attention to the feedback from players: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=1934831#post1934831 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=2119752#post2119752

Hmm. If I recall correctly, doing all the non-Heroic missions on Korriban gives you 7 commendations as rewards. To get the 8th (for the chest armour) you either need a drop or to do at least one of the Heroics.

I guess it depends on how you look at it, but I don't personally see sharing a legacy name to have to mean that all your characters are members of the same family. If you choose to display the legacy name as a simple surname, that would tend to imply to most people that the characters are part of the same family in some way, but if you use the 'The <name> Legacy' version, you can have all kinds of relationships. Maybe they're childhood friends (or rivals), or maybe they went through basic training together, or maybe their families have been rivals for generations, or... Well, there are a lot of options. As a simple example, pretty much all of the main characters in the Star Wars movies could use 'Skywalker' as a Legacy name, in the sense that they are all part of 'The Skywalker Legacy'.

Unfortunately, yes, it is incredibly hard. I can't, off-hand, think of any 'theme park' MMO that's managed to balance all three 'item sources' (PvE, PvP, Crafting) to the general satisfaction of all three types of player. As you say, they're not mutually exclusive, but getting the balance right in this area is up there with class balance in terms of complexity (and actually feeds into those issues, as gear has such a significant impact in most MMO game systems). To expect any MMO to launch with a fully functional, perfectly balanced crafting system from start to end game is, in my opinion, a little on the optimistic side.

Erm, I'm one. I'm an altaholic and recently switched from Empire to Republic when I found out an old guild I used to be a member of in other games were playing, so my highest level characters right now are in their 30s, but my experience with every crafting skill so far has been that it's fairly easy to keep yourself and your companion in blue gear of the appropriate type that I've not yet seen beaten by quest rewards. Sure, it does mean taking a little more time while levelling, but not a huge amount, and I enjoy making stuff - it's why I like crafting in MMOs. I know that right now the general opinion is that nothing apart from Biochem (and possibly Cyber) have anything to offer at 50, but I'm really not that worried about it. The crafting system *will* be improved and expanded at some point (to be honest, I was surprised it's generally so well developed from 10-49 in a game so new), and I'm sure there'll be new crafted 'end game' gear. Even if I have to wait a long time for that to appear, I'm still enjoying the process of getting to 50 in my crafted gear.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but on a practical level, actually doing all that would be (I strongly suspect), a real pain. There are all kinds of things the designers and coders would have to worry about, and although there are solutions, it would almost certainly involve a significant investment of time and effort by a decent number of developers. Personally, I would rather those people focus on balancing, improving and expanding the game, at least at this stage of SWTOR's life cycle.

On a practical level, Advanced Class respecs are almost certainly going to be a significant pain to accomplish. I suspect that doing a 'base class' respec wouldn't be much more complex. As such, while they may come eventually, I'd be very surprised if it's any time soon and frankly amazed if they were a high priority item for the team. The general approach seems to be to encourage alts rather than allow class changes.

Hey all, Does anyone have any suggestions for good spots to farm Archaeology nodes on Tatooine (Republic character)? Or does anyone know of a good guide anywhere? I've seen a few mentions of 'caves in the NW part of the map', but I'm not sure exactly where they are - can't seem to find any. (Probably just being dumb.) Anyway, thanks very much for any tips or advice.

Scoundrels and Operatives also get a 'only usable from stealth and against targets not in combat that aren't Droids'. Whirlwind/Force Lift is a base class ability, so Sorcs, Sins, Cons and Shadows all get it.

Personally I fear that a lot of people who switch will be very upset when the crew skills are expanded and updated at a later date - something that's bound to happen eventually...

Hehe. I see it more the other way around - being able to put out some respectable damage up close makes me feel a little more useful than if I was just playing a "healer" class.

The information on this table looks well researched, although I haven't had the opportunity to test it... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ArCSGLnwZLADdGxYdlhEejBFclBjR3l1N29OaW1kYUE&gid=1

Yes, I think that's it exactly.

Yup, and nerfing wasn't one of them.