I don't like them. This has been a problem for as long as warzones/battleground/whatever you call it have existed in MMOs. There are people that just sit around doing nothing. In some cases they are actual bots that run in like suicidal lemmings the whole match. In some cases they are guys that are "defending" and then when the attack finally comes you see them sitting there afk staring forward blankly while everyone dies around because they are watching a show and eating lunch and talking on the phone while playing the Warzone. Whatever it is they are engaged with about 5% of the concentration and it shows in the scoreboard at the end.

Just an update in case anyone else runs into this in the future. The work around I found, with the "Nvidia Experience" software for my graphics driver is to hit Alt F1 which takes a screenshot and seems to reload the graphics so that I can see again.

This seems to happen at random but the screen goes black except I see the cursor and can move it around, I hear the music and sound effects and when I alt tab (windows 10) I can even see the game running in the little tabbed picture that comes up with full graphics but I when I maximise the window the only thing I see is a black screen with a cursor on it. Is this a known bug? Is there a workaround beyond hitting Alt-F4 to close the game?

I was in the initial wave of people to get to 50 when the game was released and then I pvped my fair share in Warzones back then on a Commando and a Sentinel (got Champions gear back then). I came back the game this summer and I just hit 55 today on my Sentinel, picked up three pieces of warzone gear (I had saved up) and now..... my god. You do no damage and die within seconds of a single person looking at you. It is the most off-putting, least fun experience I've had in this or any other MMO. When I ran warzones around launch time to get my champions set the grind was incredibly fun. Now it feels like it would be able as fun as swimming laps in a pool filled with crap. How did things get to this point? I'll also note that you feel like a burden to your team. Especially in the arena style warzones. That is a terrible feeling.

So..... what happened? I'm doing a fraction of the damage I do on my level 30 Powertech

Hear me out. 1. Everyone agrees that a companion that can't heal or tank is worse than one that can.- For many classes a healer companion is just so superior that people never use any other companion while leveling up after they get their healer. It just makes too big of a difference. 2. This is to the detriment story and to personal choice in the game- Instead of picking what they believe to be the most interesting companion they will pick what is objectively the best companion for leveling up. 3. This change would not make the game easier- Healing companions already exist. Tanking companions already exist. And they are already what the vast majority of people use while they are leveling up. Giving other companions some greater utility would just make the game better. It would give people greater freedom to pick the companion they like rather than the companion that is, under the existing system, clearly a superior companion for their class.

Just guessing here but I would bet the reason they didn't use the one with the ring is that it would look a bit ridiculous on a character that is actually running around. Think about it. The ring wouldn't actually behave like a metal ring it would behave like cloth, just like that part of every other set of robes behaves. It would look like a painted on ring pattern on the robe rather than it actually being a ring.

Trooper- Yuun: You just get him so late and its a bit hard to form a connection to him because...... well hes a bug. Jedi Knight- R2D2: I just really though Kira was awesome even though she was clearly worse in practical terms as a companion for my sentinel so I overlooked R2 after the very early game. Sergeant Rusk: You get him so late and the JK just has much cooler options than Rusk.

Lets just say I got an email in my inbox saying "We appreciate your support of Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. As a thank you for your loyalty to The Old Republic™, we have granted you 500." and my reaction was "oh ........ ****"

I'm going to give this game another go since I've got a couple weeks left in my winter break and I've got a few questions. 1. Is there a looking for group system yet?- I couldn't stand sitting in the station waiting for group back in the old days. I just didn't do many flashpoints as a result. 2. Is the server transfer system down for a while or did I just pick the exact wrong time of day?- I've noticed that its down right now and I'm going to need to transfer my guys (my server was low pop months and months ago I can't even imagine what its like now.) 3. Whats a good server to transfer to or start a new character on?- I want this game to feel like an mmo. By the time I stopped playing my server felt barren. Empty planets. No groups. My guild had evaporated. Just me alone wandering through the story mode. It basically felt like a single player game with excess grinding.

Go to the trade network on the fleet and get yourself some new items to make sure you can be all you can be as a new 50. I know what you are thinking: "I'd rather just wear this level 42 stuff and get carried by my team for the next few weeks until I get my pvp set" But let me lay out a convincing case for why you shouldn't do that. 1. Money after 50 becomes plentiful and pointless- You end up with lots and lots of money without nothing of consequence to spend it on. So you shouldn't feel bad about spending your credits getting some gear or some mods off the trade network. 2. The trade network is actually kind of cool!- You hit your armor type and then you select it to look for blue stuff. Then you select it to look for 49-50. And whammo theres all the armor that your class can wear! Cool right? For your weapon you can do the same thing but look for your weapon type. 3. "But I have an orange weapon, I want to keep that one" No worries. You hit "item modication" and then you look for barrels if you have a gun and "hilts" if you have a lightsaber. 4. "But how do I put the modication stuff into my weapon. I'm so confused"- Hit the button in the lower left of your keyboard that says "Ctrl" and then hit the right mouse button on your item you want to upgrade. Now you can actually just right click on the piece you want in the new weapon to put it in. Then you confirm thats what you want and its done! Super easy! 5. "But won't I just get to pvp gear to replace this stuff anyways? Whats the big deal?"- Think about how much more fun its going to be doing the dozens and dozens of warzones you need to do to get that pvp gear if have a few thousand more HP and your damage is way better. Trust me its really really cool.

"Why not just CC the companion " This is what actually breaks companions in open world pvp. Not every class can CC companions and there is no way to break a companion out of CC. So the classes that can CC companions get a massive advantage in open world pvp.

124. I bet if I made a video set to music of allt he time I spend stunned in Huttball I would quit the game, and anyone I showed it to would quit the game. It would be like the video from the ring.

For all those times when we get hurled into a black hole when we hit force leap.

It costs an absurd amount to purchase (123 champ badges...... 17 bags). Should I focus on getting champion armor first or the saber?