No issues with the idea of expertise, but I don't think you should get a boost to it (or really any attribute) for progressing in PVP sets. A flat level of expertise to ensure that PVPers have to use balanced PVP sets would ensure a skill based progression. Stats should be different across armor, but more for the choice of AC vs Set B being "better" than set A.

No. I have nobody on in my Timezone and it is very difficult to find a person willing to take on somebody new to PvE amongst the raiders on my server.

200-270k for me as a Merc Pyro. I don't spend much time trying to DoT everybody and instead bounce around and try to use IM+TD+RS+UL+RS combo to snipe people with lower health in a melee. I get a fair number of kills (more than I did as Arsenal) but I fully admit many of them are assists.

Sinister? Republic fleet has swimming pools in each section. The first thing I think of when I log in is "pool party"

Arsenal is going to be a crapshoot unless you have a healer or guard to assist you. Once somebody notices you sitting in one place spamming damage they will go out of their way to get you for the "free kill". I have hit the 400k damage but only against poor teams that let me sit in one place the entire round hammering them. Otherwise it is cat and mouse trying to let off a salvo of missiles/unload before relocating to a different firing position.

No pay to win, pay for cosmetics and services like the original. Guild Wars 1 is a 7 year old critical and financial success and it only has one playable race, GW2 gives more choices. SWTOR doesn't really have races if you think about it. We have "Heads" on like 3 types of humanoid bodies. I mean cyborg as a "race"? So silly.

After switching to pyro to test it out I disagree with the notion it has to be a "low kills" spec compared to Arsenal. If you're playing it like Arsenal (stand around, hammer single target) then yeah you won't kill much. I have found the strength is in being mobile and playing the finisher in group fights. TD+RS+UL+Fusion missile can throw a lot of damage on a lower HP target and frees up your main attackers to team up on the remaining opponents. Its also nice to apply damage without standing out as an immobile turret. Out of around 40 games played in the spec I always do over 200k damage and come out top 3 in kills. I see a lot of the same survivability issues as I did with the Arsenal spec, but at least you get the mobility to actually make a difference. Solo we suck, but I think a pyro merc brings vastly more to the team than Arsenal.

Well considering I have spent almost the same playing GW1 since launch as I have paid for SWTOR in several months I can live with being that kind of "sucker". I get so sick of people acting like GW/GW2 are P2W games. The first one wasn't, the second one won't be. The only reason we still pay 15$/month is because we are conditioned to it over our years playing MMOs.

The only good part of chapter 3 is that during the final conversation when the Sith Lord is talking about how you will be an integral part of their plans and you can choose the option along the lines of ,"Don't care" and abruptly walk away. The rest of the chapter was awful. I had more fun on the planetary storylines than on my own quest.

Not really. Once I find a game I enjoy I tend to stick with it until I no longer enjoy myself. Then I move on and keep only the memories.

Last night the only difference I saw was that people would get a few medals but as soon as a loss was possible give up and camp at their "default" point for defender medals and maximize their comms. The games were still very much winnable, but people can get a guaranteed benefit by afk'ing. The problem isn't dailies its that PvP is gear based. As long as people can progress they will find the path of least resistance. We need ranked warzones where there are cool rewards like gametime, titles, or other prestige items instead of a set of gear that makes you "better" for being more "skilled".

Yeah I have heard . I don't have any problems on my GTX680 on any groups of people yet though.

A larger scale world pvp area such as IIum would do wonders for my interest level. After doing WvWvW in GW2 its hard to come back to warzones.

The PvP items outside of the recruit set only cost commendations. You should use the daily quests on Ilum, Corellia, and Belsavis to make credits at 50. An easy 200k+ per day can be earned from quest rewards alone. The total is more if you count drops and credits off enemies.

Most of the people who complained about GW2 are likely those who had no idea what the game is trying to do in the first place. GW2 is doing almost everything differently and for those used to the standard EQ style MMO it will be a jarring shock. That said, any projections based off of a 2 day Beta where most of the game wasn't shown/finished are not really applicable. Some of the NPCs had placeholder text ffs. I was actually pleased to see that the weekend was an actual beta with constant requests for feedback and clear bug reporting channels instead of the glorified demos most games have.

This very much. I almost made the switch to Pyrotech due to the hype but after viewing a few videos it really just seemed like people were getting high match damage ratings because they could DoT the entire opposing team. Not once did I see anything resembling an impact play. Arsenal has its issues and is a subpar PvP spec overall, but at least it can hammer some decent single target DPS and help knock players off.

If you use "weakest" to mean "lowest DPS" then yes there should always be a "weakest class". I think most mercs would agree with you there. The issue is that our lowered DPS comes with no other utility. Merc (especially arsenal) has become a class which brings less to the table than other classes. DPS, Mobility, Utility, and Survivability in Merc are all low enough that its space in a WZ would be better filled by almost any other class. That is a problem. Class homogenization is boring, but class parity is a good thing. All classes should be within a certain range of damage and utility, with each making sacrifices for specific games. When all classes have a role and are more or less equally good choices in PvP games aren't boring, Skill becomes the deciding factor and they are competitive and fun.

What I find annoying is that once I am seen I may as well sit down and welcome my death. I can pop trinkets, use my medpack, bubble, and fight as hard as I can but in the end the enemy either uses shield, stealths, interrupts, or just crushes me. Sure I have games where I put 200-300k damage and I usually max out on medals but I am the whipping boy of the match every time.

Prime time is not counted on an individual basis. It is when the majority of people are logging on. For my guild and friends every Tuesday is a wash because playing after 2300 just isn't an option for those leading normal work/school schedules. I fully support staggered update periods as a concept, but in this game I am not sure they would help people in my area. For some reason Bioware decided to put their "Asia Pacific" servers in eastern Australia (which is more "oceanic") . My latency to the "Asian" servers is actually double to triple that to the US West coast. No matter what happens I am screwed so yeah, I don't have much sympathy for somebody who has to experience an "inconvenient" downtime for one night.

Man Bioware pushes the downtime forward once for a European holiday and so many people come crying. You want to know what is worse than having the servers go down once at 2200? Having the servers go down every week at 1900. I really have no sympathy in this situation.

Naked wouldn't look as cool.

Agree. Though GW isn't targetting the traditional grind raiding group. SWTOR will be better for the more traditional types. GW2 will appeal for those looking for something different. Without a sub there is no reason one cannot enjoy both games.

Oh yeah it was excellent but TOR is still fun. I will play alts until retail and if things aren't better I will revisit my subscription to TOR.

Comparing GW2 to SWTOR isn't really fair. They are different styles of games. As much as I enjoy SWTOR it is a permutation of WoW which was the final evolutionary step for the EQ style games. GW2 follows GW1 which was trying to create a team oriented competitive PvP game, hence the ability to have a max level character from the start. Many of the people complaining about the GW2 beta weekend I have spoken to were never players of the original game. If you come to GW2 expecting something like WoW or SWTOR you will be disappointed. Arenanet fleshed out the PvE side more to cater towards those who want persistent worlds but the real focus will end up on the WvW and the ladder PvP. That said, I prefer GW2. This is not because SWTOR is a bad game, but because I have played GW since launch (and still do) and like what GW2 is doing. For me its not an either or choice. I have money and time so I will play both.

Pretty depressing.