This was an awesome read! Your storytelling style reminds me of an old friend of mine. So does your name. Coincidence?

I wonder if you might be able to slap together a reasonable facsimile of the more leonine subspecies by going with body type 3. Body type also affects facial bone structure, after all, and the bigger Cathar NPCs already in the game have more feline faces than the smaller ones.

Well, I must admit I was exaggerating a bit. But I did find it really hard to keep Corso alive in the later parts of the leveling process. I set him up with several upgrades (proper tank-oriented ones) before starting the drive from 50-55, and he still died way too frequently for my liking. And, often, way too quickly.

I really didn't think a healer companion would be such a hot idea for a glass cannon DPS character. I kept hearing it was the way to go, but seriously... The tank companions couldn't be that bad, could they? I mean, sure, my Gunslinger has to revive Corso and rest after every fight, unless I pulled aggro off him and kept it until everything was dead. Then I only had to rest. But the only reason I'm not the one who needs a revive after every fight is because Corso's there to take those hits for me! There's no way a healer companion could keep a glass cannon turret-style DPS alive through a tough fight. Well, after level 50, I started storing my gear as I got upgrades. Once I hit level 55 and finally maxed Corso's affection, I decided to suit up Guss in some hand-me-downs, along with a couple of parts I bought with planetary comms, and take him out for a spin. I'd been so wrong. Questing with Guss was much smoother and easier. It makes total sense, too, when you think about it... of course a healer companion is better at keeping a DPS alive than that DPS is at keeping a tank companion alive. The healer companion actually has tools for that job.

Good question. If it's just a matter of not liking the character's design, wait for 2.1 and you'll be able to change the character's look/species instead of losing him entirely.

Yes. Legacy unlocks are permanent once earned.

I used to play this game on an 8600GT, and it did weird things in cutscenes. My characters tended to render with empty eye sockets, or with featureless silver orbs for eyes. It was creepy. When my power supply died, I got a stronger one and added a new graphics card (GTX 550ti) and some more RAM while I was at it. Huge improvement.

Thanks, Dacce! Sorry, SJ, but it is proper internet etiquette to add a question to a related thread when it's convenient, rather than starting a new thread. If it's any consolation, you can feel free to add related questions to any thread I start. It's better because people are already there and discussing the topic at hand, and it reduces forum clutter. If it really is a big problem for you, though, I'll try to keep that in mind in the future.

It would've been really easy for BioWare to say, "1000 CC gets you basic access to the species. They can be Smugglers, Troopers, Bounty Hunters, or Sith Inquisitors. Some appearance options are available to Republic Cathar, while others are available to Empire Cathar. You can then earn full access with the species unlock, earned by reaching level 50 as a Cathar, or purchasable from the Cartel Market for the standard species unlock price of 600 CC." This would've also fit Star Wars lore, as Cathar are highly emotional (making it hard for them to become Jedi) and are viewed as a slave race by the Empire (making it hard for them to gain acceptance as Warriors or Agents). Instead, they chose to say, "Four-star (****) it. 600 CC gets you full access to the species for all classes, with all appearance options available to both factions. It's just like any other species unlock, except you don't have access to Cathar at all without it." They chose to be more generous than they needed to be with the Cathar. I think that's pretty cool!

It'll be coming in patch 2.1. Oh, while we're on that subject... what happens if you change the species on a character who got you a "species unlock"? Do you lose that unlock? Do you keep it for free? Or do they just add 600 CC to the recustomization cost so you can buy that unlock at the same time?

IMO, BioWare is charging the correct amount for Cathar access. They can be any class, and all appearance options are available to both factions. This puts Cathar in line with all the other species unlocks, which also cost 600 CC for the same level of accessibility. They could've easily charged us a base amount for limited access to Cathar (only available for a few classes, with different appearance options separated by faction), and then made us earn or buy the full unlock separately. This would've been a totally legitimate option, too. I think it was more generous of them to do it the way they did. Thanks, BioWare!

I was thrilled to give up my Gunslinger's Tionese set bonuses in favor of better stats. Those set bonuses weren't so hot before, and became utterly worthless in 2.0. Now Guss is wearing that gear. He can't benefit from the set bonuses, like, at all, but that's fine with me. When you get right down to it, neither could I, really. Oh, by the way, before you denigrate me as a bad for my lack of better gear, this character was an alt who hit 50 about ten days before Early Access to 2.0, and has only been my main for the couple of weeks since then.

I think what was meant by "full access to customization" was that when you're creating your character you have access to all the "standard" options. F2P players are limited to three species, IIRC, unless they buy access to more. It could also be referring to "hide headgear" and "match color to chest". Subscribers have access to those options, while F2P don't unless they buy the unlock for it. Subscribers also have access to purple mods and shells when putting together a gear set, while F2P have to buy an artifact unlock to use those items. Those three things are about the extent of what could be called "character customization" at this time, so the chart does ring true.

I also like his battle cry, "You're gonna look good dead!" It may not be quite enough to redeem him in my eyes, but he does have some good dialogue.

After receiving some enthusiastic praise from Guss in a private conversation, my Gunslinger said, "Well, I hate to brag, but... oh, who am I kidding? I love to brag!" As an added bonus, Guss liked it, too.

I see it's been a few days since you started this thread. I don't know if you've found a good name yet, but I have a suggestion for a name that would fit that look. I don't know if it's available on your server, though. I'll PM it to you on the off-chance you still need a name, just to be sure someone else doesn't see it before you do. By the way, if you like the name but it's unavailable, there's always the option of playing around with alternate spellings.

Now you're just being petty. I know you're smart from your comments in other threads; I'm sure you know that's not what I was saying at all. If we see a lot of gay NPCs here, and then we see no gays in the movies, that's a plot hole. Where did they all go? I also suggested putting a gay character in the new Star Wars movies, to show they do still exist, as this would help to close that plot hole. Was that hateful of me, too?

I don't feel uncomfortable with gay characters, either; my concern is that... well, have you ever watched a movie with a big plot hole that never gets resolved? And you just can't stop thinking about that? If it seems like you meet more gays than straights in the course of leveling your character, it'd feel like that to me. It'd especially be surreal when the Star Wars movies contain no gay characters. But then you play a Star Wars game and there's gays everywhere? Consider that this game takes place 3000 years before the movies. What happened to all the gays in the meantime? A massive pogrom, like what must've happened to the dinosaurs (and most other animals, too, many of which could speak) sometime between The Flintstones and The Jetsons? Like what happened to the smooth-headed Klingons in Star Trek? However, if the number of confirmed gay NPCs is kept relatively low, then you can presume they do exist in the movies; you just don't really see them, much like you don't really see the big families that must exist in the background to make up for the fact that no featured characters have more than one sibling or two children (and many, AFAIK, have none of either). It'd bother me in a similar way if some characters end up with more gay romance options than straight ones. Why would more men than women be interested in dating my male Trooper? Why would more women than men be attracted to my female Sage? It can't be because she's body type 3; the game doesn't check for that. That's especially a problem if the class stories are indeed going away from here on. If that's the case, and equality is the goal, set the baseline at those classes that get the least opposite-sex action. If it's set at the classes that get the most, a male Trooper will level from 1-55 and then suddenly start seeing same-sex romance options everywhere, after seeing none while leveling up. Maybe "plot hole avoidance" is a better way of putting my concern than "maintaining realism". But it would probably help things in that regard if there's a gay character or two in the upcoming third trilogy. And someone who has like 11 brothers and sisters, while you're at it, Disney. Oh, and I maintain that David on Six Feet Under was the best portrayal of a gay character on any show.

So, you're saying the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games have MORE same-sex flirt options than opposite-sex ones? I don't think that's true. Also, you neglected to mention Six Feet Under. IMO, David was the coolest and most likeable character on that show, so you're doing him a grave injustice (EDIT: no pun intended). By the way: Real gay people criticized The L Word for being "too glamorous". It portrayed a Penthouse Forum version of lesbianism. Noah's Arc flopped. Queer As Folk flopped. Will & Grace did well, I have to admit. I like Debra Messing, so this makes me happy. Brokeback Mountain pulled in $178 million at the box office. Not bad. Not a blockbuster, but better than I'd have expected. A Single Man pulled in $24 million at the box office. That's a flop.

If class stories are indeed being dropped, and there's going to be more of an effort to make things "balance out" in the future, then some classes may very well end up having more same-sex flirt options than opposite-sex ones. Those will be the "gay classes". Is there romance in The Secret World? I remember that Dragon players, regardless of gender, have sex with a female prostitute in their prologue. That's the closest thing I know of to romance. If that's the only sexual encounter in the entire game (and I think it is), then big whoop. That's not a relevant example, and it does nothing for your argument. What am I projecting, exactly? By all means, please, analyze me, Dr. Freud. But keep in mind that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. By the way, I'm pretty sure "a majority of players" is "the larger community". Or do words not mean the same to you as they do to me? A lot of women won't date a man if they think he might be gay. Does not wanting every one of those women to reject you out of hand make you a homophobe? Does it somehow make those women horrible? Why? Because they don't want to date a dude who might leave them for another dude? And what "social justice situations" are you talking about? This is a game. Escapist entertainment. A lot of people don't want politics in their escapist entertainment, as Tatile has already pointed out (while arguing against me, might I add). Do you really want to go there? Brother-in-law. Really? That seems like a big deal to you? I'll bet he doesn't even hate you. I'll tell you what... just drop the pretense that this gives you any sort of moral authority over me. Or else... I'll have to tell you why it doesn't. And you wouldn't want that. Oh, and by the way, I play mostly female characters in these games, so you being mistaken for a girl online also means nothing to me. Oh, yeah, go ahead and drive off all the people you disagree with on anything, and watch this game quickly become unprofitable and get shut down. After all, you're not the one who'd lose money over it.

Would you be okay with making straight people feel marginalized here? Because that's exactly what would happen if the game were perceived as "too gay". Think about the uproar that occurred when Makeb was dubbed "the gay planet". Now, imagine one class ended up having more same-sex flirt options than opposite-sex ones. Do you really think that class wouldn't come to be known as "the gay class"? Many straight people would begin to feel uncomfortable playing that class. We'd lose a lot of tanks and/or healers as a result. Take it a step further. Imagine every class had more same-sex flirts than opposite-sex ones. Do you think "the gay MMO" would pull in as many players as TOR does now? I don't. I think we'd lose, oh, probably at least half of the game's population. Now, you can say, "Good, we're better off without all those poopy homophobes, anyway," but are you prepared to make that decision on BioWare's behalf? Would you cut your own income in half on that principle? Keep in mind, too, that those quitters wouldn't necessarily be homophobes. Some would just be concerned that people might think they're something they aren't. Some would just feel uncomfortable doing something that feels gay to them, while having absolutely nothing against gay people themselves. Some would object to the feeling that there's a political agenda being shoved down their throats (which ties in with your point about that woman who doesn't want to read feminist novels, Tatile). Some would simply see their guilds' numbers plummeting, and decide they don't have much reason to keep logging in. If each of those groups is a mere 10% of the game's population, that's 40% gone right there, not even counting the actual homophobes.

Yeah, sorry about not adding that quote to my comment before you could respond. I think Lucas was overreaching in an attempt to show us that Anakin was supposed to be the equivalent of Jesus but then went bad. So, yeah, some pseudo-religious thing.

Okay, so it's more the stupidity angle.

Also, on the realism topic... we still laugh at Padme being elected Queen, and at the circumstances surrounding Anakin's conception (which I won't get into here because of spoilers and stupidity), among other things in the movies that don't make any sense. So, yes, there a is a minimum level of realism needed, even in Star Wars.