Damage meters in a game like this is stupid. The content is only so -easy- The only reason you people want them is to flaunt your DPS... Which, doesn't matter in this game at all. Not 1 single dps check in the entirety of the game.

Fine, except for the fact it doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that the population of level 50s on the big servers is down over 75% this week alone.

I don't care who has more players. MMOs are not my religion and I could care less who believes in the game I'm playing. Getting more converts to join my cause will not get me beautified into a Moderator position.

I've never heard of it. For gaming here's what you need stat-wise: -64-bit Operating system with a 64-bit CPU -Minimum of 4GB RAM... but you might as well go for 8GB since RAM is so cheap these days -MOST IMPORTANT FOR GAMING PCs: Even more important than the GPU, the RAM or anything else... you need cache size. -DO NOT- buy a chip with less than 8mb L2/L3 cache. 12mb or more is what will make a great gaming PC... such chips are often uber expensive. 8mb cache will work for most people. The bigger the cache, the more data your CPU can process per cycle which makes multitasking much easier (and reduces processor lag immensely under heavy load) -IF it has a SSD drive (solid state) make sure you also get a standard SATA hard drive and put your OS on that drive. Use the SSD for your games... that's because SSDs only have an expected service life of 1-2 years depending on the manufacturer. They will die on you. Let it be your storage/performance drive but not your primary that houses your OS. -GPU: Personal preference. Nvidia-wise, anything with a ---GTX at the end is a top quality card. Avoid ---GX. That's a budget card for browsing the internet. -Cooling: There's no reason to not get a liquid cooling system. The 500 series Nvidia cards run warm normally. Typical is 70-80 degrees Centigrade. The cooler you can keep your case, the longer your GPUs will last. Liquid cooled CPUs prevent heat sinks and exhaust fans from dumping large amounts of hot air right into your GPU's intake fan. Corsair makes a great aftermarket CPU cooler for under 80 bucks. Takes 5 minutes to install and is well worth it. In my opinion... the above is the bare minimum I'd go for on a new rig. You have lots of leeway on CPU cost in that cache range (ignore the bloody core count... cache size is the true denominator on CPU capability when compared with its clock speed. Small cache chips are great for business systems and for common tasks... but the gaming experience really thrives with big caches) Lastly, don't buy anything with a 32-bit operating system. That bird has flown the coop and there's an awful lot of manufacturers still trying to offload 32-bit machines at budget prices. Don't screw yourself Oh, and I too tend to run a very expensive PC. If money is no object, look into buying a server grade CPU Big cache, big speed... envy of all nerds everywhere. Server CPUs are AWESOME gaming CPUs. For example, my Qx9770 CPU is pushing 4 years old and it still outpaces 90% of the scores on 3dMark... granted I paid 2000 USD for it.

I'm not a fan of SWTOR really... but come on now... WoW is >>----------> That way.

Ya, Nvidia has had its share of issues with its patcher. The actual drivers were fine... the patcher corrupted the drivers a lot. I forget exactly when but it was with the 275 series driver release, Nvidia released a new patcher that is really a nice program. It can patch the driver on the fly without having to make you reboot your PC. It's really much improved. My biggest complaint with the Catalyst driver on the other side is its lack of large format Vsync support. I use large format monitors and typically run my cable TV through one of my PCs as well... so I need good Vsync support. AMD's Catalyst driver has never quite gotten that bug fixed (as of a year ago anyway).

Right, I don't know anything. I don't have 1000 posts in the tech forums and 7000 posts on Tom's Hardware and haven't been working in this field since the Tandy 1000 was popular or anything. And, this isn't a pissing contest. He called me a moron and I replied with math. You can't argue against math.

Well the difference between a 590GTX and the comparable Radeon 6990 (A = Nvidia, B=AMD) Core clock: A=1215mhz B=880mhz (830 stock, 880 is OCd) Memory clock speed: A = 1707mhz B=1250mhz Total memory: A=3072mb DDR5 B=4048DDR *AMD has more VRAM but it's slower RAM. Under heavy load, AMD will get more FPS (which is typical) but this Nvidia card will eat the AMD alive anywhere under 75% load on the AMD...and really, what game is going to tax either of these GPUs? Here's my sources... you can do the rest of the comparison yourself: http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6990/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6990-overview.aspx#3 and http://www.geforce.com/Hardware/GPUs/geforce-gtx-590/specifications Those are from their host websites... not third party vendors. Again, even in the newest products being offered, what I said still holds true. If you further compare using the links I provided, you'll see how the Nvidia card uses more advanced processing features than the Radeon does. The Radeon is however more streamlined and focused on pure speed and heavy load processing which is their hallmark. Now, this Nvidia though... I have never seen benchmarks on it... but just comparing these numbers on equal test rigs... it should probably even kill the AMD in speed too. *shrug* That is except under extreme load... but the Nvidia's max load threshhold will be a lot higher due to a faster GPU clock speed and faster RAM combined with its advanced L2 graphics cache. But, I know people like you who like to run their mouths on the forums... but here... TLDR? I just proved you wrong. Now insult my mother.

There are no blue screens in Win 7

Well, one thing that's been pretty much standard since ATI and Nvidia began competing is this: Nvidia cards when compared to similar ATI cards usually have more functionality. They make better looking images because they have a more robust GPU that is scaled for image complexity and detail... usually. ATI is generally made with one goal in mind: Maximum FPS. They do this while using lower detail shaders and with GPUs that don't have as quite a broad spectrum of shading potential. To me, the image from an ATI card looks inferior when compared side-by-side to an Nvidia card. I'm a graphics professional though and this is what I do for a living. Reflections look lifelike and shadows are soft and render properly in the Z-Buffer. ATI on the other hand uses a cheaper method of Z-Buffer rendering (depth). Shadows can sometimes be displayed UNDERNEATH textures and shiny surfaces often seem somewhat dull in comparison. These are cursory differences to most people... but that is the tradeoff in general. Nvidia's GPUs if you just compare the numbers typically can render a wider range of colors and with higher resolutions than ATI cards can. ATI cards are usually faster. Nvidia cards seem to be more stable though. They deliver steady FPS under various loads where ATIs tend to vary more. Although an Nvidia might not have the fastest FPS, the ATI is often the one that gets the lowest when it gets taxed. Again, Nvidia GPUs are more robust (and usually more expensive too) and that's what their built for. IMO, if you want your game to look the best it possibly can... look into an Nvidia. If you want more FPS, the ATI is usually the way to go.

All I have to say about this is, well... this: Last night on my BH I made 41. I realized I didn't do my new space missions when I made 40 so I did those. I finished Hoth and turned that in and noticed I had a bunch of companion quests. I did all those. I did my PvP dailies (won 2 maps in a row off the bat). I went from 41 to 43 in under an hour. The leveling in this game is anything but slow. I level almost on accident. I am however not a completionist. I don't do the heroics usually and I don't do the bonus series because I'm sick and tired of most of the planets and am ready to LEAVE. I did do the Nar Shadda bonus and the Tattoine bonus. You can't pay me to do Taris, Hoth, or Quesh. Because I do things this way, still while listening to the VOs, my mobs are pretty much always yellow and I level like a screaming banshee. I don't care about getting special gear from the FPs or the heroics because I know that nothing scales to 50 and all that nice stuff you get can't be competitively used at 50. So I don't bother. I'll just grind out the end game set stuff and not waste time on the stuff that becomes magically useless the instant you ding 50. If they ever add an appearance tab or something I might go back and do them for some of the L30-40 looks.

I think I might be wrong about the 18 years thing. If I am it doesn't matter... whatever it is its long.

Ya, several years ago, they said it would take a person almost 18 years to learn all of EVE's skills to rank 5. Well, they've added a couple dozen more new skills since then. My toon on EVE has been active since early 2004... and has almost 38 million SPs... And I'm nowhere close to being topped out.

At launch, ya... Rift's PvP was very lopsided. Now though, they normalized PvP gear to provide equal defense from R1 to R8. R8s have more HPs and damage but they can't 1 shot anybody. They also made new brackets for pvp and sorted the R1-R4 and the R5-R8s together. They've also separated premade and PuG queues. Rift's leveling is boring and seemingly soulless. There's no denying that. It's your standard whack-a-mole questing and such interspersed with level specific dungeons. That's fine though because it takes no time at all to get to 50. The zones are wide open and beautiful and it makes the trip nice. However... the game starts at 50. They've got a ratio of 3:1 L50 content to pre 50 content. There's numerous raids and advanced dungeons, and a unique L50 zone that is 2x bigger than any other zone in the game. There's objective based world PvP events, and all sorts of things to do that can keep a person busy. Rift is publishing a new feature-size content patch in the coming week or two. They're adding yet another full size raid, another 10-man, more 5-mans, new collectibles like rare drop mounts from world events, gear sets, social armors, RP social content (the ability for players to marry in-game and share a surname and experience shared alternate character progression), and loads of other things. All of this is available primarily to L50 players. I'm an admitted Rift junky. It took me 62 hours to make 50 on my first playthrough on my main. I hate to admit it but I have over 3000 hours played according to Steam... and most of that is on my mage. That doesn't mean others will like it... but I can honestly say I rarely go to Sanctum except to drop stuff in the guild bank or maybe throw some loot on the AH. I spend most of my time on Emerald Isle and I -still- haven't finished the questline there.

I like the part where you said "unless you're using server grade hardware to run a game". I can because I can and that's what I did. This rig supports a total of 6 monitors hooked to two other entertainment kiosks in my house and is running as a server. It can play SWTOR, Rift, and Skyrim all at the same time and the other folks don't even know the difference. The Qx9770 shines in server based applications. It isn't as "fast" as an i7 but it handles data volume in superior amounts. Even when running three games or 6 clients of EVE on the same machine, the CPU has never seen over 50% load and performs exactly as I need it to. I'm glad your system outperforms mine though. Good on ya right?

Also, the Creation engine Bethesda uses is brand spanking new and was not used in the Elder Scrolls series prior to Skyrim. Again, maybe if you Wikipedia'd that you would have known. The SWTOR engine is a 2007 engine made with a mashup of 2005 and 2007 era modules. It's 5 years old and is not performing as it should be. Engines and architecture using those old systems have had years of testing and application under their belt. That's why the Unreal engine is still very popular. It isn't the best but developers know what they're going to be getting when they choose it. It is however predictable, tested, and reliable. For an engine like the one BW is using... it just isn't being predictable or reliable... which is an issue.

Ok here we go again. I play with Vsync on except when I'm doing testing. In case you don't know, Vsync is an FPS limiter. Now, I can attest that my GPU temps go up about 3 degrees when on my ship. I also have a liquid cooled GPU setup. I'll say it again... the shadows are costing too much resources to render. There is an error... it is an errant program running in an errant state therefore it is causing problems in the hardware as a result. The game is using almost half of all the system resources just to render the poor quality 2D non volumetric shadows in this game. Turn off shadows... watch what happens to your system load. That. Is. A. Problem. The difference in Rift is unmeasureable. Between full shadows and no shadows, there is a 1 FPS difference in performance at ultra settings. In SC2, I get no change in FPS when I disable shadows. Same in Aion... zero change in FPS. In SWTOR, when I turn Vsync off to test the FPS, the difference is 140fps with shadows, 220 with shadows off. That is a problem. Maybe back in 2005 or so, this was normal. GPUs were not as advanced and much of the visual processing was shared by the CPU. That's what SWTOR -is- doing. It isn't using the GPU properly because it is overloading the GPU with errant code. That's a guess but it is the only way I can fathom as to why GPU usage increases when you board a ship. Going from Alderaan which is more intensive than a shipboard interior causes measureable load increases. There is however, a preponderance of shadows on ships... and as it has been pointed out by me and hundreds of others... shadows are buggy at best.

My point being made is this: This game is too old and uses proven technology that otherwise states that this game shouldn't even be pushing someone's PC that uses a stock air cooled case and a CPU with a factory fan. That's why BW chose this engine in the first place... to try and make the game accessible to the lowest common denominator of the gaming population. The majority of PC gamers use $800 to $1100 Dell Dimension desktops or something of similar quality. Sometimes they put in a new GPU or more RAM... but for all intents and purposes... that is the core user group of the entire PC market worldwide. They choose this engine to cater to the capabilities of someone running a low to midgrade system. On the tech forums, there's several people who have proven that a laptop without a dedicated GPU can run SWTOR on moderate settings at around 25 fps. This is a very, very low-tech game and is running older architecture. Older systems are usually predictable and cost-effective because their limitations are known and generally produce predictable results. That is why the COBOL programming language is still in use today for things such as business machines and industrial applications. Now, SWTOR is not performing properly because it is not running at comparable levels to even the current gen HeroEngine published version. Granted, SWTOR's engine is only based half on the HeroEngine, the other half being a custom creation from their own workshop. Still, the fact of the matter remains that the shadows in SWTOR are taking far too much memory in the arrays to render. This causes excessive power needs which increases heat exponentially. Yes, someone without proper cooling will have issues. That goes without sayig... thank you Captain Obvious. Still, BW made it known via press release why they had to turn off the high rez textures and avatar models. You can go read that for yourself but it listed performance loss and unacceptable temperature increases as the root causes. Why is this you wonder? Well, again, it goes back to image optimization techniques in the memory array. You can supercool your system all you want like I do... but the simple fact of the matter is that high temps are a result of high load. High load occurring in places it shouldn't is a dangerous problem. Constant high load operations... even when cooling is optimal, can drastically shorten the lifespan of components. See, high temps can be a symptom of a problem. Cooling can deal with this symptom but we have to know what is causing them to begin with. Sometimes the high temps/high load are justifiable. In SWTOR, they're not. SWTOR should not be using a fraction of the memory that it is using now. To put it in perspective... look at Skyrim. I play both games on complete maxed out settings. Skyrim uses 1/3 the memory and GPU load that SWTOR does when I'm on Coruscant in a storyline instance all by myself. Skyrim uses less than 1/2 the CPU load. That... is a problem. The reason why ships are causing 10-20C increases in temperatures are because of what I just said here. Their shading and shadows are not optimized and are using far too much memory than they should be. Again, look to other games and look at how astronomically little processing load it takes to render top quality visual effects. There is an error in the engine with SWTOR. That is indisputable. That... is also why BW has been regularly telling people via their DEV LOG that they know about it and are trying to address it.... and is why they removed high rez textures because they compounded the problem to unsustainable levels for many people in their test sample.

I'm not having any heat issues.... Should I link you a link to Hooked on Phonics?

Ok, so in your world, a low-rez simple shadow (that's what SWTOR uses) that increases core GPU temps a reported 30% is the user's problem... When in every game known to mankind produces little to no performance loss or tangible load increases in modern games that are utilizing the advanced features of modern GPUs. So, to you and your infallible wisdom, the correct action BW should suggest to its users when confronted with their obviously errant shader model is to buy more cooling. Gotcha. You cheeky Wikipedia warrior you.

I have a Qx9770 CPU overclocked to 4.0ghz per core with 2 580GTXs on an older nforce 690i ULTRA SLI motherboard. It has two 100gb SSD drives, a 300gb raptor drive, and a 2 TB 4800rpm standard storage drive. I have self-custom built liquid cooling system that cycles coolant to both GPUs as well as the CPU in a closed circuit cooling system. This is only one of my PCs and its only purpose is gaming. It runs SWTOR at over 200 fps on a 1920x1200 resolution. I've also got two Silicon Graphics animation workstations and another workstation that primarily utilizes Quadro processors for industrial graphics production.

Actually, since you're linking to wikipedia... you don't know. I have 16 years of college in graphics and animation development. Like I said in my reply, I can code a wire cube that can melt your processor. Ring this, ring that... If I poll that ring 42 million times per second it'll melt.

This game's engine framework dates back to 2007 and makes use of 2005 and 2006 core architecture. When BW bought it, the engine was in alpha stages. They paid for a license for the source code of an unfinished engine. BW's engineers then completed it to suit their needs. This engine is not working properly. It, again, is utilizing 2007 level technology and is taxing systems at rates of modern technology. For example, if you look at your memory load in live time, simply turning off the low-rez shadows equates to a 40% performance gain on my system. I have a very high end system (my CPU alone costs over 4200 USD new) and am a graphics designer... so I tend to know a thing or two about how poorly optimized graphics and animations can decimate PC components. It is entirely plausible that something as simple as a wire fram cube spinning and animated at 32fps can melt the processors on a Silicon Graphics workstation if it isn't optimized properly. Saying that people need better cooling for this antiquated hodge-podge of an archaic game engine is just plain ignorance. I could understand if this game used cutting edge technology... but it doesn't. They use SpeedTree for crying loud

You my friend need to stay in school.

GW2/Tera are just Korean inspired grindathons. GW2 is just Aion 2... with playable Shugos.