Yup. KOTFE and KOTET were not terribad stories--they were pretty engaging, in fact. It was like watching Jerry Springer - the galaxy's most effed-up family feud. But it had nothing to do with *me* as a player character. I was just the landscaper peeking in windows while I trimmed the hedges and dug up gophers from the lawn while this very rich family imploded, and sometimes did it on my begonias. Yup again. The shift away from individual class-based storylines really reduced the replayability. I *could* spend the hours to run my Jugg through KOTET and KOTFE, but I'd be doing it to see if his reaction to Vette even hinted at the fact that he married her at the end of the vanilla content, and for that, I could spend about five minutes on YouTube to find it, rather than hours running through chapter content I already did with my Imperial Agent. And I couldn't stealth through the mobs, either. The game's replayability came from having individual class stories--and even gender change-ups, to a lesser extent. I can't bring myself to play 15 more iterations of KOTFE/KOTET to see maybe five extra minutes of unique content or make one or two differing choices (honestly, I probably wouldn't make many DS choices anyway) Word. When this game launched, the entire MMO landscape was different. Free to play wasn't even a thing then. Suddenly, the terrain changed and a game set up for a world where FtP was for phone games had to maneuver its bulk through a door not designed for it into a room where all the furniture's at weird angles.

Oh please, yes. I'll take 300 years of maturity over Strip-joint Sam any day.

Actually what we have are: -A traitorous suck-up and social climber who's put all his money against you surviving -A commitment phobic pirate with a parade of unfinished business and dropped contracts following him -A womanizing doctor with a savior complex and frequent flyer miles at every strip joint from the core to the outer rim -A soldier with a discipline problem and a dead-end career who seems sane until you realize he's a weirdness magnet (including you) -A nice enough diplomat if you don't mind sharing him with 4 billion of his closest friends (and NEVER getting the security deposit back on your apartment because bedbugs, chair bugs, table bugs, bugs bugs bugs!) -A space cowboy who's never been off the farm but is still a part-time drug mule and who talks to his ordinance -A meat head with a psychotic streak and something to prove -A cat who, while sane enough, still presents a serious ethical breach as your direct report on the chain of command -And a nice Mandalorian boy who can't use pronouns, but who really likes toast. And who may or may not have Daddy Issues. On the whole, not exactly a Parade of Sanity here. But the gents fare little better. You can choose from: -Your student, who's only periodically possessed by a crusty old immortal geezer and made to do terrible things -A pirate princess who's more mercenary than you and is trying to start a coup -A mercenary with anger management issues who killed her last boyfriend -A direct report in the chain of command who is both a turncoat (career-killer right there) and a stickler who insists on filling out the appropriate forms before every date (although in the grander scheme of things, is still quite safe to bring home to Mother) -An underage, recently-orphaned untrained apprentice -Your underage property (with or without the extra spice of a forced-consent collar) -Your sheltered student who's never been let out in public for more than five minutes at a time (but only if you unlock her psychotic side) -A backstabbing anarchist who's just as likely to end your dates by pimping you out or stabbing you as she is to give you a goodnight kiss -A spy in training with an Electra complex and a trail of identity theft evidence in her wake -A delusional apprentice, but first you have to teach her what a date is, then indulge her while she tilts at windmills, and all the time through, you're still tap-dancing and hoping she doesn't discover the bodies in your closet (or the ghosts of Grumpy Old Men in your head or what happened the last time you were in a Master-apprentice relationship) But at least there's Mako. Nice, normal Mako. All six of her.

Underlurker is a HM mechanic in a SM operation. It is much more unforgiving than the rest of the content in SM and makes the operation unbalanced. And it really, really hates melee, which will render the social aspect of the operation unbalanced as fewer groups will take melee DPS classes. Our group just passed it this week, after weeks of banging our heads against the wall, and weeks away to cool tempers. I will say straight-up that we are not the best out there, but we aren't clueless, either. We read the guides, watch the vids, figure out the mechanics and the best way to leverage our player make-up. But this is no one's job--it's our fun, and Underlurker became No Fun for a while. It is still No Fun because when we passed the content, there was as much luck involved as skill, knowledge, and preparedness. We don't mind practice and working through mechanics. But when we have to roll the dice on whether or not the rocks will render properly, the cross will show up, the boss will end up stuck in a wall, we'll get a green cross and someone will be one-shotted anyway... I am okay with challenging content, but if you expect your players to have to compensate for your engine's weaknesses, that makes me less of a player and more of an unpaid quality tester. If you know your class, and know the fight, this should be PUGgable. The fact that it is not by a vast majority of PUG groups indicates it needs tweaking.

I would like those Voss pendant lamps in my house IRL. They'd be *awesome* in my kitchen. I would fall over laughing if someone let the decorations vendor carry a plate of meatballs.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single Jed in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a stronghold." (with apologies to Jane Austen). It is another truth universally acknowledged, that houses are Money Pits. And just as you didn't come out of the womb equipped for homeownership, neither will your toon. Dunno about you, but each one of my toons unlocked at least 2 imp and pub banners, along with a bunch of basic decorations, not long after opening the initial email. Decoration drops happen on hard mode flashpoints, in planetary heroic areas, and for cartel certs or crafted prefabs with reputation vendors. Crafted prefabs are not hard to make (unless you vendored all your low-level crafting mats prior to the 2.9 drop, and then it's really a matter of returning to planets to scan or sending companions out on gathering quests). People are listing decorations from cartel packs and rep vendors on the GTN, too. Like the above poster, I started out with about 3 mill before 2.9 dropped, and after, ended up with 30. Credits, that is. But, thanks to dailies and raiding for Conquest points to get personal rewards and help out my guild, I've built my fortunes back up again (and spent them again, because Stupid Sexy Balcony). Yes, my places are sparse, but that's nothing new--my first apartment was furnished with much less. I don't think Strongholds were intended to be a "get everything the first week" kind of deal. Unlike real real estate, they aren't going anywhere, and if you can't afford one right now, it'll give you something to save up for. Why not put down your basic metal couches (aside--who ever thought a metal couch would be comfortable?) and plan out what you want to save for the next time your Jedi visits the in-game Ikea. Chill. The meatballs will still be there.

Anytime you have a system, people will find the exploits. I have no doubt that people are, and have been, using guild noobs to farm for kills. For me, personally, the FP exploit was loads of fun because I got to collect furniture from the bonus boss drops. I have a lovely crystal garden, and way too many statues of an old wrinkly guy in a a bathrobe. Should make for interesting bedroom decor. I didn't consider it an exploit because it fell within the rules of the game at the time. As one of the inexperienced derps doing hilarious things in PVP, I'd be okay with more derping in PVP, so I don't feel so lonely in my cluelessness. But since I've been derping--and getting rolled by premades--long before Conquest, I can't say I don't feel a little more resentment over the fact that not only are they farming me for kills, but they're also now getting Conquest points for it. But that's been something fundamentally weak about the PVP system from the get-go--pitting me against a hardcore PVP expert helps no one--I'll never get better if I'm always respawning, and they'll never get better shooting fish in a barrel. This right here. I'm terrible at starfighter, too, but at least my (infrequent) medals went for something. I'm slightly less terribad at PVP, so I know that even if my team doesn't win, my medals will at least count for something, while it kills the urge I have to go find a quiet corner and multitask crafting missions for the sake of earning more Conquest points. Seems the biggest twists came from the fact that they nerfed things mid-week. Changing the rules mid-game without resetting everyone to zero is closing the barn door after the horse is gone. The horse is still gone. All that aside, I'm crazy about the idea of Conquest, love my Strongholds (who knew that what I needed most in an MMO was an in-game Ikea. Now all I want is a pet droid that serves meatballs...), and tickled by the idea of having rewards for re-visiting older content. I will be patient while the kinks get worked out.

It's because strongholds and guild ships are instances, and you're limited by the same function that prevents you from converting to ops when any party members are in any instance. It would be nice if there were a function to create an ops group from the guild ship. We already have the capability to teleport to ops leader locations. But it's easy enough to group up outside the instance.

I just did this one yesterday with the Mister's Trooper healer/Dorne, me as Guardian DPS, and Scourge tanking. I died in less than a minute and hubby had to AoE everybody to oblivion, then rez me. I didn't realize Krannus was a champion, and did my usual "focus on the tough guy and let Scourge and hubby's AoEs take care of the others" thing and got PASTED. Ouch. I could almost hear Scourge facepalming, and the postman showing up at the door with a carefully-wrapped box, saying, "Madam, your *****, courtesy the Empire."

My Miraluka knight wears a Reinforced Mullinine headgear (orange) that cancels out the hood. If that helps.