The <Sand Panthers> (warning: page contains swearing) are a Republic guild which has been around for approximately no time at all; it exists because the founder, Vertan (Ebon Hawk US), tried to find a place with a laid-back and censor-free environment which actively participated in operations and roleplaying. Since, after extensive searching, a guild with this philosophy did not seem to exist, he created the Sand Panthers (named after the Corellian Sand Panther because f**k yeah.). Our major focuses are supposed to be, as mentioned above, competitive operations groups and roleplaying with a fun and original storyline with lots of room for expansion. We'll take players of any level and any role, though no promises can be made for operation slots until we actually see you play.* *My intention is to eventually begin hardmode ops, but since the guild is brand new, we have a serious lack of 50s - much less anyone interested in ops - so this may be a while! The goal is to create a unique atmosphere in which members can have conversations ranging from the ridiculous to serious, and the topics of discussion may be offensive to some members. If you are easily offended, you will not be happy here; this guild fits with a very specific group - people who do not react too intensely when offended and who can at the very least tolerate people who they disagree with. If you aren't a part of this group, we're not for you. We accept all levels and all classes, as long as there is at least some interest in roleplaying - we don't discriminate! To find out more, check out our guild site or send a tell in-game to Vertan on The Ebon Hawk. We no longer accept players under the age of 15. If you are 14 or below, you are not eligible to join the Sand Panthers; we apologize for any inconvenience!

A "lifetime subscription" is almost never (if ever) done by a successful game that doesn't, well, suck. If a game has any production value AT ALL they'll want to be making their deserved profit and will charge you at least $12/mo for a subscription. Just based on observation, of course. I am known to be wrong. ... A lot!

Holy crap - a use for the 'founder' tag! I thought it was tacky before because the majority of players have one, but now it's actually worth something. <3

The whole body is affected. I'van (Darkside Corruption) I'van (No Darkside Corruption)

I don't really get that kind of attitude. o.o For story modes FPs, I always ask if anyone hasn't been there before (because if they have I ask everyone to spacebar); for HMs, I'll only ask that for The False Emperor and Kaon Under Siege, two exemplary FPs with interesting stories.

I have one better: how about we nix the heal beam animation entirely and replace it with something that doesn't absolutely shout 'THIS IS THE HEALER AND YOU SHOULD FOCUS-FIRE HIM'? Not to mention the beam looks a tad too cartoony / ridiculous - I feel like I'm running around as the Doctor in TF2. :/

Maybe something exactly like WoW's - $10 for one character to be totally recustomized aesthetically to anything you want that is available to your account. I mean, on my 50s at least, I didn't know what the endgame gear looked like and thus would like to change the 'look' of three out of my four 50s -- type one body type was a bad choice for my gunslinger imo (and I'd rather he be a Twi'lek than a cyborg), my assassin looks kind of lame and my operative could look a lot less, I don't know... stuffy? Just seems like a pretty good idea since I know that I (and many others) would dish out real money for that.

The fact that this game is newer actually probably makes coding and coloring and such a whole lot harder, not easier. A refined and more exact system means that it's harder to make things exactly how you want them. More options equals more difficulties. (Compare writing a novel to writing a short story; the short story can get a lot more things right a lot more of the time because it's a lot more condensed and therefore is a lot easier in certain ways. Though short stories can be very hard to write well, of course, it's still easier to write a masterful short story than it is to write a masterful full-length novel.). Edit: Still, I wish we had a more refined yellow/orange and a better color for green. Holy crap I hate the greensaber.

I'd really adore a 'toggle hood' option. Seriously! Sure, my Guardian may look nice with his hood on (I made him bald while choosing his face to make sure I liked the look he'd have with a hood), but I actually feel that he's much more iconic-feeling and has much more personality when his actual whole head is showing. I mean, that's why I gave him that hairstyle in the first place -- it made him look like a twentysomething kid who was kind of goofy but still pretty serious when it came to it (since I wanted an intense and passionate righteous bringer-of-justice character to foil my Marauder, who is a more malevolent pseudo-honorable 'bringer-of-justice'.). Compare: Hoodless Therech - Just imagine that he's smiling, heh. I wanted him to be able to look serious and/or angry enough to cut someone in half while still looking a bit young and I think I got a pretty good medium there. Hooded Therech - He looks kind of bored and/or dull, but I guess that's a Jedi for you. At least he isn't hideously ugly. Note that there isn't really any viable Guardian armor that doesn't have a hood, hence why he's shirtless in the first pic. xD

I am someone who swears all the time. I've been kicked from guilds before not just for swearing, but for using the 'n word' in a non-derogatory fashion (as in, 'let's kill dat ni**a' when referring to a boss). I mean, I have a history of being kicked from guilds for ridiculous reasons, but using the n-word one time without even getting a warning was a little extreme. While I've been kicked from guilds, however, I have never received a warning or ban from a GM. Ever. And I don't just swear constantly, I do things like adamantly deny being a pedophile when I enter a hardmode flashpoint. "Hello everyone; my name is Vertan and I swear I'm not a pedophile. I know you all needed that reassurance and this is not suspicious at all!" I mean, come on. If I, an incredibly controversial human being (I'm an eccentric who is incredibly hard to offend who constantly forgets that other people are easier to offend than I am), have never been banned for swearing, somehow I doubt you've ever been suspended or banned just for using course language. You'll never successfully be sued just for insulting someone. I mean, sure, you can get a visit from the Secret Service if you write a comedic article about kidnapping the President's daughter, but you can't just get sued because you call someone a poo-poo head. Libel, harassment and slander are very different things from just insulting a person; it's not a crime to be insulting. Freedom of speech just means that you have the right to express yourself in public (it is not self-expression to, for example, yell 'fire!' in a crowded theater). Bioware games are not public, they are a privately-managed world where communication is facilitated by Bioware; they can restrict your expression however they please, and if you don't like it you don't have to pay for it. Freedom of speech protects our ability to have television broadcasting censored by our cable TV providers and allows us to access any (legal) websites that exist on the Internet, but it does not protect our ability to say whatever we want in a privately-owned Internet space. Oh Ebon Hawk, how interesting your general chat can be! I swear I've started so many (pseudo) philosophical debates on different planets, the Fleet etc and they can be so, so interesting (though I'm pretty sure I've been on many ignore lists because of this).

Eh, maybe give us the option to choose what we want? I mean, I know that for my Assassin, he looks much more ****** at Dark V with red eyes than he did at Dark II/III with yellow eyes. Though to be fair, his non-Sith-corruption look has yellow eyes as well. *shrug*

Though obviously you've considered that the man's story is a lie, I'll put forth that it most likely is, given that one of the main red flags for someone lying about being in a traumatic experience like a war is that they'll talk about their experiences in detail like that (for that sort of experience that is a hell of a lot of detail.). *shrug* Though yes, I'd love to see more stuff like that. Maybe give the character an option that is totally self-destructive, like 'I'll kill those silly Republic people anyway, and if the Imperials try to stop me I'll kill them for disobeying orders anyway!' and just be able to walk away and not care about whatever you just lost. ...I like being evil sometimes.

...so it's the son of the most unlikely romantic pair in the history of the world as your main character? Oh my gosh.

How much interaction had you previously had with the final boss, though? I mean, he may have just assumed that you're like almost every other Jedi ever...

I have two characters who would have otherwise ended up fighting for the Empire: My Chiss trooper and my Sith Pureblood Sage. I'll give a little synopsis of their pasts and how they came to fight on the side of the Republic just in case it gives you some ideas, though many other players have given you very good options as well. Note that my methods when it comes to these things aren't exactly what most people come up with -- I must be SPESHUL and this includes how my characters end up being on the side of the Republic (because why go for a simple explanation when you can make it as dramatic as possible instead?). My Chiss (my main, a healy Commando) grew up with an eccentric hermit loosely modeled after German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein living in an isolated mountain area of Ord Mantell, who got closely involved with the Separatist's military movement when my character was at a young age (which is where he gained his initial military experience and how he eventually defected to the Republic.); his mother died when he was born in a slum on Nar Shaddaa, which is where Wittgenstein soon found and adopted him. My pureblood Sage was born and raised on Korriban as the son of a Sith Apprentice whose master was on the Dark Council. After his father's master's demise, the father fled the Empire to Hutt Space, taking refuge under the employ of certain members of the Hutt Cartel as an assassin. He trained his son in the Force and more basic Sith techniques, and eventually his son ended up being sold to a prominent Hutt gangster who in turn used him to assassinate his enemies, which lead to a confrontation with a Jedi Knight who had been charged with guarding the life of my Sage's target - a fight that lasted all of two minutes as my character was quickly disarmed and captured. Seeing my character's potential in the Force and obvious Sith training, the Jedi took him into custody and eventually managed to convince him to become a Padawan and turn to the light side. Hope these help (and that you're still reading the thread 4-5 days after you posted it. >.>)!

The communication was actually pretty good once they started the dev Q&A. It just went downhill once they fired Georg.

This question only applies to people with 50s and who do or have done dailies (or make money with the GTN, whatever). Basically, people with some way to make credits in a significant fashion and have experience with the game. I'm really the only person in my guild to ever break two million credits, and I give new players credits and/or gear on a regular basis. *shrug* I count as rich in comparison to everyone else in my guild but really I probably make an average income of like 250,000 credits a day from the GTN. I'd say that rich is being regularly over ten million credits on a single character (at one time in your inventory, not cumulatively). Just because then you have boatloads of money to spend on whatever you want. Edit: Someone once told me '2 million or more credits because then you can buy almost every legacy perk." Seems like a silly way to see it IMO.

It would be horrible. At least when I zone in to Lost Island HM, I can inspect the tank and DPS to see if they're worth playing with; they've never been worth playing with, actually. Considering that you can't complete Lost Island HM with Battlemaster gear... Though I did get pretty ticked off at someone who told me you can't do it in full Columi (sans the mainhand). I mean... really? It drops the Columi mainhand and a Rakata chest, I'm pretty sure you're able to do it in Columi!

For some reason when I decided to roll my Commando (who is now my main-though at the time I had three other classes at 50 - Gunslinger, Operative and Assassin) I knew two things: I wanted to heal and I wanted to be a Chiss. Not wanting to level a Chiss BH/IA to 50, I opted to spend 1,500,000 credits to unlock the Chiss race. I am relatively unique on my server, which I discovered while spending at least 1/3 of my time leveling healing warzones (I ended up having my helmet on at all times because people went 'LOOK! CHISS HEALER! FOCUS FIRE!'). Though I'm still occasionally recognized via my race in hardmodes, since I keep the helmet off because of how ugly the Tionese/Columi/Rakata helms are.

I'm pulling an all-nighter because as it turns out, school starts for me in a week and a half and when you wake up at three in the afternoon and need to get up at six in the morning in nine days it's not possible to do the 'slow' method of getting your sleep cycle to something close to normal, so I'm doing the 'fast' method of just plain staying up for 24+ hours and then sleeping eight to ten hours after. This is why TOR was up and why I consequently noticed when I was able to log in. Have fun with this nice little announcement from the flying triceratops that is fly.

I think it's been that way since 1.3. Where've you been?

Eh, MMOs (since they encourage social interaction) can help people with social anxiety lose said anxiety and can do a lot of good things for shut-ins (assuming these people don't spend all of their time playing the game, anyway). I wouldn't say this is an issue specific to high-functioning autism; it's much wider than that. The reason that autistic people have social anxiety is different from the reason a neurotypical person might have, but the key here is not the autism but the anxiety. MMOs are good things for some people and terrible things for others; the thing of value here is moderation. Spend too much time playing the game and it becomes an extremely unhealthy habit; spend three hours a week playing the game and you'll see no (negative or positive) effect on your health. With video games (and most other hobbies), it can become extremely unhealthy (mentally, if not physically) to spend most of your free time playing them; however, it isn't unhealthy in any way if you play for fifteen minutes a week (though I doubt it's worth the subscription money then). I'd say for people with social anxiety, they need a healthy medium, a microphone and activities out of the home that they do; if you play the game regularly enough, but not to an unhealthy extreme, it can do a lot for you - but it won't do a thing if you don't spend time outside of your house. Edit: Note that I have lots of experience with high-functioning autism and like disorders; I have nonverbal learning disorder, one of my brothers and my father have Aspergers Syndrome, and since I have an IEP I'm in a special ed homeroom and special ed study hall and have a lot of interaction with people who have these kinds of issues. Note to y'all with NLD/Aspergers, if you don't practice consideration for others and actually listen to what they say, that might be 98% of the problem for a chronic lack of friendly relationships with others. Nobody wants to talk to a guy who thinks a conversation is a college lecture and not a two-way street.

I'm hoping that the cash store is going to be geared for the casual free players and that the more 'hardcore' will be able to save lots of money by subscribing (since the store would ideally sell stuff like the legacy unlocks that you can get for in-game money, for example, if you're a subscriber, but you'd be locked out if you were a free player.), with the occasional cosmetic stuff sold but not anything that really makes people 'need' to have said stuff. (The best-looking gear should remain earned in-game.). Note that this is how I want it to be - this idea conforms to my own ideals (a store which encourages you to subscribe so you don't have to pay all that money for microtransactions if you're a more frequent-flyer sort of player and doesn't get anywhere near requiring money from the subscribers past the sub fee.), and isn't based on anything that Bioware has stated as to how the store will work (that is, they've stated nothing besides that it won't be pay-to-win.). It'd be bad, IMO, if almost every nice-looking mount or gear set could be bought with money (either as an alternative to earning it in-game or as the only available option to gain it being to pay cash), or if the game became pay-to-win and ended up selling stuff like 500% XP boosts while leveling. I hate the idea of having to pay cash for perks or for all of the better-looking stuff in the game, though I'm pretty sure everyone does (which is why I like the idea of the Legacy unlocks being available to free players only by buying them from the store with cartel credits). Though I'm pretty sure everyone agrees on that. Edit: IMO it's as bad as a pay-to-win model if you have to either pay cash or grind a ton to get nice looking stuff; I mean, right now you've got the PvP orange sets, PvE random drop sets, some nice-looking stuff you can get just by questing in the world, craftable sets and adaptive armor, and I love this and think that Bioware should continue to expand these options. I'd hate to see great looking new gear become the norm on the store and be unable to get said gear without paying $20 or spending hours running Ops. (Note that I'm imagining the orange gear you'd buy would be modless, so you'd still have to do stuff to get mods that don't suck; my problem is if pay-to-win is opted out but we still have to spend lots of money to look nice.).

It's supposed to be a galaxy-spanning, possibly bifactional quest chain. Pretty sure you can't do it in under an hour.

I'm betting one cartel coin is worth one cent USD and a hundred and fifty cartel coins end up being $1.50. I can't really think of how cartel coins would translate to dollars if it was 150=$15. Though I'm dumb with math, so it's quite possibly really easy to translate if you're not me.