It will be interesting to see what effect this will have on PvP....

I run into this too. The trick seems to be to pull them first (mortars work well for this), then once they come to you, take a step back before channeling pulse cannon. If you can pull back around a corner, they should bunch up as they come around after you.

As others have said, it could depend a lot on which server you are on. I'm on Jung Ma and there are usually 10-30 people on most planets during the afternoon - probably more at peak times, but I usually logout before the peak time comes due to my available play times. I enjoying soloing, and I like how this game makes it easy to do so. However, there are usually people in general chat grouping up to do heroic quests and lots of people PVPing (I have never queued for more than 5 minutes to get a warzone). I'm Republic, so there are usually enemies to fight whenever I am questing, depending on the planet (Voss can get ridiculous -- it is really hard to get into the Temple of Healing without getting attacked). I expect Empire people get less enemies, but grouping up is probably easier. While it does feel like a single player game in many ways while leveling if you don't group up, unlike SPGs, there are usually other players also questing, which gives the world more life than SPGs have -- I never see anyone else levelling while playing actual SPGs. Fortunately, quest nodes and mobs usually respawn quickly, so having other people around doesn't detract from my questing. Most SPGs also don't have a GTN-equivalent, since there is noone else to trade with. I rarely go more than 10-15 minutes while questing without seeing someone else. If you really want to group up and do social activities, joining a guild on a busier server is probably the way to go. EDIT: reread your post and saw that you have a guild. If the server seems empty, why don't you get your guild to roll new characters on a busy server one day. You don't need to delete your existing characters, and it might be interesting to see what you are missing. Or roll a new character to play during the day when your guildmates are not on. Roll Republic on a PVP or RP-PVP server -- we can always use more. We will defeat the Empire!

On PVP servers, most of the level 25+ planets are open-PVP, although they don't allow for same faction battles (beyond dueling). On non-PVP servers, I believe you can turn your PVP flag on in those areas. I'm pretty sure the Outlaw's Den and Ilum are the only open-PVP areas that automatically flag you for PVP on all servers. I believe the Outlaw's Den is the only place to go for same-faction battles. On my server (RP-PVP), there is almost always PVP action to be had outside the Temple of Healing on Voss. Bonus series areas on Tatooine, Alderaan, and Nar Shaddaa are pretty reliable places to find PVP as well. After Alderaan, it tends to happen just about anywhere. EDIT: You are probably more likely to find PVP action if you are Republic, due to server population imbalances.

You can purchase weapons with +expertise enhancements from the PVP Weapons Vendor, starting around level 36. You can remove the enhancements and put them in your armor if you want.

I've never waited more than 5 minutes for a pre-50 warzone to start on Jung Ma (Republic). The problem I have is that if I automatically requeue after a warzone, the invite for the next warzone will time out before I have finished unloading from the previous one (it helps if I queue from a zone that doesn't take too long to load).

Can you install more RAM? Going to 6G or 8G might help make your game less choppy. EDIT: Also you might get some benefit from adding a USB memory stick to one of your USB ports and activating ReadyBoost on it (part of Windows).

There is more content than one character can do, without having to do some of it when it is gray. However, this also means that you can choose to skip content that you don't want to do and still progress -- and this leaves uncompleted content for your next character to do.

I don't think we need rewards (or penalties) for PvP, although valor points for killing someone close to your level once doesn't sound unreasonable. There is open-world PvP in some places -- the bonus series areas on Tatooine, Alderaan, Nar Shadaa, for example. On later planets, you can run into enemies throughout the map. Voss seems to have a lot of it around the Temple of Healing. I find it very hard to finish quests around there (except really early in the morning) without getting repeatedly attacked. I assume that is because both Republic and Empire players both go there for their quests? Perhaps in a future patch there could be added quests on each planet that take you into enemy territory, or at least shared areas. These quest could specifically point out that they are sending you into dangerous territory, so people could choose to avoid them if they don't want to PvP. Conversely, they could flag you for PvP on non-PvP servers. What about quests to actually hunt down an enemy? "You must kill one enemy player on this planet". If players meet each other, there will be PvP. What I don't want to see is incentives that encourage people outside the planet level range to come to a planet to kill people much lower level than they are. That is the sort of thing that drives people away from PvP. As it is, while encounters are few, players that you do meet are usually around your level ensuring a relatively fair fight. We don't need to encourage people to come to particular planets -- anyone level 25-26 is already on Tatooine (there isn't anywhere else to go). We just need to introduce new ways for the players that are already there to run into each other, without it being overly disruptive to those that just want to complete their quests. Whatever they did on Voss that leads to so much PvP -- do more of that.

So which is it? Fluff or "things that should have been available at launch"? If you feel that it should have been available at launch, then spending resources to complete it (since it wasn't available at launch) would be warranted.

You will probably want to do at least some of your class quest -- otherwise you won't get your ship or any companions. Of course, if you are only planning to do WZs, you don't those. It might be nice one day to be able to travel to other planets (to get datacrons, maybe?) and not need to get someone to fly you there.

It is inherently "Greedy" to click need on anything. Just because some people hate companions doesn't mean that people that like using companions are bad people. Companions need gear. It is not greedy to want to get gear for them -- the game requires it. You may disagree on whether it is appropriate to get gear for them when you are in a group. But stop accusing people of being self-centred and greedy and please stick to arguing the reasons as to why you think the line should be drawn between "main character" and "companion" ("main character" > "companion" = "sell for credits") and not between "items that you will equip and are an upgrade" and "items you are going to sell" ("main character" = "companion" > "sell for credits"). As I've said in previous posts, I'm willing to consider "main character" > "companion" > "sell for credits", but we don't get two ">"s. I would think a completely non-self-centred person would pass (or at least "greed") on everything and not ask for priority on any loot. That all said, if the loot rules are agreed to at the beginning of the group, it is correct and proper to follow the rules as agreed to. Any time that someone's argument descends into casting aspersions on the other sides character, I no longer consider that person's opinions to be relevant to the conversation.

I think on most of the shared planets, you can go to just about everywhere in the enemy territory. Nar Shaddaa and Tatooine spaceports are notable exceptions; otherwise most of the planets are shared and can be explored (am I wrong?). NS/Tatooine are the first PVP planets, so have areas that are safe. Wandering through enemy bases can be tough, since there are often level 50 guards, but you can stand right outside them (and go in if someone can kill the guards).

It is fun to explore the enemy side of the map. You can find large areas filled with friendly mobs that don't mind if you scoop up chests. Then you run suddenly into Level 50 base guards that aren't friendly (and/or enemy players).

It is a direct shuttle trip and doesn't require using your ship. There is a shuttle to bring you back, too, out by the taxi stand.

Since it will be difficult to hold a side spawn with one person, if a bunch of people are spawn camping, then they won't be having too many people covering the turrets. If you get past the spawn campers, then you will have a clear path. It may mean that people will need to work together a bit more to ensure local superiority where it is needed. EDIT: There are two exits to cover from the main spawn (left and mid), so you would need to cover both. Protect mid and people will go left and then under the mid.

There is very little open world pvp, but because of the level separation, what encounters you do have are often interesting and relatively fair fights (both players are generally similarly geared and close to the same level.

You are welcome to assume what you like. However, after seeing 100 heads in a row, I'm reluctant to assume that we are really looking at 50:50 odds.

So the problem is that some people are playing non-force characters so that option needs to be eliminated?

It can be interesting to turn them all off and then turn them each on one at a time. Try it out in battle with just the one ability to see how it gets used. Then turn on the ones that seem useful to you and turn off the others.

How does blue/purple level 50 crafted gear compare to that? Is level 50 crafted a useful starting point? EDIT: Or orange with level 50 blue mods and a few +expertise enhancements ripped out of weapons?

Possible or not, a business based around publishing the works of those monkeys would not be likely to find many investors.

Absolutely. If skill didn't matter, the unskilled would win a lot more often. As it is, skilled level 15s can beat unskilled level 40s in any of the warzones.

Maybe its a problem in post-50 warzones. In pre-50 warzones, I've often seen "lack of skill", and it usually doesn't turn out very well. It seems to me that the teams that work together win and the ones that don't work together don't win. It is pretty consistent. Only when you get two teams that are evenly matched in skill/teamwork is there usually much of a question as to who will win. I've never pulled off a successful Huttball pass, but I'm Republic and don't play Huttball very much.

Pretty much out of the "new release" category now. There were some bugs and performance issues that were annoying early on, but they have been mostly fixed (or will be in the coming patch). There isn't anything gamebreaking left that I have run into. From a post-50 perspective, it is possible that there is further work to do. However, I don't have any level 50 characters, so I'm not particularly concerned with that.