Some of the class stories are better than others, but they all share in common the qualities of cohesive storytelling, good writing and top notch voice acting. You also get the sense that the majority of writers and voice actors were really enjoying their work. Then it all goes out the window at 50, sadly. I wonder if the recent 12x xps promotion might be a bit of an own goal. It seems to have been a popular promo, which is a good thing. But it also shines a spotlight on the fact that the stories are one of the best aspects of the game and something that has been totally diluted in post 50 content. And yes I know there's a story for each class in 3.0, but it's just one mission and the 'testing the water' statements Bioware have made seem mostly to be a stalling / placating measure. Time will tell of course, but I'm not holding my breath for a return of major class story arcs.

If you were using CTRL in your combat keybinds no wonder things were difficult. Your new setup sounds much better (assuming you're using the mouse to turn and move). Personally I still have W and S mapped for forward and back and A and D for strafe, with the mouse for turning. Then important abilities clustered around WASD mapped to 1-5, q, e, f, g, x, r, c, v etc. Then less important stuff on keys further away, including function keys. But whatever works for you and is most comfortable. What I would suggest is to always try and put the same type of abilities on the same keybinds, if you have any alts. For example, always put your interupt on the same key (every class has one). This helps to create muscle memory so you can play more on 'autopilot'. As for Treek, definitely use her in healing stance instead of Quinn. She's a better healer and will add a bit of dps too.

5 quick tips: 1) Respec DPS for now. Yes I know you said you tried this and hated it, but try again. You'll learn more about the basics of how to play as a DPS. Less to worry about than tanking. Once you feel more confident with your abilities you'll be more prepared for tanking. 2) Use your healing companion (Quinn) and gear him up as best you can. Try not to leap too far away from Quinn or he'll lag behind and might not heal you properly. 3) Stay away from PvP, for now. It'll just frustrate and demoralize you until you have better control of your character. 4) Set up as many of your abilities as keybinds as possible (use your extra sidebars with keybinds associated with them). I know there will be people who say they can play perfectly well clicking on icons, but for most people keybinds is better. 5) Do some of the easier daily zones such as CZ-198 and Black Hole to earn some comms and credits until you master your cjharacter better. Oricon will probably eat you alive at this point, so save it until you're better prepared (or have a friend or guildie team up with you for it).

And they rarely fix them either. For example, the Thana Vesh chestpiece STILL has a texture bug that causes dye problems on the 'modesty flap'. It's been bugrepped repeatedly, complete with screenshots of the issue, but never even acknowledged let alone fixed. And I suspect it never will be. Poor design. Poor testing. Poor quality control. Poor after sales support. This wouldn't be acceptable with physical products, people would return them to stores for a refund. So why do people accept such half-assed mediocrity with virtual / digital products?

Sorry I just don't see this. What are you typing to get the general xp boosts to the top of the list? They are always buried deep down the list on my server's GTN no matter what search words or sorting options you choose. It's long been a problem trying to search for these, because of their generic name. Making them artifact would cause problems. They just need the word "General" inserted to make them more easily searchable. Minor General Experience Boost Major General Experience Boost

Yeah I just removed mine from my Stronghold as the pulsing blue glow is too distracting. I applaud the move to make interactive Stronghold items (there should be more) but sadly if they are going to have this blue overlay it's better not to bother. Please remove the glowing blue overlay. I'm sure players are clever enough to work out for themselves that they can click on these turrets.

Given the apparent rarity of the Dathomir and Jarael sets, and the amounts of CCs or credits players are spending to obtain them, it seems not unreasonable to expect better quality control. I wonder if they are pushing things a little too far in terms of what the engine and game physics can support with these designs, or if it's just a case of sloppy / rushed development. Part of the problem with a lot of sets seems to be this obsession with butt flaps, skirts and miscellaneous flappy hanging bits attached to the chest pieces. Not only are these often ugly in appearance, they often have all manner of clipping and physics issues. In many cases these adornments would be better left off, or attached to belts or leg pieces instead.

Nice. That's 3 shiny new pieces of Series 615 Cybernetic for you then!

Don't spend those 5 credits all at once.

Stockstrike has to be the lamest attack in the whole game, in terms of animation and concept. I had hoped they might use 3.0 to revamp it and give it a cool factor to compete with the Bounty Hunter's Rocket Punch. Sadly no, they just made a sparkly version instead.

It's milky milky time again. I wonder what whale milk tastes like .......

Waste of electrons in your opinion, yet here you are too posting at length. If it's a waste of electrons, why are you so bothered? Funny how threads on this issue seem to be such a honeypot for the forum defenders and how they all seem to concur with each other. Given that apparently everyone has a different world view on the matter, isn't it just a little odd how all the forum defenders seem to fall into line on this issue. Threads like this will keep popping up until the online gaming industry is better regulated, or self regulates based on the threat of the former. So much of what goes on in virtual economies isn't properly regulated by existing legislation. I agree that forum warriors cannot and should not decide the rights and wrongs of the issue, but the reason so many try is because our governments are way behind the curve on this issue. Most physical gambling outlets, casinos, lotteries, grab bags, games of chance etc are properly regulated. Participants can find out what they are entering into in advance and what their chances are. There are also restrictions on where these activities can take place and how they are marketed. The same is not true of many online gaming environments. It is a grey area and this needs to change.

Yes of course. But to what extent? The packs only say they cotnain "2 rare bonus items". There's no way of knowing what the chance is of getting a Super Rare compared to a Rare. And if you do get a Super Rare, what are the chances of getting a specific item? Are there equal chances of getting all possible Super Rare items available from the pack? Or are some Super Rares more rare than others (eg chest pieces vs bracers)? In other words, is there a double weighting going on? No-one knows, other than Bioware of course.

Exactly. It needs better regulation. With a physical 'grab bag' product like trading cards the odds of obtaining a specific item are known. Then it's down to the buyer to decide if they feel those odds are fair and if they are willing to take their chance. With virtual grab bags like the CM packs, the odds are not known. Bioware doesn't publish them and it would be very hard for players to work them out, other than subjectively by looking at what is available on the GTN or what players are saying about drop rates on the forums. So it is much much harder for players to make a judgement on what is fair (to them). Some will say "it's just RNG". But is it? Is it true RNG (in as much as digital RNG ever can be) or weighted in some way? We have no way of knowing. This is what needs to change. There needs to be more transparency about what the odds are. Or better still, ditch the grab bag concept and sell the items directly on the CM. Then we might actually get some properly designed items and less lazy reskins and fillers.

Well this happens in RL too. But in RL we don't get to reroll and try a different dialogue option, you just have to cope with getting something wrong, adapt and learn. If you get a second chance, seize it. But if not, heal and move on. TOR companion romances are pretty basic things, with a limited set of triggers and choices. Second chances seem to be scripted out of many of the companion romances. If you don't choose the right options at the right times, in many cases you won't get another shot. So, either learn to accept whatever happens or research the romances online in advance so you don't make any wrong turns (if it bugs you). But even if you do make a wrong choice, try to accept it. Time heals and this is just as true with bad gaming decisions as it is with bad RL decisions. I'll give a small example based on what happened to my Shadow and Nadia. Hopefully this will help:

It's just an idiom.

6 credits? You were scammed

I think the GTN speaks loudly here. It's the best barometer of what is popular and what isn't. Lately the GTN is flooded with Socorro weapons and Cybernetic armour. When things are listed at 50 or 100 credits and still don't sell, I think it's fair to say the majority of players don't like them. The problem seems to be that the contents of packs are mapped out several months in advance. They go with a theme for a Shipment and then revise / reskin it over the next 3 or 4 packs. So if they design a range of stuff so fugly that no-one wants it, you know it's going to be flooding the GTN for months to come. Because it's a grab bag system, rather than direct sales, it allows them to fill up the grab bags with junk no-one much wants as they hunt for the stuff they do want. If the contents of these packs were sold directly via the CM they'd realize that some designs just don't sell and would need to try harder.

Red Eclipse seems well populated at the moment, more now than in recent months I'd say, not less. Fleet is quieter perhaps but that's because population is dispersed - Stongholds, Rakghoul tunnels, Conquest objectives, 12x levelling etc.

Without giving away any spoilers, let's just say that the Smuggler class isn't very aptly named

If you mean appropriate level content, then essentially the answer to this is no, particularly if you are undergeared. If you have decent gear and a well geared companion then some of the Tacticals are solo-able. But they made some changes a few patches ago to make this less viable and it's not really worth the time invested to achieve it, other than as some kind of personal challenge. You can solo some of the level 50 Flashpoints, but this is only worth doing if you want the gear for cosmetic reasons or a chance to drop certain Stronghold decorations.

The only Tactical that is available pre 55 is Kuat Drive Yards, which is indeed bolstered pre 55. All the other Tacticals are 55 only and not bolstered.

Only for Group Finder Ops. Tacticals and HM FPs via Group Finder are not bolstered.

It's not even worth initiating a vote to kick, because lately in Taticals and HM FPs it's often the case that 2 or 3 out of 4 players are woefully undergeared. Best to do a quick inspect and if it's not looking good, politely bow out. I don't mind carrying players through who have made some effort to get some 140, 148 or 156 gear and have the odd green piece. But when you enter Manaan etc and all the others are fully in levelling greens, 108, 112 or less, with level 21 implants and missing relics etc, forget it. It's not hard to get into 148 and 156 gear and it's a mark of respect to your fellow players to do so before queuing for level 55 group content.

You made the analogy with RL (Paris, Starbucks etc) not me. It seems you just like arguing for sake of it.