I've noticed that during any "skit" in the story in which companions appear, there's a certain pattern: 1a) If a companion is summoned already, and is hiding their headgear, they will appear with no headgear in the skit. 1b) If a companion is summoned already, and is not hiding their headgear, they will appear with that headgear in the skit. 2) If a companion is not summoned, they will appear with their headgear in the skit regardless. I'm fine with (1a) and (1b). Can we reverse number (2) though? I imagine there's a slight technical limitation in having to load settings for a companion that isn't summoned, but if we need a default setting, can we make that default "off" ? The companions are far more expressive and interesting looking with their faces visible. It's especially trouble when you get those helmets that completely cover a person's face.

I'm not sure why exactly, but it would appear that you just missed a ton of content. There are numerous side-quests and a full planet quest on Taris. Did you go to Taris too early by any chance? Are you doing your class missions while they're red-colored in your log?

I recently finished the class storyline with my Vanguard tank, and I'm making my final stretch to 55 (currently 52). I've really enjoyed the class and its tank rotation. It's different enough from my Assassin tank to provide a good deal of variety: particularly with the Ammo mechanic. Now that I'm en route to the endgame, what should I be gearing for? What percentages should I target for Defense, Absorption, Shield, and Accuracy? Also, are the 1% Endurance talent points worth spending (from our third tree)? That seems like very little return on investment for a talent point.

So, just a bit of a thought experiment. We have 4 "main" base stats that are representative of the four pairings of base classes. Some of them make less sense to me than others. Willpower - Ability to commune with the force. Seems pretty straightforward, and all Jedi/Sith/companions (except maybe Vector) seem to fit with this stat too. Strength - RPG staple. Raw physical prowess. Definitely works for Sith/Jedi/companions. Cunning - This, for some reason, seems to be a merger of what other RPG's would call "Intellect" and "Agility". It works well enough, I guess. Aim - Here's the one I've been thinking about. Aim is the main stat for: Classes with heavy armor and guns Companions with heavy armor and guns Companions with heavy armor and techblades/techstaves Companions that are droids It's a very multi-purpose stat. Does it really make sense that "Aim" is the catch-all for these? Aiming seems to be what an archer or sniper ought to be doing most of the time. It kinda fits the Commando/Mercenary DPS style, but the Vanguard/Powertech behavior is all about charging in. You point and shoot, but you don't spend a lot of time aiming. Maybe it should be AIM instead: Ability to Interface with Machinery. This seems to cover all the bases. The droids use AIM because they are machines, and they need to interface with their parts. Every bounty hunter and trooper, in addition to their guns, uses some heavy mechanical equipment. Same goes for companions: their armor itself is loaded down with all sorts of machines.

I do appreciate that Jorgan, by using the Cathar player model, will now be able to wear hats.

On our server at least (Jedi Covenant), people continually use General chat to advertise for sales, trades, and want-to-buys. It makes the channel really noisy. Is there any filtering that can be done that would encourage those people to go to Trade chat instead? It's really irritating. I have Trade chat turned off for a reason.

So, I just got to Balmorra, talked to the flashpoint courier, and discovered that Winnie the Pooh is a fleet admiral. Who looks like Yoda. Trippy.

I sincerely doubt that item drops by an enemy are determined by a customer client rather than server-side.

I guess I didn't realize how close to the next level I was. My sith warrior goes for some alone time with Vette, and BAM, level 45. I guess my character is more experienced now.

I'd like a rotating color-crystal. Something that semi-randomly picks from one of the five basics (blue, green, yellow, red, orange) about once every 10 minutes or so.

I wasn't aware there was a problem with the species unlock. I made a Chiss Jedi Knight only about a week ago. Also, do you really want to run the same class as one you're already playing? Especially one like sniper/gunslinger where it's not like you could run different tank/healer/dps roles. Make a Chiss Scoundrel, maybe, and shotgun stuff.

As you're leveling, the numbers are going to vary. There will be some patches where healers are more in demand, some where tanks are. If you like tanking at all, however, I would definitely go Powertech over Merc. Not only will you have low flashpoint queue times, but it's much easier to put together a group for Heroic quests. Heroic 4's are much easier to do with 1 Tank, 2 DPS, and 1 Healer Companion than 1 Healer, 2 DPS, and 1 Tank Companion, I've found. Tanking is far easier for solo-questing, too. You have the most flexibility for which companion you want to use (once you have a choice).

I was considering buying a SWTOR collector's edition mouse, but I noticed on the Razer website that the black-green crystal promotion is no longer valid. Is that color going to be made available in the future through other means?

The "power creep" I'm most worried about isn't the numbers being pumped out. It's the number of relevant abilities that we have to track. I would be perfectly comfortable culling some of those abilities from our rotations and simplifying things a bit. Or making certain abilities share cooldowns, so that it's clear that the variations of that ability are meant for different AC's or specs. I just hate having to macro so many different things. I'd love it if we could get it down to 12 abilities that we actually use in rotation.

Because an MMO is first and foremost a business. The purely subscription model wasn't returning on the investment quite enough, so they have to start selling stuff that people want. And people want things like a Revan mask. It doesn't hurt the integrity of the game, so even though it would be cooler to earn it, it's definitely not more profitable.

You should take companions into account. I would go with Jedi Knight (either one). You have access to two dissimilar companions very quickly (both a tank and dps), which gives you easy options regardless of whether you want to tank or dps by yourself. The resource mechanic is also really easy to handle. Some abilities make focus go up, some make it go down. It's simpler than having to monitor your bars to make sure that you don't alter your recharge rate.

The stories for Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior are each pretty compelling. Mechanics-wise, marauder/sentinel does a fair amount of frantic attacking, which can be a bit of a rush in combat.

Wait, so the fact that she's a broken individual makes Ashara hotter? That's pretty twisted. I mean, it works kinda for a dark side outlook, but it sounds like you find that kind of super-submission attractive...

This is the truth. Also, there's the humor of Jennifer Hale talking to herself when Satele Shan gives out flashpoint missions.

I disagree with the idea that this is a sub-par MMO. I feel like Bioware has done a number of things right with their game design, and I'm continuously impressed with it. That being said, I'm not sure SWTOR would exist without the Star Wars IP. Bioware and EA would probably not have invested the ridiculous money they did into developing an MMO of this scale without that IP. And if they had? If this had been an original IP, or based on one of their other games? I might have played a Mass Effect MMO, but frankly I really love Star Wars. This was the hook I needed. I would probably be playing something other than an MMO, or investing more time in WoW, if this game wasn't Star Wars.

I don't think Kaliyo is all that hot visually. I'm not a big fan of bald women, but that's really their own choice. Neither Jack from ME nor Kaliyo appeal to my aesthetic sense. However, Kaliyo has a lot going for her in the chaotic personality department in a much less angsty way than Jack from ME.

Two things: 1) The teacher/student dynamic might work pretty well for a Dark Side consular who just tells her what she wants to hear. 2) I swear, I think Kaliyo was originally intended to be a bisexual character at launch. Her behavior, her dialogue, and her personal history remind me a great deal of some of my lesbian friends. I'm really surprised they didn't leave that option open. So she might not be the best match for a person looking for a relationship with anything resembling traditional gender roles.

I don't like that at all. That would devolve into something more classless, like The Secret World. I'm fine with classless in other games, but SWTOR's classes are actually very well put-together. I like how everyone has a more unique weapon loadout, and I hope they (mostly) preserve that in the future. I would love to see new weapons in the game and new loadouts.

Apparently I didn't realize that I've made a redundant thread. Hmph.

Okay, so I'm trying to be realistic here. Unless SWTOR gets a huge wad of profit to invest , I highly doubt that we're ever going to see a new Base Class added to the game. The costs (and awkwardness) of adding both an empire and republic storyline, as well as the voice acting required, would just be too great. Not to say I wouldn't love to see a new base class a couple years down the road, but I'm skeptical that will happen. HOWEVER: What we could see is new advanced classes. Yes, that would mean playing an already-existing story over again, but that's part-and-parcel for any Alt somebody creates anyway. So, SWTOR community, start thinking of new AC's. Here are the rules: Try to fill class roles that aren't filled by the base class yet. (melee DPS, range DPS, healer, tank) Come up with weapon combinations that are dissimilar from their sibling AC's, but without completely ignoring the types of abilities in the base class. Come up with names for both the Imperial and Republic AC's that sound too similar to existing classe (and aren't absurdly long). Describe class mechanics briefly, hitting important spots and possible cool names for Talent Trees and abilities. Example: Jedi Ranger & Sith Duelist Base Class: Jedi Knight & Sith Warrior New AC: Jedi Ranger & Sith Duelist Weapon Loadout: Dueling Saber and Vibroknife Roles: DPS and Healing Uses Cunning as a base stat instead of Strength. Wears Medium armor and dresses in plainclothes, so shares armor with Smuggler/Agent. Dueling Saber is a new class of weapon, the "pistol-grip" lightsaber type that Dooku carries. Because of that "pistol-grip", it uses Barrel components in customization. Healing model uses similar mechanics to WoW's monk healers, in which healing bonuses (and Rage/Focus) derive from weak melee attacks. Healer is expected to be in the melee group most of the time. Healing Talent tree for Sith Duelist might be "Parasite", since it's healing via damage. DPS (center talent tree) uses Makashi Form rather than Shii-Cho. Not sure what actual mechanics it would supply.