As someone already pointed out but got ignored, I'll repeat it in TL;DR: The OP's results are WRONG! He forgot: to include the base damage of abilities, which even at current BoS gear still makes up for most of the total damage, and which is also subject to crit. to include proc-mechanics, which are usually triggered by crits and make up for quite a bit of extra damage/healing. to include all the other talent related issues, like crit boni to some skills, which lower the value of more crit for those skills. If he'd done it properly, like others have already done, he'd have come to the conclusion that to optimally balance stats, you'd need to go with a matrix of stat weights, with results depending on overall gear level as well as spec - there are a few hard caps in this game (accuracy, i'm looking at you), a few spec depending soft caps (allacrity on lightning sorcs or arsenal mercs, for example), but all the other stats scale with each other, and if you stack one too high the value of even more of that stat drops below what you'd get by increasing secondaries. No hard and fast "bring that to 200 rating" kinds of rules for you, sorry. And if you really want to minmax, there's no way around a very complex spreadsheet to calculate stat weights. Unfortunately, there's a lot of people who'll actually take his post as "the truth" and will ignore all replies nor go look at the theorycraft forums where they'd actually find good answers ... and since this is on the official forums, it will spread in game. Good job, OP, you've done the game and the community a major disservice. 'Hope you see your mistakes, and either do the math correctly ... or at least edit it so people don't fall for it. Edit: arghhhh, ninja'ed. P.S.: if you really want to dive into theorycrafting, I'd really suggest to do so in an environment more suited for it, like the class or role forums here, or even better, one of the dedicated theorycrafting sites like mmo-mechanics. You'll find quite a few things to read up on, along with some spreadsheets in beta status

Correcing, as you ARE wrong 30% is the diminishing returns cap for both the contributions from crit rating and the contribution from main attribute, so the effective crit cap would be 65% before talents and buff Both contributions are on seperate diminishing returns and caps.

Let's be honest, this is not really a surprise, is it? Tell everyone that they can easily find groups now and do content, and people will believe it and jump right into ... without having a clue. Of course, the result will be that after a week or two, the decent players will either avoid the LFG or go full-elitist mode. Has been predicted since the LFG anouncement, and will invariably happen. Though you really got unlucky there, considering that BW gave EVERYONE a free suite of Recruit gear (rating 128(!), with some expertise, sure, but overall about the stats of level 49/50 crafted purples), but there seem to be some people who didn't even find that out yet, despite all the discussion in /1. Which, btw, is what I've seen and heard a lot - people in full Recruit all over the LFG. Btw: just because someone uses a couple pieces of PvP gear with his greens doesn't mean that's a PvPer! Most PvPers are actually at least decent in PvE, and usually geared far beyond what's necessary for HMs, thanks to the quite impressive stats on BM and WH gear ... hell, most of our guildies used PvP gear to gear up for PvE ops, simply because it was easier to get than Columni and offered about the same stats. No, those people with a couple PvP pieces thrown into their greens are ... what's the political correct term for "Scrubs"? ... well, that. Scrubs that got their one or two pieces by leeching warzones and being a pain for the PvPers, now ... now they have the LFG and are becoming a pain for PvEers, too, who could avoid them until now. Oh, and also: don't forget that it's pretty silly to ask for people to outgear the drops of the content. For early HMs, crafted level 49/50 purples or Recruit gear is totally fine, more than good enough to beat the instance and upgrade to Tionese/Columni from drops. Asking for people to outgear the instance doesn't make sense, unless you yourself are the problem that needs carrying ... and I'm pretty sure that was not what you were trying to say, right? Probably just some frustration that made you set your standards so high that they are scrub-proof ... which, oh surprise, was ALSO one of the things that was predicted to happen since LFG was announced Wait until you queue for LI HM or EC/KP SM, that's where you'll really get the /facepalm-moments Nothing really to see here, at least nothing that wasn't expected to happen.

Tell you a secret: Boring dailies are boring. Fun dailies are fun. No matter what planet Currently, this game only has boring dailies: kill X, click Y, kill Z more of X. Non-boring are usually done by having minigames, the more variety, the better, so that everyone can find a time-waster that he actually enjoys - because that's the real purpose of dailies: to make you stretch content by having replayable content in place. Fine. Necessary. But it has to be fun to work, not just a different scenery. Not that your idea is totally wrong, it'd probably be fun to travel from a Parsak game in Nar Shadar's casinos to Tatooine for a swoop race versus the local crime gangs to Voss where a mystic's ritual lets you literally chase ghosts to ... you get the drift, right? Minigames, fitting to the setting and the scenery and designed to be fun on their own. If that's the kind of dailies you're asking for, then I'll wholeheardedly agree this is something the game really needs. If you meant more "kill X, click Y, kill Z more of X" on every planet now ... please no!

Basics for most games: SLI/Crossfire only makes sense if you're going to spend at least 3k$ on your system, with top-end graphic cards linked. Preferably with three or more screens. In all other cases, you're better off spending your GPU budget on one faster card than on two or three slower ones. For SWTOR: This game, as already mentioned by the previous poster, is very heavy on CPU load, not so much on GPU. There's little to no difference between running a mid-end gaming GPU and running high-end or top-end GPU setups, while even a slight increase in CPU power will usually have a very noticable impact. That makes SLI/Crossfire a total waste unless you want to run a multi-screen setup. Other than that, there's very few games these days that won't work with SLI/Crossfire. Simply because there's no seperate effort to support it, that's taken care of by the current generation of DirectX and drivers just fine. Occasionally a bug or two prevent it from working, or, more often but still rare, from providing an increase in performance ... but those are temporary, until fixed with new driver updates.

Such a surprise, considering that the same post that the link came from said the page wouldn't go live until tuesday, june 12th ... which is tomorow We're all waiting for it, for all the same reasons you do. One more day

Repost: For all those complaining about precision jumps, here is Geek's Ultimate Guide to Jumping You think you know how to jump? "Just press spacebar, duh!" - see, you're WRONG! This game actually has a precision jump function that you need to practice, but once you got it, ALL datacrons involving platforming become very easy. DON'T: make running jumps, or for that matter, try to move and jump at the same time unless it's really required. DON'T: keep any keys pressed. INSTEAD: zoom in, look directly at where you want to jump, then tap spacebar and the forward key in quick succesion. Not at the same time, not too slow, and really just tap it - and suddely the game will make you precisely jump to the spot you wanted to go to. Practice with a simple box somewhere until you get it, then run through the datacrons thinking "How did I ever manage to fail at this?" Believe me, until I found out how jumping really works in this game, I was like you: screaming at the screen, cursing the devs for being sadistic monsters ... but then I found out that "I was doing it wrong!". And so are you, if you're complaining. Stop doing that! Start to do it right! And enjoy the success of getting each datacron on 1st attempt from now on.

For all those complaining about precision jumps, here is Geek's Ultimate Guide to Jumping You think you know how to jump? "Just press spacebar, duh!" - see, you're WRONG! This game actually has a precision jump function that you need to practice, but once you got it, ALL datacrons involving platforming become very easy. DON'T: make running jumps, or for that matter, try to move and jump at the same time unless it's really required. DON'T: keep any keys pressed. INSTEAD: zoom in, look dircetly at where you want to jump, then tap spacebar and the forward key in quick succesion. Not at the same time, not too slow, and really just tap it - and suddely the game will make you precisely jump to the spot you wanted to go to. Practice with a simple box somewhere until you get it, then run through the datacrons thinking "How did I ever manage to fail at this?" Believe me, until I found out how jumping really works in this game, I was like you: screaming at the screen, cursing the devs for being sadistic monsters ... but then I found out that "I was doing it wrong!". And so are you, if you're complaining. Stop doing that! Start to do it right! And enjoy the success of getting each datacron on 1st attempt from now on.

It's very easy to answer: If BW puts in a hard minimum in the LFG that's reflecting difficulty even somewhat accurately, people will mostly accept it, since asking for higher standards makes them look unable to carry their own weight and asking to get carried instead. If BW does NOT put in a minimum requirement, the community will do that instead. And that minimum will invariably be a lot higher, since people prefer smooth runs to hitting enrage timers or even wipefests ... and will be more guided by convenience and worst-case-PUG-baddy-scenarios than realistic requirements. That's basic social dynamics - laws of nature you won't be able to change or ignore. Just as it is a law of nature that there WILL be baddies, both geared and undergeared, and that there WILL be people trying to shortcut through progression by being carried. Personally I'd really prefer though if the system took care of at least the later, instead of having to be the mean "elitist" that tells people they're undergeared and a liability, having to argue with the carebear in the group that thinks the rest of the group is overgeared enough to carry anyone, and having to drop groups while leecheres just have to queue until they find a gullible group to get them their free epix. YMMV.

First names are NOT unique across servers. Stop spreading nonsense like that. And yes, I am 100% sure they are not, since I originally created characters on a couple of servers to choose one to play on, and have since re-rolled them onto my main server - using the excact same names, and without deleting the old ones. First names are unique for the server only, not cross-server. On topic: the situation is even worse than just dublicate names - lots of names are taken by accounts that are now inactive, and probably will never be active again. So when server transfers/merges actually make it into the game in the distant future, you'll not only be competing for names with other active players, but also with those people who reserved tons of names when early access hit but have since stopped playing forever. Yes, there'll be tons of unhappy people. But to solve it would require a major revamp of the legacy system and ingame functions, and I'd not bet on that being done anytime soon. Tough luck.

The probe can get bugged and stuck below the texture. 'had this happen to me twice, once after a failed attempt to solo it, once after acidentially pulling it while in the area. Both times I ran away, but got stuck in combat, and after a /stuck-death the probe was gone and wouldn't respawn until next maintenance. TL;DR: Known bug that's been around since launch, wait for a server reset to get another shot at it.

With either of those cards you'll probably capped by your CPU, not the GPU. My 460 OC runs the game acceptable on max settings, the 550 Ti has about the same performance at lower noise and power consumption, and the 560 is able to deliver even more power - again, if your CPU doesn't act as bottleneck, as SWTOR is very CPU heavy. Unless you to play other GPU-heavy games, the 550 TI would curently be my recommendation.

Actually, you're wrong. a) The hero engine is actually able to support 100k people on the same server b) Server hardware isn't a problem either, since a "server" isn't a single computer. Modern servers are virtual systems ran on clusters of computers that can be expanded at will, and it takes just the same hardware to house 1.7M players on a single shard as it takes to house them on a hundred shards. Though the server latency due to coordinating all the data would probably rise to borderline levels, but technically it IS quite possible. c) Client limitations are overcome by instancing. This is already done, and on Fatman you'll often see a second instance of the fleets. Yes, loading appearances for 250 players at the same time causes a temporary stutter, but once loaded it's quite playable on any mid-range gaming PC. You'd still need regional and playstyle shards, though. And, since I actually DO have a tourist alt on Fatman, i can agree with the OP: On Fatman, the game IS fun. My main server is among the top-poplulated european ones - which basically still means that you'll only see fleet reach 100+ players at prime time on weekends and holidays. Normally it feels just empty. And if I weren't in a guild that actually gets stuff done, I'd really consider rerolling to Freedon Nadd, which is the european Fatman. The difference when it comes to finding groups and waiting for pvp is just ridiculous. It doesn't have to be a single-shard-fits-all. But this game WOULD be a lot more fun if current Fatman would be the AVERAGE server - which would mean around a dozen servers max for each region (US West, US East, EU English/International, EU German/French, APAC, ...) For now I'll just enjoy my tourist alts on Fatman and Freedon Nadd when I feel like playing an MMO instead of a single player game with co-op mode provided by guild. It IS fun. Perhaps BW/EA gets the message before it's too late - I wouldn't bet on it though. In fact, with the recent anouncement that transfers won't happen before "early summer" (which basically means: July), I'd actually bet against them. Such a shame, such a waste ...

Minimum is six now, they changed it so you need to use all five consoles at the same time to activate the last grapple point to open the door. That's also why so many people say it's bugged, as it doesn't work as seen in the older vids you can find everywhere. Oh, and for the record: it doesn't seem bugged currently, it worked just fine for us last time we did it. TL;DR: 6

'throwing in my 0.02$ here: There's no need for a Group Finder. Finding groups for anything is as easy as the server you're playing on allows. On healthy servers, it's fast to instant, on dying ones it's impossible. And a Group Finder won't change anything about that. Sure, it'd allow you to do dailies or other quest while waiting (probably not PvP though, guessing from the way WZs are handled in this game), so the waiting process isn't as painful as it is now. And yes, that'd get a couple more people to look for groups. True. But it'd still not change that a Group Finder is only combating one of many symptoms of a bigger problem, which it helps nothing to solve, and that, if it got solved, would make Group Finder an unnecessary feature. Convenient, but really unnecessary. Go to one of the half dozen populated servers, and you'll see. Grouping is easy there. For anything. Also, a lot of people seem to forget all the problems that come with Group Finders: PUGs are always a matter of luck. They can work, or they can fail ... or fail very hard. Putting together groups via /1 spam, f-list whispers and /g help allows you to weed out who you want to play with, usually with the effect of increasing the probability of success - Group Finders just create a lot of random PUGs with no filters, leading to a lot of totally failed runs or very unenjoyable experiences where one or two people end up carrying slackers. Short term: sure, a gain, grouping gets easier. Long term though: grouping get a lot less fun and even more of a chore. It's not like we haven't seen that in pretty much EVERY prior game, is it? So please, instead of trying to fix symtoms that will just lead to other problems ... Please ... concentrate on server merges and transfers, on increasing server stability and capacity! With servers at an average population of current Fatman, there'd be little need for a Group Finder. Instead, we'd have healthy server populations to actually sustain group play.

While I do think that the case in the OP is breaking the threshold of d-bag'ery, the people who argue that need for companions in general is wrong are even worse. Greedy and short-sighted. a) You really expect people who will actually USE a piece of equipment to roll against those who would just vendor it? And you think that this would cause less drama than someone rolling against you? Seriously? Because rarely losing a roll is SOOOOOO much worse than people seeing loot they could use wasted quite often ... b) You really think that people who have their character outfitted in loot equal or better than the drops you're competing for would have any incentive to actually run content with you if you took away their right to collect loot for their companions? You really think that once they're in full Columni they're still going to run PUGs (and we're talking about PUGs here - guild or friends runs will have their loot rules sorted out by themselves, anyway) ... just to gear YOU up? Seriously? Because people will do that for no gain all the time instead of doing something they actually profit from ... c) You really see that situation in the OP every day? Seriously? Because most people are d-bags and won't wait/ask if anyone needs an item for their character and will instead insta-press need on everything ... Guys, you're doing it wrong. And you're causing more damage than what you're trying to prevent. I've actually only seen it happen ONCE in any group that someone pulled such a stunt as in the OP. Yeah, I lost a roll. 'Would have been nice to have that item ... but seriously, a day later I had something better. No f'ing reason to ***** and cry like a loot-wh0re. In all the other dozens of cases where people, including me, rolled Need on an item for a companion ... we ASKED before we did that. Or at least waited to see if anyone of appropriate class needed it, in which case they'd gotten it. Yes, you can run into a d-bag at times. But the way you're arguing, not to mention HOW you're arguing ... you guys only need to look into the mirror to see a loot-wh0ring drama-queen. While I'd prefer to have some "secondary need" roll option for cosmetics and companions ... if you're making this into a binary question I'd rather go with the risk of d-bags than with your "morals" ... Which, btw, are really only a very thinly veiled attempt at defending your sense of entitlement ... and actually failing hard at that, thanks to you being short-sighted as explained above. /facepalm P.S.: This post may contain heavy traces of sarcasm and ridicule as style elements. No personal offense is intended to anyone. If you're still taking offense ... then it's probably because you just realized how wrong you were.

Since the iterations of this monster actually seem to get more civilized and reasonable, I'll have another go at it: The problem is that Need/Greed(/Pass) is a very binary system, and the line between Need and Greed is not a hard one - it's extremely blurry. There exist a lot of cases between "Yay, perfect item, I'll never ever wear anything else again" and "Meh, vendorcrap" - and quite a lot of them could be very reasonably qualified as "Need". Let's try listing by priority: - Best-in-slot. - Best-in-slot when properly modded. - Perfect Look, will use as base item for endgame mods. - Best-in-slot for companion. - Best-in-slot for companion if properly modded. - Perfectly matched stats and major upgrade, moddable. - Perfectly matched stats and major upgrade. - Useful Stats, major upgrade, moddable. - Useful Stats, major upgrade. - Perfect Stats for companion, major upgrade, moddable. - Perfect Stats for companion. - Perfect Stats, minor upgrade, moddable. - Perfect Stats, minor upgrade. - Useful Stats for companion, major upgrade, moddable. - Useful Stats for companion, major upgrade. - Useful Stats for companion, minor upgraade, moddable. - Useful Stats for companion, minor upgrade. - Perfect Look, will use as base item for endgame mods on companion. - Nice look, will mod it and wear it for a time/keep in storage for occasions. - Nice look for companion, will mod it and wear it for a time/keep in storage for occasions. - Can use some of the mods to upgrade. - Can use some of the mods to upgrade companion. - Will dissamble/reverse-engineer. - Will vendor it. ('not sure if you'll all agree with those priorities, I tried to sort them by how much and how long an item will be used and how easy it is to replace it - there's certainly room for discussion.) So .... where do you draw the line between "Need" and "Greed"? Personally, I'd say the last six on that list are clear-cut Greed - which makes everything above it .... ? At least far enough removed from "Will vendor" to merit not having to roll against everyone's Greed for credits. Now, you'll argue that "Best-in-slot" and "Perfect look for companion" are hardly the same priority - and I'll actually agree. But they're still both a "Need". The Item will be used, won't be easily replaced, if ever ... As a result, we're at a point where the loot system leaves us with a choice of potentially wronging either player - by having one gamble for his best-in-slot items, or by potentially asking people to waste items and having them get vendored by others instead of using them. And no, adding more loot priorities won't help. Well, unless you really implement all the above priorities, manage to find a way to get everyone to agree on excact order ... and turn the whole loot system into a messy monster. Let's face it: There is no simple and just and infallible rule. The only working one, the one that always resurfaces in every MMO yet is this: You'll use it: roll Need, you could make some credits: roll Greed. So simple, and ... excactly what so many in this thread don't want to hear. Still, that's as far as any rule can and, more importatanly, should go. You are entitled to a roll. You are not entitled to winning it. Of course there's one extention to that: Courtesy. If you realize that some other person's Need might be as important as your own, or even more important, you can remember to be a nice person ... and pass for him/her. BUT: This is NOT something you can demand! This is not something you can make a rule for! This is ENTIRELY voluntary, and has to be, or it is meaningless. And you will have to accept that you won't be getting the benefit of courtesy if you yourself aren't willing or able to behave like a nice person, too. Which is probably why there's so many trolls in this topic - the second you demand(!) the loot, the second you belittle and insult others, the second you disregard other's need ... that's when, at least in my opinion, you lose all claims to the benefit of courtesy! Though other thing might play into this, too, like being a loadstone for the group thanks to slacking on your gear beforehand, thanks to not knowing how to play your role and class, thanks to not listening to advice on tactics, ... the list goes on. Being terribad is NOT an giving you an entitlement on loot - just the contrary. TL;DR: Ask me to not roll on your major upgrades, and I probably will do so, unless it's an item that I've been after specifically ... in which case I might ask YOU to pass it up. Actually ... even expect it, since I'd have mentioned that detail at the start of the run. DEMAND that I do not roll ... and all you'll get is a finger. Guess which one.

More or less: /signed. Travel is quite tedious at the moment, time consuming, boring. That needs to change. I'd be perfectly fine though if you'd have to earn quick-travel routes to a planet, though. Like, Explore all the map, or Finish the planet's class/planetary/bonus plot line, or even a simple Find and click the spacetravel binding thingy. No problem at all. But walking through empty orbital stations, hangars and airlocks all the time is neither fun nor does it help with immersion. As for the orbital stations themselves: My guess is that they exist so Bioware can add additional areas to existing planets later. New content, without needing to travel through the already visited and solved areas. That'd make sense, even if it makes the stations seem quite useless for now. And while I'd like it a lot more if I could actually have real open-world planets where I could choose to land my ship anywhere ... let's face it, that'd be just 99.99999999% contentless wastelands. So yeah, I think I get the point why - but that doesn't make it less of a pain to be forced through them all the time.

You can write that as often as you want. I've had no probles so far keeping six pieces or more of mod'able gear on my own toons plus at least five pieces of mod'able gear on at least two companions updated. It's easy. Keep your crafting leveled, use those commendations you keep getting which you won't need for anything else anyway SINCE you're keeping your mod'able gear, and SINCE you're keeping it updated. In fact, the only items I've had to roll "Need" on in the last two weeks were non-mod'able items in slots where no mod'ables exist. ALL you can tell me is that you're too lazy or ... otherwise not able .. to do it. You're being greedy. And even worse, you're trying to hide your greed and/or ignorance behind a (misused) code of morality. Newsflash: in THIS GAME, mod'able gear is ALL about cosmetics. 'Only exception currently being end-game PvE and PvP sets, but this topic has no bearing on them since you don't roll on them, you earn them. And they'll be brought in line with "all about cosmetics", too, in the near future, that has already been announced. I'd see you line of reasoning if we'd be talking about non-mod'ables. Those are all about stats, and getting the most upgrade from them. But we aren't. What I see instead is a loot-wh0ring drama-queen ************ about a lost roll. And I'll gladly type it out again and again until you understand

Let me repeat one key-point here again: Mod'able Gear! The only way to EVER need on mod'able gear for stats is if you were too cheap (->greedy) to keep your already owned mod'able gear up to date. Except if we're talking Black Talon/Esseles here. So, can anyone please answer me how a person that's too greedy to buy/craft mods is more entitled to an orange drop than some person who actually puts in the effort? How is it less greedy that you'll sell your old gear, and will sell the piece you're now contesting in another couple days ... how is that less greedy than someone who will put in the effort and credits to keep that contested piece of gear in perfect shape as he's wearing it for looks? What you're trying to tell me here is that not putting in effort entitles you to more loot than putting in effort. That not working entitles you to more than working. And you really think that's right? And want everyone to agree with you? You serious?

Let's be honest here: For most gear in SWTOR, there is no need, there's only GREED! This is due to the existence of customizable gear, which you can get through quests, commendations, crafting, vendors, the GTN ... and fit to your needs using mods from - yeah, you guessed it - quests, commendations, crafting, vendors and the GTN. Basically, except for being cheap, there is no ... NO! ... excuse for not being geared to the max already outside of operations. Which makes any single roll a Greed roll. And thanks to PvP and crafting, there are really no slots where this argument doesn't hold true. And a second approach to the original topic: If you roll on something for the stats, and replace it in another couple days by the next improvement, while another one rolls on that item for looks, swapping out the mods, and still wearing it a year down the road ... Which of you had the greater need? The ONLY way to get the base item you want to use if by actually rolling for it and winning it. Stats though ... well, you can get them from anywhere. 'Really should have them already - if you didn't, you were actually making your party carry you through the instance ... and you can't seriously tell me that "I suck, so I deserve everything that drops" is a valid one, can you? That being said, and in before "so you're supporting ninja'ing?": No, i don't. I accept excactly two valid reasons for a Need roll. 1) non-mod'able gear that's an improvement over your current non-mod'able gear, 2) mod'able items being part of your finalized outfit. Everything else, in my book at least, is being a loot wh0re. And this thread, and its predecessor, and probably every one of its decendants to come, are loot drama threads. Yeah, people might be confused about loot rules from other games. Other people might just be greedy d-bags. But this is what it comes down when you look at THIS game, and THIS game's mechanics. So I'm pretty sure we'll see a consensus along the lines descriped here sooner or later - probably later though, since greed and drama are too strong a lure.