I agree wholeheartedly with Kitru's point about WoW's change in design philosophy to one which is "bring the player, not the class". Sadly, even as the developers of SWTOR try to ape WoW in so many aspects, they've failed to learn the important lessons. I, too, am considering dropping my sub. Bioware has clearly decided that the Cartel Market gives better return on investment than putting in resources to create a fun game for everyone to pay a subscription for. I just don't know how to break it to my guild yet.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the manner in which the BH got his spaceship.

Thanks for the replies, KBN

Thanks for doing the math, guys. However, I have a question for KBN. In your Tank Stat Distribution thread, your calculations are based on the assumption that around 90% are m/r + k/e while 10% are f/t + k.e, unless I've misunderstood your statement: "The magic scalars in question (0.9077 and 0.0923) are the percentage of M/R+K/E vs F/T+K/E damage in Nightmare EC on live." But in your calculations in this thread, you're assuming that 75% are m/r + k/e and 25% are f/t + k/e. So, which assumption is closer to the actual 2.0 content? And if the 75:25 ratio is the more realistic assumption, who would it affect your calculations in your Tank Stat Distribution thread?

This problem is particularly egregious for me because, while I can forgive items that clip with another item due to all the different possible combination of gear pieces, the Preceptor chest piece clipping with itself is just hopeless.

Thanks for the list, Omophorus. I've been on some of the boss fights you mentioned and didn't know which cooldowns would be useful. Maybe now I can help save the healers some resources.

Indeed, and I've yet to get a handle on this. Is there a guide written specifically for Shadow tanks that advises on when to use Resilience on certain bosses' attacks?

True, I would be annoyed if I tagged a mob and asked a character I know that has a 60 sec stun to CC it and he does something else with it. But crowd control as a concept goes beyond this one specific type. Regardless, this question of definition is at best tangential to the more pertinent ones of: 1. Is it reasonable to expect other players to know all 8 classes' stun abilities, including knowing that two of them have no stuns? 2. Is it acceptable to belittle players who have no such knowledge? And in the context of the OP, it was even more egregious because it didn't take place in a Nightmare or Hardmode Operation run, where one could expect the leader to know something about the classes' abilities. No, it was a normal Heroic 4 instance. So, as someone above said, the villain of the story isn't who the OP thought it was.

CC means Crowd Control. Not all forms of crowd control have to be about stunning a mob for 60 seconds. Any ability that helps with controlling the situation and hence incoming damage is a form of crowd control ability. A Vanguard/Powertech pulling a mob that's shooting at the healer to within the tank's AOE attacks. A Guardian/Juggernaut pushing a mob off to fall to his death. These are abilities that control the situation and reduce incoming damage. There is more to CC than just stuns.

To reduce the damage taken by the healer in trash pulls, it takes both the tank and the dps to know what they should do. While the tank has to grab the aggro and maintain control of the mobs, good dps can really help in the process by killing mobs in the right order, which is healer>weakest>strongest. If you really need to pug, I'd suggest running with at least one friend or guildie. If you can get even one good DPS to queue with you, half of your problem disappears as he would be killing in the right order and reduce damage directed at you, even if the tank is less than competent. As some have pointed out, in the situation you described, having a Guard on you doesn't help much. The tank needs to learn to control the room and the dps needs to help him with that.

Juggernauts and Powertechs have other forms of CCs, like a knockback or pull. But the question is this: is it reasonable to expect other players to know all other advanced classes' important abilities? And when is it acceptable to belittle other players for daring to group with you without knowing all the classes' abilities? Edit for typo.

I'd say you started the cycle of acrimony. It's a fair question to ask if someone has any CC, since all 8 advanced classes have different CCs and they work differently. Some are out of combat. Some only work on droids. Some only work on humanoids. Someone who's played for 2 months isn't exactly new, but would not have learned all 8 classes' team-relevant abilities like CCs or knockbacks.

I mentioned companion stories too. So if it turns out that Makeb has no new companion content as well, then it's time to move on for me.

Getting or not getting Makeb also means subbing or not subbing for me. If Makeb contains the kind of content I enjoy in SWTOR - class stories, companion stories - then I will buy it, which also means I'll continue to sub. If not, then the "expansion" holds no interest for me. I'll play till I've completed all the class stories and unlocked all companion dialogues and then unsub. Information on Makeb is too scanty for me to decide now. I've seen Kickstarter projects that offer more details. And I've absolutely no intention to help EA fund the "expansion" by pre-ordering it. Not after what they did with DA2 and ME3.

Why should I buy the "expansion" when I can't even be sure I'd still be playing this game by spring next year? It can mean between 3 and 5 months from now. And chances are, there will be no new content from now till then, which means I'll be bored and quit. When I pay for something, I need to know what I'm getting. With the scanty information available about the "expansion", it's riskier than donating money to a Kickstarter project.

I've always thought that line of speeders look like lawn mowers. And I need to be paid to be seen puttering around in that ugly speeder.

I resubbed about a month ago because I wanted to continue the class and companion stories. If I've completed all 8 class stories and all 40 companion stories by the time this expansion launches and the reviews aren't great, not only would I not buy it, I'll unsub too. Without the class stories and companions this game is a very average MMO.

There's no shortage of tanks who PUG the Heroic 4 missions in Section X and Black Hole. Probably because these are short enough that even bad players can't ruin the experience too badly. This is further evidence to support the theory that the apparent lack of tanks in the Group Finder is due to their being sick of PUGs. In other words, the shortage of tanks is not as severe as it seems. The over-abundance of bad players in PUGs is the real cause.

Bioware should find some way to monetise this as I believe there is a demand for an in-game ability to re-watch cutscenes. Since this is not essential to progress in the game, this should fall under the Frills category, much like fancy speeders. I doubt anyone would complain too much if this feature costs Cartel Coins. For now, I am also using Fraps to record cut-scenes.

A quick question: My Bounty Hunter was having a conversation with Gault in which he was giving glowing praises of a certain smuggler. My male BH asked, "Is she single?" Mako, with whom my BH is having a romantic relationship, interjected from off-screen, "I heard that!" So, this leaves me wondering if she still cuts in if she's not hooked up with the BH. Mind sharing what Mako says if your BH does not romance Mako? I'm pleasantly surprised at the possibility that while in a conversation with companion X, the code looks up the relationship flag of the player to insert a little interjection from companion Y.

With the increase in character slots, account unlocks should see an increase in sales due to being better value for money.

Unfortunately, in order to provide free access to anyone who's interested in the game, companies often have to resort to gimmicks like this to stay afloat. Every MMO that offers FTP has gambling boxes like these. They are part and parcel of a FTP or hybrid game.

Why would I be interested in debating with someone who has already clearly stated, without any sense of irony whatsoever, that his preference is to have his cake and eat it too - by enjoying all the current benefits of being a subscriber without paying a cent for it, while indulging in wishful-thinking that the game can be funded fully by others willing to buy cosmetic items. And please, are you really comparing SWTOR, with its IP and rich story elements, with the typical Asian grindfests?

I'm amazed that you managed to say all that with a straight face. Trying to graft other FTP systems onto SWTOR isn't going to work as well you you'd think.

It would have been fine if 20 seconds are all it takes to get around the problem once per play session. But that's not the case, is it? Every time you switch companions, or use the speeder, or send your companion to sell trash, or zone, or do anything that leads to your companion being dismissed, you have to unequip and reequip. And if you happen to be thrown off your speeder by mob attacks, your companion will only provide a fraction of the support it used to.