I guess you're right. Like you said, he's in the same bracket as many republic generals--he'll do the wrong things for the right reasons, and as such he's not really good or evil--just neutral.

Exactly the same for me. I played it light side and neutral (he's a good guy, but he's not good in a limited, narrow minded way like the Jedi) and with the way he's acted (definitely the best acting in the game from what I've seen) he's just one of those likeable characters who's constantly having bad stuff happen to him and being forced to deal with it.

I have completed the warrior and inquisitor and I'm in the middle of several other classes. So far, the Inquisitor 3rd act has been my favorite bit of gameplay. I don't see why anyone would knock it, it's definitely better than the warrior.

I didn't include Baras because like Thanaton he's entirely self-interested. Everything Baras ever does will be for Baras. Yes he masterminded plan zero....so that he could take over the Galaxy.... He is the polar opposite of Marr, who seems to be about as light sided as a sith can get (something similar to Imperius, I think) as he seems to be primarily interested in the well-being of the Empire.

Yes, I agree that Defense is more a leadership role than the other spheres, but since I created another sphere which basically has to tie together all the rest of the military, I put him there instead. Somebody like Marr--who is along with Imperius (maybe not Nox) is clearly the best Sith around for leadership needs to be able to oversee the others as much as possible.

I'm going to do something different. I know that the whole point of the dark council was to create a system which meant that no one sith could be too powerful, because their powers overlapped and they were constantly fighting amongst each other, and so by the bureaucracy the emperor could sleep easy safe in the knowledge that nobody was ever going to threaten him. However, I'm going to work under the assumption that the Dark Council is simply designed to be an efficient government body. Therefore, I'm going to merge several spheres to decrease overlap and trim down bureaucracy, leaving only a small "dream team" of the very best Sith to govern what's left. Of course, to make it efficient it has to be sustainable, meaning I still won't give one seat way too much power, but it will not be designed to safeguard the interests of a third party. Sphere of Defence of the Empire Has the final say on any matter than involves protecting the integrity of the empire; in this manner its power extends somewhat into Intelligence and Justice, as it must work with both of these to fulfill its mandate. It's basically there to check the authority of Intelligence, Offense and Justice, making sure that the protection of the Empire itself comes before everything else. Head: Decimus; he’s got a good military mind. He would have got expansion and diplomacy, but he’s not as good as the other candidate. Sphere of Expansion and Diplomacy [includes former Sphere of Military Strategy] Responsible for the external affairs of the Empire and setting foreign policy. Advises the spheres of Defence and Offense and the Sphere of Production and Logisitcs. Head: Marr gets this one; I like him in defence, but this is in my mind the biggest and most important sphere and it needs the best man on the council. This sphere needs to glue the entire military together and Marr’s the only man for the job. (Kallig would probably be equally as good, especially if he becomes Imperius rather than Nox, but he is also by far the best pick for ancient knowledge.) Sphere of Imperial Intelligence Does what is says on the tin. Head: Jadus; I haven't played the agent, but everybody seems to like him. Sphere of Laws and Justice [includes former Sphere of Sith Philosophy] Responsible for setting and enforcing laws, distributing propaganda and ensuring loyalty, as well as safeguarding the integrity of the order and the dark side. Commands the Sith Inquisitors, whose duty it is to ensure loyalty within the Sith Order. Head: Mortis; Again, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Mortis seems to be the right man for the job. Sphere of Military Offense Head: Malgus; While he would likely provide a slightly unbalanced strategy with his headstrong behavior, his commitment to offensive tactics in general would make him a good pick here. Also--crucially--he has experience with offensive campaigns, such as the Sacking of Coruscant and the Battle of Alderaan. Sphere of Ancient Knowledge [includes former Sphere of Mysteries] Responsible for keeping and studying the knowledge of the Sith. Head: Nox, duh. Sphere of Production and Logistics [includes former Sphere of Technology, Sphere of Biotic Science] Responsible for the production of goods and technology. Head: Vowrawn, maybe? I kind of like him... I can't think of anyone particularly suited to this role.

Yeah, I suppose. But how hard is it to give you a generic droid? They could have even just used the same model as the ship's droid and just given him new abilities.

Signed. I know where Bioware is coming from--the stories need to evolve, and not be just the same old stuff. Having said that, the class stories were the only reason I played this game. All those annoying side quests, PVP, and flashpoints were a chore that would get me to the level I needed to be at to play them. Honestly, I'm not sure if Bioware makes enough money from this game to create more content on the scale that it was seen in level 1-50, but I would implore them to prioritize it over EVERYTHING else. No more crappy Cartel Market stuff. No more flashpoints and ops. Forget PVP expansions. These things are exactly what every other MMO has, and unfortunately, a lot of MMOs do them better than SWTOR does. The thing that sold this game was the storytelling. Bioware, you made a good game, but you did a lot of things wrong. The combat is deplorable, the side quests are overlong and tedious and everything else is just...average. Normal. And yet, people can still really enjoy this game, after all the last vestiges of hype have died down. Why? Because of the story. Because of the thing that you always advertised. Because of the thing that made this game stand out, that made it revolutionary. Please, don't fool yourselves into thinking you can revive this game with anything but class stories. Look at Galactic Starfighter. Look at Makeb. They both added to the player base for about two weeks. If there is any way you can make more class stories, do it, and make them different. Make them better than before. Throw whatever resources you have into it. Otherwise, there is no doubt in my mind that this game will slowly wither into nothing--it's already been going on for a long time now. If you want to make it different, here's an idea I posted in suggestions a while back. Throughout levels 1-50 (I've only completed the inquisitor but I'm close to finishing the Warrior) you go from absolute zero to "living legend" as you guys put it. The trouble is, all you get for your trouble is the ability to beat bigger and badder enemies. Note that I'm not saying you feel stronger or more powerful. Since as I said I've only completed the inquisitor, I'll explain what I mean from that perspective. At the end of Act I, you kill a sith. At the end of Act III, you also kill a sith. Yeah, there is a big difference in the power of these sith, in the story. But is Thanaton harder to beat than Zash? Not really. I needed help for Zash and not for Thanaton. However, I'm not saying that he SHOULD have been more difficult to beat. That would have just made it feel impossible, like every Act I boss battle that ever happened and the entire planet of Alderaan. What I'm saying is, you don't really feel more powerful. Right now, I am Darth friggin Imperius. I am a dark lord of the sith! So if you add more class story, give me some epic stuff to do. Let me take on an army or something. Give me something to do that feels different to every boss battle that I've done before. The next problem is bigger still. All through the game, you set about becoming more powerful, increasing your influence. By the end of act III as Kallig, you have a total of three apprentices, not counting Ashara, and you literally own Nar Shadda. By all rights, you are more powerful than the guys who are ordering you around in act I. And yet, those guys got to go around and send people out on missions, calling the shots and forming grand scemes, and in Hutt Cartel, I just...didn't. Sure, everyone makes a point of saying "dark lord" and bowing lots. But I'm still running around, getting told what to do by imperial captains and doing the grunt work in just the same way as I was in act I. For the inquisitor, this is especially bad. You're supposed to be like the Emperor: Behind the scenes, pulling the strings, and every now and again duelling your greatest enemies. Instead, the story still treats you like you're an apprentice. Now, I'm, not saying that an MMO could work by just having the character calling the shots. But at least make me feel a bit more in charge. Let me assign tasks to other lower-ranked sith outside of bloody crafting. Let me make choices in battles that don't always result in the same outcome. Sure, I'll go in and fight, but when I do I want to actually feel like it's a job nobody else can do. Yeah, I'll go kill that big massive sith lord or take on that army. Yeah, I'll intervene when that massive invasion force is attacking our base. But I don't want to spend my time destroying shield generators or thinning out enemy ranks. Sure, I'm the most powerful guy there, but by now, there are other guys under my command who are as powerful as I was back in Acts I and II. To try to put it simply, I feel more like a "living legend" when I'm so bad-*** that the ultra-bad-asses who do the jobs few other people can do are of lesser power than I am and are subservient to me, than when I'm a super-bad-*** who simply does jobs that nobody else can do. If possible, do all this in the biggest possible way. I always thought it would be epic to be actually command a ship in battle--not a little corvette, but a massive Star-Destroyer. Have a nice long cutcene where I get to make key decisions along the way. Maybe even go further. Let me command a whole fleet or army. If you're looking for something new, if you want to make a player feel like a "living legend" then this is the way to go. I know that was super long, but to sum it up: You spend so much time in levels 1-50 building up so that you will be on the same level that Baras or Zash was when you were serving them. If you want to make a player feel like they have achieved this, allow them to do the sort of thing that Baras and Zash used to do.

I've recently reached Corellia, and I have to say I am VERY disappointed. Let me just say, my warrior is light side. He's generally merciful, exempting people who are evil gits. He's considerate and thoughtful. And with all of this in mind, I STILL wanted to murder that bastard. He tries to kill you, and you get three options. You can say that he's still useful. You can say "it's alright, I understand." Or you can choke him. Then, with him still alive, Bioware tries to make you THINK you have another three options, but either way, you don't even get to TELL people that he tried to murder you! You don't get to discharge him from your service, or change the situation in any way! It's like after writing the main story, somebody decided that the voss ghost guy saying "you'll be betrayed" would be a cool line, and then they rushed to try and make it work but weren't really able to allow the whole affair to make any difference whatsoever. Like I said, I was completely willing to choke him to death then and there, even though he was my most used comp. Heck, give me some generic droid healer replacement with no story or dialogue, but let me actually have a CHOICE. I can only imagine how all the darkside players felt, considering I am almost always merciful. Does anyone agree with me here?

What I'd love to see is a live in-game battle. As in, a quest where you end up in the midst of an actual pitched battle, with whole batallions of troops shooting at each other and the battle actually progressing as you play it through. I.e. stuff gets destroyed in real time, and not just as a background thing. Honestly, Corellia didn't feel that much of a step up to me. I mean, you fight the opposing faction all the way through, capturing key installations and areas and eventually defeating the enemy on that planet. What was so different about Corellia, except that the NPC's dialogue having a greater allusion to full scale war?

I'd love more class story, but the fact is that this game is slowly dying. This hit home when I was on Korriban today and there were less than 100 people there. Galactic Starfigther revived the game for about two weeks before the whole affair died down. I'd say that Bioware is still making enough money from the game to comfortably keep the servers...for now. But look at the history of this game. To be brutally honest, it flopped. It was the fastest growing MMO ever, for about three months. Soon after it went Free to Play, and the Asia Pacific Servers closed down not long after that. And the Asia Pacific servers, were about as populated as the North American servers are now. I highly doubt that any major expansion will be released for this game again.

I absolutely agree. I REALLY wanted to wear my investigator set's hood over Kallig's countenance (I never stopped wearing that helm, and still am at level 52.) What we really need is a hood toggle--two models for each set, one with hood up, one with hood down, and the ability to switch between them at any time while the armor's equipped.

I'm not saying what I want is Vader's armor or Luke's robes--I just want stuff that's like it. I just used that sort of stuff as an example of why I prefer simpler costumes. Yeah, I think the MMO fashion contest is fine, but give us the option to just wear something Star-Warsy and cool too.

That's Awesome! What's the gear?

Lol, brilliant!

Though this might seem a bit backwards, I am referring to the future in this instance. My problem is, a lot of the stuff that you get for PVP or cartel coins doesn't really fit my taste. Why? To me, a lot of it is completely over the top. From the weird stuff that makes an inquisitor look like a tribal chieftain to warrior's helms which make him practically look like the devil to all the other larger than life stuff that's out there, it just seems a bit ridiculous to me. I've been waiting ages for an armor set to pop up on the cartel market that is simple and yet effective. The Star Wars costumes are some of the best in movie history. Darth Vader is simply dressed in robotic armour, a fairly basic helm and a cape, all of it one colour, and yet this outfit is without question the most iconic in movie history. I know you can design stuff like this, SWTOR--I've seen stuff like Ven Zallowl's armour in the cartel market that gives me hope. Darth Malgus is also brilliant, and a perfect example of what I want to have. I would trade in all my kit for that. Does anyone agree with me on this?

Ok, sure. I did fall in love with the first one when I first got it--I was wearing the destroyer set at the time, and it dropped at Cadimenu I think. Anyway, I liked it so much (because at that lower level I hadn't had anything like it before) I hunted down other parts of the set on the GTN until it was more or less completed. The newest set also has a cape, by the way, but it looks more robust too.

Well, since this is rapidly becoming a "choose your own character progression" here's the latest choice. Bought this off the GTN nice and cheap cause I thought it looked pretty nice. http://i.imgur.com/DwhEJlN.png And here's the old one as a point of comparison. http://i.imgur.com/0WrqSK5.png

Huh, it does look pretty cool. I won't go overboard with it, but I am considering adding in a cybernetic hand.

Cybernetic limbs? What are they called exactly?

Yeah, I don't really want that to change. If I'm going to be in the Star Wars universe, I want to be Luke Skywalker, not Stormtrooper casualty #565675929721

Yeah. I am doing other classes--I'm actually pretty bad for not seeing a single one through, as I have a level 45 Warriror, and a 32 knight, not to mention others I've started but not gotten very far with as I've stopped playing the game for a while shortly after commencing them. As for Makeb, I guess I've kinda been saving that up a bit. With the planets, that wasn't what I meant--I was just talking about you are treated practically the same on Corellia as you were on Dromund Kass. I didn't mean to imply that a level 50 on Kass is treated the same as a level 10, so sorry about that. Yeah, I've had instances like that. For example, I decided to do the "Call to Arms" flashpoint with my inquisitor, as I never got round to doing it. It was kind of odd that I was calling Malgus "my lord" even though I was spared the full brunt of the discontinuity as I hadn't (and still haven't) killed him yet.

I've taken a look through some of the stuff on the GTN. I'm really surprised--there's a lot of really cool stuff there, and it's nowhere near as pricey as spending money on the Cartel Market. I also decided that a good addition would be some cyborg implants--so, instead of spending my money on an outfit, I spent it on changing to a cyborg instead. It also made the RPer in me happy, as the Cyborg parts added to the respirator and made it look like I wasn't just wearing that thing for the looks (I totally am.) Personally, I think it looks a lot better now: http://i.imgur.com/0WrqSK5.png But, as sod's law would have it, immediately afterwards I ran through the red reaper and got something which completely covered it all up. http://i.imgur.com/cKHp5wG.png I never really liked the helmets which practically made you look like Satan, but I guess this one's pretty cool and distinctive. So, new competition: Which one's better?

Heya, Okay, so this kind of annoys me. Despite the fact that you can go from the very bottom to the very top in this game, despite the fact you gain ranks and titles, in most of the content, it's not actually shown. As the inquisitor is the only one I've completely up to level 50, I'll use him as a reference point. I am Darth Imperius, member of the Dark Council, and yet when I go to a planet, I am still handed out missions by lowly soldiers or scientists. This I could accept when I was a little apprentice back on Dromund Kass--but really, nothing has changed since then. Sure, they call you "my lord," and they bow once or twice in the conversation, but they always did that. And besides this, you are also always in the position where you're going out and running the missions and somebody else is calling the shots. You're always the grunt who goes out there and does somebody else's bidding. You're at the very top of the ladder, and yet you're still being ordered around! If at some point a new story expansion is released, I want to see a different kind of gameplay. Now, I know, it's an MMO. You still have to do missions and get XP, or it becomes something else. But personally, I just want to see a bit more of a balance. Maybe the little Imperial Commander can tell me the situation and then instead of saying "you must do this," it can be "what are your orders, my lord?" and then I can chose how to proceed. Better still, I can be informed of a situation by that commander, and then I go over to where it's happening and take charge. Maybe once in a while I can send my apprentices out to do my bidding. I'm not asking for this to turn into a Strategy Game--I just want to have a bit of a reward for all my hard work. I want to feel like I'm at the top now, and it's my turn to do be the Zash or Baras. And give me the opportunity to sit behind my desk once in a while and do a bit of plotting, moving the pieces while still being immersed in my story. Apart from this, a sense of rank can be achieved in simpler ways as well. For example, let's take the beginning of Rise of the Hutt Cartel. When Marr comes to talk to you about everything going to hell, you hear a message on the station intercom. "All non essential personnel must clear the deck immediately." Everyone gets out of the way, and then Marr's shuttle lands. Flanked by an honour guard, he steps out and comes over to you. And you know that this guy is important. See? That simple cutscene does so much to establish a sense of importance and rank. I want to see that sort of thing in the game, because it's not difficult and it adds some realism and a sense of satisfaction to the experience. So, do you guys agree? Do you too have an inferiority complex? What are your ideas on this matter?

I absolutely agree. I consider myself a massive Star Wars nerd, but expanded universes have never appealed to me for just this reason. You take something like the force. In the real Star Wars, it is used to manipulate objects, nothing fancy. If you are powerful and evil beyond measure, you can even use it to shoot lightning out of your hands. In the prequels, Lucas tried to expand on the concept. In doing so, he made the massive mistake of trying to rationalize it, and have it make sense with the Medichlorians, forgetting that the force was supposed to be mystical and magical. We were all perfectly fine with it being a force that surrounds all of us and binds all life in the universe together. It didn't need to be scientific--it should never have been. Now, let us look at SWTOR. Who remembers Thanaton doing that weird-lightning-flying thing? And apparently, you can even use the force as a combat-healing tool. No, I'm not talking about healing the sick here, I mean literally removing someone's injuries as they happen. That was never in the scope of what you could do with the force? Neither could use it to create fear, like the Dread Masters, or make weird fields of dark energy. I've never read the comics or watched the Clone Wars or anything like that, because I know they would be much worse. If you go too deep into a universe, it becomes so expanded that it's unrecognizable, and so I think I totally understand where you're coming from here.