I don't think you can say either one is better flat out because they so rarely will be at equivalent gear levels. Maybe you can be more specific on that front? Are you asking which one is better if they each had the best possible gear in the game? I doubt that's what you're asking...meaning this seems like a "while leveling" question. What I can say is that since I'm an artificer, I was able to keep Ashara's hilts up to date moreso than Revel's barrels. Did I compare their damage numerically to see if she was actually pumping out higher numbers and translating that into faster kililng. No. I think it really depends on what gear you have at the current time. When I was in need of a dps companion while leveling up, I used the one that had the best damage at the time. I will say, that as a preference, I have noticed that sorcerers like a melee dps companion, hence use Ashara, while melee dps seem to prefer a ranged dps companion.

Since my crew skills are archaeology and treasure hunting, and Talos has bonuses to those, he's almost always out on missions. The droid has actually been my primary REGULAR questing companion. In fact, it's not uncommon for me to have 4-5 companions making stuff for several hours at a time. Since the droid has no affection, he's usually the last one to be sent on a mission and stays doing normal questing with me.

I've never been able to get my droid's carbonized stream to work. Talos Drellik's works just fine. How do I use this ability properly?

The heroics are my favorite part of the game so far, as I've stated already in an earlier post. And others have explained why different type of content in an MMO is important, and how normally people won't do all types of content. For example, I do not like PvP or making many alts, so that's probably something I won't take part in right away. Am I saying i will never PvP or will never make an alt? No, that is not what I am saying. Those are just the lowest items on my list of fun, and I'd rather be doing other things if the option is presented to me. How is it that you (the OP) can't fathom that people like heroics?

Fair enough. I only have an interest in downgrading my level to help people with heroics and such, and friends in the first 20 levels that have just bought the game. I wouldn't really care if I were downgraded and given 0 skill tree points. It'll just add to the challenge. But let me hang out with my friends without having to choose between them.

Now that I'm level 50 and look back at my leveling experience, I can say that [HEROIC 4] missions are my favorite part of the game so far. It's how I've met a large part of the 40-50 people on my friend list. Do NOT remove them. It was pretty crappy when WoW did away with their group quests and made them all soloable. I play on Nathema (PvE) East, which I think is the 4th lowest populated server, and I have been able to find at least one person to do heroics with for most of them.

This is probably one of the most important things to add fun factor to either a game (or movie) to give it that epic feeling. A lot of the SWTOR flashpoints have this. A lot of the planets' quests are missing it. I get sleepy while questing as a result. Add music.

What were the downsides of this system? Maybe it's difficult to implement and wasn't widely used?

Wow, the lack of a sound doesn't bug anyone else?

I'm not one of those people who complains and levels too fast. I'm just fine all of that. To those saying lore, I guess I just don't get it. And to those saying it allows easier expand-ability, I don't get it either (not saying you're wrong, I just don't understand). I guess to me it just feels chunky. It's probably some programming stuff I don't understand.

I don't think so. All I've seen is the following from the loading screen tip: "Affection improves a companion's mission and crafting result as well as reduces the amount of time required for them to perform crew skill tasks."

This sounds excellent! To those mentioning alts, here's why that's a poor solution. My roommate has been 50 for some time now and he is one of only a handful of active 50s in the guild. I'm now about to hit 49 and we've finally started to do some group stuff (he did have an alt that leveled with me a bit but I outleveled his alt). It's great finally being able to group with everyone! I got a friend from WoW to join via the Amazon.com $40 leap year special. After trying some things out he is now focusing on one char and is now lvl 15. I got my bro to join via the free trial, and I will get a couple to join next weekend. All of these people I recruited will be at different levels and don't play at exactly the same times. Making three sets of alts that can still keep up with all my friends while still grouping on my main with my roommate and other 50s is quite a silly solution. Scaling stuff down fixes everything.

I grouped a ton while leveling up, but this seems like a neat idea. I really enjoy the ship cutscenes where my companions interact with each other. It brings their personalities to life. I approve.

Lolwat!?

Agree 100%

It is not the sheer time that makes load times terrible, but their annoyance factor is extremely high. I alt tab and do something else every time I get a planet 5 minute load screen.

It'd be cool if the ship droid had a personality customization. Right now it has nothing (from what I've seen). And there was a quest I did while leveling up that let me reprogram some robot's personality.

If I were you I'd use a dps companion that you can make gear for with crew skills. Using Khem may be overkill.

That depends on your crew skills, playstyle, the type of mob you're fighting (weak + normal, strong, or champion), and advanced class/skill tree. For example, I'm Artifice, Archaeology, and Treasure Hunting. And I'm a Madness Assassin. Khem Val is almost always making something (and is why I got him to 10,000 affection ASAP), since he has +15 Artifice Efficiency, so he doesn't get much usage on the battle field for normal questing. That's when I make stuff. I do try to free him up for champions though and [HEROIC 4] quests when I'm grouped with other non-tanks. I don't use him for weak or normal mobs, and rarely for strong ones. While I really like Talos Drellik as a companion, and he's probably my favorite one, he's on missions even more than Khem Val since he has bonuses to archaeology and treasure hunting. I primarily use Ashara Zhavros as of late, because I can keep her gear up to date really well with Artifice. Also, none of her crew skill bonuses are of use to me, so I might as well have her fighting. But if every I need every companion to craft, I use the ship droid since he has 0 affection and is the worst for crew skills. Andronikos Revel is kind of my wildcard. I can't keep his weapons or gear up to date with my crew skills as well as other companions, he has no bonuses for crew skills that I use, yet has the 2nd highest affection among my companions. So I use him as crew skill guy #3 or when I'm about to make some dark side choices that I know Ashara won't agree with. As for playstyle, if the kill pace is too fast that it's boring, I use the ship droid for healing. If the kill pace is too slow that it's boring, I use Ashara.

I keep thinking I didn't cast it because it's so quiet compared to everything else.

From a game design standpoint, why do they exist? Why can't I just land on the planet, or the main first quest hub. Just seems weird.

rofl...I guess it was a respawn

My bro just bought the game and wants a class that uses a resource as close to mana as possible. He wasn't feeling rage on this sith warrior marauder.

While I will agree that keybinding is better, clickers can move with WADS and strafe with QE while clicking. So, 0% is incorrect unless my keyboard is special.