I freaked out and deleted my Powertech when the changes came, but I started leveling a new Vanguard from scratch yesterday and I’m loving it. (The toon is now in the low 30’s.) I think I just needed the leveling experience of getting new abilities one at a time in order to digest each changed ability. The changed abilities are all channeled or delayed damage skills that weren’t a part of my Powertech’s arsenal anyways; when you’re tanking they either get interrupted or fail to generate threat as quickly as needed. When DPSing, they’d get interrupted when you have to move. The new instant-cast skills that replace them are a very nice improvement, adding some nice cleave damage on demand (with a cooldown) to what had effectively been a very limited repertoire. If the range changes are a deal breaker for some players, that’s a shame (and it wouldn’t hurt if Storm/Jet Charge came a little sooner than it does), but I’d recommend trying again from scratch before anyone gives up on the class. It’s not as if leveling takes very long any more.

I like to outfit him with the Corsec Electrobaton weapon from the CC store. It counts as a vibrosword for purposes of weapon proficiency, but it sheathes at the belt instead of over the shoulder.

I'm seeing the same issue on a freshly rolled Assassin. The level 12 talent that should give us Darkness Charge (our tank stance) simply removes Lightning Charge, but doesn't replace it, leaving Discharge unusable. This toon hasn't reached level 16 yet; if you're right, just leveling my toon further should fix it. That's reassuring to hear. Edited to Add: after a moment's reflection, it occurred to me that, until you get the talent that transforms Discharge/Force Breach to match your stance, Discharge is still trying to cast its original version, but the level 12 talent that changes your charge/technique removes that as an option. The Assassin/Shadow's shield does activate in combat, so you do have Dark Charge/Combat Technique at the level that it says you do.

I rolled a new Assassin tank this this afternoon, and now I'm finding that I lost my passive stance when I reached the level where Dark Charge should have replaced Lightning Charge. Logging out and then logging back in didn't reset it. I'm yet to get to Fleet, but I'll try changing my spec at the Skill Vendor when I get there and see if that undoes this. For the moment, my Discharge attack is simply unusable. My staff isn't charged, and we no longer have a button to activate a charge.

VEXX: "Vexx is the galaxy's greatest quick-draw artist. Vexx can shoot your ears off so fast you won't even hear yourself scream." BOUNTY HUNTER: "Show me." **Shoots Vexx**

I'm not certain about Pinkie Pie (the Element of Laughter as a Smuggler sounds right), but Rarity would definitely be a Sage who makes Light Side choices to spare the afflicted Jedi Masters, even at the expense of her own strength. She's the Element of Generosity. I watched one season of that show so that I would have some common ground to discuss with my nieces when they were little, and that's hard drive space in my head that I'll never be able to wipe in order to use it for anything else.

The point that a gear reset is coming in October is an excellent one. Looking forward, it might be worth figuring out which mods and enhancements are ideal so that you know what to seek out at the new level cap. The way that stats are assigned to the different pieces may change, but right now, Deft and Potent mods that do not have a letter after the number grant the balance of Strength and Endurance that a DPS class would want. Useful enhancements that don't waste too much of their stat budget on Endurance include Intiative and Acute (if you need more Accuracy), and Adept and Battle (when you're at the Accuracy soft cap and ready to pile up on Surge). Source for the above is Aria's Marauder guide for version 3.0 of the game, hosted on Dulfy.net. That site will likely continue to be a great source for intel from smarter players than me once 4.0 lands in October.

The dye schematics and housing odds 'n' ends from various reputations aren't nothing. Consider that, if the stuff from reputations was too good, completing each rep would feel like a mandatory grind; and that people would only do the grinds once per Legacy anyhow, limiting the use that developers get in some games from using reps as an endgame pacing throttle. I like this system, with purely optional cosmetic rewards, far better.

I like the idea of a Saber Deflect as a self-only damage mitigator. It could be a more visually impressive replacement for the self-only bubble that Sages and Sorcerers get in their 50s. Keep the channeled activation to reflect that the character is focused on defense at that moment, but let it be channeled while moving - either via a Heroic Discipline, or by default.

Were there really people who started subscribing just for the trenchcoat?

What if we just let the Zakuul Empire have Taris?

The Trooper/Bounty Hunter's reliance on heavy armor (rather than medium armor, like the Smuggler/Agent) frees the player from needing to hide behind cover during combat. The freedom of movement that BH's and Troopers enjoy is one of the chief perks of the class, in my opinion. Of course, you can always use adaptive armor or the appearance tab to give your character whatever look you want. The Mercenary Bounty Hunter advanced class uses a pistol in each hand, and fights from long range, while the Powertech Bounty Hunter fights up close with a single pistol and the flamethrower in his armor. Mercs have single target and area of effect rapid fire blaster attacks that sound like the kind of attack option you're looking for, and one of the Mercenary's Heroic Disciplines, "Thrill of the Hunt," allows him to use his some of his channeled rapid fire attacks while moving.

One might as well ask why dogs chase cars, or why flies can never figure out how to get out of a window once they're indoors, or why the guy in Group Finder who queued as a Healer but insists on DPSing is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS A SORCERER. You're like, "Dude, these classes are not subtle in their design. We can all see that you're shooting lightning." Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.

Consular's one of my favorite stories, personally. The Jedi Knight story feels like something out of an Extended Universe comic book; the Consular feels like a Jedi Master out of the movies.

I'd like to see Madness Sorcerers be able to function without having to channel Force Lightning to stack Wrath. That's a large part of the spec's problem. The encounter designers obviously dislike channeled abilities so much that they've given knockbacks and knockdowns to every mob in the game, so just remove the channeled abilities. If we're meant to keep the proc that lets us insta-cast Demolish, put the proc on an ability that's actually a useful part of our rotation.

Shift+click on a stack of items, in your inventory or in a vendor's window, to move a partial stack of items. Handy when seperating a stack for sale on the GTN or buying items in bulk. SWTOR Spy has a database of every datacron in the game, with maps and coordinates. It's worth googling and bookmarking to build up some substantial and permanent stat bonuses for your character. Having trouble deciding which set of crew skills would be right for your character? Interact with every crew skill trainer at Fleet to unlock Codex entries on every skill. You can read up on what each skill does and which ones support one another. Worried about which class performs the best at which role? Don't worry, that will change eventually anyways. Play the character that interests you enough for you to get good at it. For further reading, I invite your attention to my signature, below.

The opponents in Hard Mode Foundry are all designed for a team of level 50 players. When you're at level 59, they should have difficulty even hitting you. If you do wipe to a boss, it's likely to be because there is some mechanic you failed to figure out or some ability you were supposed to interrupt. Dulfy has your hook-up with this mini-guide: You can reach the foundry from the Imperial Fleet station by taking the Mission Departures elevator to the Interfleet Transport deck. At Interfleet Transport, you can take a shuttle to the White Nova. If this is your first time making the trip, enjoy the view from the taxi! Fleet is much larger than I realized before I went there for the first time.

The interest some players have in the Voss baffles me. The story on that planet reads to me like a sarcastic take on how misplaced both factions' priorities are. Both miss the forest for the trees on that planet. There's a race of native technical geniuses quietly building a space program out of scraps in a cave there, and no one thinks to recruit them. Meanwhile, the governments in Coruscant and Dromund Kaas are tripping over themselves, trying to get their meat hooks into a people whose culture is founded on the twin pillars of hysterical xenophobia and despairing fatalism, because they happen to have a few Force-sensitives.

Does giving romantic advice to lonely companions count? I want to help Qyzen Fess woo a pretty she-trandoshan, preferably one who looks just like Qyzen but with lipstick and a bow on her head.

Ilum has some easy-to-reach datacrons. The permanent stat bonuses from collecting datacrons still adds up to something significant, even with the inflation of stats on gear over the years, so I think it's worth landing on the planet for that. As far as quest content, the missions there are just a prologue for the old level 50 endgame, but they're arguably worth visiting for the story if you haven't been there before.

I loved the Inquisitor story. In addition to being a tale of a scrappy underdog who serves comeuppance to those who underestimated you, it also casts you as a space necromancer who wouldn't be out of place in a Clark Ashton Smith story, delving into forbidden lore for the power to assert yourself. The end of Chapter 3 is alternately creepy and triumphant. I'm a big fan of the Bounty Hunter as well. Like the Agent, Smuggler, and Trooper, the Bounty Hunter views the war between Jedi and Sith from the outside, and can be critical of both sides at times. What a lot of people neglect to mention is that your Bounty Hunter also has the option of calling shenanigans on the Mandalorians and their "do whatever underhanded thing I want and call it honor" baloney, choosing to go your own way as you make a name for yourself in the underworld.

This holiday sale is the first time that I've seen actual retired packs temporarily brought back, but there are vendors on the Fleet's Cartel Bazaar deck who sell items from retired packs for credits. Note that these guys are reputation vendors, and the reputation required to buy from them comes from items found in newer packs. These vendors, too, are icing on the cake; by opening newer packs, you can get a chance to pick up some older armor outfits, mounts, and pets that you might have missed, and sometimes for lower prices than what the GTN is asking for stuff that has by now been made very scarce because the packs they were originally in aren't obtainable.

The rancor was crazy rare when that pack was first released, but enough people bought the packs that there were a few on the GTN for the high rollers to buy. I'd suggest treating the super rare drops as icing on the cake. You can buy a hypercrate and not see one. If you're going to buy a pack with real money, get one that has armor or a lightsaber color crystal that you really like; those are much more common.

You can mail credits from one character to another by composing a letter at any mailbox and attaching credits to it. The mail you're sending will need a title. You can title it whatever helps you keep track, or just insert a space with the space bar. Address it to the character it's going to, and it's ready to send.

Because Dulfy has been keeping their visual database up to date since the packs were first implemented, their list of the daily specials includes links to complete lists of the possible items found in each pack. From there, you can find additional links to visual previews of all the armor, weapons, mounts, pets, emotes, color crystals, et cetera.