Dang. I was going to renew last week, but it took me that long to find my Security Key key-fob thingy. Oh well. Thanks.

Curious: Was this promotion for returns /just/ last night? Because I didn't renew until this morning.

This would be annoying. It's like living across the street from a billboard of a pretty girl I never asked out ... and who has moved away. A constant reminder of my failure to act at the proper time. Now, I have to suffer, knowing that most other guys have "played the content" I will never get to experience. How nice it would be if she just started letting guys "play the content" for a set price. I could just watch another guy "play the content" on Youtube, but it just ain't the same. I have Shroud of Memory. I have played Shroud of Memory. I have completed Shroud of Memory. I'm all for players buying the right to play Shroud of Memory. After all, the purpose of the subscriber rewards was to generate income. I see no reason (please, let's ignore fluctuations in currency valuation) why last year's dollars are worth more than this year's dollars.

Jenny: "Jenny collapses under the weight of her many myriad wounds, her essence draining from her limp form as her mind flashes sporadically across the timeline of her life until, at last, her eyes settle on the final image they will ever behold: the incompetent healer she so foolishly trusted in this ill-fated battle. A single tear traces across the dust and gore plastered to her cheek as she exerts Herculean effort to spit the words that would become her death rattle ... 'Damn you, Thor!" Thoronmir: "My bad."

I think I just divined the issue that most perturbs me in random groups: Critical rating. My Sage healer has a very high Critical rating, which I assumed increased his damage/healing when he succeeds in "critting" when using a class skill. Your post has illuminated the issue for me: A high Critical rating does not affect my Sage's skills. Rather, it increases how critical other players are of how I play him. Someone needs to parse the numbers, but perhaps Critical rating determines how much criticism healers and DPS receive? I should try slotting Absorption instead ... so I can more readily absorb all that criticism.

I was concerned at first when I logged into find 44 characters on one server. I was more concerned when, after deleting a level 1 name-holder alt, my 44/44 count fell to 43/43. I spent most of yesterday sorting out inventories and culling the roster. I discovered that my current maximum is actually 41, so I didn't have to delete too many. Still, deleting characters is like eating peanuts. Once I started, I couldn't stop. After making sure to transfer credits and any swag in their vaults, I ended up deleting 19 characters. My current roster count is 23/41. As an unrepentant altoholic, I had to overcome my urges and ask myself: "Do I really need three sets of capped crafters in all trades? Will I really ever play any of the myriad mid-level alts that transferred from the provinces?" I kept one capped crafter for each profession and all the capped gatherers. I kept all the guys over level 60. Most of the rest have joined the Force. I feel better with (a) fewer names on my character-select screen and (b) having plenty of space to start new alts if I ever so desire.

As the Official* arbiter of all things Role-playing, I agree that RP has no place in random groups. As an avid RPer, it would tick me off as well. That said, I can't recall a single instance in which I found myself grouped with such a player. But I've only been playing SWTOR since release. If I ever did, I imagine the vote-kick would be quick and unanimous. Like most fun social interactions, RP must be consensual or it's just wrong.

Three reasons why I oppose this suggested change: (1) As others have said, the current system greatly simplifies crafting. As someone who relies exclusively on his cadre of capped crafters in all trades to gear his characters, I prefer the single-stat approach. (b) Again, others have voiced the concern over loot rolls and silly stat combos. And sure, the tooltips and other game elements make it easy for a player to figure out his class's primary stat. But that's like saying that reading the owner's manual for your new cyclotron will help you avoid that nasty radiation exposure, and we all know that NO ONE reads the owner's manual. (iii) A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, I created a collection of Legacy Armor (using the free sets we get) for each class. I was playing lots of alts back then. I made a set for each stat at various levels from 8 to level cap. Which meant about 15 sets of armor per primary stat. The change to Mastery greatly reduced the burden on my storage issues (as did the elimination of Companion gear). I now only need to keep 2 sets (one for DPS and one for Tank). That said, I'm open to tweaking the stat system. We could change "Mastery" to "Verisimilitude" ... or maybe "Stank" (my inner churl would enjoy seeing players in General bragging about how much "Stank" they have).

I'm closing in on my 40th anniversary as a role-player. We can wait for another time to discuss the party you all with throw for me. In the meantime, as someone who pretty much only plays MMOs for RP, I've seen players try to RP in General (or similar) channels. But, yeah ... they're doing it wrong. Gleaning a slightly different meaning from the post you quoted, I can imagine RPers who may be getting griefed taking their complaint to General (the whole "You're ruining my RP" thing). But I can see your interpretation as well. In my experienced and sagacious opinion, RPing in General should be (and maybe is) a reportable offense. It's certainly worthy of an /Ignore. And, speaking on behalf of all the RPers in my household (which includes myself and ... well, nevermind), I would never RP with anyone who so blatantly disregards non-RPers' public chat channels. Of course, perhaps there are players new to RP who just don't know any better. That's why I encourage new RPers to find a decent RP Guild (in this context, decent = willing to teach). That said ... I'd love to get a reserved RP channel.

Those were some very prudent precautions, Andryah. Unfortunately, until today, I hadn't logged into SWTOR or visited these Forums in nearly a year, so your sage advice (which is also suitable for Gunslingers and Bounty Hunters alike) did not benefit me. Fortunately, I have checked my characters, my mail, my vaults, my shared storage, and my dryer vents and discovered that all is in proper order (and the vents are lint-free).

They said there'd be no math on this test!

I'm curious as well. I have 43 guys on Star Forge and another 12 on Satele Shan. Thing is, I have millions of credits on SS that I'd like to move to SF. I'm still undecided whether to just strip bare my SS characters and ship all the swag to SF or keep a modest outpost on SS ... just in case.

I have no idea how many slots we have or how many I may have purchased over the years. I noted, however, on Star Forge (the detention camp to which most of my characters were sentenced) that I started with 44 active of 44 available slots once I re-subbed this morning. Having not kept up with SWTOR over the past year or so, I was surprised to discover the server merge had occurred. Honestly, the only reason I even logged in at all was (a) LOTRO was shut down for several hours of maintenance today and (b) my maid showed up at 7:30 a.m., so I vacated the living room for her. Having little else to do today, I decided to just get caught up on any SWTOR updates (like I said, it's been nearly a year). After the download finished, I discovered (1) server merge happened and (2) I was (expectedly) Preferred due to allowing my subscription to lapse. My plan was simply to purge extraneous characters from the two US servers (I had reserved my favorite character names on several servers and ended up with multiple "Thoronmirs" on Star Forge and Satele Shan. That was when I noticed that, after deleting a level 1 Thor-clone, my characters slots dropped to 43 of 43. I don't know how many slots I'm allowed to have, but I decided to just keep my flock of level 1 name alts (there are 7). They're all classes I like to play. That way, if I ever want to start a new guy, I have one ready and won't need to unlock another slot. I may or may not (eventually) delete some of the mid-level alts, especially the duplicate crafters. For now, my advice is to keep what we have.

True story: I've always been an avid crafter in every MMO I've played. I enjoy it. Sometimes, I delete a capped crafting alt just to make a new one. But my primary motivation has always been self-sufficiency. I am a rock. I am an island. I like not relying on other players to keep my guys clothed, equipped, fed, and ... well, implanted. When playing a new MMO, I usually start with whatever crafting skill seems most advantageous to the class I play: Synthweaver in SWTOR since I knew I'd play Sages, Woodworker in LOTRO so my Hunters had good bows, etc. Regardless how I start, eventually, I get around to mastering every trade. Sure, my Synthweaver kept my Sage dressed well, but before the time when Commendations became uniform and ubiquitous, I needed hilts and crystals ... so I made an Artificier. It wasn't long before I made a Cybertech to create mods and armor mods. My original Cybertech was a Smuggler (named Fillion ), so I needed an Armstech to make barrels and an Armormech who could make supercool shirt/vest combos. Biochem was the last member to join my Crafting Cadre. Most of those crafting alts have been deleted and replaced ... some more than once. The last wave of consolidation greatly improved SWTOR crafting. Both the increase in stack size and the reduction to two types of materials per tier resolved all my crafting storage issues. I'm content with the current state of crafting, but I wouldn't object to some further refinement. Changing the materials' names (e.g., "Desh" becomes "Metallic Substance 1" ... or whatever) might make things easier on new players who haven't yet memorized the names. I have no inherent objection to a recipe that requires: [4] Generic Power Crystal 3 [6] Ubiquitous Relic 3 [1] Universal Binding Compound 3 (the name I just made up for vendor-purchased Crew Skill materials) I'm unclear about the OP's suggestion regarding nodes. Are we discussing some mutated form of Omni-Node ... the "Shmoo" node, as it were? My Bioanalyst can farm critter guts and pieces from the same node that my Artificer gleans magic rocks and old bric-a-brac from Grandma's attic? I'm not sure I'd like that. Under the current system, my gatherer of critter guts and weeds need only compete with other Bioanalysts for nodes.

/muses /ponders /weighs pros and cons Okay, yeah. I'd probably pay for this. I hesitate to commit because watching my Sorcerer "seethe" is always fun. I already use the mount/dismount maneuver to auto-heal my companion when possible. But, as far as ideas for new Legacy perks go, this isn't the worst I've seen.

Not sure I understand your point ... When I stare at the chimichanga on my plate, and I cause its resolve against being eaten to whither by importuning it to "join millions of chimichangas," it's okay that I mean the millions of chimichangas I've eaten in the last five years, and not necessarily that I'm currently eating millions of chimichangas?

Sure thing. Go ahead and explain why EA/BW should care whether some churl at a gold-selling site insults players who contact them to purchase credits.

Yes. Yes, you did. I suppose your "uniform" would suffice ... as long as it has the requisite bare midriff cutout section, cylindrical three-dimensional tramp stamp accoutrement, shoulderpads that are oversized for NFL linemen, modesty-mocking rear flaps, and is festooned with superfluous widgets and doodads across every surface.

True story: I started SWTOR with a couple (let's call them Larry and Brenda) I met in LOTRO. We agreed we would level our main characters together. As a "stay at home dad" to my collection of partially-filled bourbon bottles, I had more free time to play, so I made some alts and tried out different aspects of the game. Thus, I was the first of our little coterie to gain any understanding of the equipment system ... particularly, moddable armor. We completed the first mission to reward with moddable armor (one of the Heroics on Coruscant that awarded a moddable chest piece). Larry was distraught over how "lousy" the reward was for the effort it took. "It's worse than the crap I've been wearing since Tython," he whimpered and I almost let him vendor the dang thing. I took pity and explained the concept of hollow shells and mods. As we progressed, he still never quite caught on to the need to upgrade mods (I'm fairly certain he was using the mods we got him at level 12 as far as Alderaan). Thankfully, Brenda was a quick study and she became quartermaster for them both. Another true story (on stuff getting easier): Yes, it's true. Doing something even once makes doing it again easier. I remember trying my first case (circa 1993). I prepared for days. I was up all night revising my opening statement, witness outlines, issues for closing argument, etc. The courtroom for your first trial is an edifice of intimidation. Navigating that ordeal was among the most difficult two hours of my life (yeah, my Preparation to Trial Length ratio was about 10:1 ). I felt adrift, rudderless is poorly charted waters. Today, for a case of similar scope and complexity, I neither need as much preparation nor labor under such a crushing weight of uncertainty. Most days, I can work sans notes and rely on having "been there and done that" over and over and over during the past couple of decades. I'm almost convinced that the game designers knew what they were doing when selecting, as the measure of a character's advancement and development, the word "Experience." TLDR: NBC was right: "The More You Know ..."

Given EA/BW's previous wardrobe choices, it would likely have to be the "uniform" from Night Nurses from Jersey 6. I would make a more detailed response to the OP, but, unfortunately, I only speak conversational Gobbledygook. You guys must be fluent to have figured out what the OP was saying. All I could glean was some rant, dripping with adolescent hormones, decrying the absence of a curvaceous cathedral of pixels from the KOTFE batting order. Personally, I hope that, when they get around to bringing her back, the recruitment mission imposes the ultimate challenge: scores of PvP wins ... hunting all World Bosses (twice) ... full stacks of every crafting material in the game ... queuing for at least an hour for GSF ... completing every FP and OP (but you must PUG them all) ... and RPing the "right way" for at least two uninterrupted hours. It'd be a pain. But she's worth it.

I am displeased with the clarity of their response. I honestly cannot tell if using a time card qualifies one for the promotion or whether they mean the additional time earned by purchasing a new renewing subscription will be added to your current time (regardless whether you are currently using a subscription or time card). Grammatically, the reference to time cards seems ill-placed in a statement about how the additional time will be applied rather than the preceding statement of how the additional time is earned.

Like the man said, they "took care of it" ... rendering in-game currency moot is simply one strategy for defeating the gold sellers.

LOTRO has had this feature for a very long time. We can visit magical hot tubs (okay, they're really "reflecting pools") and replay the key instances from the Epic quest line (closest thing LOTRO has to SWTOR's Class Missions). However, these replayable LOTRO quests do not have optional dialogue ... the conversation you have will be the same every time ... oh, and the player characters never talk at all. So, the primary motivation to dive into the Cement Pond of Memories is to replay the fight. I've played LOTRO since its Beta and have not once felt tempted to dip a toe into the disturbingly yellowish waters of the public remembering pool. That said, the ability to play an alt is not a very practical solution to the OP's desire to replay Class Missions. Sure, it's fine for players who want to replay each and every such mission. But if I want to just replay the final encounter for Chapter 3 of the Sage, I'd have to level up a new character to around 50 just for a KOTFE's worth of fun (i.e., 10-15 minutes). I have better things to do with the two hours it would take me to get a new Sage to 50.

Yeah, I remember those Golden Age MMOs ... back when we had to walk uphill, both ways, through the snow, barefoot, just to reach the quest givers. EQOA and FFXI: Two MMOs in which it was nearly impossible to solo. Not just because "good" content required groups. Basic leveling required groups. Sure, I could have smitten rabbits in Dangruf Wadi until they stopped giving XP (like the South Park boy smacking boars in WoW). If you were lucky, you'd get a decent group, find a decent camp that wasn't too crowded, have a reliable puller, and just grind mobs for hours ... just to level up. If you were unlucky ... I once watched an entire NFL game on TV waiting for a group to pop (~3.5 hours). EQOA and FFXI: I played them both. They were, in fact, my first MMOs. I cut my MMO teeth almost exclusively on group content. But by the time I moved onto WoW, players had changed. Or, I had changed. EQOA and FFXI groups were, for the most part, fun. Everyone got along, Everyone knew their role and their class. I have many more happy memories of group play in EQOA and FFXI than I do in all the other MMOs I've played since. PUGS drove me from group play (I still participate in some group play with friends and guildmates when requested, which is rare). I encountered all the negative clichés and said, "Enough." EQOA and FFXI: I enjoyed them both. I do not miss either.

You have touched on my primary complaint about KOTFE ... my only real complaint, in fact. Never before in this game did the action feel so cloistered. I felt like, regardless of the situation, I was following the red line down a metaphorical (and, often, literal) corridor, replete with Zakuul Knights popping up like some band of wild, erratic, popping Knights, what with all the popping and Knights. EA/BW: