...because I have a weird brain, and recently ran Directive 7: *(with apologies to Dr Seuss)* https://genius.com/Dr-seuss-one-fish-two-fish-red-fish-blue-fish-annotated One droid, two droids, red droid, blue droid, Black droid, blue droid, old droid, new droid. This one will blow up your car. This one might blow up a star. Say! What a lot of droids there are. Yes, some are red, and some are blue. Some are old and some are new. Some are mad, and some are sad, And some are very very bad. Why are they mad and sad and bad? I do not know, go ask your dad. Some are thin, and some are wide. The wide one has done homicide. From there to here, From here to there, Deadly things are everywhere. Here are some who make you run. You run from guns in the hot, hot sun. Oh me! Oh my! Oh me! Oh my! What a lot of deadly things go by! Some have two feet and some have more. Some have no feet and some have four. Where do they come from? I can’t say. But I bet they have come a long, long way. We see them come, we see them go. Some are fast. Some are slow. Some are high. Some are low. Sometimes one is like another. Don't ask us why, go ask your mother. Say! Look at its blasters! One, two, three... How many blasters do I see? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. It has eleven! Eleven! This is something new. I wish I had eleven too! And now, Good night. It is time to sleep So we will sleep with our pet Orokeet. Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. Every day, from here to there. Deadly things are everywhere.

It's been a hot minute since they really rewarded spending time playing the game, as opposed to performing the officially-apporved activity/ies. I miss the days when crafting meant a single damn thing.

+1 "Story mode" is for those of us who just want to see the STORY. STORY MODE. SSSTTTOOORRRYYY!!! Not 'challenge' or 'lethal' or 'overtuned' or 'raid gear' - STORY! People who want challenge (including me, sometimes, certainly) have their options.

It's been some time since I gave up trying to figure out why Bioware regularly imposes restrictions against spending more time playing their game, be it these pumped-up Collections unlocks, reduced CC rewards, low game-currency caps, and so on.

It is... I guess 'interesting' is the most polite word...that they spent so much work and hype on 'streamlining' combat & skill trees, while at the same time adding (or re-adding) layers of complexity to gearing. With apologies to Ralph Waldo Emerson: Whether one has a little mind or not, consistency is not always foolish.

I'm not interested in swapping weapons around - I'm fine with snipers using only sniper rifles, marauders with two sabers, all that. I've already taken advantage of the story-class/combat-style split. The one thing about this I would still like to see (in their initial announcement I hoped it would happen, but that was clarified as time went on) is the ability to choose a combat style across the force/nonforce divide - a jedi who could pick up a rifle, that kind of thing. Just like combat styles are now, you could switch between a Force class and a non-Force class, but you only operate as one class at a time, weapons and all. I suspect that may still be in their long plan. Enabling a weapon swap within a class would seem to be a lot of work, what with animations, effects, and everything. I don't think it would add much to the game, whether mechanically or story-wise, and could easily result in a lot of confusion for players.

I was so excited when I hit that part of the HK mission, thinking it would be a - no, THE - feature of the announced Manaan SH, something unique and fun, maybe (I thought then) with special decos for underwater (which I would totally have purchased). I bought it and kept it, but it is still a disappointment I feel whenever I look around in that SH.

I can't disagree that a new SH shouldn't be top priority, but it would be nice. I do wish they would add actual underwater walk-around area to Manaan, but apparently that ship has sailed (so to speak). The thing I would pump for is a personal version of a guild flagship. Doesn't have to be as big, doesn't even have to have the planetary buffs and so on, but the ability to fly around in a truly personal ship might make me spring for a few extra cartel coins (just sayin').

'moddable'...but the new mods come from special vendors. Remember when crafting was at all useful? Pepperidge Farm remembers...

QFT Re: Wheaton's Law P.S. One also wonders about OP's opinion & handling of someone who insists on RPing in their precious WZ while on their team.

Considering the number of people who insist that "the Jedi are evil hypocrites" and "the Sith did nothing wrong" it's not surprising that the two sides have lost much of what made them distinct. A reflection of our times and the moral squeamishness of pop culture.

It's obvious now that Bioware does not give a tinker's dam about anyone but hardcore raiders, and even they need to be punished a little. Everyone else can go hang themselves. "Oh, but you don't need the top gear if you're not doing top content" really misses the point. There used to be ways to contribute to the larger team effort, even if you weren't getting the BiS yourself. And there was some hope you could get some of that top gear, it just took way longer (which of course the raiders couldn't stand). Casuals can go rot in vetmode hell. Have fun recycling everything endlessly for no gain at all. Crafters get nothing - nothing! new, no ability to contribute to the new content. Even tacticals only come from the magic vendor. Best you can do is make a few stims. Hoody-freakin-hoo... Even PVPers have got nothing new out of this update. Of course, RPers have never been anything but a joke to the developers. Play the devs way, or f off and die, loserbaby.

Sounds like a fine idea to me. Could definitely be a cartel item, even with just one or two options for any given stronghold, be it different weather, night sky, whatever. Even having something like a storm in the distance on Manaan (like the horizon in the Rakata FP). Not being a computerist, I have no idea how difficult/expensive it would be to pull off.

The problem is the raid & trinity formula works pretty well; the basic concepts are simple to grasp, and (as already pointed out) any game where you want lots of people playing at once has got have some content suitable for a gang of people working together. Not that I disagree very much with the OP (despite being old enough to fall into Boomer age). My own quibbles about ops (and mind you, my only experience with raids is SWTOR) include how predictable they are: everyone knows exactly what each boss will do and when they will do it. It feels more like an overly strict line dance with SFX than an actual combat (which is why so many enjoy PVP I suppose, if only PVPers just weren't so elitist and toxic about it). THere's other things that bug me about endgame, but I don't have any real solutions to offer (except randomizing ops bosses and their powers somehow, but I can just imagine the howls of rage from the raiders). I'm still here because of story & atmosphere more than the mechnics in any case.

/signed Making it a centerpiece would allow it to be used in the new Fleet apartments as well. Since that's where I'm building my secret monster laboratory, I was rather disappointed I couldn't put a breeding tank in there.

This. Crafting has been reduced to a pathetic waste of time. If you don't NiM or PVP, you're crap. If you solo or just want a pleasant pastime, you just don't matter. Tiny bits of story parceled out over years, some of it locked behind group content. Some chapters you can't even bring a friend along without jumping through weird hoops. Nothing at all in support of RP. It's too bad my $15/month (plus occasional cartel purchases) is worth so much less than the $15/month the elite raiders and pvpers spend. If it wasn't for the wonderful social guild I'm in now, I wouldn't be subscribing. The game itself has lost so much luster just in the last couple years.

Let's not talk about the remarkable number of spelling/typographical variations of Anakin and Ahsoka seen regularly on fleet...

Cool beans! Let's make crafting COMPLETELY pointless, since that's what the devs have been moving toward all along anyway.

I don't disagree with anything in the OP, but what mystifies me about the new icons is...why? They don't do anything better than the originals - I suppose taken individually they're a little prettier, but 'pretty' is not the primary function of an icon. Why did they have someone spend time & money on revising icons instead of fixing bugs or doing something more constructive for the game (hey, if visuals are a big deal, why not make the new inventory screen easier on the eyes before release!?)? Of all the things to fiddle with, given the sad little budget they have, why class icons?

Indeed. At least with the 1.0 Planetary Commendations (shudder), it was clear where they came from and where you could spend them. This system is ridiculous: you can only have x number of currency A, but you can only spend them if you have enough of currency B AND enough of currency C, but you can't spend them on anything else, and we'll keep bugging you endlessly every time you get any of currency A, which you get all the time. Oh, but once you earn the weekly cap on currency A, you can't earn any more, even if you've spent them all, but you'll still get nagged about hitting the cap. Of course, you only get currencies B and C if you do the content we dev managers like. We don't give a womp rat's left hind leg what you players want to do with your time. Ops experts and PVPers, you're cool; crafters, roleplayers and casuals, you can all go hug a jawa, your dollars and time aren't worthy of any respect or rewards. (not that I'm bitter or anything... )

About the only reason I do space missions now is because I haven't maxed my Reputation in that category (one of the few), and advancing Reputation is a nice Conquest package. Even so, one Fondor Escort gives me a rep item in a just a few boring minutes, and done. TBH, I avoid doing more so as to draw out the Conquest buff. It's too bad because most of the regular missions were kind of fun to do as a change of pace.

Since you mentioned "Scary Stories," here's one I wrote some years ago. “Multz works in the Archives – I bet he’s got a good story!” cried one youngling. The eyes of a dozen bone-tired younglings suddenly lit with glee. “Yeah, give us a good one, Multz!” Those still fiddling with tents and sleeping bags dropped what they were doing and gathered around him. Padawan Multius stared off into space for a moment, thoughtfully rubbing what he hoped would soon be a proper Knight’s beard. He watched the trail of a descending transport in the night sky, until it disappeared behind the mountaintop to the north. “I don’t know – I see some pretty strange stuff in there, you know, in the Sealed Section,” he said with a conspiratorial wink to the young Jedi standing nearby. Photin responded to his wink with a shallow grin and a sigh of forced patience. “Multz,” as he was known among the younger set on Tython, always had a story or a joke ready, and readily laughed at the most stale, silly bits of humor offered by the younglings. It endeared him to them greatly, and did much to make the lessons and disciplines of the Temple Masters easier to bear. His penchant for embellishment and invention – not always outright lying – sometimes bothered the masters, but always delighted his audience. As the younglings cheered and settled around him, Photin shook her head in resignation and positioned herself at the edge of the clearing, the better to watch for potential danger. These woods were pretty safe, so the younglings had been sent out to learn a little about how to survive in wilderness – but there was always the chance that some stray predator still lurked. She leaned back against a tree, close enough to see the younglings and to hear the story. Gazing out over the lake and into the clear night sky, she kept her senses alert to any approach. Surrounded by younglings, Multius settled his considerable bulk upon a raised tuft of grass, fussing and posing in satire of a pompous Master, eliciting giggles. He’d never quite failed to pass tests of agility and speed, but he still carried several more pounds than one would expect of a proper Jedi. If his weight slowed him down, he made up for it with a combination of raw muscle power and an easygoing grasp of the Force. With a dramatic flourish, he pulled his hood over his face, then suddenly thrust out his hands. An expectant hush fell upon his audience. He held the silence for a long moment, glanced over the younglings and around at the woods, and leaned forward. Starting in a low voice, his audience leaned in as well, hanging on his words. “The tale I am about to tell is true; I have read it with my own eyes, hidden away in the darkest corners of the Sealed Section of the Temple Archives, where none but the wisest masters may go.” Eyes widened at impending revelation. “This story is forbidden to younglings, even to padawans – if they knew I was telling you this, I would be sent to the Outer Rim to finish my training under the most severe Master they could find. And they will do the same to you if you tell. Do you understand?” The younglings nodded, only a few actually daring to speak as much as “yes.” “What I am about to tell you, you must not repeat – not to your teachers, not to other students, no one. Do I have your solemn word on this?” His hushed tones conveyed an air of dangerous secrecy. Multius took a deep breath, closing his eyes as if in focused preparation. With his hood pulled forward, the campfire threw deep shadow across his face, so that his voice issued forth as if from the very depths of mystery. “A thousand years ago it was, before anyone now on the Council had even been born,” the portly padawan began in a grave tone, “a mighty Sith Lord, strong in the Dark Side and a master of vile sorcery – whose name I dare not even speak – searched for a way to defeat the Jedi, not just in one battle, not even in one war, but forever and always. Like many Sith before and after him, he took predators of all kinds, from akk dogs to rancors and twisted them with sorcery and cybernetics, transforming them into mad killers. He unleashed these creations against his foes, to rampage against troopers, Jedi, and innocent civilians alike. Each monster would kill many before they were brought down – but brought down they were. Upon world after world, he made a new horde of experimental horrors – only to disappear among the stars before the Jedi could finish off the beasts and track down their evil master. The Council hunted him for years. “Finally, one heroic Jedi Master cornered the sorcerer: on Dagobah it was, a world covered with swamps and marsh, teeming with creatures of all kinds, ready subjects for evil experiments. The Master, his allies, and their padawans battled for days against the sorcerer’s monsters – creatures large and small, twisted by Sith magic into horrible abominations. Many Jedi died, torn to bloody pieces and devoured before the very eyes of their comrades.” A murmur ripple through the crowd, repulsed but fascinated. “But they did not retreat; the master and two padawans survived to confront the sorcerer in his very laboratory, deep in the dark jungle. Covered with scratches and bruises from the battle, they gave their foe no respite. They broke down the massive gate to his stronghold, and fought an epic battle as the swamp water flooded in. “Even three against one, it was not an easy victory. One padawan fell to the lightning thrown by the sorcerer; then the master fell to the dastardly stroke of a scarlet lightsaber. The last Jedi, a mere padawan, stood alone against the sorcerer’s final assault. With a mighty effort, he slew the madman, but not before he suffered grievous wounds himself. He collapsed right there, unable to even drag himself away from the rapidly flooding sanctuary. “From one of the tanks in the laboratory – shattered by some stray blast during the fight – issued a swarm of creatures, the last horror created by the dead Sith. Tiny wormlike creatures, each about the size of your finger, spilled from the broken vat into the dirty, bloody swamp water filling the room. Smelling fresh blood, they wriggled toward the bodies on the floor – and toward the exhausted padawan. So injured was he by the sorcerer’s dying blow, he could do little but watch in horror as the creatures fastened themselves on the dead and feasted on their warm blood – and then turned toward him! The ones that were not bloated on gore surrounded him and burrowed into his skin before his very eyes. His last sight was the horde of worms draining him of life with their insane hunger.” Multz paused, allowing a shudder of revulsion to make its silent way through his audience. Photin could not help but smile at the thrilled mix of delight and horror that resonated among the younglings, even as she prepared herself for a turbulent night of nightmare-triggered awakenings. After a proper dramatic silence, Multz continued. “Oh, but the story does not end there, not at all! Those worms, those leeches, not only thrived on all that blood, they had been transformed by sorcery – and now they had fed on blood rich with midichlorians, from some of those most powerful beings in the Force. They became potent in the Force themselves, with powers far beyond normal parasites. They bred and thrived in the fetid swamps; normal creatures were devoured easily by the swarm of Force-empowered leeches. When other ships arrived to discover what had happened to the sorcerer and the Jedi who hunted him, they did not know what they would find, did not know how dangerous the little worms were. A few of them fastened onto a young padawan as he helped investigate the flooded laboratory a year later; he did not even know they were there until he was back aboard their cruiser, and he washed them off without a second thought. They made their way into the water system of the ship, and from there they have spread across the galaxy, ever breeding, ever seeking the blood of those strong in the Force. They lurk in quiet pools of water – ponds, puddles, even lakes,” he turned his head to gaze toward Photin, where she stood near the shore of the nearby lake, “on almost every world now, drawn to the smell of Jedi blood.” A dozen pairs of wide eyes turned toward Photin, who struggled to keep a straight face. “In fact,” Multius mused, “it was just a few years ago – before any of you got here… Photin, you remember! The sad case of Padawan Noman?” Photin blinked in surprise. “Noman?” She’d never heard the name before; then she realized: Noman -no man. Cute, she thought. “Um. Of course – but… I forget the details…” Multius chuckled deeply. “Oh, that’s Photin for you, always playing it straight.” He gave her a satisfied nod before the younglings turned their gaze back to him. “She knows we’re not supposed to talk about it.” He shook his head sadly. “Poor young Padawan Noman! She loved to go swimming, and was very good at it, as good as any human I’ve ever seen. Until the day she was found dead, floating on this very lake, just a few meters from this very spot! Her body was shriveled up, drained of every drop of blood, and her skin was covered with hundred small round bites, about as big around as your finger.” Gasps and moans of dismay erupted from the younglings; two of them leaped to their feet. “We ain’t sleeping here!” Others looked to Photin for confirmation, but she remained silent, a looming shadow against the stars. There were one or two who seemed convinced the whole thing was just a story, but their voices were quickly drowned out as the younglings huddled together for comfort and set about breaking camp to move farther away from the suddenly-frightening lake. None noticed the delighted grin that spread across Multius’ face as he congratulated himself on another good story well told.

Of all the decisions made about SWTOR, the one that most puzzles me is why they have such a problem encouraging people to spend more time playing the game. This is just the latest example.

One wonders why nobody in the planning and execution of this game ever seems to ask, "how can we encourage and reward people to spend more time playing the game?"

I had just two friends who got into SWTOR very much at all. (I knew more folks who jumped into it, but lost track of them as that tabletop group scattered to the winds under job-location pressures.) One played for a year or so but he never settles on any one game for very long. He plays until he figures out enough of it to satisfy himself then moves on to a new shiny. Not much SWTOR could have done to keep him; even a flood of new content wouldn't have kept him much longer. The other would play with a couple of his other friends (our schedules didn't line up well at the time), until they hit KOTFEET. It was such a hassle running that together that they all gave up in disgust, since running together was the main reason they did SWTOR at all. To be honest, that's still my one significant gripe about that expansion: why the blue blazes does it suddenly insist on solo gaming, when everything else is easy to do in group!?