Sorry haven't been keeping up on the thread due to busy schedule, no you do not need implants at 340, only ear and relics. The way gear works with bosses is it will drop a piece equal to the current level of whatever you have equipped. If you have an item below 320 it will always drop that piece or if you have multiple below 320 random between them, otherwise if you have at least 324 in every slot the piece that drops is random. In veteran flashpoints ear and relics drop as a blue piece, so if they are 340 it will drop a 340 blue piece for hyde and zeek. I wouldn't upgrade implants as I would focus getting the gold bonus ones from the implant quest vendor. Upgrading other implants is a waste of coms and credits. You can't get the gold implants from boss drops so better to save resources for those. I tested with a basic set of 324 greens, including implants, aside from ear and relics to make sure when it drops an ear or relic it is 340. First piece that dropped was a blue relic I believe. Rarely will you get that lucky but they seem to have a decent drop chance.

Sorry I updated Reddit and forgot this, I leveled the 3 to see how many CC and credits, 1185 CC and roughly 650k credits.

Been spending a lot of time on Shae Vizla lately and I've seen a lot of people don't know how to gear quickly, so I wrote this guide. Rest is copy/paste from Reddit where the guide was originally posted and written. Hey all I'm finding a lot of people are gearing the long way (especially on the new server) and I want to help everyone make the gear grind super easy. This is the current fastest way I've found to unlock mods on Hyde and Zeek. I will go over 2 options, starting with the super fast way and then another way if you don't want to run heroics/dailies. Method 1: Get Conquest Commendation Ear and both Relics to 340. You can acquire by buying at the Conquest Gear Vendor, ear and relics of your choice are 10 Conquest Commendations and 16,500 credits. Then go to the vendor next to it and upgrade all three to 340, which takes varying amounts of Conquest Commendations depending what level the gear is currently. I have no idea how many Commendations you need, but it shouldn't take long to get those three to 340. Don't worry that they are green, it won't matter, Item Rating does however. Once you are at 340 rating Ear and both Relics, run veteran flashpoints until an ear or relic drops. IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE THEY ARE EQUIPPED. It should drop blue quality and 340 if your Ear and both Relics are also 340. Every veteran mode flashpoint boss has a chance to drop a piece of gear that is equal or above your current rating. It is any piece, not just your lowest, I've seen a lot of people who think it only drops for your lowest, that is only true of the weekly box, not the bosses. I have tested this with full bought 324 Noble Decurion gear but 340 ear and relic Noble Decurion and a relic dropped on the first boss of vet Hammer Station (which I solo'd with a level 9 companion set to heals). You probably will need to run a full flashpoint or two for drops. Remember it is specifically boss drops that will drop a blue ear or relic. If you get unlucky with flashpoint drops, use option 2. Method 2: Farm Flashpoints or Operations for one piece to 340. Vulkk has a guide how to do this. You can buy an initial blue at the flashpoint or operation gear vendors for appropriate comms. Upgrade at the vendor next to the vendor you buy them from. I would recommend checking Vulkk's guide for specifics, https://vulkk.com/2023/01/14/swtor-7-2-endgame-gearing-guide/. You can buy blue quality gear from either vendor, Supreme Decurion at the Flashpoint vendor for 60-70 FP-1's or Columi at the Operation vendor for 30-35 OP-1's. The upgrade vendor is next to whatever vendor you buy from. After either method bring your 340 to Hyde and Zeek, make sure to have the mission for 340 Prototype from them, and deconstruct to unlock 340 blue (prototype) mods. It takes about 2.1 million credits to buy a full set of gear (Weapons and Gear). You will be in 340 everything but implants. If you have any trouble finding them check out Swtorista's guide, https://swtorista.com/articles/swtor-how-to-get-the-best-gear-in-the-game-7-4-hyde-zeek-340-and-rakata-344/. Table of contents can bring you right to the map of how to find Hyde and Zeek, 4th option. That's it. All you have to do to get 340 blue gear, which will be enough to clear most if not all content. I highly recommend option 1, it is extremely fast unless you get very unlucky with flashpoint boss drops. Most times it's taken no more than 2-3 runs for me to get them though. I solo ran Hammer Station and got it within 1-8 bosses I think (Hammer Station has 3 bosses). I've used this technique twice now, and one test run which I got really lucky on and a relic dropped first boss. Don't be afraid to group finder if you are new, most players will help you out. Veteran mode Flashpoints are pretty easy. Hope that makes the process for some of you faster and easier!

First, that is why it should be tuned to server. Second this problem is mainly for raiders, not the average player. So basing it off the average player makes no sense. I also completely disagree that credit generation be what sets the value, it should be overall server wealth, not income. How many credits are floating around on the server, not how many are made a day. That way servers with inflation remove credits, and since the main reason there is inflation to begin with is exploits work on getting rid of those unearned credits on inflation servers. Would also be way easier to implement than your suggestion. If you are repairing more than you are making without raiding, set your companion to heals so you stop dying. No solo content outside of Vet and Master chapters should you be dying to more than credit generation.

I don't know if this is possible but I know for many progression teams on Shae Visla right now repair costs that are meant to combat inflation are simply too high for the amount of credits earned on the server right now. It is preventing many from playing on the server. My idea is to tune the repair costs to the economy of the server. I don't know if it would be possible, but either adjusting the percent to the overall income of the server or putting in tiers of repair costs depending on overall server wealth. That way fresh start servers aren't overwhelmed with credit sinks meant for servers where many have billions. Say the initial tier is 1000 credits per death for a full repair. For every 100 billion on the server you increase by say 500-1000 credits, up to a reasonable max, probably what it is at now. I am making up numbers since I don't have access to server wealth but wanted to give an idea of what I was thinking. Just want to throw some ideas out there in case any are possible, or at least lead to solutions for the repair costs. Thank you devs for your hard work, hope this gives you some ideas. Enjoying the new server and wishing the best for it.

I think Shae Visla is suffering greatly from lack of transfers. I personally don't plan to transfer a character but for the health of the server and many I play with the main thing they want is to transfer a character. Many don't care about credits, they care about their achievements, legacy unlocks, gear, and other things they've collected over the years. If you want to save Shae Visla economy from inflation, just remove credits from transfers. Honestly you don't need to bring credits with you. If you do include credits, each server should allow a max amount of credits for your account transferred to it. Say 250 million per server, that wouldn't ruin the economy, and it would be more than enough for anything people need if they transfer all their items with them. I completely understand wanting to preserve the economy for monitoring purposes, but I think a large issue for people is not credits, it is gear, items, and achievements/legacy unlocks. I'm betting most credits on the server right now are going to legacy unlocks and strongholds. With a character transfer that issue is solved, and people can focus more of their credits towards gear repairs, the current main expense for progression raiders especially. More people on the server will help the server and many aren't going to join the server until transfers are available. The reason people want their billions right now is just to save the tedium of grinding heroics and dailies just to buy legacy unlocks. Also progression raiders could use it for repairs but that is another topic. I think starting with transfers but no credits would be a good move, and monitor if that needs to change or be adjusted. I'm not a programmer but I assume it would be easier to just disable credit transfers then set an account limit. The reason I think it needs to be account is people could abuse the limits by just sending over multiple characters, which could potentially hurt the economy on Shae Visla. So far most I have shared this idea with think this would be helpful, and if nothing else maybe give some ideas of how to allow transfers while maintaining the economy testing on Shae Visla. I also feel limiting credits from transfers will actually benefit all servers, not just Shae Visla. Keeping the credits on the server they originated on could help in a number of ways. In truth I think this would be a good change overall for the health of all servers. Would also be easier to monitor if certain servers have more issue with inflation than others. Hope some of these ideas inspire changes to help the game. Thank you for your hard work devs, I know what I'm suggesting is not as easy as pushing a button but hopefully it gives ideas of ways to preserve the economies on all servers while still allowing transfers, I know a lot of APAC players that would love to fix their ping but they don't have the ability to start from scratch.

I've experienced this on multiple servers now, the leveling from 500 to 550 on Armormech can't be done with only Polished Aluminium Armor Assembly Components. This seems to be the only level and only crew skill that has this issue. Also looks like "Aluminum" is spelled incorrectly on the component. I believe you can still get to 550 through crafting other items but it requires extra crafting and resources to level. I believe all other skills are working as intended from what I've seen, components can be used to level all other crew skills. The last time I had to do this was maybe 2-3 months ago and once I got to 550 I could use components to level again, I will update if it is different. Current issue is on Shae Visla server, first encountered on Darth Malgus server. Including a picture of the component at green at only level 534, should be yellow until 550 usually. Apologies for not posting the original issue I forgot after I got past the issue.

Okay, I'm fine with most of your post but this, no more than 1 billion per account. Enough accounts bringing over more credits will destroy the economy faster than it takes to microwave a Poptart. Though honestly I don't think people would complain about no transfers, or at least no credit transfers, if the idea about scalable anti-inflation was implemented. Granted there are a few things I'm still unsure about since I have only recently spent any substantial time on SV, but I just joined a team over there and I'm going to be looking into options to help the team with credits for sure. Seems to be a big concern for them. I'll be using the gtn though, heroics and dailies aren't worth it for just money.

I mean I said right out this is only with inflation and I'm curious to see how it pans out on Shae. This is for server with inflation, not fresh start. Trust me though I plan to play the market there eventually too, hopefully without credit transfers.

Didn't know there was a trade discord, having trouble finding a link mind letting me know how to get in?

Hey all just posted this to Reddit but also felt it would be good for the forums since not everyone uses Reddit. This project took some time, as did the writeup, so I want as many to see it as I can. Link for those who would prefer to read it there, https://www.reddit.com/r/swtor/comments/18kf5p5/fresh_start_to_1_billion_credits/. After this sentence the post will be identical on Reddit: About 4-5 months ago I got bored and decided to try a project just to see how hard it would be for a fresh player to reach 1 billion credits in the current economy. About the same day as 7.4 I hit that milestone, and here's a writeup of what it was like, how I did it, and other information people might find interesting. There are plenty of things I could have done differently to make it faster but I also wanted to have fun doing it. I will try to bold each section since this is going to be a very long post and some might just be curious about certain things. Special shoutout to Kindred Spirits and Wookie Wackers for giving me guilds to hang out with while I worked on this project. All in all, what I hope for this post is to let everyone know that a billion credits does take some work, but is very doable if you are patient. Don't think that just because you haven't been playing as long as players with billions of credits means you can't one day join them. You also don't have to craft, just pick gathering skills and run around Onderon for an hour and sell the mats, you will make plenty of credits. Heck just make sure you are running missions while you play naturally, sell anything you get from them and you will make millions in no time. Don't think billions are needed to have a good time in this game, by the time I finished my second character I had already unlocked a good chunk of legacy unlocks, and those I couldn't were because of legacy levels, not credits. Yes it will take time, but you can still play like you want to and make credits with a little extra effort. Don't let the current economy scare you, it is easier than you think to make credits. If anyone has any questions I will do my best to keep an eye on the thread and answer them, I can't include everything I did and learned in this post. Stats: For those that don't care about how or my personal analysis here's the raw stats. Total time on characters that contributed to making money (was leveling an alt that I didn't count): 24 days, 3.65 hours, or 579.65 hours. Expenses: Enough strongholds for max conquest bonus, Dantooine 10 ransom paid achievement, alts got legacy buffs as I unlocked them, and for the last 3-4 characters I leveled I bought hk and treek to get a comp at level 1 and an extra crafter. Also bought all legacy perks, no species unlocks or any that can be acquired by any means besides credits. 9 characters to 80 which included all crew skills to max and any additional were Biochem and mat gatherers. Time based on /played of those 9 characters. Roughly 4 months taken. Yes I know I play too much. I'm disabled and have a lot of free time. Rep at Legend: Yavin, Dantooine, Onderon, Rishi, Oricon, CZ-198 (bounty event might join once I consume all tokens). Didn't do datacrons yet. Also spacebarred all story, but also spent some time chatting in guild so I think it about evened out. 5/8 stories on Legend, leveled at least one of each advanced class however (not including mirrors of course). Almost done with 100 season objectives, obviously already done with the rewards. Rules: I did my best to make it as close to a new player as possible, but of course some things I couldn't help without starting a new account and I can't afford 2 subs. Short list of "rules" I followed. *No use of the long time player/sub rewards (almost 80 emails worth) unless it was purely cosmetic, and I still made sure to get one unlocked in collections before I used any cosmetics like color crystals, mounts, etc. No Revan statue, no titles since they give xp, no special companions. *Everything legacy related had to be bought with credits, no fast tracking with Cartel Coins. *No joining guilds with conquest rewards that would fast track credits (also refused any offers to help speed me along). *Though the goal was to make credits I also played as if I was a newish player that wanted to get some things done, (rep, working on legendary, etc.) *Along with the last rule I would spend credits on whatever I wanted. Didn't really buy cosmetics off GTN cause I do that on my main server, but during the Dantooine event I did get the achievement for paying the ransom 10 times. *Making money on GTN was fine, but had to be crafted, no Cartel items, even if gotten through seasons. How I Did It: For my first character I focused on utility over money making, so started with stock standard Biochem. I used Biochem to make the first 50ish million, while I leveled characters to make the big money. Most credits were made selling augments, specifically purple augments. Avoided buying standard mats off GTN, most gathering done on Onderon. Main mats I bought were Solid Matrix and Legend Embers. First few characters were mostly story and heroics, and once I got tired of those I added flashpoints to mix things up. Other than that the majority of my credits came through crafting. Things I Learned: *Flashpoints are incredibly good for xp until around level 55-60. From there expansions tend to be a little faster (especially Onslaught). *Biochem is not great for making lots of money quick, but a decent starting point. *Legacy levels are way easier, especially including expansions (at least compared to launch, I started 1.2 and it was way harder). *Vet flashpoints are way easier than I thought, the only bad groups I had were because of bugs. *Prices have dropped a lot more than I thought, overall. Inflation stuff is working. *You can probably level a character in a single day if you do it right. *Most classes are okay to level, most get a reasonable amount of their kit by 35 and a decent rotation by 47. Only class I hated leveling was Powertech but I leveled Pyro and that might have been part of it. Things I Would Do Different: *One of my raid leads brought up selling aug kits instead of augs during patch droughts, that would have made more credits quicker. Also would have been a good supplement since augs weren't as popular during the time I was selling. *The ransom achievement was totally unnecessary for the project but I was in a mood. *Legendary would have been better than focusing one side, but I like one sides dailies/heroics better so I focused there. Other Thoughts: This project took both less and more time than I thought it would. When I started, inflation was a little worse so I thought it would be pretty quick, but seeing everything I did I'm actually a little surprised how quickly I was able to do it. I'm really glad inflation has gotten better, really curious to see how the new server does with economy. I still feel it takes way to long for a new player to be able to make a decent amount of credits to buy things. Like I was able to get what I needed but if I had wanted to buy any cosmetics off the GTN it would have been way worse. I'm really glad a lot of guilds offer conquest rewards, but I also know what it takes to get top 10 in some of those guilds so it might not be a valid option for most new players. At least you can take sub cartel coins to buy some things that sell for a decent price and are in demand but that takes away from things like collection unlocks or buying perks that are hard to do without, like rocket boost. Without cosmetics though, unlocking things in legacy is actually really easy now. If you are patient and sell things on the GTN, you will make plenty of credits to unlock legacy perks. Probably just about anything else in game too, like the ransom achievement. That one is not even close to as big of a deal as when it came out (part of the reason I did it). Still think more achievements like it would help with inflation but that's another discussion. This might be a hot take, but though the overall prices have greatly increased, really buying cosmetics on the GTN hasn't really changed. To buy things on the GTN you needed more credits than you could generate through normal means, this has always been true. I do think the price points will scare players who don't know how much credits they can make off just about anything they sell on the GTN, but in truth the market hasn't exactly changed since launch, the prices are just different. Still think a fresh start server without inflation money would be a good idea, maybe one for each region. Obviously a lot of people on Shae Visla have found out a lot of what I have about fresh starts, they aren't too bad after the first character or so. I also don't think it would be a problem if character transfers, with legacy, could be transferred with either a cap on credits or simply not including credits in the transfer. Think a lot of new players, and even returning, would find it more inviting to come to. I think the legacy unlocks are far more important than the credits for long time players. Overall I had a ton of fun with this project, but it definitely was some work. Frankly making credits always has been, but to this scale was interesting to try. Obviously I could have done it much faster had I wanted to, but I felt it important to play with the intent of making it like a new player, and that included some things that take extra time. Really curious what those who have been working on the new server think of this post. Don't get me wrong I've been spending some time there as well, free cartel coins with seasons is too much to pass up for someone with the time to do it. Right after finishing a major fresh start project is just a little much right now lol. The server wasn't around when I started this project. Though using collections on that server has been way better than the restrictions I put on myself for this project lol. Hope this helps someone, and a big thank you to anyone who took the time to read any or all of this post. Obviously it was a big project which lead to a lot of analysis, and honestly I could keep going, but for my sanity and yours I will stop here. Hope everyone is enjoying 7.4, and remember, credits are easier to get than you think!

Out of curiosity does it count if you solo the flashpoint? Couldn't find a group for the flashpoint so ended up soloing a veteran mode Hammer Station lol. Does it have to be with at least one other person or does solo count?

So a few thoughts came up while doing this achievement that I felt were a good idea to share, especially with some of the newest implements from the devs that I will get into shortly. Namely the change that stops dropping loot when you seem to be in an area too long. I felt this added an interesting dichotomy from changes made versus achievements that essentially encourage similar playstyles to those discouraged by said changes. For instance, I just spent about an hour killing random Black Sun members for the Shadowed Mark on the Underworld, or kill 1500 enemies with Fen. There were a few things I noticed while doing this, 1. I was interrupting players doing actual quests from getting their bonus because I wanted to kill 750 (with rampage boost) enemies and found a good area to do just that. 2. Before the first rampage boost ran out I stopped getting drops. 3. It was incredibly boring for me and didn't feel meaningful at all. 4. I was actually getting mad at people playing the game the way it was intended because it messed with my farm. This made me think about some of the messaging we have been getting lately about certain farming playstyles not being fun and therefore being discouraged by systems like the one I ran into that stopped dropping loot. In truth part of me was okay with that since I could simply kill faster, but at the same time I was killing just north of 750 enemies (I didn't see my first boost run out) and felt I should be getting something for my time. I simply found it odd that on one hand the devs said "we don't want you doing this so we are going to put in things to stop you," while at the same time putting in an achievement that literally encourages this exact activity. I know that this is an optional thing to do, and technically I didn't need to do it all at once, but I think it is worth bringing up since it really felt like opposing ideas hitting each other from the exact same source. Personally I'm sick of achievements like this, I don't need to kill hundreds of enemies with a companion I don't like in the first place. At least I don't need to kill over 1000 without a rampage boost, no matter how easy those boosts are to get now. I know some people like farming enemies to get loot and achievements, but if the devs want to discourage that playstyle they need to not add achievements that encourage farming. I feel that the two ideas should match up, if you don't want us farming an area for loot, make sure the achievement doesn't go past the limit you put in the first place. The other option is keep this kind of achievement and let people who actually like farming farm. Yes to many it is boring but I know people who truly like doing it. I can just stop doing the achievement for something I find unnecessary and boring. Just some feedback I feel the devs might be able to use. Hope it gives some food for thought.

Just want to make sure this is added to the renown stash issues, with renown stashes being removed made the Ossus Weekly boxes are unable to be opened. I have the Tech lockbox but I assume all boxes apply. I right click on it and nothing happens.

Been meaning to do this for a bit, finished all the goals for cheevos on the PTS but haven't really given my feedback. So here goes. Gonna give a TL ; DR of overall positive and a little confused on some hate, but this was the only version of the PTS I've played so hopefully that is from some feedback being addressed. I'll try to do this from start to finish based on my experience, most is opinion so take with a grain of salt. UI Most of the UI is okay, but personally the minimalist direction is a little hard to read as well as doesn't really look great. The inventory screen is an eyesore, and changing from an 10x8 grid to a 8x10 has set my OCD crazy. Took some getting used to, and though I still don't like it I'm at least getting used to it. I like the new "C" UI that includes the inventory, which I understand you can't have one without the other so I can get used to it. Still think the inventory could look a little cleaner, not just black and grey boxes. I actually like the new font, it's a little easier to read and tends to actually be noticeable. Not sure how I feel about the layout of weapons being separate from gear on the character screen but I don't think it is too bad a change overall. Using tabs to get to where you need allows for less clutter and less windows which I really like. The abilities menu is a little hard to read, especially figuring out which choices you have made. Would be nice if it was an entirely different color instead of just brighter. Also figuring out which you choose and which are just given is a little confusing, but that might be partially the bugs. Overall other than readability I like the class menu better than currently. One thing I'm not sure if it's a bug or a deliberate change, unbinding a shortcut to the activity window. I actually liked using Ctrl+G and had some trouble with it removed. Adding an option to bind that window in the key bindings would be nice. At least adding a keybind would be helpful, even if Ctrl+G is no longer the keybind. LEVELING This is one portion I'm going to be a little more critical of. Leveling seemed far harder for no reason. You got key abilities later, almost 50 for some things. I understand that 40 is now halfway to max level but it seemed a little absurd to not get abilities like interrupt until almost 40. I leveled a dirty fighting slinger using the bounty hunter story and I didn't really feel like a character until almost level 40. I understand that I'm a DOT spec but not being able to do damage with anything but AOE and Charged Shot until level 40 area felt awful. On top of that, instead of getting abilities at a good clip you hit magical levels of 4-5 abilities suddenly being gifted you. I feel that this is a turn off to not only veterans but new players alike. Not getting a full rotation until level 40 is just going to cause a bunch of new players that only know how to use a repeatable AOE to do any damage. We've all had one person do that in a flashpoint and can attest to how awful it is. I feel like hitting new players with 4-5 abilities at a time is just going to overwhelm them with info and not feel like useful progression. I really don't understand this direction. I am a person who is beyond an altoholic. I currently have 86 characters on my main server and still play a good chunk of them. One of my favorite things to do is relevel a new character, start from scratch, and enjoy the story. Honestly with the current changes I don't know how likely I am to do this. Leveling was a nuisance at best, and felt laborious until around level 40. That is simply far too late in leveling to feel like a character. Sadly I also don't see a world that it is changed in time for 7.0, but I hope this will be addressed sometime after launch of 7.0. I still felt it needed to be said, and I know I'm not alone in this opinion based on talking to friends and guildies. Thankfully once you get to 40+ the leveling feels much the same and is still enjoyable. However I still think some care should be given to lower levels. One thought an old guildie mentioned that I think still has merit is getting a full rotation by level 20 or so. That way you can learn the rotation, feel somewhat powerful, and practice for bigger fights down the road. Holding back our rotation doesn't make sense to me, spreading it out only causes bad habits in my opinion. Once again, this patch seems to encourage using your AOE above all and I think that is going to support bad habits in new players. Also makes leveling tedious to veterans. I know we have Masters Datacrons but they can be expensive and I still prefer to start at level 1. Until this is changed though a big reason I still play is going to be much less fun and I'm not sure I personally will do it. Also curious what is going to happen to Malgus, Satele, Ogg, and Senya statues. As someone who has all of them, I've gotten my use and moneys worth but going forward I'm wondering what their worth will be. Maybe just another Revan statue? Or use for a free respec? Some clarification on their use now that you get the abilities without needing a trainer would be nice. GEARING I got to 322 using the conquest vendor, and felt it was fairly simple and intuitive. I like that it takes time again, while still having options for solo players. I have a lot of free time on my hands being disabled so when my raid groups are offline I can still work on gearing for it on my own and I appreciate that. I'm hoping there are going to be more weeklies again, I think it was a bug that they seemed to be removed on the PTS but if it isn't I really hope all the Weeklies currently available on Live will be available in 7.0. Based on the fact that there were still conquest objectives for them I'll give the benefit of the doubt and say they were bugged. Needing the currencies from Conquest and Dailies was a nice touch, gives a bit of incentive to make more characters. As I said above I'm an altoholic and this change makes me excited to work on gear, especially for my characters I don't raid with. I did look up a quick guide from Swtorista on how to do it to save time but I think given a little less urgency to figure it out quickly it was intuitive enough. All in all it took a pretty short amount of time to get to the next tier which happened to be 322 so I think it is okay. The weekly cap on Aquatic might be a little low but I understand they need to slow gearing a bit so we'll see once 7.0 hits. I started getting notifications right as I hit 322 and still had a couple hundred to go. Speaking of which, can we please learn from past mistakes and not have the notification of caps so early on something we can earn a little at a time? Did we not learn that from tech fragments? I did get the notification a few too many times and got a little annoyed. Setting the cap closer to 100 to go would be nice, you don't get that many that quickly. Otherwise I didn't mind the system much. CLASS SPECIFIC I ran dailies on a good chunk of classes and I'll put my thoughts on each here. The PvP weekly was done mostly on my slinger I transferred over from live, but I also did some on a guardian. My thoughts on that will be under each class. I will say as a class design overall I liked some of the built in changes like stacks building over rest and recharge. Never liked the choices that involved those so it's nice to have them now. Dirty Fighting Gunslinger: My favorite dps spec at the moment is Dirty Fighting so I did quite a bit of playing that spec to see how it went. Sadly it is also where most of my criticism is of the class changes. My biggest problem is that we feel like a glass cannon now, but we don't have the mobility of other glass cannons, so now we just sit there and take a beating while being incredibly easy to kill. I've always liked the idea that slingers and snipers were meant to be turrets that sit in one place and pump out dps as long as they don't have to move. Solo content and PvP both don't feel this way anymore. Having gone against several sages and sorcerers in PvP I feel useless comparatively. They still have all the self healing and mobility yet pump out similar damage. If I was focused without a healer I couldn't last more than 30 seconds, popping every Cooldown including Medpac and Adrenal (PvP ones). Meanwhile Sorcs could just run around for minutes healing themselves and popping damage inbetween. I think the removal of both Dodge and all of our self healing was too big a nerf. I will say I've thought slinger has been a bit too tanky in PvP for awhile now, I understand a nerf was needed. However, removing all our ability to stay alive except one small CD is just way to much. I think a little of the self healing needs to be added back, even if it is just a choice to add the healing back to Hightail It. All I know is out of all the classes I play, slinger feels like it is by far the easiest to kill. Even in PvE it is noticeable. I used to be able to solo heroics no problem, now I almost have to have my companion on heal. I had no problem using any of my characters with a dps companion except the slinger. Knowledge of cooldowns is all that is needed. My slinger however tends to die even popping all my cooldowns, and unlike most of my characters I have to use a medpac too. For a turret I feel way closer to a glass cannon and don't have the mobility of other glass cannons. I think in group content with appropriate makeup (tank, heals, dps) it will be fine, but for PvP I think you are putting yourself at a huge disadvantage picking a slinger or sniper in 7.0 as they currently are. Vigilance Guardian: Get my PvP characters out of the way. I felt overall the choices for guardian were fine, they fit me well enough and though there were a couple choices I would prefer not to make they were by no means deal breaking. Even though I rarely use a Guardian in PvP I had a bit of fun and felt pretty strong overall. I kept up with other dps on the damage charts so I wasn't really complaining. Concentration Sentinel: Similar to Guardian I felt the choices were fair on what was still kept and what wasn't. I'm not really sad to see some of the defensives be a choice now, I think it was also needed. I was still able to play my sentinel with little issue. I'm sure I'll have occasion to miss Guarded by the Force, but honestly I always felt it was a bit too powerful so missing out on some other abilities if you want to keep it felt fine. I'm by no means a big sentinel player so I might be in the minority. I'll say the sentinels and marauders I went against in PvP still were crazy so it seems they will be fine. Gunnery Commando: I know commando was one of the least changed but I still like what is available. I will miss sticky grenade mostly for the lols but that is my biggest complaint so obviously they still seem fine. Bodyguard Mercenary: Didn't feel much different either. Telekinetics Sage: I'll miss the healing on the bubble a bit, but to be fair it was a bit overpowered so needed removal. I didn't have any trouble with any of the choices. Still felt fine doing dailies and the like. FINAL THOUGHTS I feel like overall the class changes are overblown, and most of the changes still left the option to spec into fan favorite abilities. Yes some of them being culled is a little annoying, but I don't think it is nearly as game breaking as people made it out to be. Again I only played the last version of the PTS so that may be part of it but I still think it was mostly overblown. The UI changes are definitely a mix of good and bad, but I also know they will not be staying long probably so I'm sure the bad will eventually get improvements so I can live with them. Making a new character needs some addressing, we need some core abilities back into earlier levels. We shouldn't make it to level 40 relying on a simple burst and an AOE. Also spreading out the abilities again is vastly preferable to the bursts you get it in now. Honestly I think this is a bigger deal then any of the class changes. Overall I like the patch and look forward to it. Yes I have some criticism as I always will with SWTOR, but so far I can either get over or get used to the changes. I do feel some class changes to the slinger might be needed but I might just have to rethink how I play the class. I don't like it but I can also play other classes until I like it again. After all this isn't the first time slingers have had issues in group content. That all being said even my biggest complaints are fairly minor and many of my fears from the complaints on the forums and reddit are comforted having actually played it. Look forward to launch in February!

My bad, I guess I didn't due enough due diligence. Let emotion get the best of me, sorry for creating another thread.

Really tired of arguing with people about whether or not this is against the ToS or not so I'm hoping to get a clear response from the devs on this one. I know there was a question years ago about posting the links in the forum signature that somewhat mentioned it but I was hoping for something more directed at these players posting "Will give XX million credits for clicking my referral link" in fleet and lowbie planet gen chats. Know I'm asking for a bit on this one but whether or not it is a bannable action would also be appreciated. I feel like it is exploiting a system and getting RL currency out of it but if I am wrong I'd like to stop arguing with people who differ in opinion. There just doesn't seem to be any hard answers that I can find and I'd like to be able to point to something specific to save time. Thanks.

Now that Completed Contracts are currency, they are currently set to character instead of legacy. This needs a second look. Not only can you not transfer between characters for the gear stations, you can't even buy kingpin contracts on a new character. I'm really hoping this was not intentional, it honestly makes no sense. If you can only run one a day, the only way to really get any use out of the event is to do it on multiple characters. If you only get contracts for that character, it ruins the point of running it on multiple characters, and really removes the fun of the event. The completed contracts need to be at least legacy bound, or this event will be ruined. I have run at least one character through every single bounty contract event, but if this is the new way it works, my favorite event will effectively be worthless. If this is not a bug then it is a major mistake that needs to be changed asap. I know it isn't the most popular event, but between the several months of waiting for the event to come back with no word on it no longer being monthly, and now this, I would really like to know if Bounty Contract week has a future. I don't want to lose my favorite event, but it seems like these changes are trying to put a final nail in its coffin.

Is there a reason bounty week is being left out? I know it's not the most popular but it's my personal favorite. It's almost always been once a month at least, which was the original intention. Now it's been left out a couple of times with no update on if it is still monthly or not. I have never missed a week without doing at least one kingpin, and is the only event I have 100% achievements on. I love this event and if it's no longer monthly I would be sad. It has been that way since it launched so I understand if it has changed. Still hoping it will be fairly regular though.

Just want to confirm, did the new weekly, the conquest objective did not complete. Went in specifically to get that objective.

http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/z4w00

It may only be a week. But that's not entirely the point. Some of these fixes and updates have needed to happen for months. Yes some of that frustration has caused some whining. But remember that there is some justification. Given how much time we have waited for this patch, it's understandable to be a little upset that none of it is getting released on time. Especially to the people resubing for those changes.

So I have some questions that I hope the Dev Team really takes into consideration. I am perfectly fine with delaying 5.2 if it isn't finished, but I have some questions as to some details. First, why is 5.2 so long after 5.1 (literal months). Regular patches in 4.0 kept things fresh. And I'm not talking about the story either, it kept things changing. And mostly for the better, more content was released, things were being addressed more, and the devs were having much more communication with the community. Now we get a major patch every 2-3 months? And absolutely nothing important in between. Landing party has been broken since release. Literally unclearable. It came out in January. It is now April. Why does it require a major patch 3 months later, instead of a smaller patch sometime in between. The monthly updates have done nothing to even try and fix it. Honestly, it would have been better to disable it completely instead of having groups get to the final boss and then find out that it is literally unclearable, no work around, no fix planned for months. Honestly it's very sad that this is the case. There are a ton of other things that should/could have been addressed as well. Class changes for one. I feel balance should have been addressed long before now, and we aren't even getting any until another patch. Which could be another 2-4 months away if this schedule is kept. Honestly with how many times the game has been shut down for server maintenance, it should have had patches as well. Little things can turn into big problems, and little fixes can solve major issues instead of waiting months to fix. And there are some big problems that need fixing. I am so happy that care is being taken to release a good product. But honestly, there should have been some important updates in between. It doesn't take 3 months to add loot back to bosses. It doesn't take 3 months to fix a single bug. It doesn't take 3 months to do several things coming with 5.2 that could have been released in smaller patches leading up to 5.2. Honestly releasing so much content at once is probably going to cause more problems than help in the first place. Releasing a ton of updates/content at once is going to provide much more room for major problems. Smaller updates can be addressed quicker, at least based on previous patches. I have been playing since 1.2, and I don't remember any major game breaking bug, or class change, or problem that couldn't be addressed sooner than 3 months. I understand making significant updates as opposed to small insignificant patches, but it isn't insignificant if it fixes major problems. Right now the small patches have fallen into insignificant. Given how quickly exploits are taken care of, I find it very sad that exploits are taken care of immediately, but unclearable content isn't addressed for months. Really hope the devs take this all to heart. Please care about your game as much as many of your paying customers do, including myself. TL;DR: You need to update things more frequently. This 2-4 months to fix something is really sad. And then delaying it at the end is just icing on the cake.

Really appreciate letting us know ahead of time that the updates are coming. Do have one request though, can it stick to the forums and off the launcher until at least Monday? Or at least make the notice not so much in the way? Have never understood why it was there in the first place actually.

First thing and foremost, I'd love to see a weekly of some kind rewarding running more bounties. Especially when it comes to CXP, hard to want to run them when they all go for the same CXP as heroics, and has no reward for doing multiple. I'd love especially to see a weekly around kingpin contracts, or at least some boosts to the CXP rewards from doing them. Other things: Flair available for either running bounties on a character or purchasable through completed contracts. Updates/new items for the rep vendors (and honestly this would apply to all rep vendors) Maybe a few new bounties, the event has been around so long I'd love to see some new content around it (and again all events would benefit I think from some new stuff around them). Just want to say I have loved this event from the start, 100% achievements since the second week it was out. Don't think I've missed a single week without at least running a few bounties. Even have a room dedicated to it in my Tatooine Stronghold. Just giving this background to say, been doing it from the start, and a bit sad that there hasn't been much updates to the bounties aside from the decorations (which I love, and would love to see more of). Really all this goes the same as the other events (gree and rak). Most of these could benefit from similar changes. I'm sure we won't see anything for awhile, but just wanted to throw some ideas out there for the recurring events (and show there is some interest).