It is a great idea ... when the individual player has the decision placed in his or her hands as to when it is active and when it is not - in other words: OPTIONAL

Except, with the change to companions, they will be completely fluff items just like anything else. Essentially, all Nico is is a "skin" for a companion just like the various companion appearance tokens available at vendors, or the different paint jobs for all the same type of speeders. Having Nico will be no more important than having any other companion.

Yeah, didn't even think of the gearing aspect, so a forced scaling in the open world will be even worse than I initially thought. While the OW scaling is still an unconfirmed rumor, it may be how BW thinks they can get around the complaints we have had with the bonus XP events. They already said that the class stories are being adjusted in 4.0 to make it easier to play through them without having to do the filler stuff, yet they are not removing the filler stuff from the game. The major complaint with the increased XP events, aside from "learning the class", was becoming overleveled too quickly for the content for those who did not want to play at the accelerated rate. Short of maintaining some opt out feature in 4.0, one way to avoid that problem is to have the player scaled to the planetary level so that no matter how much content they do, and thus gain the levels quickly, they will still be downscaled to maintain the "challenge" of the content. This is how BW is going to get around that "Streamlined" accelerated level of pacing in the game - by stopping character power progression. While I am one of those who do not want to be overleveled for the content I am playing through for the first time on each character, I also want to have that ability to overlevel planets and instanced content in order to accomplish other things - like the asinine level of grind achievements, or helping friends through a tough bit of content.

Absolutely incorrect. I, for one, am looking forward to the FP/Ops scaling as I love to re-run the older FPs like Esseles and Hammer because I enjoy them. The scaling will allow me to enjoy them and now have my higher level characters face a new level of challenge while doing them. However, there are times where I most certainly want to be overleveled so I can faceroll them - for a myriad of reasons including farming for a particular item, affection gain, or for just something to do quick and easy for 20-30 minutes. I want the option. I don't want only one way to be forced upon me. I've already only have the faceroll part once my characters level up. While I do want that new challenge, I also do not want the faceroll taken away from me. Same thing goes for the planetary scaling. I do not want it forced. Most certainly there will be times that I will wish to have my character scaled to the planetary level, and will make use of that quite often. However, once again, I also want that faceroll option so I can use it when I need to. Scaling turned me off from Oblivion and Guild Wars 2. Forced scaling in SWTOR will most certainly do the same thing.

I'll add to what the others said above me by saying that when I don't have to be in game spamming LFG for WB on pretty much any planet and Global Chat for the two hours I am playing and still have to log out with getting nary a response, then maybe not being able to solo WBs would be a good thing. As it is, at this elder stage of the game, WBs are no longer content for a lot of people, so in order to get the achievements, one has to plan on soloing them. Heck, I don't even have enough Guild Members and Allies on at the same time any more to get everyone together to help. Forced scaling, especially in the open world is a bad, bad idea.

This right here. The game still has issues. BioWare has even more issues when it comes to communication and fixing/breaking things when they decide to change something, and with their testing and vetting procedures. But overall, at the end of the day, the profitability of the game speaks more than any naysayers on this or any forum can. I will always be critical of the game and BioWare when I think it is deserved, and I will defend both of them for the same reason.

Thanks for clearing this up Eric. It is much appreciated, and the kind of follow-up communication that is very welcome and that we wish we had more of. Well, considering they added a Christmas snow blower, a Christmas sleigh, and a Jack O'lantern meditation chamber, why the heck not? Regardless, the use of Nico at least is something that is focused in the solo story mode of the game, therefore, how other people got him has no bearing on how you will get him. From the sounds of it, he will be available at level 1 (like Treek is, I believe) so he will be usable right away.

And as I said way back when, that's because of marketing and PR (just like using 99 cents instead of whole number rounding - and tacking on 9/10 of a cent to the cost of a gallon of gas). It is far easier to market and appeal to the human psyche by using the word "Free" instead of marketing what the sale actually is. That still does not change the root concept of "Free" being without any stipulation or provisions. Like anything in politics, it all comes down to money. None of those agencies created the definition of the word "Free" they simply made it easier for marketing departments to target their audiences.

Indeed - the game was intended to be a subscription based game without 12x XP. Things change. It's not all that difficult for people to still play content on level "as intended" without needing a forced scaling feature. If it was truly intended that an MMO player only play content "on level" then MMOs would have implemented systems to prevent players from becoming over leveled for said content. Like playing "on level", being overleveled is simply an option that presents itself by design, and there's nothing wrong with that for those players who get enjoyment from that.

Not as bad as others. Nope, because they pretty much confirmed she becomes one of our new companions in our "alliance"

Yeah, what seems to confuse people is the concept of "No additional cost." NAC =/= Free We need to pay for a subscription in order to get things like the coat and the expansion itself. By default, that makes them not free, but provided to us at no additional charge to the cost we paid with the subscription. However, we still must pay money out of pocket in order to receive those things - there is a monetary stipulation that comes with the item, whereas a truly free item comes with no stipulations at all.

I concur. Scaling should always be just an option, with the option to play the "traditional" unscaled mode as well. However, I would say leave the vanilla mode rewards as they are now, and offer better rewards for playing the scaled versions.

I wouldn't be let down at all. In fact, I would actually be relieved that BioWare didn't cave to some nonsensical pressure to put things into the game that acknowledge a totally unrelated point in time in the future. It was bad enough when they put in the anachronistic holiday garbage because of the incessent QQing from the general MMO public who can't fathom the notion of a game that actually creates original content and not rehash holiday themed garbage that is a dime a dozen in the gaming world nowadays.

Not to mention the fact that stuff like this is SOP not only in MMOs but all gaming in general. It's amazing the things people will go to complain about in a gaming forum - like they have never played a computer game in their entire lives.

How did you get that. From what I have read and heard from BW, once you start KotFE, that permanently locks out the old quests. You can still visit all the old places, but you will only be able to do KotFE content (Repeatable content like Ops, FPs, and Heroics notwithstanding).

I also am awaiting this information and how it will work. This is the one major piece of info that is important to me as the leveling game is the bread and butter of my gameplay experience and will most likely determine whether I continue playing the game after the expansion launches.

Indeed. Things like this are a typical marketing ploy to play upon the nuances of the human psyche. For instance, the "buy one get one free" offer is not really offering anything for free. As stated you cannot go into a store and get that one item completely free of charge. You have to spend money first before you are eligible to qualify for that item. Therefore it is not free. In actuality, BOGO is "get two items for 50% off each." But try marketing it that way, and you will see that it doesn't capture quite the amount of attention that BOGO does. If I walk by a fudge shop that is offering free samples, and in order to get that free sample, all I have to do is take one off the plate of the employee standing in front of the shop - that's free. If I have to go inside and make a purchase before I get that "Free" sample, then the sample is not really free. Just like the expansion is not really free either. I have to pay, at minimum, $15 in order to have access to the expansion. That's not free.

Actually, Andryah has been critical of the game and BioWare in the past, and has stated those criticisms in the forums. Amazing how people see only what they want to see when attempting personal attacks on someone who disagrees with them.

I don't think too many people expected him to pop out of a crate sent via e-mail - that was a topic discussed when the rewards were first announced (which would have been the perfect time for BioWare to give the informative details as well). Again, story is irrelevant in the decision of when to unlock him, as I mentioned previously regarding his placement in the overall story of SWTOR, plus his coat and blasters, plus the Zakuul armor and dropship. And as Killjoy previously mentioned, no other reward that was offered prior to any of the other expansions was ever tied to having to complete any part of said expansions. No, it is no great feat of logic to assume that Nico may play a part in the new expansion, but given the precedents set by prior rewards, and indeed the wording on the rewards page, then it is perfectly logical for people to have expected that Nico would, and should, be recruitable without having to play KotFE.

I can't say I am annoyed. To be perfectly honest, it makes sense in terms of the potential new playerbase that may be coming into the game. I have friends who, when they started the game, where unaware of how those bonuses worked (when they realized they existed at all), so when it came time to pick crew skills, they often picked ones that didn't match up well with the companions their class had. Changing those crew skills to optimal ones would be problematic, especially as one leveled as it would force them to go back to the early level planets and just farm, instead of actually playing the game, in order to get those skills leveled up to be able to hit the nodes and such on the planet they were currently playing. It sucks for those who focused on min/maxing this part of the game for their characters and such, but ultimately, it's a change for the better. Now people can pick the crew skills that work best for their character's class instead of having an optimal choice forced on them by non-optimal companion configuration (much like the companion affection system forces certain choices for the character if you want to gain affection, regardless of what that character would actually choose to do). This isn't really dumbing down of anything, but actually fixing a system that was poorly thought out and implemented to begin with.

And obviously he's not dead. And according to Vacation he's been quite a busy boy. Again, no story reason why we should not be able to unlock him on our characters prior to, and without having to play, KotFE. After all, if my Level 1 noob Jedi Knight can wear Zakuul Armor and ride around his personal dropship (at level 10) many years before anyone knows what the heck a "Zakuul" is, then I don't really see how there is an issue with story.

How, exactly? Nico appeared in one of the pre-release trailers - long before the events in KotFE. T7 mentions him during the companion conversations. The "Vacation" blog indicates he is still alive and well prior to the events in KotFE. Therefore, from a story perspective, there is nothing to say that we cannot acquire Nico prior to the events in KotFE. Regardless, as clearly stated on the rewards page, Nico, his coat, and his blasters are rewards for being a subscriber to the game at a certain day of the month. That makes all of them a subscriber perk - not a pre-order perk since not being a subscriber on those dates means you do not have access to them, even if you subscribe later on and have access to KotFE. I have no issue at all with having the option to acquire Nico be through a storyline quest in KotFE. However, I do have an issue if this is the only way to acquire Nico - a subscriber reward. Should we now expect to be unable to use his coat and his blasters because they are also "pre-order" rewards and having them would "make no sense story-wise"?

I'll reiterate, at this point I have no intention of playing the expansion until I know more about it and all the changes to the game involved, free 60 or not. Like I have said previously, at this point, there's a chance I won't be playing the game at all come October 27th depending on how the changes to the leveling game are handled. But for argument's sake, let's assume that I will have an interest in playing through on that level 60 character. It still does not change the fact that, in essence, Nico will not be available to any other character on my account based off of what Eric said in his post. Doesn't seem much like a subscriber perk to me. As should other options for those with characters who cannot, or do not wish to begin playing the expansion. Because he's a cool character. I do not have HK nor Treek either, and as I mentioned, I would like to have Nico at least on my smuggler for a "fun" perspective while leveling. Companion affection at this point is meaningless, at least for the first companions - I can farm Esseles to make out Corso if need be.

There's a difference between a boring vanilla mission and KotFE where once you enter, you can't go back and which comes with more than a few changes on top of that. That's aside from the fact that what if I want to use Nico on say, my Smuggler, who's only in the mid-20's (or any of my sub-max alts - and I have no desire to speed level to max level)?

I can make a reasonable assumption based on my personal preferences when playing games and the information they will provide to us, as well as the information from players who are playing it when it launches. Not really all that hard to do.