Tatooine for me. It was either Tat or Nar, so all Alts can easily come and go. And the view from the balcony sealed it for me. I love being able to look out and see the rest of my SH from there. Plus, Nar Shadaa just feels slimy to me (as a planet) (ok, moon).

Oh, come on. You're being pessimistic. Those numbers are for crafting using companions with no affection and no bonuses. A fully bonused companion will crit 33% of the time. So it won't take 25 weeks. It'll only take 19 weeks. For one Framework. See, isn't that much better?

Right now I've got about 150 million across my 8 toons. I have never bought/sold cartel stuff. I got all my credits by selling mk-9 augments and augment kits. It's easy money, but admittedly slow going. It has taken me a year and a half to get to this total.

I'm not sure that's true. If you look at your Achievements, there appears to be different categories of MVPs. MVP for kills, MVP for assists, etc. (if I'm remembering correctly).

I apologize in advance if I'm misinterpreting the point you're trying to make (I haven't read all 19 pages of this thread). But I'm going to assume you're still referring to the title of the thread, and that you're making the point that Flash/Stings are imbalanced because they can excel at killing turrets and dogfighting (with your emphasis being on killing turrets). I fly a Nova, and I can kill all 3 turrets in one pass. I use Light Laser and unload with Rockets, and pop my Quick Recharge Shield during the run. The ability to kill turrets is not limited to the Flash. Novas can do it too. Granted, if there are (skilled) defenders there, it makes it more problematic. My point is that if the ability to kill turrets quickly makes the Flash OP, then Novas are OP too. I will concede, however, that based on fluff text, it would seem to me that Strikes should be obviously better at turret killing than scouts. I have not found this to be the case. So rather than saying all scouts are OP, I'd suggest that Strikes need some sort of a buff to be able to kill turrets quicker.

^^This.

The Tier 2 ships come with only the basic, non-upgraded equipment. Nothing is unlocked on them. There are only 3 reasons I can think of that someone would want to buy one of the Cartel ships: 1) It saves them 5,000 Fleet Requisition, compared to purchasing the Tier 2 ship in-game. 2) They like how it looks better. 3) They are completionists, and want to buy one of everything.

This isn't *exactly* true. You can buy a Cartel ship that is an exact duplicate (skin) of the Flash (Scout Tier 2). But that might still be considered an "upgrade" compared to the default Nova. There are a few threads complaining that Flash's are overpowered compared to Nova's. Being able to use CC's to effectively purchase the Cartel version of the Flash would save you from having to earn 5,000 Fleet Req. Having said that, it's still not Pay2Win. I routinely top the match in objective points, medals, and damage (not kills though, interestingly) in my Nova. I've never flown the Flash, and I do quite well. I just wanted to make sure that you understood that the Cartel ships are not skins of the default ships you have. They're skins of the Tier 2 ships.

There are a handful of good pilots who do very well. There are many who aren't particularly good yet. How many of those less-than-stellar players have just started? And how many of them have been playing for a couple weeks, but just aren't as good? I have no idea. But your initial premise is incorrect. It is not the upgrades that folks have that make them win. I could jump into an un-modded scout, and still vape most of the players I've played against. I'm not trying to brag, I'm just pointing out that the pilot's skill heavily outweighs the ship's upgrades. So my advice to you is to keep playing, even if you get killed a lot. As you get a feel for it, you'll do better and better. It's not pay to win. It's practice to win. EDIT: I suggest reading some of the threads in this forum. There are some particularly good ones that discuss how to kill Gunships, or how to capture satellites, etc. Understanding your ship's strengths and role in the match will help you improve too.

I've read the debate on whether the new FPs are too easy or too hard, etc. I don't want to get into that discussion. I will admit, however, that the Sandstorm fight is difficult for *me*. I have beaten it (once), but I've also wiped on it a LOT. I know that you have to get the boss to the green generator and have him pound it. But I'm finding that it's easier said than done. And I'm hoping that those of you that have no problem with this fight can share your insights on how to more consistently beat it. Background: I'm a fairly well geared Guardian tank (mix of 69s and 72s). I've been tanking the boss in the middle, then trying to get to the green generator ASAP. If the one in the cave or the one by the entrance turns green, I can get him there before he does his AOE. But if I'm having a tough time getting him to the left or right generators before he does the AOE. And if you miss destroying the gen on the first AOE, you have to sit through the storm for so long that the party's hp is *very* low (in my experience). And then we wipe shortly thereafter. So I've thought of the following possible solutions: 1) Have a group member stand near the left gen and another member stand near the right gen, and use Guardian Leap to get there faster. I tried this, and the problem is that it requires intelligent teammate(s). They have to be positioned correctly, and they have to then run away from you so that you don't overlap AOE. I was never able to get my group members to do this well enough. It also requires that you be a Guardian/Jugg. How would a Vanguard/PT tank handle this? 2) If you have a Sent/Mara, they can use Transcendance/Predation. This is, of course, only helpful if you happen to have one in your group. 3) Have a Sage pull you to a gen, if he happens to be near it. This has the same drawbacks as #1 and #2 above. 4) Gamble by dragging the boss towards the gen you *hope* will turn green. But the odds of guessing all 4 gens in the right order are not good... 5) Just go as fast as normally possible (don't increase speed) but have off-heals do as much healing as possible and just heal through the storm. This, of course, requires that there actually be off-heals in the group. It also requires that the healers actually be geared/good. I've tried all these things, and none of them produce consistent results for me. So, I'm hoping that those of you who say that this fight is easy, please tell me how you handle this fight. Are one of these the way to go? Is there another solution I haven't thought of? TL;DR: How do you one-shot the Sandstorm fight in the new HM FP? Thanks for your (constructive) feedback. Please don't tell me to L2P. I'm *trying* to learn.

For those of you who don't really want to be in a guild, but would like the perks this thread mentions, join a guild specifically for this purpose. See this thread.

It's not in the 'main' title list. It's in the title list below that -- the one that lists your Gree "Perfect Black Bisector" title, for example.

So, I've got my main on the Imp side, and 3 Imp alts. And I want the 5%XP bonus for being in a guild. But I don't have any intention of doing Ops, or any other Guild activity for that matter. Anybody else in the same boat? I say we should form our own guild -- a guild whose sole purpose is to provide the 5% bonus for people who don't really want to be in a guild. If you're interested, reply to this thread, and we'll work out a time to meet in-game and form the guild. FYI, I'll probably be online Thursday evening and Friday morning/early afternoon. P.S. For that matter, we could create one for the Republic side too. [EDIT] You can whisper Jal-en or Kal-en on the Rep side, or Payd'n or Boe'ba'fet on the Imp side. Or send an in-game e-mail.

Wow, aren't you just a ray of sunshine? Thanks for all the helpful details and explanation. /sarcasm You know, since I'm so stupid that I can't even read, perhaps you could try to explain to me what Phillip meant by the underlined portion of his quote, rather than just berate me. Be sure to use small words though, since I'm too stupid to understand regular vocabulary. But you'd rather just insult and move on, instead of actually *contributing* to the conversation. But before you actually contemplate being helpful, you needn't bother, because DaRoamer did a great job of it already. Thank you, DaRoamer, for helping to explain what might have been meant by that comment. I sincerely hope you're right about that. And thank you for contributing a positive environment to the normally negative forums.

Where did I get the idea? I underlined and bolded the part of the quote that gave me the idea. Look at the quote in my previous post.

I, too, have been toying with the idea of going Preferred. I have a procedural question: Do you use all those unlocks now, as a subscriber, and then they carry over while you are Preferred? Or do you hang on to them in inventory, and then use them once you are Preferred?

I haven't read the 15 pages since this was posted, so forgive me if this has already been pointed out. I sincerely hope that this does not mean that I have to give BW my e-mail account password! I will *not* be doing so. It would be tragic to lose customers over something so stupid.

I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, nothing will be done. Aside from a language filter (which already exists), BW will not provide the staff to monitor general chat across all planets/fleet. They simply won't/can't. And the people who do what you're complaining about won't stop either. The situation is what it is, and we just have to deal with it. EDIT: I have a son (10 years old) who plays a couple characters he made on my account. Knowing how groups can be, I allow him to play with the understanding that he is not allowed to do any Heroic quests or flashpoints. Solo only. The vast majority of players expect a level of competence that he just wouldn't be able to achieve. And I know what sorts of comments would be made as a result. He enjoys the game despite the restriction.

Flashpoint behavior is highly unpredictable. Having said that, I have 2 experiences which I think will explain most of what you'll see. Experience #1: I was a noob to not only SWTOR, but also MMOs in general. I had my level 11 Guardian and I ran the Esseles FP. I had no idea how to find a group for it, so I tried it solo. I got owned, obviously. Eventually, I found another Guardian to help me. But this was obviously an alt for him, and he just rushed through the FP killing everything as he went. I helped, obviously, but I had no idea what we were doing. It was all I could do just to keep up with him. It felt "chaotic", just as you described. Experience #2: I just recently had my level 11 Powertech run the Black Talon FP (this is my 4th toon, my other 3 are level 50). I was grouped with 2 other players. One of them seemed to be a veteran of the game, and one seemed to be new to the game. I used Mako as the 4th group member, and with my massive Presence bonuses from my previous characters, I probably could have solo'd the content (except for the last boss). We absolutely rolled through that FP. The other veteran and I just kept on rolling to the next fight, and I noticed that the new player was always lagging behind. Once the FP was over, I had time to reflect on the fact that I had swapped roles. I was now the "fast, chaotic" player, instead of the one feeling out of sorts and getting left behind. Here's the difference: When you're new, you're not sure what to expect, and you're constantly trying to get your bearings. You'd love to plan out the next move: both to increase your chances for success, and also to give you more confidence that you know what's going on. But as a veteran of flashpoints (story mode), you know that you can just roll through the whole thing (particularly Esseles/Black Talon), and that tactics/planning only makes the FP take longer. So how you're going to approach a FP just depends upon your familiarity with it. If you really want to go through a FP carefully and plan/strategize, you'll need to be grouped with others who are also new to that FP (and probably on their first toon). I don't know how you would go about making that happen, but that's the only way I can think of that you would be able to achieve what you're looking for.

I've had a chance to play a bit more, and get some more data points. Conclusion: Yes, it is better. But, yes, I still CTD. I can swap toons as much as I want, and travel to multiple planets, and still expect to play for about 2 to 2.5 hours just fine. This is a big improvement, as prior to the patch, I could only expect about 30-45 minutes under the same conditions. Nevertheless, I still CTD after that 2 to 2.5 hour mark. So, it's *better*, but definitely not *fixed* yet.

This is the primary reason I didn't pre-order. The several days of early access will likely be less than ideal. It will basically be the beta testing of Makeb. I'll buy it once the wrinkles are ironed out.

Thanks for the reply (and thank you for the noticeably increased BW presence all around)! I'm glad to hear that it's possible that my improved experience might not be just a one-time thing. And I'm glad that more work will continue to happen towards this issue. Because while I did not CTD, I did experience a rather significant frame rate drop over time. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have decreased frame rate than experience a CTD. But I do hope that such improvements are still on their way. Thank you, and nice job BW!

Well, a couple of replies with somewhat positive experiences. One reply with a continued negative experience. Anybody else want to weigh in?

Bear in mind, I've only got a sample size of 1. So I'm probably wrong about this. But I just played for over 2 hours and logged in and out of several toons, and played for an extended time on Corellia. Usually, I'm lucky to get an hour and a half without getting a CTD. And if I switch toons repeatedly? Forget it, I CTD in 30-45 minutes. Corellia is a memory hog, and usually makes things worse too. So doing all those things together, and never CTD? My jaw hit the floor. Did I just get lucky? Or did the recent patch actually help the memory leak situation?

Yes, I ran into that problem with my fresh 50 Gunslinger in Recruit gear. The beast/chip mission wasn't a problem, I was able to kill all 3 without a hassle. But the pirate one... that was painful. I finally managed to concentrate solely on the Pirate Captain, and I was able to kill him before I died again. Then I rez'd and killed the remaining group, then looted the body. It's not a process I'd like to repeat. I think the solution is to just go to the other Pirate camp, where this isn't an issue. Note: I think this is only a problem for the newer 50's. My main (Guardian Tank in Columi/BH mix) has no problem taking on the entire pirate group at once.