That is extremely interesting that BW is caching stuff back into slower disk space instead of using faster system space. I will give this a try once I get home. I do not have any problems running this game but would be nice to get as much as possible out of what hardware I have.

Just to make sure you are not confusing yourself, you say "...have to be a Jedi but with dark points?...", this is wrong. Your side does not matter, you just need to have enough Dark Side/Light Side points to equip the item. For example, a Red Crystal can be equipped by a Dark I or higher Republic or Empire player. Or a Blue Crystal can be equipped by a Light I or higher Republic or Empire player.

Ok, so you can remove mods off an orange item? See, I thought once mods are placed, they are permanently placed there but can be replaced with a new one. Thanks, thats good to know. Now to regain all those lost LS points to make up for my previous bad deeds...

I know that...lol What I mean is if I received a new orange item and I want the mod out of it, how do I remove it? Or am I misunderstanding what VanorDM what saying?

I would not at all be surprised the numbers would be this simple. I think your numbers are right on but kept continuing to gather data and numbers.

So how do you pull the mods out of items? I thought once items have their mods installed, they are permanently there?

From beta, I remember trying to stay Grey on my Sage. The issue became that there is no benefit (and actually a huge negative to not being able to equip a lot of various equipment in the game) for being a Grey player instead of LS/DS. So I was kinda wondering if anyone experienced this also and either has heard that BW is going to implement Grey playstyles or maybe it is already in the game and I just completely missed it.

As far as I can tell, it is intended (this was done in the last phases of beta). What I have done, if you want to melee as a Sage, is to split your stats between Str/Wil gear and focus a lot on Power (which increases all your abilties). This will let you melee while not totally ****** yourself on your force abilities. Edit: And yes, it is the same for Sorcerers.

Sense this item is orange, I say its fair game to those who can wear it. Think about this, if someone looks at this item and says "The stats on here is an upgrade.", then why have they not just bought the mods to make their gear equal or greater than this piece of gear (barring the non-moddable stats)? I say he is easily justified right there.

I am one of the persons on the boat that want a melee healer/spell caster. But in the current ability stats and build, I can do exactly that if I split my gear with Str/Wis. So I am happy that I can melee along with spell cast and heal. So I have no issues at the moment.

Ya, having a limited hotkey bar reminds me of EQ1 spell casters. You had MANY spells but could only memorize 10 of them (or was it 8?). I agree also with the GW2 statement, which is why I am pumped for this game. I just hope they are not focusing too much on the limited bar by only making a few skills per weapon/profession combination and force players to make a choice in a specific combination for what abilities to have readied.

If you wish to continue to melee, split your gear between Str/Wil. You will do less damage from ranged but increase your melee damage. You can still continue to use Saber Strike/Double Strike with Strength. Just understand your sacrificing your main ranged abilities.

For those who want to melee as a Sage, try spliting gear between Str/Wil. I find that my Double Strike is dealing close to my Project and non-force strikes a bit less. Yes, you will heal/DPS less with your force abilities but I find the trade off of having force efficient melee attacks is well worth it while still allowing myself to use force abilities to heal and DPS. Also, I find the Balance and Healer trees best for doing this if you want to actually melee as the Telekenetics requires a lot of casting of abilities that limits your mobility.

I think the reason why you say this is because of the previous game's raid scenes. Why take someone who deals less and heals less over 2 individuals who are specialized in each? The point of taking a hybrid is to have someone who can provide DPS and healing in situations to relieve the stress on your healer or DPS class. If a situation is overkill with 2 healers but not enough with 1, take a hybrid to keep some DPS but still have healing? Oh, and the Balance Shadow doesn't provide range/melee dps with heals. Thats what a hybrid Sage would provide. A Balance Sage with Str/Wil gear is like the old Ranger's of EQ1. I like the gameplay so far, it was just like it was from beta before the removal of shared trees.

But that is what I was asking for. The Sage to melee. And for a Sage to melee, you can not keep your current power and continue to melee as you are just that much better. So losing ranged power for melee power is acceptable while still allowing me to continue playing the way I envisioned the class to play. While I am only lvl 20, I feel that I can still dps just as well (I deal a bit less overall but I can sustain DPS longer as melee abilities do not use as much Force) while throwing out spot heals/shields on other DPS classes so the main healer can focus on the tank. That was the whole point of having the hybrization that I wanted in the class.

I have been finding ways to allow the Sage to melee with the current mechanics in game. I have found out that if you replace some of your gear with +Str gear, you can actually successfully hybridize the Sage, or any class for that matter. I think it is a perfectly suitable sacrifice. Just wished I could find +Str/Wis mods/gear instead of either +Str/End or +Wis/End mods/gear. For those who want to melee, try this out. It actually makes my melee attacks feel useful while still being able to use force abilities and heal.

I never wanted BW to change the mage portion of the Sage. This is what originally drew me into a Sage and this game in the first place is the idea of having shard abilities between the base and specialized classes. I liked the beta quote someone gave when this issue came up with the Consular in general when talking about the melee skills. All Shadow Classes > Balance Sage > All Other Sages This to me ment that the Balance Sage did at least melee a bit, which it did during beta but BW streamlined to completely remove the shared component between the 2 specializations of the base. The current Balance tree could easily handle having a melee talent within the tree along with the DoTs. And being a Sage, you can still have healing skills just not as efficient and powerful as a talented version.

Because of the hybrid idea behind it. Melee healer is what I was hoping for but knowing they removed it during beta, I had hoped BW changed their mind before release. You can still easily keep the ranged idea there but make the Sage have a tree that allows a bit of melee.

I think this is the community's problem. We never liked BW's intentions for the AC in the first place. I told them this during beta, they went ahead and changed it and now there is a problem. Do not make a Star Wars game with Mage/Fighter/Thief ideas in your head, it just doesn't fly.

If Saber Strike and Double Strike scaled with Willpower, would I be able to deal as much damage as any other DPS class? If I was being focused by a mob/player, will having Willpower scale the two melee strikes make me survive the encounter while continuing to produce good DPS numbers better than any other class? No Willpower scaling melee damage for Sage/Sorcerer is an issue.

While the ideas are nice, I think this might prove to be a problem in that Sages are suppose to lose a lot of utility in melee. Honestly, I think that lightsaber abilities for Sage would be over the top in terms of balance. Instead, just allowing melee damage scale off Willpower is enough to make the 2 basic melee attacks viable while either low on Force or in situations that allow meleeing. Adding stuns and damage and stuff in melee to a ranged class would be a mistake. But making the two melee skills somewhat useful and maybe act as some type of procs in the Balance tree would make the class feel more inlined with Star Wars and the overall feel of the game. Sages (and Inquisitors) are the only classes in the game that do not use their weapons!

JBarlak, this is correct. And the sage community is voicing this as a problem.

You know, I recall the devs never really speaking a lot about this but the beta community was pretty verbal about Sages having the option to melee. In my personal opinion, having Willpower removed from increasing melee damage for Sages was a mistake. I am going to have to agree with the OP in that Willpower should add to melee damage for Sages.