Welcome one and all to Star Wars: The Old Republic! At the suggestion of people both in the game and on the forums, I've taken the time give some tips I've learned both from my own mistakes, and the actions of others. Without further ado, here's the primer for new players to SWTOR! 1. Don't get invested in your first character. Heck, don't get invested in your tenth character. Your first dozen or so characters are for you to learn the game's mechanics, rules, class mechanics, your playstyle, etc. You are going to make a LOT of mistakes in specialization choices before you find something that works for you, so don't be afraid to delete a character you don't like. This also means you shouldn't spend cartel coins in a character that you aren't going to keep either. Until you find a playstyle that works for you, don't get invested into a character. 2. Read the manuals and in game codexes. I've seen a LOT of questions that other players get frustrated with that could be avoided by just reading the in game codexes and manuals on the website. For example, if you want to know what gathering skills go with a crafting skill, read the crafting skill's codex. It tells you. And you can find ALL the crew skills, both crafting and gathering, on the fleet for ease of access. 3. Do NOT press Alt+f4. That is a Windows code for "kill program", and your game will be be closed down. Don't fall for this. 4. Moddable gear is available to both f2p and subscribers. Use it. You can tell moddable gear by the orange border around the item, and your planetary commendation medals are there for a reason, and can be used on any planet. So just because the upgrades on one planet are below your level doesn't mean commendations can't be used on another planet. Also, despite what the in game codex says, you can mod your gear on the fly. Hover over the item, and if it's moddable, it will show you what you need to press to mod it. 5. While there is nothing wrong with grouping up with your friends to complete a quest, if you are having trouble with a story mission, you are underleveled and undergeared. Go back, upgrade your gear (preferably with better mods), grind out a level or two, and come back. If you're at level, the fight will be tough, but winnable. If you're overleveled, it will be easy. Story missions are designed to be soloed, so if you can't survive a story mission for your class, you won't survive later. Trust me, I found this out the hard way when I was still f2p. 6. The GTN is your friend. If you've got enough credits, you can get some good gear off the GTN. Heck, you can get mounts that upgrade with your speeder skill, saving you a lot of credits in the long run! I have bought both the upgradable speeders and modable gear that I will like looking at for the rest of the game. It is an awesome thing in the game, and people normally put things on there at reasonable prices. However, don't spend exorbitant amounts for items. The GTN is supply and demand, and if players aren't supplying items for a price you wish to pay, then don't buy that item at that time. Eventually, sellers will get the hint and drop the price of their goods. And if you are a crafter and choose to sell, base your prices on what people are willing to buy, and NOT what the GTN suggests what the item is worth. Again, supply and demand market. 7. Don't be afraid to mix and match your mods. On all my characters, I put DPS focused mods, that focus on my damage stat, in my weapons, and endurance focused mods in my armor. It increases survivability and doesn't hurt my ability to do damage. 8. Don't be afraid to ask questions, but make sure you look for it first. If you're not asking a question that can't be easily referenced, experienced players won't treat you like you're a moron. Things like "Which specialization fits my playstyle?" are things that people will happily help you with. "How do I use the map?" Will get you derision, but it's still a good question, because IRL, learning to read maps is becoming a lost art. "I'm new to MMOs, what does this mean?" is another good question to ask. People will help you. Just learn to sort out the real advice from the trolls, and you'll be fine. 9. Most importantly, have fun. Do what makes you happy in the game. None of these tips matter if you're not having fun.

Okay, here's a bit of a primer on the classes. The Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior are melee classes. By choosing one of these classes, you intend to get up close and personal with your foes. They wear medium armor, and their primary stat is Strength. On top of that, your advanced classes give you the option of choosing a DPS focused warrior who uses twin lightsabers to dish out massive damage, or a single saber warrior who can wear heavy armor and can taunt your foes to draw attacks off your allies. The Trooper/Bounty Hunter are ranged classes. Like the JK/SW, they focus on dealing damage, but they do so at range. They wear heavy armor from the start, and their primary stat is Aim. Their advanced classes either give you the ability to tank, or act like a combat medic. The Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor are the mages of the game. They wear light armor, and their focus is on ranged attacks. Willpower will be their primary stat, which will give you the ability to bring massive damage to your foes at a distance. Their advanced classes either give your the ability to wade into melee and tank (which they are just as good at as the other two classes), or heal your allies. Finally, you get the Smuggler/Imperial Agent. These two are more roguelike, in that they require more micromanagement than the other classes. Like the JK/SW, they can only use medium armor, but unlike the JK/SW, they can't wear heavy armor. Their primary stat is Cunning. Your advanced class gives you either a ranged DPS, or a Healing/Stealth focus that brings you into melee. I want to point out that all 8 classes can focus on DPS, regardless of your advanced class choice. That's what the middle tree is when you choose your advanced class; your DPS boosting tree. Also, all class' secondary stat is endurance; that's what boosts your hit points. And remember, don't feel that you have to marry your classes at first. I've leveled dozens of characters to 20 before I found a playstyle I like. If you don't like the choices you've made when leveling, don't keep it! All you've wasted is a couple of hours! Don't feel pressured by other players. Just because someone says they like/hate a class or class combination shouldn't discourage you from trying it. I will never tell someone not to play a smuggler or IA because I hate it, because they might love the mechanics and story. So, the choice is up to you. I've given you the basics on the classes. The rest is up to you. The choice is yours, so make it a good one, and have fun!

If I remember correctly, they only did that for the first one, and after that, they just turned double xp on. The update took no more than an hour, though.

Here's the thing about the classes; if you hate the class mechanics, you're going to hate the story. I personally can not stand the roguelike gameplay mechanics of the IA and Smug. I don't care for stealth, and I don't like fighting from far away, so playing the Smug and IA are a chore for me. It all depends on what you like. If you like being a melee fighter with nothing fancy, go with the JK/SW. If you like being a mage, go with the JC/SI. If you like what amounts to a ranged Paladin, go with the Trooper/BH. And if you like rogues, go with the IA/Smug. Your choice all depends on the class mechanics you like first, and the story second. Because even if you're a completionist who is looking to get all the class buffs and emotes you get from completing a class, playing a class you hate isn't going to be fun, whether you like the story or not.

I find the idea of "leveling too quickly" an extremely funny complaint. People who feel that way should play Dragon Warrior for the NES. It can take up to an hour to gain one level. At the start. You spend more time grinding out gold and xp in games as old as that so you can even hope to survive the dungeon. Overleveling is a longstanding necessity in video game RPGs, because you don't HAVE a DM/GM/Storyteller/whatever the name of the person who runs the game fudging dice rolls to allow people to survive tough situations for the sake of the story. You've got hard coding that has no mercy. You either overlevel, get the best gear, have great tactics to survive being underleveled, or your die. That's it, no mercy. Besides, it seems that the people who complain on the forums about leveling too fast are a VERY vocal minority. Because if they weren't a minority, we wouldn't be getting a second set of double xp weekends. So yes, a very small but vocal minority will complain on the forums, but you can't please everybody all the time.

Agreed on this point. The kind of problems likely happened with any new players, before the ftp model came about. Granted, most new players are ftp, so the problem is most glaring with ftpers, but you can find that problem with subscribers too.

If we are basing things on last time, some time around 3-4 pm EST, on Friday. It might start earlier, though.

The Korriban and Tython sabers are full sized. But any other sabers you can get for the Sage and Sorcerer that boost willpower? Those are shotos. Kallig's saber is the best example of that. But again, those are considered main hand weapons, so they don't function as a shoto.

I find that most of the problems are elitist founders, like the OPs, and NOT the f2p newbies. It's the elitists that make this game not fun sometimes, not the newbies.

This is the second thread that got created about this. So far we have a total of 4 people signing it, plus the people here. See this thread for more details, and sign it too, so it all gets centralized and noticed by devs. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=636153

This seems to be one of those "learn to play the class the way you like it" moments. From the way the OP is talking, it seems this is like his Marauder is his first time at a pure DPS class, and isn't used to the way the mechanics work for him. It took me a dozen characters of each class combination before I decided on an advanced class, skill tree and companion choices for my game that I like to play. I tend to find that healer companions tend to have less and less use as you level up, because for me, they can't keep up with the damage I take because of their cooldown on their abilities is so slow. So, I tend to go for tanks, who draw aggro off me to stay alive, or DPS characters to help kill them before they can kill me. The only healers I regularly take with me are Mako for my BH or Dorne for my Trooper, because I like their personalities. So, if you really, absolutely NEED a healer, make friends with people who are spec'ed that way. A player speced healer has faster cool downs and more healing abilities than a companion healer. Remember though, that a player healer whose class has heals but isn't speced that way is only as good as your companion healer.

300, actually. And technically, they do exist in the game. The single bladed lightsaber that boosts willpower is substantially shorter than the ones that boost strength. But those ones are only the sabers you get off Tython and Korriban, and they are only main hand weapons. So, even though they are shotos by definition, they can't be used like a shoto. So, yeah.

You know, people like the OP are why I tell newbies on Coruscant and Dromund Kaas to buy the upgradable speeders that they can use for no more than 20k, but if they can get it for less than that, to go for it. It shows them that they have power over how much things cost on the GTN. That way, when it comes time for them to start putting things on the GTN, they learn how to actually use the GTN properly. That's kind of my thing in this game; I don't JUST give an answer when I'm teaching new players in game. I teach them how to learn these things on their own, so they can look up their own answers in the future. It's like the old saying; Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man HOW to fish, feed him for a lifetime. Which leads me to believe is that no one has taught the OP "how to fish".

Grand Champion of the Great Hunt and Barsen'thor. Both have an epic feel to them, and not many use them, from what I've seen.

The problem with the OP's idea is that he's essentially trying to make the classes into World of Warcraft classes. The existing classes don't have unique traits, and half of what he wants for them makes them overpowered. On top of that, what he wants don't fit into the Star Wars archetypes. It honestly looks like he wants to turn this game into World of Warcraft. And I think I speak for most of us when I say that if I wanted to play World of Warcraft, I'd be playing it, and not this game. It's not a good idea to have your MMO be exactly like WoW, because you won't offer something different for those who aren't interested in WoW. I play this game because It's NOT WoW, and I'm sure a lot of people would quit if it became it. As for the neutral faction, not going to happen, because, as I said before, it would require a complete overhaul, requiring 20 new companions, 28 new voice actors, and tons of new areas on existing planets tailored to the new faction. It's not going to happen they way the OP wants it to, because it will take away from the new content that will make EA money. The ONLY way a new faction would happen would be a mandatory expansion that we'd have to throw money at. And by "mandatory" I mean "you can't play without throwing money at it, because without it, it would screw up the ability to see the third faction if you don't." Which completely flies in the face of the f2p model. Remember, video games, and MMOs in particular, are a business. If they can't make the most amount of money from the least possible effort, it won't happen. And neutral factions? More effort than it would be worth under the current model.

If I remember correctly, Blood Legacy is a heroic quest. Meaning you're supposed to take a group in to face it. However, if Blood Legacy is the one where you have to bathe the skull in blood, yeah, you need to out level it as an Inquisitor. Either way, better off waiting until you've got Khem. Khem's a tank, and he'll draw aggro off you while you rain death upon your enemies.

Well, right now, there's Ilum and Makeb, since endgame is the end of your class' story. There's also HK-51, which you can't get until you hit 50. There's also a ton of dailies and hard mode flashpoints for you to get more bang for your buck. And you can also roll a new character, and experience a different story, or the same story in a different way, making choices you didn't make before. There's a LOT of PVE content to do if you're willing to do it. And don't really listen to the naysayers on the forums. I've seen that the forums is where the majority of the negativity in this game comes out. They may whine and complain about how "there's nothing to do" and "EAware is nickle and diming us to death", but they still maintain their subscriptions, and still spend hundreds on cartel coins. So, take what they say with a grain of salt.

Considering that your ISP could close a port to prevent any virus from being spread and THEN call you to tell you what you after, yeah, that's a scam. Also, the OP mentioned that he was told that Windows Defender had "expired"? Yeah, that can't happen either. That comes free with Windows 7, and so long as you don't have a real antivirus program, it updates automatically. I've only ever gotten a call like that once, and, being an IT professional, I know what they are looking for. The guy was phishing, and I played along to an extent, giving him a hard time the whole way, saying "If you're my ISP, you should know this.", and giving them false information the whole way. And then I finally got bored, I finally said "It's plain to see that you're NOT my ISP. I've already got your number, despite your attempt to hide it(it came up as 000-0000 on my caller ID, which was my first indication that it was NOT my ISP), and I've already contacted the police with my cell phone. So please, continue to dig yourself a deeper hole so I have MORE to report." Got hung up on after that, and never received another call like that again while I lived there. And yes, I did report them to the police. Identity theft is a crime, and that's what they were attempting to do.

Many Bothans died to bring us this post. Personally, I'd like to see some of the more esoteric species, like the Neti, a race of shapeshifting plants. Which are easy to implement, since they can just take a humanoid form, like T'ra Saa from the Dark Horse Clone Wars comics. I mean, she's got breasts, despite being a plant. So, yeah, very little effort to integrate them into the game. Or the Yinchorri. Completely humanoid, except for the lizard head. Five fingers and all. Of course, this species would need to be restricted to a non-Force using class, as they are naturally Force Resistant. Another easy one to implement is the Zeltrons; pink skinned humans. Or the Sephi. They are elves, with the pointy ears and everything. No, I'm not joking. They come from the planet Thursta, and were introduced into SW canon in the "Jedi: Yoda" comic series in 2004.

Anything you have on your current characters will stay with you, so long as you don't take them off. If you take them off, you won't be able to use certain items again until you resubscribe. And if you have more characters than the limit for preferred, you'd have to choose which ones you want to keep, unless you pay to up your limit. But the ability have titles on existing characters, the ability to hide head slots on existing characters, the ability to unify colors on existing characters, the ability to hide Dark Side corruption on existing characters? You retain that. But any new character won't have it.

If there were one "mega-server" this game would become unplayable due to the lag. Even as a subscriber, I get lag during heavy use hours. Particularly on weekends and holidays, when kids aren't in school and people are off work. I've actually had to quit for a couple of hours due to the lag. And no, it's NOT my internet connection; the stuff I run in the background works fine during SWTOR peak time. Now, when you consider all the places this game is played; The US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, England, Germany, Japan...Consider peak times for the different countries, holidays in different countries, weekends in different countries...there wouldn't be a day in a year or time of day there wasn't heavy lag that makes the game borderline unplayable. So, yeah. Mega-servers? Bad idea.

The problem with this idea is that at times, the fleet can be so laggy that you can't take two steps without the game freezing up for a minute or more. And it's even worse for F2P players. That's why they have the option to pick up your advanced class on your Capital World. So, while the idea is nice, when the lag is that bad, you just want to get off the fleet as quickly as possible.

That could be a possibility for an advanced class, but not a self contained class. I could see a Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor doing that, as well as a Smuggler/IA doing that. But you'd need 3 other specializations balanced to deal with it. In short, it's possible, but it would take a LOT of work.

While I will never fault someone for wanting more out of their game, keep in mind that SWTOR is NOT World of Warcraft. Your class affects more than what skill you have. In order create new classes, it requires new companions, new story quests, new ship, new NPCs to talk to, and new class specific areas to visit on existing planets. And with the "neutral alliance" idea, they would need to create a new starter planet, a new fleet, and a new "capital world". And that's on top of balancing the class for play, and making it conform to existing archetypes. And that's actually the easiest part, to be honest. The classes that were created were done so for a reason; they fit the Star Wars archetype. The lightsaber focused Jedi/Sith, the Force focused Jedi/Sith, the soldier, the bounty hunter, the smuggler with a heart of gold, and the spy. And everything you've suggested already falls under one of those archetypes. This isn't Dungeons and Dragons, and it isn't World of Warcraft; your class is more than just "your role in combat". It's your identity, your story. And that's what this game is about; story. There's a beginning and an end, and your are following every step of the way. And lastly, implementing this would require a complete overhaul of the game in order to add the new faction, for the reasons I stated above. However, adding SOME of the class stuff would be feesible as an additional specialization for players. That's the only way any of this could work, to be honest.

Tell your guild mates to sign this. Maybe something will come of it.