Despite it being on Gizmodo, here is a good article I read a few years ago: http://gizmodo.com/5426453/the-physics-of-space-battles

Yoda, is that you?

Funny thing is, people preaching that SGR should take a back burner to other priorities simply refuse to acknowledge that SGR already HAS taken a back burner for over 12 months. Now the time has come (in a few / many more months) for implementation, and for all those people who have been waiting for it... I say congrats to you.

and... he also used two. It is widely accepted that Mercs are based around Jango and Powertechs are based around Boba. I guess you could argue that based on canon Bounty Hunters should be proficient with multiple firearms. Also, Darth Maul used a double bladed lightsaber, and when it was cut in half he used a single. Maybe Inquisitor tanks shouldn't be forced to use a double bladed saber for tanking. I guess you could argue that based on canon Sith or Jedi should be proficient with multiple styles of lightsaber combat.

I can't be the only one who remembers X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter. That was a good bit of space combat. The predecessors were all solid too, but that one had multiplayer and it was king. Of all the games I'd like to see a modern remake of, that is probably at the top of my list.

I'm pretty sure the reason we see so much combat in SWTOR is because most Star Wars fans want to shoot first, choke subordinates, play with lightning, and successfully navigate an asteroid field.

It seems more often than not you and I see eye to eye, but like to bring up various considerations or points of concern. If only every discussion could happen this way... alas, this is the Internet and the tubes are mostly blocked by sht. What you say is also true. I wish the sidebar still showed account registration dates, mine was October of 2008... I see the same damn bugs from beta I have reports for existing today, yet they still want more money from everyone. Some companies don't transition well from a Single Player game where they can say "Here's our game, we hope you like it" to a MMO where it's more of "We'll continue to build your game so long as you buy it (monthly!)". For a MMO to be long term successful it has to cater to the player wants first, not the developers and certainly not the publishers. Anything other than that and you're just riding the wave to the grave. WoW has had a good long run. The original Asheron's Call is still delivering what players want, and still has a loyal following. SWTOR has some dedicated supporters, but not nearly as many as there used to be. I'm talking about dedicated, long term, vocal, recurring paying supporters. Not this month's subscription numbers after a $5 sale of leftover boxed clients at retail outlets.

Honestly if they had just avoided male/female references in their VOs for the original romance option companions SGR could have been in since launch. Kailyo calls you Agent enough times, as long as her dialogue didn't contain "Hey big boy, come over here" then SGR would have worked just fine from the beginning. A little bit of forethought on the part of their writers and this issue would be a non. As far as SGR being included in the game... sure, why not? I'm all for my Marauder chick spending some quality time with Jaesa... and I would likewise be entertained if Torian disliked my Bounty Hunter for spurning his advances because he's no competition against Mako. Hell he's already been trying to start up a bromance since he got on board, if some people want to let him finish the job then fine. Whatever makes the game fun for you. I do maintain that with some thought out writing from the start for the VO scripts, this wouldn't even be a discussion had there been companions of each gender flagged as romance options regardless of character gender.

They really shouldn't have to adapt any animations since with the legacy system any character can be any race and therefore any model can wield any weapon or armor... which is why we only have generic humanoid races to begin with. I suspect that it's not actually a generic model mode in the item preview window. It doesn't *need* my class, spec, or skills to display me going through the animations. Now obviously I don't know what their code looks like. If I can insert some pseudo-code, why couldn't it be something similar to: function_DefaultAttack { IF (PlayerClass == BountyHunter.*) { display_tooltip(RapidShots); display_icon(RapidShots); IF (PlayerWeapon == AssaultCannon) { AnimateDefaultAttack(AssaultCannon); } IF (PlayerWeapon == BlasterPistol) { AnimateDefaultAttack(BlasterPistol); } IF (PlayerWeapon == BlasterRifle) { AnimateDefaultAttack(BlasterRifle); } IF (PlayerWeapon == Scattergun) { AnimateDefaultAttack(Scattergun); } IF (PlayerWeapon == SniperRifle) { AnimateDefaultAttack(SniperRifle); } } ELSE { IF (PlayerClass == Trooper.*) { display_tooltip(HammerShot); display_icon(HammerShot); IF (PlayerWeapon == AssaultCannon) { AnimateDefaultAttack(AssaultCannon); } IF (PlayerWeapon == BlasterPistol) { AnimateDefaultAttack(BlasterPistol); } IF (PlayerWeapon == BlasterRifle) { AnimateDefaultAttack(BlasterRifle); } IF (PlayerWeapon == Scattergun) { AnimateDefaultAttack(Scattergun); } IF (PlayerWeapon == SniperRifle) { AnimateDefaultAttack(SniperRifle); } } } * Note: that is quick, dirty, and barely code. It could be cleaner and leaner, and actual code too. For example only, do not use in an unintended manner. I am not responsible for any damage incidental or direct to your computer or the goblins and unicorns now living inside it. But what about Rail Shot vs. High Impact Bolt you ask? What of it? The Bounty Hunter will continue to animate the rail shot from their offhand as they do currently and the Trooper will animate the High Impact Bolt from their weapon. That may need a little work depending on how their code is written since the Bounty Hunter's arm is a constant once you create the character but different weapons have different barrel lengths and muzzle points. Because that is already an issue though I don't think it would be a factor for this idea.

It is a good post. Too bad every part of it is true.

It's already been done: http://www.torhead.com/npc/h33Sh1d/kaliyo Kaliyo Djannis Species: Rattataki Primary Stat: Aim Secondary Stat: Endurance Primary Weapon: Blaster Rifle or Blaster Pistol Secondary Weapon: Shield Generator The Agent's first companion with zero Legacy unlocks can already throw on the heavy armor and pick up a blaster rifle, and tank like a Bounty Hunter - so there is no real reason other than cosmetic flavor why PCs cannot do what NPCs can. In keeping with my love for Bounty Hunters I offer this screenshot: http://imgur.com/aw5tc There are four classes in this game, and as a subset of those there are eight advanced classes. A Bounty Hunter / Powertech is the same as a Trooper / Vanguard. Their only difference is the flavor text over the top, and the Proficiency they are granted. I see no real reason why they can't put an unlock in place to allow people more cosmetic variety in their wielded weaponry.

I would be all for these ideas to be legacy unlocks, I simply figured it would appeal to EA/Bioware more as Cartel purchases. Trying to play on corporate greed to achieve player desires, for a change. In an ideal situation though, weapon proficiency unlocks for your legacy (for the appropriate additional classes only) would come with hitting level 50 on a given class. Sabers for Force users, firearms for the rest. I do feel like the idea of the proficiency unlock should be limited to appropriate classes, in the proposed descriptions in my initial post while it says (Account) in the unlock title it specifies limited classes in the description. I suppose as a class limited character perk it would work too, but I'm a fan of account-wide / legacy wide unlocks. I would see this operating in a similar way as some of the custom gear currently does. Something like this: http://db.darthhater.com/recipes/6909/professionals_gauntlets/ but say... Weapon Proficiency: Blaster Rifle (Account) would be applied to Bounty Hunters, Troopers, Imperial Agents, and Smugglers. I believe Agents and Troopers can already use them, but certain advanced classes have abilities restricted to other weapons and it would only be fair to unlink those from their specific weaponry as well.

I wasn't suggesting you were stupid. But it does seem like your chief objection to two similar ideas is a non-issue that was solved quite some time ago. If you somehow inferred that this makes you stupid then so be it, who am I to convince you otherwise? FYI, it would be good if you could contribute to the discussion. It would be better if you could do so in a meaningful way though, by bringing up a well reasoned objection instead of something that can be fixed by an existing checkbox in the Preferences menu. Since this is your first MMO, I will assume that this is your first MMO forum you have participated in as well. People do bump their own topics to solicit further discussion. The usual etiquette is to refrain from bumping a post if it is still on the front page of a forum. If you have a problem with that, perhaps you can make a post here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=575264 where it will be reviewed and ignored. And now, back to the topic at hand. Some people want to wield different weapons for aesthetic reasons. It doesn't have to have an impact on class balance at all. Jedi/Sith who want to choose what style of lightsaber they run around with, Troopers and Bounty Hunters, Agents and Smugglers who want to tote around more or less firepower. Is there really a valid argument against this? They removed the restrictions from color crystals a long time ago. Adaptive weight armor took things further in this direction. This is really just the next step of the trend, but it should have happened quite awhile ago. Like... prior to launch. If there wasn't a desire for this, then threads like this (and the lightsaber counterpart) wouldn't keep showing up all the time.

Class icons. Already in game. Use them if you need them, but don't shoot down good ideas because you have problems that were already solved.

Your sense of entitlement and desire to remain one of the privileged is not really in line with what would be financially beneficial to the game as a whole. It's time to realize that subscribers do not make up the majority of the player base or revenue stream any longer. Relaxing some of the more ludicrous restrictions on preferred accounts will bring more players, which means more revenue from the cartel market, which means a larger ongoing budget for things like... development. It would be better for the game as a whole if more people enjoyed it, instead of just you. Preferred accounts not having access to basic emotes, more than 20 commendations, unable to unlock some core legacy features... these things and more are somewhat unreasonable.

Mercenaries already have their own and shared rockets so I fail to see why that is even relevant to the discussion. The only cosmetic difference between Mercenaries and Powertechs is how many Blaster Pistols they hold. Need to identify classes quickly because you can't figure it out based on their behavior and proximity to others? Turn on the class icons. Now your problem is solved. Your opinion seems to be the minority on this topic. Thankfully I did bump my own thread after it sat idle for 10 days or you would not have found a place to put your two cents in. If you are going to contribute to the topic then I don't see why you are annoyed that it got back to the front page. Perhaps you needed that last line to guarantee your post took up more space than your signature block?

Up again.

Blaster Rifles. It's a prominent part of some Trooper outfits, and I'd like to see it available for Bounty Hunters. Expanded thoughts here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=574606

Up for night crew.

You are correct in this, because there are no Imperial classes that have the weapon proficiency. This idea would immediately fix that. Also, regarding making Juggernauts or Assassins too powerful by allowing them to wield dual sabers is kind of a non-issue. I'm not suggesting revamping skills to allow them to attack with both weapons, or for skills to utilize both weapons for damage calculation. The change in their case would merely be cosmetic since they can still equip equivalent items as "stat sticks" in the same slots. The basic idea behind this is that allowing people to equip any weapon appropriate for their class lets you customize the way your character looks, without changing how they play or the current class balance. After all, we all have the same number of equipment slots - what I propose is that you should be able to wield whatever type of weapon your class would reasonably use. Obviously Troopers and Bounty Hunters should not be running around with lightsabers, and we all know Obi-wan has great disdain for blasters. But it is realistic to assume that a Trooper or Bounty Hunter would be familiar with virtually any firearm, and a Jedi or Sith would choose one or more styles of lightsaber to fight with.

Up for day shift.

This feature already exists. Your friends list already autocompletes in the mailbox, as does your guild roster. You can't send cross-faction mail to any characters but your own. Perhaps what you want is a two tabs added to the mailbox, one for your friends list and one for your guild roster so that you can select someone and hit a "Compose to" button. What would be nice is if characters on your own account would auto complete without having to be in each other's friends list or guild, but if some form of legacy storage is ever introduced that would not be needed anyway.

In response to the above poster: I will admit I was primarily thinking of Powertechs, but really the idea isn't just limited to Bounty Hunters getting Blaster Rifles. That was just the most glaringly obvious example to use, since it's been on the wishlist since early Beta. Ideally a whole slew of Weapon Proficiency unlocks would become available, or perhaps something like this: Weapon Proficiency: Blasters (Account) Grants Troopers Smugglers, Bounty Hunters, and Agents access to Blaster Rifles, Blaster Pistols, Sniper Rifles, Assault Cannons. This unlock applies to all characters on your account of the appropriate classes. Weapon Proficiency: Force Weaponry (Account) Grants Jedi and Sith characters access to Lightsabers, Dual Lightsabers, Saber Staves, and Force Foci. This unlock applies to all characters on your account of the appropriate classes. Obviously with something like the Force Weaponry one, tanking Juggernauts & Assassins (and their Jedi counterparts) would be choosing single or saberstaves along with a shield generator... unless offhand sabers were introduced with inherent shielding stats? The same scenario would apply to Powertechs and Vanguards with respect to dual wielding pistols. Now alongside this, as you mentioned abilities would have to have their use-case requirements modified to accept a weapon category instead of a specific weapon type - but that part of it should be relatively minor, I would think,.

120+ hours a week at work? There are only 168 hours in a week. If you are working 120 hours that leaves 48 for eating, sleeping, and commuting. When do you play swtor with only an average of 6.85 hours a day not at work? Also, maybe if you didn't spend so much damn money in the cartel market you could work less hours.

Up for the PM readers/posters. Hopefully get some momentum behind this idea.