Without knowing your server its hard to say if its your server or not. Anyways little dip info for ya. As you level dip you gain access to higher level missions giving you access to higher level crafting material. One thing I like about having 400 dip is that I am not a slave to the GTN. If by some chance the GTN doesnt have the mats I need cheap...I just have my companions do a few missions. Also another thing I like about dip is that you can do missions for companion gifts...which are cheaper and shorter time wise then crafting material missions. What I like about the gifts is that its an easy way to raise your affection with your companions opening up quests for easy credits/exp as well as shorter crafting/mission times. So in MY opinion dip is worth it....to a point. Whether or not its worth it to you is up to you. My suggestion is do some more research on the GTN and see whats available and then make the informed decision.

The "you've already learned this schematic" bug is by far the worst for me on top of the RNG. I remember working on my "Endowment" (+Crit +Surge) implant for my 50 Sorc and I had the WORST luck on the planet. This was the chain of events...(give or take) 50+ Green RE's.....Learned Redoubt 50+ Green RE's.....Learned Overkill 50+ Green RE's.....You've already learned this schematic 50+ Green RE's.....Learned Critical....FINALLY 100+ Blue RE's.....Learned Fervor 50+ Blue RE's.....Learned Supremacy 100+ Blue RE's.....Learned Leadership (Presence....really??) 100+ Blue RE's.....You've already learned this schematic....OH COME ON 50+ Blue RE's.....Learned Tempest 50+ Blue RE's.....You've already learned this schematic................. 118 Blue RE's.....Learned Endowment....finally And yes I remember the 118 because I remember telling my friend I was at 117 and then BOOM got it. I am not against working hard for your schematics...but man...this is rough lol. And before anyone says I am exaggerating this was during winter break when I was playing 10+ hours a day and it took me almost 2 weeks to get Endowment...though I will say it was very satisfying when I got it.

When I saw that scene I asked myself...why not just go to the starports and just find someone who travels to the core worlds who could use the credits? Worked for Obi-Wan in A New Hope...

As someone who is Bio on both my 50 Sorc and my 50 Sentinel as well what I did is just buy eq on my companions from the network. Yes I know it sounds like a cop out but if you are going to spend your time in end game, which it sounds like you are, then go Bio. I find PvE in this game very easy as both chars and once I spend a few 100k credits on my companions they did the trick for almost situation minus soloing heroic 2+. Not only was it cheaper in the long run but it was way less of a headache trying to craft epic level gear with the right combination. That is my advice...and nothing more

I have lots of problems with the crafting system in general but the RNG is a significant source of my frustration at times. Before I continue let me post the following to give a significant background on RE before I go on my small rant. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=45866 Anyways my biggest problem with RE and RNG is that there are literally 15 different possible epic combinations (3 blue prefix then 5 subsequent purple prefixes). Sounds awesome at first until you actually RE for one specific combination and discover it’s totally random which one you unlock. To further the frustration there is the possibility of learning the same schematic twice in which you are given the following message: "You already know that schematic"…or something close to that. Call it bad luck, which I know it is in my case, but I learned the schematic that I was striving for after learning all the other possible combinations in each tier. For clarification what I mean is out of the 3 “blue” possibilities I got the other 2 before the third (and even a few duplicates). THEN to make it even worse I learned my “purple” schematic after learning the other 4…sometimes several times. All in all it took me over 200 green RE to get the blue prefix I wanted then another 500+ blue RE to finally get that purple one I wanted. Now granted it was EXTREMELY satisfying to finally get it but it really sucked spending literally millions of credits. Now before you all flame me for being stupid on spending that much and not just buying them on the AH let me say this. I am a crafter, I play MMO’s for crafting…can’t explain why it’s just what I really enjoy in MMO’s. Heck in Eve Online I had a char who only mined, crafted and researched to craft more. It’s what I do. With that I have to say the progression in SWTOR is by far the most frustrating I have ever encountered. At least in games like Eve Online you knew when you were going to get ship X and ability Y. Heck even EQII you knew what you were going to craft if you just spent some time to do it. But SWTOR? You are at the mercy of luck…and even when you get “lucky” it could be something completely worthless…here’s looking at you “Commander” (+power + presence) or a duplicate. How about this…give us the option of which prefix we want to strive for…heck I would even accept a lower success rate but at least we would know what we are getting! TLDR…RNG sucks in crafting equipment with double prefixes.

Let me pose a question. If BW replaced the stat increase with any (or all) of the following: 1. Components to a speeder. Where you gather 10 and you can have one crafted in fleet by the speeder merchant. 2. Crystals that have a rare hue to them. Like silver, grey or neon purple. 3. Rare ship decorations…assuming we ever get to decorate our ship. 4. A mute for your ships droid 5. Insert something cosmetic that makes this game more immersive …would you still have issues with datacrons? This is of course hypothetical given such a change would probably never get implemented due to all kinds of bugs and horrible levels of rage over the stat loss. But assuming said items above were implemented instead of stat boosts (additional lore would still be included), would you still have a distaste for datacrons? *EDIT* Forgot to add that I think said idea above would be a better reward system since it gives you a "show off" reward compared to a...yeah I do 50 more damage/healing reward.

Why so serious?

I am envisioning Nemesis from Resident Evil moaning....SWOooooooTOoooooooR

Grey Goose and orance juice....that always makes me warm and fuzzy inside.

So far I have yet to see any griping about it...just a bunch of LOL's..."get a grip"

In the wrong order to boot

Yes....yes it was

Wow way to jump to conclusions. I am fully aware that maintenance is required once a week...been experiencing that for the 7 years I have played MMO's. I was not complaining...just expressing my experience and thoughts

Same happened to me. Was thinking maybe they canceled the maint for tonight then BOOM server down.

One of my favorite came from Kira (Jedi Knight companion). Kira: If they were to mesh Hoth and Tatootine into one planet...would it be a lush planet with nice weather?