When the weapon is stowed it probably does this sorta "dematerialization" and "rematerialization" effect similar to summoning a mount. This would include drawing rifles and cannons. It would also be a really cool way for someone to be able to keep a weapon equipped but not have it *on* their character, tbh. The stats of the weapon comes from the mods on the weapon itself. The encoded color crystals and the like will only affect appearance. The weapon would be a modifiable weapon in it's own right that applies it's stats to all weapons. The only thing is the color crystal that's equipped to it won't actually matter. As for mixed types, as I said, it would encode what weapons each class requires. You wouldn't be able to encode a cannon on a character that requires rifles to fight. Likewise, a sniper wouldn't be able to encode on an agent that uses rifles. As for the sabres/vibroswords/dualsabres, the draw would likely pull from wherever the randomly decided weapon draw point would initiate from upon selection of the weapon. So if it's on the back the draw point would read that it's drawing a vibrosword-for instance- and draw from the back. Likewise the hip for a lightsaber. Once again, when you go to pull the weapon out, it materializes in the same way as a vehicle does, so where it "visualizes" isn't a problem.

So, I was thinking... We have a random mount and random pet button, but what would be cool is if we had a weapon-based item (or series of them I guess) that would encode whatever weapons you set to it (even if you get rid of the item from your inventory afterwards) including what color crystal was equipped to the item when applicable to it's appearance, and would pick one weapon from the list of weapons encoded to it whenever drawn. So for instance, let's say you're playing a marauder and have two of these items. You encode a list of lightsabers or vibroswords to each of them, and draw them. The one in your right hand draws the gamorean axe because why not, and the one in your left hand draws the unstable arbiter's lightsaber with a red/orange color crystal (which is the color crystal it was encoded to.) The next time you draw them, it draws the basic starting saber you got at the beginning of the game in one hand and the cathar honor sword in the other. You can also encode the same weapon multiple times with different color crystals, so each time you draw the weapon it has a chance of having a different color crystal equipped. The mods are on the item itself, however, so no matter what weapon you draw, it's always going to have the same base stats. Why is this a good idea? Threefold: Some people really like a bunch of different items and are indecisive about which ones to use. I have a large list of different lightsabers that I love using, but can't exactly use each of them every time I play a character. I have to pick one (or two if I go marauder/sentinel) and that's that. Further, while I have a decent number of lightsabers, I have an absurd number of color crystals I like... This could give people like me who keep a large number of weapons in their cartel collection a chance to see all of them getting use, and give people who collect these weapons reward for having gone out of their way to do so! The other is for roleplayers. This gives people who RP a chance to have a time of equipment that shows variability in kit, such as someone who collects weapons or has a large arsenal. I have a friend that enjoys roleplaying as a sith who collects the lightsabers of force users they beat in battle, and using them. This would be incredibly flavorful for that user, and give them a way of seeing out that fantasy without having to kit out and change out the weapon they are wielding every time they want to exemplify this in a meaningful way. And a reason for the company is I could see this making a VERY large amount of money, and a large number of users wanting it. On top of it being an item that could work to a large niche of roleplayers, and give them something to exemplify a part of their character, it also rewards players that have built up a large cartel collection of weapons they want to show off with a fun way of doing so. This would not only be an item a lot of players that collect weapons and crystals would go after, but would influence users to want a large host of various weapons with cool looks, and color crystals that go with those weapons. It likely would be a big seller as a result, and have the added effect of influencing purchases of other weapons. Bundle it with a weapon that fits the category of weapon the item is meant to represent (I would like it if it was just a catch-all that simply payed attention to class weapon lists, but honestly it's probably easier to just make a few weapons that could act as different categories, such as "sniper" or "saber") and it would likely fetch better prices too. Even if the weapon was a random item drawn from a list of that category (one random lightsaber drawn from cartel market lightsabers with a lightsaber weapon randomizer) it would probably see good purchase sets, and would be a very popular item in the cartel market. I would definitely personally purchase this item if it saw itself added to the game. I spend a lot of time agonizing over which of my favorite weapons to use this time... and honestly, there's just so many fun weapons to use that I never find myself having time to use every single one of them. Please make this a reality? It would honestly be so fun!

So... I just got back and found out I have to delete, like, 90% of my characters in order to be able to make new characters, because the servers merged. This seems a bit... uh... problematic, as I have to activate characters and see what they have before deleting them... and this is a lot of work. Can someone direct me to wherever EA/bioware talked about this change?

May the Fourth event... hmm... It'd be cool if they at least added, like, firework shows somewhere, or maybe some kind of little minigame on DK/Cor. Something that'd remind everyone of their roots in this whole thing, maybe? References to the start of their character arcs, something like that. It's a celebration of the franchise as a whole, so the ability to look back on what you've done rather than look forward at what's coming would be both fitting and a nice turnaround, since a lot of things the Star Wars community does is very focused on future adaptations and alterations to the game, not the past.

@DXlolman those are really good ideas, actually. And the expansions on my mining idea makes a lot more sense. Manaan kolto mining would also mean they'd have to make significantly fewer new resources to make it a thing, and could reuse/refurbish a lot of the resources they used for the Revan set. The swoop bike racing is something I'd definitely agree is long overdue, as well. It'd certainly add more flavor to the game, at that.

I'd like to see this become a thing not just for the flavor of adding a Zakuulan shield to the game, but for potential future applications it could have. It could be very fun all around.

"and maybe trying to get the lightsaber" I should probably add the armors into that equation, too. The point is, however, once people have that equipment, they tend to have little interest in returning. There's not a draw to it, the event is fun the first time, but there's little reason to return once you have all the rewards. Maybe it's just my server, maybe it's just my experiences on that server, but people don't seem invested in returning to the Relics of the Gree event after getting the items they want out of it. If I'm wrong about that, and there's more interest in it than I notice, awesome. I hope I'm wrong. It'd be great if the event was more successful than I give it credit for.

OK, something I've noticed is that a lot of the community is disinterested in many of the events. The Bounty Hunter event gets scoffed at, I rarely see people doing relics of the gree other than the operation and maybe trying to get the lightsaber, and the Rakghoul event has a moderate level of interest, but to others it's annoying. While some people still find interest in events like this, I think it's be useful to add one or two events that would shake things up a bit! Get more interest in the game, and maybe something fun to do. - A type of meteor that. when noticed, tends to draw miners and excavators from around the galaxy toward it's rich deposits of various ores and minerals that are extremely rare and valuable. The occurrences are rare, and they get mined out quickly, so people scramble to make claims, fighting among each other, and rewarding those who bring their companies large amounts of these minerals. This could potentially open an open-world free-for-all PvP setup event that could give people the tense PvP atmosphere they've been craving in the game, while rewarding those who do well. You can either kill opposing players and miners, or collect minerals, getting rewarded for both with a vendor that trades some form of kill tag for items, and a vendor that trades mined minerals for items. I'm not really big into PvP, but I do know what a lot of my PvP friends say they want in the game, and this could very well give them something big. The game also doesn't have ANY pvp-centric events in it, so something like this is bound to make the PvP crowd happy. - Hutt Parties on Nar shadaa: On occasion, a Hutt throws a party. There are various activities to do for credits and/or tokens that can be exchanged for the riches the Hutts give to broadcast their opulence- rare and valuable crystals, exotic weapons and armor, maybe even a droid companion, or a slave companion (It'd be totally amazing if you could get a fully customizable companion out of an event like this, but I could also see problems with that). You run various activities and such to entertain the hutts, such as fighting enemies that scale from something you can solo with some struggle, up to enemies that require entire raid groups to fight, as well as getting bonuses for doing heroics and the world boss on Nar Shadaa. Small daily quests within the event area itself (getting certain ingredients for a Hutt's lunch, wrangling gizkas into a cage for a hutt, etc.) will grant players other ways of grinding these tokens for the Hutt treasures, as well. - Surveying the wilds of Odessan: Ever want to return to those beautiful wild areas on Odessan that you went to during Chapter 12 of Fallen Empire? This event would use those assets for an event that's more current than events we have now, sending the commander out to foray the wilds of Odessan. It's a large planet teeming with secrets in the force and nature that could help further the galaxy for years to come, and finding these secrets could come to a large reward both to the commander personally, and the entire alliance! Kill enemies for data, or study occurrences for readings in either natural or force-oriented phenomena that occurs on the planet, and bring the data back to either Oggurub or Sana-rae to have the data used both for the alliance, and to create special equipment for the commander. Maybe force-neutral crystals and weapons/armor, or even a Makrin mount! (you know you want to ride one of those dirt spiders!) This could probably also come with supplies for the four different areas to help people out with grinding them out if they haven't yet and are still interested in getting those achievements and such. Have other ideas for events? I'd love to hear them. Maybe even expand on the events I already gave! Hopefully with the ideas already fleshed out here, they might consider using some of our suggestions to turn it into something we'll all enjoy!

So no interest, I take it? I had figured there would be some people who'd think this was a good idea, or maybe some people who would slam it, but absolute silence is kinda sad.

So, one thing I've noticed a lot of people talking about was that it'd be awesome if they could get a Zakuul shield to go with the saber pike or general other appearances. I don't know how appearance sets work for offhand shield generators or such, so I'll say nothing of the sort (although having a shield generator that actually gave the particles for a Zakuulan shield would be pretty nice) but I thought of a few points that might work in lieu of that: A pair of gloves that sets a shield on the left hand: it might cause some clipping unless some animation changes were involved, but it'd allow double-hand users to combine Senya's force pike with the Zakuulan shield for their Zakuul sets. Having the shield set as an off-hand techblade: It's already shown that there can be some changes to animation for weapons, so this could be a good alternative. Granted, this means it won't work with currently typically accessible pikes, since the only one you can /technically/ get a hold of is Senya's two-hander, leaving that combo out, but it'd still grant a shield. Maybe have the "sheath" animation for it follow the sheath animation for a one-hand weapon and ignore the shield, having the shield stay on the arm. Having both of these as options for players would definitely draw a lot of attention from the role-playing community as a whole. While I never really got into the whole zakuulan role play, I feel like this in general would fill a niche a lot of people I know have been complaining about. I'm also pretty sure an item like this would see use in other people's play styles: even the gloved ones would probably be used extensively by characters like Juggernauts and Knights who think having a shield would be pretty cool for their tank sets. I personally think having it as an off-hand generator/shield would come to the most interesting and useful effect for everyone, but as I said: I don't know how the game treats these items and particles for these items, and I won't even pretend to know if this is possible. If it is, then having the Zakuulan shield particle set appear on a generator or shield would be a drastically better setup than anything I offered here. If not, then I think these options would come to a great amount of approval from many parts of the community. I'd also like to think that, with this in hand, there could even be other "shield" options down the line that could be pretty cool as well. Just something to think about. That being said, if anyone has other potential ideas of how this could work, or other ideas regarding the shield/shields that are possible (or even some naysayers, because that's valuable feedback as well) please, by all means comment away.

The resources this would take is a slight amount of coding. There's three pricings that are used, and they actually haven't fluctuated much at all, barring going back and forth as individual sets within the three pricings. 60 cartel coins, 240 cartel coins, and 400 cartel coins for bronze, silver, and gold items/sets respectively. It really would not take much for resources. I really don't see how it could shift in the direction you imply, since people have been more than willing already to buy such things as authorizations for areas of the game, artifact authorizations, and such to sell on the GTN. This would literally just be another form of authorization on the lower key. I also really don't appreciate the tone you are taking. I'm far from "Desperate" to get this. Realistically, I've spent plenty on cartel coins over the course of my gaming career. But as far as ideas go for such things as sales and gifts, this is also far from a bad one. Even if you take out the factor of selling, this could also open up the ability for people to buy their friends the ability to unlock sets. A present where they get the armor is all well and good, but what if you added in the ability to unlock it? It's not even close to how intensive to set up as you seem to be stating, and would be a useful addition.

Then you also fail to see the way the market works now. People already buy sets and authorizations on the GTN that others spend money on, it's just a matter of opening up another source of revenue. People will pay money regardless, just take a scroll through the "unlocks" section of the GTN and you'll see that as a fact. Not only would BioWare get money from these transactions, but there would be more reason for people to buy them, since people interested in earning credits faster will make an in-game profit by buying these tickets and selling them on the GTN. That's the way this game's market has been for a long time. For 500 Cartel Coins you can get one of the Bladesmaster's Attenuated blades straight off the GTN, and get a couple million for it. There's profit for both the company and the purchasee.

Exactly one of the places my mind was going with this.

This is exactly what I mean. You have to have the item already, it's not just giving you the item. It's unlocking it like you normally would with cartel coins, just with an item instead. Literally, just a voucher of exchange transaction.

So, one of the things I love most about the cartel market and merchandise-based community in general is that you don't necessarily have to pay real life money to get the items you want- If an item is on cartel market, it unbinds, and you can sell it on the GTN for a tidy sum. This benefits everyone. The person who had the money to buy the item and wanted credits now has credits. The person who had the credits but doesn't have the money to spend on the game now has the item they wanted. The game creators still make their money, all the same. Everyone is happy. However, people still have to spend real-life money to unlock this item. Let's say that an item is made to allow you to unlock your item that is sold in the cartel market. Someone who wants credits, or wants to help a friend out, can pick it up, and when it unbinds sell/give the ticket over to whoever, who then uses it to unlock an item in their own collections. The devs get their money, everyone (once again) is happy. I can also see this being a very popular item, since it means that the people who can't normally pay money to unlock their items can now spend credits for the tokens to unlock the items someone else spend cartel coins on! It's a win-win for everyone. I propose the following system: There will be three items that would be added to the market, following the normal schema for unlocking items and item sets: Tickets that cost 60, 240, and 400 Cartel Coins. In the normal amount of time for items bought off of the Cartel Market (two days), these items unbind to the character that retrieved them, and can then be gifted or sold as the owner chooses. The tickets will unlock an item in the collections (as a on-use option in the collections menu for each item) based on the price of the item in the cartel market.. So a 60-CC ticket will unlock a collection piece that would normally cost 60-CC to unlock. Likewise, a 400-CC ticket will unlock one that costs 400 (or less, I suppose) to unlock. You choose the item, and use the ticket on it. This is something I'm sure would be a hit in the Cartel Market, and would sell heavily, so it's also a great marketing decision. It would spice up the economy of the game a bit more, and would overall only be a benefit to everyone.