Well, with the current system, every item already has been assigned a base value, which is where the tax on items has been noted as so extreme relative to the GTN. The tax on items is not following the going average on the GTN, but a preset value determined by BW, which is why the transaction tax can be 40%+ of the value of the item on the GTN. So, the work has already been done. No, what I was suggesting is that in peer-to-peer exchanges, those not set as a market item but direct trade/sale, the tax added to the sale would be a percentage of the price the seller is asking. A person who wants to sell a dye module for 50 million to someone nearby might have to pay 5 million to complete the transaction, making their actual profits only 45 million, while a person selling that same dye module for 10 million would only pay 1 million. A person who gave the module away for no gain on their part would not be assessed any tax, because they are not gaining anything in the transaction (indeed, they are losing the entire amount they may have paid into the economy to acquire the item in the first place). Thus, the more someone inflates the price, the more they lose in the sales tax, while those who seek a smaller amount lose less to initiate the transaction. This incentivizes lower prices while also still allowing philanthropy. The option that the tax be assigned based on how much farther above the set value of the item (the direct profits) the seller is asking also has merit, but that would also make lowering the price below that value not incentivized. The point is to put in downwards pressure on prices while not penalizing those who want to be generous. The current system does not do this, and pushes people to sell for as high a price they can get by selling to everyone on the open market at super-inflated prices to recoup the massive loss of the transaction tax while completely nullifying the ability of those who wish to sell at a very low price or even no price to those they want to help in the game.

The newly implemented system does not address the core of the economic issue, that of the very high prices on the GTN that drives the economy into inflation feedback. The sellers simply have to add the cost of the exchange to the price they were already charging, which means prices continue to climb higher in a feedback loop as the prices increase, increasing the need to add more to the price and harming those who have been generous in the game by gifting to others for no credits returned to them from the action. Rather, replace the current tax system which is based on set values independent of the asking price to one based on what the seller is asking for. The larger the price asked, the more the tax, with the desired sell price that BW wants an item to go for factoring in the price+percentage tax. This would encourage a downwards trajectory on market prices and no penalize those who seek no profit in aiding others.

The real fallacy of this solution to the GTN inflation (which is at the core of the problem they were supposedly trying to fix) is that it doesn't affect what the problem is. Charge a tax on an item fifty percent of its going price on the GTN? Then all I will do as a seller is -add- that amount to my asking price to cover my expenses. That pushes prices even higher, not lower. Charge a tax on players trading to make a profit? Again, they just raise their prices to compensate, and the buyer has to cover the extra cost. The end result is far higher prices with the sellers pretty much unaffected and the market paying the extra to obtain what they want, which is exactly how it was before the new system was put in place. What it does affect are generous players who either helped their friends or new players by gifting them items they had no means of obtaining themselves for no credits asked. That was a cost entirely borne by the initial purchaser, with no financial return to them. Now, they must pay for their generosity in an out-of-scale way that simply makes it impossible to help others in this way. The GTN cannot be used for this, as the intent by the giver is to provide it to a specific person for no credits asked, not the general playerbase of the game. If BW wanted to actually correct the issue, then they could have just as easily set a top limit on each item's selling price on the GTN, which would have required about the same work as this, and reduce credit payouts from missions across the board. Or, institute the tax rate on the price -asked-, with the higher the price, the more the seller pays. With the quicktravel and regular travel costs being enforced by the requirement to travel to play the game, that would have either stabilized things or gradually drawn down the credit supply in the game. All BW has done here is eliminate the generosity of those players who want to help their friends or new players they may not even know. There is a reason SWTOR has a reputation among gaming circles as the most mercenary and money-is-all-we-are-interested-in games in the MMORPG world, and this just cements it more.

What I don't understand in these changes is the concept that the way to fix the economy is to penalize the players for playing the game as intended. The use of Strongholds, the options to use them to travel to other planets rather than incur a loss of time and credits, the use of quicktravel rather than walking (which in some cases is simply not possible), all were put in as intended and have been used as intended. Players have also always been able to gift items they themselves have expended effort and money to obtain. To then seek to penalize the use of these intended mechanics really is dishonesty on the part of the Dev team. Rather, the concept should be to offer new -beneficial- options to drain the economy, such as cosmetic changes and extra hook options to SHs, special access to a 'classic' section of the CC or GTN with items not currently available on the market, new SHs and Flagships which can offer additional services to offset the proposed upkeep costs while leaving all existing SHs and Flagships without upkeep or access costs. Those are some suggestions that come to mind off the top of my head, the point being to offer something additional to current content that can serve as credit sinks rather than penalizing players for doing what they have been doing for some time now and was fully intended to be used as such by the Dev Team.

What I've noticed is this: The first time you log into the game, no problems. If you log out and then try to log back in, you encounter the login bug with the download issue. If you completely power down your PC and restart, you can then get back into the game, but the issue will repeat if you then log out and try to log in. Did this twice and worked both times. Hope this helps

[Daily - Bag and Tag] - It seems fish are spawning where the second tracking marker should be.

Indeed. Seems the Decos now despawn behind you at about 40-50 meters, and respawn once you get closer. Very, very bad for the larger SHs, and very disorienting. Makes me wonder just how badly the code was damaged.

Why would you need it? The amount of hook usage isn't tied to anything I know of now, is it?

On the other hand, if a person is trying get -everyone- merged just because PVP isn't happening to -their- expectations, it does beg the question of why they think their side of the game requires everyone to bear the price of their personal satisfaction. Perhaps the reason people don't queue for PVP is because of the people who PVP? I know almost every time I have tried to do it, it has featured about the most toxic players I've ever met, and never seems to change. Why would anyone want to play with people like that? Ultimately, if PVP isn't popping, I wouldn't blame the servers at this point, but the PVP community. There are plenty of people playing, just not the PVP side from what I am hearing.

Oh, they are quite able. They could just insert about half a thousand artificial accounts with SHs and see how the system handles that many. The simple fact is that they don't, because they didn't think it could cause a problem when -every- -single- decoration in -every- -single- SH has to have LOS calculations done on them constantly when they didn't have to before. I agree with others who believe this is the source of the problem, but quite frankly am shocked such a thing wasn't tested before release. Surely, the shear number of additional calculations that was going to add to the engine should have warranted stiff testing on that alone. "Let's be honest, MMO players just aren't good at that sort of thing." - SWTOR Dev I guess we've found what the STWOR Devs aren't good at.

They have made an excellent additional PVP Arena. I'm sure all the PVPers out there will rejoice that they now have a private SH to conduct their battles in and hack-and-slash to their heart's content. The Devs have succeeded in this. They have made a terrible Stronghold. It has very limited potential to be anything but a rusty scrapyard, and the forced PVP nature of at least two of the main areas of the SH (along with the very bold red letters telling you about it) mean that, even if you don't want to PVP in your, essentially, home, you will be forced into it anytime you use those areas. And, of course, there is no way to turn that off. So, the PVPers get their SH, and the rest of us are left dreaming of what it could have been to us. Bravo.

Actually, this has to be worst FP I've ever experienced in this game. 4 hours wasted with zero story content and just a combat grind. All because no one in the entire Dev team thought to put in a Mission prompt to indicate you had to go to -YOUR SHIP- in order to get the mission, rather than the staging area for the FP as in past missions. There is absolutely -Zero- indication where you have to go to start this, and if you do the FP in 'Story Mode' without launching from the ship, you get -ZERO STORY-. No, this has not been worth the wait, because the Devs forgot the most basic part of the FP....giving people the start point and withholding any story content if they actually play 'Story Mode' without it.

The reason you do not understand it is because you are looking at the game solely as a grinding/accomplishment game, which it is not. It is a RP game, and many people want to generate alt characters to participate in RP with their Guild, do in-game activities, and explore other specializations without having to spend a great deal of time doing what they have already done on previous characters. Also, some people lack the time they once had to grind, and still want to be able to generate and use an end-game character that they simply cannot stand to grind out with the game's incredible time-sink design. Also, another reason is for a player who made a mistake on their character to have the option to rebuild them, perhaps also to participate in content they missed and passed by. So, not to make a new character, but to regenerate an existing one. Finally, why you would make a request to increase the price of such an option to such an unreasonable degree is baffling to me. It smacks of a punitive measure, which puts at odds your credibility as a poster as nothing you say in your post justifies it. Perhaps you simply can't stand anyone playing the game anyway but yours, or you are pushing an agenda and the post was simply a smoke screen, but either way, you were wrong to make such an ungrounded and thoughtless request. Especially after asking for explanation on something you admit you don't understand.

Pretty shoddy work for a professional company. An issue on their end, after all this time in operation, and they -had- to take down the game early, for an extended period of time? That sort of stuff might happen in a start-up company where a technician runs a program they weren't supposed to and it messes up the server, but that they are making this an early update means it wasn't a maintenance issue but someone playing around with the update itself when it should have been isolated. Either way, costs those of us who aren't West Coast a day of play, so I'm not too 'thankful' for their work right now.

Well, I must say, I wasn't expecting to lose an entire day of play just so some people could get the next update sooner.

"The most important part of any event is when you get your rewards!" This one line is probably the greatest indicator of the problem the Devs have had in managing this game since the time they first unveiled the crafting system to be used. No, the most important part of any event is not when you get your rewards, but the enjoyment you get in playing the event, and the idea that the event is somehow worthwhile in the overall story of the game. People who think the only point in an event is to hand out rewards are those who think grind is the gold standard of making games. Of course, coming from a company that went on record stating they wanted crafting to be done by NPCs so it didn't take player characters away from the 'real game' of combat and looting, I suppose we have to expect this kind of oversight into what actually constitutes the 'most important part' of an event. My two cents.

Myself, I'd love a Rishi stronghold set on an island in the middle of the sea. Could be set up at a pirate/smuggler's SH, a secret operations base, or just a beach house. Of course, knowing the devs, we'll likely get a Zakuul SH, as everyone really wants more endless cityscape, right?

Well, you can see it in the real world how different people can take a photo of something and come up with two different interpretations of what the object is. Differing ideas about the Force and how to prepare a person who has access to it are going to be the foundation of the various disciplines in the SW universe. Obviously, the Sith and Jedi don't agree on which parts are important and which side of the Force is to be relied upon, so the methods are going to be radically different. However, even the Sith do not want unstable individuals with the kind of power a Jedi or Sith command. Despite what you seem to think, the Empire will hunt down and eliminate any Sith they determine has acted against Imperial citizens or the Empire itself. The Empire could not survive otherwise, and no Order wants wild guns walking around in their organization. Non-Imperials are set in a different light, as the overall attitude is 'If you aren't with us, you are against us', and thus injuring or killing non-Imperials in ways that would be illegal in the Empire is seen as acceptable. The Sith Order does sanction brutality and emotional reactions since that is the path to understanding and using the Dark Side of the Force. However, they don't condone such in an uncontrolled, undisciplined way, and will eliminate anyone they see as being unable to function in the Empire under the directives of the Sith Order. Mind you, my point in the post was to point out that just because the Sith eliminate candidates who prove too weak to handle their power wasn't something that necessarily was based on being cruel or enjoyment, but something that could even happen in a moral and just society because of the nature of being Force sensitive. And yes, non-Force sensitives would, indeed, kill Force sensitives on sight without some kind of assurance of control. They would have to, or face extinction in a manner similar to being an unarmed person in a room filled with heavily-armed people, one or two of which are psychotic. To do anything but take action is to be committing suicide.

Well, let's consider it from another viewpoint. Force users are essentially walking weapons, capable of altering others' thoughts, instill illusions, read thoughts, move physical objects without visible means (including, if you credit Star Wars video games as canon, pulling star destroyer-sized starships and orbital stations from orbit), kill just by thinking it, and move with a speed that is superhuman along with an ability to be highly difficult to stop due to their ability to perceive the Force and use it to identify threats to themselves before they happen. Such a person is not much different from a heavily-armed and heavily armored trooper that can hide their weapons and armor invisibly and cannot have those ever taken away from them. Given that, is it responsible to just let such people walk out on the organization that is responsible for ensuring they use their abilities properly and to police those who don't? Is it right to put the ordinary citizens of your nation at jeopardy by letting such a person walk freely and do whatever they want, especially when a nightmare in the middle of the night or a sudden flaring of rage can leave dozens or more dead or injured? Do you really think allowing a rogue Force user to freely walk your nation's streets is in any real way different from allowing a person armed with heavy support blasters, thermal detonators, and a noted disdain for law enforcement or personal control to go about as they please? In such a light, it isn't necessarily something that the Sith see as evil so much as necessary to ensure that those who don't meet the standards for controlling their abilities and dedicating themselves to the Empire are not allowed to become a threat. Indeed, it might be said by some that the Jedi are unbelievably irresponsible to allow half-trained people to freely leave their Order and their control to become a danger to everyone around them. It could even be concluded that the Jedi Order was originally established as a compromise measure to allow Force users to police themselves rather than have the non-Force users seek to destroy them on principle and out of a sense of self-preservation. So, don't be too quick to assume extreme measures to control extreme power is always and only motivated by a desire to hurt or kill. It isn't entirely clear the Sith are wrong to put the ultimate penalty onto those who are going to hold ultimate power and fail to meet the standards expected of such. One might question if it is the Jedi who are insane in this case.

I'm sorry if you took my words to mean you, personally, thought the past was unimportant. I was referring to the attitude I see far too often where the majority of people in Western nations feel that anything that happened in the previous political administration, let alone more than a decade or beyond in the past, isn't important or that they won't be held responsible for something 'someone else' did. The Republic is like this in many ways, only looking at the immediate situation and goals rather than acknowledge the actions their nation has done in the past. Individuals can be the exception, but it's an unfortunate tendency of humans to want to forget the bad things they've done and only remember the good. And, actually, the real problem with trying to find real-world analogues to the Republic/Sith conflict is almost impossible because everything that has happened in our history has happened on this one world. Once contacted, it was/is almost impossible for a nation to go back into not being known, and nations that suffered the kind of catastrophic genocide that the Sith did simply never had a chance to find refuge and a place to rebuild. If their enemies chose extermination and got to within a few hundred individuals of accomplishing their task in such overwhelming strength, they generally had no problem finishing the job as there simply isn't the kind of instantaneous travel away like hyperspace in the real world, nor other planets to run to in order to allow the use of full mass-destruction weaponry without fear of devastating the exterminating nation as well. The situation is therefore a unique set of conditions that I am not aware has ever existed on Earth, and that makes any historical examples limited in how well they could illustrate the full impact of such an event on a people's attitudes. All we can do is look at similar past events, note what that tends to do towards people's attitudes towards those who have wronged them, and speculate on 'what if this group of people could completely and instantly isolate themselves from their persecutors and the outside world, and have the means to rebuild where they were?'. The Crusades were an example of an action of one theocracy against another over a thousand years ago that reverberates even today among those who had nothing personally to do with it but have had the attitudes handed down to them through tradition and family accounts, but the nations involved still had continuous contact up until the current day, so the effects have been altered and mitigated by subsequent events. About the only similar situation to what the Sith went through is the average citizen of North Korea and their attitudes towards the West. This is also limited, though, because even in their isolation, they still have limited contact through pirate broadcasts and the occasional visitor from outside. And, as to the issue of the conflict between the TOR Timeline videos and the Tales of the Jedi, I would say the weight of which account is true within the context of the situation in the game is the events as depicted from the source in the game rather than a comic book story that was written for a very different audience. If someone wants to debate the game situation, you have to use the game history, as that has precedence over non-game material in matters dealing with the events in-game when a conflict exists.

From the official transcript (most relevant point underlined for clarity) "IT WAS AT THIS MOMENT THE REPUBLIC MADE WHAT MIGHT NOW BE CONSIDERED A MISTAKE: THE SITH NO LONGER POSED A THREAT TO THE REPUBLIC, BUT THE SUPREME CHANCELLOR WAS UNSATISFIED. JEDI AND REPUBLIC FORCES WERE SENT TO KORRIBAN AND OTHER SITH PLANETS TO ENSURE NO REMNANTS OF THE SITH EMPIRE REMAINED. IT WAS THIS ACTION WHICH DROVE THE SURVIVING SITH TO FLEE INTO DEEP SPACE WITH THE NEW DARK LORD WHO ROSE TO TAKE NAGA SADOW’S PLACE… THE SAME DARK LORD THEY CONTINUE TO CALL ‘EMPEROR’ TO THIS DAY. I BELIEVE THIS WAS WHY HE LED HIS PEOPLE TO REBUILD THEIR CIVILIZATION ON DROMUND KAAS, AND THIS WAS WHY THEY RETURNED THIRTEEN CENTURIES LATER TO GET REVENGE AGAINST THE REPUBLIC. ONE MUST WONDER HOW THINGS MIGHT HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT IF THE REPUBLIC HAD HANDLED THE END OF THE GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR DIFFERENTLY… WE MUSTN'T FORGET, THOUGH, THE CONFLICT AT THE HEART OF THE GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR AND THE WAR WE FIGHT TODAY BEGAN EVEN BEFORE THE SITH EMPIRE ROSE TO POWER. I’LL ELABORATE IN THE NEXT HOLO-RECORD." So, even while Master Gnost-Dural is having second thoughts on what has been long thought of by the Jedi and Republic as the right and proper actions in the past, he is qualifying his answer by his view that both the current war and the slaughter during the Great Hyperspace War were only continuations of the original conflict between the Jedi Council and the Dark Jedi, and not necessarily morally wrong, just that the Great Hyperspace War was ended by decisions that were politically and socially a strategic mistake. Also, should you think to argue it wasn't a slaughter, you can refer to this: Relevant portion of the transcript: "AS A CHILD, VAIKAN WAS ONE OF THE FEW HUNDRED SURVIVORS WHO FLED THE CARNAGE ON KORRIBAN AT THE END OF THE GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR. " So we know that the Jedi sent forces to enact the decision of the Chancellor alongside Republic forces and that decision was carnage. In no way is there any evidence the Jedi regretted or had second thoughts about their decision until many centuries after, and that more a miscalculation than actual wrongness. First off, I hope you don't take my comments to be insulting. My intent is to illustrate what the situation is, and that not every culture and nation has the same attitudes about the past being unimportant as some Western cultures that may be all the readers here know, not to show disrespect on people based on where they are or have come from in the world. That said, if I went into a marketplace in Tehran or Kandahar and shouted to everyone there that I thought the Crusaders were the best people in the world who had done great things, what do you think would happen to me? And would that be very different anyplace else in that region? That aside, your argument about the Republic not knowing about the Sith therefore being proof that the Sith could not believe the Republic wanted to exterminate them is flawed. Just because the Republic forgot about what they did does not mean the -Sith- did, and the isolation the Sith were in would only keep the Sith from learning anything but what they already did (which happened to be that the last time they were in a position to rely on the mercy and tolerance of the Republic and Jedi, they were all but exterminated to the last infant). Indeed, the Republic's actions since have not proven they at all consider co-existence with the Empire to be possible, nor have the Jedi made offers of reconciliation towards the Sith. The only thing to date has been the temporary cease-fire during the Revan crisis, and that was largely kept secret by both sides because they -knew- the vast majority of Republic, Sith, Jedi, and Imperial people want nothing more than to see the other wiped out at this point. In short, nothing has changed, despite what some would like to believe. The Republic will, by all indications, still repeat their previous actions if given the opportunity to do so.

Hmm...where did this come from? The history recording of that incident was clear that, while it was the Chancellor of the Republic who pushed for the extermination, the Jedi and Republic forces both conducted the action in tandem. In fact, there is no indication the Jedi at the time opposed it at all. It was only after the first re-appearance of the Empire, and when the Jedi launched an investigation into the history they had largely forgotten that Master Gnost-Dural formulated the opinion that the attempted genocide had been a mistake (note: not wrong, but a strategic/political mistake). This was a new opinion, and not one that was held by the Jedi up to that point, so it seems the idea they opposed it and don't share an equal blame for it is in contradiction to the evidence I've seen. Is there some other credible source of information on this event beyond the history record of the incident that indicates it isn't accurate on this point? If you aren't up on current events, I suggest you look at the situations in the Middle East. And, being determined to take pre-emptive action against a nation you know wants to exterminate you isn't necessarily about fear but about prudent acknowledgement that leaving such a group of people alone is not a responsible option. I bring this up because, politics aside, there -are- many nations in this world who don't have the concept that the passage of time matters very much at all when dealing with what they see as past wrongs. Perhaps not where you have grown up, but I assure you that there are nations whose people have -very- long memories and consider the acts done to their ancestors to be acts against themselves. Why would it be different elsewhere in the universe where humans and human-like alien cultures are involved?

Warning: Long post ahead. Skip to the end if you want a simple one-paragraph summation. The issues involved in this are actually partly a breakdown on the part of the Devs, and partly the result of Lucasfilm having controlling authority in how the Empire and Republic are realized in the game. The simplification that the Republic was good and the Empire evil was something I believe was insisted on by Lucas, and probably intended to keep the game understandable to the wider playerbase who didn't want to think about the worlds they were playing in, but just have simple and established 'good guys' and 'bad guys' so they could get on with shooting things. At the same time, the premise by the Devs before the game was opened that the Empire was a meritocracy where anyone could earn a place if their performance was sufficient to the task was dropped in favor of playing the Sith as all childish egoists drunk on their power, making very obvious mistakes in both tactics and their dealings with their people, and the Empire as a place of incompetent, self-seeking officials ready to stab each other in the back to step up the promotion ladder. This all ruined what should have been a much more interesting situation, and one that actually would have been closer to both common sense and the accepted situation within the Star Wars universe. The simple truth is that no one will support a system if it doesn't have something worth their support, and no government can endure or even function without the support of its people. Force only works in the short-term, and only as long as you can watch everyone. For any State to work well enough to function, the people have to believe in it and accept it for their own reasons. The Republic ultimately fell in the movies because the people -wanted- it to fall and voted it into the Empire. The Jedi Order ultimately fell because its own members no longer believed in keeping their own codes, which opened one critical Jedi to doubt and conviction that the Order was wrong. In truth, the Empire and Republic, along with the Jedi and the Sith, represent opposing viewpoints that can each be good or evil. The Republic represents complete freedom, the supreme right of the individual to do as they please, and the free acquisition of wealth to whatever an individual can achieve. Individual worlds are sovereign, with the Republic being required to be given permission to intervene in their affairs, and neighboring worlds to one in distress being completely free to help or ignore the plight of that world as they please (hense the situation of Naboo many centuries from the timeline of the game). The Republic is a confederacy where everyone is expected to respect the right of the individual over the whole, and planets that don't like what the Republic directs them to do can simply succeed and no longer have to accept those directives. The Empire represents complete order, the supreme right of the State to govern the individual and their actions, and the central control and distribution of resources to all of its citizens. Individual worlds are subservient to the Empire as a whole, and what affects one world affects all. An Imperial world in distress is one all of its neighbors -must- aid, because the needs of the Empire overrule their own desires, and the Empire will enforce this cooperation if it is not voluntarily forthcoming because to do otherwise harms the Empire as a whole. Worlds are not free to choose if they want to follow Imperial rule or not...they will follow all Imperial laws and directives or answer for their disregard of their pledges of loyalty. Citizens likewise are expected to sacrifice their own desires and profit for the good of the Empire. The Sith represent complete freedom of action and emotion, the desire of the individual over the constraints of law and order. To a Sith, if one is not controlled, then one can do as one pleases to the limit of their power and without concern for being held to account to anyone but themselves. If one is controlled, then it is a matter to either accept that control willingly as an individual choice, or plot to eventually escape that control. The Jedi represent selfless service and the submission of the individual and their emotions to the needs of others. Law and order are of paramount importance to a Jedi, both without and within themselves, and emotion is something to be suppressed or even removed entirely. A Jedi willingly accepts their place as servants of the Force and others around them, and never seeks to leave that service because that is what they believe is their place. To a Jedi, one is always accountable to those around them, and action is never to be taken for the benefit of themselves. Because of these extreme positions, direct conflict is all but inevitable. And, each has the openings to allow corruption and those with only base interests and motivations to use them as tools of their ambitions. Republic forces that wipe out entire worlds with the express purpose of ensuring not a single man, woman, or child escapes (the attack that ended the Great Hyperspace War is one such example), Imperial forces that slaughter helpless populations in order to remove an uprising, Jedi who believe only they have the wisdom and power to save the galaxy and will stop at nothing to obtain it for the good of all, Sith who plot intricate intrigues that cost countless innocent lives merely for some amusement....all are just examples of some ways evil finds a home in all of them. So, with all that in mind, the question the OP asked is not as simple as it seems. Yes, there are those who play Imperial characters who -do- consider the Empire the 'good guys', the ideal of ordered society where every world stands with all of those of its nation, and where every citizen is provided according to their contribution to the Empire. Where selfless service is the ideal, where the law on Dromund Kaas is the same law as on Ilum, and where a world in danger knows the entire Empire will come to its aid. None of which is true of the Republic. If this seems at odds with what you think the Empire is, then all I can say is that is the most complete proof of just how badly the Devs and Lucasfilm crippled what the Empire was supposed to be in the name of making it comfortable for simplistic gamers and children to understand. No one would support the Empire if it were only as they depict it, and there is no way it could function if the only thing holding every....single....Imperial....citizen....on... every...planet....in...the...galaxy...to their duty was fear. Only dedication allows an Empire to function, and the only hint of that dedication is buried to almost unnoticeable levels in the Agent storyline. This despite the very defining text of the Agent's class description including the line 'These are the people the Agent risks everything to protect'. Not the Jedi, nor the Trooper, nor the Smuggler include any mention of sacrificing to protect others....only the -Imperial- Agent. As a last consideration, note that, in fact, the ideals of the Empire and Jedi actually match themselves fairly well, and the Sith and Republic also share more values than the organizations they are supposedly attached to. An Imperial Officer and Jedi both would see no problems sacrificing themselves for the sake of their organizations, while a Republic Senator and Sith would both consider the idea ridiculous. Also, while the Jedi homeworld is a lush world of life as is the capitol of the Empire, both the Sith homeworld and the capitol of the Republic are worlds scoured of life and rendered barren by the very powers that dominate them. One has to wonder what that says about each. tldr: The Empire can very well be seen as the 'good guys' and for good reasons. However, these reasons are only apparent if one wants to look beyond the surface for them. The Republic, in fact, has quite a bit that suggests it might be the 'bad guys' in certain lights. The Devs and Lucasfilm, however, want the game as simple as possible and have ignored these in favor of only portraying an uncomplicated children's idea of 'good Republic/bad Empire'.