These changes once again look great. We've come a long way since the opening of 5.9.2 on the PTS, and the devs have definitely been listening to our feedback. A few notes to point out on this latest build: More hooks are always good! Thanks! The best change would be to turn off PvP entirely in the Stronghold, and I'm sure the Devs are still working on that. But for now, this is a good temporary alternative for players that want to avoid the PvP areas in the SH. As mentioned above, this is another great way to allow players to avoid the PvP areas of the Rishi stronghold. But it's more than that. Bind Points are a long-awaited QoL feature for Strongholds, and with that said, I hope to see them implemented for the other strongholds. - In any case, the final PTS build is all-around great and much improved from the first PTS build we experienced. So Devs have definitely been listening to feedback. Of course, fingers are still crossed that the future will hold other mentioned features, like Stronghold sorting and a Toggle for the PvP Functions in the Stronghold. But even if they are forgone for this patch, what has been changed on the PTS thus far shows that BioWare has been listening. Thanks all, and looking forward to getting into the patch.

Thanks for the clarification. I was referring more so to that guy in the bar, but what you say furthers my point that we really don't see maiming/killing in the movies. Plus, it makes sense that Luke might have killed Stormtroopers. He wasn't properly trained as a Jedi, and he is more of a Rebel Soldier than a Jedi. Not that he kills that many Stormtroopers anyway.

Really glad to see you've been taking our feedback to heart and have been making changes accordingly! The remaining *hoped* changes are also amazing. Sorting strongholds is long-awaited! Turning off PvP on Rishi will be a huge correction to the complaints. And LoS decor issues have been an itchy problem. Also, I'm interested in how you're looking into key accessibility. Keys determining who can turn on/off the PvP matches will be great. It all looks really great guys. Keep up the good work.

I'm not trying to challenge you, but we really don't see it that often in the movies. In the prequel era we see the Jedi almost always fighting droids, so there really is no life taking there (probably the reason we fought so many skytroopers in the latest xpacs). The originals we see more of that between obi wan and luke, but at that point the Jedi are broken and in kind of a "desperate times call for desperate measures" scenario. Though your theory about the slow corruption of the order can still apply, saying that in the TOR era your character is still harmlessly subduing them, while by the time of the movies they are more careless and less concerned with maiming.

Okay, let me just start off by saying I get it. You were really looking forward to a Rishi stronghold and the one they're giving players isn't what you had in mind, and is thus a disappointment. But it is a disappointment for you. Please refrain from saying that the Rishi stronghold ONLY caters to PvP players. Because that's just not accurate. Maybe you're not a big fan of it. Maybe you found a bunch of people who agree with you. But please stop speaking like you represent the entire non-PvP community of the game as if everyone that's not a PvPer is dissatisfied with this stronghold. And it's not just you, so I hope you don't feel like I'm attacking you. There have been plenty of people in this thread and others that have jumped to that same conclusion. The stronghold is definitely not perfect. The issue of PvP Zones dismounting and dis-companioning is a valid point. As is the numerous trash heaps. But that is no reason to say that all decorators don't like this stronghold whatsoever. I for one enjoy it very much, and I could care less about the PvP aspects. Like I said before, there are problems that I hope to see fixed by launch, but this stronghold is well beyond what I was expecting and personally I have to applaud the devs, because I think this is a very nice stronghold. And please don't try to tell me I'm in the minority in feeling that way. In this thread, maybe, but I have seen many forms of high approval of the stronghold. I point to the SWTOR reddit and Swtorista's stronghold tour as evidence. Again, I get it that you're not a fan of this stronghold. Maybe the aesthetic is off, or the PvP aspects are just too jarring, or you just had something else in mind and anything different was bound to disappoint. That's fine. But please please please do not act like you speak for everyone else that doesn't do PvP by saying that this stronghold ONLY works for PvP players.

Charles has noted before that he likes to leave these kind of choices open-ended as long as possible before introducing a mechanic that basically nullifies the choice. That said, I don't expect them to offer a specific canon choice. As for the many NPC deaths on Nathema, I suspect that one of the reasons for it was BioWare "clearing the board", or so to speak. Some characters were killed justifiably to wrap up some loose ends, while others were unfortunately killed off that I would have loved to see more of in-game. But their potential death and class specificity makes them unlikely contenders going forward. Regardless of how you feel about the many deaths on Nathema, they do undeniably make room for other returning characters (Darth Jadus, Vowrawn, Moff Pyron, Jonas Balker, Satele Shan, Rogun the Butcher, Minister of Intelligence, etc.) while also leaving plenty of room for new characters. We can fully expect to see a new cast of companions now that Lana and T7 are really the only ones that are 100% still with us. TL;DR: The deaths on Nathema likely won't be rectified and were implemented to make room for characters new and old in the expansion.

Thanks Charles for popping in and saying something! Everyone is excited now

Obviously it's not a huge deal, but... yeah, I definitely noticed this when I first played through, and did sort of bug me. But I am the kind of person that gets bugged with the little things. Like when Companions don't talk when you right-click on them, or Companions that should be customizable but remain static in their gear options (*cough* Nico!). But again, these are just the small details that bug people like you or me. BioWare does sometimes surprise me and fix the small issues like these, but it's not something I'd have high expectations for.

I agree, I wish we got to play more of the "Galactic Ruler" role that they had built up so much. I mean, we got a little bit of that feeling with changing the direction of the War for Iokath in 5.2. But they didn't really carry that over to the remainder of the Fractured Alliances storyline. For Umbara, Copero, and Nathema, you're pushed back into the role of this military agent that is responsible for getting things done, instead using your army/fleet to invade the various planets and hunt down your enemies, as we did on Iokath. So in essence, this is for the best, as it will make the stories all-around more logical. Overall, though, this is another example of BioWare listening to the vocal parts of the community. We saw this before when the devs gave up the monthly Chapter approach and concluded the Zakuul storyline with the nine Eternal Throne chapters, instead of the intended twenty-five. Now we're seeing it again here, as the most vocal elements of the community have called for a change to the leadership role our character is in, as well as a return to the Republic v Empire storyline. While I personally enjoyed the Zakuul elements a lot, I am looking forward to see what they can do with an entire expansion that focuses on the Imp v Pub conflict. The past major xpacs have all dealt with third party enemies (Hutts, Revanites, Zakuulans) so it should be interesting with how they choose to proceed with the new storyline.

Darth Jadus would be epic!

Although the game forces you to "Kill" certain enemies in certain areas, it's never explicitly said that they're dead. Maybe your character is just subduing them or knocking them out? A good example of this is the Blood Hunt mission in Shadow of Revan. Going through the Flashpoint, you defeat a bunch of Mandalorian enemies, two of which make up the second boss (the Beroyas). But did your character actually kill all those Mandos? Nope. At the end of the Flashpoint, we receive a cutscene where all the Mandos we defeated come limping into Shae's arena. They're injured, but definitely still alive. This survival is double-confirmed by the fact that we later see Mandos like the Beroyas show up in KOTFE. So with that in mind, my head canon (at least for Light Side Jedi characters) is that my characters are subduing enemy grunts rather than killing them.

Interestingly, the original RotHC state of the galaxy article was framed as an intelligence update compiled by the Shroud. While the State of the Galaxy itself would be a big plus, I'm actually quite curious to see how they'd frame it this time, now that the Shroud is (supposedly) out of commission.

Like others have said, I wouldn't expect BioWare to go and declare any of the player choices as THE definitive choice. Though that doesn't mean a "State of the Galaxy" article is impossible. Far from it. Based on how Lana approaches the matter at the end of Fractures Alliances, the Republic and Empire are heating up for war again, but neither side really has a distinct advantage. Even with the Iokath choice and its ripple effects, it seems both factions are still capable of waging war with each other. That said, there is definitely room to talk about the different elements of the factions without directly referencing their leaders. I'd love for information on if the Dark Council still exists, and if so, in what form? Same goes for the Jedi Council. The Jedi Order is easily the biggest unknown from the Zakuul storyline, with only vague references from Satele and Ranos that the Jedi were defeated and scattered. Would be nice to give an update on where they are with rebuilding now that Zakuul is gone. Then there's also the SIS and Sith Intelligence which would be great topics for elaboration. There is also a place for the smaller factions in the update. The Hutt Cartel has been on the back burner ever since Rise of the Hutt Cartel. The only thing we heard about them is that they offered Darvannis as tribute to Zakuul to avoid the Eternal Fleet's path of destruction. Another great area to explore would be the Mandalorians. Do they still follow Shae Vizla? Were they among the factions that stayed loyal to the Alliance? So much material there. Then there's the Chiss, who are a bit more complicated, given that they could be in the midst of a political war based on how Copero was handled. The things we don't really need an update on are the Alliance and Zakuul. The ending mail and codex summed them up rather nicely. Zakuul, regardless of you being super nice or super cruel, opts out of the Alliance. This is probably BioWare's definitive way of telling us "the Zakuul story ends here folks", also likely meaning an end to seeing Skytroopers, Knights, Scions, and Zakuulan companions (Koth, Senya, Arcann) in the story. Then there's the Alliance, which we know has massively downscaled but still maintains enough of a military to crew a small fleet and patrol Odessen and a number of other worlds in Wild Space. Not too much to expand on there. All in all, a state of the galaxy would be great, just to give an update on the Empire and Republic while also making reference to the status of the smaller factions. Not just the point that there's a resource crisis. We've known that much for a while. We want to hear about the factions.

It seems the consensus of the vocal majority is... 1. Add a setting to remove PvP functions. This would stop players from losing their mounts/companions upon entering PvP zones, and you wouldn't see the glaring flashes of "You are now entering a PvP Zone!" BioWare did definitely attempt to do this, one example being that you're not stuck with the Huttball arena and have the freedom to change that hook layout. But it seems a setting change would go a long way, ideally something that was easy to toggle, like the function that shows/hides your stronghold from the public listings. 2. Replace Trash Piles with hooks. Many find the number of pre-placed trash piles to go against their personal decorating ideas. The popular solution is that the junk heaps are removed from all the strongholds and replaced with hooks. That way, those who like the junkyard/hideout feel could always add new junk decors to keep that image, while players who would prefer the look of a "cleaner" stronghold have a greater ability to change that image.

It is unfortunate. Nico was one of my favorite characters from the launch trailers and I'm thrilled to have him as a companion. I just can't get over the gear he wears. It's not good enough for THE LEGENDARY GUNSLINGER!

It does look more like the pictures on Dulfy are the images that would be in place for the decorations if they became direct sale items. Though I personally would love for them to do something similar to what they did with personal/guild stronghold items. Where if you have one of a specific decoration, you can buy infinite copies for your guild. Would be nice to have this function for my own collection, but I'm not expecting it.

At this point BioWare won't make any dramatic changes to any of the existing Strongholds. The closest you can get with Rishi is more hooks (though they might give in to removing some of the trash piles as that shouldn't be severely difficult). As for making a second Rishi stronghold... I wouldn't count on it. I wouldn't even expect something similar like Rakata Prime. A common trend in the strongholds is that each one is a very different biome/environment. Dromund Kaas had the conventional cityscape, Coruscant was the futuristic cityscape, Nar Shaddaa had the industrial sector, Tatooine was sand, Yavin was Jungles, Manaan was water, Umbara was just... alien. And now Rishi is the beach front. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the reason we haven't seen an Alderaan/Voss stronghold like many have asked for. The "large structure surrounded by grasslands" category is already occupied by Yavin. Of course, if the game keeps going with Strongholds then we're going to get repeats eventually, but for now they still have some other biomes they'd want to introduce to capitalize on diversity. Hoth/Ilum makes sense next to get that snow stronghold. Possibly a Makeb/Kuat stronghold for the Mesa environment. And if they really want to diversify, maybe even Oricon... I mean, you you can't get much more distinct than lava. Though just to emphasize, I'm not saying that I or any other player is against second Rishi or Rakata Prime. I'm just looking at the patterns and it doesn't seem that kind of stronghold will be in the cards for a while now.

As the title says, I think we should be given the choice to customize Nico's outfit. Many of the other new companions were given this option (Lana, Koth, Theron, Shae) so Nico's change is a bit overdue. Please and thank you

1. I would disagree and say the cutscenes were beautiful. Say what you will about the story, but the quality of the cutscenes in the xpacs are superior to anything that came before. Though I will agree that the combat was lacking a bit. Most of the fights were uninteresting and just killing wave after wave or group after group. There were some good fights like Arcann, Vaylin, Valkorion, and fighting as the Iokath droid, but a lot was still grindy. 2. While the Star Fortresses are too repetitive for my taste, they are meant to be pieces of content that you don't have to complete for the story. Like Operations, they're simply tie-in harder forms of content that share details with the main story but do not really have an influence. So you shouldn't feel like you have to complete them and can willingly skip them if they feel like a chore. So I disagree with your point. 3. I would agree with you back in early KOTFE. They forced companions on us like Jorgan and Kaliyo. Kaliyo was a sociopath that many of my Lighter toons would object to inviting to the Alliance. And my Darker/Authoritative toons would have a big issue with Jorgan following his own agenda in his Chapter and would be reluctant to invite him. However, by the end of KOTET, many of the potential companions can be removed. The aforementioned Kaliyo and Jorgan, as well as Koth, Senya, Arcann, Vette, and Torian. Eventually, Theron too. I get that there are some who are tired of Lana, but it's understandable that the devs need some recurring companions to keep progressing the story further. If it's any consolation, it does sound like Lana may be swept aside by new characters in the upcoming story. 4. I will agree gladly with this point. Story missions were nice. Not only did they help with world-building, but they also came with many areas to explore on the new planets. Zakuul, Odessen, and Darvannis are so closed off with the areas available. It seems Alliance missions were introduced to take their place, and they did accomplish the world-building aspect of exploratory missions. But still, they were jarring because they were all in old areas and had that lack of dialogue. So going further, I do hope to see a more traditional open world experience with exploratory missions. 5. BioWare did introduce difficulty levels to Chapters. so you can challenge yourself for more satisfying victories. Though personally I think they did a poor job balancing them. Veteran should be easier than what it is, but in some cases it's so difficult that there's hardly a difference between it and Master mode (Looking at you KOTET Chapter 2).

I understand your frustration, but just like Operations before them, these difficult collections of content are not intricate to the story. Nothing says you have to do them at all. Like you said, there are plenty of other quests to do instead, plus the main story doesn't change based on whether you do the Star Fortress or Eternal Championship. I get that you feel like you should be able to get these things done, but they're just like Master Mode Flashpoints and Operations, in that they're specifically designed to make you take time to gear up and prepare for the content so that you can complete it.

The replies already cover it. Your entire current crew will disappear early on in the Fallen Empire expansion, though they will be replaced very quickly by a new cast of characters. As you play through Fallen Empire, Eternal Throne, and Alliance missions, you will see many (if not all) of your old companions return. So you will get most back (unless you're a Jedi class), but it will take some time to widdle through all the associated content. In the meantime though you will have plenty of other new companions that you may or may not prefer over your originals.

Maybe not as good of a deal as you or others in this chat, but I once saw and bought a Nihilus mask for 150k when it should have been 15 mil. So yay me

/signed +1 Like OP says, there should be a way to favorite up to four Stronghold so that they appear on our first page.

Exactly. This is visible as you can properly preview any gear on Nico.