I'm a Collection Stan, so because I gained knowledge that none of these were gonna be in Collections, I immediately decided that I was gonna throw them away. Why should I bother hunting down new cosmetics if I can't even spawn them at will for an alt or in the event of an outfitter flub?

So...what are you going to do about the rewards that were in there? What about the current Season's reward? Leaving this ambiguous is not the proper move, here.

YOUR OWN STORY-DRIVEN STAR WARS SAGA. Just because there is the option to group and Guild, that doesn't mean it's the main focus. You can group for Origin Story & Eternal Empire Story missions, but nobody else will show up in the cutscenes. You can group for Planetary Story missions, but it's more efficient to do it yourself as you do your Origin Story. You can group for Post-Corellia Story, Post-Zakuul Story, & Heroic missions, but the recent addition of the system that allows you to hop into someone else's fight un-grouped and still gain rewards if they're part of your faction nullifies the need for that. You can group for Flashpoints, but most people don't unless they're using Group Finder to grind Hammer Station. You can group for Alliance Alerts, Star Fortresses, Eternal Arena, & Uprisings, but most people don't unless they're playing with friends. You need to group for Operations & Instance Bosses, but only Guilds and close friend groups do them. You need to group for PvP (Warzones, Arena, GSF), but you can do that Solo via the Activity Finder. You cannot group for Space Missions/Heroic Space Missions, because the entire system is on-rails shooting and most players have completely forgotten about it by now. NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU QUOTE THE DEVELOPERS AT ME, THAT DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT THERE IS LITTLE TO ZERO REQUIREMENT TO DO ANYTHING WITH ANYONE. GROUPING AND GUILDING IS IRRELEVANT OUTSIDE OF ONE MISSION TYPE, AND YOU CAN STILL DO THAT ALONE BY USING THE GROUP FINDER. STOP BEING A GUILD ELITIST AND ACCEPT THE FACT THAT SOME PEOPLE PREFER TO PLAY ONLINE GAMES BY THEMSELVES.

@Lenlo He's got a point. SWTOR was, is, and always will be primarily geared towards Single Player activities. It's why only 12 out of 36 Flashpoints aren't trivially Solo Swept. The first time they tried to make a storyline heavily intertwined with Ops was Dread Masters in 1.5 & 2.X, and the last time they heavily tied an Op to a storyline was Shadow of Revan in 3.X; and they haven't done it again. Likely because nobody played because the majority of SWTOR players are Solo Players. Supposedly Nature of Progress and R-4 Anomaly are part of a new Czerka arc, but I wouldn't know because I don't play Ops because I can't solo them to get the full experience on my own without dragging down 7 other people. And that's my main issue with Ops and why, if they EVER connected Ops to the Main Story like you want, they'd have to put in the effort to make 2 completely different versions - one for Solos (so they don't lose 80 - 90% of their Sub revenue), one for Guildies. And with the current size of the team, they're not gonna do that. I PROMISE you, nobody wants to be required to play an Operation in order to continue the main story. That's anti-player behavior.

Yeah, so is Temple of Sacrifice. You're not helping.

Temple of Sacrifice also had an alternative workaround added in for people like me, who have no guild to pester about playing whatever raid on a whim. So I really truly have never seen the inside of an Operation. I still have the Gods from the Machine starter quest on all three of my characters that have made it past Iokath, and I've completely ignored the Dread Master arc for the same reason.

I mean...doesn't that prove my point, though? That the feature is really only useful to Guilds or other duel-focused PvP players?

Who actually does that, though? Like, honestly. I can't see that being useful to anyone other than Guilds that run private dueling tournaments; which is likely a minority even among PvP-focused guilds.

I mean yes, you're right, but I have no idea what they could do to Strongholds to make them more than just "Hey, come look at my level of creativity"/"I needed a Credit Sink". And the money thing is something I rail against all the time. Having a limit on each decoration that you then have to boost by spending obscene amounts of Cartel Coins? Nah, bro. That ain't right.

There are decorations in the game that serve as resource nodes, but they're inconsistent. Sometimes I'll go in and harvest 3, sometimes I'll harvest only one, and the entire function is on a weekly cooldown. I kinda get it, as it's a super-easy Credit farm without it, but that can easily be changed by making the vault nodes give sliced tech resources instead of Credit cases. If they could change it to either each node having it's own cooldown or having a "collect all" button that went on a weekly cooldown, that'd make it far more useful.

I don't play Ops (guildless scrub), so educate me if I'm wrong; but aren't all Ops non-cinematic? As in, do even the Oricon Ops have cutscenes to experience? Because, at least with Flashpoints, they're starting to go the way of Hammer Station again (Shrine of Silence has little-to-no story to it. It's just a glorified Heroic).

That's something I'm confused on as well, tbh. It feels like the actual developers still care about the game and want to make it better for us (I think there are still people on the current dev team that have been there since the start), but the corporate suits don't want to give them the funding needed for everything they want to do (the game is twelve years old and has no relevancy in current gaming discussion outside of it's curious longevity, so I honestly wouldn't see it as a worthwhile investment either); so they have to make small changes here and there. Because, at least from my point of view, it really does feel like they (the actual dev team) don't have the money and manpower needed to deliver more than what we're currently getting. But who knows? Like I say when talking about the 7.0 story: we're still in the middle of things, and don't have the complete picture yet. If the game can survive until 8.0, we may be able to see a larger picture than we can in the current moment. Hindsight is always clearer.

I do agree that the devs likely were forced into a few choices by money-grubbing suits at EA, and have to stand by those choices now because it's too late to change them without a massive overhaul that would take more time and money than anyone really wants. Not even just the Tech Users, I think even the Force Users should have had some competence to their dialogue. There are only a handful of choices I can recall off the top of my head that The Commander actually gets to feel like a leader. Kaliyo and Jorgan infiltrating Zakuul, a handful of semi-forced choices in the interim quests after Echoes of Oblivion, and that's about it. A great touch would have been dialogue options to use relevant experience from an Origin's 1.0 quest if applicable; even if it was just an illusion of choice. That's true. And, again, I feel like that's part of the limitations of the MMO medium over a fully Single Player experience. It's necessary to trick a player-side client into seeing the same NPC with a different skin and voice, just so your choices don't disrupt other people's experiences. I very vaguely recall killing Quinn once upon a time, because that's what makes sense for a Sith Warrior. Quinn betrayed you, and that betrayal is even worse if you romance him like I did with mine. It makes perfect sense that a Sith would kill him for his actions. But now, with how Companions have literally become another Collection item, it makes 0 sense for any of them to die (Torian or Vette; the one time where I adamantly disagree with a narrative decision). Right? At the end of the day, while I don't like that the game feels less impactful than a game that came out in 2003 (KotOR), I recognize that without major investment of time, money, and manpower that Disney/EA/Broadsword likely don't want to invest into a 12 year old game, I can at least accept that many factors far outside my control have led the game down this path.

They do need better writers, but they won't hire them because they don't have the money (why else has every update been so small?). The only thing I can say is this: Either learn to accept that it's not going to be exactly what you want/think is best, or drop the game and find another one to play for a while.

We kinda do, but ti's still got Force-undertones with Heta trying to harness the secrets of Darth Nul, and the Mandos still treat you like an outsider even if you play as a Hunter, who was made a Mandalorian by Shae's predecessor after the Great Hunt (my Hunter declined rejoining the Empire and stayed as The Commander, but I doubt it's much different from the route I didn't choose).

Imma be real with you: I honestly don't think the Zakuul Saga was the root of all of this. It's just the culmination of previous dev choices. The 8 Stories (not counting Light/Dark differences as separate stories) were funneled into 2 stories at Illum, then almost immediately funneled into 1 story at Forged Alliances (the "Prelude to Revan" Flashpoints), with barely any differences based on Origin/Faction. It's why I took a break when I got my 6 alts to Corellia (Smuggler/Hunter main). While I dont' necessarily agree with the choice to try and shoehorn the game to be more like the KotOR duology -and won't try to argue that it's what was best for the game - I can at least accept that's the choice that was made, because it's far easier to fund a single story than eight. Again, I'm not saying it was right, I'm just saying that it happened and I've personally learned to accept that. Would I love for the game to return to form? Abso-freakin'-lutely. But it's just not feasible for the devs right now. They're working as a skeleton crew that can barely afford to give us what we do have. So unless you wanna pay more sub money for a 12yo game just to fund a new split, there's really nothing for us to do except wait and see what happens. Always in motion, is the future. And many possible futures, there are.

I like your more optimistic look at it all. This is basically spot on. With the Agent's story in mind...I think it's more on the side of "I wanna see Force Users and everything they've built burn". Again, this seems pretty spot on. I'm a Smuggler main. And with Smuggler, I think it's like this: "I've survived this far. I survived Revan, I survived Ziost, and none of the other seven seem to be around, so why not? Let's save the Galaxy again. Someone has to, and we can't make money if we're all dead!" I will say that, yes, the story has always been fairly linear. Theron and Lana are the real brains behind the operation. Before them, no matter what Origin the PC is, you always just took orders. You're not a mind-bending strategist, you're a deadly weapon. That's honestly been a flaw since day one; but given the game's WoW-clone status, it's rather unavoidable.

Like, nobody disagrees. We've all known this since ver2.5 came out. Literally everything since Forged Alliances has been made solely for Knight/Warrior. Even the current Mando Civil War arc treats you like an outsider, with no mention of The Grand Champion being accepted as a Mandalorian by Shae's predecessor. The very brief "return to Pub vs Imp" in Onslaught could never last. If the devs split the story into Force Sensitive and Non-Force Sensitive, that won't last either. Why? Because they don't have the people or resources to do multiple storylines anymore. I'm fairly sure we all wish that the devs would return to 2 or 8 unique stories, but the fact of the matter is that they don't have the money to even write more than one storyline, and they don't even have the cash to fully voice anything but the most crucial cutscenes in it! Believe me, I fully understand! I even roleplayed my Smuggler and Hunter as "okay, but I don't care" in the final fight with Tenebrae because you're right! They wouldn't care! That's just the price we pay for the devs deciding to cater to Knight/Warrior players over anyone else, because that's likely what was most popular at the time, and it's too late to go back on that now! I fully agree with and share the frustration, but there's nothing any of us can do unless we somehow get hired by Broadsword to help with the writing team.

I did not know that. Interesting choice to make them full companions, then. Quite frankly, I don't really count 2V and C2 as "part of the crew". They don't have character arcs outside regrouping with them in KotFE, they don't talk about the environments you visit, and they don't have battle dialogue. The way I see them, they really are more "part of the ship" like in Vanilla. Honestly, that's for the devs to figure out (as they will have far more knowledge than we players will ever have). I disagree with this statement. Any player that sticks with a game long enough starts picking up on the nuances of gameplay fairly early on. AND, having Companions avoid those spots on the floor can be an unwritten tutorial for New Players. If, for example, a Trooper sees Jorgan run from an incoming Force Storm, it'll give the New Player the idea to do the same; thus giving them the knowledge to be wary of those kinds of "floor fields" coming from enemies. That's kinda hard, when the entire modern premise of this game is that it's a Single Player game with optional Co-Op and optional PvP. Quite frankly, if the dev team somehow chose to transition the entire project over to an Offline Single Player experience, I'd be all for it. This game would 100% work better as a true successor to KotOR than a WoW Clone. I mean, they won't. Their entire revenue stream relies on Subscriptions and Cartel Coin purchases. But if they hypothetically did, I'd be all for it. NO. The Companions are good enough as they are. I wouldn't mind them doing something like revamping the Crew Skill system, or giving us Cosmetic Armors and Weapons unique to a specific character (like how Jorgan, Mako, Vette, Kaliyo, Corso, & Qyzen get when you first go to your faction's Capital Planet). But they need to be where they are now if my proposed system is going to work. On that first option: WE SHOULD NEVER GIVE BROADSWORD THE IDEA THAT WE'D BE OKAY WITH THEM TURNING SWTOR INTO A CHEAP CRAPPY MOBILE GAME. On the second option: I'm willing to make that compromise.

For 12 years now, we've only ever had access to a single NPC Companion when wandering Non-Instanced spaces (places where you can encounter other players), so as to not lag out the game with too many NPCs moving about. A short time later, Companions had their roles unlocked, so your favorite Companion could now be your heal-bot. That's how it's been for a while, and for the most part, that's fine. In an open, Non-Instanced world space, it makes sense to limit Players to a single Companion; and at Influence Rank 50, that's really all you need. But then we get to Instanced spaces. You know the ones. You'll pass through a transparent wall (often green or blue) and your name will appear in a gold box at the top of the UI. These spaces are primarily used for Cinematic Story Moments, Flashpoints, and some Heroics. In these spaces, you will never encounter another Player, unless you invited them into a group beforehand; and some (such as during the Origin Story quests) are Solo-only (unless that changed and I never noticed). In those cases, it doesn't make sense for you to only have a single Companion; especially during the Origin Stories, where it's implied that they're supposed to be with you, but they just sit on your ship twiddling their thumbs. Wouldn't it be nice if, when you're in any Solo Instance (Story, Heroic, Flashpoint, Uprising), your full crew could join you? "But Solo Instances aren't balanced for that!" Then take the chance to up the enemy spawns to accommodate. "But Companions stand in stupid!" That's a QoL change that's been needed since the game launched. "But you're supposed to run everything as a group!" With the vast number of guides on how to gear to be a One-Man Army and the ability to buy tokens that instantly max any Companion's Influence Level, that's really not a requirement anymore. But I will admit, running anything higher than a Heroic 4 or Story Mode Flashpoint/Uprising with this proposed method would be busted. It would also allow the chance to take old side-story Flashpoints and give them a more cinematic "Story Mode" difficulty, and to disable cinematics on Veteran and Master Modes. "But having five or six healers on you would be overpowered!" I agree. And that's where we get to the main meat of how to accomplish this: strategically re-implement fixed Companion Roles specifically for the proposed feature. In Vanilla (SWTOR 1.0), the main five Companions (six if you count your ship custodian) had fixed damage roles (Two Deeps and Two Tanks, split between Melee and Ranged; and Two Healers), encouraging the Player to try different styles of play. But, when the community overwhelmingly desired efficiency of the grind over experimental playstyles, Companion Roles were unlocked; allowing you to swap any single Companion between DPS, Tank, and Heals as desired. This is the system we still use, and Companions created after this change were designed with that in mind. However, if we look at the original 42 Companions and what their roles used to be fixed at, I think we can competently sort the Companions that never had a fixed role. On that note, here is my Glossary of Terms, so we're all on the same page. DPS (Damage Per Second) = Damage Dealer; Heals = Health Recovery; Tank = Enemy Attention Grabber; Wildcard = Any of the Above; Ranged = Uses a Blaster; Melee = Uses a Lightsaber/Tech Melee. As it used to be, here is how the old Fixed Roles stacked up: DPS, Melee - Akavi Sparr, Ashara Zavros, Jaesa Wilsaam, Kira Carsen, Nadia Grell, Torian Cadera (Pre-KotFE), Vector Hylius, Sgt. Yuun DPS, Ranged - Andronikos Revel, Aric Jorgan, Field Marshall F. Rusk, Gault Rennow, Ensign Raina Temple, Risha, Torian Cadera (Post-KotFE), Vette, Zenith Heals, Melee - Gus Tuno (Post-KotFE) Heals, Ranged - 2V-R8, C2-N2, Doc, Dr. Eckard Lokin, Elara Dorne, Gus Tuno (Pre-KotFE), Mako, Malavai Quinn, Dr. Talos Drellik, Dr. Theran Cedrax Tank, Melee - Bowdarr, Broonmark, Khem Val, Qyzen Fess, SCORPIO, Scourge, Skadge, Tanno Vik Tank, Ranged - Blizz, Corso Riggs, Lt. Felix Iresso, Kaliyo Djannis, M1-4X, Lt. Pierce, T7-01, Xalek Wildcard - Player Character Going in a very rough order of acquisition/availability (with certain characters at the end of the list because of special requirements), here's how I think the following companions can be sorted: Treek (Post-Illum Cartel Bazaar purchase) - Treek has unique animations depending on her selected role, so I think she could be an effective Wildcard. However, with her personality, she could definitely be argued into being a dedicated DPS or Tank character. HK-51 (Section X Scavenger Hunt quest) - The HK line are dedicated Assassins, so making HK-51 a DPS character would make most sense. And, apparently, he used to have a special ability when in DPS stance; so this would be a great chance to bring it back. Lana Beniko (Knights of the Fallen Empire) - Lana - being a Sith Juggernaut analogue - could easily be argued into being a DPS character, and she certainly fits that role in the Solo fight against Revan on Yavin 4. But I feel her personality fits best with a Melee Heals role. Koth Vortena (Knights of the Fallen Empire) - While Koth is primarily a starship captain and helmsman, I feel Ranged DPS fits best with his personality and background. Senya Tirall (Knights of the Fallen Empire) - This is the first companion that I could see as one of two roles. With her personality and background, Senya could easily be locked into either Melee DPS or Melee Tank. HK-55 (Knights of the Fallen Empire) - Unlike HK-47 and HK-51, who are Assassins, HK-55 was built/reprogrammed by Lana to act instead as a bodyguard. I think it only makes sense, then, that he be locked into a Ranged Tank role. Theron Shan (Knights of the Fallen Empire) - Going back to the fight against Revan, Theron is obviously a stripped-down version of one of the Gunslinger Disciplines, as he uses some of the Gunslinger abilities during the Solo Yavin 4 finale; giving a solid argument to him being a Ranged DPS with mass debuff capability. However, I feel like he could easily be a Ranged Healer, given all the gadgets he has. Arcann (Knights of the Eternal Throne) - Like his mother Senya, Arcann could easily be sorted into either Melee DPS or Melee Tank; and arguments for both make sense. So it would ultimately be on the developers to figure out which was more balanced. Ak'ghal Usar (Alliance Alert Exclusive) - Usar is the same species as Khem Val, and essentially acts as an off-brand Khem Val for non-Inquisitors. Therefore, I feel he should also be a Melee Tank. Z0-0M (Shroud of Memory Reward) - Zoomy comes from the same mission that re-bestows HK-55 to you after you lose him in the story of KotFE. With her personality, and the fact that she's considered the best non-op group slot filler in the game due to her healing nukes, I feel like she should be a Ranged Heals companion. This also finishes out the trio with HK-51 and HK-55. "Deadeye" Leyta (Star Fortress Reward, Tatooine) - Based on the limited backstory and interaction we have with her, I think Ranged DPS fits best. Choza Raabat (Star Fortress Reward, Alderaan) - Based on the limited backstory and interaction we have with him, I think Melee Heals fits best. Hemdil Tre (Star Fortress Reward, Hoth) - Based on the limited backstory and interaction we have with him, I think Ranged Heals fits best. K'krohl (Star Fortress Reward, Belsavis) - Based on the limited backstory and interaction we have with him, I think Ranged Tank fits best. Rokuss (Star Fortress Reward, Voss) - Based on the limited backstory and interaction we have with him, I think Melee Tank fits best. Veeroa Denz (Star Fortress Reward, Nar Shaddaa) - Based on the limited backstory and interaction we have with her, I think Melee DPS fits best. Jakarro (Onslaught Story) - Another Companion from the Revan fight that we finally get to have in our party, I think Ranged Tank would be a good choice, considering Bowdarr is a Melee Tank. But Jakarro could easily be argued into a Ranged DPS character based on his personality. Altuur zok Adon (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Galactic Seasons 1 Companion) - Altuur's species are known to be adept spies and infiltrators, and his unique weapon from the GS1 Subscriber track was a fancy rifle, so I think he could be either Ranged DPS or Ranged Heals; like Theron Shan. Amity (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Galactic Seasons 4 Companion) - Amity is a Selonian-raised Human (because why hire a Voice Actor when you can shoe-horn in old Alien sounds?) who is a member of the pacifistic Messengers of the Cold Moon; a group of Force Sensitives who follow neither Jedi nor Sith doctrine, and instead prefer a peaceful meditative existence. With this backstory, and his unique weapon being a Tech Staff with an in-built Holoshield tuning, I feel he's best placed as a Melee Heals companion. Darth Hexid (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Retired Dark vs Light Event Reward) - There's really nothing to Hexid. She's a bloodthirsty Sith, so she's Melee DPS. Fen Zeil (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Galactic Seasons 2 Companion) - The leader of a newly rebuilt Shadow Syndicate, specializing in dual pistols, I feel he's best as a Ranged DPS character. Master Ranos (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Retired Dark vs Light Event Reward(?)) - I don't know much About Master Ranos. But given that she feels like a counterpart to Hexid, I'm going to say she's a Melee Tank. Nico Okar (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Retired Subscriber Gift) - Nico Okar is the Gunslinger seen in the "Returned" Cinematic Trailer for SWTOR back in the day. As a stand-in for a Player Character, I feel it's only right to make him Ranged DPS. PH4-LNX (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Galactic Seasons 3 Companion) - Phae, as she prefers to be called, is very obviously an Iokathian droid of similar series to SCORPIO and GEMINI (though she'll never make any comments when taken to Iokath). She was dug up and reprogrammed into a gambling odds predictor so some lowlife Hutt could cheat, and is currently used by the G.A.M.E. organization to monitor the casinos of Nar Shaddaa (thus why she speaks Huttese instead of Galactic Basic). While I could make her a Tank like her distant cousin, I think Ranged Heals would be a better option. Paxton Rall (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Retired Subscriber Gift) - This is the friendly swashbuckler you see in every Cantina across the galaxy! Being a pirate captain, Ranged DPS with a focus on debuffs seems to fit. Shae Vizla (Galactic Seasons Token Vendor/Retired Subscriber Gift) - The last of the Companions from the Revan fight, and even seen as a Player Character Powertech stand-in during the initial "Deceived" Cinematic Trailer, I think Shae fits best as either DPS or Tank. Her personality fits both. Phrojo Nuray (Nar Shaddaa Nightlife Event Reward) - Based on what little is known of him, Phrojo feels like a Ranged DPS. Gamorrean Guard (Nar Shaddaa Nightlife Event Reward) - He's straight up just a Piggy Guard like Jabba has in Return of the Jedi. Melee Tank. H2-WF (Uncommon Drop from "Traitor Among the Chiss" Flashpoint) - Based on the minuscule amount of information I'm able to find on this Droid, I think it's best to label it as a Wildcard for now. Lysslo the Geonosian (Uncommon Drop from "Hive of the Mountain Queen" Instance Boss) - Based on the minuscule amount of information I'm able to find on this thing, I'm going to label it as either Melee DPS or Melee Tank for now. Generic Cartel Market Companions (Cartel Market) - Just to cover all my bases, Generic Beasts and Generic Droids from the market are being labeled as Wildcards. With Companions sorted, we need to determine how each of these Companion Roles would behave when summoned in a Solo Instance: Ranged Tanks should focus on gathering trash mobs, and Melee DPS should focus on cleaning them up. Melee Tanks should focus on keeping the attention of enemies with the Strong, Elite, and Champion tags, and Ranged DPS should focus on burning down Strongs and Elites. Healers should focus on healing whoever has the lowest health, and when there's no healing to be done, they should help mop up trash mobs; especially enemies with the Weak tag. Every Role, regardless of assigned task, should prioritize moving out of incoming enemy AoE zones (Don't Stand In Stupid) and avoiding environmental hazards. The next task is to assign what difficulty levels of Solo Instances this feature should work in; and we first need to sort the difficulty of the game's content to judge that. How I personally sort the game's difficulty as I think it should be with this kind of system, from easiest to hardest, is as follows: Story, Side, Exploration, Daily Quests (the most basic of all content) Heroic 2+ (Includes easiest Star Fortress levels & first five rounds of Eternal Arena) Flashpoints/Uprisings, Story Mode (the "Cinematic Version") Heroic 4 (Includes Macrobinocular Questline, Seeker Droid Questline, Exarch Star Fortress levels, & last five rounds of Eternal Arena) Flashpoints/Uprisings, Veteran Mode Flashpoints/Uprisings, Master Mode World Bosses (start of 8-Player/Guild content) Operations, Story Mode (the "Cinematic Version") Instance Bosses (slightly harder World Bosses in an Instance) Operations, Master Mode Operations, Nightmare Mode With this hierarchy, my proposed system would not go above Heroic 4; because every time I mention including Instance Bosses and Story Mode Ops, people get butthurt. But more on that later. Of course, with the arrival of Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne, many things changed. Now, during cinematic story quests, you're often given a set Companion (or set of Companions) for the duration of certain missions (and now they're just Influence 25 guest characters that replace your actual Companion). I do have ideas for exceptions to the proposed system. The Solo Revan fight on Yavin 4 should remain as it is. KotFE, KotET, and the Alliance Alerts should remain as they are. The Traitor Arc (Crisis on Umbara, A Traitor Among the Chiss, Nathema Conspiracy) should stay as it is unless you've recovered HK-55. Objective Meridian should include one Heals Companion from the Player's collection. Echoes of Oblivion & Secrets of the Enclave should remain as they are. Spirit of Vengeance should remain as it is unless the player has Akavi and/or Torian available. Ruins of Nul should stay as it is. Finally, how should the team be set up? In a new tab next to the Companion Tab, have a "Team Selection" screen. On this screen, you can fill in one of each Companion Role available (DPS, Tank, Heals) (or, to be more liberal with the idea, five slots (two DPS/Tank, one Heal) to reflect the 1.0 Crew). This team then spawns in with you whenever you enter an applicable Solo Instance, and none can be altered until you leave (like how Field Respec works). Optional: Comment and tell me why my opinion on making the game's single-player more refined makes you butthurt.

Yeah, I don't use GTN much, but that sounds like the removal of Quality of Life features.

Cathar Native Language: Catharese. Chiss Native Language: Cheunh. Miraluka Native Language: Miralukese. Mirialan Native Language: Mirialan. Nautolan Native Language: Nautila. Sith Native Language: Sith. Togrutan Native Language: Togruti. Twi'lek Native Language: Twi'leki. Rattataki Native Language: Rattataki. Zabrak Native Language: Zabraki. Unless you're born on Majority Human or Hutt-dominated worlds like Coruscant or Nar Shaddaa, or are physically incapable of speaking Basic, a non-human's native language will be the native tongue of their people. Rodians are perfectly capable of physically speaking basic, and not all of them have that verbal hum. Try again. From my eye, they use the smallest Human Skeletons with alternate heads and hands. They already broke their own rules with Togrutans and Nautolans, who are completely incapable of wearing any kind of headgear. They've already crossed the rubicon, there's no going back now that any human-proportion species capable of speaking Basic is a possibility. Essentially, if it's on this list and is close enough to Humans such that there wouldn't need to be significant alterations to pre-existing assets (or is just in the game already and is capable of speaking Basic in-lore), it's viable. This includes other races like the Kel Dor, which are also in the game, are also close enough to Humans that they could wear the same gear, and are fully capable of speaking Galactic Basic, even if it'd require that a special filter be applied to the voice. They could also do Chagrians (Rusk's species). It'd just be a slight alteration of Togrutans. Mm. That's what I thought you were talking about, but wasn't sure. Yeah, I literally never bring Senya with me in that mission because it makes no narrative sense unless you're roleplaying a brute-force kind of character, and most of my characters have the capacity to see nuance.

Rodians fit the Human Size Skeleton. Rodians can wear Human Size Gear and hold Human Sized Weapons. Rodians are fully capable of fluently speaking three languages: their native Rodese, Galactic Basic, and Huttese. Rodian Player Characters, to my recollection, would not conflict with the storyline. Rodia's planetary government is often a Member of the Galactic Republic (Trooper Origin) and many Rodians have joined the Jedi Order over the years (Jedi Origins). Additionally, many Rodian individuals join the Galactic Underworld (Smuggler, Bounty Hunter) and live in Hutt Space - which lies within jurisdiction of the Sith Empire. The Sith Empire mandates that all individuals with Force Sensitivity be sent to Korriban for training (Sith, especially Inquisitor), and Imperial Intelligence had no qualms about utilizing Alien agents as disposable tools, or even agents of greater value if they proved themselves (Agent). I can't remember ever triggering that line. Under what context does it occur?

I have a Chiss Agent, I got to Illum, and I only got lines where I was treated as "alien scum" from the Moff there. Nothing about me being Chiss. The Sith Empire that we know is built on the foundation of Fallen Jedi. And a Fallen Jedi can be literally anyone. Barris Offee, Mirialan. Pong Krell, Besalisk. Ambaln, Mon Calamari. Ferren Barr, Iktotchi. Heck, my Warrior is a Cathar, which makes lore sense! The Cathar are typically staunch Republic loyalists and join the Jedi, but if you know anything at all about their historically warrior-centric culture and how many Cathar lean more towards the aggressive side of things, then you know that a Sith Cathar makes sense. SWTOR takes place in an era where if you're a Fallen Jedi, you eventually wind up as a member of the Sith Empire, assuming you aren't redeemed/assassinated first. The tale of the Inquisitor - about a lowly slave defying the odds and becoming a sitting member of the Dark Council - proves that anyone can be a Sith if you're strong enough to take the title. That's literally baked into their philosophy: Peace is a lie, there is only passion; through passion I gain strength; through strength I gain power; through power I gain victory; through victory my chains are broken; the Force shall free me. In the Sith Empire started by Darth Vitiate, the only truly accepted members are those who prove they have the strength to take what they want from society. The whole thing of treating anyone not a Pureblood or Human as second-class at best is a carryover from Palpatine's Empire; which I think is a narrative flaw. In a society ruled by the Sith, the only thing that should matter is whether or not you have the strength to take and hold your societal position, with greater favor being given to those with access to The Force. "I like you, Captain. You're a freak and I'd still help if I could." You can be anti-alien and still like an individual. Both things can be true at once. I fully understand and recognize that Alien Integration becomes a more accepted thing after Illum, heck, it was a thing BEFORE Illum. In the Agent's storyline, there's a Duros that works with Imperial Intelligence, and it's stated that II can and will utilize Aliens if they think their unique traits or outlooks could be beneficial. A completely utilitarian viewpoint, but it's there. And in terms of the moff on Illum, I need to play more because I've forgotten, but I'm fairly sure it's only him and he either dies or you have the chance to kill him. Either way, it's not brought up from Forged Alliances onward, and it might not be in Rise of the Hutt Cartel but my memory is fuzzy on that one too. Plus, why would Vitiate's Empire have anti-alien viewpoints? They revere the Sith species just as much as Humans, and have an alliance with the Chiss. Like I mentioned earlier, I feel like this is just lifted from Palpatine's Empire. But with Palpatine's Empire, it makes a little more sense. The Galactic Empire, following in the footsteps of the Republic, was far more focused on the Core and Inner Rim, which have mostly Human populations; and anti-alien sentiment was already building in the Core even during the Clone War, so Palpatine just had to capitalize on that and boom, he had another means of control. But Vitiate's Sith Empire is centered on Outer Rim worlds of Dromund Kaas, Korriban, Yavin 4 and (formerly) Ziost, which were worlds ruled over by the Sith species prior to the integration of the original Fallen Jedi and the formation of the Sith Brotherhood. There's seriously no reason for the xenophobia other than "The Empire in the original movie era was xenophobic, and we want our game to capitalize on that nostalgia as much as possible, so we're gonna do the same." Rodia is a primarily peaceful Republic world, but it wasn't always like that. The Rodians have a history of warfare and violence, leading to their species having an unusually high presence in the Underworld factions, especially as enforcers and hunters for the Hutts; likely due to Rodia's proximity to Hutt-controlled Tatooine (or the fact that Greedo was a thug in A New Hope, and that set a precedent for the next 43 years whenever someone needed miscellaneous alien gangster characters). And looking at the (admittedly vague) map of the borders set by the Treaty of Coruscant, it's likely that Rodia was on or very near the border (speaking in terms of Galactic scale), and thus a potential beachhead for the Empire; who would assume that some random, barely civilized jungle planet in the Outer Rim wouldn't be as closely watched by the Republic. Also, Hutt Space lies primarily in Imperial territory, and many Rodians live in Hutt Space. It's also highly likely that Rodians that happened to be on that side of the border would be enslaved by the Empire, assuming they weren't under the protection of the Hutt Cartels, part of the Mandalorians, or already someone's slave; leading to a good intro for a Rodian Inquisitor (who starts as a slave sent to Korriban because of an Imperial Law stating that all Force Sensitives had to be sent to Korriban for training). It's also possible that a Rodian acting as a hitman for the Hutts could potentially get an invitation to II, seeing as they had no qualms about using Aliens, and it'd actually be great to have an Alien asset on Hutta to make the deal with Nem'ro. AND, a Rodian Bounty Hunter (of which there are many) could have gotten enough skill to get the invite from Braden to join the Great Hunt. The only Origin Story that doesn't work exactly is the Warrior, but even then, that's easily solvable. Why would you deny proper training to some psycho that tore an entire platoon in half? And, realistically speaking, the Hand only asks you to join because you're one of the greatest badasses they ever had work for them. At that point in the story, you're The Empire's Wrath, Darth Nox, The Agent, or the Grand Champion of the Great Hunt - one of the Empire's greatest heroes during the cold war - on top of being the Commander of the Eternal Alliance and the one who single-handedly defeated Valkorian, Arcann, and Vaylin. Not asking you to come back "bEcAuSe YoU'rE aN aLiEn" would be the single most stupid thing they could do. On top of the meta reason of "we need a vessel to get the PC back into the Empire". Is that Lore enough for you, or should I continue?

The solo version, as it stands, is boring. You have to do a round of the Dailies that weren't integrated into the story quests, then get to the good stuff. Yes it's fast, yes the assault looks cool, but the lead-up is what's boring and needs work. No, because that's Guild content. Randos won't let you absorb the story (when it exists) and I'm Guildless. I feel like programming Companions to not stand in the stupid is perfectly feasible at this point; it's just a matter of doing it. If I'm going to be frank: I think it would be better for the devs to revisit the content from older releases to see why it worked so well (especially the story of 1.0). The current content, as it stands right now, seemingly has no rhyme or reason. Seasons is kinda trash, the main story has no currently discernible end-goal, and I hear nothing but complaints about every new Op that's put out. If anything, they should take a break from new stuff and rediscover why people originally came to the game. It'd likely help future content be better. Making Solo Instances more like KotOR, which this game is supposed to be a sequel to? That actually sounds rad, and I'd be 100% on board for not getting new content for a year if it made the entire solo experience better! Plus, we do have a system to issue commands. It's called the Temporary Ability Bar. Click a companion portrait/name, use temp bar to issue orders. If Tanks are doing their job, you should be able to do it quickly. All that's left is programming Companions to not stand in the stupid, which is something that should have been done years ago.