Really? I find it working quite well actually. Guess it comes down to a matter of taste, though.

For me it has always worked fully for the entire duration (read until the white bar has completely depleted) on everything CC but roots and snares, so I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about on it not working. I don't get stunned, mezzed or knocked back at all while it's up. :/ However, the stun/mezz/knockback that actually fills your bar completely of course still has the entire duration of it working, just not any of it after. To be on topic, I'd like them to add some utility skills to Merc/Commando

HiB/Rail Shot is indeed considered a Ranged type attack (you can look up what type it is in the ability window list, says on the right side of each ability) and as such uses the same accuracy as melee attacks (aka the 'normal' accuracy). p.s. HiB/Rail shot can still miss even with 100% if someone's defense roll (which could be quite high) works, it just won't happen as often (5% less to be exact) as when you have 95%. e.a. 100% accuracy vs 15% defense = 85% chance to hit with it.

Just... wow! I was thinking of making a similar image but with all my alts from my legacy instead of the companions. I have to say you sure gave me motivation to get that one started.

It's indeed intended. I guess BioWare doesn't want you running around looking like a (semi-)pro pvp'er without the rank to prove it (since those schematics are really just the skin only).

I'll admit, before I had my own marauder and saw someone pull this off I also became (wrongly) suspicious of the Mara moving so darn fast. Now? - I'm loving it on my own Marauder. xD But yeah, it's probably indeed a lack of knowledge of the class talents causing it. And because I made the same mistake I usually explain the mechanics gladly to others who do accuse me of it.

Not entirely true. If you want to know what type your attacks are, open up the ability window and it should say what type they are on the right side of each ability. I am not sure about the skill names of a Gun Slinger, but I know on my sniper abilities like Ambush (= aimed shot on GS?) and such are also considered "ranged" and as such are affected by the same accuracy as your basic attack Basically Melee and Ranged attack types (remember you can look up the types of each ability in the ability window) use the normal accuracy and Tech and Force attacks use that special accuracy you mentioned.

My male Marauder is called "Elendus". Of course this is in the tradition of a word based on something bad (the Dutch word for misery, "elende") with the addition of -us behind it. It was kind of inspired on the fact that "Vader" is the exact way "father" is written in Dutch. But I didn't want to make it too obvious for any Dutch players I may encounter by leaving it as "Elende", so I added the traditional -us behind it. Now I just got to come up with a nice real name for him, being on an RP-server and all. >.<

The thing to remember though is that shielding and defense only works against Melee and Ranged attack types. While most mobs in the game heavily rely on this, player classes do so much less. The only classes that rely primarily on it are the JK/SW advance classes (melee) and the Gunslinger/Sniper class (ranged). The thing that initially got me confused on my Shadow into taking full tank gear, is that I recall reading a dev saying damage you recieve through guarding has the tank's own defensive rolls applied to it. I assumed he was refering to both shielding and defense. Shielding and Defense would become a very good stat for a tank if it did since damage taken via guarding is considered either Melee or Ranged type (white damage in any case). However, when I tested this extensively, by having a friend of mine hit my guarded player over and over with the auto attack and always having kinetic ward up, I discovered that in about 300 attacks not a single charge of kinectic ward was lost. I also took a look at the damage and it pretty much remained constant. Anyways, to me it seems in most shadows for the sake of guarding someone will purely have high HP and then go all the way into cranking up the damage output they can do. After all, you can guard someone best in the end if you kill their attacker.

^This. Right-clicking isn't defaulted to the 'auto attack' but to the first slot on your first ability quickbar (with no way to change this btw).

I would imagine he is, I know I certainly am. It's the only Mara chestpiece that doesn't make you look like a vader-wannabe.

Auch, if that is true BW made a lore-booboo. ^^;

And then be in a guild named <Can't Touch This> huh?

I once stumbled upon a Scoundrel named Larry McSwagger, gave me quite the giggles. Also I distantly recall a guild named <Going Gay for McGuyver> which probably was censored later on .xD

That's basically what I was trying to say with the addition of me wanting to point out that people slowly seemed to regress into insulting each other or feeling insulted personally rather then staying on (civilized) topic. But I was also agreeing with the OP for pointing out this game can do with something that does requires me to work for it without feeling dull (aka: is fun). As you say that is not how it is in this game, but I am certainly not feeling insulted like some on here seem to be for this being pointed out. The OP is not trying to insult or devalue the achievements of those that have worked for their gear, but he is being treated as such even though in the end both OP and responder want to have the same; namely a fun and fulfilling game experience through respectful competitiveness. Now I know in this world banthoo poodoo happens and then you die, but I was kinda hoping we can all realize this is a game meant for fun we're talking about. If I want to have fulfillment from the road to accomplishing something, I'll pick something more intense like my rowing training or everything I am learning for my study of interdisciplinary social sciences because these two tend to be a bit more real life changing and identifying then a game I'm playing for fun. Of course, I'm fairly sure what people consider 'fun' can differ vastly among us all with nothing being set in stone. Therefor I would like to say my personal definition should not be considered presented as fact and I'm not trying to insult anyone here. I would just like to point out to all in this thread to keep the unnecessary negativity out of this thread (when did it ever produce something good anyway?) and start responding from an understanding and positive point of view.

I think the point the OP is trying to make is more along the lines of wanting to be beaten by someone with better skills, not a better car. I don't think the OP is disregarding all the effort people have gone through to get the WH gear with full augments at all. But what he actually is saying is that currently the difference in gear is like comparing racing on a scooter against a fully fledged Ferrari sports car , if you'll forgive me the exaggeration. My personal experience regarding this *ahum* problem is from fighting on my BM geared shadow against my equally skilled and long time friend also as a shadow in the exact same spec, but with WH augmented gear. Every single time he just came out on top with about 2k-5k HP left even if I did not make a single mistake in my attacks and I managed to surprise him. Then we both switched to the same recruit gear and tried out the combat, and it basically turned into a victory for the person who was able to throw the first punch. xD Anyway, the reality of this game is in order to be competitive you need to have the WH gear. That is a choice BW made and there is little to do about it but accept it. However, the point the OP is trying to make I think (and to which I can agree to), is that people get 'burned out' on the gear grind (talking mainly BM to WH+augments here) before being able to reach the really competitive scene. I applaud the people who were able to endure this period of being less to not competitive, especially back in the old days where you had to rely on RNG for your PvP gear (bloody champ/BM comms! >.<) However, I think I speak for all PvP'ers when I say the best games played are the ones where you truly are competitive, no? The games where you can truly say 'good game', not only to yourself and your team, but to your opponents as well. Why is it so bad for some of the responders in this thread that the OP wishes to have these kinds of games - is this not what we all want in the end? Therefor I suggest we move to point of focus in this thread towards finding a solution to the 'lesser' period of grinding, which BW most likely only implemented to increase subscription time and is rather old school solution to said increase of subscription time anyway. Let's move away from insulting each other because we take things a bit too personal because of some unwritten part of this game having become part of our personal identity (read: things currently present in this game not being agreed upon being taken as a personal insult). No more "people who use 'earn' just want to outgear, not outskill others" and no more "Go play GW2 if you want a free ride". We're all on the same side, and we all want to have fun in the end. So let's realise that this an aspect we all have in common and is the most important one to have in common to begin with.

As far as I know it prevents aging. However, for your story, I am not sure if carbonite freezing was around 500 years ago in SWTOR era though. If I read the codex entry on carbonite freezing it says it's a rather new development.

Thanks a lot for this information! I'll be looking forward to finally hearing where the pants drop. xD Even though in 1.2 "match to chest" was introduce, it seems the wrong colorscheme is used (which you can see mostly at the armor that sticks out underneath the belt). I've been running my Guardian in this armor for like months now, and I really like the worn down look of it as opposed to the Jedi Battlelord set (of which I haven't seen the chestpiece on the GTN for like months).

As far as I'm aware there's no such penalty in this game. Happy playing!

Have you been moving your abilites around on your abilitybars? Rightclick isn't defaulted to attacking, but to the ability that is on the most left of bar #1 (aka in the first slot of your first bar). Try putting an attack ability, I recommend your simple spammable one, on there and see if it works again.

Generally having 100% regular accuracy at the 50 bracket is good enough (your special will be around 110% or so then usually). Spending more into it would mean you'd have to severely cut down on other important stats. The accuracy types refer to the attack types of all your abilities. Abilities are placed into one of four types: Melee, Ranged, Force and Tech type attacks. I'll advise you to do some reading into how attack and defense exactly work in this game, as it's quite deep actually. But for the sake of the example I'm going to give below it's enough to know that melee/ranged attack types are checked against the defense stat, which is how well you dodge/avoid. Force/Tech attack types are checked against any resistance you have. Any accuracy above 100% is deducted from the enemy's chance to avoid/resist those abilities. So say you have 105% regular accuracy and the enemy has 20% defense. This means your accuracy is 5% over 100 meaning the enemy's chance to avoid your melee or ranged attack is 15% (20% - (your 5% over 100)). There are plenty of abilities that influence these stats and knowing which attack type the enemy will use is the key to staying alive. In PvE most mobs in the game primarily use melee and ranged attacks types with an occasional force or tech attack mixed in. PvP can be a bit more complicated and I can only encourage you to look up the abilities of other classes and their types to find out how defend against them best. Hope that helps a bit. p.s. You can check what type an ability is in the ability window. It says what each ability's type is on the right.

None whatsoever sadly enough. However, it's possible to use the new 1.2 "match to chest piece" option, although this does seem to mismatch the pants color scheme wise somewhat (which is most notable in the area near the belt).

Meh, Lucasarts has been known to push for deadlines as well with abysmal results. *couch*KotOR2*cough*.

I remember when I saw it the first time. I had just bought a new monitor and was like #@^#$DEADPIXEL!!!@&%!@$* >.< Almost returned the monitor before finding out it was the game. xP

Hey deets, A keybind setup I love and have been using a while now is one as explained by Taugrim. He has written a very effective and well written guide about it at http://taugrim.com/2011/04/07/guide-to-strafing-movement-and-keybindings/. In the video of the guide he demonstrates very well why he has chosen to have his keybind the way he does and what you can do with it. He shows how you can keep mobility to the max while still using all of your abilities. The guide is especially nice because it's written from the situation where you do not have a super-deluxe mouse like a Razer Naga with extra buttons on it. Hope it helps. p.s. Based on this guide I decided to try the game without a back-peddle button and I must say in the half year or so that I've been using it, I haven't missed my back-peddle even once. I came to realize it's quite an inefficient way of getting about and avoiding enemies. And no, there is no actual auto attack. The ability being referred to is the most basic attack all classes get in the beginning which you can always use. It fulfills a similar purpose as an auto-attack without being actually automatic.