What you're doing is exactly measuring PPP. The amount of credits you can purchase for a dollar will be a factor in that result. There is no direct causation of dollar-gold rate and PPP (since it is one of many factors), and if you can't prove causation you only have a theory. There is correlation, but correlation itself doesn't prove anything. Measuring PPP through a CPI will be more exact because it takes into account the said dollar rate including any other factors (such as how much gold you get from a quest, how much this or that costs at the vendor). As I said, it's not wrong to take the dollar rate into account but only looking at it will not provide fruitful results. Edit: "These real world $ values already basically have everything in their respective games taken into consideration such as in game supply and demand, value of items within the game etc. etc." No, it only takes into account the supply and demand of this exact product. If everybody bought gold, this would be accurate, but it's illegal in the games and not enough people do it to be able to claim that the dollar-gold rate translates into something adjusted for what stuff costs on the auction house/GTN.

You're absolutely right that they influence the prices on GTN/AH - which is exactly why the CPI method (because it compares what you can buy per unit of currency) is better than tunnel visioning the dollar-virtual currency ration. It is of these two methods the only one that gives you data on how much each unit of currency is valued in terms of goods (and services). This is why it's used in economics. Nobody asks whether the US or Canadian dollar is worth more and tries to measure them in Moroccan dirhams. It's a bad analogy, because you can directly trade USD-CAD, which you obviously can't between to games. CPI takes into account PPP which is absolutely crucial to understand how much is "a lot" of gold in comparison to galactic credits. Here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchasing_power_parity Edit: This is actually a good discussion - it's just a shame it started off with a buttload of arrogance and attitude form certain people.

Less goldsellers = less supply = higher cost. And the dollar value does not factor how much you get per unit of currency on GTN/AH/vendors/repairs/etc.

Not if the question is the value of X amount of credits and gold in comparison to one another, because you don't buy dollars with them. Besides, you're wrong - the dollar cost could for example skyrocket if a game company pursued a policy of actively banning etc in one game but not the other. There are too many variables in goldselling supply to take in to account for, not to mention it's not related to the question. To answer the question, you must use a CPI, not an exchange rate.

:oI'm in the process of setting up a second gear set for my juggernauts (yes, plural) and it's time to go immortal. I'm going to go for tank armorings with dps mods & enhancements with fortitude augs across the board. However, I wonder about implants and earpiece. Some suggest shield/sorb and some say dps. What do you think? As far as tertiaries go I plan to go heavy crit and 1-2 enhancements accuracy. Is alacrity desirable (say, ~5%) at all? Edit: would love some ideas on utilities as well.

No, because the question was the value (how much you can purchase per unit of currency) between gold and credits, not the comparative value of those currencies and dollar. Read the OP. Setta, as embarassingly arrogant as he is, is using a flawed method of comparison (only a CPI can compare the value of the two currencies), and essentially talking about another question. The value of the dollar compared to these currencies DOES NOT answer the question that essentially states: I can buy <a certain amount of stuff> in WoW for x gold, how much credits do I need to be able to buy as much stuff in Swtor? Ie. How many credits equal the purchasing capability of X gold? Again the dollar rate doesn't help you answer this question, only a CPI does. You are answering Setta's question, not the OP's. Edit: The dollar rate is only interesting if you intend to buy dollar for your virtual currency, but you can't do that - you can only spend it in game, which is why only those factors matter. The dollar rate, then, is an abstract value that doesn't at all affect the currency's real value. Allow me to illustrate: Even if 100 gold cost 100 dollars, and 100 million credits cost 1 dollars, 100m credits would still be comparatively more, because you can buy more stuff for it: a WoW player with 100g is poor whereas an swtor player with 100 million credits is rich. Regardleas of the dollar rate.

Trooper - Human Smuggler - Definately human Jedi Knight - Human, although I would have prefered a Mon Calamari (swg memories<3) Consular - Human Warrior - Human Inquisitor - Human Bounty Hunter - Human Agent - Human

Yes - I've observed this as well, same on rage jugg when you have autocrit (not from set bonus, but from discipline) running and it's not spent on a miss/resist.

This is just a sheer lie. You don't rely on accuracy to buff anything, you rely on acc to hit. Hatred assassins rely on crit as much as most DPS do. Since 4.0 you do not, ever, skip crit. All dps since 4.0 will want a lot of crit and alacrity for PVE (all augs go into this, that aren't used for accuracy). Your observation is either incredibly faulty or just a sheer lie.

Actually, he is right. Because it is a different market altogether, with different - in this case higher - supply and demand for WoW gold than SWTOR credits, the prices will be quite different, and can not be compared thusly. The dollar-credit/gold ratio is not a scientifically valid method of comparison, again because the markets are exactly apples and oranges like the other guy said. The only scientific method at hand here is measuring a standardized basket of must-haves for a certain purpose (which we in real life do in what is called a Consumer Price Index), such as a combined basket of raid/ops consumables, repair costs, cost to modify gear (augment in SWTOR, I guess sockets and similar things in WoW) et cetera - these things should be recurring costs and not a one-off purchase like riding skill and similar. Additionally, credit/gold generation must be taken account for: How much credits/gold can you earn in a temporally defined period, and weigh this against the respective game's CPI. This is sort of what the guy you were arguing with said. Gold selling has an interesting economic feature in MMOs. Money earned from questing/looting/vendoring is essentially similar to a central bank (in the US, you call it the Federal Reserve) pumping out money into society. It is controlled as to ascertain a certain level of credit expansion and inflation. Gold sellers, however, acting against the structure of the MMO central bank (since they are not limited by available playing time and effort, which we are as we go to work, families, etc), and essentially act as if you had a third party freely extracting cash from the central bank, funnelling it to select targets in society. If this happened IRL, it would eschew the controlling capabilities of the central banks, which would not be taken kindly. Similarily, this is why they are bad for game economy: They create inflation by artificial - or rather unintended - credit expansion.

Oh yes, I know quite well what you mean. I just mean that, when a target begins to close in on low HP, that's when you start pulling out those instant LS/shocks (et cetera) - especially if you have recklessness, to maximize burst before the target either runs away, gets a heal or uses a DCD. I realize now you meant to disregard LS & shock as part of the rotation; I however didn't at first and thought you meant to disregard them completely.

Your argument is bad. You say it would change core gameplay, and I prove that it wouldn't. Then you follow up with arguments that it would be "weird". That's merely a subjective statement. My personal opinion is that there can never be enough customization. Mercs should be able to use any shooter as well. As I said, it wouldn't change any gameplay because any offhand could fill the offhand hit mechanic, just without animations. The thing is, nothing really changes here about from animations and looks. That is it - and animations itself doesn't affect mechanics or gameplay. As far as your argument about business goes, it's correct but unrelated to the question at hand. More customization means more possibilities, which means more happy players at the cost of very little - if you are a diehard trooper-blaster purist, just, you know, use a blaster. Nothing will be taken away from you.

Certainly, shock is situationally useful at best (kiting finisher etc) but not use lightning strike? I use it all the time with 4 wrath for instant cast. Especially a combo of FLeech, LS & shock/DF (if available) is a great finisher, even more so if recklessness is available. Even outside that, it still yields good damage over just using Force Lightning without spending wrath stacks. Edit: As far as gearing goes, being generally in favour if a balance of damage stats, I roll with 5 alac enhance, 5 crit enhance, 5 crit augs and rest augs in power. This yields me (in 204) 650 alac, 1015 crit and 2322 bonus force dmg. For me, this works really well.

Personally, I've only done the storyline on one out of 11 level 65s. It was fun once, but not fun enough to warrant the loss of companions, an uninhabitated ship and destroying the story context for the rest of the toons. Perhaps once all chapters have been released with the accompanied endgame it may be worthwhile. We'll see.

Are you a daft mongrel incapable of reading? I never said KOTFE was a failure - I personally don't think so - and never did I say Hutt Cartel or SoR were good expansions. I only object to the form of the story, that renders Bioware unable to ever going back to the story context that was pre-KOTFE. It's been three days into the new year and you, sir, win the dumb hat already.

Disregarding any potential debates over content or whether KOTFE is any fun or not, I think the major issue with KOTFE is that the story effectively ends the Republic-Imperial war, renders previous achievements and accomplishments null, and thus any potential coming expansion can never 'go back in time': It cannot retcon KOTFE and thus must accept that Korriban was sacked, among other things. As a grand finale of a game, ie. a game with no following expansions after, the KOTFE story might have its uses. But I believe this was too hasty. After SoR, a renewed focus on the Republic-Imperial war should have been the focal point of an expansion. This could have been achieved with content that didn't necessarily further vertical progression, but horizontal. I bet a fair few here played Baldur's Gate 2 back in the days. Remember what the term 'stronghold' meant then? Every class received a certain base of operations, if you will. Thieves received a thieves' guild, in which you could fence stuff and do missions. Fighters would receive a castle, which you built and oversaw day-to-day activites. Et cetera. This game had a perfect setup to do something similar that both would have renewed the focus on the war, while giving each class a unique context in which to do so. For instance, the SI would manage his respective ministry under the Dark Council and oversee imperial day-to-day war activities, with quests that would spring from said activites. The smuggler would perform daring smuggling runs across the planets to aid the Republic war effort (or underworld trading for his own profit), while the bounty hunter would, through a PVE (and possibly PVP) bounty system, being given opportunities to hunt such individuals down. The possibilities would be endless. Such a system would make perfect use of level sync, and it would also tie in with the conquest system (that today is a pointless distraction), effectively becoming a server-wide conquest system that would show how the cumulative war effort was coming along for either faction. Think of the war effort system in ME3, just infinately more immersive and large scale. What always struck me about finishing the original class stories, is that nothing really makes sense after that. The SI never acts as a member of the Council, the Wrath never carries out anything for the Emperor. The smuggler stops smuggling, and the agent sort of goes awol for good. After the long period of working togetherness that defined SoR, it would have been good indeed to go back to the war, and do it from your class' perspective. Alas, with KOTFE, this can never happen.

The only strategy you need to employ as a healer in solo content is to use a dps companion (I would suggest ranged so the companion stays near you since mobs will break off it and go to you), and heal it and yourself. That is prettty much it. Toss in some aoe for good measure.

How would it ruin core gameplay? Weapons are equalized in terms of stats and damage and only serve cosmetic functions (especially if you through mechanics make the offhand hits negated if the class isn't mechanically intended to use it). Absolutely nothing would change. Please tell me about why these limits exist.

If you're parsing/have really good energy levels, an overload shot isn't too bad to throw in if you're suspecting snipe might be interrupted by mechanics.

The difference is that on a real crossguard your hand rests just under it, to absord the downwards thrust of the hit. If you rest your hand on a lightsaber crossguard to absorb the downwards thrust, your hand is going to have a really bad time. That said, apparently it's not a crossguard, but an exhaust of some sort.

I see dev people

The difference for MM is significant. However outside of ops - and specifically hm+ - and dummy parses I suspect one wouldn't really notice much change unless the overall dps would start to creep down towards 70-80% of current capability. Chiefly because any pve content outside of aforementioned, and perhaps heroic SF solo, is so mind numbingly easy that even a 50% dps nerf would render it easy.

They aren't, but any fix takes time and time is measured in dollars, crowns, rubles or pound bloody sterling. I'd rather they fix MM, sort out ops and other content before putting an agent on a loading screen.

Hey people. Today I logged on and to my surprise I'm now a legendary player. I have never completed the trooper storyline, but I have an instant 60 trooper. Yesterday I didn't have the title, now I do. Thanks BW!

I don't care as long as the specs are all viable. Fix MM ; ) Smugglers > IA in terms of space swag anyways