This game has been in-development as a "theme park" styled MMO since long before beta. It was never going to be sandbox. It was never touted as being Star Wars Galaxies 2. It was not made to kill WoW or replace SWG. It is it's own entity. Stop trying to make TOR into SWG2. That game died, let it go. Sandbox games seem to be undesirable to companies as of late, I'd guess that means that they're not all that profitable (just guessing). That said, I love sandbox style, Ultima Online was my favorite MMO back in the day, and I never liked EverQuest. I'd love it if they had some sandbox elements, or if someone did make a SWG2. But that isn't this game. I never expected that to be this game. Why? Bioware. They make linear RPGs. Why would their MMO be a sandbox? That's silly. Now a company like Bethesda (TES series), they could make a wonderful sandbox MMO (unfortunately I doubt that's the direction of TES Online). Basically anyone who thought that Bioware's entry into the MMO space was going to be a sandbox game either never heard of the company or was seriously deluding themselves. :/ And really, the two styles don't seem to mix well, so asking for a mass amount of sandbox elements is really no different than asking them to re-make the game from scratch. As to the dwindling numbers, well, for one that always happens to theme-park MMOs between new content patches. It's also beyond ridiculous to assume that just because you want sandbox elements, the lack thereof is the sole reason for others leaving. I'd imagine the release of new games, the launch of a new high-profile MMO, the upcoming expansion to the largest MMO around, and various other things might, possibly, be contributing factors. Oh, and as far as sandbox elements go, pet-breeding is so awfully tedious and unnecessary. Sandbox crafting? Awesome. Sandbox skill-building? Amazing. Sandbox community building? Fantastic. Sandbox animal husbandry? ... No thanks, pal.

Myself and, I believe, at least one other person have supplied screenshots of the recipe dropping off the Gargath World Boss on Hoth. That in addition to the high numbers of people that have seen the drop is plenty of proof.

The only real issue I've noticed is that a significant number of bosses have anti-melee abilities/mechanics that can make Sents somewhat of a liability in groups. Of course I group with a healer, so I haven't noticed the need of healing, as much- the lack of an emergency heal or some sort of self-healing mechanic(% of health from defeated enemies for example) seems odd. On the PvP side the constant CC is a pain, but I don't know if that's just a Sent thing or a general gripe with PvP mechanics. Now I certainly don't think the Sentinel is horribly, unplayable-y broken. I've taken my Sent all the way to 50, and I'm Combat tree- which also isn't totally broken. It's fun, I like it, but there's no way you'd get me to say it doesn't have issues. Issues that need fixing. From what I've seen all the classes need a few adjustments here and there. So everyone getting all defensive with your "OMG SENTS ARE AWESUM! L2P NUB!", stop. I'd personally like it if Sents had some of the following: -Emergency Threat Dump on a long cooldown -Emergency heal and/or some method of [small] self healing (for Combat) -Additional CC break? Or perhaps tack on "breaks CC" to some/all of the Sent's defensive powers -Better way to deal with anti-melee bosses- I don't mind being less useful or having to use interesting tactics(which does seem to work), but don't put me in a place where a group would rather I sit out because my greatest contribution is either dieing or sucking up heals(what groups seem to think).

Yes, the OP wants the LFG feature used in WoW. However I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, as they have stated that no one who is on their Server and Faction and online at the same as them- they also want the feature to be cross server. I'm not a fan of the 'point, click, group' sort of LFG feature, as it tends to viciously murder a fair portion of the non-smacktalking community- and turn PUGs into silent, soulless beasts of patterned recognition and repetition. I especially don't like cross-server LFG tools, as I like to make a note of- or even friends with- good players I PUG with, and play with them again. And while I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, I also know that implementing an efficient and easy-to-use PUG-ing tool will kill casual community grouping. I'd say that if you're really having such paralyzing difficulty finding people to group with you should either look for a good Guild to run with, or else switch to a server with a higher population during your standard play hours. On my main server (Corellian Run) not only are there usually plenty of people on the Fleets of both factions looking to run FPs and such, but there's also a Chat Channel for 50s to use when looking to play HM FPs and OPs. Between that and being in a good guild (where there's almost always people willing to fill out a group) I've never had trouble getting a group together. Well, I have had a bit, but that's just finding Tanks- not people in general.

AFAIK there's been no confirmation on the Purple and Cyan colors appearing as Ops drops. Lots of speculation, of course. I, personally, have yet to see any Reps wielding Purple or Imps wielding Cyan. Is this true/intended or just a glitch? I know in the past I have been able to equip Lightsabers slotted with Red Crystals- as well as slot Red Crystals into a equipped saber- on my Lightside Jedi. This would usually cause that saber to appear as 'broken', with the red armor icon above my character's portrait. It also wouldn't always pop up right away. Caused me a lot of confusion at the time, but this was several patches ago, I would have expected it to be fixed by now. Also I can confirm that the Lethal (Crit) version of the Magenta Crystal schematic drops off Gargath. Screenshot from guild's website.

Thanks. Now if I can just get my guildmates to stop asking. Seriously, I don't understand why Bioware has the Purple crystal as Empire only currently (or any faction restricted colors for that matter). I mean, I can sort of understand the light/dark limits on the Red, Green, and Blue crystals- though I don't personally agree with it- but making certain colors only available to each faction is either mean or kind of dumb. Especially with such a wanted color as purple (add to that cyan being one of my personal favorite LS colors :/ ). In fact I've run into several people on the Republic side who thought the magenta crystal was going to be purple. Because they couldn't believe that there was no way for them to have a purple crystal. Speaking of the Magenta Crystal, it seems there may be a glitch regarding Unique items. I haven't tried personally, but it seems that if you have a Unique item in your storage and someone attempts to trade you that same item, the item being traded will disappear. Neither trade-er nor trade-ee will have it. This happened a bit ago though, so I'm not sure if any of the recent patches have fixed it. Can we get coordinates on that? Seems like it might be worth looking into. I know there's a Datacron recharging station on Hoth, but I've got all the Datacrons on Alderaan (at least according to the codex) so I doubt this would be like that. Speaking of Alderaan, does anyone know if there's a way to get up to that landmass above the Thranta Datacron? The one in the NW section of the map, on the way to Castle Panteer.

Yes... ish. One of the bits I wanted to point out- and yes I know it's been said here before but I'd really like it in the OP- is that currently all info points to the Cyan and Purple color crystals/sabers as being faction-specific. I've been following this topic since it was but a few pages long and I am ever so tired of Republic players asking where to get Purple from (and then getting the canned "PvP or Columi" response from Empire players which just confuses everyone). And I am aware of the rumor about Purple crystal/saber raid drops, but I've yet to see any sort of confirmation of such, especially for Republic characters.

Here's the info I've gotten on the various crystals: Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow are the common color crystals, which can be made via artifice as well as extracted from several mod-able sabers. Orange color crystals can be extracted from several reward and commendation lightsabers. They also appear as drops from certain enemies and can be crafted by max level artifice. Cyan color crystals can only be obtained through one method, as far as I know. That is extracting them from Columi vendor acquired Lightsabers on the Republic fleet. Note that cyan crystals appear on sabers as 'Light Blue' for some reason, despite the crystals themselves being properly labeled as Cyan. You can also get non-mod-able cyan-bladed lightsabers through Republic PvP rewards/vendors. Yes, that means [as far as I know] cyan is a Republic-only color. Purple color crystals can only be obtained through one method, as far as I know. That is extracting them from Columi vendor acquired Lightsabers on the Imperial fleet. You can also get non-mod-able purple-bladed lightsabers through Imperial PvP rewards/vendors. Yes, that means [as far as I know] purple is an Imperial-only color. Magenta color crystals can only be obtained by crafting using the Artifice crew skill. The schematics drops off of The Primal Destroyer and Gargoth world bosses on Belsavis and Hoth, respectively. [A Critical Magenta Schematic dropped off of Gargoth last week when my guild took him down.] The schematic is of purple quality, but instead of requiring a material from a Hardmode Flashpoint (as most max level purples do) it requires the Magenta Adegen Crystal, which requires the completion of a puzzle referenced several times in this thread already. Note that magenta crystals appear on sabers as 'Light Red' for some reason, despite the crystals themselves being properly labeled as Magenta. Black Cored Blue color crystals can only be obtained through one method, as far as I know. That is extracting them from Rakata vendor acquired Lightsabers on the Republic fleet. Yes, that means [as far as I know] black-cored blue is a Republic-only color. Black Cored Red color crystals can only be obtained through one method, as far as I know. That is extracting them from Rakata vendor acquired Lightsabers on the Imperial fleet. Yes, that means [as far as I know] black-cored red is an Imperial-only color. Black Cored Yellow, as far as I know this color crystal is only available via the Pre-Order bonus code. White. It is currently unknown how to get a White color crystal, there isn't even any certainty that it is acquirable in the current build of the game. In the beta it dropped off the Alderaan world boss, but it does not do so in the live release. Black Cored Green? I've heard that the special green crystal that you get with the swtor-branded Razer peripherals (mouse, keyboard, and headset) is a black-cored green color crystal similar to the pre-order's yellow. I have not actually seen one of these. I have found no evidence of other colors existing either from in game or database sources. ----- In case you can't tell by my signature, I do very much want to find a white LS crystal. (subscribing)

Yes. It should be a ban-able offense. Now, I know there are people who just use it in PvE to avoid needing to group, and that's no skin off my back. But, the majority of people I've seen using 'daisy chain'-ed accounts are gold farmers- who do hurt the community- and banning daisy chainers is certainly one method of thinning out gold farmers. Secondly there is the issue with their use in PvP, especially World PvP, which is most definitely unfair and harmful. At the end of the day I find that most (not all) people who support daisy chaining are the same one who support (or just don't care about) gold farmers. Especially since they use the same argument of "but they're paying more". Oh, and just because "That Other Game" is run by a company that takes one of, if not the, most laissez-faire attitudes towards gold farming, hackers, etc. is no reason for Bioware/EA to do the same.

I've noticed that throughout leveling Sentinels seem to get the short end of the stick on items and mods. Not only is there the apparent lack of Orange Belts, Bracers, and Purple Ear items- which are all end-game types of items- but the Might type of mods seems to be the most rare. During most, if not all, of leveling my Sentinel, I noticed that the Mod Commendation vendors would either have only one level of Might mods (Armoring, Hilts, etc, not just Mod mods) or none at all. And while the latter seemed to happen for other specs/ACs (IE no 'Resolve' types, only Force Wielder) Might was the only one where I noticed the former. A vendor would, for example, have Commando Armoring 6 and 7, but only Might Armoring 6. Also I don't know if it's actually true- I certainly don't have the numbers- but the drop tables seem to be slanted towards Rifles and Assault Cannons (Troopers) for weapons and +Cunning items for Armor and mods (Smugglers). Or at least that has been my experience. I've looted I believe a grand total of zero lightsabers outside of Flashpoints-having gotten most through mission rewards or special vendors- and maybe a handful of "Force User" (Jedi) armor. It almost seems as if the devs don't like Sentinels. I mean a bit of lean towards non-force-users I can understand as a counterbalance for the "OMG JEDI" effect, but why single out Sents?

Okay what's with all the negative posts? I mean, are you guys serious? For those who seem to be having issues with reading comprehension, this is clearly a suggestion thread. You know, one of those things where you talk about the things you would personally like added or changed. And to be quite honest none of the items on the OPs post are 'out there', they're all things that have been suggested multiple times by at least a fair number of people. Heck, some of them have had massive threads full of people calling for their addition to the game. I mean, I can understand saying that you personally don't have any interest in something or whatever, but saying that anything others want is 'a waste of dev time' just because you're not personally behind it? My what big egos some of you have. --- I'm actually somewhat surprised that the game did not launch with a Guild Vault/Bank, as I see them as being a 'standard' of modern MMOs. Or well, at least modern MMOs that have crafting, as it allows guild members to share resources and money much more easily than relying on the mailing and trade systems. Speaking of 'expected guild systems' I- and at least a few other members of my guild- are a little disappointed by the lack of any guild symbols. That is, that we don't have anything in the vein of guild tabards (WoW) or emblems (City of Heroes). I mean, when you think about the whole pre-launch guild registry thing, you'd think the game would have much more robust guild systems in place already. I'm sort of with you on this, depending on just how much you want to overhaul. I like the method of having crafting done though the Crew Skills, and I certainly enjoy being able to have three skills per character. That having been said, a lot of the 'finer bits' in most, if not all, of the actual crafting skills are fairly obtuse. Artifice, for example, is pretty limited in it's usefulness. Which isn't to say it's totally useless. However the primary reasons for taking Artifice appear to either be: lightsaber color crystal selection, being ahead of the stat curve on lightsabers, and/or endgame crafting. Now obviously there isn't too much info on that last one yet, but the other two fall fairly short. In the case of LS color crystals it seems that you can only craft the 'common' lightsaber colors- Blue, Green, Red, and Yellow, with Orange added towards the end. These are all the colors that are easy to stumble across while leveling, questing, and dungeon-running. So Artifice gives little-to-no advantage (or money making potential) in color crystal variety. As for the stat curve deal, so far I've only ever been able to match, never surpass, the Hilt and such available from the commendation vendor on whatever planet I'm working through. This is mostly because the amount of RE grinding required to get a Purple recipe combine with the neigh impossibility to get the rare materials required to craft it make those recipes, well, useless. Add to all that the fact that Orange and Purple grade equipment dominate the demand, and most crafting skills end up more trouble than they're worth. I am 120% behind all of these, though I am curious what 'more customization' means beyond being able to deco your ship, change your hair, and increase item appearance variety (which goes hand-in-hand with more LS colors). Out of these I most want: Pazaak - gives people a reason other than Rested EXP and RPing to actually go to the Cantinas. Also I'd love some tables in the Flashpoint lobbies, give people something to do while wanting for a group. Neural Reward Sceme - So making choices more naturally (and not just all LS or DS) doesn't have the chance to handicap you later on. Color Crystals - More please, and greater availability. Currently what I've heard is that Purple and Cyan (Light Blue) are only available to one faction (Empire and Republic, respectively) and are bound on acquisition, White is neigh impossible to find/make, and Magenta hasn't even been seen yet (though some say they have a recipe). Colors shouldn't be so restricted. Also I'd obviously like more, like Gold, Viridian, Dark Red, Violet/Amethyst (depending on what Purple looks like), and Pink (if Magenta isn't pink). Ship Deco - Honestly, it's our player housing, devs have said this, we should be able to decorate it. These seem to be 'in the works', though I wonder to what capacity. That is, if it's just going to be a guild hangout/base, a utilitarian complex (all the stuff you find in The Fleet), the gateway to a guild battle system (raiding each other's ships), or part of a 'Lightspeed' style free-flight system. Aside from all that, I'd mostly like the Trade Market to be fixed. Yes, fixed, it does not work up to spec. Also the oft-request free-flight system would be nice, but that's definitely something for an expansion, which I imagine will take quite a lot of work. Oh! And I'd love it if we could actually talk to our companions out side of the mini-quest style updates thing, at least on our ships. I know that's a bit of a 'tall order', and would require a good bit more VA work, but it was in both KOTOR games and I was very disappointed that you could not freely converse with your companions on your ship.

Indeed. From what I have seen, read, and personally experienced only the 'main' mod of any item modifies it's Rating. That would be Hilts for Sabers, Armoring for Armor, and Barrels for Blasters if I recall correctly. The other mod slots only apply addition stat boosts to the items. As for the 'flat damage' thing, I haven't noticed anything like that. Of course I haven't been looking for it, so it could very well be so. I will say that Sents seem to dominate single-target DPS compared to other classes, so if this is happening it may likely be on purpose to keep Sents from making other DPS specs from being 'useless'. Really the only gripe I've had about playing a Sent is the neigh total lack of multi-target/AoE abilities. But it seems that's for another class, and the Sent is meant to focus on single-target.

I am currently downloading the driver to see if it does indeed work. Wanted to report that both my girlfriend and I have experienced this glitch quite a bit. Both of our rigs use Nvidia cards, though we run the game on different graphics settings. I've been seeing the glitch since beta (where I did report it), and so far the worst I have seen is the Anchorhead Speederpad on Tatooine. The glitch indeed surrounds the 'green energy beam towers', and only them- all other lighting functions normally. It can however take different forms. In most cases it manifests as a thin beam/line of green light that has been reflected off of the upper plate of the tower sending the light in a direction it clearly was not meant to go. Further this line can in some areas- or from certain angles- turn into a wall, or sheet, of light. This is, as far as I have seen, always at an odd angle. In the most egregious of cases, this wall of light will bounce off of certain parts of the terrain/buildings, as happens at the Anchorhead Speederpad, creating a mess of these green light walls. And they do cause eye strain- the aforementioned speederpad especially is like looking into a bright, green-tinted lightbulb.

The Fleet Passes can also cause a game-killing glitch wherein you cannot leave the Fleet by any means and must re-log in order to fix it. --- The mob spacing in most areas is enough so that, if careful, you can walk through without drawing any aggro. Though some companions (mostly ranged, it seems) will sometimes grab aggro. Galactic Republic and Sith Empire characters can communicate, but only in local (/say). It seems that not all GTNs are created equal, there does appear to be a Republic-only, Empire-only, and a neutral version. There appear to be three Datacrons per starter world and five for all other planets (not counting instances where some can only be collected by one faction, like Tatooine). When your companion wants to talk 'somewhere private', you can talk to them in a cantina (and likely any designated Rest Area). You only need to go to your ship when it says 'on your ship'. Companion quests do seem to have a built in 'level', so it is best to start getting gifts and increasing affection as quickly as possible. A number of minor graphical/UI glitches can be fixed by toggling the UI (Ctrl U), clicking, and/or moving/trying to move. The /stuck command seems to work by teleporting you back a few steps, so it's actually useful for more than just being stuck (especially when Datacron collecting).

This, a million times. I've only messed with PvP a bit, and that's mostly because I get destroyed by a combo of KB and CC. Also because the groups I've gotten into do nothing but disorganized-ly charge the Sith like a bunch of suicidal lemmings. Though that latter part may be my own fault for hoping to play PvP matches as a Republic class on a PvE server.