Swtorista has decent beginner guides: https://forums.swtor.com/topic/927416-the-ultimate-guide-of-guides-for-newreturning-swtor-players-in-2023/#comment-9740382 All three healer types are in a good spot right now, they have quite different gameplays and strengths, so it's a matter of finding out what style works best for you. As for server, a lot depends on where you are located. In general pick a server closest to your region. North America most populated server is Star Forge Europe most populated server is Malgus APAC has only one server, and it's still in the development stage (new server, no transfers from others servers allowed yet).

I agree with the overuse of platforming to skip mobs that take 30s to kill, if that. Although that's with good players, and a lot of max levels who spam veteran flashpoints are not good. Although if your main complaint is the loss of stims ... stop using them. I have never used a stim on a sub-max level. They are just not needed. This game is much more enjoyable if you don't mind occasionally dying.

I think ftp/preferred should have some limited posting priveleges. At the very least let ftp/preferred post in the bug section (and maybe in the new player section too). The more bugs reported, bug fixes, and bug workarounds on the forums the better.

Plus one to the OP's suggestion. The debuff bar of the boss ends ridiculously long sometimes. In the meantime, check your interface settings for target. You can have the debuffs sort so that yours are always listed first, that combined with the highlights for your buffs helps a lot.

That's incorrect. I care about the story, what I don't care about is the voice acting. I get that others do, but it was never a selling point for me. Same with fancy graphics, it's a minor point to me and in general I prefer less realistic styles in videogames. Overly detailed graphics don't excite me much, since story isn't affected by how realistically the wind moves leaves on trees. Personal preferences differ. It doesn't make my preferences, or yours, wrong. They're just different.

I don't mind the kotor style cutscenes. Story is story. Even back when I still bothered to try using sound in games I never had the patience to listen to the actors read the lines anyway. It's so much faster to read the captions and move on.

You have the solo version of the Revan fight already. As to using companions in an operation ... have you ever done an operation? Companions won't even move out of the aoe and in operations they would be useless at doing mechanics. Even the currently faceroll level of operations can still wipe a party if everyone ignores mechanics. If they ever brought out a solo version of an operation it would have to completely reworked, both boss fights and mobs, which is time I would prefer the dev's spent on new things in the game.

That's something you work with, and it's something good. Unless you never plan to sub ever again, then build up your escrow while preferred, it gives you a nice credit boost the next time you sub.

Check the new specialty planetary vendors, some of those looks are available there. (such as fractured targeter's pubside look - it's on Belsavis as the Smuggler set). https://swtorista.com/armor/category.php?search=true&category=planetary-vendors&page=1

The stats from the purple and gold are identical. All the gold gives you is the convenience of being reusable. That's the only upgrade, and yes, it's for biochem only, otherwise the purples would be completely useless. A char only has to have 700 biochem to use the gold, they don't have to actually make anything. I have one alt who learned the purple schems for medpacks and shields (for my alts with no biochem) and then just bought one of each gold item (there are 8 total). They don't bind at all, so every alt with 700 biochem can share them. **technically you can share them with any other player with 700 biochem, trade it to them, have them use it, and then trade it back. That takes a fair amount of trust though.

It's the Sith Inquisitor that's bugged. You are not supposed to get any achievements when you skip ahead in the storyline. If you don't actually DO the content then you have not earned any of the achievements.

That's exactly the problem. I looked up the quests (I don't mind 'spoilers' so tend to do things like that) before starting them and it was an automatic 'nope' for me. Long involved solo questlines should not end in mandatory grouping. I've helped a few people finish of the questlines, and aside from the 'push 4 buttons at the same time' there is absolutely nothing in the heroic 4 that is remotely challenging. It's just mandatory grouping for the sake of mandatory grouping. I do group up a lot, but that's when I'm in the mood for group content. Solo content should be purely solo content, and group content should be clearly marked as group.

You're doing things that were tuned for 318/320 gear when it first came out and are surprised it's easy in 338+ gear? That's intentional. It was a faceroll even using 306 (level75) gear when it first came out. That's by intent. Story content is supposed to be doable by all players, even super casuals and players with disablities that limit the skill level they can reach. If you want a challenge, then stop using your companion. Put them on passive and they'll still be there for story-related interjections and immersion. At the very least take them off heal stance. You can also solo the veteran flashpoints for more challenge, or do the heroic 4's. There's also veteran/master mode chapters, a lot of players complete them in groups now, but they are supposed to be challenging solo content.

So, you want to bring back set bonuses on the armors? They just finished moving those to the implants. Your idea would mean every class/spec has to have their own armor set again (7 pieces) instead of just the implants (2 pieces). I don't see the advantage. Moving set bonuses off of armors (allowing them to be shared by classes/specs) and onto the implants was one of the few good changes 7.0 brought.

I agree, the time gating doesn't make sense. Premium dyes should be always available. It's bad business too I'd think, since more people are probably willing to pay direct then to play the gambling game with ultimate crates.

No you don't. You can skip all the missions and just take the highest one available. I did that for several alts for the 336 mods (only opened up 336), and again for a new alt for the 340 (only opened up the 340 mods). There is no reason to clutter up the vendor inventory with all those useless tiers of mods. OP: check if you have any other Hyde and Seek missions active. You can only have one active at a time.

This happens with pretty much every major graphics upgrade. They don't just add new settings, they jack up the requirements and system demands for every setting. It's part of why I can't stand the hype over new graphics. They seem to take away more than they add. I still don't like the darker game I'm forced to use since they removed the very low shaders setting. At first I could get away with disabling shaders manually, but the latest upgrades made that no longer possible since it turned too many areas (like Karagga's Palace outside zone) pretty much black. Accessibility isn't even considered by the graphics design team or the QA testers (if they even have them).

50% has been the standard for years. The 75% off collections unlock was a super-special. There was no reason for players to assume that super-special would become the new standard.

This changed (or bugged, not sure if it was intended) some time ago. I bought the Life Day Robe set off the parcel vendor years ago and it worked normally to unlock on collections, and for the account wide unlock I paid for. Then some time after that they started not unlocking in collections. It might be related to the bug where certain collections items from the cartel vendors in the Bazaar don't unlock for collections either.

There are differences between actual free-to-play and preferred (which ex-subs automatically are): https://swtorista.com/articles/swtor-free-to-play-vs-preferred-vs-subscriber-guide/

True enough, but that's exactly what the current GTN setup is encouraging (and rewarding) players to do. Undercut by 1 credit.

Yep, stealthy is the way to go, same as the Section X heroic-4. It hasn't been buffed, but since the proper use of defenses, crowd control, and aoe makes things easier some classes got hit way harder then others with the ability losses that 7.0 brought us. ('Choose one of 3' where you used to have all 3 abilities is a loss).

Worth it. Now, we only need a few dozen more styles and my toons might actually stop hiding head slot.

Then don't buy them. Dyes are a purely cosmetic item. There are times I think players lust after the expensive cartel dyes, not because the actually look all that much better then other dyes, but purely becuase they're expensive and therefore "must be good".

I would just like to point out that this makes the 'have to buy the cheapest item' issue very clear. A lot of the currently complaints with the GTN system could be solved by allowing us to choose to pay a higher price. If we can see the postings why shouldn't we be allowed to purchase them directly? (removing the non-returnable posting fee would be nice too). Pre the updates in a case like this I would skip the 3 495 000 items and buy the 3 500 000. Essentially rewarding the 3 500 000 poster for lowering the prices significantly from the 3 800 000 range to the 3 500 000 range. Now? that poster will most likely not sell anything, because the minimal credit undercutters will keep their prices constantly under the 3 500 000 poster's. Now, the 3 500 000 poster will probably not only fail to sell anything, but they will also lose money when the items are returned. How long do you think people will bother with dropping prices like that if it both costs them money and they still don't sell? The best posting behaviour will be to join the '1 credit under' game and the prices will stay in the 3 800 000 range as long as people keep buying.