While it is understandable that there are some people who don't have a job, with a wide range of reasons, there are some in-game rewards that should be that... rewards for doing 'something', and in this case, being a subscriber. Besides, not having Shae isn't a huge loss. Seeing as we are all limited to take one companion into the world at a time, I see these extra, non-customizable companions, as 'fluff'... considering the fact that we get several free companions throughout the story.

After that update for companion weapon changes, I was surprised that Corso forgot how to use that cool-looking blaster rifle I crafted. He could only use a blaster pistol afterward, which was so bizarre.

^ Agreed.

I pretty much did the same thing. Sub for a couple of months for the periods of time I can play. Bought cartel coins once during one of those alliance pack crazes in trying to get a combat companion. I figure it's not a 'bad' thing, since it is a choice to pay beyond what one does as a sub to get more coins if you really want that cool-looking armor set, or whatever cosmetic fluff is there. Personally, I don't see a need to shell out extra money for that, since the sub monthly gain is enough for me. Can buy alliance packs and sell them on the GTN over time. Made millions of credits this way.

This event did give me the incentive boost to return and try out a class I had not tried before... Jedi Telekinetic Sage, as a 'caster' type to round out the variety of class types I've taken to level 65. However, there is an overabundance of 'spacebar flashpoints' (Thank goodness for the solo option, to actually catch up on the dialogue in these FPs after a long break from SWTOR). The only burning question in my mind is this... Will the new companion be customizable with armor/clothing sets? If KOTFE is any indication, I'm reluctantly expecting a small army of clone Hexids or Ranos characters on the fleet after the event ends, similar to the numerous clone Lanas I remember seeing at one point. Either way, I still want a Chiss companion regardless, so... goody-two-shoes consular (and possibly operative), here we go...

Sorry to knit-pick, but for the sake of Star Wars discussion (I just saw the film several days ago), I'll offer my take on point 3... Kylo's injury prior to the duel should be taken into account, as it may have been a detriment to his combat ability (in his handling of lightsaber combat). Personally, I thought it did, even though it seemed that he was trying to draw power through pain during the fight with Finn, to compensate. Aside from that, my interpretation is this... Since Kylo ultimately tried to convince Rey to learn the ways of the force from him, I don't believe he actually wanted to outright kill her from the beginning at all, rather subdue this raw talent for a potential ally to his side. Let's also not forget that Rey demonstrated prior familiarity with melee combat on Jakku, beating odds that put her at a serious disadvantage. Her 'attunement' to the force magnified this skill, one could argue. Faced with this kind of opposition, I saw Kylo overwhelmed with surprise at the 180° shift at the end, more than anything. If his intent was truly to kill Rey, I believe he would have done so before her moment of clarity with the force, with only his injury slowing him down. As for points 2 and 3, I can't fully agree or disagree. We have to remember that episode 4 came out nearly 40 years ago. Since then, the younger generation (myself included) has been handed re-edited versions of the original trilogy throughout recent years, never having seen the original version of the original. Episode 7 feels like a final telling of the original plot points, but with the advantage of being 'up-to-date' with superb visuals and a cast that is brilliantly diverse and skilled to back it up. I'm hopeful that the subsequent episodes will diverge from drawing close parallels with the original trilogy counterparts. if not... The prequels are... special ... After seeing the most recent 'edition' of the original trilogy on VHS prior, I saw episode 1 at the movies at around what I assume to be a young target age? Even then, I cringed at the moments that seemed to be childish in antics and feel. By the end of episode 3, I felt that the entire approach could have, and should have been done better. I did not buy the portrayal of Anakin's romance with Padme, nor his subsequent turn to the dark side at all. Here's to being optimistic that episodes 8 & 9 be unique with believable story arcs...

Rather than regurgitate some valid points already made here, that seem to be conveniently ignored to extend this thread into more walls of text, I'm replying for the sole purpose of giving a 'yay or nay' response from a relatively 'quiet' soloist sub currently enjoying the game... I disagree with the OP, and agree with the counterpoints. That is all; carry on.

1. How do you rate the The Force Awakens out of ten and in relation to previous Star Wars movies? 8/10. Solid, with more pros than cons. Not the best (I hold episode V at that position), but definitely better than most. Best use of graphics, superb acting/cast, though storyline could have done with less close parallels to Episode IV. The diversity of the main cast was brilliant, and welcome. 2. Who is your favourite (new) character so far and why? Poe Dameron. I always found the exploits of the rebellion pilots (now resistance) to be worthy of note. It was good to see them in action, with confidence and strength. Poe personified these qualities, which diverges from the general timid and nervous feel I got from the pilots in the other films. 3. Who is your least favourite (new) character so far and why? Snoke. As to the why, it's more of a feeling... I think he could have been revealed differently. 4. Out of the returning Original Trilogy cast, who gave the best performance? Difficult to say as a definite besides Ford, considering the minimal amount we saw from Fisher, and even less of Hamill. Though we can't be certain how involved the original actor is involved with each of his scenes, I'd still say Chewbacca as a returning 'character' gave the best performance out of those returning from the original trilogy. 5. What was the most awesome/epic moment for you in the movie? The scene where Rey, using the force, takes possession of Luke's lightsaber, right before Kylo's eyes. Shot of them both with the backdrop of the snow and trees, and a familiar soundtrack plays right before an inevitable fight... Epic moment right there. 6. What as the funniest moment for you in the movie? Kylo taking out his anger at some innocent hardware, as two stormtroopers are about to walk by. Upon hearing the commotion, they stop and look at each other... then turn around and walk away. 7. Do you think Rey might be a descendant from the Skywalker line, and if so is she Luke or Leia's daughter? She seems to be Luke's daughter, given her connection to his light-saber and reaction to physical contact with it. Explanation of why she would be left on Jakku, is perhaps to shield her from the dangers of falling to the dark side that comes to every force-sensitive going through training, and beyond. 8. The death of Han Solo, your thoughts? Should he have died, should it have been done differently? Crushing, but necessary for the sake of 'tragedy', I suppose. May set the stage for the return of another original trilogy character - Lando Calrissian. He was too important in Episode VI to be completely left out of the new trilogy, so he may yet see a return with the added drive to avenge Han's death. 9. How do you rate the lightsaber duel out of ten and in relation to previous lightsaber duels? 10/10. Not overly choreographed, yet not stiff and too slow. The kind of melee fight one would expect between two force-sensitives without complete mastery yet. Gritty and raw. 10. How to you rate the film score out of ten and in relation to scores from the previous movies? And if you have a favourite soundtrack/theme, which was it? 7/10. Good, but not ground-breaking like my favorite (Episode V). 11. If you could change one thing with the movie, what would it be? There are several, to be honest. If I could pick one small detail though, it would be how the ending was handled. I'd have liked to hear Luke speak to Rey, and acknowledge their lineage by saying: 'The force is strong in my family. My father has it; I have it; my sister has it. You have that power too." End credits... 12. Finn is featured wielding a lightsaber in the film and in promotional material, but he is never actually depicted using the Force. Do you think he is Force sensitive? No. However, I wonder if he may be a Calrissian.

If your dog can solo, say, 'The Viper's Nest' heroic on Makeb, I believe a fair amount of milk-bones are in order.

I don't think the companions are going to be back at their previous state (pre-patch). I get the feeling that there will be a middle ground, in a bid to satisfy most people on both sides. Bringing companions to 2/3 effectiveness of the pre-patch state, perhaps. The companions are supposed to count as the #2 in 'heroics 2' to be able to solo them, and the current nerf does not make this true for all heroics. Therefore, I agree with a move to improve companion combat ability from its current state.

I re-logged last night, and tried some of the other Makeb heroics on both Imperial (DPS) and Republic (tank) side, solo. My healing companion still cannot keep up with healing through fights that involved more than a certain number of enemies at once. Therefore, closer attention to ability execution and extensive use of defensive CDs were called for to avoid the damage intake threshold that I couldn't survive. Definitely involved more strategy to avoid certain areas within heroics, but made some of the manageable engagements, with less enemies, longer to dispatch than before the patch. Not all Heroics were created equal, obviously, as some heroics are quite doable, still. Ultimately, I switched to Treek in healing mode, taking advantage of the discount at the time to get her. I worry about the solo FPs, so that will be my next test. I still believe it was a mistake to nerf companion combat ability by so much, as an initial revision. An incremental decrease (example -20% to start), I believe, would have been accepted by a majority, through to striking a balance somewhere in the middle of the extremes. Perhaps implementation of a revised bonus to companion effectiveness via exponentially granting increased combat effectiveness as one reaches the affection cap, as another alternative. Beginners would admittedly start with weak companions, but through grouping for FPs and heroics, the learning aspect of one's role would be solidified, and interaction with the companions would be encouraged to earn their status as powerful allies. We have a plethora, of sorts, of potential companions to choose from, so we as players would have the freedom to choose either a maxed-affection companion with powerful combat effectiveness, or a companion type with far less affection level and significantly lower ability to DPS/heal/tank. Surely it wouldn't be too hard to ask that each companion get a 'signature' ability in each role (bringing back some of the pre-4.0 skills), as well. Please:D

On the original topic of 'soloing' heroics 2, with the companion meant to be that #2... I attempted 'The Viper's Nest' heroic 2 on Makeb, and couldn't complete it on my vanguard with a rank10 healing companion (highest available to me). I have +100 presence from the human racial achievement, and +150 presence bonus from legacy-wide companion achievements, out of a possible 400. A few presence datacrons were collected, granting some points there. Legacy-wide +5% crit and +5% endurance buffs on, since I only played the Trooper, Smuggler, and Agent through Chapter 3. The mobs from the heroic itself completely destroyed my companion on my first try, rather quickly. Second try involved blowing all CDs and only needing to defeat three enemies (last wave?) before I went down. The last try didn't fare any better. Having more presence buffs and ranking up my companion may be the tipping point to being able to solo this particular heroic, and possibly getting a level higher to equip better gear (though level sync seemed to cap my health regardless of equipping better gear). I imagine I 'should' be able to solo the other heroics if I revise my approach as well, but this doesn't mean it can be done in the same amount of time as during pre-patch. Elara ultimately couldn't keep up with healing through the damage we received during 'the viper's nest', so even if I was to run the other heroics on my own through completion, it would be agonizingly long, assuming we're not exposed to so many enemies at the same time. I respectfully ask the devs to take a second look at companion combat ability, in order to strike a balance through incremental changes. Bringing companion effectiveness down in increments, rather than to an extreme, would have been preferred. Thank you.

Just logged off, and I can clearly tell there is a significant decrease in my comp's healing ability and survivability. It isn't far-fetched to imagine that players will leave in droves on account of such a drastic impact to the combat ability of our companions, which is one thing I enjoy in SWTOR. I'll be taking a break from this until companions get a second look, I suppose.

There is something I've been curious about, since reading in general chat from a smaller, more vocal group, demanding companions get nerfed by as much as 75% and say that is a good thing for everyone. I honestly want to know why those who deemed companions to be too OP, simply NOT summon them for combat? If companions are meant to supplement a party (or oneself for heroic 2+), and as far as I know are not mandatory, why completely canvass the entire SWTOR community with a nerf to purposefully reduce effectiveness of said optional combat companions by such an amount? I understand if the stats needed tweaking, per the dev's target goal, but I can't imagine the shear decrease in effectiveness can be a good thing for those of us without all the presence buffs yet, who are working our way up to endgame, whilst completing heroics solo + comp (pre-patch) when planets are quiet on the LFG end...

I am anxiously waiting for the update to finish downloading, especially with companions being nerfed... PvE with companions is one of the primary reasons I sub to this game, because I prefer having a partner-in-crime cosmetically fitted how I like... Having an entourage of sorts on my own ship, etc... That, and the SW nostalgia. Pre-patch, I didn't mind that my companion could stand his/her own ground. Like other relatively late joiners to the SWTOR party, I don't have all the presence buffs available, so it didn't feel like my companions were TOO powerful. If anything, they were too bugged. Sometimes my healing comp would suddenly refuse to heal through a lengthy fight, or my DPS comp would stop activating his/her damage skills, effectively making things tedious. On my Sniper, I was able to get through most Makeb Heroics solo without too much trouble, true. However, I thought a companion would count as the #2 in 'Heroic 2', therefore meaning they should adequately fill a 'player' role in combat, so I assumed things were fine, as is. I can understand if the devs simply wish to correct comp stats to what they originally imagined. Otherwise, I read in general chat people complaining about how their health bar never goes down while fighting 4+ gold mobs. I tested this on my vanguard tank with R10 healer comp, and while my health bar didn't dip too far down versus combo gold mobs, it didn't make the heroic 'easy'... It was rather painfully slow. Having a companion with you is 'optional', if I'm not mistaken. I just hope the devs don't swing the bat too far the opposite way, rendering companions as 'useless'. Personally, I don't have that many hours to spare to log in during the weekdays, so having a strong companion to help me through heroics when the planet is quiet in chat was in my opinion, a good thing. Here's to hoping for the best with this patch...

^ Thank you good sir, much can be learned from a simple misunderstanding on FP mechanics. Though I am fairly certain I executed my Vanguard's interrupt at some point, I can't be 100% sure as it's been a while. Thus I default to your assessment on foolishly overlooking that important detail, which is evidently unknown to a good number of 1st timers as well. Will certainly take this knowledge and relay it in a positive manner to fellow group members. That tends to be more effective to inspiring new players to stick around for the long-term.

I was -9 years old when that masterpiece came out. Had to settle for the re-release (remastered) VHS set to experience the original trilogy for the first time. To the point, I would probably still play this game if it wasn't branded Star Wars. I am a huge fan of party play (having at least 1 companion with me to allow for multiple potential situations to play out, and tactical variety). Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2, KOTOR 2, and Diablo 2 come to mind of the games I've played. Being set in the Star Wars universe is a plus. Playing through some deep storylines where grouping up with other people is optional and encouraged, is fun in itself. All things considered, I've been playing SWTOR for several months now, and it's a blast so far .

Galactic Star Fighter PvP should be given a try. Seems to be balanced enough, where individual skill weighs heavily with one's mastery of flight mechanics and execution of specific loadouts. I haven't had any bad experiences myself, but that goes without saying it takes time to earn all the requisition necessary to upgrade the ships and unlock co-pilots. Just a thought, if traditional PvP (character vs character) doesn't appeal, this different form of PvP may suit better.

The bug I experienced happened during the final boss battle. The bad guy's lightning didn't hurt either of the 2 apprentices he summoned. Rendered the entire time spent leading up to that point a waste, time-wise. Luckily, this was a learning experience for the PUG (1st timers), where we all figured out how to handle the FP up to that encounter. Joined another random PUG afterward, and the run went flawlessly. Silent chat, where everyone knew what to do at the right moments, at all times. Most importantly, no bugs . I wonder what other glitches people have experienced on this particular FP though.

That's actually a very good explanation of how one could theoretically avoid a lock for a lengthened amount of time. In fact, the length of time I couldn't get a lock on that ship could have been a bit less, considering I was getting rather frustrated, thus making it seem unfathomably long. I figured some sort of CD rotation was going on, and myself wondered about a potential build that could counter missile use so effectively. The problem is, I don't believe it was a scout. I'm fairly certain it was a Gunship, and it was moving relatively slowly, without using any maneuvers. I was armed with thermite torpedoes, and this was the only ship I could not initiate a lock on for such a stretch of time, while being in range, and within my firing arc (I have a +6 bonus to this number). This was during a domination match, where I was defending the central satellite from fighters coming in at long range. All things considered, it may well have been a lag spike. Right-clicking on the target without hearing the lock initiate could simply mean the ship was not actually at the spot as I saw it. After that time lapse, including several fresh clicks of the right mouse button to no avail, I gave up and moved on to another target. This particular event sticks out for me though, due to the relatively long time period, and with the ease of being able to lock on and fire at an alternate target soon after, ironically a scout, to be sure. We won the match, so lag or not, it wasn't a factor to the final outcome

I never accuse anyone of 'hacking', though I have seen some unusual situations play out on rare occasions... Getting 1-shotted while I was at full shields and hull (max reinforced upgrade) in my Pike... Re-spawning at exactly 1/2 shield and 1/2 hull strength a few times... Experiencing serious lag only while trying to capture a satellite during a few lop-sided matches... Not being able to get a lock on a particular ship over the span of about 15 seconds (lock immunity was curiously long)... I just chalk these up as odd phenomena, and suck it up... More often than not, a subsequent match plays out in victorious fashion and all previous oddities become a memory. The only thing that gets to me are quitters ... That's another matter though...

Shield Projector is situational for group use, that's for sure. Just as the other CDs that require allies to be within a certain distance to even get the benefit. For fights on Domination that depend on the capture or maintenance of a satellite, more allies seem to clump together than usual, and that's where I've seen greater impact of defensive buffs used in combination, especially where line of sight is most distracted for the opposition. The thing is, there are only 2 alternatives for that component slot: Charged Plating and Directional Shields. I tend to lean toward Shield Projector more so for personal use, as it offers higher shield regeneration rate, 48% heal on shields per use, on a 20 second CD. If there is an ally or more nearby, that's just a bonus every time I use it. This happens often anyway, as a byproduct of not straggling, and sticking with team members. Granted, the overall effectiveness of a 'support' class is conjecture and based on limited experience on my part, but in a scenario where everyone would stick to one ship for a month, I'd rather go with something different from the majority. When that hypothetical situation is up, it's back to the Flashfire .

EDIT: I replied with Kenny Loggins - Danger Zone also!

Right now I only regularly fly 4 ships, so this isn't too much of a restriction for me I prefer support for teammates, so that leaves either the Spearpoint or Clarion... With a slight preference to defensive capability, I'd go with the Clarion to play for the team: Quad Lasers Thermite Torpedoes - single target debuff, and to destroy defensive turrets in 1 shot Repair Probes Shield Projector Power Dive Reinforced Armor Damage Capacitor Large Reactor Range Sensors Running Interface (co-pilot) Corso Riggs Tanno Vik Elara Dorne Yuun I don't care if this isn't 'ideal' in the eyes of others; this general loadout and playstyle has served me well enough so far. Even though the Flashfire is the ship I've scored the most damage with in a match, the Clarion is the one I've earned the most medals in a single match (15 in Domination), including 'savior'. Much more gratifying to know I helped solidify our team's position by activating all 3 defensive buffs at critical times to as many allies as possible.

EDIT: I didn't read the topic fully (it's late ) I plan on starting a new character that will use only Bombers, so this sounds promising for a pilot that's only been running GSF matches for a couple months. All this time flying only scouts and strike fighters should provide for an interesting change of play style for sure.