It may seem high at first glance, but when you consider the amount of time it takes to find 3 other people, make sure you have a tank and a healer, make sure everyone can actually get the heroic (I've had this issue with some bonus series heroics), run all the way out to the mission location, then slog through the countless elites... In that time, I could easily solo 2-4 regular missions, depending on where I'm at. That's much more experience in the same amount of time, plus I don't run the increased risk of dying because of... 'less skilled individuals' in my group. It's just not worth the time and hassle to do heroics.

Speaking as a healer, if replacing the #2 DPS with someone who spent the fight offhealing is what let your guild beat any encounter in this game, you're doing something very wrong. I vote for find a new guild.

No, no, and no. I am a healer. I wanted the title, so I stood under a few probes while healing people. I did zero damage. I got the kit, defused the mine, and later got the title. It is proximity alone, period.

It is not. I've run into similar problems with people in the teens or twenties insisting we didn't need a healer for 4-person content and insulting anyone who tried to tell him otherwise. If it happens, just bail. You can't fix stupid.

Slicing can get you companion gifts? Since when? Also, if you don't want to zone back and forth (I take forever to load planets) you can always send one companion on a 3 minute tier 1 mission. When they return, it resets your whole list. It's not ideal, and I agree the current system is badly designed, but it is what it is.

I agree with the OP, I wish this was a little more clear-cut and obvious. I've taken three characters to 50 and each time I feel like I've missed something. One second we're "approaching war" and the next second we're "in the middle of a war". It was especially confusing with my first character. It was like I got up to pee in the middle of a movie and missed a plot point. I'm not saying every little thing needs to be explained and expositioned to death, but a detail of this magnitude deserves to at least be mentioned. Maybe a new mid-level flashpoint showing the very first official conflict between the factions, with Satele/Malgus saying "It's happened, the treaty is broken and we are officially at war! Dun dun dun!"

I agree, the last thing I want to do is fill my ship with screaming brats. Not to mention, we all run around the galaxy killing people who are trying to kill us. It's not the safest and healthiest place to raise a child.

Except that 'none of the above' is valid feedback. None of the options listed remotely interest me, none of them are my "Star Wars fantasy," and none of them are something I personally would want valuable development resources spent on. There are other issues I'd rather see dealt with, and other features I'd rather see added. So, none of the above.

This. I actually had the opposite problem. I got the squad medpac pretty easily, but the ultimate medpac took FOREVER to RE. The RNG is a harsh mistress.

http://www.swtor-spy.com/codex/ That's the site I use. It seems to be reasonably complete.

I'm all for content that's harder and requires days or weeks to find the right strat, but I don't think this is the encounter for that level of trial and error. As I understand it, the "flask" buff only lasts 4 hours, so each day's attempts would require a new flask for each member. And each flask requires more than a day's worth of grinding dailies, or very rare mats to craft. If it takes you 3 or 4 days worth of attempts to get right, that's an awful lot of repetitive prep work for just one fight. 3 hours worth of attempts seems like a pretty good difficulty to aim for, with some guilds maybe needing to come back a second day to get it down. I think the new Operation would be a much better candidate for "brutally difficult on Nightmare Mode".

Not a perfect solution but you could try selling them for slightly different amounts. For example, Commando armoring for 10,001, Reflex for 10,002, etc. That way you can tell what you sold even if the notification doesn't list the name, and you're not significantly messing with your pricing scheme.

There are indeed lots of neutronium nodes on Voss. For the most part, nodes are level appropriate for the planet. Neutronium is only used for level 47ish items which is why you're not seeing any in the areas of Belsavis you've been to. The level 50 bonus areas have some neutronium nodes though, if you want to brave it and don't want to wait till Voss.

What he said. Having played both an Inquisitor (same as a Consular) and a Knight, I will gladly pay a tiny cost for a shorter cooldown. There were many times on the Inq when the interrupt just did not come back fast enough and I had to find other ways to deal with the problem. So far I've never had that problem with the Knight.

Companion conversations are gated by affection and your progression through your class storyline. Your level has nothing to do with it. I haven't played a Smuggler yet, but most romances don't really get going until you finish Chapter 1 of your story, which is after Alderaan.

Warrior has a much, much better story.

I never send Kira in first (except for turrets so she can eat the cover pulse) as she wears light armor and is not remotely designed to tank, so that would be silly. Kira and Scourge have different roles, and I would use them as such, but it sounds like my assumption was right: Scourge is just a typical companion tank and makes for longer but safer fights. Thanks for the input.

I'm playing DPS spec and have used Kira for everything thus far with no real problems. I have to stop and heal after most fights and elites are a race to see who dies first, but it's a race I very rarely lose. I got Scourge last night though and I'm wondering if he's worth switching to as I see a number of Knights running around the Fleet with him. I'm assuming that, once he's properly geared, the only difference would be the fights last longer but I'll have less downtime afterwards. Is that about right, or does he make a bigger difference than I realize?

This x1000. Family ties were an important part of the movies because they were designed and plotted out that way from the ground up (assuming you believe Lucas thought that far ahead). Plus, everyone was human. It just does not make logical sense in this game. So I plan to take the flowchart or whatever, chuck my characters in at random, and completely ignore it. And it was mentioned in the panel that they agree companions should be in your family tree but that they currently are not.

Being able to give gifts to your ship droid to pump up his affection is fantastic, but why luxury gifts? That's the type that was mentioned during the panel, at least. Doesn't make sense to me that the droid itself would be interested in luxury goods. What about Republic or Imperial Memorabilia instead? Faction dependent, obviously. That fits better with their sycophantic personalities, and there are always lots of those gift types sitting on the GTN because relatively few companions prefer them. Unless you're adding conversations as well, we're going to need a TON of gits to max them out, and memorabilia is a ready supply waiting to be used.

As usual, the CS rep had no idea what they were talking about. Hunt for Lord Tharsis is the bonus sub-quest for Balmorra: Bonus Series 1. Note the numeral, as there are two bonus series questlines on Republic Balmorra. Having a bonus sub-quest for a bonus series is confusing, and this is the first planet I've seen that did it. After you finish the quests associated with Series 1, it will send you back to talk with the Twilek woman, Wixx I think. She will finish the Series 1 questline and immediately give you Balmorra: Bonus Series 2. As with all bonus sub-quests, when you finish the parent quest you lose the sub-quest if you haven't completed it yet. Most likely that is what happened and you didn't realize it. So double check your tracker and see if it says Series 2.

Wait, so she's not the least bit interested in a romantic relationship with you because of the (misguided) Jedi code, but she'll be your baby factory if you ask her nicely? What writer thought THAT made sense?

When did Gault and Torian argue? I must not be awake yet, cause I can't remember that ever happening.

I don't know if it's alignment specifically or just some choice(s) you make somewhere, but my LS SI became Darth Imperius because of her "dedication and service to the Empire" or something like that.