I've only saw three republic open-world before I hit 50, so if you're seeing open world PvP consider yourself lucky. There is a 1-second universal cooldown that should apply in both arenas and open world. The "stun lock" you see in arenas may be the result of getting hit by multiple players OR simply the result of playing against someone with a full toolbox (lvl 50) who's spent a lot of time in PvP. How are you viewing your ping time? I've been looking for a way to check that.

Currently I've been PvPing with an Arsenal spec merc. Most of my gear is +Crit, +Surge, and +Aim. So far I'm just getting geared up (no sets yet). If I respec to Pyrotech or Bodyguard, would I need to completely re-gear for PvP, or is +Crit still the way to go for those specs in PvP?

That post was pretty funny. I remember playing WoW on release day. "Item Lag" was a huge issue. The servers were completely down enough in the first few months that Blizzard gave all of their subscribers a couple free days. I've played close to a dozen MMO's going back to Ultima Online; about half of those starting at release. SWTOR has been the most stable MMO, at launch, that I've ever played. Other than SWG and UO, I've never played a MMO where crafted gear was truely comptitive with quest/pvp/raid rewards. I think in terms of crafting this game has about the best balance; you CAN craft high-end gear, but the time/work/resources invested (REing) is similiar to the investment for PvP rewards or flashpoint rewards. Quiting because of bugs or crafting is just funny.

Crafting is one big credit sink. I think I'm spending 10k-15k/hr on crew skill missions.

Care to share your spec? I've been working on an Arsenal specced 48 merc, and I can't imagine leveling being effective with a Bodyguard spec.

So they're just single use then?

I just noticed that there are a bunch of "Mission Discovery: <gather skill>" items on the galactic market. Can anyone tell me what these actually do?

I don't think there are any. There are some level 49 greens from the trainer, level 50 blue patterns (from Underworld), and one set of level 50 purples from the trainer. EDIT: It's just purple 50 belt+bracers from the trainer; the trainer has green 49 belt+bracers+helm+pants+gloves+boots+chest; the trainer has blue 49 bracers+gloves+boots.

I'm at 222 Armor / 197 underworld / 234 salvaging. After all that, $50k sounds low. Wouldn't surprise me if my cost is closer to twice that. Every time I level, the first thing I do is go estimate the training costs for my next level, otherwise I'd end up spending every credit I have on crew missions. Crafting skills aren't about making money; they're about having gear. In general, about half the armor I wear is stuff I crafted.

I'm absolutely sick of huttball.

MBH/Carbine pre-CU. I do miss that game. The pre-WoW levelless version was great. It wasn't a videogame that just happened to be Star Wars, it was Star Wars that just happened to be a videogame.

Having a two day grace period, a 9 day shipping delay, and having been saving my vacation time to play this game is a nasty combination. A two-day grace period is better than nothing, but I'm still expecting that I'll need to shell out $60 to buy ANOTHER copy of the game to avoid sitting on my hands for a week. I only get to take two weeks of vacation time a year. To me, it's worth spending $60 to buy another boxed copy if it means I don't end up sitting around for a week with nothing to play. If I end up with two copies, I'll probably just pass the other to a friend. I just contacted amazon. They are unable to change the shipping speed on my order (and I'm willing to pay). This just isn't my day.