Well, it's a question relating to crew, so I thought maybe here. But I can re-post in the General Discussion forum if it's more appropriate. Or is there a Suggestions forum?

I gather there's no way to hide our companion's (as opposed to our own) headgear. Is this feature in development? Please say yes. Poor Vette looks terrible with a hideous gasmask on her face.

It's a tremendous game. 9/10.

I agree; the brief explanation in the loading screen doesn't tell you much. The idea is to activate your throw-ball ability, then move your mouse cursor (which should now have a ball-AOE effect) over an "open" teammate -- someone not surrounded by several enemies. In theory, if you throw it on the ground far from anyone, it will become a neutral ball, though in practice if it lands close to a teammate, the pass is completed. I've gotten better at it, but I need more practice. The biggest issue for me is throwing when I'm being swarmed/focused.

Could someone offer some constructive tips on passing, then? When I get the ball, I'm eager to pass it and get rid of the thing. Sometimes I succeed. More often, I get swarmed and stunned, hit my stun-escape hotkey, hit my ball hotkey, click the ground near an ally, and either (1) nothing happens or (2) it's intercepted. What's the best way to maximize the chance of the pass being successful?

I think it's fine as is. I'm often one of the lower people in a match, as I level slowly. I get my share of kills. I like the upside: no long waits.

I agree. I have a couple of non-gamer family members who seem genuinely interested in the story. They may even break down and play...

Thanks. I'll try it.

Is it possible to run SWTOR in a more wide-angle, "fish-eye" view? I inadvertently did this once in beta, though I'm not sure how. Suddenly I had a much wider field of vision. It was actually kinda handy for PvP. But it also seemed unstable, and someone told me how to undo the inadvertent mistake I'd made. Something involving the CTL key, I think. Anyone know? Are wide-angle views supported in the game?

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I keep the keyboard on my lap, just below the controller, and I type on it if need be. Optimally I'd use voice, I suppose, but I haven't felt the need yet. As for targeting, I have one bumper bound to tab, the other to nearest enemy. Those work for about 90% of my encounters in PvP. You're right, there are times when you want to target a particular player (ball carrier, weakened opponent). For those cases, I actually have experimented with binding the right stick to the mouse, with a couple buttons emulating R and L clicks, but I didn't have the patience to calibrate the stick settings to make this work well. I might try it again. For now, I just grab the mouse for a sec if I need to R click a PvP objective or target someone. My biggest issue isn't targeting but situational awareness. Suddenly I'll find myself in a messy melee, and the camera is pointing the wrong direction or is zoomed in too close. I get this with the keyboard/mouse too, but it's more pronounced with the controller. I'm going to speed up mouse-wheel emulation to see if that helps.

Hi all, I've been experimenting with an XBox 360 controller and SWTOR. With a program like XPadder, you can configure dozens of keypresses to the controller, by using triggers as "switches" that map different keys to each button. The keymapping works surprisingly well. For PvP, you can turn just as fast as mouse-turning if you want; turn speed is configurable in XPadder. For space combat, you can likewise adjust the sensitivity of the thumbsticks, and the triggers naturally work well. For PvE, I can map all my ability keys and most interface panes to the controller. Why do I do all this? In my particular case, I do anything to avoid using a mouse, which causes me pain in my mousing hand. But also, in PvP, I'm more effective with a controller, since I can move, target, swivel the camera, and press buttons simultaneously -- whereas I often feel I need 3 hands with a keyboard/mouse. Also, with the keyboard, I frequently seem to hit the "enter" key by mistake, and I end up typing 123546 instead of actually hitting buttons. Anyway, a couple questions for other controller users: 1. Any particular setups you recommend? 2. Is there a way to give SWTOR more of a fish-eye lens (in PvP in particular)? I struggle with situational awareness a bit in PvP. 3. Do you have trouble with field of view? I've mapped the mousewheel and right-click-and-hold-camming, but I still sometimes have less situational awareness than with the keyboard. Also, I get occasional glitches with my camera in PvP, probably because the right stick inadvertently hits a UI element.

My Sith Warrior had been thinking of going Light, consoling herself that at least she could wield a purple light saber (since she won't be able to wield a red one). But if purple is this hard to find, I'm thinking of staying neutral.

Yep, I think it's turned off. Maybe we can use subscription features to keep track of posts. I posted a question a couple days ago, and when I came back to see if anyone answered, I couldn't find my post in the first 30 pages of posts, and I gave up.

First of all, apologies if this is the wrong forum for this. I couldn't find a tech-discussion forum. There is customer service, but I don't really need CS support. Anyway, I have an nVidia GTX 580, and it runs SWTOR very smoothly -- 70-150 FPS in 2560x1600 resolution, with graphics on medium settings. But my GPU temps exceed 80C pretty routinely, or at least I see 82-83C when I log out and check nVidia System Monitor. I know GPUs in theory can run as hot as 100C, but these temps make me a little nervous. I do see that my fan is ramping up a little (56-58%), but I don't see a way with nVidia's tools to be more aggressive about fan use. I don't mind fan noise. Is there a monitor/fan utility you'd recommend to work with my card and SWTOR? MSI Afterburner, perhaps? Does its On-Screen Display feature work in SWTOR? Or am I missing something in nVidia's tools?

I can understand the OP's frustration if he/she is still waiting to get in. But take heart: a few days' "head start" (common to MMOs) won't make a difference a year from now. We'll all be level 50, and we'll all have the same shot at the level-50 PvP gear. And we'll be glad the game didn't die at startup because of 10-hour queues and server crashes. Once you're in the game, my guess is you'll forget the annoying wait and will just enjoy it. I think the game is a blast. Sure, it's not perfect, but nothing is. I think it's great fun.

Got my email! July 23 registration.

We'll just have to agree to disagree about this, amicably I hope. I understand why you're upset, but try to think about how you'd manage a million and a half pre-orderers, by far the largest such group in MMO history. I often have to deal with peoples' expectations, and I know from experience that the worst thing to do is to over-promise. Better to manage expectations realistically. If Bioware gave any kind of "access windows," inevitably a significant number of people would be disappointed, and then justifiably furious, maybe even talking lawsuits for breach of contract. As is, a lot of us are anxious, but none of us has any legal claim that Bioware breached a promise. Also, you said earlier you're only moderately concerned about reserving a name, which to me is a legitimate source of anxiety -- I want my names too. But if your name isn't your big concern, why so upset? You'll get to level 50 whether you start today or tomorrow.

This!

I don't have a problem with staggered early access, but I'm curious how they plan to handle the natural increase in player population that takes place as the day goes on. I dimly recall from Steam stats that "prime time" for gaming is rather like prime time for US TV watching -- East coast evening time. I know I have friends who've received their emails already but can't play because they're at work. What if Bioware allows in 6 waves before prime time, and then prime time hits and player population soars. Will Bioware wish they'd only let in 3 waves?

C'mon, if Bioware gave you "guidance", and then didn't abide by it, you'd be far more angry. They've given you no reason to have any particular "expectations". I registered my pre-order on July 23, and while I hope to get in today, I don't "expect" to. If you'd been running this process, do you seriously think you'd have given people "ballpark estimates"? I wouldn't have, for precisely the reasons you cite -- to manage expectations.

Mine looks the same, and I redeemed my pre-order code. That page you linked says at the top that the steps on that page are NOT necessary for Early Game Access. You only need to register a "Product Registration Code" by December 20, the official release date.

A number of people have posted such claims, but no one has substantiated them with screenshots.

Yes -- "no active subscription." But I assume that's normal, as My Account says it's not necessary to register a Product Registration Code to play during Early Game Access. Right?

I like the way you think! I hope you're right. In particular, I hope you're right that the 21st of July was the most popular pre-order-registration day, because if so, we 23rds have a chance.

I pre-ordered on the 22nd of July and registered on the 23rd of July. I'm still hopeful I'll get in sometime today. For me, I don't care about missing a day or two of game time. I care about getting the names I want!