Yes, you've probably missed a quest. On the imperial fleet, on the main level, go to where the elevator from the shuttle to your starting planet is. Outside that elevator, on the main level, will be 4 NPCs one of each class. They will start the quest to learn an advance class.

Well the advantages are more than just gaining 2 more keys. You gain access to QWAZX on the left hand side and RTGVB on the right hand side ... all within very close distance of your move cluster. That's 10 keys just one key away. You should still be able to use TAB, SHIFT, CONTROL and ALT too (little finger should be able to reach those without even moving away from main keys). BTW: I am speaking as someone who *hasn't* made this change, I still use WASD, but do see an advantage to it if I could be bothered to make the change

Well, obviously the armour hit will be the difference between the armour you're taking off and the armour you're putting on. As for how much damage, why not try it in a relatively controlled environment? Go to an area with mobs just about your level ... so that you will still get a decent fight but not put yourself in mortal danger if things go wrong ... and try out the changes. Do it with your normal armour and see how much damage is done to you. Then try with your cosmetic changes and see if the increase in damage done to you is tolerable. Obviously though things will be tougher when it comes to fighting the elites and so on at your level - even with your proper armour they can be a challenging fight. I imagine purposefully handicapping yourself with bikini bottoms could make the difference between win/lose, unless you just leave them and come back when you are higher level.

I've never even tried to use it from stealth (only level 11 on consular by the way) but have used shadow strike a *lot* ... very powerful attack compared to the others. Just position yourself behind the target, who is hopefully attacking your companion or someone else in your party. Or use your 'project' ability, which stuns the enemy, then run behind them and give them the shadow strike. With most mobs at my level just a project and SS will kill them.

You've obviously never run Esseles! Just run it once or twice and you will get a much better, and moddable, chest piece. By level 11 or 12 you can be running around with nice Orange chest piece, and no farming required.

My bad. I just logged on to check and sure enough the bind I was referring to is called 'take cover' ... so no idea what 'cover fire' is.

Nope, you are the only one asking ... I've never had this problem at all. Remember that some quests give the option of commendations or something else. A lot of the time I *won't* choose the commendations because I know I only need 8, and having any more is a waste. If I was to take the commendation route then I'd have around 12-15 commendations by the time I'm done with a starting planet. So I think maybe you aren't completing the planet as thoroughly as you think? Or you're never taking the option of commendations? But as you say, the item you get doesn't last very long - especially if you then go and run the first flashpoint! I did like the look of both the smuggler and JK commendation items though, shame I couldn't wear them for longer.

It is only relevant to smugglers and agents, who use 'cover' as a game mechanic. There is an ability they start off with, but there is also that 'cover fire' you found that can be bound on its own. So if you are one of those classes you can just save yourself a quick slot by binding cover fire to something (I use my middle mouse button) and not worrying about the ability version that does the same thing. If you're not either of these classes then ignore it, you can't go into cover.

Where did you read that?

Like all forums, you can take as much (or as little) out of them as you like. The posts you've been reading will have been a mix of theorycrafting, where people are obsessed with the minutiae of damage/protection differences, ill informed subjective opinion pieces and full on rants from people getting their butt handed to them. As a new player, just play what you like. As you get familiar with it you will find what you like and don't like, and can then maybe try out another class. There is no one 'best' class and even if there is that won't last as the developers wave their buff/nerf bat around ... so just play whatever class fits your style. In very simple terms (or just look at the character create screen information for more in depth): - Knight sentinel, two light sabres and good at dealing damage - Knight guardian, single sabre and either damage dealer or good at taking damage - Consular sage, single sabre and healer or damage dealer - Consular shadow, double-ended sabre takes damage or deals damage Personally I've played a guardian (tank specced) and a shadow, and in groups I was in with my guardian I survived better than the sentinel ... but again that's just subjective opinion, so don't be afraid to make your own mind up and think something different

Play the game, and stop searching forums and websites! They will come ...

Personally I'm using those skipped quests as levelling fodder for an alt. I skipped most of Alderaan, for example, so that whole story arc will be completely new to me when my alt gets there. The alt will be skipping most of tatooine so that it can remain within level for Alderaan.

Where have they said that the legacy system will allow new character appearances? I must have missed that, or is this just speculation?

Because that's what it says in the quest reward box It will say something like 'and one of the following' ... and is waiting for you to click on one of those. Then the accept button will be available for you.

Yeah sorry to hear about that: it does sound like your server is a magnet for a-holes.

Good, I'm glad you got through the misinformation and found the truth in what I said to be, well, true

Yeah despite what I said, on the whole this is a big improvement - there are just some small niggles left now rather than gaping holes As you say, there is still the potential for inadvertent res-PvP flagging just because it can be difficult to tell, especially as an inexperienced player. There was a poster in the 'new player help' forums who got flagged, without knowing it, because of his inexperience and having no auto-flagging (backed up with a warning message) would have prevented his problem. He was on an escort mission so was expecting NPCs to popup at various times along route. At one point this enemy materialised in front of him and he target it and launched an attack. It was only after the attacked was launched that he realised he'd targeted and attacked another player coming out of stealth, and was now flagged for PvP himself. If his attacked had failed with a warning about only being able to attack other players if you are flagged for PvP he would have realised his mistake and carried on with the quest. As it was he died and was left wondering how he could remove his PvP flag. I just think it is nicer, and clearer, if you have to specifically and consciously flag yourself because then there is no mistake - you know exactly what you are doing - rather than have the game decide that certain actions should flag you.

Have you been buying skills from both tabs on your skill trainer? They will have a tab for your general class skills, and then a tab for your advanced class. That said though, the assassin/shadow is more of a force user than a melee class ...

No, from what I've seen you really don't need the 'perfect' setup of healer, tank and 2 dps for any of the Heroic 4+ quests. I have been on many of these with far from perfect setups (one in particular all of us were smugglers) and you just need to be smart with what you are doing. So assuming that is the case, and you're having such a hard time because everyone is just bundling into the fight without thinking things through, then some general advice would be: - Take time to survey the area you are about to fight in ... are there patrols? How many gold star enemies in the group? Do any of the enemies have buffs that mean they can't be taunted or CC'd? - Mark your targets and make sure everyone knows what the marks mean - 60 sec CC as many targets as possible, so that you can all concentrate on one or two enemies, make sure no one breaks the CC - Everyone should attack the same enemy - If you have a healer then protect them - If you have a tank then focus on the target they are attacking - Use interrupts if you see your enemy charging up an attack - Be aware of what is going on around you, so don't back off into another group of enemies, or push your enemy into another group. You really really don't want to be dealing with 2 groups at once. - Heal/rest between fights rather than rushing off to the next group So good luck, and hopefully you'll see that these H4+ quests are very doable and can be fun! They just need some coordination and tactics, and can't be rushed into like normal quests.

It sounds like you've had bad luck with your server being full of arseholes. Hopefully there are still people on your server who aren't so dictatorial about gear ... normal mode flashpoints of your level shouldn't require special gear and *are* playable by a new 50. As for the your request for difficulty settings, that is what the 'hard mode' is for on flashpoints ... that is the mode that will require better gear/tactics/coordination/balance.

I believe your companion shares your alignment. So if you can wear Dark III then so can they (assuming all other condistions are met, like having that weapon/armour skill).

Why - aren't you automatically flagged on a PvP server anyway? (There speaks a PvE player ) I'd always assumed the flagging was something that only existed on a PvE server, because PvP servers were PvP anywhere apart from specific safe zones. Anyway, my answer (for both PvE and PvP servers) would just be that if you want to help someone then flag yourself. Typing /pvp doesn't take much effort at all. Ideally though they (BW) would have made an option for this so you auto-flag lovers could keep that system, whereas the rest of us could keep it to a manual only system. But of course we end up with something that doesn't quite make anyone 100% happy

Thanks for the info. Actually though, that list is pretty much how it should be ... for the players that don't want auto flagging. #3 and #7 are fair enough, but should be backed up with a warning ('condition failed' kind of message) so that you as a player know why it didn't work as expected. The only bit I don't like is that there is still some auto-flagging (direct attacks/heal) because I'd go even further and remove that possibility. If you want to direct attack/heal a player then simply flag yourself first. It takes no effort and prevents accidents, which will still happen with new players and even with more experienced players in the heat of the moment. But that's just me

^ This. Plus put anything you find that is green and above on the GTN. If it sells, great. If it doesn't sell after a couple of listings then just sell it to a vendor. Also don't bother buying anything yourself, whether that be weapons, armour, crew skill missions, ship parts etc. Just hold on to your money and rely on missions drops to equip yourself and your companions.

Well, as I say, I am only running dual-core 2.3's and it runs fine. Only 2 GB of ram too, and an 8800GT ... definitely not a recent card, but good in its day.