How about some new beards? Most of them have a somewhat "facial parasite" vibe. More mid-long male hairstyles wouldn't go amiss either!

I've been complaining about the core combat mechanics since beta (specifically, tank/dps). They're at best okay if you're doing an ops boss with interesting mechanics, and alright if you're doing PvP, but for anything outside of these cases you're looking at a slogfest nobody asked for. What would be better? Something a bit like Skyforge, perhaps -- still ability-based, but faster and more reliant on physics and movement. Rotations are still a thing, but abilities are based just as much on spur-of-the-moment decisions as they are on energy conservation (reckon you can pull off that really powerful move without being interrupted? Well, you can try!). That's all personal preference of course and frankly I don't see SWTOR changing its core mechanics due to the volue of re-design and re-engineering which would need to take place. A class balancing rework and AI would need an overhaul are just the tip of the iceberg, and that's assuming SWTOR's servers can actually provide the response times required by that type of system. Nah. Though I want nothing more from SWTOR than a good, fun combat system I don't see it happening. It's just weird to have all this cinematic storytelling broken up with really immersion-breaking wooden fights

"May the Force be with you" is really a Jedi thing, and reflects their harmonious relationship with the Force. The Sith of course belive the Force is to be enslaved to their will, as such from the Sith perspective "May the Force be with you" doesn't really make much sense. I'm not saying it doesn't or hasn't happened, I'm just raising it from a philosophical viewpoint.

This problem is inherent to the combat system, unfortunately. There's very few ways in which mob damage can be increased without making life too difficult for some class/spec/gear level. Hypothetically, each class could be given a particular way to mitigate this (larger heals, much tougher armour, higher dps), but all this will achieve is upsetting the delicate class balance. The solution is to make regular mobs hit for low damage. This also has the benefit of allowing new / inexperienced people to explore the worlds without becoming frustrated whilst also making the game more accessible. In a system more reliant on reflexes and tactics and not so much on pure number-crunching, we wouldn't have this issue as we'd have a larger realm of techniques to avoid damage from harder-hitting enemies.

I'm actually 100% behind the OP in the desire for an "active" combat system. I honestly find fights in this game boring as hell, no matter how many novel mechanics are thrown in to it. True, SWTOR will never have one. Perhaps in the distant future when the game's run its course we'll get a new Star Wars MMORPG with real-time combat and proper space flight. For now, it's a good job BioWare tell great stories.

I'll agree that there are some things which the Hero Engine could really do better. Much of this game is far more clunky than it needs to be (and personally, I'm not a huge fan of the combat system, I'd much prefer something more physics-based). One cannot simply swap a game's engine though. That's akin to swapping the supporting structure in a skyscraper whilst leaving the décor in tact -- damn near impossible, It'd be easier to just make a new building in its place.

Kinda with you on this, though perhaps not tequilla, perhaps something which wasn't designed to clean motor engines. Whiskey, perhaps.

People scare me.

Not a bad idea, provided it were togglable through options. I'd probably use it when playing solo to hopefully give some illusion of dynamism during combat, but I can see it being a bit of an issue if you're trying to keep a particular thing in view (say the sandstorm generators during the Enhanced Duneclaw encounter in Czerka Core Meltdown)

I'm annoyed that I now have to pay attention when I'm playing as my tank. I rather enjoyed being able to watch Top Gear while I mindlessly whittled down elites/champs. I can still complete everything without issue, I'd just rather not be forced to watch my health and proritise targets in a game with such banal combat mechanics. It's not any more difficult, it's just irksome. Don't take this as a complaint about the nerf, I'm alright with it. I just enjoy reiterating how tedious solo fighting is for tanks.

It's annoying, to be sure. I play a a Darkness 'Sin and as such avoid killing whenever I can (fighting is REALLY boring). Fortunately, the triggered mobs in SF usually spawn near the central factory part, a quick Force Pull and Overload sends them off the edge so I can continue slipping past everything else to get the reward at the end.

It's not just 'not a simple task', it's actively impossible without re-writing, re-architecting and re-engineering the majority of the game. It's almost as much, if not *as* much as writing the entire thing again, from scratch. What people don't seem to realise is that in one way or another, most of the code in the game relies on the engine in some manner. What you're asking is akin to swapping the ocean with lemonade and rock with marshmallow -- sure, it'd be more awesome, but it's a helluva lot of work and everything which relies on the old stuff will have to go... which basically everything.

Point is, you've still got to spend matches getting your arse handed to you only to then maintain another set of gear. What's the point? Gear should be gear. It doesn't matter whether it's obtained through PvP or PvE, end of the day, if there's something which requires experience an achievement is required to partake anyway. We'll not suddenly going to find some fresh PvPer tanking HM Dread Palace.

PvP is a whole bunch of combat, and SWTOR has a terrible combat system. That's not something which can realistically be swapped out, so getting me to PvP is going to require more than just removing expertise, it's going to have to include some really radical game modes and mechanics. The only Time I ever enjoyed PvP was back in vanilla WoW, when I used to rplay AV matches. These were large, 40 player 'assault' based maps - a hybrid between PvE and PvP in which various objectives completed, map bosses killed, and strategic points captured aided in assaulting each team's base. There were side-objectives, such as farming the local wildlife for hand-ins which gave access to aerial bombardments, or optional bosses which gave buffs. The rewards were also massive, matches gave huge honour(valour) bonuses for each of the optional objectives completed and the rewards from the reputation vendors were (at the time) near-enough the best items for their slot in the game. Not to mention the huge cash reward for completing a match. Do this in SWTOR, add some interesting mechanics such as artillery and give some top-of-the-range gear and exciting rewards and yes, I'd happily play.

Yup! I've got a LS Assassin and DS Sorc. I find the LS produces a far more interesting narrative.

Welp, I'm going to have to get around to doing my 20 Warzones sooner or later. Perhaps next week. Back when I used to play WoW I was quite formidable in PvP (at least, until they introduced expertise). I know *how* to do it, (it *is* just common sense and teamwork) I just don't really want to do it all that often, and I certainly don't want to create a new set of gear just for it.. I'll join in and play properly, not because I want to, but because I feel kinda bad for the PvP players who suffer for my 0 expertise *** being there.

I certainly wouldn't have the same aversion to it. Honestly I never really saw the point in expertise, it seems like an artificial barrier between PvE and PvP, which ultimately does more harm than good. With achievements being required for anything challenging, and if the same gear could be earned both ways, does it really matter where gear comes from any more? Worst case scenario, pugs get better geared noobs.

I just want NPCs to call my character 'Imperius', acknowledging the character for what he is. To my ears 'Outlander' sounds really crappy. I'd probably be ok with it if I were playing my Bounty Hunter or Smuggler, but not my Inquisitor. Never my Inquisitor.

Although my tank is my main (since I can play my preferred class and the spec's easiest to gear), I do find him terribly boring to play, especially solo. That's more the combat mechanics than anything else, but the 4 hours it takes to kill anything solo is an added detriment. The flip-side is that I can solo some bits which other classes may need a second person for. I also never run in to a situation in which I wait an hour for a group to pop only to fail immediately because the tank has no idea what they're doing. Let's weigh up the pros and cons: Pros: - Easier time soloing more difficult enemies - Almost instant GF pops (highly sought after) - If experienced, only requires a mediocre healer and damage dealers to succeed in quick HM runs Cons: - Takes a long time to kill anything solo - Requires a completely distinct set of gear of a relatively high standard as minimum - Takes the most durability damage (death & wear and tear) - Needs foreknowledge of any fights - Limited tank slots in Operations - High degree of responsibility - Cannot participate in Operations without prior relevant experience and suitable gear - Occasionally a blame victim for the failings of groups or mistakes of others - Must be constantly vigilant, even in simple fights In a nutshell, unless you're the kind of person who enjoys the responsibility there's not much motive to play a tank.

I never assumed Valkorion was supposed to have a British accent, I always assumed it was some kind of American autocrat deal. I could never pin Marr's accent, it had very American inflections, but I couldn't pin it to anything I'd heard before.

I'm not saying "make HMs soloable", I'm saying "make them actually hard or don't bother with them at all. Don't artificially make them group content simply by imposing what is effectively a timer for fights, use proper mechanics and properly statted enemies ".

Yesterday I had a crack at BT Heroic on my own. It's very easy up until it becomes downright impossible. Trash is easy, the Republic Boarding Party, similarly so. Commander Ghulil is fine up until the enrage timer hits (and it will hit), at which point he must be kited, but otherwise no issue. GXR-7 Command Droid and Yadira Ban cannot be done solo. This may all seem very obvious, but the point is that everything was a cakewalk up until the enrage timers on the bosses hit, at which point the difficulty 'curve' becomes more of a difficulty wall. Shouldn't the Hard mode be difficult enough without enrage timers that it cannot easily be done by one person? I don't think I should have been able to get to the end of the Flashpoint on my own. Enrage timers stopped me progressing, but at the end of the day, either the damage output of enraged bosses needs to be lowered such that the Flashpoints can be done alone, or the overall difficulty needs a significant boost, such that a group is properly warranted.

I rather enjoy how 'casual' the game has become. This means I can do things when it suits me, rather than panicking to try and find time to do things before a reset. This said, don't confuse 'casual' with 'difficult'. I feel massively under-challenged with the new content. I don't blame this on the companions (they're doing their job just fine), but I do blame it on the enemy design. Overall, they have too much health but deal far too little damage on special attacks. In general, they also need additional mechanics to force the player to move about more, which increases enemies overall dps without simply buffing up flat damage values. (i.e. this put the control of the fight in to the player's hands -- it's up to the player to avoid the damage, not some internal d20 system which cannot really be affected by your character).

A LOT of words

It's a QUINtesential part of being a Sith! Ahahahahaha.... Ok, I'll stop.