Slight change I'd suggest in your rotation - Move your AoE taunt to just after your sweep or hilt strike. Taunting moves you up to the highest threat at the time of the taunt, so you actually want others to have some threat before you use it (this gives you a bigger total threat amount when the taunt goes off). If the taunt is in melee range, you'll be moved to 110% of the highest current threat; at range, it's 130%. The taunt also forces the targets to attack you for a short time. Usually, if you use your taunt early, the dps then completely blows away your threat with their damage during this period, so that when the taunt wears off the mobs go chasing after them. Optimally, you want to use the taunt just as the furthest mob reachs the dps while still being in range of your taunt - this gives you the 130% threat, and pops that threat on top of what the dps just unloaded. More often you do it when the mobs are still well within your taunt range just to be safe, at about 10-12m from you. Even doing it this way, the dps are likely to go right over your threat again, but you'll have a little more breathing space on the targets that aren't getting hammered so much, so a little more control over the fight. I've never been able to control a large pull consistently, and haven't needed to - you can save the healers alot of pain just by keeping the mobs running back and forth, even if you can't keep them glued on you (edited to add: all numbers and the tactics based off them is anecdotal only, until we get more solid information)

You still haven't posted any of your math. You have a number for blade barrier, but not for the other side of the argument - just a vague statement of "three separate talents". Since I am actually considering switching to hybrid from full defense, I'd love to see what those three talents actually give to counter blade barrier.

It says in one of the loading screen tooltips that your shield is only on in your tank stance (I see this on my Knight, so it says Soresu form). However, I wouldn't be surprised if the tooltip was out of date...

I think they put that in the stats just so you can tell at a quick glance that it's a shield generator. I have yet to see one with differing percentages for the base chance and absorb.

Defense, shield and absorb. I've had best results with defense about twice shield (in pure points put into my gear) and shield about twice absorb.

I solo'd it, but I had to take a week and work on my Belsavis dailies to get geared up enough to do so.

I really like the cooldown reduction on Combat Focus so I can have plenty of focus on demand; I think with that build I'd drop points off of Perseverence (extra strength) and move Cyclonic Sweep to a full 3 points. Being able to use high-focus attacks on demand works better for me for generating threat than the passive threat increase of higher strength.

I'd go with something more like http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#500fMG0uMrkuRZhGM.1 (I'm a big fan of full Defense tree) with full points in Accuracy in the Vigilance tree (since you're going to need a bit of it for the operation bosses, and trying to budget for it in your mods means you're missing out elsewhere), and a bit of strength to help generate threat.

I tried the hybrid build first, but found it wasn't really working for me. When I went to a straight defense build, I enjoyed my tanking rotation much more, without the occasional bits of not having enough focus that I experienced when hybrid. Given how many people I've seen successful and enjoying the hybrid, I'd say it comes down to your playstyle.

Even if you do go with the dark side option to flirt with her, you can "erase" those dark side points once you get to max light side points - i.e., when you reach 10000 light side points, the next light side option starts taking away dark side points. My 50 guardian went this route and has no dark side points left...

I found biochem completely priceless as I levelled, especially before I got my healer companion, just because I would never get enough medpacks for my needs.

But you still visit their forums? I assume that "last time" means you've left the game...

Bioware sent me an email asking what I was enjoying about the game, and what they could improve. I got a little carried away with my reply, so I stopped at ten pages. This is what I sent them: (Warning! Lots of spoilers!) Introduction Cinematics Absolutely stunning cinematics that really sell the Star Wars universe as something we can be part of. Prelude intro was nice at getting the style across, and I was really disappointed it wasn’t continued with the change to Chapter 1 (which just kinda happened and was easy to miss in the excitement of getting your ship) or Chapter 2 (which was a lot easier to notice with the legacy name and quest to return to duty, but the scroll like the prelude would have really been nice). Starting Areas (tutorials / intro stories) Tython – Nice gradual introduction into how to quest, fight, use the UI and use the merchants. Taxi system is a little rough, as there’s no locations for anywhere near the last portion of your journey. Ord Mantell – Jarring beginning, especially for the smuggler. The trooper gets better breadcrumb quests to keep moving along, but it still seems rough until you actually get to the fort. Better intro into Heroic areas than Tethys. Korriban – Like Tethys, good intro into the basic concepts. Didn’t really feel like the Sith had just taken their planet back, though – all the situations and npcs felt rather static. Hutta – Best of the four for layout of areas, as moving from one quest hub to the next felt natural, and taxis were where I wanted. Heroic areas where nicely integrated, without getting in the way. Planets – Look and Feel Tython – Beautiful scenery throughout, with some extremely gorgeous vistas in the final quest areas. The Twi’lek villiage didn’t have enough residences to make it feel like a villiage – a few always-closed doors would have done wonders to make it feel more like a real town. Also, no rutted path from them living there day-to-day, nor much in the way of tools, just a nod to it with a farm in the back (which is fine if the rest of the ambiance makes up for it, but here it does not). The Jedi temple and the masters’ retreat are both wonderful, fulfilling my expectations well. Ord Mantell – Nice war-torn feel throughout. The towns had no personality though, with all of the buildings looking very similar to each other. The walkers (both broken and static) gave a great reminder that you were in Star Wars, and worked to make certain areas seem like the battlefront just because they were there acting as shelter or command locations. Korriban – Amazing, oppressive scenery – just what I want out of a tomb world! A little more variance from the red rock would have been nice in some locations, but given that you don’t spend huge amounts of time here, it’s hardly necessary (and we get more than enough green on the next planet). There is no sense of this being a true world, though – there is signs of corrosion in the rock, but several camps are set up without any shelter for equipment, fresh new scaffolding show no sign of wear, and the precious archaeological digs that the Sith are so enamored with are left exposed to the wind. Hutta – Rough, frontiers-land feel fits perfectly to the story. Seeing the Hutt nests (well, palaces) rising from the swamp really accentuate how politics and economics works on the world, lending a feudal cast to the exploitative story told by the npcs here. Coruscant – I actually sat and stared in awe the first time I stepped out of the shuttle here and faced the immense city through the spaceport’s window. Seeing the Senate building is one of the highlights of the game. Watching the environment degenerate as you move though the zones here is a pleasure, and really gives a feel of getting deeper into the city. Dromund Kaas – Some very nice vistas, but the change from jungle to city is jarring – there is no transition zone, just suddenly city. Also, having no highway between your capital and your main planetary space port just seems silly. Taris – Beautiful concept, but mostly comes across as boring. Where’s the color of nature usually found in such poisonous landscape? With all the inherent vertical space used in the landscape, you hardly ever spend any time taking advantage of it. This was the first planet I visited that left me feeling like the art design had something seriously missing, or were just too rushed to take advantage of the wonderful playground they were given. Being a post-apocalyptic landscape gives them amazing freedom to put in the really weird stuff, and instead we get mud surrounding pillars. True to life, but also very plain. Nar Shaddaa – The Promenade is a gorgeous extreme of advertising and pageantry – exactly what I’d expect from this homage to Las Vegas (or at least of the same spirit). Once past that, however, it feels like I’m right back in Coruscant with only minor art changes (though the holographic trees actually help that quite a bit). I think more could have been done here to show just how many different environs are available on a city planet – and doing something as simple as narrowing all of the halls except major thoroughfares would have given it quite a different signature. I’d like to see something more drastic, more vertical – that is the great strength of these environments, is how changing heights changes our perception. The Red Light Sector shows this off a bit, but it feels lacking in the others. Tatooine – Gorgeous! I absolutely loved the austere beauty on display here. The only complaint I have is that the Jundland Wastes seemed a bit too crowded, but that’s a problem with the genre (needing to have encounters close enough together to be meaningful). This is also the first planet to show just how unimpressive the view from within the spaceport is – we have this beautifully large window in the atrium that faces into a blank wall, with an open sky above. This could have been the selling point of each planet you visit, to really cement in the feel of the place, but it’s left barren – it almost hurts to see the wasted potential here! Alderaan – Amazing initial view and introduction in seeing the Organa palace as you step out of the spaceport. Nice feeling of there being at least a town (though not enough bustle to feel like a city) at the foot of the palace. It makes this feel like a real place. Then you get away from it a little and see the vineyards, rocky coast, and stunning mountains, and it feels like you’ve entered into a proper story. The broken bridge towering incongruously above the river took my breath away. The air whales were a gorgeous touch to really sell it as an alien planet. Balmorra – Nice landscape, and Bugtown is just fun and unique. Most of the areas felt good, and there were several nice vistas to take advantage of the nature of the terrain. However, the “city” of Sobrik doesn’t feel like a city at all. A small town surrounding a military installation and spaceport, but not a city. Take out the back rock wall, add a bunch of rooftops past a fence the players can’t bypass. And put a highway somewhere, with traffic! Coruscant has plenty to spare. Quesh – not bad looking, but not terribly convincing as a toxic atmosphere. There are some gasses that are clear, but adding swirls and waves of particulates in the air would have made it very convincing, and added to the sense of danger of being on a terribly hostile planet. This place is a little too much like Hutta, and could use something to differentiate it, like a mountain, or a distribution of buildings / features that is less homogenous. Like many planets I complain about, everything feels too evenly spaced. Hoth – Like Tatooine, I fell in love with the desolate wasteland presented. Hoth felt cold, just looking at it. The landscape felt hostile, like it wanted to kill me – exactly as an ice world should. Belsavis – Neat idea, with iconic flora. A side trip up to the surface would have been nice to really define that we were in the (craters? sinkholes?) seen from space. Since we don’t get to see the ship landing (another missed opportunity to sell the planet – see my comment on spaceports in the Tatooine section), being instantly down in the holes doesn’t convey the feeling of being in them. Some of the locations you find here are absolutely stunning, and show off the creativity that is possible – now export some back to Taris. Voss – Feels exactly the opposite of Belsavis, which is really nice at this point. The vistas are nicely varied, from a variety of levels (staring in the mountain-top city really helps). Locations really seem to fit into the terrain, whether they are meant to appear to be constructed or natural. Areas have themes that influence locations within or near them, helping to define your progress. Corellia – A nice big city that conveys ‘huge’ but without the ‘fly in the machine’ feel of Coruscant or Nar Shaddaa. Could use some wind-born ash. Something about the place just wasn’t convincing as a warzone, though I’m hard-pressed to say what. Ilum – Very nice change from most of the other planets, as Ilum feels like what a classical sci-fi writer would try to portray. In summary, one of the biggest things I see missing that is pretty standard in space opera is the use of the establishing shot – generally a long- or extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes when, the remainder of the scene takes place. The worlds would feel a lot more “real” if we had them set up in this way. Also, so many of these worlds suffer from only having two colors in their theme – and most of them don’t have any reason for it. Tatooine, Hoth, those make sense with little color. Taris, Balmorra, even Tython and Coruscant are really hurt from the limited palate used on these planets. Character / Monster Models and Animations The four basic male models are nicely varied from each other, but the superhero and fat guy seem a little too extreme. They all move well and work well with the various equipment you can suit them up in, with the exception of the Twi’lek race and anything near the head – magical lekku of phasing through hoods just really doesn’t work for me. Hutts seem a bit limited in animation for what they look like they should be able to do. The winged insectoids (or maybe all of the flyers, not sure) also didn’t move naturally. Most of the monsters were gorgeous – I love the Rakghouls, Nexu, Varactyls and Acklays. Monsters and NPCs So many humanoids! More monster-based quests just to kill something different would have been nice, even if they were just bonus quests upon killing the first one. Still, most mobs were interesting to fight, and the different combinations kept them from getting too boring. The one chief complaint I have about the monsters / enemy NPCs in the game is that far too few of them did anything but stand there. A few patrollers can be found, but for the most part the areas feel like they’re a bit frozen in time. Also, for quest NPCs, you never get to keep them with a few exceptions – you finish the quest hub and the NPC that you helped rescue from whatever they were failing at stays there, waiting for the next player. Kinda kills the sense of accomplishment… Quests in General There are very few quest types: you either fetch things (or destroy them, mechanically about the same), kill things or go talk to someone at the next base (or a combination). There is some variance in how they are chained together, and some quests get quite complex, but you only do one type of quest at a time (counting a found bonus quest as a different quest). Thing is, even with these complicating layers, the quests still feel like you are just killing things, fetching things, or going to the next quest hub to kill things or fetch things. There are a few exceptions to this (a couple escort quests come to mind, and there’s a wonderful quest on Tatooine that encourages you to run through mobs to the escape passage with the sky falling around you that’s just exciting). It seems that once you get past the quest dialog, there’s very little to tell the quests apart. Quest Dialog / Voice Acting Quest dialog is absolutely stunning and works wonders at pulling me into my character and into the world. The amount of effort that went into this aspect is obvious and pays off. There are a few places where the dialog choices don’t quite match up in intent with what my character actually says, but not enough to be off-putting. Quests / Story Arcs by Planet (Most of these will be described from the Republic side since I haven’t leveled very far with my Imperial characters). Tython – Two main threads: investigate the past and fight against the shark-heads. Pretty separate from each other, though the Knight story weaves them together nicely just by having the force-trained sharkhead in the ruins. Good beginning stories to engage and inform. Ord Mantell – Main thread: suppress the rebels. Given the identifiability of “Seperatist” as a faction in the movies, using it for the rebels on just one planet is a bit confusing (several people I talked to about the game noted that they thought the Seperatists and Imperials were the same faction, and were at a loss as to why everyone was shocked when Imperial backing of the Seperatists were revealed). Other than that, the story is a brilliant way of introducing the character to the world without flooding him or her with information. The rebels are part of a small microcosm that becomes a tool to introduce the larger faction of the Empire, and demonstrates not only why the Empire is the “bad guy”, but also how they like to operate. Korriban – Main thread: pass the tests to become a Sith. History, history, history and more useless history. With so many details of the ancient Sith presence here, it’s really hard to connect it with the planet that the Empire assaults in the main intro cinematic. Also, by the time I care about this history, I’m about 10 levels past when I gained it. Given that most people don’t level at my breakneck speed, this is easily forgotten. Too much, too soon. At least the quests individually are amusing and fun to do. Hutta – Main thread: help / use one Hutt against another. Though the near-labyrinthine political maneuvering here gets difficult to follow, it’s easy to play the knife-through-butter to clean it up with little regard to the little details – which fits well with the setting, and (surprisingly) with both character stories. Hutta is an example of all the details working together to give the perfect setting for the character to feel like he or she is actually having an effect. Coruscant – Main thread: defeat the gangs. The first gang is fun. The second is a nice ramp up, since they have a cool name and reputation. The third (though the Justicars aren’t called a gang, they feel like one when fighting them) just feels like repetition. Then you go into the bowels of the planet and fight gangs of robots – or at least after the feeling from the previous sections, it’s really hard not to think of them like that. Coruscant could have really used some variation in theme and a secondary quest thread, even if it was just there as an interlude. Dromund Kaas – Four main threads: get familiar with the city, suppress the slaves, learn about and betray the Revanites, and punish the renegade Sith lord. Chaotic, messy, filled with quests in the category of “I had nothing better to do”. Where Coruscant is a single mission ad nauseum, Dromund Kaas fails on the opposite point: schizophrenia. The quest hubs are linked well, but the story threads are not. Taris – Main thread: fight the Rakghouls. There were a few others in there, but they were so hard to identify or care about that it all felt like just more missions to fight against rakghoul. The dichromatic nature of the scenery helped in this, making all places seem the same, so all stories similarly felt the same. There were two highlights to this, both based on tie-ins to a previous game: finding the starship that you escaped from in the beginning of Knights of the Old Republic, and finding what happened to the survivors (via the holograms in the tunnels). Nar Shaddaa – Main thread: fight the gangs / enemy faction (treated the same because fighting them feels the same). After Coruscant, this just feels like more of the same. None of the quests are particularly bad, but the only really noteworthy story arc I recall with any fondness is getting in to the prison – and that’s just because we hadn’t done anything like it, not because it was exceptionally executed. Tatooine – Two main threads: help the settlers (against the sandpeople, against the Geonosians, against the beasts), and stop Czerka. The Czerka storyline is just fun! Nicely inventive, with a good bad guy to really revile and pity. Nicely introduces the Rataka (sp?), who become such major players on Belsavis and later. Helping settlers is a bit disjointed, since they each have their own concerns in their own little corner of the world, but it really works playing against the solid singular Czerka story arc. Alderaan – Two main threads: save House Organa, and take back the planet. The first segment of quests are a lot of fun, working with the leader of House Organa to defeat the Wolf Baron – it feels properly epic and is a lot of fun. Then you go through questing on the rest of the planet, where all of this work is abandoned. It isn’t until you get to the taking of the ruler’s palace that you return to the epic story telling feel, and the time in between is spaced out physically, and just a slog in terms of quest objectives. There were some interesting bits with the bugs, but they never should have tried to carry the main story thread. Unfortunately, the layout (“level design”, or flow map) of the planet leaves much to be desired. It’s a travesty that Alderaan was allowed into the game in this state, and didn’t get the attention it needed. Balmora – Main thread: throw out the oppressors. By this point, I’m getting really bored of fighting Imperials. We had a nice break on Tatooine, but Balmora is just a continuation of the war that is not a war. Balmora did have some interesting segments, but not enough interesting characters (or perhaps too many – characters were introduced and discarded at a shocking rate). Quesh – Save the drugs, help a Hutt. I still have difficulty figuring out why I should care. This story just isn’t engaging, and it’s just weird to encourage a Jedi to want to enable wide-spread dependency on drugs like this, even if they are beneficial. If this had been about drugs used on the injured to help their care, I would have been much more sympathetic. It’s a jarring story, and I don’t think it belongs here, especially since we cannot object in character – we either do the quests or skip them, no chance to argue the value with the guy giving the quest, nor even an option that suggests I (as the character) might have issue with it. I’m glad this planet’s level range is short, so I can skip it. And any piece of story that you have that makes people want to actively avoid it because of bad writing is a serious flaw. Hoth – Main thread: fight pirates. There’s a lot of other small threads in there as well, which worked out pretty well. Hoth was a nice mix of small supporting threads, but it was missing a true main thread, expecting the class-specific story arcs to carry it. Unfortunately, since class-specific quests are spaced pretty far apart, it doesn’t. Surprisingly though it doesn’t seem like much of a detriment here. Belsavis – Two main threads: fight prisoners and stop an ancient evil. Though a little slow at first, the two main story arcs here (with the ancient evil arc slowly eclipsing the prisoners arc) really do a nice job of setting the pace and moving you through the world, with a few other arcs (like the “war games” senator) that really flesh it out well. Quest hubs are placed well, and travel between them makes sense. Belsavis is the most well-designed planet story-wise. Voss – Two main threads: show a good face to sway the Voss, and find the truth and learn of a religion. After all the boring “fight Imperials” while leveling, this place is a gorgeous example of how to create a story. Apply some Voss to the earlier planets! With the variance in quests and story arcs, Voss is second only to Belsavis in making me feel like I’m in a RPG rather than an odd FPS. War can be in a role-playing game, but too much feels like war for the sake of war, which our characters (and even the Republic as a whole) are supposed to be against. Corellia – Fight the invaders. Again. Some interesting quests, but we’ve already done “invaded planet”. Ilum – Fight the raiders. As this is mostly dailies, it actually works really well to have a simple theme. Especially with Belsavis’ genius playing host to the rest of the dailies. Group Quests / Missions Fun and nicely balanced for the most part. I like the opportunities that group quests give, and I love that they are not required in any story arc. Thank you! I haven’t grouped much, but I’ve enjoyed it when I have. Finding Groups Painful, especially for someone as shy as I am. It’s not intuitive how to advertise that you are looking (though I did stumble upon it eventually), and advertising in the General chat channel is very hit-and-miss. Anything to improve this would be appreciated. Class Quests / Story Arcs Jedi Knight (Complete) – The intro chapter is good at getting into the idea of what a Jedi is, without getting too deep into the philosophy of it. Getting to build your own lightsaber (even if only in a cut scene) is very exciting! Chapter One, however, is just kind of boring. No sense of engagement of character, just the cheapest hooks possible to drag me from planet to planet. The death of my master and transition into Chapter Two changed all of this for me, however, and the story kept me on the edge of my seat well into the conclusion of the final chapter. One complaint is that the final quest is extremely painful when just cruising along through all of the others. I had to take a pretty long break from my story to gear up before I could successfully face the Emperor. Jedi Consular (Complete) – I found the Consular story nice and intricate from the moment I started it. Where the Knight had ups and downs, the Consular felt steady in growth and complexity (both good, and both fitting of the character ideal). Where the Knight felt like a comic book, the Consular felt like a novel. Trooper (on Tatooine) – Very much an action-movie plot. Good for what it is, but not really my thing. Smuggler (on Ord Mantell) – I haven’t gotten very far along in this story, just because I have a hard time with the character of the smuggler wanting to do the general story thread on Ord Mantell – I can’t see the character wanting to get involved with this military action. Sith Warrior (on Dromund Kaas) – Fun story, but I’m holding back on it just because I recently finished the Knight and they play so similar. After the Consular, the rough nature of this story is a nice change of pace. Sith Inquisitor (on Dromund Kaas) – Still early days with this story. I found the prologue engaging. Imperial Agent (on Dromund Kaas) – A little too intricate of a story, for a character that I feel is expected to keep track of all the little story threads – and this story has a lot of little threads. Bounty Hunter (on Hutta) – Saving this one for later. Companion Stories The companion stories are fun and interesting. I’m still exploring many of them, so not a lot of comment here other than to say I’m really enjoying discovering who these people are. Class Mechanics Jedi Knight (Guardian / Defense tree) – This class has made me fall in love with tanking, to the point where I’m actually willing to go find groups to do it (in contrast to my experience in WoW, which made me think I’d never want to tank again). I adore the control this character has in being able to handle his role. One issue I have is the sheer number of abilities to keep track of – I have three hotbars packed with abilities I use regularly, with a good portion of them hotkeyed, and a few more that I’ve had to just quit using because there’s no room. This includes my basic slash, which I should be using to fill space in my rotations but I just don’t have room for, so I end up standing there for a few moments waiting for my cooldowns. Not a great experience there, but the rest of the class’ design really makes up for it. Jedi Consular (Sage / Telekinetic tree) – Though I still raid with a fire mage in WoW, I found this class really difficult to play. Mechanically, it’s pretty similar, but with the addition of shields and heals, as well as having my main attack being to throw pebbles at the target, it’s just not as satisfying to play (though tactically shields and heals are an advantage, it makes this class feel more like a jack of all trades rather than the glass cannon I was expecting). Also, when I first heard of this class, I really thought we were going to be able to manipulate enemies with telekinetics, but alas, we only hit them, and the Knight gets Force Push. The one great saving grace is the ability to wonk someone upside the head with an astromech. Trooper (Commando / Combat Medic tree) – I really enjoyed this class in the beta, but found that the lack of oomph when later leveling past Coruscant made it a bit of a slog. I’m still liking the way the Trooper heals, so I think this is more of an environmental thing – I need to find more groups to heal to really bring out the strength of the character. Smuggler (will be Scoundrel / Scrapper tree) – After having played the Sniper for a bit, I really enjoy the run-and-gun style encouraged by the Scoundrel advanced class. Now to actually level up to try it… Sith Warrior (Marauder / Annihilation tree) – Not much experience here. Though I enjoy playing him, I get too fumble-fingered with the similarities to the Knight, which I’ve been playing quite a bit. Mechanics-wise, he’s about exactly what I’d expect. Sith Inquisitor (Assassin / Darkness tree) – Again, not much experience here. I am looking forward to when I have more time to devote to learning the stealth Sith. Imperial Agent (Sniper / Marksmanship tree) – So much fun! I like playing the turret of destruction that is my Sniper. I would like more ways to slow an opponent or move it back away from my shield (I’m still pretty low-level, so I can’t speak to if those abilities actually exist). Bounty Hunter (will be Powertech / Shield Tech tree) – Nothing here. My Bounty Hunter is all of second level, and waiting for when I have time. Combat Ground combat is exciting and visceral, with the character reacting in a timely manner to commands. Turning to face enemies is nice. Tab targeting is clean, picking out enemies in the order that I’d expect. Having most combats involve multiple opponents makes the combat exciting and variable. Space Combat Space combat is a very nice change of pace from the standard questing. It has a nice, simple intuitive UI and easy to understand goals. Upgrading the ship gives an immediate positive impact. The variety of missions is nice, though I would like to see more (of course). PVP I haven’t engaged in player-versus-player combat too much, but I did enjoy the chaos when I did. Mission objectives where easy to understand and obviously contribute to both player goals and victory, except in Huttball which does a poor job of any kind of explanation. Class balance seemed well in hand, with no one class dominating. Survivability was nice and high, with few instances where I died too fast to react to a situation (and all of those due to overwhelming odds). Transportation / Getting Around Running – Sprint is so nice! The little bit of speed boost there, and the re-casting of it each time I leave combat, is one of the best things about the game – such a nice little touch to keep our quality-of-life high. Taxi – Most taxi routes are direct and faster than even the fastest riding skill, which is nice – I don’t want to spend my time travelling, I want to do stuff! Land Speeders – Good variety, but an unfortunate habit in just about every single saddle-seat speeder to clip your cloak. Since a lot of the speeder designs are obviously there just so we can look as cool as we deserve, having such a glaring visual glitch hurts. Starship – Nice home base, special quest hub and bank all rolled in to one. It gives a nice anchor to our travels which is lacking in many other games. Instant Travel Options – Having Quick Travel, Fleet Passes and the Emergency Fleet Pass makes me feel like I’m never stuck somewhere, while at the same time the cooldown and cost keeps me from using them on a whim. Nice balance. User Interface Stylistically nice, though some elements are a bit large. If I open up all of the panels, I feel like I’m playing through a small tunnel, or keyhole. Controls work as expected, with quickbars and keybinds helping to contain the excessive number of abilities each class gets. One issue I found is that if you put relics on your quickbars, then learn a new spell, it removes the relics from their slots. Max camera distance was a bit painful to find, but stayed at the level I set it consistently once I did. The camera itself is nice, and doesn’t get in the way. I would like to be able to share chat panel(s) settings across characters – recreating my guild panel each time I create and add a new character to the guild is a little annoying. UI Customization So little here it hurts. I want to move panels, resize UI elements (or all of the UI at once), create custom quickbars. The only part of the UI that comes even close to useful in this regard is the chat panels, and they don’t allow click-through (so if I need to click on an opponent behind it, I’m suddenly trying to chat instead). Companion Interface / Control Amazing – useful combat NPCs! Not something seen in many video games, and so important to the experience. The ability to just leave my companion to do his/her thing, and not only not worry that they’re getting in to trouble but know that they’re pulling their weight, has made me extremely happy. Crafting The mechanics of crafting is a lot of fun, and I love that I don’t have to farm for it myself (though I would like to be able to do some of the more difficult farming, like for that last purple-quality gem I need…) The crafting quest text is cute, though diplomacy seems to be giving me the wrong ones (for my Jedi, too many of them are to help the Empire). The interface isn’t so keen, though. The sort order is reset at the drop of a hat. There’s no way to view only the higher-level items. The number of crafting recipes gets insane at high levels. The options are there, but the usefulness is not. Galactic Trade Network Clunky interface that needs a lot of work. Guilds / Community The prelaunch guild formation was perfect, with allies and enemies adding a nice touch. Since launch, however, guild support has been woefully disappointing. No guild finder. Guild member listings are often incomplete. Guild member sort order doesn’t work. For a while, guild chat and officer chat would just fail.