Thanks for answering. So going by what you said, the latter version will always replace the earlier version then? BW probably never tested this as it's not the normal way to go. I'm still wary though. I'll probably make a new commando and go through it, if I can stand going through it all again. It's a shame they did this though. Companions are an integral part of the game.

Now the reason I'm asking this may be a bit weird, but it's all in the details for me. I've noticed that Fallen Empire companions that make a return aren't the same as 'vanilla' companions in that they don't give conversation affection points, but also, and this ircks me quite a bit, they don't open their mouth when you click on them. This could either be a bug or intended, or something they might fix in the future. It does kill immersion for me a bit, makes them more pet like than they already are. I have 2 question concerning this, and I prefer knowing beforehand than risking it on my trooper: 1. If I use the companion console, do I get the 'vanilla' version of Elara 2. If I use the companion console and do in fact end up with the 'vanilla' version, what happens when I meet Elara later on in the story? Do I end up with 2 Elara's or will one replace the other? If one is replaced, which one will be removed?

The rng grind is quite awful yes, most will agree on that, but there's something else that's way worse. I got to level 70 this evening, and in about 3 hours I got to command level 8. One blue and some greens and the rest was crap. I actually didn't mind that. It did got me thinking though, apart from the uprisings, what new content is there really? And that's really the main issue. I've been playing on and off for about 4,5 years now, done most stuff, got most reputations, did all the classes etc, almost valor 100 on several classes, so what am I going to do now? Do the same stuff again that I've been doing for years just to get some gear? This expansion almost seems aimed at new players, who haven't done all the content of the last 4 years and want to experience it all. So what about the veterans then? I will say, the chapters are awesome. Really liked them. Kudos to Bioware. But this is a mmo, more or less still, so those chapters you do maybe once or twice, and you're done. What's left then? And for some odd reason I did like the fact I got to 70 now, perhaps the idea of being more powerful is appealing. It did got me wondering though, what would have been a great expansion? More ops that perhaps 10% of the player base does, a lot of new flashpoints perhaps? More story for the vanilla companions?Although that's not lasting/repeatable content. So, what would have made this expansion awesome? What do you guys think?

Yes, that's what I thought, so that would mean we could play tonight for those that didn't get early access? Well, midnight CET in my case.

I can't find it anywhere either and I forgot how it went previous expansions. Don't they usually announce a maintenance for this a day prior to release?

That was an interesting perspective to start with. I played Wow for a long time, and several other MMO's as well. Not sure how much you can compare them though, they are similar at the core, but very different in other places. Swtor mostly followed the model that many mmo's before, and mostly after Wow, followed. A gear progression based threadmill with several layers on top (grinds/reputations etc) to keep players entertained. Swtor of course focussed a lot on the story through extensive use of cutscenes and interaction with npc's and companions, so in that regard it deviated a bit from Wow. But at the core, it was mostly Wow with a Star Wars skin and then some (story). That is fine as long as they expand on that, which they haven't for a long time. Instead they went the single player story route and neglected everything else that Wow is still doing up to this day (and keeps it in business, quite successfully). That's probably the biggest mistake they made, focussing so much on those chapters and neglecting basically everything else. This is a MMO first and foremost. Perhaps they have some metrics showing not many people do operations or fp's, but if that's the case, something's not right. Wow thrives on those and has been for a long time, and assuming Swtor is basically a copy of Wow with a different setting, something is not right if they feel group content isn't worth developing. But, there could also be something else going on, perhaps players aren't entertained enough once they finished the story because there's no more real personal story when 'story' was supposedly the focus of the game. Or perhaps the planets kill immersion because they're basically big corridors that make you feel locked in and don't offer much incentive to revisit once you've done the story on them. Other than heroics, which can be transported to, some datacrons and achievements, once you've got those, no need to ever go back. The universe is quite dead once you're done with the story in it. So much for all that story. In Wow the environment is seamless, you can travel everywhere in a world that feels believable and alive, mostly. Most planets in Swtor feel very repititve and boring, there's just not a lot going on, perhaps those invasions will help a bit. Any mmo is as good as how believable and immersive the world is. I'd love to see more of existing planets instead of introducing new planets. All planets feel so confined, mostly to where the story wants you to go. More interaction with vanilla companions through perhaps weekly missions to either build their affection or learn about their past or whatever. Vanilla Swtor laid a good foundation, they should focus more on that instead of introducing new planets all the time and a gazillion new companions. What Wow does very well is catering to a lot of different audiences, that's where Swtor really dropped the ball. You could argue for instance that people that love operations are only a very small minority, but still, they are part of the player base. No new operation in 2,5 years time is just terrible. Focussing on mostly one element (chapters) really is a bad idea. I don't really care about operations, I do care about a healthy player base. If you want a solid Mmo, you shouldn't be focussing on one target audience.

Really, are you kidding me? So lets see, Reps losing all evening and getting nothing from it. It's bad as it is right now and you want Reps to gain nothing from participating. I would say that's a really stupid idea, but then again, it might work. Because it would kill pvp faster. That would be a wake up call for Bioware of for Imps to start caring about pvp faction wise. If people get nothing from losing they'll go to the winning side, so it's Imp queues all the time. Lets see how long that lasts. I bet all the people here that say 'man up, learn tactics bla bla' only play Imp. Go pvp on Rep side, I've seen some Imps do it, 2 lost games later they're back on their mains Imp side. Most Imps don't give a **** if they only pvp against Imps, they just want to pvp. So eventually we'll end up with an even smaller player pool of people.

I read it, very nice as a guide for beginners. Good job. You covered everything as far as the scope of this guide is meant to cover. Couple of things I'd like to add/ask/suggest: - perhaps divide the starting section into smaller sections, now it's mostly a wall of text with paragraphs, so to speak -use sections like: 'how gearing/bolstering works' , 'how resolve works' etc etc. Or just 'gearing' 'resolve'. -what do you mean by ' You'll want to gear yourself up with old lower-level, non-pvp gear' . I assume you mean anything below or at item rating 162? -I saw a typo in the Huttball section 'When you load in your tema' -When I guard a node on Voidstar, Novare Coast and Civil War, I try to keep some distance so the stealth that wants to cc me loses some time after cc and getting to the node. Not sure if that's the best strategy, but perhaps something to consider. I don't do that for non stealth classes, then I mostly try to hide behind the node (if possible, Civil War). -Maybe not that important, but when levelling, it's best to save commendations for when you get to 65. You could just have enough for a full 208 set, so don't spend it while levellling To be fair there isn't that much you'd spend it on anyway, but still. - at 65, make sure you are at 2018 expertise before jumping into anything. Maybe you mentioned this. - Perhaps make a 'general tips' and 'general strategy' section for each warzone. All the warzone sections feel a bit 'wall of texty' Having sections is good for looking up info. Meh, maybe I'm nitpicking, but well, you wanted feedback

As someone else mentioned in this thread, the calm, thoughtful, perhaps a bit boring way the male counselar is voice acted, fits the class well. It's a diplomat, a scholar, more so than a warrior or hero. My favorite by far is the male Sith warrior's voice, that guy 's voice is so awesome. It's not overly typical Brit voice acting, it's calm, confident, bit cocky/arrogant, brilliant voice. Male smuggler is second on my list. The way he delivers those mostly funny/flirty lines is just hilarious. The guy who voiced the smuggler is a perfect cast. I did like the male Bounty hunter a lot as well, typical bad *** voice, reminded me a bit of Sam Elliot. Special mention goes to Jennifer Hale, so versatile and brilliant. Her portrayal of Satele is great, as was that of Bastilla. Fem trooper is basically Fem Shep, but I'd assume that was a voice director decision. The thing I missed a bit in the male voice acting (don't have female chars) of Republic force users, is a wider range of expressions and emotion. I get their mostly supposed to be calm and collected, but a little emotion couldn't hurt.

The weird thing is, you stated all the reasons why there's more people playing Imp, yet you got it backwards. Insert everything with Rep, apart from your first argument, and see where that goes. Not sure what to tell you anymore. But I assume you mostly play Imp so meh, you don't care.

I did stop reading yes, but I read the rest now. I've been pvping for about 4 years now, and yes, on pub side there have been very good teams, and yes Imps had a hard time, bla bla bla. I've pvped on 2 servers before the server merges took place, and overal Imps have been dominating, perhaps not as much as they have now, but still. And the whole 'animation thing, imps are more bad *** etc' ,perhaps it didn't play as big a role back then as it does now, player population does change. I don't have an answer for that, I mostly go by the Imp players I asked in game and what I've seen on other media. It's just a sample of course, nothing scientific about it. I'll ask you this though, if animations, being bad *** etc isn't important at all, why aren't all the good Imps moving Pub side? You could say well 'why would they, it's all good Imp side'. That's true, but it doesn't help the game overall. It's why we're having this thread and others. I have characters on both sides and whenever I'm on my Imp char, I notice a lot more hate/disdain for Pubs than the other way around. Pubs are weak, goody two shoes, etc, amongst the remarks I've seen. I remember several times chosing light side options on my Imp in fp's and people talking ****.

You're just going by what you're assuming is the case. There is no proof whatsoever that because the stories are better/cooler, more people pvp on Imp side. And are the stories cool by their own right, or because you're playing a bad *** Imp? Or a combination of both? People in general steer towards the evil/bad side in mmo's. I've played some and it's the same every time. By the way, the stories being better is very debatable. From other mmo's I know that most serious pvp'ers don't really care about the levelling, they just want to pvp, so I doubt a supposedly cooler story would help there. I know this is all anecdotal, but I've asked quite some Imps why they prefer pvp as I was intruiged about the gap, and most said, it's either the cooler animations, being more bad ***, or shorter queues. And well shorter queues, that's cause and effect.

I'm not being negative here, I'm being a realist, from my own experience and from others, I know that Imps win most. I pvp on both TRE and Harbinger Pub side, it's the same. Imps win almost everything. If most if not all good players play on one team, you can't expect the lesser team to get on their level. Because they will either get demotivated and quit, or join the other team. If it were close, then sure they might improve, but the difference right now in pvp between Imps and Reps is huge. You can't fix that by good advice, as good an intention that is. I do support it. It's just not enough.

Well, as you can not know, and no one can really, because your facts are anecdotal or based on what people that can be bothered to visit the forums think, it's up in the air really. But if you think about it, all those Imp players that hate playing Rep side because Pubs suck so much, suddenly don't mind playing alongside of them. Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? Even if it's only 10% of players that have lore objections, that's still 10%, out of a small player pool as it is. I hope this will somehow get fixed.