I really want to see the Jawa Assault Squad make another appearance. Soloing a Flashpoint with that mob would be hilarious (and a great substitute for the GodBot)!

I suspect Koth thinks that because you're carrying Valkorian, you *are* Valkorian - albeit in a reincarnated sense. When you're doing nice things to protect Zakuul's people that's just the sort of thing Valkorian would do so he's good with it because you're supporting that belief. When you do something nasty, however, that's not what the Valkorian *he believes in* would do, so you can't be Valkorian returned, and he's been wrong all along. The guy thinks Valkorian's the best thing since sliced bread, so why wouldn't he go for his effective god risen to save the people from Arcann? By undermining that belief you're shooting down his faith, and people don't take well to that. I have a feeling that the only way to undermine Koth's faith is to let him see you using Valkorian's power, given his reaction when you do it at the Spire.

With a new set of tunnels and a small change in presentation, repeating the same missions could have made absolute sense. Insert a THORN officer talking to a group of NPC volunteers: "Okay, those of you who were with us on Alderaan know how we do things, but let's run over it again for the new guys. It's standard procedure for a reason, people - this is how we get the job done and come home safe." And then head down into new tunnels to run that standard containment procedure.

I know it's not a perfect solution, but can you not use crafted barrels? I know that crafted armour isn't bound to slots in the way that pieces from the Commendations Vendor are; can someone confirm whether or not the same applies to barrels?

I like that it's hard work. My Op healer (2-pc Arkanian plus mainhand, the rest purple 69s & 66s, aug'ed blue & purple about 50/50) was having a bit of trouble until I brought Treek's gear up to speed, and the Bothrium Beast and the Watchtower Commander wiped me a few times until I got the hang of them. Felt good when they went down, though! The thing is, they made me think, and work, and forced me to up my game. This is a good thing - not just for me but for my guildies as well since it (hopefully) means I'll be more of an asset to them when we're running as a group. I'd got too used to cruising through the Dailies and it's nice to have something more challenging to do. At times like this, I think of the repair bills as tuition fees. Some people have an easier time of it than I do. That's cool - they're better players than me* and may well have earned better gear to run with as a result. Some people have it worse. Hopefully they'll come up to speed and be able to clear it in time, but if not that's okay, too. Find the parts of the game that suit you and enjoy them - there's no point doing things that make you unhappy. * Why do some people find it so difficult to admit this? I'm a better player than Bob, and Katie makes me look like a blundering noob who can barely find his inventory. Skill levels vary; what's the big deal?

They're BoE, which means my Sniper is getting a bunch of early Christmas presents from my Op right now.

Wow, and I thought there was a queue when I was there! Thanks again to everyone who made this happen.

This is an awesome thing to do. See you there, and thank you!

It's a jerk move - and one that comes with risks. I was fighting an elite for his chest because, like an idiot, I'd got too close to him while out of stealth and tripped him off. Fair enough - doesn't hurt to earn the rewards, after all. As I'm fighting the guy, in comes a smartalec with ninja-looting on his mind. He can see I'm fighting the guy, he stops watches for moment or two, then homes right in to pick up the goodies... ... At which point I stealth out of combat and laugh my head off while I watch the newly-reset elite stomp him flat.

This. Ten thousand times this.

I asked about this while we were talking, because a couple of friends (with whom I was running the missions) have been affected. My understanding is that you need to be logged out of the system entirely or playing the affected character and not in an instance. The live chat window popped up for me while I was on a different character entirely and I was talked through what I had to do to help Andy get things sorted out.

I've just finished talking to Andy, and he cheerfully completed the mission for me. Just need to have a quiet chat with the Lord of Agony now. I dread to think what the backlog's like for CS on this, but kudos to them for holding onto their sense of humour as they work through fixing this.

Oh yeah. I came to the conclusion that Intelligence's main role in the Empire is cleaning up the messes caused by idiot Sith (the only people in the galaxy who are as big a pain as the Imperial Reclamation Service) and making sure the place actually runs in something approaching a sensible manner. Not only is the Agent blessed with a good personal story, it does a great job of giving you a larger picture of how the Empire actually works and the character's place within it. But that's not all! On top of all *that*, you also get some real insight into the Republic's way of doing things, and the overall situation in the galaxy as a whole. What's happening on Voss, for example, makes all kinds of sense after you've played the Agent - and the Voss tale really snapped my Agent's perspective into clear view for me, from someone trying to do the best for the Empire to... well, see what happens to you. This message was brought to you by the Imperial Intelligence Recruitment Division.

Darned surplus stores...

And I just found another: there's a Heroic 2+ from Guard Post Beta (I think that was what it was called) on Belsavis that awards this style of helmet. Not just a free lid, but the nice chap gives you Credits, too!