Yeah, unfortunately... Without a way to save that, the prevailing wisdom seems to be putting non-spec-specific abilities on bar 2 and leaving bar 1 empty to autopopulate with specced abilities when you change spec. Then you can quickly rearrange those to suit. It's not optimal, but SWTOR has gone out of its way to avoid backlash from former WoW or Rift players over automating too much of the game process. (It's why we still don't have mouseover macros for healing.)

I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far. It's been fun for me, but I'm only up to chapter IX. On several characters.... None of whom I've taken into Firebrand. I stay put in chapter IX grinding out alliance reputation and collecting companions. I'm a little nervous to go past it. I've been playing a lot over the holidays as my best friend's mother went into hospital on Christmas Day and then into hospice. I stayed to help take care of her through the end, and SWTOR entertained me and kept my spirits up through that harrowing process. I crafted and PVPed and talked to my guildmates a little between administering medications and doing laundry, and I came out the other side sadder but better off than I'd have been without this outlet. Sometimes what you really need is a little escape, and SWTOR provided me that.

Happy New Year! It's been a crazy couple weeks but I just read through all I missed. As ever, I've enjoyed your stories. Congrats! If you've fully completed the expansions and are down to the end of Oricon (and you've done Rishi and Manaan and Yavin IV and had all that fun) then At least that's how it worked for me on my Marauder in my most recent playthrough.

These are great suggestions. Love it.

I've never seen this! Wow, I've literally never played it that way. Sounds like I've got an alt to make! Maybe it'll all finally make sense in all its details if I do the flashpoints in proper order...

I've ventured onto an RP server in the past, but I don't think I'm a dedicated enough SW fan to fit in. (I've obviously seen all the films, I've read some of the Expanded Universe, and I played KOTOR 1 & 2, but the minutiae... Lost on me.) So I do much what you do... Envision a backstory at character creation, hold onto a sense of identity and purpose, and then let the story change that character as it goes. Or, if I happen to have an RL friend playing with me, and we get on VOIP together while teaming up for a few missions, we'll talk out loud about the RP characteristics of the scene, like playing D&D. That's tremendously fun, but very situational. When it comes to solo casual RPing, I've always done pretty much exactly what you're describing, so you're def not alone in that. (Although a time or two, I've just played as myself, and that's pretty fun too.)

I really recommend looking for active, recruiting social/leveling guilds in local chat on starting planets or DK/Coruscant. A good guild sounds like what you need. SWTOR caters to two very different playerbases--one that's here for KOTOR 3 and solos everything and one that's here for a Star Wars MMO and wants to group. A guild is the best way to get the MMO part of the experience, imho.

Thirded. I'm dying to know what rotation and gear I should be using for PVP (PVE too, tbh) and I don't have the skills to sort out what's optimal on my own. I keep checking these forums looking for an updated guide.

Most custom (orange) lightsabers are usable both main hand and off hand. Just check their tool tips. You might plunk down a bit on the GTN....a CM saber will be custom and usable from the beginning. Or learn artifice if there's no affordable custom sabers on your server. If I'm not mistaken artifice crafts orange quality sabers pretty early in their repertoire that are usable from a low-mid level. My (new) Marauder has been using a CM saber as his off-hand from the beginning, one I used mainhand on other toons and unlocked through collections. You'll definitely pick up decent offhands as quest rewards while you level though, if you follow the main arcs.

I really am. I'm mostly solo still, and definitely casual, but dipping my toes into being in a guild, doing some conquest/PVP, and grouping now and then has been fun. I don't like the pressure of it with PUGs, and I definitely do not dominate WZs, but it's funny how five years on, I'm only now exploring some of these other aspects of the game. It has a lot of replay value, and I think even if I'm not thrilled with GC, and even if I don't love how KOTET ends, I'm still going to be here next year. I'm still gonna have a lot more fun in SWTOR than I would just about anywhere else. Much as I'm looking forward to BW's next with ME Andromeda, it's not going to replace what SWTOR gives me. As has been mentioned before, there's nothing quite like force leaping onto an enemy and stabbing them with two lightsabers at once. This is childhood fantasy territory, and even if end game isn't perfect, there will continue to be content worth escaping into.

Greetings from Jedi Covenant! I've read this entire thread, and it's been very rewarding. I was a huge KOTOR 1 & 2 fan, so natch I showed up for BW's KOTOR 3, aka "SWTOR Classic," as a pre-order. I haven't been continually subbed since then because I'm often broke, was without a laptop for a while, etc etc, but I always come back. I played CoH, WoW, Rift, GW2, and a few others over the years, but I always find myself here, clicking on create character, and going back through the original 8 stories. I played chapters 1-9 of KOTFE on my free 60, and that was fun just to explore, but I missed my companions. I missed the classic experience of my origins mattering. I'm too much of the RPG and not enough of the MMO. I didn't have a guild, I didn't have friends playing. I just wanted to see where it was all going. When I had to wait for chapter 9, I decided not to grind out alliance crates and slaughter star fortresses. I dropped sub, played Dragon Age Inquisition, and faffed around. Then I heard if I resubbed, I'd get Shae Vizla. Holy crap, Shae Vizla! So I resubbed. Then it was DvL, and by god, I was gonna get in on that. I only had a couple weeks left in the event, but I jumped in both feet and made a new toon, powered through, and got a few achieves... as well as accepting a random guild invite to a HUGE guild that tops conquest leaderboards. It was interesting, and not something I'd engaged with since the earliest days of SWTOR since my original guild decamped for greener pastures six months in. It wasn't the best fit, but it was intriguing. I liked feeling like there were other people out there doing things in the galaxy, even if I wasn't gonna participate in any grouped events with them. That was pub side, and I had never finished the Sith Warrior storyline. It was the last remaining before I'd get legendary status. I dove in, decided to see how it played out.... I'd never played DPS before but I went Marauder. On Dromund Kaas, I saw someone advertising for a "casual-friendly" guild, and I joined it. Weirdly, this is the first time in years I've felt like I want to do anything grouped. I really like my guild. I like PVPing for conquest, even though I'm terribad at it. I like running random FPs with my guildies--who are willing to teach and explain mechanics. I actually saved us all from a wipe as the last player standing--and I DPSed down the final trash to end the combat and rezzed my guildmaster to raucous cheers from the group. It was the most amazing I've ever felt in this game, and it happened because I was with guildies. Friend is too personal a word for what they are to me, but we are a team. Funny how I didn't find that until I played a Dark V Sith Marauder. I've taken my time on this toon to play through all the stories I want, and I've reached the point where I'm about to jump into KOTFE and KOTET. I'm already a 70, have been for a while. So I'm grinding out the CXP (been legacy 50 for a while, so that's ALL I'm getting anymore) and I figure, why not? But I'll admit, I married my sweet little sassbucket Vette, and I wouldn't play SWTOR GC without a guildie spoiling me a little by telling me I get her back. I get too attached. What good is being the Outlander (like everyone else in my guild) if I can't finally find out what Vette thinks about my side piece Lana? If there're no consequences for my actions, it's no longer an RPG. I know EA doesn't care like BW did before they were assimilated. That's been my biggest disappointment. I've lost hope that, with the voice actors' strike etc, we'll ever get expansions that bring back that KOTOR 3 flavored magic. Doesn't mean I won't sub, and play, and enjoy events. Doesn't mean it's not worth playing alone or with friends, or doing conquest, or joining a guild. Just means I won't rush to end game, because I don't think what's coming is gonna be appreciably better than what's already here. Now that was a ramble. Guess I just wanted to put it out there, my experience, and share it with folks who seem sympathetic to that playstyle. It's been a real pleasure to meet y'all. Sometimes the toxic noise drowns out the beautiful harmonies in this place, but y'all are singing my song.

Love all those ideas. Please, PTB, let it be so. Legacy credit banking would save my sanity.

Excellent points, all of them. I love this collection of ideas. Seconded.

Like I said in my post, I don't see that as static. I see it as the baseline which could be modified by choices. In fact, seeing what your end result would be would give you a clearer vision of what your choices wrought. I can't remember the questline, but in one instance, my character made a light side choice and lost credits (shown in the bottom left where my companion affection/ls or ds/etc pops up) immediately. It's possible that could be a way to handle it as well. If you got an immediate +/- to your credit balance or an immediate receipt of item for the stage of the quest you're on, it might not alter the end rewards but would still be a meaningful impact from a choice.

There's no way to buy in-game credits directly for CC unless you already earned the credits, which is what escrow is for. Escrow is like money held in trust. In this case when a f2p or preferred has hit their max number of credits, BW holds the remainder in trust for them until they become a sub or buy a credit transfer. However, if you wanted to buy in-game credits, the closest thing is probably buying a cartel pack and selling it on GTN unopened. Those go for a pretty stable amount relative to their price. Subs cannot use and should not be able to buy the escrow items. Contact support and see if they can remove it from your account and refund your CCs?