Yeah, only three instances of Esseles on my lowbie Jedi and I'm getting some fairly solid bouts of lag - spikes of 20K+ ms server lag.

No doubt that will have had an effect, but providing us with some kind of information is not too much to ask. An update of some form in six months is the least we should be able to expect. Especially since, as RichT points out, the cathar were meant to gauge whether they were going to introduce any other, new playable races.

The cathar were announced in the first half of June. It has been six months. It'd be really nice if we could have some additional information now. There's no information of any additional playable races with Rise of the Hutt Cartel, either. I was rather looking forward to a cathar character but this is not a situation in which no news is good news. If I roll my new character before cathar become available, then I certainly won't be spending any Cartel coins to unlock them.

Yup, such things are all on us, the players. So there's only one thing to say: Be there or be a geometric shape!

Considering how long we've been waiting for the cathar, I feel we should let them finally get the one planned new species into the game before clamoring for more. I don't care to guess why it's taking so long, but once they have that experience any additional species should hopefully come at a faster pace.

I presume that all you will have to do to become a subscriber is go to your account management page ("My Account") and sign up with a subscription option. I can't imagine that it would be more difficult than that. You needn't buy the game. As for buying extra character slots, my understanding is that there was some problem with this and it hasn't made it into the game yet. I believe subscribers were to get extra character slots as well and I, at least, haven't seen those yet.

I haven't had a chance to visit Sector X yet. Tonight! Tonight it shall be mine*! * Darth Vader smiley brought to you by the lack of an ominous laughter smiley.

I'm on board with this for all companions who have that weird skin suit instead of skin.

I went with a twi'lek for my gunslinger (dark side, no less) and it works for me. I've recently started a cyborg scoundrel because I wanted to see what scoundrel DPS is like. For my tastes I hit a sweet spot with his appearance, since I'd have to say he's probably my coolest looking Republic character. Although seeing a body type 4 smuggler rolling into cover must be quite amusing.

Honestly, whatever you've got. At those lower levels you'll be leveling so fast that trying to find a "best" is way more effort than it's worth. In the time it'd take you to put together any such armor set you'd probably be level 14 or 15. If you really want to get top of the line stuff, anyway, then your best bet is buying whatever inheritance gear you can buy and dropping in the best purple armorings, mods, and enhancements you can get at that level.

Actually I've been wondering if it will be possible to switch an existing character to a new race once it's released. I'm an altaholic but I'd still prefer not to double up on ACs just to be able to enjoy a new race. It'd be nice to know so that there'd be some certainty whether I need to hold off on a new character or if I can make it and then switch.

In a word: yes. The primary confusion no doubt arises from the fact that TOR is billed as having ranged tanks. An understandable expectation since vanguards/powertechs use blasters. The fact that they insist on calling them ranged tanks (Tactical Role(s): Ranged Tank; Close-Quarters Damage) doesn't help. It's even more confusing since they also state that the DPS is close-quarters. (Admittedly I was always a bit leery about how ranged tanking was supposed to work - why would anyone use a melee tank if you could play a ranged tank and avoid a boss' melee attacks?) Certainly, some attacks have a longer range and can allow these tanks to grab aggro (at least initially) at up to 30 meters. However, for anyone who has tanked with a vanguard or powertech there can be no question that to do so effectively one has to be within ten meters of the target.

Since updates were mentioned and this falls within the subject of updates, I'll ask about new races. Specifically, for those of us who have used up most or all of our character slots, will we have the option to change a current character to a new race? It would be disappointing if the only choice we had was between deleting an existing character or not being able to use the new race.

Your points follow my basic reasoning so I find them sound, except for the one above. As an earlier poster pointed out: There is a point at which you might as well pick up alacrity because getting more surge is not useful. Which is somewhat like saying you should stick your hand in a vat of acid rather than a bucket of coals, but there you have it.

Mmm, shiny.