Obi-Wan : Send me to kill the Emporer, I can't kill Anakin, he's like my brother! Yoda: Strong enough to kill him you are not. Obi-Wan : Well, if he's that tough, why don't I just go give you a hand? I mean, it will take me a couple of days to fly halfway across the galaxy.....and we can fly over to the Senate in five minutes....working together he wouldn't last two minutes against the both of us.....then we both head to Mustafar! We can fight them two on one, easily win both battles, and this whole coup will be over before it starts! Yoda : Too much sense that makes! Squander we will, our unbeatable tactical advantage! Obi-Wan : But, Master Yoda, Mace Windu was almost as powerful as you, and he couldn't beat the Emporer with three powerful Jedi Masters helping him.... Yoda : (suffering from an EXTREME case of short man syndrome) Judge me by my SIZE do you? Obi-Wan : Well, no, but it seems like an awful risk to fight him alone....and I'm already right here..... Yoda : TALL ENOUGH I am! I Need your help I DO NOT!!!!

First off, thanks for admitting why you are doing it....balancing talent trees is a lot of work. At least you did not insult the player base by trying to feed us the WOW spiel about how much more fun it would be if all our toons were cookie cutter carbon copies, saving us from wasting our time customizing our toons. I'm no great programmer, but I dabble a little, mostly just mods and such. I understand all too well how the slightest change can unbalance everything and turn a smooth program into a disaster, requiring hundreds or thousands of man hours of coding and play testing to make it all work again, but that's why we buy the game every month, with our subscription fee, instead of a one time purchase. I will give it a chance, but if it is anything like the WOW system where you have a total of six choices to develop your character, I will unsub SWOTOR just as fast as WOW. WOW lost a third of it's subscribers, IMHO, because they dumbed the game down to 'make it fun'. They lost me, despite sixteen level 90 toons, years of playing, and thousands of raids. I switched to SWOTOR, because it wasn't a dumbed down talentless game. What worries me is the part of the post where you said you don't want people gaming the talent system to come up with new rotations, combinations, play styles. My favorite part of the game is finding new strategies, rotations, play styles, finding ways to stand out from the crowd. I love the perk of a new talent or ability every level, it keeps me coming back for more. I WILL NOT PLAY a game where every toon is exactly the same, has the same rotation, the same five abilties, the same five basic stats, the same five automatically assigned abilities. MMO PVP is fun when you go into a fight never knowing what you're up against. Arcade PVP is boring as hell, because it is just a matter of who has the best reaction speed and can time their GCDs better than the other toon. I know some people prefer that style, just jump in and play, and that's fine. That's their opinion, it's a matter of taste, and their opinion is no more or less valid than mine. That being said, if that is the direction this star cruiser is heading, it will be time for me to find another ride. Please don't get stuck on the balance bandwagon. I don't want boring, bland, spiceless, balanced toons. Variety in MMOS, just like life, is the stuff that keeps me coming back. The stuff that keeps me paying $15 dollars a month. /e Crosses Lightsabers, /e Hopes this isn't a train wreck

Ugh! You know why he waited for the prequals? So he could put the crappy battle droids in. And Jar-jar. We waited 20 years.....so we wouldn't have to miss Jar-jar. Luke and Vader didn't need to jump around, they were so powerful they just walked up and killed whoever got in their way, no need for silly tricks. All those spinning back flips make you a good cheerleader I guess, but when you are in a sword fight taking your eyes of your enemy for a split second equals instant death. Luke and Vader's fight was the only realistic fight in the entire series. All the oriental "martial arts" look nice...but there is a reason Europe dominated china. There is a reason the cage fighters concentrate on boxing and greko-roman wrestling. All the flipping around, twirling ninja stuff, and ultra-light swords will get you insta-dead when you meet a broadsword.

Mace Windu = Most overrated Jedi ever. Anakin said Obi-Wan was as powerful as Windu. Yoda said Palpatine was out of even Obi- wan's weight class. Anakin flat out told Windu he had zero chance of beating Sidious. Windu, being an out of control egomaniac, decides to run off and arrest Palps on his own. As a result of his failure, Palps wipes out the last few masters on Coruscant, converts Anakin, and is able to destroy the undefended temple and wipe out an entire generation of Jedi younglings. Windu could not even handle Dooku. When Windu threatened him, Dooku just looked bored. Windu couldn't even get to Dooku. Jango Fett and a few battle droids scared him off. In fact, Windu's idiotic assualt against Dooku led to the deaths of dozens of Jedi! Only Yoda's intervention kept Dooku from wiping out the Jedi that day. So, I wonder, was Windu working directly for Sidious, or did his stellar incompetence just make him the perfect patsy for the emperor to manipulate?

There is nothing wrong with an Expanded Universe, I'm a huge fan of backstory. The problem with so much of the EU is that it is a fractured mess. Some say that more characters should be killed off, a la George R. R. Martin. The problem with that is you never get a chance to develop an emotional attachment to the characters. At first I loved Fire and Ice, but with the constant death of every character I have given up on the series. I fell cheated and betrayed by the author after every pointless death. As for the Yugan Dong, or whatever they are called, we don't need Aliens (the movie series in SW). You might as well discover a colony of elves, some space dwarves, or heck, lets let Luke go head to head with the Klingons! Star Wars is the story of Light vs. Dark, Jedi Vs. Sith. It's the struggle of freedom against tyranny. That is the story I'm interested in. When you have a series of poorly written stories that do not make sense with each other, you end up with magic Abelonies, and invading insect armies. Swtor did it right. They went back in time to tell different Jedi stories. EU did it wrong. They tried to keep bleeding the original characters for all they are worth, necessitating the need for ever bigger and badder enemies. Just let Luke and Han retire. They did their bit for king and country, and let their successors take over.

I like Vecke's idea of a twenty year break for the ROTJ heroes, and them appearing as mentors for a new generation of heroes, much like Obi-wan and Yoda did. As for Firesaber statement about the empire still having a viable war effort and not just giving up, look at the aftermath of the Civil War. Many in the South wanted to fight on, the President and many of his younger generals envisioned a Vietnam-type war of resistance. Robert E. Lee unilaterally ordered the surrender of the South, and everyone just....gave up. I think there is probably room for both versions. The Empire is too divided to accept an overall surrender order, there are too many ambitious Moffs with control of entire sectors. There would undoubtedly be dozens of mini-empires, allowing some interesting stories about their defeat, or continuing independence. Still, the heart of the Empire died at Endor. The Emperor and Vader held absolute power, without them there is no central governing body to hold the rest together. The best way to continue the series is that a small group of renegade sith, or force cultists, or whatever got hold of an old Sith holocron.....much like it was done with the Old Rebuplic era. After 20 years of planning, building up, training a new generation of Sith, they rise up to challenge the Jedi once again....and our ROTJ heroes children and disciples must rise to the challenge of defending the Republic!

A lot of very good arguments for keeping, and for trashing the EU(AU). But, in my view the only one that matters is the return of Palpatine. Oh, sure, he died, but....he just happended to have a new clone body waiting. So, his spirit travels a few million light years, hops into a new body! Oh, and he also had another massive battle fleet and awesome ground army just sitting around....... It's just awful writing. Like a previous poster mentioned, Sauron coming back after the ring was destroyed? Any story worth reading has a plot! EU has no plot. If there is an overall story arc it is that there is a new, even more powerful, even more destructive magic/alien/immortal/recycled enemy that can one up the guy from last week. Every great story has a plot. Destroy the one ring. Put the dark one back in his prison. Defeat Vader and his emperor, anything! You can't have 20 different authors all trying to rewrite the plot/story arc, you end up with a confused mess....the EU.

Most people make the mistake of thinking that anything after Zahn is canon of any level. It's not EU-Expanded Universe....it AU-Alternate Universe. There were some good stories after Zahn, but most of it is garbage. I have heard there is a Leelandchee, some kind of canon device. The solution is simple, declare everything after the Thrawn trilogy to be AU-Alternate Universe, and start over. Write out a MAIN story arc, that makes sense, which doesn't include the galactic government changing hands between the Empire, the Alliance, and magic aliens every few months. Then, allow authors to write approved stories that do not damage the main arc. We don't need dozens of Death stars, system killers, planet eaters, ect. Let's say a new sith order arises, with dozens/hundreds of sith lords to combat Luke's new order of Jedi. A Star Wars story can be very interesting on a planetary scale, you don't have to alter the course of the galaxy in every paragraph. Take the Batman stories for example. Batman mostly just does his thing in Gotham city. Sure, Superman is off fighting Galactic scale enemies, but does that make the story of Batman hunting down some psychotic murderer any less interesting or compelling? Let Luke be superman, surely there is enough room in the galaxy for a few Batmans?

Very good post by MRCHalifax, but I disagree on the first part. Obi-wan and Yoda had a plan all along. LnL were the last hopes, but Palps and Vader would sense them the minute they began their force training. How long is a half trained 12 year old going to last when Darth Vader shows up to convert them? The plan was to raise them in good families hoping one would grow up to be a well rounded and moral individual. Now, Luke, in his mid twenties goes through a quick training regimen. Now, you have what Vader was supposed to be, Luke as the Chosen One, well trained by Obi-wan and Yoda, incredibly powerful in the force, with the strong moral fiber to resist the Dark side. Also consider the timing, just as Luke is reaching his prime, the Rebellion Obi-wan and Yoda have been secretly manipulating to peak just as Luke is ready to lead it is coming to a head. So Obi-wan and Yoda (the Jedi) have managed to: 1) Train the Chosen one, Luke the stable, not Anakin the Emo 2) Create a well funded and supplied rebellion for him to lead Vader and Palpatine (the Sith) have managed to: 1) Institute a strict Facist rule that has ensured a rebellion 2) Become so paranoid that they have eliminated all thier rivals for power, insuring the empires demise should they be lost The Jedi are nothing if not adaptable. They realized the error of their ways, and adopted Palpatine's tactics to manipulate things behind the scenes.......everything is ready, and then...... Leia brings things to a head and kicks off the rebellion before they are ready, nearly bringing down the whole plan! But then, dun-da-duh-da...dun-da-duh! Han Solo shows up and saves the galaxy!

The lightsaber duels were so long and boring....Lucas ordered that they be shown in fast forward, even during the screening. At the end of the Emo-boy/Obi-wan fight, Anakin, who can leap 100 feet through the air...instead chooses to leap 9 feet through the air....directly on to Obi-wan's lightsaber.

A Blur movie would be amazing, I'd pay 50$ to see it and bring a date! If...it was done right. I'm a huge SW fan,but I will not watch clone wars cartoons. The animation is HORRENDOUS! A 3 year old kid with crayons could do better. The 1980s hand drawn cartoons are a million times superior in their animation skills. Cartoon wars is so horrible it has probably killed any chance of a CGI SW flick

Planetary shields? LOL We have a planetary shield, called an atmosphere which renders laser/beam bombardment nearly useless. The atmosphere will absorb most of a direct energy attack rendering beam weapons nearly useless. Any weapon you can mount on a ship can easily and more economically be built 25 times more powerful on land.... But mass drivers? Mass drivers use a planetary gravity well against itself. Maybe 10% of laser power penetrates atmo, but 10,000,000 percent of asteroid bombardment impacts the planet. Force = Speed X Mass....so a chunk of iron the size of a star destroyer moving at say, .1 c would equal.....instant planetary annihilation. The energy required to deflect such destructive force is impossible to achieve. It would be like trying to deflect a ground zero atomic bomb with a wooden shield. Your only chance would be to alter the incoming trajectory of the mass long before planetary intersection. Hence, space superiority = you own the planet.

They will be remade eventually, everything is, and they will be better. Every one of the franchises mentioned was better, except Battlestar Galactica. Starbuck, as a chick? Blasphemy. Everyone who participated in the BSG remake should be lobotomized and sentenced to work in Cloud City as middle management. Eventually, Lucas will become one with the cutting room floor, and his inheritors will be presented an offer. "Just sign here and we can guarantee you Xmillion dollars in profit...."

Neither Obi-Wan or Yoda could train Luke. Remember the Emperor and Vader both began to sense Luke's growing power....as Luke's power grew. Anakin began throwing off so much power during his training the entire council was terrified of him becoming an unstoppable monster...which he did. Palpatine sensed his potential almost immediately and began his corruption within weeks of Qui-Gon discovering him. Ben and Yoda knew they had to wait until Luke was old enough to stand a chance against the Sith. Wiat until Luke's 25-30, in his prime, put him through a grueling, quick training regimen before the Sith can find him, and when they do catch up.... They meet the Jedi Anakin should have been, a fully trained Luke, the chosen one with the force as his ally, ready to lead the rebellion which is coming to a head, with Obi-Wan and Yoda at his side.... Good plan, but Leia got in the way and jumped the gun by pulling Ben into the rebellion, and the rest is history.

Why would Vader's suit limit his power or ability to use/resist force lightning? Vader could insulate himself with advanced polymers and ultra-heavy metals, while a flesh and blood person would have only water and bone to inhibit conduction. Maybe he even installed batteries with conductors to absorb the lightning and power his batteries to make him even stronger? He could have easily shielded his critical components to prevent electrical shock. Palpatine stronger? No...Vader was keeping him alive for two reasons, Palps vastly superior Dark Side knowledge, and he needed a partner to run the galaxy (big place). As far as Vader being injured by Palps lightning attack, remember both he and Luke were totally exhausted after a major fight. Luke had just beaten him within an inch of his mechanical life...Vader's tank was empty, but he still shrugged Palpatine off and threw him to his death.