But Flamethrower was, essentially, a misguided spell. It had a channel time (so melee classes had to stand still and cast) and a short range (so not for ranged). Now it's a Powertech only ability, and no longer channeled. As for the "kick" ability, it's still in the game (called Jet Boost). Mercenary is centered around ranged, and animationwise focuses on missles and gunplay. Things like Death From Above (fly up and fire missles down), Fusion Missle (giant missle from your back, bend over and thank the Bendu it's not Tracer's animation anymore), Heatseeking Missle (three guided missiles), Rocket Out (use your jetpack to fly backwards 20m), Electro-Net (fire a missile that traps a target in a net, most noticible in PvP) are what you're gonna get. If you want fire-and-flames, you might prefer Powertech, especially their Pyrotech spec.

The general consensus back from launch was that you could heal just as fine with a Rifle as you could with a Cannon, because the Cannon only affected DPS ranges. Heck, nowadays with the removal of the cunning/aim difference, the fact that most if not all weapons endgame are adaptive/custom, and the removal of tech/ranged as seperate stats you should be able to do it easier. Ofc, that could be subject to change.

Its value definitely decreases if there's a repair probe nearby, but I personally swear by it. Longevity without having to be tied to a specific type of ship that isn't guranteed, not to mention a quick escape and repair gets you back in the fight quicker than respawning. OP, all you need to know should, hopefully, be here: http://dulfy.net/2013/11/15/swtor-galactic-starfighter-new-player-guide/

I'll admit I'm not 55, or even 50, on any character yet, but so far none of my Trooper's companions can be selected on my Knight, for example, nor have I heard any word of it being implemented. Maybe it's so that everyone is on equal footing. Whether you have 1 level 33, or 15 level 55s, you'll have the same number of companions (save your classes own) unlocked.

You trade your offensive variety for defensive power against scouts and Strikes that hunt you. Just as Scouts can trade their maneuverability and speed for offensive capability. Playing it as a "missile boat" like a Pike would be silly, but at least by trading your second railgun for missiles you have more options when people come after you (which, if you're a good gunship and covering a point they want badly, they may just do from time to time). We, of course, have no idea how it'll be implemented, but if it's implemented as I and others believe, you're always free (and better off) playing the ship style you like.

The K-52 is the Cartel version of the Quarrel/Mangler. Dual railguns.

Ok, you REALLY need to know this: 1. Ships are not tiered, like gear. There is no ship that you only play starting out because it's base stats are much lower than another. This is not EVE Online. All ships are sidegrades. One scout is for movement/agility, the other is for dogfighting. They both can hold their own in any situation. Kinda hard to have a discard-and-upgrade system when there's 5 ships (not counting the 2 CM ones) 2. Cartel ships are each identical to a non-pay ship of the same class. The Scout is identical (save visuals) to the Flashfire/Sting, which costs 4,000 Fleet req (each game can give around 115 fleet req). The Strike Fighter CM ship is identical to the already unlocked base ship. 3. You cannot buy either req kind, for actual componant (laser, missiles) upgrades. You can change ship (per ship only) req to fleet req (for all ships on that character) but you need to earn the ship req first. Infact, it's easier to earn the ship req to convert for ~ 120-180 CCs to buy a ship than buy the 1,140 CC ship outright. How much do you get as a sub each month? 500 CCs? Extra 100 with a sec-key? Seems like you can easily get it using your free CCs, IF you don't choose to just earn the fleet req. 4. EVERYTHING (save reskin visuals) can be unlocked via playing. Maybe not in a single day, but there's a system of progression. 5, and most importantly, look up what Pay to Win actually means. You'll find it means it gives a significant edge ingame for money, which GSF does not do.

Holy Necromancy, Batman! Lilianna Thrace.

The Jousters When two ships mutually attack one another, trying to race towards one another. Could also be called Space Chicken if needed. The Starbuck Someone in a ship with Retro thrusters when, being attacked by a Jouster, turns to face the enemy, starts firing, and as soon as the enemy starts to fly towards them they use the Retrothrusters to gain more ground and down the enemy (usually a scout) who thought he could escape by flying past the Starbuck.

To be fair, the intro-movies are the better part of 10-20 (maybe even as far as 30 for the Korriban one?) years before the game is set.

You see, each gun has a weapon [base] damage rating, ranging from X to Y. Sniper Rifles are higher because Snipers rely on weapon ranged damage for a lot of their shots (Operatives are more tech based IIRC). For example, a blaster rifle could have 90-100 weapon damage range, while a sniper of equal level/mods could have 110-120 damage. Using a Blaster on a Sniper is like using only one blaster on a Mercenary or Gunslinger, you'll have less weapon damage.

Yep, it'll be instant, 20% x 5. As for erasing stacks, I have a feeling it will. Thought it was the armor debuff and was going to say it wouldn't, but realised Tracer Lock is the +RailS debuff that's expended regularly, so it's probably meant to be a tradeoff between Rail Shot or Rapid Scan [annoying that they're both RS]. EDIT: Healing Scan, sorry, wasn't looking >.> I hope these will help Mercs and at least RPunch's CD should be low enough to counter Force Leap, instead of Jet Boost.

How did the 20-30 vote become 30-100 in the ending paragraph? o.O Is there any evidence for your numbers? I'm pretty sure that the initial change involved more "Pro-change" votes than 30 (or maybe even 100? can't remember the exact figure), Antique Athenian Democracy still applies: majority still rules. As for the animation itself... Personally I don't find it too bad, and honestly I haven't seen a thread stating it was a bad animation choice before this one. Also, if people are leaving the game, I think it has more to do with a) Mercenary's percieved (whether genuine or not) lacking in PvP or PvE, b) Recent new games having been released, such as GW2 and WoW:MoP combined with TOR soon to be F2P, than a single skill's animation

Captain Edala T'Arcona. - (Scoundrel, DF, but thinking of rerolling her to a Gunslinger) Edala was the name of my old RP character in wow (Draenei Hunter, and Eds is a Twi'lek now ), it's a really corrupted form of the name Edea from Final Fantasy 8. T'Arcona I thought i came up with on my own (assuming I subconciously changed Liara T'arsoni to Edala T'Arcona in my head), but apparently T'arconas are something in SW lore, and I'm positive I didn't know. Small world

I can't comment on whether this is enough at level 50 (I haven't seemed to get near to 50 for all the time I got levelling), but what I use so far: 1-6 pressed, 7 = f, 8 = g, 9 = v, 0 = t (I guess you can add in more for - and =). That way you don't miss anything like whisper or inventory. Then combine that with Shift for bar 2, (eg, Shift + 1 is usually my CC breaker), control for bar 3 (if you're 50 I'm assuming you don't need to hotkey your companion's abilities), and that adds to 36 abilities safely in reach. You can make it 48 if you add Alt too. Simples *meerkat noises* Helpful gear like mice are good, but sometimes I worry that people depend on out-of-game utility (eg, addons, hardware etc) too much (it's one of my complaints on WoW, addons became a necessity). Not that it's a bad thing, but IMO it's an extra rather than a necessity, if that makes sense.