With some work Risha WILL eventually open up. Be patient

Finally getting Risha to cave in and marry me felt like such an epic moment, particularly when it lead to the most hilarious dialogue I've ever heard in their wedding vows. I particularly liked the following: If Bioware ever lets me go to Dubrillion and lead a planetary revolt to install my wife as queen, I'm doing that in a heartbeat. Even if it forces me to retire my character. Although if Viverone Zare/Darth Alluress ever wanted a favor from me, I'd do it <.<

I don't know if you realize this but you can map rolling into physical cover and crouching in place to separate buttons. As far as having to take cover before firing, if you don't like having to strategically place yourself before blasting away then you should pick a different class.

So I've taken Risha as my wife (after some truly epic wedding vows) and i've gotten her affection maxed. Is it possible to actually go to Dubrillion, lead a revolution to topple the current corrupt government, and replace it with a different corrupt government with Risha as queen and me as the king skimming no more than 10% from the royal treasury? If not, come on BioWare! I don't have the Independent Anarchy, Sabotage, and Insurrection skills just for kicks!!!

Why do all of the other flashpoints need to be filler? With the layout of the planets there really aren't any leveling gaps that I've noticed, and even if there are there are plenty of Heroic quests to fill the gaps. I'd really like every flashpoint to be just as cool as the first one.

I'm afraid they are, and I'm questioning why myself. The Esseles was an AWESOME experience and made me feel like I was actually in a Star Wars movie. The others just feel like regular MMO dungeons (with the exception of Maelstrom Prison and to a lesser extent Taral V, but I won't spoil those here).

One of the things I have learned is that you need to use different companions in different situations (I'm guilty of not doing this enough myself, but now that Risha is almost maxed on affection I think I can do this more). Sticking strictly to PvE (haven't done PvP at all) first decide if you want a melee companion or a ranegd companion, then decide if you need a tank or not. As a SS I'm guessing you want the fight to end as quickly as possible, so let's assume for a moment that you don't need a tank. If the mob is going to charge you (you can usually tell by class name and weapon carried) consider having Akaavi rush in first while you slowly ramp up your DPS. If it's ranged try using Risha and just go to town on it. Or you could use Guss and have him heal your way through the fight. It is kind of a pain to keep all of your companions properly geared, but I think the versatility is worth it.

With 3 talent points you get 3 charges that also give back 5 energy when they explode. They only explode when hit by blaster fire, so I like to use Speed Shot to detonate all three in a very short time. The damage itself isn't that high, unless of course you crit (and I've been able to get upwards of a 1/3 crit chance).

Techblades are what IA Operatives use instead of Scatterguns, so they will be a bit harder to find. Your best bet is to ask around for an Armstechwho can make you one. FYI Qyzen isn't the only character that this is an "issue" for: Akaavi Spaar for smugglers is melee DPS and uses the same weapons.

My biggest issue was that even after I managed to burn down Diego anything I did would cause the Jedi to break away from the Sith and attack me (willingness to put out trumps everything >.>). I eventually had a guildie come help me. Not my proudest moment but at least i got through it.

I don't agree with this at all. To use your Paladin example, in WoW every paladin has access to healing spells, every smuggler does not. Any paladin could use two-handed weapons, not every smuggler can use scatterguns. Talent specs in WoW were used to change what the class was focused on, all paladins had access to almost every ability. In SWTOR around half of your abilities are unique to your AC. Like in WoW talent trees are used to more clearly define your role. There's nothing preventing a Scrapper Scoundrel from laying down some healing, he/she simply won't be as good as it as a Sawbones Scoundrel.

I'm pretty sure he means Shock Charge instead of Shrap Bomb in most cases. Only the DF/SAB hybrid build has access to both.

If you are Sabo specced take the talent that gives Shock Charge a slow to make your kiting that much easier.

This confused me at first too, but the game labels the Empire outpost as your direction beacuse it is technically the shortest path to get you where you are going. Otherwise you can use the other entrance to the area that goes through a Republic outpost. You'll have to do more legwork (or speeder-work), but it also means you don't face almost certain death.

I've read most of the reasons given for wanting an AC respec and quite frankly I find them ridiculous: 1) "I accidentally clicked the wrong button at level 10." Slow down, don't spacebar through the dialogue that describes the two ACs, take the time to read each description carefully, inspect the talent trees to make sure, and then carefully click the right button. If somehow you still manage to make the wrong choice, you can easily get through the starter world again in 3-4 hours. 2) "My guild needs X for a raid but I have the wrong AC so I should be able to switch." Not only would you be almost completely clueless about how to use all of your new abilities, but if your guild doesn't have a plan to fill that need then your guild is to blame, not BioWare. You may just have to do something besides raiding that day. 3) "ACs aren't separate classes anyway, I should be able to switch between the two at will." This is just wrong. Looking at it strictly from a smuggler standpoint, Gunslingers use two pistols and explosives to deal large amounts of damage from a distance while Scoundrels have stealth, use scatterguns, and either heal the party or focus on sneaking up behind enemies and blasting them in the back. If those sound like two completely separate classes, it's because THEY ARE. 4) "I don't want to have to repeat the same content again." First of all, if you are one of those people who finishes a game and then never plays it again you are in the wrong genre. Second, if you had fun doing them the first time there shouldn't be any reason you can't have fun doing them a second time (unless you are one of those previously mentioned people). Third, there are plenty of ways you can make your experience different. Use different companions, go DS instead of LS, romance a different party member, change genders, etc. I know this post sounds snarky and it's not meant to be directed at any one individual, but to me most of these reasons for switching ACs seem born out of sheer laziness, and I don't want BW to let laziness dictate the course of this game.