Remember Diminishing Returns are just that, it isn't a null point but the point at which value per points starts making other stats much more useful/valuable. You ask why get 20% instead of 15% under the new rebalancing? Because you have not hit the point of reduced value on the DR curve, and thus are still getting good value for each point of crit. That said, Diminishing returns values right now are weighting crit at 35% sans buff 40% with smuggler buff, not the 40-45, so in reality right now you are probably over-weighting crit at the expense of power. The one place where this rebalancing is showing a significant impact is classes with autocrit abilities, which is why for example the hybrid PT/Vanguard is performing so well on PTS right now, High Impct bolt autocrits

Still makes a nice mod-mule-- Whenever I hit 50 on an alt my already BH or better main could easily spend spare coms shipping things down the pipe with the chevin and rak event armor. For those that missed out on that this was a prime opportunity. Alternately-- My commando and Vanguard use a shared DPS set I swap back and forth while I worry about optimizing more on their primary roles (healing/tank respectively). So while I'd much prefer to have it work for all levels, there's still plenty of value.

Given the mod system I'd say you might as well find a look you like and go for it. The augmenting part of the expense will then be already taken care of come 2.0, the only exceptions to this would be implants/relics/earpieces which you'd likely be replacing fairly quickly. Even without a crafter making augment kits or augments themselves if you drop blue level 49 augments into those 9 slots its about 700k credits which isn't too excessive.

For some of the clunkieness elsewhere check lotro's cosmetic system out for a good idea of the ideal cosmetic scenario. Dozens of dyes individually coloring items, wardrobe to preserve different dye colors and cosmetic tabs. I like that I have some freedom here but comparatively speaking I'd be picking up far more cartel items if there wasn't an issue of putting 65k credits into every single aesthetic change, per item.

Such a poll is inherently flawed. Linking from a forum thread in this context means only those strongly for or against are inclined to vote. Insert it into the thread and see the results shift towards a more centric notion.

I'm having a hard time really seeing the concern about the "uniqueness"-- What made the set highly unique at the time was that it was among the first non social-tied adaptive armors. Beyond that its merely trooper armor. Compare this with the Chevin event that had bowcasters and a fairly unique variation of tusken armor (especially hte chestpiece). I for one would be happy to see them introduce a different set of things with the event but not because I mind someone new having access to what I was able to obtain in the past, but rather just because hopefully they'll be interesting skins that I'll use for more then mailing around mods/armorings.

At the end of the day you're at the mercy of just having a machine that's underpowered for this game. 4 gigs of Ram and a dual core 2.1 ghz cpu on a laptop with what sounds like an integrated sandybridge GPU. With a true graphics card and not a mobile chipset you could probably manage functionally with that CPU and RAM however all three of those combine together to afford you a game that I'd guess is barely cracking double digit frames per second. The only thing really you can improve without getting a new machine would be RAM, where upgrading to at least 6 would help especially given the shared memory of a mobile GPU.

Don't think there's a 100% white, the closest would eb the wayfarer's robe. There's a non-cartel skin of that 'pub side you can use as well, don't remember its name though.

Voice acting really makes a huge dent on my perception of a given storyline. The Bounty Hunter storyline for example (up through Belsavis) is really pretty direct without too much intrigue going on, but will take away a generally fond opinion of the story because I found the Voice Acting rather enjoyable. The Consular (at least male consular) had rather bland voice acting to me and thus a storyline that had a decent amount going on plotwise I have a pretty easy time placing it squarely at the bottom of storylines I've played, making me yearn for my Inquisitor's voice to be coming out of that character's mouth.

Maybe I missed it but I don't recall seeing any Bothan NPCs floating around so I think the odds are slim there. Jawa; the Bounty Hunter already gets a Jawa (albeit nonhealing). An Ortolan would be awesome, another on my wish list would be an Ithorian. That said I don't think additional companions are really on the radar with regards to continuing development.

My guess is that the more they stray from pre-established items the more freedom it affords them to tell the stories and do the things they'd like with less restrictions coming from preestablished lore.

I'm confused.... are you saying that omitted content from a single player RPG should be finding its way into this MMO more despite it not making the cut to be included in an already published game?

While I spent credits instead of Cartel coins on this for all but one character I do think this was the single greatest perk from the institution of the F2P conversion. Never bothered before as I really tried to keep my respecs to 2-3 times a week on a character for cost purposes, but when they made respeccing free with sub there's been times where I'll respec a given character 2-3 times a day.

Realistically this is an issue not likely to be resolved for a significant period of time. Ranked pvp was supposed to be the equalizer however it quickly devolved because people became so composition and performance centric that the non-top tier folks simply wrote it off as being inaccessible. As the pvp 'middle class' dropped off it became that much more inaccessible for anyone looking to break into the rated bracket. Now this creates hypercompetitiveness at the top bracket among the 'elite' teams who then refuse to queue unless they have their perfect 8 on, so they'd rather break into smaller queues and pound through the regular queue then risk going into rated with 7 + a commando dps. As this happens the team fielding their perfect 8 then doesn't get a queue pop and because the queue is them and no one else. So that they actually get into a warzone they proceed to queue into a pair of four man groups. With the life-support status of ranked pvp you then have the audience intended for it and the 'casual' audience cross-competing at the regular queue level. If you separate them what do you get? Longer queue times that draw away the playerbase and harm pvp overall. The game is not presently built to support cross-server queueing and without that cross-server queueing most would lack the sufficient pvp population for queue times to effectively work. So what could resolve this? The simplest fix would probably be to remove rating away from rated, rename in into ops-queue or any other term but the point being that it remains an 8v8 queue and the comm rewards are in fact greater, but people no longer have a competitive pvp rating that they fear going down to the point where they don't queue unless they are fairly certain they can win.

A variety of things contribute 1.Probably the most mass-market F2P means that the accessibility to population base ratio can bring about clientel that generally don't frequent other games, be it age-bracket or just casual-ness (LoTro being an example of one who's mass market appeal is small enough as foster a less volatile community). 1a.An extension of the above is that it also results in a very diffuse player-type. A hardcore pvper vs. a dyed in the wool raider vs. an RPer vs. a casual trying to sniff out what sandbox he can. (a game like EVE is going to have a much more like-minded overall representation) 2.Road-rage-syndrome: Just like the anonymity and protection of a large metal object hurling down the pavement at 70-80 miles and hour, it is easy to become hyper-aggressive when you are hidden and protected, this brings up behaviors you would never see in face to face encounters (read a study that showcased jam-packed pedestrian traffic and the overall lack of aggression displayed as compared with comparable vehicular traffic). 3.Contentment v discontent: Generally speaking someone who is happy with a game/situation is much less likely to comment then someone dissatisfied. When the bulk of posts are thus angled to those discontent with aspects the odds go up of each post/er being of a flame-y nature (there's a few "thank you Bioware for X posts, but compare to the fix Y, change Z, nerf XYZ and ABC along with it" ones) 4."You're wrong because you don't agree with me": Some people get royally irked at alternate viewpoints. What is a crucial deal-breaker for me could very well be a trivial nonissue for you, and visa versa. When people just can't fathom the opposing viewpoint they oft react with blind rage (as witnessed with Political and religious debating)