You could argue the Warrior, given what happens. And the thing about "aquiring power" as the main focus of the story... that's the story of the Warrior too, it's just that he's going about it like more of a Lord than the Inquisitor is.

What exactly were you saying then? The only thing that you've pointed out is that the Inquistor is "a good fighter" and "Has power". But we don't see any major demonstrations of that power within the story. You complain about the meteoric rise of the SI, Even though the Empire works on the basis of "More power, more authority", which means if you're exceptionally powerful and are able to avoid the political mires, you're going to end up in a VERY high position very fast (you could argue the Warriors is a faster rise). You say that the Inquisitor is the one initiating all their actions. But ignore the fact that You had to be saved by your gramps to even START act 2. And then most of your actions in Act 2 are prompted by your companions or gramps in the first place. Understand THIS is what we were promised: But where did we backstab anyone? Where did we infiltrate, where did we hide our hand and build a conspiracy and then pull off an Ozymandias style "I did it 30 minutes ago"? That's my point, we didn't do any of that, instead we were just told to gather macguffins, and we went about it with all the grace of an elephant in musk.

I just am sad at the fact that if you don't use mods... you can't play the "canon" exile (female exile, with Handmaiden as a party member.

I'm not asking for independence from the plotline that's being given. I'm asking that the SI actually get a hint of what to do, and then maybe the first planet of the act is digging through some abandoned archive to figure the rest of it out. Not just having Zash or some other "higher power" simply tell me "This is how you do it". By the end of act one, you're a Sith Lord. Not a Darth, yet, but a lord still is one of the higher powers within the Sith heirarchy. The fact that you're basically slumming around in a shuttle with 6 random hangers on (most of whom barely have a purpose beyond "I'm a role!") while others of your stature have fleets, armies, or networks entirely at their command. Another thing that should have been an Inquisitor idea I'll take bodily from the Warrior. On Nar Shadda, you get a light dark choice to kill somebody. If you go light, later (on hoth) he pops back up and provides you information. THAT makes you feel like you're building a network and power base. Hell, you could have had Alderaan's arc be, instead of "hunt down the doohicky from the Organa", playing two minor houses against each other for them both to clash, and during the confusion you retrieve the doohicky. But what we got... just felt like 3 acts repeating the same exact motions with different names. And didn't feel like I was a high official within a galaxy spanning political organization, or even a respected person in that organization (which may or may not be true). I will give the Inquisitor line this, the prologue is FANTASTIC at conveying the exact tone and feel of how the Inquistior should be. You're constantly being backstabbed, you can sneak behind your bosses back to your bosses boss for some items, you see the bosses boss come down on your boss... It's just that your character never really seems to build out of that. they just languish in that position for the entire arc.

But here's the thing. You don't actually do any of this. Your Cult starts the tech stuff on their own, you're led to the darkside powers by your ancestor, rather than deciding that "You know what? I want to be Independant and kill Thanaton" You say Sideous took decades to reach his point. The thing is, you're not even starting to manipulate and whisper in the ears of prominent people to earn your power. Instead, as I stated above, you just stab stab stab until you get your way, with the Ritual(s) just being an easy way to prevent the confrontation.

I think that was a class quest on Alderaan. Where you storm the Organa's territory, and then basically beat a woman into calling down her ex to the planet so you can kill him. No twisting of words, elaborate scheme or anything just *WHACK!* DO IT!? *Crying* OH GOD! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS! *WHACK!* SUMMON HIM! *Sobs* OK... fine... I'll do it.

The Inquistor, by virtue of it's name, should be somebody who's adept at subterfuge and shakedowns. I should be able to talk anyone into anything, and have a network at my command of spies and true underlings (For example, if they'd worked the Cult and Zash's other disiples into the story much better). But for all the power people are saying the SI has, it doesn't FEEL like you have power because you don't figure stuff out for yourself. Zash needs ritual artifacts <act 1> Thanaton wants to kill you, grandpa Kallig says "Eat Ghost" <Act 2> Uh Oh, you screwed up! Zash says "QUICKLY! TO MY BOOKCASE!" and finds out how to cure it FOR YOU <Act 3> It's not ME who figures out how to eat ghosts, or finding the cure to my ails, or even saving my own dumb rear when I'm betrayed. And for a class who's supposed to be based on Machiavellian Power plays, and people are going on about how "powerful" you are, to not even be able to save yourself in the slightest of situations is just jaw droppingly incompetent. The thing about the inquisitor is that they're SUPPOSED to have an impact. They're a DARTH for crying out loud, but barely have enough impact to make a gnat squeal in displeasure. I think you just summed up what's wrong, in a nutshell, with the class story for most people. You don't have any real power, other than being good in a fight, which sounds a bit more like a warrior than a politician/sorcerer. Personally, if I could I'd re-write the Thanaton stuff so that he's Act 2, but you (as the SI) start cobbling together a small military force and a string of followers to be able to take Thanaton in a straight up fight. And by the end of act two, you kill Thanaton and get control of his former underlings which you use to start undermining the Republic's efforts in certain theatres. And on Voss (just as a specific example) you do something like using your power to influence the mystics visions to be more imperial/you aligned so that eventually there is a growing cult of you formed entirely of Voss.

I'd call it less generic and more underwhelming. You spend the first act getting macguffins for a ritual. Then you spend the second act getting macguffins for another ritual... I haven't bothered to get to the third act. I mean you compare the fall of the apprentice on Taris to the fall (or not) of Jaesa. It's obvious a LOT more time and energy was put in for the Warrior's storyline to feel more impactful. You could do something like Jaesa's conversion in much shorter time (after all, most of the Act 1 quests are figuring out just who the heck she is), and have it feel as powerful, BUT the Inquisitor's story line is more Snidely Whiplash for how it deals with that subject. I mean I understand they wanted an "internal politik" storyline for the Inquisitor... but when I got right down to it, I thought that the Warrior line should have been more about front line style escapades, while the Inquisitor got the Warriors storyline (with tweaks). It fits much better with the themes of the character (The Sorcerer who runs a spy network and is heavily engaged in undermining his/her boss while causing the fall of a special jedi? HOW DOES THAT NOT FIT PERFECTLY!?). The Jedi Knight's story just feels to... formulaic to be "my" tale. "Here's four planets! Go stop our superweapons!" then "Here's three planets! get maguffins!" While you slowly build yourself into some paragon. It's to videogamey and they don't vary things enough to make you involved beyond just kinda doing it. I think it also says something about "our story" when you talk to people about the False Emperor Flashpoint and half of them would happily join Malgus (particularly light side characters). Why? Because his position on how the Empire is currently is the position a LOT of players feel resonates. He wants to modernize the Empire's armies and power structure, and get rid of the racism and short sightedness of the current regime, which is what a lot of players basically are doing. It seems stupid if you're running around as a Twilek or Chiss or Rattataki, and are attempting to keep in place a power system that you're a second class citizen within. One thing that should also be noted, is that (for me at least) the voices that are given to the characters make it seem like it'd be impossible to roll a certain way. I honestly couldn't run as a light side male Inquisitor because the voice just sounds so... EVIL. And by the same token, it seems like I wouldn't be able to run a dark side male consular because his voice sounds to much like a standard high society good guy. Generally the female voices are better, but not by much.

The Hutts have become a mob of space gangsters. They run a cartel that moves spice (drugs) from Kessel (You know, the kessel run? It's out in nowhereville near a cluster of black holes) to various planets. Jabba was the most powerful hutt alive until ROTJ, but that doesn't mean he was the only one. The Hutts have ownership of Nal Hutta and Nar Shadda along with a few other territories, and are able to draw upon an army and navy made up of mercs (mainly) to enforce their wills on those territories. And FYI, Dreadnaught is just a class for ship. It doesn't have any connotation in various sci-fi or fantasy settings beyond that.

I'd like you to meet Champions Online... it was a game with a dream. The dream was that everyone would be able to use everything and pick any ability in their spec. Basically, imagine if you hit level 30, respecced, and could go from guardian to gunslinger JUST with the respec, and could still use the exact same armor. That was Champions Online at release. What did this lead to? Everyone picking up at LEAST 1 specific power (Powered Armor if you want the particulars) because it was by far the best defense in the game, and effectively put out the melee characters to pasture because they couldn't keep up with the mage-tanks that were swarming the maps. The game failed financially and is currently free to play with much more restrictions put in play (and if you pay the monthly fee, you get the old system back). Now, in TOR I can see the frustrations. Basically you have ONE weapon option per class, and this feels a bit restrictive (and slightly jarring when an imperial agent ALWAYS uses a blaster pistol in every cutscene, but never in gameplay). It'd be nice if they offered you the ability to at least have two major weapon options per class (so a Juggernaut can use double-blade or single depending, a Marauder can flip out with duel wield or single etc). But to do this at this point would basically require an expansion level investment in overhauling core design of the game.

Tales of the Jedi comics are probably the best bet for the game... followed by Kotor 1 and 2. It did always make me laugh that Revan's war was called the "Great Sith War" in KOTOR 1 when it was set within a generation of the REAL Sith War (where Courescant was sacked, most of the Jedi were killed, and the original jedi conclave was blown up by supernova) Stay away from Crystal Star, Darksaber, and anything from the chick who does the Republic Commando books (who say's Mandalroians are just farmers who happened to pick up guns to defend themselves and turned out to be super powered killing machines)

Honestly the biggest thing I think is that the Republic stories are kinda forced into very "YOU ARE XXXX" stories. Where you play as Han Solo, Luke Skywalker (pre and post degobah), and a soldier. Also, They drag act one out wayyyy to long for ALL the stories. Meaning it feels like you're just doing the same... damn... thing... for a LONG time (it's what, six planets overall?)

Have you done the lovers quest on Typhon?

Doesn't really make sense from a story standpoint when you actually consider what the entire conflict in this universe is about.

I think guardians are just way to gear dependent compared to other classes.... if just one tiny piece of gear is behind, all of a sudden you're fighting an up hill battle at every corner.