As far as I know there are almost no circumstances under which you have to choose between STR and POW, the only thing I can think of that might make you choose is augments, since almost all of them give you POW + one other stat. However the choice there is likely to between POW + (STR, CRIT, DEF, SHIELD or ABS) and not between power and strength. All other equipment and item modifications that are meant for mauraders will always have STR - any choice there is usually whether you get more STR or more END (guardian armoring vs might armoring for example, or Deft A mods vs Deft B mods).

In addition to breaking preview in the GTN, they also broke it in crafting windows. When my synthweavers/armor crafters looked at their craft list you used to be able to CTRL+RCLICK to preview armor items, just as in the GTN. So currently previewing only works for me from my inventory/cargo storage.

Really - it seems to me that BW screwed up BOTH times. First, they failed to make the in game items match the advertisements. The correct solution to this would have been to IMMEDIATELY post a notice as to this screw up in a place where folks will actually notice it, then change the items ASAP rather than waiting for weeks. A single post in a thread on the forum DOES NOT count as a reasonable notification. Then, weeks, if not months later, they introduce changes not only to the items that did not match concept art but to other items that where never shown in the concept art. The only reason BW is "damned if they do and damned if they don't" is because they screwed up and then failed to deal with the issue properly and in a timely manner. Thus their solution is JUST as a bad as the initial problem - if not worse, considering that the in game appearance pane has been the STANDARD for judging actual in game looks since the release.

A lot of folks spec just high enough into the tank tree to get the majority of the defensive abilities (basically up to sonic barrier) and then spec vengeance up to impale. They do this because the top talent in immortal, crushing blow, was somewhat mangled in the last major jugg/guardian update - the overall damage was reduced and it was turned into a weird cone AoE. Theoretically this was to help with AoE threat, but the cone is narrow enough that I find getting more than a couple targets in it is pure luck (speaking as a jedi guardian here - my jugg is still only L33). The mixed spec has the advantage of a hard hitting single target attack (impale) on a 9s recharge instead of the 15s for crushing blow, unstoppable, which gives you 20% extra damage restance and immunity to CC for 4 seconds after a force leap, free smash and 4% extra damage resistance from deafening defense (up to 15% extra if you can fit in enraged defense without shedding to much aggro). You give up 4% shield chance, which is not a big deal on a jugg since they rely more on defense and damage reduction, 4% internal and elemental resistances (which deafening defense more than covers) and your rage generation/usage is not quite as good. According to those who play this spec your aggro generation is about equal to the full defense spec as impale may not have increased threat gen but it does more damage than crushing blow and is on a shorter recharge, so the net aggro generation is roughly equal. Speaking personally, I tried the spec on my jedi guardian and didn't really like it as I had to much trouble with focus use/generation and was always running out. Now, I only tested the build in solo play on ilum, so it might work better tanking in a flashpoint or operation, but I switched back to the full defense spec and enjoy that a lot more.

But the differences between AC's are relevant - not because of difficulties in adjusting to a change but because the AC's are all DIFFERENT CLASSES. You can pretend all you want but there are 8 classes, not 4, in this game. The fact that each pair of classes share a class story and level the same way until 10 was a design choice made to save on resources and has the bad result of confusing people into thinking that, forex, a sage and shadow share enough that switching between them is the same thing as respecing talent points in a WoW class - but it isn't. I personally don't care whether AC change is implemented or not - if it is I certainly hope EA charges folks a ton of real money for it because the real result of AC change will be folks spending less time playing, not more, as it cuts into the game replayability since you no longer have to level 2 characters to play both linked AC's. I personally find the game play different enough between all 8 AC's that I am willing to play all of them, even with all the repetitive content, but I get that other folks don't like re-running content and may want to experience the gameplay of all 8 classes, which is why I don't really care what happens in the long run. I do think folks who change their AC's are going to miss out on a lot of fun experiencing each class as it levels up and gains more abilities - and while the folks on this thread may decide that is ok I am fairly sure that once the ability is in the game new players will swap AC's without even realizing what they are missing (which is one reason I think it should be a one time only thing at BEST and should cost a ton - folks need to be sure its something they want to do).

One thing to keep in mind is that most AC's ease into their roles as you level - some can't even perform their role until L14-16 - for example, tanks don't get a tank stance until 14, taunt at 16 and don't get an AoE taunt until 30 (that's all 3 types of tanks). At L12 a healer is going to have 2 heals that are not very effective and in many cases you don't really start getting effective until L20, when healers get their first talented heal, tanks get a defensive CD and DPS usually get some kind of attack. So you probably won't get a good feel for how the AC plays its role until you are at least level 20. A second issue is your starting companion. Healers are probably best off with a melee DPS companion with a melee tank coming in second. This means that sages and sorcs have it made since they start off with a melee tank (an awesome one in the case of sorcs). Operatives and scoundrels are ok as they start off with a ranged tank, which takes a bit more work for them to keep aggro but are decent starters. Commando's start off with a ranged DPS companion which means they are going to have a tough time with aggro - however being a heavy armor class with good DPS even in healing mode helps with that. Mercs probably have the roughest start as Mako is a healer but you can probably get by since even a merc healer can dish out ok dps for PVE soloing and you can put mako on blaster stance instead of med watch. The only healer I have run is a sorcerer and I can't really say how good/bad a soloer they are in the early to mid levels since I ran as a madness spec(DPS) until L35 when I could switch over to a mixed healer/lightning spec and have the following: 1. Resurgence (the instant cast hot) fully talented 2. The 20% bonus to lightning shield from the lightning tree 3. Force storm. Force storm is a L35 sorc ability, not a talented one but I wanted it to replace death field from the madness tree, since sorc AoE sucks outside of those two abilities. The 20% bonus to the sorcerer bubble is sweet - because that provides a lot of your mitigation. The drawback to my mixed build is that I didn't get the bit AoE heal at the top of the healing tree until L47. In general healing with a sorcerer (or sage) means bubbling everyone at the start of the fight, throwing the HoT on the tank as soon as it looks like the bubble is about to wear off, which gives the tank the added benefit of a 10% armor boost if you have invested the talent points in that. Then you leverage the boost provided from the HoT to either throw your big single target heal/AoE heal at reduced force cost, or your channeled heal at increased crit chance. You can generally drop your DoT's on hard targets in between healing, plus throw out the occasional force lightning/throw rocks (if you are a sage), at least in standard PVE groups. When my sorc heals in FP's I rarely need more than my bubble and HoT unless the tank is under geared/levelled, cannot hold aggro or its a really huge fight.

Although the trooper doesn't have to wait long for their healer, they get one at the end of Taris. The nice thing about the trooper is that all your companions wear heavy aim armor - so they tend to be very easy to equip. That said, my preference is the merc - but that's because I am a big fan of dual blasters.

I liked the SW, JK and SI stories about equally, didn't care for the JC story much though. The JK story is KotoR 3 really - super heroic, save the galaxy. The JC story is more about being a healer and diplomat. Both the sith stories are about accumulating power, although I haven't quite finished chapter 1 on SW story so not a good judge about that.

I have played all 4 of the force using AC's, although I haven't taken a shadow/assassin farther than L25ish, and they all have their ups and downs. I found the jedi knight/sith warrior to be the most fun from the start - you get to leap into combat, fire off flashy attacks and then beat things down with a light saber. The guardian/juggernaut is probably the simplest one to play of the 2 and offers a tanking option - but the sentinel/marauder is considered one of the best DPS class in the game. I don't like them as much as the gaurdian/jugg because they have an extra resource to manage and while these classes are the easiest to start out with, the get pretty complicated later in the game as there are a lot of powers that you have to track. On the other hand, while the SI/Consular starts out a little slow the sorcerer/sage is a pretty powerful and effective leveling class that can do decent DPS or healing. I find them the easiest healers to run as the bubble, instant casting hot and best AoE heal in the game make healing as a sorc/sage pretty simple. The assasin/shadow starts out even slower than the sorc/sage but is probably considered the best tank in the game and can put out nasty DPS - so it is a viable melee option but the class really doesn't start to take off and feel unique until at least the mid 20's. As for companions the sith warrior starts out with Vette, a DPS companion who likes mostly lightside choices but I have had good luck getting approval for her on my darkside juggernaut - the trick is to pick the snarky darkside options and avoid anything that enslaves folks or approves of slavery - she likes snark and hates slavery. Your second companion, Malavi Quinn, is healer and is not really dark or light side so much as he is pro-empire all the way - which can be tricky for a lightsider since pro-empire choices are more often dark. The SI starts out with Khem Val, who I consider to be the best melee tank companion in the game, but he is also firmly darkside, although you can work around it somewhat he takes some huge hits for lightside choices. If you are playing a sorcerer he is perfect companion whether you are running in healing or DPS spec. You don't get your second comp until late and you don't get a healer until nearly the end of chapter 2, on hoth, which makes it a tougher run for an assassin. The jedi knight has a similar problem to the assasin - they start out with a tank (T7) right off and get a melee DPS on coruscant but don't get a healer until after balmorra, so you do a lot of kill or be killed early on. All the jedi knight companions are pretty light sided until you hit sgt rusk and lord scourge. The consular starting companion, Qyzen Fess, is almost a clone of khem val - but not quite as cool. He is great for a sage though and since they get a healer companion at the end of Nar Shadda the shadow has it pretty easy as well. The consular companions are not strictly lightside or darkside though - Qyzen likes bravery and honerable kills whether they are light or dark and Tharan Cedrax, the healer, dislikes jedi mysticism but is generally lightside and likes to help people, etc. In summary if you want an easy start and smooth ride go with either the sith maurader (for melee focus) or the sorcerer/sage for a ranged force class. If you want somewhat more of a challenge that will pay off in the higher levels, go with an assasin or shadow. Since you said you prefer to stick with DPS I would recommend the Maurader over the juggernaut.

Well, keep in mind that you are really talking about gunslinger vs commando when you say that, as the vanguard and scoundrel are really melee classes that have a few ranged powers. With that said, its really a matter of taste. I have played a gunslinger, commando and a BH mercenary and enjoyed all 3 - the BH merc is my main empire side in fact. My preference is the gunslinger or merc over the commando but that is based more on the look of the characters in play - I prefer dual pistols (which both GS and Merc use) over the assault cannon and I prefer the bounty hunter animations over trooper. Play wise the commando is likely to be the easier class you play - you get your healer a lot earlier (balmorra) which makes the ride after that a lot smoother and you don't have to play games with cover, which complicate the gunslinger play a lot. A GS also has a LOT more attacks and a far more complicated attack sequence. I suspect a properly played GS will probably do more damage though, especially if you go are specced into sharpshooter. If you have the time and space on your account I would actually suggest trying both and play at least through coruscant - you need to get to the mid teens at least, if not to L20, to get a real feel for both classes.

If you are specced into a DPS tree then you are DPS, not a tank. Just like a sorcerer who is specced lightning or madness is a DPS and not a healer.

Once you have advanced far enough down one of the 3 AC talent trees that should define which cylinder you use since the best talents all tend to depend on a particular cylinder. If you are running in bodyguard you should almost always be using your combat support cylinder, even when soloing - just make sure you run with a DPS companion and split your attention between healing and throwing out attacks - you will find its fairly effective, that's the way I solo on my one healer character (sorcerer, not merc - my merc is arsenal) If you are NOT specced as bodyguard, you are wasting your time doing anything more than throwing the occasional off heal and should either be running with the high velocity cylinder if you are arsenal or the combustible cylinder if you are pyrotech. Not running in CGC when you are pyrotech means your PPA won't be procing, which is your primary damage multipler and you won't benefit from superheated rail, which gives you a great damage boost as well as much needed extra heat management. Arsenal is a little more forgiving, there are a lot less talents that depend on the HVC but switching to CGC is not going to buy you much and switching to CCS is not suddenly going to make you a healer, so you are generally best of staying with the HVC.

But its a nice, Christmasy red - not the usual dark, creepy red most of the sith armor is colored. Plus, it matches my guardians hair :-). I used to be wearing a chestplate of nimble deflection - it was a general drop from the main boss in the collicoid war game and it was a red color - so just cause its red doesn't mean its Sith. Mind you, I would prefer something in a nice cloud blue - but like I said in another thread, the dev's seem to think the dirt brown, chlorine green and puke yellow are everyone's favorite color unless you are a sith - and then you HAVE to love black and red. (mind you - I DO like black and red on my sith, it just gets a bit boring :-). But I sympathize with the OP - if there IS a more jedi-like hood down robe they really need to sell it as an individual piece just like the dire warmaster chest, putting it in random card packs is pretty bogus considering that they have been promising a hood on/off switch since release and failing to deliver.

The closest I have seen to the movie tunics are the Knight's Crusade (http://www.torhead.com/item/fN6OqPd/knights-crusade-chestguard) in heavy armor and the Blade master (http://www.torhead.com/item/gOTcWlJ/blade-master-vest) medium armor pieces. They are L27 moddable armor that can be made by synthweavers. A full set, or at least the chest and leg pieces are very close in style to the Obi Wan picture posted earlier - its just that the inside robes are a dull brown instead of the nice white color that Obi gets to wear. Even more than the hood issue I find the real problem is the color choices - for some reason the artists for this game are all really fond of either boring dull browns, puke greens or chlorine yellows. Then there are the poor sith inquisitors - solid black with minor touches of red on almost everything.

Hmm, I picked up the Dire Eliminator's chestguard for my guardian (L43 item, 325 cartel coins) and its hood down whether or not I have my head slot hidden. Here are some pics: Head Slot Hidden: http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab99/Magik13/Screenshot_2012-11-17_14_12_12_127988.jpg Head Slot not hidden: http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab99/Magik13/Screenshot_2012-11-17_14_13_00_109733.jpg I think I have seen some other players with the same chestguard (at least according to thier equipment list) and they had the hood up, so I have no clue whats going on with my character. Its a fairly nice red with white and black highlights, so I am pleased.