This definitely pertains to me. I just decided I wanted to dive back into this experience, and I'm going to need a helpful community of cool people to get me up to speed. Point me to the link, person, etc. that I need to get into contact with to talk about joining and I will respond as soon as possible.

Its been like this since a lot of the original devs left. As talented as the newer members may be, keeping the same enthusiasm for something you are not nearly as invested in as the original devs were is near impossible. Maybe it is just me, but I feel like a lot of EA employees get churned through and spit-out, and that's why their games are so inconsistent.

I understand needing to leave and just general losing all interest at once, but it does bother me when I see people quit and rejoin continuously. I try to stick around for every game and fight to the finish, but as a healer that never really ends well for me when no one else is.

There will be, but there have been layoffs, and other roadblocks in the past year, so they can't really give us an ETA on the release.

Seriously? I can see it now...Episode VII protagonist will be a Hutt jedi.

Hutts, as far as I understand, don't like doing dirty work. They are lazy slugs who for the most part probably break a sweat by walking 50 meters. Not to mention they are a-sexual, and don't ever speak basic. As cool as it would be, I have to agree with you on that. By the way, for those of you who care, I've updated the main post to include some extended discussion. I like this thread for the most part, thank you for the quality discussions.

You do have a good point. I suppose in the end its up to whether the devs think that species are more important than busting out new content or balancing classes. I for one am excited for anything new they come up with, but at the same time, new species would make me extremely satisfied. Whatever Bioware chooses to focus on there are always valid reasons, and if the technical hurdle for new species is too large I guess I'd rather see the game progress as a whole rather than be bogged down for a long time to develop a few species. I think the reception of the Cathar will determine that decision.

There is literally a way to build a PC near $500 or 300 pounds that will run ToR like a beast. I'll put the video below, but if you really need a laptop stick with ASUS, I have a refurbished that ran me around $700 on Newegg and it runs on Medium settings quite well most of the time. There was one for 800 with a great graphics card at the time as well, that may suit your needs better. This guy knows what he is talking about, and even though its about making a PC for your TV, you can easily get a decent monitor and run it like a normal PC. I'm currently saving for the build he has detailed.

I would definitely sacrifice my gloves, shoes, and headpiece being visible to be a Trando, Kel Dor, Mon Cal, etc. if I really loved that species. I'm sure people would if they were Wookies, but even I agree being a Wookie is just out of the question.

I said it originally and I'll say it again, I am no design expert. So expect a few oversights from time to time, and thank you for brining them to my attention. But I can't imagine that it is as costly as making an entirely new player model like a lot of people seem to want. But if enough people want a more diverse set of playable races, I feel like that should matter to the devs enough for them to put time into it. In fact I also read that if the fan-desire was large enough they would be more flexible to the idea.

I'm not talking about aliens that differ from the models that much. Maybe the original name of the thread was misleading, I'll give you that much. But there are many models IN-GAME that we have yet to see as playable. I know Bioware has a lot on their plate, it is an MMO afterall, but it's a Starwars MMO darn it, and I feel like there should be a wider breadth of choices. Not NOW, but they should be implemented eventually.

http://i.imgur.com/MCpGO2r.png Jerfal pondering life's biggest questions atop an icy cliff on Ilum. http://i.imgur.com/6Xa1w6I.jpg Jerfal out of guild uniform aboard his ship.

I myself don't understand the desire to be a Wookie or Trando, and have an easier time understanding why they aren't implemented as PC's, but they are probably just some people's favorite races that they want in-game desperately. Like I said, my buddy created a vrey generic Darth Maul clone for his BH and then named him with a two-digit number. I would guess most of them would be less RP-oriented, but you never know. Of course I agree with you however, and I don't think they realize the amount of work being taller than the tallest current body type requires.

That didn't stop them from having a Gand companions did it? If I remember, they are quite small, yet Bioware used one of the body types to make a Gand companion, and he/she is much taller than an average Gand.

Bioware, I have read your stance, and I understand why you don't want exotic races as PC's. But I have to disagree, and I hope some other Starwars fans, BW employees included, understand why. I almost posted this in another thread, but I thought the debate of whether or not to allows less-humanoid races deserved its own thread. You can find that previous thread here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5724884#post5724884 From what I read it was a matter of the lack of immersion. I read that Bioware believes that if we can't relate to our character then its a bad design, and that the exotic alien species have always been sidekicks rather than the main protagonist. The response I read went on to say that the species we want have totally different cultures, and that also aids in breaking the human element. I suppose I understand where they are coming from but this is Starwars first of all, a Starwars video game no less. People don't come here to relate to their character, they come here to be weird aliens, and to do things they could not do in reality. If this was Mass Effect, and I was fighting for humanity, then yes, it would make sense, but this isn't Mass Effect. The races they implemented already stray from the human element. I don't feel any relation to my Miralukan. He can't even perceive the world like I can, because he has no eyes. He uses the Force, which isn't even real. His culture is totally different from the culture here in the middle of the Western Hemisphere, being a sort of force-mystic ethnicity. Also, Twi'leks have lekku, and are known as slaves around the galaxy. Mirilians have green skin, and are generally sage-like akin to the Miralukans in nature. Zabrak's have horns, and are battle-hardened warriors in their history. My culture is nothing close to any of the possible character's except for maybe the basic human. Furthermore their culture? Really? Humans have an immense amount of different cultures for heaven's sake. That's how we even CREATE the" fake fictional" ones, by basing them off our own. I'd say that most of the players, at least RP players like me, are into the lore and want to be part of that culture. Even so, we are thrown into different cultures by being a certain class. Bounty Hunters and Smugglers don't have a collective culture unless you want to RP one, Jedi have a culture no matter what their race, same goes for Sith, and Troopers and Agents are soldiers for their respective governments. And how about players that aren't RP players? They could care less. I bet that a lot fo them pick whichever class looks the coolest. My friend personally picked a Zabrak and named it 24 because he thought it was cool. And if they really want to be a human, go for it! They can still do that! And now, of course, we have Cathar on the way. The first class to not have one of the standard faces. Bioware is already straying from the norm with kitty-cats as a PC, so why not include more races that speak basic? (Sorry Wookie people) Now I will concede I am no expert in game design. There may be a ton of technical problems involved with doing this, and even budgeting if they have to make more diverse models for customization. But if that isn't the case, I just don't understand. If anyone knows me they know I want Kel Dors, and I'll admit I'm biased. I freakin' love Plo Koon, and the Kel Dor system of brutal justice. I'm sure there are tons of fans who know a lot about their favorite race and want to be them in-game as well. Now I get that you won't have certain head slots, foot slots, or glove/ wrist slots for most characters visible because of their diverse appendages and what have you, but I personally could care less, and I think a lot of fans agree. Okay I'm done now. Feel free to discuss, and thank you for contributing ahead of time. Especially you Bioware, I would love to hear from you if any of the mods or devs read my rant. EDIT: I added a period. Also, I have decided that it was a bit unfair to judge the amount of playable species simply based off of Bioware's opinion about how to craft in-game experience. That is only half, if not less of the work that goes into the game. The technical aspect is a whole other monster, that, even after I've discussed it with a few people knowledgeable in the field, is in-comprehensible to me without more experience. For instance, I mentioned that there were in-game models, like Kel'Dor, Rodians, and Togruta already developed. While that may be true, there are a ton of customization options they have to develop to create a "fully-customizable" PC. Though I will say with the customization options in game, well, I don't think I should call it "full-customizable" PC's. That is another discussion entirely. Part of the design that also needs to be addressed is clipping. Now when it comes to clipping, it's easy for me to say its not that big of a deal. I'm not a Twi'lek, most of my clipping experience revolves around my Miraluka's cyclops mask clipping out of his hood once in a while before they patches it. But, I really don't think most people who want to run species like Kel'dor, Togruta, or Rodian have a problem with not wearing helmets and allowing hoods to mask their appendages (I do realize Togruta are quite different as there horns and head tentacles are the reason why people like them, and that involves even more work to work around.) No one needs to see my giant ear-organ things to tell that I'm Kel'Dor, nor do Rodians tiny antenna, and head fringe....thing always have to show. I would go further to say we generally don't care if we can't have boots or gloves visible either. Now something we mostly do, or at least I mostly do, care about, is the voice-acting. Voice-acting in any Bioware game is paramount. Whether or not people like Nolan North's voice-acting, I'd rather hear that than some alien-jibberish. If they do implement new species, it HAS to be basic-inclined. As cool as wookie's are, I don't want "rrrrrrrgh", "aaaaargh", and "roar!" to be the extent of my vocabulary. I like to appreciate the EXTREMELY costly part of the game. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I like it when NPC's speak in gibberish. I even sometimes chuckle when hearing "salemee wanki" when the NPC is mentioning their children's death. But back to my main topic. There are probably more technical aspects that I'm missing, but, in light of the fact that I am not versed in that field, I shouldn't be talking about them in my main post. One last thing I have to talk about is the Cathar, and what they mean for the game IMO. They will basically determine the future of new PC species. I suppose they are pretty easy to implement versus other classes, but I'm not sure how how popular they are amongst the community, and if enough people don't like them, Bioware will never make a new PC species. My hope is that a lot of people make some "kitty-cat" alts, and that they will run fluidly through cinematic like the PC's should. My biggest fear is that they aren't that popular. P.S. Thank you for enlightening me, in a civil fashion, of certain technical issues people who did so.