If Steam is your primary instant messenger and most of your friends are on it, it makes a big difference.

Thank you SO much for this! I've been limiting my TOR playtime because without Steam working I have to be antisocial... it's easier just to play another game than to repeatedly explain to all of my friends why I'm going to be ignoring them now. This worked perfectly and now I can chat and play. Thank you again!

Ooh, I've been posting away in the other UK thread and didn't spot this one. I might as well check in here too. Reading, Berks. and playing on Luka Sene!

Oh, you're just down the road from me! (Reading, Berks. here) Hi neighbour! Sadly, I'm on a different server.

I'd really like to know how to get the Steam overlay working too. It's become my main instant messenger since Xfire got taken over, and I hate not being able to talk to my friends on it while I play, especially since I gave one of them a telling-off the other day for not being around enough!

It might be best to rephrase spring of 2012 to Q1 or Q2 2012, as March will not be spring in Australia or New Zealand. Great news for the Aussies!

I like the items, but they are very limited (on Republic side -- I've yet to make an Empire alt). I didn't buy the CE for the store alone so I don't mind so much, but if you're thinking of getting it primarily for the store then no, there is not a lot there right now. Of course, that doesn't factor in future updates -- and I would hope there'll be some coming down the pipeline soon, if only so that there is something suited to each class.

I agree wholeheartedly -- except with the queue complaint. I'm sitting here browsing this forum while I'm queue right now, and you know what? I really DON'T CARE. I've been in enough MMO launches to know that it's temporary, and I have to say a huge thanks to Bioware for putting the long-term health of the game first and not caving in to the pressure to open more servers than are needed. I absolutely don't mind waiting in queues for a few weeks knowing that there's much more likely to be a healthy server awaiting me in a few months. Aside from that, what the OP said, definitely. This has me hooked like no other MMO launch before, and I've played quite a lot of them. I can see myself sticking with this game for a long, long time.

I agree with everything in your post except for this. I'm sorry, but you chose not to get the CE, knowing that it would have an exclusive store. If the store was a priority to you then you could have bought the CE, but you chose not to make it so. It's no more reasonable for you to get the CE items than it is for buyers of the standard edition to get the DDE items (less so, considering the comparative price of the CE); if you want them, you just have to pay the extra and buy that edition in the first place. We're not entitled to everything in life. You get what you pay for. Aside from that, I think you made an excellent post. It's by no means a deal breaker for me, I love the game and I think the items are a sweet bonus, but I would really prefer it if things could scale to be useful at maximum level. I get that it's a low priority request, but if they could get around to tweaking this when launch issues die down then I think it'd be a very nice gesture.

18 also I'm taking it nice and slowly -- doing all group quests, enjoying all of the voiceovers, etc. And for once, my urge to make half a dozen alts and see how the other stories progress is staying in check. I know what I'll be doing at 50 though.

Uh... no? I'm sorry, I really don't know why you're assuming you're in the majority on this. It sounds like an odd way to play a story-based MMO to me. I'm listening to everything, and after a couple of days of this, I can't imagine how I'd go back to the uninspired quest text of most MMOs.

I'm not certain that you have played many MMO launches if you think these queues are long. I think they're impressively short considering the number of people looking to play this as opposed to most new MMOs. Did you ever experience Aion's 10 hour queues? My boyfriend would join the queue before he went to work in the morning, come home, and still be an hour or two away from playing. It went on past the free 30 days as well. This game hasn't even started the free 30 days. People do need to get used to the idea that if they're going to play a big-name MMO on or around launch day, there are going to be queues. Long ones. It's unavoidable if the long-term health of the game is going to be prioritised over everyone's short-term gratification (and believe me, you want that -- nothing worse than an MMO that opens twice as many servers as it's going to need in the long term and then has to merge them all three months down the line). But it won't last. It never does. Relax... or reroll, if you must get everything done right now.

So what servers are all you fellow Brits playing on? I'm on Luka Sene.

Hehe. I used to feel that way about PvP servers. Playing on one of America's busiest PvP servers (I'm European, but I was there to play with some friends) during the launch of WoW's Wrath of the Lich King swayed me to the carebear side. In a game with so much story -- SW:TOR, that is, not WoW! -- I'd rather get immersed and enjoy it for now. In the long term... we'll see!

Individuals are individuals, whether they're married or not. Not everyone is going to have the same expectations from marriage. If other men do not feel able to play the game while their wife is at home that's their business, but there is absolutely no reason why your marriage, when it happens, should be the same. What is important is communication about what you expect your marriage to be, preferably before it starts. Things like how much time you each expect to have to devote to your hobbies, what constitutes a drop-everything situation, etc. And of course, to bear in mind that those expectations will change when you have children, and to discuss those changes before you commit to parenthood. In my (currently childfree) partnership, we're both quite independent and make a lot of time for our hobbies, but we've settled into a good rhythm when it comes to how far we can push it before the other one gets rightfully stroppy. I don't think either of us could tolerate being smothered, and thankfully, we see eye to eye on what constitutes smothering.