1. How should I go about playing the game to get the best experience possible?

 

2. How do you get all that awesome unique gear I see people with. While I'm playing I only ever manage to get a hold of generic boring armor and weapons, yet I see all the people while watching videos or playing the game with awesome stuff?

 

3. The HUD, so I hate the default HUD arrangements, so I like to customize mine. How do you arrange your HUD. And I like to arrange my powers within the three power bars based on the type of power they are. So my question is, how would you classify the in-game powers, and how would you organize them in the bars for the best tactical advantage possible? I have the three power-bar-slot thing's positioned on top of each other in a row, currently I have offensive powers on top (for my Jedi Knight), but I'm lost as to which order I should place them all in tactically, or what would be considered offensive powers? And where to put and how to classify the rest of the powers?

 

4. Role-playing. I'm very intrigued by this idea and would like to do it. How would I go about doing this, and do you have any advice?

1. How should I go about playing the game to get the best experience possible?

 

2. How do you get all that awesome unique gear I see people with. While I'm playing I only ever manage to get a hold of generic boring armor and weapons, yet I see all the people while watching videos or playing the game with awesome stuff?

 

3. The HUD, so I hate the default HUD arrangements, so I like to customize mine. How do you arrange your HUD. And I like to arrange my powers within the three power bars based on the type of power they are. So my question is, how would you classify the in-game powers, and how would you organize them in the bars for the best tactical advantage possible? I have the three power-bar-slot thing's positioned on top of each other in a row, currently I have offensive powers on top (for my Jedi Knight), but I'm lost as to which order I should place them all in tactically, or what would be considered offensive powers? And where to put and how to classify the rest of the powers?

 

4. Role-playing. I'm very intrigued by this idea and would like to do it. How would I go about doing this, and do you have any advice?

1. play the way that you enjoy. some people prefer pvp. some people prefer questing. some people prefer space missions. find your niche and jump right in.

 

2. well, people run flashpoints to get gear sometimes. some of the gear you see people wearing might come from those, or as random drops, or as quest rewards.

 

3. if you hit esc and then pick "interface editor" you'll be able to move things around on your screen. as far as skill placement, there's a tiny lock icon on the main skill bar. click it to lock and unlock skills. that will allow you to place them in different hot key slots and arrange them as you see fit. what order should you put them in? however you feel works for you. i set my skills up differently per character, so i don't really follow a set rule.

 

4. i'm not really a big role player, so someone else would have to answer that for you.

happysister answered your first three questions I'll take a shot at your fourth:

 

- roleplay is like when as a kid you played cowboys & indians (or as a girl you played the mommy with your dolls / the princess in her castle). As a grown up, it would be similar to "acting" in a theater play, except that you invent the script as you play, and the set is the game environment.

 

For example let's say you're playing a jedi knight called Jen-Taigonn.

In order to flesh out your jedi knight, you'll imagine his past and his motivations. You can also describe him and give him idiosyncrasies ("Jen-Garon is 6 feet tall, slender and agile, walks with a catlike grace. He has a habit of scratching his head when in deep thoughts")

 

While playing the game, you'll imagine how, based on his past and psychology, he'll react to what's happening around him.

 

At the most basic level, roleplay is "Jen-Taigonn is a good guy so I'll always pick the nice answers in the dialogue".

A more advanced approach would be to imagine an explanation as to why he does it. "Jen-Taigonn will help that poor fellow because he cares deeply for others, as he was heavily influenced by his old nurse who brought him up after his parents died in the space cruise accident of Bemral IV".

 

Of course, you can only go so far while making stories in your head and being constrained by the game missions. Where roleplay takes on a whole new dimension is when you roleplay with other people, each person playing a role.

"Does Jen-Taigonn take an instant dislike of that smuggler who seems to lie every other sentence? What does he think about that pretty corporal who seems interested in him?"

 

Some RP guild will offer a background, or a theme (there are RP guilds that are structured like a military unit), organise events with a loose scenario that players will improvise on. Search them on your servers and try to join one.

 

The most important difference with the "cowboys and indians" of your youth is that there is no "I am the cowboy and I win". What would be the point of having three Jedi Knights meeting each other, each being "the strongest Force user EVER"?

Roleplaying with others is to write a story together.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Oggthebase

1. How should I go about playing the game to get the best experience possible?

 

The game was really designed to be a story driven MMO, so doing the PVE storylines is how it was designed. Companion unlocks, ships, and legacy unlocks are all tied to your class storyline progress.

 

However, there are plenty of other options for leveling (PVP, space combat, etc.) if that's not for you or you need a change of pace.

 

2. How do you get all that awesome unique gear I see people with. While I'm playing I only ever manage to get a hold of generic boring armor and weapons, yet I see all the people while watching videos or playing the game with awesome stuff?

 

You get it as you level, but it can be hard to get a full matching set w/o focusing on it or knowing where to look. The later game armors tend to be fancier and some of the low end stuff is just ugly (BH helmets for example).

 

If you open up the character screen, on the lower right of the "paper doll" is a button that will allow you to match colors which goes a long way to making you look better.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Infalliable

Thanks for answering my questions guys.

One piece of advice I have to throw in is: join a guild!! I can't stress this enough. This will help you with all of your above concerns and many more you haven't even though of yet.

Have a question about where to get good gear for your class/level? Ask in guild chat.

Need help getting through a tough quest? Ask your guild for help.

Can't seem to get a group together for a flashpoint (instance)? Ask your guildies to join you.

The best part of MMOs isn't the gameplay itself: It's the gratification of meeting people, making friends, and participating in collective accomplishments.

Which guild is best for you? As a start I would suggest joining the biggest guild that will have you. This maximizes the potential you will find people on when you are, and will be willing/able to help you out.

Which guild is best for you? As a start I would suggest joining the biggest guild that will have you. This maximizes the potential you will find people on when you are, and will be willing/able to help you out.

mmmm, not necessarily. i know some people who joined big guilds, but they always got ignored. no one ever helped them, no one ever took them on ops. pretty much everything that was promised to them never came through. what the OP prolly should do is find a guild that's more focused on helping new people. i'm pretty sure they'd get more attention there than in any random huge guild.

I've only been playing for a couple of weeks now and this is my first MMO. The best thing that i have done to help me is doing your HOMEWORK. I mean watch as many videos on youtube and blogs as you can. Also make sure you understand your characters skill tree and also put some effort in learning about your how to bind. As listed above you need to some research on your character based on the playing style you like. For example i am starting my character as a Sith Warrior marauder with gathering skills of Biotech-Bioaanalysis-Diplomacy. Its important that you understand this aspects of the game in order to maximize the potential of your character. After i LVL my character to 50 i will start a bounty hunter. As far as PvP goes i would advise to join a guild, because if you join a guild you can learn how to play through experienced players. Also finding games will be easier and more frequent. I found that if i play companion and PvP at the same time i rank up faster and score higher with PvP Guild. Like any new gaming experience doing my homework has always been my number 1 priority in order to understand a game. If you need any links to sites with info let me know and i will link them to ya. Good luck.

My first toon was a Gunslinger so I ended up using more than two bars in normal use.(my slinger seems to use more items than any of my other toons)

 

I have my bars arranged all horizontally. The first two bars are just as they are by default, as I got used to that, and the vertical (side) bars have been rotated to be horizontal with below my first two bars. So kinda like ::

 

 

 

 

 

My main weapons/tools are on the default bars, with the less used weapons (healing, etc) beneath them on the middle of the bottom bars, and finally the really rare stuff at the ends (like Heroic Moment, Sprint, and Fleet Pass).

Edited November 14, 2012 by BeToo