Sure I'll just drop what I'm doing....

It's actually not an example of forum hyperbole. There were 8 wipes. I think there might have been at least one before I showed up (I was a fill-in for a dropped character). We did 2 wipes with a Lvl 55 Sorceror who seemed to be in reasonable gear. Then we filled in a Powertech, wiped two more times: once when the PT started the fight when two characters (including me) had just revived. Then the PT ditched and we wiped four more times with the undergeared Assassin as I tried to teach the other three characters the mechanics of the fight, how they could heal up, and how they could manage various buffs like my Predation and taunts to make the fight easier.

Yes, I think I dropped about 50k in repair bills trying to help them. After the fifth wipe, I pulled out my repair droid so everyone could repair.

The fight is harder, but I did the exact same FP just 30 minutes earlier with a mixed group of new/old 55's and got through it fairly easily. The reason I was so persistent was because I was getting some level of enjoyment from the attempt to teach the other players how to manage it.

If I were to guess, I'd say that the HP increase causes side effects that are not immediately noticeable. I remember blasting through the desert chamber with only one round of sandstorms. It hurt, but there wasn't any real need to care about them. If you had decent DPS, you could just burn him down and forget about the rest of the mechanics. Now, the boss has enough HP that even well-geared groups are going through 3 rounds of sandstorms. With all the rest of his area damage, the sandstorms take their toll. If you are too slow or too eager on the med stations, you're in for trouble. I still think it can be done as a 2-man, but you'd need a real player tanking (comp tanks will actively fight your attempts to move the boss around) and a decent healer.

I agree. That was part of the reason I stuck around so long. I wanted to show them how to get through it.

It didn't work.

Do what I do when I see a beggar on the fleet: Contra-Haggle:

Revan'witha'katana: Hey can someone just give me 80k?
Malastare: Can I get 76k? That's 4k less than that other guy. I'm saving you money.
Revan'witha'katana: Fine. Can i have 70k, then?
Malastare: Make it 65k, here.
OtherGuy: I'll take just 50k. 20k less than Revan'witha'katana.
Malastare: I'll drop you 1k: 49k. I think that's pretty fair.

It seems to be pretty effective.

While I wouldn't say someone sucks for being unable to do non group missions, I would say that they are doing something wrong. This game is chock full of nn group missions. Not just class missions, either. The majority of the game is probably soloable. Sure you can group for them if you wish, but it certainly isn't something you need to do.

Wow...God help us all because he thinks someone may suck for not being able to do a mission that...and lets be honest...was designed to be accomplished solo if the player chooses to solo? I don't think the almighty needs to intervene. I wouldn't have used his terminology, but its not that bad.

...and you can solo the non-group missions. We all know that. I'd wager we've all done that. They are solo quests. Just because they scale if you are in a group doesn't mean the class missions weren't designed to be done solo. Certainly some bosses in class stories can make you pull your hair out...I just did the final class mission for my assassin and Lord Thanaton handed me my head twice before I figured out what his attacks were. ...and you know, I've never ever grouped with that character. Did it all solo.

Does that make me some uber player? No, of course not. But if you're on say, Dromund Kaas and you can't take a mob in the non-heroic missions there, you're doing something wrong. If you get beyond that but still have problems it may be a gear thing but you're doing something wrong. ...and theres no problem with asking for help if that is the case. There is a problem if you're asking for a higher level character to just plow through the mobs and bosses for you because you just want to level fast.

Just to reiterate: The player that I referred to in my OP did not ask for help with a mob or a boss. They specifically asked me to drop what I was doing and use my level 54 character to "plow through the content so they can level fast.". It would have been different if they had said "Can you group with me to do "The Red Engine". I would have politely declined as there were a bunch of level appropriate players running around at the time but that's not an unreasonable request. But instead they asked me to just powerlevel them.

The response to beggars I've used is:

"Sure, I'll give you some credits. Hmm, you're level 25? I went to Tatooine and gave some credits to a bunch of mobs. Kill the mobs and you can have those credits."

....or go to tattooine, use your gathering skills and put the mats on the GTN....

For these people it depends on how they request my help. If they send me a random group invite I decline it. If they ask for help which seldom happens I ask what it is that theyre struggling with before I consider helping them. If its something that they are having trouble doing I go ahead and help them. If its for a flashpoint I tell them it would be better to find a group, if its a class quest I inform them that its a solo fight and its easy to do ( though sometimes ill help someone with class bosses but thats rare). If the person is spamming chat I talk to them in fleet about what it is they need help with. If they dont respond I dont help them, if they do respond i give them basic info on what they are asking about. Really I help people based off the situation more then anything

Depending on my mood or what I'm doing I decline random group invites. Depending....as in just a few minutes ago I was in The Black Hole and got a group invite. It was obviously for the heroic mission there so I accepted and wnt and did it.

...and if anyone else had asked before I left I would have helped them with it by joining their group.

Ha...what I hated was this....while finishing up my dailies there I saw jedi consular. They were in such a rush to 'beat me to it' when it came to the mission to plug the radiation leaks she ran into the pool without the injector. She got out before she died and I tossed a kolto heal at her and went about my business. But when I had finished fighting the mobs to free the Drall engineers she unstealths and starts freeing them herself. So...this person followed me and waited or came into the room and decided "screw this guy, I'm getting the glowies". Because theres no way she was in there before I came in unless she just stood in the middle of the room stealthed for five minutes waiting for someone to kill the mobs. I mean geez, she could have just asked to group up and we both could have done it together. Those mobs ain't hard to beat.

No biggie though. I just went and cleared the other room for my objectives. More loot for me.

I agree that it's annoying when people beg random people for free assistance... but I disagree with the OP. There are two types of beggers, the ones that whisper and ask for assistance and the ones that just randomly send out group invites (and continue to even after you decline them).

No harm is done asking a question. They don't know what you're doing. For all they know, you're just idling and you could very well have time to help them. The point is, at least they asked you first. You can always decline. If they get pissed off, that's a different story. But no harm is done in merely asking for assistance.

I will jump in and say something about the WAR quest on Tatooine. For first timers, master Yonlach and his Apprentice Yu-li are pretty darn tough.

That said, my first character back in early access got to the end of chapter 1 at level 29. I was mad when I couldn't beat Nomen Karr. That was the last time I ever rushed to the end of a planet lol...

I did decline...by ignoring the person. They would have gotten a reply if it was "can you help me with this boss". But as stated they specifically asked me to plow through the content so they could level fast.

Sure, that's still asking a question, but it implies that they want me to follow them around through most or all of Korriban's arc killing things so they can get the xp. So yeah, that irritates me. YMMV on power leveling request, and that's fine. To me, that's a can of worms I'd rather not open.

If I had done as they wanted I can see them contacting me from every single planet. I'd probably be getting "Can you come to dromund kass and plow through it for me so I can get my ship faster?" whispers tonight.