Just installed client a few days ago. Windows 10 creator update. No antivirus installed beyond built-in Windows features. Applications running as administrator (launcher and client). Read/write permissions set up correctly in Documents and Settings as well as game directories. Both agreements pop up every time I launch the game, whether it's a reboot of the PC or launching multiple times without power cycling. Don't know if it's related, but.. I started playing on Tython as soon as "ready to play", but some animations were off, even after the full client finished downloading. Restarted the game and everything appeared correct, minus the terms agreements popping up every time. Maybe something got stuck since I started playing before the client was done downloading? I only mention this as a possibility because other things were acting up too.

I second that motion. Would buy in a heartbeat.

A little bit of insight here: The ramdrive and the SSDs really help with the game's performance. The reason is, the game is not coded to precache dynamic assets like it should. Every new animation, character/object model, and ability effect has to be read from your hard drive every time it's used (this is why pvp slows down a lot). This has been tested. In situations showing large amounts of dynamic assets being called, there is major page faults and hard drive thrashing. When you use the swtor unleashed utility, for example, and force all the dynamic assets into the ramdrive, you are essentially doing what the game should have been programmed to do from the beginning: precache dynamic assets into the fastest memory available for random recall. SSDs improve performance because their random reads are tons faster than a typical hard drive. It's true, ramdrives should be a thing of the past. But unfortunately some games do not precache everything they should, and you end up with frame latency as a result.

Odd... I tried an apostrophe and it said "Invalid Name". and it wasn't (at least I thought) a name that was very popular. Perhaps I was mistaken

when on coruscant, run to the spaceport. open your map, and hover your mouse over all the elevator icons (they will be up/down arrows within a box). run to the one that doesn't say it's for a specific class. use that elevator, and you will be sent to a shuttle bay. once there, open the map again and try to find the most useful shuttle. I don't know what exactly made it to release as I have not had enough time to play that far, but you will either find a shuttle to take you straight to tython, or you will need to take a shuttle to the republic fleet, then navigate your way from there. If you went to the fleet, follow the same premise. open the map and hover over the elevators until you find the one that is not for a specific class. in the case of the fleet, I believe it's called the elevator to "departures" or something like that. then find the shuttle with an activatable door. sometimes the labels on the buttons for when you activate a shuttle door will not match up with where you want to go... the shuttle for the republic fleet had an odd name I recall..

The one I received required you to be level 7. Once you have reached level 7, then you have to wait until you have a customizable weapon. that is, when you hover over it, it will show modification slots such as enhancement and crystals, usually paired with their associated stat boosts. If you are playing a jedi type class, you will have to wait for your first lightsaber to use it. Once you have the lightsaber, Ctrl+right click on the item to open the modification window (or use a modification station... not sure which system made it to release). You then "open up" your lightsaber, pull the old crystal out, and put the new, preorder crystal in. Then hit the ok/accept button, and you're done!

I believe that if you've seen the content enough times to be driven to madness seeing it one more time, it's probably time to move on to a different activity in the game. Hint: you shouldn't play a game that isn't fun. if what you are doing isn't fun, why are you doing it? if it's to grind out xp, or farm loot drops, that's kind of a waste of time. The only time it wouldn't be, is if you're level 50 and are trying to farm commendations for that last bit of edge in stats. Otherwise, you'll be replacing the things you farmed BT/Esseles for within a day or two. Seems illogical to me. Grinding out XP to eke out that next level? What's the drive to do this? Reaching a max level character? That's neat and all.. but what happens when you get there? /flex? The special sparklesauce feeling dies out quick. If you're looking to hit endgame sooner, that's cool. Though it seems playing a story-driven game for the sole purpose of endgame raids is like buying a monster truck to make into a low-rider.

*I walk in to a prisoner on a table. Without a word, I start frying him alive with bolts of lightning* "STOP!! Please, please stop! I'll do anything! Please, no more..." "No more what? No more THIS??" *I lean into it, pouring lightning into this man's body as he wails and screams.* *The torturer behind me chuckles to himself*, "Oh MY..." One of the best moments earlier in the game.

Yeah, totally random. Though I agree with you, the game should at least look at what classes are there, and drop loot for at least one of the players. Or... barring that, make it so that the item nobody can use isn't bound on pick-up, so you can get more than vendor price for it. As far as luck goes, I ran Esseles on my consular, got a drop on every single boss. My teammate was pissed, all I could do was shrug The next time through, one thing dropped for him, and nothing for me. Oh yeah, and those random rare drops on non-bosses: one run through BT yielded 9 pairs of the same boots lol. Of course I could use them, but not all 9 pairs!

I understand that the whole concept of "world first" and "server first" evolved out of a general sense of competition. Being the first to complete something challenging does make you feel good, because that means you didn't rely on help videos and step by step instructions online to do it (because they couldn't have been written yet.... because it hasn't been done lol). As far as how I would value such achievements, I'd say in this particular game, it doesn't and should not apply... like ever. I know there is a positive side to the concept of world-first. But if there is any recognition of this achievement in an official sense, it WILL start a chain reaction of people mindlessly grinding out achievements ala xbox live. I've seen it before with many people I know and care about. I introduced several of my close friends to the world of MMOs, and they too fell into the trap of achievements. When they accomplished them, I asked them if it was worth it. "Meh" was their answer. Rift was popular for promoting this type of thing (and that was the game that got a lot of my friends hooked). Sure it may give you a sense of accomplishment for a moment... but who will remember your name? Because of the potentially damaging affect it would have on the purpose of this MMO (due to design, it really should be of it's own genre), which is to tell a great story, too many people could be drawn in to the lure of stroking their e-egos, for a momentary sense of accomplishment that no one will ever remember or value beyond a few seconds... if that. Addendum: To elaborate/clarify, I believe it would be damaging because you will start to see level 50 consulars wondering what the heck the "scorekeeper" is. You will see level 50 bounty hunters asking "what event is the "great hunt"? can I get achievements for it? When does it start?"

Yeah... there has been hundreds of pages of posts about this during beta. Quite the raging debate. Some were for an appearance tab, some were against it. Ultimately, it looks like they went for the in-between; allowing you to modify certain items extensively. So, advice for you if you ever come back to read this: If you find a piece of gear you really like the look of, and it's got a lot of mod slots, NEVER GET RID OF IT. Unless of course you find a better version of it later. The reason is, you can keep swapping in better stats via mods as you progress, and keep the same look that you like. If you want to just wear high stat items for a time, bank the item you like the look of instead of vendoring it off. Because you may regret throwing that item away later on. Have fun!

^ lol I'm sorry, I don't usually do this. But even though I am normally quite verbose, I really cannot think of anything to say. Except... I've got a fever. And the only cure....

SWTOR has not yet experienced a crash... though I do recall for WoW, everyone being able to get in and have fun. Yes. I remember having fun camping mob spawns so I could progress to the next quest. Camped hogger for 20+ minutes trying to get that kill in. This is one of the main reasons for the staggered EARLY release. Note... not official release, not public release, not open retail release. Early. Stability of the game, nearly 100% uptime (one or two servers here and there had issues since day 1), and the origin world experience from what I can tell is going exactly as planned, as far as population density is concerned. So... if "smooth" is defined as it is understood by the general public, it seems like launch meets that definition. Though by your comments, it seems like your definition of "smooth" is: I get to play. I don't care about what my experience is like when I get there. I don't care about the server stability or population density. Smooth means I get to play when I want to play it. It's totally understandable that you'd be upset about your vacation time. I would be too. However, there's one little... thing nagging at me. We all know they promised "up to" 5 days early access. And we all knew the order in which you registered your preorder was the order in which you got in. You planned your vacation time around this understanding. This universally accepted truth. Now you blame someone else when you realize that you misinterpreted the information given to the public. Of course your vacation is pretty much ruined. But don't blame the developer. They carefully planned and wrote their words with precision. Go back and read them. You will see.

You are free to chase your dreams! Go for it! In this world it doesn't take intelligence to make money, just luck and knowing the right people. The only thing standing in your way could be a tendency to wreckless obsession, and denial of self-responsibility, based on evidence at hand. Prove me wrong! Get out there and make some magic happen.

Sounds like it's nap time. I preordered in July. I got early access in the first wave. I have spent about 20 seconds in-game since then, merely to make sure my install worked and I could play when I eventually had the time. I've seen one major MMO launch as smoothly as this one (LOTRO). The only real reason there is whining is because of jealous rage. But guess what? Bioware has discouraged sprinting to server-firsts and world-firsts. Absolutely play how you want, but if your entire life hinges around a few days head start in a game that may or may not even be around a few years from now, any psychologist/psychiatrist will tell you this is an unhealthy obsession, and could lead to/could already be a disorder. True story. The girl sitting next to me is one, and it seems like common knowledge to her. Now it's time to take a good look in the mirror, and ask, "What do my friends and family think about my behavior?" or, "What are my children learning because of my example?" Peace to you all.