The Empire would not be strengthened by allowing Aliens to consider themselves equal to humans... or god forbid purebloods. The empire will not be strengthened the day that it shares power with the alien barbarians. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. The Sith and it's Empire is not there to be 'liked', and Imperial society is certainly not suppose to be equal..... Well that's the Sith's argument anyway. While the Empire may be physically strengthened by allowing more aliens into their ranks, it would fundamentally change the Empire - the Sith and Imperial aristocracy would fade away. That would have weakened the xenophobic and tradition based Empire that said Sith/Imperials professed to strengthen, and create a new empire which is sickening to those currently in power.

You misunderstand my point, and clearly you misunderstand the game. I wonder if it's really worth explaining it to you... As Anakin memorably pointed out in Revenge of the Sith - Evil is not an objective term, it's a point of view. What the Jedi and Republic consider sadism, the Sith and Imperials consider ruthness. And the Jedi's restraint on emotion is seen to the Sith as mental imprisonment, and to the Empire as sanctimonious. TOR makes clear that the Republic are enemies, and to the people of the Empire they are to be feared. In NO Imperial class story or world arc is the 'Empire' the "villain of the story", Darth Thanaton was archaic, and Darth Baras was a usurper - both the Inquisitor and Warrior are clear that defeating them are in their, and the Empire's best interests. As does the Agent, regardless of his/her alignment. Nope, it's clear to any player that neither the Empire nor the Republic are going to lose. For that is no place for a story driven game that accommodates players of both factions to go. When the final ever piece of content is added to TOR, it will not feature the end of the Empire. Of that I am certain. Saying it comes down to "game needing to accommodate the players" is meaningless, as it totally ignores what my original point actually was.

I get that, but regardless of the time-scale and Sith infighting there is a disproportionate amount of Imperial deaths in comparison to Republic ones - and the Republic deaths there tend to be far less significant. E.g. Death of a significant Dark Council member in Republic Corellia arc, death of previously unknown Green Jedi Council in Imperial Corellia arc. Further many who the Republic kill are actually featured in the Empire storyline or atleast well known - Darth Lachris, Darth Malgus, Darth Angral, Darth Decimous and the Sith Emperor, to name a few. Apart from the Supreme Chancellor, I can't think of any significant Republic deaths (characters we've heard of) in the Imperial storylines - no Jedi Council members for example. That's true... but if one quotes from the films (as the developers did, constantly), you see Jango Fett and Boba Fett able to go toe to toe with powerful Jedi Knights, where as the idea of Han Solo fighting Darth Vader is ridiculous.

Note: the whole post contains SPOILERS which is why I'm not tagging it, please take this in mind when reading. This is more apparent in the later stages of the game, ie Act 3, but is plenty clear enough in Act 1 and 2. The Imperial classes tend to expend their time hunting other Imperials, while Republic classes get to directly attack the Empire.This is most obvious on Corellia, in both class stories and the world arc. While most Republic classes deal their blows to Empire, only one Imperial class directly damages the Republic. Darth Decimus, Darth Acharon and Darth Hadra all die at the hands of the Republic on Corellia, shortly afterwards Darth Thanaton, Darth Arho and Darth Baras die as a result of Sith infighting. That's half the Dark Council, in the game's last moments. Though not through Republic involvement, the Sith Empire also loses Imperial Intelligence. Conversely, the Imperials kill no members of the Jedi Council (bar the First Son, a servant of the Emperor) - and only get to kill the unimportant 'Green Jedi Council'. True the Bounty Hunter kills/captures the Supreme Chancellor - no doubt a blow to the Republic, but oppositely the Jedi Knight (seemingly) kills the Sith Emperor - clearly a far bigger blow than the Supreme Chancellor. Following this in the novel - Darth Karrid is killed at the hands of the Republic - who make fools the Empire, breaking into the Minister of Logistics fortress on the Sith world of Ziost. Add a 7th to the Dark Council death toll, in a short period of time. Yes we know ultimately the Empire loses, but this quickly? I didn't think they would start killing of the Empire so early into it's existence - they're working with a blank slate, clearly the Empire's story could last centuries more. I'm hoping that this will be the case, and there will be a resurgence in the Empire's war effort - and Imperial charactors get to kill notble Republic charactors - such as Satile Shan (perhaps for the Sith Warrior). Story wise the game seems completely unbalanced to me, and on a technical note - how is it feasible that a Smuggler or Trooper could kill a Dark Council member like Darth Decimious?...

The main story of Mass Effect was the equivalent of class specific content in TOR. And a move in a Mass Effect direction would mean the expansion of class content. But then you can't and shouldn't compare TOR with Mass Effect.

You going to be disappointed... I believe they have already said that they intend to eventually add many new planets to expand the game

I'm pretty sure that Darth Malgus isn't on the Dark Council.

I don't think it's exactly clear; if you do the Black Talon, and speak to Grand Moff Kilren as a Sith Warrior, he certainly didn't consider himself above Darth Baras by the way he spoke of borrowing his apprentice for a time, whilst if you speak to Kilren as a Sith Inquisitor, he merely says that the duties of the Empire are more important that Lord Zash's research; very much: "she can wait". Though if you look at 'Darths', they aren't all of a single rank; as for Malgus we don't know. The Darths on the Dark Council are obviously the highest, then you have those like Darth Thanaton, and Darth Baras who answer directly to their respective Dark Councilor; then you have the Sith below them. Lord Zash answered to Darth Skotia, who answered to Darth Thanaton. When Zash replaced Skotia, she answered to Thanaton. When Zash raises you to a Lord, she hints that your rank will be her former rank, you (as a Lord) answering to her, she answering to Thanaton, and Thanaton answering to the Dark Councilor. I think it goes something like this: Dark Council Darth Darth (like Thanaton and Baras) Darth (like Skotia, and later Zash) Lord (like Zash, the Warrior and Inquisitor) Overseer (Harkun, Tremmel - Lords such as Zash and the Inquisitor were able to issue orders to Overseers, but strangly enough they are never called by Lord, where apprentices are) Apprentice - the rank they hold in there own right, as shown in both SW and SI stories, when speaking to people they act as proxies of there masters thus speak with the authority of the rank of the masters. Apprentices are also the lowest rank in which people refer as "My Lord", Acolytes merely get 'Sir'. Though this may also be a curtecy due to the rank of there Master. Acolyte. --------------- I'm quite sure that as an Apprentice your giving orders and such on behalf of your master, and the level of authority you are granted is at the level of your Masters (plus both the Inquisitor and the Warrior are always referred to as "my Lord", whilst Overseers [who must rank above an apprentice] are not.) As Apprentice of Darth Baras for example, the Warrior dealt with allot more high ranking people than the Inquisitor who was the apprentice of Darth Zash.

(I apologise for the double post) Do remember that Grand Moff Tarken spoke down to Darth Vader, despite him outranking Tarken. You know that the Dark Council isn't ranked bellow the Emperor's Wrath and certainly not the Emperor's apprentice. These are just the Sith who answer directly to the Emperor, whilst everyone else in the Empire ultimately answers to the Dark Council.

And... The title of Grand Moff, now inseparably identified with the Empire, was neither Palpatine’s nor Tarkin's invention, though both can be credited with resurrecting the title for Imperial use. In fact, the title dates back to the Expansionist Period (ca. 25,000–20,000 BBY), when the Republic frequently encountered many small satrapies and mini-empires.

I disagree, there are many of respectable and honourable Imperials of the Empire, who do there duty to protect their citizens. Example from the Imperial Agent class story; Watcher two: "sorry sir, but there were 3000 people on that ship, half of them civilians" Watcher two is by no means the only Imperial who cares about the civilians, that is just an example to the fact that Imperials care about things like that. In Fatal Alliance, an Imperial spy risks his life (from the Sith and the Hutts) to get hold of a nav-computer so that he can give it to the Minister of Logistics rather than let the Sith have it. There hasn't been any attempt to paint the Empire and Republic as black and white, and I think that BioWare has made a nice balance.

For me, I've had little trouble; i defeated every boss up to Zash with no problem at all; defeated her in one, although my health got dangerously low. So far with Thanaton, It's not going to badly; I got him down to half health with almost full health, THEN i accidently hit Force Cloak, which unfortunately didn't remove me from combat (as it should) but it did restore Thanaton's health to max, which resulted in my death. Dieing being the biggest issue, as you say, in this quest. You die, and your respawned along way away, and if you decide to give it a try a bit later, by the time you've returned all the beasts have respawned and you have to clear them before you can begin your fight with Thanaton.

I've got legacy level 5 lol, can't believe how fast and much people are playing.

Couldn't agree more. Why try to come up with any other theories, this is clearly the truth. You sir have clearly not visited the East End of Kass City.

Of course it it. If you live in the public eye you have to grow a thick skin. Short of libel, the press ALWAYS 'cherry pick' information to present an opinion (often negatively) on the motives, et cetera, of anybody and everyone in the public eye; politicians and bankers get the worst of it. And these reports are ALWAYS presented in a way in which the individual media outlet wish for it to be seen. George Lucas is nothing special, it happens to him no more than anyone else.