Honestly, I have mixed emotions on the subject. It can either turn out to be good, or it can be a blight on the good name of Star Wars. I can only place judgement on it after I've seen the movie, however. We'll just have to wait and see until 2015.

You can see the total amount of coins you already have and how many you'll get by going to My SWTOR>My Account>Cartel Coins. Hope this helped you!

In regards to your question, Patbeal, the author of this post is talking about the flaws of the new Cartel Packs that were intended to have players buy them for a chance at unique items, but they will actually make players not want to risk the gamble. This in turn makes said players turn to other sites in order to buy credits for them to buy the items in the game, which makes the Cartel Market obsolete. I agree with you that the new packs are a gamble; however they're a gamble for a reason. Bioware created these packs for players to have a chance at unique items that you can't get anywhere else. Also, it is my understanding that these packs aren't available for sale with ordinary credits. Without the cartel coins, players won't be able to get these unique items. So in summary, these packs do encourage a gamble, but they offer enough diverse rewards to keep the packs relevant.

Well, to answer your question, you weren't able to reque because of your active phase. Unfortunately, resetting your phase will reset the flashpoint. This is one of the problematic issues centered around the grouping system, especially the Group Finder. With the new expansion, players will only want to complete the flashpoint in order to get closer toward achieving their companion. I would recommend that you ask around on the group chat or even ask some friends on your guild to help you through the flashpoint. I hope this helps you out!

Chapters one and two are both kinda dry. Chapter one is repetitive and chapter two goes by incredibly fast. However, chapter three is by far the best chapter in the consular story. I hope this helped!

Awesome guide! Thank you for posting.