The Olog-hai who are claiming this will remove choice from the progression process haven't even read the Dev post. Skill trees only give the illusion of choice because some skills are either situational or objectively worse than others. There's no choice; to choose something the number-crunchers haven't approved is to nerf yourself. The notion that low level players will become as powerful as endgame players is equally ridiculous. Endgame players will still have greatly more power and bonuses that Bolster can't match, and will still have something to show for their progression. The worst opinion of all being voiced is that new characters should have to grind for 30 levels before they break out of an amorphous early DPS role into a Tank, Healer, or proper DPS. I despair that some people actually think this. Like many, I'm looking forward to the removal of an antiquated and unsustainable system with something that will, once the teething troubles have been ironed out, benefit everyone.

Guess that solves the mystery of where most stuff will be available from. Even if some can be crafted by players (I'm stockpiling all kinds of mats already) the schematics will probably come from the CM, or the reverse-engineering of items from the CM. We have had loads of great suggestions so far! Some ideas keep cropping up: the blood pool mentioned, along with lots of other Sith/Dread Master stuff; many suggestions of plants; starfighters, either in hangars or patrolling outside; mannequins to display armour, and weapon racks/showcases; junk piles and things to make the Strongholds feel 'lived in'; trophies of all kinds; things to modify our Strongholds with, such as movable walls and customisable floors; the ability to display our other characters as well as companions; more options for guards, servants, followers, workers, etc. and all kind of devices that do damage or simulate combat so a Stronghold can become a real combat or training area. Would be great to get a Dev response to some of this- maybe confirming things which are already in development, or things we could give more detail on, such as items from specific missions. Here's another, less likely thought: the ability to purchase outside backgrounds, so we could choose whereabouts on the planet our Strongholds are- so there's a difference between a Coruscant apartment near the Senate District and one in the Justicar Territory, and a difference between a Nar Shaddaa palace near the Promenade and one in Network Access.

Oh wow. Where do I begin? First thing that springs to mind is KORRIBAN. I've always loved the aesthetics of the ancient Sith ruins on Korriban, Athiss, and Dromund Kaas, and would love to see as many decorations themed around them as possible: pillars, masonry, relics, urns, sarcophagi, ancient warblades, statues, bones, altars, suits of armour... What I'd really love is a Stronghold on Korriban, that could look like a combination of modern Sith Academy and ancient tomb. That's probably a while off, though (as Tython and Korriban have some serious repair work to be done). Themed decorations like this could be arranged in a number of ways: a Sith Ruins pack, containing the items mentioned above; and a Sith Academy pack, containing bookshelves, desks, torture racks, holocrons, weapon racks, training dummies, and perhaps some Dark Honour Guards. Or there could just be one large Korriban pack containing both ancient and modern items. You could do a similar thing with Voss. More things as I think of them. +1 for armour mannequins.

Mandalore, I think.

Being a frequent GSF player (pretty much all I do these days) of (dare I say it?) moderate skill I am troubled by the way the design of new ships is going. Firstly, there's a divide between 'Dogfighter' ships, the Scouts and Strike Fighters, and the 'Support' ships, the Gunships and Bombers. It isn't a gap that needs bridging. One poster put it very well when they said we don't need Scouts that do the Bombers' job. BW seems to be running out of ideas, badly. Secondly, BW can't just keep reshuffling the existing pool of components and expect new playstyles to emerge. We can see this with Proton Torpedoes on the Dustmaker/Comet Breaker Gunships- they don't need Thermite Torpedoes to work, but a new 10,000m weapon, possibly some kind of Ion Torpedo, perhaps with lower cooldown. Likewise, new ships need new Major Components to bring about new roles and styles- not Interdiction Drives on Scouts. Thirdly, there's a problem with the artwork. The models of the new Imperial ships are actually the models from which the Rycer, Quell, and Blackbolt are derived- with the result that they look like a merger of these ships which is more powerful than the originals. They aren't. Making one ship look clearly superior to the others will just lead to the 'low-experience player choices' which will wreck PUGs. BW really should take these ships back to the drawing board for a serious overhaul and rethink of their design philosophy. Failing that, I fully intend to fire up my Mangler and start firing. Soon I'll have an awful lot of targets to choose from.

Only the War Hero [Rated] oranges have a Rating. Ordinary War Hero and old Battlemaster gear still has a Valor requirement. As the Rating requirements have been removed, this means that everyone can wear [Rated] War Hero oranges, but normal War Hero gear and Battlemaster gear still is still restricted by Valor ranks! So the supposedly more exclusive stuff is now universally available, whereas the normal stuff is still not available to those who haven't got 60 or 70 Valor?! Where is the design logic in that? This is a ridiculous change. BW should listen to players' complaints and remove ALL Valor and remaining Rating requirements. It's bad enough that it is difficult to obtain the old, popular Centurion/Champion/Battlemaster gear and impossible to get the Tionese/Columi/Rakata sets, let alone their Belts and Bracers.

I've noticed an increase in character ouches, but my companions seem to have even more sensitivity to pain recently and exclaim more often when hit, particularly Talos and Elara (although these are the main ones I've been using recently, it may occur in others). Speaking of companions, Yuun doesn't seem to be saying anything in combat anymore- I can hear his voice but nothing in chat. And as he doesn't speak Basic, I've got no idea what he is or isn't saying. Has anyone else noticed this?

/sign Bring back the old PvP stuff as well and make sure all of it is moddable (Including belts and bracers).

No, most old endgame sets were completely removed. If you got the Battlemaster or War Hero schematics while they were available, you can still craft those, but these did not include the belts or bracers and there is no way to get the old endgame PvE gear. This is the sort of thing that the Cartel Market is for, and it is surprising that this idea hasn't been considered before.

My suggestion: Make old endgame armour sets, such as Rakata and Battlemaster gear, available on the Cartel Market as sets of moddable orange shells. Many people, myself included, miss some of the old endgame gear that is no longer available, and we would certainly spend some Coins on orange sets of it (Belts and bracers included) especially as the newer armour sets are not popular with everyone. This is a fairly easy idea to implement- no new stuff needs to be designed, just added to the Market for reasonable prices. Post below if you agree; a dev response would be ideal to let us know if this is possible.

This thread is just made for me. The philosophy I have always had with my LS Sorcerer is that the Empire hasn't done much for me, so I don't see why I should care about it. Taking Lightside options on the Imperial side always feels more rewarding, because LS on the Rep side is pretty much a given. One example from the Inquisitor story (Still my favourite class story, including the Agent) is the plotline on Alderaan. The Lightside path is a yarn of cunning political and social manipulation, ending in a fantastic ideological and physical duel with Master Organa. Don't recall all the details of the dialogue then, but something like: By contrast, when I took my Darkside Assassin there, I found that the DS path was just about killing everyone between you and your goal. Which was truly dull. I take a DS choice here and there on my LS Sorc, but mainly when I've been wronged and I lose my temper, such as with Lord Cineratus and the Sith on Korriban who uncovered Kallig's Countenance. These are rare, though, and I am usually LS. The best Lightside choices are when you help people who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, such as Darth Skotia's Trandoshans or Mila Escalus, as someone with the Inquisitor's background can relate to them easily. The LS and DS choices you make throughout Chapter Two seem to affect the choice you are given at the end of Chapter Three. So on the whole, I loved the LS story, and I get annoyed when I see the community refer to the Inquisitor as "Darth Nox" despite the way that you can play a kind of LS philosopher-Sith, with less interest in the war or the Empire than in the secrets of the Force, and get out of it a better storyline and a more interesting, less stereotypical character. Just my thoughts.

Actually, I do think that this is constructive, especially in the way that you suggest that the Focus buffs could be applied to an ability like Blade Storm as well. Yes, it is mainly Tanks who get smart AoE, but as the entire Focus spec revolves around one move that could quickly release a CC'd enemy, I am still slightly uncomfortable when using it in group combat (Especially CC-dependant Heroics like Chasing the Shadow). Perhaps I have simply been unlucky, or perhaps these problems arise from Force Sweep not having clear targeting, as opposed to a move like Mortar Volley. Thanks to everyone who replied, gave some good ideas.

Before I begin I want to say that I respect BW and their actions, and this thread must remain constructive, no matter what. I play a Sentinel, whom I levelled on the Focus skill tree. This wasn't easy. Aside from the fact that my DPS was somewhat lower than my Watchman and Combat allies, I also got questions from them regarding why I didn't play Watchman or Combat. I replied that I could offer something different to other Sentinels: Mainly immense burst AoE damage. But, mainly in group content, the Focus spec had another major problem, and despite the buffs in 1.4 which significantly improve our DPS and ability to compete with the dreaded Juyo and Ataru forms, it is a problem which we still have. Our entire spec revolves around an AoE move. It is not compatible with CC. During group content in Heroics and Flashpoints, I could not use my Force Sweep because we had CC'd an enemy nearby and Force Sweep would break the CC. This severely limited what I could use in those situations, because no matter how many stacks of Singularity and Felling Blow I had, I could not unleash them because it would break the Force Lift/Mind Maze/Concussion Round that a groupmate had used, and an Elite would probably be let loose upon the group. Although I greatly welcome these new buffs, they do nothing to help this problem. But there is a solution (Said that this thread was going to be constructive) which has already been used with sucess on other AoE moves that were essential to a rotation, and it can be applied to Force Sweep as well. Give Force Sweep smart AoE. This means making it not damage sleeping, lifted, or incapacitated enemies. It has already been done on moves like Guardian Strike with sucess, and if it is not done on Force Sweep, the effectiveness of Focus will still be greatly limited. It does not have to be a passive change: A skill tree point could additionally add smart AoE to Force Sweep, or it could be added to Felling Blow (i.e. Force Leap and Zealous Leap have a 50% chance per point to grant Felling Blow, making your next Force Sweep and automatic critical hit and making it not damage sleeping, lifted or incapaitated enemies). I post this in the hope that others will echo my concerns and solution about Force Sweep and the Focus spec, and perhaps ultimately get a response from one of the BW staff as to whether this can or cannot be done and why. Thanks for reading, and post thoughts here!

No, you still have Quesh and Hoth to go before you run into any known major bugs. While I usually respect BW in their efforts, this is not the first time this has happened. My Jedi Consular got two class story bugs; the first one had a workaround but the second was a game-stopper. They took a while to be fixed, during which time I couldn't do much with that character. Now my Imperial Agent has the invisibility bug; and although it may not stop progression dead in it's tracks, it is still quite an inconvenience. Being invisible is fun, I suppose.

Any estimated time of arrival for extra character slots? Some of us would like to level more than one character of each class, but that isn't possible right now with only eight slots allowed per server.