I'm not dreading anything since I found out my first love (City of Heroes) is back and even has some new toys that were only on the test server that I never got to play with on live. I'll play the story on my Pub and Imp mains once the major stability patches are in place in a week or two, but after that I may even let my subscription lapse for the first time since this game launched. The only reason this game ever became my mainstay was because CoH went away. The fact that that a game that hasn't been updated in seven years has me so excited that I haven't logged into this game for two weeks and probably won't for a couple more and am not even missing it should tell you everything you need to know about how much I'm looking forward to this expansion.

No. I was too busy playing a truly great game, City of Heroes, back then. This only became my top choice when that got shut down by corporate politics. Funny thing... I’m now playing City of Heroes again and I am utterly blown away at how a game that hasn’t been supported in seven years still plays better than a currently supported EA game. I still enjoy the voice acting here, but this just became my backup MMO again.

I’m in the same general group of “prefers solo” does a bit of PvP or flashpoints if I feel like it. I’ve been a continuous subscriber since launch and have played a grand total of two ops in that time. I’m an introvert and have nerve damage in one of my hands that makes playing even SM ops difficult. Solo lets me break when I need to without putting anyone else out. Pre-Ossus 5.0 was the first time I’ve ever managed anything close to BiS on even one character as a result. If “group only” is going to be “the one true way” going forward I think it might be time to put my money elsewhere. I’ve been holding off on going to try out my first love (i.e. the rogue Homecoming servers for City of Heroes) because of the prospect of the whole thing getting shut back down again, but if there’s nothing worth doing solo here anyway, I’ll gladly put the money I’m paying here every month for trying to keep that running instead.

I never have a huge amount of credits at any one time because I’m always spending them, but the fastest way to earn them pre-70 is play a stealth class and run heroics. A lot of them can be completed in a minute or less if you don’t have to fight trash mobs (having the rocket boost legacy item also speeds up reaching your goals). Once you hit 70, particularly with the new expansion coming out, the weekly missions for the daily areas (Black Hole, Section-X, etc.) award insane amounts of CXP. With a CXP booster running I can clear Yavin 4, Black Hole, Section-X, Oricon, CZ-198 and Ziost in under two hours... netting from a dozen to nearly forty command crates depending on my current command rank. Just vender trash everything you get instead of breaking it down for more CXP and you’ll start building a chunk of credits quick. Another VERY important aspect of building credit reserves like the OP is talking about is your legacy bank. A couple hours for those weeklies on a fresh 70 with a single digit command rank will earn you far more command crates than the command rank 300 character will, but once the gear is sold the credits can be spent by any of your characters. Likewise, if you periodically drop any credits you earn on a character above about 100k (more than enough to cover any repairs even if you wipe a few times) into your legacy bank you’ll be less tempted to spend them on the fly and start to see just how much you’re really making across all your characters. I just take 30 seconds at the end of my play session to drop whatever I get just from running whatever I’m currently running and its often a million or more. Give it four months without spending on GTN stuff and I’d be at 100 million easy. But the lure of new outfits and black/black dye packs is strong... which is why I don’t actually have more than about 15-20 million in my legacy bank at any one time.

To be fair; if we had more interesting utilities we wouldn't NEED all the tactical items and variant set bonuses.

The only way a new class would be remotely financially viable is if it’s built as a new advanced class so it can use all of the existing voice assets and class missions of an existing class. A stealth-based trooper/hunter with three damage disciplines. A knight/warrior class with a double-bladed lightsaber and a heal discipline. A consular/inquistor that uses two-lightsabers and has a 50/50 split on Force/Lightsaber attacks (with disciplines favoring one, the other or keeping a balance). A smuggler/agent whose primary weapon is a melee one (blaster offhand for ranged attacks) and has a tank spec. If you wanted to be even less expensive but still provide a different experience; how about just using the existing classes but let the Force-users pick either Force storyline (with matching voice actor) and the non-Force-users pick either non-Force storyline. Just so you experience those stories with different mechanics behind the characters (ex. being a stealthy grenade and scattergun wielding trooper or a long range Force-user going against Darth Angral or an Imperial Agent who uses rocket packs, flame throwers and other “Q-Division” gadgets on their missions).

If you start Ossus without doing Fallen Empire, et al, the game will simply make default choices based on your faction and you’ll get all the comps gained from Fallen Empire/Eternal Throne and lose your main story ones until you’d either... A) get them back in the story (T7, Kalyio, Jorgan, etc) B) do the alliance alert for them (the only ones still missing are Kira and Scourge for the Knight and Tharan and Zenith for the Consular. C) use the terminal in the Odessan base to get them back (note that these are the originals whose mouths still move when they speak and make comments when you enter certain vanilla areas). Generally speaking, if you’re a Pub PC it will use the Lightside choices when they come up (stopping the reactor explosion in chapter three, not letting Kalyio’s bombs go off in chapter 10... so you still have Koth as a companion... you’ll also save Vette over Torian) and the Imp PCs will default to darkside choices (let the reactor explode, generally use the kill option so you’ll not have Koth, Senya or Arcann... and unless you’re a Sith Warrior you’ll save Torian over Vette). In other words it depends a LOT on your class.

Also, many people (myself included) are running Sith (though I haven’t considered my character Sith since the start of Fallen Empire and currently play like a Jedi who can throw lightning and has a more interesting voice actress) who is currently working with the Republic against the Sith Empire (and if I ever have to rejoin the Sith Empire for real because they can’t make faction swapping work I’ll just stop playing them). I know others who are Troopers or Jedi who have decided to work for the Sith Empire so it goes both ways. I can agree Pub vs. Empire is what they’re trying to get back to, but the actual PCs in this are technically still Commander of the Alliance and allied with one of the factions that may not be the one they started in and which employs ex-members of both factions (particularly post-Ossus, anyone still there WANTS to be there and not wjere they were). So why not allow “Alliance” guilds that can have members from both factions? That also fits the current lore.

Exactly my thinking. The big debate is really New Advanced Classes or New Disciplines. New Disciplines is arguably less resource intensive 8 advanced classes (and mirrors) x 1 discipline is 8 disciplines needing to be created vs. New classes 4 base classes (and mirrors) x 3 disciplines each is 12 disciplines and base mechanics... so probably twice as much work when you consider base mechanics. BUT... a new advanced class allows for a lot more flexibility of design than just another discipline. You can change the weapons the class uses (a bounty hunter assassin getting rifles/sniper rifles instead of 1-2 pistols) and employ different core mechanics (ex. stealth field generators) instead of having to squeeze every skill for the concept into just the four skills you get from your discipline. I also think there'd be some issues in terms of adding a new spec type... what does a scoundrel tank spec look like with the pistol/scattergun, stealth generator and upper hand mechanic look like? One of its discipline skills would have to be a gap closer and two others would need to be the taunts since they're not native to the scoundrel chassis. You'd also have to deal with the limited heals the Scoundrel gets that no tank spec has available. That's why, despite the volume of work needed, I think it'd actually be easier to create and balance out new advanced classes than new specs giving roles a class has never had before. A new class lets you build in all the tools a typical class with a given set of three specs would have using the numbers and general traits common to the existing tank, heal, burst and dot specs.

The ONLY way a new class could possibly work is if it was a third advanced class for an existing one. That way they could reuse all the existing story content and just develop the mechanics. To make it manageable, just do one advanced class and mirror at a time. You don't actually need all four at once, you just need both factions to have the additional option. My thoughts would be base the classes off a niche that isn't already there. So, for examples... 1) Trooper (Ranger) / Bounty Hunter (Assassin): a class with three damage disciplines, a stealth generator and an HK-style assassinate talent. The weapon for both is a sniper rifle with an offhand vibroblade for in close attacks. 2) Jedi Knight (Warden) / Sith Warrior (Conqueror): a class with a heal spec in the form of instilling their allies with the Force as you lead them in battle. Your weapon would be the double-bladed lightsaber. 3) Jedi Consular (TBD) / Sith Inquistor (TBD): another all damage class focused on being a true gish (i.e. basically a 10m damage class that uses a mix of saber and force attacks... kinda like the shadow/assassin's tank spec, but single target damage focused. Their weapons would be two lightsabers. 4) Smuggler (Bruiser) / Agent (Extractor): A class with a tank spec and a focus on melee attacks and using dirty tricks to keep the focus on them in a fight. Their primary weapons would be vibroswords/staves with an "offhand" blaster/rifle they use for some 10m attacks (and cut scenes). But that's just off the top of my head.

Regarding the planet size... if you actually play the vanilla 1-50 content with exploration quests enabled you'll discover that EVERY part of the worlds Tython, Ord Mantel Korriban, Hutta, Coruscant, Dromand Kaas, Taris, Balmorra, Nar Shadda, Tatooine, Alderaan, Quesh, Hoth, Belsavis, Voss and Corellia has a mission associated with it. It might be a mission for a different class or faction or an exploration or bonus mission; but every terrain feature and which type of mobs spawn there has a mission-related reason to be there (or at least it did at launch). As for too many abilities; I wouldn't mind a little bit of consolidation on a couple of the classes, but its not a deal breaker for me. Gunslingers/Snipers have just a few too many "I shoot you with a slightly different animation" abilities forming a long rotation for my tastes; I could stand to reduce the number by one, maybe two, but no more than that. Same for knights/warriors; focus particularly has several powers that feel like they're almost a reskin of another power in your rotation; i.e. the two 10m force blasts, a second leap attack, multiple "I hit it with my sword in melee for X damage and Y focus"); combining two of those into a single power wouldn't be horrible.

How about before allowing us to switch ships, instead they changed the ship interiors to have decoration hooks that unlocks when you get your ship back after Chapter Nine of Fallen Empire (so it doesn't interfere with class stories). This would also let you place any companions, new or old, aboard the ship and set the locations for your utility items. Then throw in the stronghold ability to return to the location on the planet you just left so you can use the ship as it was originally intended; a mobile base/home away from home where you could access, storage, mail, GTN, crafting table, etc. Maybe you could even make the space rail-shooter mini-game relevant again by creating a space-comms vendor decoration (space comms and the ship upgrades) and adding some ship-themed decorations to it as well.

I'd be down for it if the requirements for losing the name were "Has neither logged into the account nor subscribed at any point since the server merge." My reasoning for that date is simple. That was the last point when someone could have lost a name to the simple bad luck of someone else also having the name and been more active with their character than you were with yours (I understand the system used to determine who lost the name was based on not just age of the character, but activity on that character). If you haven't logged in or paid in since the merge when you could have lost the character name due to simple inactivity anyway, then you may as well have just lost the name then. That seems reasonable to me.

One big advantage I have with my Light V (Ex) Sith Assassin is they’re a stealth class so I avoid a lot of fights. I also run them in the Force-heavy tank build (I’m just stunning them with my lightning) and switched to a staff instead of my double lightsaber specifically to be able justify in my own head that I’m not causing any lasting injuries on the off chance I take out a non-droid. There also happen to be just enough daily missions that don’t require you to fight living Republic forces to get your weekly in one go. It helps knowing that in the Pub side story they get the farming data offworld and the Jedi and colonists are already leaving the planet. So scan some crops and radar towers (1), destroy some turrets (2) and farm equipment (3) the Republic left behind (the better to keep the Empire from studying it). Kill two powerful Geonosian mutants (4) and rescue some Imps under threat from the bugs (5) and recover some data recorders while you’re there (6), reproprogram some glitched excavator droids (7), destroy a pair of malfunctioning heavy droids (8), plant some jammers that won’t do much since the people you’re trying to jam are already leaving (9) and recover some Jedi relics and funnel them back to the Jedi through your Force enclave (10). Bang, you’ve appeared to have done your part, which enhances your cover, while doing virtually no real damage to the Republic in the process and arguably even helped them a bit by destroying tech the Imps may have been able to use to improve their food production and recovering some of Jedi’s artifacts right from under the Imperial’s noses. At least that’s how I justify it. Sorta like I also justify my Scoundrel actually having the lowest actual body count of all my toons because the Scrapper spec can stealth past most stuff and their punches, bludgeon and dirty kick mean I’m mostly knocking them out classic hero style when I do fight and that my shotgun is loaded with rubber pellets. I’d definitely like more overtly pro-Republic saboteur missions in the upcoming expansion though if they’re not delivering on full faction swaps (my preference) or at least an Iokath-style “pick your faction for this planet” approach for the new content.

I'm someone who's got it too and I'm pretty okay with other people getting the content. The galaxy should not be deprived of the over-the-top silly that is ZO-0M and the Exarch's Elevator of Destiny! I'd also be okay with it being a premium CC item since the whole package includes two companions, a fully voiced episode, a new deco... and if you're really getting technical, being subscribed over that whole period also gave you things like the HK-55 Jetpack and themed weapons. In fact, if were to make a general suggestion; that wouldn't be a bad package model for premium bonus content. Package an episode length mission, a companion featured in that mission (either as the main character like the HK chapter or as new companion like we go on Ossus), plus some themed items (decorations, vehicles, armor, etc.) into a single package available to continuous subscribers for free, or can be purchased as a premium item for CC. Heck, throw an episode in with the lower or upper tier DvL rewards (Ranos, leveling armor, speeder... other armor set, other speeder, Hexid) and you'd probably have a second and third package right there (you could have a mission where Ranos or Hexid requests your help). I'd be all over those as a subscriber and I already have the non-mission content (its not like I spend my CCs on much beyond dyes and the occasional outfit unlock these days).