Everquest 1, the crowd control class was the Enchanter whose main control spell was called "Mesmerize", which naturally evolved into "mezz that target!!" :-)

Why? Sounds like that department is covered by Static Barrier...

Ok let me see if I understand Op's question: "So we're unlocking Heroic Moment abilities like Force Choke, except that Force Choke isn't actually a Heroic Moment ability in the first place, therefore how can it be unlockable?" Would that be the question you meant to ask? If so: I believe the Devs meant to say that once you unlock class-based abilities for your Legacy alts, those alts can only use those abilities within the same restrictions as current Heroic Moment abilities (i.e. need to have a companion out and possibly on a long cooldown timer). Will the alt's ability be called "Heroic Moment: Force Choke", I don't care (and doesn't really matter ).

You've already made a Commando, so I wouldn't go Vanguard as that's the same storyline (might as well switch it up and see something new). It's also a thrill to surprise someone by popping out of stealth and slicing them down. So I'd go for Shadow.

The classes were designed before the game launched and they were surprised by the number of people who rolled sorcerers/sages. How could they therefore deliberately design the sorc to be better than the op if they didn't know which would be most popular? And if so, why did they openly state they are nerfing sorc heals and boosting op's?

Having read a Star Wars novel in French, Darth is normally translated to "Dark" (i.e. Darth Vader in French is "Dark Vador"). As funny as it may seem, the French title is even more English

This isn't a professional sport or a job, people play the game to relax not be stressed out. I think that's the basic reason behind the "don't pass judgment on me" argument. With respect to your earlier argument about logs aren't just for DPS but also other events, like what wiped the raid, I have no qualms with a combat log that records incoming events (i.e. damage/etc caused by mobs) instead of outgoing events.

I'd say the major difference between the two (other than stylistically, i.e. Sith versus Techie) is whether you prefer having a Tank tree or a Healing tree. If you see yourself potentially healing, then go Operative. If you think you'd rather switch to Tanking later on, then go Assassin. As far as DPS goes, the playstyle is relatively similar in that they are both melee-based Stealthers (with some differences of course). With respect to Cover, you will forget you even have Cover by the time you hit 40 as a DPS Operative. As a healing operative, if you're really good you MAY be able to take advantage of it (but rarely do we do so).

I also vote No, I like BW's approach: It's there if someone wants to crunch the numbers to provide general advice to the community on good rotations and any buggy abilities. It's not in-your-face during raids so that others can pass judgment on you.

Yes. Despite its faults, I'm still having fun.

People keep saying that it's leaking subs, I have yet to witness that at all (i.e. Fleets are well populated at prime time, I usually get a heroic group very fast, WZ queues are within 5 minutes, and my guild's membership is healthy and raiding frequently). Am I doing something wrong?

Ditto. Comparing a live game to a game that isn't out is extremely unfair. Feel free to compare SWTOR to GW1 but until GW2 comes out we have absolutely no idea how that game will actually be like. Personally I found GW1 to be boring for me, I especially hated the fact that their game updates were infrequent and didn't really add much content to the game. Will I try GW2? Most likely. But until it's out and have tried it, I will reserve judgment.

I'm on an imbalanced server where the average Imperial Fleet pop is over 110-130 an Rep Fleet pop is about 50-60 on prime time. I prefer PvPing with my Republican because I actually get something OTHER than Huttball (OMG!) and usually it's the same people Republic-side that keep re-appearing thereby giving the same people more practical PvP experience. Thus far, the win ratio is very close to 50% (which is very impressive, I've never been in another game which was this balanced, I still remember WoW's early days when it was a done deal that Alliance sucked in battlegrounds, or Aion where it's usually the Asmodians). With that said, an XP incentive is something worth looking into! But truth be told, I think most people joined the Empire because of the "coolness" factor of (1) being a Darth, (2) being evil compared to goody-two-shoes (I think this is one of the rare MMOs where the evil side is actually.... evil), (3) Lightning vs. Pebbles (nuff' said). The devs already mentioned they are fixing mirror class imbalances in 1.2 (casting time irregularities, etc.). Mortar Volley compared to Death from Above was specifically mentioned. So that's already being dealt with. I also like your idea about opening up clothing to both sides and frankly makes sense. Personally I find the Republic clothing cooler looking than the Imperial clothing options in many cases, but that's subjective obviously - there is no reason why we shouldn't be allowed to mix and match as we please.

"F2P is a lie, there is only profit." The #1 duty of a corporation is to make profit, that's actually mandated by law. F2P is a misnomer for Pay-in-small-chunks-so-that-you-don't-see-how-much-you're-spending-per-month. Does it work? It depends on the implementation, most games that convert to F2P start off with a cash shop that seems reasonably harmless to the overall competitive gameplay (i.e. nothing in there would render a rich guy more competitive than a poor player). Then slowly they add in more "must-have" items, and even at times make their normal game updates a paid commodity (look at LOTRO, adding more and more items that are effectively "must-haves"). It's no different than a cell phone contract, pay a flat fee every month and you get all the benefits compared to pay nothing and you only get 10 minutes per month, you want voicemail? pay up. Call display? pay up. More minutes? Add all those in and you will most definitely pay more than what you were paying with just the clear flat fee (they have to charge more, because not only are you paying for your own services but also to support the system from others who refuse to pay a penny - no MMO goes free to pay to make less money after all).

No stealth class wields two lightsabers (maybe you meant double-bladed lightsaber?). The Sith Assassin and Jedi Shadow are mechanically the same class, so the question is: Do you want to play Republic (Jedi Shadow) or Empire (Sith Assassin).