Good advice. I do like what I'm seeing so far of GSF, but it is ashamed to limit it to just PVP. Ideally there would be a PVE track that would get players into it more, and soften the brutal learning curve which I have a feeling is only going to be worse in F2P.

I definitely get the PVP balance issues. I think for me this issue has more to do with a lack of PVE. It would be nice actually get a sense of how these fighters operate in the game universe before being thrown into a busy chaotic PVP map. I do enjoy the mechanics of GSF, but I can't see spending much time with it. I just wish it had more relation to the rest of the game. I'm guessing by the fact that PVE fighters don't even appear in the tutorial that no resources have been allocated to developing a GSF AI. I hope that changes. It seems like a waste for the developers to go through all this effort for what amounts to a mini game.

What's a brother gotta' do to get a map with some open black space? I'm not knocking the existing maps, and I realize more open space may not seem visually or tactically as exciting, but it would be nice to have an opportunity to actually, you know, fly a space fighter in space. I'm just saying some less cluttered maps in the mix would be nice. Sometimes less is more.

No doubt there are budget issues. I creatively read this Developer Blog entry as being almost like a hostage trying to secretly communicate when being forced to read demands for his own ransom. The coded message being "This is what we want to do, but this is all we're budgeted for right now. Help us out, give us support, and we can squeeze more in later."

This makes me very happy. I hope that there is some PVE content to go along with this, and that it expands the role of player ships as well, but I understand, get the basic features in first. There's plenty of time for expansions later.

And just to clarify, I know a space expansion was hinted at back when the game was first released: http://www.swtor.com/blog/what%E2%80%99s-next-old-republic My question was "Is it still likely to happen with Free to Play?" which is what we've all be speculating on:rolleyes:

Thanks everyone for the replies. Other than new rail missions, I still haven't come across anything official in the forums or elsewhere online about an off-the-rails expansion in the near or distant future. I personally like what they've done with the ships so far, and it does seem like the all the fundamentals are already there. I myself and not interested in EVE, but STO to me seems to have a nice mix of space and ground, although the game itself has always felt a little underdeveloped overall. Mixing in a great immersive Star Wars space MMO experience similar to what this game has already established, in my opinion, would really distance SWTOR from the "WoW clone" label, and put it in a class by itself. That sort of total package is what I (and I think many others) thought this game was going to be from the way they hyped the space game before the beta. I still have hope, I guess. Of course, until we get something official this is really all just speculation, but I suspect the more we discuss it and let them know we're interested, the more likely it is to happen... maybe!

I too would really like to see the space game expanded, but to my knowledge, no Free to Play game has ever really launched anything that would typically be included an a boxed expansion type of product.

I guess it may be a little early to speculate about this, but one of the things I was really looking forward to long term was an expansion that really broke out the space game of the rails (similar perhaps to what SWG offered). Now with the game going to Free to Play, I don't imagine there will be an investment in major expansions to the game (major new worlds, new classes, expanded space game, etc), just endless nickle and dime boost to the existing content. I really enjoyed this game, in no small part because I was looking forward to the long term potential, but since the Free to Play announcement, I've just been too bummed to even log in. So, my question does anyone think it's possible that there may be future major expansions now?

I'm disappointed. I'm personally not a fan of Free to Play and micro-transactions. To me it's like the miserable experience of flying in the US where the airlines constantly nickle and dime you for every little item, and still cut back on overall service. I guess we'll see how it turns out.

Looks great, and I'm looking forward to seeing the game grow. I'm guessing (hoping) that down the road, the first full expansion pack will open up space and finally take space combat off the rails.

I have a lvl 50 Gunslinger, and I never realized how often I died wasn't normal until I started playing a Sith Warrior alt! I enjoy the cover style of play, but it seems practically worthless in a number of PvP scenarios. (Words cannot express how much Huttball sucks for a Gunslinger!) If you do go with Gunslinger, you'll probably want Biochem because you will burn through medpacks like crazy.

This sort of thing takes time to sort out. Other than some minor glitches, I personally have had no real issues with the game, but so far I've been focused mostly on PVE. I do see there are some PvP issues, so I've been slowing down my playtime a bit to delay getting to the endgame until it gets worked out. Despite the fact that players have had time to post thousands of complaints, it's only been a couple days, and measured in real time not QQ time, the response on this and other issues leaves me reasonably confident these issues will be worked out.

I work late nights (EST) and get home early in the morning. I like to play a bit after work to unwind, unfortunately my off-time during the week usually corresponds perfectly with the maintenance windows! However, I understand perfectly well that my schedule is unusual, and I'm not complaining. For a new MMO, there really has been very little downtime so far. And trust me, I know because I'm usually that one other guy you see on the server at 6:00 in the morning:)

Why to be truly neutral, to bring balance to the Force, one would have to be some sort of Chosen One or something... The issue of what it might mean to be a "neutral" force user was somewhat implied in the 3rd season Clone Wars episodes of the Mortis trilogy. Check em out...