Short version: Allow players to use their other characters as NPCs This game originally started with 8 different class stories and one faction story that all occur. Naturally some of the details about who did what, where and when are hazey but essentially all of those stories DO take place. With the Eternal Empire expansions the game effectively reduced the entire story to ONE single character. As a result, 7 other characters that existed have effectively 'disappeared' which resulted in all of their companions being up for grabs by the Outlander as story permits. The most obvious example of this is multiple companions from the Agents story coming up in the Eternal Throne and hazy references to working with 'Cipher Nine' - The Imperial Agent The obvious issue this brings up is this: Where is Cipher Nine or any of the other 'player' character classes ? Obvious answer is: The game decided to make them vanish to serve the plot Issue: This leaves a large gap about where those 7 other class individuals went and removes a massive potential to generate more story content. ----- Here is my suggestion: Incorporate the Alliance into the Legacy system so that alternate player characters can be recruited by the Outlander as NPC. If you wish to go one step further, make them companions that can be summoned. Thus players can literally fight beside their other characters. Influence - Tie this to the legacy level so that each level of legacy dictates the influence level of these companions Gameplay - They do not have to be any different from other companions mechanically. Simple Tank / Heal / Damage toggle and dress them up with gear. A way to make it more interesting: Instead of summoning a GSI droid to assist in flashpoint missions. Allow the player to summon one of their other characters which would be 'boosted' for story mode. Story - The Eternal Empire series already completely nukes the need to multiple stories and the voice actors are already doing the voice work for when players actually play that class as the Outlander. The alternate characters do not need to have any story relevance other than being yet another individual that is recruited. That said, bringing them in DOES allow for an influx of new companions which do not need any backstory because that backstory is literally Chapters 1 - 3 and it could be used to allow player characters to interact with each other. That backstory can be limited to only completing the class story quests which are exclusive to each class and if you wanted to do it properly, referencing the decisions taken by the player on the class quest would be immersive. Legacy - The idea that all player characters on an account are the same family has never made sense. With the introduction of the Alliance, it would make more logical sense to change the family aspect so it incorporates into the Alliance Story. Thus the player account characters have allied with each other to form a legacy. Balance - Other account characters would only be summon able when recruited using an alert during the Eternal Empire series. Thus no issue with players calling up an Influence level 50 Sith character during chapters 1 - 4 on a low level republic character. Alliance Space Station - With 8 class story individuals combining into an alliance with all the companions thrown in. It would make a great deal of sense to create a new central location. That combines the concept of Odessen with the current fleet space stations. By the end of the Eternal Empire, the Republic and Empire fleet bases should be gone but rather than make yet another story area. I would suggest making an Instance which brings Empire and Republic characters to the same station with a separate deck which would hold the story areas for all the companions like Odessen.

A) Make the Fireworks a reusable emote / animation unlock B) Stronghold - Strongholds and Revan have been the 'big' thing of this year so... I think the free item should be a new Starforge Stronghold. However, it is more likely to be a decoration for your stronghold. The Revan statue is covered so... How about statues of Satele Shan AND Darth Malgus in battle as a reminder of the game cinematics.

Legacy Datacrons is a mandatory requirement for me to consider even bothering. I went through the HK search and happily pay to unlock him via the Legacy system rather than do it again. No difference between that and a Legacy Unlock of Datacrons. "Oh blah blah, they have stats" - Remove the stats. DONE.

This really should be a permanent bonus but I could see it being converted into just giving players legacy unlocks of the Bonus XP perks for class missions. That would be fairly simple and easy. Attach an ingame mail with items that unlock the full list of Bonus Class Mission XP Perks and you are done. I would go one better and unlock all the Flashpoint XP Perks as well since those are major sources of story as well. As it is the game narrative flows a lot better but the game does have issues with leveling too fast. Missions really need to stop giving out gear rewards and just reward players with planatary commendations. Put the gear in the commendation vendors and you wont have issues with gearing.

I would like this a great deal but it really just touches on a greater aspect of the Legacy System. With shared Strongholds and Legacy overlap it really should become obvious that sharing companions and alts becoming companions makes sense. This is an easy way for BW to give people more companions without any need for a story. The players have already went through the story on those characters and BW already use stock lines for most of the classes during throwaway dialogue. Skill Wise - I can see that being an issue trying to throttle player characters into AI companions but the easiest way to compensate for that I feel is to make them come with significant buffs. Sure, you lose 90% of their skills but if they are given passive bonuses that would be ideal. The only issue I see is with the leveling aspect - Even if you ignore the idea of a level 55 companion to a level 10. That level 55 companion could be a Darth being a follower of an Apprentice. I suppose it might be funny to have an Apprentice Sith Assassin being followed by a Darth Inquisitor talking to Lord Zash. Wont even go into what happens when you cross-faction alt characters.

A) Charging for something like this would be utterly pathetic B) If Bioware which to blame 'Performance' issues - It would be a valid alternative to make mission acquire automatically AND turn in automatically on completion. Things like the Speeder missions - Have the monsters drop mission items even without the mission in the player's inventory. That way when the player picks up the mission they can turn it in faster. C) Trim the amount of missions or combine them.

Bioware are going to try and blame the engine for their OWN stupidity - They built this game with areas that are so big that speeders being slow is an issue thus it is on them to resolve that issue by indirect methods if they have to. If the engine cannot handle faster speeders it seems fairly obvious the best solution is to make fast travel teleports more freely available. Additionally, so many quests have players backtracking over empty instances - Make another Rocket boots skill that is a toggle ability. The game really slows down in places like Hoth and it is not a smart idea to have players essentially watching a boring loading screen crossing an unreasonably large planet.

I agree with the XP bonus being permanent however, I strongly recommend it be changed. Give everyone that pre-orders Legacy unlocks of the Character Perks you can get for XP. Specifically, Class Missions 1 - 5, Flashpoint Missions 1 - 5 This XP bonus is clearly trying to encourage people to level new characters and experience the story. Flashpoints ARE a major aspect of the story. Especially the flashpoints involving Revan which would be increase the amount of folks familiar with the story Bioware are continuing.

Bioware is taking it upon themselves to redefine the entire skill system so saying it is too much work to at minimum make the mirror classes able to use their mirror weapons is really stretching it. Imperial Agents able to equip Shotguns / Pistols Smugglers able to equip Sniper Rifles / Vibroblades

Your 'story' of TOR ended at Chapter 3. What you are getting now is the equivalent of the EU fan fiction which only exists to part the rabid fans of their money. Your characters are irrelevant, always were and any power you think you have acquired has been relegated to nothing. Do you see Darth Marr or Satele Shan running on the front lines being ordered around ? Every single player character in this game might as well be a red shirt for all the influence we ACTUALLY have.

With the new trailer these NPCs are at the forefront of the action so it would be fantastically stupid to throw these NPCs under the bus to be forgotten. The legacy unlock to have them at early levels would make Bioware ton of cash, they have a nice established back story which rivals a good bunch of the companions classes get and the extra requirement to gear them stimulates the game economy. Additionally, since it is a UNITED front. No issues should exist with Shan working with Sith or Jedi working with Beniko as companions.

Only thing I want to know: Beniko, Jakkarro and Shan are in that trailer so I am going to be extremely unhappy if they do not turn into companions for everyone given this is supposed to be a UNITED front and they are obviously at the forefront now. In a united front... will my Imperials be taking directions / fighting along side Satele Shan ? Will my Jedi be doing the same from Darth Marr ? I find this extremely unlikely and I fully expect the only thing they mean by 'United' is Shan, Beniko and Jakkarro will be working together beside every player class as part of a 'rogue' branch of the factions. Technically, all of the player classes end up in a position where they could in theory command enough resources to fight their own little war without the actual Empire / Republic being united. Overall result is that for the duration of two planets you will have cutscenes implying you are working with other elements but in practice dont expect Sith to be around the market on Coruscant or vice versa on Drommond Kass.

Dont be silly. Your Jedi will be referred to as Master and Sith referred to Lord. Clearly that is not the same. What ? Your being completely unreasonable expecting different dialogue for the wild spectrum of differences that make a character.

Should we be able to join Revan ? - Yes. This could easily be used to create a whole new series of class stories with characters from both sides interacting with Revan which worked really well with Malgus's rise and fall. Not to mention I would like to see Satele Shan actually get involved in the game. Should it be a third faction ? - No more than the other elements of the Class stories which should have the characters removed from their factions but red vs blue game mechanics will not allow that. Frankly, instead of a third faction, it may be more prudent for the future of the game to combine endgame characters into a single faction by ending the war and making them outcasts. PVP would still work since its cut off from the story and previous planets would still work because they are backwards in time. It is only from 60+ that Empire + Republic could operate side by side - which they can already do in shared areas. What... Bioware is willing to nuke the entire skill system, complain they cannot maintain 8 class stories and the stories all fizzle to nothing. I am a Darth on the Dark Council - What effect does this actually get me other than a title ? I am a Imperial Agent but do you actually get to infiltrate anything ?

TOR is not EVE Online and as long as you are smart about who you give permissions to... a mole really cant do anything in this game. Unless your going to give them the permission to disband the guild, raid your bank or access tangible assets then this is a non-issue.