Thanks! I had to do this when it first changed because I was not able to log in at all. Someone in the forums was a huge help on that! This fix does work to get the launcher, but it's still enormous.

Um, @Stradlin, What the heck? Seriously, this is a nutso response. We know they are trying to "nudge" us to play PVP (which we won't); it's crystal clear. They have repeatedly gimped and thwarted solo cq PVE players while pimping PVP not just in their own special Season but in ours, too. I will (and have) quit the game before I get herded into PVP, and that is the dev's only goal right now. They are not fixing a single thing that has been broken for years; they are solely focused on forcing/nudgng PVEers int o PVP. A stupid goal since it will not happen. This game is not working for PVE players anymore, and you can sputter your defenses all you want, but we are being pushed out unless we just give up and die over and over in PVP/GSF. A thing I will never do (but others most assuredly will and are, and I don't blame them one bit).

Agreed. PVP is not for everyone, but the devs keep trying to force people who hate and will never play it to do it. I have never completed a single objective in any PVP season . . . and never will, but I'd be willing to bet they don't get objectives that include crafting or just playing the game (doing Story, FP's, whatever) because I have never dinged a single PVP Season level. Not one. If I were accidentally hitting PVP goals doing non-PVP stuff, I would have noticed that I am progressing in PVP Seasons. But I don't. I'm not. I won't. So PVP have their own Season, plus a solid showing in the GS. PVP/GSF GS objectives are always worth 12 pts (the max available), but where are the comparative PVE objectives in PVP Seasons? Right, nowhere. And no, I don't actually want this and am certainly not asking for it, but this imbalance goes to show that the devs are herding--attempting, in my case, and failing to herd--players who loathe and despise PVP into it. Shameful. And exactly why so many PVE players are leaving the game. . . including me. There are a lot of games out there that I can play without be forced into PVP. I don't NEED to give my real world money to swtor. And the less I get back from my real world money, the less inclined I am to keep paying it. In fact, I am not giving them another penny (well, okay, I will resub for ONE month when my JK gets her date night with Scourge, but that's it.). because the only people they are really harming with all their crazy in recent updates, patches, and releases are PVE players, especially those doing cq. They keep hitting me on the head and telling me I am not playing the game right (because I hate, loathe, and reject PVP) or that I am too OP (I freaking play SOLO, who the hell cares?) or that I cam gearing too quickly or that I am getting my many alts too much cq for small guilds. The devs are determined to have everyone in the game play PVP . . . whether they want to or not. It's off-putting and disgusting, and I will not pay REAL money to be bullied and corralled by devs who clearly don't even play the freaking game they are destroying. Ugh. Sorry for the tangent, but I couldn't help myself. In short, you're right. The push for PVP in GS DURING PVP Seasons is just double-dipping, and a boon to PVPers at the expense of everyone else who pays actual real world money to play this game. So infuriating.

The launcher is a disaster since a few upgrades ago. It went from being a perfectly normal size to being super huge, and it's not been fixed even yet. It's ridiculous to have to move this giant box to "just the right angle" that I can put in my password and still manage to move the gigantic launcher so that I can hit "Play." But have no fear, devs are super, laser-focused on removing and/or taxing into uselessness QOL earns (Quick Travel, exiting our SH on its planet), gimping our powers and tacticals, and harming (or worse trying to force them into PVP and GSF) solo cq PVEers. They have priorities, after all, and fixing the launcher is clearly way down the list compared to finding ways to tax players out of being a part of a community who helps new players (no, I am not going to spend millions of creds to give a new player a crap speeder I couldn't sell for 10 creds on the GTN but that they can't afford because repairs and QT are so ridiculously expensive now that they can't get to 5k to buy the cheapest speeder available). As to the launcher, I found that I have to maneuver it just up and to the right, but ensuring that I can still move it again, so it's kind of tricky. Then I enter my password, wait, then I move the launcher all the way over to the left and up again (now I can no longer move the launcher because I can't get it to a place that I can still move it AND click "Play," so if something goes wrong I have to relaunch and do the whole thing over again). So ridiculous. But NOT a priority. SMH

No idea. I always reload right where I logged in my SH (and I almost always log in my SH unless I am doing something on a lowbie, then I log in the Cantina or right where I leave off because I refuse to pay to Quick Travel to a Cantina). Why do you even ask? I've never seen it, but if I did, I wouldn't care one bit. So what if you spawn at the entrance or off on a balcony somewhere? What does this change or matter?

There are tons of guides on datacrons, TONS, so just look them up as you decide to search for a certain planet. As to the question, in addition to the ones others have mentioned, I think there is one on either Belsalvis or Balmora that takes two players (to hit something at the same time, though I've seen vids of people managing it solo).

It won't be, but keep in mind that these GS objectives rotate, so plan accordingly. During weeks that you are not specifically doing (say) the 10 War Supplies and 2 Invasion Forces, send out your comps to collect all the mats you need to craft what you need when that objective rolls back around. (this may include Slicing or just deconstructing a bunch of systech crap that drops just playing the game to get more jawa junk for Refined Isotope Stabilizers and Solid Resource Matrices, if you don't have enough.) This plan would include going ahead and crafting the the various components, grafts, attachments, etc. you will need to hit the ground running for your ten war supplies--it's best to spread them out over the ones you will need to craft your two Invasion Forces. So, ideally, do this on a biochem for infantry supply kits, a toon that crafts starship weapons/armored vehicles, and one that crafts crystal capacitors/holocrons of stretegy. Get the balance you need to craft the two Invasion forces and wait for the objective to roll around. You will then just set up your various comps to craft the various war supplies, then turn those into the two invasion forces. You KNOW it is coming, so just prepare accordingly. Ditto on Invasion Forces and Dark Projects, just go ahead and build your War Supplies ahead so you can just craft the Invasion Forces that week). Or just decide not to do this GS objective. I don't do a LOT of them (PVP and GSF never), but you have tons of time to skip some and still finish well before the season ends.

They are working on more date nights with the intention of providing one for each of the romancable NPCs, including our original comps. Those are the ones I am most interested in, but they will likely be rolled out in batches of four, too. So we'll get one for four originals, probably two pub, two imp, then the other four. No matter how they do it, they won't make everyone happy, but there are so many actual things to complain about in this game that this isn't even on my radar. It's a nice bonus thingy they are giving us, so I'm good with it rolling out piecemeal. What I would love to see is date nights with the randos we romanced along the way like Aristocra Saganu (sp?) and Ivory (where did he GO?). Sigh. But I doubt that happens because we get locked into a single romance, even on imps (or say a Smuggler) who would undoubtedly be less than faithful. My SW did enjoy her one-nighter with Pierce, but alas, no more followed. After happily killing Quinn when (at long last) given the opportunity for his perfidy, she was kind of loverless and had only Theron (beneath her), Arcann (whom she "gets" but finds whiny), and Koth (who is just . . . meh) to choose from. All that said, my newest JK is eagerly awaiting her date night with Scourge. I may have to resub for a month just for that . . . if it ever happens.

These types of GS missions are "for" crafters (just as some are "for" PVP, GSF, etc.), and crafters already have all the mats necessary to just line up the crafts and let them run. Breaking them up would be okay, for sure, even at 8 pts a pop (for a total of 16 rather than 12 or 24 pts), but that's not going to happen. As a crafter, I might have to run to Odessan for some Iokath Recombinators, but otherwise, I already have everything I need. I use these weeks to do the Supply the War Effort cq since I have tons more Invasion Forces that I will ever use (or would ever use if my sub wasn't about to run out). If you are not big into crafting and don't have the mats already, this is a good GS task that will reap you a ton of cq for crafting--just split up the crafts over a few days to get max cq.

Open world content is already ridiculously easy. Even if you forget to summon a companion at all.

Soloing the vet level SFs is a pain, for sure. I usually skip all the Alliance goodies because I just want to get it done, but they do help if you want to go through all the mobs to get them. I did them on 336 gear and find it easier on melee toons than on range for some reason (may just be me on that point). One of them is super hard to solo, I think it's Voss? The one where the exarch self-heals like crazy. Ugh. Interrupt that for sure. I do think it would be a good idea to make the vet version (the required version) easier for solo players because it really is hard to get anyone to do them with you. If I happen to be on Odessen and see someone blast that they need a hand, I always go, usually switching to a toon that needs them, too! The same is true of that final mission for the macrobinoculars, the one where you HAVE to have four people to complete it. I think I've only got that one on one toon! There are never people willing to endure that awful mission. Sigh. But the devs are super duper busy gimping our powers and tacticals, raising and inventing new taxes, and taking away our cq, so I don't expect anything to be done about these actual issues.

Personally, I would just roll a new toon and get reacquainted with the game that way.

This is where I am at, as well. I'm not grinding out Heroics I've done a bazillion times at 5k a pop, even the one click, one kill, ones. I just won't. The global economy is crap right now, and I don't need to keep paying real world money for a game that is going way off the rails (this is only the latest insult! Add in the Quick Travel fees, the fees for exiting your own SH (which cost MILLIONS to unlock), the exorbitant repair costs, the power nerfs (including nerfs to our Tacticals, some of which were so onerous I had to rebuild my toons). And I'm just done. I can't justify paying real money for a game that constantly tells me it hates players like me (solo cq PVEers). Paaaaayyyyy MOAR, DO moar HEROICS, Nudge, Do PVP and GSF! No, thank you. I can spend my real world money on other things . . . like food and electricity.

It's not just GS players. A lot of solo cq PVEers are doing (er, dying and hiding in) GSF to make up for the lost cq rep bonus. It's going to get a lot worse for both GSF and PVP because people doing crap they hate for a reward always destroys (devs don't seem to get this, but it is always true). This is why I chose to unsub rather than to take my solo PVE butt into GSF and PVP. You guys deserve to have players in there who actually care and want to do it, not just sit there and die for cq or GS progression. I loathe and despise all PVP, including GSF, and will never ever actually play it, so I'd do nothing but stand around and die for what I want (not GS this time since it's stupid, and I refuse to do it, but for cq.) I'll quit first. I already have, actually.

Credits are sucked up by insane taxes to 'balance the economy,' so you are now paying for Quick Travel (and at outrageous amounts, I'd be happy to pay hundreds, but THOUSANDS to QT on Coruscant. Bah.) plus huge increases in repair costs (which most guilds are now supplementing with higher repair allowances). And while all this is going on, the price of crafting is still insane after the first level or two, so you can't really get your craft on (on the only skills that matter now since nothing has been to improve crafting in forever) until you have a tidy nest egg. The best way to earn credits through playing is indeed Heroics, with FPs being a good second (very good for leveling fast, too). Heroics are also worth doing as you level for better gear (ditto FPs). But you can sell stuff on the GTN, too, to get a quick nest egg (not as good as before, but still viable): crafting mats always sell (esp the ones for the gold augs, but you need masses of tech frags for those, which you don't get just leveling a new toon), if you do the log-in bonus through enough cycles, you'll get stuff you can sell on the GTN that you don't need right that minute (like Legendary Embers). Again, it's not really great since the prices have come down on all that, but we still need millions upon millions to unlock Rocket Boost, our SHs, max storage space, etc. You used to be able to get enough decent stuff to sell on the GTN from Cartel Packs to make it worth the Cartel Coin investment, but I don't think it's worth it anymore with the changes to the GTN. Just my two cents there, since I think I only ever got a handful of items that were selling at high prices . . . and that I didn't want for my own toons!