Char Ell

Yes, true PUG's are a real crap shoot when it comes to ops. Selective PUGging is better if that is an option. The challenge is in knowing who is competent enough to run ops.

Yes, I loved it too. I asked for some additional background back in mid-2012 when BioWare had weekly Q&A. Hall Hood was gracious enough to provide that. http://www.swtor.com/blog/community-qa-july-27th-2012

If you go combat medic tree on Commando then you don't need to use an assault cannon. I think the only ability you can't use that you might otherwise use is Charged Bolts. If you want to run dps commando as it appears you're doing then yeah, you're pretty much stuck with using an assault cannon.

Hmmm... What I do know about ignore functionality is that you won't see anything someone on your ignore list posts in the 3 main chat channels (general, PvP, trade) and won't get any tells or whispers from that person and won't get matched with that person in groupfinder. Apparently ignored characters can get grouped with you in warzones. What I'm not sure of is if someone on your ignore list is in your guild () is still visible when they post in guild chat. Also I don't know if you've ignored someone but they've got you on their friends list will get the notification when you log in.

I had not visited LucasForums for 6 months up until last week and I just happened to see this sad news today. I remember Astrotoy7 for starting our forum's Folding@Home team. He recruited me into the project and though he stopped contributing after leaving the forums his legacy continues on. I can think of nothing more fitting than to sign off how he always did. mtfbwya Astro

So how is Shadow tanking going for you now, especially since Shadows lost their self heals with 2.4? IMHO Shadow/Assassin tank requires the most ability management out of all the tank classes in SWTOR.

VentureBeat has an article that postulates on the possible gaming tie-ins for this new series. http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/20/star-wars-rebels-is-better-for-gaming-than-the-clone-wars/ I don't get Disney XD and am not sure that I will want to pay more than I already do for my cable TV. It will probably depend on the Star Wars Rebels series premiere which will apparently air as a 1-hour episode on Disney Channel (which I do get) before it makes the move to Disney XD. I have to admit I'm excited to see X-wings and TIE fighters again.

I've wondered this myself. When I first picked up HK-51 he had aim-based armor, implants, and earpiece but cunning-based weapon and off-hand. As I recall this was the same with Elara Dorne when she joined my trooper's crew. I'm not sure why BioWare makes it confusing. In the end I decided that since HK-51 is an assassin droid and uses a sniper rifle and vibroknife that he should use cunning-based gear, just like the sniper advanced class for Imperial agent uses. My untested theory is that it doesn't matter all that much. As long as you're equipping characters with tech-power based abilities with aim or cunning and and force-power based characters with strength or willpower then you're generally OK. But I haven't verified this is the case. I can tell you that my HK-51 with all cunning gear puts out plenty of damage. As for M1-4X and the Mandalorian wardroid gear you can make using Cybertech, there are cores, parts, and motors that have have defense/absorb and shield/absorb. I personally view M1-4X as a mitigation tank more than an avoidance tank so before 2.0 hit I think I had him at 10-15% defense, 35% shield and 33-35% absorption. I haven't used M1-4X since 2.0 though so I expect that his defense, shield, and absorption chance percentages have dropped since M1 still has the same gear he did pre-2.0.

As SWTOR is my first MMO I have to say that I've found the end game gearing riddle rather annoying. From what I've seen in general chat it sounds like other MMO's have had similar issues. As I'm gearing with Black Market drops from 55 HM FP's and items purchased from the elite comms vendor I find the Black Market (Boltblaster) gear for my DPS commando to be very lacking in accuracy and high in crit. I just don't understand why it is left to the players to figure out how to best gear their toon.

This deal makes a lot of business sense to me. We'll see how EA and their developers at DICE, Visceral, and BioWare perform but I've no doubt EA will execute and get SW games to market, something LucasArts struggled to do over the last few years. I too must admit to not being a fan of the microtransaction (a.k.a. nickel-and-dime-you-for-additional-game-content) business model that EA execs say they're putting in place. And I'm not sure if Obsidian will get an opportunity to do more Star Wars games now with EA having the rights to making "core" SW games. I noticed I have started thinking in terms of B.D. (Before Disney) and A.D. (After Disney) when it comes to Star Wars now because more and more it looks to me like SWAD is going to run all over lore established during the SWBD time period. I think this helps me to mentally prepare for all the stuff that is going to get retconned.

I think the future of Star Wars gaming is quite murky. I'm sure we'll get Star Wars games but how many, how often, and of what genre are very much unknown at this point. My impression is that Disney is not a company that is really interested in core gaming, AAA gaming, or whatever you want to classify USD$60 games for console and PC as. Disney's actions thus far have supported Disney CEO Robert Iger's statement that the House of Mouse would focus on mobile and social games and would look to licensing for other game genres. In short, anybody who wants to make games like Battlefront, Knights of the Old Republic, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, etc. will have to obtain a license from Disney as well as line up financial backing from a publisher if they don't have an existing publisher relationship, e.g. Obsidian Entertainment. It's all quite doable but of course with a third party's involvement it's more complicated than the typical developer pitch to a publisher. There is also the issue of alignment with the new Star Wars movie(s). If Disney was willing to end production on the fairly successful Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series for TV to focus on making the new movies then I think it stands to reason Disney may be looking to have any new Star Wars games support the new movie(s). My impression is that Episode 7 is far from being finalized so if Disney isn't interested in having any new Star Wars games that don't support the new movie(s) then we're at least a couple of years away from the next USD$60 Star Wars game for console/PC but probably longer. In summary, I've a fairly pessimistic view of Star Wars gaming's future for the next few years. If you're satisfied with Angry Birds Star Wars or Star Wars characters being incorporated into Disney's new Infinity initiative then you'll probably be OK with the state of Star Wars gaming in the near term. If however like me you're looking for more meat to your Star Wars gaming experience then I firmly believe you'll have to wait a while. It looks like Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the only serious Star Wars gaming option out there for some time to come.

Loving your new avatar Mim. Well, loving as in finding it very apropos for today's grim news. Lord Foley, Regarding the report that Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars First Assault aren't necessarily dead, LucasArts/Disney must find a studio and publisher to take these games on. That will require someone from LucasArts/Disney to actively seek such a partner. I think the chances of that happening are slim and thus Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars First Assault are effectively dead if not officially. I will continue to be an interested observer in all things Star Wars gaming. There are a lot of unknowns now but that isn't necessarily all bad. Will publishers like EA and Take-Two start to look at more opportunities to have their development studios make Star Wars games? Will Activision consider partnering with Disney to make SW games even though Disney Infinity is positioned to be a direct competitor to Activision's successful Skylanders franchise? Will Obsidian finally be able to make the SW game they mention from time to time even though they'll now have to get buy-in from a publisher and Disney/LucasArts instead of just LucasArts? Will Disney find a studio and publisher to make a game in support of Episode 7 or will we not have any decent SW games for the new movie? Those are some of the questions rolling around in my head. When all is said and done I'm just hoping that AAA Star Wars games will continue to be made and that they're fun to play.

This move by Disney lines up with what I thought might happen. Disney CEO Robert Iger obviously meant what he said when he stated that he saw Disney pursuing console games on a licensing basis. It's sad to see LucasArts become a marketing/licensing label only but the harsh truth is that the company has had poor to mediocre performance for the past few years in terms of production. It might have been a different story had LucasArts been generating good product with a solid management team in place. Unfortunately that was not the case. Now it becomes a matter of what Disney will do with games for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and other LucasArts IP. Hopefully this gives development houses like Obsidian Entertainment an opportunity to make some AAA games for Star Wars like they've been wanting to do. There is definitely substantial market demand for AAA Star Wars games. Hopefully Disney won't ignore that.

Yah, I've got a lot of commendations from different planets, altogether more than the 400 cap currently shown on PTS for planetary comms. I've got over 100 each of Coruscant and Belsavis commendations due to running Esseles for social points and dailies on Belsavis. I also keep bumping up against the 1,000 cap for daily commendations. I wonder if BioWare will put in an exchange system like they did for PvP Centurion and Champion commendations.

I didn't find the heroics in the Alderaan bonus area to be worth my time. If you need the credits, have other players you can do them with, and have the interest then by all means go ahead. I did them on my main and IIRC your rewards for the heroics are a choice between Alderaan commendations (which aren't all that useful since Alderaan commendation vendors offer lvl 28-32 gear and you're likely lvl 39 or higher if you're doing Alderaan bonus area) and a prototype lockbox that awards a random prototype level item. Really meh awards IMHO. So now I just do the single player quests and possibly the Heroic 2 mission that takes you to the cave where you blow the wall to access a datacron. I agree that getting to work for Malcolm Jace is cool.