Gromnir

as Gromnir mentioned earlier, the most effective way to get companions to 10k affection is with gifts. try to do with dialogues alone and you end up with a bunch o' level 15-30 companion quests that is less than fulfilling once you hit 50... particularly as such quests offer increasingly large xp awards. depending on your server, you may be able to purchase companion gifts through galactic trade at a relative cheap price... am recollecting that they shows up as miscellaneous items. reagarding truez observations 'bout grey relics (non-ls/ds), he is glossing over the fact that his alternatives is primarily post level 50 options. as a level 19 whatever, you can equip a couple o' relics that would boost your endurance by 28 points, and provide a nice (albeit brief) alacrity bonus. initial relics is needing level 19 to equip, and am believing that relics improve at level 27, 35 and 50. is a considerable 'mount o' gaming hours one must endure with two empty equipment slots if one chooses a neutral path. for non-pvp player, relics is out-of-reach for those who wish to stay grey and have not yet hit level 50. how many hours o' gameplay does it take to reach 50 for most folks? HA! Good Fun!

go to artifice trainer and instead o' looking at trainable recipes, look at "all." you will see that approx every 20 point increase in artifice skill affords you new schematics. the more non-grey'd-out stuff you craft, the higher your artifice skill rises. ... depending on the server, crafted crystals seems to be the items most in demand from artificers. one reason for this is simple that the jump between crystal improvements seem larger than that of enhancements and hilts. a purple 11 resolve hilt is probable gonna be useful for only a handful o' levels before higher level blues (and even greens) outstrip in efficacy. why pay big credits for a custom crafted hilt when you can probable get better simple by waiting til you get a few commendations from the next planet? and maybe part o' the demand for crystals seems to be 'cause folks is disproportionate concerned with the look o' their blaster fire or lightsabre beam. we were getting 20k-25k per crystal for the purple versions o' the level 49 crystals... and 250k for the violet crystals. the only three crafting skills we would bother with (the serious credit hounds go all-out with gathering) is artifice, biotech and cybertech... but no doubt others will have different experience. heck, combine cybertech and slicing and you can corner the spaceship upgrade market with only a little effort. some wackos will also pay ridiculous amounts for the custom speeders cybertech can produce via those slicing schematics. bio produces very useful and saleable stims and medpacks... and that level 50 artifact reusable medpack looks very appealing. that being said, a jedi/sith character gets big benefit from artifice. enhancements can benefit all characters in your group... so too does crystals. very bang for buck. as an aside, we also did synthweave up to a pretty high level and were relative disappointed. HA! Good Fun!

it doesnt have base stat boosts. is expensive to experiment, but take alll the mods out of your chest piece/lightsabre/blaster rifle/whatever and you is gonna see that save for some very rare exceptions, all the orange stuff is simply containers for mods. armour mod sets base armour rating. hilt mod sets base damage for lightsabres. etc. the armour we were using at level 50 were stuff we picked up 'round level 20. gots approx +80 will +75 end, and similar big boosts to critical and surge. were all based on mods. HA! Good Fun!

I am 12 and what is this. *chuckle* identify the parts that confuse you. clarification will be provided. your continued ignorance is unnecessary. anything before the word "malice"? let us hope that is not the case, otherwise you have an uphill battle in front of you. HA! Good Fun!

You would have been a great judge in nazi germany. silliness. question: why have an age restriction? question: what other kinds o' media has age restrictions? question: what are the possible repercussions if bioware/ea knowing/willful ignores their posted age restrictions? etc. *shrug* and even when a reasonable explanation for actions seems lacking, (not the case in the present circumstance) incompetence or mistake is far more likely a cause than is malice. am always surprised by how quick people rush to clear misguided reasonings. rather than consider plausible explanations for behavior, kids jump to a conclusion that bestest supports their own insta-assumptions. one can avoid looking foolish simply by asking questions and searching for answers before messily ejaculating nonsense. HA! Good Fun!

I don't even know what 65 valor ranks mean. Is there an e-peen conversion table I can look at to help me understand the magnitude? effectively, 65 valor means they gots better gear than you could hope to get in a few hundred hours o' pve gameplay, or probable +50 hours o' future pvp. gameplay. pvp still is giving massively unbalanced payoff in experience and 1007 compared to pve. the gear makes the character in high levels, and the champion bags and other stuff for pvp is disproportionate powerful. pre-patch players is gonna have a big edge for quite some time to come. is yet another reason we stayed away from pvp entirely. HA! Good Fun!

lag is ok for us... but fps in some areas is ridiculous bad. 'ccording to their little lag meter on the map, Gromnir is gold, but on fleet and in some story instances, our fps drops to teens... or worse. our system is more than good enough to handle, and we already disabled shadows n' such. am understanding why some is frustrated. we dont play pvp, but am annoyed by the animation delay on interrupts. sure, is only .5 seconds, but is frustrating to activate shock or electrocute, and still get nailed with a boss robot missile barrage or sith lord's force storm. is a known issue, but am not sure if bio cares. didnt read all the threads. ... the one thing that continues to amaze us is the rinse & repeat nature o' this game. gameplay is gameplay-- not matter if is mp or sp. after bg were released, people complained 'bout fighting hundreds of hobgoblin or bandit groups that had no discernible purpose other than to drop 1007 and provide xp. ridiculous. bio responded to complaints and changed (although Gromnir am seeing some o' the silliness return to games such as da2.) so, why is it a given that killing 40 black sun gangsters... and then killing 40 MORE is an accepted part o missions by mp gamers? oh, and the wild goose chase mentality is equal wacky. step 1 is on extreme southwest corner of map. step 2 is extreme northeast. step 3 is back in southwest somewheres. ... what the hell is wrong with the last decade's worth o' mp gamers that they has allowed such insanity to propagate? HA! Good Fun!

the purple thing were a pain in the tukus. sure, the world boss on belsavis were ridikulous, but one expects that, no? nope the pain came from world boss only respawning ever 2.5 hours or so, and those tatooine vaporators having a similarly glacial respawn. we only got 3 crafters with artifice o' 400, but am suspecting it is gonna take a week and a half to get all o' us the recipe. HA! Good Fun!

yeah, and ohlen's plan seems like a fail. if they didnt wanna drive folks to extremes o' the light v dark spectrum, then the aligned level 50 items should not require rank 5 in light or dark. as a matter o' fact, am not certain we has ever seen a non-aligned relic. without spamming lower level flashpoints, is taking some serious work to reach complete light or dark. am knowing that hurl says we gotta look past level 50 and end story, but having to rinse & repeat already completed flashpoints or daily heroics is not our idea o' engaging gameplay... but we ain't as experienced in such mmorpg conventions, so we do not know if such monotony is expected 'mongst the rank and file. HA! Good Fun!

didn't you say that you were level 47 or +47? admittedly, that is a rough mission for a 37 group, but +10 levels difference gives you near-invulnerability to anything less than elite. regardless, foundry were kinda important for kotor/kotor2 closure. 'course you gotta do bp first, and even uber-leveled, bp is a LONG mission. as an aside, we would not recommend trying colicoid war solo. is some puzzle stuff that is seeming impossible w/o multiple players. need 3-4 players to disable force-fields in correct order. HA! Good Fun!

Oh, that's what I wasn't sure on. It seems odd that they wouldn't give any companion bonuses from the daily's and flashpoints, but if that's what you've heard, I guess you do rely more heavily on gifts at 50. is not the least bit odd when you consider that the flashpoints is designed to be done by groups of players... and the hard-mode 50s is brutal. went through black talon hard-mode with some serious pvp-geared folks. we got wiped a couple times. hard-mode is no joke, and companions is likely gonna die fast. and again, one o' the big payoffs from comp quests is the significant xp payoff... which is wasted on 50s. clearly not designed as a post-50 lure. HA! Good Fun!

exactly.... and what hurl still not seem to get is that there is no dialog bonus options for companions available from that stuff. you get companions to max before end, or you do gifting. is not complicated. the bonus for crafting/gathering missions can be significant by 10k affection... particularly given how long it takes to create prototype or better gear via crafting... and of course, there is a conclusion to each companion storyline... if you is interested in such things. 'course the most salient and immediate advantage is the exp gains-- if you got the creds, you can buy your way through a level or two via companion "missions." and again, those exp gains benefit you nothing post 50. *shrug* every ~2k is the major kinda threshold for affection. we know this 'cause we had a bug and it were suggested by developers that we push from 5 to +6k to workaround the problem. last major threshold actual seemed to come at 'bout 9.5K. the Final dialog gets you a potential big boost to affection... gets you to 10k and ends story. HA! Good Fun!

you cannot possibly think that getting the companions to max affection was a post 50 consideration... or maybe you can. there is XP rewards that come with the character interactions, and at level 50 you has the brakes put on xp gains... unless you is suggesting that the companions is a 6 month + expansion consideration, 'cause once you finish and/or hit storyline conclusion, you is gonna run out of dialogue opportunities with the companions. apparently you gotta stop thinking like a mmorpg player... at least insofar as companions is concerned. you is still gonna need gifts, 'cause companion dialogue boosts is more akin to sp. there is an end of the line for the current companion dialog ops. your pov doesnt seem likely to us. *shrug* not matter. is your game, so you can play how you want. HA! Good Fun!

I actually think the companion points are going a bit fast. I've got one companion over 6k and one at 4k, and I'm at level 31. The companion gifts have done very little of the raising there, mostly its because of questing. You probably don't really want all your companions maxed out when you hit 50, because it gives you something to do when you hit the max level. At least that's what I assume Bioware is thinking. how many companions you got? you will get more... and you will split the dialog opportunities betwixt more companions as you increase level. an thinking that you will see that as you progress, you become ever more reliant on gifts. think 'bout it... you is over half way through game, but you only got one companion a bit over 50%. HA! good Fun! ps if bioware's big hook for playing past 50 is companion interaction, then they gets a big fail. the companions is kinda pale shadows o' what we has seen from bioware sp game companions. they is a slightly intriguing sideshow, but is not genuine compelling.

the pirate is our goto guy. check out his ranged damage numbers. is no other inquisitor comp that deals damage like andronikus (sp?) sure, he ain't got as much health as khem, but he gets hit less and kills 4x as fast. with his ranged death dealing. is fun to use extraction to pull him out o' harms way from the melee guys... who he then shreds as they rush to his new location. we is healing, so we need a companion that can lay on the hurt. as for spider... you will be unlikely to get high enough affection with your comps unless you spam the gifts. is a stoopid mechanic, but that is the reality. khem only gets 15 per + dialog, and andronikus gets 27... is a long haul to 10k that way. the later comps have better dialog affection rates, so is actual easier to boost 'em even though you get later in game. HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* space missions is ok... though the level 44 one that claims we need rank 3 mods, has stumped us. if you really want some cheap xp, give gifts to your companions. lots o' gifts. can get cheap at galactic trade... or as the vets say, the AH. the cheapest gifts are, ironically, the most efficient on a per credit basis. though once you get to 4k or 6k affection (we forget which one), you will no longer get any mileage from rank 1 gifts. is paying for experience. is stoopid. it works. HA! Good Fun!

the elites come in separate "pulls," so the quick succession point is a non-factor. that being said, the encounter were no sunday afternoon stroll. we is over-leveled and we had to work fast to keeps from dying. however, we is a mmorpg n00b, so take for what is worth. as for drowsy query... dunno how to respond exactly. am so very disinterested in numbers evaluations in reviews. is peculiar to read a review that slams a game in the text portion, and then somehow ends up giving a 8/10 or 85/100. is even worse when the critics break game into categories such as Gameplay and Graphics... give scores for each attribute. we typical ignore the scores provided by reviewers. as for the game and our opinion... the companion interactions and core story for sith inquisitor is a bit shallow. is not bad, but is just nothing that stands out as excellent neither. the game is buggy. is not $15-a-night-hotel-room buggy, but is annoying when companions inexplicably die when transitioning between areas, or when fps sudden drops to teens for no obvious reason. is not a sp game... am paying a subscription (sorta) so we should not need to endure bugs, or three nights in a row o' maintenance to fix problems. is some serious exploits for xp and cash and the pvp crowd annoys us to no end... even on pve servers. etc. am level 50 and have done all but one heroic on voss... probable 2/3 done with voss. so we has obviously played a bit. would be ridiculous to be claiming that the game sucks and that we is just getting our 30 days worth. am currently having fun... particular with the heroics. a good group is making the group missions quite enjoyable. that being said, am not certain we will be able to maintain interest beyond 30 days. the story stuff simply aint compelling enough to inspire us to wanna slog all the way to 50 again with a bounty hunter or consular. am thinking we could do a full review once we has completed the inquisitor story. might be worth it just 'cause we gots no genuine previous mmorpg experience... am relative untainted by expectations. might be a mystifying read. maybe. HA! Good Fun! ps to answer bos... no. am not grinding. the game dont reward you for doing so. that being said, we tends to do all available planet missions and flashpoints. as such, we has typical been 3-5 levels above the target range.

... ok, we hesitate to share, but what the heck. when we were at Cal in the late 80's, there were a quasi-popular punk lesbian band in town called "The Flaming Fist." gives the name a different spin for us. HA! Good Fun!

Well I try to use it only when I think "ah, that means I'll say something snarky and cutting" and then it turns out that bioware dialogue comes out as ignorant lout, which is really not what I wanted. Heh, I'd actually remembered how he wanted to kill the guy and did that, you got a major boost of affection for letting him off the guy. Of course, I haven't used Andronikos for anything beyond crew missions since then.. Yeah, I actually solo'd the Boarding Party flashpoint yesterday. Since you have to do that before The Foundry, and whenever I've been on the Fleet station I never see people wanting to do Boarding Party. So I ended up forgetting about it, and then remembering I had it..since I was about 10 levels above it I just ran through it without too much hassle. Of course, then I get back to the Fleet..and suddenly there were a whole bunch of people wanting to form groups to do that flashpoint.. Hm, I don't think I've actually done the Alderaan or Hoth bonus series either. Hoth bonus is level 47. HA! Good Fun!

I'm about to go to taris and I am level 35. To a planet that is 32-36 I think. So still a bit ahead. Only done two flashpoints, but all heroics. We even skipped Nar Shaddaa bonus series so we wouldn't run further ahead. Nar Shaddaa bonus series doesn't open up till your about level 35. From around 30+ most of the bonus series don't open up until you're returning to the worlds at a later point in the class story. narshadda bonus becomes available at 29 or 28. is a tough slog, but can be done at that level. btw, dont poke any dead jedi corpses on taris. alderaan (sp) has the most obscure bonus location and level. the initial offer occurs on the fleet space station, and is a level 34 quest to contact some lord in house thul. the bonus missions actual start at level 40. weird. some random bald woman on the fleet space station offers the bonus set for alderaan? why? ... am surprised to have not seen complaints about the foundry flashpoint mission on this board. admittedly, our biggest complaint were that the sadists at bio clear were making a sick practical joke when they set it as a level 37 mission. nevertheless, am betting that more than a few kotor2 fans is miffed by foundry. *snort* HA! Good Fun!

have played a little bit. been kinda busy, but we have played. the mmorpg bit is virtual complete new to us. ... odd. is similar but different to sp crpgs. can play most portions solo, but the heroic and flashpoint material is almost impossible w/o a group. we were invited to join a guild. go figure. *chuckle* is some nice people in the guild... but 1/4 is hardcore pvp players who like to announce each and every victory on the guild channel. datacrons is... stoopid. stopped looking once we spent +30 minutes trying to get to one on nar shadda. a ls sith inquisitor (am playing as a healing sorcerer) is having a story. is not genuine engrossing, but is enough to keep us playing. oh, and the dialogue wheel still sucks. those three word leads often have little in common with the eventual response. annoying. companions provide experience payoffs if you buy advancement with gifts. *snort* the pirate is a dps machine... see, am picking up the lingo. didn't know dps til recent. completing every available quest on a planet before advancing is not the normal practice for mmorpg players. the goal o' most players seems to be to reach 50 asap. as such, our behavior has resulted in an odd level bloat-- am more than 4 levels above planet level suggestions. is... funish. will keep playing til end o' our 30 day subscription, but probable wont pay beyond. we got as a gift, and is amusing, but am doubting we could stay genuine interested for more than a month. HA! Good Fun!

am having a n00b question: what are instances? we were reading 'bout some exploit that allowed players to reach level 50 after only a couple o' days, and there were repeated references to "instances" in conjunction with "warzone servers." is all greek to Gromnir. from what we can tell, warzone is pvp, but we got zero idea what is "instances," and the search function at the swtor boards is purposeful disabled for some oddly timed maintenance reasons. am not particular surprised that some exploit exists that allows lightning leveling, but am hating to be ignorant o' the jargon/vernacular that the kids is using these days. am a preternatural curious person. somebody wanna help us out with "instances"? thanks. HA! Good Fun!

not omnicidal. death of force wouldn't result in the annihilation o' all life or even complete human (or sentient life) extinction. for kreia, no force = freedom from tyranny. personally, we had great sympathy for kreia's goals. we thinks chrisA coulda done a better job communicating kreia goals to the player as his attempts at deep and profound often gets a bit... hammy? maudlin introspection and dime store philosophy not work any better in games than novels-- audiences mentally blackout when reading or listening to self-indulgent author ramblings. even so, we thinks that given the inherent corniness o' the star wars setting, kreia were believable and compelling. HA! Good Fun!

Says the dude. Someone who can expect a member of his gender to be the protagonist of almost every book, movie, and game out there. *groan* forgetting for a moment your selective focus on hemingway v. williams characters... what a LOAD. is hyperbole even when going past the last 100 years, but you is either very poorly read, or is exaggerating to a ridiculous degree if you honestly believing your claim. regardless, why the heck does it matter how your gender has suffered in media over the centuries? does bending over backwards to inject pro-feminist elements into lit in the 21st century makes up for the oversights o' past authors? forget for a moment that a majority o' authors since the dawn o' written history has been male and thus inherently more capable o' breathing life into believable male characters, what is the point o' observing a paucity o' female protagonists before drew wrote his book? is complete irrelevant. good or bad character... has nothing to do with feminism. blanche and stella is incredible characters regardless o' the fact that they is weak. were elzabeth bennet weak because she relented? maybe. we likes the protagonists in jane eyre, to kill a mockingbird, and alice in wonderland. heck, phillip pullman's protagonist in his dark materials trilogy is one o' our favorite fantasy protagonists, along with gaiman's coraline. strong. weak. whatever. get over it. HA! Good Fun! ps our favorite obsidian characters is almost invariably female-- we got no axe to grind. kreia were the best character in kotor 2... no question. ravel is our all-time favorite crpg character. is Not gender that is important.

am not gonna read the book, but on principal we would happily wishes apocalypse on any blog (or blogger) that focuses on the lack o' pro-feminism in a work. might as well slam Hemingway 'cause he didn't put strong female characters in the old man and the sea. yeah, we know this is the 21st century and you is expected to pander to all races, colors, creeds and sexes if you wanna be mainstream, but is disappointing to us even so. maybe the blogger in question can next read a streetcar named desire and slam 'cause blanche and stella is pushovers. bah. drew either does character good or he does bad-- gender should be an incidental factor. HA! Good Fun!