Now that Star Wars: The Old Republic has gone free to play, many players are questioning the worth of items on the Cartel Market. Does it really pay to be a subscriber? Darth Hater recently published an article where they have done a little math and come up with some real life cash value comparisons for items sold on the Market. Here’s the price breakdown for their list:

The more coins a player buys, the more value they get. The smallest package is $4.99 for 450 Cartel Coins. That comes to 90 Cartel Coins per dollar or 1.1 cent per Cartel Coin. The most expensive package is $39.99 for 5500 Cartel Coins. That comes to 137 Cartel Coins per dollar or 0.73 cents per Cartel Coin.

Under this model, a simple Warzone/Flashpoint weekly unlock, for example, costs $2.64. Cargo Hold access plus two additional tabs will cost about $10.50 per character. Additional quickbars cost around $2 a character per bar. Even a single ‘hide head slot’ unlock costs around $3.

So, last week we got an interesting little note in SWTOR’s Patch Notes: “Legacy names are no longer unique. New Legacies that are created are now able to use a name that is already in use on the server. All players will be able to rename their Legacies once, at no cost, in a future update.” This change came as a surprise to quite a few players, namely because BioWare didn’t exactly make any sort of announcement previous to the change. It was a total out-of-the-blue change, and sure, maybe it was done to aid our remaining server merges (which stubbornly weren’t referred to as merges until quite late in the process), but, yes, BioWare– players like to be notified about changes of this nature before they occur.

It also surprised folks because of the way Legacy names were originally hyped– Legacy names were supposed to be the ultimate, unique way to proudly proclaim your character’s legacy. Yep, unique. Not any longer, unfortunately, partially due to the effects of server transfers, and partially due to this change. Ever want to see seven Skywalkers aboard your fleet? Well, maybe now’s your chance.

I’m sure that by now, we’ve all experienced lines from our characters that have made us laugh out loud and cheer them on, whether they’re punching bad guys, belittling good guys, or, well, just being charmingly clever and/or a goofball (often at the same time). I know I have. My Smuggler’s probably my favorite source of amusing one-liners, though I’ve seen some great lines from my Sith Warrior, Bounty Hunter, Trooper, and my friend’s Sith Inquisitor. There’s good material to be found in every class story. BioWare’s writing team did a pretty awesome job with most of the dialog, and created some memorable moments.

When SWTOR launched, I started a list of memorable character lines, and have been adding to that list ever since. I finally decided it was high time to share that list! I also couldn’t help but add to the list using some suggestions from fellow SWTOR players. Some of these may be slightly paraphrased, as a warning, so if you notice any glaring mistakes, drop me a line in the comments section. Oh, and if you have any additional suggestions for my ‘huge list o’ cool lines’, feel free to to chime in with them!

I’m sure that by now, we’ve all experienced lines from our characters that have made us laugh out loud and cheer them on, whether they’re punching bad guys, belittling good guys, or, well, just being charmingly clever and/or a goofball (often at the same time). I know I have. My Smuggler’s probably my favorite source of amusing one-liners, though I’ve seen some great lines from my Sith Warrior, Bounty Hunter, Trooper, and my friend’s Sith Inquisitor. There’s good material to be found in every class story. BioWare’s writing team did a pretty awesome job with most of the dialog, and created some memorable moments.

When SWTOR launched, I started a list of memorable character lines, and have been adding to that list ever since. I finally decided it was high time to share that list! I also couldn’t help but add to the list using some suggestions from fellow SWTOR players. Some of these may be slightly paraphrased, as a warning, so if you notice any glaring mistakes, drop me a line in the comments section. Oh, and if you have any additional suggestions for my ‘huge list o’ cool lines’, feel free to to chime in with them!

The SWTOR community has seen its fair share of crashing lumber and bent nails flying through the air this week while server transfers have been happening. Oh, yeah, and official forum drama. Lots of that. Always lots of that. Folks who were unhappy about logging in to empty servers are now unhappy about server queues, and on top of that– they’re mourning over lost names and Legacy names. The complaints are valid, and BioWare could have approached this whole server transfer thing better, but by the end of this adventure– at least we’ll sort of feel like we’re in an MMO again.

Most of us by now are well aware of the negativity that hovers over the official SWTOR forum community. It’s difficult to avoid disgruntled fans while diving into any random forum topic these days. Many of the complaints these players bear are justified, of course, but there seems to be one common thread among most of the complaints– most of them hit on the fact that BioWare’s community forums need more communication from BioWare.

Within the past months, while we’ve waited around for news regarding Game Update 1.3, we’ve received very little feedback from the community management team, and thus, the developers. We still don’t know many details about the important features we’re anxiously awaiting. What details have been revealed have all been fairly vague, and the worst part– we, the SWTOR fanbase, sometimes find out more by searching around on fansites, gaming news sites, and social media places like Twitter than we do on our own forums.

By now, we all are probably familiar with the rumors spreading mass amounts of doom and gloom about SWTOR across the MMORPG community. Practically every forum and review site has at least a handful of negative opinions regarding the game. The term “TOR-tanic” is often used, comparing SWTOR to both a legendary disaster and a sinking ship. And then there’s this article, and others like it that seem to support these disastrous claims.

As if all the sinking ship images aren’t enough, EA has to throw us this iceberg. Now folks out there are really spreading doom and gloom about SWTOR, and it’s difficult to even avoid it over on the official forums. And I know– you’re wondering why I’m wasting my time discussing the negativity here, where actual fans of the game want to read about cool stuff, and not leaky framework hulls and wildfire-filled articles. Sometimes, I think it’s important to embrace a portion of negativity– a bit of the storm– because it lets us look at our games objectively, and discover what really matters to us in an MMO.

I’ve said it before and I’ll stay it again– Now’s a great time to be a gamer. Not only do we have multiple gaming platforms, systems, genres, and ways of interacting with fellow gamers, we have a huge variety when it comes to game choice. The MMO market, in particular, is huge right now, with some great titles recently released and planned in the year to come. Diablo III, anyone? How about TERA, Guild Wars 2, and The Secret World? Let’s not forget about the plethora of great games already on the market.

Yeah, I know. You’re cringing at some of those titles. You’re wondering why the heck I’m talking about other games besides SWTOR. For some silly reason, within this often-paranoid gaming community, it’s sometimes seen as an act of betrayal to positively discuss more than one game at a time. Maybe it’s our inner competitive spirits that make uttering words like, “Wow, TERA’s pretty damn fun. I may have to play it and SWTOR!” seem like taboo. I’m here today to reassure everyone of one simple fact: it’s okay. It’s not taboo. Talk about other games, and try other games. SWTOR isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

BioWare likes to surprise us at times, and throw in random ways to get cool toys. The developers like to toss in semi-long quest chains and encourage us to stumble along cliff sides to grab stuff that isn’t always announced upon release. They also like to attach cool drops to bosses where they appear quite random, surprising players. This is rather cool, I think, because it rewards players for exploring, discovering, and sharing those discoverers with other players.

Vanity pets are one of the cool toys BioWare likes to add using this method. Vanity pets are good reward choices for random discoveries, because players of all levels and gear levels can benefit from them, and they’re a common item for serious collectors to drool over, yet even the most casual of players will admit to loving little critters following them around. I mean, really. Who doesn’t love little critters following them around?

Now that 1.2 has been released and we’re currently in the middle of uh, tossing around rakgoul infections, it’s time to gaze up at the horizon and wonder what BioWare has in store for its fans next. Some players were happy with game update 1.2, and others found it lacking, but both types of players know that SWTOR still needs a few major fixes and additional features. It’s a young game, and still has room to grow.

Everyone has their own personal list of what they feel the game needs to focus on. For many players, some kind of group finder feature (also known as looking for group, or LFG) is becoming increasingly important, and takes up that number one spot. This past week, James Ohlen, Game Director of SWTOR, asked for our player feedback regarding the group activities we’d most like to see such a system developed for. The poll on the official forums can be found here.