My IA is 45 right now. I am looking forward to cap, but I don’t want to rush anything.

A couple of tips, though:

*If you play Operative, learn to kite, and learn to LOS (line of sight = run behind the terrain to negate your enemies and their attacks). Especially toward the end of the game, enemies get phenomenally beefy and hit like trucks. You will not be able to take their damage straight up. Also, use the terrain weapons (explodable crates). They can save your life. Another tip, let your companion open up the encounter. The tendency is to open an attack from stealth, but that initial burst isn’t enough to negate the damage you suffer right away, imo, being face up with a big enemy. Keep the stealth in PvE flashpoints – for PvE world, let your companion open up the encounter so you can get several shots in while it is beating on them. Other than that, when the enemy inevitably gets in your face (it will happen), use your shield probe and evasion like a boss. Also, Sever Tendon should be a permanent part of your kiting rotation. Keep the enemy bleeding, and keep them slowed so you can kite them around the room. Do that and you’ll be disco.

*If you play Sniper, just make sure to send in your companion first, again.lol Your range is much longer than an Op, so you can avoid enemies getting up on you if you play it intelligently. Sadly, Kaliyo gets worse and worse as a tank toward the end, so I eventually discarded her in favor of more damage. The way I figure it, few of your companions are going to survive long against elites and groups of strongs, so you might as well choose one that is going to hit as hard as possible while they are up. Also, come to terms with the fact that your companion, often enough, exists merely to die so you have a precious few moments to finish off a target.lol

All in all, IA has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of SWTOR for me. So much so, in fact, I am considering rolling another one to level with a friend.

I agree 100%. LFG is very convenient, but if it never comes to SWTOR I won’t shed a tear over the loss.

LFG did some pretty substantial – in my opinion – damage to the community of World of Warcraft. Apparently, I’m not alone in thinking that, since a large portion of the community raised concerns to the point Blizzard tried to change the system so you would be grouped with people from your own server more often. Frankly, I still don’t notice any changes (I play a little on trials).

Choosing AC is harder than I ever really thought it would be. I already know I’m going Gunslinger on my Smuggler, and Jugg on my SW, but after that everything is up in the air. I still don’t know which direction I’ll go with my BH (though I’m leaning Merc), or which road I will take with my Inquisitor (no leanings).

The way I tend to shift in my morality decisions comes from my characters morality, not my own. It’s not easy to separate your own morality from your character’s, but I always try to make that happen when possible. For instance, I try to decide before I make a decision what my character is to me, how he would react. Once I have that visual image in my head, I try to put myself in their place – ‘How would I answer if I was a Pureblood Sith who was always told how awesome he was?’ Easy – I would answer like a bit of a spoiled brat… Maybe a violent spoiled brat as a result of the environment in which he was cultivated. Next time you feel your own morality tugging away at you to make a choice, try to envision your character, and ask yourself, honestly, would the character have your same moral objections?

Having said that, realize that I am a huge lore hound/nerd. I like exploring the complexities of my characters.

I’m glad it applies to testing in general, and not just the weekend. I look forward to taking some pics and posting them up on here in a week. I’m already chomping at the bit to get my hands on the game again.

In all honesty, as much as I miss the LFG feature simply for the convenience, I hated what it did to the community of WoW. There is almost zero communication between the community, unless you belong to a high end guild. It used to be you ran content with people on the same server. You would look through /2 and, though it took longer, it gave you a chance to interact with your community. I made dozens of friends through it, simply because they liked the way I tanked, or I liked the dps they threw out – or vice versa. Whenever they needed a tank/dps, I would see a pst pop up asking if I was down; that has all but gone away in the current version of WoW. If convenience comes at the expense of strong community, I would much rather have to use /2 and build relationships with players I know I will see in a week.

Agreed on the music. I’m hoping BioWare will put in the option to loop the music at launch. Ambient sounds are wicked, but I also miss having that one consistent track that gives an identity to an area. Especially when that identity is the music that plays when you approach the Senate in Coruscant, or the House Organa music on Alderaan.

I said this a few times in the article, and I’ll say it again: Kath Soucie rocks my socks.

I was pleased with all the main voice actors. They did a great job of giving the characters their own flavor. I heard the voice actor for the Sith Inquisitor has never done video game voice acting before. If that is true, his first vg vo project is a resounding success. Also, while I did not mention him in the write up, the voice actor for the Imperial Agent deserves a round of applause. He captures the feel of a James Bond-esque agent perfectly.