Here is a new leveling build from swtorsavior.com. This build is a Jedi Consular Sage Leveling Build and focus on talents and abilities with potential for burst and utility and/or talents that augment Focus preservation to limit downtime. These talent builds are designed to boost instant and channeled abilities.

Don’t forget to check out constantly growing list of guides for Star Wars: The old republic

Check out the build below:

• 2/2 Jedi Resistance
• 2/2 Will of the Jedi
• 3/3 Empowered Throw
• 2/2 Focused Insight
• 3/3 Drain Thoughts
• 2/2 Critical Kinesis
• 1/1 Force in Balance
• 2/2 Mind Ward
• 1/1 Telekinetic Balance
• 1/1 Presence Of Mind
• 3/3 Psychic Barrier
• 1/1 Force Suppression
• 2/2 Mind Warp
• 2/2 Rippling Force
• 3/3 Mental Scarring
• 2/2 Psychic Absorption
• 2/2 Telekinetic Focal Point
• 1/2 Mental Defence
• 1/1 Sever Force
• 3/3 Inner Strength
• 2/2 Mental Longevity
• 2/2 Clamouring Force
• 3/3 Penetrating Light

Stat Priority:

Willpower >= Accuracy (110%) > Power > Surge (75%) > Crit (30%) > Alacrity

Single Target Rotation:

Mind Crush > Weaken Mind > Sever Force > Force In Balance > Telekinetic Throw > Project

Try and maintain Weaken Mind and Sever Force DoT’s.

Use Force In Balance to get maintain the debuff from Force Suppression.

If all else fails use Project.

Multiple Target:

Force In Balance
Forcequake
Weaken Mind

Survival Options:

Force Of Will
Cloud Mind
Force Mend
Force Barrier

As always I I will recommend you to get the guide to get the full advantage of all swtorsavior.com amazing features. It is available right here. Also don’t forget to check out constantly growing list of guides for Star Wars: The old republic

“Meeting Ernie Hudson, myself in the middle front, Kelly McDaniels on the left and Stephen Smithers on the right” Credit- David Gillaspy

Dallas Comic Con was this weekend and despite storms and tornados that ravished the area, many managed to have a great deal of fun at the event. One of those somebodies was a friend of a good friend of mine, named David Gillaspy who was kind enough to answer some of my questions about the event.

And he even shared some awesome photos with me! I’m so jealous because I really wish I could have been there but thanks to David, I get to share a little piece of it with you.

Here’s a short interview I did with him, along with some of his photos:

What was your favorite costume/cosplay?

I would have to say it was the guy who came in the working Warmachine armor from Iron Man 2.

Did you get any cool autographs?

Yes, Ernie Hudson was the first guy we met when we got there absolutly a great guy, then picked up Adam Balwin’s autograph on my copy of Firefly and the last one was from Kristanna Loken.

Were there any unique exhibits that stood out to you?

As a Doctor Who fan I would have to say it was the full size T.A.R.D.I.S display.

Is this your first Comic Con?

This was my first time to Comic-Con, we have attended a couple of smaller Cons in our area and a larger Steampunk Con.

What did you enjoy most about the entire event overall?

“The Avengers..Sadly I was not able to get names to tag them but their costumes were awesome” – Photo Credit: David Gillaspy

It was getting to meet a lot of great actors and cosplayers, I can’t say enough good about Adam and Ernie they are both down to earth and appreciate their fans.

You can see more pictures of David’s from Dallas Comic Con on his Facebook.

Star Wars was featured at Dallas Comic Con this weekend and local members of the 501st Legion—“The world’s definitive imperial costuming organization,”—set up with a very surprising mission: to do good.

Star Wars was featured at Dallas Comic Con this weekend and local members of the 501^st Legion—“The world’s definitive imperial costuming organization,”—set up with a very surprising mission: to do good.

As shocking as it might be considering they’re … well… Stormtroopers, the 501^st are actually some pretty cool guys and gals. We had the pleasure of meeting some of them last year and my son has a collectible trading card as a souvenir.  But they had a very specific mission at Dallas Comic Con Saturday.

Led by the Star Garrison, which covers three states, and the North Texas Squad, they sponsored “Blast-a-Stormtrooper for Charity.”

It was all in honor of Kari Giles, in treatment for stage four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, who would receive all the proceeds from the event. For a price, you would get a chance to shoot at Stormtroopers in full gear with Nerf guns!

“Our main focus isn’t just to wear costumes that are extremely screen accurate,” North Texas Squad Leader David Petty said. “Our goal really is to raise money for charities, do hospital visits.”

Screen-accurate they are (I’ve seen them up close) but what they do to give back to the communities is really spectacular.

Comic Con continued throughout today (Sunday) with tickets being sold at the door as supplies lasted at $30 for adults, $5 for kids and free for kids under 4.

Were YOU at Dallas Comic Con and did you get the chance to blast a Stormtrooper?

Stormtroopers were not the only ones at Dallas Comic Con. Check out this video from the local news on the events:

“Captain Kirk, The Joker and Daleks, Oh My!”

Are you a Mass Effect fan? If you love the story then you’re really going to appreciate seeing it brought to life- literally. YouTube user xxTDGPainxx has done something really awesome with the Mass Effect series. This guy has taken all the Mass Effect in-game cinematics and conversations and made them into movies. How cool is that?

They’re available on YouTube and split into parts so you’ll have to watch them in order to get the full effect but this is really, really cool. It’s like getting a weekly episode of your favorite running show except that since they are not all complete, you can watch as many as  you want in one sitting. There are 20 episodes in all. Here are the first 4 to get you started.

Episode 1: “The Beacon”
Commander Shepard and the crew of the SSV Normandy investigate a mysterious artifact uncovered on the peaceful farming world Eden Prime.

This series is the story of Mass Effect shown in the format of a TV show.

Episode 2: “The Council”
Commander Shepard and the team present their case against Saren to the Citadel Council.

Episode 3: “Liara”
Commander Shepard, now a Spectre, is given command of the Normandy and sets out in search of Matriarch Benezia’s daughter.

Episode 4: “Bring Down The Sky”
The Normandy picks up a distress signal coming from a large, fast moving asteroid.

Continue following on YouTube to see episodes 5-20 for the complete Mass Effect Movie Series!

Do you love free comics? As part of their two-year-anniversary promotion, Dark Horse Comics gave away 1 million free comics. How awesome is that?

Were you able to snag some of these free comics for yourself? If so, we want to hear about it. What titles did you get?

As they state on their blog, “As part of the celebration of the second year of the company’s digital initiative and proprietary storefront, fifty free single-issue comics were made available for only forty-eight hours. In that time, thousands of fans took advantage of the offer and downloaded their favorite Dark Horse titles, to the tune of a million copies!”

This is really a fantastic example of the growing interest in digital comics as a new way to enjoy some classic comics and new releases alike. If you’re new to digital comics, you will have to try it out for yourself. While nothing quite beats the feel and smell of a nice paper comic right in your hands, digital comics allow you to read your favorites wherever you are.

You can download to your computer or favorite portable device and have them whenever and wherever you want them. Another benefit to digital comics is that you don’t have to worry about them becoming damaged or lost.

Dark Horse Digital also provides sales and discounts for its reader base on a weekly basis. Dark Horse Digital is available through all modern web browsers and features cloud storage through both the Google Play and iOS apps.

If you love Star Wars comics, you’ll be happy to know they have a great selection.

There are many great Star Wars titles: http://www.darkhorse.com/StarWars/Comics

Here are a few comics related to SWTOR (The Lost Sons and Blood of the Empire Series):

http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/17-777/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-The-Lost-Suns-5

http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/17-775/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-The-Lost-Suns-3

http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/17-774/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-The-Lost-Suns-2

http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/17-275/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-6-Blood-of-the-Empire-part-3

http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/17-274/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-5-Blood-of-the-Empire-part-2

So did you manage to get any free digital comics for the 2-year anniversary? Do you read comics on a digital device?

Many people, especially subscribers, have been upset about patch 2.1. People are mad about this patch  being a cartel market update only. But players are also forgetting that BioWare already announced how the coming two games updates is planed out.  Still Cory Butler  found it necessary to post on the official forums explaining what the developers have in mind. Check it out below:

Howdy, folks. Cory Butler here to follow-up on some of your concerns that have been surfacing in the forums and on social media sites around Game Update 2.1: Customization. First, it’s important to know that 2.1 will not affect the cadence of our game update schedule. 2.1 was the second half of our Cartel Market implementation plan. So, do not expect to see this type of Market-driven update on a regular basis. This release was comprised almost entirely of cosmetic options that have no impact on combat balance or gameplay. Vanity modifications are the kinds of things, in general, that we’ve always planned to offer in the Cartel Market for purchase by all players and in some cases, like with Appearance Designer changes, discounted for subscribers — having said that, we’ve heard some frustration from subscribers that, even with these kinds of offerings, we ought to do more to recognize subscriber status. We hear you loud and clear. Please stay tuned.

To continue on the point of content cadence, I know in a separate post Eric discussed a bit about our cadence and that our plan is for all of you to see content within an 8-week window from Rise of the Hutt Cartel’s launch, I would recommend reading his post for more details, here. What I do want to do is assure you that we have many more things in the works here at BioWare that aren’t Cartel Market features, and are the exact types of content you folks have been asking about. I cannot go into specifics yet but we are definitely working on things like new Flashpoints, Operations, daily hubs, events, PvP, and even the super-secret space project! Game Update 2.1 is just one of the many Updates you will get from us this year and I am really excited about what is still to come and I think you will be

Great news! BioWare just announced that the Gree Event will return next week. I guess it’s time to  build a ton of rep whit them again and  get them sweet sweet items.  Here is the story:

Gree In-Game Event Returns – 05.17.2013

The ancient Gree starship, Gray Secant, returns to Ilum between May 21 and May 28 bringing with it great rewards, including unique armor, pets, weapons, and more!

Join with friends for another chance to earn valuable Reputation points and become a living Legend as you fight for the Gree’s grand mission. This is a great time for players at level 45+ to jump into the event before the event returns at level 55 in the future.

Visit the in-game News Terminal located on Carrick Station or Vaiken Spacedock to get started on your adventure!

CHECK OUT THESE FEATURED REWARDS

Scalene Armor (Blue, White, Red)

Collect all three armor sets!

• Blue and Red Scalene Armor requires “Friend” Rank with the Gree
• White Scalene Armor requires “Champion” Rank with the Gree

Blue Sphere Transport Enclosure Vehicle Traverse across the far reaches of the galaxy at high speeds!

• Increases lateral translation rates by 110%
• Requires Speeder Piloting: Rank 3
• Requires “Legend” Rank with the Gree

L1-1 Defender Add this rare pet to your collection!

• One of the rarest pets in the galaxy

• Drops from an Ancient Gree Defender that spawns on rare occasions

• Requires “Friend” Rank with the Gree

Eric Musco has an interesting forum post today, on how BioWare handles feedback. Basically he is saying that SWTOR developers are indeed listening to what  the community have to day,   but it’s not  easy to implement what the players want, or do not want. There is a technically part to the game, and let’s also be honest, most people on the official forums are insane!

Reading through the forum thread started by Eric, I can’t stop laughing.   Many people are now writing stuff like “Well, since you said you do listen…ANSWER ME THIS!” and ask a random concern that they believe is the biggest problem of SWTOR right now. I would  shoot myself if I was a moderator over at swtor.com. I guess it’s true that you will  never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. Reminds me of the good old Jeff Woods rant

Check out the full lenght forum post below, or check it out real time over at the official forum.

Eric Musco

The very simple answer to this question is that yes, we absolutely listen to player feedback! However, the answer is technically a lot more complicated than that.

I think sometimes players on the forums wish that the process was just as simple as “I want X thing to be like Y” and that we can simply just change it to Y. Unfortunately it is a lot more complex, but I think this could be a good post to give some insights into what player feedback looks like on our side.

It happens very often internally where we, the community team, will raise issues to the development team that we have seen from player feedback. This is anything from a bug to just a general amount of criticism on a certain feature. What we help to provide is player feedback in as constructive a way as possible. This way it will give the developers perspective on how you folks are reacting to a system, both the good and the bad, and what you think can be changed to improve it.

This is where it gets complex, we provided player feedback, but that is just one small component of everything that goes into when a decision is made. From there, our developers can then grab metrics to see if the player feedback is supported through data. As a random, made up example:

“Players are complaining that the Assassin skill “I kill stuff” is worthless and no one uses it, it needs to be replaced.”

Our developers could pull skill information on every Assassin in our game and validate what % of players are using that skill, or not using it. With data and feedback in hand, the developers also have to consider a few other components, how will it affect the company (if it is tied to monetization), how much development time will it take, if we use development time for this change will it affect something else? In this example if the developers see, using data, that 93% of all Assassins use “I kill stuff” than we can see that most likely it is just a perception issue that the skill isn’t good. However, it doesn’t mean the player feedback is wrong, it just means that we have two pieces of the decision making process that don’t agree and more research is needed.

It should also be stated that sometimes there is feedback or ideas that come to us via player feedback that we ourselves love. However from the development side they are very difficult, time consuming, or simply just not possible. Sometimes this can be even be for things that appear like very simple changes to our game when in fact they are quite the opposite!

One of our roles as a community team is to pass on your feedback and to act as your voice in these discussions. What is important to understand is that player feedback is just one of many components that go into each decision. I also would note: remember that something like the forums are actually just one small component of player feedback. The community of our game is the forums, social media, and the many, many other players in-game who don’t talk about SWTOR on either of those mediums.

I hope that gives a bit of insight into what happens with player feedback when it is received. I know it can be frustrating to feel like your feedback isn’t always listened to but I assure you that your voice has a seat at the table.

-eric

Patch notes are up. We were almost right yesterday. It was a bug fix with he crystals. People were more or less printing money off this bug, as you could vendor crystals that you could get for “free”. No event unfortunately. Check out the patch notes below:

2.1.0b Patch Notes
5/17/2013
General

• White Color Crystals can no longer be Reverse Engineered.
• The vendor value of Color Crystals that are tracked via the Collections UI has been reduced.

BioWare will be taking down the servers tomorrow to preform maintenance as well as deploying a new patch. Patch notes are not available yet, but giving the developer responses on the forums, it’s probably some kind of exploits / bug thing they need to fix fast.  Might have to do with the collections crystals “bug” (mainly because I don’t know if it’s considered a bug) where you can essentially get free crystals from the cartel market.

On the other hand.. Patching up to a weekend, might be because of an event? Below are what we know:

On May 17th, all game servers will be unavailable as we perform maintenance. Patch 2.1.0b will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows:

Date: Friday May 17th, 2013
Duration: 2 hours
Time: 3AM PDT (10AM UTC) – 5AM PDT (12PM UTC)

Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.