Grouping with a server wide LFG Channel

Bioware promised a new LFG tool, but the players aren't waiting for it. A new trend that is taking over the galaxy is a player created, server wide, LFG channel. More and more servers now have player created LFG channel and this is becoming a great way to find groups these days. Like I mentioned in a previous post, sticking around the Fleet to find groups isn't a good option and many players, myself included, who will gladly join groups, don't do that.

1.7 million active subscribers

Bioware just released their current active subscription numbers. Their official announcement can be found here: http://www.swtor.com/news/press-release/20120201 1.7 million active subscribers. A pretty impressive number for a 6 weeks old game. Another thing to take into account is that many people who were estimating the growth and success of SWTOR were commenting that the first month numbers aren't a good indication of the subscribers, because people who buy the game get 30 days free, so when counting the numbers during the first month, you count all the people who bought the game at launch or pre-ordered it, were disappointed by the game and never became active subscribers. This become irrelevant past the first month. While potentially this number still includes people who bought the game during the past 30 days and aren't happy enough to become active subscribers, these numbers are currently much smaller than during the first month.

Questing SWTOR VS WOW

Yesterday I was doing the Aldaaran Bonus Series with my level 40 Operative and I get these 2 quests at the same area, right next to each other, both require 4 drops from specific mobs. I'm going for the first one, killed 2 of these mobs, no drops. I must be doing something wrong, right? No way I didn't get a drop twice while killing the right mob. I read the quest description, a rare thing by itself, because normally everything you need to know is part of the dialogs and built in quest tracker, couldn't figure out what I'm doing wrong, this looks like the mob I have to kill. As I'm one of these people who have to experience all the content, I wasn't about to let it go. Alt tabbed and looked for it online, turns out the drop rate is 30-40%, so I killed about 10-12 more and finished it. Went for the second quest, 4 kills, 4 drops, as usual, this is how quests normally are.

Group Finding Tips

Grouping is a huge part of SWTOR, the plot of the flashpoints is very interesting and engaging sometimes with the best story and twists in the game (I'm thinking of you Foundry) the fights are well designed and the plot is often very interesting. They did 2 things with grouping that I really like, the first is the system  where all groups participate in dialogs, this makes your group members from faceless, voiceless strangers who are only there to help you get through the content, to characters who are part of the plot and decisions. The conversation  rolling system in dialogs works really well. Makes you feel like a part of a group where each one participate in the decisions and actions of the team. The second thing I like is that the decision making makes each fp run feel a bit different, with different dialogs, different cut scenes based on the decisions and even different bosses to fight.

Scoundrel Operative Healing Abilities and Skills

This post continue the Scoundrel and Operative healing guide from the previous post. I'll concentrate on healing abilites and skills and only mention others when they directly apply to the healer responsibilities or play style.

Abilities:
Tack Cover - Boost your defense when healing from a distance, making you less likely to take damage so you can worry about healing your team mates.
Kolto Injection - Your typical big heal. It's pretty expansive to cast, so you won't be able to spam it, but when someone needs a big health boost, this is your best line of defense.
Adrenaline Probe - regenerate energy, very useful after an expansive healing burst is needed and you need to keep healing.