Darth Hater

I'm suddenly reminded of the EQ1 reputation grinds some people went through (myself included) to be able to get into certain cities as certain races (Iksar going anywhere? yeah that took awhile).  Not saying that's the way to go for TOR (I personally despise reputation grinds nowadays, especially when they're used to gate players from content and gear) but given TOR's story-based nature I don't see why some sort of "grey market" or "enemy of my enemy" shindigs can't be worked out.
Especially with the premise of a faction rising to challenge both the Empire and the Republic.And no, I'm not advocating for defections.

If memory serves, Ember Isle was basically a giant reputation grind wrapped in a series of repeatable missions, quickly coupled with a rollout of the Instant Adventure mechanic. That's a far cry from a level cap change, added abilities and advancing the story.

Plus, real estate wise, Ember Isle is tiny in comparison to places like Belsavis, Hoth or Alderaan from what I recall.

Also keep in mind that TOR doesn't have anywhere near the absurd growth of player health/damage at the end of the (current) leveling curve that many other titles have.  In theory BioWare can then shift the goalposts a smidge without completely invalidating what was once the best in slot gear loadouts.

In addition, equal gear is available via in-game means, so the pay-to-win label doesn't really hold water here.

That being said, I'm in agreement that this does set a dangerous precedent in terms of future gear sales on the Cartel market.

The items purchased in the ship parts packs are earnable simply by playing (for fleet comms).

What I'm getting at is that none of the origin worlds have a driving narrative by themselves.  Take out the class arcs and you don't have anything beyond a bunch of geographically convenient side-quests.

Was mostly aimed at you Rogue, but yeah sometimes comments can go rogue :/

When I say "world arc" I mean like Tatooine, or Alderaan, a story that drives forward irrespective of a player's class.  None of the origin worlds have that, all of the narrative there is driven by the class story arc.

Some of the operations are already in the LFG tool.  Karaggas and Eternity Vault for sure have story mode in there, and Explosive Conflict may have been added (unsure on that one).  I don't think Terror from Beyond is available however.

To be fair, when has Lance Henrikson not been a badass?

In no particular order

1) Fluff companion conversations.  If you've played DA:O, ME/ME2, Kotor, or Jade Empire you know exactly what I'm talking about.  Having my crew stop talking to me once their primary arc is over gets annoying, fast.

2) Story replay.  Alting is fun and all, but a mechanic that allows one to go back and replay the class story itself would be huge (something akin to LOTROs reflecting pool mechanic mayhaps?).  Toss in a "new game plus" mode to let a player take his 50 against a level adjusted class story would be even more awesome.

3) Weapon customization.  I've gone back and forth about this one several dozen times, but the fact of the matter is that opening up more weapons for more ACs to choose from would be a great gesture to folks who want to customize their characters down to that level of detail.  Plus it might actually get me to a point where I could play a Commando without toting around a giant vacuum cleaner.  A balancing nightmare for sure, but perhaps a worthwhile one to tackle.

4) Stance flair.  On a similar, but unrelated, note.  Given how radically different the available saber stances are in the lore, having different (possibly customizable?) animation sets for different stances would be a huge tip of the hat for player customization.