With the Impending launch of The Old Republic, Republic Trooper is looking to fill a minimum of two positions for technical columnists to cover all aspects of the Trooper class. Any interested parties should meet the following criteria:

Welcome to the Mess Hall, where every other week we will lay bare a new topic to be discussed on the upcoming episode of Combat Chatter. This is the Mess Hall, so eat up, get loud and say what you have to say! There are no ranks here…

Years of development have gone into the creation of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and now we are a mere couple of weeks away from the long-awaited release of the biggest MMO in nearly a decade. Huge budgets and enormous betas have melded with passionate fans, inspired story and breathtaking visuals to bring us to this point. The man-power, dedication and interest in BioWare’s opus have created a juggernaut to rival the coming of the Beatles.

So you’ve decided to form a guild for Star Wars: The Old Republic. You’ve picked your side, your server type, set up your guild website, and you’re all lined up for BioWare’s Pre-Launch Guild Program. You’ve managed to attract a solid group of guild members, and everybody is eager for launch and for the beginning of the adventure. But wait! Before your guild goes off to save (or conquer) the Galactic Republic, there are some common errors new guild leaders should be aware of. As someone with over 8 years of guild management experience at the executive level across two game platforms, I hope the following will be helpful to new Guild Leaders. This list is by no means exclusive – I’m sure one could think of other potential pitfalls – but these ten items are, in my estimation, the most serious.

Marik watched his sister float in bacta, unchanged for weeks. After the disaster on Balmorra, he had gone for more intensive combat training while she underwent surgery after surgery. Despite all the efforts of a dozen surgeons, Kira had lapsed into a coma. Leaving her side was the hardest thing he’d ever done and the six weeks spent on Ord Mantell had felt like six months. Returning to Coruscant was all he wanted and now that he was here, he felt helpless and useless.

As your character grows more powerful, you will see them gain new skills and abilities to complement the superior gear they acquire.