Let's talk SWtOR!

[Kulyok]

I have all eight characters on both sides. Okay, let me know the name. But do check if you're comfortable playing - I'm suffering from lag from time to time even from Russia.

[Domi]

We have lags here too. Part of Korriban is basically unplayable: that room with the flying thinggies. Basically, we had to shoot them in slow motion while my husband walked in baby steps towards the rock with the words, one lag at a time...

 

EDIT: Forgot to add a whine: all these talented female artists and not a single wallpaper with all three heartthrobs on it for KOTOR2 sans a requisite male PC? What's community has come to?

[Twani]

Hah, a Professional SWTOR player? It sounds more fun then my real job, that's for sure!

 

I'll say this: male IA, you can flirt with everyone, it seems (and come Makeb, you can even play for the guys, too- my Agents, both of them flirt with everyone in sight to get ahead). And Watcher Two is the only one who hasn't been impressed. On the other side, you can't sleep with that cute Zabrak who's mad about you stealing your friends identity, and you miss a hilarious conversation with Kaliyo where the two of you discuss your taste in men (with a female Agent, I always thought you and her had a... um, what's a nice non-offensive way to say it, all I know are the offensive ways... oh, pals before gals, only gender reversed- as in you and Kaliyo will both be sleeping around and flirting with every other guy you see, but the two of you? Have each other's back, no matter what). On the other hand, on a male Agent, you and Kaliyo can go to being lovers, and you can almost get her to admit affection of sorts.

 

On the other side of Agentness..

 

"In another lifetime, I would have you executed."

 

Try it, little Sith. Master Conspirator Aa'lynne and her team of badasses will break you where you stand if you ever get up the nerve to try. Remember that so called-Darth who you all called second in power to the Emperor? I broke him to pieces and laughed at the remains back at level 37. (With a touch of regret, because he was awesome, but you? Not awesome.) If you get in my way, you will be shreds. The six of us will make sure of that. (Really tempted to buy Teek and go on my mission to find HK with Aa'lynne. Agents do it better, and thus they deserve more companions, right? Right?)

 

In other words, the start of Makeb? Looks like thing's are going to get interesting. Lokin and I are going to check out the sights, then I'll dump him for any one of the other four when it comes time to play combat. I do like Lokin an awful lot, but healer + healer makes for a frustrating team, and his DPS option is no Vector or Temple.

 

In other worlds and other lands, far away on Alderran and beyond, a certain Jedi Knight finished her Act I. Kulyok and anyone playing a Jedi Knight: around 30 on the fleet, a protocol droid will offer you the mission 'The Jedi Master'. You can get it from the protocol droid, but what he's going to do is direct you to go talk to a Jedi Master on the other ship on the Fleet. DON'T DO THAT TILL YOU GET YOUR ACT 2 STARTING MISSION. (That's around what, 35 or so?) Otherwise, you'll end up with a twist spoiled, and that's no fun at all. 35 is around the right level to run Taral anyway, so you're not going to miss a flashpoint or anything.

 

(Ran the new flashpoint on my agent. Seems fun, pretty easy- we had a DPS specced Jugg, another healing operative, and a DPS merc still throwing off a bunch of heals. So we were basically a three heals team running wild. I can't complain. I maxed out my planetary commissions, though... need to spend some. Too bad there's no droid equipment at the comm vendors... Scorpio could use an upgrade.)

 

As for the fate of my baby Trooper... not quite as DS as I had hoped. General Psycho: 'go kill these poor people BECAUSE THEY MIGHT BE CYBORGS RAWRGHHHH'. Flimsiest justification in the world, but hey, orders are orders, right? Aric: THESE ORDERS SUCK. Me: But they're orders. Aric: NO. Me: But they could be traitors! Aric: NOT BUYING IT. Me: But General Garza will be mad! Aric: DON'T CARE. (beat) SIR. -22, -22, -22. Okay, fine, that was flimsy justification anyway. Poor people get away. How about a corrupt senator who allied with a gang in order to beat a more corrupt senator? She did it for the right reasons, and she's done an excellent job rebuilding Corosount (...okay, no, Corosaunt is a complete mess and disaster as Kuylok pointed out, but we'll overlook that)! Aric: SHE'S A TRAITOR. I DON'T LIKE TRAITORS. Me: But she had good reasons! Aric: TRAITTOOOOOORRRRR. -22, -22, -22. Okay, okay, so we'll turn her in, fine, geez. Okay, here's one: senator buying slave chips, and he's attempting to make slavery legal. Not doing anything for it now, just fighting for it in the council. Well, that's democracy for you, isn't it? Nothing wrong with letting him fight his fight and see what comes on it. Aric: WE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. Me: But- Aric: FREEDOOOOOOM. -22, -22, -22.

 

On the other side, the true republic zealots and their plan sabotaging? He's all over that dark side option. We may fight for freedom, but I'm not sure we're fighting for democracy. We'll get back to you on that.

 

So right now my Trooper is hovering steadily neutral. I may just start dismissing Aric right before I make a DS decision. I don't mind getting -1 from my companions (-3 from the late ones, like Guss). But getting the minus -22 (going straight up to -139 if you really piss a late companion off)? That I try to avoid. My only character that has any money is my Agent, and she has a lot of gifts to buy for bribes for the Kaliyo/Lokin/Scorpio groups (plus maybe Treek and HK), so I don't want to spend it sending money to my lowbies so they can keep up bribing opposed companions.

 

My Trooper is pyrotech, though I'm going to play around trying both DPS trees to see which one I like more (I always hated grav rounds on me by opponents... might be fun to shoot them). So far, it's working out well, but as said, she's just a baby. My boy operative is now under the close combat fighting tree, because I like being all stabby stabby at things. BACKSTAB! Why don't all my characters have maul? I want maul more then force lighting.

 

My Inquisitor is so close to the end of Act 2, but she keeps getting her butt whipped by Talz. I need to run some flashpoints and warzones and get her another level or so- Assassins are so fragile, and her without a heal companion. Andry's not really equipped the best, either, since I mostly used Khem up until now. As weird as it is, Khem and Assassin together are working a bit better for me then Assassin and Andry together. May just pull the boyfriend out for conversations, and fight with Khem. Right now, though, I really want Talos. First thoughts on meeting him: he's adorable, in a weird sort of way, not boyfriend material, but totally BFF material. And HE'S A HEALER. I want a healer. I want a healer bad.

 

I might remake my Councilor, who's only 17, just so I can get the achievement on Corosaunt and Tython. I am such an achievement snob. I want them all!

 

Okay, romances. The only romances I've played to completion are Vector (Agent) and Corso (Smuggler). I've played Quinn (Warrior) pretty far, as well as Andridskisifuoisdhf, er, Revel (Inquisitor). Of them, Vector is by far my favorite. He's a weird romance option- he isn't your standard guy, and he's a very nice guy (usually nice guys aren't my type), but... you know the term adorkable that's all the rage? He's that. Extremely badass, extremely light aligned, at times extremely awkward and sort of dorky, but pure on adorable and lovely through the whole thing. He gets in some good snarks on occasion, too ("As always Kaliyo, you are the conscience of this team."), and I mean, okay, he is weird. I and Kaliyo call him bug-boy for a reason. And if you put him in the Jedi Order, no one would be able to tell the difference between him and your average Jedi, alignment wise, save for that he's supporting the Empire, not the Republic. I've heard some people say he's too freaky to romance, and I can understand that, but if you don't mind your guys a bit odd but extremely nice, he's perfect.

 

Corso? He's the guy next door. The Southern American guy next door. He's always polite and respectful to your smuggler, even when you make decisions he disagrees with (I could only find two time he flips, and that's if you sleep with someone he really dislikes or (male side) flirt with his cousin too much), and he's incredibly sincere. He gets a sort of low key jealous whenever you flirt with another guy ("You didn't tell me you wanted swooning!"), and I'll give him this: he's really sweet. I just can't shake the feeling that part of him wants to put my smuggler in a box and never let her out, because he has some old fashioned views about the place of ladies in society (to his credit, he never straight up brings it up, and in fact worries that he seems patronizing, so he's aware of it). I found there to be some sweet and adorable moments in his romance, and you can tell straight up he cares. It's just... look, the boy next door just isn't my type, in real life or in fiction games. So I could never get that in to him. Instead I wanted a lesbian romance with Risha, or a BFF in snark bromance (can it be a bromance if one of them is female?) with Guss.

 

Quinn and Andry are both much more interesting to me then Corso. Andry I get the feeling he's just looking for some thrills at first, then slowly falls for your Inquisitor despite how crazy she may be. Quinn, I almost get the impression that it was extreme respect boarding on an emotion similar to love at first sight. Both pairings are extremely unequal: both of them are non-force users dating a Sith. Quinn's pairing makes a bigger deal of that: he'll be calling you 'my lord' while making love confessions. Andry is more casual about it, but there's still a major difference in power. Part of that makes me uncomfortable, part of that makes it appealing to me. I don't know. It's mixed.

 

On the other hand, my Jedi Knight just met Doc on Balmora. And... well. I've not been playing my Jedi Knight as the best person out there- she's righteous, sheltered, naive, and convinced of her own superiority. But upon meeting Doc and his falling immediately in to flirting with my Jedi, I sort of felt "...Can't she do better?" I've heard it turns in to a ladykiller in love type thing, and fair enough for that- it's an interesting track that Bioware has a good track record with (Zev back in Dragon Age was excellent, in my opinion). But he's going to have to seriously turn on the charm once he hits my Jedi Knight's ship if he wants it to go anywhere, because with an Agent and Smuggler as big sisters (and a flirtatious little brother Agent), she's been warned about guys like him and seen them in action. I'm willing to give his romance a try, but he better bring out his best.

 

...I really like what little I've seen of Aric. He's just... surprisingly sweet despite the gruff exterior. I wish he'd go along with DS options, though!

 

I think I could make the connection to Red Eclipse, if I turned down the graphics setting. Maybe another Agent, and try this one as pure LS idealist who thinks the best about everyone? Won't get her any points with Kaliyo, but her and Vector will once again go far.

[Twani]

So let's talk about space, a bit. In a double post. SWTOR gods, forgive me!

 

Once you finish Corosaunt (one day, I'll learn to spell you!) or Dormand Kas, you get access to your very own starship. This, obviously is very cool, but only awesome if you get an Agent, as they have the best starship.

 

(I am somewhat biased.)

 

There's a little holoterminal near you galaxy map. Talk to it (it'll have the quest objective over it's head) and it'll sign you up for space combat. Your character will be given a callsign (or in the case of the eager Smuggler, choose their own callsign) and be told to head off in to the wild, wild frontiers where space combat blows.

 

Spacecombat is on what we call a 'rail'. You can move up, down, sideways and to the other side, but you'll always be heading straight forward no matter what you do. This can lead to some idiocy, as during some face combats your 'rail' insists on stupid stunts like running between very close headed asteroids (head up!), but after you run it once or twice, you'll generally have an idea on where your rail is taking you. You'll go straight forward, and on your way, ships and obsolesces will 'spawn' in your pathway.

 

Generally, each space mission has this: a required objective (escort the fighter to a warship, defeat all the specialized ships, shut down the sattelite), and two bonus missions. Problems? You can get the first bonus mission immediately, but your second bonus mission can only be got once you have a few levels on the space mission- once it turns gray, maybe even. The first bonus mission is easy (usually it's 'shoot the ships that are trying to shoot you'), and you'll probably get it automatically, The second bonus is generally more complicated, and much more difficult, and usually involves things like 'shoot the shield generators that have a ton of armor on them'. In practice, getting the objective and first bonus for missions are usually easy, getting the second bonus is hard. Once you get closer to 50, it gets harder and harder.

 

(You can check bonus missions on your Legacy/Achievements log page. It'll list all the bonuses for that specific mission, so you know what you're aiming for. Just remember you can't get the second bonus mission on level.)

 

There are only like, eight individual space missions- the rest of them are lower level missions refurbished for higher level play. The 'rail' is the same, so if you can defeat the lower level mission, you can defeat the higher level mission.

 

You'll need help, though. And what is that help called? Starship upgrades! In general, the merchant on the fleet (he's usually hanging out near the speeder merchant, and not too far from the companion gift merchants) will offer you level 1, 3, and 5 starship ugrades. The level 1 one stuff can be bought near level 15-20: when you first get your ship. The level 3 stuff is more level 30. The level 5 stuff is more level 50ish. The level 2, 4, and max level starship items can all be made by a Cybertech. If you're on Beregon Colony, I can make the starship items for you if you supply the material (unfortunately, I don't have underworld tech unlocked, so I can't get my own material on that character- other chars have to supply to her). On another server, you'll want to check the Galactic Trade Hub.

 

Space combat is one of those things that seems extremely confusing and hard once you first try it, but once you learn the rails, it becomes easy. Go to the fleet, and buy the level one starship components from the starship vender. Then, go to your own ship, and try the (something) Escort mission. All you have to do is take out enemy ships and turrets as your friendly ship dodges them. Once you 'memorize' the rails, it gets easy, and it's a fantastic way to make some experience on the side (as well as get some modifiable equipment for all stats).

 

Galactic Starfighter is a PVP space combat missions, and it's something entirely. This is space missions, which you get from your cockpit on your very own fantastic ship. I'll talk about Galactic Starfighter in another post, but for now, that's space combat.

 

Have fun with it! If you die, your equipment doesn't get damaged or anything, so it can be worth it to try it repeatedly till you figure it out then do missions for it. I call it my no hassle downtime: I send my companions to do crew missions, then I goof off in space combat while they're working for me. Easy way to make money. It's completely 'THIS IS A SIDEQUEST AND NOTHING IMPORTANT IS HAPPENING', but that doesn't mean you can't use it to your advantage and have fun!

[Kulyok]

Played until 2am yesterday(or was it today?) but my Knight has done most of Tatooine. It's all kind of blurred now - all these people I needed to rescue, people I needed to kill, and various things I needed to bring back.

 

Seriously, Tatooine is especially hard on my poor Jedi Knight's memory, because two major quest chains(planetary chain and class chain) are about a Major Superweapon/Artefact, and you need to Save Everyone, so times I literally wasn't remembering which quest is which. I liked the noble Sith quest, though(class quest), it was very Jedi. Will go out to the Dune Sea tonight, and then maybe complete Nar Shaddaa's bonus quests - and Alderaan awaits!

 

(I'm an achievement lover, too, but I think I won't be opening the Jundland map the second time - noooo. It pretty much tired me out with my Sith Warrior. Erm, I hope they're not placing any extra quests off the Republic paths, right?)

 

Anyway, looking forward to completing Chapter 1 with my Jedi Knight and then looking the Jedi Master(hehehehehehehehMYAHAHA!) flashpoint(there are two like with the Empire, right?). I want story flashpoints, they're very interesting. Most other flashpoints are just battle-battle-battle, but these mid-game ones are probably nice, I should try them out soon. I haven't played the new tactical flashpoint yet, but I should probably try it, too. Then again, it's not disappearing any time soon, right?

 

 

(reading about space missions) Second bonus mission? Uh-oh. (I had no idea whatsoever. Will look at the achievements page! I was absolutely and totally sure that I was doing everything cool and nice - go in, kill extra turrets/whatever, bonus done).

 

I've got a good level 31 cybertech character(my Jedi Knight, actually) for lower upgrades, but I haven't got any starship schematics. GTN, I presume?

(and actually, between eight of my characters, I _hope_ I've got all crew skills. I just wish all of them could have Biochem - reusables are very useful, especially if you level up slowly).

 

Anyway, I love space missions, though I've done the low-level ones to death, I admit. It's strange, though - I've done all missions before ~level40 with Grade 1 upgrades relatively easily, but after level 40++, I can't complete a single one even with Grade 5 upgrades, so I probably really need... I don't know what. The minefield is a total deathtrap, and I can't shoot the require number of mines in time! And the third icefield mission - they just kill my ship's armor over and over again. Sigh. I should check for level 6 ship upgrade schematics, maybe.

 

I think Agent's ship is the biggest and the flashiest, but Sith's is probably my favourite. Others are nice: the Smuggler's ship is pure Millenium Falcon, and Jedi's ship is very cosy(though it looks basically like a giant red iron). Trooper is okay, Bounty hunter's not so bad, either, with Bounty Hunter's ship having a cage and everything. But my first ship was Fury, the Sith Warrior ship, and I think it's the most convenient one - short distance everywhere, only one deck, mailbox close enough to GTN/hold/shop, and looks very nifty in space missions.

 

 

We may fight for freedom, but I'm not sure we're fighting for democracy. We'll get back to you on that.

 

HAHAHA! I remember these choices, yeah. Pretty funny. Me, I stopped playing "true republic fighters" quest, though, because it's dark no matter what I do - either I leave a potential defector to the Empire alone(stupid), or I snoop in his personal files(evil). Then again, I may come later and just finish the quest for whichever amount of points I'll need - easier than replaying Black Talon.

 

I love Aric, I just can't help comparing him to Garrus. I haven't played my trooper for a while, but I remember Aric was VERY accepting of DS options in class missions on Taris. Basically, Garza says = Aric agrees. (And he doesn't like Elara much. Then again, I'm pretty indifferent to her, too. Forex, on the other hand, is very cool, adorable, funny and is a total Shale, only it's all about the Republic. Speaking of droid armor, I've gotten pretty everything on Taris/Nar Shaddaa equipment/heavy armor vendors. Orange droid parts weren't available, though - I've heard you can get them on Quesh/Corellia - around those planets, and it's a long way for my Trooper and Jedi Knight).

Aric's pretty light-sided in general quests, though, yeah. But then again, I think Trooper's earlier companions are pretty much light - Aric is probably the only one who's accepting some DS choices at all.

 

(My worst affection drop was for Vector, around ~-300 points, when I sided with _____ at the end of Act 1. Well, naturally. And I love his line about Kaliyo being the voice of conscience, too. I think it was about then when I fell in love with him. Agent's flirt lines can be quite cheesy, though - Domi, be warned. But as long as you choose at least one flirt option, you're safely on the romance course, I think. Right?).

 

With Kaliyo, I absolutely agree - gals before naked Twi'leks, that's for sure! Me and Kaliyo, we've got each other backs(that, and I'm a sucker for affection points). And... you know, it might sound like a sacrilege, but I've seen some youtube male Agent romance with Kaliyo, and I feel that our f-f friendship is cooler. (And while we're not flirting, privately I think we both know that we _could_ do that. But we won't spoil a good thing going, so there!)

 

I've also gotten Talos Drellik's character story conclusion yesterday for my Inquisitor. Very touching. He's a great guy. I'm really feeling like Inquisitor's crew is this little family. (And Sith's warrior crew looks like that big, noisy, messy family where everyone's sister is missing and guys don't get along at the dinner table and there's a total lack of respect for my Terrible Sith Lord authority(but I've brought it on myself by becoming full light). But it's such fun to have them for the ride!)

 

And Maul skill! I love Maul for my Inquisitor! Chose Deception tree(middle one) exactly because my Sith Assassin wants-wants-wants her free Maul passes. Alas, she doesn't get that many with Andronicus(he's a good DD, but no threat generator, even with CTRL-1), so I have to use various CC tricks all the time, and they're not limitless. But Mind Trap works wonders.

 

 

EDIT: ah, you were talking about the start of Makeb! All right, now I know which Agent choice you've made. I've seen very little of Darth Marr, only my Sith warrior's starting cutscene for Makeb, and he was kind of saying "You're our last hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi", so I naturally liked that approach.

[Domi]

Wow, you guys rock ahead. We are almost through Korriban. I really like the environments, and what I can see of Inquisitor's story is lots of fun. But I really would like to move on. I played my IA for a while on my own cleaning up a quest my husband is not eligible for on Hutta. She gets parties invites left and right now, because she is stuck on the starting planets on Lvl 12. I feel I need a flag: "No thanks, has a Sith to baby-sit already." Now, with Khem, my husbands' character is doing fine, but we had awesome time slaughtering a huge monster together. So, one of these days Dusk-Fell is going to meet that adorable Vector guy you all recommend so much.

Tishujen the Smuggler got to Level 5. Corso’s default looks nice, and reminds me of a younger Valygar, but I think I am going to pull the Asian Customization #7 for him, because, well, maybe I have bad taste, all right?

Speaking of customizations, I spent some quality time browsing the options, and I am pretty happy BioWARE added that in the game. I will definitely be customizing all the romantic options.

I also tried the mailing system, it works fine, so I will be using Tishujen as a friendly Twi’lek smuggler to pass on the letters to and fro for my luckless Consular. I got them linked through adoption to the clan’s founder, and she’s a twi’lek. So, kindda, sortta fits. Zenith #8 custom pack, and I am ready to drool.

I am not sure yet if I will continue with the Glean, the Trooper. I can see how I can play her differently than Tishujen the Smuggler, really pro-republic and duty-bound. But holy cow, Aric got a short customization stick. I mean, Khem has 14 custom appearances, and Aric got 4, and he is probably the only Cathar around who manages to look crappy. Like that cat-doctor girl is super-cute. Male cats can be, you know, handsome….

Also, guys, thanks for the helps so much, have everyone eligible now trained in crew skills. Gods, so many things to do in this game, AWSOME!

P.S. I am thinking that I would make a pureblood Sith Warrior on the red Eclipse, but I have a feeling I will never catch up with your characters. Interestingly enough, all Europenian servers show up as light for me, while the NA as standard and heavy. Not much love for this game in Europe?

[Twani]

I ended up staying up till 2AM running Flashpoints, too. Never again- at least not on a school night. I'm not young enough anymore, heh. Back in my teens, I could stay up all night raiding then jump to high school/collage at six without thinking about it, but all it did for me this time was exhaust me and make me conk out this afternoon.

 

Yep, space missions have two bonus objectives. The first space mission you get- whatever it is escort (Jamal? Jandor? I think it might have started with a J), there's the main mission of escorting the ship, the obvious bonus mission of shooting the enemy ships, and then the 'not as many people see it' bonus mission of taking out the frigate's turrets. You only get like two passes to do that and you have to take out every turret, so missiles are basically needed, but that's how it goes. In the mission where you need to take out the space station's comm towers, hangers, turrets, and shields, there's the obvious bonus of taking out the other ships, then the second bonus of taking out the frigate's turrets and the four defense satellites (the defense satellites are easy, the turrets again you only get like two shots at them). That's all I remember off hand.

 

I made myself the level 50 purple cybertech ship gear, and I still can't complete the 40+ space missions. Which as a shame, as they're new ones, not retooled, but in trying them I just die ignobly. I think some of the recipes come off the fleet vendor (you buy them with comms), and some of them are just drops.

 

As for ships... the Agent's is so flashy and new and bright and sexy and sleek! I just love it. The ship I really don't like is honestly the Jedi ship. The inside is fine, but the outside is so... red... in ship missions that I feel like "HELLO I AM A TARGET HAVE YOU MET ME I AM A TARGET TODAY". I don't remember at all what the BH ship looks like, honestly. Better get that baby BH to DK and doing the missions, though I worry doing the BH right after the Agent will bore me as the world missions are all the same. I also like the smuggler ship and the sith ship...

 

(Speaking of world missions... republic Alderran. I mean, you start off fighting against house Ulgo, and end up finishing fighting against the pretender king, but the story there is just so loosely tied together that it almost confuses me. Compared to how tight the world plot is on both Tattooine and Balmora before and after it, it sort of feels like some writer was feeling lazy. My Jedi Knight likes being a paladin, though.)

 

In other news, I am so not doing that Colocid mission on Balmora. Nope. My Agent did the Balmora bonus, and my Smuggler did the Balmora start, and all my other characters are just going to do a 'this is the job of you soldiers, not me' and skip the stupid bugs, because I hate those stupid things. And I hate their War Games even more. I'm only going to do them once for the Achievement, then hopefully never again.

 

Aric better start liking some DS options. I know the next two companions are almost pure light... I can't wait till I get Tanno. I need some support in this cold, grey, world! That my companions seem to think is very black and white.

 

Yeah, I got around -300 or so drop with Vector during my finale, before I dropped him for Lokin and ended up with +200 instead. Vector probably wanted the pure LS choice or the pure Empire choice, but the first option wasn't available for me and the second option... hah! No. Sith bad. So I go with the selfish choice, and Darth Marr's all like "My people are not accustomed to following the orders of a ghost", and I'm like, "Welp, too bad for them." I've heard Darth Marr is great in the Inquisitor's storyline, but for my Agent he was obviously restraining himself from trying to kill her the whole time, and I just kept trolling him all 'IMPERIAL INTELLIGENCE IS THE BEST THING EVER ISN'T IT <3' 'Obviously we're (spoilers) because of SITH INFIGHTING YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT'. Lokin, at least, was amused. Kaliyo probably would have been too, actually. On the other hand, Temple probably would have died of affection loss if she had been there.

 

I need to play both my Inquisitor and my Warrior (my poor Warrior is still stuck on Tattooine), but I'm really tempted to see where this Makeb story is going now. Darth Marr basically told me (grudgingly) that I'm the only one who can fix things... and, well, for the empire and all that. I'll have to try it on my Smuggler, too, and see who I'm getting orders from over there. The Supreme Chancellor?

 

(How did she get that promotion after losing Taris, anyway?)

 

Korriban is just hilarious as an Inquisitor for getting to shove the fact that You Keep Surviving in Overseer Harkin's face (it always amuses me- if you take the DS choice on Hutta, with the dad trying to escape with his son, Harkin sends you a thank you email- classes tying together!). And Lord Zash is an interesting character as well. Korriban is probably my favorite of starting planets, with Inquisitor being my favorite 'prologue'. They have some good stuff once they get to DK, too. Agent still wins in best story in the end, though! Warriors are fun, too... anyone's fun on Korriban. Such a pretty planet.

 

Khem is quite possibly the easiest companion to gain affection with in the game, but the problem is that all he likes are DS choices. There's like, three times I can remember where he actually approves of a LS choice. The rest of the time, it's pure DS (and snarky replies, too). Kaliyo leans mostly DS, too, but she has a bit of weakness for other aliens trying to make it in the world (not that she'd ever admit it) that occasionally causes her to support LS.

 

Yeah, Aric sort of got the short end of the stick in companion customization. He really only has four? I just checked and you're right, but that's ridiculous. I wouldn't want to add the full mane to him (the Cathar males with the full mane's are ugly too, in my opinion) but he could at least do with some hair that it's in a horrible style. Not that I mind bald guys, but at least it would be an option...

 

Remember, with crew skills, whatever you don't use (and you'll probably admitedly use a lot), you can sell. Some people just buy everything they need to level a skill from 1 to 400 for their alts off the GTN, and especially with rare ingredients. My bio girl outleveled the first tier, and had around 20 alien blood still hanging around. That sold for a pretty good amount on the GTN.

 

Sigh... I feel like I should be modding (for BG1). I have banters all done, interjections all done, major story talks all done, and now I'm just goofing off *not* writing the lovetalks. I keep playing SWtOR instead. Bad me. At least I'm getting my studying done?

[Kulyok]

No rest for the wicked gamers!

 

I really love the starter planets, especially Korriban, because they are so story-heavy. The class missions are very deep and there're a lot of them, and even non-class missions are tied into the story(find the acolytes-traitors, check Sith bloodlines, fight a monster and learn your destiny). Harkin's a dear - you start appreciating him when you're late in the Inquisitor's story line and you come back to Korriban to look at your future apprentice. "You've come a long way, my lord".

 

I'm usually not customizing the companions, because I get used to the default looks pretty quickly, and I become conservative like that. But I gave Aric the blue-eyed customization, jewelled face to Kaliyo, and grey-red colors to Khem Val, and these seem to be working nice. Tried customizing Corso, but couldn't - I've gotten used to his default face. He's nice, though I can't help thinking Rhett Butler in space would've looked more dashing. But he's nice. Though... Corso said that he was born a farm-boy, then he served in Peace Corps and seen a lot, yet he's got no PTSD, nothing - he's surprisingly well-adjusted, which is a red flag. But whatever. Could be worse, I think.

 

As for server population, I'm getting Heavy and Standard on Red Eclipse, and there're several instances of the same planet, so there're quite a few people. It has its upsides - live chat, company for flashpoints and so on, but it also has its downsides - you're sometimes having people in your way, getting your quest items and so on. I haven't been to other servers, though, so I can't compare.

EDIT: it might have to do with time, though - when I log at 6pm, Moscow time, there're few people around. When I log at weekend at 9-10am, there's practically no one around. But around 10-12pm? Thousands.

 

Sith Warrior... heh. My first Sith Warrior was pure dark side(but honorable), and then she finished Korriban, went to Black Talon flashpoint and couldn't finish it with Vette(Padawan boss)! I tried and tried and tried, but 11 level, solo - I just couldn't. And I didn't know how to exit the flashpoint, so my character was stuck. I thought it was a sign from the gods, deleted her and started a new light-side Sith.

 

(How did she get that promotion after losing Taris, anyway?)

 

I don't know why *her* specifically, but, yeah, came to my head, too. We gotta be thankful it's not Garza, I guess.

(As for "why there was a promotion at all" - huge, HUGE spoilers for one of the class storyline finales. Not even naming the character class, because you'll know the answer immediately. But if you know already, I'm falling silent).

 

Ran the new Kuat flashpoint with my level 16(17 now) Smuggler yesterday. Didn't enjoy it much, I fear - no story content at all, just running around and doing the grind. And though you are boosted to level 55, your healing equipment doesn't get boosted, so, um, not so good. I will probably not replay it and never get all 100500 achievements for the flashpoint, but ah well.

 

And I finished Tatooine yesterday with my Jedi Knight! Including every Heroic 4 quest, yay! (Java's Concern was terrible, but we got through). Now Alderaan - either for the Jedi Knight or the Bounty Hunter. Don't know which yet.

 

Bounty Hunter's ship is a weird green thing with three forks sticking out of it(~120 angle between them). It's dreadfully bad at asteroid fields, because one of this forks will always get in the way. But I'm loving the way you get this ship.

 

I'll try level 50 recipes for the ship parts, thanks! Well, once I reach level 50, I'll be able to use them(my main is still level 48 and hasn't even been to Belsavis yet - so much other stuff to do).

 

(Speaking of world missions... republic Alderran. I mean, you start off fighting against house Ulgo, and end up finishing fighting against the pretender king, but the story there is just so loosely tied together that it almost confuses me. Compared to how tight the world plot is on both Tattooine and Balmora before and after it, it sort of feels like some writer was feeling lazy. My Jedi Knight likes being a paladin, though.)

 

I know, right? It's the same on the Empire side, I think, even with the bonus series. I keep hoping tnat I would run into at least one class that would have class missions tied in with the story, but so far it's like it exists in its separate universe - house Organa on the Republic side, house Thul on the Empire side, house Ulgo as a nice common enemy, and you're running errands in between, paying no attention to the big stuff. Ugh! I know the developers couldn't give one side a cleear victory, but the story feels pretty loose, yeah.

 

 

Colicoids... meh. I did the Inquisitor's quest, and I did all the bonus quests with my Sith Warrior, but I'm NOT going to do it again, and that's final. My Bounty Hunter and my Agent both went class-quests-only. Looking foward to seeing Balmorra with my Jedi Knight, though... and Doc. But I really, really, really don't want the Republic to win. Grrr! Quinn and I spent days bringing Balmorra to order, and now they're going to spoil everything?

(then again, my Agent pretty much let the Balmorran resistance blow up everything, and my Bounty Hunter sabotaged all the Imperial Intelligence achievements and killed half of the stuff, and my Sith Inquisitor killed a couple of high-ranking military guys, too, so no wonder).

 

 

 

EDIT: Also, this is probably really obvious stuff, but I'm reminding myself: watch the equipment, especially the weapons. I just noticed my level 17 smuggler had one purple level 9 barrel, and one blue level 11 one in her orange blaster pistols, which means her weapons were basically worthless. I immediately switched to blue level 17 barrels, of course.

[Domi]

(Groans) I still have nightmares of yesterday night. We decided to do a flashpoint. Holy cow, it took over 2 hours to get through it. At least 3 tries of each battle. That last boss couldn't have been lvl 10, no f'ing way. Hilariously my wimp of a Consular was the one to finish him off after my husband's Knight bought it yet again. I don't seem to be able to use Benevolence to heal him. WTF? Wrong spell? Low level? Have to target? Another disappointment (apart from IE at work not allowing the paragraphing!!!) is that word count on the letters is limited, so I was unable to paste my first letter from Tishujen to Quinly in its entirety (and it was only 331 words). Darn. I dunno if I will have to learn to write succinct prose, or pay 5 credits for every 100 words to be delivered. The things I do for love.... Woke up early this morning (overworked my foot, crap) so advanced Tishujen a couple more levels ahead. I think 3 characters is the best I can do at the same time without becoming crazy. Though I am starting to see that group play with my husband is far better than the individual one. After that flashpoint.... yakes. I doubt my Sage can do it on her own. She sucks a big time atm. Gonna try to see if I can get rotations for lvl 12... I can never seem to do the Telekinetic throw, it always gets 'failed' message?

[Domi]

I have managed to get Mod2 for weapons or armour, should I add it to the Lightsaber or the robes? I am not yet up to speed on crafting. I gotta do this crystal thing Kulyok described...

Sigh... I feel like I should be modding (for BG1). I have banters all done, interjections all done, major story talks all done, and now I'm just goofing off *not* writing the lovetalks. I keep playing SWtOR instead. Bad me. At least I'm getting my studying done?

Two out of three is pretty good! Studying is great!

[Kulyok]

Heh, I'll see if my family play works out(my dream is having a party of three, but we'll see). I think it's nice. Well, in a group finder queue you get a party of strangers where you have to be polite and accomodating and follow others - and it drains me a little. Family should be better. I'll see if we can communicate via chat, though - because I am not fond of teamspeak/ventrilla stuff.

 

You can always return for the flashpoint later - at level 13-14 it should be less trying with two people and companions, and you'll still get XP. Coruscant beginning quests are very good for level 10-12.

 

By the way, another tip: if you want to keep running and not press w all the time, just click numlock button once.

 

With mods, it doesn't matter much, because they give their bonuses no matter where they're inserted - just keep all your orange armor/weapons filled. If your orange weapon already has a mod, and your orange armor doesn't, then insert a mod into the armor. Also, your weapon hilt(if you're a Consular) or barrel(if you're a Smuggler or an Agent) should be close to your level(i.e. if you're level 14, it should be for level 11 or level 13). Your enhancements/mods shouldn't go below ~8 levels, and your armorings(in the armor) shouldn't go below ~4-6 levels(or just use green and blue armor pieces as you go - most people do that at low levels).

 

I hope your Sage gets by! To be truthful, I think it's the most difficult class in the game(ironically, I may begin it again eventually, because I miss the glowing sphere shield a little). Telekinetic throw works if 1) you have the yellow bar for it; 2) the cooldown is finished; 3) you're close enough to the target; 4) you've selected the target. Otherwise you may get errors, yeah.

(though I wonder - you're writing letters from Zenith, but how, if you haven't seen him and his character? What if he's completely different?)

And, yeah, I got to look low level rotations, too, that's interesting!

[Domi]

No, no letters from Zenith (yet). I am setting the correspondence between the Consular and the Smuggler who happens to be a Twilek, so I am going with the adopted sisters story (reflected in my family tree) and hopefully keep them in correspondence for a million years till I get her to Balmora... I know, I know, I am nuts. I am going to try the old Ryleev's lyrics for size for Zenith "любовь никак не йдет на ум,

Увы моя Отчизна страждет..." etc. Not sure if he would fill in the shoes, but hey, I grew up with adoring the freedom fighters c. 1825 so... even if it is not there, I can provide.

[Mike1072]

Your idea of sending letters between your characters boggles my mind, but that's pretty cool.

 

Regarding the flashpoint, the difficulty will depend greatly on who you went with and at what level. Flashpoints are better suited for players than companions (companions do dumb stuff like stand in fire and they are generally not equipped with as good gear as you are) but that doesn't mean you can't try to do it with 2 players. Esseles is a good one to practice on, since it's relatively forgiving for the level you get it at. If you wait a level or two or find some other people to run it with, you should be able to get through it with 0 deaths in under an hour. The gear the bosses drop is very nice - I picked up an orange-quality jacket for my smuggler in Esseles and the jackets he was being offered near the very end of the Coruscant quest line still weren't as good.

 

Orange-quality gear is the best! Unlike other qualities of gear, which become quite useless in combat at higher levels, the stats provided by orange gear are completely controlled by the modifications put into it. If you find something that looks super cool, you can hang onto it forever. It might be too much work to always keep it upgraded to your level (completing quests just tosses loot at you left and right), but it's a nice thing to keep in your cargo hold until you're ready to make your character look awesome.

[Twani]

For healing on your sage, you do have to target the character you want to heal. So you'll have to click on the side or hit F2 to target your husband's character, cast your heal, then hit tab again (or click, but clicking seems slower to me- then again, I type for a living) to target the monster, then go back to F2 or whatever to heal. I think it's F2. If you don't have another target on screen, you'll just heal yourself. I think you can target your companion by hitting F1 twice, but I have no idea how you target your friend's companion (T7, I assume). But keep trying with the flashpoints. Black Talon and Esseles can definitely be done by two players- later flashpoints, you really need four players unless you've outleveled it. But honestly, Black Talon and Esseles are probably the most fun flashpoints in the game. The rest of them are almost all action, no talking. And you can get, as Mike said, some really nice orange gear for all classes in them.

 

Speaking of flashpoints, just ran Hammer Station on my baby Agent and had one of the worst tanks ever. Half of his equipment was broke, and on a squishy Assassin, that's double death. He never stopped to use his 'cool down/health regen' after battle, which meant I needed to keep him healed between fights too and was constantly going in to battle with half energy. Even after I pointed out his equipment was broken, he died and didn't talk to the repair droid standing RIGHT THERE to get repaired. Finally got to the last boss, where of course he couldn't figure out to not stand in the circles or in the rain of fire bullets (now, he could have been new, in which those things were understandable- but I asked him if he was new or hadn't ran this flashpoint before, and he never responded). At that point, I just gave up on him, and we had the mercenary tank, the other operative take care of the adds, and me heal them both. He came running back in to the battle again, promptly stood in the rain of bullets and died again, and just... sigh.

 

I sometimes send emails between my characters too, actually. It started when I was sending companion gifts from my smuggler to my agent- the letter looked dumb with no words in it, so I did a "HAI LOOK AT ALL THE COOL STUFF I FOUND! Just, uh, don't ask how I acquired it! You probably don't want to know!" Then my Agent had to say thank you, of course, because she wasn't raised in a barn, and as they're both Chiss and set up as sisters in my family tree she also took the time to congradulate her dear younger sister on that secret wedding to Corso. My smuggler, was of course incensed to know that her sister knew about this secret wedding because it was supposed to be a surprise for the next family reunion, and because this meant my agent had put bugs on her precious, precious baby (also known as her ship). My agent countered that she just had to know what her sister was up to, of course, it was for her own good, and really, now, little sister, are you seriously working for the republic? The republic? Aghast! And it kept going from there.

 

(Speaking of family reunion... Agent and Vector, Smuggler and Corso, Jedi Knight and Doc, and Agent and Kaliyo. Kaliyo and Vector will be so confused "So I think I know your identical twin", Doc and Kaliyo will be incredibly awkward (exes, eh?), and Corso will probably be freaked out by Vector- who's an Empire patriot on top of a Joiner. Most fun family reunion ever!)

 

I was thinking about it today, and I'm thinking the reason there's no romance with Zenith is probably because he's DS aligned (he's pure 'you're terrorists are our freedom fighters'). Going through the companions- Trooper: Aric and Elena, Aric will sometimes tolerate DS but is mostly LS, Elena is pure light. Jedi Knight: Kira is pure light, Doc is pretty much the same (just not as much pro-republic). Jedi Councilor: never met them, but LT and Nadia are pure light and pro-republic, from what I read. Bounty Hunter, Mako is way too light and Torian is pretty honorable light as well. That's half of the classes. Then let's look at Smuggler, Agent, and Warrior. Corso is light and Risha is mercenary but light, while Sparr is only a bit dark (she has a sense of honor, but she doesn't give a darn about the republic or the empire). Warrior, Quinn is usually light (but for the empire), Vette is light, and only then do you have Jaesa who is dark (and a brief affair with the dark Pierce). Agent, Vector and Temple are light (Vector's about as light as it gets), and only with Temple as an option do you have dark Kaliyo.

 

There's only one exception to this, and surprisingly it's for the gals- Inquisitor has Ashara who is as light as fluffy bunnies and ice cream clouds, but Andry is... actually pretty darn dark side. But in all but one case, romance options are LS UNLESS males are getting two romance options and then they sometimes get a DS character thrown in. Also, all biologically female characters are romance options. Guys? Not so much, and all but one of them are human (unless we want to count bug-boy).

 

In other news, a new Cipher Nine has been born, and has taken his new ship of sexy and sleek out in to space. Him and Kaliyo are going to go far. Real far, as it's a long time before getting company. Only problem? Balmoraaaaa. ;_; Do I want to do Balmora on my Agent, or do I want to do Balmora on my Jedi Knight? Either way, I lose, because it's Balmoooorrraaa. Boremora. I think Kaliyo puts it best when she notes trench warfare is too stupid to be fun.

 

Problem with male Agent: Watcher Two, again. She has a fairly decent romance arc, I know- it runs through most of Act I, then gets broken in Act II (leaving you free to pursue Kaliyo or Temple, I persume). The problem is you have to basically flirt with her in every option to get it ticked on. And the problem with that? At least all the way on Dormand Kass, she turns you down. She even gives you a plain 'I admire your skills, but I just don't think we're compatible' line just before you leave the planet. (Then, on the Balmora holoterminal, you're given the option to flirt with her again.) The problem with this is that, well, it's squicky. I feel like my Agent is being a giant sleeze by keeping flirting with her. She shows absolutely no interest, she's said no, and she's stuck being the characters co-worker and minder so she can't avoid him. I feel like screaming "THE LADY SAID NO" at my Agent, because no woman, not even a digital one, deserves some guy constantly coming on to her while she's just trying to do her (highly stressful, I should add) job. Yet I'm keeping on with the flirting so I can just see that romance arc. I just feel disgusted by it. My Agent's sisters would probably strangle him if they knew how much he was harassing this poor woman.

 

Belsavis is another horrible planet. >.> I'd be in no hurry to go there, either. XD With my Agent, I was all excited, because LAST COMPANION WEE, but if you get your last companion on Hoth, it's just... blargh. So many fences...

 

There are four extra parts on the fleet spaceship vendor for spaceship parts- one I know is level 50 only (I think it holds protean torpedoes or something?). Those help with the higher level missions, but they're just not enough. High level missions are hard. ;_;

[Jab]

Well the new flashpoint is actually very good news. It might give a chance to unexperienced players to learn from the more skilled. But still, Im having a break from SWtOR.