Let's talk SWtOR!

[Kulyok]

I'll be hoping for the next weekend. Twani, I hope things went well with your lawyer - best of luck(and skill to them!), in any case.

 

I spent half of my day grinding for conquest - crafting and such. It was fun - playing the flashpoints, grinding the comms, even crafting and doing the Voss weekly solo for the first time in my life. I think clever developers are just testing us this way, and I must admit, they're right - I'm playing the content I'd never have played otherwise.

(too bad I haven't done Nightmare Pilgrim - I'd have loved to, though).

 

I bought basic Tatooine and fully unlocked Coruscant. Just couldn't resist, I guess. After all, my char on the Progenitor bought a Varactyl(just because a long-time player like me should have one in her zoo ) for a million - so I should really have Tatooine, because if I can spend this much for a mount, I can spend this much for the whole stronghold.

 

It's pretty beautiful - the balcony view, I mean. Still, strange, like a still photo - I think the midday sun on Tatooine is much more realistic.

 

Then I spent all my trophies and cheap metal thingies to get 100% completion on Coruscant, 80% on Nar Shaddaa and 40%(base limit, no rooms unlocked) on Tatooine. I also have 89% completion on Dromund Kaas(my pretty decorated cave), so I'm quite happy with my current conquest bonus of 77%.

 

Speaking of which, I got 38k points for my guild. When I was leaving, we were #1, but I'm not sure - another guild is breathing down our neck, and the third place is active, too.

 

 

So, conquests aside, I'm playing with my alts, finally - and having fun! I went through two flashpoints and the class quest chain on Tatooine with my evil Jedi Sentinel, Elro, and then through two Black Talons - with my newbie Mara, Quirrell. Quirrell is playing with Vette, and I'm liking this - it's good to have a talking companion for one. I might even take her through some of the game, until it becomes too hard. But I can always overlevel.

 

Tatooine with an evil Jedi Sentinel was great. Male actor for the JK is much better than the female one(her age shows): he's sarcastic and mysterious all in one. Love him!

 

Also, I was pleasantly surprised that you could take the Sith guy and turn him to the Jedi without making a single light side choice. Naturally, I chose that.

We had a fun conversation: "Such power... I can't believe how strong you are. If only you turned to the dark side, you would've made a fine Sith." - "Maybe that's how I beat you." - "Ah. Suddenly my defeat stings much less."

 

Heheh.

 

Also, a fun but sad moment on Black Talon - I was with two newbie ninjas and one girl. During the last convo, I said goodbyes, and the girl quit party RIGHT BEFORE clicking the last panel. Um. I hope she did get the flashpoint reward, but I don't think so - you only get it after you transport. Sigh.

 

I get money by GTN'ing, though I'm spending it all on those pretty, pretty gathering decorations - I want my Grade 9 free bio stuff. It's not much, but it IS much when you have 18 alts.

(and those cartel market decorations cost 500k and 1mil! Horrible. I'm waiting for the price on the Grand Statue of the Emperor to drop. But those cartel certificate decorations ARE expensive.)

 

Can't sell my white crystal on the Progenitor - got an offer, but by the time I COD'ed, it went cheap on GTN. Ah, well, I have time.

 

I also tried starting a Dragon Age playthrough in Origins, and I couldn't. Compared to SWTOR, I just can't. Or maybe I've played it way too many times. Same for DA2.

I guess I'll have to use Dragon Age Keep to model my import, instead.

 

Also, I just want to build a perfect DAO playhthrough, but I can't, because something imperfect is always happening, and I can't decide if my choices are ideal. Should I fight Cauthrien? Should I surrender? Should I kill Leliana, befriend Leliana or ignore Leliana? Should I let Redcliffe burn or solve all those side quests? Should I work for the Chantry if I'm a Dalish? Way too many things to solve.

 

(Solas isn't Dalish, though. Huh? Is he from an Alienage, then? But he's unmarried - is he considered a child? I just hope he doesn't have wife and kids somewhere.)

 

But I do enjoy ME - I played through Eletania yesterday, with those monkeys, and it was kind of nice. I may even finish that playthrough... eventually.

 

(And bad news on that short story competition - I finished first in my group, but in the finale, all the texts were... well, not "mine" as a reader, so, naturally, my text didn't appeal to my competitors, either (it's anonymous and everyone votes for each other's stories, but unfortunately, others immediately understood it was my story - by my distinct style - so maybe that's why I didn't get many votes. Ah well, I'll learn and write better!))

 

And I think I'll abandon tanking entirely - way too stressful. Though I met some great tanks, especially shadow tanks - they are amazing. I might still try with healing, though.

 

 

 

As for Obsidian and romances - it's their money they're losing. I'm not buying their game after the "no romances" thingy, because I feel they don't respect me as a player. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

(I still have to play KOTOR 2, though. Hmm, maybe next week - I have a short vacation, after all).

[Jab]

Well I also unlocked the whole Coruscant flat. I bought few overpriced things from gtn not knowing, that I could get them cheaper for prefabs. What a moron I am. Still I don't understand, why anything costs cartel certificates. Lux. red rug or orange bed are therefore very expensive on gtn, even though their diffidently coloured siblings are quite cheap. Anyway with my limited budget it will take me months to buy the stuff I want. I am now at 20% completion.

 

Also sold my last 162 enhancement. My vanguard still died yesterday, when heal wasn't healing. I started more characters. Rakatta sith assassin and twilek smug. I am not sure about them though. I don't really like their appearance much.

 

P.S. A flat would really need a bathroom or kitchen. And there is no dining table as well.

[Kulyok]

Ah, I'm really sorry to hear that. But you'll be able to craft prefabs and earn some money back. (And be careful - people are selling ice ferns real expensive, but it's not a decoration, it's a tauntlet quest thingy! I bought one

not knowing.)

 

I'm at 89% completion, but I'll be decorating other flats, so it's a loooong way. And I don't like the bedroom - can't decorate it properly, don't know why. But it's exciting! Huh, now I want other strongholds, just four sounds so... so not enough!

 

I agree, no baths or kitchen utilities are strange. I have a cantina arrangement, but it's mostly drinks, and you certainly wouldn't use a casino table to eat dinner! Sigh. Maybe there'll be new ones.

 

I completed quesh with my Merc and Corellia(finally) with my Shadow, and on both planets, I kept noticing various nice things - displays, computer consoles, rugs and such - we could use as decorations. I'm sure they'll unlock some soon. Or not so soon, but eventually.

 

 

Still reading Imperial Entanglements: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=649409&page=28

It's very good, the author's really dedicated to continue it, but I feel like I want more evil stuff - those heroes are too much of do-gooders and moralists(Jadus is crazy, everyone evil is bad, bad, bad! Yawn). Still, nice.

 

 

And about conquests: I really don't understand why dailies for the planet are not included. If you're trying to invate Czerka moon, then Czerka flashpoints and dalies sure must be giving you points! Same for Black Hole dailies/weekly, no?

[SapphireIce101]

Solas isn't even a city elf either. From what I understand, he may be an "Ancient Elf" that may have been asleep for a really long time. So, if he had a wife and kid, they'd be long gone if this is true.

 

Also, I finally got to a part in the IA story that I already haven't been through. Yay.

[Domi]

As for Obsidian and romances - it's their money they're losing. I'm not buying their game after the "no romances" thingy, because I feel they don't respect me as a player. I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

(I still have to play KOTOR 2, though. Hmm, maybe next week - I have a short vacation, after all).

 

I feel the same way - with so many games on the market, I will go and purchase the one that suits my tastes and doesn't make my PC into an emotional cripple.

 

Wow, Kulyok, you do more in a day than I do in two-three weeks! Way to go!

 

Jab, sorry you overpaid! If your chars are new, you can always just go back and rebuild them again to get the look you like. Myself, I love Twi'leks the most, and can easily throw the one I like together. However, because my settings were low when I built Rhodion he ended up with freckles I can now see on high res! I am going to take him to the appearance adjustment terminal for a tiny cosmetic correction, LOL! 'Cause an evil Scoundrel with freckles... just too funny! It took me a while to build a Rattataki I liked as my Sorc, but I totally love the exotic result with tons of tats, piercing, and those pale colors working awesome with Imperial blacks and purples. He does look like a Sorcerer.

 

What else? Well, I did a bit of Makeb, but stopped because I felt annoyed with Bio by two reasons - Tefani not being available for a planetary romance (oh, zut, here comes a fun Zabrack, finally, and he is married?) and because I can't for the life of mine figure out the way to the eastern portion of Talaos city map, that has the planetary quest continuation. I did H2+ because I was lost. LOL! I sure hope that the rest of the map is easier. Thanks to the PvP I am pretty pleased with the equipment now, and feel like running an unbroken stretch of Makeb-Oricon.

 

In purchases, I have bought the Section X unlock for Eric, so once he has a bit of time (it is a crunch now) we should be able to do it for the first time! GTN was stupid on harbinger. Overpriced, unpderpriced, collapsed prices. Just mind-boggling. Dunno. I managed to spend credits stupidly unlocking the legacy of crafting on a wrong character (by some reason I thought it gives crit bonuses, but it's just augments), so yeah. Good thing it's only credits.

 

My Vanguard did not get far. I remembered that I don't have Black Sun cleared by some reason in my legacy, went back and got boggled down talking to questgivers. And now I have to drop the quests save for the SIS agent that by some reason gives tons of affection with Jorgan. Funnily enough I like playing with Jorgan on a male PC more than on a female PC. Go figure.

 

EDIT: Oh, yeah. I looked at my IA. She is not even keybound. So, not yet. I think Mara will come first after Tishujen is enjoying a quiet time after Oricon.

[Kulyok]

Haha, I did that AREA H2+ because I was lost, too! Never again, though - way too grindy. But it's good to be able to solo it. Wish I could solo Makeb's H4 - last time I tried it, it was a disaster.

 

The way to the eastern part is really annoying - down the ramp, then up via an elevator(you have to climb up to get to the elevator, though). A guide may help if this post doesn't.

 

And, yeah, appearance designer is my friend - though it's way too expensive for non-subs. Might be cheaper to make a new char.

 

I think I'm not going to finish my vanguard, though. Or ,rather, I'm going to leave her, but not play her. I de-guilded her already. Commando/merc is much more friendly - to me, at least.

[Domi]

I haven't even seen the elevator - thank you for the tip. I will pull a guide once I get speeder to the end of the road. Fingers crossed the rest of Makeb is easier to navigate.

[Kulyok]

My guild finished first in the conquest, but I didn't get the guild reward yet, so I wrote a ticket for the customer support just in case it bugged out.

 

Going to see Tatooine or Nar Shaddaa heroics + flashpoints tonight again. I think I'll try for the reward, if we're going for the first place again. But currently we have two top guilds, Mint Imperials and Drop it like it's Hoth, which ALWAYS take the first place and NEVER compete, i.e. they always take different planets. It's useless to rven try to compete with them(first guild is conquest-oriented and extremely good at PvP, second is simply conquest-oriented, i.e. everyone does the personal reward), and I just hope our GM won't place us together with them.

 

(And our guild is probably going to go haywire: we've got 1/2 ratio of accounts and alts, and half of the players have 0 conquest points, so... ugh... I don't know, but we might see quite a few kicks. Hope I'm not one of them.)

 

Okay, I had a terrible headache yesterday because of the changing weather, so I just did the GTN stuff(bought another rancor for 5 mil, going to sell it later), and played a bit with Vette and Quirrell in Dromund Kaas. Heh, I love all the classes, but Mara is my first love. It's so much more comfortable than being an agent(though I love being a sniper).

 

(if we reach level 40 on the Progenitor, I'd like to bring my level 40 mara for one of the playing sessions. )

 

Nothing else interesting, though we've seen Shrek 2 yesterday, and the first episode of the new Doctor Who. I admit, the script sounds a bit strange and bad at first, but it picks up, and it's downright amazing by the end.

I think I recommend it. I'll miss Matt Smith and Amy, just as I missed David Tennant, but well, such is life.

 

And, hey, it's September, so new TV episodes of my favorite series are coming! Person of Interest, Chicago Fire, Once Upon, Grey's Anatomy, Grimm, Vampire Diaries and so on. Nice!

 

And Domi, check out this conquest's numbers: they're reducing PvP points, but each time you kill an enemy, you get a hefty bonus!

[Domi]

Sure, would love to see your Mara I haven't had a chance to do anything really yesterday. Sure, it started well enough with the huge dump of snow, so my kid wanted to build a huge snowman. I pulled Tageren out in hopes of finishing Coruscant to have him ready for Bounty Hunting this week (since our game with Dromund Kaas is still only up to going to Graham's Estate), but somehow, somehow, after five chars through Coruscant I missed a couple of exploration achievements so I drove through the Black Sun trying to uncover every single nook and cranny, and... had to photograph the gigantic snowman. Then the snowman tumbled and we had tears, hot chocolate, looking for a specific tiny lady bug from a Museum of Glass we got while on summer vacations and that mysteriously disappeared (it's a thumb-nail sized). Then she decided to go build an igloo, and I reported a quest and got annoyed 'cause I hit Level 17, and there is only 1/11 exploration achievements on the Legacy for the Works and 0/1 for the jedi temple (HOW?) So, I gave up, and went to bed leaving my hubby to deal with the igloo building project.

 

Yes, I like how they have re-organized Conquest for the PvP. Normally, people do just fine, but I was in a few thrown matches and it was not fun. But if the kills are rewarded, we will see the whole dueling instead of objectives thing, gotta watch out for the farmers going for the squishy characters w/o good skillz. Like mine, lol.

 

This morning I was on the ball with my amazing social skills, as I have missed the first bus, so when I spotted my chatty coworker approaching the bus line for the second one, I sneaked in the dark across the parking lot to the second stop, so I could duck into the bus, take a sit in the front where he can't see me, and god-damn read my Locke Lamora. I finally got my hands on the Republic of Thieves, and I am lapping up the whole Sabetha is finally introduced thing (after 2 books and many years of waiting on the third one, I feel I am entitled!) . Heh. Of course the stupid bus made it downtown just as Lamora climbed through the window with that vial of poison intended for captured Sabetha, said F**k it, and is obviously about to pull the grandest escape scene ever written, and here I am needing to write yet another report just like the one I wrote yesterday and... yeah, the e-mails. Oh, well.

 

Grind in the game, grind at work. I am excited about the prospect of earning another Legacy weapon or two with my unparalleled Bounty Hunting, but I'd rather be finishing Makeb...

[Kulyok]

Snow? Oh wow! It's still early-early autumn here, we're waiting for the golden autumn, really.

 

I think I managed to explore Coruscant once, but I decided to never do it again. Heck, the very thought of hunting for Coruscant datacrons makes me sad. I might do it one day, but probably not now.

 

PvP: I'm thinking that, yeah, people in more or less good pvp gear would probably be hunting for newbies. But you've got lots of expertise, you're a 55, you can easily squash those guys. I mean, 13k per hit? They're dead. (Saw some pvp-geared versus pve-geared dueling not long ago).

 

Looking forward to a looooooooooooooooooooooong patch upload today. New pack, probably? And, yay, Bounty Hunting and Rakata Prime! And conquest - not so much yay, because grinding, but I can at least try some FPs.

 

I haven't read Scott Lynch yet, but since you're describing him so vividly, I must try! I'm reading short stories by Alice Munro - they're really amazing, I want to write like her, but, heck, I don't know my birthplace half as well as she knows hers. But it's not about the birthplace - it's so much about the people, and she knows them, she knows how to write them. Amazing.

[SapphireIce101]

You usually get guild conquest rewards on Tuesday, like when its Tuesday on the Pacific coast of Canada/US.

[Domi]

I am better geared now, but still a crappy player. I am a DoT spec, so my single shot damages are not spectacular - I don't know if I ever got that 5000 damage with one hit achievement in any of the zones. My cumulative is usually okay, but it takes a lot of skill to make it count. I still lose my head when a Melee gets to me (I am bad at starfe, so when I am on my feet, I have troubles facing the target, hence I kite more than shoot), so yeah, my best bet is still finding a nice quiet place with my back to the wall or sitting high, and spamming DoTs and CC's from cover. Hopefully at the targets I am trying to target If I find someone squishy, yeah, then I can rake a kill... but it's rarely easy, between stealth and fast pace.

[Kulyok]

Mmm, DoT... speaking as an Anni Mara, that's sweet, sweet burst damage. But I know nothing about PvP, I just know that stealth classes/healers rule, which means operatives are the worst/best.

 

And thanks, SapphireIce101! Will check my conqueror title as soon as I get home(and spend like eight hours downloading the patch!)

[Domi]

It depends on which type of PvP you are playing, but a high level of coordination is crazy important, so you have your champion to achieve the objectives. Contrary to the popular belief, PvP is not about killing other players. All in all, in the PVP the most valuable things are stealth, speed, CC, mitigation, pulls and pushes. An OP healer is the best healing option (their vanish and disruption make anyone to pull their hair out). Seer is not a good idea, but a Balanced Sage/Shadow is the best DPS class (because there is no mitigation and cleanse of the Force Damage and it slows a target). I would have never though that I was playing a powerful class, when I swapped to a Seer on Alderaan, but duh. Shadows rule the day, either DPS or tanks, but you gotta know the strategies to do the playing rather than the fighting bit. There are also awe-inspiring strategies that require a combination of the abilities between say 3 players to move fast across the area to the objectives. For example, this sequence, published yesterday. This is not what you can actually see during the match though, as it is a pretty disjointed experience:

 

 

 

1st goal : Out of the gate, sentinel run buff, shadow pick up the ball, sage set up for pull top mid, shadow force sprint to endzone, rougly 40sec in-game.

2nd goal : Leap mid unremitting up, awe, pick up the ball, walk to top mid, guardian leap, force push an ennemy endzone, switch with shadow for the pick up.

 

It's one of those things you'd never think up yourself....

 

Mara has very, very, very limited uses (yeah, you can cast Predation, good stuff), and the general advice is not to play a Mara. They die fast, are easily kited and normally never stands a chance to unleash any of their damage against the other classes. I am dreading having to take Becchino in to earn the Obroan relics. I certainly not planning to earn Brutalizer on her, b/c it's juts going to be mostly sitting in the death zone. So, as long as I have my 1,400 comms, I am outta there!

 

I dunno, I am very much a groupie rather than a player, I am absolutely in awe of people playing really great games.

[Domi]

Aww, just saw a dev post that 3.0 would be 'spoilerish' for Rakata Prime. Which, like, means no content for me. What is that obsession with Flashpoints?