Raithe

Hit 45th level with my SI, and just landed down on Voss. Suddenly realised I'd slipped into Chapter 3 at some point, and not sure when that actually happened....

The gale force winds are still tearing around, made a delicate pounding throughout the night and still going strong. Have that slight tickle feeling of an oncoming sore throat, but I'm mostly ignoring that. Need to do some basic research on dating agencies for some work related matter.. and its making me feel ever so slightly dirty for some reason..

Apparently it took them much less time then anticipated. They said it would be 8 hours.. but they're up and running and have been for a couple of hours already. Hm, we should probably create a collection of who is on what server , with what characters rather then all this scattering through the thread..

.. Mildly aggravated. Someone comes in, waits until you take a bite of food, and then as you're chewing starts asking you questions. All you can do is chew and kind of do the whole.."uh..i can't answer my mouth is full of food that I'm chewing" expression. So they keep asking questions. And get all shirty with you because you can't answer and then stomp off. .. It's like.. jesus, give me a moment to actually chew and swallow.

I missed the cult member you can flirt with somehow.. You know, you'll be catching up with me soon if I don't manage to get back to playing.... And I don't think you can change that legacy name once you've picked it... Every character you create on that server will now be Spartacus.. (although you can choose not to have it displayed)

That's only in Chapter 1.. it aaaallll takes a twist in Chapter 2...

Which story did you try? Supposedly the style of each class is different, the smuggler story is meant to come across much more.. light-hearted and swashbucklery compared to the agent story which is menat to be more "bourne ultimatum" atmosphere. I haven't actually explored those yet, so I can't say. I'm curious as to which you did go with and how far you managed to go.

Feel free to pass on my Sith Inquisitor's name if either of you need help. Although I have to say, the space station is a big circle, and has a good map. How do you get lost on it??

I have to admit after my intensive first 10 days I'm giving myself bigger pauses in playing, it's definitely taking a time to go up levels once you hit that 38-40 mark. I've only managed a few hours this week. Belsavis as a planet has a very nice combination of visuals and atmosphere. It actually feels a bit varied compared to some of the other worlds. Alderaan has a very nice aesthetic appeal, just the mountains/forests and trails leading up to snow covered valleys has a curiously soothing effect. And it's quite impressive how they've managed to keep Hoth visually interesting and varied within "ice, snow, and more ice". Although as you get into those planets, exploration really takes a turn for the harshness. If you're not careful you'll find yourself wandering into zones for vastly higher level characters (such as areas where level 45-50 characters will be returning to those worlds). That and if you're not paying attention you can wander into a Republic settlement without realising it and find yourself facing the level 50 guards who have several hundred thousand hitpoints... The short emails you get from various people days after completing some quests can be a nice touch. Provides a bit more feel for the universe, and the fallout from choices you made.

Thoroughly miserable weather. Heavy winds, slating rain. Kept waking everyone in the family up repeatedly through the night. Got a nice pounding headache to accompany it. Shoved some laundry through, sorted out mom's pharmacy supply for the day. Having a cup of tea and about to hit the asprin. Wondering whether I need to keep an eye on the dogs or if I'll just try crashing back to bed for a few hours.

But it did lead us to Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight...

It's the way the padawans get quite aggressive /bribey within a few words. Something doesn't feel quite right about it. Hm, managed to hit about Level 3 with my Legacy now, be curious to see exactly what they bring out for all of that. Still, having title and legacy have "Lord Drayke Khorval" proclaiming over my character is kind of funky. Having to deal with the abundance of light side points gained from looking after the Imperial Troops I encounter with my Sith Inquisitor is being a wee bit hard, but there are still plenty of ruthless moments that aren't casual cruelty/sadistic behaviour that provides the dark side..

And in movie trivia news... The swordsman who played Darth Vader during THAT fight sequence with Obi-Wan Kenobi died on New Years..

The second season of Sherlock started tonight. Although calling three 90-minute episodes a season is kind of interesting. Sherlock updated to 21st century London. Stonkingly good episode. Introduction of Irene Adler, the only woman to outsmart Holmes, although their version was a 21st century Dominatrix. Very well played, and they managed to play out some serious chemistry and interplay between her and Holmes. Tensions, machinations, violence, and even quite a few funny sequences. Well worth a watch.

Got back from my evening out. Round at a friends, general small gathering. Fire out the back, throw in the new years with some fireworks and sky lanterns. Some port and cigars. Oh yes. And Whiskey Clouds. Trust a phd chemist to follow in james may's footsteps after seeing that show. I will say, tis an interesting experience. Was a fairly pleasant time, although had a section of conversation with a friend and his bride to be about the upcoming wedding next year. The whole trip to mexico for it, her family, his family, that it probably won't be the full formal church wedding since she's catholic and he's not. Although he's got a brother, he probably won't be the best man for various reasons, and I got told I was on the short list for that role. Heh, had my friend do the whole " the important thing is that the best man is there to take the groom's place if he disapears or can't make it for any reason, up to and including marrying my fiancee". So she was all "What, is that some weird English tradition??" Home, and having a mug of hot chocolate and feeling strangely depressed for some reason that I can't quite figure out.

Salutations and best wishes for the New Year..

I went with Artifice, Archaeology, and Treasure Hunting for my Sith Inquisitor. Which is pretty much the traditional three for Force users I think. I've also got my Jedi Knight with no craft skill, but Archaeology, Diplomacy and Investigation. Thought that would make an interesting mix. I haven't made any decisions for the other characters I've started dabbling with, but then they're all still on their starter worlds.

It might be part of the whole early access thing, but I'm finding that when the evenings roll around and I jump on to play it, there's like 20 or so people on the higher level worlds.. and they're pretty much concentrating on world/class quests rather then heroics. So that does put a small crimp on casual heroics.

And with the slide into the new year..

Hah! I rode that one. 30 minutes in, just as that sandcrawler came into view.. it all glitched. the balloon disapeared and both myself and the other person riding it found ourselves stood in the middle of the dune sea. .. I do plan to go back and get them..at some point..when I have a whole stack of credits to while away the time on crew missions. Hit level 41, had an immense amount of "travel to planet x, talk to dude, go to ship, talk on intercom, travel to fleet, talk to dude, go to planet y talk to dude, go to ship, talk on intercom"... Spent an hour doing more back and forth from planet to starport, to inquisitor hangar, to ship then anything else... And for the fun point, finally go to Belsavis and find that while my previous Class mission was a 41, all missions from that point on are 42. So I'm thinking of returning to Hoth to work in some heroics to get up there...

Been puttering back and forth on a few things. Managed to slip in about an hour of Tor-play. And some running the dogs around. Tis being quite miserably wet and rainy outside as well.

Indeed. You only get three crew skills. You can however change them if you want to shift around, but then you'll lose all ranks in the skill you swap out. You can have three missions skills, or three gather skills, 1 craft skill and a combination of 2 others, or any similar mixup. But three is the max. And every companion you get will have bonuses to different skills. Of course, if you have skills other then the one a particular companion has bonuses with, it has no effect.

Had such an enjoyable bout of insomnia. Didn't manage to fall asleep until it had gone past 05:14 - Well, the last time I checked the time before I managed to achieve some modicum of sleep... The day has arrived with constant rain for the last few hours.. I am contemplating what mental gears need pushing to actually achieve stuff ..

I seem to be having that slight rest from Tor, only played an hour of it this morning.. and that was actually creating a couple of new characters. Put a smuggler and a sith warrior on the board as well to dabble with. Letting my Sith Inquisitor hover on Hoth at the moment, that is a serious amount of white expanse. But I have to admit, they've certainly managed to give it a certain aesthetic appeal and broken it up with a variety of icey wasteland type environments. I will say it's kind of amusing to catch up on flashpoints that you forgot to do. Going back when you're way over level you can run through them solo and pick up the lore, get to make the choices you want to see how things will play out.. Although you do lose some of that social aspect..but heh, both can be fun in their own way.

We have been getting various knuckle-bones and the like.. the trouble being if they're inside the house they stink up the carpets... If they're outside the house.. he's coming back in covered in mud...