SW: The Old Republic - Episode VI (The Old Menace)

[Gorth]

He might be a "glass" cannon in his shiny new DPS spec. but he went through the first part of the HK quest, like it was nothing (which was giving a severe headache before and had to abort the mission in the first few attempts). Might also have helped that the companions are way better geared now, so it could be either a combination or just the latter. Hard to say for sure now. Gained the last level too for him doing the Theoretica part, now maxed out at 55.

 

Late edit: Used my free rename token and gave the name 'Gorth' to a level 20 smuggler. Not quite the level 35 my Powertech had when he was robbed of the name, but better than nothing. Since my smuggler girl is level 47 I guess the first parts of the smuggler story is/was so long ago it doesn't hurt to play it again. Also managed to grab 'Mike' for an agent (forgot I should have tried his last name, Thorton intead), a green skinned jedi girl named 'Emerald' (I know, bad pun on skin colour), an Inquisitor named 'Zorglub' (his mind bent on world conquest) and a few other guy names that is for not yet planned use.

[Gorth]

Hmm... been crafting a bit. Looks like implants can have augments too?

 

I guess that means earpieces and implants can hold another 3 augments between them, so basically every slot can have one.

 

Struggling a bit to boost my defence. Numbers looks something like defence 13.94%, shield approx 33.5% and Absorption around 33%. (hp is around 30k, damage reduction around 50% with ion cell, the rest is without any activated abilities). Still room for 5-6 augments (installed a number of shield and absorption already, but above mentioned 3 plus handgun and bracers/belt don't have any yet). The rest will have to come from upgrading remaining mods from 66 yo 69, better implants and then get started on 72 mods. Only just started collecting a few handfuls of elite commendations though. Where do you get the most bang for your buck so to speak when spending your (currently) precious elite commendations?

[Spider]

Unfortunately the comms gear for tanks is pretty awful.

 

Iirc, earpiece and offhand are the only pieces that are decent.

[Gorth]

Thanks. Of course, getting home from work early today, I just started up the client and get a 1003 error when trying to connect. It could have been a network or router error if wasn't for the fact that it's only Begeren Colony having the problem. I can log in a play characters on Harbinger, Red Eclipse and a few others just fine. Just not the one with all my main characters *grumble*

 

Then I tried logging in to my f2p account from my work laptop (as in a different PC altogether) and that one just hangs indefinitely. Yay...

 

Edit: Using the launcher 'repair' option was the first thing I tried. Time to contact customer support I suppose.

[babaganoosh13]

The guys who are training me on the Acme's & New Britain's for the most part just play MMO's. Basically, they've convinced me and one of the guys whom still gets the books to finally get this game. We still follow Pre-RotJedi lore. In my case, I'm just going to be leaving my computer in town here. Heck, I've got fantasy hockey anyways. We've got inventory coming up, so that will be a 4 day weekend the two of us will have with it, less 1 and a half for me anyways when I have the kids.

 

I figured I'd buy the disc version, because of the chunk of the download I'd save, plus preferred status after the month. I just wish the updater went on before you need to log in; save me a full day of updating before I can play. First patch, nearly 7GB; dowloading between 200-300 KBps.

[Gorth]

Welcome to the Fun Side

 

Careful, depending on whether the game pushes your buttons correctly or not, it can be quite addictive. Looking forward to hear about your adventures. While there are official forums, I prefer to discuss/share the game here. Gromnir, Hassat and Spider (and a couple of others) are quite helpful with advice, tips and tricks for those of us who are not exactly "hawks" at this type of game.

 

Edit: From Gorth's little mmo blog, my smuggler is now level 49 and got one more kingpin scratched off my to do list over the weekend. My trooper almost has the parts for my second HK (need to get the Dromund Kaas and the two Flashpoint parts). It's actually a bit of a shame that you get him so late in the game.

[Hassat Hunter]

Well, provided you got 1m (or pay with cc of course) you can get him from lvl 1 on your alts.

Sadly, he wont have fun stuff to say during missions and you will probably loose influence using him instead of your companions since no hits are added.

 

I haven't really bothered with the bounty hunter event this week (despite only being 'hero' level). Couldn't be bothered, and was much more fun leveling and questing my bounty hunter.

[Gorth]

I maxed out in the Bounty Hunter reputation last time *), so I'm really just trying the various kingpins for the challenge and the different fights. Still got a grudge match with the Nar Shaddaa one (completely wiped the floor with me).

 

On the other hand, my level 18 Jedi Guardian tank and Kira beat the Ord Mantell kingpin (the one mentioned in the post above) all by themself. I had crafted and mailed a bunch of purple gear and mods for him, but it was quite gratifying beating him and freezing him in carbonite.

 

Haven't tried the Voss and Dromund Kaas kingpins yet.

 

*) Edit: Almost maxed out, was around 200 rep points short. Just sneezing at the beginning of this bounty season brought it to the max.

[Gorth]

...and made a killing this time around selling out of a large surplus stock of rep tokens (which I've been saving up first because of the weekly limits and then forgot about them)

 

Still, since you can now buy vanity stuff for fulfilled contracts, I suppose there will be a (minor) reason to keep doing it on a smaller scale in time to come. Also a nice source of combat practise, xp and credits for low level toons.

[babaganoosh13]

460MB to go on the first patch. I don't like how slow the red bar is moving below it though. Hopefully the others are a lot smaller and quicker.

 

Will I be able to use force lightning before I go to sleep? Are Jedi's able to use Force Lightning as well? I always equipped my good Jedi's with that as well in KOTOR.

 

As Heretic proved: There are not too many things cooler than shooting lightning bolts from your fingers. I think that's also why I had so much fun with socks and carpets when I was a kid. It's also why Palpatine's hair looks like this under his robe:

 

[Gorth]

Short version: No.

 

Long version: The game has 8 "base" classes, 4 imperial and 4 republic classes. Some of them force users, some of them not. 1 of the base classes has the "force lightning" capability. Each base class can then specialize in one of two "advanced" class when reaching level 10.

 

In reality, the 4 imperial and 4 republic classes are "mirror" images of each other, so there are 4 play styles (8 when it comes to advanced classes). Each of the 8 base classes has it's own main story line through the game though.

 

The class for Palpatine wannabes (force lightning) is 'Sith Inquisitor'. At level 10 you can then chose between sorcerer or assassin advanced class. All force users can use lightsabers, but you wont get it before you get close to level 10.

[Hurlshort]

On the Jedi side, the consular has similar spells but they are more wind and earth based.  I guess it is less evil to dig up boulders and throw them at people.

[kirottu]

Consulars pebble attack is the lamest attack ever.

[babaganoosh13]

That's kinda disappointing. Too bad they didn't put mechanics in for your Jedi/Sith to turn, or better yet, let them go grey and try to balance the force in them. Of course, a large chunk of people would probably just do that then.

 

If I was still into WOW, I would have wanted having to choose sides as a panda be optional. Better yet, they should have had it after Cataclysm, let your character go through a bunch of quests to be a diplomat or something, so that way you could traverse the other sides major and minor cities without being attacked by the guards and other people (assuming you don't try to attack them first.)

 

Needless to say, it will be PvE for me. If I feel like playing against other real people, I'll go to a battleground - or a space battle when they're implemented.

 

In the mean time, it downloading my second update (1GB), and it's not half way done the entire install. I don't think I'll be playing it any time soon. I really wish they didn't make you have to log in to update the game. Oh well, what's one less day?

[Hassat Hunter]

Hopefully you didn't register your copy yet... so it wont go off your 30 days...

[Spider]

Didn't they have an option for streaming install? A guildie of mine reinstalled the game yesterday (new computer) and he could log in to and play the game after 30% of the install was done. Not that it helped him since he was doing an operation and only had accss to the starter lpanets, but should have worked for you.

 

Anyway, you can certainly go dark as a jedi. It won't change how your abilites work or anything really, but you'll get the dark side look on your character (if you leave that option turned on, that is).

[NOK222]

On the Jedi side, the consular has similar spells but they are more wind and earth based.  I guess it is less evil to dig up boulders and throw them at people.

 

It's silly that Force Lightning is seen as evil in the series. 

[Raithe]

 

 

Edit: From Gorth's little mmo blog, my smuggler is now level 49 and got one more kingpin scratched off my to do list over the weekend. My trooper almost has the parts for my second HK (need to get the Dromund Kaas and the two Flashpoint parts). It's actually a bit of a shame that you get him so late in the game.

 

Hm, as I recall, if you've unlocked him once via playthrough, you can use credits/cartel coins to unlock him for any other character on that legacy at any point. So you could potentially get access to him at earlier levels if you don't want to have the hassle of dealing with the somewhat annoying search and find hunt for parts.

I think that's the biggest shame, the Heroic (2+) parts of that quest line are pretty damn good for story and atmosphere, but the locate parts is annoying as all get-out.

[babaganoosh13]

Fortunatly, the client download was only 30 MB or so, so I got it going.

 

Right now, Khem Val has kicked my butt twice because my guy wont heal. I've had him on the edge both times.

 

EDIT: 3rd times the charm

Edited November 18, 2013 by babaganoosh13

[Hassat Hunter]

The thing you see a lot in TOR now is hatred to new players... how the storylines are so easy, you should have no trouble with them, etc.

 

Of course those same 'pro's' tend to forget new players don't have;

1) Large presence boosts

2) -5 min recharge on Heroic moment + double duration + all the bonus spells it gives

3) Probably those datacrons (if they know they exist at all)

4) The 5 companion one-time boosts

 

It can get a little tiresome on chat sometimes hearing those 'elite' players chew out new players... and they always forget all the above :/

[entrerix]

i never really understood why force lightning was considered evil.  its probably less evil than just shooting someone in the kneecap with a blaster right? 

[Gorth]

Hm, as I recall, if you've unlocked him once via playthrough, you can use credits/cartel coins to unlock him for any other character on that legacy at any point. So you could potentially get access to him at earlier levels if you don't want to have the hassle of dealing with the somewhat annoying search and find hunt for parts.

I think that's the biggest shame, the Heroic (2+) parts of that quest line are pretty damn good for story and atmosphere, but the locate parts is annoying as all get-out.

I'm probably a bit old fashioned and wanted "earn" my HK (just like the Tauntauns I've collected, got 5 of them so far). I promised myself to play through the quest line once as Imperial and once as Republic. After that, I might be tempted to trow CC coins at him... if I want more HK's at all.

 

Besides, almost all the digging is done and I only need the Dromund Kaas one for completing that bit of the quest, leaving the two FP's and a revisit to the beginning to assemble the parts.

 

The thing you see a lot in TOR now is hatred to new players... how the storylines are so easy, you should have no trouble with them, etc.

 

Of course those same 'pro's' tend to forget new players don't have;

1) Large presence boosts

2) -5 min recharge on Heroic moment + double duration + all the bonus spells it gives

3) Probably those datacrons (if they know they exist at all)

4) The 5 companion one-time boosts

 

It can get a little tiresome on chat sometimes hearing those 'elite' players chew out new players... and they always forget all the above :/

Unity is worth its weight in gold. I give that one part of the credit for me being able to solo a Kingpin at level 18. I still feel like face palming for getting my trooper and bounty hunter over the proverbial finishing line together as their bonus is redundant (doesn't stack).

 

Just to change subject, I've found a place on Alderaan where those purple crystals grow and when going there anyway for GSI missions, I visit the spot and pick one up. Got a handful now. I know I need to do something with them, but not quite sure what. My guess would be Tyhon and/or Korriban (since magenta crystals is an artifice thing, very jedi/sith like), but I don't remember seeing anything there that could process crystals?

[babaganoosh13]

i never really understood why force lightning was considered evil.  its probably less evil than just shooting someone in the kneecap with a blaster right? 

It has got the same bad rap with the old Jedi Order as what relationships does, as they considered it to be corrupting. Depending on what Disney and JJ Abrams keeps in the XU, Luke, Kyle Katarn, Mara Jade and others use what they call Emerald Lightning. Galen Marek in The Force Unleashed still used it as powerful as ever when he went to the light side. In the comics, Cade Skywalker can combine FL with Shatterpoint, and basically use it like a defibrillator to save people from the brink of death (or he can kill with it too.)

 

On the flip side, to quote Darth Plagueis (Palpatine's master) about Force Lightning:

 

"A Jedi sufficiently strong in the Force can be trained to produce a facsimile, but not true Sith lightning, which, unabated, has the power not only to incapacitate or kill, but to physically transform the victim. Force lightning requires strength of a sort only a Sith can command because we accept consequence and reject compassion. To do so requires a thirst for power that is not easily satisfied. The Force tries to resist the callings of ravenous spirits; therefore it must be broken and made a beast of burden. It must be made to answer one's will. But the Force cannot be treated deferentially. In order to summon and use lightning properly, you will someday have to be on the receiving end of its power, as a means of taking the energy inside yourself."

 

--------------------

 

I guess I'm going to abandon my Sorcerer for now. The guy from work I'm playing with absolutely insists on being either a Jedi Knight or a Smuggler now. Why?

 

 

EDIT: On the flip side, I'm going to keep doing here what I did on WOW, and name my female toons after plays on the names of famous current and former transvestites. Grupaul returns.

Edited November 19, 2013 by babaganoosh13

[Spider]

Just to change subject, I've found a place on Alderaan where those purple crystals grow and when going there anyway for GSI missions, I visit the spot and pick one up. Got a handful now. I know I need to do something with them, but not quite sure what. My guess would be Tyhon and/or Korriban (since magenta crystals is an artifice thing, very jedi/sith like), but I don't remember seeing anything there that could process crystals?

 

 

Apparently you go to The Forge in Tython or west Lower Wilds in Korriban.

 

http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/62861/where-and-what-are-the-unusual-crystal-formations-on-alderaan

 

From what I can see they're used for the mid level schematic, ie +33 stat, which aren't very frequently used since the +41 in the cartel market.

 

In regards to HK, I think he occupies a weird space. He's a decent companion to hae when you're running dailies or similar since he does make things die faster. But when you're tackling harder content, a dps companion is rarely what you want. Tanks and dps characters would rather have a healer, and healers tend to prefer tanks. So while HK is awesome, I don't think he's worth the fairly hefty price to unlock on different characters.

 

Treek is much more useful (covering boh healing and tanking) and is more reasonably priced, both for single character unlock and for the legacy wide one.

 

Of course, being an ewok can be considered both a drawback or an advantage depending on your preferences.

[Gorth]

Actually, they seem to be used for all levels. The link also gave me the answer what I needed the "shock frozen" water for that I ended up with in my inventory one day running around doing GSI missions

 

I've never seen a +33 schematic, but I got the 3 mid level schematics (endurance, power and critical) and a single higher level schematic. I think it dropped from a HM flashpoint.

 

Not sure if visible on screenshot of my Sith Warrior (rather dark image), but they also come in +41 versions.

 

 

I might have to get a few guys together and see if I can get that last magenta crystal bit for a slightly less popular/unusual colour.