ShadySands Posted October 21, 2015 Posted October 21, 2015 I've got my companions doing nothing but gift runs and I still feel like I'm making no progress I'm a bit bummed that even the bought companions are now as cookie cutter as the rest. They are all super powerful now and I can see a nerf coming for that, right now I can just let Lana do everything while I go outside and smoke a hypothetical cigarette PS I hate that I have to do a lot of PVP to recruit a certain companion. He probably won't get recruited. Free games updated 3/4/21
Gromnir Posted October 21, 2015 Posted October 21, 2015 I've got my companions doing nothing but gift runs and I still feel like I'm making no progress I'm a bit bummed that even the bought companions are now as cookie cutter as the rest. They are all super powerful now and I can see a nerf coming for that, right now I can just let Lana do everything while I go outside and smoke a hypothetical cigarette PS I hate that I have to do a lot of PVP to recruit a certain companion. He probably won't get recruited. yeah, we mentioned above that we shoulda' started doing companion gift runs when we first resumed playing swtor, but we didn't know how companion influence would work and if old gifts would become useless for new companions. couple things we learned real quick: 1) save basic comms to buy the level 8 gifts, but dont use them... yet. ok, that sounds odd, but hear us out. the vendor on fleet that sells level 1 & 2 greenie gifts is still in business. if you got time on your hands, and you wanna do comp increase most efficient, you can BUY your way to level 20 influence w/o too much pain. as soon as you get a new companion, head to fleet and boost their influence to level 20 with monotonous gift giving. if you use your comm purchasable level 8 gifts, or the level 5 gifts one can acquire from diplomacy or investigation or treasure hunting or whatever, you will quickly gain too much influence to get results from the level 1 & 2 gifts. so use cheap gifts firstest. after doing all the star fortress fps (which you can do solo?) you will likely have a full set o' the gear you could be able to purchase with basic comms anyways, so save those comms for level 8 gifts. 2) your companion legacy affection increase perks are no longer useless. for 180k of credits, you can increase both gift and conversation influence increases by 30%. purchase these immediately to maximize their use. is mind numbing dull, but if you wanna increase companion influence (new or old companions), take our advice and invest in the perks and buy your way to level 20 influence asap. conversation gains is static and do not decrease as you increase influence, but gift usefulenes does decrease as your influence increases. use gifts as much as possible before any conversations. hell, if you got the full 1000 basic comm max, am believing that you can get a majority o' your new companions to level 40 (reach 20 with level 1-2 gifts and then to level 40 with your level 5 or 8 gifts) long before you finish the chapter 1-9 material. again, am not suggesting that our advice is fun gameplay, but it is efficient. HA! Good Fun! "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
Gromnir Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 so much for early access-- harbinger is down. HA! Good Fun! "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
ShadySands Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 I just realized that my matrix cube disappeared and I've been running with only one relic. I just barely started upgrading my gear because I was having issues with a certain flashpoint only to notice that I was still in a mix of 186 and 192 gear. I had enough radiant crystals for two items so that was nice Regarding the gifts, I didn't have enough patience and only got every to at least 10 to 15 except for one person that I got to 34 since I've been running with them the most. Would have kept going but I finally ran out of common crystals and thought the GTN was asking too much Free games updated 3/4/21
Gorth Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 Best class for giving gifts is a combat sentinel popping zen and an alacrity adrenal. Watch those gifts getting force fed your companion in no time (alacrity reduces the time it takes for the gift giving to channel) Made it to chapter 5 so far. Will check out what those gift giving options are, as my old toons were "still" at affection level 10 (had maxed out all of them in the old system). “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
213374U Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 Regarding gifts: Mixed example, to 20 with vendor, to 40 with blue jawa junk, then use comms:91567 credits, 335 blue jawa junk, 2028 CDC, 43 minutes will get one companion from 1 to 50Looks like getting a load of companions to 50 isn't going to happen any time soon, I'm planning to start with just 1 companion on my most important crafting skills. Me, I'll probably shuffle basic comms around to get at least one character to 50 so I can benefit from the staggering (+30%) crafting crit chance. Other than that, I'm not really going to bother with the grind because I can see a nerf coming and I refuse to literally waste hours away clicking like a moron. Maybe when gifts are no longer channeled and they don't trigger a GCD (much like decorations). Other than that, I'll just keep leveling my old 55s, take the chance to re-learn the post 3.0 specs. It's pretty sweet that the old Devoted Allies gear is no longer companion-only. Full legacy 192 sets @ 55 is not too shabby. I wish I had done a few more of the Yavin weeklies now. Re: Flashpoints. You cannot queue for "normal" Flashpoints anymore. Apparently it's too much to ask that people learn other roles than deeps during leveling, so tank/healer/dd is now a HM/Ops thing only? I've done the Ilum arc and, while my experience wasn't as bad as Gorth's (no wipes), I was still pretty disappointed at how badly it went. We had a level 15 join in for the HK boss fight, auto-attacked his way to a glorious victory. I wonder if the poor guy had even seen the FP before? As for aug kits, yep, I screwed up. Before the patch I sold them for ~50k a piece. Now they are going for ~80-90k... - When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
Gorth Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 Lucky you (with the Ilum fp) I was the only "high level" gunslinger in that group, with a another level 20 something slinger, a lsevel 18 sentinel and a level 30 something shadow dps. Not s single self heal between us and a couple of guys missing most of their abilities (and defensive cd's) I just checked out the gift vendors. Look like prices have been reduced a lot for the old curator gifts. I guess those years of spamming treasure hunting gift missions come in handy now as i have literally *hundreds* of purple gift fragments (and close to a thousand of the blue ones) “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
213374U Posted October 22, 2015 Posted October 22, 2015 Official 4.0a Patch Notes Some seemingly undocumented changes (datamined) Players who do not have Knights of the Fallen Empire can no longer access Knights of the Fallen Empire areas and Chapters. Heh, noticed this, but didn't actually go check the new planets out. I assumed I would be locked out or something. Apparently not... - When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
213374U Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) So I ran into another rather hilarious crafting bug. Turns out that reverse-engineering the old Anodyne implants (168 greens) has a chance to return a Hemostatic Gel (Grade 8 Medical Supplies), despite the fact that no such thing goes into its construction. Moving on. Much to my surprise, I got my ticket answered, less than 48 hours after opening it. I got a canned response explaining the requisites for Early Access, so I'm guessing the extra character slots are considered a part of the KotFE content, despite being in a different item of the patch notes and being totally unrelated to new content. Kudos to CS for the quick (relatively) response, boo to biower for misleading patch notes. Companions. I'm ambivalent on the changes. On the plus side, Xalek is no longer broken and is now an effective tank (and healer, and...). On the minus side, they are OP as ****, and have lost their identity. I started handing out gifts to Khem as per this. With the affection and legacy unlock crit bonuses, he's netting me purple sliced parts and extra aug kits like nobody's business. He's now officially both the brawn and the brains of the outfit and I'm thinking of retiring. Not to mention the fact that since all companions of the same type now share the same abilities, some plot-related ones are lost: Dr. Lokin is apparently no longer affected by the Rakghoul plague, Ensign Temple's connection to the Force has been severed, etc. /rant edit: aaand fail. I just realized that Khem's "love" gift type (Cultural Artifact) are worth 10 CDCs each for rank 5 blues, as opposed to 5 a piece for every other type. 1.3k CDCs later, I'm too invested to stop, I think. Will have to crunch some numbers. Edited October 23, 2015 by 213374U - When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
Hurlshort Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 *snip* You know, I've played a lot of this game, but that still sounded like a foreign language to me.
Gorth Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Not so much a spoiler, but just endless bugs. I guess they got their schedule worked out the next couple of months if they want to just fix the most obvious ones. I did laugh when Corso Riggs no longer can use "Torchy", the gun he's been moaning about since Ord Mantell. Now he doesn't have the skill to use it. It really is like they just have three characters now and a number of different "skins" you can pull over them. Already miss HK's assassination attack, Khem's life drain/heal, i'm sure those who like treek are peeved that all toons now can do everything, no story related bonuses to crafting, etc. They lost some of their individual flavour. Bought some armour sets off GTN, unlocked them and noticed they didn't show as unlocked in my collections... then harbinger crashed again (third time in a week?) and now my in game and web site accounts shows different balances of Cartel Coins. Way to go, Cartel Market is not 100% stable when the server is going down Yes, put in a ticket a couple of days ago. No answer yet and not going to try unlocked those items again. A number of the Bazaar vendor items are now unlockable in collections... presumably. Some who should aren't, some who are, I'm sure shouldn't and one item you can clone ad infinitum and sell for 1 credit. No, not going to sit the next 5 million seconds and cloning and selling. Should probably file a bug report, but that seems pointless. Got bug reports that are years old now with stuff that never got fixed. Did a level 65 HM flashpoint just for nostalgia's sake and it was a relief going up against opponents with a tank and a healer on your side. Hadn't done Assault on Tython in ages anyway. Wiped twice on last boss, but I ascribe that to the novelty of characters with no min/maxed stats, freshly bolstered. This was on a dps with now way too much accuracy. Noticed that my tank stats on my tank alts are completely fubar. Not sure i would do anything other than solo'ing the heroics 2+ missions on those for a while. For all the damage they did to the main game, the single player story in the expansion is nice. Might not appreciate it as much when the 10th or 16th alt has to do it, but for the first one and a half toon getting to the end of chapter nine, it was a nice experience. Yes, the very long cut scene in the graveyard chapter (iirc) was hilarious. Managed to spit out my coffee. Edit: Since they removed lots of stuff from companions, I should probably check if Theran Cedrax still has Holiday. If not, I'm going to be not just disappointed, but very disappointed. “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
Raithe Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) It's all about the overkill on the spider... Edit: And seriously, was it me or did they manage to make some Star Wars music that sounded as if it were 80's enough for a montage sequence? Edited October 23, 2015 by Raithe 1 "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
ShadySands Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Almost to influence rank 50 (currently at 47) on my main companion but leaving everyone else around 20 for now while I keep stockpiling gifts Did all the heroics from the terminal except for the one on Makeb where you have to shut off the valves really fast. I hope they changed that one because I could never do it solo before even though it's always been a heroic 2 Free games updated 3/4/21
213374U Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 You know, I've played a lot of this game, but that still sounded like a foreign language to me. Come on, just an itty-bitty spreadsheet doesn't make me a big fat MMO nerd, right? Right? I did laugh when Corso Riggs no longer can use "Torchy", the gun he's been moaning about since Ord Mantell. Now he doesn't have the skill to use it. Yeah, that too. Corso can't use Torchy, Kaliyo cannot use pistols either. Nadia and Kira can no longer use single-bladed lightsabers. Andronikos cannot dual-wield anymore. Tanks can no longer equip shields, which means that despite having a shield rating, their shield chance is 0%. Not that they need shield procs as they just facetank to great effect, but eh. I really hope they give it a few passes and bring back some of the flavor, but as you say, they really have their work cut out for them without even thinking about cosmetic/lore stuff. As for HM FPs, I'd say, enjoy it while it lasts. Next week you're going to have all the scrubs queuing. Like myself. 4 - When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
Raithe Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Of course, the other fun thing with the Heroics being all Weekly now.. Not to hit any spoilers, but when you have to "recruit" the resistance leaders, you need to give them goods. Said goods you need come from completing heroics on the planet. So if you've done them all before you try to recruit those resistance leaders... You might find yourself delayed a week to do so. "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
ShadySands Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) You can buy the goods also for like 50 cdc a pop EDIT- Still died on the last of the gas traps, hmm. I think I'm just too slow in my old age EDIT2- I eventually paid a guy passing by to help and finally completed it for the first time ever Edited October 23, 2015 by ShadySands Free games updated 3/4/21
Gromnir Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Almost to influence rank 50 (currently at 47) on my main companion but leaving everyone else around 20 for now while I keep stockpiling gifts Did all the heroics from the terminal except for the one on Makeb where you have to shut off the valves really fast. I hope they changed that one because I could never do it solo before even though it's always been a heroic 2 pre kotfe, we level'd a bunch o' new characters on harbinger. because o' 12x xp, we managed to get 10 characters to 60 in just over a month o' swtor play. heck, given how fast we level'd, it took less time to get to level 50 then it did to go from 50 to 60. however, with all the new influence demands, am kinda burned out. gotta a large number o' npcs that we gotta ply with gifts and goods. the sheer number o' companions and alliance npcs we gotta influence is daunting, and the gameplay required to increase influence involves us doing little more than constant running gift missions as shady is doing, and then feeding stacks o' gifts to... whomever. and jawa scrap methods for quicker influence depend on cartel market, which we has religious avoided. we refuse to pay real money beyond the subscription costs to improve our characters. am thinking we happen to have a total o' 3 jawa junk on one character at jedi covenant. regardless, am likely to do similar to shady has done to this point and am gonna get companions to 20 influence and then just kinda stop. we will max influence on one companion to take advantage o' the sooper-dooper crafting crits, but... we simple don't have the ambition to do this nonsense on many different characters. HA! Good Fun! 2 "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
ShadySands Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 My (now) rank 50 companion is crazy good. I don't know why you would run a 3 or 4 person group anymore unless you absolutely have to since right now another body is a step down unless mechanics call for it. They can outheal and outdps a player character by far... the only thing better would be the GSI Jesus droid since it did all three roles at the same time In heal mode I'm trying to get my wife to catch up so that we can duo everything before the inevitable nerf Free games updated 3/4/21
Raithe Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Well, Alchemy of Evil is still a heroic 4, which is somewhat annoying. Trying to solo it since after all these months I still haven't found people wanting to group the bastard, but that miniboss at the halfway point - the corrupted sithspawn experiment , has an annoying self-heal thing and solo you can't seem to knacker all the tentacles in time to kill it. "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
ShadySands Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) I've never done it because I can also never find anyone to run it but I saw a video of someone soloing it before 4.0 so it should be mechanically doable. I would assume you could duo it with another person and their companion easier than actually having 4 people now though. If for no other reason than not having to find 4 people Seriously though when I put my companion in damage mode they hit for 20k fairly often and occasionally around 45k with their finisher and in heal mode I never drop below 80% on all but they very hardest fights and I'm a sorc who isn't geared all that great Edited October 23, 2015 by ShadySands Free games updated 3/4/21
Raithe Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Well it's got one of those mechanics where it hits you and you need to disrupt/break stun or it gets back health. So, if you're on your own, unless you have a very specific skill set, you can't stop every occasion. I pretty much spent 40 minutes with it not being able to kill me, but I couldn't kill it... "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
ShadySands Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) I dunno about soloing it but I'm suggesting that 2 man would be easier than 4 because of companion healing and damage output right now As for what I've been doing, I got all my specialists up to rank 10 so that I could get the star fortress bonus abilities and grind those. I've been playing so much that I'm starting to burn out on it which I think is good so I can take a break for a week or two when the expansion stuff goes live for everyone. Until then I still have 2 more allies to recruit PS I really miss the skill trees all of a sudden. I want my old hybrid build back. Every class is mostly the same Edited October 23, 2015 by ShadySands Free games updated 3/4/21
Raithe Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Well I decided to give up on that for the moment, and started my Sith Assassin onto the new content. It's interesting to see how the dream sequence conversation changes with a Sith compared to a Jedi. And at least we can be grateful that it's a dream sequence where we aren't limited to staggered, half-speed walk and some annoying ghost kid.... 1 "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
Tale Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 Can I play as a droid Bounty Hunter yet? Or at least kill that Devaronian they try to force on me? "Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
Raithe Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 Rumour has it that potentially you might be able to kill Gault when he turns up in the new story side of things. One of the reasons they've changed companions so that they can be switched from dps/tank/heal roles is so they have the potential to kill off companions. Plus with the new story stuff, you end up with a crapload of fresh companions (of a sort) that you'll be able to use. Although only 6 or so I imagine will have serious depth to them. And one of the key people in the new Alliance the Outlander sets up pretty much specifically states "if you see a Deveronian by the name of Gault or this or whatever alias he's using.. Shoot him." So here's hoping. On the other side of things, I actually spent a chunk of sunday and Monday running through every single Heroic on the Weekly Heroics terminal. Man, took me some, but the whole "transport to heroic" is a nice feature. Did net me a total of 20 Alien supply crates, 22 Artifact supply crates, 23 Military supply crates and 21 Smuggler supply crates... The lower 3 bars of my inventory were filled with companion gifts... "Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum."
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