Has The Old Republic changed?

[Jeivar]

I played through the Jedi Knight storyline back in the day, and finished the Rise of the Hutt Cartel shortly after it came out, but then got sick of the game. I like the setting, the story and the characters and think the Knight story would have made for a fine single-player game, but the stilted, immersion-breaking nature of MMO's just launched me out of the experience. Plus. there was just SO MUCH COMBAT. I know fighting is the meat of this kind of game, but while I may be mistaken I do recall that in my WoW days I could generally bypass enemies I didn't want to bother with. Just... too much.

Still... for all of the BS that comes with it, the Star Wars setting has a hold on me that I can never quite break, and I feel it tightening again. Have any notable changes been made to ToR since 2013? It's been a long time since I quit WoW, but do remember hearing about some drastic changes made to it.

[Mutazoia]

I played through the Jedi Knight storyline back in the day, and finished the Rise of the Hutt Cartel shortly after it came out, but then got sick of the game. I like the setting, the story and the characters and think the Knight story would have made for a fine single-player game, but the stilted, immersion-breaking nature of MMO's just launched me out of the experience. Plus. there was just SO MUCH COMBAT. I know fighting is the meat of this kind of game, but while I may be mistaken I do recall that in my WoW days I could generally bypass enemies I didn't want to bother with. Just... too much.

Still... for all of the BS that comes with it, the Star Wars setting has a hold on me that I can never quite break, and I feel it tightening again. Have any notable changes been made to ToR since 2013? It's been a long time since I quit WoW, but do remember hearing about some drastic changes made to it.

There have been a couple of Xpacs since Hut Cartel, and they re-worked the skill trees (more like did away with them). They added personal and guild bases that you can decorate, and guilds can buy guild starships that can travel around the Galaxy. They've just recently launched a new Xpac that picks up the story line where it left off (after people got a little peeved that the last xpac was all about PVP) and let's you start a new character at lvl 60. They added the Togruta race..... I can' remember if the flight-sim xpac came out before or after Hut cartel, but there's that as well....

[Cristo Meyers]

Companions are no longer 'Ranged Tank/Healer/Melee Damage' exclusively. The companion you're bringing with you can be set to either Healer, Damage, or Tank so you're no longer pretty much stuck with your Healer if you're playing solo.

I've been told that leveling up is faster now, too. My wife and I have characters on Imperial Balmorra and Republic Hoth. The Imperial players are around 20 and Republic players going on 56. Some of that is due to us going through each other's story quests alongside our own, but that can't be enough to account for an almost 16-level difference on the Republic side.

[Mutazoia]

Companions are no longer 'Ranged Tank/Healer/Melee Damage' exclusively. The companion you're bringing with you can be set to either Healer, Damage, or Tank so you're no longer pretty much stuck with your Healer if you're playing solo.

I've been told that leveling up is faster now, too. My wife and I have characters on Imperial Balmorra and Republic Hoth. The Imperial players are around 20 and Republic players going on 56. Some of that is due to us going through each other's story quests alongside our own, but that can't be enough to account for an almost 16-level difference on the Republic side.

I haven't been on on a while, but I know for a little while there, they were doing bonus XP until you hit 50...not sure if that's still a thing.

[Pronounceable]

Yes. It changed a lot, it's actually good now. You can skip all the stupid mmo crap and get on with the story, just do the purple color quests.

[Jeivar]

Companions are no longer 'Ranged Tank/Healer/Melee Damage' exclusively. The companion you're bringing with you can be set to either Healer, Damage, or Tank so you're no longer pretty much stuck with your Healer if you're playing solo.

This I like.


Yes. It changed a lot, it's actually good now. You can skip all the stupid mmo crap and get on with the story, just do the purple color quests.

Eh?? This I REALLY like!

Has the crafting system changed at all? I remember I spent quite a lot of time and energy on developing my armour crafting, only to almost invariably pick up better stuff on missions.

Oh, and out of curiosity: Is any particular class narrative held up as the best one? Because the Knight storyline sure felt like what KOTOR 3 should have been.

[Cristo Meyers]

Has the crafting system changed at all? I remember I spent quite a lot of time and energy on developing my armour crafting, only to almost invariably pick up better stuff on missions.

I have yet to find something better than the armor I've made with synthweaving (caveat: see above about level discrepancy between where I am and level I am). The process hasn't changed, to my knowledge.


Oh, and out of curiosity: Is any particular class narrative held up as the best one? Because the Knight storyline sure felt like what KOTOR 3 should have been.

Imperial Agent gets a lot of positive buzz from what I've seen/read. Sith Inquisitor also, if you're in the mod to play a cackling, zany psychopath with a Force Lightning fetish.

[Chen]

Is endgame equipment still linked to raids/heroic dungeons and such? I really don't have time for guild raiding or the like anymore (didn't when I was playing either) so I kinda stopped once I finished the story since I couldn't really advance my char anymore without joining a guild.

[Dienekes]

This I like.



Eh?? This I REALLY like!

Has the crafting system changed at all? I remember I spent quite a lot of time and energy on developing my armour crafting, only to almost invariably pick up better stuff on missions.

Oh, and out of curiosity: Is any particular class narrative held up as the best one? Because the Knight storyline sure felt like what KOTOR 3 should have been.

From the ones I've played, Agent>Warrior=Knight=Trooper>Bounty Hunter. But that's only my opinion.

Agent is the most engaging with the most interesting choices. Knight is pure Star Wars fun and feels like KOTOR which is both good and bad since the choices are largely black and white. Warrior gave you plenty of opportunities to be what felt like a real Sith Lord plus good dialogue. Trooper had interesting choices like Agent but overall I like Agents behind the scenes nature. Bounty Hunter was ok, classic revenge story but some of the dialogue was iffy.

Alsio, is the game still pay per month? That was the reason I stopped play. Also the reason why I rushed through every story without doing basically any of the planetary missions. I paid for 3 months and after that I never got more to save my money.

[Cristo Meyers]

Alsio, is the game still pay per month? That was the reason I stopped play. Also the reason why I rushed through every story without doing basically any of the planetary missions. I paid for 3 months and after that I never got more to save my money.

Free to play with the option of subscribing. Free-to-play players get a host of little handicaps that may or may not bother some, but most of them can be mitigated by going to Preferred Status which you can get by spending like $5 in the online store.

I think that if you were a subscriber at some point to automatically have preferred status.

[Seerow]

Free to play with the option of subscribing. Free-to-play players get a host of little handicaps that may or may not bother some, but most of them can be mitigated by going to Preferred Status which you can get by spending like $5 in the online store.

I think that if you were a subscriber at some point to automatically have preferred status.

Yeah, the most annoying hindrance from being pure f2p is the lack of bank and inability to buy increased bag space. I've been tempted to sub a month just to fix that. All of the follower rep items (only have one follower so far and she doesn't like most of them) and anniversary gifts are starting to pile up in my bags.

[NEO|Phyte]

I think that if you were a subscriber at some point to automatically have preferred status.
If you have ever put any amount of money into the game (To my knowledge this means either having paid for a sub at some point or having purchased some cartel coins, not sure if there's any other ways to throw money at them), your account is preferred status.

[Cristo Meyers]

Yeah, the most annoying hindrance from being pure f2p is the lack of bank and inability to buy increased bag space. I've been tempted to sub a month just to fix that. All of the follower rep items (only have one follower so far and she doesn't like most of them) and anniversary gifts are starting to pile up in my bags.

So far the only thing that got really annoying for me was that sometimes mission rewards were locked behind the subscriber wall. Usually that's not a big deal, but when I was playing my Bounty Hunter just about every time she got paid by the Hutt it was with a lockbox that the game put behind the paywall.

I haven't had that problem again yet, but it was really bloody annoying at the time. This was the early game, that money could've been really useful.

[Mx.Silver]

Oh, and out of curiosity: Is any particular class narrative held up as the best one? Because the Knight storyline sure felt like what KOTOR 3 should have been.

There is: the Agent. There is a very strong consensus on that, and with good reason.

Sith Warrior was a fair bit better than I was afraid it was going to be and Jedi Consular had its moments (note: I would rate both of them substantially higher than the Knight storyline, which doubles down on the 'player is super special chosen one because Destiny' thing so hard that it almost feels like a parody of the Drew Karpyshyn era standard bioware plot). Bounty Hunter is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: you get hired to hunt bounties and that's about it, although it does have some of the better companions. Smuggler starts pretty strong, but its Chapter 1 quickly devolves into an elongated side quest that the story never quite recovers from, although dialogue-wise it has its moments.
Can't comment on Trooper or Inquisitor as I haven't played them.



One other change I've liked a lot since patch 4.0 is that companion affection is largely gone, replaced with an influence system (which gives a small bonus to combat stats and skill tasks as it goes up), meaning companion conversations now unlock based on story progression rather than an affection bar. So you can now just respond to conversations without having to worry about whether a companion disapproves nor do you have to bury them in gifts.

In terms of equipment, the best policy is still to just get kit you can modify and just upgrade the mods every 4 levels or so. Although since companion stats are now independent of kit, this does speed the process up a fair bit. You can still put equipment on you companions, mind you, it's just purely cosmetic.

[Chen]

No comments on "end game" type stuff question I had posed? Is there any single player way to advance your character once the story is over? Or at least only small group, pickup content for end game gear? Or is it all locked behind the typical MMO raid scene?

[Mx.Silver]

No comments on "end game" type stuff question I had posed? Is there any single player way to advance your character once the story is over? Or at least only small group, pickup content for end game gear? Or is it all locked behind the typical MMO raid scene?
From what I've seen in the chats on the Fleets, there's some of pick-up group stuff going on with some of flashpoints and operations. It's not an area I know much about though I'm afraid.

[NEO|Phyte]

I haven't really gotten into it, but I'm fairly certain that aside from the absolute top tier stuff, you can do dailies/weeklies/groupfinder to get the datacrystals to get endgame gear. It's just the top shelf that requires you to manually put together ops groups and the like.

[Anteros]

Knight storyline, which doubles down on the 'player is super special chosen one because Destiny' thing so hard that it almost feels like a parody of the Drew Karpyshyn era standard bioware plot).

This is a very common complaint, but I disagree with it. Whether it's Revan, the Exile, or Luke Skywalker, the main characters in Star Wars are pretty much always super special chosen one's. It's just an intrinsic part of storytelling in the setting.

[Jeivar]

Okay, I went ahead and started up again, playing with preferred status.

I've hit level 12 with my new Knight and I've yet to decide on an advanced class. Back in 2013 I played a tank Guardian. I don't want to do the exact same thing again, but I only ever play alone and I'm told going it alone as a DPS-character is difficult.

Advice?


This is a very common complaint, but I disagree with it. Whether it's Revan, the Exile, or Luke Skywalker, the main characters in Star Wars are pretty much always super special chosen one's. It's just an intrinsic part of storytelling in the setting.

Well yeah. Since there is an actual... well, force guiding things along.

[Closet_Skeleton]

This is a very common complaint, but I disagree with it. Whether it's Revan, the Exile, or Luke Skywalker, the main characters in Star Wars are pretty much always super special chosen one's. It's just an intrinsic part of storytelling in the setting.

Luke Skywalker isn't a super special chosen one, he's plan B.

Revan only became super special awesome in KotOR 2 when he/she wasn't the protagonist any more, in KotOR 1 the whole point of the reveal is that you aren't the fast learning genius you were told you were because that was all a lie and had Jolee Bindo around to take the piss out of the whole destined for awesome nonsense. The Exile is super special suer, but KotOR 2 piled on the super special crap, which is why I will never see its writing as anything but over-rated (its more interesting than the first game but that's not the only determiner of quality).

[Mx.Silver]

This is a very common complaint, but I disagree with it. Whether it's Revan, the Exile, or Luke Skywalker, the main characters in Star Wars are pretty much always super special chosen one's. It's just an intrinsic part of storytelling in the setting.

Not in the same way the Knight is. The problem with the Knight isn't that you're unusually effective (that's true of all the class storylines) it's that it uses prophecy as narrative motivation and excuse, The knight does what they do because that explicitly what was foretold in the visions and they succeed because Destiny has decreed they will succeed and triumph over evil so of course they do, when no one else can.
From a writing standpoint, this is just about the laziest, cheapest way you can use destiny as a concept, and it's one that the rest of the franchise has done a pretty good job of avoiding. Even the prequels manage to stay away from this for the most part, while it's completely antithetical to most of the original trilogy, which follows much more of a 'right person in the right place at the right time' model - one which is strongly echoed in the Consular storyline, incidentally. Neither is it there in the KOTOR games.
The nearest any other Bioware title came to being this blatant was Jade Empire, and that was at least in part to set up something that has nothing even resembling a counter-part in the Knight story line.

This problem is exacerbated by the complete runaway scale-bloat that characterises most of the Knight's plot. Which starts with planet destroying doomsday devices and just goes on from there, leading up to the entire Emperor plotline, something which feels like it only exists because apparently someone thought that 'Despotic Space Fascist with a massive army bent on conquest' apparently wasn't enough and damn the consequences to the stakes in any of the other plotlines or whether this would require retconning the previous KOTOR games.

[Anteros]

I think maybe we should spoiler this storyline discussion since the poster above said they just made a Knight.


Okay, I went ahead and started up again, playing with preferred status.

I've hit level 12 with my new Knight and I've yet to decide on an advanced class. Back in 2013 I played a tank Guardian. I don't want to do the exact same thing again, but I only ever play alone and I'm told going it alone as a DPS-character is difficult.

Advice?



I'd pick whatever you think you're going to enjoy playing more with no regard to difficulty. Honestly nothing is difficult anymore. Companions are literally strong enough to solo most heroics and even a few of the easier flashpoints for you, and either Knight or Sent with a healing companion has always been unstoppable.

Now on to spoilery stuff.


Not in the same way the Knight is. The problem with the Knight isn't that you're unusually effective (that's true of all the class storylines) it's that it uses prophecy as narrative motivation and excuse, The knight does what they do because that explicitly what was foretold in the visions and they succeed because Destiny has decreed they will succeed and triumph over evil so of course they do, when no one else can.
From a writing standpoint, this is just about the laziest, cheapest way you can use destiny as a concept, and it's one that the rest of the franchise has done a pretty good job of avoiding. Even the prequels manage to stay away from this for the most part, while it's completely antithetical to most of the original trilogy, which follows much more of a 'right person in the right place at the right time' model - one which is strongly echoed in the Consular storyline, incidentally. Neither is it there in the KOTOR games.
The nearest any other Bioware title came to being this blatant was Jade Empire, and that was at least in part to set up something that has nothing even resembling a counter-part in the Knight story line.

This problem is exacerbated by the complete runaway scale-bloat that characterises most of the Knight's plot. Which starts with planet destroying doomsday devices and just goes on from there, leading up to the entire Emperor plotline, something which feels like it only exists because apparently someone thought that 'Despotic Space Fascist with a massive army bent on conquest' apparently wasn't enough and damn the consequences to the stakes in any of the other plotlines or whether this would require retconning the previous KOTOR games.

Granted it's been a few years, but the only character I remember getting all prophetic on you was Scourge...who is frankly insane. You really shouldn't be taking anything he says seriously. There are also prophecies that you will fail and fall, but you manage to overcome those, so it's not like prophecy is some infallible indicator of success. It's also not like prophecies about a chosen one is something new to the series anyway. Everything from Episodes 1-6 is based on that. I agree that it's not the best narrative device in the world, but that's just how Star Wars is. It's hardly exclusive to the Knight storyline. Revan was only redeemed because of a prophecy. The Exile? Prophecy. Anakin/Luke (depending on your interpretation) bringing balance was because of prophecy. The whole setting revolves on this.

As for the Emperor, I'm just glad there was at least one storyline about bringing him down, and the Knight is the most sensible candidate. He's too large a figure to just ignore, and making him a flashpoint boss would have been just as unsatisfying as it was when they did it to Revan.


Luke Skywalker isn't a super special chosen one, he's plan B.

Revan only became super special awesome in KotOR 2 when he/she wasn't the protagonist any more, in KotOR 1 the whole point of the reveal is that you aren't the fast learning genius you were told you were because that was all a lie and had Jolee Bindo around to take the piss out of the whole destined for awesome nonsense. The Exile is super special suer, but KotOR 2 piled on the super special crap, which is why I will never see its writing as anything but over-rated (its more interesting than the first game but that's not the only determiner of quality).

That's not true. Before you find out your identity in KoToR you spend the whole game hearing how super special awesome Revan was. The only reason he got a second chance from the Jedi was because of a prophecy. As for Luke/Anakin...regardless which figure you interpret the prophecy to be about, you have to agree that the entire plot of all 6 movies revolves around a super special chosen one who will bring balance to the force.

[Jeivar]

I'd pick whatever you think you're going to enjoy playing more with no regard to difficulty. Honestly nothing is difficult anymore. Companions are literally strong enough to solo most heroics and even a few of the easier flashpoints for you, and either Knight or Sent with a healing companion has always been unstoppable.


Fair enough. I'll just go with a Sentinel for a different flavour.

Oh, and I did play through the Knight storyline back in 2013, so spoilers aren't an issue. I just don't want to involve myself with discussions on Star Wars lore, as I consider the prequels to be an anti-masterpiece of incompetent writing.

[Mx.Silver]

I think maybe we should spoiler this storyline discussion since the poster above said they just made a Knight.
Fair enough






Granted it's been a few years, but the only character I remember getting all prophetic on you was Scourge...who is frankly insane. You really shouldn't be taking anything he says seriously. There are also prophecies that you will fail and fall, but you manage to overcome those, so it's not like prophecy is some infallible indicator of success.
I'm afraid you're wrong on the Scourge front. If you do the Taral V flashpoint you meet Revan, who confirms everything Scourge says relating to the two of them. Scourge is generally correct about what he's saying (outside of the 'grr, I am Sith badman and you should be too' stuff), as befits his status as walking plot device.
The prophecy about the knight falling to the dark side is also entirely correct, it just happens to get trumped by a second prophecy, coming from Scourge that you'd be able to resist it.

This is the problem. It's not that it uses destiny, it's that it uses it in the lazy, cheap way that it's the reason the hero is the hero and also that they succeed, and then uses that to succeed at the disproportionately massive accomplishments, which is really all the Knight storyline has. 'Save the world because destiny says so' played out over and over again, on an ever increasing scale. And if that's all you want or expect from a story then I guess that's fine. I can't though, because other parts of the game show they can do better than that.



It's also not like prophecies about a chosen one is something new to the series anyway. Everything from Episodes 1-6 is based on that. I agree that it's not the best narrative device in the world, but that's just how Star Wars is. It's hardly exclusive to the Knight storyline. Revan was only redeemed because of a prophecy. The Exile? Prophecy. Anakin/Luke (depending on your interpretation) bringing balance was because of prophecy.
Yeah, Revan's redemption may be prophecied, but it's in a game where you can quite easily decide that actually, no, you're going to go right back to being the dark lord, thank you very much (part of the reason why KOTOR II is extremely vague about Revan and the ending to KOTOR I is so that it can follow on from either scenario).

As far as I can recall, the concept never even comes up in the original trilogy. Indeed, the person who talks about Luke's destiny the most is Darth Vader, specifically that it's Luke's destiny to join him on team empire. In the prequels, it's the jedi's agreeing to take on Anakin because 'chosen one' that gets them all killed.
Now, you can argue that the prequels retcon the original trilogy into a chosen one story, but of course that means you're now using the prequels as an example of good story-telling that's worth emulating, which the principle of charity forbids me from assuming that's what you're doing :smalltongue:




As for the Emperor, I'm just glad there was at least one storyline about bringing him down, and the Knight is the most sensible candidate. He's too large a figure to just ignore,
That's sort of the problem, to be honest. He's so out of scale he makes the war, something which should be the biggest thing in the story (and indeed is in just about every other class story), just a distraction. From a writing standpoint it's just a bad fit with the rest of the game.



Really though, this argument's sort of reached a stopping point. I don't thing we're actually disagreeing about whether or not it's well-written, just about whether that bothers us or not :smallwink:




I'd pick whatever you think you're going to enjoy playing more with no regard to difficulty. Honestly nothing is difficult anymore. Companions are literally strong enough to solo most heroics and even a few of the easier flashpoints for you, and either Knight or Sent with a healing companion has always been unstoppable.
Yeah, pretty much this (also a few of the flashpoints have solo modes now, so they aren't too bad). Typically for damagers you'll want a comp on either heal or, particularly if you're a ranged character, tank. Tank you'l want heal or damage. The companion changes do also make playing a healer character solo entirely possible, but it gets pretty boring. Not that that's relevant for a Knight, anyway.

[Anteros]

Fair enough





I'm afraid you're wrong on the Scourge front. If you do the Taral V flashpoint you meet Revan, who confirms everything Scourge says relating to the two of them. Scourge is generally correct about what he's saying (outside of the 'grr, I am Sith badman and you should be too' stuff), as befits his status as walking plot device.
The prophecy about the knight falling to the dark side is also entirely correct, it just happens to get trumped by a second prophecy, coming from Scourge that you'd be able to resist it.


He confirms the stuff about Scourge believing a prophecy and betraying him. None of that means his prophecy is some infallible source of information, it just means Scourge believes it and is honest about his previous actions.

The prophecy about you falling involves a lot of murder and destruction that never happens as well, so it's obviously fallible.




This is the problem. It's not that it uses destiny, it's that it uses it in the lazy, cheap way that it's the reason the hero is the hero and also that they succeed, and then uses that to succeed at the disproportionately massive accomplishments, which is really all the Knight storyline has. 'Save the world because destiny says so' played out over and over again, on an ever increasing scale. And if that's all you want or expect from a story then I guess that's fine. I can't though, because other parts of the game show they can do better than that.


If you choose to interpret it that way. We know about tons of prophecies that fail, or don't go as expected though. Aside from the one in the Knight story there's also Jolee Bindo's friend who got sucked into the ship engine. I also highly doubt the mass murder of children is what Qui-Gon had in mind when he recruited Anakin. Prophecy may be a guide, but it's still up to the person to fulfill it.



Yeah, Revan's redemption may be prophecied, but it's in a game where you can quite easily decide that actually, no, you're going to go right back to being the dark lord, thank you very much (part of the reason why KOTOR II is extremely vague about Revan and the ending to KOTOR I is so that it can follow on from either scenario).

Revan is canon light side male though, despite KoToR II allowing you to change it.



As far as I can recall, the concept never even comes up in the original trilogy. Indeed, the person who talks about Luke's destiny the most is Darth Vader, specifically that it's Luke's destiny to join him on team empire. In the prequels, it's the jedi's agreeing to take on Anakin because 'chosen one' that gets them all killed.
Now, you can argue that the prequels retcon the original trilogy into a chosen one story, but of course that means you're now using the prequels as an example of good story-telling that's worth emulating, which the principle of charity forbids me from assuming that's what you're doing :smalltongue:


Honestly you won't catch me pointing at just about anything from Star Wars as an example of great storytelling. It has its moments, and the Vader and Revan twists were great, but overall it's not exactly War and Peace.



That's sort of the problem, to be honest. He's so out of scale he makes the war, something which should be the biggest thing in the story (and indeed is in just about every other class story), just a distraction. From a writing standpoint it's just a bad fit with the rest of the game.


I honestly kinda consider the Knight story to be KoToR III and all the other stories to just be interesting side quests and diversions. It makes sense that it's on a grander scale because it's the "main" story the game is telling.

Now, maybe you can argue that that's a bad model of storytelling for a MMO to take, and I'd have to agree with you.



Also, the Agent story sucks. It is incredibly overrated. It has the benefit of being the only Imperial story that doesn't go "lol I'm so evil and random! *Holds up Spork*" but that's a very, very low bar to meet. This is completely unrelated, but I just wanted to get it out there.

[Toastkart]

Okay, I went ahead and started up again, playing with preferred status.

I've hit level 12 with my new Knight and I've yet to decide on an advanced class. Back in 2013 I played a tank Guardian. I don't want to do the exact same thing again, but I only ever play alone and I'm told going it alone as a DPS-character is difficult.

Advice?


I'm enjoying a sentinel watchman right now. The only time I really have issues is accidentally grabbing more than one group during heroics. A healing companion is more than enough to keep me topped up during most fights.



Also, the Agent story sucks. It is incredibly overrated. It has the benefit of being the only Imperial story that doesn't go "lol I'm so evil and random! *Holds up Spork*" but that's a very, very low bar to meet. This is completely unrelated, but I just wanted to get it out there.
I enjoyed the agent storyline, but then, I don't really have anything to compare it to. The only parts I found questionable were the suddenly mind control device that someone else suddenly has a code word to activate, the rather abrupt drop of pretty much everything that happened in the previous chapter, and the homicidal robot that I should have blasted into oblivion almost immediately after I'd used her but for some odd reason didn't. . Other than that, I loved the agent as a character.

[Anteros]

I felt like the Agent storyline was really strong on Correlia and Hutta, but weak the rest of the way through. That particular subplot that you mention is really unenjoyable and lasts far too long.

And Kaliyo of course. Sure, she never follows orders, is a murdering psychopath who's companion quest literally involves murdering all of her exes and has been betraying me all along...but apparently my agent loves her despite having no redeeming qualities at all. I would have left her corpse in the dirt at least half a dozen times if they actually gave you freedom of choice in this game.

[Cikomyr]

I was getting interested in buying the game to experience the storylines..

But then SFDebris's review went on for a long time about the troubles of Griefers (whom Bioware seems unwilling to rein in), movement time sink (which Bioware doesn't seem interested in solving), mobtrash (which seems put on purpose) and the overall uber-annoying multiplayer factor that entirely destroys any sort of storyline related to multiplayer moments, since everyone just keeps asking you to skip the cinematics.

So.. Yhea. I'll just check up the story online. Good luck next time, BioW.

[Anteros]

I was getting interested in buying the game to experience the storylines..

But then SFDebris's review went on for a long time about the troubles of Griefers (whom Bioware seems unwilling to rein in), movement time sink (which Bioware doesn't seem interested in solving), mobtrash (which seems put on purpose) and the overall uber-annoying multiplayer factor that entirely destroys any sort of storyline related to multiplayer moments, since everyone just keeps asking you to skip the cinematics.

So.. Yhea. I'll just check up the story online. Good luck next time, BioW.

I have legitimately never encountered a griefer in this game. You can travel between ANY two points in this game in no more than 10 minutes at maximum. Typical travel time from one side of the universe to another is about 5 minutes. You can skip 90% of the mobs if you want. There is absolutely no requirement to party up for the story.

So yeah, basically every single one of those complaints is invalid. I have to wonder if the reviewer even played the game, or if they just took a generic MMO review and slapped the word Star Wars on it.

[Mx.Silver]

I was getting interested in buying the game to experience the storylines..

But then SFDebris's review went on for a long time about the troubles of Griefers (whom Bioware seems unwilling to rein in), movement time sink (which Bioware doesn't seem interested in solving), mobtrash (which seems put on purpose) and the overall uber-annoying multiplayer factor that entirely destroys any sort of storyline related to multiplayer moments, since everyone just keeps asking you to skip the cinematics.

So.. Yhea. I'll just check up the story online. Good luck next time, BioW.

The class stories are designed to be played solo, to the point where you have to specifically set an option to allow other group members into your class story instances. So if you're only particularly interested in the class stories and aren't on a PVP server griefing and other players pushing you to skip things just isn't going to be a factor. The latter one might show up on some of MP required flashpoints and operations, but most of those are pretty optional, and decidedly endgame focussed (and is possible to mitigate if you're grouping with people you know rather than random strangers).

Number of mobs and general time spent getting from point a to point b can be issues though, especially the latter one if you're not spending any money on the game.

[NEO|Phyte]

I'm not sure how it looks for free/preferred, but some of the changes to quick travel have been amazing. With the (legacy-wide, not per-character) cooldown reducers, a sub has 0 cooldown on fleet pass/quick travel. Makes heading back to turn in a quest nice and easy, as well as making any return trips to the planet far easier.

[Cikomyr]

The class stories are designed to be played solo, to the point where you have to specifically set an option to allow other group members into your class story instances. So if you're only particularly interested in the class stories and aren't on a PVP server griefing and other players pushing you to skip things just isn't going to be a factor. The latter one might show up on some of MP required flashpoints and operations, but most of those are pretty optional, and decidedly endgame focussed (and is possible to mitigate if you're grouping with people you know rather than random strangers).

Number of mobs and general time spent getting from point a to point b can be issues though, especially the latter one if you're not spending any money on the game.

The point about griefing is not on PVP servers. Its in PvE server, where a high-level character of an opposing faction will deliverately follow a lower-level player of another faction while flagged for PvP, just for the chance that the lower level player will accidently flag itself during combat.

Also, arent elevators a bitch?

[Cristo Meyers]

The point about griefing is not on PVP servers. Its in PvE server, where a high-level character of an opposing faction will deliverately follow a lower-level player of another faction while flagged for PvP, just for the chance that the lower level player will accidently flag itself during combat.

I have never seen anything like this happen. Ever. Worst I've seen so far is uber-high level characters doing early game quests for some reason.


Also, arent elevators a bitch?

Yeah, they still haven't worked those out yet.

[Closet_Skeleton]

Now on to spoilery stuff.
That's not true. Before you find out your identity in KoToR you spend the whole game hearing how super special awesome Revan was. The only reason he got a second chance from the Jedi was because of a prophecy. As for Luke/Anakin...regardless which figure you interpret the prophecy to be about, you have to agree that the entire plot of all 6 movies revolves around a super special chosen one who will bring balance to the force.



There's a nuance to how these guys are shilled. You're basically saying 'chosen one equals chosen one, subtlety or tone is irrelevant'.

Revan does not get shilled that much in KotOR 1 compared to KotOR 2. In KotOR 1 its made clear that Revan is the least powerful of the three Sith Lords to recently cause trouble in the galaxy (by character dialogue its clearly Exar Kun over Malak over Revan). KotOR 2 turns spends ages talking about how every Jedi apart from Revan and the main characters is an idiot and how Revan was the only actually competent Sith Lord.

Most of KotOR 1's shilling of Revan is by Bastilla, whose being an easily swayed by personality idiot is kind of important to the plot, while in KotOR 2 its by Kreia whose being wiser and more perceptive than anyone around her is kind of the whole plot.

Anakin is a chosen one, but he's not a 'super special chosen one'. He's talented and powerful, but he always has peers and there are always questions and doubts about him.

[Mx.Silver]

The point about griefing is not on PVP servers. Its in PvE server, where a high-level character of an opposing faction will deliverately follow a lower-level player of another faction while flagged for PvP, just for the chance that the lower level player will accidently flag itself during combat.

I have only ever seen this happening during one of the 'Event' weeks, and even then only once, since most of the PVP was confined to the zones of that event specifically designated for PVP.
Granted, this might depend on which server you're on but I haven't heard of this occurring otherwise. Fact of the matter is that a lot of the time, especially in the earlier parts of the game, planets are set-up so that contact between the factions is going to be pretty limited (in fact on several planets it's downright impossible) unless you're specifically seeking it out, and even when the do run into each other, the most I've ever seen are requests to fight a duel (and most people will happily take 'no' for an answer).

Again, maybe this is different on some servers, but in my experience it's not been an issue.



Also, arent elevators a bitch?
Oh yes. Definitely continuing in the tradition of Mass Effect 1 :smalltongue:

[Cikomyr]

There's a nuance to how these guys are shilled. You're basically saying 'chosen one equals chosen one, subtlety or tone is irrelevant'.

Revan does not get shilled that much in KotOR 1 compared to KotOR 2. In KotOR 1 its made clear that Revan is the least powerful of the three Sith Lords to recently cause trouble in the galaxy (by character dialogue its clearly Exar Kun over Malak over Revan). KotOR 2 turns spends ages talking about how every Jedi apart from Revan and the main characters is an idiot and how Revan was the only actually competent Sith Lord.

Most of KotOR 1's shilling of Revan is by Bastilla, whose being an easily swayed by personality idiot is kind of important to the plot, while in KotOR 2 its by Kreia whose being wiser and more perceptive than anyone around her is kind of the whole plot.

Anakin is a chosen one, but he's not a 'super special chosen one'. He's talented and powerful, but he always has peers and there are always questions and doubts about him.

While i agree with the overall sentiment, i dont see how Malak > Revan anywhere. In KOTOR1. Malak is displayed on every occasion as a stupid petty brute who could only take his master by backstabing him while he was busy with a Jedi Commando.

Also, its pretty hard to determine the comparative power level of Revan vs Kun.

[Anteros]

I would definitely rank it Revan > Kun >>>>>>>>>>> Malack both by actual actions and character dialogue as well.

And of course Revan gets built up during KoToR 1. It's the biggest constant throughout the game. That's why the eventual reveal was so impactful.

[Kesnit]

The point about griefing is not on PVP servers. Its in PvE server, where a high-level character of an opposing faction will deliverately follow a lower-level player of another faction while flagged for PvP, just for the chance that the lower level player will accidently flag itself during combat.

My wife tried out the game (after I resubscribed) and is a completionist. This means she won't leave a planet until she has done EVERYTHING (including Heroic-2's). Between this and the extra XP weekend, she's LVL 49 on a LVL 25-29 planet. She's never seen high-level PCs griefing low-levels.

I have been playing (off and on) since the beta, so have characters everywhere from the starting planets to near-endgame. I've also never seen high-level griefers. In fact, the times I went to one of the open-world PvP areas, it was almost empty.

Flagging yourself for PvP is not something that can be done by accident. The player either has to do it manually (and it isn't simple keystroke that can be hit while trying to hit something else), or has to go to one of the open-world PvP areas. Those open-world areas are in the middle of nowhere, and when you enter, you have a 5-second window (with a large countdown on the screen) warning you that you are about to be flagged for PvP. Backing out anytime in that window stops the countdown, so even if someone did wander into one of those areas, they have time to get out before being flagged.

As Cristo Meyers said, there are sometimes high-level PCs in low-level areas. (I saw a LVL 49 on the starting planet for Imperial Agents and Bounty Hunters last night.) If I had to guess, they are finishing up planet-based Achievements. What they aren't doing is griefing. (Unless, of course, the meaning of griefing has become "killing mobs to keep others from killing mobs.")

TL;DR Whoever wrote that review is flat-out wrong. There aren't tons of griefers, and even if someone did decide to follow a low-bie around, the chance of the low-bie actually flagging for PvP is 0.

[Anteros]

I've flagged for pvp before on accident when I took a shortcut through an enemy base because I was lazy. That's about the only way it can happen. I've honestly never seen griefing in this game a single time and I've been playing since launch. Even on PVP servers it just doesn't happen.

Also, sometimes your class quest will take you back to a lower level area, so that's probably what those higher level players were doing.

[Cristo Meyers]

Also, sometimes your class quest will take you back to a lower level area, so that's probably what those higher level players were doing.

That and like Kesnit said, they're grinding achievements to get the Legacy XP. Though even that has only ever been a problem for my wife and I a single time.

There're plenty of criticisms about this game, 'tons of griefers' just isn't one of them.

[Calemyr]

There's a nuance to how these guys are shilled. You're basically saying 'chosen one equals chosen one, subtlety or tone is irrelevant'.

Revan does not get shilled that much in KotOR 1 compared to KotOR 2. In KotOR 1 its made clear that Revan is the least powerful of the three Sith Lords to recently cause trouble in the galaxy (by character dialogue its clearly Exar Kun over Malak over Revan). KotOR 2 turns spends ages talking about how every Jedi apart from Revan and the main characters is an idiot and how Revan was the only actually competent Sith Lord.

Most of KotOR 1's shilling of Revan is by Bastilla, whose being an easily swayed by personality idiot is kind of important to the plot, while in KotOR 2 its by Kreia whose being wiser and more perceptive than anyone around her is kind of the whole plot.

Anakin is a chosen one, but he's not a 'super special chosen one'. He's talented and powerful, but he always has peers and there are always questions and doubts about him.

Revan is downplayed (especially in KotOR 1) for two reasons. First, "he" was subtle and precise, and even as a dark lord he put effort into minimizing collateral damage. This was because he wanted to maintain the infrastructure as much as possible for when the Empire attacked while removing the weak points. The second reason is because, well, Malak is in charge now. Revan's assassin-centric approach has gone from terrifying to flat-out friendly in hindsight compared to Malak's tactics, which had all the elegance and effectiveness of a steamroller. Remember the last dark lord? How he would send unstoppable killing machines that brutally executed specific people and left everyone around them intact? Yeah, those where the days... Exar Kun is a similar story - they made a bigger splash in the galaxy, but it's mostly collateral damage. Revan had more of an impact, but it was usually so localized it was hardly felt. The Star Forge is a prime example of the difference. Revan refused to use it more than absolutely necessary, because it's such a powerful dark side relic it will turn you into a villainous idiot given half a chance. A few ships here and there and you're still you. More and you become Malak, with an infinite fleet and the guile of a woodworm.

And, let's be honest, Revan being awesome was retcon Obsidian made. Obsidian took what was a pretty average story (with a really cool twist) and filled in the blanks to make it pretty incredible. If KotOR 2 had been given the opportunity to be completed correctly... Well, I definitely do not blame Obsidian for how that turned out.

I've toyed with coming back to the game. SWTOR was a very interesting concept with several really cool ideas (my personal favorites include companions to add a personal touch to the story and upgradeable components to gear that allowed you to maintain a specific style while remaining competitive), but the grind and solo-unfriendly missions just made the game a chore rather than a pleasure. As with Elder Scrolls Online, STWOR tried to copy World of Warcraft and stuck to Blizzard formula in all the wrong places, tying the worst WoW has to offer around their game's neck like an anchor to make sure it never took off.

When the game first went F2P, I really hated how gutted the game felt, with all the features (which had been already been tedious to the point of torture) throttled back so far the game felt unplayable. Has this improved?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

On RP servers, sometimes they're RPing. Or recruiting for a guild.

[Cikomyr]

Flagging yourself for PvP is not something that can be done by accident. The player either has to do it manually (and it isn't simple keystroke that can be hit while trying to hit something else), or has to go to one of the open-world PvP areas. Those open-world areas are in the middle of nowhere, and when you enter, you have a 5-second window (with a large countdown on the screen) warning you that you are about to be flagged for PvP. Backing out anytime in that window stops the countdown, so even if someone did wander into one of those areas, they have time to get out before being flagged.


What if you accidentally attack a PvP-flagged player by going "next target" in battle? Or using an AoE? Or accidentally right-clicking on him because you wanted to loot and he put himself in the way?

[Mx.Silver]

I've toyed with coming back to the game. SWTOR was a very interesting concept with several really cool ideas (my personal favorites include companions to add a personal touch to the story and upgradeable components to gear that allowed you to maintain a specific style while remaining competitive), but the grind and solo-unfriendly missions just made the game a chore rather than a pleasure. As with Elder Scrolls Online, STWOR tried to copy World of Warcraft and stuck to Blizzard formula in all the wrong places, tying the worst WoW has to offer around their game's neck like an anchor to make sure it never took off.

When the game first went F2P, I really hated how gutted the game felt, with all the features (which had been already been tedious to the point of torture) throttled back so far the game felt unplayable. Has this improved?

The XP grind has been reduced drastically and the changes to companion characters have made it a lot more solo-friendly (including the Heroic planetary missions, aside from World Bosses). The level of feature gating is largely unchanged, but I've not found it makes all that much of a difference if you're not interested in the PVP/Raiding/Space flight minigames side of things (aside from things like the sprint function and access to vehicles/mounts).


What if you accidentally attack a PvP-flagged player by going "next target" in battle? Or using an AoE? Or accidentally right-clicking on him because you wanted to loot and he put himself in the way?

It can happen, yes. It just almost never actually does, in my experience. Did this review you read mention what server they were on at all?

[Anteros]

What if you accidentally attack a PvP-flagged player by going "next target" in battle? Or using an AoE? Or accidentally right-clicking on him because you wanted to loot and he put himself in the way?

It's extremely unlikely but possible. If this happens you just wait 5 minutes for your pvp flag to go away and move on about your business.

I don't think you understand just how unlikely this scenario is. I can count on one hand the number of times I've ever even seen a player flagged for pvp on a pve server.

[rooster707]

Revan does not get shilled that much in KotOR 1 compared to KotOR 2. In KotOR 1 its made clear that Revan is the least powerful of the three Sith Lords to recently cause trouble in the galaxy (by character dialogue its clearly Exar Kun over Malak over Revan).

Really? I'm not sure if they actually said it in the game, but I think there was a loading screen that said Revan was stronger, which was why he became the master and Malak the apprentice.

[Cikomyr]

Really? I'm not sure if they actually said it in the game, but I think there was a loading screen that said Revan was stronger, which was why he became the master and Malak the apprentice.

Plus, its not true that Revan isnt shilled in Kotor 1. Just ask Cancerous about him.

[Mutazoia]

My wife tried out the game (after I resubscribed) and is a completionist. This means she won't leave a planet until she has done EVERYTHING (including Heroic-2's). Between this and the extra XP weekend, she's LVL 49 on a LVL 25-29 planet. She's never seen high-level PCs griefing low-levels.

I have been playing (off and on) since the beta, so have characters everywhere from the starting planets to near-endgame. I've also never seen high-level griefers. In fact, the times I went to one of the open-world PvP areas, it was almost empty.

Flagging yourself for PvP is not something that can be done by accident. The player either has to do it manually (and it isn't simple keystroke that can be hit while trying to hit something else), or has to go to one of the open-world PvP areas. Those open-world areas are in the middle of nowhere, and when you enter, you have a 5-second window (with a large countdown on the screen) warning you that you are about to be flagged for PvP. Backing out anytime in that window stops the countdown, so even if someone did wander into one of those areas, they have time to get out before being flagged.

As Cristo Meyers said, there are sometimes high-level PCs in low-level areas. (I saw a LVL 49 on the starting planet for Imperial Agents and Bounty Hunters last night.) If I had to guess, they are finishing up planet-based Achievements. What they aren't doing is griefing. (Unless, of course, the meaning of griefing has become "killing mobs to keep others from killing mobs.")

TL;DR Whoever wrote that review is flat-out wrong. There aren't tons of griefers, and even if someone did decide to follow a low-bie around, the chance of the low-bie actually flagging for PvP is 0.

If anything, I see a lot of high level players on lower level planets offering help to lower level players. There are some quests, like the Sith Sorcerer quest line, that send you back to the starting planet several times over the course of the story, but it's mostly an in-and-out thing that takes more time getting from the landing pad to the quest location than the actual quest (usually just some dialogue) takes.

The only time I encountered what could be called a "griefer" was a PVP flagged player from the opposite faction, on the same quest I was, killing the quest mobs that I had spawned, forcing me to wait a few seconds to re-spawn them. And since he was PVP flagged, for some reason his companion started attacking mine, but we never traded shots ourselves. (I think my comp used an AOE attack and his comp was in the affected area or something.)

[Hunter Noventa]

If anything, I see a lot of high level players on lower level planets offering help to lower level players. There are some quests, like the Sith Sorcerer quest line, that send you back to the starting planet several times over the course of the story, but it's mostly an in-and-out thing that takes more time getting from the landing pad to the quest location than the actual quest (usually just some dialogue) takes.

The only time I encountered what could be called a "griefer" was a PVP flagged player from the opposite faction, on the same quest I was, killing the quest mobs that I had spawned, forcing me to wait a few seconds to re-spawn them. And since he was PVP flagged, for some reason his companion started attacking mine, but we never traded shots ourselves. (I think my comp used an AOE attack and his comp was in the affected area or something.)

The only random PvP I got into was hunting Datacrons on Tatooine, I'd cut through the PvP zone on my way to one, and then when I went to wait for the damned jawa Balloon, there was a Bounty Hunter there who decided to attack me because I was still flagged. I won, and then we rode the balloon together, still flagged for most of the ride. That was a little tense in an amusing way.

[Mutazoia]

The only random PvP I got into was hunting Datacrons on Tatooine, I'd cut through the PvP zone on my way to one, and then when I went to wait for the damned jawa Balloon, there was a Bounty Hunter there who decided to attack me because I was still flagged. I won, and then we rode the balloon together, still flagged for most of the ride. That was a little tense in an amusing way.

LoL. That reminds me of a time in WoW when I flew my Druid onto an Ally Zep and landed behind a Ally toon. I wasn't flagged PvP, but he turned around, saw me and backed up...right off the zep and fell to his death.

There have been a few times I've kinda wished some one would try to start a PvP fight on the Jawa Balloon, just so I could push them off and make them wait for the next one.

[Anteros]

LoL. That reminds me of a time in WoW when I flew my Druid onto an Ally Zep and landed behind a Ally toon. I wasn't flagged PvP, but he turned around, saw me and backed up...right off the zep and fell to his death.

There have been a few times I've kinda wished some one would try to start a PvP fight on the Jawa Balloon, just so I could push them off and make them wait for the next one.

It reminds me of when priests could mind control people in WoW and made them jump off cliffs. Interactions like that were completely unfair, but gosh they made the world entertaining before everything got homogenized.

[huttj509]

It reminds me of when priests could mind control people in WoW and made them jump off cliffs. Interactions like that were completely unfair, but gosh they made the world entertaining before everything got homogenized.

"Oh, hey, let's duel while we wait for the Zepplin."

MC

Jump off right before zep leaves. "Have fun waiting for the next one!"

[Calemyr]

Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me how the game's romance subsystem handles the expansions? Does romancing an early (original game) character lock you out of the expansion options? If not, how does it handle that?

Also, I'm rather confused and frustrated with the legacy system? What things effect the entire legacy? I got Legacy of Crafting, but only one character seems to benefit from it, and it was rather absurdly expensive (50k).

[Cristo Meyers]

Also, I'm rather confused and frustrated with the legacy system? What things effect the entire legacy? I got Legacy of Crafting, but only one character seems to benefit from it, and it was rather absurdly expensive (50k).

I think it does specify which Legacy abilities affect the whole Legacy v just that character in the pop-up menu. I know for a fact that the Jedi Knight & Consular's Force Might/Force Valor unlock carries over. But that's not one you buy.

50K is cheap, most of them are upwards of 100K to 1.5 million.

[Calemyr]

I think it does specify which Legacy abilities affect the whole Legacy v just that character in the pop-up menu. I know for a fact that the Jedi Knight & Consular's Force Might/Force Valor unlock carries over. But that's not one you buy.

50K is cheap, most of them are upwards of 100K to 1.5 million.

Cheap for a legacy item, possibly, but that was still over half my total funds across my account (as a crafting addict, I always did hemorage coin training people up). I guess I was just lucky I unlocked it on my armormech, where the improved critical success rate is invaluable.

[Hunter Noventa]

Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me how the game's romance subsystem handles the expansions? Does romancing an early (original game) character lock you out of the expansion options? If not, how does it handle that?

Due to the events of the latest expansion, you're separated from most of your old companions. In fact, I don't think anyone who was a romancable character has come back yet, though Kaliyo is due back in the next chapter.

As for romancing others, I couldn't say, I never had anyone that far with most charcters because the old affection system that gated companion progress was to grindy.

[Mx.Silver]

Also, I'm rather confused and frustrated with the legacy system? What things effect the entire legacy? I got Legacy of Crafting, but only one character seems to benefit from it, and it was rather absurdly expensive (50k).

The ones under Character Perks (such as Legacy of Crafting) only effect that character. The legacy-wide ones are the options under Global Unlocks.

[Calemyr]

The ones under Character Perks (such as Legacy of Crafting) only effect that character. The legacy-wide ones are the options under Global Unlocks.

Okay. Of course it seems obvious if you put it that way...

[Anteros]

Due to the events of the latest expansion, you're separated from most of your old companions. In fact, I don't think anyone who was a romancable character has come back yet, though Kaliyo is due back in the next chapter.

As for romancing others, I couldn't say, I never had anyone that far with most charcters because the old affection system that gated companion progress was to grindy.

Spoilers man. Some people may not want to know stuff like that.

[Chen]

So redownloaded the game and looked at my level 50 juggernaut and was completely overwhelmed. Started a new inquisitor but I still have some questions. What are good legacy unlocks? I have like 3000 cartel coins (had an authenticator on for like 3 years lol) and around 2 million credits in escrow on my level 50. Leveling seems insanely fast so twinking stuff over doesnt really seem necessary. Also should I setup a stronghold? is space combat only pvp now or are the original space missions still there too? So much to figure out again.

[Hunter Noventa]

Spoilers man. Some people may not want to know stuff like that.

If you know anything about the latest expansion they kind of made that part obvious, but I'll but it in a spoiler box.

[Kish]

Plus, its not true that Revan isnt shilled in Kotor 1. Just ask Cancerous about him.
Is that a deliberate insult to Canderous or a typo?

I think it's a mistake to treat KotFE and KotOR as having anything to do with each other. They lost me when they tried to push "stitched-face is the character you played in KotOR1, honest!" So if you're talking about KotFE, Revan is a stupid, genocidal Jedi who fell a couple times, thinks he's the only Jedi who's ever fallen, and yells "That's enough!" if you point out how overtly deluded that belief is; if you're talking about KotOR than Revan is someone far more important and ambiguous.

[Anteros]

So redownloaded the game and looked at my level 50 juggernaut and was completely overwhelmed. Started a new inquisitor but I still have some questions. What are good legacy unlocks? I have like 3000 cartel coins (had an authenticator on for like 3 years lol) and around 2 million credits in escrow on my level 50. Leveling seems insanely fast so twinking stuff over doesnt really seem necessary. Also should I setup a stronghold? is space combat only pvp now or are the original space missions still there too? So much to figure out again.

I'd say mostly rocket boots and quick travel upgrades. Also unify colors and hide head slot if you want those.

[Cristo Meyers]

I'd say mostly rocket boots and quick travel upgrades. Also unify colors and hide head slot if you want those.

I just found a helmet I didn't hate and threw it in the appearance slot. No matter what helmet my soldier is wearing, it just looks like a headset.

If you're playing Preferred, pick up the extra Crew Skill slot. Preferred status is limited to two, but you'll need all three if you want to be self-sufficient in crafting.

[Chen]

I'd say mostly rocket boots and quick travel upgrades. Also unify colors and hide head slot if you want those.

Yeah I picked up the rocket boost and quick travel upgrades. They're pretty nice though my legacy isn't high enough leveled for the last upgrade for each. Also got the hide head slot since every helmet looked really dumb.

I'm not sure how useful crafting is. It seems I can gather any node regardless of my skill and anything I can craft with materials on the planet are WAY behind the stuff I'm getting from the leveled vendors. I think it's because the xp rate is so high for doing just story quests. I finished Balmorra and am doing Nar Shaddaa and I'm already at level 30 just doing the purple quests (and Black Talon once).

[Aeliren]

So I was wondering... Since the changes to flashpoint drops and heroic and regular mission rewards, what happened to all the nifty loot there was? Specifically, the Hammer Lookout's Jacket and Pants (Purple/grey jacket, originally from Hammer Station) and its lookalikes, the Imperial Coordination Prototype Jacket (Grey/red jacket, originally from the Balmorra heroics) and Plasteel Battle Jacket (White/red jacket, originally a Hoth mission reward)?

I was thinking of rolling another Imperial Agent sometime soon, and it'd be a bit sad to not be able to get any of them.

[Mx.Silver]

So I was wondering... Since the changes to flashpoint drops and heroic and regular mission rewards, what happened to all the nifty loot there was? Specifically, the Hammer Lookout's Jacket and Pants (Purple/grey jacket, originally from Hammer Station) and its lookalikes, the Imperial Coordination Prototype Jacket (Grey/red jacket, originally from the Balmorra heroics) and Plasteel Battle Jacket (White/red jacket, originally a Hoth mission reward)?

I was thinking of rolling another Imperial Agent sometime soon, and it'd be a bit sad to not be able to get any of them.
I've seen some things with that name on the GTN, but they're pretty much gone from 'the wild', as it were, at least for non-subscribers. Heroic missions now return subscriber-only armour boxes, so some of them could still be present in that form.
A lot of the commendation gear vendors have disappeared as well, so modable kit is more thin on the ground than it used to be.

[Anteros]

I've seen some things with that name on the GTN, but they're pretty much gone from 'the wild', as it were, at least for non-subscribers. Heroic missions now return subscriber-only armour boxes, so some of them could still be present in that form.
A lot of the commendation gear vendors have disappeared as well, so modable kit is more thin on the ground than it used to be.

Nah, the loot boxes just provide generic blue gear for your class. You can get orange gear sometimes as a random world drop still.

[Aeliren]

That's sad. A lot of great-looking armor was lost in that update. It's especially sad now that we have the option to customize the look of our armor, and we can't obtain it anymore - and it was replaced by content that can't be accessed by everyone like it used to. Hoping they add it again in a later update.

[TESffaa1]

That's sad. A lot of great-looking armor was lost in that update. It's especially sad now that we have the option to customize the look of our armor, and we can't obtain it anymore - and it was replaced by content that can't be accessed by everyone like it used to. Hoping they add it again in a later update.

Totally agree.
But I doubt they will add this content in the future updates...

[Philistine]

Maybe find a friendly Armormech or Synthweaver to craft you an Orange set you like? The old craftable shells can replicate most of the old mission reward Orange items, though usually in a slightly different color scheme.

[Calemyr]

Dumb question: Are there any modifiable greatcoats/long coats/trench coats etc in the game anymore? Not force-user robes, but actual coats suitable for smugglers and agents? I have been searching for a good look for an agent (or a light-side Sith Warrior) and I haven't found anything that really stands out.

[Chen]

So I was raising artifice, and it seems you can completely level just on the bonded augments or whatever they're called now. Is this correct? Is that the same for all crafting professions? It definitely makes things MUCH easier to level (though I feel kinda dumb having treasure hunting now).

[Mx.Silver]

So I was raising artifice, and it seems you can completely level just on the bonded augments or whatever they're called now. Is this correct? Is that the same for all crafting professions? It definitely makes things MUCH easier to level (though I feel kinda dumb having treasure hunting now).

Yes, the augments will be enough to level a crafting skill by themselves. You will still need probably a mission skill to actually be able to craft anything useful with those augments, though.

[Hunter Noventa]

Dumb question: Are there any modifiable greatcoats/long coats/trench coats etc in the game anymore? Not force-user robes, but actual coats suitable for smugglers and agents? I have been searching for a good look for an agent (or a light-side Sith Warrior) and I haven't found anything that really stands out.

Don't worry about it being modifiable. You can use the outfit designer to wear anything on top of whatever orange shells you might have. The only thing it doesn't work for is Weapons.

[Philistine]

Dumb question: Are there any modifiable greatcoats/long coats/trench coats etc in the game anymore? Not force-user robes, but actual coats suitable for smugglers and agents? I have been searching for a good look for an agent (or a light-side Sith Warrior) and I haven't found anything that really stands out.

Armormech can help with that: the pre-4.0 patterns are still in the game, and in fact my 65 Operative is currently wearing a crafted chest piece.

Or you might look at Cartel Market armor, which will actually look the same for either faction (most other gear has a different appearance Impside and Pubside). You can often find CM stuff on the GTN, if you look under "Adaptive Armor."

[rooster707]

Does anyone know where I can get a decent-looking helmet for my Consular? I'd like to have something that will let me wear my hood, and preferably be as, uh... non-visible... as possible.

[Chen]

I couldn't find any headpieces that let me keep my hood on. I had to select "hide helmets" before the hood showed back up on my Sith Inquisitor.

[rooster707]

I couldn't find any headpieces that let me keep my hood on. I had to select "hide helmets" before the hood showed back up on my Sith Inquisitor.

I'm Preferred Status, just upgraded today, so I can't do that.

I had a pretty good headband that I got from... Taris, I think, but I had already sold it by the time I figured out the appearance system. :(

[Anteros]

Some of the tiara looking headpieces let you keep your hood up, and you can't even really see it under the hood.

[Cristo Meyers]

Some of the tiara looking headpieces let you keep your hood up, and you can't even really see it under the hood.

I was just going to suggest that. Check the lvl 8 equipment vendor on Drumond Kaas: Initiate's Headpiece I think. Shadowsilk Aegis/Force Expert Headpiece (synthweaving lvl 1) is also a pretty thin headband, I just can't remember which one it is specifically.

Ctrl + Left Click lets you preview what the armor will look like.

[rooster707]

I was just going to suggest that. Check the lvl 8 equipment vendor on Drumond Kaas: Initiate's Headpiece I think. Shadowsilk Aegis/Force Expert Headpiece (synthweaving lvl 1) is also a pretty thin headband, I just can't remember which one it is specifically.

Ctrl + Left Click lets you preview what the armor will look like.

Hmmm... Is there something similar on Coruscant? I'll go check that out.

[Cristo Meyers]

Hmmm... Is there something similar on Coruscant? I'll go check that out.

Yep. Coruscant has the same vendor. They're in the market wing with the cantina and speeder vendor.

[rooster707]

Yep. Coruscant has the same vendor. They're in the market wing with the cantina and speeder vendor.

Found pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you SO MUCH. You have no idea how stupid my hat looks. :P

[Cristo Meyers]

Found pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you SO MUCH. You have no idea how stupid my hat looks. :P

Not a problem.

That vendor was a lifesaver for me when I started up my Bounty Hunter and Soldier. Just buy the Scout's Headgear, throw it in the appearance slot, and away you go. Almost as good as being able to hide the headgear.

[Philistine]

You have no idea how stupid my hat looks. :P
I've seen most of them, over the years. Some classes are worse off than others, but I don't think anybody gets out with no stupid-looking hats.

[Hunter Noventa]

I've seen most of them, over the years. Some classes are worse off than others, but I don't think anybody gets out with no stupid-looking hats.

Yeah almost every single hat looks ludicrous. The simple old headsets are amazing though.

I swear it's a ploy to make preferred players buy the 'Hide Head Slot' unlock.

[Cristo Meyers]

Yeah almost every single hat looks ludicrous. The simple old headsets are amazing though.

I swear it's a ploy to make preferred players buy the 'Hide Head Slot' unlock.

True, but this is Bioware we're talking about. Stupid looking hats was a reputation they earned way back in '09.

The fact that it means they can charge non-subscribers for the hide headwear function is just a bonus for their pocketbook.

I just grabbed something that doesn't look too stupid and slap it in the headwear slot on the appearance menu. Scout's Headgear for the smuggler, soldier, and bounty hunter, and honestly most of the Jedi headbands aren't too bad. Just found one and stuck with it.

[Chen]

So I've finished 3 storylines so far. Sith Warrior was ages ago when I first started. Did the Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Knight recently. So the question is, is there much of a point to leveling all 3 to 65? I heard the expansion stories and such are pretty much the same regardless of class, with just some minor variations. Also, should I be finishing Ilum on the new chars? I've already done the Storyline on my Sith Warrior and don't particularly want to do it again. I assume all the drops and such are completely overshadowed by the new stuff since Ilum isn't endgame anymore. So am I missing out on much not doing that?

I saw a reddit post saying I should do the Section X stuff as well prior to the expansions (at least the first part). I started the HK quest on the Jedi Knight and figure I'll do that and level them to 65 first.

The other thing that threw me off was the flashpoint storyline. I got all thrown out of order on that since you level so quickly now. I was given flashpoint quests at the fleet that were my level by ruined future story points because I guess they expected you to do them later. Does anyone have a good idea of the order of those flashpoints? It's kinda silly how the quest log always shows YOUR level for the quest level, if you're at or above the required level. I can't really sort things out in order anymore.

[huttj509]

As far as outfits go, it's been a while since I loaded it up, so not knowing names, but I always liked the "Moff uniform" outfits on my Chiss IA. She looked really snazzy and professional. Too bad the hat was one of those "make the character bald while it's on" ones.

http://tor-fashion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/23/hooligan/HooliganClose.png

[Sith_Happens]

The other thing that threw me off was the flashpoint storyline. I got all thrown out of order on that since you level so quickly now. I was given flashpoint quests at the fleet that were my level by ruined future story points because I guess they expected you to do them later. Does anyone have a good idea of the order of those flashpoints? It's kinda silly how the quest log always shows YOUR level for the quest level, if you're at or above the required level. I can't really sort things out in order anymore.

Are you asking what order the flashpoints go in or at what points in the main story you should do each of them?

[huttj509]

Are you asking what order the flashpoints go in or at what points in the main story you should do each of them?

Looks like both. Just kind of a story map with the planets and flashpoints woven in there.

[Kish]

The only flashpoints I can think of that ruin future story points are the late-forties-and-up ones you were originally supposed to do after finishing the main storyline. The quest NPCs for them will address any Sith Warrior as "the Emperor's Wrath," allude to any Sith Inquisitor being a Dark Council member, and so on.

[Chen]

Looks like both. Just kind of a story map with the planets and flashpoints woven in there.

Yeah pretty much this. I mean I know I did some flashpoint on my Jedi Knight in Chapter 2 when I definitely should have done it in Chapter 3 since it gave away the end of Chapter 2 =/

[Anteros]

So I've finished 3 storylines so far. Sith Warrior was ages ago when I first started. Did the Sith Inquisitor and Jedi Knight recently. So the question is, is there much of a point to leveling all 3 to 65? I heard the expansion stories and such are pretty much the same regardless of class, with just some minor variations. Also, should I be finishing Ilum on the new chars? I've already done the Storyline on my Sith Warrior and don't particularly want to do it again. I assume all the drops and such are completely overshadowed by the new stuff since Ilum isn't endgame anymore. So am I missing out on much not doing that?

I saw a reddit post saying I should do the Section X stuff as well prior to the expansions (at least the first part). I started the HK quest on the Jedi Knight and figure I'll do that and level them to 65 first.

The other thing that threw me off was the flashpoint storyline. I got all thrown out of order on that since you level so quickly now. I was given flashpoint quests at the fleet that were my level by ruined future story points because I guess they expected you to do them later. Does anyone have a good idea of the order of those flashpoints? It's kinda silly how the quest log always shows YOUR level for the quest level, if you're at or above the required level. I can't really sort things out in order anymore.

From a story perspective I don't think there's much point to taking multiple classes to 65. I would just level the ones you enjoy playing, because the story stays the same.

I can't help with the flashpoints though. It's been a long time since I actually paid any attention to anything they say in one of those. Sorry.

[Sith_Happens]

From a story perspective I don't think there's much point to taking multiple classes to 65. I would just level the ones you enjoy playing, because the story stays the same.

Unless you want to, you know, make different decisions with different characters.

[rooster707]

I saw a reddit post saying I should do the Section X stuff as well prior to the expansions (at least the first part). I started the HK quest on the Jedi Knight and figure I'll do that and level them to 65 first.

Speaking of Section X, is HK worth buying that for? Or should I spend my coins on something else?

[Anteros]

Unless you want to, you know, make different decisions with different characters.

Fair enough. I basically always go lightside no matter what considering the decisions are typically the equivalent of "Do you want to adopt or murder this puppy?"

[Cristo Meyers]

Fair enough. I basically always go lightside no matter what considering the decisions are typically the equivalent of "Do you want to adopt or murder this puppy?"

You'd think after so many games with this dynamic that they'd have gotten better at it by 2011. Sure, there are less stupid dichotomies in their choices but now the bad ones just stand out even more!

Do you agree to get the meds or threaten a child to get the quest-giver to back down?

Do you set the former child soldier up to vanish into the ether or tell him to go back to his parents? You chose parents? DARK SIDE POINTS FOR YOU!

[rooster707]

Do you set the former child soldier up to vanish into the ether or tell him to go back to his parents? You chose parents? DARK SIDE POINTS FOR YOU!

Well... that sounds like it would make sense in context...

[Anteros]

Well... that sounds like it would make sense in context...

You run into a soldier whose family has been looking for him for years after he got kidnapped and forced into being a child soldier for a terrorist organization. He says he can't face them and asks you to tell them he's dead. If you refuse to lie to the parents about their child dying you get dark side points.

It's best not to dwell on these things.


I also always enjoyed the logic of the medicine quest you mentioned as well. In order to get Light side points for that one you not only have to support the thief, but you also explicitly let a soldier die. It's just bad writing. There's no compelling reason your character can't go to the base doctors and tell them some refugees need medicine, but they just don't give you the option.

[rooster707]

Or the end of the Jedi Consular story on Tatooine: You've just uncovered a bunch of information about Sand People, which could potentially be dangerous in the wrong hands.

Me: "The Council should decide this, not me."

*dark side points*
"Tharan Cedrax disapproves"

[Dienekes]

Well the writers said (back before the game was released), they wanted to show a trickle down and up effect in the form of light and dark side points.

Essentially if you were on the Republic, it was assumed you were starting light side, so the options presented were either going to be at first "perfectly good" then "still pretty good but maybe more useful than noble" and by the end you'd get real evil choices. While I can think the idea was ok, the implementation leaves some weird rational for why some options are dark side.

[Kish]

You run into a soldier whose family has been looking for him for years after he got kidnapped and forced into being a child soldier for a terrorist organization. He says he can't face them and asks you to tell them he's dead. If you refuse to lie to the parents about their child dying you get dark side points.

Rather, if you choose to tell him, "Screw your trauma and shellshock and worries about possibly flipping out and shooting them in the middle of the night, they sent me to bring you back and back you go," you get Dark Side points. If you tell him "I'll help you go where you want instead," you get Light Side points. Lying doesn't enter into it (though you may get Dark Side points if you then tell his parents he's dead rather than that he left the planet; never having done so, I do not know).

Or the end of the Jedi Consular story on Tatooine: You've just uncovered a bunch of information about Sand People, which could potentially be dangerous in the wrong hands.

Me: "The Council should decide this, not me."

*dark side points*
"Tharan Cedrax disapproves"
For this one and the "why not tell the Republic soldiers" in the last one, I think I detect a preexisting idea about what the Republic is.

The Republic is just as evil as the Empire, just not quite as honest about it (where the Empire has slaves, the Republic has indentured laborers). They know refugees need medicine. They don't care.

Theran Cedrax objects to the suppression of any information or technology no matter what that information or technology is; that's one of the two big, obvious things about his approval/disapproval (the other being that he disapproves whenever a decision places him, personally, in danger, and approves when you seem to be prioritizing keeping his hide intact). If you were thinking he was supposed to be definingly good instead*, that explains your surprise but not why you'd think it's bad writing for him to frown at "I'm going to hand this information over to a group that will suppress it."

*Or possibly that all the Jedi's companions were supposed to be good first and foremost? Considering the delightful personality and moral code of the first Jedi Consular companion, I hope it's not that one.

[rooster707]

Theran Cedrax objects to the suppression of any information or technology no matter what that information or technology is; that's one of the two big, obvious things about his approval/disapproval (the other being that he disapproves whenever a decision places him, personally, in danger). If you were thinking he was supposed to be definingly good instead, that explains your surprise but not why you'd think it's bad writing for him to frown at "I'm going to hand this information over to a group that will suppress it."

Well, I get why he wouldn't like that, that makes sense. (I don't know why I put that there. I guess I thought it would be funny? I wasn't completely awake.) I just don't understand how it's somehow evil to say, "I shouldn't be making this decision, my superiors should, since they're smarter than me and stuff."

[Anteros]

Rather, if you choose to tell him, "Screw your trauma and shellshock and worries about possibly flipping out and shooting them in the middle of the night, they sent me to bring you back and back you go," you get Dark Side points. If you tell him "I'll help you go where you want instead," you get Light Side points. Lying doesn't enter into it (though you may get Dark Side points if you then tell his parents he's dead rather than that he left the planet; never having done so, I do not know).


If I remember correctly there's no option to tell his parents the truth. You either lie to them, or make him go back. Also, the guy is a terrorist. Maybe he didn't get recruited on purpose, but he's been a terrorist for a decade. If he's so worried about flipping out and shooting innocent people then letting him go is even worse. The options are to send him back to the republic base with his parents where he can get the help he needs, or just randomly let him loose on the galaxy and hope he decides to give up a decade of terrorist indoctrination. One of those sounds better than the other.



For this one and the "why not tell the Republic soldiers" in the last one, I think I detect a preexisting idea about what the Republic is.

The Republic is just as evil as the Empire, just not quite as honest about it (where the Empire has slaves, the Republic has indentured laborers). They know refugees need medicine. They don't care.


That's just bunk. The Republic is far from perfect, but they at least try to help people. If you told the Doctors about the refugees being sick you might get "We'll try to help them but resources are limited" at worst. In the Empire you'd get "Mwuahahaha let the fools suffer for their weakness!" The game is incredibly heavy handed with instances of the Republic trying to help people even if they suffer for it while the Empire actively suppresses them. To the point where I have a hard time enjoying Imperial characters because even the "light side" ones are over the top evil.



Well, I get why he wouldn't like that, that makes sense. (I don't know why I put that there. I guess I thought it would be funny? I wasn't completely awake.) I just don't understand how it's somehow evil to say, "I shouldn't be making this decision, my superiors should, since they're smarter than me and stuff."

There's a mission on Hoth where if you choose to not murder a bunch of Imperial soldiers after they help you defeat some pirates Kira greatly disapproves. She's not typically a big fan of murdering people who helped you, but apparently she just felt like murdering some people that day.

[Cristo Meyers]

If I remember correctly there's no option to tell his parents the truth. You either lie to them, or make him go back. Also, the guy is a terrorist. Maybe he didn't get recruited on purpose, but he's been a terrorist for a decade. If he's so worried about flipping out and shooting innocent people then letting him go is even worse. The options are to send him back to the republic base with his parents where he can get the help he needs, or just randomly let him loose on the galaxy and hope he decides to give up a decade of terrorist indoctrination. One of those sounds better than the other.

Exactly. Even taking the fact that he's been coerced into working for the Seperatists, one choice amounts to basically seeing him off and hoping he gets help somewhere along the line.

And you can tell his parents the truth:
His mother declares that since he's a Seperatist he's dead to her and dad just goes along with it. It's this that leads me to believe they wrote out this arc and then assigned Dark Side/Light Side based off of how it ends even though you have no way of knowing that when the choice arrives. If you let him go he basically goes straight into therapy.


There's a mission on Hoth where if you choose to not murder a bunch of Imperial soldiers after they help you defeat some pirates Kira greatly disapproves. She's not typically a big fan of murdering people who helped you, but apparently she just felt like murdering some people that day.

A lot of times, for Kira 'Imperial' =/= 'person' though. The problem is that they kinda gloss over the fact that this is one of her biggest personality flaws.

[Anteros]

Exactly. Even taking the fact that he's been coerced into working for the Seperatists, one choice amounts to basically seeing him off and hoping he gets help somewhere along the line.

And you can tell his parents the truth:
His mother declares that since he's a Seperatist he's dead to her and dad just goes along with it. It's this that leads me to believe they wrote out this arc and then assigned Dark Side/Light Side based off of how it ends even though you have no way of knowing that when the choice arrives. If you let him go he basically goes straight into therapy.



A lot of times, for Kira 'Imperial' =/= 'person' though. The problem is that they kinda gloss over the fact that this is one of her biggest personality flaws.

She does hate Imperials, but that's the only instance I can think of where she actively wanted to murder someone who wasn't threatening her.

[Kish]

I don't know what to say to that, except that I certainly had the option to tell his parents that he didn't want to see them and had left the planet.

I am mystified that "Kira is at one point presented as feeling homicidal hatred for all Imperials" is being held up as a flaw or an inconsistency. Now, if you had an example of a point where she did not seem to feel homicidal hatred for someone who was loyal to the Empire, that would be an inconsistency.

[Philistine]

I also always enjoyed the logic of the medicine quest you mentioned as well. In order to get Light side points for that one you not only have to support the thief, but you also explicitly let a soldier die. It's just bad writing. There's no compelling reason your character can't go to the base doctors and tell them some refugees need medicine, but they just don't give you the option.
Oh, it wasn't that bad.

It was much, much worse.

Look at the timeline: The original questgiver tells you the medicine was stolen from the base infirmary just the night before. But then, that very same night, a team of Separatist commandos somehow knew to raid the refugee "doctor's" tent to "steal" it from her. Yeah, right. Even if you resist the obvious conclusion (the "doctor" is a Separatist plant), it's clear that leaving the medicine with her is tantamount to handing it over to the Separatists. But giving it to her is LS, and returning it to the army is DS, because... umm... because MILITARY BAD, OKAY????

[Malistrae]

I am pretty bitter about the Old Republic. I dislike subscription models on principle (since I view them as a scam that is designed to guilt you into playing as much as possible to avoid feeling shafted), so I eagerly awaited the inevitable transition into a different model (which always happens for 98% of mmos). However, instead of transitioning into the Guild Wars-esque B2P model (like how Secret World and Elder Scrolls Online did), they decided to go with this crappy F2P nonsense.

Personally, I prefer paying a certain amount of money up-front to gain access to the current game content, and later optionally pay for DLC. This is just more fair, imo, then F2P or subscription. And the B2P model works! Guild Wars 2 is very strong, Secret World managed to avoid closing down purely because of the transition (and they are in fact releasing more meaty DLCs then ever), and ESO managed to maintain a strong playerbase even after the initial wave of subscribers died down.

[Chen]

You can still play The Old Republic pretty well F2P or with a single lump purchase of Cartel coins. As far as I can tell you can play through all the storylines for extremely minimal cost (to make the account "preferred", I don't know if there are more cumbersome restrictions as pure F2P, since I did it as preferred). Then I plunked down $20 on Amazon got 2 months of play time and all the expansions to date. Seems to be pretty decent value. Those expansions stay unlocked so really a single month subscription every now and then (akin to buying DLC) gets you the new content.

[rooster707]

So, just found out the stuff I got in the "preferred status bundle" (display title, unify colors, stuff like that) only applies to the character I bought it on, when I thought it was an account unlock.

Aaaaugh!

Hopefully, the crew skill slot does apply to all my characters... we'll see.

Edit: Googled it, apparently it was only for the one character. >_< So... how do I unlock it on the account level?

Also (last question, I promise) if I unlock Section X on just one of my characters, can I still get HK-51? And if so, can I then get him on my other characters without having to buy it and go through all the missions and stuff again?

I would be asking all this on the TOR forums, but you have to be a subscriber to post there. :smallannoyed:

[NEO|Phyte]

Also (last question, I promise) if I unlock Section X on just one of my characters, can I still get HK-51? And if so, can I then get him on my other characters without having to buy it and go through all the missions and stuff again?
Unless they have some extra stuff rigged in to be rude about it, you should theoretically be able to get HK51 on everyone with just one person having section x.

Step 1: Run through the quest to get HK
Step 2: You should now be able to spend 1mil credits (per character) to unlock HK via legacy unlocks

[Cristo Meyers]

Unless they have some extra stuff rigged in to be rude about it, you should theoretically be able to get HK51 on everyone with just one person having section x.

Step 1: Run through the quest to get HK
Step 2: You should now be able to spend 1mil credits (per character) to unlock HK via legacy unlocks

Pretty sure you'd need to be a subscriber to get to that amount of credits. Us Preferred class peasants are limited to 350000 in our inventory and any overage is sent to an 'escrow account' that doesn't seem to count towards your overall total when buying high-value items like that.

I'll admit that I haven't put that to the test as so far the only thing the credit limit is keeping me from doing is buying a balcony for my stronghold, though.

[Chen]

I think the vouchers to convert escrow to normal are actually sellable on the GTN. You're going to pay a large premium for that though. That or attach an authenticator to your account, get your 100 coins per month and just buy the vouchers yourself (or the unlock depending on costs).

[rooster707]

Does anyone know how to turn off the "hide head slot" option without paying for it? It's set to "on" on one of my outfits. No idea why. And of course, it happens right after I finally get a decent-looking helmet. :P

[Anteros]

I thought it automatically went back to showing if you didn't have it unlocked or an active subscription? Sorry, I don't know how to help.

[rooster707]

I've never had a subscription, it just disappeared a few days ago. I don't really care that much, it's just weird.

[Philistine]

One thing that hasn't changed, sadly, is the Rakghoul Plague recurring in-game event. It is convincing evidence that someone at BW hates the very idea of happiness.

[Comet]

I just played through KotOR 1 and 2. Should I play this, too? I played a bit of the agent and consular stories a while back but lost interest because of the MMO elements in between story moments. Since that's now better, apparently, I might have to give this game another chance.

What class should I play, though? My favourite Star Wars things are episode V, TIE Fighter and KotOR 2 and I like to play neutral characters that have oddly specific notions of morality. My agent was good and fair and heroic but would do anything, anything if ordered by a Sith Lord because those guys are basically gods to a regular imperial. My consular, meanwhile, was all about preserving the republic and enforcing the law and I remember having quite a few fun opportunities to go hard on people who were making their own rules for "the right reasons".

[Anteros]

If you want want most players consider the "KoToR 3" storyline you should play the Knight.

[Mutazoia]

I just played through KotOR 1 and 2. Should I play this, too? I played a bit of the agent and consular stories a while back but lost interest because of the MMO elements in between story moments. Since that's now better, apparently, I might have to give this game another chance.

What class should I play, though? My favourite Star Wars things are episode V, TIE Fighter and KotOR 2 and I like to play neutral characters that have oddly specific notions of morality. My agent was good and fair and heroic but would do anything, anything if ordered by a Sith Lord because those guys are basically gods to a regular imperial. My consular, meanwhile, was all about preserving the republic and enforcing the law and I remember having quite a few fun opportunities to go hard on people who were making their own rules for "the right reasons".

Personally I liked the Agent story line, as well as the Sith Sorcerer story line. The Smuggler story was rather lame, and the Jedi stories are so-so (IMHO)

[Anteros]

I was going to recommend Agent but he said he already played it. The other stories are all good in their own way, but the Knight is the closest in tone and plot to Kotor 1 and 2, which is why I recommended it.

I'll just give my thoughts on the different stories that I've actually played.

Consular is widely considered to be the worst story. It's diplomatic stuff.
Bounty Hunter is mostly just you hunting bounties, so if you enjoy stuff like that then go for it, but it's not particularly deep.
A lot of people enjoy Inquisitor, but I found it to contain too much "lol I'm so random and evil *holds up spork*"
Trooper starts out very good, but gets progressively worse the whole way through. It probably has the best prologue, but the weakest ending.
Sith Warrior is ok if you enjoy playing evil, brutal characters.

I haven't done Smuggler so I can't comment on it, and you've already played Agent so you know what that is already.

[Mutazoia]

I was going to recommend Agent but he said he already played it. The other stories are all good in their own way, but the Knight is the closest in tone and plot to Kotor 1 and 2, which is why I recommended it.

I'll just give my thoughts on the different stories that I've actually played.

Consular is widely considered to be the worst story. It's diplomatic stuff.
Bounty Hunter is mostly just you hunting bounties, so if you enjoy stuff like that then go for it, but it's not particularly deep.
A lot of people enjoy Inquisitor, but I found it to contain too much "lol I'm so random and evil *holds up spork*"
Trooper starts out very good, but gets progressively worse the whole way through. It probably has the best prologue, but the weakest ending.
Sith Warrior is ok if you enjoy playing evil, brutal characters.

I haven't done Smuggler so I can't comment on it, and you've already played Agent so you know what that is already.

Smuggler story is basically "I'm going to look for this legendary treasure that nobody's been able to find for decades....oh there it is behind the couch."

[Pronounceable]

Should I play this, too?
As always, the answer is play agent. It's the best. Both sith ones are very good and deserves a playthrough at some point. Hunter and smuggler are not good, the dudes/dudettes are all right but their plots suck. Consular is infinitely better than smuggler and hunter and all who says otherwise have bad taste. Knight is a milquetoast SW clichestorm of destined badass badassing around in space. Trooper is exremely boring to start and I dunno if it'll get better later.
...
In other news, I've been kinda roped into playing this again with some friends who got that SW bug. Using a sage consular for FP healing but it's horrible. I can't think of a more boring healer playstyle in any other mmos I've played. Are other healy classes any better?

[Chen]

Are all the reputation factions associated with these weekly events? I know Gree was last week and it seems to be THORN this week. Are there any others that are just around?

Also once you're at 65 and you're not really interested in ops (or even flashpoints to an extent), what do you do? I've been grinding out heroics for my alliance specialists and that's also getting me the crystals for the 216 gear. Is there any way to get Set Bonus gear besides the ops? And if I were to want to do some ops, which are the easy, less time consuming ones (say just to get said set bonus gear)?

[Hunter Noventa]

I've played every class story to its conclusion myself. I'd say the agent is up there among the best, if not the absolute best. Inquisitor is pretty good, though the Female voice actor really sells it. Sith Warrior is good, it definitely has the most 'screw with Jedi by being a light side sith' moments. Bounty Hunter is...about what you expect, though it does have the absolute worst companion in the entire game.

Knight is...KotoR 3 but less interesting than 1 or 2. Consular is different because you get the best feel for what a Jedi is supposed to be, I feel, so it's not actually all that bad. Smuggler is...all right, if you don't mind being Not!Han Solo. Honest. Trooper is...yeah, about like what was said above. It does have some good moments, but the overall story feels a bit out of place, it very much lacks the sort of 'Adventure!' vibe that the other Republic stories seem to have at least some amount of.

[Mutazoia]

As always, the answer is play agent. It's the best. Both sith ones are very good and deserves a playthrough at some point. Hunter and smuggler are not good, the dudes/dudettes are all right but their plots suck. Consular is infinitely better than smuggler and hunter and all who says otherwise have bad taste. Knight is a milquetoast SW clichestorm of destined badass badassing around in space. Trooper is exremely boring to start and I dunno if it'll get better later.
...
In other news, I've been kinda roped into playing this again with some friends who got that SW bug. Using a sage consular for FP healing but it's horrible. I can't think of a more boring healer playstyle in any other mmos I've played. Are other healy classes any better?

Well I find that my Sorc healer is by far the best healer I've got with my agent coming in a close second

[Sith_Happens]

In other news, I've been kinda roped into playing this again with some friends who got that SW bug. Using a sage consular for FP healing but it's horrible. I can't think of a more boring healer playstyle in any other mmos I've played. Are other healy classes any better?

Scoundrel healing revolves around juggling HoTs if that's more up your alley. I forget how Commandos work.

[Hunter Noventa]

Scoundrel healing revolves around juggling HoTs if that's more up your alley. I forget how Commandos work.

Commandos have a mix of instant-heals and cast time heals. I don't really think they have any HoTs, but I've never played the healing spec on my Commando.

[Anteros]

Maybe I would have liked Inquisitor more if I played the female version. Everyone says her voice acting is a lot better.

I disagree about the Sith Warrior having a lot of light side options. I only played it through Hoth, but most of his choices seemed to range from "murder this puppy, or murder it while laughing."

[Guancyto]

All of the Republic classes are sort of lackluster in their storylines, but the worst is Consular. There was one point in Chapter 3 on Corellia where they had a big plot twist (PLOT TWIST) and I got excited for a little bit, and then came the letdown when they revealed what they were going to do with that plot twist (a spoiler: it's nothing. They did nothing with it). Out of all the million possibilities they could have gone with with that plot twist, they actually managed to pick the one that was the most boring. I swear they outsourced the writing of the Consular storyline to the accounting department, because you can see the pillars that the story was founded on, the twin pillars of "I am super excited to be writing this story!" and "I am just an unbelievably dull person."

I'll let John Cleese chime in here. (https://youtu.be/azkFz1ZbXyU?t=1m24s) "Your report here says that you are an extremely dull person. You see, our experts describe you as an appallingly dull fellow, unimaginative, timid, lacking in initiative, spineless, easily dominated, no sense of humour, tedious company and irrepressibly drab and awful."

Smuggler manages to be personally entertaining even if their plot after the prologue is lousy. The companions are good (I played Smuggler until getting my ship back, and then stopped because my Captain would have kicked Risa off his ship, flown off into the sunset and never bothered with Republic government mishaps ever again. The "WHERE IS MY SHIP." rampage is pretty entertaining though! Then I watched the rest on youtube).

Trooper is saved a lot by being Commander Shepard in feel and form, although I'd trade all the companions (save 4x, who is glorious) to get Garrus along for the ride.

Jedi Knight is just this unending cliche storm which is appealing in its own way if you're into that sort of thing. You can't go through Chapter 1 without realizing what kind of story you're in, with its "yo dawg, I heard you like superweapons so I put my power guards in your planet prison so you can shock drum your devastator while you death mark and be the chosen one while you stop the sith emperor." It was written by the same guy who wrote ethical masterpieces back in kotor like, "hey, I'll be slightly more important if you condemn everyone living here to an unending hellhole of monsters and being shot by Sith! Give you, uh, fifty credits to do it" and "so, I know you've kicked every puppy and murdered everyone you ran into throughout your adventure, but since you decided that killing Bastila was more important than ruling the universe, I am prepared to declare you the ULTIMATE HERO" so, uh, you sort of know where his comfort zone is.

[Comet]

Yeeeeah, not sounding very promising so far, on the whole :smalltongue:

How's the story in Knights of the Fallen Empire? I guess I could power through a so-so knight or warrior storyline if the unified story that follows is any good.

[Guancyto]

Imperials! It really shows that the Empire was what the team focused on (in part because that's what they had to set up exclusively for this game; the Republic was already developed so got put on the back-burner)

You mentioned you had an Agent, which is solid. (As an added bonus, if they're an Operative, you can stealth your way through the grind. It's probably the most painless leveling experience to be had in SWToR nowadays.)

Warrior is really good. Dark Side Warrior is basically pure power-fantasy without the usual heroic trappings, which has its own appeal. Light Side Warrior is more interesting to me, you get to be far, far more of a Knight (in the non-jedi sense) than the actual Knight, chivalry, noblesse oblige and all. You have to navigate being a decent person where your peers are thoroughly terrible, and people who look up to you as some sort of god also expect really terrible things of you. (Then you discover you're not the sole light in a sea of wretchedness, which is really something I wish had gotten better developed. Like, a lot.) The Warrior gets to wind up being almost as important to the metaplot as the Knight, without the accompanying sea of chosen one cliches.

Bounty Hunter is exactly what it says on the tin, you hunt bounties and then bounty hunt and hunt some more bounties and you'll have some good lines and decent companions. The storyline doesn't really go anywhere (I mean, it says it does, but any sense of progression is ephemeral; you will hunt bounties so you can hunt bigger bounties so you can bounty hunt bigger things.) but if that's your cup of tea, you'll like it.

Inquisitor is like Trooper, it starts strong (both of their CH1 are excellent) and then sort of falls off for lack of places to go, and declares "a winner is you" eventually. Like Operative, Inquisitor has the advantage of being able to go Assassin and stealth their way through what grind is left.

Knights of the Fallen Empire isn't in any way class (or even faction) specific, but it's pretty all right, so if you want to go for that I would suggest a Sith Warrior.

[Anteros]

See, I think the Republic stories are much better. It really just comes down to taste.

[Guancyto]

Class stories or world stories?

I would agree that Republic world stories are a lot more tolerable (they don't contain storylines like "ruin Taris again for the lulz"), but with the kind of EXP they're giving out pre-50, half an hour of shooting spaceships on a rail will let you skip 2-3 world stories, easy.

[Cristo Meyers]

... (they don't contain storylines like "ruin Taris again for the lulz")...

Ah, Thana Vash...

We took one look at that creature and said 'Light Side, Dark Side, I don't care. Whatever this woman says we should do; we do the opposite.'

We've yet to finish an Imperial class, but we've noticed that their stories don't seem as prone to overstaying their welcome as the Republic. Republic Taris, Hoth, and Voss all ended up with a 'if it's not purple, we don't bother' rule just so we could get the heck off-world as soon as possible after a while.

[Mx.Silver]

I just played through KotOR 1 and 2. Should I play this, too? I played a bit of the agent and consular stories a while back but lost interest because of the MMO elements in between story moments. Since that's now better, apparently, I might have to give this game another chance.

What class should I play, though? My favourite Star Wars things are episode V, TIE Fighter and KotOR 2
Then you want Agent, or Consular if you're going Republic. They're probably the best stories available to their sides, with Agent being probably the best class story in the game in general - unless you're dead set on being a space wizard with a laser sword - Which helps.
Knight plays-out like someone's self-insert KOTOR fanfic without the twist or memorable companions. Smuggler manages to follow one of the best prologues in the game with a first act so drawn-out, meandering and pointless the story never manages to recover from it, not helped by the early-game companions being utterly forgettable, although it does have some nice dialogues scattered throughout.
On the Imperial side, Bounty Hunter doesn't have much in the way of plot, but does have a strong stable of four companion characters (we don't talk about the fifth).
Warrior is actually pretty fun, in a pandering sort of way, with rather more approaches to characterisation than you might expect, although Act 3 suffers a bit from 'oh, you're working for these people now'.

Haven't done Trooper or Inquisitor yet though so I can't comment, although given that the general rule is Empire > Republic I'd imagine Inquisitor is the better of those two.


All of the Republic classes are sort of lackluster in their storylines, but the worst is Consular.
It's the only thing in the entire KOTOR franchise* that came close to making 'being a Jedi' feel significant in ways other than 'you get a laser sword and can do space magic', which I'd say is something.
The act III thing doesn't do much plot wise, but I can look past that in that it does at least make the end-game stage personal, in a way a few class stories (especially the Knight) don't.

*KOTOR II handled the more introspective side of things better, but it (quite deliberately) never put much weight on 'being a Jedi/Sith' specifically.



Class stories or world stories?

I would agree that Republic world stories are a lot more tolerable (they don't contain storylines like "ruin Taris again for the lulz"), but with the kind of EXP they're giving out pre-50, half an hour of shooting spaceships on a rail will let you skip 2-3 world stories, easy.
I would be inclined to give you that (although Republic world stories do suffer more from the 'save the puppy or murder it' style of moral choices, especially earlier on). Republic Tattooine is notable for having something resembling an actual plot with a recurring cast, which I think might actually make it unique.

[Mutazoia]

Class stories or world stories?

I would agree that Republic world stories are a lot more tolerable (they don't contain storylines like "ruin Taris again for the lulz"), but with the kind of EXP they're giving out pre-50, half an hour of shooting spaceships on a rail will let you skip 2-3 world stories, easy.

See...I don't believe in skipping worlds. Not when the class quests give out 12 comms each and the lvl 50+ gear costs 200+ comms for one piece. I would much rather be tromping around on a planet that I'm 3-4 levels over leveled for early game, than have to grind endless dailys to afford basic gear upgrades later.

As for Class vs. World stories...it varies. As I said (IMHO) the smuggler class story is the worst, followed closely by the Bounty Huntard/Stuper Trooper story lines. The world stories are generally better than the over arching class plots in most cases (with exceptions).

[Chen]

See...I don't believe in skipping worlds. Not when the class quests give out 12 comms each and the lvl 50+ gear costs 200+ comms for one piece. I would much rather be tromping around on a planet that I'm 3-4 levels over leveled for early game, than have to grind endless dailys to afford basic gear upgrades later.

I stopped doing planet quests around chapter 2. By the time I was 65 on Rishi I could still afford to get practically all the level 65 pieces. I finished SoR and KotFE (up to end of Chap 9) and did 1 week of heroics and was almost filled up on common comms again.

[Calemyr]

My brother and I are playing a LS Sith Warrior and Inquisitor. And I gotta say, I'm enjoying the little rivalry we've got going on about who's life is the weirdest at the end of Act 2.

Me: Well, I'm apparently in a murder race with a furry snow tick wookie assassin thing.
My Brother: Well, I'm currently working for a possessed midget blue ice elephant. I think I win.
<A couple missions later>
My Brother: I... didn't expect furry snow tick wookie assassin things pimp-slapping each other. Call it a tie?

[Cristo Meyers]

My brother and I are playing a LS Sith Warrior and Inquisitor. And I gotta say, I'm enjoying the little rivalry we've got going on about who's life is the weirdest at the end of Act 2.

Me: Well, I'm apparently in a murder race with a furry snow tick wookie assassin thing.
My Brother: Well, I'm currently working for a possessed midget blue ice elephant. I think I win.
<A couple missions later>
My Brother: I... didn't expect furry snow tick wookie assassin things pimp-slapping each other. Call it a tie?

My wife and I have kinda the same thing going. I've got a Bounty Hunter and she's got the Sith Inquisitor. It's been kinda entertaining to be playing the Straight Man (well, woman, female Bounty Hunter) to a Sith who keeps collecting force ghosts like they're stray cats.

[Philistine]

I just played through KotOR 1 and 2. Should I play this, too? I played a bit of the agent and consular stories a while back but lost interest because of the MMO elements in between story moments. Since that's now better, apparently, I might have to give this game another chance.

What class should I play, though? My favourite Star Wars things are episode V, TIE Fighter and KotOR 2 and I like to play neutral characters that have oddly specific notions of morality. My agent was good and fair and heroic but would do anything, anything if ordered by a Sith Lord because those guys are basically gods to a regular imperial. My consular, meanwhile, was all about preserving the republic and enforcing the law and I remember having quite a few fun opportunities to go hard on people who were making their own rules for "the right reasons".

I suggest revisiting the Agent - maybe even running through it from beginning to end a couple of times. Of all the Class stories, it seems to give you the most... ahem... agency. Of course it's still true that many of the incidents of the story will play out in the same ways each time, but the Agent story is good about 1) consistently presenting several different possible motivations for your character, and 2) allowing you to choose your own allegiance(s), potentially altering your outcome.

Of the rest, the Consular and Bounty Hunter stories are probably tied for least interesting, and the Smuggler is the most infuriating (the big "twist" near the end relies on both you and your character having no memory whatsoever - there's basically no way it can come as a surprise if you paid even a little bit of attention in the Prologue and Act I). The other four fall in between Agent and these three, but they're all too close to call AFAIC. Well... I might give the two Sith stories the edge over Trooper and Knight, especially if you go against type and play LS, but it's still pretty close.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I've been finding the Consular one pretty good! I like feeling like the diplomat-Jedi, a little more "normal" than the "super-special-warrior-Jedi".

[Malistrae]

I have reconsidered trying out the Old Republic, as I have found a buddy to play with. I am still unwilling to become a subscriber (as the entire model is a huge scam), but I am willing to purchase permanent micro-transactions to ease the f2p restrictions. I would like to ask if somebody knows about how much f2p restrictions one can lift with the Cartel Market, and if lifting these restrictions is worth it or not? Essentially, how close you can get to being a subscriber through the Cartel Market?

[Anteros]

I have reconsidered trying out the Old Republic, as I have found a buddy to play with. I am still unwilling to become a subscriber (as the entire model is a huge scam), but I am willing to purchase permanent micro-transactions to ease the f2p restrictions. I would like to ask if somebody knows about how much f2p restrictions one can lift with the Cartel Market, and if lifting these restrictions is worth it or not? Essentially, how close you can get to being a subscriber through the Cartel Market?

It's definitely worth it to get to preferred status. I wouldn't go too much past the minimum though or you'd be better off just subscribing. I actually just kinda sit on preferred most of the time now. I hardly ever sub.

I was going to list the webpage on swtor.com that lists the differences but it seems to be down for some reason. So I'll just list what I consider the main benefits instead.

Preferred gets 6 character slots per server.
Their credit cap is 350,000 instead of 200,000.
They get sprint and speeders at slightly earlier levels.
They get enough access to the bank/market/inventory space to actually get by.
They get enough interface bars to use everything.
They get a second crew skill slot

The only huge things subscribers get over Free to Play are a third crew skill slot, and unlimited flashpoint loot runs where preferred are limited to so many a week. Preferred also can't equip low level artifact gear, but trust me when I tell you that while this seems important it's actually completely meaningless.

Here's a Reddit thread with a bit more info on the difference and what you can buy, since the actual site is down.
https://www.reddit.com/r/swtor/wiki/f2p

If you think you'll play long term, you may want to consider subscribing for one month as this will unlock the preferred status along with all of the current expansion packs, which is really a quite good deal.

[Malistrae]

It's definitely worth it to get to preferred status. I wouldn't go too much past the minimum though or you'd be better off just subscribing. I actually just kinda sit on preferred most of the time now. I hardly ever sub.

I was going to list the webpage on swtor.com that lists the differences but it seems to be down for some reason. So I'll just list what I consider the main benefits instead.

Preferred gets 6 character slots per server.
Their credit cap is 350,000 instead of 200,000.
They get sprint and speeders at slightly earlier levels.
They get enough access to the bank/market/inventory space to actually get by.
They get enough interface bars to use everything.
They get a second crew skill slot

The only huge things subscribers get over Free to Play are a third crew skill slot, and unlimited flashpoint loot runs where preferred are limited to so many a week. Preferred also can't equip low level artifact gear, but trust me when I tell you that while this seems important it's actually completely meaningless.

Here's a Reddit thread with a bit more info on the difference and what you can buy, since the actual site is down.
https://www.reddit.com/r/swtor/wiki/f2p

If you think you'll play long term, you may want to consider subscribing for one month as this will unlock the preferred status along with all of the current expansion packs, which is really a quite good deal.
Thank you. So by becoming a subscriber for a single month, I can get access to all current expansion content and the preferred status permanently? If so, this sounds like a very good deal, and way cheaper than using the Cartel Market. I suppose I still have to pay for race unlocks, or will they become permanently unlocked by a one-time subscription?

[Toastkart]

Thank you. So by becoming a subscriber for a single month, I can get access to all current expansion content and the preferred status permanently? If so, this sounds like a very good deal, and way cheaper than using the Cartel Market. I suppose I still have to pay for race unlocks, or will they become permanently unlocked by a one-time subscription?

You may want to consider the amazon bundle (http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Republic-Knights-Starter/dp/B00T8NURF8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453665744&sr=8-1&keywords=the+old+republic+bundle), as it offers three months of subscription time and an amount of the cartel coins that will help with any unlocks you want permanently, all for a reasonable price.

On the sith inquisitor, I'm really enjoying the story, but I'm having a hard time getting into the gameplay of it. I went lightning, because on the surface, why wouldn't you? but, it always feels like I'm always waiting for a cooldown before I can use my next skill. It's like there's an extra .5-1.5 second gap between skills compared to the other classes I've played. It makes the flow of combat feel stiff and jerky. Am I missing something? Is it solely because I'm playing largely at range but have a melee basic attack?

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

The basic attack difference is a thing. Unless you're super early in though you should have a move that is the equivalent of the Consulars Project. No cool down ranged attack but it has a short channel before it goes off.

[Anteros]

Thank you. So by becoming a subscriber for a single month, I can get access to all current expansion content and the preferred status permanently? If so, this sounds like a very good deal, and way cheaper than using the Cartel Market. I suppose I still have to pay for race unlocks, or will they become permanently unlocked by a one-time subscription?

Yes you keep the content. You won't keep the race unlocks, but any characters who already exist from your sub time will still be playable.

[rooster707]

So, are the current expansions worth paying $15 for?

Also, when is Knights of the Fallen Empire supposed to be done? Because I'd rather unlock all the chapters at once than have to resub later to get the rest.

[Anteros]

I think when it ends they are just going to move to releasing chapters for newer stories.

[Chen]

The only huge things subscribers get over Free to Play are a third crew skill slot, and unlimited flashpoint loot runs where preferred are limited to so many a week. Preferred also can't equip low level artifact gear, but trust me when I tell you that while this seems important it's actually completely meaningless.

The credit cap is a big deal once you hit 65. The fancy clothes and high end gear are in the millions of credits. Having to buy escrow unlocks for all that money adds a LOT of extra cost to buying anything big.

[Anteros]

The credit cap is a big deal once you hit 65. The fancy clothes and high end gear are in the millions of credits. Having to buy escrow unlocks for all that money adds a LOT of extra cost to buying anything big.

True, but that's all mostly luxury stuff. You don't need to buy any of it to complete even the highest content in the game.

[Chen]

True, but that's all mostly luxury stuff. You don't need to buy any of it to complete even the highest content in the game.

Indeed, but there's not really much else to do at Endgame anyways except collect pretty and rare things.

[Sith_Happens]

On the sith inquisitor, I'm really enjoying the story, but I'm having a hard time getting into the gameplay of it. I went lightning, because on the surface, why wouldn't you? but, it always feels like I'm always waiting for a cooldown before I can use my next skill. It's like there's an extra .5-1.5 second gap between skills compared to the other classes I've played. It makes the flow of combat feel stiff and jerky. Am I missing something?

What level are you? It's probably partially a matter of not having all your skills yet, once you do you'll almost never find yourself Lightning Striking more than 2-3 times in a row.


Is it solely because I'm playing largely at range but have a melee basic attack?

If either of your lightsaber attacks are even still on your skill bar as a sorcerer it's because you have a death wish.:smalltongue:

[Kish]

Yeah, you had those when you were just an inquisitor more for "in case you choose Assassin" than because you should still be using them now that you have your advanced class and it's Sorcerer.

[Toastkart]

The basic attack difference is a thing. Unless you're super early in though you should have a move that is the equivalent of the Consulars Project. No cool down ranged attack but it has a short channel before it goes off.
Thanks. I totally did not notice that affliction had no cooldown. That has helped a lot




What level are you? It's probably partially a matter of not having all your skills yet, once you do you'll almost never find yourself Lightning Striking more than 2-3 times in a row.

I was 26 when making the post, made it to 34 today. Big difference now that I'm using affliction better. I had also just gotten thundering blast and hadn't tried it out at the time.



If either of your lightsaber attacks are even still on your skill bar as a sorcerer it's because you have a death wish.:smalltongue:
There's something to be said for cool factor when an annoying mob gets in your face with a sliver of life left. That and I haven't gotten enough skills to bother moving them off the bar yet.

[Anteros]

I still use the melee attack sometimes on my Sorcerer and he's maxed out. Lightning is cool and all but sometimes I just wanna smack somebody with a laser sword.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I do the same on my Consular, but only if Force Wave is in cooldown, or if I think I can kill them in one hit with the blow. Or if they're so weak and I just wanna see the animations.

[Sith_Happens]

Thanks. I totally did not notice that affliction had no cooldown. That has helped a lot

...That would do it. Keeping your primary target Afflictioned at all times is literally step one of playing either kind of DPS sorcerer.

[Chen]

...That would do it. Keeping your primary target Afflictioned at all times is literally step one of playing either kind of DPS sorcerer.

Though this gets remarkably easy at near max level when you get that talent that refreshes it when you hit with chain lightning or something (lightning flash?)

I posted earlier but it got missed in all then plot discussions, are most of the reputation grinds linked to the weekly events? Like this week was Rakhghoul and the week before Gree. I think Bounty hunter is next week. Can these be done outside of these weekly events? Also at max level and finished Chapter 9 of KotFE, what options are there for someone playing solo? I know Star Fortresses are one, but other than that is it just the weekly heroics and getting the 216 glowing crystal gear? Anything higher than 216 requires Ops right? Also I assume set pieces are also ops only right?

[Mx.Silver]

Though this gets remarkably easy at near max level when you get that talent that refreshes it when you hit with chain lightning or something (lightning flash?)

I posted earlier but it got missed in all then plot discussions, are most of the reputation grinds linked to the weekly events? Like this week was Rakhghoul and the week before Gree. I think Bounty hunter is next week. Can these be done outside of these weekly events?

If you have reputation items you can use them at any time, but the ones tied to those three reputations can only be earned during the events, I believe.

[Philistine]

I posted earlier but it got missed in all then plot discussions, are most of the reputation grinds linked to the weekly events? Like this week was Rakhghoul and the week before Gree. I think Bounty hunter is next week. Can these be done outside of these weekly events? Also at max level and finished Chapter 9 of KotFE, what options are there for someone playing solo? I know Star Fortresses are one, but other than that is it just the weekly heroics and getting the 216 glowing crystal gear? Anything higher than 216 requires Ops right? Also I assume set pieces are also ops only right?

Most rep grinds are not tied to "X Week"-style events. The Gree, Rak, and Bounty weeks are (IIRC) the only ones which are - but certainly the Voss, Section X, Makeb, Oricon, Rishi, Yavin, and Fleet ones can be done any time.