I'm not currently playing, but only due to a significant time issue between my last semester in college and a new job. I anticipate getting back into the game after the semester is over.
I stop playing due to being bored with the game but I've put 150-200 hours in the game maybe even more. Also my other game were gathering dust so I hammered through ME3, MW3 and Arkham City since then
I bought 6 months (for the savings, d'oh) which will mean 8, what with one being free with purchase, and another they awarded players who stuck around through recently. So I'm about halfway through my subscription. I don't know if this stuff's refundable? In which case I would strongly consider shelving it. My idea is to have the class stories for all 8 classes complete by the end of these 8 months, and rolling alts when I get bored with any given toon has indeed been what used to keep things interesting. I'm not that big a fan of repetition, so I really couldn't be arsed to do nearly any daily grinding and gearing on the 2 level 50s I have so far. This being my first (and likely last) MMO, you see, I'm not clear on the appeal of endgame content quite yet. So I decided to approach this as 8 single-player games set in the Star Wars universe. And why not, I've been known to replay an RPG I like, usually by Bioware, up to 3 times. The problem, of course, is I'd put some good months or years between each playthrough. The sameness of the settings in which all classes do their thing, imperial and republic, is really starting to get to me. Not to mention the shared side-quests for all classes in a given faction. There is oh so woefully little class-specific content, and I only ever play games for story; was becoming a near post-gamer before I took the plunge with this. Then it had me bad at one point. My mom came to visit and I ignored her bad. Anyway, I have the 2 50s I mentioned, a 49 who's nearly there, 2 43s, and 3 toons I haven't rolled yet. Well, one I selected a dismal advanced class on and took to 20 before abandoning. For the 3 non 50s I'm playing, I've gotten to the point where I'm constantly figuring out ways to level them the rest of the way without nearly any side-questing (which is otherwise really important for being adequately geared enough to keep progressing without any help, but bear with me). Therefore I PVP, I find that really entertaining. And getting killed doesn't break your gear, so it's not as punishing as being unprepared for class bits. With the next update to legacy, I'll even be able to buy boosts to XP gained in warzones. At lv 48, there is a space mission that gives out 2 daily commendations every day, which can be turned in at 50 for some gnarly endgame armor mods. So my idea is basically to reach 50, put on some endgame gear with the PVP and Daily commendations I've earned, then go back and finish the stretch of class quests covering levels 44 through 50. Lv 44 content is still green for a 50, meaning I'd get XP for it... if I hadn't maxxed out my XP at 50. Well, at least things still count towards legacy XP. Legacy (a master leveling bar for all your alts on a server, things done at 50 count towards it as well) and the related unlocks are the reason I keep putting off rolling the rest of my classes. I will have unlocked a few species I prefer by the time I hatch my next batch of 50s. But even so, knowing that speeder piloting will be available at level 10 in update 1.3 (maybe 2 months away) makes me wanna wait just so I'll be able to speed things along. I thought sprint at lv 1 would satisfy me, but no. I'm even saving up to buy rocket boost, an ability that's like being on a speeder prior to being able to train for it. And with the latest patch it'll be useful to higher level toons as well, cause now it's useable indoors, though not in combat or warzones. All of which ironically means I'll have nothing much to do in the game but resign myself to repetition with my present and future 50s, cause that's where the money's at. I mean, I even spent this weekend grinding the world event on Tattooine with all 5 toons, so I could earn these exclusive endgame crystals and sell them to folks who missed out on the fun (For a few days I took "don't go to Tattooine" quite literally myself). And it's insane what I've put into this game so far. Bought a new desk that could accommodate 2 monitors. 3 seasons of Mad Men along with the grind over the weekend made it almost bearable. It remains to be seen, once the 8 months are up and the re-sub question presents itself, if I've discovered the appeal of end-gaming. I expect, by virtue of daily tokens rewarded while making money, I will have also gotten at least a couple 50s ops-ready by then. So I'll give that a shot at some point. And I do need to be geared if I wanna participate in quality PVP, cause they'll be introducing rated warzones for 50s, meaning you always get equal full groups going, and don't get dropped in at the end of losing matches cause people start quitting in despair (and quitting would now start going towards your losses tally). Most of the folks in my guild, ops are all they do, so maybe there's something to it. But this is the profile of people who loved WoW, where I hear that's all there was to do (dungeons?). Pffffffft. (ETA a couple more effs) I imagine it's more likely I'll just put everything on hold until they come out with an expansion pack that has enough new story bits to make it worth it. Clearly for a guy who resolved not to spend so much time on the game, even this write-up seems to suggest otherwise.
Toons? Rolling? I'm sorry, but you lost me there. I'm not really au fait with MMORPG nomenclature. Even so, I think you've summed up my basic problem with every MMO I've tried to date. Repetition for the sake of more repetition. I know a hamster wheel when I see one. I did have a go at PvP, but since I was only a Lv11 Jedi Knight, fresh off the shuttle from Tython, I got repeatedly annihilated. Aside form that I just didn't find it to be very fun trying to engage a person in lightsaber combat when all they want to do is dodge about and spam powers at you. Also, perhaps I was spoilt by DCUO, but I hated how I couldn't design the look of my character's gear but am instead just stuck with whatever happens to have the best stats, which of course means on the odd occasion that you do see someone else, they tend to be wearing the same outfit as you. I feel it rather spoils any sense of individuality. Also, is there any known cosmetic bugs with the armours? I ask because I noticed one of them looked different in-game to how it looked on the pick-your-character screen. If I thought the game is likely to go F2P then I might pick it up again, but somehow I doubt they'd do that with a game that cost this much to make. I think if the population gets that low they're more likely to just pull the plug and cut their losses...Which is a shame since with a little extra work it could have been a decent SP RPG.
Well your issue about the design of gear is incorrect. There is a lot of moddable gear in the game where you can pull slots from other gear or get mods for them to get the best stats. You can very much customize your look. In fact, the best gear in the game is completely moddable. I still play the game and I like that leveling is so engaging. I did the end-game for a few months and when I got tired of that, I re-rolled and I am leveling a Jedi with my friend who is leveling a smuggler. We have a good amount of fun questing together and that will keep us occupied for another month as we get 50 and then we can try some of the new end-game stuff. In the end, it's an MMO so if that sort of thing isn't your bag, I totally get that. I just find it quite engaging for what it is.
I wasn't talking about stat modding, I was talking about cosmetics. In DCUO, once you acquire a piece of armour you "unlock" it's appearance so, if you want you character can always wear it, regardless of what you actually have equipped. You can even adjust the colour scheme. For example, my character's look could change like so just by fiddling around with the cosmetics and without having to change the armour loadouts. It basically lets you wear the best armour pieces without having to look like you're actually wearing them. I mean in theory you could spend the whole game running around in your underwear if you wanted. It just breaks the immersion for me when I go back to the quest giver and there are five other character standing around wearing the exact same outfit. Admittedly it's not so bad with Jedi, Sith or the trooper as you'd expect some degree of uniformity, but for the smuggler and the agent it just feels...silly. I also wasn't a fan of having to choose a specialization at Lv10 and having your weapon choice dictated by that. Random question: does the lightside/darkside system have anything to do with the plot or is it just a way to gain access to the most powerful gear? I mean, let's say I continued to play my Sith warrior mostly on the lightside, is there ever a point where this is addressed? Can you switch allegiances and defect to the Jedi? Can a smuggler ever sell out to the Empire or a bounty hunter decide they'd rather take Republic contracts? Indeed, why not both? You'd think the bounty hunter and smuggler classes would be able to not pick sides at all and just go where the money is. I ask because if light or dark side points only equates equipment unlocks then what's the intensive to actually role play rather than just game the system?
There are light side/ dark side choices that effect your story, but your overall level doesn't change anything. I think there are some companions that you can get to switch sides based on how evil/good you are, however.
Yes. As of now, alignment is strictly cosmetic (including some gear accessibility). There's been some talk about them implementing some sort of alignment mechanic in the Legacy system, but the details are sketchy and it's probably a year away at the earliest. There's currently a petition by the fans for them to make it more like the traditional KOTOR alignment system in that you're alignment effects your skills--i.e. a Sage with Dark III or above would use force lighting, etc. Though I suspect it will fall upon deaf ears. It would take a lot for them to implement it. Really, it should have been part of the initial game. It sort of seems like a "well, duh!" thing to me. I would agree, though, that the game is in a bad state ATM. The overall population isn't dwindling as bad as some seem to think it is, but there are just way too many servers. Certainly some people left for good. Others left until some things get fix. But mostly people just aren't playing 12 hours a day everyday like they were in January. People just need a break, have gotten on with the other parts of their lives, plus the weather has been really nice lately in most areas. So the "constant" population is considerably lower and with people being so spread out, things seem to be way more deserted than they really are. As for the gear, the orange modding thing does work more or less as intended. (At least from 1-49.) There is (so they say) an orange for every model in the game. Though most of them have to be crafted and some can be really, really hard to obtain.) But presumably you can craft any armor set and just mod it up as you level. However, once you hit 50 things are different because most of the best raid gear (and best PvP) gear can't have their mods fully extracted. 1.2 fixed some of the problem, but overall the system is still only working at about 85% functionality. They say it should be all good when 1.3 comes around. There's also plans to implement color changing and maybe even a full appearance tab. However, log prime time Saturday or late afternoon Sunday and things don't seem as bad. I suspect that should Bioware fix some things, it will get better. They've also promised server transfers sometime this summer. That will help a lot! So once fall comes around and people come back inside, I think the game will be in a much better state. I myself am having a hard time justifying playing. I too paid for six months. I've already missed a bit because (as I stated in a few other posts) I nicked up my hand really bad a little over a month ago and haven't been able to play much. Plus, before that I had been mostly playing STO (since it went F2P). And before that, I had only got my Legacy to 4. I had plenty of time to grind out the last two levels to get the extra free month, but I just didn't care. The population thing just kills if for me. And I really don't want to server jump AGAIN. I did that so much at launch because I'd been following various friends around. So once they implement transfers I'll probably start playing more regularly. I wish you could suspend accounts. But since you can't my last few months are probably going to go to waste. At best I'll probably log in a few of the busy nights for some PvP fun. And I really encourage you to give PvP a go. I was like you where I was really unsure about it at first. But once I "got it," I found it to be endlessly fun. Mind you, I got facerolled a lot at first and had many growing pains, (and still have a long way to go), but at least now I manage to do fairly well and have a lot of fun. For one thing, I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Think of it like this: If Luke and Han were sparring, do you think Han would just stand around and wait for Luke to bash him over the had with his lightsaber? No. He'd run around, dodge, take cover and try to get behind Luke to blast him in the back. Unfortunately, you just started at a really bad time. 1.2 really did a number on PvP. They just trying to implement too many balancing changes at the same time. The net result was a HUGE nerf to the TTK (Time To Kill or the average time it takes to defeat another in a 1v1 situation). If you read the PvP forums, better than half the threads are about it. Bioware has more or less admitted the mistake and are scrambling to rectify it. In fact, scuttlebutt is the guy in charge of the PvP stuff is to be sacked once things get settled down. Thing is, it's not as bad as some make it out to be. People just die a lot more than they used to. The problem is, that can be really discouraging to new players such as yourself. Which is really bad when the have such an open campaign to bring in new people. But that doesn't mean you can participate. Just don't think if you die a lot it's your necessarily your fault. If you want some tips, though, I can help. Though first I have to know what your AC is. Did you pick Guardian or Sentinel? Gaurds are one of the best medal farms and Sents are the current kings of PvP. But I know both, and both can be really effective with some practice even at level 11.
Well like I said I just played for the free weekend which is now over, so my account is inactive. Even if I had a mind to buy the game (which I don't think I do) I'm not even sure how I'd go about doing so and keeping my existing characters. Not sure which class I picked, but I'm pretty sure for my Jedi Knight it was the one that could only wield a single blade (the tank I think?) I do remember that my Sith warrior was a duel wielder, while my inquisitor was a double-bladed sabre wielding assassin. I never even got off of Tython with my consular while I *just* made it with the other classes. I think I made both my smuggler and bounty hunter duel pistol wielders, my trooper a...something or other with an assault cannon and my agent was the one that wasn't a sniper. Operative I think? And as for all the dodging; I wasn't going up against smugglers, but sith. PvP lightsabre combat just wasn't any fun at all. People just don't want to engage, but rather run around you in circles trying to take advantage of the dodgy targeting system and wear you down. Honestly I think I had more fun designing and role playing my characters than anything else. I rather regret not taking any screen caps as I rather like how a lot of them looked. My favourite has to be my inquisitor. I made her a zel-... zabra-...???....the horn headed alien like Darth Maul. I picked the skinny body model, veiny skin texture and three little dreadlocks as I was going for a malnourished ex-slave look, but the result ended up looking more like a 14 year old girl, which oddly enough (combined with mostly sardonic responses), suited the voice actress surprisingly well. I picked that bald pale skinned alien for my bounty hunter which freaked me out a little when I came to play my agent (a Chiss) as for a second there I thought my bounty hunter was making a cameo. And since I've said this much I may as well mention that by trooper was an eyepatch wearing, dark skinned, blonde hair cyborg, my sith warrior was a full blooded sith, my smuggler was that green skinned alien with the face tattoos, my consular was that human looking race with no eyes and my knight was a blue skinned Twi'lek. No humans you'll note. I thought they just looked too boring.
Well, I'm only going to give it an honest try (i.e. subscription) when same-sex relationships come into effect. Picky? Yes, but I'm on a mission.
Missed the revival of this thread. I hit 40 with my sentinel in early january and for some reason set the game aside for a month. Came back and slowly took up the game again in time to hit 50 just after 1.2 dropped. Sentinel was fine for leveling, but not the character I really wanted. That was rectified with 1.2. I am now working on a Chiss Sage who is just bad ass at lvl18 and so far seems much easier at killing mobs. Update 1.2 really did improve quality of life in the game with things like the UI customization, legacy stuff, and orange gear. Here's hoping with 1.3 they can iron out pvp and low server populations. My preferred method for fixing the server issue would just be an influx of more players, but not sure how they could acheive that with the WoW expansion coming out soon. Word of mouth only goes so far and low population issues seem to be a vicious cycle. Here's hoping WOW's panda experiment is a total failure.
Legacy is sort of a collection of all your characters. When you finish chapter 1 with one character you get to choose a surname for him. That becomes your Legacy name for that server. You can choose to use it as a surname for other characters on the server (don't have to). You then can set up relationships between them. You can set up friends, comrades, or a family tree. Doing so will allow you to unlock skills as you level up your legacy. For example, your main is a Smug and you level him to 50 and gain a bunch of Legacy points. Make a Trooper level her up and make her Smug's wife. By then your legacy should be a pretty high level, so you make your next character a Consular. Set her as the others' daughter and she'll "inherit" some of their skills/abilities--she can kick guys in the crotch for example. That's a pretty simple example, and they've said they going to gradually add functionality to the system so that (eventually) players will be able to put together some rather complex relationship chains. Of course, a lot of that is more for RP purposes. Leveling your Legacy unlocks other stuff, too, like being able to play certain races with classes that wouldn't normally have access to them. There are a few special buffs you can unlock along with gear and different speeders etc. A lot of this stuff you can just pay for once you meet the proper legacy level even if you don't meet all the requirements needed to otherwise unlock it. Though it's all really expensive--they obviously intend it to be a huge gold sink.
^Well none of that would really work for my characters since they're all different species and all female. ...though I must admit, the idea of a pure blooded Sith as a Jedi is an interesting (if unoriginal) concept.
Actually, the family tree bit has no effect on who or who can't use abilities that are unlocked. Basically Legacy abilities are open to all of your characters on that server regardless of whether you've added them to the family tree..
Depends what kind. Most of the past few new content releases were high-level flashpoints, operation expansions, an entirely new operation, and more dailies for faster lv 50 gearing. I've played nearly none of the high level flashpoints (in fact, I don't think I've tried anything past Colicoid War Game.. lv 42?), and am certainly not geared for ops on any of my toons. So I was grateful for the new warzone. 1.3, from what I hear, brings HK-51 as a new companion, even more dailies (a story involving the Dread Masters from the Belasavis shared quest-line imp-side. Taking my latest imp through Belsavis I noticed they've gotten a cosmetic upgrade, new unique helms), a related OP, another flashpoint.. so it becomes clear that they're gonna keep giving most consideration to people who do 50 stuff, whereas I think flashpoints should be introduced at lower levels and then also available as hard modes.