Star Wars: The Old Republic anticipation thread.

[CorporalClegg]

Yeah, the healer is really meant for Tankasins while questing and soloing heroics. As a sorc, you're better off just using Khem and healing yourself--as I noted up thread. In some cases, you might try switching to your preferred DPSer to clear easy content quicker.

You will, however, might change to the healer once you hit 50 and start doing dailies. A lot of people spec their class to pure DPS and bring their healer. That way they can just tear through the daily trash and not worry about stopping to recoup.

As I said before, just run a hybrid and you should be fine.

I did a couple of quick builds to give you an idea. I don't know what level you're currently at, so given you're on Hoth I went to 35. Granted, I haven't played either my sorc or sage in months, and some of the skills have change. So I'm kind of winging it. Feel free to change as you see fit.

The first one is a "safe" build. It's slow, but you shouldn't die much. Plus, you should be able to heal any pre-50 FP with this.

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/skills/S...#2628k-1219f-0

This next one is a bit more aggressive; plus, you get bubble stun:

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/skills/S...#20k-d6d219f-0

I did a madness one as well in case you prefer that:

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/skills/S...#20k-0-11983e3

[O'Dib]

I'll finally be back home with my gaming rig next week, but was gonna hold off on resubbing until they rolled out Cathar, as that sounds like a decent race for my final class playthrough (smuggler); alas, the upcoming event (Ilum revamp) has me stoked. Between that, a new companion, warzone, space missions and an operation, I imagine I could do a month or more of endgame on 7 lv 50s without getting bored.

Not to mention good PVP gear is easer to get now. Most of my 50s are still in recruit. If I get to chose between tanking/dps sets of Recruit MK ii (instead of what I have just being replaced), I think I'll try and switch to DPSing on most toon. The free Tionese set will also get me started on hardmodes/ops in a new spec; though that content has very limited appeal to me.

[Owain Taggart]

Anyone feel like helping me defeat Angral? I'm at 32 and I can't seem to get close. I've already grinded a bit to 32 so that I could defeat the Sith apprentice on Uphrades, and I'd hate to have to do it again so soon. I can't seem to get him down close enough. I can only manage getting him about halfway before he gets me.

[CorporalClegg]

Angral is all about interrupts. If you time them right, he becomes a puppy.

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I figured. I think I need another level on him. I'm 33 now, but whatever I'm doing isn't working. Using interrupts when I can, and even then, I can barely manage.

[Holdfast]

CorporalClegg wrote:

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Yeah, the healer is really meant for Tankasins while questing and soloing heroics. As a sorc, you're better off just using Khem and healing yourself--as I noted up thread.

Yup, that's what I generally do, though when fighting Elites I tend to reel off a couple of rounds of my DPS rotation and then settle back to heal Khem up several times in a row to get him up to around 75% which is usually about when I can get his static barrier up again. Not efficient, but usually very safe, especially if you're miles away from a med station and don't want to face running back through a hostile area to get to where you died.

Talking of hostile areas, the Sith Sorcerer storyline is really hotting up. I'm at level 43 now and loved some of the quests on Belsavis, especially the ones:

- where you get to see what unethical experiments and illegal detentions the Republic up to e.g. The Once & Future, Subject 13 (awesome end to that quest; talk about a brainwashed apprentice, in more ways than one) and the dialogue from some of the Imperial NPC around all of this, which generally has a tone of grudging respect that the 'pubs actually have the balls to do all this unethical stuff.
- the Texas Ranger inspired guy was hilarious. Getting to imitate his accent when reporting his death to the Republic Warden was just brilliant.
- The Dread Masters cutscene is brilliant, and you really feel that you're driving the direction of the story. From the awesome "I bow to no-one" choice if you choose to resist their attempt to break your mind rather than kow-tow to them, to egging them on to destroy the fat annoying Warden's mind. Seeing him lose the plot, shoot his own men and then get fried by all six Dread Masters at the same time was remarkably sadistically satisfying.

I didn't expect to enjoy Belsavis as the first few quests there were really dull, but as soon as you get into the older parts of the complex, the story really takes off. Some of the scenery was pretty cool too, like The Scar.

I'm now on Voss and the story/gameplay is pretty good here too. I've just finished the (first part of?) the Dream Walking quest.

Fighting so many Elites, each with their own fighting styles, plus a couple of mobs with 2 Strongs in them, all back-to-back was really tough but I'm glad I did it without dying (got within a couple of hundred HP twice tho') as it totally preserved the sense of being in a mysterious ritual trance. Certainly got my heart pounding, enough to now need a break! Fighting lots of your old enemies again within your subconscious was a great touch, hinting that there is a conscience buried under that Sith sarcastic nonchalence at murder.

In short, I'm really digging the game at the moment.

[Reverend]

^Sounds like you're about caught up to where my Sith Assassin is. Progress on her has halted while I work on getting the chapter 2 legacy unlocks from my Warrior. Also, since I'm now preferred I've had a lot of catching up to do getting the second crew skill up to snuff.

[Camren]

I'm considering playing the free to play version of this. I don't play games online so not sure what to expect. What sort of interaction do you have with other players? The few vids I've seen on youtube makes this look just like KoTOR and the like. Where does the online aspect come into it?

[CorporalClegg]

You can have as little or as much interaction with other players as you want to.

You can complete all the stories and basic side--leveling--content by yourself. At worst, you might have to wait in line for your turn at a quest objective every now and then.

There is however quests that require to group. They are all completely optional. They are really only there to get you better gear.

If your goal is to play the stories and be done, then you're perfectly okay.

However, all level 50 ["Endgame"] content is grouped saved for dailies, which, as the name implies are simple quest chains you do ever day. They are very tiresome and tedious, and if you don't plan on doing any of the operations, not worth it.

I do encourage you to try engaging conversation though. The simplest way is to just join in some Gen chat conversations (The non trolling ones.) I know F2P have limited access to Gen chat, but I think they're at least unrestricted on the starter worlds and fleets. Someone else would know better. At the very least, you can join a guild.

Meeting people in-game can be a rewarding experience and a great way to make friends. Remember, you already know you share at least one common interest. I personally have met some of my not best "real-life" friends in MMOs. Heck, I know people who've meet their spouses.

I'm a relative MMO n00b myself (about four years). Like you, I had huge reservations when I started and never thought I'd like it. Now I wonder what the heck I was ever thinking.

[Holdfast]

Camren wrote:

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I'm considering playing the free to play version of this. I don't play games online so not sure what to expect. What sort of interaction do you have with other players? The few vids I've seen on youtube makes this look just like KoTOR and the like. Where does the online aspect come into it?

You sound like you're in exactly the same position I was in when I started playing as a free-to-play (FTP) a month or so ago. You might want to search the thread for my first handful of posts in it as people gave me some really helpful information here when I was just starting out. Especially regarding some of the keybindings and other practical stuff.

If you enjoyed KOTOR, you'll enjoy SWTOR. That's the bottom line. Being online is irrelevant to that, beyond the fact that you can't savescum (using the Esc key to reset conversations doesn't count... and I only think I've done it once, I swear... ).

More detail: you can play completely solo if you want, with no group content, and not suffer in terms of story progression or even significant amounts of grinding (I'm now level 44 out of 50 and only just now feeling perhaps one level below where I "should" be, and I'm not massively off levelling up). I haven't even bothered to do any space missions for the cheap XP you get from them beyond the first 3 (you're only allowed 3 per week as FTP anyway).

Group content during most of the story/levelling is essentially in the form of Heroic quests requiring 2 or 4 players and Flashpoints. You'll have to miss these out, but they don't add to the story. Some of Heroic 2 quests can be solo'ed if you're really patient/careful, but I haven't bothered doing them after the first couple of planets as it can get a bit frustrating. There's also dedicated PvP content, but I haven't done any of that.

I'm now level 44, and haven't really treated it as an MMO as opposed to a regular RPG beyond a bit of ad hoc discussion/joking around in General Chat and one or two random groupings here and there. So yeah, you can solo it. It's a lot of fun. The FTP restrictions are slightly irritating in places (esp when a cool purple bit of gear drops and you can't equip it, and having only 2 quickbars which limits the number of abilities you can rapidly access through hotkeys) but it isn't really a problem if you're not interested in post-story/post-lvl50 content.

Having said that, if you do decide to play, and end up choosing the same server (Red Eclipse, the EU PvE server, so you probably will) and wanted to do some group quest content, I'm going to start a second character at some point relatively soon and wouldn't mind doing some grouping for that, without having to feel like I'm holding the group up (because I want to listen/read the dialogue rather than spacebar through the cutscenes) or holding them back ('cos of FTP gear restrictions and because frankly, I'm not a great player). Regardless of whether you want do that, though, do feel free to drop me a line.

[Camren]

Thanks for the info, guys.
Holdfast - I may well take you up on that offer. Let me have a little play with it over the weekend to see if it's something I can get into.

[Owain Taggart]

CorporalClegg wrote:

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Angral is all about interrupts. If you time them right, he becomes a puppy.

You were right. He's easy when you focus on which casts to interrrupt

I'm on Balmorra now. It's giving me a Taris vibe for some reason.

[Holdfast]

Right, finally finished the main part of the story with my Sith Inquistor!

Pretty good ending, I thought, and hugely satisfying to kick the big bad's butt (twice!) after all the crap he put me through across the second half of the story.

Still need to wrap up the Belsavis bonus series, and I want to complete all the companion stories too. I've done Khem & Andronikos so far. Khem's was satisfying, bringing that story to a decent end. Andronikos' was kind of cute, despite playing as a dark Sith, which made for a funny little story in its own way. I haven't really boosted the affections of any of the other companions much yet, so it'll take a while. I've got Talos about halfway, but Ashara and Xalek almost nothing. Is there a story for the ship droid?

I'm also only level 49, so want to get up to 50 and then have a look around Ilum and the like, and wrap up any remaining single player PvE content I might have missed along the way. Not sure how much I'll play my Inquisitor after all that though; I think I'll start a new character instead.

I like fighting from a distance, and I want something on the Republic side this time... but I also like the idea of something tanky this time too. Maybe Trooper Vanguard? Only thing, I'm not sure that the story will be particularly interesting... anyone played the trooper story here?

If I don't go for a tank, I'm thinking about a Smuggler instead, but the cover mechanic seems like a love/hate thing. I might start one off and see whether I can get into it and if not, switch to Trooper.

By the way, just for future reference, even as a free player doing almost no space missions or heroic/flashpoint group content, there was almost no grind required in the Inquistor story and no need for stupidly powerful or rare gear either. The game paced progression such that I was only a level behind by the end. A couple of times during the game, I did feel underlevelled (when just starting Alderaan, at the start of Belsavis, and most notably, when I first tried to fight the Avatar of Sel-Makor on Voss). But the missions were always still manageable if I played carefully (or in the case of the Voss mission, once I left that fight until after I completed everything else on the planet and so levelled up a couple more times). He was the hardest boss in the whole game, needing fairly precise interrupts. I died more times with Paladius due to his force-draining ability, but only until I figured out what tactic to use. He wasn't genuinely hard in the way the Avatar was. Thanaton was a little tricky, but nowhere near those guys.

[Whizzer]

Well if you like ranged combat I would go with a gunslinger/sniper next. A lot of damage, but lacking some of the useful abilities (like the bubble or dark infusion) of the Sorc in leveling PVE. Carry medpacks or go Biochem.
If you have some money on your Sorc after you hit 50, sending it to your new character and buying the legacy speeder perk makes the early levels a lot more fun IMHO.

[CorporalClegg]

Holdfast wrote:

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I like fighting from a distance, and I want something on the Republic side this time... but I also like the idea of something tanky this time too. Maybe Trooper Vanguard? Only thing, I'm not sure that the story will be particularly interesting... anyone played the trooper story here?

Trooper story is pretty good for the most part. It's a bit anticlimactic in some parts, but does have what is arguably the most gut-wrenching scene in the game.

However, despite using a blaster, Vans are more of a melee class. Really, the only two classes that are truly ranged are Slingers/snipers and sages/sorcs.

If I don't go for a tank, I'm thinking about a Smuggler instead, but the cover mechanic seems like a love/hate thing. I might start one off and see whether I can get into it and if not, switch to Trooper.

I wouldn't worry about cover. After the starter planet, you'll almost never use it. Slingers just use the shield. Natural cover is "stronger" than the shield, but the shield is just so much more simpler to use. I've never played a slinger myself, but everyone I know pretty much avoids natural cover.

As far as scoundrels go, the only spec that really gets any use out if it is dirty fighting, and that's broken. Don't use it.

Scrappers are a melee class (The most fun melee class in the game. ), and the only time they need to use cover is to pop Sab-charge. And that's best done with kneeling quick, popping the skill and moving again. For example. I do it so quickly I don't even see the kneeling animation.

And with the Bones spec, it just limits the mobility too much--more than whatever defense cover provides could make up for. Bones pride themselves on being the most mobile of the healing specs (which is why most people consider them the best). Crouching behind a create is obviously detrimental to that.

By the way, just for future reference, even as a free player doing almost no space missions or heroic/flashpoint group content, there was almost no grind required in the Inquistor story and no need for stupidly powerful or rare gear either. The game paced progression such that I was only a level behind by the end. A couple of times during the game, I did feel underlevelled (when just starting Alderaan, at the start of Belsavis, and most notably, when I first tried to fight the Avatar of Sel-Makor on Voss). But the missions were always still manageable if I played carefully (or in the case of the Voss mission, once I left that fight until after I completed everything else on the planet and so levelled up a couple more times). He was the hardest boss in the whole game, needing fairly precise interrupts. I died more times with Paladius due to his force-draining ability, but only until I figured out what tactic to use. He wasn't genuinely hard in the way the Avatar was. Thanaton was a little tricky, but nowhere near those guys.

Yeah. I think people make too big of a deal about the XP nerf. There's just so much of it in the game, I can't see how it's a problem.