Occupying Myself till The Final Count Down to 4.0!

A young Trooper ready to Serve

Well, first off, what have I been doing lately? Mostly finishing off Logan’Varo my Vanguard Trooper. On the left we see him as a fresh recruit all bright eyed and filled to the brim with motivation and dedication. On the right, Logan has been through some shit. Battle hardened, with zero fucks to give. He operates on his own and cares very little for Republic Politics. A freelance contractor with a team to hire. Kind of funny, I never liked the Trooper per se, but I got attached to Logan over time. Now he is going to be first in the chute when the Expac is out. I did do some fan fic writing for his story but it is still in works. Sometime I’ll post it on a separate page. These pics are sort of spoilers lol.

The Hardened Veteran from a war gone bad

Speaking of 4.0. We are so close to the final hours before early access. Already inthe past 48 hours I’ve seen Ebon Hawk explode with old timers coming back and new comers everywhere. Tython had 2 instances running, both packed with at least 100 people plus. Coruscant was just as packed. A lot of recruiting going on from guilds I hadn’t heard from since a year ago. Yup, the Expac rush is on! I’m not going to comment on the 4.0 features as that’s been beaten to death. I will say that as with any major release, players need to be patient for the first couple of weeks. With the implementation of this almost reboot of the game there are going to be numerous game glitches and bugs for the first few days. It would not surprise me if we see at least a couple of hot fix down times the first week or two to hem up issues that happen. Be patient young Jedi’s! This happens with every game.

My largest concerns are how fast the story content will last. Now, I’m one that will take his time with each choice at least the first 3 or 4 times. But, 5 levels and nine chapters…I wonder how the progression through them will go? Supposedly after a set amount of time after release they will install monthly chapters as well. I wonder if that means they will continue to raise the level cap? Also, will new MMO raid style content appear with those succeeding chapters? A lot remains to be seen for the future. Still, believe me when I tell you I am very stoked to see what they have in store and what new areas we get to explore.

I am definitely looking forward to the new swoop bike I’ll have as well as the Nico Blasters! Perks of being a paid subscriber. To me it’s worth it, especially for early access. The really cool thing is that as a subscriber, I don’t have to pay for the expansion. I really like this part. See, in the old days when I played WoW and AoC, and EQ2 every major DLC EXPAC I had to shell out extra money even though I subscribed. I didn’t complain too much, but with EQ2 and AoC it didn’t really pay to be a subscriber full time and pay for the expacs. At least Bio Ware gave those who remained loyal subscribers extra perks for paying the monthly fee.

Now, I’m not knocking FTP folks. I understand, there are many who live on a tight budget and can afford only so much. It’s all good by me. I just feel that if a player does in fact subscribe, they should get extra bonuses that FTP/Pref Players don’t get. Anyways, Bio ware did good on this. Also, their Cantina crate promotions have been awesome, geez I got like 4 speeders now!

Hey folks, I know there are gonna be a ton of reviews coming out soon as to player experiences. I invite you all to drop by here for an unbiased opinion and coffee/Monsters/Tea/Vodka/Whiskey etc HAHAHAHA!

Classified Document: Operative Progress

Agent: Voren’Rylo

Status: Imperial Intelligence Operative

Report:

Operative Voren shows the potential and skill to identify targets, dispatch them and complete missions as per Imperial Intelligence Directives.

Notes: Subject shows a high degree of initiative and resourcefulness. Missions are completed within a timely manner and all objectives handled with discretion. Subject also shows an extreme willfulness and disregard for Sith Authority. While a true patriot to the Empire, his motives are as of yet understood. Subject will submit to pain over bowing to the will of any person involved in Sith or Dark Council directives. Note, while useful, subject may require termination in order to maintain control over Sith requirements. Subject requires extensive surveillance in order to identify true motives for further exploitation. Pain will not bend subject’s will, be advised that other means will be necessary to ensure subject will comply with Sith plans.

So I am currently working an Operative and he is such a blast. I have a sniper (Mharius) but I wanted to work an operative as well for flexibility. What I have noticed is that the Operative is far more easier to adapt in fighting than it’s Republic Counterpart the Smuggler: Scoundrel. Now I don’t know why this is. It could just be personal style. But they seem to have a better feel in combat than the Scoundrel for me. Tell me readers, what is your opinion? Do you find that it is easier to deal with a Scoundrel or an Operative. Both have awesome PvP potential and certainly show themselves well in the PvE arena. Anyways, just my thoughts on this Saturday. Feedback would be most appreciated. But if not, do enjoy your Saturday as I am (Margaritas and Smoked Ribs lol).

YAY! It’s Friday!! And the Death Toll Rises!

Folks, I tried my damnedest. I really did, but I have to go through another round of experimental character deletes. I have a Commando which I spent 30 minutes just creating the right look before pushing him into the world. I got him all the way to 20. I CAN’T stand the class though. I was enjoying thumbing my nose at Garza. But I hate the Commando class. The heals by 20 are pretty nice. But seriously I don’t like being locked down to fire at my enemies with very very slow execution times for anything worth shooting. I need to be free to shoot and move. I may have to re roll this one again to a Vanguard. they have shit for heals but at least I have mobility on my side.Oh, the pic isn’t mine so don’t freak out.

For me, that is incredibly important. I love ranged combat. But I need to be able to close to an objective while laying down suppression fire/killing fire and then balls out assault and clear the line. Double tap anything that may still be twitching and have me a drink on top of their corpses. Commando really is poorly named. It is a support class in the fact that as long as you have close assault troops you can support all of their activities. What they do really well is drop heals/debuff or bleed targets, and drop solid burst damage. Additionally yes you can cryo freeze or blow back anything that get’s too close to you. This is pure awesome in a team where movement is not really critical for you. But it totally sucks when you are solo playing or in fights that are run and gun. Look, I don’t want to be just a multi tool turret emplacement. I need to shoot and move. Vanguard Tactics suits this much better. But I really did want to try Commando. It just isn’t working. By the way, here is the definition of Commando and tell me if really the class fits. To me it should be more like Heavy Assault Trooper or something lol.

Definition:

noun, plural commandos, commandoes.

1.

1. any of the specially trained Allied military units used for surprise, hit-and-run raids against Axis forces.
2. a member of any of these units.

2.

any military unit organized for operations similar to those of the commandos of World War II.

3.

a member of a military assault unit or team trained to operate quickly and aggressively in especially urgent, threatening situations, as against terrorists holding hostages.

See, really, the Vanguard is more appropriate as a Commando. But hey that’s just the military side in me thinking too much. I know in the big scheme of things it probably doesn’t matter. but I guess when I look at the Trooper class as a whole, I see it from the prospective of someone who has spent extensive time doing military shit. So it does matter to me. See, this all speaks to surprise, ambush, quick shoot and move tactics, then fade into the wood line. A guy carrying this monstrous cannon that cannot shoot on the move very well isn’t so much a Commando. He is one Bad ass Heavy Assault Specialist. The extra heals even if not a Doc is pretty cool. But he/she is not a quick, aggressive and able to react quickly. At least not in my opinion.

So, I may be firing this one because it doesn’t speak to my fighting style. I got nothing against Commandos. But I need to be able to shoot and move. All this boils down to is I have to burn some poor schmuck because he had the misfortune of having a class spec that I just really care very little about.

Next one on the chopping block for the third time is my Jedi Consular. I don’t mind it’s tanking style. I HATE the human voice over though. It seriously pisses me off! He sounds like such a self sanctimonious PRICK! I suppose I could reroll and make a female version that doesn’t sound like a complete asshole. You know, these guys are supposed to be like walking warrior philosophers, not complete arrogant ass hats!  He got to lv 26. My only heartbreak is that I bought about 300k in Cartel adaptive armor to make him look cool. And he does look cool. He just sounds like a complete snob that I want to throat punch every time I listen to him. Bio Ware, seriously WTF?!?! Stop trying to make another young version of Obi Wan (ya I hated that schmuck too! He sounded like a complete ass hat, so did young Anniken btw). Qui gon sounded cool. The Old Obi Wan sounded cool. Samuel L. Fuckin Jackson as a Consular sound Bad Ass! This guy…I want to throat punch and Dick punch every time I hear a cut scene. There in lies the problem. How long do I got before I need to give him a non heroic death by deletion? I don’t know. But he is border line dead to me. I just hate the wasted credits on the very baddass set of armor I spent 2 hours slicing for ( Hey! it’s hard to steal on Yavin when every other Muldoon is doing the same dammit!)

Ok, so with all of this. I am having fun with my Scoundrel who is now Lv 50 and will make it to 60. When he hits 55 Ill regear and take him exclusively into the War Zones and grind the last 5 levels for War Zone Commendations and work on his gearing till the next Expansion.

Caeden’Rho is still my bad ass Sith Juggernaut wrecking Yavin and Ziost like a Boss. Vhulkar, my BH Powertech is still setting the world on fire and stabbing people in the face. Jhexi occasionally comes out as my Mercenary, though not as much anymore. Mharius I do Implant crafting and then enjoys his retirement so to speak.

Raiding is almost nill right now and the server has been pretty damned quiet. Everyone is waiting on the next Expansion so the activities are pretty slow. Which is a bummer. I need a little action. This of course is pretty common right before a new content release. I’ve seen it in several games in the past. It’s nothing new. But I want to have fun. Hey folks, I hope everyone has a great weekend! Drop by and comment as you please. I’m always open to discussion lol.

I am No Man’s Puppet…..Caiden’Rho; a darker path

They said I was a servant. They knew nothing! They thought me a dutiful acolyte, they were foolish. More than once I have felt the lash of lightening to punish me for my decisions and I regret nothing. With each step, rage builds. With each enemy that falls before my hand, my lust for conquest and glory grows. But no one, will ever, make me bow again…I am the Empire’s Wrath!

Caiden’Rho was my first foray into leveling a Sith Juggernaut all the way to cap. I was in fact determined with this one. Normally I don’t go into the whole Sith/Jedi thing but I wanted a solid tank for our Guild raids. My Raid Leader suggested that if I wanted to go melee, do the Juggernaut. He had a lot of fun on them. His only warning was that when we did 16 man’s to be prepared and practice my rotation to the T. Failure to do so could cause a loss of aggro which was a pain in the ass to regain. So we discussed rotation and gearing post 60 etc. Then I went to town. I really got into the role for this one as I hacked my way through the levels. I especially enjoyed turning Jaesa to the dark side. She was such an astute little monster, I fell in love with her as a companion lol, figuratively speaking of course. Never the less, it told a good story across the line and I had no trouble with getting to the top. Below were some highlights of raising Caiden to his final position:

The young Acolyte confronts his darker self to embrace his inner darkness:

In a tiny oasis, deep in the deserts of Tatooine, Caiden faces his darker self, the one that shows his true calling as a Sith Warrior. But even then, Caiden seethes with anger at being manipulated. Only two things enrage Caiden the most; Disloyalty and manipulation. The machinations of others led him from his former self and mapped out the path before him. Deep in his shadowed soul he knew the only way to break free of the chains which others bound him was to embrace the rage and damned be any, no matter how powerful, who were foolish enough to block his way to glory.

The warrior grows, proving the mettle of his Iron Soul:

Test after test he proved all around him that his enemies were mere ashes in the wind. With Shadow Blade in hand, he followed the directives of Darth Baras and the Council. But hidded from thier fiery gaze, he hatched his own plans. Some aligned in goal with his Master, but all led to his own dark designs, ones without his foolish and blind Master at hand. Paying lip service was no easy task and many times his own rage exceeded his ability to hold a civil tongue with his supposed master. But all in good time.

The Darkest of Loves:

She saw my true self and did not run in terror. She saw the lies of living without passion and the Tyranny of holding back emotion. She allowed me to set her free. She called me Master, yet she is my immortal dark heart, the one and only that enslaves my desires. Soaked in blood and hate, we wreaked Havoc across the Galaxy. Even when offered my place, she stayed loyal to the end. No one in this life or the next could ever separate the dark and monstrous passion we share. Jaesa, the one and only Immortal Heart to me, may we wade together in blood, smoke and conquest for all eternity!

Ascension, and the Fall of a Fool:

He thought me to be his pawn. He thought my mind enslaved to his will. Darth Baras, the “Voice” of the Emperor thought he could use me as the puppet to his ascension within the Dark Council. He was wrong. I had waited for this moment for a very, very, long time. When it was right, and my power collected, the gauntlet was thrown and the battle ensued. With out a doubt, this would be my hour of glory, or or my final place of death. All bridges were burned and only one way home from here. For what was worth, the duel was worth the time. I would have been so disappointed had Baras fell without so much as a fight.

But as with all the others, his time had come to fall by my hand alone. With each burst of the Force he crashed upon me, he only grew weaker as I grew stronger. I laughed with glee as his power wained. Had he forgotten how many times he had punished me with pain? did he not know that I accepted the pain and converted it’s essense into the rage which fueled my power? Those questions would never be answered. The pawn, the servant, the errand boy had now become the Master with one final stroke of a saber.

Even with the Dark Council’s acceptance of my transformation into the Wrath, I knew the future could only be mine once I was free of any Master. Still, I shall always relish the moment and regail in it final victory over my first Master. The Dark Council knew even then that they would be wise to avoid stopping any plans I made. Once cowed before me, my new goals would be realized.

The Dark Lord Begins his True Calling:

I knew the Emperor was a madman. Revan only proved it. But unleashed I saw the Chaos of a Galaxy full of ashes. Worlds ground to balls of dust and ashes. Destroyed by his unholy thirst for immortality. What good is it to rule a galaxy of corpses?

In visions I saw all which I held dear collapse in rotting flesh and bone. Civilizations ground to powder with bloody streets stained red. But even though I saw my own corpse, I knew that this was only a vision of what could be. Nothing is set in stone. Of that I did learn throughout my rise.

No mighty Emperor. I am no longer your Wrath, no longer your puppet. You will not destroy the Empire which I have shed so much blood for. You will not destroy what is meant to be mine to rule. I will find a way to defeat you and you will perish!

So, the experience leveling Caiden was honestly pretty awesome, all the way to the end. There were a few points that annoyed me, but overall it was a lot of fun. I wish they hadn’t had Quinn betray me. Not because it hurt me, but because they gave me no way to kill him. I really wanted to destroy his soul after siding with Baras, but I had no means mechanically to do so. The interactions with Jaesa as a companion were priceless. Turning her to the dark side and allowing her evil side to thrive was pure enjoyment as far as stories go. Now, I loved the Agent Story as the best so far, but this story line has got to be the close second between the two. The Bounty Hunter was lack luster. I haven’t finished the Inquisitor story as I haven’t enjoyed actually playing one.At any rate, I hope you all enjoyed this bit of writing. I’d love to hear what you guys thought about the little bits of prose and the screenshots. Also I have a question to you readers, which story line in SWTOR really grabbed you and held on to you from beginning to end? Why did it hold you as a story? I’d love to hear from anyone out there!!! Till next time, may your stories be epic in nature and may your credits flow for ever!

Leveling, Experimenting and the all consuming wait for OCT early Access

Well, that was a fairly wordy title. But it speaks truth. I’ve been doing a lot of alt leveling over the last month. The sad thing is, I’ve probably murdered (deleted) at least 30 toons in the process before they ever reached Lv 30. One would think I’d just take a class and run with it. Me being me though, I really had to like the character I played, or I wouldn’t play it for long.

My last character I actually leveled is Vhulkar. Vhulkar is a hard hitting BH Power Tech that I have a blast at as far as being a DPS in the end game. It helps he just looks cool too. I brought him into Raid over the weekend and got a lot of compliments on how I designed him as far as look and feel. Beyond that, he did a solid performance with our crew in nothing but 190 blue gear. I was surprised at this, but his mobility to get in and get out during a fight made him a lot of fun. He was able to deal with some of the damage and dish it out on a regular basis. His DPS out put parsed out at about 2nd to 3rd in the raid which satisfied me as far as not being carried. Of course our lead DPSer was miles above the rest of us, but I kept a decent run during Boss fights. I gotta say, poor Mharius just isn’t as fun to run in raids anymore as a sniper. I like the mobility that a Power Tech gives at medium to close ranges. When we fought on the Ziost raid, I never had a problem maintaining decent DPS while on the move. It was exhilarating to see him in action. So, Vhulkar may become my new DPS Main for raids if he repeats the performance he displayed this last weekend. The problem with Mharius is simple, most fights require gun n’ run tactics. This is not at all the forte of a sniper. In fact, it’s the anathema of a sniper marksman. Most fights I have seen throughout the Revan expansion have heavy movement mechanics the degrade a sniper’s ability to drop that well placed shot. Sooo, Power Tech will be my new semi-ranged combat DPSer until further notice. I doubt I’ll fire (delete) Mharius simply because I like the toon over all. He just won’t be my raid focus. Perhaps I’ll give him a whirl in PvP, I dunno.

On another front, I’ve been doing some heavy effort to raise a Juggernaut Immortal (read tank). Caiden’Rho is my latest serious effort to the top bracket. I started him over the weekend and got him to LV 49 as of last night. By the end of the week he should be at 60 with all the basic necessities for getting into raids. I’ve had the full support of my Raid Leader on this one and he is guiding my progress there. I Level him with Jaesa as a companion to sort of practice my tanking spec rotations that have been suggested to me. To my surprise, he does pretty well with a few rotation tweaks that are geared for companion style battles (Heroic Moment, Unity, Force push with a follow up of Force Charge etc). They wouldn’t work well in a Boss fight, but for solo leveling they are pretty awesome additions when you have no healer. I spent a pretty fair amount of credits on Jaesa as a companion as I plan to have her as primary help once the expansion comes out. Ya, aesthetics do matter to me. I want my apprentice to look the part of a power hungry hottie! Anyways, he is my current heavy focus until 60.

This brings me to the experiments end. I re-rolled Damios (My original character on Ebon Hawk). Still a smuggler, but changed over to Scoundrel class (Ruffian) for a change. I wasn’t happy with the Gunslinger class. Again, it comes down to mobility. I don’t like staying in one place for long during a fight. So…as a republic toon he got rebooted. There are a few others I’m tinkering with, though no promise to any one of them as yet. I’ve kept those toons out of the guilds on both Imp and Pub side as I haven’t felt a concrete hell ya at this moment for them. Time will tell of course.

The Yavin Stronghold has been a side project ever since it came out. I think I have one unlock left before it’s entirely open and then I need to decide on how the decorating will go. I’ll be honest, as awesome as the stronghold looks, and it does look awesome! The way the dev’s set up the decorating hooks really was sub par in my opinion. It looked pretty mish mash with little thought or reason. Still, I want the whole thing opened up so I can make it into a special retreat for all of my characters.

These are the things I’m currently working on while waiting for the October Early release of KotFE. I am very much interested in how it will play out and it constantly leaves much to ponder on a daily basis. At the very least, I am looking forward to new adventures and stories to be had. One of the things I know is controversial but I happen to like is how the companions will be streamlined to level in ability with you, so gearing is no longer an issue. The other is being able to stick them into any roll you desire. Both of these options appeal to me in a big way. I know not every one likes it. That’s ok. For at least the class switch, all I can say is, you still have the choice to make them the original roll if you don’t want to spec them into things you don’t like or can’t see as viable. Either Way, it’s ok to me. But, I can stomach the Trooper class a helluva lot longer if that first companion would either be pure tank or pure healer.  I know, some classes just don’t seem right as a different style (Mako Tanking, or Lord Scourge Healing BWAHAHAAHAHAH) but hey play it your way at that point. The great thing is, if you don’t personally like the option, you don’t HAVE to alternate companion class focuses.

The streamlining of stats is interesting. It’s also going to really alter the way we look at crafting in general. All main stats converted to one stat. Cool, because they all do the same thing, just different names. But what about crit bonus stats or aim or accuracy or power. Are those secondary stats still going to be around? I made a lot of money off of various augment secendary stat pieces. So I have to wonder how much has been said about that. It’s a lot to ponder. At any rate, it’s still just a wee bit over a month out before I get to see these epic changes to the game structure. I’m both excited and terrified. One back lash of it all though has been that I have really been slacking on trying to level or make any sorted of crafted item. Kinda sucks, but what’s the point if these huge changes are implemented.

Well, that’s a wrap for now. Till next time, may your hyper drives never fail and may your credits overflow!