Not just NO…But F*$K NO!

Warning: Foul language abounds in this post. I speak from the Soldier’s point of view. Anyone who knows soldiers know we can be creative with cursing…you have been warned.

Uh oh… I lost it. OK, so I’ve been leveling my Trooper Vanguard Logan’Varo and just finished CH3. I get called to the Senate and praises of Glory and Awesomeness are slung my way. Of course I made sure my Team was mentioned before me. Hell I could have never made it through without them…even that asshole Vik (Hey he does blow shit up real good ok?).

But then I lost it...WARNING: SPOILER ALERT  FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T FINISHED THE TROOPER STORY LINE!)

In typical politician form the Chancellor decides she wants to trade the one Imperial Officer that has made life a living hell for the Republican Army and butchered countless lives. In return, we repatriate a few thousand prisoners. Well shit lady…what about the countless thousands of Soldiers that had to die in the process of taking this guy out?!?!? Can’t do anything for the dead? Were there lives meaningless in order to obtain a politically expedient end? Not just no but FUCK NO! Take your damned ribbons and shove them where the sun don’t shine!

The worst part though, in defense of the fallen, I got 100 Darkside points! Holy shit! I’ll be damned if soldiers died in vain for these bastards. I always hated politicians. Now I had a reason. For the record, my wife thought my computer blew up because I was a frothing maniac for a few minutes. I guess after seeing first hand in the real world how Soldiers tend to be used as pawns for political gain, this one touched a nerve. Still, even with 100 dark points that were unjustly given I won’t ever regret the decision I made in this case.

Now, I have to admit, I’ve been overly critical of the Trooper story line. It felt too card board like and not very realistic. After a grand total of 5 deployments across the world in real life I kinda know a few things. However, the story does become a little more engaging by the time you hit Belsavus. Corellia actually I felt like they did a decent job on in depiction and execution. Well, accept your character really sucks at giving speeches. One speech for morale boost had the character saying “we will succeed” 3 times in less than 20 seconds. Ya, they need to send the scripters to speech school. Still, I felt engaged on Corellia and the fights felt more tactical in nature as well as the story elements. I still think the first 2 chapters were kinda weak sauce, but by CH 3 things come into full pace.

Anyways, I have a lot more to write about in the coming days as we get ready for KOtFE’s release, but I’ll get to that after a bit. Hat’s off to you BioWare for getting me so engaged I actually got pissed off…in a good way. Alright folks, till next time, may your hyperdrives stay fired up and your credits roll fast!

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.

DANGER! Opinions will be expressed! Jedi Knight vs Trooper Story

It’s been a bit over a week since I last posted. I started a few different posts but I have saved them in draft for later exploitation. In the meantime, what have I been doing? Well, it all started with me REALLY hating the Sith Warrior storyline with Darth Barfass..err I mean Baras..sorry bout that M’Lordshipness…. while I really enjoyed the Inquisitor storyline with her super evil smexyness Zash.

But I really wanted to get the 4th buff for all of my toons just to say I had it. After burning no less than 5 Sith Warriors and condemning them to death for failing their Master (ME!) I decided to hop on over to the Light Side and see if I could stomach doing the Jedi Knight story. To my surprise, I really did enjoy it! In the beginning the duel wield spec was well not as powerful as I imagined, till I hit in the 30s and then I was just WOW’d! I got all the way through taking on the Emperor and failing and then escaping and moving onto Belsalvus. The twists and turns were really fun to deal with. Normally I’m not into the whole Jedi mystic thing. I prefer guns..or at least being a Sith evil bastard. So I had to ask myself, what really got me involved with the storyline. Then it hit me. Most of the missions were militaristic in style. Everything was about taking down the Empire’s military capabilities and countering their strategies. It was perfect for a Soldier like me. Except one thing…Most of the really cool strike team quests SHOULD have gone to the Trooper storyline. Ya I said it. The Jedi is supposed to go find Sith Bad actors and slice n’ dice them to pieces. Soldiers are supposed to take down strategic enemy capabilities. The reason I liked the Jedi knight story so much is that most of the quests brought out the Soldier in me. Add in the epic set backs of Orgus’ death and then the Emperor turning my Jedi and you had the epic story everyone craves.

And this broke my heart for the poor Trooper. See, I like the concept of the Trooper class wise. You got ranged DPS, Tanks, Medics, and close Assault troops. Everything you need short of sniper crews. But the story did not at all appeal to me. Really, most of the side quests made more sense than the main storyline. I know some people like it. It’s ok. I didn’t because after numerous years working in the military, Having a character with a motley crew go after a rogue squad that was betrayed by it’s own government didn’t make sense. You don’t use a hammer when you need a scalpel. The storyline really is more suited for secret agents or better yet Bounty Hunters to bring these criminals of the state to justice. Troopers should have been used to take down planet destroying weapon systems, sabotaging key critical infrastructures (Anyone remember Guns of Navarrone or A Bridge too Far?). Ambushing advancing columns or destroying factory capabilities would be suited for the Trooper class. Ultimately the adversary would be Imperial Grand Moffs and what not. Escorting refugees, breaking enemy supply lines or punching through enemy forward Offensive/Defensive lines. These are the life blood missions of a Trooper.

Finally, while there is a very very SMALL probability that a Spec Ops squad/team would go rogue after getting burned by their government, most would go free lance, not serve a long standing enemy that goes against every principle they ever stood for. Then a chain of Command ordering that the unit be taken out by all means necessary? Using a former member of the team to do so? NO! Units are created and stay running because of traditions and esprit de corp. You don’t throw that indoctrination away like it’s a used tissue. It takes one ruthless bastard to go hunt down his former team, even if they served for only a short time. Also, WTF is with demoting that poor LT just because he was a part of the unit?!? That doesn’t happen! He would be investigated and then if found innocent, transferred to a different unit. Not to mention, General Garza taking personal interest in a new Sergeant then promoted Lieutenant…won’t happen. If she was involved, she would recruit people extremely loyal to her agenda, people who were ruthless, without morals, and stone cold killers in order to erase the stain of the rogue squad. This poor Trooper is asked to stand in front of a Senatorial inquiry and more or less dance around all of their questions. Again, not realistic in a means shape or form. See this is why I didn’t enjoy the story. It’s like they used absolutely no common sense from a military point of view.

The only time I had fun on the Trooper was with that brief interlude with Jax. Other than that….nope. Who ever wrote the Jedi Knight Storyline should have been the primary architect of the Trooper Storyline in composition, just gear the story towards military operations. So back to the Jedi story. It really was cool from a tactical sense. I actually enjoyed all of my Companions so far (Scourge being the most recent). The Companions really came alive for me from their personalities and yes that means T7 as well thank you very much. The writing makes it easy enough so that either gender can walk in as a Knight and really come into their own.

This is all that should have happened for the Trooper. Instead we get yes sir no sir right away sir..we’ll hunt down the traitors and that’s that. Anyways, the writers for the Trooper storyline could have consulted with real world military folks to get the real flavor of how a very nationalistic military organization would look, act, and feel. Or something as simple as reading a bit. Need really cool ideas for Soldier Class stories? An awesome source would be Caesar’s Gallic campaigns. While it was written from the roman point of view, daily legionary life was included. Political situations were well documented and an over all strategic scheme was identified. That’s just from history and even then a very small sample.

Bottom Line Up Front: Jedi Knight Class Story beats out Sith Warrior and Trooper Class Storyline for me. Hey drop in your favorite storylines and compare them to your least favorite. Let me know why. In the meantime, this week I’ll be attempting to finish the Jedi knight to 60. Hope everyone has fun out there!