Star Wars: The Old Republic

[keg in kc]

Don't believe there's a dedicated thread, and since they're starting to release information now, I figure it's time for one.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by thecoffeeguy

Hey Keg, couple questions.

First, whats your impression on the toons you have been playing lately? Rolled any Empire?

For crafting, what level does that start at? My highest level character is a level 8 Sith Inquisitor and i just got to the space station and learned some crafts, but have yet to get started crafting. Mostly, because I am still learning and not sure what to do.

Fun game so far. Really has surprised me so far...

I think you need a companion to start crafting.

[Huffmeister]

I'm still trying to learn the crafting system, too. Not so much how it works, but how to make the best use of it. Right now, I have Artifice, Archaeology, and Treasure Hunting. And it's pretty cool, because I've finally gotten my second companion, so I've been able to send the first one on missions while I'm questing.

Last night, Silock mentioned that he's got three gathering professions and is just selling stuff on the AH. That's what I always did in WoW. Either Skinning/Mining or Skinning/Herbalism, and just sold everything I gathered on the AH. Great source of income. So I'm thinking about dropping Artifice and picking up another gathering profession.

[Pants]

I got Artifice, Archaeology and Treasure Hunting as well. Archaeology has been pretty useless so far as I just get a bunch of garbage Rubat Crystals, et al. Treasure hunting has garnered a few blue items so far. Artifice is looking promising as well. I'm starting to get some almost decent weapon mods I can make now.

[keg in kc]

You can start to gather as soon as you enter the game. Just head to the fleet and pick up the gathering skills. But as Pants said, you can't actually craft anything until you have a companion. One way to boost early xp that I do on all my toons is talk to all the crew skill trainers on the fleet. You'll be level 4 before you fire a blaster on your starter world.

I'm only crafting for myself. I've never really been able to get a feel for playing the auction house in any of these games. So I'm not the best person to answer that one...

I am getting a kick out of cybertech. The space mods really help on the missions (not that they're hard...) and I like having something other than the pre-order STAP to ride around on. It also gives armor mods and mods which are helping me keep my gear on-level. I hadn't planned it this way, but as it turns out artifice is a great partner skill for that because it provides enhancements and hilts, so the only thing I can't make myself right now is blaster barrels. Synthweave isn't all that beneficial right now, but that's as much because of a lack of recipes (on my part; there's tons in the game) as anything else.

Each of the crew skills grants a certain benefit to your character, too, if you explore them enough. Biochem, for example, can give you bind-on-pickup (BoP) artifact (purple) level medkits that are not consumed upon use, which I would imagine could come in very handy in operations later on. Cybertech gives you BoP grenades that aren't consumed as well as BoP speeders. Synthweave gives you BoP armor. Those are just the ones I've done personally. I'm sure the others give similar boosts.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by thecoffeeguy

First, whats your impression on the toons you have been playing lately? Rolled any Empire?

I've mostly been playing my gunslinger. I really like all three so far. I'm sort-of-a stand-in-the-back and tactically attack kind of guy, so the gunslinger and sage fit my personality the best. I like the knight story so far, but that's probably my least favorite class in terms of play to this point. Not saying it's bad, just that I'm not a lightsaber-in-your-face kind of guy. It's actually a lot of fun, despite my tendencies, but it's the one I play least right now. I haven't started a trooper yet, but I did play a bounty hunter in beta, and liked it, so I'll probably like that one, too.

Either way, I really enjoy the gunslinger and the sage. The gunslinger is a little more difficult to play solo because she doesn't have any healing of any kind, not even a healing companion unless I decide to gear up my ship bot, so there's not really any margin for error. The sage is sort of playing on easy mode, with a tank pet, long-lasting CC, ranged dps and the ability to force shield and heal.

On a bounty hunter, once I hit 10, there wasn't much that could hurt me. Particularly when death from above was up. I was playing Mercenary, so maybe things are different on Powertech, but it was so easy that I was putting Mako into her combat stance. Didn't need her healing unless it was an elite.

If you're having trouble, make sure you're a) keeping your gear up to date and b) purchasing your advanced class skills. You wouldn't believe the number of times I've seen people say "holy shit, there's a 2nd tab on the class trainer?!?".

Story-wise, I think they've all been good.

[Silock]

Sage healer Or sage dps? I'm going the healing route for now.

[keg in kc]

dps

[Pants]

I read on the forums that SW/JK are the most challenging classes to play. Not sure how true that is.

[keg in kc]

Could be. I'm not finding any of them to be all that challenging unless you go out of your way to make it hard, though.

For example, I did my final legacy quest at 30. Which meant I had to defeat a level 33 elite. With no healing. I found that to be pretty challenging.

As I just pm'd a friend in my guild:

The final thing I had to do was defeat a level 33 elite. I was level 30 and I don't have a healing companion. Suffice to say it took me many, many tries before I finally got it. And I literally got him down 15 minutes before the server went down for maintenance. It was my last shot and I expected to have to go back to tatooine in the morning to do some more leveling and try again at 31. I died of a bleed about a half a second after the elite died.

In the end, as with most games, any character that can heal, has a distinct advantage solo, whether they trait for it or not. Which makes the ones that can't a little tougher, namely the sniper/gunslinger, the vanguard/powertech (although the bh gets vette early on, and the trooper elara dorne not too far in) and the guardian/juggernaut/marauder/sentinel (healers come much later...).

I know on my gunslinger, droid aside, I don't get a healer companion until well into my 40s, I think, on Hoth. Although I'm the kind of guy who'll tend to prefer a tank or dps companion anyway, even if I can't heal myself.

[Valiant]

How do you go to fleet? I am lvl 12 smuggler with no professions.

[keg in kc]

There's a shuttle available on the all the starting worlds. If you're republic the Ord Mantell shuttle is at the spaceport in Fort Garnik and the Tython shuttle is on the second level of the main Jedi building. If you're empire the Hutta shuttle is at the spaceport and the Korriban shuttle is a little ways off to your right as you leave the Sith Academy, past the one tomb you have to explore on that side.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

There's a shuttle available on the all the starting worlds. If you're republic the Ord Mantell shuttle is at the spaceport in Fort Garnik and the Tython shuttle is on the second level of the main Jedi building. If you're empire the Hutta shuttle is at the spaceport and the Korriban shuttle is a little ways off to your right as you leave the Sith Academy, past the one tomb you have to explore on that side.

Awesome. Rep when I get home.

[Valiant]

Do I need to worry about datacrons yet? Or come baxk when I get my speeder?

[Fish]

[Pants]

KC Fish, are you going to roll a toon on Space Slug?