Star Wars: The Old Republic II: Hutts don't have feet!

[VexingFool]

Been playing SWTOR since launch. Switched to preferred when the game went F2P. Re-subbed for one month for the expansion discount.

So far enjoying Makeb and the other game changes. Have not finished the Makeb story because I did not want to spoil it for my friend who I run with on the weekends. I may try to finish the Republic story since we run as Sith. So far I have one guy to 53, 3x52’s, 4x51’s and one guy still at 50 but close to 51. A lot of that xp has come from running dailies to fund my crafting.

Mostly been focusing on Crafting this week. Have maxed out all the gathering skills on all my 50+ guys. Artifice, Armstech and Biotech are capped and working on RE’ing top end recipes. Going to work on Cybertech next then Armormech and Synthweaving. Master Craftsman here I come!

I really enjoyed the Class specific Makeb intro videos. Wish there was a way to replay them. Makeb seems to have a really good story to it and the dialog scenes are pretty good.

Spoiler

Show

Although sometimes it seems as if my only choices are to Flirt with the male Sith or berate, insult and threaten the woman. Feel sorry for the poor lady. Did not even realize the other guy in the uniform was a Cathar until my friend said something. I thought he was darkside tainted Chiss with pointy ears.

[Sith_Happens]

Cathar and appearance changes coming in 2.1.

[Philistine]

Wow. When Cathar didn't go live in 2.0, I really didn't expect to see them... well, anytime remotely soon. The one that appeared in the video I'd guess was a JK from the look of it, but do you know whether there's any official word on their class/faction availability?

[Kish]

Locked for every class by default. 600 Cartel Coins to unlock them, and then available to every class.

[Sith_Happens]

I'm interested in what the appearance change prices are going to be. Probably pretty cheap, since it's the kind of thing they presumably want people using often.

[Jeivar]

About Makeb:

I've only played the original game once, because I find this style of MMO gameplay incredibly difficult to stay interested in. However, the story was enough for me to crawl and chug to level 50 and finish the Knight quest line.
It seriously bugged me how much time I spent repeating the same damn fights over and over just to get from point A to point B, and how much time and money I spent on the crew skills, only to buy or receive almost everything I actually used anyway. In the latter stages of any planet I would inevitably groan whenever I received a new quest, since it meant yet another set of hurdles before something interesting happened again.

Basically: Is Makeb interesting enough for me to resubscribe and resume crawling and chugging?

[Sith_Happens]

Basically: Is Makeb interesting enough for me to resubscribe and resume crawling and chugging?

Resubscribe? Not if it's your only reason.

Resume crawling and chugging? Definitely.

[Jeivar]

Resubscribe? Not if it's your only reason.

Resume crawling and chugging? Definitely.

Alright. Just what is the difference between F2P and subscription?

[Sith_Happens]

Alright. Just what is the difference between F2P and subscription?

Here's the comparison chart. It's mostly endgame access and convenience (though the difference in the latter can be jarring if you're used to being a subscriber). Note that buying the expansion will bump you up to Preferred, and most of the unlocks to lift the various restrictions can be bought off the GTN for credits (though any credits you had over 350k will be off-limits until you resubscribe).

[Jeivar]

Here's the comparison chart..

Aw crap. Subscription it is, I guess.

[Sith_Happens]

Aw crap. Subscription it is, I guess.

Especially since I forgot to take the discount on the expansion itself into account when assessing whether it's worth subscribing for. One month subscription + discounted expansion is only $5 over the full price expansion, and you get the $5 back as Cartel Coins. So it's actually more or less the better deal anyways.

[NEO|Phyte]

Hello old thread. Recently finished up the Agent story, man was that a hell of a ride.

Spoiler

Show

Started out as a nice simple "serve the empire" type, but man did the sith go out of their way to try and screw everything up. Was generally civil with the Republic at the start, then started a major "how many ways can I hurt them" phase during the whole mind control stuff, until it turned out the Star Cabal were the main ones behind that. In the end, I opted to erase all records of my existence and aid the Empire as a ghost.

Then, curious as to the ending permutations, as there was clearly room for different endings, I discovered that there is an entire spectrum of endings for the Agent story, based on your actions throughout.

Spoiler

Show

Imperial Intelligence survives, you remain Cipher 9.
Imperial Intelligence is dissolved, you work as a freelancer
Imperial Intelligence is dissolved, you become part of the new Sith Intelligence
Work for Darth Jadus has his Hand/Personal Assassin
Become a double agent inside the Empire for the Republic SIS

[Sith_Happens]

I still need to play an Agent. And maybe stop being half the posts in this thread.

[Philistine]

I knew the Agent story reminded me a bit of Alpha Protocol. (Note: I consider that to be a good thing.)

[Jeivar]

So, a couple of hours ago I restarted my subscription and bought Rise of the Hutt Cartel. I've only finished with one character because I can't bear to drag myself through all that excruciating combat AGAIN, though I guess I can take five more levels for the sake of the story.

What I wanted to know is: Is it unusual that I barely ever got any use out of the crew skills? I went with Synthweaving for my Knight on recommendations, but for all the time and money and trips to vendors I sunk into leveling the skill I mostly just used armor I got from missions. Should I just not bother with it in my Hutt Cartel game or did I do something wrong?

[NEO|Phyte]

Crew skills are not at all required, but if you get the right schematics, you can make some good dosh off the GTN.

[Philistine]

Depends, really. I'm a little bit compulsive about finishing ALL OF THE THINGS, so I'm typically pushing level 20 by the time I get my ship - and I gradually get farther ahead of the content as I go, typically hitting 50 on Belsavis. Crew skills mean I can keep my gear up-to-date for my level, which in turn makes it that much faster and easier to rip through the combat and get to the savory story bits. If you're not getting any use out of it, though, it won't hurt to skip it.

[Tylorious]

when and how do you get a speeder?

[NEO|Phyte]

when and how do you get a speeder?

IIRC, f2p/preferred gets speeder training at 25, 40, and 50, while subs get them at earlier levels. There are also legacy unlocks to get the speeder trainings early. The actual speeders are sold at assorted vendors, which are primarily located on the worlds where you're expected to hit the appropriate levels (IIRC, tatooine, alderaan, voss, and I seem to recall a vendor on Quesh as well). There's also a vendor on the fleet, and the GTN is likely flooded with cartel market speeders.

:edit: additionally, if you purchase the digital deluxe/CE version, all your characters get a free speeder (though you still have to wait for the appropriate training to use it), and assuming the refer-a-friend system is still in place, you can also get a speeder on all your dudes for referring a friend.

[GungHo]

What I wanted to know is: Is it unusual that I barely ever got any use out of the crew skills? I went with Synthweaving for my Knight on recommendations, but for all the time and money and trips to vendors I sunk into leveling the skill I mostly just used armor I got from missions. Should I just not bother with it in my Hutt Cartel game or did I do something wrong?

Some crew skills require "interpretation" to get much use out of them.

Cybertech's benefit is immediately obvious... you get all the armoring and mod inserts for all classes. Buy orange armor for yourself and your companions and you'll be busy leveling up the skill to fill the slots. Any extras can be sold easily on the GTN. It's also the only way to make droid armor, earpieces (which everyone uses) and some of the ship upgrades.

Biotech gets you stims and adrenals... which can be helpful or useless depending on whether or not you actually remember you have them. Implants also sell for a pretty penny at all levels and go to all companions.

Armormech lets you make tech armor, which outfits the majority of companions. (In fact, if you're a Trooper or BH, and your profession is anything but Armormech or Cybertech, I honestly doubt your sanity, because they don't have any force users. With a Trooper, everything is +Aim, to boot... so you only have to go down one main "tree" to research blues and purples.) It also lets you make orange tech armor, which can sell pretty well on the market.

Artifice allows you to make color crystals, lightsaber hilts, lightsabers, and, most importantly, enhancement inserts. Everyone uses enhancement inserts so you can sell those pretty easily. And, now it allows you to make dyes, for which the market is crazy right now. It's good if you're a Jedi.

Synthweaving's utility drops off a little compared to the rest. It lets you make force armor, but there aren't a lot of companions that use force armor (at most you'll be outfitting yourself and two/three other companions). The best use of it is to make and sell orange force armor.

Armstech is desperately in need of an additional schtick. It's good that everyone needs a weapon of some kind, and it's also the only place that you can get things like staffs and swords, but all of the companions come with a modifyable weapon now and/or get them as regular quest rewards. All anyone really needs from you is orange weapons (of which people only need to buy one) and barrels. Honestly, I think they'd get more love if they were able to make more than one kind of insert or add an augment that added certain effects (like addding a burn, slow, bleed, or poison) above and beyond what your own talents provide.

The mission skills all primarily feed certain crafting skills so I'm not going to cover all of them, but I do like the lockboxes from Treasure Hunting. Same with gathering skills, with one special mention. Slicing's benefit is money boxes and missions/schematics to sell on the GTN. It's pretty much a pure money maker. It doesn't feed anything, but it is quite useful.

I have a lot of alts (one of each), so I pretty much have one Synthweaver, one Armormech, one Artificer, one Armormech, and one Biotech. The other alts are Slicers, Scavengers, and Archeologists and feed materials to the crafters in "exchange" for containers, mods, and other toys.

[Kish]

What I wanted to know is: Is it unusual that I barely ever got any use out of the crew skills? I went with Synthweaving for my Knight on recommendations, but for all the time and money and trips to vendors I sunk into leveling the skill I mostly just used armor I got from missions. Should I just not bother with it in my Hutt Cartel game or did I do something wrong?

The main unique thing you can do with synthweaving is certain augments (often the very best augments, like Resolve for consulars/inquisitors/Kira). If your armor is non-augmented, you're weaker than you could be, though only you know whether "weaker than you could be" translates to "argh I can't do this" at any given time.

I like Cybertech best, and contrary to what GungHo says, Armstech is also very useful because lots of people (everyone who doesn't need hilts made by artificers) needs blaster barrels; everyone also needs crystals and enhancements which artificers can make. Synthweaving is something I find useful only for augments.

[Holocron Coder]

Was reading over this thread and been feeling the need to get to playing this again.

So, sounds like they changed all the things. I've actually been paying for the game since it came out, including after it went F2P... so what sort of cartel coinage should I be looking at when I reinstall this evening?

And what sorts of things are there for buying (and what do they cost)?

Also, I take it that the SGR thing was never implemented for the original companions. Randomly heard there were new companions, as well?

[NEO|Phyte]

So, sounds like they changed all the things. I've actually been paying for the game since it came out, including after it went F2P... so what sort of cartel coinage should I be looking at when I reinstall this evening?

And what sorts of things are there for buying (and what do they cost)?

That is going to be a lot of coins. 500 per month, including pre-f2p months, if you have a security key, that's another 100 a month, CE got a 1000 coin bonus IIRC, and possibly some other sources I'm not recalling offhand.

As for what there is to buy, most of the neat stuff comes from randomized packs, but there's a fair amount of stuff you can buy straight, moddable armor sets and the like.

[Jeivar]

The main unique thing you can do with synthweaving is certain augments (often the very best augments, like Resolve for consulars/inquisitors/Kira). If your armor is non-augmented, you're weaker than you could be, though only you know whether "weaker than you could be" translates to "argh I can't do this" at any given time.

I don't even remember. I have to admit there's a whole lot about crafting and equipment I never really got into. The combat was sisyphean and mind-numbing enough.

[Sith_Happens]

Slicing's benefit is money boxes and missions/schematics to sell on the GTN. It's pretty much a pure money maker. It doesn't feed anything, but it is quite useful.

You're forgetting about the Slicing materials that every blue or purple augment requires.

[Philistine]

Was reading over this thread and been feeling the need to get to playing this again.

So, sounds like they changed all the things. I've actually been paying for the game since it came out, including after it went F2P... so what sort of cartel coinage should I be looking at when I reinstall this evening?

And what sorts of things are there for buying (and what do they cost)?

I believe you'll have several thousand Cartel Coins to play with. As an example of the fairly mundane things you can do with them, I've used mine for things like "account-wide maximum bagspace" (a few hundred CC per row of 10 slots, IIRC) and "account-wide extra storage tabs at the bank" (about 1K CC per tab). The new playable race can only be unlocked via CC (600 CC to unlock it... and that's account-wide, I'm pretty sure). You can also unlock things like extra character slots, up to 16/server. You can buy character, Legacy, and Guild name changes, or use the "beauty salon" to change pretty much everything about a character except class and spec for varying prices (a race change is relatively expensive, on the order of 1K CC; some other cosmetic options run as low as 20 CC.). And then there's gear (mostly Orange armor, sets or just chestpieces), and Cartel Packs with random contents.

Also, I take it that the SGR thing was never implemented for the original companions. Randomly heard there were new companions, as well?

Correct, still no SGR Companions, though there are some [FLIRT] options for non-joinable NPCs in the expansion. And the only new Companion is HK-51.

[Holocron Coder]

I believe you'll have several thousand Cartel Coins to play with. As an example of the fairly mundane things you can do with them, I've used mine for things like "account-wide maximum bagspace" (a few hundred CC per row of 10 slots, IIRC) and "account-wide extra storage tabs at the bank" (about 1K CC per tab). The new playable race can only be unlocked via CC (600 CC to unlock it... and that's account-wide, I'm pretty sure). You can also unlock things like extra character slots, up to 16/server. You can buy character, Legacy, and Guild name changes, or use the "beauty salon" to change pretty much everything about a character except class and spec for varying prices (a race change is relatively expensive, on the order of 1K CC; some other cosmetic options run as low as 20 CC.). And then there's gear (mostly Orange armor, sets or just chestpieces), and Cartel Packs with random contents.



Correct, still no SGR Companions, though there are some [FLIRT] options for non-joinable NPCs in the expansion. And the only new Companion is HK-51.

Damn, bit more on the coins than I expected. Nice

And that's unfortunate about the SGR

[Sith_Happens]

And that's unfortunate about the SGR

Most recent word on the subject (which admittedly was a while ago) is that they're working on it.

[Holocron Coder]

For those that were curious, I logged in last night and found that I had around 8000 cartel cash

[Tylorious]

Guys I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but I'm on a secure server and am unable to go to sites that would allow me to find out this information for myself. Please give me a list of all the things you can do if you are a subscriber that you couldn't do with f2p. I started playing this game about 2 days ago and am now a lvl 16 smuggler with my very own ship. I love the mess out of this game so far.

Also, how do you get a mini pet.