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

[The_Jackal]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Say, what is the latest word on the 1.2 patch, date and content wise?

Nothing solid yet. The PTR patches are still trying to find the fairway in terms of class balance, so I'd expect at least one more before they're ready to push live. Dynamic social armour won't make 1.2, so if you had plans on tanking in the Slave Girl outfit, I hope you rolled an Assassin/Shadow. They were initially targeting early April for the 1.2 rollout, but I'd be shocked if I saw it land before 4/17.

[Osiris_Shadowblade]

Thanks Salur, but I'm Armstech as well. I'm level 46 so the closest level stuff would be great.

You know, I feel like another spreadsheet detailing who-has-what Crew Skill would be helpful at this point, just so we can keep track of who we need to get into contact with if we need something made.

[Squark]

Originally Posted by Osiris_Shadowblade

Thanks Salur, but I'm Armstech as well. I'm level 46 so the closest level stuff would be great.

You know, I feel like another spreadsheet detailing who-has-what Crew Skill would be helpful at this point, just so we can keep track of who we need to get into contact with if we need something made.

Rubaat crystal wise, provided people stay up to date, you can just click on the detailed menu for the guild; each person's member note should indicate their GITP name and their crew skill. IF yours currently doesn't, I reccomend updating it (Alternate accounts should instead indicate who's alt they are. For Instance, Hessar's member note reads, "Synthweaver, GITP Name: Squark", but Jerik's member note reads "Hessar alt, Armstechnician"

[GungHo]

Originally Posted by Valaqil

Nar Shaddaa is for levels 20-24. The Bonus Series starts with a Level 31 quest, req lvl 28. (And taking a look at it, the quest he wants recorded is at the end of the bonus series. :-/)

Note: The only planets where level requirements differ between the two factions are Taris and Balmorra. While it means you'll never see the other side on that planet, it does make things quite interesting... the earlier planet is day-side and the later planet is at twilight/night. As you quest on the later planet, you'll see impacts of things that the Republic/Empire players did on the "previous" instance of the planet, so it pays to level up in more than one faction if you have that kind of time/interest.

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by The_Jackal

Nothing solid yet. The PTR patches are still trying to find the fairway in terms of class balance, so I'd expect at least one more before they're ready to push live. Dynamic social armour won't make 1.2, so if you had plans on tanking in the Slave Girl outfit, I hope you rolled an Assassin/Shadow. They were initially targeting early April for the 1.2 rollout, but I'd be shocked if I saw it land before 4/17.

I'm just hoping the mail-between-faction-legacy toons thing goes live with BoE items, not just crafting mats and money. It'd tickle me silly to have my proper, uptight and respectable Sith Sorceress go Op-crawling in an Elegant Dress outfit.

[NEO|Phyte]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

I'm just hoping the mail-between-faction-legacy toons thing goes live with BoE items, not just crafting mats and money. It'd tickle me silly to have my proper, uptight and respectable Sith Sorceress go Op-crawling in an Elegant Dress outfit.

1.2 is also making the gender-specific social sets available to both sides normally.

[Jeivar]

Originally Posted by The_Jackal

Nothing solid yet. The PTR patches are still trying to find the fairway in terms of class balance, so I'd expect at least one more before they're ready to push live. Dynamic social armour won't make 1.2, so if you had plans on tanking in the Slave Girl outfit, I hope you rolled an Assassin/Shadow. They were initially targeting early April for the 1.2 rollout, but I'd be shocked if I saw it land before 4/17.

Well, I haven't actually bought the game yet so I don't really know what that means. I was just wondering if I should go ahead and get it or wait for more updates. Have they announced any updates that one can only use at character creation, like new races or tweaks to the appearance customization?

And just out of curiosity, what is dynamic social armor?

[Squark]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Well, I haven't actually bought the game yet so I don't really know what that means. I was just wondering if I should go ahead and get it or wait for more updates. Have they announced any updates that one can only use at character creation, like new races or tweaks to the appearance customization?

And just out of curiosity, what is dynamic social armor?

Races: No new races announced, but you will be able to unlock existing races for all classes by taking a character of that race to level 50, or by paying a sizable fee in in-game currency (500-1500k)

Appearance Customization: Do you mean character creation customization (That is, alternate facial stuctures, tatoos, hairstyles, and the like)? THat's also unlockable through the legacy system (Getting a Cyborg to level 50, for example, not only unlocks the Cyborg race, but let's you take class-specific cybernetic customizations on Cyborgs of all classes), but further additions are on TBA status

"Dynamic Social Armor": One of the big things in this game is modifiable armor. Basically, some weapons and armor come with 3 empty slots (Weapons have a 4th slot for the color crystal, and player crafted items can gain an "augment slot" for additional bonuses). With all these slots empty, Modifiable (or Orange armor, so named for the color of the item's outline in the inventory interface) is really, really terrible. But, by adding special Item modifications to these slots, the item gets improved.

Basically, modifiable items let you use the same lightsaber you made at level 10 at level 49.

Game Update 1.2 Is increasing the amount of player-craftable armors available, including allowing players to learn some recipes by "reverse engineering" existing items (Reverse engineering destroys an item, but gives you back some of the materials used to make it, and has a chance to teach you a new, better schematic (recipe) for that item). However, certain social vendors sell pieces of orange gear with special appearances (Like Sand People Outfits, formal clothing, Leia's Slave outfit, Flightsuits, and the like) that require a certain "Social Level*" to wear, and these items will not be player craftable, and thus, can't gain an augment slot (And Orange item with an augment slot and the mods from end-game gear will, at present, be the best gear available). Needless to say, some people are upset about this.


*Social points are gained by participating in group conversations in sidequests and flashpoints. If you win the roll (and thus have your character say the line), you gain 2 social points for each person in your group, and if you lose the roll, you gain 1 social point for each person in your group, and your chances to win future rolls in that group increase. AFter gaining a certain amount of social points, your social level increases. Higher social levels allow access to different styles of gear, a couple of vanity pets (cute little things that follow you around, but don't actually do anything), and a couple of social items like Confetti guns and a holgram that makes everyone nearbye dance. Post 1.2, getting one character to a certain social level will allow you to buy new emotes as well, and these will be available to all of your characters on that server. Social X, the highest social level, is 30k social points or something like that.

[mangosta71]

If the point of adding all these new craftable items into the game is to allow players to customize their appearance, it seems to me that wardrobe slots would be a much easier way to implement it, both for the developers and the players.

Suppose you run Boarding Party and the awesome-looking trenchcoat drops. They way they're setting it up, you have to destroy the item, not learn the pattern, and keep running the FP over and over until until you've destroyed the item so many times that the RNG takes pity on you and you learn to make it. Then you have to burn mats on making it a couple hundred times until your companion crits. It's grindy as all hell, and a lot of players are going to get frustrated and quit over it. This is what they're doing.

Suppose that, instead, you run BP, the trenchcoat drops, you win it, and you just equip it into a slot so that your character is displayed as wearing it, but it has no statistical effect. It's purely cosmetic. Of course, you have the option of equipping it normally if it's an upgrade. Not nearly as grindtastic. Simple and easy, and you can make your character look the way you want - any item that you like the look of, once you replace it, can go into your wardrobe. You have a green that you really like the look of but you just got a purple that has amazing stats but horrible art? No matter, equip the purple and display the green! Your appearance is thus not limited to the handful of craftable sets. (Even with the changes that 1.2 brings, how much variety as we really going to see among the top-end players? Most of the orange gear, from level 10 to 50, looks pretty much the same. My assassin has four robes that are identical except one has a little red in the design where the others are black.)

Honestly, which do you think is a better solution?

[Jokes]

Originally Posted by Squark

Game Update 1.2 Is increasing the amount of player-craftable armors available, including allowing players to learn some recipes by "reverse engineering" existing items (Reverse engineering destroys an item, but gives you back some of the materials used to make it, and has a chance to teach you a new, better schematic (recipe) for that item). However, certain social vendors sell pieces of orange gear with special appearances (Like Sand People Outfits, formal clothing, Leia's Slave outfit, Flightsuits, and the like) that require a certain "Social Level*" to wear, and these items will not be player craftable, and thus, can't gain an augment slot (And Orange item with an augment slot and the mods from end-game gear will, at present, be the best gear available). Needless to say, some people are upset about this.

I think what people are more upset about is the fact that most social armour is Light Armour. "Dynamic Armour" is where the armour increases it's rating based on the max armour proficiency you have.

[Jokes]

Originally Posted by Squark

Game Update 1.2 Is increasing the amount of player-craftable armors available, including allowing players to learn some recipes by "reverse engineering" existing items (Reverse engineering destroys an item, but gives you back some of the materials used to make it, and has a chance to teach you a new, better schematic (recipe) for that item). However, certain social vendors sell pieces of orange gear with special appearances (Like Sand People Outfits, formal clothing, Leia's Slave outfit, Flightsuits, and the like) that require a certain "Social Level*" to wear, and these items will not be player craftable, and thus, can't gain an augment slot (And Orange item with an augment slot and the mods from end-game gear will, at present, be the best gear available). Needless to say, some people are upset about this.

I think what people are more upset about is the fact that most social armour is Light Armour. "Dynamic Armour" is where the armour increases it's rating based on the max armour proficiency you have.

[Thrain15]

Originally Posted by Osiris_Shadowblade

Thanks Salur, but I'm Armstech as well. I'm level 46 so the closest level stuff would be great.

You know, I feel like another spreadsheet detailing who-has-what Crew Skill would be helpful at this point, just so we can keep track of who we need to get into contact with if we need something made.

Sorry for not being on the past two nights Osiris, my bad. Got the mats from Salur this morning and have the items crafted What time(s) are you usually on this weekend or would you prefer I just mail them to you (I don't know if it's just me being paranoid but I prefer to do face to face trading rather than trusting the mail system to work)?

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by Squark

Game Update 1.2 Is increasing the amount of player-craftable armors available, including allowing players to learn some recipes by "reverse engineering" existing items (Reverse engineering destroys an item, but gives you back some of the materials used to make it, and has a chance to teach you a new, better schematic (recipe) for that item). However, certain social vendors sell pieces of orange gear with special appearances (Like Sand People Outfits, formal clothing, Leia's Slave outfit, Flightsuits, and the like) that require a certain "Social Level*" to wear, and these items will not be player craftable, and thus, can't gain an augment slot (And Orange item with an augment slot and the mods from end-game gear will, at present, be the best gear available). Needless to say, some people are upset about this.

Why are they upset? Looking at Torhead, every orange vendor-sold item already has an augment slot.

[Squark]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

Why are they upset? Looking at Torhead, every orange vendor-sold item already has an augment slot.

Except they don't. Torhead really ought to fix the "augment slot appearing in an item that doesn't have one" bug they have. To be clear, NOTHING has an augment slot as a base item (which is what Torhead shows. It doesn't, for example, show the advanced versions of crafted items, be they Rakata Relics of the Shrouded Crusader (Exceptional), Overkill Scout's hold-out blasters, or General's Mnemonic Shield gennerators). The only items which have augment slots in them are those that come from players.

EDIT: Sorry if this came out as overly frustrated. Not sure why I was on edge here.

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by Squark

Except they don't. Torhead really ought to fix the "augment slot appearing in an item that doesn't have one" bug they have. To be clear, NOTHING has an augment slot as a base item (which is what Torhead shows. It doesn't, for example, show the advanced versions of crafted items, be they Rakata Relics of the Shrouded Crusader (Exceptional), Overkill Scout's hold-out blasters, or General's Mnemonic Shield gennerators). The only items which have augment slots in them are those that come from players.

Ah, ok. That would explain it.

[NEO|Phyte]

Looked through the PTR 1.2 patch notes again to see what's changed since last update to the logs, Commandos are getting a combat res.

[Squark]

Presenting "Conclusive" proof the Sith Warrior is the most overpowered class in the game

Spoiler

Yeah, that happened.

[MCerberus]

Originally Posted by Squark

Presenting Conclusive proof the Sith Warrior is the most overpowered class in the game

Spoiler

Yeah, that happened.

There was all of one healer and they got 70k healing from 40 kills
*facepalm*
and it was a force healer
*double facepalm*

I used to complain when someone beat me to the 300k mark... but there... the highest was 70k.
*triple facepalm*

[Squark]

Originally Posted by MCerberus

There was all of one healer and they got 70k healing from 40 kills
*facepalm*
and it was a force healer
*double facepalm*

I used to complain when someone beat me to the 300k mark... but there... the highest was 70k.
*triple facepalm*

The above was tounge in cheek, by the way.


It also fails to point out that their initial defense was horrible, and we blew the 1st door in under a minute, because they didn't actually interrupt the first guy to plant the bomb.

[Jeivar]

Ugh, I have to admit I'm still contemplating whether or not to shell out for the game AND subscription to find out whether or not I'll like it. I've grown so sick of the dreary grind of MMO's, and for all the assurances of plot and characters I'm still not sure.

How does the gameplay compare to KOTOR? Does the combat get dreary for people who don't play MMO's for the constant character building? Or is there enough story to keep us interested?

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Ugh, I have to admit I'm still contemplating whether or not to shell out for the game AND subscription to find out whether or not I'll like it. I've grown so sick of the dreary grind of MMO's, and for all the assurances of plot and characters I'm still not sure.

You know there were recently two free weekends in a row you could have taken advantage of. Or you can see whether someone here would be willing to use one of their Friends' Trial invites on you.

How does the gameplay compare to KOTOR?

KoTOR is a d20 System game. This is not. That said, it should feel pretty similar, minus the combat pause of course.

Does the combat get dreary for people who don't play MMO's for the constant character building?

Maybe? I haven't gotten tired of it yet, but then again I am (somehow) still leveling as of right now..

Or is there enough story to keep us interested?

Yes.

[Jeivar]

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

You know there were recently two free weekends in a row you could have taken advantage of.

Damn. In my defense, I've been pretty occupied with Mass Effect 3.

KoTOR is a d20 System game. This is not. That said, it should feel pretty similar, minus the combat pause of course.

Well, I didn't mean the system. I guess I meant stuff like whether it has a similar combat vs non-combat ratio.

[Salur]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Ugh, I have to admit I'm still contemplating whether or not to shell out for the game AND subscription to find out whether or not I'll like it. I've grown so sick of the dreary grind of MMO's, and for all the assurances of plot and characters I'm still not sure.

How does the gameplay compare to KOTOR? Does the combat get dreary for people who don't play MMO's for the constant character building? Or is there enough story to keep us interested?

Which part of the grind is most annoying to you? If you don't like MMOs because you don't feel any motivation or reason for killing 10 of [Insert Group], then SWTOR will probably help alleviate that, since every quest has little cutscenes explaining why you're doing what you're doing. On the other hand, if it's the actual combat that bothers you (the actual having to kill 10 of [Insert Group]), you'll probably be disappointed. The combat and quests aren't that different from other MMOs, but they've given you more of a reason for doing them. It depends on which part of that you generally have a problem with.

[MCerberus]

Man if that ship droid minigame is half as good as they make it out to be...

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by MCerberus

Man if that ship droid minigame is half as good real as they make it out to be...

It'd be better than most of 1.2's other promised features.

[Neftren]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Damn. In my defense, I've been pretty occupied with Mass Effect 3.



Well, I didn't mean the system. I guess I meant stuff like whether it has a similar combat vs non-combat ratio.

I've got Trial Invites, if you want one. I think they still work anyways...

[Jeivar]

Originally Posted by Salur

Which part of the grind is most annoying to you?

Hmm. I guess it's the lack of immersion brought on by trudging from one meaningless fight to another. So yes, maybe this will hold my attention better than other MMO's.

[Tebryn]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Hmm. I guess it's the lack of immersion brought on by trudging from one meaningless fight to another. So yes, maybe this will hold my attention better than other MMO's.

I've played MMO's from Ultima Online to SWTOR...I can honestly tell you as a long time veteran of the Grind from the Old School days when MMO's were made to punish you for having a life or any love before them that SWTOR does not feel like a grind -most- of the time. I've found Hoth and Belsavis (Imp Side) to be a bit large with Belsavis having a ton of fights at the start that just started to wear on me.


HOWEVER!

Both planets storylines were amazing and taken in chunks (planets are basically split up into four area stages) even the fights grow manageable. All in all, with 10+ MMO's under my belt...SWTOR is the best I've ever played. Period. Sure, it's got it's problems but the game came out in December. The issues are forgivable for a game made by a company on their first MMO.

[GungHo]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

Why are they upset? Looking at Torhead, every orange vendor-sold item already has an augment slot.

Torhead is not all that reliable re: gear availability/features. They don't actually confirm existance of gear. They datamine and publish. It's up to the community to actually go out and confirm that the gear ever existed in the game and to publish any screenshots. It could well be that there is an augmented entry in the database for the vendor oranges, but you're never going to see one unless a player gets the schematic and crits on creation. Note, Darthhater does the same.

Originally Posted by Jeivar

How does the gameplay compare to KOTOR? Does the combat get dreary for people who don't play MMO's for the constant character building? Or is there enough story to keep us interested?

It's not like KOTOR as far as combat. It is like KOTOR (and Dragon Age) in that your companions have personalities and they will get pissy if you run counter to their personal beliefs (and like Dragon Age, you can buy them off with toys).

It's not terribly grindy... but it's still very much WoW in Space as far as character building/progression goes. To tell you anything else would be deceitful. You quest. You beat things up on the way to the quest. You beat things up during the quest. You loot the bodies for vendor trash and maybe some useful equipment. You level up and buy new powers/ranks in powers. You buy/craft new gear for yourself and your companions, repeatedly. Once you "quest out" one planet/zone, you're on to the next planet/zone. And, once you're done with "everything", you do daily quests if you solo or dungeons if you group.

The above grind is masked by the great storytelling. Not all classes are equal as far as story quality, but they all have their own individual stories along with a general story shared by all members of a faction, and even some stories are shared in some way with both factions (Czerka on Tattooine being one example).

[Jeivar]

Originally Posted by GungHo

*snip*

Thanks for the input.

The above grind is masked by the great storytelling. Not all classes are equal as far as story quality, but they all have their own individual stories

Hmm. I hadn't thought about this before, but now I'm curious; Which classes do people feel have the best stories?

(Czerka on Tattooine being one example).

Wow. Those guys don't learn, do they?