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

[Salur]

Originally Posted by Neftren

I'm planning on rerolling a few more characters depending on how the legacy thing plays out though. It would be incredibly painful to unlock something but have to delete a character to make something with the new legacy options.

On that note, this is what is apparently known so far about 1.2 (which is now scheduled for early April, and brings with it legacy changes):

-Once you hit 50 with a species, you unlock it for all classes.

-Once you hit chapter 2 with a character, you unlock their buff for your other characters.

-Once you hit chapter 3 with a character, you can use new abilities. Don't have a ton of info on what new abilities, but the example given was force choke, and the trailer has a sith using a BH flamethrower. It will apparently require a companion and use your heroic moment 20 minute cooldown.

I think that's all the info that would affect whether you start a new character, and if you do who/what it is. There's a ton more info on Legacy stuff in general, but most of it boils down to Legacy Levels = Good.

(I got my info from http://dulfy.net/2012/03/05/swtor-gu...live-blogging/, which is a blog of the livestream from the Guild Summit, but I'm sure there will be more thorough writeups soon enough).

[Squark]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Also, is there same-sex content in the game? Bioware has always been very progressive about that.

The rather large community waiting in the wings about that finally got their answer. ETA on Same Gender Romance Arcs is "sometime this year"... because they want to do it right. They're not going to just tweak the dialogue slightly; They're actually writing new romance dialogues for the SGRAs.

Here's a bullet point list the SGRA thread put together

• They didn't expect the issue to balloon this much but they have been keeping abreast of what we have been asking.
• The initial delay over launch implementation was a matter of time and money. They went over-deadline and over-budget.
• Same-gender content is coming with story continuation, this year. So that is our ballpark ETA.
• It really is being worked on, apparently by the writing team at this stage. That's given plenty of time because it takes that long. They want to stress doing it well rather than doing it fast.
• There was no mention of new story content being tied to a retail expansion, so it looks like content patch is what we can expect.
• There was a clear indication that romances will be available for some existing companion characters, where it would be appropriate for that character. They won't say who yet.
• No mention was made regarding [Flirts] or same-gender content beside companion characters. No mention was made of a special filter option.

To be more precise, the SGRAs will be part of the first major story patch. When that will be, and what it will do beyond continuing the story, only Bioware knows. But I'm interested.

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by Squark

To be more precise, the SGRAs will be part of the first major story patch. When that will be, and what it will do beyond continuing the story, only Bioware knows. But I'm interested.

Hopefully it also includes a new female romanceable companion for Inquisitors. I haven't gotten Ashara yet (Taris is my next planet), but based on what I've heard she isn't exactly the best fit for Dark Side players. My dream companion for my sorcerer, of course, could most accurately be described as "Morrgian in space."

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

Hopefully it also includes a new female romanceable companion for Inquisitors. I haven't gotten Ashara yet (Taris is my next planet), but based on what I've heard she isn't exactly the best fit for Dark Side players. My dream companion for my sorcerer, of course, could most accurately be described as "Morrgian in space."

Presumably Talos will be the male SGR, which made me sad when I played my FemInq - I really didn't like Andronicus, and naturally wanted the nerd to get the girl.

[Philistine]

It's good to be the KingMale IA.

Spoiler

"Just because she's a Jedi, doesn't mean you can't catch something. You know that, right?"

... I think I just made Kaliyo jealous. Too bad.

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by Philistine

It's good to be the KingMale IA.

Spoiler

"Just because she's a Jedi, doesn't mean you can't catch something. You know that, right?"

... I think I just made Kaliyo jealous. Too bad.

Now I wonder that the chance of "catching something" from a typical Sith would be...

[Jeivar]

Originally Posted by Squark

The rather large community waiting in the wings about that finally got their answer. ETA on Same Gender Romance Arcs is "sometime this year"... because they want to do it right. They're not going to just tweak the dialogue slightly; They're actually writing new romance dialogues for the SGRAs.

That's nice. I'm not gay and I don't even have gay friends, but every little touch like this is a step towards a better, more accepting world. I really respect Bioware for not pretending gays don't exist just to keep the idiot bigot crowd happy. It shows they have their priorities straight (no pun intended:smallsmile :.)

[Squark]

What really makes me happy is this isn't going to be just a tacked on sort of thing; They're really taking an effort to do this right. To be honest, I find the "everyone is bi for the hero" approach... unrealistic. Personally, I'm hoping for a good number of the existing companions to be romancable, but I also hope a couple of the characters who aren't yet romancable will be available as SGRAs. Not sure how many of these I'm going to pursue, but I'm glad they're (going to be) there.

[Gryffon]

Originally Posted by The Glyphstone

Presumably Talos will be the male SGR, which made me sad when I played my FemInq - I really didn't like Andronicus, and naturally wanted the nerd to get the girl.

I would totally make an male SI sandwich with Ashara and Talos as the bread.

[GungHo]

Originally Posted by MCerberus

Well it's mostly about channeling life energy into somebody that you need to not die. Not *your* life energy mind you. There's always such a wonderful supply of the dead and dying around the Inquisitor isn't there?

If they weren't so worried about class mirrors, I really would see the sorceror as a WoW Warlock... healing would be fueled by the destruction of others (Madness tree has some of this, but it's really just focused on self-healing rather than healing allies). Healing and buffing would be for a price. Nothing is free with Mephistopheles, except maybe the first taste. After that, someone's gotta pay. Don't know of a way to do that in a video game, though.

Originally Posted by mangosta71

Spoiler

Does my memory fail me, or did they not get the same VA to do HK-47? I was all excited when I saw him, but that was quickly tempered by disappointment when he sounded different.

Spoiler

It's the same VA (Kristoffer Tabori). He's older. They also may be using different software to "robot-ize" his voice. At least he doesn't sound like T-Pain.

Originally Posted by The_Jackal

Well, this weekend I rolled an Imperial Operative and DAMN if it hasn't totally revitalized my interest in this game. Stealth gameplay, healing, rogue-like backstabs and ranged ability all in one class? Plus a new wrinkle on the energy-mechanic? Don't tell anyone, but I think this might be the best class in the game, from a novelty and fun perspective.

Alts are definitely a different experience. Even the different ACs play fairly differently. Where a Juggernaut/Guardian seems slow and plodding, a Sentinel/Marauder is quite active, even if they share a lot of powers and the same rage mechanic. An Operative/Scoundrel and a Sniper/Gunslinger are also quite different, right from the outset.

Originally Posted by Salur

-Once you hit 50 with a species, you unlock it for all classes.

-Once you hit chapter 2 with a character, you unlock their buff for your other characters.

-Once you hit chapter 3 with a character, you can use new abilities. Don't have a ton of info on what new abilities, but the example given was force choke, and the trailer has a sith using a BH flamethrower. It will apparently require a companion and use your heroic moment 20 minute cooldown.

I like the first two. The third is kind of goofy.

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

Now I wonder that the chance of "catching something" from a typical Sith would be...

I'd be less worried about catching something as I would be worried that they're the psycho ex-lover you were always warned about. Jaesa is definitely a bunny-boiler.

[Jeivar]

Originally Posted by Squark

To be honest, I find the "everyone is bi for the hero" approach... unrealistic.

Maybe, but an unrealistic amount of bisexual characters at least allow players to play out whatever romances they want.

[GungHo]

Originally Posted by Squark

What really makes me happy is this isn't going to be just a tacked on sort of thing; They're really taking an effort to do this right. To be honest, I find the "everyone is bi for the hero" approach... unrealistic.

Eh... they got tentacle-head people, slug people, blue people, green people, horned people, robot people, lightning-out-of-their-bare-hands people, jet-pack people, and eyeless-people-who-use-magic-to-see people. I figure gay people is probably not the biggest social issue they face.

[mangosta71]

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

Hopefully it also includes a new female romanceable companion for Inquisitors. I haven't gotten Ashara yet (Taris is my next planet), but based on what I've heard she isn't exactly the best fit for Dark Side players. My dream companion for my sorcerer, of course, could most accurately be described as "Morrgian in space."

You'll meet the NPC that I think would be a perfect love interest for a male DS Inquisitor if you do the Taris planet questline (possibly including the bonus series). I was sad when I discovered that she 's not recruitable.

[Valaqil]

Originally Posted by Jeivar

Maybe, but an unrealistic amount of bisexual characters at least allow players to play out whatever romances they want.

You're right that many players will want that, but, personally!, I want it to be realistic. If you're going to write something that pretends to be a (semi-?)realistic world, it's more believable if your characters don't just swap everything around for the hero. I really like Squark's suggestion for making some characters that aren't romance-able become so after whichever update. Update some, but also add more instead of just updating them all (or even most of them).

[Gryffon]

Originally Posted by mangosta71

You'll meet the NPC that I think would be a perfect love interest for a male DS Inquisitor if you do the Taris planet questline (possibly including the bonus series). I was sad when I discovered that she 's not recruitable.

I know who you're talking about. I hated her, but I still flirted with her every chance I got.

[Guancyto]

From the article...

we put a voice restraining bolt on the droid (huge cheering from the audience).

Words cannot possibly describe how happy I am with this.

[Philistine]

Originally Posted by Gryffon

I know who you're talking about. I hated her, but I still flirted with her every chance I got.

My IA picked all the flirt options with her, too, just to troll her. Then he put her down like the mad dog she is.

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by mangosta71

You'll meet the NPC that I think would be a perfect love interest for a male DS Inquisitor if you do the Taris planet questline (possibly including the bonus series). I was sad when I discovered that she 's not recruitable.

How perfect are we talking here, on a scale of one to Space Morrigan? For additional reference, I'd put Darth Lachris at around a seven.

As for myself, I'm actually rather partial to a certain NPC involved in your class quests on Nar Shaddaa.

Originally Posted by Gryffon

I know who you're talking about. I hated her, but I still flirted with her every chance I got.

Originally Posted by Philistine

My IA picked all the flirt options with her, too, just to troll her. Then he put her down like the mad dog she is.

First Rule of BioWare Games: ALWAYS pick the flirt option. Ha, you thought I wouldn't notice the white text, didn't you?

[mangosta71]

She's about as close to "space Morrigan" as any character I've ever seen.

Spoiler

As for the NPC on NS, if you mean Rylee, yeah, she's cute and sweet and innocent and all that, but she's way more LS than you're looking for.

You can't spoil anything from the SI storyline for me, as my first character was an assassin.

[Neftren]

Originally Posted by Sith_Happens

First Rule of BioWare Games: ALWAYS pick the flirt option. Ha, you thought I wouldn't notice the white text, didn't you?

I thought the first rule was to always pick the [Force Persuade] option...

[Valaqil]

Originally Posted by Neftren

I thought the first rule was to always pick the [Force Persuade] option...

Agreed. Force Persuade is awesome.

[GungHo]

Theran will whine.

[pffh]

Just hit 50 on my smuggler.

Thoughts on leveling and other non-spoilery stuff:

I did every non-heroic mission and every bonus objective on every planet and all the heroic mission until around 28 or so, won several dozen pvp matches, did a maybe two dozen space missions and three flashpoints and still I was at least one level under leveled the whole time. They either need to add one more mission to each mission hub, increase the xp from bonus objectives or add an optional planet for level 36-39 (early 40's is where the level gap was the worst for me). Other then that most missions were interesting enough (except for the multistage bonus missions which go stage 1: Kill 20 dudes. Stage 2: kill 40 dudes. Stage 3: Sabotage 8 objects guarded by the dudes you were killing.).

As for pvp:
Huttball is good. It´s fairly balanced and encourages a proactive playstyle.

Alderaan needs shorter cap time on the turrets.

The voidstar needs to adjust the bomb placement times (5s for the first, 6 for the second and 8 for the third would be good), teleport the defenders automatically to the next defense area when a door is blown open, force the defenders to run a little further from the spawn to the doors and place a short spawn wall on the attacker spawn to encourage waves instead of solo attacks.

Space missions were a massive lost opportunity. They should be more open and free flying instead of a railshooter. Hell you wouldn't even have to change the mission types:

Shuttle Escort - Easy you can either follow the ship or directly attack it's attackers or mix it up.
Ice Crystal Field/Asteroid field - Look for the target while fighting of pursuers.
Space Station/Capital Ship Assault - Giant stationary target with multiple mobile and stationary defenses. This would be perfect for free flying.
Minefield - Time limit so you have to go through the mines to catch the minelayer before it warps away.
Space Station Defense - Defense of a stationary object = perfect for free flying.

Of course since now most missions wouldn't have a time limit you would instead have finite opponents (there would still be a lot of them) and they would probably need to do more damage since you can dodge them more reliably.

Thoughts on the smuggler story:

Spoiler

The first half was good and it made me really hate Skavak even though some of his "escapes" were because of forced character stupidity (Why are you letting him run past you? SHOOT HIM IGNORE THE BLASTED IMPERIALS SHOOT HIM YOU CAN DEAL WITH THEM LATER).

The second half not so much. The privateer thing felt really forced and I would have preferred to visit those remaining planets hunting down Rogun and discovering the Voidwolf on my own. Dodonnas and Darmas betrayal and Rogun is a good guy thingy was also quite annoying and should have been left out.

I say Keep the Rogun/Voidwolf connection and have us hunt Rogun down on our own/with help from Darmas. Then while that is happening (say on Hoth) you could find out that the Voidwolf is Roguns backer and Rogun is his main connection to the underworld. We still rob the kings bounty and there we discover that the Voidwolf is getting quite annoyed at us for ruining his grip on the underworld and he starts sending assassins after you. You hunt down and kill Rogun. Darmas still betrays you and hides on Corellia. Corellia plays out the same.

[Salur]

Originally Posted by pffh

I did every non-heroic mission and every bonus objective on every planet and all the heroic mission until around 28 or so, won several dozen pvp matches, did a maybe two dozen space missions and three flashpoints and still I was at least one level under leveled the whole time.

I'm going to begin with the caveat that I duo-ed the whole game, so my experience isn't exactly similar, and there's the possibility that because of that my experience isn't applicable.

That said: I've seen a few people say things like this, and I simply don't see how it's possible. I was at least 4 or 5 levels above where I should have been, and it's heading the same way with my Sage alt (I just landed on Nar Shaddaa, in theory 20-24, and I'm level 23. Haven't PvPed or any space mission, skipped a few bonus objectives, did 2 flashpoints, haven't even done the Taris bonus series).

Are you sure you did everything? Including the bonus series for each planet? If I had to guess, I'd assume you might have missed the Nar Shaddaa or Alderran bonus series (level 31 and 40, respectively).

Again, I haven't actually leveled solo, so maybe I'm way off, but I suspect that there's stuff you missed without realizing it.

Thought of another possibility, actually: If you spent much less time on the fleet/ship than I did, you wouldn't gain as much rested XP. That could be it, I use rested EXP pretty much all the time.

[pffh]

Originally Posted by Salur

Are you sure you did everything? Including the bonus series for each planet? If I had to guess, I'd assume you might have missed the Nar Shaddaa or Alderran bonus series (level 31 and 40, respectively).

Again, I haven't actually leveled solo, so maybe I'm way off, but I suspect that there's stuff you missed without realizing it.

Thought of another possibility, actually: If you spent much less time on the fleet/ship than I did, you wouldn't gain as much rested XP. That could be it, I use rested EXP pretty much all the time.

Yup I did every bonus series but the rested xp might make sense. I usually just logged of wherever I was at the time when I felt like stopping.

Oh and I just remembered skipped a couple of missions in the last hub on Taris because I was so sick of that place and just wanted to get to the next planet. But two or three missions hardly make up for the level difference.

[The Glyphstone]

Originally Posted by pffh

Yup I did every bonus series but the rested xp might make sense. I usually just logged of wherever I was at the time when I felt like stopping.

That's probably why. I had to skip entire planets - all of Nar Shaadah, all of Quesh, and about 2/3 of Alderaan, because I had already outleveled them by the time I got there. Rested bonus makes a huge difference.

[Neftren]

Originally Posted by pffh

Yup I did every bonus series but the rested xp might make sense. I usually just logged of wherever I was at the time when I felt like stopping.

Oh and I just remembered skipped a couple of missions in the last hub on Taris because I was so sick of that place and just wanted to get to the next planet. But two or three missions hardly make up for the level difference.

Yeah, I was always four or five levels above the content, despite having done Nar Shaddaa and Taris in the wrong order (i.e. Taris second). The difficulty rapidly spiked once I hit 45 though as the mobs started catching up to my level, and my gear wasn't really in the appropriate level range to compensate.

Hitting 50 was extremely painful too for the first week, as PvP tended to be "get slaughtered by Imps"... of course, now that the Republic has caught up on gear, our premades are absolutely wrecking the Imperials in level 50 PvP. I know of at least one case where one of the people I play with caused three people to ragequit in a single match (literally quit PvP, and also /gquit). It's a bit of a striking reversal actually, considering a few weeks ago, the only way for Republic players to win warzones was to avoid playing during primetime (6-8p Eastern).




Regarding PvE though, has anyone here been running Operations? A bunch of you guys on Rubat seem to be getting organized for that, but I'm in a more pressing need of a "Nightmare Mode Bonethrasher Strategy" that actually allows melee DPS to participate.

[Osiris_Shadowblade]

So, um, well, huh.

I haven't played since late January.

I logged off on the corner of No and Where on Hoth.

I play for like 3 hours and I realize my EXP bar is rested green.

I move my mouse over the bar, tool-tip pops up.

I have 275,000-ish rested EXP.

And that was after I had done a couple a quests and slaughtered a few scores of pirates, so it was probably closer to 300-320.

I don't what I should do.

[Squark]

Originally Posted by Neftren

Regarding PvE though, has anyone here been running Operations? A bunch of you guys on Rubat seem to be getting organized for that, but I'm in a more pressing need of a "Nightmare Mode Bonethrasher Strategy" that actually allows melee DPS to participate.

Err... I know there's a secondary part to the fight going on in the background. I can't say what that is, though. I tend to get tunnel vision during fights like Bonethrasher, so I was mostly watching for "Time to run for my dear life", "Crap, about to die" and "Backhand came off cooldown". Beyond that... I don't know. Again, I was trying my hardest not to die (or let Bonethrasher tear out a piece of the DPS)

[Sith_Happens]

Originally Posted by mangosta71

She's about as close to "space Morrigan" as any character I've ever seen.

Spoiler

As for the NPC on NS, if you mean Rylee, yeah, she's cute and sweet and innocent and all that, but she's way more LS than you're looking for.

You can't spoil anything from the SI storyline for me, as my first character was an assassin.

Spoiler

Yeah, obviously she's a real nice-girl, but she also comes up with all the awesome plans during that questline. She could crap rainbows and butterflies, and the moment she suggested blowing up gas pipelines to fake causing an earthquake the Force I'd still be as good as hers.

And I figured you'd already played an Inquisitor, the reason I didn't mention her by name was so I wouldn't spoil it for the people who haven't.

Originally Posted by Osiris_Shadowblade

So, um, well, huh.

I haven't played since late January.

I logged off on the corner of No and Where on Hoth.

I play for like 3 hours and I realize my EXP bar is rested green.

I move my mouse over the bar, tool-tip pops up.

I have 275,000-ish rested EXP.

And that was after I had done a couple a quests and slaughtered a few scores of pirates, so it was probably closer to 300-320.

I don't what I should do.

Profit!