Any indication on when this patch will drop? I want to make sure I empty my crystal stores on all my alts.
Yeah, what happens to all the stuff I have saved?
In the worst case, it just turns into something sellable in your inventory probably. Otherwise it gets converted to their new crystal type (which is what happened previously)
Background: I played beta and then the original SWTOR from release, levelled a Vanguard Trooper to 50 with my wife and guild, did the Eternity Vault and Karagga's Palace raids with said people, and then burned out before heading back to WoW. My wife and I have returned occasionally, but never for more than a few weeks (and always FtP).
We've recently walked away from WoW: Legion, finding it to get repetitively grindy very quickly and, frankly, not fun. I log in during the evening to get something done, get roped into tanking Mythics by guildies, and before I know it my evening has vanished and I'm logging off without doing what I logged in to do in the first place (I know, this is more of a I'm-a-walkover problem, but it is what it is).
The missus and I are considering rolling fresh Empire characters, perhaps even resubbing. How is the story experience post-50, compared to the class stories that come before?
Want to see more of Kneel's slapdash slatherings?
Visit him at Monstrous Pigments' Instagram and Facebook pages!
Background: I played beta and then the original SWTOR from release, levelled a Vanguard Trooper to 50 with my wife and guild, did the Eternity Vault and Karagga's Palace raids with said people, and then burned out before heading back to WoW. My wife and I have returned occasionally, but never for more than a few weeks (and always FtP).
We've recently walked away from WoW: Legion, finding it to get repetitively grindy very quickly and, frankly, not fun. I log in during the evening to get something done, get roped into tanking Mythics by guildies, and before I know it my evening has vanished and I'm logging off without doing what I logged in to do in the first place (I know, this is more of a I'm-a-walkover problem, but it is what it is).
The missus and I are considering rolling fresh Empire characters, perhaps even resubbing. How is the story experience post-50, compared to the class stories that come before?
The post 50 story experience, specifically KOTFE story is superior to most of the class stories in my opinion. In fact, KOTFE is the reason I'd recommend anyone play (outside of say smuggler or agent).
The next expansion is out in a little over a month so it might be worth waiting, BUT there is double xp going on now to make leveling easier. You can level with class/story missions alone now even without it which is nice. First expansion is alright (way better Imperial side in my opinion, so you would have that going for you), second is fun if a bit grindy, and the third is focused entirely on story and does a pretty good job at it.
If you haven't touched any of the expansion-endgame stuff, then it's worth a go. Some aren't too fond of the first, Rise Of The Hutt Cartel, but it's story has two canonical sides to it with which one you get depends on your faction as Strikor alluded to so it's worth a run at least once with a Republic and then an Imperial character. The next, Shadow Of Revan, has a small prelude story which is covered over four Flashpoints which you'll want to do first before playing the actual SoR story since it introduces a pair of characters that you'll not only interact with a lot from then on but can also form a romantic relationship with. After that, you'll want to do Ziost which acts as an epilogue for SoR as well as a prelude of sorts for Knights Of The Fallen Empire. Once that's done, you're free to hop into KOTFE though it should be noted that once you begin that expansion, you'll be cut off from your Companions. While you do get a way to summon them back via a terminal, it's not until after Chapter 9 of the story and even then they won't be 'officially' back with you. Further chapters as well as side-missions are meant to allow you to properly recruit not just them back to your side but the Companions from other class-crews as well. Not all of the Companions have returned by the end of KOTFE story-wise either, this most likely done to provide some extra content and plot for Knights Of The Eternal Throne.
If you're up for finishing the Operations' overall plot, it's endpoint takes place on a planet set just before the events of SoR's prelude. There's some regular PvE missions to help set up the two raids there though I'm not sure if they're required to enter them or not.
I'm loving the Sith Warrior storyline so far. Going light side is so much fun. Finally getting to play a 'grey' force wielder is great. So far i can RP that I'm looking at the long game and the good of the empire vs just killing everything without thinking.
The only downside is the conversation tree isn't as upfront about what is said as I'd like. There have been a few times where the choice seems to be neutral or light but then comes out as sucking up to Baras or something. I just encountered it when Vette was talking so I click flirt but it ended up flirting with Jessa.
Origin ID\ Steam ID: Warder45
0
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
Vague conversation options are the best, like the time I got to sleep with one of my cult leaders when all I wanted was a tour of our new headquarters.
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Vague conversation options are the best, like the time I got to sleep with one of my cult leaders when all I wanted was a tour of our new headquarters.
Well you got a "tour" of your new headquarters alright.
Huh. That's a significant change. Smacks a bit of desperation too...
Responding to an old post, but... I'd say it actually smacks of confidence. Going F2P back in the day was the truly desperate move. So now, if they're cutting off loot to non-subs, they must either have a profitable base of subscribers and/or they're quite certain that existing non-subs will sub up in large numbers.
The citizenry has laid down their arms and the galaxy is no longer filled with Training Vibrosword wielding NPCs.
Player weapons are now scaling correctly and are no longer oversized. The oversized weapons are no longer needed in the cold war against the Training Vibrosword wielding NPCs.
I thought it was weird that everyone and their brother had a vibrosword. But I couldn't remember if it had always been like that. Fucking SWTOR has been gaslighting me.
"I see everything twice!"
+1
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited October 2016
weekly passes are now BoL.
Fuck you, F2P players!
Also, fuck you, source of credits! (for people who have money but want credits and don't want to use credit farmers)
Huh. That's a significant change. Smacks a bit of desperation too...
Responding to an old post, but... I'd say it actually smacks of confidence. Going F2P back in the day was the truly desperate move. So now, if they're cutting off loot to non-subs, they must either have a profitable base of subscribers and/or they're quite certain that existing non-subs will sub up in large numbers.
I would say "or they're hoping that existing non-subs will sub up in large numbers."
I think it all depends on WHEN you get a box. There shouldn't be a much of a problem if you run Ops until you've gotten the prompt to cash in the rank-up for a box, then swap Disciplines before hitting the Accept button for said box. Mind you I haven't read everything released so far about this system but I'm basing this on at least the game opening up a reward window much like you get from completing a mission. You can still access other parts of the UI without having to accept whatever rewards you get and presumably the item in the box won't lock to a certain Discipline-reward table until you actually have the box in your inventory.
Based on what I was reading the discipline determination isn't made until you actually _open_ the box. So you can swap specs right before.
It helps that said content-gate doesn't lock itself again if you go back to Preferred. I think people would be a lot more vocal if you had to stay subscribed to keep access to KotFE.
Like I want to see some new content and there was a couple of sub bonuses so BOOM I subbed because those are two great motivators. I've barely played so far, unfortunately. Which of the new chapters are the best ones?
It helps that said content-gate doesn't lock itself again if you go back to Preferred. I think people would be a lot more vocal if you had to stay subscribed to keep access to KotFE.
Case in point I subbed last year around this time, picked up a neat coat, a speeder and the Revan xpack stuff. I've just resubbed for a month to pick up all of the KotfE stuff and a new companion. I'll play through the story stuff and then probably do the same next year. Admittedly I've picked up a lot of freebie cartel coins from security tokens and occasional subs over the years so I've got basically all the QoL unlocks which makes the only real hurt on being preferred the credit cap.
I finally, FINALLY picked up SWTOR and 60 days of play. It's great! Kinda bummed I waited this long but then I only just figured out how to install Windows on my Mac. I'm playing on the European servers, I kinda regret that now.
I've been playing for a few days and now have a Sith Assassin sitting at 50. I've been facerolling my way through storymode with little regard for min-maxing, or even using more than 4 skills in fights, but now would like to start optimising a bit as I approach the endgame.
My only complaint is that the game is awful at explaining it's various systems. Therefore...
I have questions!
1) I have found Orange stuff. Kreia armour, Kallig's Lightsaber, etc. It's all unmodded. Is there a way to see what the maximum values of these items are once modded? So for example the lightsaber's base DMG is 30, and I'd like to see if it will have better damage than my current lightsaber (storymode reward) if I mod it. Is this possible?
2) I read an article somewhere that crafting is basically worthless at this stage of the game's life. Is this true? A shame if so, I just started this afternoon and quite enjoy the whole mechanic with making my crew do it.
3) I haven't done any Flashpoints or Ops or whatever they're called yet. Should I be doing these as part of the story? If I want to do the solo ones, are the rewards decent?
4) When I hit 65, what should I be doing to improve my gear?
5) I'm not too interested in Space Combat, am I missing out on anything by not taking part?
6) I see that all of my companions can heal. Awesome, because I'm DPS. I also see that this guy I just picked up is a Blaster wielding Pirate. DOUBLE AWESOME. Am I gimping myself by using him as a healer? Is there much difference between the companions?
I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions soon...
ALRIGHT FINE I GOT AN AVATAR
Steam: adamjnet
0
CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
1) I have found Orange stuff. Kreia armour, Kallig's Lightsaber, etc. It's all unmodded. Is there a way to see what the maximum values of these items are once modded? So for example the lightsaber's base DMG is 30, and I'd like to see if it will have better damage than my current lightsaber (storymode reward) if I mod it. Is this possible?
Moddable stuff all has the same "base" value. The only reasons to switch selections are aesthetics and in the case of weapons, the sounds they make. So the dmg is going to be based entirely one what mods you put in.
2) I read an article somewhere that crafting is basically worthless at this stage of the game's life. Is this true? A shame if so, I just started this afternoon and quite enjoy the whole mechanic with making my crew do it.
Worthless as a money-making venture, yeah. On the other hand I tend to prefer to craft my own stims and medpacs instead of buying them off the GTN, so it's not worthless to me. Each craft has at least one type of item that you can craft that will be helpful to you in playing, but some of the crafting is only good for endgame. Artifice will let you craft relics, for example, which is the easiest way to get relics outside of operations. Biochem gives you stims, adrenals and med packs. Cybertech gives you consumable bombs. Armstech, Armormech, and synthweaving are the ones only good for endgame, the thing you craft with them is only really useful for extending your stats for the purposes of running operations. If you enjoy it, I say why not keep doing it.
3) I haven't done any Flashpoints or Ops or whatever they're called yet. Should I be doing these as part of the story? If I want to do the solo ones, are the rewards decent?
Flashpoints are 4-man or solo adventures and they are all self-contained, so you can do them or not as you like. I think if you do them in group finder they tend to be pretty good at helping you level, but with how fast leveling is right now (there's a 200X xp boost until the new expansion hits) it's probably not necessary. Rewards are decent. If you're looking for certain visual designs (orange gear) the only way to get them is through certain flashpoints, but the drops are RNG so you may not get the gear you're looking for.
4) When I hit 65, what should I be doing to improve my gear?
You can start out by buying coms gear for green, blue, or purple crystals at the gear vendors. But the really good gear is in operations, which are 8 man or 16 man raids. Even the story mode gear is going to be better than what you get with comms (because the tokens dropped in raids have set bonuses). You can use the group finder to get into operations, but if you want help in learning the mechanics and whatnot you're better off getting in a guild and having a group that's willing to guide you. However, if you do use the groupfinder you can just announce that you've never done the raid before and ask for assistance, most will be willing to tell you what you need to know.
5) I'm not too interested in Space Combat, am I missing out on anything by not taking part?
Not a damn thing.
6) I see that all of my companions can heal. Awesome, because I'm DPS. I also see that this guy I just picked up is a Blaster wielding Pirate. DOUBLE AWESOME. Am I gimping myself by using him as a healer? Is there much difference between the companions?
Luckily there is no difference in the base stats of the healers, any companion you pick at the start will have the same stats as all the others. However, as you gain influence over a companion, they will become more powerful. So you'll definitely get better healing out of a companion at influence 10 than you would over a companion at influence 1. You increase influence by selecting dialog options that they like (though selecting options they don't like also improves influence. Only selecting options where they have no reaction gives no influence). You can also increase influence by giving your companions gifts. There's a vendor on the fleet who gives basic gifts for credits. You can also buy gifts on the GTN, and some of the crafting missions will return gifts as the reward for the mission.
1) I have found Orange stuff. Kreia armour, Kallig's Lightsaber, etc. It's all unmodded. Is there a way to see what the maximum values of these items are once modded? So for example the lightsaber's base DMG is 30, and I'd like to see if it will have better damage than my current lightsaber (storymode reward) if I mod it. Is this possible?
Moddable stuff all has the same "base" value. The only reasons to switch selections are aesthetics and in the case of weapons, the sounds they make. So the dmg is going to be based entirely one what mods you put in.
2) I read an article somewhere that crafting is basically worthless at this stage of the game's life. Is this true? A shame if so, I just started this afternoon and quite enjoy the whole mechanic with making my crew do it.
Worthless as a money-making venture, yeah. On the other hand I tend to prefer to craft my own stims and medpacs instead of buying them off the GTN, so it's not worthless to me. Each craft has at least one type of item that you can craft that will be helpful to you in playing, but some of the crafting is only good for endgame. Artifice will let you craft relics, for example, which is the easiest way to get relics outside of operations. Biochem gives you stims, adrenals and med packs. Cybertech gives you consumable bombs. Armstech, Armormech, and synthweaving are the ones only good for endgame, the thing you craft with them is only really useful for extending your stats for the purposes of running operations. If you enjoy it, I say why not keep doing it.
3) I haven't done any Flashpoints or Ops or whatever they're called yet. Should I be doing these as part of the story? If I want to do the solo ones, are the rewards decent?
Flashpoints are 4-man or solo adventures and they are all self-contained, so you can do them or not as you like. I think if you do them in group finder they tend to be pretty good at helping you level, but with how fast leveling is right now (there's a 200X xp boost until the new expansion hits) it's probably not necessary. Rewards are decent. If you're looking for certain visual designs (orange gear) the only way to get them is through certain flashpoints, but the drops are RNG so you may not get the gear you're looking for.
4) When I hit 65, what should I be doing to improve my gear?
You can start out by buying coms gear for green, blue, or purple crystals at the gear vendors. But the really good gear is in operations, which are 8 man or 16 man raids. Even the story mode gear is going to be better than what you get with comms (because the tokens dropped in raids have set bonuses). You can use the group finder to get into operations, but if you want help in learning the mechanics and whatnot you're better off getting in a guild and having a group that's willing to guide you. However, if you do use the groupfinder you can just announce that you've never done the raid before and ask for assistance, most will be willing to tell you what you need to know.
5) I'm not too interested in Space Combat, am I missing out on anything by not taking part?
Not a damn thing.
6) I see that all of my companions can heal. Awesome, because I'm DPS. I also see that this guy I just picked up is a Blaster wielding Pirate. DOUBLE AWESOME. Am I gimping myself by using him as a healer? Is there much difference between the companions?
Luckily there is no difference in the base stats of the healers, any companion you pick at the start will have the same stats as all the others. However, as you gain influence over a companion, they will become more powerful. So you'll definitely get better healing out of a companion at influence 10 than you would over a companion at influence 1. You increase influence by selecting dialog options that they like (though selecting options they don't like also improves influence. Only selecting options where they have no reaction gives no influence). You can also increase influence by giving your companions gifts. There's a vendor on the fleet who gives basic gifts for credits. You can also buy gifts on the GTN, and some of the crafting missions will return gifts as the reward for the mission.
Incredibly thorough and helpful post, thanks so much. I need more superlative reaction buttons!
3) I haven't done any Flashpoints or Ops or whatever they're called yet. Should I be doing these as part of the story? If I want to do the solo ones, are the rewards decent?
About Flashpoints, there are a few in the Lv10-50 range that are considered story-important. The pair during Chapter 2 of your class story tie into the Shadow Of Revan storyline and if you have a character on each faction, you'll want to do the Republic's pair first and then the Empire's as those four FPs fit together in that order as one story-arc. I would also classify the pair on Ilum as important as well as the planet-storyline that leads into them since it explains the fate of a certain Imperial NPC from the same Lv10-50 range. Post-50, make sure to do the FPs that make up the Shadow Of Revan Prelude as they introduce important characters for that expansion and onward.
Ops-wise, I think outside of Eternity Vault, the rest shape up to be one big story so if you plan to play them, try to do so in order. As I said in an earlier post, that story ends pre-SoR on a planet where you got to do a few missions to open up the final two Ops. Ops post-SoR I think have been just big boss fights without any plot to them though supposedly this will be fixed once the next expansion's out and they focus on multiplayer again.
As we discussed in my previous post, the Cartel Market Access passes are all being removed from the game with Knights of the Eternal Throne early access on 11/29. One of the big questions that has come up from that announcement is what our compensation plans are for anyone who still has passes. Our plan is quite simple, for each pass that is present on an account as of 11/29 you will receive a 100% refund of Cartel Coins for the cost of the pass. Note that whether you directly purchased the pass from the Cartel Market or received it from another method such as the GTN, trade, etc. you will still receive the refunded Cartel Coins. As a reminder, here are the Cartel Coin costs for each of the passes which are being removed:
240 CC - Weekly Pass: Flashpoints
240 CC - Weekly Pass: Operations
240 CC - Weekly Pass: Space Missions
240 CC - Weekly Pass: Warzones
4,320 CC - 180-Day Pass: Starfighter
720 CC - 30-Day Pass: Starfighter
240 CC - 7-Day Pass: Starfighter
Once Early Access launches on 11/29 all passes will be removed entirely from the game and players will see the Cartel Coins added to their account. It is important that any passes which are in Guild Banks are removed before this happens. If a pass is in a Guild Bank it will be deleted and no compensation will be provided.
Thanks everyone.
-eric
Well...I guess if you wanted to turn credits into cartel coins, now is your only chance. Or make some money yourself.
edit: oh that's right they're BoL now. Those sneaky bastards.
Wait, I haven;'t been keeping up on this expansion since I never got to the last one
Does that mean that free/preferred players will not be able to access Ops/Flashpoint loot/etc. period?
Correct. Their reasoning being because "all the drops are gated behind points that only subscribers can earn".
Even though they'll still drop decorations and mounts and such.
I think f2p players still get x amount of flashpoints they can run per week, though. I haven't seen anything about changing that, just the unlimited passes.
Strikor on
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
edited October 2016
Jesus Christ. Someone has Senya's Lightsaber up for an eyewatering 175 million credits.
edit: didn't sell, just had my filters set from a previous search. Whew. I thought the whole world had gone mad.
Looks like the devs did a stream this week and I didn't notice. Key thing to take away from it when it comes to Uprisings are that they're subscriber-locked like Galactic Command. In fact, they stated that F2P players (which I assume include Preferred) can't level up to the new max of 70 which is when Uprisings and GC will unlock.
In a couple of brief blog-pieces, the devs also detailed the conversions for commendations (which will be into credits and players only get 2 million max from it) as well as what's being added to crafting with GC becoming the one spot to earn endgame-gear.
So I'm 65, have finished the main story and a few of the expansions, and am now, I believe, halfway through Knights of the Fallen Empire.
It occurred to me just now that, say, a Bounty Hunter's story would have to be completely different to mine as a Sith Inquisitor... so I'm definitely going to play through again! The amount of content in this game is immense, it's essentially KOTOR 3 (and 4?). I'd recommend it to anyone, even if they're not an MMO fan, just to experience the "single player" content.
Not even getting into the fact that I'm really looking forward to getting to the Operations / Flashpoint / loot grindy part of the game (which is what I thought the whole game would be, which I like).
I feel like a real dumb-dumb for not trying this game out sooner.
70% of my credits so far have gone towards buying myself and my companions new clothes. The other 30% is on crafting.
Doing it right.
+10
ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
Speaking of cosmetic stuff, for the fifth anniversary (I've been playing since before the first expansion, so suddenly I feel old) the Togruta and Cathar species unlocks and the Zakuul Knight armor set are 55% off for one week.
70% of my credits so far have gone towards buying myself and my companions new clothes. The other 30% is on crafting.
Very nice. But, Can I looks?
Not sure how to share that. Does it auto upload to that fashions website? Given the part of the Sith Warrior story I'm on, I felt switching to a hooded robe and mask to be appropriate.
Origin ID\ Steam ID: Warder45
0
ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
You can just do a screenshot and put it on imgur or something.
We are making a slight change in the schedule for weekly livestreams. Originally tomorrow's stream was going to cover combat changes. We are going to move that stream out and we are replacing it with repeatable Chapters. We are going to showcase a KOTFE Chapter and show the difference between story and veteran difficulty along with answering any gameplay questions you may have about Chapters. Also, Charles will be answering story questions about KOTFE and how they tie into KOTET!
Here are the stream details:
When: Thursday, November 3rd
When: 4PM Central, 2PM Pacific
Where: www.twitch.tv/swtor
We know that everyone is anxious to hear more about the Class/combat changes coming with KOTET. We will be making posts throughout the week, next week, with a highlight of some of the changes we are making.
Posts
It's also when double xp goes away.
Yeah, what happens to all the stuff I have saved?
In the worst case, it just turns into something sellable in your inventory probably. Otherwise it gets converted to their new crystal type (which is what happened previously)
Should I pick up / resub to this game?
Background: I played beta and then the original SWTOR from release, levelled a Vanguard Trooper to 50 with my wife and guild, did the Eternity Vault and Karagga's Palace raids with said people, and then burned out before heading back to WoW. My wife and I have returned occasionally, but never for more than a few weeks (and always FtP).
We've recently walked away from WoW: Legion, finding it to get repetitively grindy very quickly and, frankly, not fun. I log in during the evening to get something done, get roped into tanking Mythics by guildies, and before I know it my evening has vanished and I'm logging off without doing what I logged in to do in the first place (I know, this is more of a I'm-a-walkover problem, but it is what it is).
The missus and I are considering rolling fresh Empire characters, perhaps even resubbing. How is the story experience post-50, compared to the class stories that come before?
Visit him at Monstrous Pigments' Instagram and Facebook pages!
The post 50 story experience, specifically KOTFE story is superior to most of the class stories in my opinion. In fact, KOTFE is the reason I'd recommend anyone play (outside of say smuggler or agent).
If you're up for finishing the Operations' overall plot, it's endpoint takes place on a planet set just before the events of SoR's prelude. There's some regular PvE missions to help set up the two raids there though I'm not sure if they're required to enter them or not.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Visit him at Monstrous Pigments' Instagram and Facebook pages!
The only downside is the conversation tree isn't as upfront about what is said as I'd like. There have been a few times where the choice seems to be neutral or light but then comes out as sucking up to Baras or something. I just encountered it when Vette was talking so I click flirt but it ended up flirting with Jessa.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Well you got a "tour" of your new headquarters alright.
Responding to an old post, but... I'd say it actually smacks of confidence. Going F2P back in the day was the truly desperate move. So now, if they're cutting off loot to non-subs, they must either have a profitable base of subscribers and/or they're quite certain that existing non-subs will sub up in large numbers.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Fuck you, F2P players!
Also, fuck you, source of credits! (for people who have money but want credits and don't want to use credit farmers)
edit:
I would say "or they're hoping that existing non-subs will sub up in large numbers."
We'll see how the experiment goes.
Based on what I was reading the discipline determination isn't made until you actually _open_ the box. So you can swap specs right before.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Case in point I subbed last year around this time, picked up a neat coat, a speeder and the Revan xpack stuff. I've just resubbed for a month to pick up all of the KotfE stuff and a new companion. I'll play through the story stuff and then probably do the same next year. Admittedly I've picked up a lot of freebie cartel coins from security tokens and occasional subs over the years so I've got basically all the QoL unlocks which makes the only real hurt on being preferred the credit cap.
D3 Steam #TeamTangent STO
I've been playing for a few days and now have a Sith Assassin sitting at 50. I've been facerolling my way through storymode with little regard for min-maxing, or even using more than 4 skills in fights, but now would like to start optimising a bit as I approach the endgame.
My only complaint is that the game is awful at explaining it's various systems. Therefore...
I have questions!
1) I have found Orange stuff. Kreia armour, Kallig's Lightsaber, etc. It's all unmodded. Is there a way to see what the maximum values of these items are once modded? So for example the lightsaber's base DMG is 30, and I'd like to see if it will have better damage than my current lightsaber (storymode reward) if I mod it. Is this possible?
2) I read an article somewhere that crafting is basically worthless at this stage of the game's life. Is this true? A shame if so, I just started this afternoon and quite enjoy the whole mechanic with making my crew do it.
3) I haven't done any Flashpoints or Ops or whatever they're called yet. Should I be doing these as part of the story? If I want to do the solo ones, are the rewards decent?
4) When I hit 65, what should I be doing to improve my gear?
5) I'm not too interested in Space Combat, am I missing out on anything by not taking part?
6) I see that all of my companions can heal. Awesome, because I'm DPS. I also see that this guy I just picked up is a Blaster wielding Pirate. DOUBLE AWESOME. Am I gimping myself by using him as a healer? Is there much difference between the companions?
I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions soon...
Steam: adamjnet
Moddable stuff all has the same "base" value. The only reasons to switch selections are aesthetics and in the case of weapons, the sounds they make. So the dmg is going to be based entirely one what mods you put in.
Worthless as a money-making venture, yeah. On the other hand I tend to prefer to craft my own stims and medpacs instead of buying them off the GTN, so it's not worthless to me. Each craft has at least one type of item that you can craft that will be helpful to you in playing, but some of the crafting is only good for endgame. Artifice will let you craft relics, for example, which is the easiest way to get relics outside of operations. Biochem gives you stims, adrenals and med packs. Cybertech gives you consumable bombs. Armstech, Armormech, and synthweaving are the ones only good for endgame, the thing you craft with them is only really useful for extending your stats for the purposes of running operations. If you enjoy it, I say why not keep doing it.
Flashpoints are 4-man or solo adventures and they are all self-contained, so you can do them or not as you like. I think if you do them in group finder they tend to be pretty good at helping you level, but with how fast leveling is right now (there's a 200X xp boost until the new expansion hits) it's probably not necessary. Rewards are decent. If you're looking for certain visual designs (orange gear) the only way to get them is through certain flashpoints, but the drops are RNG so you may not get the gear you're looking for.
You can start out by buying coms gear for green, blue, or purple crystals at the gear vendors. But the really good gear is in operations, which are 8 man or 16 man raids. Even the story mode gear is going to be better than what you get with comms (because the tokens dropped in raids have set bonuses). You can use the group finder to get into operations, but if you want help in learning the mechanics and whatnot you're better off getting in a guild and having a group that's willing to guide you. However, if you do use the groupfinder you can just announce that you've never done the raid before and ask for assistance, most will be willing to tell you what you need to know.
Not a damn thing.
Luckily there is no difference in the base stats of the healers, any companion you pick at the start will have the same stats as all the others. However, as you gain influence over a companion, they will become more powerful. So you'll definitely get better healing out of a companion at influence 10 than you would over a companion at influence 1. You increase influence by selecting dialog options that they like (though selecting options they don't like also improves influence. Only selecting options where they have no reaction gives no influence). You can also increase influence by giving your companions gifts. There's a vendor on the fleet who gives basic gifts for credits. You can also buy gifts on the GTN, and some of the crafting missions will return gifts as the reward for the mission.
Incredibly thorough and helpful post, thanks so much. I need more superlative reaction buttons!
Steam: adamjnet
About Flashpoints, there are a few in the Lv10-50 range that are considered story-important. The pair during Chapter 2 of your class story tie into the Shadow Of Revan storyline and if you have a character on each faction, you'll want to do the Republic's pair first and then the Empire's as those four FPs fit together in that order as one story-arc. I would also classify the pair on Ilum as important as well as the planet-storyline that leads into them since it explains the fate of a certain Imperial NPC from the same Lv10-50 range. Post-50, make sure to do the FPs that make up the Shadow Of Revan Prelude as they introduce important characters for that expansion and onward.
Ops-wise, I think outside of Eternity Vault, the rest shape up to be one big story so if you plan to play them, try to do so in order. As I said in an earlier post, that story ends pre-SoR on a planet where you got to do a few missions to open up the final two Ops. Ops post-SoR I think have been just big boss fights without any plot to them though supposedly this will be fixed once the next expansion's out and they focus on multiplayer again.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Well...I guess if you wanted to turn credits into cartel coins, now is your only chance. Or make some money yourself.
edit: oh that's right they're BoL now. Those sneaky bastards.
Does that mean that free/preferred players will not be able to access Ops/Flashpoint loot/etc. period?
Even though they'll still drop decorations and mounts and such.
I think f2p players still get x amount of flashpoints they can run per week, though. I haven't seen anything about changing that, just the unlimited passes.
edit: didn't sell, just had my filters set from a previous search. Whew. I thought the whole world had gone mad.
Looks like the devs did a stream this week and I didn't notice. Key thing to take away from it when it comes to Uprisings are that they're subscriber-locked like Galactic Command. In fact, they stated that F2P players (which I assume include Preferred) can't level up to the new max of 70 which is when Uprisings and GC will unlock.
In a couple of brief blog-pieces, the devs also detailed the conversions for commendations (which will be into credits and players only get 2 million max from it) as well as what's being added to crafting with GC becoming the one spot to earn endgame-gear.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
It occurred to me just now that, say, a Bounty Hunter's story would have to be completely different to mine as a Sith Inquisitor... so I'm definitely going to play through again! The amount of content in this game is immense, it's essentially KOTOR 3 (and 4?). I'd recommend it to anyone, even if they're not an MMO fan, just to experience the "single player" content.
Not even getting into the fact that I'm really looking forward to getting to the Operations / Flashpoint / loot grindy part of the game (which is what I thought the whole game would be, which I like).
I feel like a real dumb-dumb for not trying this game out sooner.
Steam: adamjnet
Doing it right.
Not sure how to share that. Does it auto upload to that fashions website? Given the part of the Sith Warrior story I'm on, I felt switching to a hooded robe and mask to be appropriate.
Beryl Antilles
Daac Halcyon
Darth Nekhron
Darth Regnus
Djalgo