I meant to do a 6-month check-in on what I’m doing in game, but the time got away from me. But since we’re all friends here. we’ll just pretend this is the 6 months since launch mark, ok?
Since the game’s pre-launch, I have:
- Gotten my inquisitor to 50
- Gotten my Marauder to 47
- Attended one Eternity Vault raid
- Done a small handful of leveling Flashpoints and no hardmode Flashpoints
- Unlocked Legacies on 3 separate servers
- Joined 4 guilds
- Made my own alt guild
- Crafted so many cute outfits that I have over 10 million credits on my original server
If you’d asked me 6 months ago what I expected my mid-year check-in accomplishments list to look like, I can assure you that the above list is nowhere close. Which just goes to show you how unpredictable gaming life can be.
Why I Have Such a Lack of End Game Activity
Given that I got to 50 within 3 weeks or so, and got into my first raid a week or so after hitting 50, I certainly expected to be regaling you with tales of my raiding successes, theorycrafting away at the best in slot inquisitor gear and tactics. But unfortunately for me, my launch guild did not end up being a good fit for me, in large part due to a bully with a bad attitude who ended up promoted to raid leader. Unlike some people who seem to play MMOs only with the end goal of getting the best gear and talking down to others, I like to raid in order to be part of a collaborative achievement. I enjoy the teamwork aspect of it. And I feel strongly life is too short to play w/people who are the reason the DBAD rule exists.
I should note here that in keeping with the similar experiences of this kind in WoW, after driving off many of the people I loved playing with, mister bad attitude stopped playing. But it was too late for me at that point.
So, with my primary guild not providing the collegial environment I was looking for, I started trying out a number of other servers. Unfortunately, starting over as a reroll on 3 servers puts you significantly behind the leveling pack. I was lucky enough to get a few lowbie Flashpoints in as part of my reroll experiences so that was nice as I am a firm believer that you don’t really get to know your guildies until you are grouped with them.
After lurking about, I set my sights on an active Imperial guild that also had a sister Republic guild on the same RP server. I got to watch my SO who is a much faster leveler than I am, tear through content, including a first time hard mode clear of EV by the guild, which was a 1-shot up to SOA. Unfortunately, as I rounded the mid-40’s bend there, the guild decided to refocus its efforts on the Republic side, and is now hosting 16-man raids there versus the weekly 8-mans and HM Flashpoint nights both sides. And thus my Marauder has languished at 47. It didn’t help that the story line had a sudden but inevitable betrayal right around this same time.
And this is why I am now focusing in on my level 36 Sage (not to be confused with my two other sages), in the guild No Sleep ’til Kessel on Juyo. I’ve wanted to see the Republic storyline through to the end, and think this is the character that will finally make that happen. And once I hit max level, I’ll see if I am able to get squeezed in to one of the raid groups. Even if I don’t, the guild feels like it is active enough I should be able to find HM partners. I truly want to get some time playing at max level and enjoying the fruits of my leveling, versus just always being on the alt leveling circuit. I love my alts mind you, but I also truly miss playing with other people. And I have to note here: this is not a flaw in the game. This is an artifact of the guild and server choices I’ve made. I’ve had the same issues crop up in WoW as well, but they were less painful only because on more than 1 occasion I poneyed up the cash for a server transfer.
I am looking forward to the prospect of moving my Inquisitor off my dead server as soon as she is eligible to transfer and I find a fun, mature, active Imperial guild for her to play in.
So, how about you? Six months in, what does your bucket list look like?
Inquisitor's Roadhouse 
Having a character on Juyo is a good thing, even if you have another guild snafu. There are several active guilds on both sides, and even though it’s not one of the top-20 population servers, there are certainly PEOPLE.
This is what I’m counting on! I want to actually get to know –and play with– people!
My Sage is level 50 and my Sorcerer is in her 40’s (she’d probably already be 50, but super busy right now). I’m in the same boat with how I feel about raiding–thankfully, the new guild I’m in seems to be more accomplish-based and while there is some gear too, they also work hard to get -everyone- geared and not just the same people. I got close to full Rakata in like my first week or two in it.
Have Synthweaving and UnderWorld Trading at 400 on my Sage (I play around with the last one as my boyfriend has Archeology) and Scavenging and Cybertech at 300-something on my Sorcerer (with Slicing at about 200-something). Despite that, I only have like 200K </3 (I've been hoping to save up 7.5 million for all the Legacy Ship Unlocks since 1.2 started, but no luck getting anything so far…and my boyfriend has been wanting me to save up 1.5 million to 3 million so I can make 2 of the characters I want to).
I also have a lot of silly goals like getting all the pets, codexes, and vehicles. I have 4 pets left (one which nobody has actually confirmed how to get), quite a good amount of codexes but at this point they are all either glitched, some PVP Valor titles, or difficulty-based operation/flashpoint ones. Vehicles is essentially something for me to do when I finish everything else.
I actually have 4 other characters made–but all are level 1 right now. And 2 are name claims as I don't have the "races" I want yet (Quotations as I technically do, just not the colors since they're faction locked :|).
I've been mixed on End Game activity. I really hate Eternity Vault partially as it was all my old guild did and it's left me with a bad taste in my mouth. On the otherhand, Operations make me nervous and question myself a lot more than I'd like to. While the group I'm usually with makes it a lot of fun, I feel really horrible/guilty when it's my fault we screw up.
I like my server–I think it's a fairly nicely populated server (not too much, not too small, though, there are some small days), but one of the biggest issues is a lot of the time, getting a random group together is hard as most people just stick with their guild.
So my check-in is kind of mixed? Essentially I'm more accomplished than I'd expect, but there's a lot of things I kind of wish I did before 1.2 started (like getting the pet Karagga drops and having enough money for things). Overall, I think the main dissatisfaction for me is that I still have pets left and just how much I suck at earning money in this game–I think the only people who have less money on me in this server are people who just started.
I am impressed with your pet collecting achievements! My pet collecting in SWTOR pales to my WoW pet collecting, in large part, clearly, to sitting out on end game content this much.
The one upside of the not raiding has been the credit saving, but what to actually spend them on? I am still trying to decide which legacy unlocks to purchase; not sure where my Sorcerer will be landing and thus if there will or will not be alts in her future who would get use out of them…
Well, only one pet has been confirmed from an operation–the other one that might be is still just a rumor at the moment. Regardless though, there are the two that drop from Lost Island (Hard Mode has been confirmed, but nobody tries normal so it could be available in normal) and the one that drops from Gargath with his whole world boss-yness so those are both part of End-game, but at least you can find more people to group with for that. But yeah, I’ve had a ridiculously hard time trying to find groups for Gargath and Lost Island completely freaks me out so I try to avoid doing it if I can (but I still need a Midnight Rakling v-v;).
Yeah–I definitely have a lot more credits when not for repair costs, though, we can do most of our raids pretty well so lately, it’s been rare if it costs more than about 25K. For me, I just want the ship unlocks because I expect the ship GTN to become popular, a mailbox is always helpful (especially considering the GTN on your ship), and the Repair Droid, besides being adorable, sells special exclusive stuff for your Ship Droid which is nice. The dummies I mostly just want because I was…incredibly sad (shall try and be vague as to not spoil you) when at the end of my storyline, all the people on my ship went back to their planets and stuff. I didn’t even realize they were gone until I went to have a conversation and noticed. I was so sad. 😦 *still am* So I want my ship to have more…things in it to make up for this.
I do wish things weren’t so expensive though–I think a lot of the prices are a bit over the top (and this is the first time I’ve even played a game where my alts weren’t just storage mules) due to the fact that they go on some false pretenses (If you don’t have alts, you’ll have bazillions of money 😀 which isn’t always true). The only other upgrade I may get at some point (besides the previously mentioned race unlocks) is the Rocket Boots (and maybe the Dark Side ability just to have it). And if I ever get rich, than maybe some of the cooldowns, but in general, I’ll probably want to save for some of the 1.3 stuff coming out. I’d also like to get the pets I need in 1.2 before 1.3 (OCPD–I can’t stand having to add onto a list and need it completed before new stuff is put on the now empty list or I just get really discouraged), but like 1.1 before 1.2, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. As it is, I’m disappointed our guild ended up getting to HM Karagga, but it doesn’t look like the group will get back on before tomorrow to take him down
For me though, since I usually don’t have alts, I just base it off how often I’d use something. I check every trade market a few times a day for pets (due to sucky drop luck) even if I can’t afford them so I’d use the GTN quite a bit. And with using the GTN, a Mailbox would easily be handy rather than having to leave my ship each time (which is always annoying. If I’m going somewhere and get mail, it’d be nice to just grab it rather than having to stop and search for a mailbox or wait), and the Repair Droid, while you can use someone else’s, kind of like with the Dummies how I want the company, I just wouldn’t mind having my own and I’d feel awkward asking people to go raid their ship so I can buy stuff for my Ship Droid. The Dummies, especially as I believe healing doesn’t really do much with them, are just for company which is why I’d get them last, but I find most of them would be helpful/interesting regardless of alts.
Hmm, let’s see … six months in.
I formed my own little guild full of friends (who don’t log on anymore).
We cleared KP and EV (normal mode) while it was current … which is sort of a new
thing for our casual little band. Clearing content! Unheard of!
I’ve discovered that I play the best class ever designed (Agent – Sniper).
Leveled to 50 in three weeks.
Wished I could change my Legacy name about 376 times (Fel is a cool Imperial name, in honor of Baron Soontir Fel and Jagged Fel but everyone thinks I’m a warlock player now).
Fell in (and out of) love with my server (Shien).
Had a brief, ill-advised fling with WoW and decided TOR is the superior game in almost every respect.
Have come to the realization that 1) I may never raid again with my guild, 2) I don’t know if my guild will survive the month, 3) strangely, it doesn’t bother me, and 4) I can finally play TOR for me. Does that make me a bad person?
I’m having entirely too much fun on my Smuggler right now.
All in all, a productive 6 months! I’m in it for the long haul, so I hope BioWare keeps pumping out the content.
I didn’t know you were playing on Juyo! Is No Sleep Til’ Kessel good folks? I see them around but I don’t think I know any of them…
I think I’ll do a bucket list of sorts on my own site, since my 3 month retrospective was a retrospective of my life not my gaming anyway. And it would be long. 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration to keep blogging — such as it is!
Yeah! I’ll look forward to seeing your bucket list!
I am a new recruit to #nstk but felt like they were a great choice since I felt like I knew some of the peeps thanks to blogs and twitter. It is nice having an active guild. Now I just need to level up so I can play with them!
🙂
Nice to see you’re in NSTK now! I kinda haven’t been playing much lately, although I said just the other day to Dev that we should play more. So keep an eye out for Nahmi the smuggler or Annalexa the Jedi Consular – those are both mine. Nahmi’s in her 40s so could probably help you out if you need anything.
Yeah! I will add you to my friends’ list and ping you. I’m Nexxi in guild 🙂
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I am so stealing your six-months idea.
/steal!
yeah! excellent!
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Being able to play with people will always be a massive factor in the enjoyment of one’s MMO of choice, I feel. And this is why I just couldn’t keep playing SWTOR… my friends are all in other games, and my erratic playtimes don’t really provide opportunity to root myself properly on a server and start making new friends.
I do hope you finally get to clock in some massive endgame playtime once you get to max level on your sage, since the guild (and server) looks a lot more promising now. 🙂
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