Why the Rush to 50?

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…or more specifically, why the rush to end game?

This week, my Inquisitor hit 50. And somehow, she even had enough cash on hand to buy her level 3 speeder riding and speeder! And to clean up a few gear pieces. And thanks to an unusually awesome RNG, she got an epic headpiece out of her first PvP commendation bag. Not bad progress in a game with about 100 hours of playtime that only officially launched on December 20, in the midst of the holidays.

It’s sort of hard to believe that I’m at the end of my class story, and now ready to embark upon the many max level activities that lie ahead. I’ve got PvP matches aplenty to do, to farm for the elusive purple lightsaber. I want to do the max level versions of all the flashpoints no one wanted to do during the mad rush to 50. I want to maximize my number of daily quests so I can pick up the daily commendation level 3 speeder.

I was poised to take some time and bask in the glow and ease in to end game. I love raiding, as can be attested to by the volume of raiding related posts on the other blog, but I was honestly feeling as though there was plenty for me to do for a week or two or more before jumping in. So while I was excited about a raid this week, it wasn’t on my “it better happen or else” list.

I think I had a solid 5 minutes before I started to hear from folks that we were falling behind. And last night, I actually had my first /gquit from someone who had signed up to raid with us tomorrow night (our first official guild raid! huzzah!) because “we’re taking too long to do end game.”

o.O

I have to tell you I am honestly a little bit floored. I’ve watched my significant other talk to numerous guildies about raiding, including a good amount of pre-50s. He confirmed days and times that seem like they’ll work. Has had strats up on our Wiki for a week or more so everyone can be on the same page. And just this week we finally had enough tanks and healers publicly express interest in raiding that we’re going to give Karraga’s Palace a shot.

But it’s still not fast enough for some folks. Which just proves the adage “you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”

So, we’ll see how it goes. And you can bet I’ll report back here.

Making Friends with Khem Val

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When Khem Val and I were first thrown together by fate, we got off to a bit of a rocky start. At every convenient juncture, he made sure to let me know just how dissatisfied he was at being requested to do my bidding. This grumbling was interspersed with the occasional not-so-veiled threat to eat me alive.

But the will of a Sith is not easily swayed. I was not about to put up with that sort of insolence. And I certainly wasn’t afraid of my loin-cloth wearing new buddy. Even though he could probably crack me in half with ease if he was operating at his alleged former capacity.

Slowly but surely, as I took Khemmy out into the TOR universe, and he saw my bravery, and got to eat many evil doers, he started to warm up to me. I am pretty sure the occasional companion gift helped as well, but it was mostly his seeing my bravery in battle that did it. And as my Dark Side points have pushed into level IV, he’s only become more of my champion.

That’s not to say all is rosy in our relationship mind you. He still talks about his former master entirely too much. If he was sooo amazing, then why isn’t he here right now, Khemmy? Hmmm? And when I show that despite being an uncompromising bad ass I still have manners and acknowledge and thank others for their collaboration in my missions, well that all raises his hackles. But it’s nothing a little punishment (or a killing spree) doesn’t take care of.

It warms my heart when he calls me his little Sith now. But what really pleases me is when he threatens to eat anyone who crosses me or doesn’t treat me with the respect that is due a Sith Lord of my stature. We’ve come a long way, Khemmy!

SWTOR Patch 1.0.2 Now Downloading

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Get your patch notes while they’re piping hot!

Things I am happiest to see:

  • The Darth title is now properly granted to Sith Inquisitors. All hail Darth Anexxia!…well, soon…
  • PvP lockboxes now cost 70 commendations, contain more consumables, and always contain an item. Hello purple lightsaber I am coming for you!
  • Players can now use emotes while riding a vehicle. i.e. I no longer have to dismount in order to say hello via an emote to my guildies. This is a nice quality of life fix, especially on a PvP server.
  • I am hoping the # of UI bug fixes will increase my machine’s performance.

Full patch notes after the jump!

Continue reading

Anexxia’s Rare or Better Synthweaving Patterns (level 50)

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I’ll be listing all the rare or better level 50 synthweaving patterns I can make here. See also my post of items up to level 49. BOE items available to Coconut Monkeys with your mats.

Light Armor

Bracers 

Chest

Head

Legs

Medium Armor

Chest

Legs

Heavy Armor

Head

Legs

My SWTOR Year in Review

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I’ve been doing a variation on this meme for as long as I’ve been blogging. I find it’s a nice way to frame up how I’ve spent my time over the course of the year, as it relates to my gaming life. And I love looking back on them the following year to see what’s changed.

1) What were you most excited about in the past year?

That would be having my 2 weeks of vacation time I took off overlap nicely with the early game access and launch dates. Didn’t plan it that way (had to take whatever time off in December I could wrangle), but sure am glad it worked out!

2) What was the best thing you bought?

I haven’t made many significant purchases so far, but I am loving zipping along on my speeder so it wins for now. Once I purchase my level 40 speeder and training, and purchase my mouse droid pet from the security vendor, this answer will change to “my security authenticator.”

3) What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

A level 50 character. I suspect this will happen in January, even with only having post work and weekend paytime to advance my characters.

4) What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Managing to get my level 25 speeder AND still keep the synthweaving at my level. Of course, that was only possible due to a tiny loan from my SO, which I was able to pay back within the same level.

5) What was your biggest failure?

Not purchasing the Collector’s Edition. Because if I had, I would already be running around with an adorable little mouse droid following me…

6) What do you wish you’d done less of?

Waiting in queues after getting booted off the server. But these are the realities of a new MMO launch so I am not bitter. I would also have been fine with less Huttball and more other Warzones.

7) What did you do in SWTOR in 2011 that you’d never done before?

N/A. This year was my first year of playing SWTOR.

8) What was your favorite new place that you visited?

Hmmm. I liked snowy Hoth quite a bit. But I am also growing fond of all the tombs on Dromund Kaas.

9) What was your favorite SWTOR blog or podcast?

This is a hard one! I’m enjoying listening to/reading all the community sites you see on my blogroll and podcast list. That said, it’s been fun participating in a few TORreporter shows, and I hope to get to do more of that next year. Blog-wise, I am a big fan of the many individual player blogs that have been sprouting up that chronicle a player’s personal experiences playing the game, and you will see a ton of those folks on the blogroll.

10) Tell us a valuable SWTOR lesson you learned in 2011.

Slice your way to SWTOR financial security! Alas, that will not be the case for 2012…

Highlights from Stephen Reid’s reddit chat

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In case you weren’t already aware that Stephen Reid, SWTOR’s Senior Community Manager, has the patience of a Saint, you should see how many questions he fielded yesterday in his reddit chat. 954 comments –amazing!

Here were some of the tidbits I found to be most interesting.

On guild banks and guild housing…

Guild banks and guild ‘housing’ (of some type; ships are most popular as people know) are both on the list for future development. As always it’s a question of priorities and so on, but they’re definitely discussed. I will say that guild banks are higher priority.

Guild banks… pretty soon, but my definition of soon is probably different from yours. I’ll say before E3 or PAX East, that seems fair.

On the guild housing/ship thing, I’ve had this conversation a few times with folk in person – the thing is the basic idea seems simple, but the actual reality of doing it can be hugely complex.

For example – and this is entirely me, personally, making stuff up: it’s possible guild capital ships could be just open spaces for people to hang out in. Cool, but likely ‘not enough’ for many people. So then you add on, say, the ability to customize that space. Then maybe you want to move those ships around – maybe put them in orbit over planets, or go fight with other guild capital ships. Woah, did we just add a space combat game? You can see how it easily gets bigger.

The short version: something like guild capital ships sounds super cool and the development team likes the idea. There’s a big distance between ‘likes the idea’ and ‘is fully developed and in the game’.

On the lack of neutral gear…

As I understand it neutral gear was harder to implement than first thought, and was unfortunately moved out of the launch window. It’s not ‘dead’, and James Ohlen brings it up as something he’s a fan of quite often, so.. chances are pretty good it’ll make it in someday.

On the constant pleas for UI customization…

UI customization is coming for sure. 🙂

On the requests for Advance Class Respec’ing…

Currently AC respeccing is not ‘on the table’ – ie, it’s not seen as being a feature we’ll be adding in soon. It’s back at the philosophical discussion stage, AFAIK.

Even if you’d need to reroll, having been through the story once (and I’ve been through Ord Mantell a few times myself!) you’ll go through a lot faster. Experiment with different moral choices, I enjoy it myself. 🙂

For the whole 900+ comments, read the thread on reddit.

Keep Your Account Safe, and Gain Access to Vanity Items with the SWTOR Authenticator

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In case the peace of mind associated with knowing your SWTOR account has an extra layer of protection against cybertheft wasn’t enough, your purchase of a Star Wars: the Old Republic authenticator also gives you access to the security vendor you may have noticed lurking around the fleet or your faction’s capital city.

No, the Security Vendor’s goods won’t make you unstoppable in the warzones, but it does provide a number of fun little toys and vanity items, which on the Empire side include:

  • Khem Val Customization 14,  4 and 9 (12,500c)
  • Kaliyo Djannis Customization 8 (12,500c)
  • Mako Customization 8 (12,500c)
  • Vette Customization 2 (12,500c)
  • A full set of Imperial Dancer’s gear (4,900-5,950c per piece)
  • Exchange Bandit speeder (1.5 mil credits)
  • Mouse droid vanity pet (25,000 c)
  • Rhythm Augmentation Droid (55,000 c)

My first purchase from the vendor, after I splash out on my level 40 riding skill and speeder, will definitely be the mouse droid. Can’t believe I’ve gone this many levels without a pet!

You can order your physical authenticator from the Origin store for $4 plus shipping, or download an app for your Android device or iPhone. Well worth it in my opinion.

Inquisitor Companions: What You Need to Know

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Please Note: If you do not wish to know anything at all about your Inquisitor’s companions prior to them joining you in game, stop and please head to another page.

The purpose of this page is to help you effectively understand amd manage your Companions. As I am only level 33 as of this writing, I only have 3 of the 5 companions thus far and will update the post as I obtain the new companions.

Khem Val

When do you obtain them, and where?

He joins you as you do your class quests on Korriban, anywhere from levels 7-9.

What do they wear?

Wears heavy armor with strength and endurance his two primary stats. Uses a vibrosword as his main hand and a shield generator as his off-hand.

What kind of gifts do they like?

Weapons and Cultural artifacts are his favorites. Will also give points for Trophy, Technology and Imperial Memorabilia gifts.

What wins their affection in conversation?

Anything involving killing everyone, strength and fearlessness will earn you +affection points with him. Has an aversion to your being polite or well-mannered in your responses to other people. i.e. saying thank you to someone or noting how their support helped you be successful tends to earn you -1 affection. And never ever let someone go if there is an option to kill them instead. He positively HATES that. And if you are gong light side with your alignment, it will probably be best if the two of you part ways quickly.

What is the best role for this companion?

If he is by your side as you quest, you will typically want to have him in a tanking role. When he is back on the ship doing your crew skills bidding, note that he has the following Crew Skill bonuses:
+15 Artifice Efficiency
+5 Investigation Efficiency

Andronikos Revel

When do you obtain them, and where?

He joins you as you do your class quests on Tattooine, anywhere from levels 24-26.

What do they wear?

Wears medium armor with cunning and endurance his two primary stats. Uses blaster pistols as his weapons, which is appropriate given his gunslinger/pirate life style.

What kind of gifts do they like?

It’s no surprise that this former pirate likes Luxury, Underworld Goods, Military Gear and Weapons gifts.

What wins their affection in conversation?

I have to start of by saying he pretty much hates everything I say, as a dark side aligned player. He balks at asserting one’s authority, or acknowledging hierarchy/others’ authority, and using any means other than a brawl to settle a dispute. He seems to react more favorably to jumping in and taking action quickly, keeping your promises, and getting yourself into complicated situations.

What is the best role for this companion?

If he is by your side as you quest, you will typically want to have him in a single-target ranged DPS support role (though you can change his active abilities to do AOE damage.) He is also allegedly the Sith Inquisitor female’s romance companion, but I wouldn’t know because he hates my guts. When he is back on the ship doing your crew skills bidding, note that he has the following Crew Skill bonuses:
+2 slicing critical
+2 underworld trading critical

And as noted in the comments on TORhead, at some point early on you have a conversation with him during which you can ask him to be your pilot. If you do that, during space missions his will be the primary voice you hear instead of your character.

Ashara Zavros

When do you obtain them, and where?

She joins you as you do your class quests on Taris, anywhere from levels 32-36.

What do they wear?

Wears medium armor with strength and endurance her two primary stats. Uses dual lightsabers as her weapons.

What kind of gifts do they like?

She likes Weapon, Military Gear, Republic Memorabilia, and Cultural Artifact gifts.

What wins their affection in conversation?

Like Andronikos, she pretty much hates everything I say, as a dark side aligned player. She seems to like it when I reassure her she’s made the right decision by coming over to the dark side with me, and likes when I am lenient and don’t purple lightning everyone for fun. She has also responded well to my attempts at humor. She reacts negatively when I ask an NPC why their petty situation is my problem/why I should care.

What is the best role for this companion?

If she is by your side as you quest, she will be in a melee DPS support role. Those of you playing male Inquisitors will likely want to try your hand at romancing her, but note that if you’re not a light side aligned player, you are going to have a rough time getting on her good side for that. When she is back on the ship doing your crew skills bidding, note that she has the following Crew Skill bonuses:

+10 Synthweaving Efficiency
+10 Diplomacy Efficiency

Need Some Holiday Wrapping Auditory Diversions? Check out TOR Reporter

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I would be remiss not to mention that I’ve been honored to guest on a couple of recent editions of the TOR Reporter podcast. Guesting on an MMO podcast was one of my bucket list to do items for this year so I was excited to squeeze that one in under the wire.

In the most recent episode, I totally derail the podcast within the first three minutes, due to my comment about the lack of much PvPness on our server. Say that last sentence aloud and see why our chat room was awash in lolols for a solid 5 minutes. Oopsie!

You can also check out an earlier edition where I was part of a roundtable discussion about the BETA stress test weekend, and our impending launch plans.