Star Wars; Old Republic

Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:20 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

crazyharry wrote:But that isn't much of a surprise, the latest (player gathered) data* I have seen showed the average server having more Sith Inquisitors than the Republic has players

Where did you find this data? I've been curious. I wonder how much influence the name of the AC (advanced class) has had on player's descions. I see a lot more commandos than vanguards and a lot more gunslingers than scoundrels. Commando and gunslinger just seem cooler maybe.

I do find it a bit silly in a warzone when the whole other team seems like they're inquisitors. All red sabers and lightning shooting everywhere. heh.

Kinda like how imps complain they usually get huttball, they should make a free for all warzone just for inquisitors and call it, "There can only be one" so at least I can be shot by bullets instead of lightning for once.

crazyharry

Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:27 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Aanar wrote:
crazyharry wrote:But that isn't much of a surprise, the latest (player gathered) data* I have seen showed the average server having more Sith Inquisitors than the Republic has players

Where did you find this data? I've been curious. I wonder how much influence the name of the AC (advanced class) has had on player's descions. I see a lot more commandos than vanguards and a lot more gunslingers than scoundrels. Commando and gunslinger just seem cooler maybe.

I do find it a bit silly in a warzone when the whole other team seems like they're inquisitors. All red sabers and lightning shooting everywhere. heh.

It was a post on the official forums. Some interested (or possibly very bored) guy was doing /who {class} in each zone and discounting people who appeared in more than one zone. His figures are quite rough, with Inquisitors being the least accurate as they would often max out the /who result.

I have to my surprise found myself in a lot of Republic vs Republic Hutball recently. Then I went to Ilum and found the Imps, it was like a sea of red names. They seem to have decided Ilum zerging is more profitable than WZs (and at the rate you gain valor if you have all the objectives it is certainly a good way of skipping the initial pain of no gear vs battlemasters)

Fridmarr

Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:11 pm

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

I'm not surprised the inquisitor is popular, through advanced classes it can play every role, so it is an option for everyone. The population imbalance is annoying.

Gracerath

Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:14 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

I just want to say I really enjoy the 10-49 pvp bracket. It really is nice when everyone is on mostly even footing with gear/bolster buff. I was playing a bit as my Lvl 24 Guardian and got a good chunk of wins. I even got a few MVP votes/wins :O It brings back some memories of WAR where being a tank was actually fun in pvp. Voidstar is my favorite.

I REALLY want to buy the level 40 pvp set for JK, it looks awesome. But that is also over a thousand commendations and I dunno if I should just buy them or try to save for real pvp gear for when I hit 50 (bags and what not). I'll probably just end up getting the level 40 set because boy, the purple pvp sets for JK's is ... ugly. It sure would be nice if there was a bit easier set of pvp gear with the pvp stat (I forget what it is, expertise?) for starter level 50's instead of having to go against a bunch that have already farmed that shit and have a pretty big leg up over you. Maybe a blue set or some enhancements and mods that give maybe up to 1/2 the effectiveness of the real pvp gear so you don't get crushed right out of the gate. I brought my level 50 commando that actually has 4 or so pieces of pvp gear and he gets his pantaloons rocked pretty hard (though that could just be a case of fail on my part. I'm not great)

I still haven't seen the end of Ilum or the final flashpoints to go along with it, nor have I done a hard mode flashpoint. Two of my friends have quit (tank / healer duo) so I've decided to tank myself and drag along my other friend who has two healers in her stable. We're leveling the JK and her commando up together. Maybe by the time we both hit 50, there will be some sort of server LFG system in place.

crazyharry

Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:02 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Get the level 40 set, it is well worth it as you can upgrade the mods as you level.
You can max out your commendations over a weekend easily and the change to Champion Bags happened during this weeks patch so getting your starter PVP set is now a much smoother process.

If you play smart and max your commendations pre 50 you can get 14 Champion Bags on your first day of 50 PVP (1 carried over from levelling, 5 from commendations, 6 from 2 x weekly (WZ and Ilum) 2 x Daily (WZ and Ilum)) This will net you 210 Centurion Commendations and 98 Champion Commendations.
Even If you get the most expensive items available this will put you at approximatley 4% expertise, which is about the level you stop running around holding a sign that says 'FREE KILL' in big neon letters.
Also, if you max your ls/ds, get 2 x +43 Endurance relics from your friendly local ls/ds vendor until you get the expertise ones. Unless you have a good economy on your server and can get the crafted +53s for a good price.
Stealthers love to ambush people with low health.

Barathorn

Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:12 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

I have been playing on and off and have a 18 Sorceror and a 26 Sniper and I enjoy PVP in the 10-49 on both. In fact I enjoy it so much that I have yet to finish the quests on Balmorra and go to Nar Shada. I have a good little trading operation with Arjuna for Cybertech stuff and for me the relaxed pace of SWTOR is very welcome.

My Character names are Caladoor and Barathorn so if you see me in a Warzone say hi!

Oh and Arjuna, I just head shot you.

Again.

Arjuna

Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:11 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Meh Bara, I play on my crappy laptop with a 14" screen...just wait until I get a proper computer...then I might notice you as you blow my head off!

Barathorn

Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:22 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

I now have a BH as well called Tarithella. I haven't had so much fun with a character since running Shattered Halls or killing 97 trillion blood elves at the entrance to the Black Temple.

Really enjoying the game at the moment, its great for laid back players like me although the end game offers little currently according to reports. That doesn't worry me, that stuff will come.

My wife and I now have a 31 Sith Warrior/29 Sniper/20 Sith Sorceror/12 Bounty Hunter/8 Trooper [Republic Scum].

I am just having fun killing Arjuna on as many alts as possible

Arjuna

Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:29 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

/cry

Arnock

Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:46 pm

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

So I was trying to do my ilum pvp daily the other day, and upon arriving on ilum, there were a bunch of my republic comrades hanging around, but we were only seeing one or two imperials at a time trying to ninja some armaments.

I realized that this was completely unacceptable, so I logged onto an imperial alt in the fleet, and proceeded to inform the imperial scum that their parents either were members of the family cricetinae, or smelled of sambucus... or something along those lines.

The imps responded in force, and we wound up having multiple ops groups engaging in an all-out slugfest on the central assault in ilum, it was quite glorious.

Sadly, the imperial numbers grew too large and we eventually were forced to retreat, but it was fun while it lasted.

Sagara

Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:17 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Still waiting for the rest of my friends to reach 50, we decided to rolls a couple of alts, mostly to do leveling FP with them. I tried my hand at both Troopers AC, and there's little that is more fun than opening an AoE can of whoopbutt on boss adds. :lol:

Also interesting is that my wife, a consummate tank-hater from WoW, played a tanking Shadow in Hammer and Athyss and *enjoyed it* - to the point of keeping the spec for levelling.

I'll stand with Bara here - leveling is an insanely fun way to spend a couple hours...

Arjuna

Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:02 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

I'm sooooo happy I'm imperial, because if they ever write in gungans in the game, it's likely I'll get to kill them!!! (and god do I hope it's a repeatable quest!)

Sagara

Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:27 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Speaking of races - I keep hearing about Legacy unlocking new races, but I've yet to find any kind of source for that.
Did I miss anything?

Passionario

Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:40 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

To answer my own question from a few pages back - yes, apparently it's perfectly possible to duo Directive 7, Battle for Ilum and False Emperor with companions.

The biggest pain in the ass was Mentor, since companions are not exactly capable of kiting his claw, LOSing turrets, running out of circles on the floor or clicking processor nodes.

Sagara wrote:Speaking of races - I keep hearing about Legacy unlocking new races, but I've yet to find any kind of source for that.
Did I miss anything?

I think it's in the same category as WoW's dance studio.

Chicken

Tue Feb 14, 2012 6:06 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Sagara wrote:Speaking of races - I keep hearing about Legacy unlocking new races, but I've yet to find any kind of source for that.
Did I miss anything?

Patch 1.2 (Whenever that'll release) is supposed to add some extra stuff to the Legacy system, one of the things they showed for their 1.2 preview video was a Miraluka Sith Warrior. So not exactly new races, but existing races available to more classes.

Kelaan

Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:26 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

So, now that Star Wars: TOR has been out for a while, would you guys care to share what you like and dislike about it? Obviously you enjoy it enough to play that instead of WoW.

What does SWTOR do better than WoW? What does it have that WoW is missing, or does poorly? I know some of you will say "no pandas" but as pandas don't seem to bother me, I'm looking for something more.
What do you dislike about SWTOR? What are your biggest gripes? (And are these things which WoW does better, or is it something both do poorly at?)
Do you play both WoW and SWTOR? (Or, if you have a wow subscription, is it only for D3 plus beta access to pandas?)
Did you swap to SWTOR because you had "finished" Cataclysm, or because the game just does a lot of things better? (if it does)
If you PvP, what do you like better about the pvp than wow's? Aside from Huttball (which I admit seems a bit more fun than CTF), is there anything else? Is there an equivalent to arenas, or is it all larger group combat?
I realize this is a very small sample size, but is server balance completely hosed? Last I'd heard, it sounded like Republic was outnumbered by a large margin, which makes a pvp server (or a pvp zone) sound very daunting.

Arnock

Tue Feb 14, 2012 10:42 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Kelaan wrote:So, now that Star Wars: TOR has been out for a while, would you guys care to share what you like and dislike about it? Obviously you enjoy it enough to play that instead of WoW.

What does SWTOR do better than WoW? What does it have that WoW is missing, or does poorly? I know some of you will say "no pandas" but as pandas don't seem to bother me, I'm looking for something more.

I'd say that, due to a lot of class homogenization, and that each class has a dedicated 'pvp tree' pvp is balanced a bit better than wow.
I also like the talent system a bit more than what you see in wow.
And, though it goes without saying, the quality of storytelling.
What do you dislike about SWTOR? What are your biggest gripes? (And are these things which WoW does better, or is it something both do poorly at?)

I dislike the fact that there's no autoattack in swtor, when everything else is on CD or you're out of resources, you have to use an 'attack' ability, which, of course, activates the GCD, so usually you wind up being completely GCD locked, which can make it annoying when you need to pop an emergency stun, or another ability that you need to respond quickly with.

Also, I strongly dislike the lack of macros, or addons.
Do you play both WoW and SWTOR? (Or, if you have a wow subscription, is it only for D3 plus beta access to pandas?)

I quit wow a few days before cata released
Did you swap to SWTOR because you had "finished" Cataclysm, or because the game just does a lot of things better? (if it does)

see above. I got bored with wow, and frustrated with my guild's lack of dedication awhile ago, and play swtor due to being a huge star wars nerd.
If you PvP, what do you like better about the pvp than wow's? Aside from Huttball (which I admit seems a bit more fun than CTF), is there anything else? Is there an equivalent to arenas, or is it all larger group combat?

I like that the 'warzones'(swtor equivalent to battlegrounds) are unique to servers, rather than having battlegroups like wow, so there's a stronger sense of community among pvp'ers.
Furthermore, I think that the class homogenization makes pvp slightly more balanced than what you'd see in wow, but I never really got into pvp much in wow, so take that with a few grains of salt.

I also like the fact that tanks actually have a role in pvp combat.

As it currently stands, pvp is limited to random world pvp, world pvp zones, and warzones.
I realize this is a very small sample size, but is server balance completely hosed? Last I'd heard, it sounded like Republic was outnumbered by a large margin, which makes a pvp server (or a pvp zone) sound very daunting.

Not exactly empirical evidence, but when I've logged onto sith alts there's usually more sith hanging around the fleet(rough equivalent to capital cities) than republic, though usually only in the range of 10-30 people.

Kelaan

Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:35 pm

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Don't know what happened to the Quick Reply button, so I'll quote.

Arnock wrote:Due to a lot of class homogenization, and that each class has a dedicated 'pvp tree' pvp is balanced a bit better than wow.

Is that the "third" tree in each talent tree that's shared between the variants of your class?

I ... play swtor due to being a huge star wars nerd.

I am a bigger star wars nerd than I will ever be a Warcraft nerd, despite being a warcraft nerd (now). This is one of the most compelling reasons for me to play, frankly. How well does it live up to the demands of star wars nerds?

Arnock

Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:14 pm

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Kelaan wrote:Is that the "third" tree in each talent tree that's shared between the variants of your class?

Yes

A pretty big problem I have with swtor pvp, though, is the fact that, due to there being no DR on CC, you can get stunlocked pretty easily

[quote="Kelaan]"I am a bigger star wars nerd than I will ever be a Warcraft nerd, despite being a warcraft nerd (now). This is one of the most compelling reasons for me to play, frankly. How well does it live up to the demands of star wars nerds?

[/quote]

I would definitely say that it lives up to my demands. The biggest complaint I have (lore-wise, at least) is the fact that, despite taking place several thousand years before the films, technologically, everything looks the same, more or less.

Also, the story isn't nearly strong as the KOTOR games, but that's to be expected, seeing as they had to create 8 unique storylines that still fit with the overall 'game story'

Kelaan

Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:28 pm

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Arnock wrote:A pretty big problem I have with swtor pvp, though, is the fact that, due to there being no DR on CC, you can get stunlocked pretty easily

I like that they make the CC-immunity bar visible, but yeah -- I can certainly imagine it being frustrating.

[quote=Kelaan]I would definitely say that it lives up to my demands. The biggest complaint I have (lore-wise, at least) is the fact that, despite taking place several thousand years before the films, technologically, everything looks the same, more or less.[/quote]

Heh.

I felt similarly in KOTOR... but then, I guess that's part of the premise of a setting where civilization has colonized most of the galaxy long enough ago that most of the races coexist harmoniously. I think I'm OK with that.

Chicken

Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:00 pm

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Kelaan wrote:[*]What does SWTOR do better than WoW? What does it have that WoW is missing, or does poorly? I know some of you will say "no pandas" but as pandas don't seem to bother me, I'm looking for something more.

I personally really like the fact that each class has it's own unique story guiding it through the game, along with the fact that you're capable of (somewhat) affecting the outcome of things with the choices you make during quest dialogue. The game also seems to be capable of somewhat more impressive technical feats as part of its dungeon/raid encounters than WoW is. I personally also kinda like the lack of auto-attacks on most classes (I dislike it on the Jedi Shadow/Sith Assassin). Ironically that's made me slightly more enthusiastic for the Monk class that's coming to WoW, since that seems like it'd play similar.

[*]What do you dislike about SWTOR? What are your biggest gripes? (And are these things which WoW does better, or is it something both do poorly at?)

I do feel that movement and the like feels a bit more smooth in WoW compared to TOR; mob movement in particular tends to look a bit weird out in the wild, while it's generally smooth in WoW. Also, and this is rather petty, it's kinda lazy how all the "races" are pretty much just humans with minor cosmetic adjustments.

[*]Do you play both WoW and SWTOR? (Or, if you have a wow subscription, is it only for D3 plus beta access to pandas?)

I'm only playing TOR currently, though I did sign up for the annual pass for WoW. Kinda regret that, but I wasn't expecting to like this game as much as I ended up doing.

[*]Did you swap to SWTOR because you had "finished" Cataclysm, or because the game just does a lot of things better? (if it does)

I was pretty much bored with WoW and that was my primary motivation. Also I'm a sucker for voice acted RPGs.

[*]If you PvP, what do you like better about the pvp than wow's? Aside from Huttball (which I admit seems a bit more fun than CTF), is there anything else? Is there an equivalent to arenas, or is it all larger group combat?

I haven't PvPed much, but all the PvP is more like battlegrounds. One of the other battlegrounds is basically Arathi Basin except with only 3 nodes to control, whereas the other is most reminiscent of Strand of the Ancients though without the vehicles.

[*]I realize this is a very small sample size, but is server balance completely hosed? Last I'd heard, it sounded like Republic was outnumbered by a large margin, which makes a pvp server (or a pvp zone) sound very daunting.

On most servers the Empire definitely outpopulates the Republic. I've played both sides a bit on the server I'm on (Luka Sene, European PvE server) and there's generally about twice as many people in the central Imperial hub then in the central Republic hub. Can't speak for other servers though.

Sabindeus

Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:24 pm

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

What does SWTOR do better than WoW? What does it have that WoW is missing, or does poorly? I know some of you will say "no pandas" but as pandas don't seem to bother me, I'm looking for something more. ;)
Voice acted cutscenes.

What do you dislike about SWTOR? What are your biggest gripes? (And are these things which WoW does better, or is it something both do poorly at?)
The UI is horrible. The class balance is definitely off, not as much as say, WoW on release, but definitely way more than WoW nowadays.

Do you play both WoW and SWTOR? (Or, if you have a wow subscription, is it only for D3 plus beta access to pandas?)
I log onto WoW not very often lately, but I'm also not logging on to SWTOR every night either. I have a lot of games to play. Including D3 whenever it comes out and Panda beta whenever THAT happens.

Did you swap to SWTOR because you had "finished" Cataclysm, or because the game just does a lot of things better? (if it does)
I don't feel like I "swapped" to SWTOR so much as it was another game that came out that I wanted to play for various reasons.

If you PvP, what do you like better about the pvp than wow's? Aside from Huttball (which I admit seems a bit more fun than CTF), is there anything else? Is there an equivalent to arenas, or is it all larger group combat?
PVP in this game is kinda shitty, to be quite honest. I think it might be better since some of the adjustments they made to ability delay and animation interruption but the prior experience I had so soured me on it that I don't feel like Warzoning ever again. Furthermore due to population imbalance (see below) World PVP is pretty much a lost cause.

I realize this is a very small sample size, but is server balance completely hosed? Last I'd heard, it sounded like Republic was outnumbered by a large margin, which makes a pvp server (or a pvp zone) sound very daunting.
Yes. If you play this game, do it on a PVE server. Population balance is overwhelmingly Empire favored on pretty much every single server. It is pretty much a joke. Personally I play Republic and find this situation to be extremely sad but there's really no constructive criticism to be given about it. It's a matter of taste, and I think that 75% of the players of this game have shitty taste. Empire is awful and I can't imagine why anyone would roll it.

Barathorn

Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:57 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Sabindeus wrote:I realize this is a very small sample size, but is server balance completely hosed? Last I'd heard, it sounded like Republic was outnumbered by a large margin, which makes a pvp server (or a pvp zone) sound very daunting.
Yes. If you play this game, do it on a PVE server. Population balance is overwhelmingly Empire favored on pretty much every single server. It is pretty much a joke. Personally I play Republic and find this situation to be extremely sad but there's really no constructive criticism to be given about it. It's a matter of taste, and I think that 75% of the players of this game have shitty taste. Empire is awful and I can't imagine why anyone would roll it.

That is purely personal taste Sabin and isn't true for every server from my experiances [EU Based]. While in general Empire is the more played faction [EU] there are several strong Republic servers and several where the balance is about the same.

I play on Hydian Way [EU] and the balance seems ok although I can't vouch for 50 PVP [which a lot is judged on because of the Ilum World PVP Dailies] as I don't have a 50 Character yet because its too much fun playing alts to 20 and seeing what each class does.

The leveling is linear though and you have set zones for set levels like wow but you only have 1 zone for levels 10-16 for example rather than 2-3 like WoW has so the leveling can get a little repetitive if you just quest all the time. I personally break this up with PvP.

10-49 PVP is 100% a lot of fun - far better than WOW PvP in every respect even with only 3 Warzones to play [which you can't choose from so you can end up playing multiple games of the same Warzone] and a new Warzone is coming in patch 1.2 [March I think] along with Guild Banks and a movable UI.

If you want a 2 player + co-op game to play online then SWTOR is a fantastic experiance. As an MMO? It is still early days so I will wait and see. For the price of the game its worth it just to play KOTOR 3 basically. Anything else you get from the game is upto you to decide what you want from it.

I personally like the fact that you can't use any add ons and that the game is controlled by Bioware very carefully regarding that. I personally think too many add ons ruin the experiance and I love the fact that DPS meters aren't more important than the gameplay and not standing in shit. All current content is clearable without any add ons required and it is unlikely that things like DBM will ever be allowed in game.

Don't however expect the be all and end all, it is still only at release stage. 7.5/10 for me with hopes it will reach 8.5/10 with patch 1.2.

Passionario

Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:28 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

For me, SWTOR is a cooperative Bioware RPG that I can play together with my wife.

SWTOR supports this playstyle much better than WoW, where everything is either soloable or requires 5+ people.

crazyharry

Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:41 am

Re: Star Wars; Old Republic

Kelaan wrote:What does SWTOR do better than WoW? What does it have that WoW is missing, or does poorly? I know some of you will say "no pandas" but as pandas don't seem to bother me, I'm looking for something more.

As previously stated, the voice acting is good, and as its skippable if you are levelling an alt you can space bar throught all the optional quests and just listen to your class specific ones.

Kelaan wrote:What do you dislike about SWTOR? What are your biggest gripes? (And are these things which WoW does better, or is it something both do poorly at?)

Class balance, UI, same old stuff that bugs everyone. Professions need looing at (what you can make, I actually like the sending your companions of to do the work for you bit)
Empire being much better at huttball because they get so much practic at it

Game randomly running like crap on super snazzy computers but running fine on middle of the road ones.

Kelaan wrote:Do you play both WoW and SWTOR? (Or, if you have a wow subscription, is it only for D3 plus beta access to pandas?)

Only SWTOR now, everyone I know quit WoW and the people were the only reason I was continuing to play. Im not even guilded in SWTOR at the moment and having a lot more fun than I was in WoW.

Kelaan wrote:Did you swap to SWTOR because you had "finished" Cataclysm, or because the game just does a lot of things better? (if it does)

See above.

Kelaan wrote:If you PvP, what do you like better about the pvp than wow's? Aside from Huttball (which I admit seems a bit more fun than CTF), is there anything else? Is there an equivalent to arenas, or is it all larger group combat?

1 - 49 PVP is great fun, classes are more evenly balanced even if scoundrels have to wait till 32 to get their class defing ability and shadows have to wait till 40.
50 still needs some balancing, DPS Sages/Sorcerors can currently heal for more than intended due to the PVP stat buffing healing done but once you have some PVP gear it starts to get a lot more fun again.
Hutball has good potential, a few more hutball maps and some rated Warzones and they may have finally created a sport I am interested in.
The limit on 4 people in a premade is a huge improvement, A good team can still kick ass but premades are no longer only beatable once in a blue moon.
There are no arenas and no plans to include arena, which is a mixed blessing. Bribing people into arena by making the best gear come from there only was a terrible idea on Blizzards part, I only ever met 1 person who did arena for fun, everyone else did it to gear up so they could survive more than a few seconds in BGs (not implying there were not lots of people who enjoyed arena as there obviously were)
I served my time pillar humping s2-5 and have no desire to return to it.
But it is also a shame that the people who liked it dont have that option, question is, would an arena without best in slot gear rewards be popular enough.

Kelaan wrote:I realize this is a very small sample size, but is server balance completely hosed? Last I'd heard, it sounded like Republic was outnumbered by a large margin, which makes a pvp server (or a pvp zone) sound very daunting.

My server is heavily Empire biased and it can cause problems during the week, Ilum can be a nightmare as it will be 2 full raids of Imps camping the Rep base (which is a bloody stupid thing to do as they get less kills that way) but weekends are the scene of some pretty epic battles due to Ilum being instanced with a cap of 50 or so players per side per instance.
The actual zones a large, like, really large, so unless you go looking for trouble you can level up without much hassle.