Star Wars: The Old Republic will kill WoW - outsourced to Broadsword

[Bliblablubb]

All of the classes have homosexual relationships, don't they?

Dunno. When I played the game the community was still wielding pitchforks and torches because there were none. And I never played any expanshun. So if you rolled a tranny female toon you had to stay away or endure it for the lulz. Since there weren't jewtube videos yet, one had to play it and press escape to reset the choice. As much as I like the voice actress, female agent is a shitty choice in terms of the narrative. Male Agent is Bond. I was hoping for Cate Archer, but instead I got... something. The fade-to-black events were some lowlife criminal to keep my cover (feels forced in, just intimidate him), some greesy casino owner and a member of the blue men group. I doubt a real womyn would approve any of those.
So yeah, on second thought: stay away from those and just watch bugboy on jewtube for some "lol Bioware" material.

I think the only time I might do a romance, playing as a female, is if it had some real artistic merit.

Come on, it says "Bioware" on the lid, you knew what to expect! That said, FemWarrior's has it's moments, because you can verbal abuse that little beta so hard.

Spoiler

Originally you could even kill him, for story reasons, but once again Bioware chickened out because he was important for the story! Well, actually players were too stupid to realize that killing him means he is dead. Gone. Removed. No healer for you anymore.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Hey faggot, you never answered me about the BH advanced classes.

I haven't played BH yet.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I have brought great dishonor upon myself this page.

 

[darthaegis]

Perhaps Bioware should re-brand their games as a collection of shitty TV episodes.

 

[Crazed Weevil]

BTW: BH Powertech or Mercenary. Which is better and why? Bearing in mind I'm gonna have a Gunslinger.

Powertech if you going to have a Gunslinger.

I've leveled one of each type:

Powertech (Tank/DPS/DPS) - close quarters, mainly 4-10m ranged. Tank spec is probably the easiest tank spec to play as you don't have to worry to much about defensive cooldown abilities, all shield & armour. Very easy rotation, but also very boring. Pyrotech DPS spec is good and strong, DoT focused but good at AoE as well. Rotation is not too hard to master. Advanced Prototype is powerful as well but has a hard rotation to master to get the best from it. It is one of the strongest DPS specs though.

Mercenary (Healer/DPS/DPS) - all ranged, 30m. Healer spec is interesting as you have heavy armour and good mobility with it. Haven't played one much though so I don't know how well they play. Arsenal spec is the easiest DPS spec to play and also very boring. The rotation is very simple and hard to fuck up. Innovative Ordnance spec is very much like Advanced Prototype but ranged instead of close quarters. It's very strong, probably the strongest DPS in the game, but it's also the hardest to master as the rotation is a little odd. It also doesn't AoE that well.

To be honest I found Powertech more fun to play as the rotations felt better to me. In PvP Powertech is king without doubt, tank spec is almost unfair with how many ways you have to annoy the opposition, and the DPS specs, though not very bursty, are dangerous and you are very tough with it. I always found Mercenary to be a little weak in PvP though. It plays a lot like a Sorcerer; if you get left alone you can murder people very quickly, but if not you're going to have a hard time doing much.

 

[Zetor]

One note about powertech (vanguard -- same thing): do NOT go shield spec unless you really want to do the endgame tanking thing. Shield spec kills silver and gold mobs way too slowly; it also needs a healer companion glued to it pretty much 24/7 or it risks dying to the many attrition-based encounters in the game (such as the double silver mobs that are prevalent at 45+). That is, unless they made it less of a pain to level in the last ~4 years...

 

[Crazed Weevil]

One note about powertech (vanguard -- same thing): do NOT go shield spec unless you really want to do the endgame tanking thing. Shield spec kills silver and gold mobs way too slowly; it also needs a healer companion glued to it pretty much 24/7 or it risks dying to the many attrition-based encounters in the game (such as the double silver mobs that are prevalent at 45+). That is, unless they made it less of a pain to level in the last ~4 years...

No, it's still painfully slow with elites, though it's a lot more durable so you can use DPS companion more often.

 

[Aenra]

Now with level scaling introduced globally i hear! Soon in a terminal near you. May Oblivion be with you!
May Bioware continue to reward you as richly for playing their games, lol
(yes, you deserve it. You do)

http://massivelyop.com/2015/10/01/swtor-will-introduce-level-scaling-in-fallen-empire/

 

[RK47]

 

[Crazed Weevil]

The new expansion is also making all the companions multi spec as well so you make them healers, DPS or tanks. And they also level scale as well so you don't need to equip them any more.

Not sure about the reverse level scaling on planets though. I kind of like that feature in Guild Wars 2, meant that everywhere was still dangerous, you just had more abilities to play with to make things 'easier'. Also makes it viable to help friends levelling without making everything a curbstomping, no XP for anyone session, borefest when you use your main.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

So basically, if you want to still do the class stories do them NOW because in a few weeks they'll be level scaled and the 12x XP will go.

 

[hakuroshi]

So basically, if you want to still do the class stories do them NOW because in a few weeks they'll be level scaled and the 12x XP will go.

They claim it will be needed to do only class and main planet story to level up, but yeah.

Edit: To think about it the really cool shit would be not only downscale high-level characters but also upscale low-level ones. That way everyone could play everywhere the only difference levels provide is in abilities and equipment.

 

[Zetor]

That approach works ok in games that are designed for it and have mainly horizontal progression (City of Heroes, Secret World), but it'd be pretty screwy in SWTOR. A lot of classes don't get critical abilities until level 2x/3x or even 4x... it's also why low-level pvp is clownshoes even more than usual. A level 17 scaled up to level 49 is not a credible threat, even if their main attack is boosted to hit twice as hard as the level 49's. Etc etc.

 

[J1M]

It is more honest. It's not like Bioware games have ever been designed for a solid challenge. Just accept that your crappy cartoon requires you to mash some buttons instead of watch commercials to get to the next scene.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I've just read that article in full.

These changes are bizarre. They are removing the main stats. They are removing stats on companion gear, so it is for cosmetic purposes only. They have cut out so many of the RPG elements, it is even less like KOTOR than before.

The new story better be good because that is the only reason I will continue playing once I'm done with the class stories.

 

[chotread]

talking about good story in a bioware thread. codex, you disappoint

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[hakuroshi]

I've just read that article in full.

These changes are bizarre. They are removing the main stats. They are removing stats on companion gear, so it is for cosmetic purposes only. They have cut out so many of the RPG elements, it is even less like KOTOR than before.

The new story better be good because that is the only reason I will continue playing once I'm done with the class stories.

The changes are bizarre by themselves but they are quite consistent with the direction the game goes lately I suppose. Led both by devs and by player whatever the whine. It looks more like ME3 then KOTOR.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Players asked for more single player storyline, so Bioware gives them that. Can't keep these fuckers happy no matter what.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I'm currently levelling a Sith Inquisitor to lv 50 (I'm on Voss, lv 45 at the moment) and the companion gear thing will actually be quite good. Getting gear for the companions is one of the most tedious things about the game right now and it seems like Presence no longer does anything, if the gear the companion has is still shit.

For people who don't know what Presence is, as you complete class stories and get maximum affection with companions, your Presence stat is increased across all your characters and it makes companions more effective (more hp, stronger attacks, stronger heals etc). It should make levelling new characters easier because their companion can just carve through enemies.

It doesn't seem to work that way for me, though. Really struggling with my Sith Inquisitor right now because all the gear is so shit. It wouldn't be shit if I had done the other quests, though. I've just been charging through the class quests because they give the 12x XP.

 

[Crazed Weevil]

I'm currently levelling a Sith Inquisitor to lv 50 (I'm on Voss, lv 45 at the moment) and the companion gear thing will actually be quite good. Getting gear for the companions is one of the most tedious things about the game right now and it seems like Presence no longer does anything, if the gear the companion has is still shit.

For people who don't know what Presence is, as you complete class stories and get maximum affection with companions, your Presence stat is increased across all your characters and it makes companions more effective (more hp, stronger attacks, stronger heals etc). It should make levelling new characters easier because their companion can just carve through enemies.

It doesn't seem to work that way for me, though. Really struggling with my Sith Inquisitor right now because all the gear is so shit. It wouldn't be shit if I had done the other quests, though. I've just been charging through the class quests because they give the 12x XP.

You are using those comms you get from the quests to update the armour plates / mods / enhancements in your gear aren't you? It's quite easy to have enough comms (100) to outfit yourself and your companion every 4 levels.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

You are using those comms you get from the quests to update the armour plates / mods / enhancements in your gear aren't you? It's quite easy to have enough comms (100) to outfit yourself and your companion every 4 levels.

Can commendation gear be given to companions now? I remember having some problems doing that before (a few years ago).

 

[Crazed Weevil]

Can commendation gear be given to companions now? I remember having some problems doing that before (a few years ago).

You always could, back in the old days though there wasn't a full set of orange gear you could use that wasn't class linked until later levels. Now it's stupidly easy to get orange gear so put mods in it and equip your companions, gear is still king. However presence is still useful, fully geared your companions can in theory do more damage than you, out heal you and have more HP than you.

How many comms you got spare at the moment? You can share them between characters under the right circumstances...

 

[Deleted member 7219]

You always could, back in the old days though there wasn't a full set of orange gear you could use that wasn't class linked until later levels. Now it's stupidly easy to get orange gear so put mods in it and equip your companions, gear is still king. However presence is still useful, fully geared your companions can in theory do more damage than you, out heal you and have more HP than you.

How many comms you got spare at the moment? You can share them between characters under the right circumstances...

I went to the fleet and spent some time running between the different level comm vendors until I could fit out Khem Val with some ilvl 100ish gear. That was enough to get me past the final fight with Darth Thanaton. Sith Inquisitor storyline complete.

Now I'm playing a badass female Jennifer Hale trooper. I so love the way she delivers sarcastic and casually cruel lines of dialogue. I'm hoping I get this one done in time for launch of the expansion, because when that hits I'm switching straight back to my lv 60 Sith Warrior.

 

[Mangoose]

Goddamn I wish they would allow API mods like WoW.

All I want is a goddamn HUD so I can see my resource (MAINLY RAGE/FOCUS) without glancing around all over the place, but without also cluttering my screen with the stock horizontal bar with character icon.

Actually I that if I want a health bar above my head, I need to also have my NAME and shit, and also have it the same color as all of my enemies. Thanks Bioware.

Spoiler

http://s.cdn.wowinterface.com/preview/pvw24123.jpg

However I have been messing around enough to that I have something workable without interfering too much combat vision. Screenshot later, but I made the character health/energy main UI tiny and put it next to my character's head. Useful for both watching health and resource since they are actually NOT BLUE.

---

So currently I'm finally able to enjoy playing a Knight/Warrior. Though the GCD seems too slow for melee (I dunno why I feel that, because I played a Sith Assassin a few years back, and they had actually improved the combat delay).

I have only been playing my Knight right now (because I hadn't figured out this UI back when I made my Warrior)... but I'm pretty damn sure I'm going to drop it. I feel like the Consular storyline - well the Prologue on Tython - was better because it delved into lore and stuffies. Not to mention Nolan North voice acting is tremendous (David Hayter is Knight, and Hayter is the famous VA for Solid Snake, but his voice for the JK + the script for the JK is so terribly boring). On the other hand, playing a Consular Sage is annoying because you're playing a Jedi that doesn't use his lightsaber (again I already played Inquisitor Assassin so that's out of the question). So I'm switching over the Warrior right after finishing Tython JK, as it seems like Warriors/Knights use some force abilities anyway.

Enjoying my Smuggler. Also made a Bounty Hunter but haven't played much of it yet.

---

Now time for questions, and they are all about AC/Discipline choice:

I'm most likely going to play a Juggernaut for my Warrior (because dual sabers is ghey). Which Juggernaut Discipline has the best animations? Because that's all I care about.

For a Gunslinger (I have a high level Operative already), what's the difference in playstyles between its three Disciplines?

Um... And I have no idea at all how to go with the Bounty Hunter.

I went with TK Sage because I don't want to level a healer, and Balance had the shittiest animations. Not that TK is that much better... I expected throwing shit around the room, not spamming Kamehamehas (though... I'm tempted to remake my appearance into an anime character to take advantage of said TK animations).