So, is it fun or just shiny and new?

[eldaec]

I started a smuggler the other day, and hated Corso Riggs by the end of the intro cinematic.

I'm not sure if it was just the pre-conditioning in this thread, but felt pretty real.

[CmdrSlack]

That would work too, I do think it's silly that I'm level 40 and I still have two more companions to get. But I think it would bug me less if my early companions were most useful to me. And also if they were not Corso Riggs.



EDIT: I just realized! Corso Riggs is SWTOR's Kerry Collins for me.

I see the name Riggs and I am forced to wonder whether he says, "I'm getting too old for this."

That would be Murtaugh. 

Well played, sir. I suspected that I was transposing the names, but it was very Lethal Weapon, and I was too lazy to Google-check my reference first.

[Xanthippe]

I haven't yet picked this up. I was going to wait until 2 or 3 months pass to see if people are still playing.

Any predictions on how long you'll be playing this?

Is this a game where people can level having fun without grouping? Are instances skippable, or alternately is it easy to find groups?

[Samprimary]

I haven't yet picked this up. I was going to wait until 2 or 3 months pass to see if people are still playing.

Any predictions on how long you'll be playing this?

Is this a game where people can level having fun without grouping? Are instances skippable, or alternately is it easy to find groups?

It's pretty cool. It's new and has plenty of kinks that need to be ironed out, but it's certainly good enough for now, and offers hope in the competence of the game's future expansion, improvement, etc. That alone has been something unaccomplished since WoW.

[jakonovski]

SWTOR is great fun but I hesitate calling it an MMO. Everything is divided into tiny instances of about 150 people, so the areas are deserted and you don't get the feeling or actuality of shared space. It plays pretty much like a mix of single player RPG and Guild Wars.   

[DraconianOne]

Is this a game where people can level having fun without grouping? Are instances skippable, or alternately is it easy to find groups?

Yes, absolutely. But - and bear in mind I'm an inveterate soloer who has never grouped nor ever done MMO instances while they were level appropriate - they have managed to make grouping fun and appealing. So much so that I'm actively seeking people (guildies) out to group with, even while just questing because I personally love the whole dialogue and shared conversation gimmick.

The first couple of instances are easily completed by two players with companions as well which is a bonus.

Still, if you're determined to solo, you can get good gear/mods from commendation vendors with commendations (badges) that you get from regular solo questing.

[Khaldun]

I started a smuggler the other day, and hated Corso Riggs by the end of the intro cinematic.

I'm not sure if it was just the pre-conditioning in this thread, but felt pretty real.

You get some amusing chances to insult Corso Riggs during dialogue scenes if he's your companion most of the time.

[Miasma]

I haven't yet picked this up. I was going to wait until 2 or 3 months pass to see if people are still playing.

Any predictions on how long you'll be playing this?

Is this a game where people can level having fun without grouping? Are instances skippable, or alternately is it easy to find groups?

You don't have to group but there are group only areas on every planet which you will get quests for and you will probably have to abandon or outlevel them.  Even with everyone still playing in the lower level areas it can be hard to get groups to do those quests.  There is no group making tool for the instances so you have to spam lfg/lfm while you idle in a station, we're not allowed to talk about this for some reason even though it's a major topic for debate.

If you want to solo you may as well wait while they smooth some things out, maybe even a free trial.  If you wanted to group I would start playing now while the lower level planets have good populations, once everyone reaches 50 it will be much, much harder to find groups.

[Mrbloodworth]

If you are soloing, you don't need groups. Doing all the heroics and flashpoints will put you well over level anyway. Like my main, hes a planet over level ( and ahead of story ) because I duo/trio all the group content.

[Rasix]

I haven't yet picked this up. I was going to wait until 2 or 3 months pass to see if people are still playing.

Any predictions on how long you'll be playing this?

Is this a game where people can level having fun without grouping? Are instances skippable, or alternately is it easy to find groups?

I've yet to do an instance. I'm having fun.    I've grouped a whole to two times, both with f13ers, and it was a good experience as expected.  The group conversation thing was quite funny with my heart-of-gold BH and Xuri's arrogant Sith.

I think I'll get about 3-4 months out of this.  I'll probably go through Empire story line once or twice and maybe the same for Repub.  I'm leveling really slow and continuing my LoL habit.  I have a very limited amount of game time and these two are stretching it beyond what I'd like.   So, that 3-4 months could last however long my content consumption takes.  I've had this game since the first or second day of the early start and I'm a hair away from lvl 22. Most guild members are mid 30s + it seems like.

[Bunk]

Is this a game where people can level having fun without grouping? Are instances skippable, or alternately is it easy to find groups?

Well, my main is now level 26, and I have done one Flashpoint with F13 folks, one random pug that I got invited in to, and one group run to complete some quests. None of that was neccessary. The grouping stuff is certainly fun, but totally skippable.

I've actually found that I'm almost overleveling content as is, just playing solo and doing space missions.

[Nebu]

I leveled to 50 doing almost nothing beyond my class quest, pvp, flashpoints, and space missions.  I'm fine with not gathering 10 space rat tails for people.

[Wolf]

Is this a game where people can level having fun without grouping? Are instances skippable, or alternately is it easy to find groups?

Still, if you're determined to solo, you can get good gear/mods from commendation vendors with commendations (badges) that you get from regular solo questing.

I don't think that's mentioned enough - there are quite a bit of "orange" pieces of gear, these have 3 standard sockets, so if you like the look of some chest piece or legs, or a weapon, you don't have to change it when you have a new better piece of loot. You just take the mods out of the sockets of the new piece and stick them in the new one. So far I haven't had to look like I clown just because my new chest has +3 something.

I do wish I could turn off my companion's head piece though :(

[01101010]

I don't think that's mentioned enough - there are quite a bit of "orange" pieces of gear, these have 3 standard sockets, so if you like the look of some chest piece or legs, or a weapon, you don't have to change it when you have a new better piece of loot. You just take the mods out of the sockets of the new piece and stick them in the new one. So far I haven't had to look like I clown just because my new chest has +3 something.

I do wish I could turn off my companion's head piece though :(

Exactly. Cybertech is a nice way to go - find ANY orange piece and make it into whatever you want as long as you can wear the type (H/M/L). Hell I found a nice strength medium armor helm and through it on Zenith after I modded it out with cunning stuff. Of course, I never use him so there is that...

[Miasma]

I accidentaly stumbled into the "VIP" lounge and was excited to see that my sith warrior could buy a full set of orange gear that made him look just like an imperial stormtrooper.  Then was crushed to discover that for some absurd reason it was all classified as light armor...

I saw an agent wandering around in all officer clothing and wondered how she did it, now I know.

[Sky]

My favorite moment so far was doing the FP with BC recently where in a cutscene my big, dumb BH is the one who steps up to use the computer. ME PUSH BUTTAN!

[ajax34i]

If it's orange it probably doesn't matter whether it's light, medium, or heavy.  I haven't done it so I don't know, but take all the mods out of a light armor and out of a heavy armor piece and the difference will probably be minimal.  You get most of your defenses from your primary stat, and then armoring mods, anyway.

So, go ahead and wear it.

[Nebu]

It's all going to replaced by purple eventually.  

I wish this game had an appearance tab... and a way to quickly swap pvp and pve gear... and a way to play more than one spec... and a way to customize my ship... and...

[kildorn]

If it's orange it probably doesn't matter whether it's light, medium, or heavy.  I haven't done it so I don't know, but take all the mods out of a light armor and out of a heavy armor piece and the difference will probably be minimal.  You get most of your defenses from your primary stat, and then armoring mods, anyway.

So, go ahead and wear it.

The armor difference between a rating X mod slotted in light versus heavy should be.. massive. Like, double the armor on the heavy piece.

I would not suggest running around in light armor and tanking shit unless you're a shadow/assassin.

Orange just lets you change the level of an item, not it's core item type.

The VIP stuff is "light" because it's intended to be wearable by anyone as random social clothing. Not an armor replacement. Light armor classes can just use them as such because *blah no real reason*

[ajax34i]

Ok so I am going to unslot a heavy robe on my Guardian and a light robe on my Seer and compare.  Same level.

I thought you were wrong, Kildorn, because everyone keeps saying that Guardians (heavy armor) and Shadows (light armor) tanks end up having the same defense, are equivalent, both good at tanking, blah blah blah.  So I assumed that the AC comes from the stance, from the primary stat effects, and from mods.  But, I'll check.

[proudft]

Please do, I want to wear Pilot's armor on my trooper.   

[01101010]

If it's orange it probably doesn't matter whether it's light, medium, or heavy.  I haven't done it so I don't know, but take all the mods out of a light armor and out of a heavy armor piece and the difference will probably be minimal.  You get most of your defenses from your primary stat, and then armoring mods, anyway.

So, go ahead and wear it.

The armor difference between a rating X mod slotted in light versus heavy should be.. massive. Like, double the armor on the heavy piece.

I would not suggest running around in light armor and tanking shit unless you're a shadow/assassin.

Orange just lets you change the level of an item, not it's core item type.

The VIP stuff is "light" because it's intended to be wearable by anyone as random social clothing. Not an armor replacement. Light armor classes can just use them as such because *blah no real reason*

Main issue here is the armor's inherent type. I have found a ton of bad ass jedi knight gear that I want to wear. Oranges are restricted to Heavy only so I can't wear. Since this limits light armor users, I sincerely think they would put in some sort of AC modifer for medium and heavy armor pieces just to kepe you scurvy bastards off my only selections - though tanking in the dancer gear you get from the security vendor would be appealing.

[Ingmar]

Ok so I am going to unslot a heavy robe on my Guardian and a light robe on my Seer and compare.  Same level.

I thought you were wrong, Kildorn, because everyone keeps saying that Guardians (heavy armor) and Shadows (light armor) tanks end up having the same defense, are equivalent, both good at tanking, blah blah blah.  So I assumed that the AC comes from the stance, from the primary stat effects, and from mods.  But, I'll check.

Shadow's tanking stance gives them a 150% armor boost; Guardians get 60%. So that should give you an idea of the difference in base numbers between light and heavy.

[Sky]

I wish this game had an appearance tab... and a way to quickly swap pvp and pve gear... and a way to play more than one spec... and a way to customize my ship... and...

Do not let your longing for what is not hamper your enjoyment of what is.

[Merusk]

Main issue here is the armor's inherent type. I have found a ton of bad ass jedi knight gear that I want to wear. Oranges are restricted to Heavy only so I can't wear. Since this limits light armor users, I sincerely think they would put in some sort of AC modifer for medium and heavy armor pieces just to kepe you scurvy bastards off my only selections - though tanking in the dancer gear you get from the security vendor would be appealing.

Yep.   The system doesn't appear to take the over-all average of the mods into account for stats, only specific ones for specific types of equipment.   An armor mod in a Heavy armor piece gets a much greater boost than the same mod in a light piece.  Just like the level of that mod affects the over-all armor much more than the other 2 slots.  (Same with barrel level for blasters)   I had a level 30 green enhancment on my boots which I upgraded to a blue 40 and there were no additional armor benefits.

Side note: My healbot Mako now wears the Imperial dancer's outfit (minus the hat.) It amuses me to no end.  Though I am jealous of the much-skimpier Republic outfit on their sec. key vendor.

[Bunk]

Yea, it turns out that with a good mod, Vette in the Dancer's top actually had a better armor rating than the green medium armor I had her in previously. Mind you, if I do my job right she never gets attacked anyway.

One of the reasons I started a second character was just so that I could take armormech, as I found that finding armor upgrades for companions with different core stats was not all that easy.

[Ingmar]

I expect to get a lot of hours of play out of just getting all my companions kitted out just right.

[Sjofn]

I started a smuggler the other day, and hated Corso Riggs by the end of the intro cinematic.

I'm not sure if it was just the pre-conditioning in this thread, but felt pretty real.

I only just noticed that post! Glad to have helped!  


As other people have said, it's entirely possible to level to cap without missing much. But duoing has been a (surprisingly) fun experience. Most quests let everyone in the group click on the gathering-type clickies, most quest drop thingies drop for everyone, that sort of shit, so you're never thinking to yourself, "God, this would be faster solo," like one often does.You even get bonus XP on quest completion for things you did in a group, to make up for the lesser kill XP. Add in that the conversations are a lot more amusing with friends, and you have just about the best duoing experience in an MMO I've had.

[Ghambit]

I saw an agent wandering around in all officer clothing and wondered how she did it, now I know.

The officer's clothing is a commendation purchase from Drommand Kaas I believe.  I've found nothing better ingame so far lookwise than it and I've caught many a people stopping to look.  But, FML it's been expensive swapping mods every few levels.  I like how it subtly changes over time depending on the mods too. (errr, maybe I'm seeing things)

Mainly, it just fits the storyline better than flirting in something like a Panther (grenadier) jacket.  My IA looks the part in it basically.

[kildorn]

I expect to get a lot of hours of play out of just getting all my companions kitted out just right.

Can we need for companions in raids?

[Ingmar]

But, FML it's been expensive swapping mods every few levels.

How so? Are you pulling out the old ones and saving them for some reason?

[Nevermore]

So I noticed that one of the titles you can get on empire side is "the Merciless".  I am now sorely tempted to make a Sorcerer with a fu manchu mustache named Ming.

[Ghambit]

But, FML it's been expensive swapping mods every few levels.

How so? Are you pulling out the old ones and saving them for some reason?

I'm a Cybertech.  So it depends on the lvl mod/armoring I guess... but most stuff gets reverse-engineered so I dont have to farm mats as much and waste salvage mission money.  Worked in early game, but as you say... counterintuitive at this point since the costs of removal are now too high.

Also, if you get one piece you rip stats off of to replace for another, the latter sometimes has better stats than something else, so you take those and apply em to another piece... and so on.

Time to be more frugal with em.  Probably cheaper to use the AH anyways now.

[Ingmar]

I'm also a cybertech, if you take scavenging you should be swimming in mats anyway - I capped the trade skill well before 50 (and without ever buying mats). I just overwrite everything when I upgrade.

[kildorn]

I'm a cybertech, and never had any desire to rip mods out. I usually had a set of blues waiting for me at the end of a level range post 30 (once I had enough companions to keep them making things)

I buy the enhancements and most of the mods honestly. 2 commendations per makes gearing at the end of a planet cheap.