#SWTOR - Here's a Free Blog Post

Apparently, there's quite a stir going around with TOR's Free to Play announcement. My blog has always been free to read, so I'll be the first to welcome the TOR folks as brethren in the free entertainment movement. Hopefully they'll have more luck turning this into a full time job than I have. (The Day Job I'm forced to keep is really cutting into my writing time right now... ah, consequences...)

Joking aside, there are a whole bunch of opinions over at The Melting Pot, and my buddy Targeter chimed in. I don't have a whole lot to say on the issue. Having spent a lot of my recent gaming hours in League of Legends, I've now experienced a stellar Free to Play setup. Riot does a great job. They seem to make smart moves, and understand what their players want.

Free to play can be good. It can also be cheesy. I hope TOR errs on the "good" side.

I was probably going to cancel my sub once it ran up, but with the entry price being free... I could see myself picking up the ole' lightsaber now and then. I'm glad the story is free. As for the rest of it? Well, I'll just have to see.

I think that about sums it up. Especially for the price of "free." You want more content? Leave comments. That's like blogger currency. (Or you can just pay me money too. I'm sure we can work out the comment currency exchange rate. Last I checked the going rate was... a penny? Suppose that depends on how much thought you put into it.)

Another Fail Week

Another week, another lack of post ideas from yours truly. I swear the weeks are flying by. Being busy in other areas of life will do that. Still, I'm hopeful for more than one post this week. Diablo is releasing tonight (at 3AM my time, I think... so effectively tomorrow after work, as I'm not taking the day off). That should give me something to write about later in the week.

For now, I did want to point out one thing. There's been a lot about ToR's recent subscriber loss. I don't have a whole bunch to say about it other than I'm still playing, still paying, and still feel like I'm getting my money's worth. It's a different sort of mindset than with WoW. I'm not really trying to do the endgame. I'm just trying to jump through all the stories. I basically do some random PvP, and while I'm waiting for the WZ to pop, I run the class quests. I don't pick up any other quests.

The benefit is that levels and planets come fast. The downside (?) is that everything is pretty challenging. I'm routinely under-leveled for things, and every so often I run up against an elite that I cannot beat. Usually, a few days of PvP dailies nets me another level, and then I can continue. I'm not sure how this will hold at the higher levels. For now, though, it adds challenge and is fun.

One good change that ToR made recently (that seemed un-trumpeted, IMO), was the slight change in PvP dailies. It went form a simple "get X wins" to "play X times" where wins count double. For me, this is a huge quality of life improvement. Where before you may be frustrated by a string of losses, now there's an end in sight. I've found that most things in life are infinitely more tolerable when you know what you're shooting for. I wanted to complete the dailies, but it was frustrating when you just couldn't get a win. This alleviates a lot of that frustration, as you get there anyway. Good stuff.

It is changes like this one that makes me happy to continue on with ToR. They seem to have a good eye for what is annoying for the player base, and try to change it. They can't fix everything immediately, and I'm willing to be patient. It's good that they're trending in a positive direction.

By contrast, I've felt WoW to be trending in a negative direction for me. The whole Cataclysm Warlock debacle, as chronicled by Cynwise, was a huge reason. Secondary was a focus on endgame, which when that fell apart, left me with little to do. There are no class stories in WoW.

I think Diablo will be a welcome addition to my gaming life, and I still look forward to MoP. I'll play ToR until I've experienced all 8 class stories (four on each side). I'm hoping that by then they'll have added a lot of content and quality of life improvements, so I'll keep playing. I'd say that's pretty likely. Still, if ToR shut off development today, I'd play through those stories and then be done. They're fun. I hope Blizzard improves on the class story idea in their next MMO. I think they could do a great job with it as well.

Weekend Update

I'm feeling a Weekend Update style post today. Unusual for me, I know, but I've got some more random thoughts. My gaming time has been limited as I work hard to get some new fiction releases out over at my author site, but I've been squeezing it in. Makes for a wonderful break after editing a couple chapters.

First off, Beta update. There is none. I didn't Beta at all over the weekend, despite auspicious plans to the contrary. I mean, I wanted to hang with Poneria, but just couldn't bring myself to log in. This is why generally in the past I've not signed up for betas. It's hard for me to get motivated to spend time on something that's going to be reset and then I'm going to have to do it all over again. It was great to log in, respec, spend some time on a dummy. Also wonderful to check out the new character creation options for pandas, but after that... I don't think I really want to level or do anything of substance. Part of the joy of a fresh expansion is experiencing that new content for the first time. Do I want to ruin that?

So I'm not sure if I'll get back into the beta. I may want to muck around with the Demo rotation a bit, just to see what I think. I may just try to travel to one of the new areas just to see how to get there (but not start questing). I could always transfer over my DK and give PvP a shot, too.

One good take-away, sort of on the heels of what I posted about the Affliction rotation last week: the new rotation apparently made an impression on me. I logged in Friday night to raid in non-beta WoW and felt a bit sad that I didn't have the new setup. I was back to clunky old Catalocky. I didn't spend all that much time with the new rotation, but already it felt smoother than what we've been stuck with for the last year or so. That's a good sign of things to come, I think. Stokes my excitement, which is a good thing. I would love to feel reinvigorated on my 'lock in MoP.

In other, sorta-beta, news: I have not beta'ed Diablo III. Was that sign-up automatic with the year pass, too? If not, then I didn't sign up. Still, one of my buddies at work got into the beta. He played it with his main squeeze, co-op style, last weekend. Had a lot of good things to report. Since Fuu has somewhat fallen off the MMO horse, a solid co-op may be just what the doctor ordered. As such, I'm really looking forward to the game (even though it wasn't a deciding factor for choosing the year pass... sort of like "why not?"). Unexpected good surprises are, um, unexpectedly good?

That meme probable needs to die, doesn't it?

Finally, I'll touch on TOR. My activity there mostly amounts to PvP'ing. I snagged Battlemaster this weekend, which is something of an achievement, though I fear it doesn't mean as much now. Still, I continue to enjoy the PvP side of TOR. Something of a surprise to me, post 1.2 patch, is a renewed interest in alts. With the addition of the Legacy system, I find myself more inclined to progress the other classes to level 30 in order to add them to my family tree and get the perks. In particular, I love the idea that my buff gets enhanced by each different classed level 30 toon. It's provided an unanticipated bout of altitis, something I don't normally suffer from.

We'll see how long it lasts once DIII drops. I could see that eating up a lot of time if my wife is amenable. The couple that plays together, stays together, right? Or, I could adopt a more Lannister-esque approach: The things I do for love.

/push

#SWTOR - Yes, They Did.

One of the biggest 1.2 timesinks for me from this last weekend was the time-honored tradition of UI finagling. With all the Legacy changes, PvP changes, and now the Rakghoul World Event... I think the UI changes got a bit glossed over. At least in coverage I've read, they did.

I wanted to make sure we all remembered that changes were made. Yeah, pretty much everything is customizable now. A personal favorite of mine is the check-box that lets you move any pop up window around. So. Nice.

I probably spent a good hour just moving stuff around. I had to fiddle with the drop down to get the nice colored boxes to show me what I wanted. My basic strategy was to make everything smaller (on my screen it was just all too huge), and then consolidate along the edges to maximize center viewing space. It turned out pretty nice (I didn't take a screenie, sorry).

The real perk came when I flipped over to my Trooper. I was almost disheartened when the old UI greeted me. Despair from the thought of having to redo all the work I'd done to get my Shadow just-so was threatening to overwhelm me, when a thought raced across my mind.

"No, they couldn't have."

"They should if they haven't."

"They DID!"

Yeah, my saved UI from my main toon was available on my alt. I simply selected it, hit "load," and everything snapped right to where it should be.

I know it seems like such a simple thing, but that made my night. I got right back to playing. I love it when things are simple.

#SWTOR - Patch Thoughts and A Small Rant

This is not about the MoP beta invite I just received in my mail. The title may have given as much away. Still, I wanted to note that beta thoughts are probably inc next week, as I'm downloading the beta at home right now. Actually, it's probably done, but I'm stuck at work.

Instead, because when it rains it pours, I wanted to talk about the other game that had big recent news. TOR's 1.2 patch was just released, and it's really the first major content patch we've seen. A whole bunch of functionality was added and, quite frankly, if you've made it this far into the article, you're probably aware of many of the changes. There's legacy, new PvP stuff, new PvE stuff, new guild stuff... something for everyone really. And, of course, the controversial free game time.

Here's where the "small rant" is going to come in. I had to force my fingers past "controversial free game time," because honestly, is this what we've come to? I hate to use the "trophies for everyone" analogy (it's so over-played), but why does it seem like every time someone gets something, the Internet weeps blood for all the folks that did not get something. Life is unfair. Deal with it. Sometimes people get things that you do not. It happens. Every. Day.

Let me clarify, I'm totally cool and respectful of well-formed opinions. For the folks that are complaining but then offering constructive advice like "what if, instead of basing 30 days free on having a level 50, they base it on accumulated time played. Say, for everyone over a month in-game time." Or something like that. I've seen some constructive shit. That's good times. That's solid discussion. You're not just being a whiner. You're applying brain.

For the folks that insist on perpetrating the logical fallacy of "if someone calls someone loyal, that means everyone else is disloyal," I reserve my most warlocky Glare of Ire. Raised eyebrow at no extra soulcharge (like surcharge... get it?). But seriously, the Internet needs to get over this particular fantasy. In fact, people in general do. (Politicos use it all the flippin' time.) Someone saying something positive about one thing does not inherently mean everything else is negative. There's this whole middle ground where SHIT IS NEUTRAL. Yes, you can have neutral feelings about things.

For instance, I can say: Yeah, Stop at Stoppable Force is an awesome writer (and I wish he wrote more)... and that doesn't mean I think Psynister sucks (and should write less). (In fact, I think Psy took a rather mature approach to his criticism of Bdubs, but that's beside the point.) (Can you do a parenthetical bumped up against another parenthetical?) Asides aside, the point here is that it is completely possible to feel positive toward one group of people without feeling the exact opposite toward another group of people. Calling someone loyal is not calling everyone else disloyal, no matter how much we may wish to perceive the slight. Yeah, it sucks not to get free game time. It's probably even unfair. That's life. If it pisses you off enough, vote with your dollar and leave.

Was that a small rant? Maybe medium-sized, I don't know. The more positive (less-ranty) point I'd like all and sundry to take home is that we should take care in our negative criticisms. We don't want to let jealousy of nice things to color us so green that we advocate no one getting nice things ever just so we don't have to feel jealous. I guess I'm saying that I'd rather buff everyone to "haves" than nerf everyone to "have nots," but you probably have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. The Internet would do well to keep that frame of mind in the headlights while they're speeding full-on to a nerd rage.

/steps down from soap box

Other than that, I found the patch to be pretty awesome. I had the usual amount of information overload when I logged in. Stared blankly at the screen before spending far too much time tweaking my UI. My respec was relatively fast, as I didn't detect any glaring chances for the Balance Shadow (if I missed something huge, feel free to slam me with your nerd rage racer). I even got to play the new Warzone. I was berated as being AFK when I stood there for the first ten seconds, drooling on myself because: "hey, this is new, and there's a cut scene." But otherwise it was pleasant. Went 3 for 3 on the Rep side, always a good night.

I'm going to have to re-figure my gearing strategy, as currency and such has changed slightly. It looks like it's been simplified a bit, as you just have to have the Battlemaster gear before snagging the War Hero gear (they each require the previous piece as currency). Monday, hopefully we'll be able to get our little group together and check out some of the PvE stuff.

So apart from my "get off my lawn" irritability, patch day and post-patch day have been pretty fun for me. Just wish I had more time. How about you?

#SWTOR - Flashpoint Confusion

Okay, I know the rest of you have been running flashpoints since day one, but our guild just finally got our act together and organized something. We've been pretty casual along the way, just because most of us have a lot going on outside of gaming, but we knew we wanted to play together. Waiting has its perks, too. A lot of the bugs should be fixed by the time we get around to things.

All that being said, we found ourselves pretty clueless last night. The SWTOR heroic modes seem a bit confusing. How do you turn on HM's? Which flashpoints actually have an HM? Do you have to run something first before being able to turn on the HM?

All of these answers are pretty readily available with a bit of Google searching. I think we sort of know what we're doing now, but it was a pain to have to go searching. Why couldn't this information be easily accessible in the game? We have a codex. Is it in there and we just couldn't find it?

And where is the HM switch? We randomly chose to do Red Reaper. Does that one have a HM? Some of us had never run it, so we did normal mode first. After that... ???

What I think is supposed to happen is that after you've unlocked the HM, the option appears under the right click menu of your portrait allowing you to switch on HM. Why can't it just be there all the time, but grayed out. Then, on mouse-over it could tell you: 1. No HM available or 2. HM locked until you do it on normal mode. Put the info right there. I don't remember all the things I've done/not done.

Am I just missing the easy button, or could the UI really use some help in this area? What do those of you who are, by now, familiar with HM's think?

The FP itself was fine. Fun, reasonably quick. There were a few tricky mechanic fights at the end. It was good to see it on NM first.

Tonight or next week we'll probably head out to Ilum for the level 50 NM FPs. Finding the entrance to some of these is a bit confusing, too. Which ones are on the fleet? Which aren't? I guess I wish there were a simple list on the codex with locations and modes available. Sort of like what they have for Ops (the lockout list). Why not?

In the absence of a dungeon finder, I'd at least like a clear list. Is that too much to ask?

(Edit: Got this great link in comments. Pretty much exactly what I needed. Awesome graphic! Thanks to Mythbusting for the link.)

#SWTOR - Stung

My brain is still trying to catch up with Daylight Savings Time. Springing ahead is always the worst of the two temporal tweaks for me. Thus, today you get a picture post. Yay, shiny.

I'd been on a vehicle hunt for a while in TOR. I've been PvP'ing my little heart out, and the nice thing about completing the stable of PvP quests is that you slowly accumulate credits. I've amassed a decent amount (~1.5 million) and wanted a new speeder. Something different than the Aratech Scythe that everyone has (because it's easy to snag on the Fleet). Torhead is pretty useful, so I simply began browsing the vehicle section, looking for a 110% mount that I like. I'm not big on the huge hovercraft, and wanted more of an old school speeder look. And by "old school," I mean futuristic look, since Return of the Jedi takes place in the galactic future.

The Lhosan speeders fit the bill pretty nicely. So I focused on what they had to offer, settling on the Stinger almost immediately. It's aptly named, as you'll see, and at under 100k creds... a complete steal. Here's a pic with me on the planet of purchase, Voss:

A rather pretty picture, if I do say so myself.

#SWTOR - The Man In The Mirror

I have a quick question for you TOR players out there: Are our mirrors more powerful? AT least with certain spells? The classes are supposed to be mirrors, but do the abilities scale exactly the same?

Here's the background. My wife and I have recently rolled toons on the Imperial side to play with a friend. Both of us ended up rolling classes we'd already played on the Rep side. I suppose we wanted something familiar amidst the unfamiliar, or maybe a chance to check out the other Advanced Class. Whatever the case, the early levels have pretty much the same progression, ability-wise. One would expect as much from a supposed mirror.

Yet, I can't help but feel like the man in the mirror is a bit better looking, a bit stronger, more muscular. His powers are just a bit more, um, electric. Perhaps it's simply the animations. Lighting beats rock any way you throw it, at least in terms of badassery. I don't think you'll find much argument if you were to claim that the Republic got the short end of the stick from the Cool Animations department at Bioware. I'm not sure how much it could be helped though, as you would expect the Dark Side to be flashier, more powerful looking. But for the sake of game balance, it should be purely cosmetic, right?

It doesn't feel cosmetic. It feels more powerful. In my case, comparing an Inquisitor to a Consular, I focus on a very specific ability. Force Lightning vs Telekinetic Throw. When I'm PvP'ing, I get Force Lightning'ed all the time. Seems like those pesky Sorcerers are constantly playing Palpatine on me. And my Telekinetic Throw is no Yoda or Mace Windu. Is it just me?

Perhaps, as a Balance Shadow, I'm just not specced into the right AC. Maybe as a Sage it would feel more powerful. That probably has something to do with. As I work through the early levels of an Inquisitor, though, I feel a lot more powerful shocking things than I ever did throwing rocks.

Well, that's not true. Project feels more powerful than Shock, though the damage/stun from Shock is instant. You have to wait for the animation with Project.

It's probably all just perception. If I were to spec Sage, I'd likely find Telekinetic Throw just as powerful. Still, I can't help but wonder if some abilities are better for my mirror than they are for me. It certainly add another layer of intrigue, wouldn't it?

#SWTOR - Jedi Shadow Balance Primer

Some might call this a "guide," but I prefer the term "primer." I don't really want to tell you how to play, or say that this is the only way to play. The point is to share what I've discovered through research and playing that should get you in the ballpark. I definitely reserve the right to be wrong, or learn more in the future, but for now, this is what I've rounded up on the Shadow Balance Build.

The Strengths

• Versatile Range
• Challenging Rotation (lots of buttons to press!)
• A great ranged AoE attack
• A sweet 2 second ranged root (awesome in PvP)
• Solid self-healing abilities

The Spec
I made a post about my spec a little while ago. I'm mostly going to copy that into here to make this a one stop shop. I have no idea if it's "right" for any one particular facet of the game, but it has served me and my chosen play style very well. I rolled a Consular with the intention of going Shadow Balance. It was advertised as a sort of hybrid melee/range, battlemage-type playstyle. Oh, and it had DoTs. Perfect for me.

The spec I worked out has (I believe) the following focuses: damage dealing, DoTs, self-healing, and force powers. Basically, every talent in the balance tree works toward those goals enough that I didn't angst-out along the way. Then, I picked up a few in the Kinetic Combat tree that seemed to help the abilities I was using more of at that point.

I ended up with a 10/0/31 spec. Here's a screenie of it:

The two talents I chose not to take in the Balance tree were Pinning Resolve and Mind Ward. The first adds an additional force lift target and reduces force stun. The second decreases the damage you take from DoTs. Since this was primarily a damage dealing spec, it wasn't hard to pass on Mind Ward. As for the CC's, I was happy picking up the instant cast lift later and just having to tread lightly around one target.

In the Kinetic Combat tree I took Technique Mastery for the obvious damage improvement. Applied Force was also a good choice, as I use Double Strike a lot. Expertise was easy (a straight damage buff), which left me a bit of a decision with the last two points. I could have probably gone with something defensive (such as the straight endurance buff), but instead I opted to take Elusiveness, primarily for the drop to Force Speed. Even when not in combat, I like to spam that button, so it seemed like a talent that I'd get a lot of use out of, even if it wasn't a damage buff.

I opted not to go with any of the Infiltration talents because I didn't see them as being very useful for me. I don't use Shadow Strike a lot. I've never like backstab abilities. They're great when you know for sure that you're going to be able to move behind a target, but in PvP and in a lot of the pulls (even with bosses), I felt like I ended up tanking a lot, even if it was just adds. The other abilities didn't seem to buff damage all that much. Some lower cooldowns and others are defensive, but not seemed exciting. (Except for Misdirection. The speed boost was enticing, but not having to lock in first tier crap).

The Rotation
I s till cling to the term "rotation." I don't know why. Nothing about my balance play is really cyclical. It just seems smoother than "priority system." Rotation sounds like it takes skill. Priority system sounds more like something you program into an android. And androids don't poop, and should be destroyed.

I find myself using a different pattern of skills depending on the situation. For a group with all normal enemies (non-elites), I'm likely to lead off with a Force in Balance, follow up with a Whirling Blow, and then finish off single enemies with a combination of Spinning Strike, Project, or Double Strike (when SpSt is on cooldown).

For a group with, say, an elite and a non-elite, I will often Mind Maze the elite, and then single target the non. I generally lead off with a Project, then stun, Tumult, and finish with a SpSt. Then, I'll work behind the controlled target, use Shadow Strike to break the stun, and continue with a Project, Force Breach, and FiB. Then, I generally alternate Double Strike and the standard attack, watching my cooldowns. If I crit in melee, I'll get a free, instant Mind Crush, and I'll throw that. I try to use Project and FiB every time they're off CD. Then, as soon as the target drops below 30% health, I'll weave in as many Spinning Strikes as I can.

In PvP, I almost always open up from range, throwing out a FiB and then using Sever Force to root my target as I run in. Once I get in 10m range, I'll start dancing in and out, using Project and Force Breach, weaving Double Strikes and finishing with a Spinning Strike. If getting in melee proves difficult, that's when I use Telekinetic Throw to great effect. I also try to buff it to 40m and use it at range. Really, as balance spec, you have a ton of utility and can keep pressure up from any distance. I've found it a lot of fun.

Tumult, Spinning Strike, and Shadow Strike all seem to hit hard, but they need a certain setup (and Tumult you can't use in PvP). FiB hits hard, but sometimes you have to be careful about AoE, and I find it somewhat cumbersome to point and click with the mouse. I sort of wish I could just click it twice and have it center on me automatically.

If I were to list a rough order that I typically use, it would go something like this (keep in mind, I'm generally PvP'ing most of the time now):

1. Force in Balance
2. Sever Force
3. Project
4. Force Breach
5. Double Strike
6. Spinning Strike (whenever low enough)
7. Mind Crush (if free)
8. Telekinetic Throw (with force potency)
9. Whirling Blow (to get people off objectives)
10. Force Stun and other CC (Force lift or slow) as needed (follow up with a Tumult if in PvE)
11. When all else fails: Saber Strike

I also use Force Speed. A lot. Even when doing nothing. Seriously, it has speed in it. Literally.

The Stats
I've done a limited amount of research, and the priority hardly seems clear. Still, there are some easy ones. Willpower, for instance, is hands down our best stat. Also, for PvP, Expertise is the bee's knees. And Endurance is never a bad stat, though it pretty much just naturally comes on all gear. After that it gets a bit foggy.

Crit and Surge are solid choices for a Balance Shadow, but they just nerfed Surge. Power is good, since we use a lot of force. Same with Force Power. I'm not so sure about Accuracy. Our force powers hit 100% pretty much by default, and that's pretty much everything. Still, over 100% is suppose to increase your effectiveness, though I don't think it's enough to warrant a whole lot of thought. As such, my priority looks like this:

Willpower >> Crit,Power,FP > Surge >> Accuracy

Wrap Up
That's it for this primer. I hope it gets you in the ballpark. I'm having a blasty on my balance shadow, and simply love the play style. In fact, I'm off to go play (probably huttball) right now.

As always, tips and feedback are most welcome.

Rollercoaster! ...of Noob

You've got The Ohio Players playing right now in your head, don't you? Or perhaps the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Song's gon' be stuck in your head allllll day.

Your noob is like a rollercoaster baby, baby. I wanna ride.

Seriously though, being a noob again in SW:TOR reminds me how many ups and downs there are early in a game. Everything from the content, to the stats, to the general chat is completely variable. Lately, the track that I've been most concerned with is the playstyle coaster.

I've done my research. I think I understand my class. I think my spec is solid. I'm pretty sure I'm pushing the right buttons. But the results I get seem to vary widely on any given night.

Some nights, I feel like a complete badass. I'm spinning my saber around, decapitating players and npc's alike with impunity. I am... The Galaxy's Most Interesting Jedi.

Other nights, I'm tissue paper. I'm a red shirt in Star Trek pretending to be a Jedi (in Star Wars). I'm a hamster in a wheel. My health bar seems to have sprung a leak, and my lightsaber is shorting out. My inability to cause damage is only eclipsed by the massive damage others are inflicting on me.

The crappy nights inevitably send me to the interwebs. I scamper around trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. And quickly I realize...

There is no Elitist Jerks forum. At least not yet. Torhead doesn't have years of comments to browse. Every piece of info I can find is contradicted immediately somewhere else. I look for a simulation for my class... is there even a simulator?

TOR is a new game. WoW is old. The information available on each is far different. After a lot of browsing, I'm pretty confident again. I'm stacking the right stats and pressing the right buttons. Just must have been an off night. I guess that explains the terrible clanking: the lift chain is bringing me up to the next peak.

Developing a Routine

Being a casual gamer and an Extreme Creature of Habit, developing a routine is paramount to my gaming enjoyment at level cap. Dailies are something to be reveled in, at least for a few months (obviously, they do become stale after a while). Somewhere around an hour is my desired time limit. I want to be able to log in, run through an expected series of activities, and have the choice to log out, finished, after 60 minutes. I suspect I'm not alone in this aim.

Sure, I may stay on and do other things, but that just depends on the night. The purpose of the routine is to form a base of activity that assures you're "getting somewhere." Given long enough, you'll achieve your goals, and maybe adapt, add/subtract from the queue, whatever. Some of my initial consternation with max level TOR was that I had no idea what my routine was. After some light research and play-testing, I've settled into it. Here's how it looks:

• Log in, fly to planet, pick up dailies. Currently this is in Ilum, but I may try out some Belsavis ones once I get bored.
• Queue for solo Warzones.
• Complete dailies as quick as possible. After completing last daily, call a shuttle to one of the hubs for turn-in, take a speeder to the other.
• Accept Warzone queue when it pops, keep re-queuing until I get my three wins (or my hour is up).
• Generally, this is as far as I make it, but if I get really lucky with the Warzones, then I'll head out to the open PvP area to see what's up, maybe snag a few armaments/kills.
• Fleet Pass to turn in PvP dailies/weeklies (if I completed any). Log out here so I can re-pick them up tomorrow, otherwise log out on the ship (faster for loading).

This actually works pretty well, though if I'm being strict about the hour, it usually takes me several days to finish the PvP stuff. I'm Republic, and, well, that says what you need to know I think. As a proud Alliance member in WoW, being the perpetual underdog is a feeling I'm used to.

Speaking of WoW, my routine there was pretty much the same, though I usually had to choose between dailies or BG's, since my PvE and PvP toons were separate. I like that there are several dailies and weeklies for PvP in TOR. Before WoW let you continue to get Conquest Points, when I would win my first BG, I used to go: "now what?"

Anyway, how about you, dear reader? Do you shoot for a routine? How long is it? What activities are you including/excluding?

#SWTOR - Shadow Balance Spec

Now that I've been 50 for a little over a week, I wanted to publish the spec I've been running with. I have no idea if it's "right" for any one particular facet of the game, but it has served me and my chosen play style very well. I rolled a Consular with the intention of going Shadow Balance. It was advertised as a sort of hybrid melee/range, battlemage-type playstyle. Oh, and it had DoTs. Perfect for me.

The spec I worked out has (I believe) the following focuses: damage dealing, DoTs, self-healing, and force powers. Basically, every talent in the balance tree works toward those goals enough that I didn't angst-out along the way. Then I picked up a few in the Kinetic Combat tree that seemed to help the abilities I was using more of at that point.

I ended up with a 10/0/31 spec. Here's a screenie of it:

The two talents I chose not to take in the Balance tree were Pinning Resolve and Mind Ward. The first adds an additional force lift target and reduces force stun. The second decreases the damage you take from DoTs. Since this was primarily a damage dealing spec, it wasn't hard to pass on Mind Ward. As for the CC's, I was happy picking up the instant cast lift later and just having to tread lightly around one target.

In the Kinetic Combat tree I took Technique Mastery for the obvious damage improvement. Applied Force was also a good choice, as I use Double Strike a lot. Expertise was easy (a straight damage buff), which left me a bit of a decision with the last two points. I could have probably gone with something defensive (such as the straight endurance buff), but instead I opted to take Elusiveness, primarily for the drop to Force Speed. Even when not in combat, I like to spam that button, so it seemed like a talent that I'd get a lot of use out of, even if it wasn't a damage buff.

I opted not to go with any of the Infiltration talents because I didn't see them as being very useful for me. I don't use Shadow Strike a lot. I've never like backstab abilities. They're great when you know for sure that you're going to be able to move behind a target, but in PvP and in a lot of the pulls (even with bosses), I felt like I ended up tanking a lot, even if it was just adds. The other abilities didn't seem to buff damage all that much. Some lower cooldowns and others are defensive, but not seemed exciting. (Except for Misdirection. The speed boost was enticing, but not having to lock in first tier crap).

I feel pretty potent and hardy with this build. I also feel like I don't have whole lot of weaknesses. I can do powerful things at range. I can hold my own close up. All in all, I feel like this is a solid build. Anyone out there with thoughts otherwise? In support of? Feel encouraged to let me know.

#SWTOR - Life at 50

I was a bit apprehensive at hitting 50 last week. One of the dangers of getting in on the ground floor of any MMO is the potentially shoddy state of the end-game. Sometimes it takes a while for games to figure out the gaming identity of their core playerbase (if they ever do) and design an end-game that can keep them around. Already, some have decried TOR's lack of end-game, so it was with mixed feelings that I capped.

I've really, really enjoyed the leveling experience. I'm a sucker for story, it's my gamer type, and if there is one thing even the critics agree with, it's that TOR does story well, even if it flubs in other important MMO categories. With reservations about the end-game rampant, why would I really want to end the leveling experience? Yet, I really want to see the end of my class story. There's a certain satisfaction to finishing the leveling game.

A side benefit is that, upon reaching a plateau, it's a lot easier to work on your character. As you're leveling, the tendency is to not get too comfortable with any one piece of gear, any one way of playing, because next level it can all change. Also, generally you're credit-starved (training is expensive!), so I rarely get into the more expensive minutia.

I'm looking forward to deciding what I want my max-level toon to look like. I believe the way it works is that, because of mods, you can pretty much find orange items that you like the look of and mod them up to be max-level viable. This is almost as good as transmogging (and out-of-the-box, I might add, not years later). Tweaking the look of your character is a great max-level activity that I'm looking forward to.

When I capped, I was not finished with Corellia yet. Rumor has it there are still some quests on Ilum. Plus, there is a bunch I haven't done. We pretty much ignored flashpoints, and capping unlocks the hard modes of those, so once we get some more max level folks in our guild, we can all go back together and I can see these as well. I realize I'm experiencing some of the content out of order here, but I guess my point is that, fresh at 50, I still feel like there's a whole bunch of content to explore.

How long that'll last? We'll see. Even if it's only a month or so, I think I'd still like to level my lowbie trooper the rest of the way too. TOR gives a story-gamer like me the incentive to roll alts that was never there for me in WoW. It's even a bit of a challenge as I try to skip as many of the non-class quests as possible, so I'm routinely under leveled for each planet (a far cry from my typical over leveling on first pass).

I guess my point is that a casual gamer like me has plenty of content to stay busy. I've been playing for probably what averages out to a couple hours each night, every day of the week (a solid casual schedule, if you ask me); I needn't have been so nervous. There's plenty to keep me around, though I may scale back the time I've been spending (take a few nights off for other pursuits) now that I'm max level. Such is the life of a casual gamer. Plus, I'm still only about half-way through AC:Revelations. I'm sure that game would appreciate more of my attentions. So many Templar, so little time (and another great story I might add).

Here's a question for other 50 TOR'ers: what are/were the first things you focused on at max level? What have you found to be the most fun?

#SWTOR - Ding, 50.

Nothing of substance to see here today. I'm celebrating hitting 50 last night on SWTOR. I'll discuss my spec sometime next week. Until then - and following old "screenshot or it didn't happen" adage - here are a few fun pics:

The moment, or just thereafter.

Corellia's skyline. Pretty, and the last place I gained experience points (for now, on this toon).

Another view, along with a random billboard that I found striking.

Our giant rabbit, looking very satisfied with himself.

Brain Leftovers

I've been really struggling to hash out content here on KeS, as evidenced by the lone post last week. Unless I'm on vacation, I've almost never posted so little. I've made a three post per week commitment to myself, and generally the problem is lack of time, not lack of ideas. As Cataclysm wanes, however, (and SWTOR starts) I find myself paralyzed by indecision. I feel a bit like the frogs in Frogger must feel right before hurling myself into oncoming traffic.

Okay, I'm not sure if that's an apt analogy, but we're pro-Frogger references here on the blog, and I wanted to have an excuse to go on record with that. It is primary season and all that stuff. Important issues are important.

Today, I'm going to touch on some disjointed ideas that, alone, I felt failed to merit their own post. They also may explain a bit why content has been hard for me. These ideas are ill-formed simply because there doesn't seem to be a lot to say. Still, it makes a good ADD Monday post, so here we go:

In WoW...

I'm wracking my brain... I'm pretty sure nothing at all happened for Affliction Warlocks since Cataclysm hit. We've really had no major changes, and nothing much to talk about. My playstyle has remained consistent, my spec and stats pretty solid, and damage competitive. Other 'lock bloggers probably feel me here: we've basically been given NOTHING to talk about this entire expansion. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I feel like Warlocks are in a good spot. Changes can be a mixed blessing even in the best of circumstances. Topics like: Shadowbolts, now with +10 cool, do not a full post make.

Frost DKs haven't been much crazier. There may have been a few more breadcrumbs on the DK side, but for a Frost PvP'er, I've not changed a whole lot. No posts here.

My casual raid schedule can't keep up with "easymode" raiding. Everyone seems to be blowing through content. We raid once a week, and even that's been a struggle for us the last few months. The result is that I'm just seeing bosses that everyone else is "over" months ago. I think before in ICC and such, it wasn't so drastic. Part of that is us, part of that is the game. Like my feelings about my 'lock... it is what it is.

While we're on that note, I may as well hit on the hot topic du jour: the upcoming raid nerfs. My stance is the same as it has been with every nerf this expansion (and obviously Blizz hasn't listened). Every time they do this, people complain. Every time, I think they could have avoided complaints by simply making the nerfs somehow toggle-able. I loved the ICC buff. I thought it was a great idea that didn't go abuse "one size fits all" development practices. There can be some downsides to it, but I guess I just feel that choice > no choice any day of the week. But this is nothing new to this set of bosses. They've set the course. It's tough to feel surprised or upset when they stay it.

Finally, on the WoW side, there's simply not as much content to talk about. We were promised smaller, quicker patches, and we got those. The problem is, we still got the same number of them. So we just got a smaller, quicker expansion. The end result is that it doesn't feel as epic, the story feels rushed, and the content thin. Is this a surprise to anyone? I still think that Blizz could make "smaller and quicker" work, but they'd have to do it by altering the practice of releasing an entire tier per patch. I'm not sure that this isn't based more on my own personal quirkiness. I would enjoy smaller slices of story, more quickly, that added up to a good big picture. Others that play more heavily might simply get bored faster. Consider this also ill-formed.

In short, I'm willing to see what Blizz has in store for Pandaria, but like many long time WoWers, they're on a bit of thin ice with me. I think most people would agree that Blizz needs to step up the game for Pandaria. A lot of us are willing to weather a sub-par expansion (and, to be fair, they weren't completely phoning it in... there were some good parts).

Shifting gears to SWTOR....

I'm almost to 50. I plan to do a spec post then. I should also be able to chat about one of the big topics of: "what then?" Until then, Fuu and I are simply duo'ing the game. It's fun and I love the stories. This is nothing new.

I'm also completely willing to be patient. I feel like the minority in this regard. I understand why: a lot of folks need to make the decision of what to pay for when this first free month runs out. Thus, they are really judging TOR with a fine-tooth comb to decide if it's worth their money. Call it responsible spending. I don't begrudge this of others. And, for my part, I don't really want to throw fuel on the flames of a game I'd really like to see succeed. I liked the sentiment expressed by Scary Worlds the other day: even if you don't like TOR, general gamers should hope for the game to succeed since, if Bioware can't make money on the Star Wars IP, what chance does anyone else have of creating a the "next" big MMO?

I, on the other hand, am pretty much an unabashed fanboy when it comes to Star Wars. So long as the game was moderately solid, I was going to like it, and they certainly delivered a moderately solid game. I have some complaints, but none that I'm up in arms about. There are a collection of minor things here and there, and I have confidence that they'll get around to fixing them eventually. Also, I suppose I've not experienced enough yet to really form proper opinions. And I'm not in a hurry. Messing around with lightsabers can keep me entertained for hours, and I find it worth my money.

Sealing the Tupperware...

So, basically, all of my posts would be boiled down to: I see where others are coming from but don't feel strongly myself. Which makes for very boring writing. A side note, one I haven't really mentioned on here, is that Fuu has had some health issues lately. It was scary for a bit, but doctors are no longer of the opinion that there is anything potentially life threatening. Still, such a scare tends to put things into perspective. Maybe I've just found it hard to write because I'm emotionally occupied elsewhere.

In any case, I guess I wanted to get all these brain leftovers out there. I'm still around. Still playing. And if my posting seems less frequent, it's simply because I don't want to bore you guys. Rest assured that I'll be watching the wires for my usual fare. If Blizz comes out with some major Affliction Warlock change tomorrow, I'll be writing about it. Once we get things ironed out with Fuu, I should have more emotion to spare for fiction and such, too. It's something I want to get back into, but I'm not going to force it either.

I suppose the best way to wrap up these disjointed musings is to offer gratitude for the folks still lurking around these parts. I appreciate my readers all the more when the going gets rough at home. I mean, I threw one raiding article up last week and got great responses on it. This is a great community to be a part of. And if you guys notice something I'm missing, feel free to shoot me and email and I can get on it. I'm certainly not above accepting writing prompts. 

#SWTOR - Balance Shadow Rotation

I still cling to the term "rotation." I don't know why. Nothing about my Shadow play is really cyclical. It just seems smoother than "priority system." Rotation sounds like it takes skill. Priority system sounds more like something you program into an android. And androids don't poop, and should be destroyed.

Anyway, I'm a bit over halfway to cap on my Shadow, and I'm feel like I'm finally starting to get comfortable with the rotation, as it were. I really enjoy the playstyle, and it's exactly what I expected. I chose Balance because I wanted a character that could mix it up close range, but not be useless further away. The Balance playstyle provides a good balance (derp) between the two. I have some strong ranged attacks, and I have strong melee attacks.

At level 39, I believe I've gotten most of the major abilities. If I were to prioritize what seems to be my hardest hitting abilities, it would go something like this:

1. Spinning Strike
2. Tumult
3. Shadow Strike
4. Force in Balance (AoE)
5. Project
6. Double Strike
7. Whirling Blow (AoE)
8. Telekinetic Throw (Channeled)
9. Mind Crush (DoT)
10. Force Breach (DoT)

Mind you, I'm ranking only based on "hardest hitting single target in an instant." Bioware has said that in an effort to make combat feel more epic, they've tried to make it where you're almost always facing multiple assailants. Even most bosses usually have some sort of ancillary target. I think, therefore, that the design favors burst damage quite a bit.

Even so, DoTs are useful to the Balance Shadow. They provide a measure of healing, and will do significant damage in longer living targets. Thus, just because they're at the bottom, doesn't mean they're not useful.

I find myself using a different pattern of skills depending on the situation. For a group with all normal enemies (non-elites), I'm likely to lead off with a FiB, follow up with a Whirling Blow, and then finish off single enemies with a combination of Spinning Strike, Project, or Double Strike (when SpSt is on cooldown).

For a group with, say, an elite and a non-elite, I will often Mind Maze the elite, and then single target the non. I generally lead off with a Project, then stun, Tumult, and finish with a SpSt. Then, I'll work behind the controlled target, use Shadow Strike to break the stun, and continue with a Project, Force Breach, and FiB. Then, I generally alternate Double Strike and the standard attack, watching my cooldowns. If I crit in melee, I'll get a free, instant Mind Crush, and I'll throw that. I try to use Project and FiB every time they're off CD. Then, as soon as the target drops below 30% health, I'll weave in as many Spinning Strikes as I can.

I find myself rarely using Telekinetic Throw. Unless something is at range, or I'm trying to kite, my fingers are usually finding other keys first. I like to keep Force Breach rolling, which basically means casting it whenever it's off CD. Mind Crush I only use when I get instant pops. If I find myself behind the target, I'll use Shadow Strike when I can.

Tumult, Spinning Strike, and Shadow Strike all seem to hit hard, but they need a certain setup. FiB hits hard, but sometimes you have to be careful about AoE, and I find it somewhat cumbersome to point and click with the mouse. I sort of wish I could just click it twice and have it center on me automatically.

Right now, I'm stacking Willpower, Crit, Surge, and Accuracy as my four major stats. Willpower is the primary, Crit secondary. Surge helps Crit, and I'm just getting to the point where I'm seeing it and Accuracy on gear. Accuracy means I won't miss, though without much of it I'm sitting at 90% melee and 100% force abilities. I'm not sure how. Going over 100% doesn't hurt, though, as it will cause the abilities to ignore some armor. So generally I'm prioritizing thus: Willpower > Crit > Surge > Accuracy. Though I think I'm going to try to get my melee accuracy closer to 100% (putting it above Surge in the interim).

This is how I'm playing my Shadow. It may not be right. I've not done a whole lot of research. It's just what feels effective to me. Feel free to point me to any articles that you think tell how to do it "better" or anything like that. I'm always willing to learn. Or, if this helps you but you have a question or two, feel free to leave that in comments as well. I'll try to answer as best I can.

Story Fans vs Game Fans

It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that initial reactions to SW:TOR can be sorted into two camps: those who want to experience a good story, and those who want to play a good game. Now, I'm not saying the reactions are black and white - more of a slide scale really - but that where story falls on an individuals' priority scale is a good indication of how they're going to feel about the game.

There are a whole lot of parts to any video game, but if we're taking a huge, convenient meat cleaver, we could cut them down the middle and have "game items" on one side and "story artifacts" on the other. Most of the time, it's pretty obvious what goes where. Talent trees? Game stuff. Conversation options? Story ingredients. It gets murkier when you dive in deep, but let's keep things simple for the sake of this article. Two camps. Sliding scale of importance to the gamer.

For some gamers, a lack of innovation in button pressing is totally a - excuse the phrase - game-breaker. For others (present writer included), the nostalgia-inducing controls are more comforting than upsetting. It sort of lets us get the "game" stuff out of the way and focus on the unique aspects of the story and world.

This isn't to say that one is more important that the other. It's completely personal opinion. In fact, in that spirit, I want to like a recent article from Gordon at We Fly Spitfires. He's explaining his views on the staying power of the new game, and I think he does a great job of laying out his concerns... I just don't agree.

Well, that's not entirely true. I agree that there is a certain slice of gamers out there that will probably grow bored of TOR after several months. I think there are a good number of people that will find its not a flat out "revolution" in MMO gaming (and, let's be honest, it's not. It borrows a lot, and does a lot well, but it's not re-inventing the genre, though I do think it raised the bar significantly in some areas). But Gordon specifically states that he doesn't believe the game will earn its creators "stupid amounts of money," mostly citing lack of player retention as the reason.

To be fair, he's in good company with this opinion. I've seen it uttered - and well backed up - elsewhere. Yet, I feel like a most of those articles are only written from the point of view of a "gaming" gamer. I'm not ashamed to call myself more of a "story" gamer. I don't need or crave innovative controls or mechanics to deeply appreciate a game. I need one thing: a good ride. A solid story. Something to draw me away from reality for a bit and let me escape. And I think escapism is something TOR has in spades.

Having stuck with WoW for 5 years (and counting), it is not the revolutionary mechanical changes and improvements that keep me logging in. It's not really the story either. Rather, it's my feeling of investiture in my character and my guild; I don't want to abandon my warlock. I would argue that getting a gamer to invest in their character is the single biggest hurdle new games face when we're talking about retention, and that's something TOR does very, very well.

But, again, I'm biased. I'm totally willing to overlook a lot of the mechanical flaws. It's a great ride. I'm investing more with every hour logged in, with every cutscene, with every dialog option. I'm a Story Gamer. Gaming gamers are totally right to feel contrary. They prioritize differently.

Having made this case, I would extend my argument by asking how many folks do you think exist in each group? Are gaming gamers going to carry the day? Do story gamers represent a significant enough portion of the gaming world?

I think, personally, that there are more story gamers than gaming gamers these days. There are more people willing to forgive mechanics in the face of a story that pulls them in. And new gamers are being created daily by this new niche. WoW, when it came out, didn't just nab all of the existing gamers and call it a day. They went after new and untapped slices of humanity. They created a playerbase instead of just stealing one. They re-sized the meat pie and claimed the Lord's share. I can't help but think TOR is going to do a bit of the same. They have two trump cards: a great story and, yes, the Star Wars brand name.

Blizzard may be more recognizable to gamers, but Star Wars is more recognizable to pretty much everyone else. I have relatives who still have trouble finding a power button a computer, much less have considered any product from Blizzard. Yet, you better believe they've seen Star Wars. Or at least they're aware of it. How many Americans do you think exist out there that don't know what a lightsaber is? They may only be able to mumble something about "Luke Starhammer" or something, but I think it's pretty ubiquitous in the way only Hollywood culture can be. Will all of those people try out a Star Wars game? Hell no. But you better believe some of them will. Some that never considered trying World of Warcraft (though the table has undeniably been set by the mainstream success of WoW).

Still, I'm straying somewhat from the topic of retention. Even if new players are created and assimilated, will they stick around? Will there be anything for any of us to do in 3 months? A lot of that depends on BioWare and EA. They'll be hard pressed, I think, to keep up with the living behemoth that is a successful MMO. There will have to be content additions, and bug squashings, and server tweakings. But if they can, the money will pile up like snow on Hoth. If you have any doubts, just give George Lucas a call. I mean, Star Wars fans will pay for Jar Jar Binks (and complain about it, but pay we did). BioWare has to only do slightly better than freaking Jar Jar.

I guess I'm just saying: don't underestimate the power of the Dark Side.

Happy New Year Picture Post

The yeah ends today, and I've been pretty much silent all week due to SWTOR binging and having the week off of work. I took the week off from writing, read a couple books, and gamed. It was a much needed vacation.

As a consolation gift, I wanted to do a end of the year picture post today. I had a handful of screenshots saved up that I thought worth sharing... so here we go.

We'll start with the Skyrim shots. I finished the game right before Star Wars dropped, and took a couple pictures to commemorate where I decided my ending would be. I hit level 50, finished all of the various guilds, skipped the revolution (I didn't feel pulled to join either side, and you don't need to finish it for the main quest), and, at the end, crafted myself some dragon gear out of all the bones I'd collected. Here's a look at the final set (with my wife, Aela the Huntress, beside me in the heavy stuff):

I won't spoil the story, but here's a picture I took after finishing the main quest line. Anyone else think they were going to visit the Fortress of Solitude (not the city)? I expected Consuela to answer: "No, Mr. Superman no here. No. No."

On to Star Wars. I tried to pass along a picture of Coruscant earlier in the week, but it got moved or something. So I fixed that with a different picture. No fireworks in it, but still pretty cool.

My Jedi Shadow is sitting at level 31 in cantina right now, celebrating his own new year. Side note - how would you calculate age in the Star Wars Universe? Would it be your home planet, or is there some sort of galactic standard? Talk about jet lag... "Well, when we left it was next year, but we got in this year. I need a nap."

Besides unlocking the Legacy system (which does nothing but grant you a last name right now for all of your toons), I've recently been hanging around Tatooine. Notice the classic dual suns.

I looked around for a T16, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been invented yet. Womp rats, however, are most definitely there. And, yep, they don't look much bigger than 2 meters across.

That's all I've got for now! Have a wonderful New Year!

#SWTOR - Quick Tips

Well, the servers are supposed to be down for another... /checks clock, /does mental time conversation (why the hell do they list CST, GMT, and CET. Seems an odd smattering. I'm used to simply subtracting from PST, being on Eastern, but fortunately I live in Indiana (/sarcasm) where we have both the Eastern and Central timezones and all you have to do is drive NORTH to convert between them (up I65, which is really NW, but it's the principle of it). Yes, time zones get me somewhat worked up... wanna fight about it? /makes lightsaber noise.

ANNNYWAY, I think I have about a half hour before the servers are scheduled to come back up. Also, I've cleared out my reader, so you get a quickie article. Here's a collection of things I've learned on my way to level 25 that may be helpful:

• Found a pretty solid Shadow guide. I believe the link is a reproduction from the official forums, but I was blocked from the forums when I found it. If you know where it's from, feel free to post the link in comments so I can give proper credit. I wouldn't treat this as gospel (game is still pretty new), but it gives you a good idea of what you probably should be doing.
• There is already a "torhead" site and, yes, it has a talent calculator. Also information on your companions if you want to know.
• There is a button on the top of your minimap whenever you're in a flashpoint that allows you to teleport out. The first flashpoint we did (Hammer Station, I believe) had a convenient exit, but the next one (Athiss, I think) we ran halfway back before finding the button.
• The Legacy System kicks in after you complete Chapter 1 of your class storyline, which tends to be in the low level 30's. Just sayin'.
• There was a Freeze Mob in Times Square on launch day. I live in Indiana, we just had a freeze on launch day. Fortunately, the wonders of YouTube have captured it for us. Pretty epic.
• Hmm... 15 minutes left, what else do I have?
• Space Battles seem to be a good way to make money. Especially if you run them during commercials of a show you're watching. I do them during football games. Perfect.
• I swapped crafting skills from Synthweaving to Artificing (I've done tailoring in other games and wanted something different). Apart from the money needed to raise it back up (see aforementioned practice of copious commercial space battles), it was pretty easy to get back to where I was. You can queue up to five crafted things by just spamming the craft button, so I made things in batches of five for a bit.
• Still not up. Did I calculate wrong? Let's see...
• Nope, not just me. I guess I'll go read another chapter of Brandon Sanderson's Alloy of Law... oh darn.
• I'll leave with this tidbit. Apparently, SWTOR has already reached 1 million subs. Now, that is the initial surge, so let's not get too excited. More importantly, in my mind, is the fact that we've collectively killed 2 billion NPCs. Luckily they respawn like, well, NPCs.

Reading time. I'll be keeping my eye on the server status page...

#SWTOR - Jedi Shadow Stats

We're going to be Star Wars heavy for a bit. I think that's understandable, but I apologize to the WoW folk around these parts. There's just, well, everything to learn about SWTOR and pretty much nothing new to learn in WoW as an Affliction 'lock. It happens.

There was a helpful comment from Targeter yesterday, and it reminded me of a great primer I read over at The Stoppable Force. Stop does a great job of explaining all the stats, so if you're not a Jedi Shadow, feel free to head over there and extract your own gearing plan.

For Shadow's it's pretty simple early on. I anticipate it getting a bit harder at advanced levels, but at least for levels 1-20, you only need to pay attention to two stats on gear: Willpower and Endurance.

Willpower is your offensive stat. It'll make you hit harder in all facets. Endurance is your defensive stat. It will help you live longer and regen health faster. For the most part, you're just looking for the gear with both of those stats on it (it's pretty standard). For mods you're looking for Resolve mods and Force-wielder hilts (for example). For the most part, this should get you through, but if you come across a trade off directly between Willpower and Endurace, just make a judgement call on how you feel. So far I've given Willpower the edge, but I don't feel super-squishy. If you're dying a lot, think about favoring Endurance.  (Not that items also have an armor rating on them, but this is really a secondary concern. It can also help in a trade-off situation, but I don't think it should be a primary consideration.)

It gets a little trickier when you start trying to gear your companion, Qyzen Fess. Even though he's a melee fighter, he apparently falls under the "trooper" paradigm. I assume this is because, though he fights like a Jedi Knight, he's not a force-wielder. As such, his primary offensive stat is Aim with Endurance still being the primary defensive stat. He can wear heavy armor, so armor rating is a little more useful for him, but still more of a secondary concern. Keep him in heavy armor with his primary stats and you should be in good shape.

I did make Qyzen some Jedi Knight gear through my Synthweaving and had him wearing it for a bit, at least until I found something with his primary stat on it. I figured gear is better than no-gear, even if it had Strength instead of Aim. The Endurance still worked, but otherwise you're not going to be able to craft very much for him, which is a shame.

Now, if I could only get my ship. A'ryatha (Fuu) and I are sitting at level 18... we have to be super-close to getting our ships. From what I've heard, most people are getting them before 20. I'm assuming it happens through the class quest and we just haven't gotten there yet. Maybe tonight...