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...

Happy Holidays

I know it's late for one, but it's early for the other, and I don't know how much I'm going to be around this week. So, from my family to yours: have a wonderful holiday week and thanks for reading! See you in the new year (if not sooner).

Coruscant at night

(Edit: Switched the image because apparently the intended one got removed from the site I was linking to.)

#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...

#SWTOR - Vent Push to Talk Service Message

Push to talk not working for you? It wasn't for me, initially. This is just a quickie service announcement, not a full-fledged double post. The fix is simple and I wouldn't want you to feel as annoyed as I was. The trick is that you have to launch your vent client in Administrator mode. In Windows 7, this simply means right clicking and choosing "Run as Administrator." Or lowering the default defender settings so that everything is effectively run in admin mode. If your PTT key isn't registering in game (worked alt-tabbed out just fine), consider giving this quick-fix a try. Worked for me, and may save you a half hour of frustration.

#SWTOR - Shadowed Beginnings

It's official. SWTOR launched today! I'm sure this is not really a surprise to anyone, as with early entry and what-have-you, the games been "out" for a week now, and people have been talking about it for much longer. I've been slowly ramping up my own writing about the game here at KeS. I realize this is a WoW blog, but I simply don't want to start a new blog for each game I play. I like having one area to maintain and update. It keeps me here and writing, which I think y'all appreciate, even if it is about other games. Still, in the spirit of being clear, I will tag my Star Wars posts appropriately so that you know what you're getting into at a glance.

I also wanted to lay down a few disclaimers for all and sundry. First, I'm a huge Star Wars fan. Way more than Warcraft or really any other IP. When I was a young teen, I read all the novels. I'm familiar with the Solo twins, though when I went away from the books (there are so many!) for other genres, Jacen hadn't turned Sith yet. My favorite series, incidentally, was the X-Wing novels by Michael Stackpole (I follow his blog as a fledgling author now, too. He seems like a great guy and offers wonderful advice). Warcraft books are, really, a relatively new thing when compared to the plethora of Star Wars literature out there.

Point being, I'm hugely biased in favor of this game. I want to admit that up front. I'm already sucked in and loving it. I have no problem with people who say it's not for them, though. I can understand that, too. Similarly, if you're debating on jumping on your own starship and heading for the galaxy far, far away, don't make your decision based solely on what I say here. I'm definitely going to paint the game in a favorable light. (i.e. - If you buy and think it sucks, don't blame me. I'm biased. I admit it! I'm a fanboy!).

Now that we've gotten that aside, I wanted to pass along some of my initial observations, having played the game to level 16 now. I'm still a newb, still a baby, and plenty of folks are beyond me. Still, writing is what I do, and I'm going to try to put out some helpful information about my chosen classes as I go.

The first class I'm going to play to cap is the Jedi Shadow, Balance spec. I'd done a small amount of research on classes, and I picked balance shadow based on several criteria:

1. I want a lightsaber. Preferably two. A double-bladed is sweet too. This was as simple as it was nerdy. I know, everyone wants to be a Jedi, right? But I refuse to be sorry for this boyish desire. Shadows work with double-bladed sabers, so this one was easily fulfilled.
2. I don't want to be completely melee. Perhaps the playstyle that suits me the best in any RPG is "battlemage." That is, I like to have a healthy mixture of ranged and melee. WoW didn't really offer that kind of playstyle. The closest they got (IMO) is with frost DKs that came later. I was already a Warlock at that point, but I do have my DK for PvP. Balanced shadow is supposed to fulfill this, and so far it has.
3. DoTs are nice. I like DoTs. Especially ones that return some health. I'm still a baby, but balance shadow looks to have this covered as well (from looking into the tree).
4. The ability to stealth and sprint is totally an unanticipated bonus, but I love it.
5. Sweet robes. I've never been a big armor guy. In Skyrim, I went whole hog into Light Armor. In SWTOR, I want sweet, mysterious robes. Balance shadow... check

That's all I can think of right now. I'm extremely happy with my class choice so far. It even almost has a Warlocky attitude to it. I know, I know, Jedi are good, but Jedi Shadows are like the Alliance Warlocks of the Jedi Order. They're not blatantly evil, but they may flirt with it. As you might expect, I will not be straight Light Side. I'm playing for more of a "gray" Jedi. We'll see how it works out.

If you've started a Shadow, you'll be looking for light armor with +Endurance and +Willpower on it. Those are our primary stats early on. Armor is nice, but you're going to be squishy anyway. Get good at using your stun and knockback to keep things away.

Generally, I like to stealth into a group, stab one in the back for a good chunk of damage, and then do the knock back ability. After that, I'll throw my DoT on one, stun another, and spray hurl chunks of ground as I'm running toward one for a lightsabery death. I try not to be in a melee duel, instead attempting to use finesse to get some hacks in while keeping baddies at arms length. So far it has worked well for me.

For crafting, I picked up Synthweaving with the Archaelogy and Underground Trading gathering skills. They synergize well with each other and the class, and I've created several upgrades for myself already. After slight research, I think this combination is the best, as you'll want to focus on armor instead of weapons (since you rely a lot on force abilities).

I'm still a newb, so I may be doing things wrong. If you're a fellow Shadow, feel free to let me know what's working for you. I plan to eventually work up a guide like I have for my Warlock stuff. Until then, may the Force guide you!

The Dealership Service Quest Chain

Since it's Monday and I spent a good chunk of the weekend helping my mother move (gah my back hurts)... here's something that is only vaguely MMO related but will hopefully make your smile.

So I took my car into the dealer last week to repair an oil leak. It was all covered under warranty, so not a huge deal, but a bit of a hassle all the same. No part was more troublesome than the checkout. Let me recount that proceeding for you.

First, I spoke to the man at the service reception desk, the same bloke that had accepted my vehicle into the ranks of to-be-repaired. He explained that I would need to go inside to the cashier's counter. Very quickly, this is the layout of the dealership. Reception area just inside the entryway. To the right, a doorway to the service area. Through that door, you take a U-turn through another adjacent door to get to the cashier's counter. Also, at the top of that "U" is a small building-inside-of-the-building-office-looking-thingy that will come into play in just a bit. The point here, is that all of these areas are damn near in arm's reach of each other... yet separated by big glass windows. You know, so you can see exactly how far you've gone.

At the cashier's counter, I talked a friendly woman, who informed me that Dennis (and only Dennis) had to print me off a different sheet before we could complete any steps of the transaction. Dennis was apparently the receptionist that accepted my car (different from the guy I just spoke to out there; Dennis was on lunch break). I proceeded back to the original reception person and gave him my best "wtf dude, why didn't you tell me I needed Dennis" look, while being as polite as possible in my retelling of the cashier's quest line. He skipped reading the quest text and went straight to paging Dennis.

At that moment, someone who was definitely not Dennis entered the reception area. This Not Dennis took my papers and promised me that he would take care of it. No sooner had that man's heels clicked out of the reception room than Dennis himself entered, almost running into the man. Dennis gave me his best "wtf do you want, I was trying to eat" look. I explained hastily that Not Dennis had supposedly taken care of it. Dennis seemed satisfied, though mildly annoyed, and directed me back to the cashier's counter.

Shortly, the cashier materialized with papers in hand, printed by the mysterious he-who-is-Not-Dennis-but-has-Dennis-like-powers and had me sign something. Check out complete, I figured she'd pass along my keys, but what she really passed on was a token to redeem my keys at a different vendor. If you recall that building within a building, then you might expect that is where I now needed to go. You would be right. It was the service office.

The service office was lightly staffed with four men for the two desks therein. They all looked at me as if I were some sort of Russian Unicorn, and simply stared until I stated my case. I think it went something like: "Um, lady gave me this thingy and told me to get my keys?" With a grunt and a nod, one of the me snatched the token, matched number to number, and handed over the keys. I had almost turned to leave when I thought to ask: "So where is the car?"

"Just go out the door, it's somewhere in the lot out there. First few rows."

As fate would have it, it was in the third row. It took me much pressing of the lock button (for bat-esque echo-location) to find it.

When I was safely aboard my chariot, I reflected. This was, quite frankly, the Worst Quest Ever. The objective was completed within one quest hub, yes, but with much travel between nodes. The token was redeemed, but I still had to go find my reward. There was no gold. No Valor Points. I did not get any rep with any faction. Were I a developer at the offending dealership, I would quite seriously look into revamping that quest chain. Maybe add a cutscene or two, throw some montage music over the top, and save us all the trouble of watching it play out in real time.

Just sayin'...