SWTOR: Thoughts on levels 30-37

After the server maintenance for the launch day of The Old Republic, I played the game a bit more and got myself another level, and have since played myself up to level 37. Once again, thoughts follow.

• At a little bit into level 37, my /played is now 2 days 22 hours.
• I completed chapter 1 of my class story! After wrapping up Taris and Alderaan, I had a quest to go to a space station to conclude the chapter. Don't want to give away any spoilers, but my worries that the story would basically just end with "you haven't saved the day, the same mission continues in chapter 2" were unfounded - the story of chapter 1 (and by extension the prologue) is a separate package from chapter 2. When chapter 1 ends, I "get a break from my duties" before returning and asking for more, where I am given an entirely new overall mission to complete. So that's now what I am doing.
• Near the start of my chapter 2 story line (when I was about level 31-32) I returned to Tatooine, as part of the quest line. On my first visit to Tatooine, the intended questing progression took me through some of the planet but left large amounts of it unexplored. While I'm sure that much of this is to keep Republic and Empire players separated to an extent, it's also clear to me now that some areas are simply for higher levels. In other words, while a planet may have a certain level range listed, for some of these planets this is simply the level range for your first visit there, but you may have the opportunity to return later on to experience some more content. So while the planets have a very obvious level progression path at face value, BioWare have spread content around to create a better overall narrative.
• Another example of the point above is Nar Shaddaa. There's one area in Nar Shaddaa, a planet that is (off the top of my head) marked for levels 20-24, that contains heroic areas around level 30. Later on you can return there as part of some quest lines, which for me included a companion quest line.
• I seem to be on the losing team more often than not in warzones, which is rather annoying. Hmph.
• I've finally figured out the potential contained within the modular items system in TOR. It's pretty interesting actually. Basically, armour and weapons of a better-than-average quality don't simply have a base set of stats but have slots to fit upgrades in, and generally have enhancements already fitted. So, for instance, an assault rifle may have a colour crystal, a barrel, a mod and an enhancement. Any of these modifications can be removed or replaced at any time, and doing so can improve your item. Also, aside from increasing the bonus stats that the item provides, upgrading these items can actually change the most basic stat - damage dealt for a gun, or armour for armour - depending on the quality and level of the modification inserted. As a result, you can potentially stick with the same gun for many many levels by simply modifying it to keep it competitive. It's an interesting system that is worth doing a video about some time.
• Since starting on chapter 2 of my class story, I've now been to a few additional worlds - Balmorra, Quesh, and Hoth. Balmorra is another large world, but Quesh is pretty small, about the size of 1 zone on other maps. I've only just started on Hoth, but I suspect there will be a fair amount of content here since it is an iconic planet of the film series.
• I decided to start going around with my head-slot item hidden. I miss seeing Fneb's face. At the same time though, it feels weird to see her running around in heavy armour without a helmet. Would have loved for there to be an option of "remove helmet in conversation" - just like that clone trooper dude does in episode 3, removing the helmet whenever talking to someone. I imagine that'd be a nightmare for the production team though, particularly with all the different hairstyles available. Anyway, for now I'll be going with head-slot hidden, but I may change back, who knows!
• I was worried about running out of ammo (the Trooper's ability resource mechanic) when healing, or having to form a specific ability rotation to ensure I don't dip into lower regeneration rates, but so far in both PvP and party-size play I've been okay. The occasional time where I've had to really burn through and just spam heal someone has been rare enough that I can use my ammo regen-boosting cooldown to save the day. I'll be honest, though; I'm still worried that I'll have to simply form an ability rotation to maximise healing output in larger groups, particularly larger operation in PvE, in a similar fashion to an aimed shot/multishot rotation for a Hunter in classic WoW (which was something that bored me to tears). But doesn't seem to be a problem in party-level content or in PvP.
• A couple of abilities worth mentioning regarding healing as a Trooper: Advanced Medical Probe and Trauma Probe. The latter is gained from a talent and is super handy - a small heal whenever you're hit, can only happen every 3 seconds or more, 10 charges. But it doesn't consume any ammo to cast, is an instant cast, has no cooldown, and if you're in a group then it stacks. Aside from the obvious "cast it on your main tank in a party" use, it's also super-useful elsewhere. In solo PvE I can cast it on my tank, and it'll give him enough life that I can damage enemies down for a fair while and generally have a much easier time. Warzone PvP is where it's really helpful. In disorganised warzone play Trauma Probe allows me to not have to worry about healing myself so I can stick with healing others, unless someone specifically begins to focus me down. I can just shrug off stray shots and AoE damage. Handy stuff.
• Advanced Medical Probe, without any talents in healing, seems a bit dumb. Compared to Medical Probe it uses less ammo (2 compared to 3), casts slightly quicker, heals for a little less but has a cooldown. But with talents it improves a lot. The cooldown is reduced (I believe from 12 seconds to 9), but AMP will also put a HOT (heal over time) and a 10% armour buff to the recipient of the heal. And for good measure, it'll reduce the cost of your next MP to 1, meaning that you can cast both AMP and MP for the same cost as normally casting MP. Much better!

SWTOR: Thoughts on levels 29-30

I got to play SWTOR for a little bit of time between getting up (super late due to my broken sleep pattern) and the servers going down at midnight, and managed to gain a level. Not much to say in this post though. Still, gives me time to do other things that I really should have done by now.

I still have no voice but my throat no longer hurts. I'm hoping to have some video content up soon as a result.

• My /played is now 1 day 22 hours 40 minutes. I was only really playing for 3 hours today (that's how much video I recorded), the other additional time over last time was idling around between getting into the server (securing my space in the queue etc.) and eating dinner.
• There's now at least 1 level 50 player on my server, 50 being the level cap for this game.
• I believe I'm getting near to the end of chapter 1 of my class story. This gladdens me as so far my class story hasn't been some sort of epic adventure as I'd hope. Elevating the protagonists/antagonists and their journey above the rest of a conflict is often what happens in Star Wars, such as the conflict between Luke and Vader while the whole of the rebellion is going on, and this helps draw you in. While the Trooper's class story does do this, I'm still simply a soldier, not a Jedi or Sith, and so an element of wonder is lost. I don't want to say much about the story since I don't like spoilers, but what I will say is that, at the moment I'm basically just hunting down some dudes. It's more interesting than that but that's what it boils down to. Since the story is quite a few chapters long though (I've heard either 5 or 7 chapters long), there's plenty of scope for some really exciting stuff.
• Story content isn't limited to just the planets. You do get some locations that will only appear as a location you can go to once you're at a certain part of a quest line, in much the same manner as in Mass Effect 1.
• Another supplemental note; you can access flashpoints (all of them, some of them?) from the Fleet, which is a nice touch. There's basically a shuttle bay place, you enter the instance and a shuttle drops you off at your location. No need to go to the specific world location or such.
• Every single BioWare game does this, and it annoys me every time. How hard can it be to have the characters actually HOLD something when giving an item from one to another? Why does it always have to be off screen? I'm sure you could figure this out!
• I finally joined a guild, Excessum! Looking forward to playing some group content with these guys.
• As a Commando healer I appear to be pretty much useless in one-on-one PVP. In group PVP though I can do alright. I think I need to get a bit more used to being a healer though, in general.

Time to tidy up in here, order Christmas presents and sort through my recorded video to find what's good. Take care!

SWTOR: Thoughts on levels 23-29

Another day, another SWTOR levelling session, another video-less update due to not having a voice. Today I got from level 24 to level 29, and here are my thoughts on that:

• Mount! Mount mount mount mount mount.
• The expensive part of the mount is, surprise surprise, the training to use it rather than the speeder itself. Once you've got the training for the mount (which you get at your normal class trainer for 40k credits) you can buy a mount (for 8k credits). Using the mount adds it to your Abilities under the Vehicles tab and removes the item, so you don't need to worry about having an inventory slot always taken away by your speeder. This level 25 speeder increases your speed by 90%.
• The speeder only takes 0.5sec to cast. Using it does not supersede and remove the "Sprint" ability, so the only thing that'll toggle the Sprint ability off, other than the player using the ability again, is dying.
• If you enter combat you won't immediately drop off your mount, but if anyone hits you you will, and with an animation that seems to indicate you very briefly get stunned. Watch out for those packs of ranged enemies when getting from A to B!
• I'm now at 1 day, 18 hours and 40 minutes /played.
• The first planet I played through today was Nar Shaddaa, a level 20-24 world. Since I was near the top of the intended level range already I skipped more of the sidequest content than I had before so I could get through the planet quicker, but the thing is that this game has good enough sidequest content that it probably should be explored.
• Similarly, Tatooine was my first planet with a speeder, and so the first planet where I begun to skip a lot of mobs where possible. Previously I had been fighting anything in my way because it was kinda fun to do. I guess I might be getting a bit tired of the same thing by now - hardly surprising considering how much time I'm spending in-game!
• Talking about the sidequest content - one of the big sidequests on Tatooine was actually more interesting, and had more exciting moments in it, than the class quest.
• Voice acting: I'm yet to come across any bad voice acting, and overall have been very impressed by it. However, the whole "Imperials = English people = evil" when it comes to accents has been taken to another level. Previously the Star Wars series had Imperials with posh English accents (which in itself is interesting - do the Imperials of TOR-era Empire have anything to do with the Imperials of the films? Why do they have the same accents?) but I came across two Imperials who had English accents that weren't stereotypical-posh-Brit voices. I suppose that, regardless where you come from in England, you're still evil in Star Wars's books.
• I'm still surprised at how much exp you can get through doing warzone PvP. Generally speaking I was getting around 10k exp at the conclusion of a match - even if I lost, if it wasn't a walkover I'd still walk out with that much exp. If you simply want to get to level 50 as quickly as possible, doing the maths to see if PvP is the quickest route is worth doing.
• Unless the remaining talents and abilities make a really big difference to the Commando class, I can see single-target healing (for instance, healing a main tank in an operation) getting quite dull. A good healing rotation appears to be advanced healing probe-healing probe-hammer shot-healing probe-hammer shot-(maybe another hammer shot)-healing probe-repeat. This is a rather simplistic view, as it doesn't include kolto bomb for the healing-received buff any targets get, but thinking of it in those terms does somewhat remind me of hunter aimed shot/multishot rotation from classic WoW, which was boring as hell.

SWTOR: Thoughts on levels 14-23

My throat is still super messed up and I can't talk, so I haven't made any video content yet, but this does mean I've had my first full day of holiday simply playing the game and doing nothing else. Always nice to nerd out sometimes! I started off at level 14 from yesterday, and just hit level 23 before calling it a night. I recorded 16 hours and 20 minutes of video - that's about 200GB - which is quite a lot! I don't envy whoever has to go through all that and find the good bits... Oh wait, that's me. Here are my thoughts on today's gameplay.

• At level 20 I was at about 20 hours /played. At level 23 I was at about 1 day 3 hours /played.
• The sprint ability stays enabled when you go in and out of combat, and you only benefit from the ability when out of combat. You don't need to re-cast it after each fight and so only have to re-cast after dying. Perhaps a speeder will override this.
• The Coruscant zone was so heavily populated at one point that there was a Coruscant (1) and Coruscant (2). Could easily change between the two via the Map screen.
• I'm levelling as a healer-spec Commando, so all my talents are going towards healing. My companion is basically a damage-dealing Commando. I'm not sure if he could beat me for sustained DPS over an extended time, but he can certainly hold aggro from me, and deals more damage on an ability we both share.
• I need to do a little bit of research into some of the mechanics of the healer Commando. The Trooper's white damage ability, Hammer Shot (basically not a lot of damage on an instant cast but doesn't use any ammo or prevent normal ammo regen), can be turned into a weak healing ability through using a certain energy cell (restoration energy cell or support energy cell or something... I just know it as shift+3). Doing this builds up some charges that stack up to 30. I believe these provide a buff to healing output, but I'll need to do more research on this. When this cell is activated Hammer Shot can still be used as a normal white damage attack on enemies, but if you cast HS on an ally it'll heal them a bit. Not as much as your attack would deal damage, but a little.
• I've now been through Ord Mantell, Coruscant and Taris. The next planet I'm going to is Nar Shaddaa. I started on Taris (a level 16-20 planet) at level 18-19, so thought to myself "I think I'll just focus on my class story so I can get through this as quickly as possible". But this thought didn't last very long. The sidequest content is actually fun. The stories involved are interesting. I actively want to take part in them, and I'm a person who generally hates sidequests and grinding. As a result, I don't feel fatigued by having played for so long in one go. If I didn't have to go to sleep I'd keep playing!
• Another point of interest: All 3 planets have shown the same amount of polish and content development. I don't feel at all that they've polished the introduction zone the most, as was the case with Age of Conan.
• I don't feel like I can say quite the same thing for flashpoints, though. The first flashpoint, The Esseles, had a guided narrative all the way through, with multiple cutscenes to develop the plot. Hammer Station and Athiss were much more low-key in that respect, and mostly just resembled what you'd expect of a party-level MMORPG dungeon. Was a little disappointing, but still had a good time. I think the focus of the game will stick with being non-flashpoint, non-PVP content. It was good to see the content though, and the items I got were much better than what I had before and so will help with levelling.
• If you want to leave a flashpoint after completing it, there's a button for that right next to the minimap. Don't spend 15 minutes looking for the exit like we did in Athiss.
• Having got my ship, I naturally had a look at the space combat missions. They're some sort of delightful cross between TIE Fighter (I never really played the other ones) and Rebel Assault, and are fairly fun. I wouldn't want to play them huge amounts but as an occasional change of pace they can be good. You get a repeatable amount of exp for completing a mission successfully (around 3k), and I believe a similar amount for completing the bonus objective, though I'm not sure if this is repeatable. You can also get quests for each mission that aren't repeatable, which results in a big fat exp bonus your first time playing each mission.
• A nice little touch, at level 20 you get a tutorial tooltip suggesting you start saving money for your speeder at level 25. Since I'm thrifty and don't spend much money (I don't buy healing kits of stims, and I haven't bought any extra inventory space) I'm at around 60k credits at level 23, which is more than enough to get and ride a speeder.
• It looks like the nodes for gathering trade skills have entry skill levels of 1, 25, 55, and 70 to start with. On Taris I only found 2 25-skill nodes, the rest were 55 (and one or two 70-skill nodes). My Archaeology was at 51 when I started the planet, so I couldn't gather most of the nodes I came across. It didn't occur to me until after I was done with the planet that I could have just got my companion to do a crew skill mission to get those last few points for a small cost.
• Why do the baddies have to have a British accent? As if having a British accent makes you a baddie or something.
• I'm yet to come across anyone from the Empire (outside of a couple of warzone games). I think Nar Shaddaa, my next planet to play, should be interesting. Since I'm playing on the Republic side, I'm likely to be heavily outnumbered, so we'll see how things go.