SWTOR: Home Sweet Stronghold

I know, I know. A million years after the fact, right? Not to mention I think I promised a write-up on my thoughts regarding strongholds last week. So here they are. In a nutshell, I like what I've seen so far . . . mostly. No implementation of MMO housing is perfect, I suppose, but BioWare has done a pretty good job of making the stronghold both easy to decorate and functional.

As you can see from the pics, I chose the neutral stronghold on Nar Shaddaa, the moon of Nal Hutta controlled by the Cartel. The planet has an East Asian, neon city feel; and having just returned from a trip to Seoul, Korea, I can appreciate the aesthetic. The other neutral plot is on Tatooine, but is both more expensive . . . and on Tatooine. Right now, three of the four properties are part of cityscapes, and I think there should be more variety and views of nature. I would love to have a place on Alderaan or, perhaps Voss. I did buy a condo on Dromund Kaas, the capital of the Sith Empire, but to visit there on my Pub characters would involve a thousand credits for each trip, so I relocated. Given that he is my highest level character, though semi-retired, the stronghold belongs to Agent Versteckt, though all the characters in my legacy can visit and place decor around the place.

You unlock the condo in sections, and I have only purchased the first area, which includes the landing, an entrance hall, and two smaller rooms. Most of the expansion rooms must be unlocked in sequence, though some can be bypassed initially.

Placing decor involves "hooks" of various sizes. Let's just say I am neutral on the subject. Some people may feel that the hooks limit their ability to get truly creative, and I don't disagree. But it does simplify things a bit for us duffers, and I am guessing that, much like Rift's dimension decoration system, the hooks are essentially what the devs use to place objects in the game environment. The hook is only an anchor anyway; the object, once placed, can be repositioned a bit and rotated to suit the player.

Two things I do prefer about SWTOR's system over Rift's are the interactivity of many objects, and the ability to have NPCs present. I have both a mailbox, a legacy-wide bank, and a few gathering nodes, not to mention decor vendors already. I think there are other vendors available, too, like bartenders. [EDIT: GamerLady told me the bartenders are just for show, unfortunately.] I can emplace all my companions, as well as my mounts and pets. From what I understand, a number of end-game activities reward not only objects and furniture, but NPCs. The player properties I visited before making my own purchase felt alive with all the people standing around. Like the place had purpose. While I think the variety of environments is better, Rift's dimensions feel empty because I cannot really people them. Obviously, having a bunch of other players hanging out would be better. But let's face it, that's not really very likely.

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Free Shuttle Flights to Nexus, Coming Soon

Twitter is all abuzz this morning. And that's always good for a game and studio. Cautious optimism is my reaction to this exciting news. I liked WildStar, in small bits. But Scooter and I left the game just before the Great Server Merger last fall because we couldn't justify the cost, what with Scooter's computer at the time giving her issues.

This announcement has been a long time coming. Carbine admitted to tossing around various ideas for an alternative payment model as far back as the mega-merger, and I speculated on the possibilities at that time. I wonder when we'll have details about the nature of the WildStar's F2P scheme (because they vary widely). [EDIT: Thanks to Alisdair, I got the details.] Will it be relatively innocuous (e.g., Rift) or more in your face (e.g., LOTRO) or horrendously egregious (e.g., SWTOR, to which I am currently subscribed for a reason)?

The link to the official announcement is basically a link page to the trailer and to a post about loyalty awards for those have been subscribed since launch or will subscribe for a bit before the transition. Oh! it also has a place to sign up for beta. Beta, for F2P? I guess that's necessary.

Honestly, if I were not already committed to SWTOR right now through August, I might jump back in, just to get the loyalty rewards, if nothing else. However, as it is, I don't see myself going back before September, regardless of when F2P goes live.

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The Seven Deadly Sins of Gaming

I haven't participated in any of the recent NBI Talkback Challenge dialogues, though at least one indirectly inspired several posts earlier this month. This week's topic is more of a questionnaire than one idea, but it was an awesome idea, courtesy of Joseph Skyrim.

Lust– Do you enjoy games more if they have scantily clad and “interestingly proportioned” avatars? Do you like playing as one of these avatars? Why or why not?
I don't know if I enjoy them more, exactly. I certainly don't have the same issues with scantily clad avatars that some others do. Just the other night, I was admiring the dancer girl outfits from SWTOR. But, while I enjoy playing characters of the opposite gender—and tend to choose physical features that appeal to me—I don't necessarily dress them up (all the time) in chain-kinis. In fact, some of my favorite outfits for LoneStarBelle in TSW are rather conservative, especially for TSW. I find that skimpy costumes, while visually appealing, break immersion due to impracticality.

Gluttony– Do you have a game backlog of unfinished games but still buy new games regardless? Why or why not?
I am not a game hoarder. I have purchased a few games that ended up not being that fun for me. But I can't think of a single game that I've gotten and then never played at all. It helps that I am on Steam in name only. I think I got an account to take advantage of some promotion.

Greed– Do you enjoy hand-outs in a game? Have you ever opted to NOT do an action / in game activity because the rewards were lacking? Why or why not?
I'm not sure what is meant by hand-outs here. I do like getting commemorative stuff for various events. I did stop raiding in WoW partly because I felt that the rewards were too few and far between for the time and effort I was putting in. On the other hand, I just wrote yesterday about continuing on with SWTOR's planet quests even though we are at a level where they hardly give any reward at all.

Sloth– Do you ever leech or AFK in a party? Do you discourage others from attempting things that you feel are difficult? Have you ever seen someone that needed help, but decided not to help them? Why or why not?
I have never gone AFK for the direct purpose of leeching off teammates, but I may have discouraged or declined to do things I felt were difficult. I can't think of anything in particular right now that others were trying to get me to do that I tried to persuade them otherwise. I am fairly helpful, and have developed a few friendships as a result of randomly assisting them with a fight or two.

Wrath– Ever get angry at other players and yell (or TYPE IN CAPS) at them? Have you ever been so angry to stalk a person around in game and / or in the forums? Why or why not?
While I have rage-quit parties on a number of occasions, I don't generally type in all caps. In fact, I have my caps lock remapped to be a regular shift key. SO IF I YELL, YOU KNOW IT'S ON PURPOSE!! Nor do I stalk people, they're not worth my time.

Envy– Ever felt jealous of players who seem to be able to complete content you can’t? Do you ever suspect they are hacking or otherwise cheating? Why or why not?
I have been a little envious in the past about content I was never going to see because I was not raiding. I know there are hackers and cheaters out there, but I couldn't point to anyone I have seen lately that I suspected of cheating. On the other hand, I don't consider most exploits to be cheating. If the game design contains some "flaw" or bug the devs fail to correct, players should be within their rights to take advantage of said flaws. The devs may take action to correct the problem, including removing inventories, credit, titles, etc.; but the players should not be banned or otherwise punished for the devs' oversight. Hacks, bots, and other external cheats, on the other hand, should be bannable offenses. If only there were a way to ban such people permanently from even starting another account for that game. And I have actually met people (former coworkers) who were banned for buying illicit gold for WoW. Honestly, I didn't have much sympathy for them.

Pride– Are you one of those people that demands grouping with other “elite” players? Do you kick players out of your team who you feel are under-performing? Why or why not?
I did once vote-kick someone for being a jerk right before the last boss in the instance. But I'm the polar opposite of elitist; though that, in and of itself, is a form of pride. I have no interest in playing in an environment where the elitist jerks hold any sway. Maybe because I was one of those kids that always got picked last in pick-up sports, I don't want people to feel they don't belong. It's just a game, after all.

Whew! I guess the worst I'd say for me is Lust, at least the way these questions were phrased. Though Wrath is up there, too. I'm easily frustrated, and snappish, at times, as Scooter can attest. But this does not usually come through the keyboard.

If you're looking for something to blog about today, I suggest tackling these questions yourself. Let us get to know each other a little better.

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Trivializing Content

So there was a big hubbub over the weekend about the (lack of) flying mounts in Warlords of Draenor. I guess there is a vocal contingent of folks that would (really, really) like them, but Blizzard devs have staunchly (and rudely) refused to consider the matter, given their experiences with  previous expansions. I personally don't have a dog in that fight, but I noticed something last night that dovetails with Belghast's take on the subject.

So Scooter and I are playing through the Republic planet quests in SWTOR, even though we could skip them entirely due to the 12x XP for story quests currently in place. The thing is, by the time we left Taris (the third world) for Nar Shaddaa, we were a high enough level to tackle Tatooine (the fifth planet). Last night, I noticed that I was only getting about 6 XP for turning in the regular planet quests. We were actually getting more for (some) individual kills than we were for completing entire quest chains.

Needless to say, the questing is easy and we are enjoying the place. Nar Shaddaa has an awesome East Asian neon vibe, and I decided to buy my stronghold there. Right now, even though we can't fly like in WoW, we can easily slip past mobs we don't need to kill. But I can't help wondering if or when we should start skipping content completely in order to find a challenge.

The same thing happened to us in WoW. When I first introduced Scooter to the game during Cataclysm, we had the recruit-a-friend XP boost. Even though we could have skipped the Ghostlands (playing BElfs) I though we should play through, but then we started skipping whole zones because we'd out-leveled them before even arriving.

GamerLady thinks all that content (what can be flown over) is senseless anyway. To some extent, I can agree. But during the course of my playing of WoW, I went from feeling completely immersed in the unflyable world of Azeroth to being fairly disconnected from it. In SWTOR, I pushed through to the end of the second chapter of my old Sith Assassin, skipping all the planet quests on two or three planets. Even though I went through it a few years ago, I have little clue what is happening there.

In TSW, the mobs are never fully trivial, no matter what Quality Level the player's gear is. And there is no good way to bypass them. On the other hand, the XP for going through lower level content never diminishes; rather, XP for higher content is simply greater.

To what extent does the "senseless" content add to the "reality" of an MMO? And how much do we lose when we are able to bypass it in pursuit of our story?

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Epic Speeder Giveaway

I hesitate to publicize this, since I am entered myself, but Ravanel Griffon, proprietor of the Ravalation blog, is holding a SWTOR speeder giveaway. Head on over there if you play the game and are interested in that sweet ride. She's also got a second contest exclusive to members of The Red Eclipse server, so if you have characters residing there, you have two chances to win phat l00tz.

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Serial Mono-game-y

This post started out as something else, then I realized it pretty effectively answered Jaedia's Talkback Challenge.

While I did play video games growing up, they were not common in my house. Nor did I get involved in D&D or other roleplaying games, even though I was mildly interested in the idea. However, I did (and still do) have a vivid imagination, fueled by a love of reading and (at least as a kid) plenty of opportunity to play outside with friends in a LARPy sort of way (though not with nearly so many rules) (or costuming). These traits and experiences sowed the seeds of my future gamer-ness.

Syp posted last week about having a bit of envy toward MMOers who can devote themselves to a single game. This was me for the longest time after subscribing to World of Warcraft, and mostly before I started this blog. To this day, WoW has been the MMORPG I've played the most for the longest, to the almost complete exclusion of any other game at the time. There are a few factors that led to this. It was the first MMO I'd ever played, starting in 2006. The fact that it is a monthly subscription meant that the thought of playing anything else made me feel I would be wasting money, and time. Lastly, because this period closely followed my divorce and I was not prepared to be out in the dating arena, I spent the vast majority of my leisure time retreating into the vibrant realm of Azeroth.

As you may guess, the factors that led me to branch out into other MMOs were a direct counterpoint to the reasons I played WoW so heavily in the first place. The year 2009 marked my re-entry into a serious romantic relationship, the first since my divorce. I was spending less time playing WoW, even though my girlfriend of the time humored me and dabbled a bit in the game herself. Then, my account got hacked in January of 2010; just after I had begun blogging, as a matter of fact. Granted that I got just about all my stuff back later, the hack still made me realize just how ephemeral progress in an MMO can be. I was much less attached to WoW after that, more willing to try something else. Along came Star Trek Online less than a month later, themed on one of my favorite IPs growing up. The chance to be a Starship Captain was too tempting to resist in my state of disillusionment with Blizzard. My exposure to the larger gaming community through my blog led to yet another purchase, LOTRO, in late March, also marking the first time I labeled myself a gamer.

Unlike that girlfriend who simply humored me and my hobby, Scooter actively and enthusiastically participates in MMOs with me. Her gamer resume is also far deeper, including a regular D&D group in her youth. We are one of many gamer couples and families.

While I have tried to play more than one game at a time, one has always come to dominate my play, either through being subscription-based (back to my value-for-money mentality) or simply being the new shiny. That has played out repeatedly in the years since WoW. I have returned occasionally to games, played them for a while, then moved on to another. SWTOR is simply my latest return and "main squeeze." Despite my initial reluctance, I am enjoying it. I just got my first stronghold, more on that tomorrow.

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Credibility

On Sunday, Scott Rankin (whom you may know as @mylin1 on Twitter) commented on my Mental Energy post that "any interesting message that could have been looked at, discussed and even added insight into blogging that he had is lost under a wall of hate."

I'm not sure if Scott meant the hate of the original troll or the backlash. But assuming he meant the troll, I agree. I know a lot of people are of the opinion that if someone has a valid point buried in a wall of hate, we should still listen. After all, to do otherwise would be a form of "shoot the messenger." However, that takes a lot of mental energy I think most of us do not care to expend in such a way. Excuse my French, but we don't need to dig into a pile of shit prospecting for gold. It is the duty of the messenger to deliver salient points of the message with as little extraneous information as possible, lest the fluff be construed as the essence of the message.

From my point of view, the noise of the vitriol drowns out any bits of reason that may be contained in the message. It has to do with credibility. Anything you say that reduces your credibility will interfere with the message you may be trying to convey.

I work as a technical instructor. Credibility is everything, and if one or more students perceives that I or a colleague is giving out mistaken information or are not confident in our delivery, they will often decide we don't know what we're talking about, even if 95 percent of what we're saying is accurate. When that happens, we've lost the students, even if they're still sitting in the classroom.

Looking at a different context, the reporter Brian Williams was caught lying about his experiences covering the war in Iraq, and it has cost him the anchor position on NBC's Nightly News show. (Now, there's a real journalistic ethics issue, right there, and no need to smear some some person with patently false rumors about whom they may or may not have slept with.) Mr. Williams' reputation—and therefore, his credibility—has been ruined by just a single lie (repeated).

Someone spewing vitriol on the Internet has very little credibility in my book. They are showing disrespect for their peers, and rather than arguing their point on the merits thereof, they throw out ad hominem attacks. There's no way to know if they really believe in the issue they are supposedly championing and are simply unable to argue it effectively; or if any truth or valid point is simply being made in an attempt to legitimize their hate. And really, does it even matter?

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A Weekend in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

This weekend was a fairly productive one at the "Blaze" household. My lovely bride had work to do, and I helped my daughter move stuff out of her dorm at the end of her semester. Luckily, we also had time to spend in SWTOR. While Scooter was at work, I started a new Sith Inquisitor. More about her later. (With apologies to Galactrix, since I was frequently interrupted for extended periods due to meatspace activities, I didn't run my new Juggernaut.)

After a discussion on Twitter, I installed FRAPS video capturing software because apparently the SWTOR client doesn't take screenshots during the cutscenes, something I had not remembered from my time in the game at launch. That, combined with me actually remembering to upload a a few shots last night, means I have some decent pictures today.

Scooter and I are working through Taris on our Trooper and Smuggler. While enjoyable separately, I think the various stories going on in SWTOR are a bit disjointed, and that can get distracting. Granted, figuring out how or why a smuggler and trooper would be hanging out together in the first place might be difficult to do, and it would be even worse if Bioware had tried to account for even more combinations of characters. Imagine running a regular group as a bunch of troopers in a squad, though; or a Jedi and some clones (to borrow from a different era). The possibilities are endless, but the resources of the software developers are not.

I have a certain concept going for Lieutenant Achillea Sunsage. I've gone completely with light-side choices, which puts Achillea at odds with her military superiors on a regular basis. She's bit idealistic, generally respectful of authority, but possesses a healthy skepticism toward both her chain of command and the Senate. Being a U.S. Army veteran, I am bit put out by some of the vibe (and light/dark choices) of the Trooper story. Do the folks at BioWare really think that's what the military is like? On the other hand, maybe I am just as idealistic as Achillea is.

Scooter's Captain Harllie Sunfleur is the nicest Gunslinger you'll ever meet. Sure, she's not above getting paid, but she always does the right thing. And she's generally very polite.

Despite the 12x XP incentivizing a quick run through just the main stories, we are taking our time with the planet quests. We are just about done with Taris, I think, but have already far out-leveled the zone. With the appropriate level mods in our orange gear, this makes running through most of the bad guys an easy breeze. I did have to remember how to heal—or more specifically, that I was supposed to heal at all—during the Heroic +4 quest.

When I got to the end of the first chapter of the Sith Inquisitor story with my Assassin, Tollkirsche, I thought that the events of the story would fit better for a female player character. After spending some time running TK through the end of the second chapter this past Saturday, I couldn't resist the urge to start another one, this time as a Sorceror. Taking the female thing a bit further, I decided to make her resemble as closely as possible her own mentor, Darth Zash, with one notable exception. Young Valerija is the curvy body type 4 instead of Zash's type 2. One day I'll create a truly despicable Dark Side character (TK is only mostly evil), but yesterday was not the day. Valerija is pure goodness wrapped up in an electrical storm. She was even respectful to the slug Harken. I know it's not an original idea, having a "good" Sith. But I find the idea amuses me. I want to rush TK through to the end, so I can then create a Sith Pureblood Jedi (another perverse idea). But I will probably take my time on each planet with Valerija.

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A Sense of Community

In April of 2012, Justin Olivetti, aka Syp of Bio Break and MassivelyOP fame, contacted me hoping that I would support a new initiative to help inspire (mostly) MMO gamers to take up blogging as a hobby. The idea was to create a welcoming environment for people to "dip their toes in the water" with a ready-made audience, advice, and encouragement. I, of course, was not the only "veteran" blogger Syp contacted, and we had a great first run. Some of the folks from the class of 2012 are still going strong, having posted within the past week. They're even contributing advice of their own to NBI2015.

I've enjoyed "getting to know" quite few of the bloggers from the various iterations of NBI, as they've shared not only their love of gaming, but a bit of themselves and their lives. Their personal struggles. Their personal triumphs. As Belghast has pointed out, people often become regular readers because they come to care about the blogger as a person. I firmly believe that best readers of blogs are also bloggers themselves. That is, your biggest fans will likely be posting a bit of themselves somewhere in their own corner of the internet. And that's how a community is formed.

Jeromai of Why I Game posted this link about trolls in the commentary on my recent post. The key, I think, is to counter the desires of the troll. Do not engage them on their turf (a major reason I did not directly link) or your own (that's what moderation is for). Put another way, you would not permit that sort of behavior in your house, and your blog is your house on the internet. Nor would you frequent the residence of another if you were being treated that way. John Scalzi also posted this week about not engaging bullies, online or otherwise. The inventor of the "Mallet of Loving Correction" has plenty of experience dealing with trolls. Which is to say, he doesn't.

Apparently, from its inception, NBI has been the target of trolls claiming that it was part of some conspiracy of political correctness. I think one need look no further than the current stewards of the Initiative to know that is not the case. However, the NBI is, rightfully, an inclusive place, where people of all stripes and political persuasions can come together and discuss their mutual enthusiasm for games. The only real requirement is that we have respect for one another as people. Because gamers are not one monolithic race, gender, orientation or creed; and neither are the subset that choose blog about it.

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Mental Energy

@ggchestnut @0utofBeta @Ardua @Hidden_Wings @Liores @Talarianjs @belghast @ctmurfy @mevsmyselfandi he's not worth expending mental energy on

— Rowan Blaze (@rowanblaze) May 11, 2015

Except when I can squeeze a blog post out of it. :-P

It seems that a certain blogger—whom I will not link to here; but if you're really that interested, can be found at Tweet Zero of the thread the above embed was part of—has long decried the Newbie Blogger Initiative as a call to groupthink by a certain cabal in the MMO blogging community. Dissenters need not apply. This blogger fancies himself some kind of reasoned, original thinker while parroting the reactionary opinions of others and denigrating the personal experiences of a whole subset of bloggers responding to an NBI writing prompt.

There's no such thing as a wrong opinion, but the facts some people use to substantiate their opinions can definitely be faulty. And there is such a thing as being on the wrong side of history. While "extremists" on both sides of a topic can be completely wrong in their tactics, if you're crying about the "good ol' days" when your own label enjoyed the privileges of an unbalanced system while declaring those who disagree with you to be bullies, maybe you need to walk a few steps in the shoes of those who've been ignored at best, and actively persecuted at worst.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

The Shadow of a Glorious Name

If I'm gonna tell a real story, I'm gonna start with my name. ~Kendrick Lamar

Following up on yesterday's post about having a single generalized blog, versus multiple specialized blogs, I wanted to discuss what your blog title should be. Last August, during the Aggronaut's Blaugust Challenge, one thing I discussed was where my blog title comes from. I followed it up with a list of other folks who responded to my writing prompt. Besides being interesting reading, I hope that sampling of origin stories gives you an idea of the varied ways people approach titling their blogs.

Some titles are taken from common gaming terms, like Syp's Bio Break (above) or Bhagpuss' Inventory Full. Others are perhaps a little more personal, like my late friend River's High Latency Life or Gloria Boboria's Corgi Island. A lot of people simply use some personal appellation or description, like MMO Gamer Chick or The Ancient Gaming Noob.

Contrary to my post opener, I can't really tell you what to title your blog. Just remember that regardless of what you post, your blog is ultimately a reflection of you; how you see yourself. And if you want to change your title at some future date, there's nothing wrong with that either. Though I suspect that just like your reflection in a mirror, you are far more concerned about it than anyone else ever will be. People may come to your blog the first time because they think you have a clever title, but they will return over and over because they enjoy reading what you post.

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Starting Over

[EDIT] I want to preface this by saying that I am in no way criticizing anyone who chooses to have different blogs for different topics. This is more a think piece for new bloggers and others who may be considering multi-blogging.

Fellow blogger Pasduil has two blogs, Thinking Play and Planet Pasduil. The second one only came to my attention because he mentioned it in a post where he also mentioned me. Apparently he had nominated me for a Liebster (I intend to answer his questions but have not as yet done so) but I missed it. Plenty of other people do the same. Syp blogs about games at Bio Break, and also has a Bible study blog floating around somewhere.

When is it a good idea to start new blog? That is, if you already have one, why and when should you start another? Multiple blogs can compound an already time-consuming hobby (on top of all that gaming, right?), but might be necessary if you have radically different things you want to talk about. Mixing MMO gaming with general politics or religion may appeal to very few readers. On the other hand, maybe folks want to to read about the travails of a antidisestablishmentarian Banjoist gamer. While it can be hard to be sure what your audience will enjoy reading, it might be better to group generally geeky interests under one roof and then categorize/tag them. I occasionally do movie reviews; in fact, my review of Cloud Atlas was far my most popular post for a very long time. But rather than have a separate blog for my movie reviews (which are few and far between), I just post them here and tag them as such. Same with my occasional travelogues.

I started IHTtS as a STO blog not long after I had started another WoW-centric blog. but I quickly consolidated them and IHTtS has evolved ever since. Jaedia also used to have multiple blogs, but consolidated them into Dragons and Whimsy a few months ago. The Aggronaut's stream of consciousness style of posting means that sometimes what he's posted doesn't interest me. But that's OK. Not every post has to appeal to every person.

You may decide that your ideas are so disparate that you need to have different venues to share them. But realize, when you do, that you're also fragmenting your audience in a way that may be unnecessary.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

Never Say Never

I may have mentioned it in the past, but Scooter's computer hasn't been handling games very well for several months, hampering our ability to play games together. This is especially frustrating because she bought it specifically for playing games, but apparently her technical difficulties are a fairly common development for this particular model. I've dabbled in a few different things, and while enjoyable, it just isn't the same without her. In any event, we managed to pick up another gaming laptop due to the generosity of one of my coworkers. I presented it to Scooter just before traveling to Korea, but our differing time zones precluded much dabbling while I was gone. Now, my coworker happens to be an avid SWTOR player, so even though he'd cleaned the computer of any files, the client was already installed when Scooter decided to test out the computer's performance.

I didn't leave SWTOR in August of 2012 with the best of feelings about the game, and more specifically about the community management. The one class story that I finished (Imperial Agent) was less than satisfying, and BioWare had made several missteps regarding "most valuable players," server mergers that were called anything but that, and (initially) unexplained player bans. But I was careful not to say I'd never be back. Since 2015 seems to have turned out be my retro gaming year, and Scooter has caught the bug again, here I am.

Even now, having transitioned to free-to-play for several years, SWTOR has one of the worst F2P schemes on the market, charging not only for fluff cosmetics or bag space, but even for things as simple as hiding headgear. Knowing that the first time I encounter something like that would cause a ragequit, I went ahead and did the non-recurring 60 day subscription, encouraging Scooter to do so, as well. Then on Monday, May the Fourth, Amazon was running a sale on this SWTOR bundle—still a value at $39.99, but 25% off on Star Wars Day. We picked that up, too, and got an additional 60 days, so we're both paid up well into August. But now it's recurring, so I'll have to opt out if I'm tired of it by then.

My Holosuite friend Galactrix is over on Begeren Colony, so I decided to reroll my Sith Warrior there. He'd just started a new Inquisitor, so we were able to play through the first planet together on Sunday. I doubt he's waiting on me—at least, I hope not—so he may far ahead by now, but it was a fun few hours. Unfortunately, Banyan was unavailable, so I'll have to be Darth Buloke.

Scooter and I both wanted to start over with new characters on the Republic side. I lucked out her, picking up my original Trooper name, Achillea, and pasting it onto a level-1 clone. Scooter went with a Smuggler, calling her Harllie. Going through Ord Mantell was fun; it's nice to be reminded of the excitement we had way back in December 2011, when we first stepped out from our ships and shuttles into that galaxy. I think our gunslinger and medic commando will do just fine, especially with Korso and Jorgan in tow. Thinking about it, it would be funny to see those two interact, the by-the-book soldier and the chivalrous farmboy.

I guess there's a 12x-XP thing going on, enabling folks to level from planet to planet only doing Story Quests, and skipping the planet quests. I don't know much about it; we're coming off Ord Mantell at about level 13 or 14, instead of barely hitting 10, so I guess it's working. On the other hand, we did all the planet quests, partly because it's been so long, and we ran mostly Imperial anyway. If we had only done the Story, we'd probably be lower, but still ready for Coruscant.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.

NBI'15

Much like happened to Harbinger Zero, NBI kind of snuck up on me this year. Well, more because the month of May, itself, snuck up on me.If you've been thinking the world needs your opinion, either in written, auditory, or even visual form, here's your big chance to jumpstart your hobby. There is a website with helpful folks who are ready to proffer advice or just cheer you on to, um, victory?

While I tend not to get formally involved anymore—because reasons—I will be posting suggestions and reminders throughout the month. So if you're a newbie, dipping your toes in, a veteran willing to share your wisdom, or even a lapsed blogger wanting to get back into it. The Newbie Blogger Initiative is the perfect opportunity. Hmm, is it just coincidence that apparently May is also National Masturbation Month?

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.