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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