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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