**OFFICIAL** Star Wars: The Old Republic Thread

[JoshGuru7]

If you are a power gamer then you might want to temper your expectations that you are going to be able to play any new game constantly forever. If your guild can run nightmare EV/KP in two hours then you are in the upper 0.01% and no western developer will cater to you instead of the overwhelming majority of the player base that has yet to complete a single HM OP and instead is still playing through all that "chatty" stuff.

As a comparison the amount of content in SWTOR at release compared to most MMOs was very solid. If neither PvP nor playing another class interests you then maybe it's okay to accept that you have beaten the game and to go play something else. If that bothers you then my suggestion would be to try a Korean MMO which will give you thousands of hours of contentrather than hundreds, but the tradeoff is boring quests and gameplay.

 

[Merad]

Just canceled my sub. The free month runs out on 3/31 and I can't see any reason to keep paying for this game. I wanted to play an MMO, not a single player game with some occasional chat.

Is something stopping you from grouping with other people for questing?

 

[TheUnk]

Is something stopping you from grouping with other people for questing?

Yeah it's usually server population and that 90% of quests are solo.

 

[KentState]

Yeah it's usually server population and that 90% of quests are solo.

For me, not having to group is the main reason I'm still playing. I got very frustrated with WoW at times when it was impossible to find a good PUG or a guild that wanted to do lower level quests. As it stands, I've done a handful of HM FP now and the rest has been leveling up alts or PVP.

 

[pontifex]

Is something stopping you from grouping with other people for questing?

yeah, other people don't want to group. I bet I did most of my heroic quests solo - after I was like many levels above them, because no one wants to group.


I'm actually on one of the higher pop servers and some planets seem dead. even when there are a good number of people on, it's still almost impossible to group up. A lot of time when I did group up, it was like 1 or 2 other people. We couldn't even get a full group...

theres like no socializing in the game at all.

 

[DaveSimmons]

That must vary by server. On Bergeren Colony (PVP-RP West Coast) I've usually been able to find a group, especially on weekends.

People have also been good about temp-grouping to share a final stage N boss for the bonus quests, so we don't need to wait in line for the spawn.

 

[coloumb]

yeah, other people don't want to group. I bet I did most of my heroic quests solo - after I was like many levels above them, because no one wants to group.


I'm actually on one of the higher pop servers and some planets seem dead. even when there are a good number of people on, it's still almost impossible to group up. A lot of time when I did group up, it was like 1 or 2 other people. We couldn't even get a full group...

theres like no socializing in the game at all.

What I've noticed is when people ask "Hey - anyone want to group up for quests?" - the response is "That's why you have a companion - no reason/need to group up". People will only group up when absolutely necessary...

 

[KeithTalent]

What I've noticed is when people ask "Hey - anyone want to group up for quests?" - the response is "That's why you have a companion - no reason/need to group up". People will only group up when absolutely necessary...

That's weird, I have not noticed that at all. Most times I see people asking for a group getting responses in relatively short order.

KT

 

[paperfist]

That's weird, I have not noticed that at all. Most times I see people asking for a group getting responses in relatively short order.

KT

While I haven't played in a while that's the experience I had. People are more than willing to help you with a mission or a task and usually go far out of their way to do so.

The only thing that I experience with this that is a turn off is right after your done with a mission they tend to disappear. I don't know if it's just the game or the way MMOs are now but with DAoC to EQ2 people would group and play together all day long.

 

[HumblePie]

What I've noticed is when people ask "Hey - anyone want to group up for quests?" - the response is "That's why you have a companion - no reason/need to group up". People will only group up when absolutely necessary...

Uhh, most people I know like to group up for at least the social points. Social score does matter for some gear. It is going to matter a bit more for legacy stuff too.

I find groups any time I want now, and not just because I'm in a very large guild, but that does help.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

Guild first last night; we downed Soa in just over 2 hours.

This was our third attempt at it. We blew right threw to Soa and had our first wipe after our raid leader screwed up the platform order. Second and third was when our main tank started to have network disconnection issues. On our fourth try the MT disconnected right as the second platform transition started to happen. We couldn't rez his body so we basically 7 manned Soa. The MT got Qel-Droma's saber off of Soa and the other healer got the speeder drop. Other sort of phat lewts dropped as well during the Op. But I couldn't be prouder to lead the Dragon Wolves into this game and come out of it victorious.

Now my raid party can't wait for KP tonight. I haven't seen this kind of energy since the release of the game. We even have other guilds wanting to group up with us for hard mode EV. If you're on Jung-ma on the Imperial side and are interested also, float me a PM.

 

[dougp]

While I haven't played in a while that's the experience I had. People are more than willing to help you with a mission or a task and usually go far out of their way to do so.

The only thing that I experience with this that is a turn off is right after your done with a mission they tend to disappear. I don't know if it's just the game or the way MMOs are now but with DAoC to EQ2 people would group and play together all day long.

Uh, in DAoC, the only efficient leveling after 40 was fins groups for Hib. Albs had the Barrows, but grouping was pretty freaking rare up until then.

 

[ArchAngel777]

The only thing that I experience with this that is a turn off is right after your done with a mission they tend to disappear. I don't know if it's just the game or the way MMOs are now but with DAoC to EQ2 people would group and play together all day long.

It is the way MMO's are now. Have to remember that in DAOC it took a lot longer to level and they MADE group attractive by essentially increasing level speed via AoE pulls and massive bonus XP.

Example:

Mob gave 500,000 XP
Same Mob in a full group would give 1,500,000 (1,000,000)

The bonus XP was insane in many cases. Then couple that with being able to kill 3-4 or even 15+ at a time each pull, you would level 5-10 times faster than solo.

Anyway, MMOs have envolved.

 

[dougp]

It is the way MMO's are now. Have to remember that in DAOC it took a lot longer to level and they MADE group attractive by essentially increasing level speed via AoE pulls and massive bonus XP.

Example:

Mob gave 500,000 XP
Same Mob in a full group would give 1,500,000 (1,000,000)

The bonus XP was insane in many cases. Then couple that with being able to kill 3-4 or even 15+ at a time each pull, you would level 5-10 times faster than solo.

Anyway, MMOs have envolved.

I actually preferred the way you leveled in DAoC - because it forced you to be a community. Granted, now that I'm married, I actually like TOR because I can play it solo but I can also have my PvP - something that I feel a lot of other games haven't pulled off very well.

 

[HumblePie]

I actually preferred the way you leveled in DAoC - because it forced you to be a community. Granted, now that I'm married, I actually like TOR because I can play it solo but I can also have my PvP - something that I feel a lot of other games haven't pulled off very well.

DAoC didn't start out with that mechanic though. Grouping was easy when the game was released as there were plenty of people out there. But after a couple months it got hard. Only groups you ever saw was from people multi-boxing buff bots and heal bots. After awhile of that, then they added all the insane bonus exps for grouping.

As of now though, DAoC doesn't have grouping for low levels at all. You find yourself a necro to spam AoE bomb the shit out of a few spawns you can force to spawn over and over. It's this weird place with a bunch of lizardmen. You spawn an army of high level lizardmen that are like level 60. A max level necro can AoE kill the spawn in 2 seconds. Then you kill the trigger spawn again to force the army to respawn. Takes like all of 1 second to do that. So it's constant killing. Only takes 2 hours to make a new level 1 character reach level 55 or something like that with that trick. Then there is other tricks to get that character to max level. Been awhile since I played that last though. But basically you can max out a new character in a day without grouping at all and that is what every did there.

Most other games are similar.

Only games I know that really force grouping are games that don't do that well. If you want a game where reaching max level takes forever without botting and only slightly less time with a bot group going 24/7 then you need to be playing some of those retarded Asian grindfest games. The ones designed to make you take years to reach max level. These ones are designed to require 42 billion experience to reach the next level and you are getting 1K exps per kill on spawns in an area that spawn 15 mobs every 20 minutes where there are 150 people all fighting over those 15 spawns. Enjoy your stupidly designed Asian MMO.

 

[HumblePie]

Fun little note, I was having a blast with this game again for the past week. I hadn't played in about a month and left off at level 34. I've been just taking it casually and made it up to 43 by the last time I logged off. Did play a bit on a few alts as well.

A few of my guildies though have been complaining about how bad the Marauder class is. After some testing, I'm going to have to agree. Out of all the classes, they need the most TLC at the moment. I know it's a little bit arbitrary, but this is what I was doing with them. I was level 42 and dueling level 50 marauders. And I was winning. Not every time, but if I got my combo off right a few times, they were dead. First off, a level 42 shouldn't even have a chance to kill a level 50 in a duel. They get massive level bonuses. I could tell because my hits were hitting for far less and far less often than normally against a geared out level 50 in BM setup. Against equal level Marauders they didn't even stand a chance at all. Not once did I lose even half my health to an equal level marauder or one close in level to me. It wasn't even a fair fight. The fact that I was beating down marauders 8 levels above me in duels was plain stupid.

What was I playing? Just my assassin tank. Which I have to admit I like a lot. I was destroying people in the warzones every time I went in. Absolutely crushing them. Top that off with being very hard to kill and it was great playing those games

Still back to the Marauder, and I'm assuming the Pubbie equivalent is the Sentinel, it has some issues. I don't even know what they are as I don't play one. I could tell it was weaker than it should be, but I couldn't tell you how or why or what should be done to fix it.

All in all it's been fun playing again for me.

 

[KentState]

Fun little note, I was having a blast with this game again for the past week. I hadn't played in about a month and left off at level 34. I've been just taking it casually and made it up to 43 by the last time I logged off. Did play a bit on a few alts as well.

A few of my guildies though have been complaining about how bad the Marauder class is. After some testing, I'm going to have to agree. Out of all the classes, they need the most TLC at the moment. I know it's a little bit arbitrary, but this is what I was doing with them. I was level 42 and dueling level 50 marauders. And I was winning. Not every time, but if I got my combo off right a few times, they were dead. First off, a level 42 shouldn't even have a chance to kill a level 50 in a duel. They get massive level bonuses. I could tell because my hits were hitting for far less and far less often than normally against a geared out level 50 in BM setup. Against equal level Marauders they didn't even stand a chance at all. Not once did I lose even half my health to an equal level marauder or one close in level to me. It wasn't even a fair fight. The fact that I was beating down marauders 8 levels above me in duels was plain stupid.

What was I playing? Just my assassin tank. Which I have to admit I like a lot. I was destroying people in the warzones every time I went in. Absolutely crushing them. Top that off with being very hard to kill and it was great playing those games

Still back to the Marauder, and I'm assuming the Pubbie equivalent is the Sentinel, it has some issues. I don't even know what they are as I don't play one. I could tell it was weaker than it should be, but I couldn't tell you how or why or what should be done to fix it.

All in all it's been fun playing again for me.

I've always felt that my marauder was off, but chalked it off to lack of gear and experience. I will say that after getting all champion gear, I can solo most others in PvP and do a fine job. My biggest gripe is having only 1 gap closer, a week AoE attack and a limited ranged attack. The biggest problem I see is the amount of hits you have to land to drain 16,000HP then add in a healer that is a 1:1 ratio to my damage and it's a stalemate. Personally, I would rather see the healing nerf play out first before buffing the marauder class.

 

[nageov3t]

I made it about 15' into Drommund Kaas before giving up on my maurader because I felt so weak.

 

[s44]

Heh. Actually, in the PvP community it's commonly believed that at level 50 the Marauder/Sentinel is currently the strongest single AC in the game. Now I don't entirely agree with this -- there are a couple of ACs that should hand the Marauder his ass in 1v1 -- but with the right spec and player, it is pretty devastatingly effective.

Those caveats are pretty important, though. Right now Carnage/Combat is pretty underpowered compared to the other trees, and I believe that's pretty popular for leveling. (One of our guild switched from Combat to Focus and literally doubled his damage per WZ.) And because of the huge number of attacks and powers, the AC definitely has a higher skill cap and learning curve than many other DPS specs.

Incidentally, the Assassin/Shadow tank is another really effective L50 build right now. Has 1v1 advantage over most DPS specs; only problem is it's hard to kill anyone *fast*.

 

[HumblePie]

I've always felt that my marauder was off, but chalked it off to lack of gear and experience. I will say that after getting all champion gear, I can solo most others in PvP and do a fine job. My biggest gripe is having only 1 gap closer, a week AoE attack and a limited ranged attack. The biggest problem I see is the amount of hits you have to land to drain 16,000HP then add in a healer that is a 1:1 ratio to my damage and it's a stalemate. Personally, I would rather see the healing nerf play out first before buffing the marauder class.

Healing in PVP is way too powerful. The team with the most healers win. Hands down. As a tank, if I have heal support I am impossible to kill. I went several games with only zero to 2 deaths while taking the top spot every time. I would get focused hardcore while carrying the ball and I could just laugh while running from one end of the map to the other. As long as I had the heal support to keep me up that is.

Personally I wish they would just nerf healing in pvp if that is where the problem lies. Just make everyone have a debuff placed on them the moment they are in a warzone or flagged for PVP. Make the debuff reduce incoming heals by a certain percentage or something. Fix the chain CC crap that happens with a similar buff that gets applied after being CC'd.

 

[HumblePie]

Heh. Actually, in the PvP community it's commonly believed that at level 50 the Marauder/Sentinel is currently the strongest single AC in the game. Now I don't entirely agree with this -- there are a couple of ACs that should hand the Marauder his ass in 1v1 -- but with the right spec and player, it is pretty devastatingly effective.

Those caveats are pretty important, though. Right now Carnage/Combat is pretty underpowered compared to the other trees, and I believe that's pretty popular for leveling. (One of our guild switched from Combat to Focus and literally doubled his damage per WZ.) And because of the huge number of attacks and powers, the AC definitely has a higher skill cap and learning curve than many other DPS specs.

Incidentally, the Assassin/Shadow tank is another really effective L50 build right now. Has 1v1 advantage over most DPS specs; only problem is it's hard to kill anyone *fast*.

Yah, the 50 marauder I was fighting was originally Carnage spec and I was whipping his ass constantly. He switched to Rage and did MUCH better against me after that. Still I could kill him with the right combos if my low percentage buffs all went off right all the time to get my combos done right. Even without it, I would still drain 50-70% of his health before I died. Again, that shouldn't be happening at all. He should have been flat out rofl stomping me.

 

[KIAman]

Wow, I felt the Marauder was very powerful in PvP. My Marauder is almost a pure annihilation spec and mostly champion geared out with a few cent pieces. It is sad to notice that I do far better on my Marauder in warzones compated to my BM Operative. I have more interrupts (0 distance charge 15 sec cd = win). So much more group utility through heals and Predation (i hated this skill in pve but pvp = OP) and debuffs. So much more survivability through endure and camo, and camo works better than screen on my OP. So sad for a non-stealth class.

It was rare I would ever lose a 1v1 on my Marauder and if I got in trouble, I just charged a target far away and camo.

I can't wait for 1.2 because I want to finally try out carnage to see if it suits my playstyle.

 

[orbster556]

Still back to the Marauder, and I'm assuming the Pubbie equivalent is the Sentinel, it has some issues. I don't even know what they are as I don't play one. I could tell it was weaker than it should be, but I couldn't tell you how or why or what should be done to fix it.

My main toon is a Sent (watchmen spec) and although my opinion of the class once tended to skew towards it being underpowered/broken, I now think, having played with it more, it is a really great class. To be sure, the class has its drawbacks -- especially the lack of any effective AoE (unless you take Focus spec) and a solitary gap-closer -- but you dish out a great deal of damage and, if defensive abilities are utilized correctly, can take a fair deal of punishment over a short period of time. Additionally, the possession of two interrupt abilities allows for the more effective effective enemy attacks/heals to be disrupted.

Although I don't know the Sith counter-parts, Pacify, Awe, Rebuke, Saber Ward, Force Camo, and Guarded by the Force are all defensive abilities that really prolong survivability of a Sentinel. GbtF is not only great for overall survivability but helps in 1v1 confrontations as it gives you 5s of near invulnerability that can be used towards the ends of duels/confrontations. Moreover, with watchmen spec, popping Zen at the correct moment not only ensures your DoTs crit but also provides some nice heals (in pvp I usually get around 40-60k in healing). Finally, Force Camo is a really useful ability to pop as it allows for temporary damage reduction/target-lock break if you're getting burnt down too quickly.

As I am now in the process of leveling a Trooper alt, I agree that, at lower levels, Sents/Maurauders are underpowered and way too squishy; in pve, at least for Sents, this problem is exacerbated by the lack of a healer comp until lvl ~32. Although I am sure some of the difference can be attributed to my increased familiar with the game mechanics, I have breezed through at least 5 battles/encounters with my Trooper that my Sent found incredibly difficult. By mid-30s, however, some of the Sents' deficiencies begin to disappear and the versatility of the class begins to become more evident.

The problem might be that the people against whom you were dueling were not entirely familiar/comfortable with all the different abilities of the class. As I'm hardly a world-beater, I don't want my resort to the 'learn how to play the class' line to come across as glib or supercilious. Given the description you provided of your duels, however, it might have some merit.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I was disappointed a bit playing a Guardian and Marauder. In KOTOR 1 - 2 you were an unstoppable melee force, in SWTOR you're all too often on the verge of death if you play quests on-level.

The Jedi / Sith melee classes just feel a bit weak compared to the heavy-armor troopers and force-bubbling ranged Jedi.

That might just be from playing them first though. My gunslinger seemed weak at first too but at about 35 the DPS got high enough that I better about him.

 

[ArchAngel777]

I actually preferred the way you leveled in DAoC - because it forced you to be a community. Granted, now that I'm married, I actually like TOR because I can play it solo but I can also have my PvP - something that I feel a lot of other games haven't pulled off very well.

I agree with you as well. I loved DAOC. I prefered that as well. But, I wasn't married then and I am now. Grouping now is a lot more difficult now. I have to go AFK a lot more... So, I guess in some ways, the new method is good.