[Lingering Nightmares/Mind Warp lacks proper tooltip update]

While leveling a Sage in the Balance tree, I looked at the description for Mind Warp (which "increases the duration of Mind Crush by 1 or 2 seconds") and was slightly confused as to whether this was a positive skill or not, especially since I remember WoW forum arguments over a similar issue with warlocks and whether increased DoT length automatically implied extra ticks and therefore extra damage. So I checked, my Mind Crush tooltip said that it did around 560 damage over 6 seconds, I took a point in Mind Warp, and the Mind Crush tooltip updated... to 560 damage over 7 seconds, which would make it a DPS loss.

 

What I am unsure of is whether this is a tooltip problem (as in, the damage itself is applied correctly and there is an extra tick of Mind Crush) or an actual damage problem (Mind Crush ticks the same number of times, but over an extended period). I didn't notice much of a difference with only one point in the skill. Either way, it bears some investigation. I don't have a Sorc, but I imagine that they would suffer a similar issue with Lingering Nightmares affecting the Crushing Darkness tooltip.

[Finished Act 3 last night, my take on BH story in general (plot spoilers, obviously)]

First of all, I just have to say I really liked the BH story. I've played through the Jedi Knight story and I was sort of disappointed because it felt as if it was the "main" story or the class story that would relate the most to the KOTOR series; but it's not just that it wasn't what it was billed up to be, but rather the structure of the story was an issue, I didn't like that for what was ostensibly a hero story, every mission ended up being "stop the latest planet destroying doomsday weapon from being unleashed". I also felt like 2 of the Knight's companions, Doc and Rusk, were pretty much shoehorned in because of the structure of the game and the need for characters to fit certain roles.

 

The Bounty Hunter story, perhaps just by pure concept, fits better with the game's structure. Unlike superweapons, which are generally fewer in number but take a lot longer to disassemble (I suppose Act 1 of the JK story would have been better if it was just one or two superweapons, and the individual planet stories were acquisitions of parts to stop those weapons or something), having at least one bounty per planet makes complete sense. I wish that the bounties weren't entirely single targets for a change - I think they really could have mixed it up with having bounties assigned to beasts, entire organizations, or even physical objects - but it wasn't a deal breaker, and we end up causing a lot of collateral damage anyway.

 

Anyway, here is my take on some bits of the BH story, with some questions thrown in as well. If you just want the big question, see the Skadge section.

 

Dromund Kaas:

 

I'm not sure if it would make total sense story-wise to have anything on Dromund Kaas. I understand that within the limitations of the game and its format, they needed to have players on Dromund Kaas for a while, but it all felt so dull to me. Also, if that's the format that the Great Hunt coordinators chose to select the best hunters in their pool, why did they go with a system that has so much potential for abuse? Having 3 separate bounties for all of their candidates just seems so uncontrolled. They could at the very least ship in bounty targets that they know would be relatively similar in strength, instead of risking losing their best candidate through an unlucky draw of bounty targets. You know, like exactly what happens to you.

 

 

Balmorra:

 

The Cathar bounty hunter that you were competing with? I'm not sure if she was supposed to be that obvious. I just felt like it would have worked better if she'd only appeared once, and just listened from the side most of the time.

 

 

Act 1 ending:

 

I really enjoyed Tarro Blood's fate, no matter what happens to him. They did a really good job with him and Skavak for smugglers, getting annoying villains for the non-aligned classes.

 

 

Taris and Hoth:

 

These two planets were probably the highlight of the BH story for me, besides the Act 3 ending. This is what I wanted to get out of the Bounty Hunter - going after some of the toughest targets in the galaxy to track down and eliminate or get rid of. I absolutely loved Hoth. Maybe it was having Torian there, and maybe it's because my fight with Reneget Vause at the end of it was actually somewhat difficult and just felt like a good duel, but I genuinely felt like giving him his death at the end of all that was worth it, and the ultimate sign of respect for him. I don't ever see anyone praising the Hoth bit, and I just wanted to get it out there that I thought it was one of the best individual planet stories I've experienced so far of any class.

 

 

Belsavis and Skadge:

 

I don't understand Skadge. The impression that I got from Belsavis was that Skadge was really pissed off at my bounty for imprisoning him, and wanted to get some revenge. I get that Skadge is also a bounty hunter. But I don't understand why we bring him onto the crew in the first place. Every other companion serves a purpose in the crew: Mako is the slicer and mission control, Gault has connections (that we never really see used, come to think of it), Torian is our Mandalorian and expert on warrior cultures (which comes into use on Hoth - another reason I loved it), and Blizz is a handy little tinker. Skadge just gets real angry and kills people, and the problem is that that's the player's job. When I didn't want him on my crew, he said that he'd get on my ship and I'd have to like it. He didn't even bother trying to pitch any useful skills that he had, or connections that he had, or even a reason why I couldn't just kill him, leave him in that miserable prison and collect any reward for his death. Heck, a light sided BH could still decide to turn him in to the Republic for a bit of breathing room on that whole wanted criminal thing. Considering his history, just associating with Skadge seems to solidify the undeserved reputation that the BH gets. I think players would be more willing to accept Skadge if he just did something well besides killing people. He's a career criminal, he could just say that he has connections to almost every major gang in the galaxy and he'd be a much better character.

 

Also, my BH ship has a holding cell on the bottom floor that never gets used, and Skadge isn't put into that? What a waste of a perfectly good opportunity...

 

 

Voss:

 

If that general is supposed to piss players the hell off, they did a pretty good job of it. In retrospect, I think that the whole point of the major Act 3 bounties was that they were all too prideful and self-righteous, and that you were there to bite them in the *** for it. I think even my LS BH should have had more to say about that to the general especially, basically giving them their comeuppance. That was overshadowed by the Skadge angle on Belsavis, and we got plenty of that on Corellia, but it was noticeablely lacking here.

 

 

Act 3 ending:

 

I don't understand why we were going after the Supreme Chancellor anyway. I thought that we had our revenge with the Jedi on Corellia, and I think the BH should have said more about the motivation for going after this gigantic bounty. That said, the execution and the LS twist of turning on your contractor, killing Darth Tormen and showing him the penalty for relying on someone else for so much was really handled well. I actually think it shouldn't have just been light side, I'm not sure if DS BH can go after both or at least go after Tormen (since I feel that that's what they would do anyway, because why wouldn't they take out a Dark Council member knowing that they could?), but I thought it was a respectful way to end the personal story.

 

[Advance Class Respec]

I know what reduction ad absurdum is, and that argument wasn't it. Reductio is only valid when it actually addresses the points made by the argument it is supposed to be reducing; when used poorly, as in this case, it's only a set-up to create a straw man argument.

 

So get off your snotty horse.

 

Yes, pointing out the type of argument that the creator intended it to be counts as snotty. God forbid we show some intelligence here. Since you felt the need to comment on that, why not comment on my whole post? The one that says this whole "snotty" thing is pointless, since AC respec is absurd to begin with? The one that explains why it is absurd, pointless, and destructive for the game?

 

So who's on the high horse here? The one who took the time to create an actual argument, or the one who felt the need to pick at a small piece of my post (completely unrelated to the rest of it) just to make themselves feel better? You know, the piece that I never even agreed with in the first place, and was arguing for its pointlessness anyway?

 

Though really, this whole thread is pointless to begin with, and I know I'll just get flamed out anyway. All this rage does feed me, though...

[Advance Class Respec]

Slippery slope and false analogy arguments don't show anything.

 

But it's not a slippery slope argument OR a false analogy argument. It's called reductio ad absurdum, or "reduction to the absurd", and it is a very common form of argument. It's also very effective - it's the entire basis behind Stephen Colbert's brand of comedy, or The Onion's brand of comedy (or at least, it used to be). Look it up sometime.

 

But it shouldn't even apply here because the mere notion of switching ACs is horribly absurd in itself. Say you wanted to switch from a Guardian to a Sentinel. Your character would literally become stark naked in the middle of the Republic Fleet, as all your heavy armor is now useless on you. Now say you wanted to switch from a Sniper to an Operative for the heals. On top of reconfiguring, ooh, essentially your entire interface to adjust from cover-based ranged combat to melee combat, stealth and healing, you realize that you have absolutely no useful measure of alacrity, something that an operative/scoundrel needs to heal remotely effectively (not even healing, just energy management at that point with the increased speed of Diagnostic Scan). Oh, and your main weapon is now junk, since Ops use Blaster Rifles and not Sniper Rifles. That's just gear limitations. Never mind that you haven't had the countless hours of preparation that made you slightly more effective than the guy across from you, who also had countless hours of preparation on him. You're asking to be turned to a baby in a man's body, because you're switching from one set of tools to another. It's the difference between driving a drag racer and a rally car.

 

The sad part is, every class has a shared skill tree with their other Advanced Class, not a perfect match because of core mechanics, but really close enough, to ensure that people can still experience that hybrid of sorts. It's also quite useful for PvP.

 

If Mercs are terrible at PvP at the moment, well, that's the problem Bioware needs to solve, and I would wholeheartedly get behind that. But switching ACs is simply absurd. I had trouble switching between specs on my Sent (Combat to Watchman, and I really do enjoy both trees, but I did need a bit of time to get used to using the other half of my Sentinel skills), I couldn't imagine switching from a Sentinel to a Guardian. Odds are, by the time you learn your new class (which, by the way, have their own problems too), your original class will have been buffed. And you will be stuck holding the pieces.

 

Oh, and you'll have to pick up all the new scoundrels/guardians/ops/jugs who switched from their pure damage classes just to get into Group Finder queues faster.