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[SPOILERS] 0-60, A Post-SOR Levelling Diary

ZionHalcyon

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ZionHalcyon

ZionHalcyon

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Greetings!

 

I decided to do an in-forum leveling diary. I had 12 level 55s before 3.0 hit, but deleted all but my republic toons, which I don't play anyway, and started over from scratch. This was done so that way I could fully grasp the changes of the discipline system, and see how it felt from a levelling perspective, as well as help me adjust to the new system.

 

So, with that bit of introduction out of the way, here we go!

 

 

KORRIBAN

-------------------------------------------------

 

So, starting off, there really isn't any noticeable difference in the leveling experience. Quests are the same, but I admit that it is refreshing after having space barred through so many quests, that my decision this time around to stop and absorb all the dialogue and quest lines again has really helped me enjoy the leveling experience.

 

Note that this is not something I could have done had I done this each and every time and burnt myself out. That is what happened with my first batch of level 55s, and why I ended up space barring a lot of the time. However I had done that so often and for so long that stopping to smell the roses so to speak made everything feel a little fresh again.

 

I did briefly check out the discipline tree, but after seeing it is unlocked at level 10, felt quickly it had little to no relevance to me at this point. Other than that, at the very beginning, the experience felt the same. Also, since I forgot to mention it, I rolled a SITH Inquisitor, so that is what I will be working with.

 

the first real change for me came a little bit into the leveling process. As an Inquisitor, I got chain lightning while still on Korriban! I have to say that getting Chain Lightning at that time was really nice! The cool down seems to be slightly reduced and at level seems to be just as effective as it was at higher levels in relation to the level being used at. Moving Chain Lightning down this early was rather nice.

 

Another thing that I noticed, since all planetary comms were changed to basic comms, was that they were a little easier to come by on Korriban. Usually, unless you got lucky with a random rolls, you would leave Korriban with 7 comms, while the specialty goods armor would cost 8 comms, leaving you one short. This has been my experience in the past with multiple playthroughs of Korriban. However, this time around, I left with 9 to 10 commendations. Small change, but a welcome one.

 

As I got to the point in Korriban where you take on Heroics, I noticed the next significant change, that being the way windows are displayed in the terminals. The interface looks much cleaner, much nicer, and feels more straightforward. I would imagine the terminals on fleet are the same, & I feel like this is a significant quality of life improvement.

 

In addition to getting some newer skills early, the last significant change I noticed was when I hit level 10. The discipline system unlocked right then and there with no need to go to fleet! Finally, since the window was of relevance to me I checked it out, picked sorcerer as my advanced class, and proceeded to finish out Korriban, netting my first utility skill when I hit level 11.

 

My impression of the discipline system is that while it is more simplistic than the skill trees, it is also more user friendly and the combat process in terms of picking skills has been streamlined. While sandbox and hybrid fans will likely be outraged, and have been on the forums from what I have seen, this streamlined process will make the game more user friendly for newer players and casual players. These types of players are the type of people that are needed to be brought in to help this game grow.

 

I think it was a very shrewd move, and anyone thinking that this is some new NGE likely has not lived through the NGE like I have and therefore do not know what they are talking about, and are just looking to be mean and snotty. All in all, the discipline system is an improvement.

 

One thing I would like to see though as I wrap up came when I briefly went into fleet to pick up my crew skills before logging off. The quest lines to pick your advanced class are still in the game. These are like an appendix and probably should be removed, with the additional XP added to your last quest on Korriban before you leave to come to fleet. That just makes more sense.

 

With that on to Dromund Kaas and the Black Talon flashpoint which I will cover in my next post. I will be tackling those likely tonight and as I go along I will share everything and hope that there are some out there who will enjoy reading this!

 

Until next time, may the force be with you!

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ZionHalcyon

ZionHalcyon

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So a somewhat shorter recollection today, as I am pretty wiped and went to bed early.

 

So this leg of things will just cover the Black Talon.

 

 

FLEET AND THE BLACK TALON

-------------------------------------------------

 

So, I log in to carry over from where I left off, which was about to do the Black Talon. I decided to grab the Groupfinder mission, and wait on a group in my Nar Shadaa stronghold. During my wait, I opted to purchase HK-55 to level with (I already unlocked him on a toon I deleted, so activating him was only 350 cc).

 

I then proceeded to sell off his stuff and gear him out in lowbie gear. One thing I did have which was nice was a Gree Sniper Rifle, which looked great with HK holding it.

 

After I got tired of waiting, I took my newly geared HK-55 into the Black Talon myself. Sadly, at no time did the queue ever pop.

 

Going through the Black Talon was exactly as I remember it. In fact, I was worried that things were going to be uneventful, until BAM, Force Storm on upping a level!?

 

Having force storm is so nice at this level it's ridiculous. Then I noticed too that when I hit force storm, chain lightning flashes as well, indicating a freebie if I choose to use it.

 

All and all, it was fun , and I ended up at Dromund Kaas, barely able to keep my eyes open.

 

Time for some sleep - hoefully a longer play experience in my next update.

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ZionHalcyon

ZionHalcyon

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Subbed to this thread.

 

Nice to see someone being constructive with the new update and giving feedback while leveling.

 

Keep it up.

 

Thank you for the kind words!

 

I was so tired last night, that I really didn't go as in depth as I feel I wanted to. One of the things I want to go back over was how neat I thought having the dependencies highlighted on my taskbar when I used an ability. I really thoroughly enjoyed the fact that when I used for storm that chain lightning when it was ready for a proc with highlight. I thought that was a huge quality of life improvement.

 

I also didn't realize that lightning strike had the same effect until I used it this place through. It was something that escaped my notice when I got lightning strike on Korriban.

 

It is these types of quality of life improvements, along with the new discipline system, that I feel is going to make a huge difference with regards to casual players being able to just jump in and play the game, which ultimately is the best decision from a business standpoint for the game, since it keeps people who otherwise might not be interested or might not stick around involved due to the ease of play.

 

Also, I feel like it was a very smart move for me to start from ground zero. Seeing the hit or miss reports of people either saying their power was reduced, some saying their power got better, and some know to see no change, I think there is definitely some people who were not ready for the damage adjustment, and others who just are so locked into whatever hybrid build they originally had that they are having serious learning issues with regards to how to play the game. Me starting over from scratch, I can tell you I honestly feel as though I am going to learn the game from the ground up and therefore be better for it once I reach level 60. I can also say that thus far, other than getting some abilities early and having some quality of life improvements, any changes to the game have not been noticeable.

 

That does lead me into another point, however. One of the things the developers mentioned was making it easier to kill mobs in order to make progression feel faster. I do not know if this is something that becomes more apparent later in the game, however for the early going there has been no difference either with Korriban or with the Black Talon. This is something I will keep an eye on as I complete each planet.

 

Anyway, one of the benefits of having played through this game so much is I sort of have an idea of how long it takes to finish a planet. So tonight will be part 1 of Dromund Kaas. I know I am NOT getting through that whole thing in one sitting because I am tackling all the side quests as well. So we will see how far I get and I will keep people in the loop!

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BronKyja

BronKyja

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That does lead me into another point, however. One of the things the developers mentioned was making it easier to kill mobs in order to make progression feel faster. I do not know if this is something that becomes more apparent later in the game, however for the early going there has been no difference either with Korriban or with the Black Talon. This is something I will keep an eye on as I complete each planet.

 

This is something I'm curious about, as well. I imagine there's not much difference early on because it only takes a few hours to make it to level ten. Hope you're having fun!

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AmericanNate

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Good thread. I'll be watching this as well. I'm also ecstatic about getting important skills earlier on. I levelled a jedi shadow up to 27 before 12x xp ended, and I logged into her to see that through disciplines, she had Clairvoyant strike already. I used to lament that I couldn't get that skill till I was almost done levelling to 50, since that skill ties most of infiltration together. Makes playing my lowbies 10x more fun
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ZionHalcyon

ZionHalcyon

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DROMUND KAAS AND THE BLACK TALON PART II

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Already going into today, I knew this was going to be a short play session, due to pulling in a near 12 hour shift today.

 

So I jumped in to the beginning of Dromund Kaas and Queued up for Black Talon again, having not gotten the reward for the Fleet Group Finder mission.

 

Things here were pretty run of the mill - nothing jumped out at me as I played through, expect perhaps just how much of a baddass HK-55 is, even when in lowbie gear. I am quickly finding that at least on low levels, HK will not be of use to help me test how hard Silver star mobs are, because quite frankly, he eats them for breakfast. Hell, I did the Mando +2 Heroic solo with HK, who was taking on 3 Gold Enemies without breaking a sweat. At this point, I'm feeling he was well worth the 350 CC to unlock him on this character.

 

A small quality of life improvement I noticed that made a huge difference is that some of the missions, including Fleet missions don't require a turn in. I finally got picked up for a Black Talon, which had one of those immature, yelley-type of spacebar spazzes, who quickly dropped out after the first leg along with someone else. Got 1 replacement, and filled in the 4th spot with my awesome HK, and we breezed through it.

 

It was on leaving that I saw that I didn't have to go back to fleet to get my rewards, so that was a VERY nice perk. Got a couple skills at the end too, but I was tired and ready for bed at this point, so to be continued!

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ZionHalcyon

ZionHalcyon

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DROMUND KAAS - WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD, ER.... WITCH

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

So, where I last left off, I was just at the front door of Emerald-I-mean-Dromund Kaas City and was off to see the Wizard-er, witch, good ole Lord Zash.

 

It's too funny too, I can remember what a flirt Zash felt like the first time I played the game and was hoping for romancing options, when beta testers laughed at me and told me be careful what I wish for. Oh Zash, you vain, vain, Pruneface wannabe. Maybe you'd have been happier had you not looked like one of the goblins from the movie Labrynth. Or maybe you just felt lost without David Bowie singing to you. But I digress.

 

So all in all, because I'd been exhausted, I decided now that I caught up on my , ahem, beauty rest that I would make a major push. So thus I did, pushing through the slave revolt area, then Lord Grathan and the Revanite Compound, and finally ending up just inside the dark temple, finishing at level 18. The only quest I skipped, and not intentionally but just because I forgot about it on my way back from Grathan's house, was Hadra's defeat, and at the time I remembers, I said forget it because I was already at level 18.

 

As far as leveling goes, it was nifty to get that reduction in force cost passive, but otherwise, I haven't noticed much difference in my leveling. It seems very consistent, and thus far, I am having ZERO issues with silver mobs, or even gold ones.

 

Then again, I am running HK 55 with 500 presence, and he solos just about anything I want him to, even in level appropriate gear. Still absolutely the best 350 cc I've spent in recent days.

 

I wish I had more to give at this point, but nothing is very radical right now. I will say that Force Storm is my bread and butter right now, followed by chain lightning when it procs. Most enemies there isn't a need to go much further. But what has been interesting is with a mildly geared HK and myself, I've been able to solo every single heroic, even the +4 one over by the Dark Temple entrance. I don't notice mobs hitting any harder yet.

 

Also interesting is to revisit the Revanites again. Given where the expansion takes us, it's a great footnote.

 

One thing I will suggest to anyone thinking about rage quitting because the game feels out of whack to you:

 

Do what I did and delete all your characters, and start from the beginning. Relearn your professions from the ground up. There is a lot of people complaining that just are not used to a challenge, and need to relearn their class. Gear isn't overcompensating for skill yet. It will buy time for them to fix a bunch of the pestering end game bugs as well.

 

Anyway, my plan for next time is to get off Dromund Kaas and then hit Hammer Station.

 

See everyone soon! :D

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ZionHalcyon

ZionHalcyon

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though you say this can I ask at what level your legacy is at????

 

I HAVE SAID MANY times that I have issues with the new game build one time and then be find later..

 

IF your legacy started at 0 and IF you get to 30 to 35 tell me how it goes

 

Go gripe in another thread. This is not for that.

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enigmacypher

enigmacypher

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Go gripe in another thread. This is not for that.

 

"One thing I will suggest to anyone thinking about rage quitting because the game feels out of whack to you:

 

Do what I did and delete all your characters, and start from the beginning. Relearn your professions from the ground up. There is a lot of people complaining that just are not used to a challenge, and need to relearn their class. Gear isn't overcompensating for skill yet. It will buy time for them to fix a bunch of the pestering end game bugs as well."

 

opens him up to criticism of this nature .. if it isn't wanted let him leave these kind of comments out and I won't say anything ..

 

criticizing other players and implying they don't know how to play without facts is BS and false ..

 

also this is being done on an open forum .. and that too means anyone and everyone is able to comment

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Jedi_riches

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I have actually been thinking of something similar myself about starting new characters, I am going to start with my Vanguard, he is only level 16 anyway so I won't loose much in terms of progression.

Especially since I know there are things I have missed on my level 55-60 characters (such as I have never finished Makeb, ilum, dread forces etc, once SOR excitement is over I will level some new characters not skipping anything).

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ZionHalcyon

ZionHalcyon

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You deleted all your 55s?

 

Did you at least give their stuff to alts?

 

I've got 3 55s(and a 55 on my pref account) and I can't bring myself to delete them.

 

-Duran'del

 

Kept all my legacy gear (Gree, Dreadseed, Loremaster), cashed out everything else and put it into credits.

Kept all resources and odds and ends in the legacy bank.

 

Not a complete fresh start, but wasn't looking for that anyway. Just was looking to redo the stories and relearn the classes.

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ZionHalcyon

ZionHalcyon

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Just curious.

 

How do silver mobs feel if you try using a different companion?

 

Do you feel like you're leveling more quickly than your original toon?

 

Well, right now all I got is Khem and I don't plan on using him, but for kicks when I was sending Khem and HK out on Archeology missions I was able to solo 2 silvers at level 14 with no problems on Dromund Kaas.

 

If people really end up liking this thread, I plan on repeating this with my next toon in waiting, a Bounty Hunter, and I plan on using Mako the whole way for that one.

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ZionHalcyon

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DROMUND KAAS - THE DARK TEMPLE

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

So, here I am at the dark temple. I grabbed my buff, and set off inside, hitting all the usual quests located therein. HK 55 really had a chance to shine when I decided to take on the heroic wing of the temple and lay waste two pairs of gold mobs, and the champion at the end.

 

As an aside, I know some people were griping that I could not test properly because of my legacy. 2 things. First, my goal was to enjoy myself and relearn my profession, not to test. I am having a lot of fun doing exactly that. 2, it isn't legacy that is helping me out so much. When you do class stories, finish off your companion quest lines. Each one gives you a nice bonus to presence, & I have all of my Imperial companion quests completely finished, as well as a smattering of rebel quests. The presence helps immensely with leveling, especially with characters like Treek and HK 55. It is well worth the cost investment into companion gifts.

 

Back to the temple, where I really did not feel the leveling process was much different. After getting some skills early like force storm and chain lightning. Things seem to have settled down with regards to skills. Although, you really do not need much more than what you are given anyway, because force storm combined with chain lightning rips through mobs like a hot knife through butter. At least it does in these early levels.

 

So I went to the temple and knocked out all the quests with relative ease, met up with my ancestor Kallig, and proceeded to turn in all my dark temple quests. It was then I decided to play catch up, and to test myself on the way back to Zash and try hadras defeat solo.

 

This was something where I can tell you my legacy absolutely helped, or rather, having finished every class story helped in a major way. What I can tell you is taking on A champion and two yellow mobs which would soon become three or four, even with HK, was extremely difficult if not impossible. I found myself finding the groups of 4 to 5 yellow mobs, and attacking them. Using that method, and then with the end champion boss and the two yellows, unloading my heroic moment and all of my class legacy heroic moments, ended up getting the job done for me. I still had to deal with the champ at 20% when all was said and done, but the two yellows that accompanied it were down by then and HK 55 was up to the task.

 

After this, I turned in my quest with Zash, got my ship, finally had my first convo with HK 55, and dinged one more time for good measure.

 

To sum up Dromund Kaas, I started at level 11, I did all the quests, and ended up level 19. The only time I really died unintentionally, was in the Hadra's defeat. An overall general view of the leveling process in this range made me feel as though you got some nice skills early, and then settled into a more normal leveling routine that did not feel excessive or out of the ordinary from what we are usually used to.

 

My next task ahead of me is to hit up hammer station. I may do Balmorra as well to start off. I know from reading that the events on Balmorra are somewhat important to the eventual quest line in Rishi and Yavin IV. So I am excited about starting that, and will keep people in the loop.

 

Until next time!

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