Back to the Basics: A Veteran's Perspective of a Fresh Play-Through

[Jacobise]

Disclaimer

 

I wasn't quite sure where to put this so here it is in general discussion. Devs, if you feel like moving it, go for it. This thread will detail my play-through of a new character over the course of however long it takes while using a specific set of rules. If you enjoy the concept as detailed below, please check back and contribute as you feel like it. If you think this is stupid or otherwise uninteresting, forget you wasted your time with these few sentences and have a nice day.

 

For those of you still around after the disclaimer, enjoy.

 

Goal of this Experiment

 

Put simply, I am trying to force myself to find this game to be new and fresh again. I love this game but feel that recently I've been lazy with it. This journal/experiment/whatever-you-want-to-call-it will be a way for me to re-experience the game as I did 3 years ago. Still interested? Keep reading.

 

Preface

 

I'll start by saying thanks for your interest here. Humans are busy and you taking the time to read this and share the experience with me means a lot. I've been playing here since Beta and Early Access and have loved every second of it. Like any game, this one has its share of issues but as a lifelong Star Wars fan, they're easy for me to look past. Before SWTOR, I spent 7 years in Star Wars Galaxies as Jacobise on the Bria server. My main here is also named Jacobise and although I started on Sanctum of the Exalted, I was moved to The Ebon Hawk during the first large server merge. If you would like to join me in this experience which I will detail more in a moment, feel free to PM me here on the forums or find me in the game. I will have more character information listed below.

 

The other night, I was doing some usual daily missions when I decided to run some seeker droid content. I'm still trying to finish off my starforged and dreadseed sets and for those of you unfamiliar, it's a pain. As I also need to finish out my GSI reputation, I decided to simultaneously run some missions alongside my unrelated digging. During one of these missions, I finished a round of combat which queued some of the "end of combat" music and for whatever reason, I was flooded with nostalgia of when this game launched back in 2011.

 

Since the game's release, I've finished every class' storyline, done every flashpoint, completed every operation, and have played through each expansion. As such, I generally skip cut scenes and, more often than not, play with my speakers muted so that I can simultaneously work on something else. Hearing the specific piece of music again made me realize just what I'm missing out on through these practices.

 

Until last night, I had 22 characters. One has since been deleted to make room for this experiment. Anytime I make a new character, the first things that happen are the following:

• A minimum of 100k is mailed to the new character
  
• A full set of orange armor is picked for the character and mailed
  
• A full set of level 13 armorings, mods, and enhancements is mailed to the character
  
• A handful of CM boosts (XP, Social, etc.) are mailed to the character
  

 

This practice causes exactly what I detailed before. Cut scenes and content are skipped. If I can pvp or run flashpoints to make up for level, I'll skip entire planets besides class missions. So without further ado, the rules to my experiment.

 

Rules

 

A lot has changed in this game over the last 3 years. The following rules are aimed to make this play-through as authentic to day 1 as possible but may be modified as the experiment goes on. Whatever is listed here will be the current rules I'm following on this character. I will try to make a note at the bottom of this section anytime a rule is changed and why.

 

1. No Cartel Market Help (Boosts, Armor, Weapons, Crystals, etc.)
   
2. No Speeder Training until level 25 (Rank 2 and 3 to be acquired at level 40 and 50 respectively)
   
3. No credits or other help from other characters (Exception may include crafting materials outside my chosen crew skills if a crafting skill is chosen)
   
4. All items from my initial set of 24 mails on character creation will be immediately stored and not used with the exception of preorder items that I did indeed have on day 1
   
5. Speeders must be purchased from speeder vendors or earned through ingame content
   
6. Although not an exact science, I will try to mail credits in the correct amounts off of this character to simulate ability training costs (Will start with a flat 10% each level)
   
7. No deployable trainer (Hutt, Satele, Malgus) may be used
   
8. No cut scenes may be skipped
   
9. Sound may not be muted during play
   
10. No Legacy Storage
    
11. No logging out at strongholds for rested xp
    
12. No shortcutting through strongholds (GTN, Fleet, Ship, Etc.) Stopping by to decorate will be ok so long as I return to previous location
    
13. Smuggler, Consular, and Trooper buffs will be clicked OFF, any time I activate mine. As other players could give you their buffs from day 1, I will not turn down buffs from other players and will only click them off when I refresh my own. (Thanks MMFalcon)
    
14. The heroic moment ability may be used. Legacy abilities may not be. (Thanks Mowermanx)
    
15. Sprint ability will be disabled until level 15. (Thanks Painterwhit)
    
16. A journal of sorts detailing thoughts and reactions will be kept on the forums.
    
17. All flashpoints, side quests, and heroic quests must be played. (Thanks Benegio)
    
18. The KDY Tactical Flashpoint may not be played
    
19. The Color Unification button may not be used
    
20. All bonus series must be completed
    

 

If you have any suggestions to add to this list, let me know and I will add to it as I think of more.

 

Character Info (Contact Me)

 

If you would like to join me at any point or have any other reason to find me ingame, here are my main characters and the one being used for this experiment. I will update the experimental one as the challenge goes on.

 

*All characters on The Ebon Hawk US RP-PvE Server

 

Republic Main - Jacobise

Primary Republic Alts - Emeliya, Ki'yan, Merita

Imperial Main - Jacobisê (ALT+0234 for the ê)

Primary Imperial Alts - Eveeoni, Aayla'Numa, Subject-two'six, Asdaxa

 

Experimental Character

Faction: Republic

Name: Maynel

Class: Jedi Knight

Crew Skills: None, None, None

Level: 11

 

 

If you think of anything else you'd like me to list and keep updated on the experimental toon, let me know and I'll add it.

 

Live Streaming

 

Per recommendation, I'm going to live stream and then post to Youtube what I can of this. The live stream can be found at:

 

http://www.twitch.tv/jacobise

 

Closing

 

Once again, thank you for taking the time to be a part of this. My hope is that this little experiment will bring a renewed sense of wonder to this game for me. I miss the early days when I went out of my way to explore every part of a planet and I'm hoping to get that back. As I do have a job, attend college, run a guild and have other characters, I will more than likely not play this character everyday. I will however abide by the previously mentioned rules and add to this thread whenever I do. As for my journal portion of this challenge, I'm reserving the next few reply posts for that to make it easier to organize.

 

May the force be with you,

Jacobise Goldenlight

Edited April 1, 2015 by Jacobise
More rules,

[Jacobise]

Creation

 

3/24/15

 

I took a good bit of time with the character creator. I love both factions but my first and main character was/is a smuggler so I knew I wanted a Republic class for this. This may be an experiment, but I ultimately do want this character to be viable for endgame so that was a factor to keep in mind. Upon realizing that I lacked a female knight of some sort, I felt that the new voice acting may help bring interest for me and settled on the knight class. I won't decide on guardian vs sentinel just yet.

 

After choosing the knight class and deciding I wanted a female character, I tried to take a few things into account on species. I wanted to stick to the original species that were available for the class. I think the only species unlock I lack is my Chiss as he hasn't hit level 50 yet. I only have one Zabrak and its a male so I chose to make this character a Zabrak female. I spent about 30 minutes in the creator and finally found some combinations I like. I screencapped my chosen combination sets and then logged out to work on a name. For those of you that don't care about RP in any way, the name I came up with was Maynel. If you enjoy RP aspects and lore, check out the spoiler tag below (Not actually spoilers for anyone worried).

 

 

I always like to come up with at least a basic back story and style for a character before I start playing them. This is one of the reasons I always start by sending an armor set to new characters so that they have a look that suits their story. This however diminishes the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a set and, per the rules, free stuff will not be happening with this toon. I started by researching Zabrak naming conventions and primarily found that the Zabrak commonly name their young after animals native to Iridonia. As the bestiary of Iridonia hasn't been widely touched on in the EU, this fact limited my options, especially naming a female. The feel I was going with on this toon is a Jedi, separated from the Jedi Order but lightsided and adherent to the Jedi Code. She comes from humble beginnings (street urchin type) and is doing her own thing to help the Republic in her own way. She'll wear civilian or mercenary style clothing but carry the lightsaber. She's a wanderer and as such, I drew my name from the fact. Rather than using a conventional name, I went with more of a nickname. Maynel is the Ul'Zabrak word for Wanderer and so Maynel shall be the name of my new Zabrak.

 

Upon completing my character, it was time to hit the Play Button.

 

 

Prologue

 

Intro

 

3/24/15

 

By the time I finished character creation, it was getting late for me but I know how quickly names get taken and wanted to solidify the character before calling it a night. I've found that you can hit escape on the opening cutscene and it restarts when you go talk to the starter person. This does not apply to the opening crawl though. Once you hit play the first time, you get one opportunity to see it so I watched and read through. At the end of it but before the loading screen that needs to be spacebarred, I noticed something I either missed before or had been added recently. Several Republic cruisers are in orbit around Tython and a shuttle (presumably carrying you) takes off and flies towards the surface. This was a nice touch. At this point, I was falling asleep at the keys and needed to call it a night.

 

 

Tython

 

3/25/15

 

Upon landing on Tython, I observed the first cut scene of the knight's story and exited the little conference room. To add to the effect, I turned on my "walk/run" toggle to truly take in the scenery as I walked around the Master's Retreat to the taxi pad. Although it may change, I currently have my sound settings at 100% for music and voice but 90% for everything else. That slight boost to music seems to enhance the emotion of the game and really helps Tython's haunting feel. For anyone who cares, I'm not currently using headphones. Once I reached the taxi pad, I took a short hop over to The Gnarls. It's at this point I decided I needed to get my keybindings set and initial mail cleaned out. It seemed to me that the quickest way to do this would be to quickly hop to a stronghold. As strongholds are a relatively new addition to the game, I've added 3 rules to the list.

 

Rule changes:

• No Legacy Storage
  
• No logging out at strongholds for rested xp
  
• No shortcutting through strongholds (GTN, Fleet, Ship, Etc.) Stopping by to decorate will be ok so long as I return to previous location
  

 

I decided that my Coruscant Apartment made the most sense at this level and headed there. Since this is a new character, I was given the "first visit" cut scene for the stronghold and watched it. This is my first new character since finishing my decorating and seeing the cut scene with everything decorated rather than empty was awesome. Once I finished my keybindings, I turned my attention to the mail items. As I stated beforehand, most of these items will be going in storage until later in the game. I'm only starting with I would have had on Day 1. Of the 24 pieces of mail, only the following items were kept:

• Black/Yellow Level 7 Preorder Crystal
  
• Holocamera (I know the screenshot button works but I love using this item)
  
• VIP Wristband
  
• CE Flare Gun
  
• Training Droid Targeting Marker
  
• Portable Holodancer (Because why not?)
  

 

To adhere to my speeder rule, my CE Longspur Stap will also be stored until a later time. As titles grant XP, none of those will be used until endgame so as not to mess up true level progression. With items stored and keybindings set, it's time to return to Tython. As I started picking up side quests, I started debating what alignment this character will follow. I haven't decided for sure yet but will play with the alignment as I go and keep it updated in the character info from the OP. As I hit level 2, I also decided that to simulate the ability training costs, I'll start by sending a flat 10% of what I have on me to my main since I couldn't find a list of the old prices. My plan is to at least make it to the Jedi Temple within this entry. So far it seems this character will be relatively neutral with leanings toward the light side. She'll be kind and compassionate but firm. As I reached the Temple for the first time, some of the standard Jedi music queued and the feeling was quite surreal. Again for effect, I toggled my "walk" and took everything in as I walked from the taxi pad to the Temple entrance. The primary factor I noticed were the number of NPCs in this area and the variety of activities those NPCs are conducting. Most of the groups consist of a Master Jedi overseeing Padawan Learners in various aspects of their training. I found it was worthwhile to walk from group to group just to see the various animations and interaction. I picked up the side quests in the courtyard before heading inside. Once inside, I sought out the cantina to logout for the rested XP. Ultimately, I only achieved level 3 but the initial setup of the UI and dealing with 3 years of items was a bit of a delay. I was also called away to other characters on multiple occasions. I will pick up with my first interaction in the Jedi Temple the next time.

 

 

3/30/15

 

Tonight was interesting. I didn't quite finish Tython but a lot of strides were made both functionally in the development of this challenge as well as with the leveling of the character. As the weekend was double xp, I didn't log into Maynel at all. I felt that would ruin the purpose of all of this. I did however create a new Imperial character and speed run through Korriban. I'm not following these rules over there but I did find myself happily watching the cut scenes and actually developed a few rules to add to the list here. I finished out at level 16 on my Imperial toon which opened up KDY. As I already posted in a reply to this thread but will add here, the following rule changes were discovered and implemented:

 

KDY will not ever be played on this character.

The Color Unification button may not be used forcing me to match clothing that looks good together.

All of the bonus series must be finished.

 

The OP has already been updated to reflect those. The other big thing tonight was live streaming. Thanks Testpatter for the suggestion of streaming. I thoroughly enjoyed playing around with Twitch and getting everything setup. The OP has the link to my broadcast channel for anyone wishing to check it out. Sadly, I'm still learning so I did accidentally dump tonight's footage rather than archiving it. Once I start archiving it correctly, I'll also add my Youtube channel to the OP and start hosting the archived footage there.

 

Per the rule changes, I started tonight by logging in and removing the Sprint and Non-Knight Class Buffs. I logged out in the cantina for the rest XP so I decided to return outside and back to where I should have been to accept my holocall from Master Satele. This session didn't leave me with a ton of commentary on every detail of play but there were some major highlights. Rewatching the cut scenes was thoroughly enjoyable. I find that I'm playing the character mainly lightsided but practical. The biggest challenge I had was remembering to click class buffs off. I'm getting better at it but there were 2 instances where I did forget for about 10 minutes. I think the most rewarding experience was taking in the Jedi Academy and its training grounds. I found flavor text and NPC Jedi that I had never noticed. There's a statue in the temple listed as "Satele Shan", there are 2 Jedi sparring in the river with one looking on from afar, and there are 3 Jedi meditating under a waterfall. I think before I leave the planet, I'll toggle my walk key and actually walk around the temple for awhile. I should have some time tomorrow (today by my time of posting this) to finish up Tython.

 

As for questing, I made it all the way up to level 8 and logged out in the cantina right before my middle encounter with the Twi'lek pilgrims. I think I'm most looking forward to visiting the lightsaber forge again. I still haven't decided which Advanced Class I want to go with though I'm leaning towards Sentinel so that I can put Strength mods in Smuggler gear.

 

On a final note of organization, I'm going to start putting previous journal entries in spoiler tags with the date showing to save room. I'll leave the most recent journal entry expanded. Once I start hosting on youtube, I'll plan on putting Date - Hyperlink for easy location of the session that goes along with the entry.

 

 

3/31/15 - Video

 

I haven't finished with everything I'm going to do today but as Tython is finished, I'm breaking my session into a few parts. I also got the Recording/Uploading issue figured out so I will post the Youtube link here when it finishes exporting. Currently, I'm only recording raw game footage. There is no mic or webcam input from me.

 

I logged back in at the cantina and immediately got back to work. I started by doing some preliminary exploration of the training grounds. As I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to walk around the temple fully with the walk toggled on. I did get around to that at the end. After getting an idea of what I wanted to look at closer and scrrenshot later, I took a taxi to the Twi'lek settlement. I turned in a few of the missions leftover from yesterday and then continued my primary line of questing. After receiving my next assignment, I made a stop back at the Jedi Temple to continue my droid combat training. When that was finished, I continued onto the ruins of Kaleth for both the Heroic quest and my Knight mission. Big shout out to Xalok for running the Heroic AND fighting the boss droid in that area with me. Also thanks for putting up with my intentionally decreased movement speeds. The two of us also grabbed the datacron in that area while we there. I took a few great screenshots from the perch that the datacron is nestled on. With the heroic and class quest turned in, I went back to the Twi'lek settlement for the inevitable double cross. Having T7 officially added as my companion felt great. I've definitely been noticing my intentional nerfs in combat and he's helping to level me out. With the forge location pinned down, T7 and I made a final trip to the ruins of Kaleth so that we could walk from there. We thinned out the Horranth population en route to the forge. After rescuing Master Orgus, I walked up the steps to create my lightsaber. Fantastic music choices for these scenes on Bioware's part. For now, I'm using my black/yellow preorder crystal for the added endurance. When I returned to the Jedi Temple, I completed my last droid training exercise and then debriefed with the Jedi Council. All that was left was to head to the fleet. Before doing so however, I ran back outside to some of the NPCs I mentioned earlier in my journal to take screenshots. Once that was done, I walked up the main path and into the temple, then through each room inside. This process took a good half hour but was well worth taking everything in. When I get the time, I'll host all the screenshots on Photobucket or some similar service then post the album links in the OP. This session ends with me heading to the fleet and picking up a lot of the missions available. I also finalized my decision to take on the Sentinel AC. I think it will be fun to be a Jedi but play a rogue/smuggler type. This decision should help solidify my RP prospects mentioned back in the Creation section. I'll pickup with Crew Skills and The Esseles next in the Coruscant section.

 

 

 

Coruscant

 

4/1/15

 

My previous stream was done on my desktop. I'm on my laptop today and whether it's the CPU or the WiFi I'm on, I couldn't get it to stream. Also for whatever reason, the program I'm using dumped the recording rather than saving it to my hard drive - something to look into later. This was a short session between real life things in which I managed to complete the Esseles Flashpoint.

 

I picked up immediately from where I left off previously on the fleet. I started by picking my crew skills. As I'm planning to be self sufficient and use T7 a lot, I went with cybertech as a crafting skill. With cybertech, I chose scavenging and underworld trading to supply myself with resources.

 

With all of the fleet missions picked up, I went to the Coruscant departure area and picked up the Esseles mission. I then queued via Group Finder. After giving it much thought, running all of the Flashpoints is just not going to be possible without Group Finder in this time of the game. The rule that I will add to the list will be this: Groupfinder may be used to find groups for flashpoints but a specific flashpoint must be chosen so as not to benefit from the daily rewards. The Esseles is the obvious exception to the rule as it is the only flashpoint available at the time. The queue popped right away and overall the run was relatively smooth. I stated up front that I would be watching the cut scenes and only got one response indicating "Sounds good." The other 2 players, both from the same unmentioned guild said nothing and I assumed I was in the clear. They tried to kick me 2 minutes in but thankfully that vote didn't pass as I had the other guy on my side. Other than the massive amount of complaining about spacebarring, the run was great and it was nice to take in the experience once again. At the end of it, I won the roll to go to Coruscant, another fact that they didn't like and we all parted ways. Needless to say, I have my first 2 Ignore victims.

 

I'll diagnose the recording issue so that I can still host it on youtube for posterity even when I can't stream. As I'm called away, I'll pickup next time (Hopefully later today) with the beginning of Coruscant.

 

Chapter 1

Edited April 1, 2015 by Jacobise
Clarification, Additions

[Jacobise]

Chapter 2,3

[Jacobise]

Late game, Expansions

[Jacobise]

Decided with Tython alone already taking a good bit of space, I'd go ahead and reserve a few more posts. I may start dropping each date of play down into a spoiler tag if it becomes necessary.

[Jacobise]

And saved

[testpatter]

I have left and returned to this game on several occasions and I did the same thing you are doing except that I would delete all of my characters. I never saved any gear from them, the only thing I had once I started playing again would be a small sum of credits from one of my characters. It truly is like starting all over because I couldn't hop toons to do a raid or an fp, I had to level up to do them. Maybe I'm a masochist or what I believe to be true is that I don't have an attachment to characters or items.

 

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the experience!

[MMFalcon]

Very interesting thread! I say this as I (beta/launch player through 2.0) have recently returned to the game with a similar desire to recapture some of the launch magic, as it were

 

I might not be as hardcore as you, however, as I actually went ahead and rolled new characters from scratch on a new server with absolutely no hope of legacy support. You have restricted yourself from taking advantage of the perks of which you clearly could be taking advantage, and that must take some discipline! With the press of a button, you could bail out your new babies, yet you have pledged not to do so. (Are you actually clicking off 3 of the 4 class buffs every time you activate Force Might? Kudos.)

 

All that would be required for me to have all those perks is a simple (and expensive) character transfer, but it is very unlikely that I will be paying for a transfer, so I expect I will get to fully experience what it is like to be a new player. (Not exactly like a new player at launch, perhaps, since the game has inexorably evolved, but still without the instant wealth.)

 

Looking forward to reading your observations

[Mowermanx]

Sorry if you noted it, but how are you getting around the god mode of having all that presence?

I done something similar 12 months ago, but all the perks, buffs and presence made it sort of pointless.. I ended up starting anew on a different server, that way, it truly was a fresh experience.

[painterwhit]

If I remember, we didn't even get sprint until level 15 at release. Maybe consider leaving that toggled off til then

[LyraineAlei]

If I remember, we didn't even get sprint until level 15 at release. Maybe consider leaving that toggled off til then

 

Numpad / key is the default button for walk. Default movement speed is a jog. The run OP refers to, is likely the jogging pace, not Sprint.

 

Edit:

 

Sounds like an interesting experiment, but like others mentioned before, how are you working around class buffs, presence, and all the other passive buffs?

Edited March 26, 2015 by LyraineAlei

[branmakmuffin]

Numpad / key is the default button for walk. Default movement speed is a jog. The run OP refers to, is likely the jogging pace, not Sprint.

 

Edit:

 

Sounds like an interesting experiment, but like others mentioned before, how are you working around class buffs, presence, and all the other passive buffs?

He'll give up in frustration in a day and a half in any event. Anyway, no one can verify that he's following his own rules (unlike people who play a character with no AC, which is plain for all to see), so what's the point of posting his "progress" here?

 

I once played with a dedicated group on DDO where we only used what we got as a group during questing or from non-magical item vendors. Nothing from the auction house, no twinking items or cash from rich, high level alts. It was fun because we all did it together (and I am as sure as I can be that no one "cheated"). Doing it solo would have been rather pointless.

[Arlon_Nabarlly]

I recently did a similar thru, but much simpler. I started a new character on a new server. Since it was a new server I was legacy 0, no legacy unlocks, no credits to transfer, etc. I did use a few items from collections, mainly the hutt trainer. It was interesting to play thru like this. I'm at 46 now.

[LyraineAlei]

He'll give up in frustration in a day and a half in any event. Anyway, no one can verify that he's following his own rules (unlike people who play a character with no AC, which is plain for all to see), so what's the point of posting his "progress" here?

 

I once played with a dedicated group on DDO where we only used what we got as a group during questing or from non-magical item vendors. Nothing from the auction house, no twinking items or cash from rich, high level alts. It was fun because we all did it together (and I am as sure as I can be that no one "cheated"). Doing it solo would have been rather pointless.

 

*shrugs* Not my circus, not my monkeys.

I said it was interesting and asked a question for clarification. If the OP does wind up giving up, so be it.

[branmakmuffin]

*shrugs* Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Not mine, either. What's your point?

[Jacobise]

Hey everyone, I'm replying to these on my phone quickly and will update the OP later today. Thanks for your interest, suggestions, and even perhaps criticism. If you offered support and interest, thanks a ton. If you gave a suggestion or question, I'll quote you and address it.

[Jacobise]

Maybe I'm a masochist or what I believe to be true is that I don't have an attachment to characters or items.

 

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the experience!

 

Since I've been here so long, have a guild, and do enjoy the RP scene, it would be very hard for me to just delete everything. If I do end up enjoying this to the end, I may start a character on a new server down the line to get rid of temptation. Thanks for the encouragement.

[Jacobise]

Are you actually clicking off 3 of the 4 class buffs every time you activate Force Might?

 

 

Looking forward to reading your observations

 

Thanks for the kind words. Great point with the buffs and perfect example of why I wanted input here. I hadn't thought about them. I'll add to my rules and start observing the following:

 

Smuggler, Consular, and Trooper buffs will be clicked OFF, any time I activate mine. As other players could give you their buffs from day 1, I will not turn down buffs from other players and will only click them off when I refresh my own.

[Jacobise]

Sorry if you noted it, but how are you getting around the god mode of having all that presence?

I done something similar 12 months ago, but all the perks, buffs and presence made it sort of pointless.. I ended up starting anew on a different server, that way, it truly was a fresh experience.

 

Another good point. I'll keep thinking about it but at current can't find a real way around this since I want to stay on my home server and we can't disconnect a character from legacy. May be a nice argument to allow accounts multiple legacies. That being said, it's going to be a chore to get myself full modifiable gear let alone my companions so I don't think the presence and other legacy perks will off balance this too much. Your post did make me think about legacy abilities though which I had not addressed. I'll update the rules and observe the following:

 

The heroic moment ability may be used. Legacy abilities may not be.

[Jacobise]

If I remember, we didn't even get sprint until level 15 at release. Maybe consider leaving that toggled off til then

 

Excellent point! I had forgotten about this. I'll unclick it next time I login and won't reactivate until 15. Will add to the rules and observe the following:

 

Sprint ability will be disabled until level 15.

[Jacobise]

Numpad / key is the default button for walk. Default movement speed is a jog. The run OP refers to, is likely the jogging pace, not Sprint.

 

Edit:

 

Sounds like an interesting experiment, but like others mentioned before, how are you working around class buffs, presence, and all the other passive buffs?

 

I addressed painterwhit's post and he's referring to the ability that increases base movement speed that you now start with. I Hadn't thought about it until it was mentioned here so I'll be adding "no sprint til 15" to my rules. In my entry, I was referring to the default \ walk like you mentioned but I DID have sprint active so I'll change that.

[Jacobise]

He'll give up in frustration in a day and a half in any event.

 

By that logic, I would have given up on day 1.

 

Anyway, no one can verify that he's following his own rules

 

This is true, though I have no reason to not follow my own rules. It's not like this is a competition to cheat. I'm doing it for my enjoyment. As my OP stated, I may break or add rules if it adds to my enjoyment. If I do change anything, it will be updated in the OP

 

(unlike people who play a character with no AC, which is plain for all to see),

 

What are you acronyming as AC here? I'm curious.

 

so what's the point of posting his "progress" here?

 

The point is I felt it would be fun to reflect on my impressions. Since I'd be keeping a log anyway, I chose to also put it on the forums for input and on the off chance someone else may enjoy reading it and/or trying it themselves.

 

I once played with a dedicated group on DDO where we only used what we got as a group during questing or from non-magical item vendors. Nothing from the auction house, no twinking items or cash from rich, high level alts. It was fun because we all did it together (and I am as sure as I can be that no one "cheated"). Doing it solo would have been rather pointless.

 

I'd definitely enjoy it if a group of players wanted to join me in this but right now it's just me. As for posting my progress being pointless, see my above on why I put this on the forums.

 

I responded to your points within the quote in red. Thanks for your input but no need to discount my efforts that quickly.

[Sarfux]

I responded to your points within the quote in red. Thanks for your input but no need to discount my efforts that quickly.

 

Don't respond back to him. He's just a troll and counter argues everybody and deliberately tries to get you upset I like what you are doing. Keep us briefed!

[testpatter]

It's unfortunate we are on different servers, otherwise I would definitely have joined you. Since coming back and creating new chars I have 1 that is 60 and a few lowbies and have found a fun guild to play with. I'm looking forward to your updates and maybe a funny story or 2 from your first FP's

 

Have fun!

[Suromir]

Another good point. I'll keep thinking about it but at current can't find a real way around this since I want to stay on my home server and we can't disconnect a character from legacy. May be a nice argument to allow accounts multiple legacies. That being said, it's going to be a chore to get myself full modifiable gear let alone my companions so I don't think the presence and other legacy perks will off balance this too much. Your post did make me think about legacy abilities though which I had not addressed. I'll update the rules and observe the following:

 

The heroic moment ability may be used. Legacy abilities may not be.

 

playing like this with all that presence completely defeats the purpose. literally, pointless. Start a new server or frankly, who cares...you're still way way waaaaay ahead on ability just baseline thanks to that presence than anyone EVER was when starting out.

 

Sorry, just a fact. You've literally defeated the purpose before you even began. oh well, nice try.