SWTOR in the Life of a Casual

[JennyFlynn]

My first PvP match I was all sorts of proud of myself that I got a bunch of achievements (also on a sorc). Still not sure if it was the button mashing, or I sneezed and hit the right ability by accident without knowing it.

 

Oooh ooh I did some PvP once too!! It was for one of the Alliance alerts for Pierce I think. Ran in clueless, squirted green goo and shields at people who looked like they were low on health, died, ran back to do the same thing again and kept it up until I completed the quest. Then I hid back into my story mode solo play corner and never did it again..

[ENVISIONocity]

I remember the first time I played the Agent class, and thinking wow, this guy's a dog who thinks he's a cross between James Bond with the women and Jason Bourne for the action. And he ain't.

 

I enjoyed the agent story much more through the female agent I later progressed. And the intrigue was crazy at times! And Alderaan just needs to get its act together. The politicking and whininess of the people I had to deal with there... seriously?. Nearly drove me to a lifetime of isolation on Hoth.

 

I tend to primarily have strong female characters anyhow when it comes to alts. And when I play a male character, I'm that solo player who enjoys making his female companion look her best. So, yes, I am a dye hoarder. lol

 

SWTOR's has the most enjoyable customization system I've personally come across, and it lends to personality and individuality. Which is another aspect that Bioware has missed with GC mode: the inability to customize the companions we are given in exchange for the fully-customizable companions we have in Classic mode.

 

Talk about /facepalm!!

 

Sure, I imagine there will be those players who dress Lana down, but I'd like to believe that I'm not the only one who wouldn't, and I'd like to believe that I'm in the majority. Gear stats may not matter, but it would be nice to have the same diversity we have enjoyed the last five years.

 

But for whatever reason, while Bioware has the tech in place to do so, they appear to lack the willingness to do so for their player base. Which is fine, because I enjoy Classic more anyhow.

[eriksarcasm]

I like that! Exploding simulator" sounds like me, and I'm aware that there are a lot of people at the moment, doing exploding simulators( hope you don't mind me borrowing your expression) and exploding on purpose, I'm most certainly not that kind of person, but I just don't quite understand how it works, I'm trying! Well, til something distracts me... another alt or so..

 

I hereby add "Exploding Simulators" as my nomination for our guild name

 

If anything, people will stop and ask us what the heck it means, and then we can buff them!

[ENVISIONocity]

I don't do well with melee and am far better on a ranged class. I think my least fav for that reason are the SW and JK classes.

 

I have been in awe of people who can do the ranged. Sometimes you'll see me just standing at a particular hot spot just watching someone in the area and how they run the area with their character. Too, whenever I see someone who's getting drop-kicked by NPCs and clearly out of their depth, I'll run in to help take the focus off them enough to keep them alive.

 

I do LOVE my stealthies too.

 

I was hooked when I played the first time in a class that came with stealth. I thought, Where has this been all my life?! lol

 

Makes content so much easier to flow through when you really don't feel like bothering with mobs. The downside is that you better have an alternative source for credits.

 

If I was a better clicker or maybe took the time to set up my keyboard commands, I could be a better ranged player. But there's just something about that leap into battle, sabers at-the-ready.

[eriksarcasm]

I remember the first time I played the Agent class, and thinking wow, this guy's a dog who thinks he's a cross between James Bond with the women and Jason Bourne for the action. And he ain't.

 

I enjoyed the agent story much more through the female agent I later progressed. And the intrigue was crazy at times! And Alderaan just needs to get its act together. The politicking and whininess of the people I had to deal with there... seriously?. Nearly drove me to a lifetime of isolation on Hoth.

 

Agent is the only story I haven't started yet. I have yet to finish Smuggler, Inquisitor and Warrior. I guess I'm saving the best for last. I'm enjoying the Smuggler story the most, even though of all the companions, Kira has the best back story... but I'll always adore Mako the most.

 

 

I tend to primarily have strong female characters anyhow when it comes to alts. And when I play a male character, I'm that solo player who enjoys making his female companion look her best. So, yes, I am a dye hoarder. lol

 

Not ashamed to say I spend WAY too much time dressing up my toons, especially the females. I really am happy with what I came up with for my Knight and Kira's outfits. 2 sharp dressed ladies tearing up the galaxy!

 

SWTOR's has the most enjoyable customization system I've personally come across, and it lends to personality and individuality. Which is another aspect that Bioware has missed with GC mode: the inability to customize the companions we are given in exchange for the fully-customizable companions we have in Classic mode.

 

Talk about /facepalm!!

 

A big thing of mine is character customization, and I find SWTOR lacking. I don't like pre-made faces and 4 body types just isn't enough. Champions Online and Saints Row, among others, really spoiled me with customization options. Again, way too much time spent making characters.

 

Sure, I imagine there will be those players who dress Lana down, but I'd like to believe that I'm not the only one who wouldn't, and I'd like to believe that I'm in the majority. Gear stats may not matter, but it would be nice to have the same diversity we have enjoyed the last five years.

 

Agreed. I think BW is overly attached to their new companion character designs.... like I'm one to talk.

 

But for whatever reason, while Bioware has the tech in place to do so, they appear to lack the willingness to do so for their player base. Which is fine, because I enjoy Classic more anyhow.

 

I'm with you there but only because I have stories still to finish. I don't think I could play through the stories more than once though. I can watch Star Wars over and over, but for some reason I can't see slogging through the class stories again. I've done KOTFE only once, Shadow of Revan twice, and I feel like that's enough. For now.

Edited December 11, 2016 by eriksarcasm

[ENVISIONocity]

If anything, people will stop and ask us what the heck it means, and then we can buff them!

 

A great idea!!

[Voblat]

I'm on Red Eclipse, and I've been there since day one launch.

 

I did play with some friends from other games to begin with, but they all left at the first exodus 6 months in. I've been going it alone ever since.

 

I have never been in an operation in 5 years of the game, but thats OK too, I kind of had my fill of raiding in everquest and while this game is not 50+ people and everything that goes with it, I prefer the casual play these days.

 

I have played through every class story on both sides, I loved the agent story the most, but find in the game since KOTFE, ranged, static classes like my marksman really do not fir well with the design. I much prefer my juggernaut these days, the story seems designed for that class.

 

I did a bit of PvP once for 4X and Pierce, and got a DvL toon to valor 5 for that event too. I did not really care for max level PvP, it was all a bit too serious, but during DvL I found the PvP between lower levels, when we were all between 15 and 30 or so much more fun. I even managed a few kills in that one.

 

At the moment I'm mainly levelling up crafters and gathering the materials to craft all my alts 228 purple gear. I have a few GC levels, but I am hopeless with random loot, its better to just make my own than rely on bad luck.

[SerraShar]

*Wave to all Shadowlanders player and others Server players*

 

You know..there is some good vibes in here ! I can see the title like ''Fluffy Casual'' instead

[ENVISIONocity]

In fact you are exactly the player BioWare is aiming at now. People willing to pay $15 a month for A KOTOR with DRM.

 

Actually, I've never played any of the preceding games. I did go ahead and purchase them through Steam and they are currently installed. But I haven't played them.

 

I think the last Star Wars game I played was Dark Forces, not counting Pod Racer which I found to be loads of fun in spite of the endless crashes.

 

So, SWTOR was and is my first foray into the Old Republic mythos.

 

Do I consider myself part of Bioware's target market because I sponsor the game with my $15/month subscription? I'm not sure that it matters, since I continue to enjoy the game. And I'm sure I'm going to spend the $15 somewhere, so why not spend it on SWTOR, where I get a fully-voiced storyline, a variety of companions as my go-withs since I'm a solo player. And it covers a month of play when I can easily blow $15 on a single pizza night. Or, if you can even buy two tickets, drinks, and popcorn for a single movie at the theater.

 

I don't see any downside, except the reality that SWTOR won't always be around for people to kick, and SWTOR goes to where all once-great MMOs go to fade and become one with the Force again.

 

So I intend to enjoy it, just me, myself, and I— and after seeing the great responses from others so far on this thread, I can enjoy it even more now, knowing that anyone I pass on my solo trek might be another solo player, just here to keep up the good fight, Imp and Pub alike.

 

At some point one might think you are a BioWare MKT manager in disguise

 

Only if I get to customize my appearance!

[Blacklynx]

Thank you for this post, it's very welcomed since the mess with 5.0.

 

Also a casual player, but from the Progenitor. Since i've played several mmo's i tend to dabble a bit in groups and pvp, but never with a melee character, boy am i bad with those, too many buttons to click. SWTOR has what i always found lacking in most mmo's, a damn good story, and the 8 class stories from the classic are the icing on the cake, it saddens me to see such great replayability getting progressively ruined as the game goes by, but my response to that is alting and going through classic swtor every once in a while. Never did a full dark character tho, some options are just a bit too dark for me and i end up getting more light than dark, so i jut decide what my charater believes in as i start it and keep to it.

 

Did one ops (but can't even remember wich one), wasn't bad but too messy for me, did all flahspoints for the dvl thingy and i do pop in a tactical one sometimes just for a change of pace. Did quite a bit of pvp when the pvp gear was actually good looking (for me at least), not many victories tho and as long it's not an arena i can actually try to help.

 

Again thank you for this lighthearted post, it's good to know about more solo players having fun playing the game

[djungelvraaal]

Oooh ooh I did some PvP once too!! It was for one of the Alliance alerts for Pierce I think. Ran in clueless, squirted green goo and shields at people who looked like they were low on health, died, ran back to do the same thing again and kept it up until I completed the quest. Then I hid back into my story mode solo play corner and never did it again..

 

Speaking of PVP, as I seem to be surrounded by altoholics such as myself, a tip, for those of us who don't really touch pvp usually, when you get to the fleet for the first time, if you don't already do it, pick up the introduction quest for pvp, it gives you ( if I remember correctly) implants, ear piece, and relics.

[djungelvraaal]

I enjoyed the agent story much more through the female agent I later progressed. And the intrigue was crazy at times! And Alderaan just needs to get its act together. The politicking and whininess of the people I had to deal with there... seriously?. Nearly drove me to a lifetime of isolation on Hoth.

 

I really enjoy the agent story, but, I suspect, it's got more to do with Kaliyo than the story itself, and the fact that the agent is the class that fight-wise,seems to suit me the best( even if I'm a caster at heart)

 

Sure, I imagine there will be those players who dress Lana down, but I'd like to believe that I'm not the only one who wouldn't, and I'd like to believe that I'm in the majority. Gear stats may not matter, but it would be nice to have the same diversity we have enjoyed the last five years.

 

I would like to think that too, that we're in the majority, I wouldn't do that to Lana either, besides, she might kill us if we tried

 

 

Also, I really like both guild name suggestions, and of course I fully support the idea of a unicorn mount!

Edited December 11, 2016 by djungelvraaal

[ENVISIONocity]

Speaking of PVP, as I seem to be surrounded by altoholics such as myself, a tip, for those of us who don't really touch pvp usually, when you get to the fleet for the first time, if you don't already do it, pick up the introduction quest for pvp, it gives you ( if I remember correctly) implants, ear piece, and relics.

 

Would you believe that in five years of playing, I never bothered to pick up that mission— so I had no idea about the payout. Is that just from picking up the mission? Or do I actually have to take my anxiety meds and prepare to be whooped by a horde of young whippersnappers?

[djungelvraaal]

Would you believe that in five years of playing, I never bothered to pick up that mission— so I had no idea about the payout. Is that just from picking up the mission? Or do I actually have to take my anxiety meds and prepare to be whooped by a horde of young whippersnappers?

 

Sadly, you do need to take your anxiety meds, and possibly a deep breath or ten, and prepare for that inc oming pain, however, you only need to do one WZ, and, if you do that quest early( like when you just get to the fleet) you also get a pretty good chunk of xp, if I remember correctly, at that low level, the quest is marked as red when it comes to difficulty.

[eriksarcasm]

Sadly, you do need to take your anxiety meds, and possibly a deep breath or ten, and prepare for that inc oming pain, however, you only need to do one WZ, and, if you do that quest early( like when you just get to the fleet) you also get a pretty good chunk of xp, if I remember correctly, at that low level, the quest is marked as red when it comes to difficulty.

 

I picked that up on my first DvL toon at lvl 12 or whatever when I first got to the fleet. She's at 70 now, it's still in my tracker and it's still red. I think the PvP missions might be red now. I noticed the mission icon at the terminals changed a while back, and it's a slightly different shade of red than the difficult missions.

 

I wouldn't worry about the anxiety meds. I know the feeling, but there's level brackets to unranked PvP. I think it's 10-30, 31-64 and 65+, or something like that. They call it lowbies, mids, and endgame. If you're in there at level 10, you won't be playing against 65's.

 

That said, you'll still probably get whipped, so accept that as part of the game. As long as you play objectives and TRY, most players won't get too aggravated with you. There will be the occasional salty remark, but those people aren't as good as they think they are and like to blame everyone else for their failures. And on Shadowlands you don't really get a lot of that kind of player.... unlike some other *coughharbycough* servers

[ENVISIONocity]

Alright, here's a question for my kindred solos: Which of the class stories have you been the most conflicted about?

 

Right now, for example, I'm playing through as a female Sith Marauder, and purposely exploring the Dark-5 storyplay, and I've already had a couple choices where I was conflicted about going dark. Setting the collar off on Yvette to put her back in her place, was the earliest one for this character I'm playing presently.

 

Someone mentioned earlier about how they'll "cheat" by making a light choice in those conflicted moments and then realign through the Diplomacy missions. That seems pretty resourceful to me at least. I've come to appreciate characters and roles that are complicated. Because bad men don't always wear black hats. I've watched as an alt character began to realize that the galaxy isn't black and white like they thought at the outset, with their ideals and ambitions. And some classes have the freedom to play both sides against each other, as I've enjoyed seeing with several of my Smugglers.

 

 

It's been a while since I've re-encountered the mission, so I can't remember where it took place, but it comes down to the choice between a female NPC and a bay full of people, and I watched as the character went a different direction than I'd done previously with a different alt. They opted to rescue the female NPC, and if memory serves, an email comes in later from her, talking about how she is finding it impossible to live with on her part. It was an icky moment, though, because I disagreed with their choice there. Hope to never face a similar situation IRL, that's for sure.

 

 

It's the oddest thing, I admit, that I'm perfectly okay with soloing SWTOR and not meeting anyone... and at the same time, thoroughly enjoying meeting and getting to know the alts I've progressed these past five years.

[djungelvraaal]

Alright, here's a question for my kindred solos: Which of the class stories have you been the most conflicted about?

 

Right now, for example, I'm playing through as a female Sith Marauder, and purposely exploring the Dark-5 storyplay, and I've already had a couple choices where I was conflicted about going dark. Setting the collar off on Yvette to put her back in her place, was the earliest one for this character I'm playing presently.

 

Someone mentioned earlier about how they'll "cheat" by making a light choice in those conflicted moments and then realign through the Diplomacy missions. That seems pretty resourceful to me at least. I've come to appreciate characters and roles that are complicated. Because bad men don't always wear black hats. I've watched as an alt character began to realize that the galaxy isn't black and white like they thought at the outset, with their ideals and ambitions. And some classes have the freedom to play both sides against each other, as I've enjoyed seeing with several of my Smugglers.

 

 

It's been a while since I've re-encountered the mission, so I can't remember where it took place, but it comes down to the choice between a female NPC and a bay full of people, and I watched as the character went a different direction than I'd done previously with a different alt. They opted to rescue the female NPC, and if memory serves, an email comes in later from her, talking about how she is finding it impossible to live with on her part. It was an icky moment, though, because I disagreed with their choice there. Hope to never face a similar situation IRL, that's for sure.

 

 

It's the oddest thing, I admit, that I'm perfectly okay with soloing SWTOR and not meeting anyone... and at the same time, thoroughly enjoying meeting and getting to know the alts I've progressed these past five years.

 

I believe I was the one who said I cheated a bit with some LS choices here and there, and made up for it with diplomacy, like you said about Vette, I've lost count on how many sith warriors I've started over the years, and I haven't been able to make myself leave that collar on , on a single one of them, I just can't do it.

[ImmortalLowlife]

Alright, here's a question for my kindred solos: Which of the class stories have you been the most conflicted about?....

 

That's easy.... My DS Sith Warrior (who's sitting at dark 5 atm) couldn't leave the collar on Vette. I kept it on up until she started begging and pleading for me to remove it, and I just couldn't take it anymore. She's my 2nd favorite companion in game, and I had to take it off.

Edited December 11, 2016 by ImmortalLowlife

[JennyFlynn]

Alright, here's a question for my kindred solos: Which of the class stories have you been the most conflicted about?

 

Right now, for example, I'm playing through as a female Sith Marauder, and purposely exploring the Dark-5 storyplay, and I've already had a couple choices where I was conflicted about going dark. Setting the collar off on Yvette to put her back in her place, was the earliest one for this character I'm playing presently.

 

Someone mentioned earlier about how they'll "cheat" by making a light choice in those conflicted moments and then realign through the Diplomacy missions. That seems pretty resourceful to me at least. I've come to appreciate characters and roles that are complicated. Because bad men don't always wear black hats. I've watched as an alt character began to realize that the galaxy isn't black and white like they thought at the outset, with their ideals and ambitions. And some classes have the freedom to play both sides against each other, as I've enjoyed seeing with several of my Smugglers.

 

 

It's been a while since I've re-encountered the mission, so I can't remember where it took place, but it comes down to the choice between a female NPC and a bay full of people, and I watched as the character went a different direction than I'd done previously with a different alt. They opted to rescue the female NPC, and if memory serves, an email comes in later from her, talking about how she is finding it impossible to live with on her part. It was an icky moment, though, because I disagreed with their choice there. Hope to never face a similar situation IRL, that's for sure.

 

 

It's the oddest thing, I admit, that I'm perfectly okay with soloing SWTOR and not meeting anyone... and at the same time, thoroughly enjoying meeting and getting to know the alts I've progressed these past five years.

 

I'm not sure I've been conflicted about entire class stories but I've had difficult moments. For instance, when the Trooper faces the choice between saving Sergeant Jaxo or 300'ish innocent prisoners.. I mean it's an obvious choice but it's also not as prior to that, even as a female player you really bond with Jaxo. Girl's night out and the likes. I didn't enjoy that quest and felt really bad. (which may be the story you referred to as well)

 

As for Vette, even my DS characters remove her collar. I just can't bear to leave it on her even if I'm trying to be as big of a meanie as can be lol.

[Yorioko]

Would you believe that in five years of playing, I never bothered to pick up that mission— so I had no idea about the payout. Is that just from picking up the mission? Or do I actually have to take my anxiety meds and prepare to be whooped by a horde of young whippersnappers?

 

I think the main issue some players, me included has with PVP here, referring to the lvl10 introduction is this:

It is bolstered so you damage output and healing recieved match lvl 65, possibly 70 with the new update.

However a lvl10, regardless of damage output have only a few skills to apply and will thus always be seen as the weakest link.

And with the pvp being so overly competative this is the issue,

 

I became a PVP HATER here, because of this...and Bolster didn't do didly.

Now had the WZ introduction been so that ONLY levels 10-15 could do them, and then you actually get higher "starter" levels for the PVP then sure that would be awesome, but the main issue is that as below lvl 65 you simply can't pull your weight regardless of skill and thus you are hated upon by a competative playerbase that refue to compete in the competative zones...meaning Ranked PVP where your wins and losses actually count for more than mere bragging.

[ENVISIONocity]

I picked that up on my first DvL toon at lvl 12 or whatever when I first got to the fleet. She's at 70 now, it's still in my tracker and it's still red. I think the PvP missions might be red now. I noticed the mission icon at the terminals changed a while back, and it's a slightly different shade of red than the difficult missions.

 

I wouldn't worry about the anxiety meds. I know the feeling, but there's level brackets to unranked PvP. I think it's 10-30, 31-64 and 65+, or something like that. They call it lowbies, mids, and endgame. If you're in there at level 10, you won't be playing against 65's.

 

That said, you'll still probably get whipped, so accept that as part of the game. As long as you play objectives and TRY, most players won't get too aggravated with you. There will be the occasional salty remark, but those people aren't as good as they think they are and like to blame everyone else for their failures. And on Shadowlands you don't really get a lot of that kind of player.... unlike some other *coughharbycough* servers

 

Sure, try to make it sound sooooo simple, lol!

 

I'm mostly concerned about how long it'll take to shake off the deer-in-the-headlights I can totally see myself modelling in there in the front of ... how many fellow imps or pubs?

 

But total props to the playerbase that enjoys those parts of SWTOR, you know? I can understand their wanting more Operations and faster queues, too.

 

May I ask what class you (or any of my kindred solos) would recommend for this old-timer first-timer to PVP?

[Tippor]

Alright, here's a question for my kindred solos: Which of the class stories have you been the most conflicted about?

 

 

 

 

I'm most conflicted with the smuggler class story. The two different types of endings I've seen for it really don't jive with what I think a smuggler would be after. They're not really pirates and they're definitely not really loyal to any one faction. or at least, in my head, a smuggler would be looking for jobs on any neutral port of call, not fetching bones for the republic particularly. Same with bounty hunter. They don't seem like they should be overly loyal to the empire. It seems to be that working from the fringes of society, they would be willing to seek payments and bounties from anyone willing to pay, not playing fetch for the empire.

[eriksarcasm]

Alright, here's a question for my kindred solos: Which of the class stories have you been the most conflicted about?

 

 

At first I wanted to play my smuggler as, well, a scoundrel, so I played him dark side. This was back before 4.0 when you could actually lose Affection points when you did something your companions disapproved of. Now, you still gain Influence when they disapprove but less...

 

My conflicts come when my choices cause disapproval with my companions. It means less Influence gained with them, sometimes for an entire conversation, thus making it harder to level them up. As a solo player, companion influence level is key for tackling harder content (ie Star Fortresses). It's a minor point though, given that you can overcome it with gifts, but every time I see that "X disapproves" I get a little antsy.

 

 

You'll find as you go through the game that despite Bioware's unofficial mantra, your choices really don't matter much...

 

[ENVISIONocity]

Hey, how about "Kindred Solos" for a guild name!?

[SerraShar]

Alright, here's a question for my kindred solos: Which of the class stories have you been the most conflicted about?

 

Hum....for me , it's Imperial Agent .

 

I found the story well done and everything and played it last since everyone was saying it is one of the best .

 

 

But since I play alot ''Insert self'' in there . I found the story very Stressing . I was sweating bucket visiting a certain Sith that was a nut job ! and by chapter 2.......my Agent was going completely crazy . By the end of that chapter , the pressure was doing her in (and me) and it really felt like.....I'm so just gonna kill everyone on sight and get it over with at this point . But I managed to get one agent LS and one DS . I would say the LS playtrough was the hardest in chapter 2 .