SWTOR in the Life of a Casual

[djungelvraaal]

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?

 

I think Eric is right in saying that as long as you try, people won't be salty, and also like he said, lower level pvp isn't AS bad for a new player, in my experience at least, although, I usually just do that one match to get the quest done , and then I don't pvp anymore at all.

 

And as for which class to pvp with for the first time, I can only speak for myself, but, I'd go with a ranged class lol, those melee are difficult to pin down! and, maybe a class that has a lot of abilities that are instant, and don't really need you to stand still, because that makes you a sitting duck..(case in point, my agent that needs to use cover for most of the abilities.. not a great idea )

Edited December 11, 2016 by djungelvraaal

[ENVISIONocity]

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...

 

THANK YOU! I thought something seemed off, because I'm one of those players who prefers to progress Affection ranks and have primarily made story choices favorable to that.

 

It's only been recently that I've let my alts be more... themselves, and sometimes make a choice that their companion doesn't like. But even when alts have done that, I have been seeing something like Affection +250— and I could've sworn that you lost points somewhere back when you did that.

 

So thank you for verifying that I'm not crazy on this, at least.

[Przemo_No]

 

Hi everyone. I've been playing SWTOR since it began five years or so...........:

apologies that I cut your story in the quote, but only for the sake of saving space.

 

I am ALMOST the same as you - besides I play on TRE and I am still in kind dead guild and I did every operation that exist and i play PVP. tal least on half of my 24 alts.

 

Never really got a gripe with ranged classes, never really able to do keybinding - too old for that stuff, but on some classes quite flexible still. In general melee and instant ability moves are much more friendly to me.

 

Though I will probably never create a characted in NA server - I just write this to state that other servers also have players like you - willing to carry though the game on etheir own pace.

 

And yes, indeed I have issues with dragging all of 8 main classes through KofTE - the incredible chore of repetitive unavoidable fights with noting being changed regardless of the class you are playing.

 

I will probably finish them all one day - but yes, same as you, I first need to hear from Bioware when do they plan to bring back the most expected companions. all the missing LIs....

 

if they don't..well, i will not have any further incentive to stay subscribed. Run KoTET 8 times, close the game.

I am certainly not participating in that terible non-legacy RNG gearing.

[ENVISIONocity]

...and, maybe a class that has a lot of abilities that are instant, and don't really need you to stand still, because that makes you a sitting duck..(case in point, my agent that needs to use cover for most of the abilities.. not a great idea )

 

Oh man! Therein lies the rub, because in five years of playing, you'd think that I'd have honed my mad keyboard and mouse skillz to the point where I can run and set off abilities... and I still can't!! It's awful!! I'm still working on it more consciously these days, but still find myself stopping any moving in order to melee because I start clicking on whatever buttons start turning shiny with my mouse while mashing my 1 through 6 keys for the more immediate abilities.

 

I did pat myself on my back when I learned how to Tab through my targets, though!

 

Oh, the cover stuff. Why can't I wrap my head around that? lol! I purposely hide the Take Cover button to protect me from myself. Seriously. And until I figured out how to stop the hotbar from swapping when you do Take Cover!?! I really was my own worst enemy during that stretch in the game.

[Tippor]

apologies that I cut your story in the quote, but only for the sake of saving space.

 

I am ALMOST the same as you - besides I play on TRE and I am still in kind dead guild and I did every operation that exist and i play PVP. tal least on half of my 24 alts.

 

Never really got a gripe with ranged classes, never really able to do keybinding - too old for that stuff, but on some classes quite flexible still. In general melee and instant ability moves are much more friendly to me.

 

Though I will probably never create a characted in NA server - I just write this to state that other servers also have players like you - willing to carry though the game on etheir own pace.

 

And yes, indeed I have issues with dragging all of 8 main classes through KofTE - the incredible chore of repetitive unavoidable fights with noting being changed regardless of the class you are playing.

 

I will probably finish them all one day - but yes, same as you, I first need to hear from Bioware when do they plan to bring back the most expected companions. all the missing LIs....

 

if they don't..well, i will not have any further incentive to stay subscribed. Run KoTET 8 times, close the game.

I am certainly not participating in that terible non-legacy RNG gearing.

 

The thing about the class stories is that their replayability is very high. So many choices, so many different ways you could think about the situation. Unfortunately, BW hasn't seemed to get the hint that the Knights storylines don't have the same aspect to them. There's two ways, dark and light and none of it seems to make much sense. I have about 36 characters and I'm still NOT bored with the class stories. I've taken 4 through KotFE and was bored to tears through the entire thing. I won't bother with KotET, no reason to. I was so upset with how KotFE went that I rerolled several characters so I could keep them OUT of it.

[Corvibean]

I admit, I have not finished all the different paths yet, but so far the hardest one for me has actually been the Bounty Hunter. I try to play it as a Hunter that once bought, stays bought for the duration of that job, which means I had to make decisions I didn't really care for simply because I had to stay loyal to what the person paying me wanted.

 

At the moment, My Trooper Commando is my current favorite, there's something rather freeing about just being able to go in there and blow everything to heck and know you're doing it on orders. LOL (If you see a Cathar Trooper running around named Catnip N'Claws wave and say hai!) I have yet to make a male toon, altho I want to make a male smuggler at some point just so SOME companions don't get their panties in a knot when the female smuggler flirts with people. I find the smugglers and the Sith Inq's have some of the best snarky lines.

 

What I have ended up doing is grabbing Nico early, which I know not everyone can do since I believe he was a sub reward. But I grab the communicator to call him and use him early out of my mail whenever I make a new toon, and I primarily use him since he doesn't care what decisions you make. I have my 1K legacy kills for most of the companions already so I can use him and not worry about it. When you're lvl's 1-10 and have him, he pretty much oneshots everything for you. it's great! But this way I can make whatever decisions I want with the story line and not have to worry about keeping my companions happy.

[eriksarcasm]

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?

 

Definitely Mercenary Arsenal/ Commando Gunnery. If you have a glance at the PvP forum you'll see that it's currently ridiculously OP at endgame level and frustrating a lot of people. At any level it has great defense and great ranged burst DPS. Miss that flamethrower though

[djungelvraaal]

Oh man! Therein lies the rub, because in five years of playing, you'd think that I'd have honed my mad keyboard and mouse skillz to the point where I can run and set off abilities... and I still can't!! It's awful!! I'm still working on it more consciously these days, but still find myself stopping any moving in order to melee because I start clicking on whatever buttons start turning shiny with my mouse while mashing my 1 through 6 keys for the more immediate abilities.

 

I did pat myself on my back when I learned how to Tab through my targets, though!

 

Oh, the cover stuff. Why can't I wrap my head around that? lol! I purposely hide the Take Cover button to protect me from myself. Seriously. And until I figured out how to stop the hotbar from swapping when you do Take Cover!?! I really was my own worst enemy during that stretch in the game.

 

Umm.. I haven't figured out to stop the hotbar from swapping when I take cover, how do you do that?(yes, I'm quite casual, and proud of it!)

 

And really, when it comes to that one pvp game, just stay with the group , and hope that you have a healer, all the moving and using abilities isn't quite my thing either, but, you can do it! one game and you're done!

[eriksarcasm]

Oh man! Therein lies the rub, because in five years of playing, you'd think that I'd have honed my mad keyboard and mouse skillz to the point where I can run and set off abilities... and I still can't!! It's awful!! I'm still working on it more consciously these days, but still find myself stopping any moving in order to melee because I start clicking on whatever buttons start turning shiny with my mouse while mashing my 1 through 6 keys for the more immediate abilities.

 

I did pat myself on my back when I learned how to Tab through my targets, though!

 

Oh, the cover stuff. Why can't I wrap my head around that? lol! I purposely hide the Take Cover button to protect me from myself. Seriously. And until I figured out how to stop the hotbar from swapping when you do Take Cover!?! I really was my own worst enemy during that stretch in the game.

 

A while ago I got myself a MMO mouse, with 12 buttons on the side. There are a few models out there, my personal fave is the Redragon Perdition. Razr and Logitech make great ones as well. I can't recommend one of those mice highly enough, even for Hard Casuals like us.

 

I know you're a clicker and that's fine, but you'll find once you keymap everything and get used to that style, your skillz will truly be mad

[ChristienB]

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

 

 

There hasn't really been a class story itself that I've been conflicted with. When I've hit that sort of inner conflict is when I've set out to step out of my comfort zone and play a toon they way I normally wouldn't. IE: Full dark consular, or full light sorc. Going full dark, there are times I've had to cringe to make the choice and force myself to do it. However, I'm glad that I did, as I experienced things in the game I never would have.

 

There IS a choice in KOTET expansion that I am still smarting over, but that's for another thread as I don't want have spoilers from it.

[ChristienB]

 

At the moment, My Trooper Commando is my current favorite, there's something rather freeing about just being able to go in there and blow everything to heck and know you're doing it on orders. LOL (If you see a Cathar Trooper running around named Catnip N'Claws wave and say hai!) I have yet to make a male toon, altho I want to make a male smuggler at some point just so SOME companions don't get their panties in a knot when the female smuggler flirts with people. I find the smugglers and the Sith Inq's have some of the best snarky lines.

 

 

The agent story line is my absolute favorite. It is the story that changed the entire way I play the game, and how I approach each decision. Every class has some great snark lines, you just have to play them multiple times and choose different options to see them sometimes.

 

With that said, I just created a new smuggler to try a spec I've never really played, so along with Catnip N'Claws, if you see Johnny Glitterati out and about, feel free to point and laugh.

[djungelvraaal]

With that said, I just created a new smuggler to try a spec I've never really played, so along with Catnip N'Claws, if you see Johnny Glitterati out and about, feel free to point and laugh.

 

And buff!

[SerraShar]

LOL Cat'Nip and claws XD Now that's clever

 

I may just call my next cathar Soft Paws or Whiskas

 

Jumping in the game ! if you guys get lonely shout out to Meehan (shadowland-Imp) :cool:See ya in Game!

[ChristienB]

Umm.. I haven't figured out to stop the hotbar from swapping when I take cover, how do you do that?(yes, I'm quite casual, and proud of it!)

 

And really, when it comes to that one pvp game, just stay with the group , and hope that you have a healer, all the moving and using abilities isn't quite my thing either, but, you can do it! one game and you're done!

 

The cover bar will always come up when you enter cover, I believe. However, all you have to do is open your abilities window (hotkey P) and rearrange or drag your abilities on to the bar to match how you have it out of cover. That's how I do it anyway. That way, it looks exactly the same.

[djungelvraaal]

The cover bar will always come up when you enter cover, I believe. However, all you have to do is open your abilities window (hotkey P) and rearrange or drag your abilities on to the bar to match how you have it out of cover. That's how I do it anyway. That way, it looks exactly the same.

 

Oh, I do that too, well, to some degree, I don't have everything set up the exact same way as out of cover, almost though, but if there's a way to keep it from swapping over at all, that would be even better in my opinion.

[Dunderheid]

Umm.. I haven't figured out to stop the hotbar from swapping when I take cover, how do you do that?(yes, I'm quite casual, and proud of it!)

 

And really, when it comes to that one pvp game, just stay with the group , and hope that you have a healer, all the moving and using abilities isn't quite my thing either, but, you can do it! one game and you're done!

 

Preferences, user interface enable/disable coverbar

[djungelvraaal]

Preferences, user interface enable/disable coverbar

 

Thank you!

[ChristienB]

Preferences, user interface enable/disable coverbar

 

Awesome! Learn something new every day,! Thanks for this, I've just been rebuilding that cover bar for 5 years. LOL

[JennyFlynn]

Preferences, user interface enable/disable coverbar

 

Oh damn, I didn't know that either. Useful!

[Tippor]

Now if they would just give us a way to turn off the DvL Notification. Talk about an immersion breaker, that thing is it. "The Light is Victorious!". Great.....I don't really care can I turn it off now?

[Dunderheid]

Thank you!

 

you're very welcome. One of the truly useful options (if you're a smuggler)

[ENVISIONocity]

To me, Starfighter is the most and least appealing of all gameplay. Most because I love the old space shooter games (X-wing, TIE Fighter, Wing Commander etc. ) but least because it's the most frustratingly difficult. I call it the Exploding Simulator because that's all I seem to do. But I've queued for it several times. The other night I just hit 70 and startyed GC, and it was the bonus activity for the day, so I queued up a few matches. I actually got a kill!

 

So the next time I'm aboard my own ship, and I randomly hear a big explosion out of nowhere, I should remember that it's you?

[ENVISIONocity]

...but I also enjoy the epic feel of launching myself into combat and slicing away at my enemies with my lightsaber.

 

Me toooooo!! Although from my perspective as I mash buttons that magically light up in my quickbars to guide my path, it more often looks like my alts are flailing their arms and not really doing a whole lot of anything more than giving my healer something to do and offer the random quips about how it all be okay.

[ENVISIONocity]

you're very welcome. One of the truly useful options (if you're a smuggler)

 

Thank you for posting that! I couldn't remember off-hand, and didn't get to play until last night for an hour or so on Nar Shaddaa.

 

And in case I didn't before, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the discussion so far. For my officially first post, I appreciate not having been ripped apart for simply trying to communicate my experience over these past 5 years as a full-time subscriber, casual player who continues to enjoy what SWTOR offers— and have a productive, positive discussion with others out there who enjoy SWTOR life as solos, too. ^_^

 

I tend to try to visit SWTOR in evenings, mostly between 6p and 7:30p. If you see a character from The Paksenarrion Legacy, that's me fumbling my way toward conquering the Galaxy with one of my alternative personalities, lol! Right now, it's Dannarah, a Zabrak Sith Marauder (my first alt for exploring full Dark!).

 

I'll try to not mistake that as a wave from you and stand still long enough for you to throw a buff my way.

[djungelvraaal]

Thank you for posting that! I couldn't remember off-hand, and didn't get to play until last night for an hour or so on Nar Shaddaa.

 

And in case I didn't before, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the discussion so far. For my officially first post, I appreciate not having been ripped apart for simply trying to communicate my experience over these past 5 years as a full-time subscriber, casual player who continues to enjoy what SWTOR offers— and have a productive, positive discussion with others out there who enjoy SWTOR life as solos, too. ^_^

 

I tend to try to visit SWTOR in evenings, mostly between 6p and 7:30p. If you see a character from The Paksenarrion Legacy, that's me fumbling my way toward conquering the Galaxy with one of my alternative personalities, lol! Right now, it's Dannarah, a Zabrak Sith Marauder (my first alt for exploring full Dark!).

 

I'll try to not mistake that as a wave from you and stand still long enough for you to throw a buff my way.

 

Thank you for starting a thread that was , well written, and as I think I've said before, well thought through.

I've enjoyed this aswell, discussions with other quite casual players who play mostly solo, and it's a nice, and rare change to see a thread like this, that hasn't been derailed by someone into pure toxicity lol

 

Also, I will most certainly both wave AND buff if I see you around, and most likely send you a message letting you know it's me:)