SWTOR in the Life of a Casual

[djungelvraaal]

He is. He's just one of those characters that makes me think though. "What would I do in his shoes?" "What would it be like to be caught between a dark council member and my character?" Etc. And, if a character in a game can get me thinking, it's a good thing.

 

Kaliyo... when I'm playing a character that is just all about wild abandon, no morals, and general mayhem, I will play with her. However, that's not how my agents usually end up developing. Hmmmm... Maybe it's time I try a loose-cannon agent from hell. LOL

 

I can completely understand what you mean about Quinn, and I'm not sure what I would have done in his shoes.

 

lol, well, as an altoholic, you should! I've always liked Kaliyo, good thing too, since I like playing the class that drags her around everywhere for the first 50 levels( or at least, can drag her around if they want)

[KindlyOne]

Welcome! I really like your idea of companion missions:D I haven 't even thought about doing it that way, but I just might now.

 

On a different note" what did you do friday?" "Oh, well, I spent friday evening throwing snowballs at Kaliyo, how about you?"

 

Thanks for the welcome. What was I doing on Friday? Nothing much.

 

Want some more weird player antics? Okay.

 

Sometimes, when I log out a character that isn't going to be played for a while, I will log him or her out somewhere that suits his/her personality or goals. So my consular might head over to the Jedi Temple on Tython if she's feeling nostalgic. My smuggler hangs out in the dives of Nar Shaddaa, looking for the next job, My trooper, as always, like Corellia or Coruscant. My jedi knight might head over to my stronghold on Yavin for some combat practice. And I'll place them in a position that suggests that they're doing something, be it as simple as standing over a balcony, watching the padawans arrive.

 

When I do log back on them again later, I feel as if they have been doing something in their own time while they were on the bench.

 

Recently, my characters have been scrambling to get up to speed on Rank 10 crafting materials and what-not, so they've all been parked near the cargo bays of their ships. Appropriate as always.

Edited December 17, 2016 by KindlyOne

[JennyFlynn]

I have to make an admission: *taps mic* "Is this thing on?"

 

"I... loathe.... Kaliyo." There, I said it. LOL

 

For me it would be, "I spent Friday evening incinerating Kaliyo."

 

Oh I'm right behind you on that one. The moment she came up to my Agent back on Hutta I was already like "Please tell me I get to kill her soon!"...

 

So, favorite class story companions? Mine are, if I can bloody remember to name them all;

Republic - Lord Scourge, Kira, Doc, .. literally none for the JC, oops.. Bowdaar, Risha, Aric.

Imperial - Quinn, Vette, Pierce, Andronikos, Blizz, Gault, Vector, Lokin

 

Never really felt too invested in any of the others and quite obviously my Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior are my favorite classes to play in this aspect too.

Edited December 17, 2016 by JennyFlynn

[Shinwon]

What a lovely thread!

As for weird player behaviour, I've got a few.

 

When sending companions on crew skill missions, I will often read the text and assign by personality. For example, I will never send Nadia Grell on a diplomatic mission that is clearly dark-sided. Vette tends to get missions that involve some kind of a heist. Felix Iresso gets his fill of parades and heroic stunts. Malavai Quinn gets anything that serves Imperial interest. Of course, not every companion gets a perfect fit, so sometimes Felix Iresso might have to bodyguard a Hutt or deliver swill to the galaxy. Haha.

 

This works in reverse too. If I don't like the companion, they get to do dog-duty. Skadge, for example, gets any mission that sounds nasty, dirty, or just plain unpleasant.

 

Oh, and if a companion fails a mission, I like to send them out to do it again--just so they can get it right this time around. Haha.

 

Ha! I used to do that too when I first started out five years ago. After awhile, I realized that the game does not register that level of analysis. Oh well.

[djungelvraaal]

Never really felt too invested in any of the others and quiet obviously my Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior are my favorite classes to play in this aspect too.

I really like Kira, sadly, I don't really like either the Jedi knight, or the Sith Warrior, but, that's because I suck at melee lol, still not sure how I managed to get one of each to 65.

[JennyFlynn]

I really like Kira, sadly, I don't really like either the Jedi knight, or the Sith Warrior, but, that's because I suck at melee lol, still not sure how I managed to get one of each to 65.

 

Well with the way companions are these days you don't really have to fight anything anyways. Just right click and let your guys charge in while you sit back and take a tally of their achievements. That's what I do whenever I'm 'playing' but also watching Netflix or cooking dinner, lol.

[ENVISIONocity]

They do - you have to subscribe to the thread - yes, even if it's your own thread. The subscribe button is bottom left of the forum page.

 

Well, that's what I thought and it doesn't appear to work for me. So, I just visit the forum more often than I would.

[ENVISIONocity]

I really like Kira, sadly, I don't really like either the Jedi knight, or the Sith Warrior, but, that's because I suck at melee lol, still not sure how I managed to get one of each to 65.

 

If you managed it like I did, it was with a LOT of flailing arms and sincere hopes of not cutting my arm off with either of TWO lightsabers going vrrrrrooo vrrrrrooo vrrrrraar in a flurry of button-mashing and mouse clicking.

[ENVISIONocity]

Well with the way companions are these days you don't really have to fight anything anyways. Just right click and let your guys charge in while you sit back and take a tally of their achievements. That's what I do whenever I'm 'playing' but also watching Netflix or cooking dinner, lol.

 

Well, what are best friends for, if not to help bury the bodies?

[Psychopyro]

 

 

I did enjoyed seeing the wry irony of the persistent requests that we be allowed to kill off a companion we want to— and seeing where players have to choose between two fan-favorite companions in a cutscene, one of which must die. I caught that on a SWTOR twitchcast recently and thought, "Priceless!"

 

 

 

I don't see Torian as a fan favorite... Most people I talk to easily chose Vette if that is what you were referring to. Besides, we have yet to hear her other impressions... All we got were a bomb and a bird... I totally want to hear the monkey-lizard

 

[ENVISIONocity]

On a different note" what did you do friday?" "Oh, well, I spent friday evening throwing snowballs at Kaliyo, how about you?"

 

Me, I'm still running around on Tattoine seeing just exactly how much sand a person can suck down. Finished the available missions around Mos Isla and am fixing to head out into the less civil areas now. Have had a few surprisingly satisfying conversations because I'm exploring full dark side this time. Note to future self: Vette does not appreciate being bathed in a giant please-don't-eat-me bug's goo-blood.

 

Well, it worked didn't it, Vette?

[ENVISIONocity]

And there it is, the first"I don't really have anything at all to say but I don't want to feel left out, let's see if we can derail one of the few threads that aren't just whining" post!

 

Until I started this discussion, I just considered myself a "casual." But as someone pointed out early in the discussion, I was a "casual," sure, but a casual player, whereas I should also appreciate that I have been a solid subscriber from the beginning. I would've loved to even been in on the beta stage and I'm envious of those who were able to do that. And I wish I had the free time to participate more in PTS when it's live, but I also enjoy surprises.

 

I usually have around 8-16 hours a month where I can catch up with my alts, and I read this forum oodles more than I play. The biggest challenge with the forum is the tedium of sifting through the malcontent posts out of the well-reasoned posts in matters of game mechanics, because sometimes even a malcontent will make a good point— they just have a crappy way of making an argument that invites communication, in my opinion.

 

In the end, I am a 5-year interruption-free subscriber who plays SWTOR Classic casually. If I didn't feel I was getting a good return on my investment, I wouldn't be here. And this from someone with so little time to play.

 

The other part is that every month, I am buying Bioware a pizza for their work on this game and the servers to keep it running. Because that's what it amounts to with our $15 per month subscription. We're saying, "Hey guys, thank you for this amazing game! Enjoy this pizza!"

 

A pizza. This game is worth at least that, or why be here at all?

 

<stepping of soapbox>

[djungelvraaal]

If you managed it like I did, it was with a LOT of flailing arms and sincere hopes of not cutting my arm off with either of TWO lightsabers going vrrrrrooo vrrrrrooo vrrrrraar in a flurry of button-mashing and mouse clicking.

Were you spying on me? Because that's just how it was, with a bit of "What does this button do again" And still not quite understanding what "that button" does after having pressed it.

[djungelvraaal]

I usually have around 8-16 hours a month where I can catch up with my alts, and I read this forum oodles more than I play. The biggest challenge with the forum is the tedium of sifting through the malcontent posts out of the well-reasoned posts in matters of game mechanics, because sometimes even a malcontent will make a good point— they just have a crappy way of making an argument that invites communication, in my opinion.

 

I completely agree that sometimes a malcontent will make a good point!

[djungelvraaal]

Well, what are best friends for, if not to help bury the bodies?

 

 

 

I'm a bad bounty hunter... I couldn't bring myself to save Torian over Vette.

 

[djungelvraaal]

Me, I'm still running around on Tattoine seeing just exactly how much sand a person can suck down. Finished the available missions around Mos Isla and am fixing to head out into the less civil areas now. Have had a few surprisingly satisfying conversations because I'm exploring full dark side this time. Note to future self: Vette does not appreciate being bathed in a giant please-don't-eat-me bug's goo-blood.

 

Well, it worked didn't it, Vette?

 

I'm well on my way to snowball my way to the next command rank, not sure I should admit that, but , oh well:p

[eriksarcasm]

Me, I'm still running around on Tattoine seeing just exactly how much sand a person can suck down. Finished the available missions around Mos Isla and am fixing to head out into the less civil areas now. Have had a few surprisingly satisfying conversations because I'm exploring full dark side this time. Note to future self: Vette does not appreciate being bathed in a giant please-don't-eat-me bug's goo-blood.

 

Well, it worked didn't it, Vette?

 

Ha, I just did that one myself. I had some affection for Vette up until then, but it was at that moment (I haven't played my SW in a while and forgot her charm) that i realized just how mismatched she is for the Warrior. I'm bathing in the blood of my enemies, slaying innocents and underlings left and right, and she's going EWWWWewewew, rolling her eyes at my mass murdering tendencies, and sassing the most evil and powerful beings in the galaxy. Sassing!

 

It's a sitcom, I tell ya. Vette and the Sith. Weeknights at 8 only on Nick at Nite.

[cmdrzoom]

When I first tried typing this, it got long (even for this thread) and ramble-y. Here's the highlight reel:

 

 

• I play on Red Eclipse, even though I'm West Coast USA, 'cause a lot of my friends who play(ed) back when I started, in early 2013, were/are Euros. I recently burned one of my booster tokens to remake my Agent on Ebon Hawk, where some of my American friends play, but mostly for other reasons - see below.
  
• I stayed subscribed to City of Heroes, my former 'main' MMO, for almost its entire run, even when I wasn't playing - even after it went hybrid F2P. Here, though, I tend to subscribe for a while, play a LOT to "get my money's worth", and then let my sub lapse again when something else comes along.
  
• My first two characters, an Agent and a Trooper, sat halfway through their class stories for years, when I burned out on the game back then: the slow pace of leveling, having to do all the quests on every planet, and keeping myself and all my companions geared. I came back at the end of 2015, when all of that had been fixed, and finished their stories by the end of January. Then I made the other six. Basically, I jumped the gun on DvL by most of a year. Oops!
  
• Halfway through 2016 and KotFE, not being able to see two months into the future meant my Agent got locked out of the option to shoot Kaliyo in the next chapter. That wasn't the only thing that made me quit, but it was definitely a factor. Remember point #1? Won't lie, the main reason I remade him was so I could do that over. And take screenshots. And video. Yes, I have strong feelings about Kaliyo (who I did not hire, she was assigned to me by Keeper, and she's been an occasionally useful but barely tolerable and constantly backstabbing nuisance ever since).
  
• Came back in November to cash in my crystals, which meant shoving my six bench-warmers through SoR to get them to 65 and buy their purple Outlander gear from the Rishi vendors. While I was at it, figured I'd put some of them, not all, through KotFE. (One Jedi, one Sith - though it's looking like it might be two - and not my hunter or smuggler. They're better off sticking to what they do.)
  
• I always try to match companion to task, as someone else said. Sometimes when one fails, I'll send them back to try again; other times, I'll try someone else to see if they can do any better.
  
• Started out with gut feels, ended up making it a rule: all my Pubs are female and all my Imps are male. (At least for now.)
  
• I played the heck out of the X-Wing trilogy back in the day, was even part of an online squadron. Poked my head into GSF; it wasn't awful, but it wasn't what I wanted.
  
• I've never ever been a serious raider in any game. Not my thing. Recently, some questlines have tempted me to try Ops; twice now in just the last few days, I've been yelled at for wasting the time of seven other people. I don't think I'm going back.
  
• I love playing with paper dolls and coordinating everyone's outfits. I've had TOR Fashion bookmarked for ages and gone hunting on the market or in missions for just the right lookalike piece to complete a set. (Not a "real" set; as a non-raider, I don't need top gearscores or set bonuses.) All of my characters have cargo hold tabs devoted to old gear; in the case of my Sith Warrior, Jaesa has a closet just for herself.
  
• Between my eight, I have all the crew/crafting skills covered, and doubled up on some of the better gathering choices. Makes it lots easier to keep myself in mats - for personal use (mods and enhancements, etc), not to play the market.
  
• I never actually played KOTOR or the sequel, but I keep meaning to.
  

Edited December 17, 2016 by cmdrzoom

[Corvibean]

[quote=cmdrzoom;9174243

[*]I've never ever been a serious raider in any game. Not my thing. Recently, some questlines have tempted me to try Ops; twice now in just the last few days, I've been yelled at for wasting the time of seven other people. I don't think I'm going back.

 

I read thru all of your post and that ws the one thing that stuck out for me because I know EXACTLY how you feel. Even when I was in a guild, and the Op was with people who were also in my guild, and they all KNEW I was new to ops, there were still people snarking about how I wasn't in the right place, and spacebar thru the cut scenes, and blahblahblah. I was totally turned off by the whole thing. It wasn't until a few guilds later that Chris and I were in a group for ops where we were mostly all new to Ops and it was more a training thing, and teaching us HOW TO DO THE OP. Because that's what no one else would do. They wouldn't TEACH it or EXPLAIN it.

 

Now, I don't hate ops, I still don't LIKE them, but I don't hate them, and the new 4man thing looks intriguing simply because I'm pretty sure Chris and I can find TWO likeminded people, unlike trying to find 6. I'm willing to try anyway.

[craggy]

hi cmdrzoom! I'm another former COH subscriber who likes playing dress-up with my toons. This game isn't quite the same as City was, but then I don't think anything ever will be.

 

As to outfits...I just filled a Legacy storage tab with all my Alliance crate BoL gear last night, plus each character has about a tab's worth of alternate looks in their own cargo hold. Got some stuff on the GTN right now that will hopefully sell well enough to get me some more tabs!

[t_euclidus]

Greetings from Jedi Covenant!

 

I've read this entire thread, and it's been very rewarding. I was a huge KOTOR 1 & 2 fan, so natch I showed up for BW's KOTOR 3, aka "SWTOR Classic," as a pre-order. I haven't been continually subbed since then because I'm often broke, was without a laptop for a while, etc etc, but I always come back. I played CoH, WoW, Rift, GW2, and a few others over the years, but I always find myself here, clicking on create character, and going back through the original 8 stories.

 

I played chapters 1-9 of KOTFE on my free 60, and that was fun just to explore, but I missed my companions. I missed the classic experience of my origins mattering. I'm too much of the RPG and not enough of the MMO. I didn't have a guild, I didn't have friends playing. I just wanted to see where it was all going. When I had to wait for chapter 9, I decided not to grind out alliance crates and slaughter star fortresses. I dropped sub, played Dragon Age Inquisition, and faffed around.

 

Then I heard if I resubbed, I'd get Shae Vizla. Holy crap, Shae Vizla! So I resubbed.

 

Then it was DvL, and by god, I was gonna get in on that. I only had a couple weeks left in the event, but I jumped in both feet and made a new toon, powered through, and got a few achieves... as well as accepting a random guild invite to a HUGE guild that tops conquest leaderboards. It was interesting, and not something I'd engaged with since the earliest days of SWTOR since my original guild decamped for greener pastures six months in. It wasn't the best fit, but it was intriguing. I liked feeling like there were other people out there doing things in the galaxy, even if I wasn't gonna participate in any grouped events with them.

 

That was pub side, and I had never finished the Sith Warrior storyline. It was the last remaining before I'd get legendary status. I dove in, decided to see how it played out.... I'd never played DPS before but I went Marauder. On Dromund Kaas, I saw someone advertising for a "casual-friendly" guild, and I joined it.

 

Weirdly, this is the first time in years I've felt like I want to do anything grouped. I really like my guild. I like PVPing for conquest, even though I'm terribad at it. I like running random FPs with my guildies--who are willing to teach and explain mechanics. I actually saved us all from a wipe as the last player standing--and I DPSed down the final trash to end the combat and rezzed my guildmaster to raucous cheers from the group. It was the most amazing I've ever felt in this game, and it happened because I was with guildies. Friend is too personal a word for what they are to me, but we are a team.

 

Funny how I didn't find that until I played a Dark V Sith Marauder.

 

I've taken my time on this toon to play through all the stories I want, and I've reached the point where I'm about to jump into KOTFE and KOTET. I'm already a 70, have been for a while. So I'm grinding out the CXP (been legacy 50 for a while, so that's ALL I'm getting anymore) and I figure, why not?

 

But I'll admit, I married my sweet little sassbucket Vette, and I wouldn't play SWTOR GC without a guildie spoiling me a little by telling me I get her back. I get too attached. What good is being the Outlander (like everyone else in my guild) if I can't finally find out what Vette thinks about my side piece Lana? If there're no consequences for my actions, it's no longer an RPG.

 

I know EA doesn't care like BW did before they were assimilated. That's been my biggest disappointment. I've lost hope that, with the voice actors' strike etc, we'll ever get expansions that bring back that KOTOR 3 flavored magic.

 

Doesn't mean I won't sub, and play, and enjoy events. Doesn't mean it's not worth playing alone or with friends, or doing conquest, or joining a guild. Just means I won't rush to end game, because I don't think what's coming is gonna be appreciably better than what's already here.

 

Now that was a ramble. Guess I just wanted to put it out there, my experience, and share it with folks who seem sympathetic to that playstyle.

 

It's been a real pleasure to meet y'all. Sometimes the toxic noise drowns out the beautiful harmonies in this place, but y'all are singing my song.

[craggy]

sounds like you're having a great time t_euclidus!

[t_euclidus]

sounds like you're having a great time t_euclidus!

 

I really am. I'm mostly solo still, and definitely casual, but dipping my toes into being in a guild, doing some conquest/PVP, and grouping now and then has been fun. I don't like the pressure of it with PUGs, and I definitely do not dominate WZs, but it's funny how five years on, I'm only now exploring some of these other aspects of the game.

 

It has a lot of replay value, and I think even if I'm not thrilled with GC, and even if I don't love how KOTET ends, I'm still going to be here next year. I'm still gonna have a lot more fun in SWTOR than I would just about anywhere else. Much as I'm looking forward to BW's next with ME Andromeda, it's not going to replace what SWTOR gives me.

 

As has been mentioned before, there's nothing quite like force leaping onto an enemy and stabbing them with two lightsabers at once. This is childhood fantasy territory, and even if end game isn't perfect, there will continue to be content worth escaping into.

[cmdrzoom]

hi cmdrzoom! I'm another former COH subscriber who likes playing dress-up with my toons. This game isn't quite the same as City was, but then I don't think anything ever will be.

Word.

 

As to outfits...I just filled a Legacy storage tab with all my Alliance crate BoL gear last night, plus each character has about a tab's worth of alternate looks in their own cargo hold. Got some stuff on the GTN right now that will hopefully sell well enough to get me some more tabs!

 

1: Companion gifts, Alliance crates, catalysts, other bits and bobs in short-term storage

2: Metals, Fabrics, Compounds, etc

3: Crystals (color, power, gems) and Artifacts

4: Biomedical stuff, Sliced Tech Parts, and raw Aug bits in all the colors of the rainbow

5: "Sets" (in progress) of various BoL orange gear from crates (completed sets get sent to the appropriate character)

6: Random gear - single/mismatched pieces of BoL orange gear, blues, greens and even whites - that may, someday, be part of an outfit

Edited December 19, 2016 by cmdrzoom

[ENVISIONocity]

Thank you to everyone giving me something to read through and enjoy now that I'm taking a few moments from chasing down this ever-elusive padawan. She tasks me, and I will have her.

 

Oh, wait, wrong story.

 

So with Tatooine behind Dannarah, she's following a lead on Alderaan and I have to say that you'd think that I would have learned by now

 

 

to NOT forget setting the explosives on the pillars during the "Traitor" mission (imperial). It's when you have to go after the intruders in the tunnels below the palace. I'm serious: I'm nearly to the third pillar before I even realize that I forgot the first two and have to go back to carry out that part of the mission.

 

 

Just can't get it through my alts' heads, or mine. The targets just seem to hit my blindspot every play-through.

 

Alright, so I have to ask: For those here who play SWTOR, do you role-play and if so have you or are you playing on one of the role-playing servers?

 

I'll go first (it's only fair).

 

With several of my alts, I had a pretty good idea of their backstory and personality and outlook as I went through the alt creation process. Not all of them, but certain ones I knew who they were coming into gameplay, and throughout story progression they stayed true to that alt's character.

 

Does that constitute role-play?

 

I've been curious on if I could go full role-play, but never curious enough to log onto one to find out. I suppose it's because as a solo player, I don't see how it would make any real difference. I role-play on the server I'm on, in the case of a select few alts. The others either develop an identity during progression, or come into the story with my pre-conceived backstory but are changed by the story. The ideals they came into the SWTORY (!) with were adjusted in the fires born from conflicts of conscience, disillusionment, and the bitter aftertaste which lingers after some of the choices made along the way. Not to mention some of the regrets.

 

Anyhow, has anyone been a part of a role-playing server, and what was it like? Or what is it like? What would a solo who plays casually particularly enjoy?

 

And thank you for thinking this discussion is worth the 5-star rating! I only just realized it yesterday— was probably falling into the same blindspot that those pillar targets always seem to be in!

 

This is the first place I look for now when I check the forums, because you've shared some amazing things and I realize I'm in the presence of the forum's finest!