Official [H] Star Wars:The Old Republic Thread

I actually downloaded this last night before even seeing this on the front page of the gaming section. I love how they increased the XP gain so you really only need to do the main quests. I was getting bored in galaxies so went here. I think i hit lvl 22 sith maurader and loving it.
 
I actually downloaded this last night before even seeing this on the front page of the gaming section. I love how they increased the XP gain so you really only need to do the main quests. I was getting bored in galaxies so went here. I think i hit lvl 22 sith maurader and loving it.
They did a TWO MONTH LONG 250% XP boost last year. Insane.

http://www.swtorstrategies.com/2017/02/swtor-250-xp-and-cxp-feb-7-april-10.html

I already have 13 max level characters and I quit right before the boost. :(
 
Shoot- I was gonna send some to you guys.

My wife and I tried to play together... But it just feels like grinding or something...

And the graphics just arent as exciting as it used to be for some reason. I used to think it was beautiful.
Played it my GT640 back in the day- seems like its less optimized than it used to be.
My clan is also dead- used to mess around and- perfect group for a casual like me.

Graphics were never the game's strong suit. When the game released, it was already five years old at a time when MMO technology was surging ahead. Initially the game came out and only ran using medium textures. They didn't enable the higher resolution textures until later. Now the game is 6 years old which means there are assets in the game that are 11 years old. Honestly, the game's still great but it's not spectacular visually. That said, there are parts of the game that would surprise you on this front. Some of the most offensively dated graphics have seen overhauls. Some animations like your ship heading to fleet or some planets have been entirely replaced with updated versions.

This is honestly, the least grindy MMO you could play right now. At least from what I know. You can now level through the story and main planetary quests alone. You could also do it through a mix of main story line and PvP, flashpoints etc. There are a shit ton of those. When you hit level 50, you can queue for operations and there are a lot of them. Flashpoints and operations can be really daunting if you don't know what you are doing. There are a lot of new players on right now and they totally fuck up everything and make it so you can't hardly clear anything through the activities finder (formerly group finder). There is also a social aspect to this, and I've done so much of the game's content that I'd have given up on it long ago if I didn't have so many friends who played it regularly. If anyone needs a guild Imp or Pub side on the Satele Shan server, just PM me and let me know who you are in the game. I'd be happy to extend you an invite when you are on. I currently run one of the oldest, (launch day) active guilds in the game. We are a relatively small guild of all veteran players so I'd be all for growing our numbers with people from the HardForum.

We can help with rotations, mechanics, gearing advice, and all that shit.
 
ya know dan.. Im going to fire up my old account and see whats up. at that place in wow now, where last raid done..etc.. no point in raising new toons, they nerfed the leveling xp, etc. ths thread has me thinking. my previous main was a dps counselor.. think Ill run something new. I hate needing others, sure, eventualy fun to do raids etc.. but I enjoy swtor for that reason. Largely self sufficient quest leveling and fun too. if I boot it up, and decided to stay for a while. Ill Pm you.
 
While the story hasn't changed, the mechanics have quite a bit over the years. A dps counselor now probably won't play the same as it did in the first few years
 
While the story hasn't changed, the mechanics have quite a bit over the years. A dps counselor now probably won't play the same as it did in the first few years

It plays very differently. If you've been away since 1.x, 2.x, or even 3.x, you will need to relearn to play your class. 3.x onward may be the same or pretty close for some classes and specs. Mercs, Powertechs, Assassins, Marauders, & Juggernauts, are very different now. Operatives, Sorcerors, and tank specs are all pretty similar from 3.x onward. Tank rotations haven't changed much, but gearing has.
 
I just put my companion on healer duty and can basically kill all reglurar class q mobs without breaking a sweat.
 
ill probably just start a nerw toon, so I can re learn the game. it turns out I havent had an active sub since 7/14....
 
so I recovered my account. my main was a 55 counselor.. republic. got spammed with recovered item mail messages. kind of overwhelming for the moment.. beginning to look at that character's skills and such, ui changes, etc. I enjoy a Asus PG348Q (34" g-sync Ultra wide 3440x1440) powered by a single 1080gtx ti. put it all on max.. and had to back down a bit, but, ya, looks great!

so, I rather than wander around aimlessly, I decided to for now, make a fresh start and be a n00b again, that I can learn / remember as I go. made a imperial sentinel on Satele Shan ( I just prefer force users... its hard to see the SW universe as one of the derivative classes, at least for now.) had fun for an hour ish last night. got to 10 quick! ( I guess its another dbl xp week?) anyway, silly, but I'm uncomfortable playing dark side. crazy, but choosing the evil choices makes me squirm. lol. maybe I could try a dark side toon with light side responses.. hmm.. but most likely ill create a republic side toon tonight.

once I settle on a toon to level, Ill PM you Dan for an invite. which side (rep/imp) is more active in your guilds, dan?

also, when I went to a different server to create.. I was presented with 3 choices of cration.. lowest being original release I guess, a second level which boosts.. or starts you at 55 iirc? and the 3rd (top choice) being most current starts me 60? 65.. cant remember. I chose the non boost, knowing I may or may not stay with this re entering the game toon, saving the boosted option for later as I learn. question: are the boosts option a one time deal like wow.. for paying subscription? or are there permanently there as a pd sub with the new content?
 
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We are for more active on the Imperial side. You should go ahead and level in the guild because you pick up bonuses for it.
 
I'm not going to be on until tomorrow. I'm traveling from SHOT Show. I will respond to all messages as I can.
 
I'll be on sporadically today. PM me if you need a guild invite and I'll get one over to you. Referral links also available on request, etc.
 
For those interested there is anopther round of increased XP going on atm (think 300% orso) if you want to lvl fast.
 
For those interested there is anopther round of increased XP going on atm (think 300% orso) if you want to lvl fast.

Where do you see that at? I've looked at the forums, launchers, and other places trying to see how long it last and couldn't' find anything.

Guess that explains why I left Tython at level 17, didn't even do all the missions. Makes the experience boost items kinda worthless unless your goal is to level fast as possible.
 
it was a DBL xp week or something. enjoying just getting back to this game, after a 4 year hiatus. Joined dan's guild. unrelated, I ended up getting into a heroic Mission yesterday, that had a crazy fast respawn rate, with the xp boost etc.. went from 37-70! in a few hours. lol. still doing class quests etc, but I figured there was value in having a 70. Not in any real hurry anyway. lots to learn about the game, especially since there have been multiple expacs (I was at like 2.4 when I left, now its 5.7?). anyway, fun. a nice diversion from wow. I played legion everyday since launch, and it just doesn't keep me interested any longer, as we are at the end of raids etc until the next expac.
 
Where do you see that at? I've looked at the forums, launchers, and other places trying to see how long it last and couldn't' find anything.

Guess that explains why I left Tython at level 17, didn't even do all the missions. Makes the experience boost items kinda worthless unless your goal is to level fast as possible.

If you hovert your mouse cursor over the +XP icons next to your xp bar on screen it should show how long it lasts.
 
I have this game but I don't think it's linked to my EA Origin account. I haven't touched it since launch.

You can download it through Origin if you like, but all that does is start the launcher for the game. You can just download it from the SWTOR website. However, the account is the same as your origin account.

If you hovert your mouse cursor over the +XP icons next to your xp bar on screen it should show how long it lasts.

Yes it does, although it displays it in hours which is something I've never understood.
 
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Odd question for anyone still playing - have they made any major changes to the Imperial Agent? Years ago when I played one of the annoying things to me was how one of the two "advanced" Agent classes, the Operative, got shafted in terms of aesthetic and mechanics. For instance, the Sniper (the other advanced class) got access to the special Sniper Rifle weapon class, which was the primary function of their class etc. These looked different and played differently than the generic battle rifle the base Agent was using. Operatives however, were not a sniper DPS class but could be played either as a healer/medic and/or a "rogue" type with stealth and melee. Much of your damage came not from shooting the stupid battle rifle, but through melee damage with the Vibroknife (or something similar). Now, Vibroknives were equippable items for Operatives, but they had no in-game graphic at all! There was nothing visually special about that sub-class, which I thought was annoying. The same thing happened to a variety of other classes - one of the Bounty Hunters if I recall, one of the Smugglers, and single-bladed force users (ie both of the single-blade, tanky types) got "invisible" equipment like shield generators and were not given any other sort of distinct visual progression item instead.

It may seem like a little thing, but its one of the first things that really bothered me and showcased where corners were cut and things were halfassed. There's no reason that certain classes should have less of a "class fantasy visual identity" than others - this is like MMO Design 101 !

Don't get me wrong there was definitely potential, but when I checked in later on it seemed they went HARD into the EA-Lootbox nonsense (You want this cool housing item? Be prepared to gamble on lootboxes all day to get the thing you want) which was a further disappointment. I wish they would have kept it subscription (and/or make it so Premium subscribers got ALL the in-game content ) and were open the the kind of overhaul that the Final Fantasy XIV team performed, but ah well. Hopefully today they've backed off a bit on lootbox exclusive items I'd hope after their Battlefront 2 fiasco?
 
Odd question for anyone still playing - have they made any major changes to the Imperial Agent? Years ago when I played one of the annoying things to me was how one of the two "advanced" Agent classes, the Operative, got shafted in terms of aesthetic and mechanics. For instance, the Sniper (the other advanced class) got access to the special Sniper Rifle weapon class, which was the primary function of their class etc. These looked different and played differently than the generic battle rifle the base Agent was using. Operatives however, were not a sniper DPS class but could be played either as a healer/medic and/or a "rogue" type with stealth and melee. Much of your damage came not from shooting the stupid battle rifle, but through melee damage with the Vibroknife (or something similar). Now, Vibroknives were equippable items for Operatives, but they had no in-game graphic at all! There was nothing visually special about that sub-class, which I thought was annoying. The same thing happened to a variety of other classes - one of the Bounty Hunters if I recall, one of the Smugglers, and single-bladed force users (ie both of the single-blade, tanky types) got "invisible" equipment like shield generators and were not given any other sort of distinct visual progression item instead.

It may seem like a little thing, but its one of the first things that really bothered me and showcased where corners were cut and things were halfassed. There's no reason that certain classes should have less of a "class fantasy visual identity" than others - this is like MMO Design 101 !

Don't get me wrong there was definitely potential, but when I checked in later on it seemed they went HARD into the EA-Lootbox nonsense (You want this cool housing item? Be prepared to gamble on lootboxes all day to get the thing you want) which was a further disappointment. I wish they would have kept it subscription (and/or make it so Premium subscribers got ALL the in-game content ) and were open the the kind of overhaul that the Final Fantasy XIV team performed, but ah well. Hopefully today they've backed off a bit on lootbox exclusive items I'd hope after their Battlefront 2 fiasco?

They've made major changes to all the classes over the last couple of years. First, I need to address some points before I get into that. Yes, in the original game you had a single base class and then two distinct advanced classes for each base class. They shared common core abilities, but the classes never were very much alike even from the start. Some classes do get a special weapon no one else uses, which often proves to be more of a pain in the ass than anything else. As for your comments about the vibroknives, you are dead wrong. You stab and slash all the time. It is and always was part of your core abilities in the rotation. However, you have two different DPS specs for the Operative (agent) and one of those is Lethality. Lethality does less stabbing and slashing than Concealment spec does, but they both do it. As for the shield generator and focus used by other single weapon classes, they have enough visual distinction by not using anything in their off hands. The invisible equipment is just for stats. It would be silly for every class to be a dual wielding character. It's not a fucking John Woo movie. Marauders and Juggernauts have always looked and felt very different. The Republic and Imperial mirrors of each other look very different even though they are mirrored for the most part.

The agent's visual animations are sub-par in a lot of cases compared to their Republic counterpart, the Scoundrel. They get a shotgun instead of a knife and they kick and punch a lot. They are visually more entertaining, that's for sure. However, getting back to your complaint, it's only partially of merit. The classes have always been visually distinct from another but they can't all be winners. The Commando and the Operative (Republic and Imperial respectively) are the two classes that got the animation shaft. The others all had better animations than they did. They can't all be winners. However, many of the shared base or common abilities have been replaced. There are no more base classes outside of story lines for the original content. Now we simply have 16 classes. Over the years BioWare has removed and added abilities to further distinguish each advanced class from their common roots. They usually have a few common abilities, but some classes only use those abilities as filler and not core parts of their rotation.

As for loot boxes, it's not the same as Battlefront II. Star Wars The Old Republic is one of the first EA titles to use a loot box system as far as I know. Loot boxes go back over half a decade here. Let me be clear about that. Everything that comes out of the Cartel Market gambling packs, which have been present for around 5 years are all cosmetic items. You can let other people gamble and buy what you like on the GTN. You also get a monthly grant of Cartel Coins if you are a subscriber and in-game achievements also grant coins. Let's also be clear about one other major point. This game had annoying ass loot boxes from day fucking one. PvP gear used to come from something called Champion and Battlemaster bags. You traded in PvP warzone commendation tokens for these annoying bags and you got a random assortment of items including gear. This system was fucking irritating. I got 7 of the same off hand on my Marauder before getting another piece of usable gear. That system was removed some time ago and you bought War Hero gear by trading in your Battlemaster gear and using commendation tokens. Or you could use the tokens alone.

Of course, loot boxes are sort of back in the game again as part of the Galactic Command System. However, this is simply how you get gear in addition to boss drops or as a player who doesn't necessarily partake in group content. You can't buy them with money of any kind, real world or in-game. If RNG fucks you, simply disintegrate what you don't want and it gets you closer to the next box. It wouldn't be a bad system if the hit rate on shit you could use wasn't so bad. We've actually done some tracking on this and your individual luck can be as good as 1 in 20 boxes gets you something you can really use or it could be as bad as 1 in 70. It took one of our raiders over 400 boxes to grind out a set of gear in addition to getting some gear drops. It's an MMO. Finding ways of making you sink more time and money into the game is par for the course. However, this game is not pay to win. It has that going over Battlefront II. RNG has always been a part of MMO loot as it draws from loot tables built into the game, so there is nothing new there. BioWare simply has an unusual implementation here.
 
I just started playing this game over the weekend. Man, its right up my alley. Can't believe I missed it after all these years. Having fun playing a Sith Bounty Hunter, some of the quests and dialog options are pretty funny. They also have a new expansion coming out in September. Anyone here still playing it?

Wouldn't mind being in a guild either if anyone wants to send an invite to Vrixx.
 
I dropped it around winter last year. I hated the changes to the loot system and trying to make me run dailies for raid gear so I was out.
 
I dropped it around winter last year. I hated the changes to the loot system and trying to make me run dailies for raid gear so I was out.
Haven’t played in a year, normally I re up for a month or two and then quit again. Is the loot system that bad?
 
Haven’t played in a year, normally I re up for a month or two and then quit again. Is the loot system that bad?

Yes it is. I was a progression raider for years. That and some PvP are all I ever did in the game. I ran through the story stuff and the flashpoints etc. but none of that ever held my interest for very long. It was bad enough when they introduced the god awful CXP system where you got loot boxes with random items in them to get gear. At least you still had the option to get direct token drops from raid bosses after the community bitched enough. Initially, the CXP loot box system was the only way you got loot, which replaced the traditional kill boss and loot corpse style of loot. You still also got random trash from mobs, but the CXP system was the only way to get your actual raid gear. That and getting components from breaking down gear and buying it from the vendors, although that wasn't the way to get the best stuff. Finally, they gave us back the ability to kill bosses and loot them directly along side the CXP system. This really wasn't bad as it gave casual. people with no desire or time to raid a path to the best gear in the game, albeit a slower one.

I would gear out at least half a dozen characters in the best gear each tier of gear / gear / content cycle. However, in the last update, the system I mentioned above was still in place. However, they added at least two new tiers of gear which were gated behind running dailies on the new planets. You could do various quests and what not for these crystal things which you could exchange for gear, but it was locked to that specific character. So, it wasn't alt friendly. It wasn't a popular decision and it drove away most of the remaining progression raiders. It broke my guild which had operated since launch.

They also put increased effort into their cash shop with a crap ton of items hitting each month, but the prices got absolutely insane and there is no in-game way to earn those items besides buying them from the GTN at prices which have become so inflated that you have to have the in-game equivalent of Jeff Bezos money to afford anything anymore. I had over 300 million credits, and I could buy maybe one or two of the better outfits from the cash shop via the GTN and I'd be flat broke afterwards. That hopefully gives you some idea of how BioWare botched the player economy. Essentially, various exploits let a few players increase their in-game currency well into the multi-billion credit range in a day and though BioWare banned and warned several people responsible, they never took the credits away. So people like me that used to be rich by game standards were put in the poor house by not exploiting the economy as well. And there have been a number of exploits like the ability to clone items and then sell them to NPC vendors. Laundering through the GTN is a thing too. The worst offenders have multiple accounts and actually find ways of covering their tracks using the GTN, which is the in-game auction house.

While certain elements of the game are probably better than ever, and there is a great deal of content, BioWare cocked up the game massively in so many ways that even I finally called it quits after playing from early access, until about a year ago.
 
Yes it is. I was a progression raider for years. That and some PvP are all I ever did in the game. I ran through the story stuff and the flashpoints etc. but none of that ever held my interest for very long. It was bad enough when they introduced the god awful CXP system where you got loot boxes with random items in them to get gear. At least you still had the option to get direct token drops from raid bosses after the community bitched enough. Initially, the CXP loot box system was the only way you got loot, which replaced the traditional kill boss and loot corpse style of loot. You still also got random trash from mobs, but the CXP system was the only way to get your actual raid gear. That and getting components from breaking down gear and buying it from the vendors, although that wasn't the way to get the best stuff. Finally, they gave us back the ability to kill bosses and loot them directly along side the CXP system. This really wasn't bad as it gave casual. people with no desire or time to raid a path to the best gear in the game, albeit a slower one.

I would gear out at least half a dozen characters in the best gear each tier of gear / gear / content cycle. However, in the last update, the system I mentioned above was still in place. However, they added at least two new tiers of gear which were gated behind running dailies on the new planets. You could do various quests and what not for these crystal things which you could exchange for gear, but it was locked to that specific character. So, it wasn't alt friendly. It wasn't a popular decision and it drove away most of the remaining progression raiders. It broke my guild which had operated since launch.

They also put increased effort into their cash shop with a crap ton of items hitting each month, but the prices got absolutely insane and there is no in-game way to earn those items besides buying them from the GTN at prices which have become so inflated that you have to have the in-game equivalent of Jeff Bezos money to afford anything anymore. I had over 300 million credits, and I could buy maybe one or two of the better outfits from the cash shop via the GTN and I'd be flat broke afterwards. That hopefully gives you some idea of how BioWare botched the player economy. Essentially, various exploits let a few players increase their in-game currency well into the multi-billion credit range in a day and though BioWare banned and warned several people responsible, they never took the credits away. So people like me that used to be rich by game standards were put in the poor house by not exploiting the economy as well. And there have been a number of exploits like the ability to clone items and then sell them to NPC vendors. Laundering through the GTN is a thing too. The worst offenders have multiple accounts and actually find ways of covering their tracks using the GTN, which is the in-game auction house.

While certain elements of the game are probably better than ever, and there is a great deal of content, BioWare cocked up the game massively in so many ways that even I finally called it quits after playing from early access, until about a year ago.
That seems really bleak! I might have to go check this out in F2P first (which I’ve never done) and see if I can stomach it.
 
That seems really bleak! I might have to go check this out in F2P first (which I’ve never done) and see if I can stomach it.

Sub for one month ($15) so you get Preferred Status and all the content/story-lines.

As long as you're not concerned with end-game content, $15 for all the Bioware-quality storytelling alone is well worth it!!

(plus the latest patch granted several QoL perks for Preferred players - expanded bank, more action bars etc etc)

It really is the best 15 bucks I've spent on a game in a longgggg time.
 
Sub for one month ($15) so you get Preferred Status and all the content/story-lines.

As long as you're not concerned with end-game content, $15 for all the Bioware-quality storytelling alone is well worth it!!

(plus the latest patch granted several QoL perks for Preferred players - expanded bank, more action bars etc etc)

It really is the best 15 bucks I've spent on a game in a longgggg time.

Despite my opinions on the loot system and a lot of other things with the game being negative, it really is worth doing the above. Its also worth noting, that aside from the economy issue, the loot system is changing again when the new expansion comes out.
 
I wouldn't mind trying this for my daughter and I. How much is the core game right now? And if we both get it, we can play it together and quest together?

We're both Star Wars fans, and we both play WoW together, getting burned out on it, need something fresh.
 
Really enjoyed my time in the game. I feel they release new story content too slowly. I went back to the game last year after a two year break. Was done playing two months later. The only content I had not done were the operations.
The class stories are excellent and to me the game is worth a sub for a few months. I wouldn't be surprised if I go back to the game again in a year or so.
 
I wouldn't mind trying this for my daughter and I. How much is the core game right now? And if we both get it, we can play it together and quest together?

We're both Star Wars fans, and we both play WoW together, getting burned out on it, need something fresh.

Imo it plays a lot like wow, just the scale of the world is smaller but you get a lot more worlds. The main thing that makes it different is that each class has it's own storyline, which you can help with but get not much out of it other then the experience (both in XP and story content). This is only a smaller part of the main game, do note that not all classes start in the same location so if you want to play together from the start you need to choose ones with the same starting planet.

I always enjoyed playing it, just stopped due to lack of time since wow takes so much of it already, might give it another go soonish maybe just to see what's new to it.
 
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