A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: MMORPG

SWTOR: Sith Warrior

For my second round of beta testing I decided I would try out the Dark Side and play the equivalent of my valiant Jedi Knight, the Sith Warrior.

As I said in a previous post, I have always been a fan of the Jedi and their upstanding values and morals, and I am still dda fan of the Jedi. Bioware has turned me to the dark side, however. The Sith Warrior class is loads of fun and there is just something about being bad. I love the Sith Warrior companion, one of my favorite Star Wars races.

You start out as an acolyte on Korriban, home of the Sith. You are training to become the next apprentice, however there is competition and there can be only one chosen.

The advanced classes for the Sith Warrior is the Juggernaut and the Marauder. The Juggernaut is the tanking class and the Marauder is the DPS class. For the purposes of the beta I selected the Marauder class because duel wielding lightsabers is just too awesome. I will most likely choose tank when the game goes live.

I have stopped playing my Sith Warrior at my wife’s suggestion. Since this is the class I will most likely be playing as my main when the game launches I want to reduce the redundancy.

 

The MMO Times: More From E3

Issue 16

Well, I have managed to get another issue written so that’s a good sign. E3, SWTOR and a new WoW content patch is helping to keep the interesting articles coming. This is a shorter one because I wanted to get the rest of the E3 items out to you guys. So enjoy the following articles gamers!

New Star Trek MMO
Don’t get too excited, its not another STO, this one is browser based. German developer Keen Games announced this new MMO at E3 this year. Its currently in closed beta but has a pretty sweet trailer. MMO-Champion has the article.
Article Links(s): MMO-Champion, Star Trek: Infinite Space Website

SWTOR Raid Video!
More exciting SWTOR news out of E3. They have released a 10-minute video of the first SWTOR raid, Belsavis. Pardon me while I wipe the drool from my face and keyboard. In SWTOR raids are referred to as Operations (btw, instances are called Flashpoints).
Article Link(s): MMO-Champion

WoW:Firelands Weapons Preview
MMO-Champion has some images of the new weapons that players will be able to get from the new Firelands raid. The images don’t tell us if they are spell, melee or tank but you can probably guess by what type of weapon it is (1H, 2H, staff, knight [dagger], etc).
Article Link(s): MMO-Champion

Razer Introduces SWTOR Keyboard
More exciting TOR news coming from E3. Massively has some video footage of Dover from Darth Hater talking to Razer at E3 about this absolutely awesome MMO gaming peripheral set with a SWTOR design. My geek is in overload.
Article Link(s): Massively

E3 Gives RIFT Players First Look at 1.3 Patch
Have I said how much I love E3? Massively has a decent sized article about the 1.3 patch for RIFT (due out on the live servers June 22nd).  I haven’t actually played RIFT but I know plenty of people that do play it and they seem to really enjoy it. It looks like this patch has some nice new additions that should get players excited.
Article Link(s): Massively

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SWTOR: Geeking Out!!

I gotta tell ya, I’m so stoked about the gameplay of Star Wars The Old Republic that I can hardly contain myself. The new UI, the combat, the story, the music, I just can’t get enough of this game!

I have now played a Jedi Knight and a Sith Warrior to level 11/12 and they have made it very difficult to choose which side. I love the Jedi, their ethics, their values and morals, the whole mantra around what it means to be a Jedi; but there is something thrilling and fun about being bad. I think I will go over my Sith Warrior experience in a separate post so stay tuned for that.

They have really changed the way professions work in this game (assuming they keep the mechanic at launch). It really reduces/removes the constant grinding of gathering and crafting, gathering and crafting, gathering and crafting … you get the picture. As you acquire companions along the way they become more then just some extra DPS or tank, you can put them to work! Do you want to complete a really interesting questline or go run the new instance instead of leveling your professions? Then send your companions out to do it for you. When you get back you have some extra profession skill points, maybe some dark/light side points, a new piece of gear and/or even some cash. They will even work when you are offline. Its virtual slave labor!

The combat is amazing. I mean, who has always wanted to be in a lightsaber duel?!? I know I have; that’s why I have six different Force FX Lightsabers! The lightsaber combat in this game really gets the geek inside aroused. Then there is Force Charge/Leap which is so much fun you wish it didn’t have a cooldown!

The quests really add to the Star Wars experience. They do have the occasional “Free XP” quests but most of the quests are rich with lore and can really get you engaged into the story.

I think I have rambled on enough but there will be more to come.

SWTOR: Back in the Beta Again

My lament over the ending of my SWTOR beta testing was short lived, this past week I received a re-invite to test it again! My excitement was beyond words.

This round of testing I have decided to try different classes instead of returning to the Jedi Knight. I have begun a Sith Warrior; I felt it was time to see what it was like on the other side.

This time I have also decided to try a class other then the Force sensitive classes. I’m still concerned that there will be an overabundance of Jedi or Sith and not enough of the other classes. Therefore I have also started a Rebel Trooper class.

My impressions so far is that they have made some huge adjustments. The entire UI has been redesigned and re-skinned and it looks much more fresh and modern. It definitely has a better Star Wars look to it. They have also changed some of the classes, rebalanced and retooled. Initially some of the classes seem a little overpowered but that could be because its still the beta.

They have made no indication yet as to when they will officially release the game nor have they alluded to any kind of public beta. There are still a few bugs and it seems there is still some lag and framerate issues especially during peak hours.

Stay tuned as I continue to provide my impressions of The Old Republic.

The MMO Times – The Identity Issue

Issue 3

Here are the latest MMO rumblings. This week is short but with the huge uproar over Real ID I felt it was time to send out the latest details from this week. enjoy.

Real ID – Is It The WoW-Killer? [UPDATED]
If you are a avid Blizzard gamer you have probably heard about the latest controversary to hit the internet. Blizzard announced that a new forums system will be released with StarCraft II, and ultimately with Cataclysm, that will display your full first and last name on all forums associated with Blizzard’s respective games. There is pandimonium running amuck. Here are a variety of links.
UPDATE: When I first wrote this the Real ID on the forums was still a reality, now that I am on the verge of posting this week’s email, a recent post has unveiled that Blizzard has backed down on this issue. I kept the original posts at the bottom for prosterity but also below is the link to the wow.com article which shows Michael Morheim’s offical response and retraction.
Blizzard Backs Down: http://www.wow.com/2010/07/09/mike-morhaime-real-names-will-not-be-required-on-official-forum/#continued
Official Announcement: http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/official-forum-changes-real-life-names-to-be-displayed/
Blizzard’s Responses: http://www.wow.com/2010/07/06/blizzards-responses-on-the-real-id-situation/
Massively’s Response: http://www.massively.com/2010/07/07/the-daily-grind-real-id-do-we-finally-have-our-wow-killer/

Another MMO Goes F2P
There is a new MMO called Monato Esprit, a game I have not heard of, but I only mention this post/link because its another example of another MMO switching to the Free-2-Play paradigm. The increasing trend definitely foreshadows an interesting future for MMO games.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/06/monato-esprit-switches-to-a-traditional-free-to-play-model/

Areia Games Announces Legendary Champions MMO
Areia Games has released details of a new MMO coming out this summer. It is called Legendary Champions. Apparently its PvP heavy and your characters are famous figures from history. Below is the link to the Massively article and a link to the game website.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/07/aeria-games-announces-newest-mmo/
http://legendarychampions.aeriagames.com/

SWTOR Uses Combat AI
This is a really interesting Hypterspace Beacon post (on Massively) about Bioware’s “Combat AI” in The Old Republic. The concept seems to be going over really well among fans that are in the alpha release of the game. See below for the link to the Massively article.
http://www.massively.com/2010/07/08/star-wars-the-old-republic-impresses-fans-with-combat-ai/

Jedi Knight Class Unveiled

I had to stop and take a brief moment to express my excitement about Bioware’s latest announcement about the upcoming Star Wars MMORPG, The Old Republic. They have unveiled the Jedi Knight as a playable class. Here is a link to the page about the class: http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/classes/jedi-knight. Just looking at the very brief 6 sec clips of in-game combat it already looks very cool. Also, when I was looking through some of the artist renderings about the class I noticed double bladed lightsaber hilts … could this mean your jedi can wield a double bladed lightsaber? The mere thought of that just makes me giddy like a school girl.

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