**OFFICIAL** Star Wars: The Old Republic Thread

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Sentrosi2121

Platinum Member
Aug 8, 2004
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To the Sorcerers in Anandtech, how do you use Ashara while questing?

I'm level 36 right now and am about to embark to Quesh to continue my storyline quests, but am at odds as to how to use Ashara. At times it's pretty easy for her to pop multiple mobs as I just heal while the mobs aggro my healing. But Elite+'s are harder for her to DPS down with. So I find myself pulling Khem out for these fights. Are you finding this out too? And do you ever use Andronikos?
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
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madgenius.com
I like the game a lot, but am looking on it as a glorified KOTOR to play through to the completion of story/max level and put away. There just does not look to be much depth or anything compelling in the game after that, but the play through/story experience is excellent.

FWIW I used to play WoW a fair deal and most of that at end-game and I don't like/can't stand the game anymore. So I may just be over wanting to play MMOs which are essentially grinding games once you are at maximum level.

The game is excellent so far in terms of being a story-driven RPG, but I don't see much potential for it once you are through the story/max level. I think it will hold some players, but people who came to the game from WoW will go back to WoW. WoW just has the lock on quality end-game content if you are into that still.

This is why I am taking it slow...I too played WoW a LOT, 99% end game.

I really like the story so far, but I have a feeling it might be a little grindfest towards endgame, but we'll see.
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,665
440
126
To the Sorcerers in Anandtech, how do you use Ashara while questing?

I'm level 36 right now and am about to embark to Quesh to continue my storyline quests, but am at odds as to how to use Ashara. At times it's pretty easy for her to pop multiple mobs as I just heal while the mobs aggro my healing. But Elite+'s are harder for her to DPS down with. So I find myself pulling Khem out for these fights. Are you finding this out too? And do you ever use Andronikos?

Every class gets access to a tanking pet, healing pet, and dps pet... er companions. Every class gets their specific companions at different times. The different companions complement different classes differently. They do not all do equally well with a given class or scenario. Nor are they meant to.
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,665
440
126
I'm enjoying the game but one thing I have to gripe about is the art direction of the armor/clothing you wear in the game. There really isn't much diversity, and I feel like when you PVP, everyone just look like each other and you can't really differentiate your enemies. One thing that stood out for me in WoW was when you kill or be killed, you can easily identify your victim or attacker if you see him later in a different zone. I think that's one thing that WoW nailed was just the look and progression of the armor you pick up.

I feel like Bioware is a bit handicapped by the SW universe, in keeping in line with the lore and established style, they really can't stray too far away.


I don't know what you are talking about. Each side has different textured armor sets. For example most of the Sith side force wielders have robes that are Black, Dark Grey, or Purple. The Republic side has robes that are Brown, White, Yellow, and light grey. I personally think the Republic force wielders all look Hobos begging for change, but that's just me. I played a female avatar republic Jedi Shadow during beta and thought my character looked like a bag lady the entire time.

But basically I find it easy to tell, beyond having a giant red name above the target player. Republic armor is typically light in the color spectrum and the sith side is darker.


I like the game a lot, but am looking on it as a glorified KOTOR to play through to the completion of story/max level and put away. There just does not look to be much depth or anything compelling in the game after that, but the play through/story experience is excellent.

FWIW I used to play WoW a fair deal and most of that at end-game and I don't like/can't stand the game anymore. So I may just be over wanting to play MMOs which are essentially grinding games once you are at maximum level.

The game is excellent so far in terms of being a story-driven RPG, but I don't see much potential for it once you are through the story/max level. I think it will hold some players, but people who came to the game from WoW will go back to WoW. WoW just has the lock on quality end-game content if you are into that still.

There are 8 completely different main quest lines for each of the main archetypes to try out. The side quests overlap but the main quest line for each is completely different. If the stories are what you like then there is plenty of content there in leveling up all 8 different archetypes.
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
23
81
Yeah same, but I definitely realized I had to take out the lower level mobs first, then focus on the others, otherwise I would get creamed.

How do you guys handle healers? Hit them first or last? Freaking hate the healers, makes every fight so much more difficult.

KT

Kill the healer first. When they cast a heal, wait till about 75% cast bar, then interrupt them. You can interrupt by using an interrupt skill, stun or knockback. Easy.

My 43 Solo OP still uses Kaliyo. I rely on her 100% aggro generation to get off all my positional attacks. I still solo heroic 2 and some heroic 4s.

Actually even my lvl 33 Group Mercenary has no trouble in PvE with Mako. BTW, get Mako CRIT GEAR!!!. I have her stupid DOT turned off (does 200dmg over 6 seconds??? weak!) and when she heals, it feels like she crits 50% of the time. For some reason her HOT does around 250 a tick but crits for upwards of 600. I solod a couple heroic 2 on Alderaan but this is my group character so I don't solo much.
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
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Unless you are grossly outleveling the heroic 4s, don't know how you're soloing them.
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
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Unless you are grossly outleveling the heroic 4s, don't know how you're soloing them.

Typically heroic 4 have clumps of 3 or so elites and several strongs or 2 elites and a champion and several strongs.

I usually sleep the strongest mob, slice any droid, then take down the strongs. By the time I kill all the strongs, Kaliyo is at 50% tanking 2 elites. Then I burn down an elite while weaving heals on Kaliyo. Learn to interrupt strong attacks and she barely takes damage. The 2nd elite is dead, Kaliyo is at 80% health then I reslice the droid and kill the next elite until everything is dead.

The most recent heroic 4 i soloed was on Hoth. It was a lvl 42 heroic 4 while I was 42 at the time. It just took a damn long time.

I can't solo every heroic 4. There are some where the champions and strange some elites are un-cc-able. Those I can't do, obviously.
 
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KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
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Nov 30, 2005
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Unless you are grossly outleveling the heroic 4s, don't know how you're soloing them.

I don't know, it's weird. I did Fall of the Locust on Taris for the first time last night with a full group of four. I was level 25 and they were 18-21. On the second large group of mobs, with at three elites and, I believe, two strongs or normals. The rest of my group died quickly as I ran out of power to keep healing them, so I was the only one left with the three elites still alive and I just sat there and plugged away at them. For some reason they were not really able to hurt me at all; I killed them all and lost almost no health, then rezzed my group. :hmm:

I did not check the quest specifics, but is 25 really over-levelled that much for a Heroic 4 on Taris? Granted I did try a Heroic 2 later with just my companion Aric and got destroyed by Rakghouls; maybe I am just very susceptible to melee damage.

KT
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
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I don't know, it's weird. I did Fall of the Locust on Taris for the first time last night with a full group of four. I was level 25 and they were 18-21. On the second large group of mobs, with at three elites and, I believe, two strongs or normals. The rest of my group died quickly as I ran out of power to keep healing them, so I was the only one left with the three elites still alive and I just sat there and plugged away at them. For some reason they were not really able to hurt me at all; I killed them all and lost almost no health, then rezzed my group. :hmm:

I did not check the quest specifics, but is 25 really over-levelled that much for a Heroic 4 on Taris? Granted I did try a Heroic 2 later with just my companion Aric and got destroyed by Rakghouls; maybe I am just very susceptible to melee damage.

KT

I believe you get a passive 10% defense and mitigation buff per level above the mobs until at 10 levels, you don't take any damage.

This is why my group Merc rolls with a static group. CC is king. Even with 4 people, we still CC as much as possible and burn down 1 mob at a time. Makes life so much easier. I wish there were number markers instead of pictures. Then you can even command a kill order as well.
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
23
81
To the Sorcerers in Anandtech, how do you use Ashara while questing?

I'm level 36 right now and am about to embark to Quesh to continue my storyline quests, but am at odds as to how to use Ashara. At times it's pretty easy for her to pop multiple mobs as I just heal while the mobs aggro my healing. But Elite+'s are harder for her to DPS down with. So I find myself pulling Khem out for these fights. Are you finding this out too? And do you ever use Andronikos?

Sorcs tend to stick with Khem for a long time not because he survives any better than the other companions (although he does survive a little better), but because of his aggro skills that keep the pressure off you and let you spam attacks and heals on your companion.
 

sigurros81

Platinum Member
Nov 30, 2010
2,371
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I don't know what you are talking about. Each side has different textured armor sets. For example most of the Sith side force wielders have robes that are Black, Dark Grey, or Purple. The Republic side has robes that are Brown, White, Yellow, and light grey. I personally think the Republic force wielders all look Hobos begging for change, but that's just me. I played a female avatar republic Jedi Shadow during beta and thought my character looked like a bag lady the entire time.

That's exactly my point, everyone wears the same kind of shitty robes on the Jedi side. Sure, it's great that they followed the established lore and style of Star Wars I guess, but artistically it doesn't make anyone stand out from each other. I don't know all the innerworkings of the art direction, but one thing I thought WoW did a great job with is probably the shoulder pads, it's a good visual indentifier, among other things that help make you stand out from everyone else. I guess it also doesn't help that all the playable races are humanoids, so unless you zoom in and play first person, chances are you can't tell what race is the person you're looking at.

Example:

In WoW: If you hear someone say "level 60 gnome rogue ganking in Ashara", you'll probably know what gnome that person is talking about if you see him running around in the distance.

In Old Republic: If you hear "level 50 Jedi sentinel ganking on Correlia", it's going to be harder to spot him because every fucking jedi wears a hobo robe.

On a side note, I am astounded by the amount of noobs that are playing in this game. The fact that I have to remind people to give party buffs when we do instances/heroics is shitty. I have to make the extra effort to remind people how to play their class...
 
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TheUnk

Golden Member
Jun 24, 2005
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That's exactly my point, everyone wears the same kind of shitty robes on the Jedi side. Sure, it's great that they followed the established lore and style of Star Wars I guess, but artistically it doesn't make anyone stand out from each other. I don't know all the innerworkings of the art direction, but one thing I thought WoW did a great job with is probably the shoulder pads, it's a good visual indentifier, among other things that help make you stand out from everyone else. I guess it also doesn't help that all the playable races are humanoids, so unless you zoom in and play first person, chances are you can't tell what race is the person you're looking at.

In Old Republic: If you hear "level 50 Jedi sentinel ganking on Correlia", it's going to be harder to spot him because every fucking jedi wears a hobo robe.

I gotta agree with you here.. Personally I hate the robes. Especially on my smuggler. Some of them even look like dresses and all of them have crap clipping on my speeder.

I'm trying to find a good looking orange piece without a robe/skirt but everything that drops at my level has it.

Gonna have to buy some lowbie orange one. I actually preferred those looks before I got "upgraded" to robes.
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,418
1,599
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On a side note, I am astounded by the amount of noobs that are playing in this game. The fact that I have to remind people to give party buffs when we do instances/heroics is shitty. I have to make the extra effort to remind people how to play their class...

Sorry. Not all of us were l33t wow endgame raiders
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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Sorry. Not all of us were l33t wow endgame raiders

Haha, this. I'm good with buffs and whatnot, but I am brutal on some general stuff; I just realized last night that I could expand my companion's toolbar and he has all kinds of skills on there. Always thought it was kind of strange that he only had four things he could do. :D

KT
 
Mar 10, 2005
14,647
2
0
Haha, this. I'm good with buffs and whatnot, but I am brutal on some general stuff; I just realized last night that I could expand my companion's toolbar and he has all kinds of skills on there. Always thought it was kind of strange that he only had four things he could do. :D

KT

i think attack is the only 1 i click on, the rest set and forget. besides, the toolbar ends up covering my left toolbar, which is already tangled up with the chat box :/
 

KeithTalent

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Nov 30, 2005
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i think attack is the only 1 i click on, the rest set and forget. besides, the toolbar ends up covering my left toolbar, which is already tangled up with the chat box :/

I ended up setting it to the right toolbar, though it's a bit clunky there. I use a couple of the abilities, but yeah, it's not a huge deal, just found it kind of funny that I did not even know it existed!

It would be nice to be able to switch things around a little more.

KT
 
Mar 10, 2005
14,647
2
0
It would be nice to be able to switch things around a little more.

did you know there are keybinding settings in the options? it took me a while to find them. for those looking to make macros, every hotbar button can be mapped with modifiers like ctrl+shift+alt+1, etc.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
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Nov 30, 2005
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did you know there are keybinding settings in the options? it took me a while to find them. for those looking to make macros, every hotbar button can be mapped with modifiers like ctrl+shift+alt+1, etc.

I did not; so presumably I could map the keys on the left side of my Sidewinder to perform those click for me? Intriguing. :hmm: Will need to investigate when I get home tonight. Thanks!

KT
 
Sep 23, 2011
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SWTOR look interesting but, here comes the dreaded question, how is it for casuals?

IMHO, the game is extremely casual friendly.

Put it this way, my main is not being played much right now except for T/Th when we raid because I am 100% geared up, have many holocrons/etc and so on. You don't need to be hardcore on your play at all, which is a good thing to me.

If you don't want to raid then what you *need* to do @50 drops to about zip. Instead, you can kick back and have fun via pvp, crafting, doing dailies (but almost pointless unless you want the mount), hunting down datacrons, codex entries or other things to be a completionist. :)

There's no "omg this will take forever" grinds in the game as of yet. The dailies seem like it until you realize that you can craft similar gear for armor/mods and get close on ear/implant w/augment.

Unfortunately, I picked the class I love the most, so playing alts is a little hard. :)

And unlike some other games, money/gold/whatever isn't a big issue @50. It's easy to get and there's no a heck of a lot to spend it on yet.
 

maniacalpha1-1

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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Does items getting into a state of disrepair affect their stats as they go? If they go all the way down are they destroyed?
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
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I just wish you could have more than 2 center bars, don't like using the side ones.
 

jlarsson

Golden Member
Jul 31, 2001
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Does items getting into a state of disrepair affect their stats as they go? If they go all the way down are they destroyed?

I believe their durability has to hit 0%, at which point you don't get the stat increases they provide. The item isn't actually "destroyed". Just go visit a vendor to repair, and you'll be good to go.

lupi said:
I just wish you could have more than 2 center bars, don't like using the side ones.

I completely agree. I'm really hoping they patch in the ability to mod the interface sooner rather than later.
 

sigurros81

Platinum Member
Nov 30, 2010
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Sorry. Not all of us were l33t wow endgame raiders


I don't think one needs to be an end game raider to know how to cast a buff for you as well as your teammate. It takes a special kind of stupidity to have to be reminded to cast a single buff, the only buff, that you get at level 1. Let's hope you're not one of those scrubs.
 

BenSkywalker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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To the Sorcerers in Anandtech, how do you use Ashara while questing?

Until you have her very geared, as a sort of super dot while kiting. Ashara is a pure dps character, she can't hold agro at all and is incapable of healing. If you are a lightning or madness build and fighting against a strong elite mob, grab agro on the mob and use all of your various abilities to slow them down as much as possible while holding agro. You don't even have to worry about keeping DoTs up if you can keep agro off of Ashara. I only took Ashara out while leveling when I ran into something Khem couldn't tank as a Sorcerer, probably will use her a lot more on my tank build assasin(only 22 atm, will take a few more days before I get her).

Anyway, force speed, force slow, hold agro, stun, repeat however much needed. Ashara is exceptional when used in that capacity, or if you are just looking to maximize your single target dps. Pretty much, you use Khem until you get your last companion if you are a Sorcerer for leveling purposes. Max level you will find they all have uses if you gear them up reasonably well, for leveling as a dps you just can't beat having a pocket tank that doesn't whine :)
 

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,418
1,599
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I don't think one needs to be an end game raider to know how to cast a buff for you as well as your teammate. It takes a special kind of stupidity to have to be reminded to cast a single buff, the only buff, that you get at level 1. Let's hope you're not one of those scrubs.

Remembering to do that shit all the time takes getting used to.