In a Rush: Soloing on Hutta

Posted by FelizB on Jan 28, 2012 in Guides, Star Wars: The Old Republic | 0 comments

This guide takes you from creating your character to the point where you are ready to pick your advanced class in an expedited manner, without skipping content. It leads a new Bounty Hunter or Imperial Agent through the newbie zone on Hutta, including the heroic quests. This is not a step-by-step guide. I will only point out the general direction and key moments in the storyline.

Poison Pit Cantina

You arrive here to get your class quest started. You are also given two side quests. Bind at the entrance of the cantina and activate the taxi stand. Finish those quests, pickup and finish the 3rd side quest before you head to Nem’ro’s Palace.

Nem’ro’s Palace

Follow your class quest line and pick up another side quest. They’ll both lead you to the Evokii Work Camp. As you leave Nem’ro’s Palace, you’ll see Nem’ro’s Bazaar to your right, which is  the vendor and trainer area. Side quests should point you to your trainers. Perhaps you repair equipment and sell off the vendor trash in your bags as well. On your way to the work camp, you’ll pass the bind point and taxi stand for Nem’ro’s Bazaar.

Evokii Work Camp

Along the path to the work camp, you will see a few animals. Shoot at least one of each species for the lore entries and the extra XP that comes with them. At the work camp you pick up another side quest and your first heroic quest. Here’s also a stop for the Imperial Agent class quests. The quests will lead you further south into an Evokii village, where you will find another side quest on a holopad. Don’t forget the to touch the Evokii totem, a lore object.

Continue south past the village. There you’ll find a level 5 Champion droid. You will need help to kill him. Finish the “Tech Jealousy” quest in this area. On the north side of the swamp is a toppled silo. Climb it and continue over the hill to your first datacron ( aim+2, location= -100,860). Jump down, continue north and finish “Trophy Hunter”.

Evokii Swamp

Leave the work camp, turn south and follow the wall eastward. You’ll see another Evokii village with a totem lore object for more XP. Turn back a bit and move north through the wall. There’s another bind point and a side quest, which will lead you further north. Remember you’ll have to jump onto the boxes to get to the quest object.

Don’t turn in the quest just yet. Continue north instead along the left side of the river. You’ll find a holopad for another quest. Kill chemilizards for the bonus quest. The head back south to location (-75,400) to kill a Wookie. Continue south and turn in your quests. Use your fast travel to return to Nem’ro’s Palace.

Nem’ro’s Palace

As usual, turn in your side quests and continue your class quest, eventually picking up 2 more side quests. Don’t forget to train. Then head for Nem’ro’s Bazaar taxi stand and continue to the location for “To Boom or not to Boom”. After that, you should see another heroic quest (location=0,200) on your way to the Rustyards.

Rustyards / Chemical Marsh

Hand in the quest that brought you here, pick up two new ones, bind and register at the taxi stand. Then head north through the nearby gate and take a walk around the factory buildings, picking up quest objects and bonus quests. Ignore the stops for heroic quests. This route will also lead to all generators that need to be disabled for the Bounty Hunter class quest. At the north side of this route (location=500,0) you’ll see pipes leading out to the water and onto an island. Hop on those pipes and follow them to the next datacron (presence+2) on the island. When you return, finish your tour around the factory and enter it from the south.

Insite the complex head upstairs first. The remaining quests are straight forward and you can return to the Rustyards hub using your fast travel option. After turning in your quests head to Nem’ro’s Palace using the taxi.

Nem’ro’s Palace

Again, turn in your quests and move the class quest forward. The class quest will send you into Fa’athra’s Palace. On your way out, pick up a side quest. See your trainer and get another side quest on the east wall of the bazaar. From here, take the taxi to the Chemical Marsh. Pick up yet another side quest on your way to the Palace.

Fa’athra’s Palace

Bounty Hunters will have a bonus quest to collect bounties for some named Lieutenants located in the area outside the palace. Enter the palace and use the lore tag right at the entrance. The questing within the palace is straight forward including the class quests. Make sure you don’t forget Fa’athra’s stash after you’ve freed Oren Ward. There’s also a lore carbonite block next to Oren Ward’s. And to top it off, there’s a good chance to find a security chest in both rooms neighboring this one. Fa’athra’s stash may or may not be guarded by Gajoru the Vault Guardian, an elite, for additional loot.

Once done with the palace, use your fast travel option to the Chemical Marsh for the first turn in, then continue to Nem’ro’s Palace.

Nem’ro’s Palace

Turn in your side quests and wrap up the class quest, including a trip to the space port. Head back to the bazaar for the lore object quest coming with your customizable weapon. Finally see your trainer, either in the bazaar or even at the fleet to pick your advanced class. Return for the heroic quests.

Heroic Quests

Head for the sewer entrance to do “Factory Recall”. Once inside the sewers, you can go straight for an champion droid, a security chest and a datacron (blue matrix shard, location=-25,320). You should have sabotaged the boxes by now and can leave through the other exit. Factory recall continues in the next building. Make sure you go to the second floor for a security box at the end of the balcony. Hand in your quest and go to the location for “The Man with the Steel Voice”. That quest isn’t hard at all, but it leads you to “Hostage Situation”, which starts a bit to the west of it.

Hostage Situation will eventually lead to the basement of the Muckworks, where you have to kill a champion guard for some bonus loot. Part 2 leads you to the roof, to blow up the first Evokii space ship. You’ll have to defeat Baranj, the Starseeker (champion) first.

Turn in your quests and head for the space port.

Wrapping Up

Once you have turned in your last heroic quest at the Evokii camp, you can follow the road from the Evokii camp east until you cross a bridge. To the left on a wall is the final Evokii lore totem. Some closing remarks: don’t obsess over gear. It’s not worth your time to grind for that 8th commendation to get your blue chest piece. By the time you are 13, you’ll have it replaced already. Similarily, don’t buy any gear from the vendors. What you get through quests is good enough for the zone and will last you for a while on Dromund Kaas as well.

In a Rush: Soloing on Ord Mantell

Posted by FelizB on Jan 26, 2012 in Guides, Star Wars: The Old Republic | 0 comments

This guide will help you leveling a  Trooper or a Smuggler on Ord Mantell as fast as possible, without leaving out anything important. You will end up level 10 or 11, having done the heroic quests and ready to pick your advanced class. This is not a step-by-step guide. I will only point out the general direction and key moments in the storyline.

Drelliad Village

You are sent here after your class dialogue. Finish those quests, check if there is a security chest in the one building with open access. After turning the quests in, move onto Fort Garnik. Pick up the quest to kill snipers along the way.

Fort Garnik

When you arrive, you can’t miss the taxi stand, the bind point and your class trainer. There’s a lore object to the right of the smuggler trainer. Continue with your class quest dialogues. You will be sent to Talloran village. Take the side quests along the way. Next to the Cathar lady you’ll find another lore object.

Talloran Village

Once in Talloran, the Scavenger Hunt quest will lead you beyond town to the the beach and  to an island. The quest “Mercy” is a bit harder to pin down, since only separatist commandos carry the medicine and the quest helper’s location changes depending on the commandos being alive or not. There’s a chance for a security chest deep inside the second safe house. Head back to Fort Garnik and  turn in all side quests. Then continue your class quest, which will eventually lead you to.

Mannett Point

Again, pick up two side quests when you leave town, a third one at the walker near the bridge and a fourth on the shore before you cross the water to Mannett Point. Bind at the shore as well and pick up the taxi stand. Make sure to get to both ends of the bridge, because there might be a security chest on either side. Once you’ve crossed the water, don’t head into town right away, follow the shore to the left to your first datacron (red matrix shard, locaiton=750,150). It is guarded by a level 6 Elite.

Once inside town, just follow a left hand rule and finish off quests as you see the targets. That way you won’t overlook any quests. When done, head back to the shore and hand in your first quest, then run back to town handing in the remaining side quests along the way.

Oradam Village

Your class quest line will send you to Oradam Village next. See a trainer before you head out. On your way to the village you’ll pick up two more side quests. You should finish the first one “Generator Problems” right away. Occasionally there’s a security chest behind the generator building.

Once you arrive in town, head straight for the taxi stand at the north end and bind there. Pick up the two heroic quests and another regular quest while in town. Smugglers also have one stop for their class quest. Leave town through the west gate. Just outside the gate you’ll pick up a third heroic quest. Ignore the heroic quests until you are done with your class quests.

Follow the path in a south west direction until you hit the Volcano camp. Bind and pick up the taxi stand. On your way to the camp, troopers should start hunting the scavengers for their class quest, smugglers will have to go to the beach past the volcano camp. Both classes should head to the beach anyway to pick up the next datacron. Once you leave the camp turn right to the beach, then follow further southwest (presence+2, location = -1000, 200).

Smugglers should use your fast travel option to return to Fort Garnik, Troopers have a stop in Oradam Village.

Fort Garnik

Continue with the next step of your “Hail the liberators” quest, turn in the others and move on with your class quest. Smugglers will now have their companions at their side, Troopers will have to do the next location alone. And to top it off, Bioware forgot to add that little quest that gives you an endurance mod for your new weapon. Pick up the side quests and see your trainer before you head out to Oradam Village again, where you then turn in “Hail the Liberators”.

Go to the Volcano camp and leave southwest bound, going uphill where you went to the beach earlier. At the next turn, you will pick up yet another side quest, which can be missed if you aren’t paying attention. Continue to the Separatist Stronghold.

Separatist Stronghold

The Stronghold is pretty straight forward for Smugglers now. Troopers will have to overcome some difficulties with the first step in the class quest there. The room has multiple groups with level 10’s classified “strong”, and you will simply run out of steam at some point. If you are level 9 at that point, things are a bit easier, otherwise, die once or twice, but make sure, you can reduce the group size of your opponents at least by one.

The remaining storyline is easy. Finish it up together with the side quests and return to Fort Garnik to finish up the class story.

Savrip Island

This is the heroic area with 3 quests and a bonus quest. Start by moving onto the island and clearing a path toward the Savrip Champion. The fight is doable for a level 10 with companion. After that destroy the southwest beacon and move to the droid escort. Do the quest and get onto the ledge to your right and head toward the hilltop for the last datacron ( Aim+2, location=-650,-570). From here you can just head downhill and attack the Savrip Champion one more time. The rest of the heroics is simple, go on a killing spree and destroy the beacons.

Winding Down

In winding down I want to say just one more thing: Don’t obsess about gear. Pick up what you can, but don’t go out of your way to get that eighth Ord Mantell Commendation for your blue chest piece. It’s also a bad deal to forgo the blue pieces of equipment from the heroic quest in favor of a Commendation. By the time you turn 13 you’ll have it replaced already, even as early as the next flashpoint. Plus, in this level range things really aren’t gear dependent. Also, don’t waste your money buying gear from the vendors at all during your time on Ord Mantell.

Totalbiscuit Interview: Gabe Amantangelo

Posted by FelizB on Jan 26, 2012 in News, noindex, Star Wars: The Old Republic | 0 comments

Here’s an interview by Totalbiscuit with Gabe Amantangelo, SWTOR lead developer of operations, flashpoints and pvp. Various topics are being covered from flash points, immersion, faction balance, pvp only skills, endgame, operations, UI configuration and mods, crew skills

In a Rush: Soloing on Korriban

Posted by FelizB on Jan 24, 2012 in Guides, Star Wars: The Old Republic | 0 comments

This guide is supposed to help you getting through Korriban as a Sith Inquisitor or a Sith Warrior as fast as possible, without leaving anything out. The guide will not describe every single step along the way, only things that should be done at certain points in the game. Quests that are offered along the obvious path should all be picked up and finished. They will only be mentioned if more explanations are needed or if there is some obstacle to overcome.

Arrival

Once you are through the opening sequence, stop to set up your UI preferences, your key bindings and your quickslot assignments. Then run out into the valley, bind and kill a few slugs for the first bonus quest. Then head into the tomb and do the quest offered there. Otherwise, you won’t have money to train. Finish up the quests in the tomb and head to the academy. Don’t forget to bind on your way in.

Academy

Follow the class quest within the academy. Both classes will be sent to the lower wilds as their next step. See your trainer before you leave the building. Pickup and finish the Allegiance quest at the taxi stand before you head for the lower wilds. By now you should be level 4 or halfway to level 5.

Lower Wilds

From the taxi stand a quest will lead you to Lord Renning’s camp.  Lord Renning’s quest will lead you deeper into the wilds. Stay on the right side of the canyon to pick up another quest from a datapad and continue following the right wall around a corner and a bit uphill to pick up your first datacron, a willpower+2 datacron. Finish all quests in the area, then hand in Renning’s quest. Leave the area using the taxi stand above the camp. There’s a bind point as well.

Back at the Academy

Back at the academy turn in the remaining quests. After the class quest, you can pick up 3 more quests: Jailbreak which leads you into he same area as your class quest, “Purity”, which has you checking 4 Sith academy members and “Blood Legacy”, which we will finish once we return. Scan the academy members inside the building, head to the taxi stand and finally to the shuttle to scan the last member. Pickup the “Armed and Dangerous” heroic quest from the mission board there. Across the shuttle behind a wall and looking into the canyon, you’ll find the endurance+2 datacron.

Into the Tomb of Tulak Hord

Right at the entrance to the antechamber you can get the heroic quest “The Hate Machine” and just after the imperial guards on the right wall, you’ll find a holopad with another quest. Pass through the antechamber with a little side trip to pick up your class quest items. Once inside the atrium, follow the path to the right, until you pass through an arch. To the left of the arch within a little hole is the next datacron with a red matrix shard. It is sometimes protected by a level 8 champion. Leave him alone and get him on your second pass through the tomb.

Continue to the archives to pick up the class quest items. Don’t forget the lore object behind the tablet and a potential treasure chest in the same room. Ignore the heroic quest. Remember, you want to solo this and you are level 7 right now. Not going to happen. Once outside in the atrium again, pickup the parts for the Jailbreak quest and continue to the machine vault. Rinse and repeat, get the class quest item, ignore the heroic quest, try to get a chest.

Once back in the atrium, wrap things up: make sure you have the jailbreak pieces, finished the bonus quest and got enough robots killed. You also should have been able to kill the Slave Rebellion Leader (lvl 6, Elite) on each pass through the atrium.

Academy

Turn in your quests. You might not be level 8 yet for “The Blood Legacy”, but you should be able to solo it anyway, just use your stuns or crowd control spells to get some rest for yourself. The force and health gained during those short breaks is usually enough to push the elite mob over the edge.

Tomb of Naga Sadow

By now you should be level 9 or close to it. Your class quest will send you into the Tomb of Naga Sadow for the last steps on Korriban. The problem is, Sith Warriors have now already Vette by their side, while inquistors have to fight their way in solo in order to find their companion Khem Val. On your way in, you pick up three more side quests and another bonus quests. Nothing more needs to be said about those.

For a Sith Warrior, the end of the class quest line and all side quests is straight forward, no further difficulties to be expected. The side quests require one more trip to the Tomb of Naga Sadow after turn ins at the academy.

The inquisitors face a couple of harder fights against level 10 droids marked strong, plus the final fight against Khem Val, before he gives in and follows you. You may die a couple of times on your way in. Keep trying or wait until you turn level 10.

Tomb of Tulak Hord Once More

Once you’ve finished up your class quest on Korriban, you can either go back right away to the two heroic quests in the tomb. You should be level 10 by now and those quest shouldn’t be much of a challenge anymore. Or, if you are overly careful, you can go to the fleet first and pick your advanced class and crewskills. By the time you’ve done that, you are already level 11. And now the heroics should be really easy.

Winding Down

In winding down I want to say just one more thing: Don’t obsess about gear. Pick up what you can, but don’t go out of your way to get that eighth Korriban Commendation for your blue chest piece. By the time you turn 13 you’ll have it replaced already, even as early as the next flashpoint. Plus, in this level range things really aren’t gear dependent. Also, don’t waste your money buying gear from the vendors.

The Moat Around World of Warcraft And How Bioware’s SWTOR Gets Around It

Posted by FelizB on Jan 5, 2012 in Blog, Current Games, Featured, Rift, Star Wars: The Old Republic, World of Warcraft | 0 comments

Investor Warren Buffet has coined the term economic moat as an almost insurmountable advantage of one company over another company in the same industry. Typical names that come up in this discussion are Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart. Any new company that wants to compete with these two is looking at a very long time with minimal income before they will be able to come even close.

Does this mean World of Warcraft has a moat? You bet. Just look at all the features it offers and how many of them new games like Rift or Star Wars had implemented at their release date. Here’s an incomplete list:

• Dungeon Finder
• Raid Finder
• Extendable User Interface
• Accomplishments
• Guild Perks
• Plethora of Pets
• Flying Mounts
• WOW Armory
• Class Balance
• Economic Balance
• In Game Events

Of course, at first, this list doesn’t look to bad, but these features have to be implemented, tested and rolled out and balanced. How hard will it be to implement a cross server dungeon and raid finder for SWTOR? It’s my gut feeling, not backed up by many facts that they’ll have a harder time to do that than Rift.

While playing Star Wars, of course I notice issues where I can clearly say, that Bioware will have to either take some lessons from Blizzard or learn them the hard way. For instance I am not sure, if the economy around the Galactic Trade Market will ever become viable. The auction interface is certainly not up to it. The bigger problem there will be the underlying supply and demand of raw materials and finished goods. I can see for instance that there’s far more metal for armor and arms available than there are crystals for synthweaving and artificing. It is open where it will find a balance, but I question if the Bioware designers have put much thought into the subject. But that is part of the moat I described.

Having said that, Bioware might not need to conquer the moat, simply by building their own castle. Bioware’s loyal customers are RPG fans who’ve kept their distance to MMORPGs. But the way it looks, with Bioware’s story driven approach and a lot of voice acting, that barrier is torn down. The ingame chat has certainly seen its amount of WOW comparisons, but they’ve actually died down relatively fast. Thus, Bioware isn’t taking away much of WOW’s market share. Bioware is expanding the market. Something everybody in the industry will be grateful for.

Objectivist Gamer

Posted by FelizB on Jan 5, 2012 in Blog, Current Games, Star Wars: The Old Republic, World of Warcraft | 0 comments

While playing last night, somebody mentioned in chat the usual “SWTOR plays like WOW” and of course started a small storm. What was different this time, it wasn’t just a troll, but a gaming writer who was reviewing the game. Which of course gives the discussion an entirely new dimension.

I can certainly see where the opinion comes from: There are many aspects which are very similar, for instance the user interface and the skill tree. But that is a good thing. Every MMO player wants to be able to type /who, or find the social menu bound to the O key, as well as configurable hotkey bars. But there are enough differences aside from the voice dialogues which make SWTOR stand out over WOW.

In any case, I didn’t want to start a lengthy rant, but wanted to point to a site of a professional game reviewer and to his work. Most of his reviews cover the general gaming area and much less MMOs. That, by itself is an interesting fact, since obviously SWTOR pulls in Bioware’s RPG fanbase with their familiar story driven games, just like WOW brought Blizzards RTS crowd into the MMO mixture.

I am looking forward to his review and his viewpoint.