Princess Ileana

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

Ever since I got my first beta invite for SWTOR last November, I’ve been gently nudging my wife to try it out as well. I didn’t get much response during beta itself, only something like “If I try it, you won’t be able to test it.” Which was nice of her, but didn’t help in making a pre-order decision for her copy. And I know better by now than to just go and buy 2 licenses, let Rift be an example of this.

Opening day came and went and it was still just me playing SWTOR, while my wife kept collecting pets, and did her dailies on WOW. Plus some raiding. And numerous alts. And holiday events. At some point, when I asked I got this answer: “I don’t like Star Wars!”. What do you mean, you don’t like Star Wars? The game or the movies? “The movies!”. I had no problems with her being major league annoyed at the acting in episode 2+3 a couple of years back, but it never appeared to me that this included the original  episodes as well!

Life’s back to normal now and I haven’t divorced her over it, especially since her WOW guild mates convinced her that SWTOR is actually a cool game. Half of them were playing already and talking about it on Ventrilo, plus my persistence convinced her on Sunday to try out a Jedi Consular, with the goal of becoming a Sage. Initially she had made “Ileana” on my account, but on Sunday night it became clear she’d get her own.

I spent two hours on Monday recreating her looks on the new account, and less than an hour to bring her to level 6, where my wife had left off. You wouldn’t believe how different colors can look on two monitors. Head type, hair style and even complexion were easy to duplicate. But I am being told I missed the hair color by a notch. I restarted the game a number of times with different accounts on both of our computers to get the skin color right. But it was quite an ordeal to figure out that skin color #17 on my monitor looked like skin color #22 on hers.

Those are differences I really don’t notice during normal use of our computers or just by glancing over to my wife’s monitor. But you might have gotten the idea, that it is a science, if you’ve ever set up a new monitor and went through the installation process suggested by the manufacturer. But regardless of looks and color temperatures, I made a Trooper as a play mate, ready to explore “The Old Republic” together. You’ll be hearing about those travels more in this place

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.

SWTOR Sending Out Progression Guides For Advanced Classes

Posted by FelizB on Jan 1, 2012 in Guides, News, Star Wars: The Old Republic | 0 comments

Star Wars: The Old Republic has started sending out progression guides by email to players who’ve reached level 10 for their class. The guides introduce the advanced classes to the players and give some insight into their capabilities. Since many players actually missed choosing their advanced class, the guide explains how to pick it while at the fleet’s docks.

Furthermore, there’s a short section about Flashpoints and some more information about your brand new ingame companion is given. A quick rundown of the players crew skill options is provided and the guide closes with a description of the Warzones.

Here is a list of the progression guides:

Jedi Knight	Sith Warrior
Jedi Consular	Sith Inquisitor
Smuggler	Imperial Agent
Trooper	Bounty Hunter