I spent a bit more time with Jianna on Wednesday and Thursday last week aside from her normal daily quests. I spent that time collecting Datacrons with her. She has roughly half of the datacrons in game, not counting the +10 to all stats datacrons, which my guild will be getting together to get soon.

Since I hadn’t been datacron hunting in a little while, and I hadn’t recorded which ones I had yet, I decided to go back and review all the early datacrons to make sure I had gotten them. While getting to one of them on Dromund Kaas, I stumbled across “The First”, the World Boss for the planet. It took a while, but I soloed him. Not real surprising since, he was level 18 vs my 50. He couldn’t do any real serious damage to Skadge (who had his attention nearly the entire time), so it was just a matter of time before I killed him.

While getting one of the datacrons on Nar Shaddaa, I had an interesting little encounter with a Republic Jedi. I had entered the Incinerator room to get the datacron there, and paused for a moment to record my progress in the collection of the datacrons (yes I track my progress with a spreadsheet, so sue me, there’s a lot of them). Well, as I’m standing there, in runs a level 36 Jedi. There is of course, only two reasons to be in that particular room: 1) for the datacron, or 2) going after someone going for the datacron. He was, of course, the former, and didn’t expect me there.

I just happened to be between him and the datacron, since I had just gotten done using it. I stood there for a moment, then targeted him (which of course, raised my pistols to him), and in a nice little sort-of RP moment, he uses the calm emote on me. I just had to laugh at that. So I played along, and I let him get his datacron and we both moved on. I only thought of taking a screenshot after the fact, but you can see in the chat log him attempting to calm me with the emote.

Now for me, the reason why did this was because, I sure as hell wouldn’t want anyone screwing up my acquisition of the datacrons. Since some of them take multiple tries to get, I don’t need someone with a grudge just happening to find me while trying to get them. The less people with a reason to attack is better for my chances at getting the datacrons, especially since some of them are in less than friendly territory.

The rest of the time was rather uneventful, except for one case of the game bugging out when I got stuck, where it dropped me into an abyss on Nar Shaddaa. I managed to get all datacrons up to and including Tatooine. I also got all of them on Hoth as well as Ilum. I have some more on Belsavis, but I have to check which ones I have acquired first.

On Friday, I spent some more time with my (now) sniper, Idunna. I got her off of Hutta and onto Dromund Kaas, and yes, she got her advanced class.

The weekend was spent mostly working on my Sorcerer, Cell’ax. She had pretty much just gotten done with Chapter 1 when we last left her. She was on her way to Taris. Well she has since finished Taris as well as Quesh. She has picked up Ashara, as her companion, and though I used her for a bit, I have since gone back to Khem for better survivability. She’s progressed quite a bit with her skills since before the weekend. She picked up the excellent Force Storm ability, which I love the effect of. Unfortunately, it’s not as damaging as I was expecting, so I use it, but I just don’t use it often. I only use it on large groups of regular enemies, since they’re the only ones that make it worthwhile to hit with it.

She also has eliminated her cooldown on Force Lightning (which is now her primary attack skill), and given Whirlwind the ability to snag up to 3 enemies at a time (the two enemies that I don’t target can’t be any higher than a regular enemy). All these combine to make her quite a force to be reckoned with. She’s not invulnerable though, as I found out when I tried to take down a couple of champions solo (when I say solo, I mean with my companion). She’s just not a good enough healer with her current spec to take on long fights like that.  I’m going to be redoing her spec soon, as I’m not happy with the points I’ve invested in the Madness tree (I feel like they’re wasted), so with that I may put some points into healing. She’s now on her way to Hoth, and her next companion, Talos.

Speaking of Healing, I changed my build on Jianna on Thursday last week, and really like the build a lot more. I switched to a more healing focused build, and switched from pyro to arsenal for damage. I had heard great things about the Tracer Missle…so I figured I’d give it a try. I wasn’t disappointed, and I feel like this skill may get nerfed soon. I had seen videos of it’s use in Warzones, which make it look a bit ridiculous, and it really is. I can rely on it almost solely for my damage output, as it can be spammed for a while before the level of heat requires something else to be used. So right now it’s my primary damage dealer, while I put the rest of my points into Healing.

The points in healing went to good use though, as I am now a very strong healer for Dailies. There are only a couple of Dailies that I cannot complete on my own (1 heroic on Belsavis, “Old Enemies”, and 1 heroic on Ilum, “Poisonous Strategy”). I can even solo the Champion boss for the “Freeing the Fallen” heroic. I cannot, however, solo Lord Raxxus (sp?), from the Old Enemies heroic, as his damage output is too great for my healing of Skadge. I think it’s just because he hasn’t been fully geared up yet. I can heal for a group taking him on just fine, but solo with only Skadge tanking is too much. Being able to solo the heroics means I can get through my dailies much faster, as I don’t need to wait for a group to get the heroic quests done. Of course, to solo those heroics, I’m skipping a lot of the fighting that should go on in them, by corpse-hopping through the instance. For dailies though I don’t mind doing this…as it’s a means to an end.

One thing that I totally forgot to record with screenshots was Cell’ax’s (wow that’s a lot of apostrophes) return to Korriban. She’s already taken an apprentice in Ashara, the fallen Jedi Padawan, but everyone seems to think that she needs to replace all of her apprentices which were killed by Thanaton’s Sith Assassins on Quesh. So she headed back to Korriban, now as a Sith Lord, and Overseer Harken shows a bit more respect this time. I suppose he’s just really supposed to be a bit more like a drill sergeant, in that he tries to be as hard as he can (in whatever way that he can) on the potential Sith so that only the best make it out of there alive. It’s made quite obvious just which potential Sith is going to become Cell’ax’s new apprentice, both due to the stories behind the characters, and well…the camera angles during the cutscenes (and I already knew who the final companion was anyway).

One problem I have with this sequence of events on Korriban is, if Cell’ax has what is essentially a warrant out for her death, as being a former apprentice of Darth Zash. Why is it she is able to go to Korriban to get a new apprentice in the first place? Wouldn’t Darth Thanaton prevent this sort of thing? Perhaps Sith are a bit more independent and the ability to take a new apprentice only has the requirement of you being an official “Lord of the Sith”…with no background check required. (I darken this out since it all has a lot to do with the Inquisitor storyline)

Like I said, I figured out what I did the past few days (all I could remember was what I did with Cell’ax) by going through my latest screenshots…so I have plenty for ya.

A little more context to them:

• Post-Kill Shot of “The First”, the Heroic World Boss on Dromund Kaas.
• After the little RP moment with the Jedi…look at the chat log.
• Several Datacron gathering moments, including one glitchy shot that happened after I used /stuck to try to get unstuck. It “unstuck” me into somewhere in the world…but not somewhere that let me live for long. It got the job done, but I had to actually die to get unstuck.
• Lord Cell’ax the Badass using Force Storm on the Rakghouls from “Calling All Rakghouls”. While it looks awesome, it’s ability to damage enemies is a bit “meh”.
• Jianna soloing Jedi Master Averon from “Freeing the Fallen”, with Skadge as the tank and primary damage dealer (yes takes a while, about 10 minutes, still better than trying to wait to find a group).
• Lord Cell’ax and Ashara heading away from their assassination of the head of the Cathar Resistance. I thought it was quite appropriate that Ashara has both a Blue and a Red Lightsaber, since she is a fallen Jedi Padawan.
• Riding the elevator down from the shuttle landing pad on Quesh
• The End of Jedi Master Berin Fraal, the final boss of Quesh.

Wow that was a long update…that’s what I get for holding off a few days.

I’m glad to see that the PC version is coming out at the same time as the console versions (March 6th). I say this because in the past they’ve chosen to delay the release of the PC version until well after (like 6+ months) the console release. Yes, I’m happy for this…what I’m not happy with is EA’s insistence on using their crappy Origin system (and yes, that’s where I bought SWTOR), as there’s no sign of it on Steam.

Why is it that they’ve gone with Steam for the past two games (though adding ME1 after the release)…only for this one…they have to insist we need to buy it from them on their online store? What is wrong with Steam EA? Why take that away from your customers? Despite the fact that I will be able to buy it at release for the PC, it still feels like something has been delayed. Why? Because I just know that I will buy it at release off of Origin, only to have EA get around to adding it to Steam later…like the asshats they are.

I’d like to mention something else, which bothers me with SWTOR. How is it that Bioware could get choice-based story telling SO RIGHT with Mass Effect, and yet miss it so horribly with SWTOR? The saved game I mentioned at the start of this point contains a number of decisions I’ve made throughout my play time of the previous two games. This is one of the few major gripes I have with SWTOR. There is no real true choice in the game.

Sure you are presented with choices, Light, Dark, and Neutral choices. They don’t have any effect on the greater story though. You get your light or dark points and you move on. I’ve only had one case that I can identify that came up later in my story, and that was my choice at the end of my time on Tython with my Jedi Knight, Idunna (on Tarro Blood). It was briefly mentioned by an Imperial guy later in my storyline. I haven’t played much more of that storyline though, so I’m not sure if that’s taken any further.

One of the things that people have noticed is the lack of choice in the companions we bring with us on our adventures. You can outright tell a companion “No you’re not coming with me”…and they’ll come anyway. Who’s fracking ship is this?! All classes must get all the companions available to them. This is a problem I have with how the companion system works. The companions are so integral with your character and your ability to go through combat, that you must take them all to give you the full set. They’re like pokemon, except that it’s not an obsession, they’re all forced on you….whether you want them or not.

That said, I still love the game, even though it’s story-telling is flawed, it’s extremely entertaining. I’ll be posting another update to my SWTOR Gameplay later today.

Korriban, Hutta, and Dromund Kaas – Imperial Only Worlds. New Player Zones that last until 17-20 or so.

Tython, Ord Mantell, and Crouscant – Republic Only Worlds. New Player Zones that last until 17-20 or so.

Balmorra – Imperials land here early, Republic lands later, and they are kept completely separate.

Nar Shaddaa is really the first planet where PvP is possible…but the sides are kept separate in areas where pvp is actually possible…it’s not really until you reach 30 before you can go to the areas where you will see the other side (due to the level 30 npc’s that are in the buffer zone). The bonus quests will take you to these areas at level 30.

Tatooine is kept pretty separate though accessible, except for the Dune Sea where PvP is rather common and you are sent on quests to areas where the opposite side frequents (Czerka dig site is a shared dungeon where pvp is quite common). This was where I had my first pvp experience while I was questing, and I’ve had several more experiences since…both giving and receiving. This is also the one planet (at least that I know of) that has a completely FFA PvP zone, The Outlaw’s Den. This is the first planet I would call a PvP Planet. Due to it being the first real PvP planet, they ease you into it by separating the starting areas and making them impossible for the other side to get to.

Alderaan starts out separate, but the questing zones intermingle and you frequently see other players from the opposite side. Final area both sides go to is in the same place (I found this out the hard way and was ganked by a stealthy Jedi in the middle of a fight with NPCs).

Taris – Imperials land here late and Republics land early, again, kept completely separate.

Quesh – It’s split down the middle and if anyone stayed here long enough to do the complete quest lines here, there would probably be a bit more pvp as they come together in the end. For my Bounty Hunter I had exactly one quest and I could have been out of there in 10 minutes but I stayed to complete the other quests available. I suspect most people hate the look of the planet and don’t stay here beyond whatever class quests they have here.

Hoth – Intermingled questing areas…I frequently see Republics flying about the planet or running by Imperial bases on their speeders. I wouldn’t really say PvP is common, but there’s plenty of possibility for it.

Belsavis – Start separate (but accessible), but the questing areas are fairly intermingled. Later areas are kept separate (bonus areas, at least Imperial side is only accessible by Imperials via the Rakata Transportation Hubs, I assume Republics are the same).

Voss – Shared starting area which is now a sanctuary (for good reason, to get anything productive done on the planet they had to do that due to the proximity of the starting areas). Completely intermingled questing areas and even a shared outpost inhabited by the Voss (meaning the speeder pad and quick travel points can be used by either side).

Corellia – Starting areas completely separate. Main questing areas are kept separate, it’s easy to tell when you’re crossed over to the other side, which isn’t that far away. This was done a little strange though…you see Republic NPC’s on the Imperial side and Imp NPC’s on the Republic side. I think this is one glaring mistake since this is supposed to be a war zone so it should be exactly the opposite and you should have to cross to the other side to do your quests…to encourage pvp this late in the game. I expected this world would have more PvP based on what I experienced on Voss, but it in fact had much less PvP.

Ilum – Shared PvP Area (Objective-based King of the Hill type PvP), Questing areas separate but accessible by either side.

Someone said this was working as intended…but then complained that the Imperials and Republic are at war….or are they? The answer is, according to the story, not until Corellia, very late in the storylines for all classes. There are certainly points where the quests hint at war, and skirmishes here and there, but they don’t actually start attacking each other in force until the later in the Corellia storyline. So yes, according to the storyline, open world pvp is working as intended.

So is it PvE player friendly? Yes, for the most part it is. The later in levels you get the more PvP you are potentially exposed to. After Tatooine, if you really want to do some Open World PvP you’re fully able to with a couple of exceptions. Because of that I would also say it is PvP player friendly from Tatooine on (again, with a couple of exceptions). I’ve never been much of a PvP player, but leveling in the game was not a huge problem for me doing so on only PvE content.

After Tatooine I was always keeping an eye out for Republics, and I did run into a few on every world that allowed it. It did not hugely impact my ability to level though, which I suppose is a downside for the true hardcore PvPers out there. I personally like that. Call me a carebear if you will, but I have enjoyed my time so far on a PvP server, despite being a PvE player. I know the threat is there, but I don’t mind it, I just try to keep eyes on both sides of my head while questing out in the open.

The heroic dailies take a little longer, simply because for all but one I need a group to complete them. I’m not one to stand around LFGing though, since I’d much rather be playing one of my alts than doing that. So usually once I complete all my regular quests, I advertise for the Heroics I need to complete, and if I can’t get in a group by the time I turn in the regular quests, I move on.

That one solo-able heroic (“Lights Out” on Belsavis), is easily soloable so long as you don’t try to fight and use a generous amount of sneaking around (note: stealthing helps but is not required). Really that one only requires 1 death, as for 2 of the 3 objectives you can get away without getting killed. They really need to make the objectives only capturable while outside of combat, this is way too easy to exploit. Yeah I reported it since it’s not the way the game was intended to be played. That’s a 4 man Heroic that requires a lot of very heavy fighting, culminating in a Champion encounter, to get it done with no fighting and only 1 death and in about 10 minutes, is a bit game breaking, especially considering the reward (3 daily commendations and a Top Level Orange or Blue for a companion).

The other aspect that slows me down when doing dailies, is when I need to loot an item from NPCs in order to either complete the quest, or continue the quest to the final objective. I’ve had two cases where, despite doing plenty of killing in the target area, one or more of the required items refuses to drop for a while. Last night it was the second wraith box component in the “Unintended Consequences” quest. I literally killed all the mobs in the dungeon (except for the final elite boss) 3 times over before I got all the components I needed. This turned what would normally be a 5 minute quest into a 30 minute ordeal. Very annoying when this happens since the whole point to dailies is to do them as fast and as efficient as you can to get them out of the way.

I say I nearly have it down to a science because I:

• Only fight when I need to – If I can avoid a fight I will, that includes CCing elite mobs to get around having to fight them then running past them.
• Sneak Sneak Sneak – I’m not a stealth class, but avoiding agro is still an acquired skill. A lot of the daily quests can be done with little or no fighting by simply sneaking around groups of enemies. Some you just won’t be able to avoid, but I see a lot of people fighting mobs that they can easily get around if they just try.

After I got done with Dailies on Monday, I went and worked on my second Imperial Agent, Idunna, who was still level 1 and waiting for me to play her on Hutta. Well now she’s Level 8, and working her way towards the end of the Hutta quests. She she reaches 10 she’ll become a Sniper, since I already have an Operative. That will complete my collection of all the Imperial Advanced Classes.

After I got done with Dailies on Tuesday (yes, I do them, surprise surprise, daily), I worked on my Gunslinger a bit over on my Republic server.  I have to say, I like the Gunslinger a lot. I plays very similar to my Imperial Agents. My character is very snarky and sarcastic…which I love. I still hate Corso Riggs with a passion, as he hates all the dark choices I make. At this point I don’t really care, so I make decisions without caring how it will affect his alignment. I ended the night with hitting level 14 and getting Sprint (Thank God!).

No screenshots today, as I just didn’t take any. I think I’ll be working on my future Sniper once again, as I want to get her working on her crew skills, and especially Diplomacy, as she will be one of two characters (the other being my Marauder, Freja) supplying Jianna with Diplomacy crafting materials (medical supplies for Biochem). I’m doing this since I’m leaving Jianna with Slicing in order to get Schematics and Missions from the mission rewards.

Speaking of things we do as a guild, I finally went through the flashpoints Boarding Party and The Foundry over the weekend. Well, actually just the final boss for the Boarding Party, as a group from our guild needed a healer because they lost there’s mid-flashpoint. The foundry I joined at the start though, having finished the Boarding Party flashpoint previously (a requirement of course). I liked the storyline for those flashpoints, and specifically the ending to The Foundry (highlight to read), I didn’t expect Revan to be the boss at the end. I thought that brought a nice resolution to the Revanite storyline though. He was quite a boss, even with me as a 50 as our Healer, and a level 47 Powertech as a tank, he gave us quite a challenging fight. The others in the group were early 30′s (appropriate level for the flashpoint), so when they got hit it was “oh shit” healing time for me.

More spoilers for ya, my thoughts on the ending to my class story (highlight to read): I have to say I was mildly disappointed in the ending to my class story. Sure, I secured Corellia for the Empire. I took out the Master Jedi who had been hunting me, and who was responsible for making me the Republic’s Most Wanted. I even took out the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic (who would have been disgraced anyway once the details of my railroading went public). My problem is, it didn’t feel nearly as good as when I won the Great Hunt and became a Mandalorian. It felt like that was the high note in my story…it was the climax of my story…and the ending was just…blah. Still, I did enjoy my story, I just wish there was an even more epic ending to chapter 3 as I had for chapter 1. I will say though, chapter 2 was a nice midway point between the starting and ending chapters for the current storyline.

And so with completing my class story, and most of the solo player content (or at least, content that can be soloed), I start the process of gearing up for Hard Mode Flashpoints and Operations with my guild. That means running dailies to get the purple mods for my orange gear. Since it’s something I try to do every day, I like to be organized about it. I went looking for a guide to exactly which quests give dailies, and found one, but it didn’t have all the info I needed. This was a resource my guild didn’t have yet (despite having a few 50′s already) so I started with what I found and expanded on it. The original can be found here (note: specifically for Imperials), the one for my guild is just that…limited to members of my guild. My version provides all the quest givers, some notes about prerequisites, and some tips for completing them.

A couple of other tidbits…I finally managed to afford the training for level 3 speeders. So I started off with the speeder you see in the screenshots. Since then I got to Dark 5 as well, and purchased the Dark Version of the same speeder, which I like the look of a lot more.

Now that I’m done with Jianna’s story pretty much, I’ll be working on my other characters again. That includes my Republic characters, which I’ll be committing to on Tuesdays and Thursdays again. I want to put in time there, it’s just so much more fun on the Empire side, I find myself yawning so much more when playing a Republic character.

Few screenshots for ya:

• My arrival on Corellia
• An unique occasion in any MMO…my first max level character.
• Healing away in the Freeing the Fallen Heroic on Belsavis while my groupies take on Jedi Master Averon.
• My first new ride. I later replaced this with the Dark version after I reached Dark 5.
• My introduction to Darth Decimal…err Decimus, the leader of the assault on Corellia.
• A Rocket Tram on Corellia
• Hanging with Darth Decimal after Corellia is firmly in the hands of the Empire
• My escape from the Tyrant in the middle of it’s battle with the Founder, the flagship of the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. Job Well Done.
• Some more questing with my guildie Xenos, who we last saw on Alderaan doing level 40 quests with me. This time it’s on Ilum doing all the quests there.

It’s a revenue stream plain and simple. I’m against this bill, but I know it will pass no matter what the citizens of Illinois think. While I’d like for Quinn not to sign the bill, I know that won’t realistically happen. Any easy revenue stream they can halfway justify will get passed simply because our state is in financial straights. So all I’m asking that if you’re going to tax us speeders in this way, at least be honest when you do it…don’t try to pass it off as some way you can save kids, we all know that’s BS…you want the money. Of course, why should I expect anything less from politicians.

Just a matter of time before another bill comes along authorizing all red light cameras to use their speed-tracking features no matter where they are located. And you just know it will be done “to save lives on the roads”…just like how they “justified” red light cameras. We know that’s BS too. They just get this crap through a little at a time.

One of the reasons why I love Waze (Available for iOS, Android, Blackberry, and Nokia)…a smartphone navigation app that does the social thing better than any other navigation app I know. It’s a decent navigation app by itself. The routing could use some polish, as it doesn’t always give me the most efficient route. What it does excellently is estimating time of arrival. I can reliably create my route and call ahead to tell people exactly what time I will arrive, barring any additional slowdowns. The ETA incorporates any known slowdowns that are in their system. Those are reported by other drivers using Waze.

Yeah that’s the social part. People report slow downs, hazards, and yes, even law enforcement activities. People can report red light cameras, cops waiting in parking lots (visible or hidden), and even speed cameras. When you approach areas with these reports, you’re notified well ahead of time, giving you time to react and avoid that ticket. It’s saved my ass more than a few times, and is just as important to me avoiding tickets as my Bel Radar detector. Yes, I’m a lead foot.

Edit: Well…it’s official…happened before this post actually went up. Quinn signed the bill into law. And of course it was all about the kids…

Korriban – a depressingly desert-like environment. It’s appropriate for the Sith starter world…but you quickly tire of channels you have to run through to get to content. Navigation is meh…unless you know your way around you’ll run down one channel only to find you went down the wrong one and have to backtrack to get where you need to go. Fortunately I’ve been through it enough to know where I need to go…I’m on autopilot running about Korriban now. Feels like it needs more speeders to make movement easier.

Tython – A nice world…it’s an appropriate Jedi starting world. The only real ugly areas are the Flesh Raider areas…but that’s to be expected. Navigation is pretty easy…not too restricting. You’ll find yourself running back and forth quite a bit, but the placement of speeders is good to limit the amount of actual running.

Hutta – An ugly world, but feels right for the Hutts. Appropriate for Bounty Hunters, but Agents seem out of place for some reason. Navigation is very easy, with no serious barriers to movement. Speeders seem a bit clustered on the west side of the map. Would be nice if they were a bit more spread out, but the ease of navigation helps this a lot.

Ord Mantell – A war-torn planet not really good to look at…but not really ugly either. For troopers this is a good world to start on, but Smugglers feel like they would be better suited to Hutta. They just seem out of place on such a war-torn planet. Navigation on the planet is pretty open, and speeders are placed at nice intervals. You won’t be finding yourself flying back and forth a lot.

Dromund Kaas – Seems just right for the Imperial home world. The planet is good looking in some areas, and so-so in other areas. Navigation is somewhat of a pain due to the inability for speeders traveling between the northern half and the southern half. THIS IS VERY ANNOYING. Since a lot of Imperials end up getting sent back here (and especially to the Imperial Citadel), this navigation break stands out sooo much more…fortunately at higher levels you have speeders to cross that gap somewhat quickly. Besides that, navigation is fairly easy, as it’s not restricted too much when you’re just running about on foot.

Coruscant – A good looking city, and what I would expect for the center of the Republic. This is what I call a hub planet…where areas of the planet are separated by areas only accessible by speeder. This is ok, and is appropriate for a city planet. The one problem I have with this planet is the amount of running that you have to do in the main hub. This planet feels like it was made for higher levels where speeders are common. I’ve found myself quitting simply because of the amount of running I had to do here. IT IS ANNOYING.

Balmorra – A beautiful but war-torn world. I started off hating it, but it grew on me. Quests are clustered so that you minimize your running back and forth. Speeders are nicely spaced, making it not too difficult to get around. I’m told Republics also come to the planet, but at a much higher level…so they are kept separate.

Nar Shaddaa – Another hub world. This feels cramped. The quests are laid out in a way that forces you to use the speeders a lot, which I dislike. The atmosphere as the “Sin City” of the game is pulled off pretty well, though I could think of some areas that could be improved. This is the first planet you’ll see the opposite faction. There’s a buffer built-in though that really means you won’t see any pvp unless you seek it out.

Tatooine – A desert planet…but not depressing like Korriban. This is actually one of my favorite planets. It feels like I expect Tatooine to feel. It plays very easily. Speeders are plentiful and this is the first planet you get your own speeder (so long as you saved up)…making get around the planet much easier. This is the first planet where PvP is a real threat. There are exhaustion zones protecting the starports and starting areas, but everything else is open PvP. The main questing area keeps Imperials and Republics fairly separate, but each side can cross over easily for a little PvP fun. The Dune Sea seems to be the focus of where the PvP happens, since it is a shared questing area. One thing you have to do out there is keep your eye on the other side of dunes, otherwise you risk being jumped by someone stalking you. This planet has the first shared dungeon, in the Czerka base out in the Dune Sea. There’s a significant amount of fighting before you get to your instance, so be prepared to run into opposite faction quest runners as well as lurking gankers.

Alderaan (pre-Empire renovation) – The most beautiful world in the game. It mixes beautiful vistas with nicely done ruins. Navigation on the planet is pretty easy, as it’s very open with only a few channels. Speeders are spaced nicely. This is the first planet that is a mixing pot for PvP…like with the Dune Sea the questing area is shared throughout the planet. PvP is fairly common…especially at a couple of choke points, namely some of the bridges as well as the final palace where class quests all end up. The last planet I’ve played with a true spaceport. See the bottom for my comments on that.

Taris – Ugly Ugly Ugly. It looks like it was a beautiful world at one point, but is much more war-torn than even Balmorra. There used to be cities, but all that remains is the twisted wreckage of sky scrapers and other buildings. I just hate the look of this world. Navigation is a bit painful, with a lot of channels in some areas. No PvP here, as Imperials come here a lot higher than Republics do…making the possibility for PvP quite inhospitable for Republics. It’s interesting playing this planet on both sides, it’s like an alternate reality. Same visuals, just slightly different.

Quesh – If you combine Korriban with Hutta you get Quesh. It’s an ugly industrial world, but a quick world. I had exactly one quest here as a Bounty Hunter, and could have easily left almost immediately, but I chose to stay for the small amount of quests here (good rewards possible though). The questing area is split in half between Imperials and Republics, and you’re kept pretty separate so that PvP isn’t a serious concern. It’s there, but the only time I saw a Republic was when I crossed over to their side. Navigation is straight forward. Speeders are a little sparse, but the landmass is small, so getting around on your own speeder is easy.

Hoth – An iceball…exactly what you would expect from Hoth. A large world, but several speeders make getting around easy. Shared questing areas makes PvP pretty common. Getting to and from the Imperial spaceport is a bit annoying thanks to the long elevator shafts.

Belsavis – Kind of a cross between Taris (destruction), Dromund Kaas (nature areas), and Hoth (ice cliffs). A surprisingly beautiful world. The destruction is appropriate, and not overdone, though I seriously wonder how prisoners would be able to take out a chunk of a large wall the size of a small destroyer. Navigation is fairly easy, with both Speeders as well as a mysterious transport system from ancient times.

Voss – A hub planet that is surprisingly open. The planet has it’s own beauty…but I wouldn’t really call it beautiful. You start off in Voss-Ka…a shared Sanctuary between the two sides (this got patched in fortunately). The rest of the areas are completely shared questing areas….complete with shared outposts run by the Voss, the neutral faction the two sides are fighting over. I found this out the hard way when, upon discovering a new speeder pad, I suddenly got a face full of Republics as they had quick traveled to the bind point right next to the speeder pad I had just clicked on. Navigation is fairly easy as outside of the main town, it’s pretty much open. Speeders seem plentiful, but the planet is still QUITE large.

That’s all I’ve gotten to so far as I haven’t visited Corellia or Ilum yet, though I expect to rather soon.

One point I’d like to make is the lack of proper starports on the later planets. This is very annoying. More often than not I find myself using my fleet passes to get off of the planet rather than trying to the shuttle route. I just hate the number of load screens the shuttle system introduces. For the first planets, it was appropriate, but when I have my own ship, I shouldn’t have to endure taking a shuttle to an orbital station…run through the station, and get on my ship. I really hope they do away with these shuttles or at least give us a way to bypass them (something that doesn’t cost 1k for each time).

On Tuesday, I spent some time working on my crew skills. I had already gotten Bioanalysis and Slicing up to 400 (the max) so it was time to level Biochem, which was sitting at about 163. Well between the existing materials I had, and the materials I collected from my questing yesterday, I had enough to get it to 400 and unlock a bunch of schematics. I’m currently running into an issue of supply though. I can get all the Bioanalysis materials I need just fine, it’s the Diplomacy materials I need that I don’t have to make the higher level Biochem items. I thought about dropping Slicing and picking up Diplomacy, but I’d rather stick with my maxed Slicing and good affection level with Mako to use it to get the good Missions and Schematics that Slicing can produce when the companions crit. So to solve that the final two characters I created on the server, Freja, my Marauder, and Idunna, my Sniper, will both be doing Diplomacy. They do not have a specific crafting profession, so I’m spreading them out to help my other characters.

Yes, I did say I quested on Voss. I spent most of Tuesday night questing on Voss. It was mostly uneventful, as I’m not pushing the storyline too hard. I did have one PvP incident that was more just “being in the wrong place at the wrong time”. I just happened to be discovering a speeder pad for a Voss outpost, when I also discovered that the Voss outposts are neutral and accessible to everyone. I discovered that when, just as I closed the window from discovering the speeder pad, two jedi appeared at the nearby bind point. I had a bit of confusion in the “fight or flight” moment as they were jumbled together so I couldn’t immediately tell how many there were. Had it just been one I might have been able to take them, even though they were fresh 50′s (me being 47 and specced for healing). I went down pretty fast…and they bugged out just as fast. It was clear this was just an opportunistic kill on their part. “Wrong place at the wrong time”

I started on Monday just a small chunk of xp until 46 and ended on Tuesday about 1/4 of the way through 48. Making 50 by the weekend is looking increasingly realistic. One last thing that did happen on Tuesday that I forgot to mention above, was I picked up my final companion, Skadge, and have finally left Mako back at the ship. I thought a ranged tank in Blizz would be a good replacement, but it turns out he’s quite squishy even with Heavy Armor. Skadge on the other hand seems to stand up quite well to damage, and although he dies a lot (due to me not healing enough), it’s usually just before the elite dies, and there’s a small enough sliver of health left that I can take care of it with no issue. I found he is a good replacement for Mako, since he takes the agro off of me, and let’s me do my job, healing and dps. Having two healers and only one dps (Mako does damage but that’s not her specialty) was slowing things down a bit. I dispatch most enemies pretty quickly now.

Bunch of screenshots.

• Skadge
• Several from the cinematic after I released the Dread Masters
• My New Ride – The sale of two orange pieces of armor helped me afford the skill and the speeder. (180k worth)
• Crafting Progress

Also if you want to follow my updates, my RSS feed now features the full text of this post including images.

*Spoilers Below* (I leave out some details, but major plot points are revealed)

So when we last left Jianna, she was just starting Hoth, and was just another of the Bounty Hunter Elite, after her win in the Great Hunt. Well Hoth is now behind her, and she’s now among an elite group, seeing how she’s now at the top of the Republic’s Most Wanted list (got the title “Republic’s Most Wanted”). Her colleagues in the Bounty Hunter Elite have been slain and she’s been charged with a long list of charges, some of which she rightfully deserves, and others, well let’s just say the Republic has a issue with telling the truth.

Picked up my latest companion, Blizz, the jawa, just as I was leaving Hoth. He’s supposed to be a Ranged tank. I’ve found he’s quite squishy for a Tank. I thought I could use him for my questing, but he’s a bit too squishy for me, I still run better with Mako by my side. I still love seeing Blizz pull out his rocket launcher…simply because it’s as big as he is…LOL. I have to say…he’s a bit difficult to follow when he talks, as I find his fast talking is a little distracting when trying to read the subtitles. Guess I’ll have to learn to mute him while I read.

This was the end of chapter 2. I have to say I was really impressed with how I felt after it was revealed I was the new big bounty for Bounty Hunters to go for. Despite the fact that I knew Bioware wouldn’t put people in a place where they couldn’t get access to all the planets and the fleet, I still felt isolated. I was feeling how my character would feel in that situation…I felt like I had to crawl in a hole and not come out for a long while. I am quite impressed with the Bounty Hunter story.

Well after storming the Tyrant, and having a chat with a Lord of the Sith…I’m now on Belsavis, the prison planet, going after some high level Republic dude and trying to free the Darth Masters imprisoned there. As I expected, I arrived on Belsavis at level 44, which is the upper end of the level range for the planet. Before I got done on Sunday I was 45, and very nearly level 46 after the Heroics on Alderaan (the last thing we did last night). So I’m closing quickly on the big magic number. I expect I will be a bit of time away from the end of my class story when I reach 50, as it is supposed to end at 50, but all accounts from the 50′s in my guild point to it going beyond 50 for them…and I’m well ahead of where they were at when they were at my level.

Miscellaneous details: Friday, I spent some time to complete my heroics on Taris with a nice PUG (I was the primary healer for two Marauders), and finally got the leg piece for my current set of Mercenary Elite Prototype armor. Also, spent some time with my guild again. Saturday, I grouped up for some Hoth heroics. Sunday, I grouped with one of our 50′s on his alt to complete some level 40 Alderaan heroics.

Few screenshots today:

• Blizz in his cage
• Reneget Vause – the second big Black List target…went down about as easily as the first (that is to say, tough fight but not REALLY difficult).
• My Crew as they stand now (without the droid)
• My new title in the Belsavis Cantina.
• Some beautiful scenery while grouping with a guildie.

So, I haven’t had an update in a couple of days, that didn’t mean I didn’t game though. Wednesday night started off as Guild night. When I logged in, a group had formed and was taking down the Taris world boss. I joined them after as Jianna, my level 40 Mercenary, as they were going to take down the Tatooine world boss as well. In the process we also nabbed a level 28 Jedi who was watching us take him down…he had no chance (though I didn’t target him in time to do any damage). We followed that up with a run for a couple of difficult datacrons on Hoth. Some of us had some difficulty getting them, but with some nice grapples by our Powertech, we all managed to get them. In the process of getting those our group also nabbed a level 41 Repubulic sitting outside the main Imperial base on Hoth…not exactly the smartest place to be for a Republic.

After that I went back to my Juggernaut, Tolgana, who was sitting at level 27. I tried doing the final quest to take on the Jedi Master of the padawan I’ve been tracking, but he and his new padawan (a different one than the one I’ve been tracking) proved to be too much for me, sine they were a level above me and I was gimped with no Quinn to help me. So I spent a bit more time working on quests, and managed to level up to 28 in the process. I went back and dealt with them, so she’s now ready to head to Alderaan, but I’m not ready to leave. I still have plenty of quests to complete there.

After the Guild Night fun I had, I thought about how I was going to level my characters…and I decided to do one thing, and that’s concentrate on Jianna until she reaches 50. So on Thursday night I continued to work on Jianna. I wanted to clean up her quest log and try to get some nice orange gear for her, so I went back to Alderaan and completed a couple of Heroics solo. After that I went to see what was near a speeder that I hadn’t discovered yet, and it turns out the entire area is the Bonus quest area, and made for level 40′s, so perfect for me to quest in. By the end of the night I ended up completing a couple of old heroics (mentioned earlier), but picked up two more brand new heroics at my level, which I’ll probably try to do tonight. She’s about halfway into Level 41 now on her way to 42. One of my guildmates said he had problems with not meeting the level requirement for the planet after Hoth, as he was barely 40 when he got done there. I’m in no danger of that though, since I’ve barely started Hoth…I’ll probably be 43 or 44 by the time I leave.

No screenshots to post right now…I should have some over the weekend though.