Doctors of Philosophy

Diablomatic

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:23:00 +0000

It was a fast paced roller coaster thrill ride, but it was all over in a matter of hours. Although it was billed as Diablo 3 beta, I didn't see any areas that was incomplete or being worked on. Probably should be better described as a public testing demo, what I saw was a game that was worthy its name and publicity. The graphics of course is decades ahead of its predecessor (literally). The hovac game engine adds a lot to realism. It was easy to get into, hard to put down, and rekindled the very best kind nostalgia. Even better, it now has many elements borrowed straight out of World of Warcraft. Diablo, continuing in it's hacking/slashing D&D tradition, will undoubtedly make me waste many more hours in front my computer.

Here are two game play videos, double click on them to open in larger windows.

Diablo 3, Beta patch 11 (client 0.6.1.8350) screen shots

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Oh yeah!

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:10:00 +0000

Didn't get an email or anything. Just happened! Logged into my battle.net account and sitting there is Diablo 3 beta access. Oh yeah!

A list of MMO lingos for new players

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:33:00 +0000

New to MMO? Have no idea what people are saying? Here is a quick cheat sheet so you can speak like a MMO pro. (BTW, this list isn't by yours truly. I copied it from some other web site a while back.)

1337
A numerical translation for “elite” pronounced “leet,” 1337 is a slang developed by hackers in the ’80s used over the internet. Many words from the slang have leaked to popular culture today (“kidz” is an example; using a z instead of an s is an element of 1337). It is mostly prevalent in the gaming world online where people can interact textually.

AE(AOE)
Area Effect. Used to refer to area-effect spells or abilities. E.g. fireball, smoke grenade.

AFK
Away from keyboard

Aggro
As a verb, it refers to a hostile mob that has noticed a player and is actively trying to attack that player. As a noun, it refers to the amount of “hostility” the player has generated on the mob. In typical combat strategy, the fighter tries to take as much aggro as possible away from weaker players such as healers and mages.
Alt
Short for “alternate”. It refers to the alternate character a player has from their main character. This is not a stable category as sometimes alts can out level mains and sometimes mains become moth-balled.
AO
Abbreviation for Anarchy Online. An online game.
AOE
Same as AE. Area of Effect.
Attribute
e.g. Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, etc.

Bind
In certain MMOs, characters are teleported back to a safe spot when they die. This spot is predetermined by the user. The act of determining the safe spot requires an explicit action by the user. That action is known as a bind. The spot is typically referred to as a bind spot.
Bio
Short for biological. Usually used to indicate bathroom break.
BoE
Short for “bind on equip” – a term popularized by World of Warcraft. This term refers to items that become soulbound to the player after they have been equipped. In other words, the item can be traded as long as no one equips it.
BoP
Short for “bind on pickup” – a term popularized by World of Warcraft. This term refers to items that become soulbound to the player after it has been picked up from a monster. In other words, the item cannot be traded once a player picks it up. BoP items commonly cause looting conflicts and disputes during game-play.
BRB
“be right back”
Bot
Generally illegal and discouraged form of gameplay, where actions of a character can be automated to perform actions repeatedly in order to gain experience and level without actual user intervention. This practice is continually monitored by GMs and will cause suspension of service if one is suspected of botting.
BRT
“be right there”
BTW
“by the way”
Buff
Temporary boost to character attribute or combat ability

Camp(ing)
The act of waiting in an area to hunt a specific mob or a specific spawn
CoH
City of Heroes, a super hero based MMORPG by NCsoft
Class
Professional archetypes. In D&D games, these would be warrior, healer, rogue and mage. The most typical class types are: close-range damage, ranged damage, healing, crowd control, support.
Corpse
In certain MMOs, a corpse appears where the player died. Sometimes all the player’s items and money are left on the corpse and the player is teleported back to their bind spot. Corpses typically will decay after a certain time proportional the character’s level.
Corpse Run
The act of retrieving your corpse after you have died. This is typically a dangerous thing because people tend to die in dangerous places rather than safe places.
Crafting
A general category of skills that allows players to manufacture objects from raw resources
Crit
“To crit” refers to landing a critical hit either with melee or spells. Effective damage is usually increased from a base of 150% to upwards of 250% with extra talents/skills/buffs.
Crowd Control
Refers to a set of spells / abilities that temporarily paralyze or stun other mobs or players. Crowd control is an important group support ability when fighting multiple mobs.

DD
Direct Damage. Used to refer to a class of spells and abilities that allow players to damage enemies from a distance. The firebolt is the archetypal DD.
Debuff
The opposite of a buff. An offensive spell cast on enemies that weakens an attribute or combat ability.
Dex
An important stat for rogues and archers. Dex usually relates to attack speed, dodge rate, and/or defense.
Dirt Nap
Slang for dead. Most corpses lie on the ground when killed.
DKP
Dragon kill points. A fairly elaborate score-keeping system used by guilds to fairly distribute loot based on participation and contribution to the guild.
DoT
Damage over time. Refers to a class of spells that deals damage over a period of time. These spells typically do more damage than DD spells overall.
DPS
Damage per second. Used when figuring out weapon speed and damage.
Druid
Hybrid class in D&D style games – part healer, part support, part fighter.

Eating Grass
Vernacular for dead. Most players lie on the ground face down when killed.
Epic(s)
A class of items or equipment that are very powerful and difficult to acquire. Usually found in the hardest dungeons and have the lowest probability to drop.
EQ
Abbreviation for EverQuest, one of the first MMORPGs.
Experience
A quantity gained when completing tasks/quests, killing mobs, or discovering new locations in games. Characters level up when they gain enough experience points.

Farm(ing)
The act of accumulating currency or items by constantly killing a mob or repeatedly performing a series of actions.
FTL
Acronym meaning ‘for the lose’. Similar to FTW but refers to a failture. For example, ‘afk FTL : ( ‘ meaning the player’s afk status caused him or her to lose.
FTW
Acronym meaning ‘for the win’. Refers to the act, ability or event that’s responsible for a victory. For example, “Stun FTW!!” with stun being a skill or spell that temporarily immobilizes an opponent.

Gank
Verb. To be ganked is a term referring to one player being overwhelmed and killed by a large group. Can be either by a group of other players doing player-kill or a group of NPC monsters. Used in a sentence, “I got ganked yesterday in Fel.” Typically has the connotation that the other people had an unfair advantage (in number or level).
GM
Game Master. GM’s are characters in an MMORPG who are used by employees of the game’s creator company. They monitor the actions of the game world and answer the questions and complaints of the players. They have absolute control and power within the game. If the crime (breaking a law of the game, not the real world) committed is serious enough, they could even expel players permanently from the game.
Griefer
Title for a player who enjoys inflicting pain upon other players needlessly. If you kill newbies in a PvP game when you are level 50, you will gain no experience or benefit from the victimization beyond the pure joy of knowing you have given the player “grief.” Though griefers are almost always PKers, PKers are not necessarily griefers.
Guilds
Semi-permanent player groups. In typical games, players must use a substantial amount of capital to start the guild.
GTG
“good to go” and “got to go” – can be confusing when context is unclear

Heal
A spell or skill that restores the health of the target. Could also be a call for help. If a player yells ‘heal me’ or even ‘heal!’ it means they are about to die unless another player restores their health.
Health
A common attribute, also called hit points or HP, that signifies the character’s life. Usually when health runs out, a player dies.
IMHO
Simply means ‘in my humble opinion.’

INC
Abbreviation for ‘incoming’. When a player pulls for a group, he will use this as warning that a mob is incoming.
INT
A common stat that stands for intelligence. Often the primary attribute for spell casters, it usually relates to spell damage and/or mana pool.
IRL
Stands for ‘in real life.’
Instance
A copy of a particular dungeon for a group of players. Instanced dungeons are parallel worlds which let different groups of players explore the same dungeon in separate groups.

JK, j/k
Short for ‘just kidding.’ Popular in most online chat environments including MMORPGs.
Jump(ing)
Most games allow the player controlled character to jump abnormally high in a reptitive fashion (WoW) though some games penalize players with a stamina cost for jumping (EverQuest)
K / KK / Kay

All variants have the same meaning: okay. Used to confirm a statement made by another player. Example: “Can I have this loot? K.”
Kite
To lure a mob or player around while attacking or allowing allies to attack. A player usually draws aggro by casting a mobility reduction spell on the target. The monster tries to follow the target but cannot catch up, leaving it open to attacks or the effects of DoT (damage over time) spells.
KoS
Acronym for “Kill on Sight”. Usually refers to characters who are disliked by a particular faction. E.g., “I killed too many guards, now I’m KoS in town!”
KS
Kill Stealing. When one player attacks the same creature as another player and receives the reward for the kill instead of the person who originated combat. Newer games have mechanisms for discouraging this behavior.

LD
Link dead – when a player is disconnected from the game, usually caused by lag or a faulty internet connection.
Leet
Slang for “elite” Ex: ‘I’m leet’
LFG
“looking for group” Used in a sentence; “Lvl 60 Mage LFG!”
LFM
“looking for more”, i.e., after a group has been formed and more members are needed.
LFT
“looking for team”
LMAO
“laugh(ing) my ass off”
LOL
“laugh(ing) out loud”
LOM
‘Low on Mana.’ Usually said by casters to inform the rest of the group that they are running low on mana and should not expect heavy healing or offensive spells.
LoS
Line of sight. A requirement of most ranged abilities, the view of the target must not be obstructed by any fixed obstacle such as a wall.
Loot
Currency or items that are dropped by a mob when it’s defeated.

Medding
Resting in order to gain back mana in EQ was called Meditating. This is the commonly used abbreviation, also shortened to Med, as in, “Don’t pull yet, I need to med.”
Mez
Short for mesmerize. A short-hand for a collection of abilities that temporarily stun or immobilize enemies. Falls into the more general category known as crowd control.
Min-Maxing
When players attempt to create their characters as powerful as they can be by crunching statistics, planning their future routes, and any other methods in order to make their characters the statistically best character possible. Optimization.
MMORPG
Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
Mob
An AI controlled monster. ‘Mob’ originally comes from the MUD era, where it was short for ‘mobile’, to differentiate monsters that would patrol a set of rooms as opposed to monsters which would stay in one place until killed.
Mod
Abbreviation of modification. Used as both a verb and a noun. As a noun, refers to add-ons by 3rd party programmers designed to augment the game (e.g., the self-cast mod). As a verb, refers to the act of performing this modification (e.g., he’s modding the interface).
MOO
MUD Object Oriented. Users in MOOs are able to create their own content – both static and dynamic objects.
MT
“mistell”. Mistells occur frequently because of typing in the wrong name before sending a message. Also because of auto-reply features.
MUD
Multi-User Dungeon, although some prefer Multi-User Domain. These were the original textual online worlds.
Mule
In many games, due to long travel times or inventory limits, it is helpful to create a character explicitly for the purpose of being able to check auction houses or store extra items. These characters are seldom actually played and are referred to as mules.

Nerf
To reduce the power of an ability, item, player, or action. Usually this is a term applied when a power or ability is reduced because it is perceived to be too powerful. Mostly used in the past tense, for example – “I can’t believe they nerfed rogues again, now I can’t kill anything!”
Newbie
A new player to a particular game. Newbie is usually the nicer version of noob or nub.
Ninja (Looting)/ Ninjaing

Ninjaing refers to the purposeful looting of a drop from a monster that doesn’t follow the rules set by the group. This can take different forms in different games due to game-specific game looting mechanisms. In World of Warcraft, ninja looting refers to rolling for a BoP drop that a person should not have rolled on. Because WoW warns players when they roll for a BoP object, it is assumed that such behavior cannot be accidental. The player exhibiting such behavior is typically branded as a ninja looter. Used in a sentence: “Hey tom where did you get that epic sword for your hunter?” “I ninjaed it last night than /gquit!!”
Noob
The pejorative form of newbie.
NP
“no problem”
NPC
Non-player character ie. a character controlled by the A.I
Nuke
A spell type that deals the highest damage. Mages usually have the most nukes.

OMG
“oh my god” Used in exclamation or to convey surprise.
OMW
“on my way”
OOC
out-of-character – used to refer to OOC chat.
OOM
“out of mana” Said by casters who’s mana supply is depleted.
OST
Original Sound Track. Refers to the game’s music. “This game has great music, I want to buy the OST!”
Ownz
Derived from the original word “own,” both words have the same meaning: to defeat some other entity in battle or other form of competition. The “pwnz” origin is probably from the fact that the “o” and “p” keys are adjacent on the standard qwerty keyboard, and were used interchangeably by mistake in games and stuck around since then.

Pat
Short for patrol, a term used for mobs that have a set wandering path. In a dungeon, people will usually say “Wait for the pat” or “Watch the pat”.
PB
Point blank. Used to refer to a class of spells that originates in a radius around the caster. Typically, these spells are dangerous to the caster because they require proximity to the enemy. Specific spells are typically concatenated with the ability, i.e. pbae mez, pbae stun.
PBAOE
Point blank area of effect. These are a line of spells that effect an area around the caster. They can be either offensive or healing spells. Spells in this category are usually over powered like the Enchanter’s pbaoe in Dark Age of Camelot.
PC
Player Character.
PK
Player Killing.
PKer
Player Killer – a person who primarily plays to kill other players.
Port
Short for teleport. Used as a noun and a verb.
Power Level
When a higher level player tries to help a lower level player level faster. Most games have mechanisms that prevent power leveling.
Proc
Abbreviation of “programmed random occurence”, refers to the benefits of added damage or other buffing enhancement that occurs randomly when an item strikes or is used.
PuG
Pick up Group – a group assembled on the spot for a quest, a PvP battle, or an instance raid.
Pull
A standard hunting strategy where a player lures a single or a group of mobs to the group so that the group can hunt from a safe area instead of hunting in areas where new mobs may spawn.
PvE
Player vs. Environment. Environment stands for all monsters (mobs) in the game world.
PvP
Player vs. Player combat.
pwnz
same as ownz.

Quest
Tasks that players must complete for NPCs in games. May be referred to as missions in some games.
QQ
Represents a pair of tearing eyes. Often used as an insult towards a player who complains about a game feature or turn of events. Used in a sentence: “QQ more nub.”
Qwerty
The stardard type of keyboard used across the world. The first five letters spell out the type: Q, W, E, R, T, Y.

Race
Refers to the playable races in a game. Most fantasy MMORPGs have fantasy races such as Elves, Trolls, and Orcs. Other genres may have unique races such as neohuman.
Raid
A more substantial engagement involving a large organized group of players typically set in a dungeon and involving difficult bosses.
Regen
Short for regeneration of health, mana, or other attributes. Also a common healing spell.
Respec
At certain high levels in some games, you are given the chance to “respec” your character. When you respec, you recreate your character from level 1 until the present level in terms of skills/powers/abilities/etc.
Rez
Short for resurrection. Refers to abilities that revive players that have just died. Typically only available to healer classes.
ROFL
“rolling on floor laughing” Usually said in response to a joke or funny situation. “ROFL he got killed by a lowbie!”
Rogue
A common class archetype that relies on speed and stealth over brute force or spells. Variants of this class are found in all genres but in slightly different names such as; thief, agent, or assassin.
RMT
Abbreviation for Real Money Trade – selling virtual currency or items for real currency.
Roll
To “roll” on an item means to type “/random 100″, where the server’s random number generator puts out a number between 1 and 100, the most generally accepted “fair” way to distribute loot and settle disputes.
Root
Can refer to a class of abilities as well as its effect. A root spell immobilizes a target. The target is then said to be rooted. Early versions of these abilities involved references to plants, hence “root”.
RvR
Realm vs. Realm. A type of player vs player combat that involves large numbers of players who belong to different factions or realms.

Server
Due to technical reasons, each server can only support a limited amount of players. Each MMORPG typically has several servers. Players cannot interact with players on other servers though they can usually transfer for a fee.
Shard
Synonymous with server, originally used to refer to servers in Ultima Online.
Solo
The act of playing alone, hunting mobs by yourself.
Soulbound
An item-control mechanic where an item cannot be traded. In other words, only one person can own the object and it cannot be traded. See also BoE and BoP.
Spawn
Mobs typically appear (spawn) on a given schedule. This is both a verb and noun.
Spec
Short for specification. When used in games, it usually refers to the build/specifications of your character in terms of skills/abilities/magic/powers/etc.
Spirit
An attribute in many MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. Spirit controls a character’s passive mana regeneration ability.
Stun
A typical form of crowd control that immobilizes an enemy. Skills, spells, and other abilities may have the power to stun.
SWG
Abbreviation for Star Wars Galaxies. An online game based on the Star Wars universe and published by Sony.

Tank
As a noun, refers to character classes that can take a lot of damage. As a verb, refers to the act of drawing aggro from mobs before other team members strike with their abilities.
Train(ing)
Duel meanings. 1) A large group of monsters stacked near each other all following one player. 2) Training can refer to the act of killing monsters to gain experience or increasing your skills.
Twink
As a verb, the act of giving currency or valuable items to a newbie. As a noun, refers to a character that is twinked. In many games, twinked characters are visually marked by their level-inappropriate gear.
Twisting
To rapidly change from one type of ability to another where the abilities overlap momentarily. In DAOC a bard sings a song that gives a buff. By rapidly changing the song several songs will overlap due to the duration of the songs continuing for a short period of time.

UO
Abbreviation for Ultima Online. One of the first MMORPGs, released back in 1997.”UO Rocks!”
Uber
Slang form of super from the German word. Ex: “Dude this sword is UBER!”
USA
Short for United States of America, the greatest country in the world. All other countries are lame. In a sentence: “Hey Mike, where you from? “I’m from Romania, you?” “I’m from the USA.” “GG, you win.”

Vanguard
A failed fantasy MMORPG by Sony. It was released with high hopes but quickly faded away. Used in a sentence “Hey I just bought Vanguard!” “Dude you got robbed!” “*#%#”

WB
“welcome back”
Wipe
To “wipe” means for the entire group whether party or raid to all die. However, party or raid can only continue if there is a class that can resurrect oneself, thereby avoiding the time consumed from running back from the the graveyard and regrouping at the beginning of the instance.
WOOT
Synonymous with “hooray” or “way to go”.
WoW
Abbreviation for World of Warcraft. An online game.
WTB
“want to buy”
WTG
Abbreviation of ‘way to go.’ Meant to provide encouragement but often used in sarcasm. Example: “I just died again to this boss!” “WTG, nub!”
WTS
“want to sell”

Xp
Short for experience points. Often earned by killing monsters, completing quests, or other achievements. When enough xp is acquired, players often level up or become stronger.
xD
A face with the tongue sticking out. Usually used in informal conversations of comedic situations. Example: “We should mess around on our alts xD”

Zerg
A combat strategy where a large group of players rush in at the target. Seen as a simple-minded strategy that requires no skill.
Zombie
The living dead. These trash mobs are found in most MMORPGs as low level fodder.
Zone
In games where different areas of the world are parceled out for loading reasons, different areas are referred to.

How to make and hold on to your credits in SWTOR.

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:21:00 +0000

Those boys at Bioware are really serious about this “gold sink” thing. My main character is only level 30. Already the cost is mounting up from his daily digital life. Flying from point A to point B costs few hundred credits. Repairing his gears is frequently a multiple thousand credits affair. Don’t get me started on training cost! His latest skill point just cost over 2 thousand credits! Yet I am not broke, with a bit over 100K credit to my name, I have found my way to keep my wallet plush while adventuring. With my qualification as a 400K gold carrying goblin (as money hoarder, not the goblin race) in WOW, I feel I am qualified to dispense a few pieces of advices on how to make and hold on to your credits in SWTOR.

Invest in a banking toon
Banking toon is just that: a character that stands next to mail box and sell things on Galactic Trade Network (GTN, or auction house). In WOW, any self respectable goblin need to have a level 1 banking toon stationed in the capital city outside the AH. The idea is exactly the same here. Instead having the main character hit fleet every time his/her bag becomes full, you mail everything to your banker and have him/her become the surrogate of your trading empire. Unfortunately, SWTOR doesn’t allow a character to leave the starting area until he/she has finished her class quest. This of course means 2-3 hours of time investment in your banking toon before she is full viable. This is however time well spend, when you hit fleet (around level 10), your pickup an companion and can pickup some professions to work on during down time.
Unless you really need it, don't buy it
There is a big difference between what you want and what you need. You will be bombarded by temptations; between upgrading for your toon, upgrading your companions, upgrading your starship and upgrading your modable armor/weapons, there are too many ways to throw away hard earned credits. Don't pick up near gear just because you want to look cool. A complete set of blue/orange gear isn't necessary when you just need to reach the next level. In fact, you are likely to outgrow your outfit very quickly you will never fully realize the thousands of credits you would dump into a piece of blue gear. Green gear is perfectly okay for majority of quests. Don't fall into the trap of trying to upgrade your gears whenever you level up. In fact, unless it is an emergency, don't buy anything via AH. Upgrade the gear that give you the best bang for the buck. Compare stats carefully before you buy.
Pick up and sale everything, I mean everything
One of the first thing you should do is to enable area loot and pickup everything from dead mob. Grey items are a source of considerable income. After you get your companion, you can get rid of all the grey items with a few mouse click. Green items you pickup from quest can be sold on the AH. The best thing about SWTOR AH is that if a item doesn't sale, your get your deposit back. There are always demands for green gears as players constantly upgrades their companions. You should only be too happy to release them of their credits. Their loss, is your gain.
Have a profession that brings in income as you level
If you want to maxmize your income, pick gathering professions (crew skills) instead crafting professions. Even post nerf, Slicing still generate respectable amount of income. Bioanalysis, Scavenging also provides steady income when you quest. Don't use the material you gather, sell them on GTN. Trinkets gained from mission based profession (such as companion gifts) also sells well.
Play GTN for fun and profitable
Learn how the GTN works and take advantage of it. We are at very early cycle of the market and 99% players lack the basic understanding how GTN works and what an item is worth. Many items are selling way below their market value. I have seen clueless players put their purple gears on sale for 2500 credits! (the same said item vendors for 2300 credits). The default item price is based on what is already listed. If there is nothing from the same catagory on sale, it will default to a fix price above the vendor price. If you find items in these categories selling at unbelievably low prices, pick them up and resale: raw materials, high end blue and purple gears, companion gifts, and schematics.

Five simple and effective ways to protect your gaming account from hackers, phishers

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:19:00 +0000

There are a lot of unscrupulous people on the internet. Many hackers and phishers want to get into your gaming account. Being hacked make you feel violated, sick and furious. This is no different from someone breaks into your house, trashes your belongings and steals your most treasured possessions. You spend month, even years building up your characters, it only makes sense to protect it from intruders.

Here are a few simple but effective ways to secure your account from hackers/phishers

Choose a difficult to guess but easy to remember password. Use special character and number in places of other letters. For example, use number 1 for i or l, @ or 0 for o. This way, simple password can be made impossible to guess by standard dictionary attacks. Words like "password" can be spelled as "passw@rd" or "difficult" can be spelled as "d1ff1cult."
Don't share passwords between your gaming account with other websites(i.e. fan sites or guild portals). Gaming related websites such as curse, wowinsider, wowhead are pretty secure these days, but they are also prime targets for thiefs. You should never use account leveling and gold selling service, but if you do, give your account information away to them is virtual suicide.
Use an unique email address for gaming. This is probably the most simple and effective way to protect your gaming account. It is a simple matter to refer yourself and get new email accounts created (try gmail, hotmail, yahoo). Special gaming email account only known to you and not shared with others are extremely effective against phishing attacks. Case and point, my blogging email address is widely known and has been hacked twice here and receives numerous phishing emails. Since no one knows my real gaming email, I am secure in in the knowledge what I receive there are genuine and come from Bioware or Blizzard.
Update your virus/spyware definition files and scan your system regularly. This is not only good for gaming, this is good computer hygiene.
The use of an authenticator is still the most secure way to protect your account. These are available as either a keyfab or a smartphone application. Although it is cumbersome, authenticator affords you almost fail safe security against hackers. It is a peace of mind that is well worth the cost.

Don't wait until you are hacked to take action! Do something about it today!

Revan, the worst of the three SWTOR prequels novels

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:54:00 +0000

With looming release of Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, and the brilliant and satisfying ending to Deceived, I eagerly awaited the release of this book. Unfortunately, after listening to this on Audio book, it left me with one of those unsettled feeling like eating a hastily prepare breakfast meal after a the large thanksgiving dinner.

First of all, this book isn't really about Revan! He shows up, sure, but he isn't the main plot character by any stretch of the imagination. The story is more about an unknown Sith lord named Scourge (who came up with these names?) than anyone else. Others characters who make candied appearances from the game are: Canderous, Bastila, droid T3M4, and that unknown Jedi from KOTOR 2(now has a name). The story also picks up after both of the KOTOR games. If you have not played those games, you will be completely lost and be left in the dark to guess the motivation and relationship history between many of the main characters.

The plot is also decidedly sub-par. Following an unimaginative plot line of, bad guy threatens the entire galaxy, good guys try to find out what the bad guy is doing, good guys try to save galaxy. Oh yeah, did I mention that Revan also spent 1/4 of the book as a side kick for Canderous trying to recovery the mask of Mandalor? The whole novel felt like as if the author was given a list of plot lines to close over and had to ticked through each one as he wrote the novel. Many of the side plots seemed forced and wholly unconnected.

What this novel also completely lacks, are the character development Deceived did so well. In this book, evil character did bad things because they are evil and noble characters did good things because they are just and right. There is zero morality ambiguity and people simply followed their assigned alignment (pardon's D&D gaming terms). The world is black and white and all of the characters are one dimensional and lack depth. There is a distinctive lack of emotional turmoil that made Deceived enjoyable, also, connections among the characters felt forced and shallow.

This book felt like some sort of forced re-union after the play has ended. Although all the major characters showed up for the convention, it is only for appearance sakes and none of them had their hearts in it.

Unfortunately, out of the three prequels, I enjoyed this book the least and won't recommend it to any of my friends.

Testing has come to a close.

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:32:00 +0000

This is what I got in my email.

"Thank you for your participation in the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Game Testing Program. In preparation for the game's official release, if you are receiving this email, you must uninstall the game-testing client before installing the launch game client. "

Oh well, it was a blast while it lasted. I hope my efforts had made this game into a better product. See you on the 20th! and thank you for all the fish!

SWTOR don't do hybrids

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:33:00 +0000

I was pondering over my classes choice today. I realized that you can't be a hybrid in SWTOR. Paladin and druid lovers need not apply here since your choice of an advanced class will lock you into either healing/dps or tanking/dps.

Let's review, there are a total of three healing specs and three tanking specs. They are Mercenary(Bodyguard), Assassin (Darkness), and Juggernaut (Immortal) for tanking; and Operative(Medic), Sorcerer (Corruption), Power Tech (Shield Tech) for healing. Each of the advanced classes has two complementary DPS specs but none has access to healing/tanking/DPS at the same time.

Since there is no dual spec, you will have to re-spec if you want to heal or tank as an DPS. Two advanced classes, Marauder and Sniper, don't even have options to respec into healing or tanking. Considering the huge tank/healer shortage. This decision is puzzling. I think large number of players will probably start with DPS spec since those are perceived to level the fastest. This also means tank and heal specs will be at premium. From my beta experience this is indeed the case. General channel frequently are filled with people bugging for heal/tanks. I guess if you really want to be popular, rolling healing/tanking will earn you many friends.

WOW could loss up to 1.6 million subscribers to SWTOR

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 23:59:00 +0000

The giant sucking sound you are hearing is not water in that giant whirlpool being sucked into abyssal maw; it is the sound of 1.6 million WOW subscribers fleeing toward SWTOR.

A recent survey conducted by Peanut Labs found that over 50 percent of 381 respondents have grown tired with WOW which is turning seven this week. 50% of those surveyed said they would buy SWTOR while another 38% said they would be interested to learn more about SWTOR. Market analyst Atul Bagga from Lazard Capital expressed pessimism over WOW's ability to retain subscribers facing imminent competition from SWTOR. The company downgraded Activision-Blizzard's stock from "buy" to "neutral" rating. Their projection shows that between 900,000 to 1.6 million WoW players could switch to SWTOR.

Of course, this is not the first time someone had forecasted the imminent demise of World of Warcraft. Even without a super computer, we all know how accurate these forecasts can be. Although I have not heavily invested my 401K savings into my off time hobby, it is probably too early to throw in the towels.

Beta Testing SWTOR, part III

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 02:31:00 +0000

This is Part III, Part I is here, Part II is here

System performance and Hardware supports

This is my computer setup.
- AMD Phenom II 955@3.6GHz (OCed from 3.2)
- ATI 4770 Video card with 512MB DDR5
- 4 Gig DDR3 @800Mhz (running ungauged in 64bit mode)
- Windows 7 32 bit (yes I know I am only using 3GB of it)
- Resolution: 1680x1050 (16:10)
Except my CPU, most of my setup is specifically mediocre. In fact, my video card is considered pretty out-dated. SWTOR's performance on my setup isn't great, but not exactly bad. There is a lot of options you can tweak back and forth to keep performance acceptable. I found the shadow settings and viewing distance had the most dramatic affects on my frame rate. By decrease the clip distance (distance at which 3d objects are rendered) to about middle, I can keep my frame rate above 30. SWTOR do a good job spreading tasks on different CPU threads. When the game is loading and when I am inside a populated area such as capital, all four of my processors are heavily occupied. Questing tend to be more graphic bound and less CPU dependent. SWTOR seems to scale fairly decently to an ultra low end system. My backup computer is a AMD Athlon X2 250 with 2 GB memory and a GT240; which is pretty close to SWTOR's minimal system requirement. At 1600x1200 setting and all graphic details tuned down, it is possible to play the game on that system. The frame rate isn't pretty (typically below 20) and it doesn't look great (low resolution texture), but it is playable.

Unfortunately, as of middle November, SWTOR doesn't support advanced control systems such as Logitech G19 laser gaming mouse or Logitech G15 gaming keyboard. Loading time for game is also fairly long. Using my 7200RPM SATA II drive, it can take up to 40secs-1min to get game loaded the first time. Thankfully after the game has been loaded, zone switching is fairly snappy.
Interface

SWTOR has a dockable interface which means you can collapse each element of the interface. But the customization options stops there, you can't move the window elements around, change size for most elements, change font, color or transparency. I also had some problem with interface clipping each other. However these are minor issues and hopefully will be fixed before games goes gold. I also had issues from time to time of map not loading correctly. Again, it is minor and infrequent.

You start with one dozen (12) ability shortcuts at the bottom of the interface. The default key shortcuts are number 1-10 keys. You have ability to change these default maps and can also turn on additional shortcut bars on the right and left edge of the screen. You can also toggle the companion bars between a mini version and an expanded version depends on your level of companion micro-management.

Top left of the screen is the conversation window. Interestingly the conversation window is the only element that can be re-sized and moved. Although there is no option to change the size or appearance of the font (edit: in the latest beta client, there is now an option to change font size). There are two default tabs: conversation and in-game status text. You can also access various emote shortcuts from this window. Bottom right is the mini-map window. You can filter different items to track and mission objectives also shows up here. The two visible buttons docked to the mini-maps are PvP queue and Map Toggle. So... Move along, nothing to see here, this is not the cool interfaces you are looking for. Top right is the quest tracking window and bottom left is the companion interface. When you are in a group, other player's portraits appear right above the companion interface. There is an raid interface which removes head graphics from group portraits.

Unfortunately, after seven years of development and thousands of MODs, WOW is decidedly light years ahead of SWTOR on interface. More simply put, SWTOR at this stage only offers minimal customization options.
PvP

PvP is a lot fun!. Even at this stage, Bioware seem to have done an excellent jobs with class balance. I have tried three PvP arenas (called Warzones in SWTOR): huttball; voidstar and Alderaan civil wars. All are cleverly designed and fun to play in. PvP Warzons are accessed by clicking on the Warzone queue dialog box situated on the bottom right of the map. You can queue solo or queue as a group. You don’t need to physical go to another location for Warzones.

Huttball is a Twin Peak (in WOW) like contest where with both teams are trying to maneuver the "huttball" into opposing team's "goal post". The goal sounds simple but the game is played on a multi-level zone packed with hazards. For such a simple premise, the challenge is uniquely satisfying. There are acid pools and flame jets strategically located throughout the zone. Stepping into the acid pools and you are immediately netted with an damage over time debuff while walking thru a flaming jet could kill you instantly. There is an running commentary when the game is played. I was funny the first few times around but gets annoying really fast. I now have un-suppressible urge to strangle the announcer when I enter "Huttball".

Since there is only one ball, fights between un-organized opposing teams will quickly generate to free for all. For more organized teams, contest is spirited and fast paced. Strategy that works well often involves team oriented movements where ball carrier are sandwiched/protected by other players who heal and protect him/her. Many classes have special ability to knock back other players or drag them out of a melee formation. Regardless it is picking up someone from opposing team and "drag" him or her into middle of your team or "knocking" some unsuspecting poor soul into the flaming jets, the act is uniquely sinister and satisfying. Imperial agents have rogue like ability to stealth, backstab and dish out large amount of stun damage. You learn and dread each classes's signature PvP ability quickly. When I play as a healer, I have the unfortunate distinction of always being in the center of the cross fire. Much like in WoW PvP, you are not meant to live a long time.

You earn PvP points when completing Warzone matches. PvP points are like experiences which moves to higher level PvP. Obviously winning a match will earn you more points and advance your PvP rank faster. There are also daily PvP quests you can pickup at the space station (Sith hub) which rewards experience, money, and unique one use PvP items like Syringes (pots for SWTOR).

Beta testing SWTOR, part II

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:02:00 +0000

This is Part II, Part I is here

Questing, Story

You will be blown away by the story telling in SWTOR! I guarantee it! The story flows very well and has an epic feeling to them. Each class gets its own story line. Comparing to WOW, stories in SWTOR feels less disjointed. The entire story arc flows well from one zone to another. On the downside, it is also more linear than WOW. For example, you can skip a entire story arcs or even zones in WOW with little ill effect. This is not possible for SWTOR. Your class quest you have to play through. You get some freedom in choosing how or when to finish it, but you have to finish it. To advance the character, you have to advance the story, finish the class quest in the order it was designed. For example, after starter zone, Sith players arrives at the seat of empire, a planet called Dromund Kaas. There, he/she becomes the apprentice of Sith lord Darth Barras. In order to gain his trust, player have to prove him/herself by solving a series of problems for Darth Barras. At the end of story, you get your space ship and leaves Dromund Kass; if you don't finish the related class quest, story stops and you can never leave the planet. In fact, the class quests function like bread crumb which thread separate questing areas together. When you are given a new Darth Barras quest, additional side quests opens up around the area of the class quests. Story has KOTOR and Mass Effect feels to them. For solo players, this is pretty wonderful as you can work through these stories at your own pace. With this said, if you are one of those people who just want to do dungeons without touching the main stories. That being the case, you are out of luck.

As far as quest goes, it is a typical MMO affair, you will be asked to collect 10 yeti skins, kill 60 goblins, find 20 buried treasures and kill the lich king. Wait, that is the wrong game. But you get the picture. Fortunately, the voice acting is superbly done so it feels fairly entertaining. The main story line is excellent and if not short of epic. There is no spoiler here so I won't disclose the details. I for one, plan to play both sides and see how stories progress.
I live on a big space ship

There is no player housing, yet. BUT WHO CARES!! You get your own ship! At the end of the Dromund Kaas story line, you are given your own ship to roams the galaxy. Your ship is class specific and Sith player is given an imperial interceptor. Don’t get overly excited! You can't pilot your ship and fly around like in EvE. Travel is done via galaxy map. You click on the planet you are interested in going and game takes over. This is exactly how KOTOR and Mass Effect does travel as well. Galaxy travel feels more like in between zone flying in WOW. Fortunately, your ship feels homie and comfortable. You have a personal bank for storing your personal items, crafting bench to do item enchantments, communicator to receive new quests, and room for five companions! They will randomly appear inside the ship KOTOR style. The Sith ship has about 6 chambers but most of them don’t have a purpose. You can only access Space combat mission from your ship. I will discuss space combat in more detail. The galaxy isn’t as big as you think. It is divided into 4 large zones with maybe a dozen visitable planets each. Like in WOW, planets have levels associated with them. I am somewhat disappointed that there isn’t the freedom to roam around the galaxy. Oh yeah, you spend credits on fuel when you fly from one planet to another.
Space combat

This is not x-wing vs. tie fighter. Extraordinary agility isn’t required here. Space combat is guided and you have very limited directional control for your ship. You will following a preset path forward and don't have ability to turn around an go back. Think space combat ala bombing missions in BC. You have limited XYZ control in 2 plans. Left mouse button fires laser(or blaster, or whatever) and press both buttons fires a limited number of missiles. Your ship has a damage meter and you must complete certain mission objectives before your damage meter reaches 100%. It is very arcade like. Missions includes destroying ships, enemy fighters, space stations, escorts capital ships etc. You fly in a prescribed circle over and over until you either run out of time or your damage meter reaches 100%. There is no death penalty and you can repeat the same space mission as many times as you like. If you succeed, the mission disappears and you receive a number of experience and credits. Your ship can be upgraded by buying enchantments from a ship supply officer on the planet. Missions gets more difficult and you will need better enchantment to complete them. The missions selector will let you know if your ship isn't "upgraded" enough for it and will appears red. The mechanics isn't as advanced as WOW vehicle combats and isn't as dynamic or polished. It is nevertheless satisfying and provides interesting diversions. On some nights I feel the need to "blow shit up"; this is an excellent outlet.
Music/Sound/Voice Acting

Music is amazing in this game! Soundtrack is 100% star wars material and indistinguishable from the classic John Williams. Music adds a lot of atmosphere to each zone and feels emotional without being over powering. Same goes with the sound; since this is Lucas Arts property, game makes full use of the existing sound effects from the movies. Droid beeps, light sabre swooshes, blaster whines; all feel appropriate and is fairly high caliber. In general, I have no complains against the sound effect.

Voice acting is world class and what you would expect when the development budget is $150 million. Similar to Mass effects or Dragon age, voice acting lends your character a lot of personality. You feel more intimate with your companions because the little witty things they say. I typically roll female mains because I enjoy looking at their behinds. For SWTOR that has proven to be a mistake, it jus felt wrong flirting with Vette on my female Sith Warrior. In WOW, you only identify with the look of your toon; in SWTOR, you also identify with the voice acting. When the game comes out, I will be rolling a male Sith warrior to partake on the affection from Vette. :-) Like some other beta testers are saying "Vette is so cute when getting shocked".

Continue to part 3, system requirements, interface, and PvP.

Beta testing SWTOR, part I

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:41:00 +0000

NDA has been lifted! I can finally talk about my experience beta test SWTOR! I want to thank Bioware for this incredible opportunity. Hopefully my experience would be informative and beneficial for some in the community. Please pardon the obvious spelling/grammar errors. I penned this in haste as NDA was lifted.

This is a multi-part preview with a lot of screen shots. Be patient and let each page load fully. I am going to limit each post to three or four items.

I was invited to join the long term beta program on 30th of Sep. I was part of Squadron 238, a beta testing squad. We had our own forums that didn't interact with others. We also had our own servers(Naga Shadow). I have never been picked for any long term beta before. I felt incredibly privilege and lucky this time around. I started a little notebook on the side to keep track of the experience.

Character/class
Character creation is a standard affair. Since you have been playing WOW, you know the drill. You get to pick a class, a race, a sex, and a name. There maybe a few more customizable options for you to wade through but overall it is very much like WOW. You have an option to make your character ultra skinny or ultra fat.

There are only four classes initially for each side so selection is fairly straight forward. At level 10 your get to pick an advanced class which further customizes the character. Classes break down along the typical MMO archtypes including tanking, DPSing and healing. For example, Sith warrior’s advance classes are Juggernaut and Marauder. Only one can tank while the other focus on DPS. There are three skill trees for each advanced classe. You can’t undo your classes choices but skill tree can be changed by paying a fee. In beta you don’t have ability to dual class.

Class break down isn’t as straight forward as it is in WOW. Although they are pure tanking trees and healing trees, a pure healer or tank isn't needed for most of the quests. But if you decide to play a tank or healer, there is less penalty comparing to WOW. Companions are integrated to the game and is available to every character. By selecting a complementary companion, you can heal and tank while your companion provides the complementary function. Companion feels like a hunter's pet from WOW. You can macro manage them via action bars on the corner or turn on an ability and leave them at their own device. They also provides comic relief during adventure. Supposedly romance with your companion is possible at higher levels. When you quest, your companion can be summoned or dismissed by pressing the companion portrait. When you enter a group or a flash point, your companion is automatically unsummoned to keep your group at certain size.
Initial Zones (Class starting area)
About the first ten levels of your life will be spent in your class only starting area. Don’t be fooled, this is not a small area. The content is at least 10-12 hours and it is class specific. They are two starting areas for each faction. Sithes has one and bounty hunter and imperial agents share the other. I have played with a Sith warrior and an imperial agents; both stories are engaging and well written. The story telling is in typical Bioware style, if you have played Mass effect, you are already familiar with the branching progression of choices and consequences. Many quests have different ending dependent upon if you pick light or dark side of the arc. Oh, you don't have to pick light as republic or dark as Sith. The morality meter is independent of factions. The only effect of morality at this point is higher level weapons also have morality ratings (such as +1 light, -2 dark), you will need to have a morality higher than the weapon to use it. I was told that if you pick the dark path, the appearance of your character will also change. I have not personally tested this.

Your story is instanced, by which I mean certain areas you can’t enter until stories call for it. For instance, on one of the very first mission, before you pick up the mission, you can’t enter the room where the mission takes place. The door is blocked by a red shield until you pickup the mission, whereby it turns green. After you finish the mission, the door turns red again making further interactions impossible.   The game seems to do a great job telling you where to go and what to do. The map is well designed to facilitate these interactions as well.

There are group contents inside the starter zone. A couple missions requires more than one player to complete. These quests are listed as heroics(2+), heroics(3+), designating how many players are typically needed for completion. These missions are more difficult than solo mission but don't offer significantly better rewards. For one mission, we had four players zerging through the dungeon with each of us swinging our vibro-sword at the nearest enemy with no communication or coordination, that didn’t seem to impede our ability in finishing the quest.

There are progression level quest which are difficult. For one mission, I had to try 6-7 times. The quest required for progression are also instanced which means you can't get help from others.   For one such mission, I had to return after I gained another two more levels.

The story line is fairly engaging and dialogs in many instances amusing.    The starter zone does a good job keeping you moving forward. As Sith warrior character, you get two major rewards when you complete the starting zone: a light sabre and an companion. At the end of the starting zone, you get to leave the planet and go to Dromund Kaas.

Dungeon (flashpoints).
SWTOR's dungeon takes 4 people instead of 5. You can have a standard composition of 1 tank, 1 heal and 2 DPS, but you also do okay without a dedicated tank/heal at earlier levels. This is because each class is fairly capable of doing more than one thing.

The first flash point I played is called "The Black Talon" which becomes available immediately after you leave the starter planet. The backdrop deals with an imperial officer who is not following orders to destroy a Republic ship. Our group was composed of me (tank), another tank, a melee dps, and a range dps(side heal). Since we are only about level 10, the line between DPSing and tanking is somewhat blurred. Although I have the tanking spec, aggro stealing isn't really in full force at level 10.

There were a total of 4 bosses in this flash point. First boss can change depends on group's actions and story line. When there is branching story line, everyone in the group gets to roll and the highest roller determines the dialog arch. You are typically presented with three answers to pick from. The story in flash point was very cohesive and engaging. Flash points constantly moves you forward in story with cut scenes, the story elements adds great depth to dungeon. The fighting is standard WOW affair, don't stand in stuff, move out the way when boss uses special ability and crowd control when there are too many adds. At initial stage of beta, flash point difficult wasn't tuned and it felt very easy. After the fight you are generally treated with more story elements. SWTOR uses the same gear standards as WOW, you have grey, white, green, blue, purple then orange)

There is no LFG feature. You have to find a group using general chat. It was a bit disappointing although finding a group wasn't particularly difficult. The whole dungeon run was about 1 hour (including 10 minutes we spent looking for the right button to push so we can leave the ship).

Crafting(Crew Professions)

SWTOR professions (crew skills) are broken down along their categories. The first two are instantly familiar to WOW player, gathering and crafting professions; the third, is new, called mission based professions.

Gathering Skills:
- Archaeology – the ability to seek out imbued items like Lightsaber crystals and ancient artifacts. (Archaeology provides common materials to support crafting skills such as Artifice & Synthweaving. The crystal nodes can spawn around the world to gather. Gathered rystals look like colored stones while archaeology fragments look like broken tablets.)
- Bioanalysis – the practice of collecting genetic material from creatures and plants. (Your herbalism and skinning rolled into one. No skinning knifes need to apply here. The material gathered from bioanalysis will primarily be used by crafting skill Biochem.)
- Scavenging – the art of recovering useful materials and parts from old or damaged technology. (A mining equivalent. Collects raw material for other crafting professions such as Armormech and Armstech)
- Slicing – a skill in accessing secured computer systems and lockboxes to acquire valuable data and rare schematics. (SWTOR's version of the Rogue's pick lock. Except anyone can do it. You get lock boxes that can contain both items and credits )
  
  Crafting Skills:
- Armormech – the ability to work with hard metals and electronic shielding to construct all types of personal armor (Armormech is the ability to work with hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to construct armor for non-Force users. Vendor-purchased fluxes are used during the armor creation process to refine the materials to ensure suitability. Armormechs can reverse engineer their crafted armor and possibly discover new ways to improve armor creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Armormech.)
- Armstech – the skill of constructing blasters, blaster rifles and upgrades (Armstech is the ability to work with hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to craft blasters, blaster modifications and melee weapons. Vendor-purchased fluxes are used during the weapon creation process to refine the materials to ensure suitability. Crafted blasters include blaster pistols, blaster rifles, sniper rifles, assault cannons and shotguns. Blaster modifications include blaster barrels. Melee weapons include vibroblades and electrostaves. Armstechs can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Armstech.)
- Artifice – the delicate work of constructing Jedi and Sith artifacts (Artifice is the delicate skill of constructing lightsaber modifications, enhancements, generators and focii. Lightsaber modifications include color crystals and hilts that augment a Force user's combat attributes. Color crystals determine beam and bolt color for lightsabers and blasters. Enhancements are modification upgrades for weapons and armor. Artificers can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Archaeology provides crafting resources for Artifice.)
- Biochem –the engineering of performance-enhancing chemical serums and biological implants (Biochem is the skill involved in crafting medical supplies, performance-enhancing chemical serums and biological implants. Biochemists can create medpacs to restore health, stimulants (single-use injections) that provide a boost to physical abilities, and biological implants that enhance combat prowess by stimulating neural networks and regulating brain stem functions. Biochemists can reverse engineer their crafted implants and possibly discover new ways to improve implant creation. The gathering skill Bioanalysis provides crafting resources for Biochem.)
- Cybertech – the technical expertise to construct gadgets and components for Droids and high-tech armors (Cybertech is the skill to assemble droid armor, earpieces, grenades, armoring, mods and miscellaneous gadgets. Armoring and mods are upgrade modifications that augment combat ability. Earpieces are external mini-computers that are worn on or near the ear. They enhance combat prowess by giving audio and visual feedback to the wearer or through direct neural feedback via an external nerve relay. Cybertechs can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Cybertech.)
- Synthweaving – the art of creating lighter outfits and armors that are imbued with supernatural qualities (Synthweaving is the process of fabricating synthetic materials out of crystals, various chemicals and artifact fragments to construct armor for Force users. Vendors provide premade solutions, suspensions and composites that are used during the Synthweaving process. Synthweavers can reverse engineer their crafted armor and possibly discover new ways to improve armor creation. The gathering skill Archaeology provides crafting resources for Synthweaving.)
  
  Mission skills:
- Diplomacy – the art of conducting and managing negotiations (an interesting skill, used by some high level crafting professions, also increases your light or dark side points. Sounds like an excellent option if you want to increase your +dark or +light quickly.)
- Investigation – the skill of examining evidence and following clues to discover valuable secrets (Gathers material needed for artifice, as well as schematics. Investigation is the skill of researching, gathering, analyzing and decoding secret information. Sending your companions on Investigation missions can yield valuable items in the form of researched compounds used to construct prototype and artifact weapons and blaster barrels, prototype schematics for all crafts, and gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.b Recommended Crafting Skills: All (for schematics), Armstech.)
- Treasure Hunting – the ability to track down and recover valuable items by investigating a series of clues (You get various gems which can be used by artifice to create prototypes and artifacts, you can also get credit boxes that contains money or item that gains affection with your companion)
- Underworld Trading – expertise in the trading of illegal goods and services (Underworld Trading entails the exchange of goods and services on the galactic black market. Sending your companions on Underworld Trading missions can yield luxury fabrics and underworld metals used to construct prototype and artifact armor, earpieces, grenades, space upgrades, and weapon and armor modifications. Other possible rewards include gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating. Recommended Crafting Skills: Armormech, Cybertech, and Synthweaving.)
  
  According to various sources, this is what is currently known about professions.
  - Skills can be increased both from performing missions or performing the task (ie. act of gathering, slicing, crafting)
  - You can pick a maximum of three professions. At most one can be a crafting profession.
  - Companion can fail when gathering or crafting.
  - Crafting can continue while you are offline, you can assign a number of concurrent crafting tasks to your crew members to perform while you are doing other things.
  - Up to five crafting items can be queued.
  - Some crafting missions are time based, up to 24 hours. Some of the Best in Slot item will take significant amount of time to craft (read, days, not minutes or hours)
  - There is no limitation on what class can pickup which profession.
  - Up to five companions can craft/gather at a time
  Resource nodes will be scattered around map. If you have the appropriate skills, you can pickup the raw materials. In fact, SWTOR profession is a nice blend of what is in WOW and what is in EvE. I think the time based crafting system will introduce a number of interesting market variables. Depends on how it is implemented, this could make the crafting professions less of a drag than it current is for WoW.
  
  If WOW is of any guide, the best professions to pickup at release is going to be the gathering professions. Crafting professions are not unique and while everyone is skilling up, you are not likely to make a profit. Every crafter will need raw materials. This means significant profits for gather professions. I would also consider picking slicing as well since schematics would be in hot demand by crafters. If you absolutely want to pick up a crafting profession, cybertech or biochem are better choices as both of these produce consumable items. I think one of the mission based skills also rewards schematic. I would prioritize that one over others.

Continue to part 2, questing, space combat, voice acting and music.

Why Cata sucked

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Dejournett) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:02:00 +0000

Yeah i agree with this. I'm still playing but after participating in the KOTOR beta it's hard to go back to the same old same old. Like you have found a young hot girl to fool around with, you don't want to go back to your 50 year old nag.

It's hard to quantify exactly why cata was so bad. If you go through the new zones, they are really amazing (the starter zones, not the 80+ zones), with awesome questing. But you level through it so fast. Within an eyeblink i was level 20 and I had a hard time just finding quests in my zone. I could do a zones worth of grey quests just to do it, but its hard knowing that you have 65 levels more to go. Nobody really wants to get into a game where you will spend 90 levels to grind until 'the real game' starts. It's a fatal flaw of the blizzard approach, EVERYTHING is for max level, all the new content, new patchs, holiday bosses, you name it.

Lets face it, cata didn't really do much to address the glaring issues, and made a few things worse.

professions have not really been touched, just bandaid over bandaid. I recently grinded LW up to 450, and it was a) extremely boring b) completely worthless to my toon c) way way way slower than character leveling. Stop making useless grinds just to say: But at MAX LEVEL thing is useful for RAIDS.
Dungeons in Cataclsym went from zomg easy to zomg this is too hard. But the mentality of the player did not adjust. Already the players refuse to CC and the healer thinks they can heal anything. So my blues equipped tank goes charging in, gets his ass handed to him, and its ZOMG SHITTY TANK KICK! Same thing for my healer. Stupid tank pull after pull, i'm at 0 mana and he pulls. He dies due to 200k damage in 5 seconds. "So you can't keep up with me?". No, i can't, dumbass.
Horrible horrible end game grind. In Wraith you could have a badge item in about 2 hours. In cata it's 4-5 hours for a frankly shitty item. 1 year in, and we are still getting the equiv of ilvl 200 epics as badge reward gear. Valor awards the next tier. It takes 1600 valor to get anything decent. You get 70 valor per dungeon for first 7 in a week. Do the math. That's 30-40 dungeon runs for a single piece of gear. Meanwhile that gear is the same gear that is going to drop in the new dungeon. So you have 359 epics from JP, then...what 384 from valor, huge 25 point jump. Versus from blue to purple is only 13 point or whatever.
PVP. There is a reason everyone is doing pvp. Because it's easy, its soloable, and you can get GEAR quickly. I can get a piece of gear in about 2 hours, on average.
Rep grinds. Are back in Cata. They were there in BC, made quickly obsolete in Wraith. To do well in Cata you really need to rep grind the shoulder guys (that's 100 quests up from 30 quests or so in Wraith) to unlock, plus every one has a decent epic at the end of the grind. twilight highlands required to max out professions. You can't be 80 and get to max level profession because all the good stuff is locked away. So, have fun grinding those 400+ quests.
Linear questing. At least with wraith you had some options, you had two starter zones and generally you could skip every other zone. In cata, you only have 5 zones to start with. One is so horrible that nobody does it. Typically you can skip most of uldum, but MH, deepholm, and twilight is essentially required. Do you know how boring it is to do teh SAME EXACT quest on every toon? I have a hunter at 82 and druid at 85, at first they were both doing MH, at one point i was doing the exact same quest day after day. I droppped the hunter out of boredom. Again with BC/Wraith you def had choices even when the expac first game out.
Lack of dungeons. There are really not enough. BC had quite a few, so did Wraith. The promise of more dungeons during cata never really went anywhere. 2 rehashed trolls were roundly scorned. The 3 new ones are about i'm looking forward to in the next patch. Granted, this is way more than vanilla at level 60, but compared to wraith, these dungeons are horrible slog fests.

Jedi vs. Sith code

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:42:00 +0000

Jedi code:

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

(There is no chaos, there is harmony.)(*)

There is no death, there is the Force.

—The Jedi Code (Based on the meditations of Odan-Urr)

Sith Code:

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall free me.

Sith's philosophy seem to favor individualism and Darwinian survival of the fittest mentality while the Jedi seem to hold a pacifist avoidance toward conflict. Interestingly, looking at our own history, I am forced to admit human society seem to be more aligned with the Sith philosophy than with the Jedi ways.

Many assume automatically Jedi is good while Sith is evil. Reading of the codes themselves doesn't appear to bear this out. These codes are either good nor evil but simply states different goals for life. I really like how SWTOR portraits both of these conflicting philosophy without dictating what is good or which is evil.

I have also been enjoying the two old republic novels on CD. When you read these novels, it does much to portrait the universe not as absolutely evil or good. There is ambiguity in righteousness. The path you walk is no ones but your own, it is either white or black, it is in many shades of greys.

Preparing for SWTOR, choosing crew skills (professions)

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:30:00 +0000

SWTOR professions (crew skills) are divided along three categories. The first two are gathering and crafting, and the third one is mission based.

Gathering Skills:

Archaeology – the ability to seek out imbued items like Lightsaber crystals and ancient artifacts. (Archaeology is the study of crystal formations and archaeological finds. Crystal formations contain crystals that an Artificer can use to construct lightsaber modifications and armor for Force users. Archaeological finds contain artifact fragments of Force-imbued technology. These valuable items contain ancient formulas and algorithms used in the crafting skills Artifice and Synthweaving. Archaeologists can send their companions on missions to gather resources. The crystal nodes can spawn around the world to gather. Gathered crystals look like colored stones while archaeology fragments look like broken tablets.)
Bioanalysis – the practice of collecting genetic material from creatures and plants. (Bioanalysis is the practice of collecting genetic material from creatures and vegetation. Genetic materials include cell fibers, bacterial strains, toxic extracts and medicinal fluids. Biochemists use these materials to create medpacs to restore health, stimulants (single-use injections) that provide a boost to physical abilities, and biological implants that enhance combat prowess by stimulating neural networks and regulating brain stem functions. The crafting skill Biochem utilizes Bioanalysis resources. Bioanalysts can send their companions on missions to gather resources.)
Scavenging – the art of recovering useful materials and parts from old or damaged technology. (Scavenging is the art of salvaging useful parts and base materials such as metals, alloys and synthetic compounds from potential technological resources--junk piles, fallen droids, abandoned cargo and broken-down vehicles. The crafting skills Armormech, Armstech and Cybertech utilize Scavenging resources. Scavengers can send their companions on missions to gather resources.)
Slicing – a skill in accessing secured computer systems and lockboxes to acquire valuable data and rare schematics. (SWTOR's version of the Rogue's pick lock. Except anyone can do it. Slicing is not a skill required for crafting. Slicing is the art of accessing secure computer systems and lockboxes to acquire valuable items, credits and rare tech schematics. Common slicing targets include electronic safes, data stations, security mainframes and biometric footlockers. These targets contain credits, rare tech schematics used to construct Cybertech gadgets, vehicles and space upgrades, and mission discovery objects that unlock challenging missions that can potentially yield great rewards. Slicers can send their companions on missions to retrieve these valuable items. Other possible mission rewards include augments that can be slotted into exceptionally crafted items. )

Crafting Skills:
Armormech – the ability to work with hard metals and electronic shielding to construct all types of personal armor (Armormech is the ability to work with hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to construct armor for non-Force users. Vendor-purchased fluxes are used during the armor creation process to refine the materials to ensure suitability. Armormechs can reverse engineer their crafted armor and possibly discover new ways to improve armor creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Armormech.)
Armstech – the skill of constructing blasters, blaster rifles and upgrades (Armstech is the ability to work with hard metals, alloys and synthetic materials to craft blasters, blaster modifications and melee weapons. Vendor-purchased fluxes are used during the weapon creation process to refine the materials to ensure suitability. Crafted blasters include blaster pistols, blaster rifles, sniper rifles, assault cannons and shotguns. Blaster modifications include blaster barrels. Melee weapons include vibroblades and electrostaves. Armstechs can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Armstech.)
Artifice – the delicate work of constructing Jedi and Sith artifacts (Artifice is the delicate skill of constructing lightsaber modifications, enhancements, generators and focii. Lightsaber modifications include color crystals and hilts that augment a Force user's combat attributes. Color crystals determine beam and bolt color for lightsabers and blasters. Enhancements are modification upgrades for weapons and armor. Artificers can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Archaeology provides crafting resources for Artifice.)
Biochem –the engineering of performance-enhancing chemical serums and biological implants (Biochem is the skill involved in crafting medical supplies, performance-enhancing chemical serums and biological implants. Biochemists can create medpacs to restore health, stimulants (single-use injections) that provide a boost to physical abilities, and biological implants that enhance combat prowess by stimulating neural networks and regulating brain stem functions. Biochemists can reverse engineer their crafted implants and possibly discover new ways to improve implant creation. The gathering skill Bioanalysis provides crafting resources for Biochem.)
Cybertech – the technical expertise to construct gadgets and components for Droids and high-tech armors (Cybertech is the skill to assemble droid armor, earpieces, grenades, armoring, mods and miscellaneous gadgets. Armoring and mods are upgrade modifications that augment combat ability. Earpieces are external mini-computers that are worn on or near the ear. They enhance combat prowess by giving audio and visual feedback to the wearer or through direct neural feedback via an external nerve relay. Cybertechs can reverse engineer their crafted items and possibly discover new ways to improve their creation. The gathering skill Scavenging provides crafting resources for Cybertech.)
Synthweaving – the art of creating lighter outfits and armors that are imbued with supernatural qualities (Synthweaving is the process of fabricating synthetic materials out of crystals, various chemicals and artifact fragments to construct armor for Force users. Vendors provide premade solutions, suspensions and composites that are used during the Synthweaving process. Synthweavers can reverse engineer their crafted armor and possibly discover new ways to improve armor creation. The gathering skill Archaeology provides crafting resources for Synthweaving.)

Mission skills:
Diplomacy – the art of conducting and managing negotiations (an interesting skill, used by some high level crafting professions, also increases your light or dark side points. Sounds like an excellent option if you want to increase your +dark or +light quickly.)
Investigation – the skill of examining evidence and following clues to discover valuable secrets (Gathers material needed for artifice, as well as schematics. Investigation is the skill of researching, gathering, analyzing and decoding secret information. Sending your companions on Investigation missions can yield valuable items in the form of researched compounds used to construct prototype and artifact weapons and blaster barrels, prototype schematics for all crafts, and gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating.b Recommended Crafting Skills: All (for schematics), Armstech.)
Treasure Hunting – the ability to track down and recover valuable items by investigating a series of clues (You get various gems which can be used by artifice to create prototypes and artifacts, you can also get credit boxes that contains money or item that gains affection with your companion)
Underworld Trading – expertise in the trading of illegal goods and services (Underworld Trading entails the exchange of goods and services on the galactic black market. Sending your companions on Underworld Trading missions can yield luxury fabrics and underworld metals used to construct prototype and artifact armor, earpieces, grenades, space upgrades, and weapon and armor modifications. Other possible rewards include gifts for companions to raise their Affection rating. Recommended Crafting Skills: Armormech, Cybertech, and Synthweaving.)

This chart shows the relationship between different professions.

Although it is called crew skills. These skills are tied to you, not your crew members. Your crew members does the task for you, you get the skill ups.
Skills can be increased both from performing the task (ie. act of gathering, slicing, crafting) and doing a mission for that task.
You spend both money and time to skill up. At beginning (skill 1-50), it takes a few minutes, and a few hundred credits. As your skill go up, both length of time and prices go up.
Crew mission has level of difficulties attached to them. Green is easy, yellow is on level and orange is difficult. Doing difficult crew missions has a higher chance of failure but a higher percentage of additional rewards.
Crafting can be done anywhere there is a crafting bench.
You can pick a maximum of three professions. At most one can be a crafting profession.
Companion can fail when gathering or crafting. If your companion fails, money spent on it isn't refunded. Interestingly, you can still get a skill up when it fails.
Crafting can continue while you are offline, you can assign a number of concurrent crafting/gathering/mission tasks to your crew members to perform while you are doing other things.
Up to five crafting items can be queued.
Some crafting missions are time based, up to 24 hours. Some of the Best in Slot item will take significant amount of time to craft (read, days, not minutes or hours)
There is no class restrictions on professions, obviously some combinations makes more sense than others.
Up to five companions can craft/gather at a time
Resource nodes scatters around the map. If you fail in a gathering attempt, node doesn't disappear; you can repeat the gather another time. But if don't have the required skill for the node, you can't gather on that node.

SWTOR profession is a nice blend of what is currently in WOW and what I have seen in EvE. The time based crafting system will introduce a number of interesting market variables. This could make the crafting professions more interesting. Also, gathering is very efficient in beta and you end up with large stocks of materials[Edit, in the release version, it appears rare material shows up with much less frequency than in beta].

If WOW is of any guide, the best professions to pickup at release is going to be the gathering professions. Crafting professions are not unique and while everyone is skilling up, you are not likely to make a profit. Every crafter will need raw materials. This means significant profits for gathering professions. I would also consider picking up slicing since schematics would be in hot demand by crafters. If you absolutely want to pick up a crafting profession, cybertech or biochem are better choices since both produce consumable items.

WoW lost another 1.1 million subscribers, blames Cata

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:29:00 +0000

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed today WoW had lost another 1.1 million subscribers in the current quarter. However you spin it, the downward trend is undeniable. Mike Morhaime stated that most of the drops comes from the East (i.e. China, Taiwan). Considering East has WoW's largest subscriber base, this is not surprising. More interesting question is how many more people are ready to quit and how many more are biding time until SWTOR.

Cataclysm hasn't been very kind to Blizzard. Since its release last Dec, WoW has been bleeding players quarter by quarter. 4.3 will be Cataclysm's last patch. If history is of any guide, hopefully subscription rate would experience a up-tick before the death spiral resumes.

Since I quit WOW this quarter, I tried to reflect why. To me, Cataclysm just wasn't fun. WOTLK was fun. Gear was easy and plentiful. Our casual guild was doing stuff and feeling good about it. It was addictive, rewarding and keeps you coming back for more. There were some faults, most glaring are not given us enough time to work on Ulduar and made guild unless as an institution. Yet, Lich King is the final culmination of the lores since Warcraft 3 and everyone wanted to see the down fall of the Lich King. People were excited, even giddy, about the final battle. I loved Wintergrasp. The captial city was well done and there was a tension and livelynes by having both factions there.

Cataclysm just wasn't the same, deathwing was artificial and half baked. Felt like a forced resurrection from retirement. There just wasn't an epic feeling to it. Heroics at release had as much appeal as the sounds made by nails scratching blackboard. The story is on the rail but not engaging. The wonder and amazement of stepping through the dark portal or landing in northrend just wasn't there. Maybe it is because we are too tired of Orgrimmar regardless the facelift. Maybe we just can't another set of cloth that does absolutely nothing. Maybe because we are just tired of Warcraft. Maybe it was the endless badge grind. Who can say? But it would appear I am not alone in my boredom; another 1.1 million other people felt the same way I did.

To Blizzard's credit, guild achievements were well executed and PvP was nicely implemented in this expansion. I did have fun doing PvP the last six month. But, unfortunately, there just wasnt enough to keep me paying $15 a month.

Preparing for SWTOR, choosing a class.

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:40:00 +0000

In SWTOR, there are four playable classes on each side. Comparing to the eight classes from WOW's at its 2004 original launch, this may not seem to be a lot; but this is deceiving. Each SWTOR class gets to pick one of two possible advanced classes at level 10. Advance classes are completely different from one to another and concentrates on different roles. Like in WOW, at beyond level 10, you can further customize your character by putting points into a skill tree. You can't change your advance class after it is picked. Skill tree (class specialization), however, can be changed at a trainer. Dual classes is currently not offered at initial release. Following is a summary of all class/advance classes/skill tree each empire class can undertake.

Note: Although this table is for the empire side only, the republic classes just have different names. There is an equivalent spec for each of republic classes.

Class	Advanced Class	Spec	Spec Description
Bounty Hunter	Power tech	Shield Tech(Tank)	Further boosts the Powertech's defensive technology, allowing him to soak up attacks.
		Advanced Prototype(DPS)	The latest technology makes the Powertech a versatile fighter against any enemy.
		Firebug (shared)(DPS)	The Firebug concentrates on burning their opponents with missiles and technology.
	Mercenary	Arsenal(DPS)	Uses advanced rocketry and specializes in taking down their targets quickly.
		Bodyguard(Heal)	Gives the Bounty Hunter skills and technology to heal and restore his allies.
		Firebug (shared)(DPS)	The Firebug concentrates on burning their opponents with missiles and technology.


Sith Warrior	Juggernaut	Vengeance(DPS)	The Juggernaut stops at nothing to crush enemies, obliterating them with heavy hits.
		Immortal(Tank)	Uses the power of the Force to increase the Warrior's survivability in battle.
		Rage (shared)(DPS)	Allows the Warrior greater control of the Force and further mastery of the Shii-Cho form.
	Marauder	Annihilation(DPS)	Mastering the aggressive Juyo form, the Annihilation Marauder destroys enemies from within.
		Carnage(DPS)	Focuses on acrobatic Lightsaber techniques that strike quickly and lethally.
		Rage (shared)(DPS)	Allows the Warrior greater control of the Force and further mastery of the Shii-Cho form.

Sith Inquisitor	Assassin	Deception(DPS)	Enhances the Assassin's stealth ability, helping him sneak up and dispatch his foes.
		Darkness(Tank)	Focuses on defensive techniques to help protect the Assassin and his allies.
		Madness (shared)(DPS)	Increases the Inquisitor's mastery of the Force to drain and corrupt his enemies.
	Sorcerer	Lightning(DPS)	Channels the Force to overload the Inquisitor's enemies with blasts of lightning.
		Corruption(Heal)	Uses dark power to maintain allies' health in battle, and protect them from enemy attacks.
		Madness (shared)(DPS)	Increases the Inquisitor's mastery of the Force to drain and corrupt his enemies.

Imperial Agent	Operative	Concealment(DPS)	Upgrades stealth and close-range attacks, allowing the Agent to strike without detection.
		Medic(Heal)	Advances the Agent's healing technologies, keeping his allies both alive and effective.
		Lethality (shared)(DPS)	Leverages the toxic power of poisons to debilitate enemies over the course of a long fight.
	Sniper	Marksmanship(DPS)	Teaches the Sniper to strike down targets from long distances and from the safety of cover.
		Engineering(DPS)	Empowers the Sniper's droids and probes to weaken enemies and give the Empire an advantage.
		Lethality (shared)(DPS)	Leverages the toxic power of poisons to debilitate enemies over the course of a long fight.

For Bounty hunter, you get the advanced classes of power tech and Mercenary. Shield Tech is a tanking tree while advanced prototype is a DPS tree. For Mercenary, arsenal is a DPS tree while Bodyguard is a healing tree. The shared tree are most DPS related skills. Excluding shared DPS skill trees; Assassin has a tankings tree and a healings tree while Sorcerer gets a range DPS tree and a healing tree; Juggernaut gets a DPS and a tanking tree; Marauder has two DPS tree; Operative has a DPS and a healing tree while Sniper gets two DPS tree. There are a total of 3 tanking classes + 3 healing classes and 18 DPS choices for each faction.

Here is the short list of tanking/healing specs:

Tanking: Power Tech(Shield Tech), Assassin (Darkness), Juggernaut (Immortal)

Healing: Operative(Medic), Sorcerer (Corruption), Mercenary(Bodyguard)

Therefore, it is important not only to pick the right class, but also to pick the right advanced class since this decision can't be changed unless you re-roll. My first pick is probably going to be a Mercenary.

Also, given the current state of MMO, and the imbalance between tanking/healing and DPS. It is simply expected SWTOR will have a shortage of healers and tanks. If you want to be popular amount your friends, consider chosing a tanking/healing capable spec.

Go to part II, choosing a profession

Panda monk against Jedi, my cuteness will be my only weapon

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:54:00 +0000

Jedi vs....

Panda Monk

The annual festival that is Blizzcon started today. 2011 is a year filled with urgency. The same feeling you get when two speeding trains hurling down the same track toward each other at 100 miles/hour. This year, the six hundred pound gorilla in the room is SWTOR. To be released in as short as two months, SWTOR will be biggest challenge WOW has faced since it's release in 2004. Not to be bested by the Blizzard's hype machine, Bioware had a few trick upon its own sleeves. In a preemptive strike, Bioware announced yesterday that it has lifted the embargo against the media beta. Flood of information about SWTOR, including its game play, youtube video, reviews, previews, rants, raves decented upon internet chat rooms on the same day Blizzcon pulled back its curtain.

Blizzard put out a number of announcements regarding future direction of the game. Most important is the announcement of the next expansion with as much usual fanfares. The forth expansion for WOW will be Mist of Pandaria, a far eastern themed expansion with panda monks. Changes in store includes a new world, a new race, level cap raised to 90, revamped skill tree, pet combat, and PvE Scenarios.

Another interesting ta-bit is the announcement of a yearly subscription model which includes a free copy of Dialbo 3. The obviously aim here is to lock people into a year of commitment by giving away Diablo 3. I guess this is as good strategy as any before more subscribers become "seduced by the power of the dark side". This does make you wonder if Blizzard higher ups has already decided this expansion alone won't be enough to stop SWTOR and WOW will need all the helps it can get.

So will Pandaria be enough to stop SWTOR? Can Ponda Monk put up enough resistance against light sabre wielding jedi? The jurors are out on it obvious. Yet, at least for me, finds Blizzard's "lack of faith" toward their own game disturbing.

Embargo Drops for SWTOR media beta

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:56:00 +0000

Well, game previews are up all over the net. Embargo (or NDA) for SWTOR media beta has been lifted. General beta tester gets no such treatment at this time. Only time will tell how much longer it will be before SWTOR can be publicly discussed.

Will SWTOR become the WOW killer?

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:28:00 +0000

World of warcraft is the most populous online MMO. It has north of over ten million subscribers and legions of fans and followers. A number of WOW killers supposed have come along and dethroned WOW(Age of Conan anyone?). Many MMO wanted to be the new WOW, none has succeeded. However, coming end of the year, the new MMO based on the Star War universe, titled “Star Wars: the old republic” could final succeed where others have fallen.

Star Wars: The Old Republic (aka SWTOR) has real wind behind its sail. Developed by the gaming powerhouse Bioware studio, the esteemed creator for legionary game series such as Baldur’s gate, neverwinter nights, Mass effect and Dragon age, has talent, track records, and lots of money! SWTOR is rumored to have a development budget of close to 190 million, unheard of in today’s gaming development. Setting WoW in the center of its sight, SWTOR have a real chance to dethrone WOW as the most popular/successful MMO. As it stands, SWTOR could become "the WOW killer".

SWTOR could be really successful for a number of reasons.

It is Star Wars, you stupid

I doubt there are any people in US who don’t know about Star Wars and its light saber wielding Jedi knights. My sons learned about Jedi before they learned about capital of USA. It has massive appeal and reach to just about every sector of the population. If you doubt my claim, just walk into your nearest ToyRus and inspect the merchandise on the shelf next to you. From Starwar Lego toys, replica of light sabers, obi-wan action figures, to Anakin shower curtains, our kids are bought up in a Star war universe. This universe is familar with people from many walks of life, including those who don’t normally care about gaming. WoW is a very successful franchise. But outside the MMO gaming community, Warcraft to most people are akin to pimple faced teenager boys playing dungeon and dragons in their mother’s basement. I have friends who wouldn’t touch WoW with a ten foot pole but would happily test drive anything Starwar related. To the masses, MMO isn’t something that is cool, but Star War is. Star war is part of our culture, like McDonalds and Wal-Mart’s. The potential reach for SWTOR must have the corporate headmasters salivating in their sleep. From the perspective of world appeal, there isn't another brand that can even compete.

It appeals to variety of gamers

If you have grown up with computer games, it is hard to imagine that you haven't at least been influenced by one of these franchises: Bauldr’s game, Knights of the old republic, Mass Effect, Dragon Age. SWTOR will be all of these games and more. In addition to the MMO players, SWTOR will immediate appeal to a wider gaming public that are fans of any of these franchises. The hurdle tied to launching a MMO is to get people to try your game and keep them playing. SWTOR is one such game which hypes itself without a massive marketing machine (not to say it doesn’t have that). People eat up anything with name Star Wars in it. Novels, movies, video games, you name it. None MMO gamers, even none gamers, will test drive this game and be hooked and keeps playing until cows come home. Community and reputation will spawn from the launch, feed upon itself, brings in more players from all walk of life. In fact, the game may very well sell itself with very little marketing. Success in many cases is a self fulfilling prophecy. If they can get machine started, it is likely to keep rolling (in the green).

Designed from ground up as a game for casuals

WoW was designed in the age of hardcore MMO and released to compete against game such as Ever Quest II. It has made significant strides through each expansion toward appealing to more casual gamers. Yet these changes hasn't been easy or smooth. The hardcore raiding population is often vocal and opinionated. Although they only represents a subset of the MMO population today, these players are in general very passionate about the direction a game takes. Raiders are more likely to push the limit, spend time outside the game to research it, demand more cutting age content, and are very are vocal when things don’t go their way. This is not surprising since these players burn through the contents so fast; they would be the first ones to do finish the content and demand more. Interestingly, from my casual observation, many of these players are also less loyal and tend to migrate between new games for new thrills. One example is looking at the number of hardcore WOW guilds supposedly packed up and moved to RIFT to get more “cutting edge” raiding environment.

While typical casual gamers could be content with a single MMO to occupy their past time, cutting edge players probably are more expensive to keep and harder to satisfy in the long run. Each MMO developer had tried to walk a tight rope between "hardcore" and "casual". WOW in particular have swinged in between these two extremes depends on which expansion cycle or system designer is in charge. SWTOR on the other hand, has tried from beginning to portrait itself as a “casual” MMO. It could be more than the marketing hypes though. From all public available information, it would appear that single player storyline is detailed and expansive and companions (or sidekicks) could be a real game changer on quests and soloing contents. Its dungeon (flash point) and operations (raids) are also designed with fewer players (4 and 8 respectively) in mind. I think Bioware is smart to pursuit this strategy and design from ground up to cater toward casuals and the solo experience. They may well alienate a portion of the hardcore player, but at the end of the day, it is always about who pay the bill to keep the lights on, as long as your customers are paying you $15 a month, does it really matter how many hours they spend playing your game? In fact, the player who plays 10 hours a day is probably cheaper to have than ones that spends 60 hours a week.

To be born at the right time

WoW has got an image problem! It has been around since 2004. Although each expansion have provided much needed face lift, it is undeniable there is only so much you can do with an engine that is close to 10 years old. After years of badge collecting, pet collecting, mount collecting, there is widespread indifference and lack of interest toward the current expansion of the game. Only when new contents get released, people flood back for a month or two to partake on the newness before slowly disappearing from the Azeroth's horizon. After 10 years of dragon slaying, most are tired, wary and nostalgic of the days gone by. The Transmogrification feature to be introduced in 4.3 appears to be a nod toward these sentiments. It reminds to be seen if nodding toward last year is the right solution for the future.

Most of my guild mates are still playing for the familiarity and interaction with other virtual friends who hasn’t left the game. SWTOR plays much like WOW wouldn't bode well for WoW since the migration activation barrier is lowered even further. Many of the people I have chatted with are EXCITED about SWTOR and are excited with the possibility entire WOW guild moving into SWTOR. SWTOR’s biggest advantage appears to be it is simply not WOW. There is always something to be said about being born at the right time. I predication is that there will be a sizable portion of population who want to play SWTOR just to get away from WOW.

Battle of the titans

Although future may appear all doom and gloom for WOW, all is not lost for Blizzard. With 10 years of MMO development/operation expertise under its belt. WOW is such a success today because Blizzard is able to adopt, change and improve. I am sure WOW will continue to throw curve balls to pull people back. And this is not a bad thing! Personally, I am excited about having more than one capable MMO developers in this game. Competition is good for customers. Up to this point, WOW is the close to being the only game in town. In 2012 however, SWTOR is likely be a force to be reckoned with.

Why does everyone hate Tuesday?

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:33:00 +0000

Isn't Monday supposed to be the step child of the week? In the MMO world, apparently Tuesday isn't very well liked. Ever since WOW went live in 2005, Tuesday has been selected as the routine maintained day. On major patch days, it also means you may not get into your favorite game at all!

I remember one of my first WOW days coincided with patch 1.7. How I panicked seeing all servers were offline during logon. I even called up my friend to ask if he also had problem with his connection.

Today is Oct 18th, 2011, not only is WOW server down for maintenance, SWTOR (both server and forum) is down for extended period as well. Makes one wonder, did the SWTOR developers just decided to follow the routine WOW established or also do they not like Tuesday very much either.

Useful info links for SWTOR

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:48:00 +0000

Here are some published links for SWTOR information. Release date is 20th of Dec, 2011!

Template updated

noreply@blogger.com (Jim S.) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:53:00 +0000

In preparation for the launch of SWTOR, I am revamping this blog. Please check back here when beta NDA is lifted.

Good things come to those who wait

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Dejournett) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 03:29:00 +0000