Weekend and SWTOR
It dawned on my at some point in the weekend that it's been a looong time since I went into a weekend, much less a 3-day one, unfettered by time obligations. No requirement to be on WoW, no requirement to be on Guild Wars, no requirement to throw things together and scurry off to parents' abode, no leaving town or places I had to be... It was actually amazingly relaxing for the most part.
We'll see this coming weekend how things gear back up for WoW and GW. I want to get raiding again, but... just have to see who shows.
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I've been playing some more SWTOR - not obsessively, but with some frequency. My agent just made level 33, has recently acquired a second combat companion, and is at the end of Chapter 1. Time for some more observations...
The gameplay is still reasonably solid. I've accepted the lack of auto-attacks, but I still don't know if this is actually better in some way. I still really like the starship combat missions, even if they're repetitive - they're quick (around 4-7 minutes each) and give a decent bit of XP without having to run all over and talk to people. The occasional disconnects, however, are still annoying (whether SWTOR's fault or not it's hard to say). I've seen fewer graphics issues, but there are still a few around (visible seams being the issue I've seen the most).
I still enjoy the story developments and want to see more for that reason. It makes playing the game solo perfect most of the time. The story, combined with the pacing, make things awkward at several points, though. After the prologue, planets you go to seem to have two main plotlines: one for your class and one that's helping your faction build/maintain its hold on the world. There are side missions scattered around, naturally, but those are the main threads to follow. And I find myself finishing them about the time the planet's missions are green or gray (offering little or no XP), going to leave the planet, and having someone say "oh, but you can now come help me with this stuff." So there's often a supplemental plot that you don't see until you've "finished" the planet, which... really doesn't encourage me to pursue it. On the other hand, I've found I can stealth around people and ignore the Kill X enemies bonus missions that pop up while you're doing other things and it doesn't seem to hinder me.
I find crew skills to be... of sufficient draw to do, but kind of annoying in practice. In WoW, I can harvest resources and make things with them. In SWTOR, I can gather some resources in the field, but most of them I have to send crew out on missions to collect. And missions cost money. So any sort of dedication to leveling a crafting skill is a horrible money-sink. If you work it right, you might be able to make things that sell to others, but even then I think I've been seeing a steady net loss credit-wise. And Armstech isn't very impressive to me. I havebeen making barrels to keep my orange rifle upgraded and I occasionally make a weapon for a companion or skill-supporting knife, but there really doesn't seem to be much advantage. Cybertech looks more interesting, as you can make implants (relatively rare as rewards and non-existing at low levels) and (I think) even-tiered ship mods. Maybe it's a grass-is-greener situation, I'm not sure.
Datacrons are an interesting inclusion: devices scattered in out of the way places on the maps that give a permanent (if small) stat boost, or pieces to make relics with. Some of them are just a matter of following a side trail. Others involve waiting for a balloon on a 30-minute (or so) cycle between platforms, then jumping and praying you don't overshoot. I suppose the benefit is enough that any "serious" endgame player would be expected to find them all, but in casual play they're skippable.
And there's still the little things. I can't tell you why it bugs me so much that there's no deep water in the game. On the other hand, the vistas are nice and the maps expansive. Tatooine deserts are suitably sprawling, Alderaan mountains are very pretty (down to the guy shoveling snow), and Nar Shaddaa may not be as nice to look at but is appropriately urbanized.
Now... unfortunately, I seem to have gotten myself in a bind. I'm at a point in the agent class story where I'm getting creamed by a boss. I can't "go back" in the story to try to avoid fighting him, though I can go "sideways" and do non-quest things for a while to level up and come back. Or I can try to recruit someone to help me. Either way, it doesn't seem right to be cruising along through my primary story and hit a sudden roadblock, even if he is a Sith on the Dark Council. Umm... help?
We'll see this coming weekend how things gear back up for WoW and GW. I want to get raiding again, but... just have to see who shows.
-
I've been playing some more SWTOR - not obsessively, but with some frequency. My agent just made level 33, has recently acquired a second combat companion, and is at the end of Chapter 1. Time for some more observations...
The gameplay is still reasonably solid. I've accepted the lack of auto-attacks, but I still don't know if this is actually better in some way. I still really like the starship combat missions, even if they're repetitive - they're quick (around 4-7 minutes each) and give a decent bit of XP without having to run all over and talk to people. The occasional disconnects, however, are still annoying (whether SWTOR's fault or not it's hard to say). I've seen fewer graphics issues, but there are still a few around (visible seams being the issue I've seen the most).
I still enjoy the story developments and want to see more for that reason. It makes playing the game solo perfect most of the time. The story, combined with the pacing, make things awkward at several points, though. After the prologue, planets you go to seem to have two main plotlines: one for your class and one that's helping your faction build/maintain its hold on the world. There are side missions scattered around, naturally, but those are the main threads to follow. And I find myself finishing them about the time the planet's missions are green or gray (offering little or no XP), going to leave the planet, and having someone say "oh, but you can now come help me with this stuff." So there's often a supplemental plot that you don't see until you've "finished" the planet, which... really doesn't encourage me to pursue it. On the other hand, I've found I can stealth around people and ignore the Kill X enemies bonus missions that pop up while you're doing other things and it doesn't seem to hinder me.
I find crew skills to be... of sufficient draw to do, but kind of annoying in practice. In WoW, I can harvest resources and make things with them. In SWTOR, I can gather some resources in the field, but most of them I have to send crew out on missions to collect. And missions cost money. So any sort of dedication to leveling a crafting skill is a horrible money-sink. If you work it right, you might be able to make things that sell to others, but even then I think I've been seeing a steady net loss credit-wise. And Armstech isn't very impressive to me. I havebeen making barrels to keep my orange rifle upgraded and I occasionally make a weapon for a companion or skill-supporting knife, but there really doesn't seem to be much advantage. Cybertech looks more interesting, as you can make implants (relatively rare as rewards and non-existing at low levels) and (I think) even-tiered ship mods. Maybe it's a grass-is-greener situation, I'm not sure.
Datacrons are an interesting inclusion: devices scattered in out of the way places on the maps that give a permanent (if small) stat boost, or pieces to make relics with. Some of them are just a matter of following a side trail. Others involve waiting for a balloon on a 30-minute (or so) cycle between platforms, then jumping and praying you don't overshoot. I suppose the benefit is enough that any "serious" endgame player would be expected to find them all, but in casual play they're skippable.
And there's still the little things. I can't tell you why it bugs me so much that there's no deep water in the game. On the other hand, the vistas are nice and the maps expansive. Tatooine deserts are suitably sprawling, Alderaan mountains are very pretty (down to the guy shoveling snow), and Nar Shaddaa may not be as nice to look at but is appropriately urbanized.
Now... unfortunately, I seem to have gotten myself in a bind. I'm at a point in the agent class story where I'm getting creamed by a boss. I can't "go back" in the story to try to avoid fighting him, though I can go "sideways" and do non-quest things for a while to level up and come back. Or I can try to recruit someone to help me. Either way, it doesn't seem right to be cruising along through my primary story and hit a sudden roadblock, even if he is a Sith on the Dark Council. Umm... help?
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