Ship Sweet Home

She ain't pretty, but she's Mine!

I’ve been posting images of characters, but I’ve neglected to post the most important character of all to a smuggler, her ship. I think I’ll call her Betrayer’s Bane and hope she lives up to her name.

Damsel in Distress or Trap? I have a bad feeling about this!

I love that you get rested XP while on board. I find it interesting that interactions while on board ship (via holocam or in person) can gain or lose affection points from every follower on board. I suspect that my ship droid is trying to starve the crew (reducing caloric intake of the rations?!).

Seems that Corso has found the on board bar in my briefing room.

Corso seems to have made himself at home at the bar

Bowdaar spends a good deal of time at the workbench, poor overworked Cybertech genius.

So who IS that mysterious Carbonite Man?

I really hope I get to keep the Carbonite Man in my cargo hold, although the severed head has got to go!

Does the severed head look annoyed to you too?

I will be adding to the views as I take a few more shots of my wandering home.

Somehow I expect this thing will only give me bad news

So, anyone else wonder if the Captain's cabin will see some action later?

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A Little Launch “Poetry”

For The Republic!

‘Twas the night before TOR Launch, and all through our houses
Our computers were whirring, we were clicking our mouses

Our companions were nestled all tight in our ships
While visions of starscapes streamed by in fast blips

With my smuggler in her kerchief, husband’s soldier with his gun
We had just settled down for some early access fun

When what to our wondering eyes did appear
But a massive server list, for the game of the year

Merry TORmas to all, May The Force Burn Bright!

With a wise Jedi council, And an Empire returned
Choose your side join your cause, for the temple has burned

At the heart of the launch day, Command Center it’s named
The developers wonder, see them all play our game!

With the launch beards a bristle, brand new tattoos burned bright
They could see from the hot seat, all the servers take flight

On The Fatman, The Harbinger, on Shien, Bondar Crystal
Now on East coast and West Coast we add Kathol and Light
To the top of the list, to the top of the Queue
Start up your own saga as your story takes flight

And the Makers exclaim, as they watch through the night
Happy Gaming to All, May the Force Burn So Bright!

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Early SWTOR Client

The good:

Can you hear the theme song in your head? I can.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is really playable right out of the gate. It is highly complex, running a lot of terrain and NPCs and cinematics, and doing it quite well. Lag has been very low and the longest Q time I’ve had was only 10 minutes. I am enjoying the two characters I’ve started playing quite a bit. Everyone I’ve played with so far has been having a lot of fun, with very few complaints, and no one seems worried about the long term viability of the game. Several of the game systems are fabulous, especially the map system. Considering the number of people playing, I’ve felt very little frustration over game resources and very little competition over quest goals. When I want to talk to an NPC it is smooth and easy to do. The group conversations have also been very fun, and the holo-com option is a real convenience when playing with a partner.

The bad:

I’d forgotten how time-consuming an MMO can be. I’ve stayed up too late and neglected a lot of real world things the past few days. Hopefully I’ll get to a point of balance after the initial new game rush. There are also still some glitches in the game, enough that they are pretty hard to ignore. They are quality of life and graphical rather than real gameplay or fun killers. Considering the number of systems running, it isn’t surprising. But it is a daunting list of little fixes that will take developer time away from new content. The UI still has a lot of maturing to do, but I’m also used to playing a game that had years of updates and fixes under its belt. However, I’m also used to playing a game that was highly UI customization friendly right of of the gate, so I have high expectations. People also need to be aware that if they run group content with strangers, there are no controls in place to keep those strangers from rolling need and winning gear that they can’t use. Be careful who you trust with your shiny blue or orange boss loots.

The ugly:

Guild support hasn’t gone very smoothly so far. My, albeit limited, experience has been that early-access pre-launch of guilds hasn’t gone as described. Until I logged in as the guild leader of our guild, fortunately I got in on day 1 of early access, no one else in our guild was given the option to join the guild. I’m sure that has caused all kinds of grief if it happened to everyone. On a good note, turning the guild over to our actual GL once she got her early access was very easy. The guild interface is very buggy and minimal. It doesn’t refresh the list to show everyone online, the show offline option doesn’t work right either, and the details window only works right intermittently. There is no guild bank at launch, which still astonishes me. I know it isn’t an easy thing to implement, but other games should have proven how important having one is. If they eventually give us a guild capital ship, I just may forgive them this brief period of guild support growing pains. However, I really hope some fixes are coming soon.

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My New Adventure Begins

Captain Khaalo

I can’t talk a lot about my character without giving away spoilers of her story. Soon everyone will have their own tales of adventure, but for now I won’t go into the details. I avoided as many of the spoilers as I could where the Smuggler was concerned. I didn’t beta test one so I could come into the story fresh. It has been a blast so far. I was one of the lucky ones to get into early access on day one. While I had to work for part of the day, my husband and I (he is playing a solider) managed to level up to 11th level and make it off the starting world.

I did play a solider up through Coruscant in the beta, so I knew a few of the side quests and some of the background of Ord Mantell. I had made a few decisions about how I was going to handle a few of the side quests differently as my smuggler. There is a particular NPC scum who just had to go, no matter how many dark side points it gave me. No regrets on that one, but I’ll admit my solider took a strong dislike to him in the beta test. This game is so awesome in how engaging the interactions are with the story, quests, NPCs, and bad guys. Shooting separatists isn’t a chore, its a duty or target practice, depending on your point of view. Quest givers and goals aren’t faceless walls of text and that makes such a major difference.

Padawan Yana Mei

The smuggler is my character subject to the spousal leveling contract, so I’ve started a Jedi Consular to play on my own. I played through that story through 5th level in beta, but I should still get plenty of new quests and story to try with her. Initial leveling is actually pretty fast. You aren’t distracted by anything but the story and some of the side quests, unless you were one of those people who just had to visit the fleet at 1st level to start crafting. Me, I’m going to pace myself. I don’t want to even look at the Galactic Trade Network (had to stop myself from calling it the auction house!) for several weeks yet.

This will be short, just a quick introduction to the characters that will be absorbing the majority of my free time, and quite a bit of time I should be spending dusting or vacuuming, for the next long while.

Back to having fun!

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It Is Getting Real

Anticipation is palpable, people are twitchy, guild server tweets are starting to show up, new game excitement is running wild!

Really hoping our new MMO home will be a blast. Considering the nod to Mass Effect, how could you not love a server name of The Harbinger?!

Killer Bunnies have a new MMO home!

Edit: Apparently, we’re actually named after a ship from actual Star Wars lore. Check it yo: The Harbinger

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Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Inspiring Music

This baby can also transport you

On Facebook today, SWTOR announced that they will be releasing a new music track each day until launch. Today is The Mandalorian Blockade. You really should give it a listen. Some of it will sound familiar, we’ve heard portions of the score in various game videos.

I love music, and the background music can make or break a game. It transports you, helps with emotional cues, adds tension, heroism, humor, sadness, and more. Happily, the music in SWTOR delivers. I’ve heard many people say that movies like Conan the Barbarian, without their epic soundtracks, would never have done as well. I fully believe them.

I will definitely be checking The Old Republic’s Youtube channel each day to listen to these.

Edit: Today’s is eerie. Korriban, The Homeworld

Today’s is a bit of cantina, dance music, funk. Yesterday’s Jawa

Not sure I want to see a Wookiee dance to this one today. Average Brown Wookiee

I think I prefer the stirring themes to the cantina music so far. today Ord Mantell, The Battleground

Nal Hutta sounds appropriately dangerous, with a bit of “waddling” Nal Hutta The Glorious Jewel

Tython sounds mysterious and whimsical, Tython The Wellspring

This one needed more stormy sizzling sounds to really hit the planet for me, but still good Dromund Kaas, The Seat of Power

I suppose the melancholy in this one is for the destruction, Coruscant, The Capital

Not much to say about this one: Do the Holos Show Up on the Bill?

Ok, this one is kind of playful and the alien language makes it feel more Star Wars to me than some of the other funky cantina music: Kayfoundo Naweea (Hungry Eyes)

A lot more vocals in this one, I really like the music with the deep voiced Star Wars “chant” Balmorra, The Forge

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