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Weeee~

Nov1

So, at my grandparents’ house because we still have no power! Thus, I will be quickly doing a livestream to play around with boxes.

I will edit when it is over :3 But recording will stay up so I can further analyze percentages~ yay~

Edit: All done. Didn’t manage to get a Gizka, Vrblett, or Monkey Lizard, sadly. Didn’t really get much new from my last one and still have yet to get a color crystal. I will go ahead and throw this under “wow, my luck sure does suck”.

Edit 2: We have power back now :3

Cartel Shop Questions

Oct29

So, Some questions were answered about the Cartel Shop so I figured I’d put some of the ones that caught my attention here.

Tatile: It’s been mentioned that Darth Nihilus’ mask dropped from one of the gambling boxes. Is everything in the boxes available outside of them or are some things exclusive? If so, which?

Blaine: A large portion of the items in the Cartel Packs are exclusive to the packs. The great news for anyone who does not want to purchase Cartel Packs is all items in the store can be traded (and thus gifted to friends!) and sold on the Galactic Trade Network. This means that you can get what you want via the GTN if you are patient and have the in-game credits to spend. Also important to note is this is just the start of the offerings you will see for sale in the Cartel Market. As we gather information and feedback on what players want to see, we will certainly make adjustments.

So, as expected, most of them will be exclusive to the boxes… which stinks :/ At least trading will be possible.

VarrusTheEthical: How often can we expect new content to appear on the Cartel Market?

Blaine: You’ll see regular adjustments to the Market that line up with game patches. We plan to make content additions as often as once a month (including new Cartel Packs!), but the major releases will be every 4-6 months.

….I really don’t want to see a new Cartel Pack every month. ._.

Dscount: If I purchase an “Account Wide” Cargo bay does it incrementally add one to each existing character and future characters I create? So my 50 with 3 bays would get a 4th, but my new character would get a complete 2nd bay and my other toon with 2 would get a 3rd bay.

Blaine: Yes, you have it exactly right if you are a Subscriber. The main difference for a Free-to-Play Player is that you must purchase the ability to access the Cargo Hold before you can purchase additional bays, so you could be in a position where you have purchased the access on a character basis, but not an account basis, then if you purchase account wide expansion bays, they would only apply to characters that had purchased the Cargo Hold access first. And last, but not least, remember that Preferred Status players automatically get Cargo Hold access. *whew*

Well, this is good for people who wanted more storage.

Darthbuckets: If I choose to purchase an account-wide unlock and use it, do new characters I create automatically get the items unlocked (or is it only applied to existing characters)?
Do the account-wide or Legacy unlocks apply to characters / Legacies on different servers?

Blaine: Thanks for asking this question, as it points out just how much value the purchase of Account-wide unlocks is for our players. Account wide will in fact apply to new characters and will span across servers, so when you see the relatively modest price increase for the account unlock, you start to see just how valuable this can be!

This is really nice.

…I hate Cartel Packs ._.

What to do next~

Oct26

So, with completing my final pet goal (until the Cartel Market is officially out… I wouldn’t be surprised if it was like the first week of November to be honest), it’s a matter of what to do next… Looking through one of my older lists, I decided to go purchase those Consular’s Exalted Gloves and Boots already! So yes, that is FINALLY done.

That leaves two things on the Priority list. Saving up for speeders where I need to aim for like 3.5 million and the Czerka Crate-o-Matic which involves farming Corellia Commendations.

I’m not sure which will be more painful to earn, but I suppose I should get started. The more goals I can finish before Free to Play, the better.

Why, you ask? Because, the next update brings a lot:
1. HK-51 (who, besides getting, I need to get to 10K ASAP so lots of Companion Gifts needed X_x)
2. A whole new area of dailies.
3. Cartel Market – Need to get lots of pets and mounts, not to mention update the pet guides and getting a complete list is going to suck and I’m stressing just thinking about it, plus other stuff I may like.
4. Possibly setting up new Quick Bars and thus, updating my UI.

And who knows what else. Not to mention we know they are planning an Anniversary Event (and apparently a Life Day event too) so there’s just a lot upcoming and the less I have at once, the better.

Thankfully, Prongs said he’d help me out with HK-51 and then just need to get 3 people to try out the new dailies which will probably be Prongs, Anlorn, and my boyfriend but they don’t know it yet and hopefully that part will be good. Just…so much to do.

…I stress too much 🙁 I know.

Cartel Market up on PTS :3

Oct23

Yep! The Market is already up on the PTS so here are some overviews 😀

Firstly, if you didn’t guess from the preview video, the icon is a bright golden icon outside the blue menu bar (which is kind of annoying IMO but). It has it’s own interface section and thus, can be moved. :3

The pet besides the Monkey Lizard is the Ivory Mouse Horanth. It costs 240 credits right now, but I will not be listing that officially as prices could change on release.

The Cartel Packs are random :/ Unfortunately. You have a chance at certain items and junk. Crime Lord Cartel’s Pack has “The Pack Contains 5 Items, including 1 Boost Item, 1 Companion Gift, 1 rare crafting material, and 2 rare items.”

I opened one and received: Slate Mouse Horranth and Golden Lizardbat for my rare items. The chance of those pets actually being Cartel Items seems more likely and yes, this means the pet isn’t guaranteed and the amount of anger I am feeling right now is so high, it could explode a volcano. The Crime Lord’s Cartel Pack costs 360 Cartel Coins. The other three items I received were a Personalized Holoportrait, Mutagenic Paste, and a Minor Space Mission Experience Boost.

I also have 2400 coins to spell so I will not be purchasing the speeder (which is 720). The Carbonite Chamber is also 720, but that’s 50% off and thus, is nomally 1,440. The Rancor holo is only 180.

Race Unlocks are available. Interesting color crystals: Orange-Yellow and Pink-Purple. All the armor is ugly IMO, but you can wear them on any class.

My Black Market Cartel Pack (180) contained 1 boost, 1 companion item, and 1 rare item. :/ Mine had…oh, forget the stupid companion item, nobody cares so a Minor Flashpoint XP boost and a Ubrikki Crimson Claw–a new speeder where the speed actually goes up based on the piloting level you have.

You also have a chance at a Super Rare item from both–the Crime Lord having a higher chance.

Oh, and there’s apparently two new quickbars that can be used. So yay for people who wanted more quick bars–you now have them. And you can now preview your weapon. Yay.

Anyway, I opened up another of each pack.
Crime Lord: Ignoring the stupid stuff… I got a new emote–Menace. Also an Elegant Loungewear Top. The latter is a nice way of saying Blue and White Slavegirl outfit. I was very disappointed -_-

Black Market… I got another of the Menace Emote — I’m giving up with these.

So, 3 more Crime Lord’s (as that was all I could afford):
1. ANOTHER Menace Emote and the bottom to that stupid slavegirl outfit.
2. Low Atmosphere Miniprobe 🙁 + Covert Torso Energy Armor (This will be popular for a lot of people–more or less, it’s armor that is invisible so if you want to run around naked and still be geared, this is for you)
3. Longspur Elite (It seems all Cartel Speeders work the same way–speed goes up based off your training) + Ball Toss “Throws ball at target within 30 meters that bounces harmlessly off their head”.

Overall? I’m just frustrated and upset. 40+ pets that are most likely in the Cartel Shop AND are random to get AND are bound. *sighs* Will not update the pet list just yet either for obvious reasons. The Experience boosts can be traded though and suppoedly other items may be tradeable after 5 days but… :/ *sighs* EDIT: Items can be traded after 5 days. EDIT: Even shorter once live and for subscribers! Thank god. So now I’m just annoyed with how MANY they put in…and I hate random boxes. At least hopefully I can trade with my fellow pet collectors?

Ubrikki Sand Devil is apparently another speeder (see in photos above). Darth Hater has lots of screenshots of stuff. Other items seem to be an Imperial Banner and Revan’s Cowl. Apparently you can also get a white crystal. I feel bad for anyone who really wanted one–have fun paying for it. Also items that give you credits.

Apparently the pink-purple has a PVP version though so may need to try and get that at some point. :/

Also, the Thrones are mounts and there is a title: The Cartel Collector. And there’s a Darth Malgus Holo that lets you purchase your skills as you level. That’s handy…but why Darth Malgus? 😐

Edit: Pets found so far in Cartel Shop:
Horranth
Lizardbat
Probe
Vrblet
Gizka
Monkey Lizard

Ironically, despite being the one shown, I have yet to see anyone who has gotten a Monkey Lizard yet. One FINALLY gotten.

Some pictures of things (Special thanks to Bloodguts for some of them :3)–Slate Horranth not included as it is glitched and looks like the Hagnoffarl. Will continue to update with more: Continue reading →

Free to Play Trailer!

Oct18

So, on the website, a trailer was released for Free to Play!

Some highlights:


PARTY JAWA WOO.

FIREWORKS!

I remember it being shown in a datadump some firework items… I wonder if they will be sold or something to celebrate. May be a Cartel Market item…speaking of which…

CARTEL MARKET PREVIEW

Breaking it down:
-Ignoring that the prices are totally marked out… The Carbonite Chamber returns! For those who may be unable to read what it says under it: “Impress your friends by encasing yourself in carbonite! Encase your character in Carbonite while using this effect. This Carbonite Chamber will rapidly heal your character while out of combat.”
-I have circled pets because pets. There is no other reason needed but pets. The Monkey Lizard that was already confirmed is there, however, it seems that there is one other with it. I would guess either a Wraid, Horranth, or Blurrg but I am unsure.
-New speeder! The Longspur Sportster
-It does look like the Cartel Packs are just packs of certain items and not cruel random boxes. The Monkey Lizard is part of the “Crime Lord’s Cartel Pack”. I sure hope the items can be sold/traded or they can be bought separately as I just want the Monkey Lizard.

And while I did not take a screenshot, the Holographic Rancor was also shown so yes, both of the other Fan Favorite voting participants will be available–just not given for free.

so yay~

1.4.2 Patch + Lost Island

Oct16

To be honest, I’m not completely sure what took so long with this patch (I think it’s a lot of preparations for Free to Play), but it’s nice to see so many bug fixes!

However, what really excited me were the Cartel Coin stuff. You can’t see anything yet, but you can now see how many you currently have that you will get when Free to Play happens. Right now, I have 2400 2600 and considering one of the first things they stated for it are “must-have pets”…I just hope I will be ready for them.

In the meantime, I was dragged to a Lost Island HM run…not used to the new white circles before the blue ones for the robot boss, but it went okay. And now being dragged through EV story mode, but I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it, to be honest… It’s going…interestingly I suppose…but not really in a good way 😐

If this sounds confusing…

Oct2

…it is because I feel really sick so I’m going to apologize in advance.

So, I remember reading this post a while back in regards to “Gambling Boxes”. For those not familiar with them, they are boxes that can have a number of items (I have seen some places have up to 60 items in a “Gambling Box”), usually with a few rare items. And usually all the items or at the very least, the rarer ones, can only be gotten through these boxes.

What bothers me is the fact that when they mention the Cartel Packs, they do not say they are not Gambling Boxes in a topic that is about them which really worries me and makes me think they really will be Gambling Boxes over random item packs.

“How are random item packs different?” You don’t really ask but I’m continuing this format anyway.

An example of a random item pack just means an item pack filled with a random collection of items–for example an armor set, a pet, and a mount. Those items are pretty different and have randomly been decided to put in a pack together, however, every time someone buys that pack, it is always the same armor set, pet, and mount. That is Cartel Pack #1 and it will never change.

Another example, however, is a mixture of a Random Item Pack and a Gambling Pack where there’s fewer options, but you are paying for more due to it coming with more. So, you’d buy the set and you will get an armor set, pet, and mount but which of each is random. So let’s just make an example:

Armor sets:
Blue
Pink
Red
Yellow
Rainbow

Pet sets:
Lobel
Tauntaun
Orobird
Monkeylizard

Mounts:
Mantyke Thranta (sorry, I told you I am sick >_>)
Tauntaun
Orobird
Pod Racer

You then buy a pack and you get: Blue Armor Set, Orobird Pet, and Pod Racer Mount. You then buy another and maybe you get Rainbow Set, Lobel Pet, and Tauntaun Mount and then maybe you get one more and you get horribly unlucky and get another Blue Armor Set, another Lobel Pet, and another Pod Racer Mount. Just completely random which you get, but you will get one of each type.

…if you couldn’t guess though, I prefer option 2. It’s just…a random collection of items. And maybe if I buy Cartel Pack #1, I can find someone who bought #2 and we can trade–like if I hate the armor set, maybe I can trade it for their pet.

The first season of Cartel packs will draw heavily on preexisting armor appearances that haven’t been used for player-wearable equipment thus far. They’ll include some new models, but we did not draw on endgame content appearances for them.

Unsurprisingly, the Cartel Packs will be limited. I just hope it’ll be a reasonable time–like a month or so. I’ve seen too many sites where they just do like a week.

Regardless, I really hope they will make the items tradeable. Gambling packs suck enough to begin with, but even more so when you’re stuck with the crud you got. I have awful luck. There is another site I go to where they, unfortunately, make their donation items random. They released about 10 items last month. There were only 2 I didn’t like. 7/10 chests I bought were one of those items. 1/10 was the other of those items. Leaving me with 2/10 that I actually wanted.

I was, thankfully, able to trade for some, but others I actually had to donate more to get and that stinks. In fact, there is another site I quit when I realized the average amount to get everything was about $300. The sad truth of these things are, they are brilliant ways to make money even if it makes more people miserable.

I’ve seen more people boycott features like that than those who buy them. The issue comes in that the people who do buy them are more than willing to spend thousands to get everything and in the end, they pay more money than the people who do not buy those items at all. And I hate gambling in real life–gambling for virtual things is just kind of infuriating to me (and having money issues right now doesn’t help).

But yes, considering the response to the topic, I am really really really worried. 🙁 I hope, if they unfortunately do go that route, that they will at least be tradeable… but I really hope they’re not and they just didn’t think to say something.

Q&A-ness

Sep21

So, I am home and now reading over the Q&A (Yay for transcripts. I shall definitely watch after). To be honest, I’m super sad that I didn’t get to watch live 🙁 Regardless, yay for new information! If only it was longer.

BUT YES, ONTO THOUGHTS. I won’t comment on everything and mostly just highlight what I am excited about…but yeah XD

-Confirmed that Free to Play is coming in November.
-Some early gear sets. Also some experience boosts separate from legacy.
-New daily questing area coming soon~ (And we already knew about the Hypergates and stuff)
-Paid transfers are coming.
-” In a future update when we release Mekab there will be continuation of where the story left off.” yeeeeeeeeees.
-“you will see that a couple weeks before we launch the FTP option players can go into the PTS and our intent is for anybody that logs into PTS to get some Cartel Coins that they can play with only on PTS – those don’t xfer to the live game! We will have items for sale on PTS that people can go in, make purchase and give us feedback.” more yeeeeeeees. As for why this would excite me, it’d be nice to see stuff I’m going to want in the main game along with learning prices of things like…oh…I don’t know… PETS.
-Looks like the 350 BH Commendation Implants may be a mistake and not actually coming out immediately: “The side effect of PTS is that occasionally items that are not intended for live made it up there and unfortunately that specific item was the case of that. So that item in particular is going to be removed, reviewed, and hopefully a better version will come out in a future update.”
-While HK-51 will be out by the end of the year, Cathar may take somewhat longer: “Cathar and HK-51 are both in the works. HK-51 I am confident that you will see before the end of the year. Cathar have no definite timeframe at this point but we intend to introduce them as the first species in SWTOR.”
-Mounts and Pets for the Cartel Shop! Also some gear sets, but will have no impact on endgame. Sounds interesting: “The gear you will find will be interesting to everyone because it is not going to be restricted by class or by faction and all moddable”
-“We also have a really cool thing called Cartel packs. Cartel packs you buy give you a random assortment of really cool items and a chance to get some of the cooler items that maybe in the game (not powerful, but very cool – they going to make you look AMAZING!)” I just hope it’s just a pack of various items over some kind of random item box.
-Nightmare EC and Nightmare TfB will have various differences besides just being harder.
-Whether the XP Boosts and Rocket Boots will be overlaps of the legacy system or just alternate ways to purchase currently unknown as they couldn’t say.
-Cathar can be purchased with Cartel Coins (as well as credits I think? Wording is kind of odd). More may be available to as well over using credits.
-Hood toggle option still coming.
-More content for smaller groups of players coming.

There wasn’t really anything else in particular. Wish they answered some of the stuff I was really wondering about 🙁

Revisiting the old “Expansion Pack”

Sep13

While responding to someone, I ended up looking this back up. While it seems the initial idea of a specified Expansion may be gone (as Makeb and Cathar being anything but just actual content updates would be surprising due to the fact that it hasn’t been mentioned as anything otherwise besides that server before they were properly announced), there’s still a lot of things we haven’t heard about though. We also know the Kowakian Monkey Lizard was going to be available from the Cartel Market instead now.

For example:
1. The two-person speeder (it was mentioned off-hand once since…but not in a long while)
2. Ewok Companion – Right now, we’re still waiting on HK-51. However, I would love to see more companions and never see Iresso again and Ewoks are adorable. This does bring up some lore issues according to my boyfriend who said that the Ewok planet shouldn’t even have been discovered yet though. However. Naboo supposedly hasn’t been discovered either and it is mentioned on Hutta during the Agent storyline.
3. More schematics. They’ve slowly been bringing these out anyway, but I’m curious to which they mentioned here.
4. More Vanity Items. Always welcomed~ Curious to see what they were planning.
5. More character slots (While still confirmed to be coming, the details are still unknown)

And there were also 90 free days and a 10 day head-start which I’m not sure if that will still be coming considering it may no longer be an expansion pack.

To be honest, if the expansion pack just includes the stuff early plus a few of these things even if Makeb, Cathar, and the Kowakian Monkey Lizard and no longer original to the expansion…I’d probably still get it. 90 free days for 10 bucks is pretty good and head starts = awesome.

1.4 Data Dump

Sep13

So, I was recently linked to this and am now proceeding to freak the heck out.

There are a lot of Pets mentioned. I do not expect most of them to be actually obtainable come 1.4 due to the fact that the data dump is FILLED with a lot of stuff that is obviously for Free to Play or contains things that were confirmed on being sold in the Cartel Shop. The most confusing part is some are 2 different species that are mentioned has a pet. Maybe some kind of combination? Or just due to their similarity, it doesn’t matter?

Anyway, pet specifics:
1. Acklay/Lylek
2. Battle Droid – There are… a lot of Battle Droids. However, part of me wonders if it could be referring to L2-P2.
3. Blurrg
4. Akk Dog (We already have 3, so I guess a 4th (or more) is coming?)
5. Horranth
6. Dragonbat
7. Flutterplume
8. Gizka
9. Gree Larva? I would think this would be like a Gree Baby… If anything, I would guess it may be from the new operation…although, I really hope not :/
10. Manka Cat
11. Monkey Lizard. While there are other types of Monkey Lizards, there is a good chance they are referring to the one from the Cartel Market.
12. Interrogation Probe – Once again…there are many different kinds. However, part of me wonders if they could be referring to Lil’ Probey.
13. Vrblthr
14. Womprat
15. Wraid/Lobel – These are quite a bit different than the Acklay/Lylek (who don’t look too similar), but I could see them sharing a similar model due to walking the same way. Like Akk Dogs, there are already 3 Lobel (although, only 2 have been confirmed to be obtainable..even if one of those two is now retired), so this would bea 4th one if it is a Lobel–but it is possible just some combination of the two or because of the similar model, it is mentioned.

I’ll be keeping my eye out on the PTS. If you’re on it, feel free to join in :3 And do some research too! Like I said, I’d be really surprised if any will be out with the operation, but regardless, I won’t let my guard down.

Click the read more for the raw data dump specifics of the pets mentioned~

Continue reading →