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Trouble as a Healer

Being a healer can be incredibly frustrating. Besides the tendency to be blamed, there is also a lot expected of you.

I get about 2-3 requests to heal something everytime I log in. And I have a lot of trouble saying no, but sometimes, I’m only popping in for a little bit or I already promised to do something with someone else and people don’t understand that.

I’m not your personal healer. Stop expecting me to be. Stop guilt tripping me if I say I can’t right now.

I don’t have interest in what you’re doing. If I do accept, it is because I am helping you out. The least you can do is not take advantage of it and expect me to drop everything immediately. Seriously.

In a happier note, I found someone who could make the Resolve Hilt 26 for me! Would be about 350K-500K if I supply everything. Not bad. Too bad it’d cost me an extra 500K to buy 6 Molecular Stabilizers and 2 Matrix thingys from my guild which is where the problem with cost comes in :/

Datacrons + Disappointment

If you don’t mind not leveling super fast, it doesn’t hurt to go a bit out of your way to get datacrons. The reason I say this is because something I noticed when going back to help people with datacrons…it feels like it takes forever.

If you keep an eye out for where datacrons should be while heading there, it is actually a bit shorter since a turn out of your way and then back to your quests isn’t so crazy as going all over and deeper and then the long ride to a whole other section of a planet (or off it) when you finished it a long time ago.

Regardless, I still like helping, but I’m glad we did it the way we did on our main characters. Going back for some on Amidaia will suck 😛

Now, moving on to the latter part of my subject…I know a lot of people knew I was working very hard to save up for the Zabrak race so I could make Zoara, right?

I hit the 1.5 million so I asked my boyfriend to lend me 150K so I wouldn’t be completely poor. He did as he was excited too. I buy the race, I delete place-holder Zoara, I go to make permanent Zoara and there’s a problem. I noticed that when you had something special unlocked with Twi’lek, there were little yellow lines (along with the text being a glowy yellow with a little shield icon) where the unlocked stuff were–these were not there for Zabrak. I shrugged it off and went through the skins but nothing. No pink skin at all.

So, I hop on the Imperial side and check classes that normally do not have Zabrak as an option (Like Imperial Agent). They have just the Republic options. When I check a class that normally does (for example, Sith Warrior), they just have the Imperial options. It’s…very odd. I had no issues with unlocking Twi’lek, but Zabrak seems to be a mess. I went and sent a bug report in 🙁

I just hope they can fix it ASAP or like activate something in the background for it rather than having to wait for a patch…because next patch, the Vendor is being removed and I’ll feel…really bad. Just need to hope there’s some support around to answer my ticket today 🙁 Shall be online most of the day praying for it, really~

Quick Opinions on Agent Storyline thus far

So, I’ve gotten Cellina to level 12 now and I’ve enjoyed it thus far. I really liked getting the [single] disguise on Hutta and in Kaas City, things are already quite interesting. I liked getting to talk to a bunch of people as a bonus and the fact that one person you talk to even name drops you is really awesome.

However, what really got me (besides the name-dropping) is the fact that it seems to be really attentive to what you do. I had gotten a mail about how they think I may have not necessarily killed Karrels to begin with, but when I got to Kaas City, it was mentioned how I had done quite a bit on Hutta (I did all the side quests) along with the fact that I took “unnecessary methods” to keep things passive and that I was soft. The fact that it seems so costumed to what you do already (There are parts in other class stories that do like if you save or kill Vivicar in the Consular storyline or at the end of the Jedi Knight storyline depending on who you don’t kill) makes me really excited to see the continued options later down the road.

In which I give Aurojiin a huge round of applause.

So, due to my frustrations and worries about if the useless set bonus was truly more beneficial than 11 Willpower, I went ahead and asked on the forum. After one person responded saying how it mostly depended in if you tend to run out of force a lot, I explained how it tends to really do with the battle. The thing is, if I run out of force, unless I have like 20,000 Force that I would never have to worry about replenishing it, I will always run out of force no matter the amount. 50 extra Force adds barely any that is added back (especially as I will never do more than 1-2. Wanna know how many heals I can do with 4-8 force? 0!). It makes it from 48 to 52. While that technically gives an extra Deliverance (which costs 51 force), if I am at a position where I am that low there is a:
1. 99% chance my health is really low due to being hit too much when I shouldn’t have been.
2. I will die before the cast is even done.

So, I pretty much explained that and then this beautiful post by Aurojin was posted:

This is basically why I call the four-piece bonus optional in the guide. Having a slightly larger force pool doesn’t make a significant difference per se; either you’re casting in a sustainable manner or you’re not (at least where PVE is concerned).

The advantage it does offer is that every Noble Sacrifice returns an extra 4 force points. It’s not major, but it’s there. However, if someone tells you to have to have it for specific content, feel free to laugh at their expense.

It’s just…if you know what you’re doing, 50 extra force makes no difference. I’d rather be doing better heals than having a useless extra amount of Force Power. I mean, seriously. :/ And apparently, I’m finally not the only person who thinks that way.

So, to celebrate I made a silly dance video until I can figure how to do GIFs since the usual way I do has decided to no longer work.

Disclaimer: I still can’t afford to switch to my Elegant attire (and would most likely not be allowed to go on the HM even if I could if I did switch back -despite what I’ve said several times), but due to the reasoning of dance, it felt most appropriate to switch back like so.

Imperial Progress

Played a little of our Imperial characters today. Level 44 now and finished Chapter 2. Talos is pretty cool. Considering I’m a healer, I won’t be able to use him much, but I’d like to take him as he may be the only companion who doesn’t completely hate me (Ashara technically doesn’t hate me, but she killed her emotions other than her blood lust so yeah).

Besides that, made sure to stop by the Imperial Fleet and pick up a Gurian Scorpion for Marilea. It’s only sold on the Imperial Fleet, but can be traded so… :3 Had to make sure to pick one up. (The Republic version, for anyone curious, is the Gurian Hammer)

Anyway, later is the raid so I better get some sleep… still not sure what to do about the gear thing though ._.

Getting Gear Help

Having been the only sage (and possibly healer) at my gear level that can’t seem to get off a 6K heal, I finally gave in and asked for help. I have never been good at gearing and the last MMO I really got this far in automatically had items leveled with stats and costumes would go over it so there was no pulling things out and mixing and matching.

To my surprise (and gratitude), I woke up with a response this morning. And from what it sounds like… I have a lot to do.

I have to:
1. Essentially replace any with a letter after them to the non-letter version.
2. Get more Black Hole Armorings (not surprising there though)
3. Change up another Crit + Alacrity Enhancement for Crit/Power and Surge.
4. Possibly change my relic

I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to afford all these changes though. I’m going to work really hard, but I just feel like a failure. So much for only focusing on whatever gives the most willpower 🙁

Edit: And now people keep telling me different things and I’m more confused

Busy Days Ahead

So, yesterday, I really didn’t get much done. Besides still being upset (and honestly, I probably will continue to be until another drops and I actually win it this time), I just felt pretty sucky and it wasn’t a great day yesterday. I only managed to do Lost Island once and if you couldn’t guess, no luck. At all.

Being up this early, I have already queued myself for Group Finder. I am nervous about a group as there is a chance I’ll get a bad one and I really can’t afford the repair costs. Similarly, there is a chance someone will roll again and I will lose again and I’m not sure how many times I can deal with that before I give up altogether and the only chance of me getting it would be someone else running it for me (for the record, there is nobody else as my boyfriend as no idea how to play a healer and I wouldn’t trust someone to go on my account unless they were sitting in my chair and I can watch them and nobody else I know in RL plays this game :D).

It was almost like having a game and getting to the ending. The best ending. You’re about to win when either:
A. You need to save and quit because you have to take care of stuff.
or
B. Someone unplugs it/black out.

If you picked A, then one of the following happens: Someone comes and accidentally saves over your game or the system eats the data.

For the record, I have had these things happen to me. Now, I have been over my hate for repeating things. However, when I do something and then lose all my progress? That goes into a realm even further of my hate for repeating things.

That is how I feel about what happened with Lost Island. Yes, it’s random, there is a chance I could’ve lost regardless. Part of what makes it feel this way is why–that reason. And honestly, I’d probably still be upset (though, not as frustrated) if I just lost.

So, why is this so much different and why would I still be upset, you may ask? I hate Lost Island. No, not like how I hate dailies. With dailies, it’s more that I hate repetition. I hate how they are done. I do not necessarily have this much issue with the actual quests (with the exception of Belsavis’–but with their changes, it’s mostly just bad memories now).

I am not a fan of Lost Island or Kaon Under Siege. I dislike zombies (though, the actual appearance of most Rakghouls and Nekghouls doesn’t bother me so much–the infected humans and transformations are really what creep me out) and Kaon is like a horror movie (I don’t watch horror movies). While Kaon’s environment and the various mobs bothers me, the actual bosses aren’t too bad (with the exception of the first “boss” but that is due to it being endless mobs).

Lost Island, however, I hate the bosses. Some of the Rakghouls go into creepy territory as well and there’s also some of the creepy humans. But not just that, I am personally uncomfortable with it. It is something I still, regardless of how many times I have finished it, feel like I am not good enough to be able to do it.

1. Mini Boss 1 – okayish I guess.
2. Boss 1 – Hits super hard. Very nerve-wracking.
3. Giant Robot of Doom. No further explanations needed.
4. Mini Boss 2 – Rhino guy. Hits hard with certain attacks and it’s random who he decides to hit. If not taken down fast enough, can be a problem trying to get everyone quickly healed back up.
5. Lava Pit boss – While his on the ground phase isn’t horrible (stay behind him and run inbetween his legs when he is going to smash), his pipe phase sucks. A healer may just need to heal in the middle, but those stupid rotting balls he throws at everyone hurts. Just a few of those things and you can be down half way or further. With the Noble Sacrifice nerfs, if he targets you quite a bit, it may not be long before everyone else manages to fall and that sucks and just really doesn’t help. If it wasn’t for those stupid balls (or the fact that they are targeted randomly), it probably wouldn’t be so bad of a fight. At this point, my faith is just in everyone getting him down ASAP and him mostly targeting the same person or the whole thing can come crashing down and it’ll be all my fault.
6. Finally, the final boss. He’s…not so bad once you learn the fight. Main issue is if the people you are with are all over instead of taking a path. Also, while the Raghoul virus grenade things can be cleansed, they can stack quite a bit. As long as you have good DPS though (and again, a good path to move in and people not staying too far–can’t heal you if you’re on the other side of the room), it’s not so bad anymore. …other than his transformation thing which bothers me personally due to previously expressed fears.

I’m not saying it should be on easy mode–I’m just saying it makes me nervous (though, the robot boss could use some nerfing to be honest). And due to my issues with zombies, I personally have problems with the flashpoint. And that is part of what bothers me so much. I was that close to not having to do it again (unless someone really needed a healer and asked me to help them out) and lost because someone figured they’d lose anyway.

With Gargath, I don’t mind him so repeating him was okay. But I hate Lost Island. It scares me, it stresses me out, and it makes me incredibly uncomfortable and nervous. If I was going to have an anxiety attack from this game, this flashpoint would most likely be the cause of it. (that or something being removed that I haven’t saved up for yet)

And even though my stats* aren’t horrible… I just… I can’t put into words how much I hate this flash point. I really wish Midnight Raklings were tradeable so I’d never have to do this flashpoint again. I don’t think I can properly explain just how much I hate it, but I hope this is enough I guess.

*For those who are curious about my stats (as of 8:41AM on June 29th, 2012)…
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Feeling unlucky, Leveling, HK, + Roseria

So, my guild being awesome went and finished Karagga’s Palace normal. Unfortunately, still no pet drop. :/ Which sucks. While I know the pets aren’t common, it seems ridiculous how much we’ve run them… this, Lost Island, and killing Gargath and just nothing. It’s just super depressing. And when you see someone come out of their first run with their brand new pet… it hurts .__.

Anyway, I am hoping to get back to leveling Amidaia soon. Especially as apparently HK-51 may need multiple characters (I feel bad for people who really don’t level other characters much like me. It seems I got lucky for this at least) considering hints to having a level 50 character on one faction and at least mid level on another. I don’t know if I’ll want to get HK on anyone besides Marilea, but if I do, probably just Amidaia. I mean, maybe the rest eventually, but not priority at all other than my main on each faction.

For now, I re-made Roseria, my test character, on Corellian Run. I will be making her DPS, but I honestly can’t decide if I should make her a sage or a shadow. I am leaning towards Sage as while Shadows can, well, sneak, I really prefer ranged combat and Shadows are a bit more up close and person. I’ll probably dress her either in Consulars Exalted or Force Evangelist and with a green color crystal.

Week Highlights

Despite being away in Florida for work again, I did find some time to pop online while there and try out the game on my laptop. In general, it tends to work a lot better (definitely loads better and I’ve been getting new kinds of lag spikes on my computer which are incredibly annoying), but I definitely need to get used to the controls and bigger screen. As it is, it seems my interface is a bit glitchy on my computer lately as well which is all kinds of annoying.

Moving on, I got to raid with my guild a bit a few days ago. We did Normal EV to get rid of the daily, a complete HM Karagga (But still no Pet drop! At least I finally have all the HM codexes there) and then yesterday a complete run of Normal Explosive Conflict. We (as in the group I am in) may even do HM soon which I’m more than a little nervous about.

EC makes me very nervous. As it is, I almost screwed up the entire raid on the tanks due to:
1. Not realizing they wanted me on the inside of the lightning tank.
2. Not realizing I could run through the actual tank.

Once I realized though (and re-fixed my camera), we did it perfectly fine. But I’m still worried about positioning and stuff with the first boss when it comes to HM after what happened last time.

Also managed to go to Gargath with a random group which was nice… no pet there either but of course now he keeps dropping the Ice Scrabbler Schematic 😐 spite I tell you.

As for the PTS, I’ve done about 5 runs with Group Finder. Have gotten Hammer Station everytime though (using my lower level character as then it doesn’t matter if I get healing or DPS).

PVP also went okay today. Ups and downs but had a really good (and close match) earlier that ended with us winning while we had 2% left in Novare Coast. Was super suspenseful and action packed and just kind of awesome.

I just wish I could get the pets already. With 1.3 so close, I’m feeling more stressed out by the second. On the bright side, I officially have enough for one of the pets when 1.3 comes (and halfway to the other–will need to re-earn 2K normal Warzone commendations essentially). Now if I could just refer a friend who would actually get the game v-v And actually earn a good amount of credits. Out of stims and can’t afford to buy more. Most of my money is going to repairs (Though, usually I won’t have too much more than the Guild Funds I can use. I just sometimes forget to use the Guild Funds), stims, companion gifts, and random oter things. v-v

For now, back to the Test Server.

Feeling like a failure

Last night, I was invited to fill in for a healer during our guild’s Hard Mode run of Explosive Conflict as their healer wasn’t on. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I failed miserably. I can’t explain why because I don’t know. My heals were as good as their other healer, but it seemed like no matter what I did, it was for nothing.

I don’t know if it was me or maybe one of the other people they brought in, but in the end, when their other healer got on, I was replaced–which I would’ve been fine with if I wasn’t whispered saying how they wanted to replace me because they were sick of wiping…ignoring that most of those wipes weren’t my fault whatsoever. (And some of the few that were were due to new HM mechanics during the fight that they didn’t go over).

Regardless, I suppose I’m second-guessing my healing again. And once again, feeling more than a bit useless with some of the 1.2 changes.

I was dragged on some PVP stuff which went okay–though, I felt like an idiot when I realized I forgot to put my PVP stuff back on… not to mention there’s a lot of cheaters lately which is kind of depressing.

Blah, I just wish I was better 🙁