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Developer Blog, Guilds, KP, and Jokes

Lots to talk about in this entry! Some good, some bad… I’ll once again probably not talk in order.

Did a random KP story mode with Prongs and Tourch. It…didn’t go as well as it could have, but it wasn’t horrible. I ended up doing some of the puzzle by myself while occasionally throwing down heals and a battle resurrection @-@ But we got through it and the helmet dropped! And Tourch was nice and gave it to me ๐Ÿ˜€ So now I have it. I also got 2 new schematics <3 I'm also now only 30 Black Hole Commendations away from being able to get my other implant @-@ Moving on, there is a new developer’s blog! It talks about some of Makeb’s upcoming stuff so as usual, thinks I am excited about :3

Weโ€™ve got new Operations, new Flashpoints, new difficulty modes, new PvP areas, and of course, the entire Digital Expansion: Rise of the Hutt Cartel (which is targeted at our high level players).

Which would be more exciting if I didn’t still have so much to do ๐Ÿ˜€ I would say I probably dislike the new difficulty modes thing the most as I really hate how the difficulty modes work to begin with. I already hate doing a flashpoint/operation more than once, do I really need to do it on different difficulties too? X__x Although, it probably just means NM TfB.

Overall, weโ€™re aiming to introduce a more diverse array of activities โ€“ more stuff to do with your Companion, more challenges to tackle with groups, and more reasons for guilds to recruit. Weโ€™ll also be improving our itemization, introducing new incentives to revisit existing areas, and a lot of other exciting things that will be revealed as we move through the upcoming year.

I just hope it’s not big groups. Those are always a pain to get together *STARES AT EMPTY DREADTOOTH RESEARCH* ๐Ÿ˜ I don’t really understand itemization much, but I’m always up for new quests and more lore objects and things.

I think you will see (fairly soon) the answer to this question in the game itself – something big is coming to the Western Ice Shelf, but itโ€™s quite a departure from what was there before.

This makes me think the possible World Event on Ilum is still happening and still planned for sometime this month.

You should expect to see this come within the first part of this year. It will provide free character copies to PTS at any time (with possible restrictions dependent upon our testing needs at any given time).

Yay ๐Ÿ˜€

I want to reveal today that we are adding SGR with some NPCs on Makeb and do intend on pursuing more SGR options in the future.

^This should also make many people happy.

But yes, regardless, I am quite excited for upcoming things! Just… wish it was on better terms.

As a lot of people know, I am once again guildless. Mar-gon left so my leaving shouldn’t be a surprise. In general, certain things just made us quite upset. No matter how mad you are at someone or how much you may dislike someone, that’s just…never a reason. Ever ๐Ÿ™ And… giving me ultimatums isn’t nice either ._.

Overall, I’m pretty down about it and I just…wish guilds weren’t so important sometimes. Not to mention it makes things iffy, even with friends. There’s several people I can think of, who even if I’ve run into them and things have been fine, I’m just too shy to contact and then it eventually just doesn’t happen. There is no talking. I miss a lot of people due to that and it makes me sad that list is going to grow.

Finally, I’m a serious person. I get my feelings hurt easily, especially more so on days when I’m not feeling well or already in a bit of a down mood. I can’t tell when people are being sarcastic–I’m really dense with that. And if I say stop and you continue, it’s not funny. It never was funny. You’re just being a jerk.

And yet I end up feeling bad for not getting the joke. And when it comes down to it, I really really shouldn’t.

But that seems to be the trend. Because I’m naive and shy and serious, I should feel bad for not finding a joke funny or sticking to my morals, or being too shy to say something, or not wanting to have nightmares all night. And that really isn’t true…the person who should feel bad is the one who can’t respect how another person feels and has to make them feel like crud for existing.

That’s what is really sad.

PVP + Hoth

So, did some PVP today @-@ Kind of have to as much as I hate it… Duhtect brought me along by mistake, but I did a few matches before Mar-gon had me hop onto Cellina as I promised I’d play with him some more ๐Ÿ˜›

At the moment, most of our time has been spent camping Dootu Mu Bacha to try and get the RD-17A Hellfire Helmet that my boyfriend really wants for his bounty hunter. Sadly, no luck yet. We’ve seen two people also camping so far, but they was some Sorcerer top.

Anyway, just questing along inbetween (as you can only do 3 times in a row) and hopefully we will get more story done @-@

A possible Terror from Beyond drop?

Okay, so I was browsing around and had this pointed out to me:


(Screenshot credit to scifigamers)

That definitely looks like a Black-Cyan crystal to me. Since there are two color options available through EC (Black-Orange and Black-Purple), I wonder (if the Black-Cyan is true of course) if there will be another crystal and if so, what?

The crystals without a black core version are, besides the previously mentioned Cyan, Magenta and White. They are the only ones left without a black version. Heck, the White isn’t even out at all. Maybe, for all we know, it could be Black-Cyan and White. However, I believe White was mentioned to be gotten in a similar way as Magenta and still a far way off, so I’d probably put a Black-Magenta over Black-White/Normal White. It’d be neat though, wouldn’t it?

Besides that, the pink and gold armor that sentinel is wearing… I wish I knew what it was ๐Ÿ™ If you recognize it, let me know please?

Operations, End Game, and Various other things

So, lots of random things to talk about. It makes up for me not writing anything long in a while though I suppose. We shall go a bit in order (as the first two things are connected anyhow and the last thing is pretty much everything else) as we once in a blue moon do so enjoy ๐Ÿ˜›

I’m a completionist. If you have no learned this by now…well, I don’t know how you wouldn’t so ummm… anyway, I love to 100% things. Every single thing I play I like to complete. In the case of an MMO where there is no actual finish, but I set several goals for myself.

I love collecting things so those are my main priority when it comes down to thing. For me, gear is more of an object to get me further over a necessity. I will always put not looking like an idiot before better stats. And I wouldn’t even care about getting further if it wasn’t for certain things to collect and the story parts. Like in Pokemon, I could care less about the gym leaders and Elite 4 if it weren’t for the shiny badges and title ๐Ÿ˜›

Which brings me to the points that started this. A lot of people make big deals about raiding. If they are not raiding or have new stuff to raid (as they finished all the current stuff), they get bored. Obviously, this is something I don’t really understand. For me, once I see the story, I’m good. I don’t need to do it anymore.

EXCEPT for one small problem. Each difficulty has special codexes and the hard (and nightmare–though, the same as hard) difficulties have special vanity-related items (Just speeders confirmed so far, despite the Wondrous/Wonderous Egg rumors). This annoys me. Why? Because I don’t like feeling forced to do something on another difficulty to collect things. If I feel like doing something on a harder difficulty because this was no easy, fine. But I have no interest otherwise. The only other reason I’d want to, if there were no codexes or etc., were if there were new fights or story elements or etc.

Supposedly, when/if they re-do Nightmare for operations, they will be changing some of the things gotten from it. I do not want this. If you are asking why, you may want to re-read some of the stuff I said, but in case you do not feel like it: I hate when people are forced to do something on another difficulty to collect things. If I have all my gear, I am essentially stuck trying to farm an operation (and I don’t even have many attempts–only 1 for Hard/Nightmare and 2 if it’s on both…and the only thing on both (although, for the Tirsa Elite, you could do normal of both KP and EV) is the M0-GUL Thrall Droid.

However, I hate “rare” drops to begin with. For one, you have to deal with people who just want something because it’s rare. And I can’t stand that. There are people who really want something and to see someone who just wants to show off get it sucks. And I have awful luck in nearly every game I play (whether it be online or offline) and the chances of me getting something I really want is slim to none (however, once I do have it, there is a 90% chance it will show up wherever I go to spite me).

It is essentially kind of like my issue of being forced to do Ranked for a Speeder. Ranked was made for PVPers who wanted a challenge. But now those who easily killed users mercilessly before are downing teams easily enough in Ranked, getting plenty of Ranked Commendations, and are killing users in normal PVP even faster. Can I just say how much I hate PVP/Expertise? Still not looking forward to getting like 25 or so more valor ranks to hit 100 for the codexes :/ And I don’t know if I will ever manage a 2200 rating for the speeder.

I kind of wish nothing was bound. Then at least I could try and buy it from someone. And maybe I would’ve gotten a M0-GUL Thrall Droid months ago because so many people I would see who didn’t even want it would get it. Talk about heart-breaking.

Continuing back to Operations though, I also don’t understand farming full on. If everyone has their gear and everyone has the best they can have of each thing (thus, no need for materials to make them), why still do it? This is something that just boggles my mind. Maybe it’s partially my hate for repetition (so much hate), but it just seems a waste for me…and we all know my stance on doing something just to earn credits ๐Ÿ˜

I just wish the difficulties could just be made into something for when people want a challenge without all the special codexes or drops. That doesn’t mean I won’t do it (heck, EVERYTHING always feels like a challenge to me unless it can’t hit me!)–I do like challenges. I just don’t like feeling forced to (Again, while I may not be actually forced by the devs/game itself–my wanting to collect everything does kind of put me in that position). Especially as it’s just what I did before just with a few new mechanics (and most of the time, people don’t even have to change their strategy that much), bosses with more health and that can hit harder, and no new story elements. I just…don’t care.

So, in short:
I really hate the different difficulties of operations and think they’re stupid. This also goes for flashpoints.

Moving on to various other things… I forgot how much Corellia can be such a maze. We only finished the first part and the rest may take a bit. I did get Amidaia’s Mr. Robot Page half up. You can check out her wish list. The only thing is I still want an orange version of this shirt. Unfortunately, still no luck finding one. The Force Initiates Vestments shares the picture with the Inquisitor’s Vestments. There’s also the Savant Vestments which make a black version. However, that looks like…well, a orange version of this legacy top for Consulars. Part of me wonders if the Consular’s Renowned Robe is actually what the Nylite Vest would look like…of course I can’t check since:
1. It’s Jedi Consular only
2. It’s Bind on Pick-up
3. My Sith Inquisitor obviously can’t get to Coruscant.
4. I wouldn’t be able to spend that much to try and test it anyway (I may be tempted though)

Since I don’t plan to raid with her, I may just keep her in the red top (despite its suckiness) once I finish all the flash points and planets and whatnot.

I’ve also working hard on trying to get all of Amidaia’s companions up now that she is 50, but I suck at it. ๐Ÿ™ If you are on Corellian Run and have gifts you can’t use…I can actually use all of them so yeah >>

In a happier note, a friend gave me 5 Molecular Stabilizers. I checked the GTN and the Matrix thingys were actually less then the guild was selling them for so I bought them…and then, despite not really wanting to on principal, bought the last Stabilizer from the guild. However, this does mean I can get my Hilt so I sent them off and hopefully I will have a new Hilt sometime later today and then I will be DONE! Edit: HILT IS HERE YAY ๐Ÿ˜€

I technically need either the armoring for the Boots or Gloves to keep my 2-set bonus (without the ugly Columni Hat), but considering I still haven’t found a headgear I really like (come on fancy circlet) it’s not a big deal/emergency right now.

I may work on PVPing more due to Valor-ness plus trying to get some gear so maybe people actually want me on ranked and not just when they’re desperate (though, even being desperate isn’t enough). Besides that, I still need about 50 more Daily Commendations for the other daily speeder, I don’t even have a ranking yet so who knows how much I need to work on for the Ranked Speeder, and then I just have to get the Aratech Coral (1 more NP kill to go!) and the speeder HM Kephess drops and then I just need speeders you can buy (or speeders stuck bound–staring at you Korrealis Prince >___>).

Speaking of HM Kephess, I never mentioned how the raid went on Sunday. Unfortunately, nobody was on toda…well, yesterday now so we couldn’t try again, but we had gotten really close. DPS was no problem (in fact, we were DPSing a little too fast if anything) but circles seemed to throw people off, some people had a few issues with Fearful, and one of our tanks seemed to be thrown off a bit. Regardless, our closest was like 5% and 8% or something and they hadn’t even enraged. I really wish we pulled through.

…however, to be honest, I didn’t have as much fun as I’d have liked. I loved the company–everyone did a great job. They were not the problem at all. But…HM EC really has been ruined for me. I just…like I’m trying really hard to enjoy it (and seeing my boyfriend get rejuvenated from the frustration of the guild with how it went was great), but I just can’t. I just had it so killed for me so HM EC may as well just join the ranks of Taral V, Directive 7, and Eternity Vault. Not to mention while I am not surprised by deaths as we try things, repairs = expensive T__T And I just can’t afford so much.

Regardless, we’ll be trying again this Sunday (and then next Wednesday from then on) so I’m keeping my head high in hopes we succeed! It really isn’t their fault at all that EC HM got ruined for me. It’s just too bad it probably won’t get fixed. At the very least, I’m excited people will get gear even if it’s a very long way off for me to ever get gloves (or boots if I get lucky on an NP group). Hopefully I can at least win the Speeder on the first time it drops for us–then at least I’ll no longer feel like I have to do HM EC for myself. Helping other people get geared is fine–and it’ll just be a large stress reliever off my shoulders.

The best stress reliever, however, would just be knowing the truth about the Wondrous Egg. I can just continue hoping I suppose ๐Ÿ™

Speeder List Update

So, I decided to do a review of the speeders I still needed ๐Ÿ˜› Unfortunately, it is still huge.

Aratech Scythe โ€“ 225K at Fleet Vendor or Speeder Vendor on Voss
Aratech Lancer โ€“ 175K from Speeder Vendor on Voss
Aratech Dagger โ€“ 55K from Quesh Speeder Vendor
Czerka Invader โ€“ 25K from Quesh Speeder Vendor
Czerka Cruiser โ€“ 8K from Alderaan/Tatooine Speeder Vendor
Exchange Bandit โ€“ Security Vendor for 1.5 million
Gurian Shadow โ€“ From Blearg at Outlawโ€™s Den for 150K
Gurian Cyclone โ€“ From Joโ€™dath at Outlawโ€™s Den for 175K
Korrealis Prince โ€“ From Imperial PVP Vendor on Fleet. Technically, a friend got me one stupid bound-ness. *hopes for a bound remover in the Cartel Shop*
Lhosan Torch โ€“ Purchased from Speeder Vendor on Voss for 150K
Lhosan Stinger โ€“ 150K from Speeder Vendor on Voss
Lhosan Duster โ€“ 25K from Fleet Speeder Vendor
Lhosan Racer โ€“ Quesh Vehicle Vendor for 25K
Orlean Flurry โ€“ 25K from Hoth Social Vendor
Orlean Rebel โ€“ 8K from Alderaan/Tatooine
Paraxon Aero โ€“ From Light Sider Vendor on Fleet for 300K
Rendili Outrider โ€“ 25K from Quesh Speeder vendor
Rendili Protector โ€“ 8K from Alderaan/Tatooine
Ubrikkian Raider โ€“ 150K on Voss
Ubrikkian Hunter โ€“ 25K on Fleet
Ubrikkian Striker โ€“ 8K on Tatooine/Alderaan
Ubrikkian War-rider โ€“ 1,000 Ranked Warzone Commendations and Rank 2200 in Ranked Warzones
Tank Mount – NM EC
Shark Mount – NM EC Timed Run

Total: 3,204,000 Credits, 1,000 Ranked Warzone Commendations (and 2200 Rank Rating), get lucky, and need to do NM EC. Also need a bound remover ๐Ÿ™

darn it, so pricey.

NEVER HAVE TO DO LOST ISLAND AGAIN :D

Yes. That is what you think it is. I finally got a Midnight Rakling! The tank we were with was kind of iffy (lost aggro a lot, barely listened to questions and seemed confused despite supposedly having done this before–also didn’t bring the final boss in his final phase to the door and now I know why it’s so important to) and despite my really wanting the pet, let me know that he wanted it because a bunch of his guildmates had it ๐Ÿ˜

again, seriously, just… if you don’t truly, really, want something and there’s someone there who does, just…don’t roll on it unless they say it’s okay. For example, I’m not a huge mount person so unless I’m told to roll, I usually won’t unless the people who REALLY want it already have theirs. I’d like to collect all the mounts on day because I like collecting but that’s it…with the exception of like…animal mounts. Those are on pet level of want.

Thankfully (and obviously), I did manage to win by over 50 points!:

But yes, finally, a Midnight Rakling is mine:

Which means I only have the M0-GUL Thrall Droid left for pets I KNOW how to get. Obviously, there is still the Wonderous/Wondrous Egg aka Orochick, but it has yet to be proven to come from Explosive Conflict so there really is no confirmation on how to get it–just that it’s in the game. Obviously, that doesn’t mean I’ll give up though…but it’s not like I can do EC anymore than we already are (though, if we start Hard Mode next week, maybe we can do it twice a week for both). Regardless, since the M0-GUL Thrall Droid is the pet I have been missing the longest (2 big patches now!), it really is my priority so if I had to pick a raid… I’d pick Karagga’s Palace/Hutt Hospitality. Not to mention, at least it’s confirmed from that while for all we know, Orochick may not come from Explosive Conflict at all and it may just be a red herring. And of course, while it’s likely the other 4 1.3 pets (2 more Akk Dogs and 2 more Lobels) are in, there still is no proof yet so… but I definitely would like to look into those too.

Anyway, I’m just super excited. So close to being done! And I never have to do Lost Island again! …except, you know, if someone really needs my help.

Guilds

As most people know by now, we are currently not in a guild. We have, at the time of writing this, received a total of 7 Republic Guild invites and 2 Imperial Guild invites. We have an idea of who we will end up joining, but the reason we’re not in a guild right now is a very simple reason:

We do not want to bring anyone down.

What happened on Thursday, despite the 1.2 awesomeness, really hit us hard and put a very bitter taste in our mouths towards the game. And it’s very hard to try and just shrug it off. And even a simple reminder of it reminds us why we haven’t joined a new guild yet.

However, it’s a catch-22 because right now, a lot of the stuff there is to do kind of needs a guild (seriously) as finding a pick-up group is a pain. The only other thing for us to do is PVP (Which neither of us care for much. Just trying to get our valor up every so often plus the codexes we need for Novare Coast…I think the interruption one is glitched though), dailies (so cruel–but need to start doing them again for the Black Hole Relic plus speeders…and money. I really want the ship stuff .___. Nearly everything can be two-manned except that heroic in a heroic with the Eshkah on Belsavis), and alts (which I have a lot of trouble being in the mood to play).

So it’s like, with so few things to do, it makes it even harder and more depressing about the old guild drama. At the same time, everything we really want to do needs a guild–and I know there won’t be room for us to raid to begin with as we’ll be the new group. We might be able to fill in…but that’s about it. And that’s kind of depressing.

And it’s like, we don’t want to bring people down. Or be unable to help and just taking space because our attitudes are a bit dampened.

and of course, this just makes pets being random drops even more frustrating as well as everywhere they drop also involves needing to be able to get a group together.

And when it comes down to it, I’m just not very good at it. But we don’t want to bother a guild either with stuff unless they would be all for helping and whatever.

Stupid catch-22’s.
Stupid random drops.
Stupid drama.
Stupid ship stuff being 7.5 million credits.

๐Ÿ™

New Pet Overview + Feelings and thoughts

Okay, at this point, most of the pets have been figured out, so I figured I’d just do a quick overview post and then explain my thoughts/feelings after because…well, I write a lot, god. XP

Tauntauns

1. Taunta – Can be bought from the Collector’s Edition Vendor for 200K
2. Taun Fawn – Gotten from a code from PAX East
3. Ram Tauntaun – Gotten for being an active subscriber.
4. Taunling – Dropped by Gargath
5. Taunlet – Head to X:834, Y:759 on Hoth with the Ice Scrabbler Jerky Buff on (gotten from eating the Jerky). It will lure out Taunlet who you need to use the NVSCSS on to capture them.

Orobirds

1. Orokeet – Hatched from Unusual Egg found on Alderaan.
2. Orosquab – Hatched from Mysterious Egg which is dropped from either the second or final boss (or the first and third if not counting minibosses?) on Hard Mode Lost Island.
3. Orochick – Hatched from Wonderous Egg which either drops from Warlord Kephess (the final boss) on Hard Mode Explosive Conflict OR apparently spawns in a nest in the new operation, Explosive Conflict, after defeating Warlord Kephess. Difficulty unknown. NEITHER CONFIRMED. Both have been said, but at this point, there has been no proof.

All Orobirds are hatched on Tatooine through the same method.

Raklings
1. Midnight Rakling – Dropped from the bosses on Hard Mode Lost Island.
2. Crimson Rakling – Gotten from completing the “Tracking the Origin” Quest during the Rakghoul Pandemic Event on Tatooine.
3. Pale Rakling – Bought from Jeelvic in the Dune Sea (X:-896, Y:-925) for 60 DNA Samples which you get from completing quests and/or exploding from Raghoul disease during the Rakghoul Pandemic Event on Tatooine.

So far everything except the Orochick has either been confirmed with screenshots and/or multiple confirmations. However, considering the new operation has Orobirds running around and considering how you get the Mysterious egg, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true.

Now, since I don’t think anyone cares about my thoughts, I shall just say continue reading if you do~
Continue reading

Adventuring vs. Random Drops vs. Buying vs. Gifts/Codes/Quests

Now, I’m going to say this as simple as possible: I’m quite unlucky in games when it comes to random drops. I will be the person you will be stuck waiting on for every “gather #” quest because they hate my guts. So, for this reason alone, I’m not fond of trying to farm enemies to try and get a random drop. To me, that is as bad as a grind and more often than not, you can only fight those enemies a certain amount of times a day/week.

So, I really hate that the only way to get the M0GUL-Thrall Droid is to get lucky (as it’s a rare drop) from Karagga’s even though he sends gold bomb droids to blow up in your face like every 5 seconds.

And that apparently the Mysterious Egg is dropped from a boss only on one difficulty and who knows the drop rate.

I really dislike that.

I like exploring. And adventuring. And really prefer any other method than to have to try and farm things to get lucky.

I think the way it was made to find the Unusual Egg was REALLY awesome. I was all for finding the Mysterious and Wonderous eggs the same way. And now? They might not exist like that. I’d like to hope maybe they’re available both ways, but there is no confirmation and BioWare is trying to be as vague as possible–which I don’t blame them for, afterall, you don’t want to just give everything away and ruin the adventure for the players, but just some confirmation so people aren’t all over the world or constantly killing things to let them know that way doesn’t work.

I don’t mind buying pets–in fact, that was how pretty much every single one, with the exception of the M0GUL-Thrall Droid was obtained, so I am glad they were trying to make things more interesting. To this moment, my journey to get my Magenta Lightsaber crystal was my FAVORITE thing thus far. I enjoyed it so much.

Getting them as Gifts and Codes works too. I have mixed feelings on them (as not everyone can get everywhere so thn you’re kind of stuck with Ebay for ridiculous prices), but I still prefer them to random drops.

However, if they were Quest rewards or GUARANTEED that when you killed Karagga or that boss, the droid/egg would be dropped, fine! I’m good with that. Of course, then it’d be too “common”….but is that ever really such a bad thing? There’s so many pets–it’s not like everyone will be using that one in the first place.

But most of all, this forces people who may not like to do operations or flashpoints or things like that (maybe being more of a solo player) into having to do them if they want all the pets while something like Exploration does not.