An interesting cave

Sep14

So, last night as I watched some friends do 8-Man Terror from Beyond HM, they stumbled upon a cave while looking out for chests. In the cave was absolutely nothing, however, I mentioned it was “too nice looking to not do anything”. It turns out my suspicions may have been correct.

I received an e-mail this evening from a fairly well-known guild which caught me by surprise letting me know about the message they saw and how they hadn’t been able to figure it out, but hoped I’d be able to help.

And considering I love mysteries, I have hopped on that train immediately. First thing I did was bug one of my friends to see if I could look around his instance. After some begging and a promise I wouldn’t take as long as EC, he said yes šŸ˜› So I began my journey and for those who can’t watch or due to the fact that the text sucks (because procaster isn’t the best quality and X-Split hates me…), well, I shall tell you anyway!

I went ahead and explored TfB a bit and also grabbed the codex entry because I kind of forgot about the speeder >> Umm…anyway… so I got to the cave and nothing. So, I asked him to change it to 16-man HM and exited. Headed back (and remembered the speeder this time) and the message I was told about successfully pops up: “You feel a strange and chilling presence.”

This will appear every single time you exit and enter the cave on 16-man HM. The question now is if it also appears on Story Mode…and if so, both 8-man and 16-man or just one? Due to it not showing on 8-man HM, I’m leaning towards 16-man only or just 16-man HM, but still best to test to see.

They did try bringing an ice scrabbler jerky buff into the cave and nothing happened. Some ideas I’ve thought up is bringing the Water Vaporator Buff in there and/or an Orobird egg in there and see what may happen, if anything.

My best ideas over to what it could possibly be is either a pet (afterall, there seem to be a lot upcoming) or some kind of lightsaber crystal. I kind of have mixed feelings on the latter (White is still a ways off last I heard and a black-core saber has never been gotten like this. Sure, a new color is possible, but I’m really up in the air with this), but it’s still something to keep in mind.

What do you think it could be? Considering the 8 hour maintenance next Tuesday, I’m expecting 1.4 soon so hopefully more research can go into it then. …too bad I don’t think I’ll get to do 16-man HM anytime soon (if ever), but I can hopefully just borrow some instances again. In the meantime, I’m going to research into some of the possible upcoming pets (and maybe try and get a hold of an Orobird Egg and/or the Water buff and see if I can borrow the instance again) plus some items also mentioned in the data dump (and stalk databases for possible images and more organized information) and will edit this with anything I find out.

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Edit: Random speculation:
To be honest, the first thing I think of when I heard “strange and chilling presence” is a ghost. Part of me wonders if it could be like a Force Ghost that you either need to battle for something and/or could be a bonus boss for extra gear that is only in 16-man HM.

Another idea is maybe a pet itself could trigger it. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of switching around pets while I was there šŸ™

The Lylek would usually go deep into caves. Considering what it says about it, that sure would be a chilling presence.

Flutterplume’s eat rotting flesh. Chilling indeed.

There is a giant Lobel miniboss inbetween the first and second bosses in the instance and Lobel’s like marshy lands. Maybe something with him?

The supposed Gree Larvae that was listed in the data dump has a high possibility–afterall, this Operation has a lot to do with the Gree.

Shall continue to update as I think of more stuff and/or try out things~

Edit 2: For those wondering, they did try all going in the cave at once so everyone being in may mean nothing. (I say “may” as maybe everyone needs something, but I don’t know if they’d actually go that far)

Having the Moisture/Water Buff (Frozen and not frozen) from the Vaporators does nothing. Going in with an Orobird Egg and both the Egg and Buff still needs to be tried.

Fire at the beginning of the Operation does nothing besides kill you pretty fast.

They tried some vanity pets–going to get full details on this :3

TfB is practically made inside a bunch of exhaustion zones making outside exploration hard. There is, of course, a chance it may involve an exhaustion zone in some way (Datacron on Ilum, Orobird Egg with Water Buff), but that will cost a lot of repairs to check in detail. There are quite a few enemies pretty much in exhaustion zone territory too which is a bit suspicious.

Story vs. Hard/Nightmare

Sep14

If there is one thing that has come up a lot, it is people skipping story mode to go right into HM or Nightmare (or even a whole new tier) to get geared. I just…hate when people do that. I also dislike when I am personally dragged into a harder difficulty if I have not finished a lower difficulty of something. Getting dragged into HM False Emperor before I finished normal FE and Battle of Ilum was frustrating and it took us hours to find people to do the normal versions with us (in the end, we actually did most of Battle of Ilum with a companion before another friend got on and helped us out).

I don’t understand why people skip around. Sure, it may not be any of my business, but it is annoying. I don’t care if you can be carried through a harder difficulty and get geared faster. What about the differences? The chances? Do you not want to experience it?

I’ve already mentioned how I wouldn’t even do HM or NM if it wasn’t for codexes or some vanity stuff. However, some completely new experiences would make me curious–the main difference is I wouldn’t feel like I HAVE to do it or like I’m being forced to.

And honestly, I feel it is better to learn the original fights and then adjust to new mechanics rather than going in and killing yourself trying to learn the fight with a bit more difficulty added to it. There’s a reason most people start learning to ride a bike with training wheels. It doesn’t help that most people aren’t even running in because they need to hurry and gear for some reason. It is because they feel they’re too good for story mode and that makes me sad. And feel very bad for story mode. šŸ™

(and really, the fact that I prefer to go in order should surprise nobody if you look at how many lists and things I make. Planet order, quest order, etc. Having to backtrack annoys me quite a bit and I’d rather pause and wait and get something done in the order it should be than skip ahead unless I’ve done it before.)

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.

High Population Server up

Sep13

Yep, as mentioned previously, the server is now up. You can find more information here and here.

Some interesting tidbits are more character slots. For example, it says I have 9/12 (I have one on Canderous Ordo due to Orochick rumors…she’s just level 7). This server does not have 1.4 so I don’t know if more character slots are coming soon or not. (Edit: Some people are reporting they have more than 12 so it may just be dependent on how many characters total.)

Right now, just East Coast servers were transferred, but it seems they will do a few of them. Characters will be deleted in a few days–probably to prepare for the next. Unfortunately, Aurorra’s and Cellina’s names were taken šŸ™ I gave Cellina a ĆÆ instead of an i and Aurrora Ćŗ instead of a u. I was also asked to change my Legacy name, but it still let me keep Naberrie so I think that may have just been the free change they mentioned…

Some people think they are preparing to make one giant big server. I don’t think so though…and I kind of hope not (my names T__T). Not to mention RP, PVE, and PVP issues.

Some are thinking there will just be one PVE, one PVP, and one RP (or one RP-PVE and one RP-PVP).

I think it’s just there are a lot of people who didn’t transfer and they want to make sure there is room when they do the forced transfers. But yeah… I guess we will see.

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 →

Terror from Beyond Codexes

Sep12

So, now that I’m re-watching a stream, figured I’d go ahead and do this to keep track.

Lore Object: Ancient Technology. Gives you the codex entry for “Asation”.

Boss Codexes:
Epic Enemies: The Writhing Horror (Story Mode)
Epic Enemies: The Writhing Horror (Hard Mode)
Epic Enemies: The Dread Guards (Story Mode)
Epic Enemies: The Dread Guards (Hard Mode)
Epic Enemies: Operator IX (Story Mode)
Epic Enemies: Operator IX (Hard Mode)
Epic Enemies: Kephess the Undying (Story Mode)
Epic Enemies: Kephess the Undying (Hard Mode)
Epic Enemies: The Terror from Beyond (Story Mode)
Epic Enemies: The Terror from Beyond (Hard Mode)

Also, shall be having random fun on the test server so yay~. No sound this time though šŸ™

Edit: Pausing for a bit. Shall start it up again soon (and update when I do)

Edit 2: Due to some issues, will not be continuing tonight. Shall hopefully stream a bit tomorrow though~

The Endgame Problem

Sep12

Due to lots of discussion with my boyfriend about various things today–the issue came up with how the endgame system essentially copied WoW and has the whole “YOU NEED TO DO ALL THIS TO GET THIS GEAR TO MAKE IT SO YOU ARE ABLE TO DO THE FIRST PART OF THIS STUFF” when it is all level 50 content.

It is level 50 content.

And you need to go over the river, through the woods, and down a mountain to even hit the first part of it. And honestly? He’s right–that’s stupid. We hit level 50, why do we have to do all this repetitive stupidity to actually be able to do the content we should be “looking forward” to?

While Iā€™m actually more or less completely geared out until 1.4 officially hits, I will say it is kind of annoying. I wasnā€™t able to play WoW long (it got boring for me fast) so I canā€™t comment on their End-game personally, but it seems silly that after you hit level 50, you have to go on some long silly journey to actually do something new at level 50.

HM Flashpoints are barely any different. I would say the biggest change between normal and hard (and this is probably why it has its own tier in Group Finder) is in Lost Island where many mechanics are excluded completely (Droid has no fire come up from the floor, Dr. Lorickā€™s second phase doesnā€™t even exist, etc.). HM and NM Operations do have some mechanic differences (though, some you can more or less skipā€”like Fabricatorā€™s), but I think other than EC, none are really too big of a deal (unless you didnā€™t blow up the Lightning balls in SM Soa).

I donā€™t understand why end-game content canā€™t be special full group things without it being ā€œYOU NEED ALL THIS GEAR OMG.ā€

It wouldnā€™t even be such a big deal if only HM and NM did that and those were solely just for a challenge. Kind of like how Ranked was supposed to be. Just a challenge for those who wanted it but they had to go and make all this special ranked requirement gear which really ruins it for me (Iā€™m not good enough for Ranked. Nobody wants me unless they are desperate and Iā€™m not skilled enough to ever get a 2200 rating for that speeder).

I could care less about the harder difficulties in anything. Not because Iā€™m lazy or am looking for something easy, but because I hate repetition. If it wasnā€™t for the codexes and certain speeders and pets, I wouldnā€™t bother with different difficulties because gear isnā€™t my priority. I already have the outfit I plan to wear forever. But yet, I have to bother with gear because I have to. Because Iā€™d be unable to do the content otherwiseā€”not because it is an upgrade and would just help me kill things faster.

Itā€™s level 50 content FOR level 50ā€™s, yes? And yet, thereā€™s so much farming and annoyances we have to do. And before people are all ā€œbut then weā€™d run out of content too fast!!!ā€ Iā€™m sure if they werenā€™t busy making different difficulties of the same stupid content and just made level 50 content without all the ā€œgearing upā€ and mountains you need to climb to do so, we could get plenty of normal, story-driven, level 50 content and maybe thereā€™d be stuff like Heroic 8ā€™s which would be all raid-y and operationish. And then that gap wouldnā€™t be there in the first place. Not to mention then there wouldn’t even need to be different gear for PVP either and expertise could be kicked to the curb already.

High Population Server Test?

Sep12

So, I received this e-mail recently:

Higher Population Server Tech Coming Soon!
Greetings :

We wanted to let you know that weā€™re getting ready to introduce new high population server tech that will allow us to increase current server populations. Any characters remaining on an origin server will be moved to a high population destination server in order to provide a better overall gameplay experience. Please help us test this by posting on our Public Test Server forum and reporting any bugs or strange issues that you may experience.

All players will need to follow the instructions below in order to test the high population server tech.

Log in to the Star Warsā„¢: The Old Republicā„¢ launcher using your username and password.
Click “Play” to launch the game.
Click the Server Selection button in the bottom left corner of the character creation screen.
Select the following server: “High Population Server Test”
Click “Select”.
Review your characters for any issues and click “Play”.

If you have previously created a character on the Public Test Server, please do not worry: your characters have not been touched or deleted. This is a special Public Test Server and your previously created characters will still be available on the regular Public Test Server when it returns.

Get Started

Your feedback and participation are truly appreciated.

Thanks,
The Star Warsā„¢: The Old Republic Community Team

However, I’m guessing this isn’t up yet as I do not see the server anywhere. I wonder if it was sent out by mistake or something? Hmm… Regardless, it sounds fun. Hopefully there will be more information soon.

The Black Hole Issue

Sep11

So, apparently the Black Hole Weekly is gone on the test server. Let’s hope this is a glitch because I do not know why it is still called Black Hole then (yes, I know there is a whole crater and junk but part of it was because you could get the commendations from it).

I’m not sure if Rakghoul Conflicts is still around, but it seems more or less, with the exception of the Group Finder Dailies, they really want to make BH Commendations kind of operation-only. I kind of can guess why…but it just really sucks–especially with the prices of those stupid implants. ._.

The Transfer Dilemma + PVE/PVP

Sep11

If you’ve been browsing the PTS forum and paying attention to a few of the news threads (or even noticed my slight mention here), you will know that a lot of people are incredibly upset that transfers weren’t done. And on top of that, this makes more people upset there isn’t some system that lets you instantly level to 50 or get some instant high tier gear to try things out.

And to be honest? I do have to agree a bit, although, I see both sides to it. I’ll go over reasons why they probably didn’t transfer everyone as it should be shorter:
1. Chances are, this patch will be out incredibly soon regardless. Supposedly it will be out sometime around the 25th (most likely before) which means it won’t be on the Test Server for long.

2. This means the chance of someone clearing it on the Test Server and thus, being able to take it out immediately on the live game are lessened substantially.

3. This guarantees them to only have people they know will help test. I will admit I wasn’t able to test a lot of their focus content which is partially because:
1. My guild could care less
2. My boyfriend couldn’t get the Test Server at the time
3. I didn’t know anyone.

My gear wasn’t fantastic so I really could just test some of the smaller things. Regardless, I sent several bug reports on Group Finder even if I couldn’t be more help for 1.2 (I spent most of my time Pet Researching though…).

However, this leads up to favoritism. There are many guilds who helped test previous content and were not transferred. And the debate over “What makes their $15 worth more than mine?” appears quite a bit. And I can’t say I completely blame anyone for it. On the otherhand, BioWare can only know so many that did help test and maybe they weren’t able to bring them over, but they still could’ve done something.

They could’ve possibly transferred any characters that completed HM EC and have logged in within the last 1-2 week(s). Those users would be in a position to help test (as they’d have the proper gear. For reference, my gear was before I fixed all my mods so it’s a mess) and to be honest? So many people wanted to. I had friends getting ready to do 16-man, my boyfriend was finally going to be able to try the test server out… and I was going to help. I was going to be useful and be able to do something. And that ended up being completely blown to pieces. (for those wondering, the time helps make sure the person is still playing and is still subscribed)

Even limited transfers would have been great. Or just a chance for people to try and ask to be transferred rather than just being blown off. I knew SO MANY PEOPLE who were so excited to try and give feedback and I was even going to get a chance myself and now? I’ll be lucky if I get to do a story mode run.

The thing is…this has been promoted for ages. People were dying for this. So excited for it. And this was kind of a slap in the face to all those people. Maybe it would’ve taken a bit, but would it really have been that impossible?

Anyway, going onto the PVE/PVP thing…this can be summed up very easily: If you make different gear for PVE and PVP…separate the nerfs too. I have yet to see any real nerfs that are done because of PVE–just PVP…and that isn’t fair. I joined a PVE server for a reason :/ There’s no reason there can’t be some debuff that causes these changes when you are flagged and/or in a Warzone.