So, continuing with the cave theories, I found a nice person (Xivioke) to let me check out their story mode instance! 8-man story mode yields nothing, but going to explore a bit before checking out 16-man story mode.
Will also stream for a bit :3 Stream closed now :3 But recording up as per usual~
Edit: 16-man Story mode also has no message. It looks to be 16-man HM only. Very interesting.
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 š 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 š
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.
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. š
(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.)
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 Iām actually more or less completely geared out until 1.4 officially hits, I will say it is kind of annoying. I wasnāt able to play WoW long (it got boring for me fast) so I canāt 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. Lorickās second phase doesnāt even exist, etc.). HM and NM Operations do have some mechanic differences (though, some you can more or less skipālike Fabricatorās), but I think other than EC, none are really too big of a deal (unless you didnāt blow up the Lightning balls in SM Soa).
I donāt understand why end-game content canāt be special full group things without it being āYOU NEED ALL THIS GEAR OMG.ā
It wouldnāt 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 (Iām not good enough for Ranked. Nobody wants me unless they are desperate and Iām not skilled enough to ever get a 2200 rating for that speeder).
I could care less about the harder difficulties in anything. Not because Iām lazy or am looking for something easy, but because I hate repetition. If it wasnāt for the codexes and certain speeders and pets, I wouldnāt bother with different difficulties because gear isnāt 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 Iād be unable to do the content otherwiseānot because it is an upgrade and would just help me kill things faster.
Itās level 50 content FOR level 50ās, yes? And yet, thereās so much farming and annoyances we have to do. And before people are all ābut then weād run out of content too fast!!!ā Iām sure if they werenāt busy making different difficulties of the same stupid content and just made level 50 content without all the āgearing upā and mountains you need to climb to do so, we could get plenty of normal, story-driven, level 50 content and maybe thereād be stuff like Heroic 8ās which would be all raid-y and operationish. And then that gap wouldnāt 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.
Been watching some videos. It does look really interesting. Have seen up to Kephess in SM and just the first boss in HM. Kephess is SUPER creepy. X___x Looking forward to seeing someone get the final boss down.
Also, Puzzle Boss = amazing.
There is at least one lore object in there so yay for new codexes. Will have to update my list–but need to get names of all the codexes first.
(Also, a new codex about Resolve was adding too in Game Rules…shall have to see how t get that one)
For the patch notes š Currently patching on my computer and downloading on my laptop as we speak. Only disappointment is it looks like no character transfers…which is really depressing T__T (Also, looks like no new pets officially mentioned…however, that doesn’t mean much. I kind of hope not though as we have enough mysteries on our hands with the Wonderous/Wondrous Egg/Orochick and who knows what with the Lobelode)
Regardless, some highlights and things I found interesting from the patch notes:
-Obviously Terror from Beyond is out. The new gear is “Dread Guard” (it sounds silly)
-The ground targeting reticule is no longer cleared when a channeled ability completes channeling. (Very nice. This was always a bit frustrating/confusing in PVP)
-Players no longer receive the error message “You cannot cast while moving” when moving, stopping, and then immediately using a ground-targeted ability. (Yay!)
Okay, so I was browsing around and had this pointed out to me:
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 š If you recognize it, let me know please?
So, as we know, HM Terror from Beyond will have new gear. Apparently, according to this interview, the gear will be split between Hard Mode Terror from Beyond and Nightmare EC. I’m a bit nervous honestly. HM EC is evil enough so I’m scared about Nightmare (not that I can think of anytime I’ll ever end up getting to do it…) and I mean, HM Terror from Beyond is supposed to be pretty hard too so that scares me a bit as well. It’ll be interesting to see anyway–and at least the mount Kephess drops will be able to be gotten more then so yay.
Also looks like the January event is still going as expected.. I really need to work on my PVP then š but PVP just makes me so sad.
I really hate lockouts. I get it that the point is so people can’t run out of content so easily/get everyone geared super fast/etc.
But I think it’d be nice. Maybe loot just can’t drop for that person or something or maybe it’s restricted for once a day.
I just wish I could help as many people as I can without being restricted all the time. Makes me sad. (plus 7-14 times a week > 1-2 times a week for a drop forever)
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 š
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 š
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 š
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. š 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 š
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 š