The Fanatical Swordsman

There are so many wonderful features of Star Wars: The Old Republic. I got the immense pleasure of playing the Beta this last weekend, and I want to share some screenshots and opinions. I will be putting out a series of posts with the Top 4s of the many things I got to try, including the classes, the PvP, the systems, and the experience in general.

Travel is the bane of player existence in MMOs. When mounts become available, what they cost, and what they look like are all crucial to our enjoyment of the game. Automated travel, while not as customized, is also important in not only the mechanics of getting around, but also the general feel of the game, e.g. horseback in LOTRO, zeppelins in WoW, and now, speederbikes in SWTOR!

Here are the top 4 things to know about travel in SWTOR!

1. Bind-points
   The bind-point system is one of the best ideas since mounts. The basic concept is that of a Hearthstone or Milestone (WoW and LOTRO, respectively). It is a skill that you can use to return to a place to turn in quests, sell vendor trash, train, or log out for rest xp in cantinas if needed. You can simply use a bind-point at the many locations throughout your travels and you can return to ANY of them every 30 minutes. That’s right. One skill, 30 minutes, ANY DISCOVERED LOCATION ON THE PLANET. This is brilliant. Bind-points are pretty much everywhere, even sometimes out in the field. Bind points are also in every cantina.
2. Taxis
   The friendly speeder taxi droids will remind you every time you board one of these that “mechanized travel is for official business only.” This is the standard automated travel system found in many other games, except that you can pretty much access any taxi location from another one. Sometimes you have to fly through a couple, but I was surprised how short the rides were. Barely enough time for a bio break.
3. Sprint
   Sprint is available at level 14 in the build I was playing. Sprint is awesome, as it adds 35% to your run speed. It is automatically turned off during combat, but it also automatically turns right back on as soon as the fight is over. It needs to be retriggered after death, however, and it is very handy in PvP, so keep an eye on it.
4. Speeder
   Speeders are your standard mounts. They are available at level 25, and will require purchase of a 40,000 credit license to pilot, as well as the investment in the speeder itself, which is at least 8,000 credits. I didn’t get as far as 25 in my time playing, but I have heard advice to not buy the speeder from the Republic or Imperial Fleet station. Rather, wait until you get to Anchorhead on Tatooine to buy the much sleeker cousin of the Czerka model available on the Fleet stations. It will cost you slightly more, somewhere between 8,000-9,000, but it is worth it to look better.

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