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.

While I did not personally play the Consular class like I did the other three Republic classes, my wife did, and I helped her. See, she has never played an action game in her life, unless you count Mario Bros. It is really a compliment to the game, since she was able to jump in with a fresh look on things and really enjoy the story and experience. She had a humorous time of it as well, since she was not used to running in 3D with WSAD. She spent a lot of time running in to walls and into corners at first, but she was doing quite well towards level 8, and was even fighting groups of enemies at the end of the weekend with little-to-no help from me. I can see this game bringing in a new crowd to the MMO scene, the geek-at-heart people who have no MMO experience, but just love the story.

Anyway, here are the top 4 things to know about the Consular class in SWTOR!

1. Force powers rock (pun intended)
   The Force is just really cool to use. One of my favorite abilities was Force Wave. Basically, it functions just like Force Wave did in Knights of the Old Republic. Boom, everything around you flies away. The number of skills that involve throwing rocks at people was humorous (hence the title of this item). There were some decent CC skills available too, including a stun that had a nice range, and a Force-whirlwind type thing that was a fun immobilize.
2. The story
   The story is unique to some MMOs, since it focuses mainly on getting to the truths of the Force rather than the combat. Sure, you fight some things, but that is not the goal. That can lead to a boring time if you are one that likes to skip cutscenes and mow down a bunch of enemies. The story is a little slow getting off the ground compared to the other classes, but I think it will really appeal to a certain type of player.
3. Double-bladed lightsaber
   Who doesn’t want to have a whirling, double-edged stick of death? This is the only Jedi class that can use a double-bladed lightsaber, and it does so as part of the Shadow advanced class (stealth DPS/healer). This is a definite draw to the aesthetics of the class.
4. The Trandoshan
   Qyzen Fess is a noble, yet single minded companion that you get on Tython, your starter world. He is a Trandoshan, a.k.a. the lizard man, and he is a fascinating mix of culture, tradition, religiosity, and barbarism. His religion teaches that you must “score points” by hunting for the Scorekeeper, their goddess. This makes him very dedicated and narrow sometimes, but he is tempered by that respect for tradition that he shares with you as a Jedi Consular. He is an interesting guy, and I look forward to finding out more about him.

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