The Fanatical Swordsman

I have played many games in my lifetime. There have been many dungeon-crawls, many grind-fests, and many hours spent wondering why I was doing what I was doing.

It has all come to an end.

SWTOR has single-handedly given me what I’ve always wanted in an MMO. It has story, zest, interesting systems, and a gun-totin’, wise-crackin’ space cowboy who has a flair for getting in guns blazing and getting out with a smile on his face and bad-guys in smoking piles behind him.

The first thing you need to remember is I like playing characters that remind me of certain parts of me. In other words, I can see myself in that character. My Hunter in LOTRO was a single-minded, goal-oriented killer, just like me (except of course for the “killer” part). My Captain in LOTRO was a lot like me (really more like me) in that he was fond of justice, dignity, and tradition, and he is fiercely loyal to his friends.

My smuggler is fantastic with the ladies, is a great shot, has a hot-rod starship, and is snarky and sarcastic. Just like…wait a minute! That’s not at all like me! I am literally none of those things. I have never shot a gun (though I live in Texas), my car is a boring, practical sedan, I am typically very polite and non-confrontational, and I was completely in the dark about how my wife liked me for a year before I finally asked her out on a date!

I think that the reason I like the smuggler is everything about him is awesome and I want to be more like him. His story is so good that I identify with him, even though we are nothing alike. He is a likable guy, despite his rough exterior, and I want to know what happens to him

My Gunslinger is level 22 and he is the only character I have been working on. His crafting is in the 100s in Cybertech, Scavenging, and Underworld Trading. I anticipate switching Scavenging for Slicing at some point, but not until I have an alt that can Scavenge. There are too many materials that I need to completely go cold-turkey on Scavenging.

I thought I would put up some hints and tips for things I’ve seen.

• Crafting is expensive. When I got two companions when I got my ship, I started sending them out on missions quite a bit, and before you know it, my stockpile of 17,000 credits dwindled to 800. Learn the costs of what you are making, make only enough for you to keep it caught up with your level, and don’t worry about making the best thing for your level. Sell things on the auction house or pick up Slicing to keep the credits coming in. Keep in mind that you will need ~48,000 credits for your speeder at level 25, and that skills cost upwards of 2000 credits EACH around level 20.
• If you like PvP, do a Warzone occasionally as you level for great gear and lots of money. In fact, this is how I am making back all the money I used I crafting. I get about 1200 credits for each Warzone.
• Your droid that you get with your ship says he can’t be used for combat, but in reality, he is a healing companion. I have no idea how good he is, since I only just accidentally summoned him right before I got off today, but I know that he can heal. You will probably want to outfit him with some droid items, since he is as naked as C-3PO in The Phantom Menace.
• When sending your companions to craft items (vs. sending them on missions), you can queue up to five items for them to craft. That means if you have a 10 minute item and you want to make five of them to Reverse Engineer or sell on the GTN, you can send your crafting specialist on that while you sleep, eat, go to class, or peruse your favorite blog (hi :P).

So yeah, first week of SWTOR! It was an excellent start. I am currently waiting for the servers to come back up for the official launch. It will probably be 9:30-10:00 PM CST I’m thinking. Bioware has tended to run early on everything, and they said they would be up by 11 PM CST. I will see you all when the game officially has launched!!