Archive
A SWTOR Beta Top 4: Things To Know About The Game
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.
I think this may be one of the best games I’ve ever played. The character progression, the stories, the class-design, and the PvP are all extraordinary. Everything is pretty polished, and the details are pretty close to being ironed out. I am going to enjoy putting out these posts.
Here are the top 4 neat features in SWTOR! Read more…
Gearing up in Isengard or “Yay math!”
Ah, gearing up. The constant fight for the “best” items for your class, level, and playstyle. With a new level cap and stat changes, the old gear is worthless and the new gear is just out of reach.
Draigoch armor set
Rise of Isengard shipped with one new armor set per class. The first four pieces (boots, gloves, chest, and legs) are available by bartering Superior Fourth Marks. The last two pieces (shoulders and helm) only drop from the Draigoch raid, thus this armor set is known as the “Draigoch set” or the “Dragon set.” I just hope they don’t shorten it like they did with the “Hele set” (Helegrod). I don’t want to be walking around in the “Drag set”…
"Dragon" is way cooler...
Superior 4th Marks, or “S4Ms” as they are seen in chat, are granted upon completion of Challenge modes of any 3- or 6-man Classic instance and 12-man Skirmishes, sans Icy Crevasse and Attack At Dawn, and they are also found in chests at the end of those instances. Challenge modes grant 3 Superior 4th Marks apiece. Read more…
Orion’s Minstrel Instrument changes
Orion made a post today about future changes to the Tier 7 crafted minstrel instruments.
Basically, he is addressing something I think should have been taken care of a long time ago. There was an update a while back to woodworking recipes to allow for multiple outputs with one recipe. Orion is trying to make the Tier 7 minstrel instrument recipes into multi-output recipes, that way you can have whatever instrument you desire paired with the buffs you want.
These changes are slated for Update 5, towards the end of the year.
The following combinations are the ones he is considering. He is pairing two regular buffs for each recipe, with a third buff available on critical success. Read more…
Making a Metalsmith: Starting crafting from scratch on a level 65
My captain Ardaheru was my fifth level 65. He was also my 8th character, created after the LOTRO Store came out and character slots were available for purchase. He quickly became one of my favorite classes and characters, partly because of his playstyle and group dynamics, and partly because of the idea I had in my head of a captain from A Casual Stroll to Mordor’s Captain Roundtable.
Since he was my 8th character, and I have been obsessed with crafting since the beginning of my journey in Middle-Earth, Ardaheru became an Explorer, with no primary craft, as I had a guild kindred crafter in every craft already. As Ardaheru climbed the levels, he eventually gained supreme level prospecting and forestry, funneling plenty of materials to my other crafters. Read more…
My New Checklist: Syp at Massively Gets the Scoop
Sypster over at Massively posted a preview of Rise of Isengard expansion, and here are some of the things he had to say.
The expansion is filled with dozens of small improvements as well. Classes will not only be expanded as players level to 75 but receive skill and trait overhauls as Turbine strives to give players “more meaningful choices” in how they build and play their roles. Scaling instances will have their caps raised to 75 and will stock their coffers with better and more shiny loot. Crafting will head into Tier 7 with plenty of new recipes to boot.
We also learned that the virtue cap will be raised from 10 to 12, giving players more ways to increase their character’s stats.
Wow, do I have a lot to do! I have to get all five of my 65s ready for this expansion! Here is my checklist of what I need to do: Read more…
The Fanatical Swordsman 