Grouping with a server wide LFG Channel

Bioware promised a new LFG tool, but the players aren't waiting for it. A new trend that is taking over the galaxy is a player created, server wide, LFG channel. More and more servers now have player created LFG channel and this is becoming a great way to find groups these days. Like I mentioned in a previous post, sticking around the Fleet to find groups isn't a good option and many players, myself included, who will gladly join groups, don't do that.

1.7 million active subscribers

Bioware just released their current active subscription numbers. Their official announcement can be found here: http://www.swtor.com/news/press-release/20120201 1.7 million active subscribers. A pretty impressive number for a 6 weeks old game. Another thing to take into account is that many people who were estimating the growth and success of SWTOR were commenting that the first month numbers aren't a good indication of the subscribers, because people who buy the game get 30 days free, so when counting the numbers during the first month, you count all the people who bought the game at launch or pre-ordered it, were disappointed by the game and never became active subscribers. This become irrelevant past the first month. While potentially this number still includes people who bought the game during the past 30 days and aren't happy enough to become active subscribers, these numbers are currently much smaller than during the first month.

Questing SWTOR VS WOW

Yesterday I was doing the Aldaaran Bonus Series with my level 40 Operative and I get these 2 quests at the same area, right next to each other, both require 4 drops from specific mobs. I'm going for the first one, killed 2 of these mobs, no drops. I must be doing something wrong, right? No way I didn't get a drop twice while killing the right mob. I read the quest description, a rare thing by itself, because normally everything you need to know is part of the dialogs and built in quest tracker, couldn't figure out what I'm doing wrong, this looks like the mob I have to kill. As I'm one of these people who have to experience all the content, I wasn't about to let it go. Alt tabbed and looked for it online, turns out the drop rate is 30-40%, so I killed about 10-12 more and finished it. Went for the second quest, 4 kills, 4 drops, as usual, this is how quests normally are.

Group Finding Tips

Grouping is a huge part of SWTOR, the plot of the flashpoints is very interesting and engaging sometimes with the best story and twists in the game (I'm thinking of you Foundry) the fights are well designed and the plot is often very interesting. They did 2 things with grouping that I really like, the first is the system  where all groups participate in dialogs, this makes your group members from faceless, voiceless strangers who are only there to help you get through the content, to characters who are part of the plot and decisions. The conversation  rolling system in dialogs works really well. Makes you feel like a part of a group where each one participate in the decisions and actions of the team. The second thing I like is that the decision making makes each fp run feel a bit different, with different dialogs, different cut scenes based on the decisions and even different bosses to fight.

Scoundrel Operative Healing Abilities and Skills

This post continue the Scoundrel and Operative healing guide from the previous post. I'll concentrate on healing abilites and skills and only mention others when they directly apply to the healer responsibilities or play style.

Abilities:
Tack Cover - Boost your defense when healing from a distance, making you less likely to take damage so you can worry about healing your team mates.
Kolto Injection - Your typical big heal. It's pretty expansive to cast, so you won't be able to spam it, but when someone needs a big health boost, this is your best line of defense.
Adrenaline Probe - regenerate energy, very useful after an expansive healing burst is needed and you need to keep healing.

Smuggler Scoundrel Imperial Agent Operative Healing

The Scoundrel and Operative are identical classes for the Republic and Empire. The only difference is the skills and abilities names and some of the visual effects. I'll be using the Operative terminology, but everything also applies to Scoundrel unless I specifically mention it.

Generally speaking the Operative healing style is based around HoTs, he gets cheap ones that stack and can be active on multiple targets and he has the only group HoT skill. In many situations the Operative can keep the party alive by making sure everyone who is taking damage or about to take damage is covered with HoTs, however the Operative also has few other tricks up his sleeve when more intense healing is required.

Healing thoughts and classes

So you want to be a healer? Let's take a look at healing in SWTOR.

There are 3 classes that can heal in SWTOR, each mirrored identically between the Republic and the Empire. These are Imperial Agent Operative for the Empire, which has identical skills and abilities as the Smuggler Scoundrel for the Republic, Bounty Hunter Mercenary which is mirrored by Trooper Commando and the Sith Inquisitor Sorcerer, mirrored by the Jedi Consular Sage. I'll use the Empire names because it makes my life easier, considering I currently mostly play on the Empire side, but everything is relevant for both factions. The only difference is the names of the classes and abilities and some of the visual effects. The gameplay and the abilities themselves are identical.

What SWTOR needs to succeed as an MMO

So I established that I think the single player and leveling aspect of SWTOR is incredible, but SWTOR is defining itself as an MMORPG game. So let me take a look at the MMO aspect.

Before I get into it, I want to say that this is just general observations and guesses about the future, I simply think it's too early to judge it. MMO by nature is an evolving game and SWTOR didn't have time to evolve yet. Most people aren't 50 yet and there aren't too many established guilds and serious long term raiders and pvpers that makes it comparable to an established game. Also it's obvious Bioware mostly invested at the pre endgame content which people hit as soon as the first day and that they have plans to expand the endgame in the future. For this reason I'll concentrate on the MMO aspect during leveling, where most people are currently at.

How many gaming hours are there in SWTOR?

I'm purposely not including endgame in this discussion, because by the nature of it, MMO endgame can vary from infinite amount of time, if you enjoy it, or a very short time, if this doesn't appeal to you. I think it's meaningless to even try to count endgame hours of play.

As far as the leveling game, counting an average of about 1.5 hours per level (less for lower levels, more for higher levels), getting a character to level 50 takes about 75 hours. Characters for the same faction advance through the same zones, so each zone content can be done once for completely unique questing experience. However there are more quests than needed to reach the next zone level.

I'm currently playing 3 characters, Imperial Agent Operative, Sith Inquisitor Sorcerer and a Bounty Hunter Mercenary. Why these 3? Because they are all healers and personally I love healing in MMO and I like to try out high level healing with every class before I decide which one is my favorite. 2 of these are close to 40 and the 3rd is in his high 20s. I've never repeated a single quest with 2 different characters, there are simply too many things to do for me need to repeat quests.

A new approach to deep engaging game worlds

My thoughts after playing the Imperial Agent story to level 36. If Bioware would've made just this story a single player game, SWIA (Star Wars Imperial Agent) they would've had a 70 hours RPG. The plot is one of the best in gaming ever, there were already 2 plot\decision points that i know i'll look back years from now as some of the best in gaming ever, incredibly deep in interesting side quests, mini games, crafting system. I can't wait to see how it develops, understand what the hell is going on and do things that needs to be done (it would've been much easier to explain if I could add spoilers). SWIA would've passed the 90 average game score easily, personally so far I would've put it with witcher 2 and Dragon Age Origins as the best single player RPG of the past few years.

Instead they put it as 1/8 of a full blown MMO, making people compare it to WOW, judge it's grouping, social aspect, end game, PVP, balancing. These are all valid, MMO players and pure social gamers, who wouldn't dream of picking up a single player RPG title, are targeted audience of this game. But it blows my mind that people can play for hours\review the game\judge\buy\subscribe\quit\like\hate a game without even touching 5 minutes of this incredible 70 hours full blown game. I'm not saying I don't understand it, it's perfectly valid to judge an MMO by advancing 1, 2, 3 characters to endgame and play it.