SWTOR Resumed Planets Quest Progression

I'm sure there are hundred of guides to the game, some more concretes over a certain topic, while others might go through different topics. This one, will be one more but I hope it brings some help to some.

First and foremost, I'm trying to consider this guide for those that opt to play the game as Free to Play.

First thing to be aware are the main differences between each type of profile in the game. There are three profiles, Free-to-Play, Prefered Status and Subscription. The last one we don't need to discuss it, that's the normal profile for those that pay the subscription every month. They will gain each month also 500 Cartel coins that they can spend on the ingame store. 

The Prefered Status, is directed to those that previously made some expense over the game, either old time subscribers, or someone who spent some money on the Cartel Store. They will get 6 character slots, 4 quick bars, and some other perks.

The last option, Free-to-Play, will be directed to those that haven't spent anything in the game, and will be reduced to 2 character slots, 2 quick bars and some other features will be non-available.

A more detailed version can be seen here.

The Free-to-Play model is a bit restrictive, but I think it's possible to level from 1 to 50. In any case my advice would be at least to pick the Prefered Status. It's 5 euros, which will give 450 cartel coins, that you can use to purchase some small perks.

Leveling

Being a Free-to-Play player, carries a few burdens. The most notorious, is the reduced amount of experience gained, and the fact that you can't stack rested experience. As a result, leveling will be longer than a subscriber (note that this also affects players with Prefered Status). As leveling comes, while questing, there is nothing a Free to Play player won't have access. The quests are the same, the planets are all the same, nothing is blocked.

The current path from each faction, planet wise is the following:

Starting Planets

Korriban (Sith Inquisitor and Sith Warrior) and Hutta (Imperial Agent and Bounty Hunter). This will be the starting ground for each player. Here you will be introduced to the game, will start your class story and you will get your first companion. These companions will prove very useful while leveling. Progression will go from level 1 to 10 on average. Also when you finish the planet this will mark the end of act one, and as a final reward you may choose your class advancement. Sith Inquisitor will branch into Sith Sorcerer (Range Damage or Healer) and Sith Assassin (Melee Damage or Melee Tank)  while the Warrior will branch into Marauder (Melee Damage) or Juggernaut (Melee Damage or Melee Tank). For the Imperial Agent it will branch to Sniper (Range Damage) and Operative (Melee and Stealth combat or Healer). The Bounty Hunter divides into Powertech (Range Tank or Range Damage with some melee abilities) or Mercenary (Range Damage or Healer).

Also here you will be able to pick your crew skills for the first time, after you finish the planet.

Level 10-16. The Capital Planet of the Empire. This will be the second planet, and probably the second longest, in terms of levels it lasts. Typically a quest planet, and when you finish you will have access to your personal spaceship.

Level 16-20. Just a regular level planet. Nothing major happens here. A mix of industrial, plains and mountains on this planet.

Level 20-24. Nar Shaddaa is an city planet, much like Coruscant, and with a high proliferation on crime. This will be the first planet you will actually see opposite faction. Yet another regular leveling planet.

Level 24-28. The first familiar planet, for most Star Wars fans. This desert planet offers players quests and first open world pvp area, Outlaw's Den. To be fair, the only pvp I got there was back at the Rakghoul event, where we had to kill a champion enemy for the lore entry and title.

Level 28-32. Meet Alderaan before the Death Star blows it to pieces! (That will take place 3000 years later). Mostly snow, mountains and some green areas, this is the scenario for this planet. Another quest planet.

Level 32-36. Meet the Star Wars zombie version, Rakghoul. Taris is a dying planet, where plague and virus spreads. The Empire wants to finish the job. Quests here again.

Level 36-37. The smallest planet in the game. Questline is so fast here, when you think it's getting interesting, it's over.

Level 37-41. The frozen planet Hoth also makes an appearance over SWTOR. Longer questlines again, and a bigger planet than average. But mostly everything is frozen solid. Be sure to bring warm clothing. Was here I did my first world boss, more than a year ago.

Level 41-44. A prison homeworld. The worst of the galaxy are exiled here, and in some cases put in some isolation cells, for galaxy safety. You would expect the interest of the empire over this planet. You will have access to dailies when you reach 50, in Section X.

Level 44-47. Getting there. The mystical Voss are being fought over by the Empire and the Republic. Each faction is trying to prove they are the best ally. It's up to you to convince them.

Level 47-50. Finally you got there. The business world of Corellia will mark the end of your path to 50. Being a Republic planet, you will have to fight over this planet to make it fall to the Empire. There will be also dailies available on this planet, on Black Hole, when you reach 50.

Level 50. Ilum was suppose to be the open world planet for PVP. But due to bugs and issues with it, Bioware end up to take away the PVP features for this planet. Still this planet offers some daily quest activities.

The difference between factions, over planets, lies at the first 20 levels.

Level 1-10. Tython is the home planet of the Jedis, Knight and Consular, while on Old Mantell will be hosting the Smuggler and the Trooper.It works similarly to the Empire version, with the same ideas to companions and class specializations. So for a Jedi Knight, he can opt between Guardian (Melee Damage or Tank) and Sentinel (Melee Damage). The Consular either picks the Sage (Range Damage or Healer) or Shadow (Melee damage or Tank). The Trooper specializes either on Vanguard (Range Tank or Range Damage with some melee abilities) or Commando (Healer or Range Damage with some melee abilities). Finally the Smuggler can either be the Scoundrel (Healer or Close Range Damage) or the Gunslinger (Long Range Damage). Overall the classes share similarities in how they operate for each faction.

Level  10-16. Coruscant is the Capital Planet for the Republic. And as much as the Empire side, by the end of the planet, the players will have access to their personal spaceship.

From here on things are almost similar to each faction, except for Taris and Balmorra. While the Empire plays on Balmorra from 16 to 20, the Republic will only come here at level 32, and the reverse situation happens for the Republic. Taris is level 16 to 20 for the Republic and Balmorra is level 32-36. Of course each planet quest line will adapt to the current faction. So you might be fighting over a planet on one faction, and defending it if you do it with the opposite faction. Let it be noted, my highest Republic is character is on its level ~20. 

Note: due to the fact that the in-game quest helper is so effective, I felt it wasn't necessary to post any information on the quests themselves.

The path to 50 is always the same for all classes. But for instance, if you feel too bored of repeating everything over and over again, there are alternatives ways of leveling. Flashpoints is one idea, another is doing space missions and probably the best is joining PVP. It won't net you more experience than questing but it's a different approach. In any case, you will always need to do planets to progress at least your class quest.  I do know, however, that some activities are reduced, like doing Flashpoints for 3 a week or Warzones for 5 a week, for F2P. There are passes for that, but for a new player they are expensive.
Be also aware that on each planet, class quest line will reward you differently. So you may end up getting, lets say a new companion sooner with one class then with another one.

As I said before,  a F2P player will get less experience as a subscriber. I can give you as an example, when you finish Dromund Kaas, you will be averagely a level lower than a subscriber (I've tried that). My advice is, if you can get, get the experience boosters whenever possible, either for PVP or Flashpoints, which are cheaper in the GTN, or if you can afford get the boosters for normal quests. Probably as a first character it will be impossible for you to buy them at the GTN, but for a second and third character this is possible. Also, every heroic quest in game, is repeatable in a daily basis, so if you can do them often.
My take would be level maybe one character to 50. Don't focus too much on lots of different alts at the start, unless you are looking for the class the suits your gameplay style. Only now did I got a second character to 50, almost a year after I got the first one. It's true I was absent of the game for some time, and it's possible that I won't have another 50 anytime soon, but if you focus too much on several characters at the same time, it might burn you out.


In resume, pick a class you would like to play, focus on it, enjoy the storyline (specially your class story), don't rush it, join any group activity (you will see on every planet people asking members for heroic quests), try different builds and learn the ropes of the game. Again, don't rush it. Rushing a game it's what ruins them. Personal opinion, tanking as a Powertech is really fun.

ArchAge to be published by Trion for western users

This are interesting news. For a few months, last year I followed curiously the development of ArchAge, since being a sandbox mmo, it really caught my eye. To be fair, I'm still yet to have a true sandbox mmo experience, and I regret I've never happened to check Star Wars Galaxies pre-NGE. I know there are some private servers for it but I never tried it out. Maybe ArchAge will change it. From what I've seen it does have nice ideas, like the house building, seen here:

But back to the news itself, this is also excellent news for western ArchAge fans. Trion been one of the few mmo companies, that grew up to a point that is overall well respected by the community, much due to their excellent work on Rift, their flag title. The work they've displayed at Rift, makes in my opinion an excellent company to take this game and put it available for western audiences. All bounds well for ArchAge. Now release it already! :)

SWTOR meets Pod Racing

Yep, the first Pod Racer mount is now available (at the Cartel Store of course), for those that want to ride on style.

The update 1.6.3 bought also some new appearance armors and robes, and a new bundle pack, but definitely the star of the show is the Pod Racer, as you can see here.

Check this video out from Dulfy:

Some discounts are also available on the store, for any interested in.

Elder Scrolls Online Beta Sign up

Looking for the next great MMO (or not)? Well look no further than down on the link.

Elder Scrolls Online beta sign ups are up right here. It's closed beta so I would assume it won't be easy to get in...
At least a beta will let you know if you like the game or not.

Tera to go free to play in February

I was expecting this move. I even bet on January, guess I was wrong by one month. Tera will be the next title following the free to play path, much like what happened before to Star Wars The Old Republic or The Secret World, although this last one followed a much more similar path to Guild Wars 2, going buy to play.

Haven't seen much details, but I know there will be at least levels for players: Founder, Elite and Standard. While Standard is the basic for everyone, the other two I would assume that Founder is for those that bought a copy of the game and redeem it and Elite is for the players with active subscription. Don't know what the perks are for a founder player, could be something similar to SWTOR and the preferred players status.

My guess will be that by the end of this year, or else I'm totally wrong, but only World of Warcraft will be the last triple A mmorpg, available at the market that will be only pay to play. I am betting Rift will have some changes, by the summer. I'm just guessing. (Wouldn't it be nice to have vanilla Rift completely free to play? Hmm, thinking on that Trion? Heck even Blizzard should do that.)

In any case, I'll be watching this transition to free to play. Let's see what they cook up.

Rift: A Hero Rises

The first big update for Rift expansion, Storm Legion, back in 13 of December of 2012, bought the Christmas event, a new raid, re-activated the Conquest pvp battleground and added the new level 60 chronicle dungeon.

Chronicle dungeons, are a solo or two players mode versions of some of the Rift raids. At level 50, there are four Chronicles, one solo and the the other three for two players (high geared players can easily solo it). The idea number one is, probably to allow non-raiding, soloing or small group type of players to know a little of these dungeons, and secondly, again to allow these players to access better gear. They have also a bit of lore fed in, so it's always good to check it, even if just once.

At level 60, and as I posted previously, Trion released their first Storm Legion chronicle. This chronicle, is the best they've done so far, with interesting lore going on, fun fights (you even get to control a mech at the last phase of the dungeon), and really easy and fast to complete. Also note that this chronicle is solo only.
Players will engage an invasion of Storm Legion's army in the streets of Tempest Bay and fend it off. Some surprises will come along the way but I won't spoil it.

There are three bosses to fight, and most fights are easy, and just require a bit of jousting when you see something on the floor. No big tricks. The last phase was bugged at first, I couldn't even finish it the first time I tried. Every time I would get myself in the mech, I would fall from high ground and would die.

Loot wise, I think the drops are class related. You will get the typical Planar Attunement experience crystal, and gear related with your class. As a mage, I only got cloth gear and a decent weapon for it. Also there are pieces of gear that can be upgraded, be using the specific item, which also drops on the dungeon. Besides that, there are some dimensions items and at least two artifact collections. In any case I'm trying to make a list of what can drop in the dungeon, so if any player who plays Rift happens to read this would appreciate some input.

This is what I've got as a mage:

Dimension Items
(this is what I found so far)

Large Whitebark Snag

Equipment (incomplete)

Power Sources (used to upgrade gear found in Hero Rises)

Gear (and upgraded version)

Stormwrath Powered Fiber Gloves

Lightning Storm Sash

Final reward

Still lacks gear. I have at least the weapon, cloak and belt (upgraded version) to put here (needs to get those screenshots). Also will post the collections.

I sincerely hope that Trion releases a few more chronicles because it's a nice touch, and it's something that can be helpful for solo players and those that don't want to invest much time in raiding and dungeon farming.

So I got myself in The Secret World

For quite sometime I was very curious about The Secret World. I didn't tried it sooner, because I strongly believe MMO games should not be so expensive when first buying them. And The Secret World was really expensive. Being the game out of the box was 50 euros when it first came out, and the subscription was one of the most expensive at the market. I think it was 14 euros. I did always expected this game to free to play so I end up waiting. And I guess the change to buy to play was even better then expected.

The game is around 30 euros in most sites, and during a few days it was around 22 euros at Steam, which is already an excellent price. For Americans there was at Amazon a really amazing deal of 50% discount a couple of weeks ago, dropping the price of the game to 15 dollars. In any case, the price for the game right now is far more compelling then it was before.

So I bought it with a friend. And until now both of us, are simply surprised and really enjoying this game.

First and foremost, the setting of the game, is modern age, which runs away from the typical fantasy sort of MMO. It's a refreshing change. 

Secondly, it's not the typical MMO where you level up from 1 to X, and you level as a specific class. Here the game works with skills and abilities, and these skills and abilities will define further your character proficiency. Skills are for the different weapons and equipment type in the game, while abilities are for the more then 500 abilities available in game. The fun part of it, is that a single character can, eventually have access to all skills and abilities in game. What advantage it brings? Well, a single character can at one moment be dps, and on the next moment be either tank or healer. It's a very versatile system, and allows players to try out an huge array of different builds.

Third, questing in this game is great (which we call here missions). The game has this mechanism that wont allow players to, like for example World of Warcraft, get to a city hub, grab all quests and go do them all in a row. No. Here you have a limited slot available for quests, one for story mission, other for main mission, one for dungeon and 3 for side missions (which are specific). 

The story mission is always active, and I think they are zone related. I'm on Solomon Island, on the third part of it, but haven't finished all off the mission, but I assume it will finish when I end the first zone. Dungeon mission, nothing new here. Main mission is where most of the action goes. Every non side or dungeon mission goes here. Which is almost 75% of the missions. Some are typical, that requires to go and kill a certain amount of creatures, or grab some items, or other sort. Others require players to pass over some obstacles, like laser armed bombs and cameras. But my favorite are the investigation missions. These are, in some cases, really difficult to complete, because basically they are based on hard puzzles that a player needs to think to solve out. Some may require you to browse some sites over the net, while others may require you to learn some Morse Code. Although there are plenty of walk troughs, I would strongly advice to not go to them unless you are really desperate. It feels great accomplishment completing one of these missions without having any outside help.

Other feature, is the crafting. If any of you played Minecraft (I haven't played much but I saw a bit of the crafting there), it works almost similar. You have a grid, where you place the materials, on a certain pattern and depending on the pattern you pick you will be able to craft a different type of object. It does sound simple, but once you look at it, you probably will feel a bit dumbstruck like me at first. There are a ton of different materials, runes, glyph, toolkit that can be used, and then each have a different quality rank, so there is a lot to go through. It's a really interesting crafting system, but I haven't explored much. Basically I have just deconstruct equipment, which is your main source of materials. There are a few posts on the official forums that go over it, so would be advisable to give it a look.

I haven't done much PVP. I also know that the PVP in the game is somewhat lacking, except maybe for the constant going battleground, where factions fight for control over different spots. I remember playing it back at the beta and it was fun. There are other 2 battlegrounds, I did played one of them but to be honest, I didn't understood what was going on, and I end up dying most of the time.

The only dungeon I did so far, which is also the first one players have access to, was interesting, but I couldn't really grasp the difficulty of it, because we had a higher ranked player helping and he did most of the job to us. I was the tank, he was the healer, and I couldn't grab any aggro out of him... Most fights were dodge that stuff, and/or kill adds. Nothing very hard. The last fight, however, seemed a bit complicated to finish for a low skilled group.

After a few days playing it, I can strongly say that this is a title to give a look. If you enjoy questing, like a more modern setting of gameplay and want to try a system that is different of the typical grind levels up, then give it a go. It's cheap and there is no subscription. I do however, like to point that, on future updates, players will have to buy them, to access them. For the time being that doesn't seem to affect me, but we will see when it happens.

And a happy new year!