Honor's Code

What do you do with a free night and no Legion Beta invite? SWTOR! I finished Chapter 13. It was pretty good, but again, like all of them, I found it too short. For this chapter, I was really looking forward to seeing Vette enter the KotFE storyline.  Recently, I started a baby Sith Warrior with a guy I used to work with and I've been getting to know Vette better through that toon. Spoiler Alert: I like the way this character is written quite a bit. The initial interaction with her sets the tone well with her wisecracking the prison guard.  In Chapter 13, Vette is more the supporting actress. The star of the show is the Bounty Hunter companion, Gault. I never got far enough with my Bounty Hunter to meet Gault. He was something of an unknown to me and it didn't take long at all for him to turn off my Light Side Jedi Knight. I would have liked the Chapter better had Vette had more screen time. She is still the fun, wise cracking side kick but you can see the last 5 years...

I've now completed SWTOR Chapters 10, 11, and 12 on both my Light side Jedi Knight Guardian and my sort of Dark side Republic Trooper Commando. Major spoilers for the story are included. Consider yourself warned. I'm encouraged that each chapter has gotten better and I'm looking forward to them resolving the cliffhanger ending of Chapter 12 when Chapter 13 launches. If they leave it hanging and move on to the next bit of story, I will be most put out. My main issue with all three chapters was length. Each one felt like it was about 90 minutes or so of content and I knocked each one out in a single night. The problem is I'm paying a sub to get these chapters and 90 minutes of content per month isn't enough to justify it. I'm not sure how long the original KotFE chapters were, but they certainly felt longer, but maybe that's because we got all 9 at once. Chapter 10 I found Chapter 10 to be fairly weak. I did play with Kailyo some on my Imperial Agent ...

Archimonde's corpse wasn't even cool yet when I came down with the flu. Now, the obvious question I get when I told people I had the flu was 'Didn't you get a flu shot?' This was always delivered with a mix of concern and varying degrees of condescension. No, I didn't get a flu shot. I used to get one every year, without fail, but then about 7 years ago, I had a little issue with the flu shot. I got it that year at work like I always did. As I headed back to my desk, I felt like I had taken a Shadow Bolt right to the arm and that somebody had cast Agony and Corruption on me, but I chalked that up to a "normal" reaction. A few minutes later, I still wasn't feeling great, and I decided to go get a drink from the vending machine. About halfway there, I'm passing coworker in the hall. I remember him saying, "You don't look so..." I assume he finished the sentence with "good", but I couldn't really tell you seeing as ...

The next chapter of the Knights of the Fallen Empire story "Anarchy in Paradise" opened on Tuesday and I was finally able to give it a look. I have two toons in SWTOR at max level: my Light side Guardian, and my sort of Dark side Trooper. I opted to go with the Guardian for the night. The chapter started with a cool cut scene and then gave you an Alliance alert similar to the recruitment missions. Once again, I was headed back to the Zakuul. For being the most wanted man in the galaxy, it seems pretty easy to get in and out of Zakuul. It's also easy to move around despite the fact that Arcann blasted my picture to the whole planet You meet up with Firebrand, aka Kaliyo, and start doing missions with her as your companion. I knew Kaliyo from the Imperial Agent story and I'm curious how she reacts to Agent players. I think this is the first of the possible romance companions to return to SWTOR. My Guardian is certainly looking forward to the return of Kira soon....

Hearthstone Season 22 (January) wrapped up and I made it up to Rank 10 on the ladders, which represents a new person best. It's possible I could have made it farther, but I stopped playing after I hit Rank 10 for fear of losing stars and falling back down the ranks. The entire climb was done with my Tempo Mage. I run a fairly standard list with one Piloted Shredder and one Water Elemental. Both are great cards and it seemed like whichever one I had, I wanted the other one, so I'm running one copy of each. Like most Tempo Mages, I'm not running Flamestrike. Like one of the old ground and pound football offenses, Tempo Mage needs to play from in front and a card that is only good when you are behind has no place in the deck. The meta is so weird. Monday, I got the quest to win 5 games as a Warrior or Paladin. My Warrior is more complete so I pulled out my Control Warrior. It's the beginning of the season so I'm bracing for a slew of Mysterious Paladins, Zool...

There's a movie coming out in a couple of weeks that you may have heard something about. Everything right now seems to be Star Wars and it put me in a real Star Wars mood. A good friend recommended I try out the new expansion for SWTOR "Knights of the Fallen Empire". It's been a long time since I fired up Star Wars, but I thought I'd give it a go. My Jedi Knight was still on Makeb so I finished that up. What was really cool is that my friend was able to come join me and even though he was Level 65 (current cap) and I was level 50 (old cap), the game downleveled him to the planet we were on and we were able to quest together without him just destroying everything we came across in one hit. I wanted to keep going but I needed to buy Shadows of Revan and Knights of the Fallen Empire. Since WoW is tokened up until well into 2016, I decided to subscribe for 3 months as that was about as much as the Expansions but you got them for free if you subbed. While SWTOR is ...

My original plan hit a bit of a snag. I started to really enjoy the Smuggler (Gunslinger) game play in SWTOR. He plays unlike anything I could play in WoW. My Smuggler hit 50 just before my subscription lapsed. I have a real life friend who is very active in SWTOR. He happened to have a level 50 alt and together we tackled Makeb. It was really great to be able to run with him again. We basically leveled up together in the early days of SWTOR. Makeb was a nice planet, but I really missed the Class Stories. As I continued to level, I noticed that the more I played the Gunslinger, the more I enjoyed him. I decided to stay subbed, and I am now gearing him up for SWTOR raids. But I'm not here to talk about SWTOR today. Lately, when we run our dailies or meet in the lunch room at work, my friend has been talking about this new game on the horizon. It’s called Wildstar. I hadn’t really considered Wildstar. Like RIFTS, Aion, LOTOR, Conan, Warhammer, EVE, and the dozens of other...

I've been playing a lot of Star Wars : The Old Republic and its new Galactic Starfighter expansion. It took a little while, but I've finally found a ship I'm comfortable with and can do halfway decent with even with my 40something reaction and general lack of anything resembling PVP skill. Here's how I build mine out. Next week, I'll go over some of my tips, tricks and tactics for Galactic Starfighter. The IL-5 Skybolt is a Scout class fighter that you can buy from the Cartel Market for 1800 coins. It is my favorite ship right now in Galactic Starfighter before the ridiculously overpowered Bombers are released. The Skybolt is the same as the Flashfire which can be bought for 5000 Fleet Requisitions. Both ships have Imperial counterparts. The build should work the same for the Imperial or Republic version, but the companions will be different. Requisitions Explained If you aren't familiar with Galactic Starfighter, you get two types of currency at th...

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When we last left our intrepid adventure, Honorshammer, his guild had broken up and he was headed for new realms to conquer. I really had no conception how much the guild breakup would impact me. The game just wasn't the same without my old crew. That is to take nothing away from the new guild I joined. It was a great group of guys, but something was off. I was really torn about how I was spending my time online. Though the blog and Blizzard Short Story contests, I had a rekindled a love of writing, and there was a huge tension between time spent writing and time spent playing. My son was also getting to an age where sudden afks (away from keyboard) were real possibilities. No Pressure What I needed was a 'no-pressure toon.' A group needs their tanks to be bedrock members.I needed more flexibility to play when I wanted, some weeks a little and some weeks a lot. I don't think you can really do that as a tank. The most fun I was having at the time were the nigh...

SWTOR I got word today, via our guild forums that my SWTOR guild has officially folded. I can’t say I didn’t see this coming. I did. I know I could try to find another guild in SWTOR, but I really want to see how the game does with the conversion to a Free To Play model before I make the commitment to a guild. If I’m just going to go Free to Play in November, there’s little point in trying to get established in a guild right now. Besides I’m a little busy with Pandas. WoW I have three Level 85 toons in WoW : Hunter, Paladin, Warrior. I had already decided I wanted to take the Paladin to the new level cap of 90. I couldn’t take any time off of work so I didn’t get started until Tuesday evening. It wouldn’t have mattered even if I did. I have a toddler at home, and he makes it very hard to do anything on the computer when he’s awake. I started out in Orgrimmar, and like most of my nights I knocked out the cooking and Jewelcrafting daily. I figured it would be some fast, fre...

If you would indulge me today, I’d like to talk about what I miss from each game when I play the other. Stuff I miss from SWTOR when i’m in WoW Lightsabers - the iconic weapon of a Jedi. It makes a beautiful snap hiss as you enter combat. Music - There is just nothing like going into combat with a John Williams soundtrack playing in the background. SWTOR saves the really iconic music like Duel of Fates and the main Star Wars theme for Raid Bosses. It still sends chills down my spin to Force Leap into Kephess  as the main theme starts playing. Companions - Soloing in WoW feels lonely now that I’m used to having one of my trusty companions by my side. They add a little chatter both in combat and out. They also really help when you level up in a support role. You can really level as a tank or healer because you always have a group, even if it only you and your companion. As a corollary, I miss the romance options and having your companions send you out on missions for ...

As I hinted at in my last post, I've returned to the lands of Azeroth. I'm still playing SWTOR, too, but when SWTOR announced it was going Free to Play in November, I decided I should check out what WoW was doing. SWTOR Free To Play I'm just not a fan of the Free to Play model, and I'm really confused by SWTOR's. You get the entire leveling game for free, levels 1-50 which gives you all the incredible class stories that BioWare made. What you have to pay for is Operations (raids), War Zones (battlegrounds), and Space missions (a very fun little mini-game). You also have to pay for extra characters slots, and bag/bank space. Essentially, I can pay for each class story I do, and that seems completely fair to me. It was when I started working on my Smuggler, and I noticed I was zoning out during some of the planet quests that I knew I was in trouble. The class quests are fantastic and unique for each class. You also have a planet quest line that every player of...

Today on TORWars, I’m looking at the social side of tanking . If you’ve ever tried to break into a new guild as a tank, this article will probably have a familiar feel. Hello again, TORWarriors, and welcome back to another edition of Think Tank. Today, I’m thinking about the social side of tanking. Last week, we talked about the gear , and before you can become the tank for your guild, there’s a whole other set of obstacles to overcome and skills to master.  They are social ‘soft’ skills you will need to effectively tank. We can talk about gear, and rotations, and consumables, and professions all… This is a topic that strikes me particularly close to home because not only am I trying to work my way in the tanking corps of Zeal, but because I handled this situation so poorly in Dominion. I know most of the people I was with then don’t even play or read blogs anymore, but I hope they have forgiven me for the poor attitude I showed at times while working my way up the tanking hie...

Today on Think Tank, I’m discussing the grind from a fresh Level 50 all the way up to a full fledged ready to raid tank. TORWars: Level Cap and Gear Grind Hello TORWarriors, and welcome to another Think Tank. Today, I’m thinking about the level cap. My Knight, Atceth Makabba, just hit the big 5-0. DING! Things are working out pretty well with the new guild, but my playtime is still severely limited. We seem to have an abundance of tanks and melee DPS right now in the guild, so when 1.2 comes out I’m going to reroll my a DPS Commando. A couple of old guild mates have rerolled on my server and are flying up to 50. I’m looking forward to being able to run with them again and our new guild will provide plenty of opportunities for them when I’m offline. Happy Easter!

My latest article is up on TorWars today. I’m looking at the changes to tanks coming in 1.2. Guardians look to be getting a pretty substantial buff and that makes me all kinds of happy. Think Tank: Patch 1.2 and You Greetings my fellow TORWarriors, and welcome to another exciting edition of Think Tank. This week, since all of the other columnists are thinking about it, I’m also thinking about Patch 1.2. If there is one constant in MMOs, it is change, and with 1.2 major changes are coming. This content update for Star Wars The Old Republic is huge, so I want… In personal news, my guild has folded after we lost our healers. We have been absorbed into a larger guild and we are trying to find our way. These guys seem pretty cool, but they are more progression focused than my old guild and the vent chatter is more R than PG-13, but I can handle that. I’m having a much harder time adjusting to my limited playtime. I simply can’t give SWTOR the kind of hours I used to pump into WoW and it...

Monday, my latest article on TORWars went up. In this post I talk about the secondary tank stats and analyze some of the latest theory craft out there. The theory crafters have it a little tougher in SWTOR because until Patch 1.2 there isn’t a combat log to test some of the theory against. I’m also having to interpret other people’s posts and experience as my own progress has been slow. This has been a deliberate choice on my part to spend less time in game and more time working on various writing projects. Think Tank: Tank Stats, Survival, and DPS Hello again, TORWarriors, and welcome to this week’s Think Tank. This week, I’m thinking about tanking stats. Last week, we examined the combat system . Now that we have that understanding…. I have also been keeping tabs on the information flowing out of the MoP beta. I’m not surprised to see many people express regret over the 12 month subscription they bought, however; I am surprised how enticing some of the new stuff, especially t...

I’ve got a new article up on TorWars talking about how the combat system works in Star Wars the Old Republic. It’s fundamentally different from the system we used in World of Warcraft. http://torwars.com/2012/03/17/think-tank-understanding-the-combat-system/ Greetings TORWarrriors, and welcome to this week’s Think Tank! This week, I’m thinking about the combat system. While on the screen we see the flash of lightsabers, and the smoke of mortars, and the tenor rumble of explosions, what is going on behind the scenes and on the servers is an array of number crunching to figure just what happened. Understanding this obfuscated arithmetic is key to  how our toons tank, and to how we can best gear them ….

I never like it when bloggers apologize or try to explain gaps in their blogging so I’m not going to go into that, but I will tell what I’ve been up to. I started playing Star Wars: The Old Republic the first day of Early Access. I was all in on this game from the get go and I pre-ordered 4 hours after it went on sale. I rolled my Jedi Knight, Atceth, on the Grand Master Zym (PVE East) server. Atceth is currently Level 45 on Belsavis. The game has been everything I had hoped it would be. The moment I truly fell in love with this game was around Level 25 or so on Tattooine. I told a friend of mine:  I’m fighting the Sand People, on Tattooine, with a lightsaber, to John Williams music. Yeah, I was hooked.   The Jedi Knight story has been excellent, with each chapter ending being incredibly epic. The companions are fantastic and are up to the level of companions in previous BioWare games. I normally run around with Kira. She’s my favorite companion, my romance interes...

I plan on rolling on the Republic side at Launch, so I rolled on the Sith side for my Weekend Beta. This way I got to experience the classes, but not spoil any of the story. The classes in SWTOR are exact mirrors, so when I play my Sith Warrior, I’m playing the same class as a Jedi Knight. Some of the names and animations of the spells are different, but mechanically they are identical. Over the weekend, I played a Bounty Hunter, an Imperial Agent and a Sith Warrior. I spent the least amount of time on the Agent. I don’t know if my graphics card wasn’t working right, or I just didn’t understand how cover worked, but I never saw any of the cover icons I had seen in the videos. When I hit cover, my agent simply knelt down. and my action bar changed. The powers available in cover were far more powerful than those available outside of cover, but by the time I had gotten in cover and was ready to attack, some Bounty Hunter came by and shot the guy I was targeting. The next class I tried w...