#help me i'm an alt aholic

[theshijlegacy]

Me, not able to sleep at 1am last night: You know what would be fun? Rolling some Chiss siblings for Talvin. There's a few gender/origin story combos I don't have Chiss toons for yet. I can make 5 more Inrokinis! I think I have some core names figured out... Me, this morning: YES THIS IS A FANTASTIC IDEA. I'm going to spend an hour using Swtorista's Chiss Family name generator and tweaking a few spellings to fit the core names I picked. And I'd better decide on their primary combat styles too!

(At least I didn't actually log into SWTOR and create these toons... yet. They'll be on the Satele Shan server before I know it, I'm sure)

(And thanks tumblr for fucking with the layout again)

[theshijlegacy]

Well, I'm bummed. Male IA has always been one of my favorite voices: calm but menacing, great for both LS and DS dialogue. Really going to miss Bertie Carvel. :(

This Reddit thread has a video with the new VA. To me, sounds a lot like old male IA + male SW + a dash of Rivix. Like the IA got super sick or injured and now sounds different (a la Fry-to-Lars in Futurama.)

Headcanon-wise, I think I'm running with that for all my male IAs - crazy-ass fight/explosion/whatever, and now they will always sound different. And they're all getting gnarly scar and/or complexion update post-Kessan's Landing.

Actor Wilf Scolding who played Vanis Tigo in Andor is the new voice of the male Imperial Agent in SWTOR.

[theshijlegacy]

Who are your top 3 least favorite companions? 

Thanks for the ask! I've been sitting on this one a while, really had to think it over.

Skadge: The Worst. Zero redeeming qualities. Still confused as to WHY any BH would pick him up on Belsavis; all of mine were ready to leave him stranded and/or shove him out an airlock. After the KOTFE Alliance Alert I've kept him exactly once, and only for the achievement.

Quinn: YES IT'S BEEN 11 YEARS AND I AM STILL BURNED BY HIM BETRAYING MY SW THAT ROMANCED HIM EVEN THOUGH I KNEW IT WAS COMING. Most of my SWs will or have killed him on Iokath. Exceptions are Lanaa (it's for the cool customization, don't judge me), Iseia (the original betrayed SW, keeping him in the Rakghoul customization + slave collar), and Senecah (the only one to romance him and stick with it.)

Valkorion: Stretching the definition a bit, but there's no other companion - temporary or permanent - that makes me feel so disgusted. Abusive father turns 2 of his kids into monsters and indirectly causes the death of the 3rd, drives his wife away - when he's not body-hopping and neglecting his family altogether - and rules over a totalitarian state? And this dude wants my help? How about NO. Most of my toons, regardless of alignment, are very much in agreement, but there's a few power-hungry ones who have taken his "assistance."

[theshijlegacy]

Who’s your favorite Oc?

What is your Fav Oc’s childhood like?

Thanks for the ask! That would have to be Kresh, aka Krec'yare'iflar, aka Totally Not My Self-Insert. :-)

Kresh is the oldest of 3 girls. She was born on Dxun, during one of her parents' (Tur'anga and Torian Cadera) many hunting trips. Much of her childhood was spent traversing the galaxy with her parents, their crew, and assorted groups of Mandalorians - whether hunting big game, bounties, or just the next adventure. Her dad in particular was big on Mando tradition and started teaching Kresh to hunt and defend herself as soon as she was able to walk. She was fearless and eager to challenge everything head-on.

Although they spent a large portion of their time planet-hopping, the family had a home on Rishi. Kresh had a knack for metalworking - anything from desh to durasteel to beskar - and had her own niche to use as a workshop. At first she only made small accoutrements and armor pieces, but eventually she worked up to making a few complete sets. She still has most of them.

Things got complicated when her middle sister Cyn was born. Cyn was trouble from day 1 - excessively colicky, fussy, and increasingly defiant as she got older. Even with help from other clans, Tur'anga and Torian had to spend more and more time caring for their younger child, often leaving Kresh with their crew or other close friends. Gault took her under his wing and started teaching her the finer arts of smuggling, hustling, and fighting dirty. Kresh took a shine to him and was soon enjoying her time with "Uncle Gault;" she also picked up a lot of his smart-assery and ability to push people's buttons (her parents LOVED that).

When Kresh was 7, her family went on an extended visit to Csilla, and her youngest sister Shep was born there. Despite being only half-Chiss, the girls were warmly accepted by her mother's family, especially their grandfather. (Kresh and both her sisters got honorary Chiss names - her given name is actually Krec'yare Cadera.) Cyn in particular thrived, and Tur'anga and Torian decided that it would be best if she stayed on Csilla.

Kresh didn't miss her middle sister very much; she had viewed Cyn mostly as an annoyance that took up all of her parents' time. She did feel more sisterly to Shep, but they were far enough apart in age that they didn't do much together - and Uncle Gault was more fun anyway.

Over the next several years Kresh continued to receive informal education and training from both the Mandalorians and Gault, and when she reached the age of majority (14, due to being half-Chiss), she decided to try this smuggling thing on her own.

[theshijlegacy]

All three are "at least OK under certain circumstances."

Koth: I do feel sorry for him in some ways. Obviously for the mess that led to him deserting the Zakuulan military, but also for not knowing that his "beloved" Valkorion was a monster. Propaganda is a powerful weapon, especially for a totalitarian society like Zakuul, and it's probably hard to believe what outsiders say about your planet's ruler if you've sincerely believed the opposite your entire life. From that perspective, it's definitely easier to sympathize with him and I usually end up keeping him around. Have a few romances going too!

Doc: He can be kind of fun on a male JK, just a fellow bro trying to help an uptight Jedi live a little. On the female JK side, I did enjoy romancing him the first time around with Kasaji - he was even decent after she dumped him post-Ossus! Subsequent romances and playthroughs with other female JKs have been less exciting, since I'm now used to his eyeroll-worthy BS and know what's coming. (Haven't gotten to Ossus with Deynaria yet - the only one who's sticking with him - so my opinion may change a bit.) Overall, the epitome of "hot shit and knows it", but mostly tolerable. And his combat lines make me chuckle. I plan to keep him on all my JKs.

Corso: Not quite Nice Guy territory, but definitely Way Too Old-Fashioned. Grew up in a small village on Ord Mantell - probably the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, lots of families had been there for generations, and most people were set in their ways and happy about it. As a filthy commie left-winger, the idea of living in that sort of place is horrifying. And while Corso seems sweet at first glance, he's a bit much. And then way too much. He's definitely more tolerable for a male Smuggler; an amusing tag-along little brother as opposed to a well-meaning guy who unintentionally smothers you, regardless of whether you romance him or not. But he's just charming enough that I can't bear to get rid of him.

[theshijlegacy]

(And now, time for another edition of Crazy Lady Makes a Huge-ass Post About How She Plays SWTOR!)

Being a clicker on a laptop was.. not ideal. I set up keybinds almost immediately after I started playing. But it's so much nicer, I stuck with it even after moving to my desktop.

I use a Razer Nostromo as my left-hand keypad and have WASD and jump mapped to it, along with keybinds for switch targets, inventory, map, companion window, mission log, crafting window, character sheet, and companion's interrupt ability. All attacks/defensives are mapped to keys I can reach with my right hand, which is basically the number pad and a bunch of keys close to it. I also have a specific Nostromo layout I use for GSF, space missions, and the swoop event.

I've been keeping screenshots of attack keybinds for each combat style for a while now (useful for alts and mirror classes), and with 7.0 I finally decided to organize the rest of my toolbars to keep them the same across all characters.

Toolbars 1-2: Main abilities (attacks, defensives, basically all the stuff used in combat)

Toolbar 3: Social and movement (mount, rocket boots, sprint, threat drop if available, stealth if available, force speed if available, a bunch of social toys)

Toolbar 4: Utilities (escape, recover, unity, heroic moment, macrobinoc & seeker droid, legacy cargo hold, Revan holostatue, kick Huttball, warzone medpack & adrenal)

Toolbar 5: Travel (QT, fleet pass, qt for Black Hole / CZ-198 / Oricon / Rishi / Yavin 4 / Odessen)

Toolbar 6: any main ability overflow, and stupid shit (snowballs, tinsel bomb, party Jawa, companion dance, etc)

Biochemists like Kasaji have a slightly modified layout on toolbars 4 & 5 to account for a gold stim, medpack, and adrenal.

When screenshotting toolbar layouts for a class whose mirror I haven't completed yet, I also take screenshots of the tooltips from the skill tree to easily pick the same skills on the mirror class. (It would be easy if the mirror class's skill tree options were all in the same spots, but of course they're not.)

One big asterisk to all this: healers. I still don't do a ton of healing, so there's some clicking going on.

Healers have their own layout on the Nostromo that trades the "convenience" keys for 1-6 and Num+, which in turn I have mapped to most of the healing abilities, so I can do 90% of movement and healing with my left hand. Num- and Ins round this out on the right hand. I have an awesome vertical mouse that has two extra buttons on the thumb side, which I've bound to Focus Target Modifier and Target Self for easier "oh shit" heals. Right hand is usually clicking these, otherwise it's clicking to switching targets (especially in larger groups) clicking the occasional attack/defense ability, or sliding over to Num- or Ins.

So I've recently learned the way I play SWTOR is weird.

I keymap my quickbar and use my left hand for attacks, and I move my character solely with my mouse.

I've learned other people used WASD to move and click the quickbar with their mouse.

So how do you play? Are you a clicker or a keymapper?

I can't be the only one who plays this way??

[theshijlegacy]

I only have a few vehicle achievements left, and they're tough. The last couple I got were the Tirsa Collector in Jul 2019(!) and the Aratech Collector back in April. Getting all the Nightmare Pilgrim kills to finish off the Aratech Coral were a bitch.

[theshijlegacy]

From the “cheevo grinding” department:  I mastered all the Republic GSF ships!

Thanks to the recent changes in GSF rewards, it took way less time than I thought it would - it was only back in September that I’d finished mastering all the Imperial GSF ships, and at that point I’d only mastered the SGS-41B Comet Breaker (March 2018) and FT-6 Pike (October 2019) on the Republic side.  After the Life Day event ended I played GSF regularly and the rest of the ships were done in a few weeks. 

(In true Crazy Person fashion, after mastering all the Imperial GSF ships, I went through all my Star Forge toons to determine which ones had gotten the furthest in upgrading each ship model, and that was the toon I flew that ship with until it was mastered.)

I can confidently say that I no longer completely suck! 

[theshijlegacy]

Next crazy cheevo grind project: get all the Level 75 gear sets and tacticals!

This is something I’ve been kinda-sorta working on since 6.0 dropped.  I figured out the gear & tacticals I wanted to use for each skill tree so I focused on completing those first, but I hadn’t been paying much attention to the other pieces I was getting, let alone trying to reconcile the sets across two servers.  (And that’s not even getting into the broken achievement window...) 

Thanks to a couple of Reddit users, we now have the complete list of what Kai Zykken sells each week.  Using the spreadsheet as a checklist, I spent a few days checking all my Level 75′s across SF and SS, trying to figure out who had what, with the ultimate goal of using 8 toons (4 per server) to store any completed gear sets I wasn’t using, and using my Star Forge toons to complete the cheevos. 

I’m keeping a modified version of the spreadsheet on my Google drive, which I update as I get more items.  It’s nice to know exactly what I’m going to buy from Kai each week, and which pieces I should get from the regular vendors if I’m close to 10K tech frags.  And it’s really fun to get overly excited when I randomly get something that the regular vendors don’t sell - I got the Endless Offensive chestpiece at the end of a TFB run recently, which made my week and completed the set!

[theshijlegacy]

I FEEL SO CALLED OUT RIGHT NOW

but it's true

Anyone else?

[theshijlegacy]

As mentioned in my post about hitting Renown 999, I got every class to Renown 100!  Took about 5 months total (Dec 2019-May 2020) and that includes lots of overlap with the Renown 999 grind.

[theshijlegacy]

O hai. 

Between quarantine and super-duper double XP, I’ve been getting an even more ridiculous amount of time in SWTOR than usual.

Thorra has become my “get to Renown 999″ and “get to Valor 100″ toon.  Right now she’s at Renown 756 and Valor 69 (nice) - and even though I didn’t need the Social X cheevo she got that too.  Valor 100 is going to be a pain in the tits, but I should be able to max out Renown by the end of super-duper double XP.  It gets grindy sometimes, but that’s why I chose a stealther for this!

(Live dangerously, drive your hoverchair with your double-bladed sword out!)

[theshijlegacy]

This is what happens when I haven’t created a new toon in a while and something like the Impulsive Adventurer set shows up on the Cartel Market.

Nomad Steve is on Star Forge and is a Scrapper Scoundrel - for all your (Space) Nazi punching needs.  Will definitely be a Do The Right Thing guy, probably a Lana romancer.

[theshijlegacy]

Same.  I’ve seen tons of complaints on the SWTOR forums and Reddit complaining about the last state of the PTS; “nowhere near ready” was the general consensus. 

(Anyone else remember the clusterfuck that was 3.0???  Busted-ass Revan fight AND Ravagers bug/exploit; despite a couple of emergency patches, huge issues were unfixed for a month because BW fucked off for the holidays.  I’m glad they seem to have learned their lesson.)

Over here in Crazy Person World, the extra two months should give me enough time to finish all of the following:

Get 100 DS or LS tokens (or both, in the case of RJ.. yeah I fucked that one up.)  Trade 100 tokens for weekly crate, then STOP EARNING TOKENS - aka “only play a character when the side opposite their alignment is in control, and play on the other server when the Force is in balance.”  Down to 19 toons (from 56!) with various amounts of LS/DS tokens and will be running daily areas til I puke.

Finish all outstanding [WEEKLY] missions (and try real hard not to start any more.)  8 toons on SS have outstanding weeklies, status of missions on SF yet to be determined.

Complete the last 5 of my “lose ‘em and get em’ back and get thru Enclave” vanilla romances.  Kagame got Nadia back - and it’s still creepy! - but he needs to finish the Echoes/Vengeance/Enclave gauntlet.  Remaining are Ashara (Khay), Risha (Toz), Quinn (Senecah), and Doc (Deynaria.)  [I did count Scourge (Kasaji) in this group and it’s done, and OMG I love it so much and it will get its own post... someday]

Bonus round: FINALLY GET ALL OF THE GODDAMN 6.0 ARMOR SETS.  I have all of the tacticals and every armor set that comes from a regular vendor or is in Kai Zykken’s weekly rotation, now I’m down to the last 7 sets that only drop from MM Dxun (lol) or Kai’s random items box: Comet Champion (2/7 pieces so far), Fulminating Defense (0/7), Ballast Point (1/7), Emergency Power (0/7), Restorative Drive (2/7), Ballistic Concentration (2/7), Superiority (0/7).  [It was a damn fine day when I got the last piece of the Undying Protector set]

legacy of the sith being delayed to february 15 isn't a bad idea imo, idk why everyone is complaining on the fleet genchat

[theshijlegacy]

SWTOR return to multiple storylines...

Someone on the SWTOR forums asked about a “State of the Galaxy” article to give us an overview of what’s been going on since Jedi Under Siege.  Charles Boyd mentioned here that there wasn’t time to put out another one before Onslaught, but he did mention there would be significant branching coming up so coming up with one post-Onslaught might be a bit of an undertaking.

I’ve come up with 8 possible branches.  Cut for spoilers, of course.

Republic toon sides with Republic on Iokath, sides with Republic on Ossus (loyalist, Emperor Vowrawn rules Empire)

Republic toon sides with Empire on Iokath, sides with Republic on Ossus (loyalist, Empress Acina rules Empire)

Republic toon sides with Republic on Iokath, sides with Empire on Ossus (saboteur, Emperor Vowrawn rules empire)

Republic toon sides with Empire on Iokath, sides with Empire on Ossus (saboteur, Empress Acina rules empire)

Imperial toon sides with Republic on Iokath, sides with Republic on Ossus (saboteur, Emperor Vowrawn rules empire)

Imperial toon sides with Empire on Iokath, sides with Republic on Ossus (saboteur, Empress Acina rules empire)

Imperial toon sides with Republic on Iokath, sides with Empire on Ossus (loyalist, Emperor Vowrawn rules Empire)

Imperial toon sides with Empire on Iokath, sides with Empire on Ossus (loyalist, Empress Acina rules Empire)

This assumes that there’s significant differences in the story depending on who’s ruling the Empire and/or if Jace Malcom is alive.  If not, that’s still 4 possible branches: Republic Loyalist, Republic Saboteur, Imperial Loyalist, Imperial Saboteur.

Being an official Alt-Aholic, I will of course be making sure I have at least 1 toon for each of the 4 or 8 possible storylines.  :-)

[theshijlegacy]

SWTOR DPS Specs: Final thoughts pre-6.0

I finished my “get all DPS specs to 70″ project last week, so I’ll revisit the questions I’d posed six(!) months ago: (cut to save your dashboard)

I’m not thrilled with Ruffian Scoundrel; maybe Lethality Operative will be more my thing? Still kind of meh on both.  Lethality has stabbing, which is cool, but I much prefer Scrapper Scoundrel/Concealment Operative (punching and poison ftw).

I’ve maxed 4 of the 6 Sniper/Slinger trees and I love them all, will Saboteur Slinger and Marksmanship Sniper be just as awesome?  Engineering Sniper gets the edge over Saboteur Slinger (Plasma Probe + Orbital Strike > Incendiary Grenade + XS Freighter Flyby) and Sharpshooter Slinger gets the edge over Marksmanship Sniper (something about the two guns just makes the Slinger work better here.) Dirty Fighting Slinger/Virulence Sniper is at the bottom of this pack, but just barely.  I do love me some ranged DPS.

Do the Vanguard DPS trees stand up to the Powertech DPS trees in terms of likability?  Because fire is really cool.  Fire does give Pyrotech PT and AP PT the edge over Plasmatech Vanguard and Tactics Vanguard.  This is one set of advanced classes where my feelings are truly equal, and really depends on what I’m in the mood for: easy rotation (Tactics/AP) or DUMPING FIRE/PLASMA ON YOUR GODDAMN HEAD (Plasmatech/Pyrotech).

Will Shadow DPS have a vastly different feel to Assassin DPS due to lack of lightning?  I really only noticed this on Serenity Shadow/Hatred Sin, but I’m not crazy about either.  For Shadow/Sin DPS, I prefer the “spinning polesaber of death” from Infiltration Shadow/Deception Sin.

Is Lightning Sorc awesome?  [Y/Y] OF COURSE IT’S FUCKING AWESOME.  Sorc/Sage is another set of advanced classes where my love for the specs is damn near equal; Madness Sorc beats Balance Sage because lightning (duh) but TK Sage and Lightning Sorc are both fucking rad.  Also I <3 RDPS.

I fucking love Vengeance Jugg but will Vigilance Guardian be just as fun?  Both are awesome, but lightning gives the Jugg a very very slight edge.  I’d previously maxed a Focus Guardian and a Rage Jugg; they’re both serviceable enough but I love Vengeance/Vigilance so much it’s not even a contest.

Can I finally pick a favorite Mara/Sent tree?  Carnage Mara and Concentration Sent might let me know.  Yes I can!  Combat Sentinel/Carnage Marauder - it has the easiest rotation AND it’s really fun; I feel like a hyped-up, glowstick-waving angel of death!  I might warm up to Watchman Sent/Anni Mara eventually, but Conc Sent/Fury Mara is just not doing it for me right now.

(Before starting this project I’d already maxed all the Commando/Merc DPS trees; I still have a soft spot for Gunnery Commando [and Arsenal Merc, I suppose] because J’oules was the first pure DPS toon I ever leveled up.  But Assault Specialist Commando/IO Merc have been giving me the one-two punch of Easy Rotation and Stupidly Massive Damage.  Merc gets the slight edge since I’m not really a fan of the bigass cannon; again, ranged DPS is my thing so they’re all pretty cool.)

Overall, I think my favorite specs (and by extension, toons to play) are:

Saboteur Gunslinger (J’iro, Chisslinger)

Engineering Sniper (Palahniuk, Chissniper)

Innovative Ordnance Mercenary (Zeyta, Nex)

Telekinetics Sage/Lightning Sorcerer (Daisy, Foss/Jiaying)

Madness Sorcerer (Ren’aji, Chissorc)

Vigilance Guardian/Vengeance Juggernaut (Davan/Lanaa-k, Kreye)

Combat Sentinel/Carnage Marauder (Mikiria/Jasaki)

It will be interesting to see how everything shakes out after 6.0.

(At some point I want to do this for the tank and healing specs also.  I found a rotation for Seer Sage/Corruption Sorc that I’ve been using, but healing still makes me really fucking angry so I haven’t done much of that in a while.  I do play all the tank specs on a semi-regular basis, and have an OK handle on them despite my “LOL what’s a tank rotation” attitude thus far.)