#swtor dread seeds

[ghostace]

your swtor characters are so cool.... idk if you play anymore but if you do please post more of them if you have time c:

ahh thank you, i don't feel like my characters are really at all interesting lmao but i am still playing i just don't always have screenshots i feel like sharing (whether due to effort/energy or just vibes and also the combo of programs i use for it has been more Troublesome of late) but have some wip copero stronghold because i thoroughly bounced off the gw2 homestead decorating for some reason

[swtorpadawan]

*** SWTOR 7.4 SPOILERS BELOW! *** 🤯

(Seriously - don't click if you haven't played it!)

They brought back Cedral Gend???

He hasn't appeared since the Dread Masters were a thing!

Tagging @cursedbeasts who might be interested.

Its weird because on my master SWTOR NPC spreadsheet, I decided that he was killed during the five year gap.

Now I'm wondering if I should reconsider that.

[tempestswing]

Hey, anyone in the SWTOR Tumblr community willing to help me out in completing the dread seeds/oricon storylines? I basically only play this game for the plot but I've been stuck on these for a while, I think because you need multiple characters to do them.

My main is a Sith Inquisitor :)

[tiredassmage]

10, 11, and 29 from the SWTOR questions

10. An NPC you love to hate?

MY TIME IS COME. Moff Regus! Lol, okay, so there's a story here. Kind of two stories, buT. First of all, Regus is the officer you meet on the Imperial side of Ilum and. the gall of this man.

First of all, his audacity to blatantly disrespect Savosta because he was Chiss while knowing full well that he was also the Emperor's Wrath was ballsy. Savosta was very... displeased to say the least, lol.

And then also it turned into a whole thing between @captainderyn when we did Ilum for Era and Tyr tagged along because Ilum is like the first of a really long conga line of Imperials and Sith both preening their feathers that the dissolution of Imperial Intelligence isn't their problem, but also bemoaning it five minutes later and Era and Tyr were not having it, lol. I sadly don't have it, but I think he straight up to their faces told them something like "Intelligence isn't my PROBLEM" and it turned into these two standing there all salty like "oh but we're the SOLUTION, huh. bastard >: ("

Tyr would like to punch him and I think I'd support him. I think he should be allowed.

11. An NPC you hate to love?

Hmmm... In a way, Empress Acina? She's a badass, she's beautiful, I do actually believe there might have been something to her offer to collaborate with the Alliance without the usual backstabbings and as much of the manipulation that has characterized Imperial alliances in the past (or at least less of those things). My main being an Agent though, it's hard to entirely forget those early impressions of her as a member of the Dark Council with the Dread Seed quests (that are sitting unfinished in my quest log - granted - because oh my god what do you mean I need a group at the end of this largely soloable chain) and then also see her flip a switch so vehemently on Iokath when you side with the Republic.

"Intelligence should have retired you when they had the chance!" is quite a vicious bite, given everything Nine goes through, lol, so... it does feed the impression that Acina never entirely saw you as an equal power as Commander in that context - which doesn't surprise my agent, exactly, but having your trust issues manifest and basically reinforced in that way is... still an ouch, lol.

I forget if it was here or on YouTube or... somewhere else that I saw someone muse that Iokath and the superweapon debacle didn't really fit Acina or Malcolm in their eyes and I more or less agree. Iokath's an... odd one like that in that I don't... necessarily mind the concept that something big sets off tensions again, but it... doesn't feel like the right players were involved in the right places or times. Something different might have stuck a little better for me, but it's what we have and ALL of that is wildly off-topic, lol.

Anyway, so... I have complicated feelings on behalf of my main boy, lol. I think Acina is cunning and beautiful and I love to see that, but it's definitely a bit difficult not to approach her with some wariness after my agent's run.

29. Companion you wish you could've romanced?

Largely my desires are just... unrestricted romances rather than romances that don't exist at all. Quinn and Vector's class story romances I'd love to be able to do on my males. In general, I want more ladies for my ladies to kiss and romance.

I think the only one that doesn't exist at all that I feel almost robbed of is someone has a post about how Talos should have been an option for the Inquisitor and that post hit me like a truck because they are so right. That's another romance that, if done, I'd like to see available to a male and female Inquisitor.

I also think a few cross-class romances would have been interesting, though I'm blanking on particular examples, but since they brought back certain companions in a way that everyone has them in the Alliance... why not? But that'd... also imply they did a lot with the returner romances from class stories to begin with though, which they really haven't, so I'd probably like to see that more, really.

[rainofaugustsith]

Rain Plays SWTOR: Soloing the Seeker Droid quest

I was reluctant to make a guide for the Seeker Droid series because the final mission on Ilum was so challenging. It's clearly meant to be done by more than one player, although the rest of the quest chain is extremely solo-able.  However, it CAN be done solo, so for those who want to try it out, I recommend Dulfy's guide. I'm not going to duplicate what she's done; I'm going to try to add extra observations from a solo player's perspective.  I went through this quest chain with Viri, a Vengeance Juggernaut Sith Warrior (DPS) with 306 gear. She has three small set bonuses (2% Mastery, 2% Endurance, 2% Alacrity). Her companions were Jaesa and Vette for the missions completed successfully. Both were influence level 50. Her tactical is the Krall’s Accord (the one you get from Onslaught). 

The Dread Seeds There will be seven Dread Seeds across various planets you will need to collect. Put your Seeker Droid on one of your quickbars so you can access it quickly. You can always tell when you've reached the area with the Dread Seeds. There will be "corrupted" animals with glowing red eyes and bodies, black rocks, and tentacles erupting from the ground.  With the exception of Taris, the Dread Seeds are in the same area for both factions. Here's how to get there.  Imperial Side:  Alderaan: QT to Outpost Talarn.  Balmorra: QT to Sundari.  Corellia: QT to Axial Park South.  Hoth: QT to Thesh Outpost.  Taris: Pick up the Heroic quest Enclave Raid and take the provided transport. You have to go through the heroic area to get to the Dread Seed area anyway; you might as well pick up a few extra credits and XP.  Tatooine: QT to Outpost Zaroche.  Voss: Pick up the Heroic quest Cleanse the Corrupted and follow the map from there. 

Republic Side:  Alderaan: QT to House Alde Library in the Juran Mountains.  Balmorra: QT to Lower Sundari Outpost.  Corellia: QT to Axial Park North.  Hoth: QT to Outpost Senth.  Taris: QT to Waypoint Station Draay.  Tatooine: QT to Outpost Thorazan.  Voss: I'm not sure. QT to Shad-Ka Outpost looks closest. (I’ve only done the quest from Imperial side, and while I can travel to the others, I just estimated this on the map)

Arcanum  To get here: use your ship and fly to the marked quest triangle on the map for it.  There's really nothing terribly difficult about this station. The jumps can be challenging, but if you have Phase Walk it will be helpful. Rocket Boost is also really helpful to pick up some extra speed for the jumps. I'm a pretty horrible jumper overall and I was able to handle this.  Hunting through the Shadows - Belsavis To get here: 

Imperial: QT to the Imperial Deep Launchpoint and then take the Rakata Transporter to the Lower Prison Magma Transport. Follow the path to the Tomb and then follow Dulfy's map south.  Republic: QT to the Maximum Security Ops Center and then take the nearby Rakatan transporter to the Upper Transport Center.  There's nothing earthshaking here. Just remember the caveat from Dulfy's site: you can't hit the boss. Hit the adds and he'll be gone in record time. 

Alchemy of Evil - Ilum  To get here: go to Ilum by clicking the planet on the galaxy map. If you are Republic, QT to the Republic Waystation and follow Dulfy's map into the Jedi Temple ruins. If you are Imperial. QT t the Imperial Waystation and do the same.   This H4 on Ilum is really, really difficult. It's not so much the difficulty, but the difficulty combined with the various bugs. Make sure you hit this heroic with your best companion with the highest influence. Bring medpacks. Be on your toes. 

The mobs in the first hallways can be overwhelming, with a lot of silvers, so be ready.  Let the mobs work against each other. When you get off the elevator, a mob will break through the wall in the hallway. Lead them into the room just on the other side of the hallway and the corrupted sergeants will shoot some of them for you. With the next group, you can do the same. If you hold back for a moment before you get close enough to aggro them, some of the NPCs will take a few of the others out. When you get to the long corridor, this trick works a third time. There are two NPCs at the end of the room. Hold back and a third enemy NPC will appear and kill them both. 

The Horrible Turret Room, or Survive the Onslaught You will be in a long corridor with cells on either side. Behind those force fields are more corrupted mobs. A lot of them. There are clickable power cells - one at each end of the hallway. You need to click on the power cells and carry them to either the turret or the force field controls. 

You can only end this battle by getting the turret to kill all the mobs and then blow a hole in the wall. You can only get the turret to work by charging it with the power cells. You need six to charge it fully.  However, while you are doing this, the mobs will be trying to break down the force fields. The force fields will turn yellow, and then red, and then disappear. If this happens, mobs will swarm into the room - and if you're on your own, it's pretty much over.  In order to get this done, move fast. As soon as you kill the first sargeant, the power cells will turn blue and be clickable. Make sure you're in front of one so you can instantly grab it. You can load three or four power cells into the turret before the force fields will start turning.  Try to remember the order of the force fields as they turn. You do not have to immediately address them if they are yellow. If they are red, you want to get to them ASAP. Keep moving back and forth through the room and do not stop.  Another corrupted sergeant will appear when the turret is around 50%. Have your companion keep him away from you - if he touches you as you carry a power cell, your PC will die.  When the turret is powered to 100%, retreat to the entrance of the room and hide behind a pillar. The turrets will take out all the NPCs, and then the wall, without your help.  More tips:  1. If you use any ability while carrying a power cell, it will explode and insta-kill you. This includes the Assassin/Shadow speed runs.  2. If the Corrupted Sergeant touches you while you are carrying a power cell, it will explode and insta-kill you.  3. If you touch the force fields, it's an insta-kill (seeing a theme?)  4. There is apparently a bug that prevents the turret from being charged fully. If this bug is present, you will be able to charge the turret to 87% but not to 100%, no matter how many power cells you feed to it. If you experience this, you will need to reset the mission.  If you die in the corridor, you will not want to respawn there because all of the doors will be open. This means that all the mobs will be in the room, and they will overrun you and your companion very quickly. You will have to go respawn at the medical droid outside the temple.  Sithspawn Experiment This fight goes in cycles: you fight the Sithspawn. The Sithspawn vanishes and four tentacles appear. When the tentacles are destroyed (or enough time elapses), the Sithspawn returns. The Sithspawn has a stun and a heal ability called DREAD TENTACLES. If you do not interrupt the Dread Tentacles and the heal, you will be in this room for a long, long time. I'm not even kidding. You can keep this fight going for a half hour or longer. Make sure you keep all your stun breaks and interrupts for Dread Tentacles.  You can drag out the battle with the tentacles slightly in order to allow your stuns and interrupts time to cool down.  Ostensibly, there's a way to stop the endless cycle. There are several barrels around the room. If you attack the dread growths on the barrels (it's one shot), you can use the barrels against the Sithspawn. The barrels will stun it, which will stop its Dread Tentacle heal, stop it from stunning you, and allow you and your companion to wail on it.  When the tentacles are defeated, immediately go to a barrel you have not used yet. Make sure you have already taken the little dread growth off the barrel. Stand ON it. Put your companion on passive and have them stand right next to you. When the Sithspawn jumps, it should explode the barrel and give you a chance to press your attack. Use Heroic Moment here if you have it, and keep hitting it.  However, these barrels can be bugged. When I first attempted this battle, they would not blow up. Thus, the battle continued.  When this happened, I gave up and left the room while the tentacles were out. If you leave while the Sithspawn is out, it will reset the entire battle. Leaving during the tentacle battle and coming back seemed to make the barrels work. I can't promise this will work for you, but I will offer it as the only suggestion I have.

Lord Tagriss

If you made it through the turret room and the Sithspawn you should be absolutely fine here. There's nothing I can really add to what Dulfy has said, except for this: to find the crystal you need to click, turn 180 degrees from the red forge. Now hover your mouse over the piles of crystals one by one. The one you need to click will give you the "hand cursor."

[thefoxybinch]

“What’s wrong, dear Sunil? You’re free, aren’t you? Is that not what you wanted?”

Uh oh, Su-su. You trusted the weird fish lady. Never trust the weird fish lady.

[sirotras]

got thru the theoretika!

now to find... the components... 

[rainplaysswtor]

Rain Plays SWTOR: Full Index

If you enjoy these guides and find them helpful please like and share!

Player Guides and Tips New Player Tips Surviving Toxic Players Avoiding the Fleet Tatooine Shortcut to Avoid Outlaws Den Rest Up Avoiding Shared Tagging

Tech Fragment Suggestions Decos on a Budget Part 1 Decos on a Budget Part 2 Contending with Bugs Light It Up: Illuminated Armor Avoiding GTN Gouging Preparing for Preferred Preparing for Preferred Pt. 2 Unlocks Worth Considering

Reputation 101 Curing Womp Rat Fever!

Flashpoints A Traitor Among the Chiss Athiss (solo) Hammer Station (solo) Call to Arms #1: Boarding Party Call to Arms #2: The Foundry Spirit of Vengeance Directive 7 The Nathema Conspiracy Crisis on Umbara False Emperor

Other missions Dread Seeds/Seeker Droids Solo Macrobinoculars Solo (most of it) Pt. 1 Macrobinoculars Solo (most of it) Pt. 2 Macrobinoculars - Video of Maki'Voro fight solo Veteran Star Fortresses Veteran Star Fortresses Revisited Veteran Star Fortresses: Exarch Fight Video Veteran Star Fortresses: Exarch Fight 2 Video Mek-Sha Explorer Mek-Sha Tradehouse Missions Saboteur Quests Echoes of Oblivion Galactic Seasons Help Galactic Seasons Help 2 Where to Find Instanced Mobs HK-51 Quest Chain Flirron Friend - Onderon Loyalist and Saboteur Locations More Loyalist and Saboteur Locations

Swoop Bike Rally Extra Area on Ziost KOTET Voss Walker, KOTET Chapter 1 How to Save Bergola and her friends, KOTET chapter 6 Uprisings

Part 1: Firefrost, Fractured, Crimson Fang Part 2: Inferno, Divided We Fall, Trench Runner Part 3: Landing Party, Destroyer of Worlds Pt 4: Trial and Error Uprising Achievements and Finding the Inferno Agent Bosses Defeating Revan (solo, Shadow of Revan fight) HK-47: The Foundry Vaylin: KOTET

Daily areas/Events Oricon Black Hole: End of Torvix Puzzle Rakghoul Tunnels Sensors Matrix Shards Section X: Aurora Cannon Easy/Fun/Pointless Quests

Harlow Ricks The DvL Holocrons Yavin 4 Sensors Companions Optional Companions: Reviews

[hydrospanners]

fic masterlist: swtor

at the request of literally no one, i’ve created a masterlist of all my swtor fic. first is a chronological collection of all the swtor fic i’ve written in my “canon”. it’s broken up into snippets of time relative to the events of swtor. aus and gift fics are at the end. this is more for me than anything else, but if you have a bunch of time on your hands and want to read some fic--enjoy!!!

i am the most self-indulgent author known to man so there are numerous fics that don’t feature any canon characters in any significant way. i’m not sorry, but i did mark them with an asterisk for everyone’s edification. i also wrote actually vaguely descriptive descriptions instead of whatever bullshit i put in the descriptions on ao3. all links go to ao3 because tumblr was not designed for reading and it shows.

53 fics below the cut... what a trip, y’all.

backstory these fics are about things that happened before the opening of the class story. 

* a very velaran life day - snippets of different life days in the velaran family history. no canon characters in it yet, but maybe this christmas i’ll get to some fics that aren’t solely about my own ocs.

* the shape of things to come - the story about how rea finally joined the jedi at the ripe old age of sixteen.

* a dimming star - the first steps on rea’s jedi path. they aren’t fun ones, lads!

* necessary sacrifice - like three years down the timeline and still no canon characters! rea continues to struggle with this whole being a jedi thing, and it continues to struggle with her! this one features a haircut as a symbol of a turning point in the story.

bars and stripes - canon characters??? in my fic????? its more likely than you think. this is a shameless ripoff of an episode of m*a*s*h masquerading as doc backstory. does it have cameos and/or mentions of other healer companions? maybe!!!

prelude these are fics set during the prologue of the class stories, everything that happens between the start and completing the capital planet missions. 

* memories - rhese? do you finally get a say in all this??? this is the moment rhese and rea finally see each other for the first time since they were recruited to the jedi, set at the very start of the class story.

attachments - kira and rea talk about rhese. that’s it. that’s the fic.

act one all the stories set between killing tarnis and beginning preparations to capture the emperor (everything after coruscant ending and pubside balmorra starting). rip orgus. one day ill finish all those wips about how sad it was when he bit it. in the mean time, can i interest you in some gifsets?

lessons - now rea’s padawan, kira reflects on how bad rea is at teaching, though maybe without as much clarity as i just implied.

a tangled web - so stupid it’s basically crack, kira has to rescue rea from an embarrassing situation.

of flowers, failure, and the virtues of friendship - kira and rhese start to bond over the shared torment of having to be around rea. rivals to friends (one day i’ll write the “to lovers” part that comes after).

act two all the stories during the time when the knight is prepping for the assault on the emperor’s fortress and then assaulting it. everything between pubside balmorra starting and breaking free from the emperor’s fortress after that super successful plan to bring him in alive. great job jedi!

filling the table - is that shipfic????? the reason i started writing swtor fic in the first place??? this is rea being thirsty disguised as me sewing seeds for the eventual doc x rea romance. pazaak themed for some reason? (doc x rea)

when the wicked play - this is me being obsessed with the translation of video game violence to vaguely realistic circumstances posing as doc feeling some kind of way about rea murdering a whole bunch of dudes who wanted to hurt her but weren’t powerful enough. not primarily romantic but definitely some setup for their relationship.

night shift -  everything is doc x rea and nothing hurts. rea’s got work to do but who can work when there’s a horny mustachio’d doctor trying to persuade her back to bed??? it’s not love it’s just good sex!!!!! honest!!!!(doc x rea)

these nights never seem to go to plan - rea isn’t yearning for affection, she’s just too tired to get out of doc’s bed after so much boning. okay maybe this is about slightly more than good sex after all... doc x rea TENDERNESS.

somewhere we’ve not been before - this is the good shit lads!!!! doc x rea!!! first dates!!!! shenanigans!!!! honest to goodness falling in love between all that fucking that do!!!!!!!!!!!! (doc x rea)

no better taste - a sequel to the last fic featuring the morning after!!! some post-horniness introspection!! tenderness!!!!!! hints of yearning!!! god i miss the days before the mind control and the carbonite when the problems were normal things like commitment and abandonment issues. (doc x rea)

heart - rea sends doc a rocking “thanks for the great sex” gift!! rhese is disgusted by every part of it! this is comedy folks!!!! (doc x rea... i guess)

interruptions - rea takes a work call while she’s boning doc. that’s the whole fic. i think this was my first spicy fic?? i can’t remember. (doc x rea)

* where you go to rest your bones - sibling tenderness!!!! their relationship is super complicated, but rhese is reminded that underneath all the bullshit rea really does love him a lot.... it’s both sad and not sad at the same time. schroedinger’s sadness.

gifts - the crew tries to plan a gift for rea, but what do you get for the woman who’s banned from everything?? so dumb it’s basically crack and i’m not sorry for it.

crapshoot - the crew takes bets on what rea’s next Bad Idea TM will be. she shows them you can’t predict chaos. basically crack but i don’t care.

spoonful of sugar - vignettes about the jedi knight crew dealing with sickness. almost entirely comedy and/or fluff. doc x rea content is present and rhese x kira content is suggested.

a little eggstra - grocery shopping gone awry, based on an old tumblr text post. hella stupid, yet hella fun. doc x rea is in the background.

to break our bones for kindling - you thought we were just having good times??? you’re a fool. doc’s job is to heal people and rea’s job is to break them. sometimes they have work-related disagreements!!! be sad with me. doc x rea.

* when a problem comes along, you must whip it - i can only stop being stupid for so long, so here’s the story about how rea came to possess her lightwhip, the stupidest weapon known to man. these events do not go well for rhese.

things unsaid - a dumb doc x rea drabble about stupid shit rea says when she’s been mortally wounded. if doc were to just let her die, no one would blame him.

* the things you do for love are gonna come back to you one by one - a bit of a character/relationship study about what rhese is willing to sacrifice for love of his sister, no matter how complicated things are between them. a second chapter about what rea sacrifices for rhese is in my wips and will be completed... .eventually. 

lovesick - doc x rea ship content. my interpretation of that one conversation where doc’s like “hey would your jedi powers tell me if im going crazy also do you love me? check yes or no. i will not elaborate.”

* the things we left behind - oh no lads.... we’re building up to the fortress shit.... our good times are over. rea does some underhanded shit to make sure her brother doesn’t go on this mission to capture the emperor cause the plan does not seem like a great one.

act three wow wasn’t act two fun??? so much silly nonsense and love. now get a drink assholes it’s Time To Be Sad. act three covers everything in the class stories after coming back from that super successful assault on the emperor’s fortress (great job jedi!) to finally stabbing the bastard in the dark fortress and hoping that gets the job done at last. (spoilers: it doesn’t!!!!!) aka stories from belsavis to the final assault on dromund kaas.

everything we left there - it’s trauma time!!! rea’s fucked up from the fortress and feeling the pressure (thanks for the prophecy scourge!!! love that!!!!) so she hurts people she cares about to protect them. it’s her signature move!

the only thing that’s real - rea continues to be fucked up from what happened on the fortress but hey... at least she isn’t fucked up alone??? sad doc x rea content.

into the jungle - the gang is on belsavis and no one is having a good time! since rea isn’t herself, doc tries to pick up the slack and reassure kira that it’ll all be okay! it goes about as well as you’d expect.

interlude now that i’m looking at it, there are some serious gaps in my fic coverage. anyway, sad hours are over, the emperor is (kind of but not really) dead and there may still be a war on but things are looking up! this covers everything between the emperor’s death and the beginning of kotfe, including forged alliances and the shadow of revan.

hands too hungry - doc finally takes rea on that honeymoon she didn’t really care about in the first place! tragically, rea is way too horny to be impressed by what an amazing vacation he planned for himself them. peak rea x doc content.

no kind of romantic - it’s doc and rea’s one year anniversary but they are both working on opposite sides of the galaxy. sad! it’s doc x rea fluff disguised as angst.

a little help from a friend - rea and theron are worst/best friends and i recycle romance tropes into annoying friendship ones. this is the least sexy sharing body heat fic you’ve ever (not?) read. bite me.

retirement - rea has some feelings about her very violent, stressful job and how it interferes with her husband doing things that actually help and heal. doc x rea content.

the dreaded kotfe content these are sad hours!!! this is everything from arcann’s invasion on, cause i’m not breaking it up by post-carbonite storyline you bastards. i don’t know why i’m being so hostile no one asked me to do this.

every doubt we had - after watching what may have been his sister’s death by exploding starship, rhese is having trouble sleeping. no one is more surprised than him when seeks out doc for comfort! doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity. carbonite angst...

love is a waiting game - rea’s been MIA for six months since the ship she was on bit it and her crew is finally making some changes. doc is sad about it. doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity again. doc x rea angst.

waiting - some time has passed and now rhese is the sad one again!!! grief is so funny isn’t it??? hahahaha haha hahahaha why is no one else laughing? doc & rhese brothers by marriage solidarity yet again.

the greatest distance - rea’s back baby!!!! oh but this isn’t a celebration. she’s taking a tour of her long lost ship now that all the people she loved aren’t in it. it’s a sad one, fellas. 

* when the stars are the only thing we share - rea tracks down some people from her past to help her track down her brother since he went missing while she was having a nap. no canon characters were used in the making of this fic.

leave her sleeping a little longer - rea has a dream and wakes up missing doc even more than she was before. sad hours. doc x rea angst.

take back what the kingdom stole - after theron pulls some Shenanigans (you know the ones) his friendship with rea is in peril. they both break character and actually talk shit out for once.

a wish your heart makes - rea dreams a dream. so does doc. it’s a wet one. this makes it sound lighthearted but actually it’s angst with a side of porn. doc x rea supreme spicy/sad content.

overserved - back to crack baby!! rea gets drunk and acts a fool based on a joke made in a discord server. this is the best shit i’ve ever written.

thrusting back into my skin i feel anew - the band is back together again and everything is fine!!!! just kidding -- actually people change a lot in six years and rea and doc are having some trouble fitting back into the marriage they had back then. doc x rea angst but with a hopeful ending!

non-canon fics i’ve written a couple of things with my dumb characters that are too stupid even for me to put into their canon story or are otherwise aus. these are them, listed in no particular order.

the lies we tell ourselves - a sadder (yet possibly more realistic) take on the ossus reunion and what follows. a bit experimental. doc x rea angst au.

archiban frodrick’s kennel - a romance au where doc is a vet and rea has a pet with a health issue, inspired by my own stupid dog whom i love very much. doc x rea. spiciness suggested but not detailed; sorry horndogs.

fallen - a fun au where rea’s shittiness as a teacher and everything being bad leads to kira falling to the dark side... its angst lads.

the new recruit - rusk’s squad adopts a kitten. that’s the fic.

cruel - ever wonder how things would have turned out if rea was never smuggled off eriadu and got plucked up by the sith?? no??? well i have and i wrote about it. the self-indulgence never ends.

fill my lungs with sweetness - a gift fic for @hoiist; flower-themed vignettes about doc expressing his love for hoiist’s knight, vii. this is some real soft shit, lads.

remember me, love - another gift fic for @hoiist; this time some ossus-flavored angst about doc seeing through vii’s eyes in his dreams. what he sees is not comforting!!! all aboard the angst train--choo choo!!

[theshijlegacy]

One of the Eight Billion Things I’m doing in SWTOR is the Seeker Droid Achievements.  Ren’aji has become my designated Seeker Of Stuff, and has uncovered (among other things) 25 creatures and all the parts for the GSI EMP-03 Explorer.

Still working on the Dread Seed and Star Forager armor...

[swtorramblings]

The outfit meme, for your favorite SWTOR character currently?

All right, since I’m going to not use any characters that aren’t OC’s, I will go with the smuggler, Z’lia. She’s my second oldest character.

She has all 16 slots used, but most of those look like I was trying out looks rather than having anything finalized. 

I’m afraid I’m rarely all that imaginative on this, I just throw together pieces until something looks all right, so if I like the original set I just keep it. I’ll do a few at different points of her career.

Under the cut for length. I don’t seem to know how to make the pictures smaller in Tumblr. She likes her blaster a lot, so she has it drawn in all shots.

Z’lia Disguised as a Minor Noble

This was her original stable look, way back when. I kept some of the pieces for a long time. She was always a scoundrel, but she used to sneak into the events of the nobility, so she dressed the part a lot of the time. Got a ship, got some jobs behind her, then ran into the Butcher. Hey, they can’t all be gems. Red/dark red dye,  Duststorm Survivor’s bracers, Wicked Huntress head and gloves, Flexiglass Barrage Jacket, RD-07A Spider Leggings, TD-04B Spec Op Boots. The belt lists as “unidentified”, oddly. Light tuning.

Z’lia on Scouting Missions

Dressed for her usual jobs, scouting out installations and enemy forces as a Republic privateer. The eyepiece allows her to see through the little droid. It could also be used for aiming, but she doesn’t trust it for that and leaves that functionality turned off. She’s a good enough shot, anyway. Gav Daragon’s bracers, Red Efficiency scanner, the rest is Canderous Ordo’s stuff.  It seemed to suit her well. Repair Droid tuning.

Z’lia while possessed by Emperor Valkorion

I think the title explains the look. It’s mostly the Wartime Ambassador’s set, the chest is the Raider’s Cove Targeter’s Jacket with the Eradicator’s Belt. The glow is the Dread Seed weapon tuning. Mainly created this look for the Commander Thexan story, but I started using it when going through KotXX to explain some bizarre behavior on her part. It made the whole thing easier, honestly. I still assume some of it did not occur according to canon.

But enough about that.

Z’lia in Retirement

Freed from Valkorion’s influence, she advised the new Alliance for a time, but after seeing the Republic and the Empire still going at it on Iokath, she threw up her hands and walked away. Classic Trailblazer’s set, Rascal’s Toothpick, Riot Control Weapon Tuning. She now lives in her apartments on Nar Shaddaa, though she could buy a small world, and if anyone bothers her looking for a mercenary or a thief or whatever, she’ll most likely tell them to piss off. She’s done.

There are still the occasional slavers who come to a sticky end, though.

[rainofaugustsith]

Public Viri did the Dread Seeds tonight, and aside from the Sith Spawn fight being bugged beyond all belief, it was fun. She took the Seeds again.  FWIW this is logic Viri would actually use. She knows damn well that other Sith will use her to do their grunt work and then take credit, or try to silence her, and there’s no way she’d cheerfully hand over the Dread Seeds to a Sith she barely knows.  In headcanon Viri would also be suspicious about this because Darth Nox is the one who is supposed to be in charge of the sphere of Force Mysteries and she was not consulted...perhaps because she would not go along with Acina aiding Vitiate either.  Anyway, this is sort of true, since Viri absorbed the power of the Dread Seeds for herself. She was able to resist the Dread Masters’ fear projections before this, but this has helped inoculate her against further harm. Headcanon is that this is one of tthe things that allows her to resist being possessed on Oricon and Ziost, and allows her to contain Valkorion in her mind for most of KOTFE and KOTET. 

Caption Viridana Dragoi: You wouldn’t be the first Sith to let others do your dirty work and then stab them in the back. The Seeds are safe as long as I am. Understood?

[rainofaugustsith]

Seeker droid mission WHY

So I took canon Viri through the seeker droid arc, because it’s about the Dread Masters and I’m trying to solo as much of that content as I can.  She has had fun with most of the quest line. And then we got to Alchemy of Evil on Ilum, where I have literally been trying to clear the same room for three hours now. I don’t know how many times Viri has died. I’m on the verge of crying with frustration. This CAN be soled, there are YouTube videos of it, but nothing I’m doing is working. The turret shield room is a thing of EVIL. 

I HATE that Bioware has made it a bait and switch with the grouping required at the end, and I am determined to thwart it. But I’m super close to giving up on this one. 

[rainofaugustsith]

Keilla’s saying it. But I think we’ve all thought it, when some high powered Sith/Jedi/military officer is sitting behind a comfortable desk, placidly telling our character that they are obviously the Only Ones Ever who can get out there and face all those enemies.  FWIW this is so spot on for the Dread Seeds quest. Sure, send the non-Force sensitive out there to deal with the ancient Sith alchemy that drives Darths and Jedi Masters mad. I’m sure that would go well without all the plot armor.  Caption Keilla (trooper): If you’re planning to stay here drinking caf while I risk my life performing manual labor, guess again. 

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR: On "too easy"

I keep seeing posts elsewhere from "serious gamers" saying "waaah, they nerfed the game, IT'S TOO EASY NOW." I keep seeing posts from people who seem to think the only way to "save" SWTOR is to make it really difficult. And posts that cast judgment on those who prefer a more laid-back approach. 

I can't stand that. Truly, one of the worst things about gaming is some of the playerbase. 

I fully believe that where possible, content should have story/veteran/NiM modes available, the way KOTFE, KOTET and the non-story flashpoints do. If someone's idea of fun is to run every single thing with extreme difficulty, and that's what they get a charge from, let them at it...as long as it doesn't mean everyone else has to play that way too. That's where these discussions usually go off the rails, since these folks seem to think that everyone should play at an arbitrary high standard they deem acceptable. 

A lot of different types of players love SWTOR. Some really do want NiM all the time. Others want to decorate strongholds or dress their characters. Some are all about story. Some love the group aspect and always want to play with guildies or friends; others steer clear of all interaction with other players. Some do a mix of all of the above. Some avoid certain activities at all costs. 

I'm a solo story player. For me, extreme challenge isn't fun. It's usually enough to get me to quit. It's not fun for me to die over and over in a game or to struggle with complicated mechanics where one misstep means death. I hate things like the Onderon datacrons. I felt that Spirit of Vengeance was originally tuned way too high and had way too many mobs, even though I was fully able to finish it. 

I've gone in and done some more difficult things like Dread Seeds and veteran flashpoints solo because I wanted to see the content and complete those missions. If the entire game was tuned like the last Dread Seeds mission or those veteran flashpoints, I'd likely leave in about two seconds. In the longterm, it's not pleasant for me. It's physically painful, it's boring and I don't find it relaxing or fun.

No one playstyle is "correct" or "normal." They all are. What's abnormal is when someone insists everyone has to play a certain way. What would I say to those gatekeepers whining about content being too easy? 

The story content isn't getting people ready for endgame. 

So? 

You're assuming everyone wants to play endgame content. They don't. There's nothing Bioware could do, say or bribe me with that would get me into things like Ops, ranked PvP, PvP at all, PUGs or Master Mode flashpoints. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I am here for the story. Period. 

A training ground for endgame content exists in the form of flashpoints. The flashpoints in the game do get progressively tougher. If someone's truly interested in getting raid-worthy skills they're likely going to be doing solo flashpoints. And using groupfinder or joining a guild that works to help players progress. There are options, and those who are interested in raids will seek them out. 

But the story is so easy. It's a faceroll. Games are about challenge.  

Challenge means different things to different people.

Everyone has different abilities. You might roll through every flashpoint. The next player might die seven times just getting through the first tomb on Korriban. By the way, I'm "next player." I think my first toon may have kicked the bucket before even getting into Ajunta Pall's tomb. The word "easy" is very, very relative. 

Also, for some of us, easier content is relaxing and fun. The same way some people like a leisurely bicycle ride along the bike path and others train for the Tour de France. 

If challenge for you involves very difficult gameplay, it does exist. Go join a NiM guild for raids. Go play ranked PvP. Play another game. Why does everyone else need to play the way you play? 

People aren't grouping. They should be forced to group. 

Because you think they should? What gives you any right to dictate how other people play or who they play the game with? Are you the National Gaming Czar and nobody told us? 

This "grouping should be compulsory!" belief is bullshit. People who want to group WILL group. That's always been the case. Hell, I remember being a kid and playing single player console games with friends. We'd take turns, cheer each other on, and yell out advice to the person playing. We found a way to play in a group because we wanted to. 

Right now, the people in SWTOR there are guilds and healthy incentives to join them. Right now, the people in SWTOR who want to play with a friend or friends can do that. Even in things like class stories or KOTFE where it only progresses for one person, they can still come along and help. There are multiple opportunities in the game for players to meet each other. There are social media sites where they can do the same. There's group finder. There are people who look for groups on the fleet. There are PvP and GSF where they can play against others. 

Bottom line? Anyone who wants to group has multiple ways to accomplish that at this very moment. 

Those who aren't grouping likely do not want to group. They don't have to explain why. If you force them to group one of two things will probably happen: they will do it and hate every second of it and not want to be there, or they will stop playing. Which is more likely? Well, I'm sure we've all finished Oricon, Iokath and Macrobinoculars, right? Oh wait...

This is a game. It's not supposed to be like a job where you have coworkers you detest and still have to interact with them. It's not some life skill. It's. A. Game. Get over it if people don't want to play with you.   There should always be open world PvP. Sure, if you want a mass exodus from the game in about a day. The minute they make open world PvP non-optional or make PvP content compulsory is the day I stop playing. And I don't think I'm alone there. I feel like this comment usually comes from people who are frustrated that others don't accept their duel requests and that there isn't a huge pool of players for PVP matches. They can't get people to play with them voluntarily so they want to force it. And you should be able to tag a mob someone else is working on. I keep seeing this brought up as an ideal in other games. It seems to be a way to force people to group with you even if they've said no to an invite. You know what will happen with this? You'll have players hitting the mob once and getting credit/loot without any effort. Or you will have players following around other players to "share mobs" with them even when that other player wants to be left alone. I'm of the opinion that any type of group play should be consensual in all cases, not forced on players because they happen to be in open world.

*sigh* It's an MMO. 

And? MMO doesn't mean "group all the time" or even some of the time. It means a lot of players are co-existing in a shared online world. It means the ability to group should exist - and it does. 

People come into group content and don't know what to do. 

#1: Everyone starts somewhere. We all know that you were so miraculously gifted that you came out of the womb knowing advanced mechanisms for every boss fight, but most of us didn't. 

#2. If you want to play strictly with a team of veteran players, join a guild, make some friends in the game and have fun. That's a lot more realistic than expecting random players in a PUG or groupfinder to meet whatever your exacting specifications are. 

#3. Blame the devs for forcing players into Groupfinder to complete Galactic Seasons and other objectives. There are plenty of people who wouldn't be there if that weren't the case. 

People come into flashpoints and want to watch the cut scenes. 

Hang on. Let me process this. In a story based game, players want to watch the cut scenes? For real? That's completely unreasonable! /sarcasm

In the latest flashpoints, they've more or less removed all the cut scenes. You have your wish granted. For the older flashpoints, there are still many that don't have solo/story mode. The only way people can see those cut scenes is in veteran or master. If you have an issue with this, start advocating to the devs to make solo story versions of those flashpoints.  I feel like the bottom line is that everyone has the right to ask for the type of gaming experience they want, but they don't have the right to insist everyone else should share that experience.

[rainofaugustsith]

Rain Talks SWTOR: What I'd Like to Say

One more essay on 7.0, an official Rain Talks SWTOR thing. One of the things that is making me sad about 7.0 is how completely they are abandoning "play your way" in favor of "Group or GTFO." The devs are removing agency from so many aspects of the game. They plan to decide the weeklies and dailies players get, give them static gear they can't modify, remove choice from every class by removing abilities. and even decide how and when they group by forcing everything through group finder. In other words they seem to want to dictate how, where and when you play to an extreme level. In the process they're making regular content harder, which I'm sure they expect will lead to more grouping, but will likely just lead to players quitting. It's raised a lot of ire in the community, and I'll admit that I have slammed "dudebro NiM raiders" more than once. I'm talking about the players who very loudly say the things below and seem interested in nothing more than an elitist status quo. And I'd like to address some of the things they've said around the internet.

Solo players just want to faceroll everything. Really? Hang on to that thought, but here's a question: what does it matter if someone does want to one-shot or "faceroll" everything? What impact does that have on you? Why do you give two fucks how someone else plays their personal game when it has nothing to do with you? Because then they don't know how to play group content. Here's some simple logic. Do you really honestly think the same players who want a very simple class story/RPG experience are going to be in your queue for NiM content? Think hard about that for a second. Of course they might end up there even if they don't want to be - if the game's forcing them to play that content to finish a story arc or get gear they need. In which case, if you don't want to deal with those players, you should be completely against any efforts to force that content on people who don't want to play it. You're on board with that, right? But I want a harder experience. Cool. Thumbs-up. No sarcasm. I respect what you want here. YOU want a more difficult or challenging experience for YOURSELF as an INDIVIDUAL and you should have it. So don't get the datacrons, under-gear, send your companion away, get a White Acute module, don't buy the legacy leveling perks. Go play NiM content. Go do ranked PvP. There are a lot of ways you can arrange it for yourself. I meant in the regular content, dumbass. I get you and I agree. You should have that option. YOU. As an INDIVIDUAL player.

I'm all for difficulty toggles. I'm all for giving all content easy, medium and NiM modes, the same way games like Mass Effect do, the same way KOTFE/KOTET did. The thing with a difficulty toggle is that you choose for yourself and it's of no concern what someone else chooses. So someone else isn't playing the way you are? That's life, child. If you want the content to be harder overall for every single player I have to ask, again, why you're fussing so much over other people's gaming experience that is not all about you. If you aren't doing NiM content you don't need good gear. One more time: why are you concerning yourself with what other characters wear or do? Why should you? I very routinely overlevel and overgear my characters because when I'm doing the class story, SoR and KOTFE/ET I want to be able to focus on the story. My hand issues and slow internet have also influenced this decision. I don't want to sit there clicking and clicking for ten minutes to kill one mob. It affects no one but me. Having said that, I also like overgearing because it allows me to tackle harder content when I feel like it. I've soloed the Dread Seeds to completion on four different characters. I've soloed the Macrobinoculars to the end of the solo chain, including the Maki'voro fight. I've soloed more Veteran Star Fortresses than I can count. I've completed the solo Eternal Championships. I've soloed every single Uprising and many of the Veteran flashpoints. I did most of these things with really shitty internet and a ping of about 150 -200 and the gear made a difference.

All of those things have been challenging - although I'm sure there's someone in the audience who is currently scoffing as they boast that they did all of those things blindfolded while they had a 103 degree fever while dealing with a tornado and a ping of 400.

Point being, as a solo player I don't necessarily eschew challenge. I just want it on my terms. None of the things I just mentioned are critical to the story. Most of them didn't have great rewards (although the Covert speeders from the Uprisings and some of the Star Fortress companions, titles and decos are notable exceptions. How can you not love 'Fallen Knight' for your ex-Jedi, I ask?). I did them because I wanted to. Other players choose not to do them. We have no bearing on each other's decisions. We can both gear and complete the story as we wish.

In my opinion that is how everything in the game should be: you play because you want to. You play what you want. You're not pushed into content you really do not want to do, just for the sake of rewards or story progression you need to continue the game. Gear isn't held hostage to unpalatable grinds of old content. It's a game. One more time: It's. A. Game. It's not supposed to be homework or a job. But see, you can solo that stuff. You shouldn't be able to solo it. You should need to group. Mhmmm. See, here's what will happen with that. You won't force me to group by making it harder. You'll get me to walk away. The devs are trying to reward risk. Ops are risk. Okay. Let's take that at face value. So why aren't they also rewarding the solo players who take risks by going through group content, or the duos who are tackling NiM flashpoints, or the slightly larger groups tackling SM and VM Ops with fewer players, or those in PvP? Those things are risky too. Unlike an Op, some don't have lockouts so you have to go from the beginning if you take a break. If my hands hurt too much halfway through Athiss and I have to sign off for a few days , I'm SOL, I'll have to redo the whole thing. Every time my character died trying to get through the terrible barrier room with all the zombies in the Ilum H4 for Dread Seeds, she had to kill every mob in the damned thing again to get back to the point she was at. The devs aren't rewarding "risk" as much as they are rewarding the content they desperately want people to play, in the process alienating anyone who likes something different. That's not just solo players. It's also SM and VM raiders. It's NiM raiders who don't like this system. It's PvPers because from what I've heard the gear being offered to them seriously sucks, plus certain classes are getting really nerfed and therefore less viable in PvP. It's people who love running SM and VM flashpoints they choose with the friends they choose - not doing something random from group finder. But you don't need the better gear if you're not doing Ops. Better gear can compensate for shitty internet, which a lot of us have. It can assist players such as myself who have physical disabilities that make it hard or painful to play the same way other players do. It can allow solo players or duos to take on new challenges. They can make the story content easier - not everyone wants to spend ten minutes killing each mob. There's no challenge in that- it's just repeated button mashing to the point of mind-numbing boredom. If having 306 gear means I can get through an atrocity like Spirit of Vengeance in 40 minutes instead of 75, yes, I fucking need the gear. It's an MMO. People should group. We're not going to go into the fact that MMO has a lot of different meanings. I'm just going to say that it's a story-based MMO that has had solo players for its entire history. The entire original game was structured around class stories, not raids. The flashpoints could be soloed by anyone who was overleveled.

Solo players are not just going to line up to group because you think they should. It's a game. Not a job. The fact that the devs are making such strenuous efforts to force people to group kind of proves that most people don't actually want to do it and don't want that out of their game. Bioware's single player games like Fallen Order have thrived. Bioware's multiplayer games like Battlefront and Anthem have gone into maintenance mode. People still play single player titles that are over a decade old like the Mass Effect series, Dragon Age and KOTOR I and II. Dragon Age 4 was switched from MMO to single player. Assassin's Creed's series is single player and really popular. The writing is on the wall and they just choose to ignore it.

Those who want to group DO group. It's that simple. I know people who run Ops several times a week just for fun. It's fun for them so they do it. Why would anyone want you to play Ops if they are not fun for you? In addition the devs aren't just trying to encourage grouping - they are trying to push grouping HOW they want for the content they want players to engage with every week. That really goes against what many social players do when they group, as far as I've observed. Case in point, trying to force people into group finder. Most players I know who are social don't need group finder. They've usually got guilds and they've also got friends or family outside guilds, and if they want to do something they organize it and off they go. Some of my characters are in guilds. If I really wanted to group for something I'd ask the people I actually know, not go off to group finder. Forcing players to abandon their existing social groups and play with complete strangers instead is odd. In my mind that does not foster socialization and community in any way. It also fails to address a large reason why people avoid group finder in the first place: in addition to the fact that they'd rather be with friends, group finder has a reputation for being pretty toxic. They're also trying to force people to group by shoveling them all into the same daily and weekly areas. Newsflash: those maps are so small that groups won't help make it pleasant. CZ-198 is miserable when there are more than 15 players there. Now, since gear is tied to doing those areas to earn currency, it's going to be far worse all the time. The devs seem to think we will all enjoy experiencing Black Friday sales rushes every day. Players have generally asked for more instances, not less -it seems to be the polar opposite of what players want. At the end of the day it's a done deal. December 14 isn't too far away. We'll all get to see if this grand experiment of the devs will work out or fail spectacularly. I think it will be the latter. It's sad that SWTOR's devs have decided to throw away so much of their playerbase. But they have and it is what it is.