Star Wars The Old Republic – Tips and Tricks
Sean W. Gibson / Dec 21st, 2011 No Comments
For those of you new to the MMORPG space, we thought to give you some really solid Tips and Tricks for when you fire up Star Wars: The Old Republic, the new game from BioWare and EA. If you haven’t read it already, be sure to check out our the Star Wars: The Old Republic First Impressions Review,
Here are some questions we’ve been hearing from friends asking us about The Old Republic and some common responses:
Q. Which side should I pick? Which is better, Sith or Jedi?
A. Stop asking this question, it’ll make you sound like a serious noob. Neither one is better than the other and both storylines are absolutely amazing. The Jedi and the Sith characters have very subtle (if any perceptible) distinctions between the two. If you enjoy playing on the light side of things and being a good guy, be a Jedi. If you like to create an alter ego where you’re super evil, be a Sith. You could always be a dark side Jedi or a light side Sith, but those distinctions are mostly cosmetic. Either way, you can’t lose, both stories are great and both Sith and Jedi are really fun to play.
Star Wars: The Old Republic - Tips
A. Not everyone wants to be a Jedi and playing as one of the other characters, such as the Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Imperial Agent or Trooper is a heck of a lot of fun. One of the things we heard a lot of is “hey isn’t everyone a Jedi in the game?” and the answer is definitely not. Playing as any one of the four types of characters is so much fun you’ll quickly be making alts right away.
Q. What’s the level cap? How quickly do you level up?
A. The level cap right now is at 50 and we’re sure it’ll go up with time. On average we’re guessing as a benchmark answer to this question that if you are out constantly questing it’s about 1 hour per level on average. That’ll vary to a large degree on your motivation and skill so take that in context.
Q. Is there killer loot in the game?
A. Sure? Depends on how snobbish you are about your loot. There’s plenty of drop types and when you play flashpoints (aka dungeons) you’re sure to get something really awesome that is class specific just for you. The nice thing is that you are always rewarded and it’s usually something that lasts, but at the same time, there’s tons out there that can help both you and your companion be “better” in the game.
Q. What kind of hardware do I need? Can a Mac run this game?
A. We’ve heard word that SWTOR even runs on modern integrated graphics cards, but overall they’ve done a great job making sure people of all system types can enjoy the game. We would definitely not put this game in the same class for hardware intensive graphics as something like Skyrim. Using a dated, but rather nice, ATI Radeon HD 5870 and running it at both 1920×1200 as well as 2560×1440 (new 27″ monitor – slight brag!) the game runs on max graphics without a problem. The max draw distance is also really impressive. So for those of you thinking you might have to break the bank to play this game on full graphics settings, please think again. Modest upgrades will go a long way with this title.
Q. What’s with all this I hear about the SWTOR server queues?
The Soul Crushing SWTOR Server Queue
More Tips…
As you can probably guess, these questions are coming from Wow ex-patriots that are now curious to how SWTOR plays since the reviews have been so positive. Here are also some solid tips for people that are new to the MMO genre…
1. Finding a group the old fashioned way – “LFG: [Name of Quest]”
If you find yourself in need of a friend for one of the many Heroic quests that require 2+ people, just type in the chat channel “LFG [insert quest name here]” and ideally you get a whisper response (in purple) back. It’s kind of old school but seems to be the best method for finding some people to join up with quickly to create a party.
An Empire Party Attacks
As you gain experience and level up, you’ll be visiting your class trainer to learn new abilities. As you learn these abilities, you’ll realize that especially early on you’ll be altering what attacks go in a particular order. Take some time to just logically think through what should go in what order as a default combat pattern and adjust the order that your abilities appear in your bar accordingly.
3. Follow the golden road on your map, always.
The good thing about the mini-map is that it points out main roads and highlights where you are supposed to go at all times. It’s pretty easy to get lost if you are not used to such a big universe to run around in, so be sure to pay close attention to the big giant yellow line on the map. Simple!
4. Don’t forget to upgrade your companion and dispatch them, often.
If you find your companion not doing much in the form of taking damage or doing damage, think to yourself how much you’ve been upgrading their gear. Sure, you’ve got all the greatest stuff, but have you given some love to those companions of yours? Be sure to occasionally give them your hand-me-downs or pick an item for them in the reward option when finishing an option.
5. Having fun
Don’t get frustrated early on in Star Wars: The Old Republic if you don’t exactly know what you are doing. Just sit back, have fun, read articles like these that have nice little tips and enjoy the experience. The online community for SWTOR looks extremely friendly, so you shouldn’t have much trouble asking for and finding some help.
Sean W. Gibson
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tags: star wars the old republic , swtor
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