Thursday, December 27, 2012

Star Wars - The Old Republic (Part Two)

Character Creation
In my opinion, character creation in SWTOR is somewhat the same as regular MMOs and there's nothing too fancy about it.
Server SelectionFaction
SWTOR - Server SelectionSWTOR - Allegiance
Class ChoiceSpecies
SWTOR - Jedi Knight ClassSWTOR - Species
GenderAppearance
SWTOR - GenderSWTOR - Appearance
There's the usual server selection followed by faction, class choices, species, gender and finally appearance customizations that you have to plough through before you can start playing. And since they're just the regular stuff, I guess I can spare you the agony of repeating it and totally skip most of them apart from the class choices.

Class
From what I can tell regarding class choices, there are four classes available for each of the two factions, Republic and Sith. And basically, apart from naming-sense and some minor discrepancies, you can somewhat think of the four classes from one faction having a mirrored counterpart in the other.

For simplicity's sake, please refer to the following class comparisons:
SWTOR - Jedi Knight vs Sith Warrior
Jedi KnightvsSith Warrior
Tank
Damage
Class Role*Tank
Damage
Lightsaber
Dual Lightsabers
Weapon*Lightsaber
Dual Lightsabers
Medium
Heavy
Armor*Medium
Heavy
FocusResourceRage
* Depends on Advanced Class Choice at Level 10.
SWTOR - Jedi Consular vs Sith Inquisitor
Jedi ConsularvsSith Inquisitor
Tank
Damage
Heal
Class Role*Tank
Damage
Heal
Lightsaber
Double-bladed Lightsaber
Weapon*Lightsaber
Double-bladed Lightsaber
LightArmorLight
ForceResourceForce
* Depends on Advanced Class Choice at Level 10.
SWTOR - Smuggler vs Imperial Agent
SmugglervsImperial Agent
Damage
Heal
Class Role*Damage
Heal
Scattergun
Blaster Pistol
Dual Blaster Pistols
Weapon*Blaster Rifle
Sniper Rifle
Vibroknife
MediumArmorMedium
EnergyResourceEnergy
* Depends on Advanced Class Choice at Level 10.
SWTOR - Trooper vs Bounty Hunter
TroopervsBounty Hunter
Tank
Damage
Heal
Class Role*Tank
Damage
Heal
Assault Cannon
Blaster Rifle
Weapon*Blaster Pistol
Dual Blaster Pistols
HeavyArmorHeavy
AmmoResourceHeat
* Depends on Advanced Class Choice at Level 10.

Anyway, think carefully and choose well for the class you've decided upon will stick with you for life...or at least for the most of your SWTOR career. That is until you get bored and decide to create another character and play a different class of course.

You know...on hindsight, I can't help but notice that SWTOR's character creation system does give off the same feel as that of The Secret World's. Both of the games appear to have a somewhat limited array of character customization options. Additionally, none of them have hairstyle options that are longer than shoulder length.
SWTOR - Quest Conversation
So I suspect that the reason for these limitations might also be due to its attempt at wanting to add the player's own character into the quest conversations. However, in contrast with The Secret World's implementation, I kind of feel that SWTOR did a better job at it.
SWTOR - Conversation ChoicesSWTOR - Character Gestures
Not only did they implement conversation choices which allows us to at times alter the reactions that we get from the NPCs we're interacting with, sometimes we would even get to direct the outcome of an encounter. Like for example, allowing a defeated quest foe to live or die due to the choices we make in the conversation.

And on top of that, compared to TSW's still and silent characters, SWTOR's characters had motions (in terms of gestures) as well as speak with the NPC so much so that it becomes a real conversation rather than a one-person show (they've even bothered to hire voice actors/actresses to give life to our characters).


Previous: SWTOR (Part One)Next: SWTOR (Part Three)

Friday, December 21, 2012

Star Wars - The Old Republic (Part One)

Star Wars - The Old Republic
Now Star Wars - The Old Republic (SWTOR) is a game that I wouldn't regret downloading despite its filesize being also 20 GB (which is as huge as DC Universe Online).
SWTOR - Jedi Knight Class StorySWTOR - Quest Log
The best part that I like about this game is how they have presented the quests. First of all, there is the class specific quest which begins immediately after a player creates his or her character. This quest will basically keep the player occupied throughout his or her leveling career (up to the level cap I believe) as well as bring them all around the SWTOR universe.
SWTOR - Tython Map
To give you a slight idea, please refer to the Tython Map shown above. Initially, I had started out at the "Master's Retreat". Then as I proceed with completing my class quest, I gradually moved about all around Tython from "The Gnarls" to the "Jedi Temple" and then "Kalikori Village" and so on and so forth.
SWTOR - Coruscant
Eventually, after finishing my business on Tython, the class quest went on and led me to other parts of the SWTOR universe like "Coruscant", "Ord Mantell" and "Taris". And then mixed within the class quest, there is a plethora of sideline quests that are either associated with the class quest or related to the area where the class quest would bring the player to.


In my opinion, the way they've delivered it gives the quests a sense of meaning and direction so much so that it makes me feel that I am not doing boring senseless questing for levels but rather playing and living out my character's encounters.
SWTOR - Quest Video ClipSWTOR - Quest Option Choices
Well you may think that I am making an absurd statement right at this point. But frankly speaking, once you start playing it yourself and see the way they've seamlessly incorporated video clips and option choices into the conversations of the quests, you wouldn't bear to think otherwise. ^_^
SWTOR - WarzoneSWTOR - Flashpoint
Apart from that, there's also warzones and flashpoints available for players to participate in when they grow bored of questing and leveling. Basically, these warzones and flashpoints are instanced maps where we can fight alongside teammates against other fellow players (PVP map) or environmental mobs (PVE map).
SWTOR - Space Combat
And if that's not your cup of tea, then there's also crafting and space combat for you to play around with. But I must warn you beforehand that these features aren't really those fully fleshed out types that your having in your mind right about now. They merely exist as a "side dish", along with the warzones and flashpoints, to make your overall online gameplay experience in SWTOR less repetitive and with more variability.
SWTOR - Artifact Rarity EquipmentSWTOR - Warzone Limit
However, as a freemium game, I can't help but find that SWTOR does deliver some hard-hitting nerfs on free-to-play gamers. The most prominent one that I can think of is the one where we are required to purchase an "Artifact Equipment Authorization" before we can equip and use purple-colored items. Then there are also limits put in place upon the number of times we can participate in warzones and space combat.
SWTOR - Crew Skills Limit
Besides that, we also face limits on the number of crew skills that can be learnt which effectively throws our ability to craft right out of the window (needs at least two but we can only learn one). And on top of all these, there is also a cap on the amount of in-game credits we can acquire ($200,000 and the rest will be placed in escrow), a highly limited inventory space, no storage bank, much higher gameplay costs (in terms of buying, selling and repairing items) as well as a relatively harder time to level (exp nerf or rather little to no exp bonus) just to name a few.
SWTOR - Improved Speeder Piloting I CCSWTOR - Improved Speeder Piloting I Auction
Essentially, the only way to remove these nerfs would either be to subscribe to the game or purchase their unlocks via "Cartel Coins" or in-game credits. But with an upper cap of $200,000, there is hardly much cash shop items that you can acquire since they mostly cost more than that or can hardly be found selling. And in my opinion, if your in this for the long haul, it might be "ideally better for your wallet" to unlock your account's nerfs using the "Cartel Coins" than compared to subscribing.

This is because even though subscribing would free you from all the nerfs, they are only temporary and will only last for as long as your subscription. Upon the end of your subscription, you will drop back to the "Preferred" status which although has less nerfs compared to "Free-to-Play", it is in my opinion still pretty heavily penalized.

For an exact idea of the differences between subscribers, preferred and free-to-play members, please head on over to SWTOR - Subscription, Preferred and Free-to-Play Features. But ultimately, if you asked me, I am just glad that they didn't restrict us from enjoying the full story content of SWTOR.
Next: SWTOR (Part Two)

Friday, December 14, 2012

DC Universe Online (Part Five)

Storyline Quests
DC Universe Online - Storyline Quest 1DC Universe Online - Storyline Quest 2
The storyline quests in DCUO is, in my opinion, presented in a way that makes it a bit distinct and different from that of regular MMOs. Initially, the players start off with some of the usual quests like collect a certain number of an item or kill X number of a certain monster.
DC Universe Online - Quest Instance
Then as you proceed with completing these minor quests, everything will slowly be pieced together like bits and pieces of a puzzle. Eventually, one thing leading to another, you will find yourself arriving at the doorstep of an instanced dungeon.
DC Universe Online - NPC LackeysDC Universe Online - The Riddler
Next, after entering the dungeon, you will discover that you need to fight off piles of miscellaneous NPC mobs (lackeys) and perhaps even solve riddles before you can finally face-off with the final boss of the dungeon. But you don't need to worry too much about solving these riddles as they are fairly easy and merely involves finding objects to interact with or touching them in a certain order.
DC Universe Online - Protecting The Riddler
Sometimes, you may be fighting this boss alone and sometimes, you might find yourself fighting alongside AI-controlled superheroes or villains. All of these would have to depend upon the objectives of the quest of course.
DC Universe Online - Video Clip NarrationDC Universe Online - Newspaper Headlines
And upon finishing off the final boss, you will be shown with a comic-styled video clip narration that is related to the villain and storyline of the quest followed by a newspaper headline declaring an evil villain's scheme has been thwarted (or something along that line).

Overall, I feel that what has been done is a pretty good attempt in trying to bring meaning and purpose to questing in MMOs. However, if I had to pick a bone, it would be that I kind of find that all of these supposedly "storyline" quests tend to be separated and unrelated to one another.

As you would know, the main story behind DCUO is that an ultimate evil, Brainiac, is invading Earth as we know it. But in these storyline quests, what we can find is some villain committing acts of evil that hardly has anything to do with the original plot.

At the best, it may only be so-and-so villain taking advantage of the exobyte situation to perform their own devilish schemes. In my opinion, it might have been a bit better if there was an overall direction in the plot that strings all of these individual storylines together.

Equipment System
From what I've gathered so far, the equipment system found in DC Universe Online doesn't look impressive. At best, it has only a basic rarity and equipment modding system put in place.

Rarity
DC Universe Online - Equipment Rarity
The rarity of the equipment found in the game can somewhat be classified into a few colors, white, green, blue and purple (not sure if there is an orange color as I've not seen one yet).
DC Universe Online - Green Equip Reward
Just like in regular MMOs, equipment of "white" rarity are the most common and can be easily found off regular mobs or bought from NPC vendors. Likewise, "green" rarity equips are also pretty common and will most often be obtained as rewards for completing the minor quests (and also the same avenues as "white" equip).
DC Universe Online - Blue WingsDC Universe Online - Purple Helm
"Blue" and "purple" equips, however, are a bit harder to obtain. You will most probably be looting these off the final bosses of storyline quests depending on your luck and relative levels. They can also be bought from certain NPC vendors as far as I know, but these transactions would most probably involve some of the fancy marks, influence points and whatnots.

And needless to say, the rarer the equip, the more impressive its stats will be. So if you have four equips of similar levels and type, the "white" equip would offer the least while the "green" one would offer relatively better stats. The "Blue" equip would give more stats than the "green" one followed by the "purple" having the best stats out of the four.
Equipment Mods
From what I can tell, what you need to know about equipment modding can basically be summarized into three sections, Exobits, Plans and Sockets.
DC Universe Online - Exobit Cache
Regarding exobits, they are actually items that you can find stashed in caches such as that shown above. And these caches are found randomly placed all over DCUO in Metropolis and Gotham City.
DC Universe Online - Looting Exobit CacheDC Universe Online - Support Exobit
Whenever you open one of these caches, you will obtain any of the following three forms of exobits, Aggressive (Red), Fortified (Blue) and Support (Yellow).
DC Universe Online - Support Exobyte PlanDC Universe Online - Equipment Mod Plan
Next, to actually make use of the exobits, you will first need to "craft" them into exobytes and then turn them into equipment mods. But in order to do so, you will need to acquire the proper plans and have them researched (which is simply right clicking on the plans in your inventory actually).

As far as I know, the plans to craft exobits into exobytes are given to us as a reward via a quest at around level 10. As for equipment mod plans, some of them can be obtained via an NPC vendor (which is found close to the R&D workstation) while others might require you to loot them off of the final bosses in storyline quests.
DC Universe Online - RnD WorkstationDC Universe Online - RnD Assembly Window
So after acquiring the needed exobits and plans, you can then head on over to one of the following R&D workstations. These workstations can be found in some of the safe houses (police departments for heroes and nightclubs for villains) as well as in the "Watchtower" and "Hall of Doom".

And upon interacting with it, you will be shown with an assembly window where you can craft all sorts of exobytes and equipment mods (that you've researched). From then onwards, all you need to do is prepare the necessary ingredients to craft your desired mods.
DC Universe Online - Dominance and Precision AlphaDC Universe Online - Equipment Interface Alpha
Apart from the exobyte (which can be crafted from the exobits), the other ingredients needed by the mod can be easily bought from the NPC vendor found beside the workstations. If what you required is not sold there, then I suppose there is a good chance that the ingredient must either be obtained from salvaging looted equipments or acquired from NPC mobs.

However, do note that this salvaging function will only be unlocked when your character reaches level 30. Once you've unlocked this function, just visit the workstations again and look for the "Salvaging" tab to start breaking down unneeded equipments.
DC Universe Online - Blue Socket Equip
Next, to actually make use of the crafted equipment mods, you will first need to have an equipment with a socket.
DC Universe Online - Modifying Equip 1DC Universe Online - Modifying Equip 2
Once you do, just click and drag the mod onto the equipment. A warning will pop up to ask whether you wish to continue. Upon confirmation, the bonus stats of the equipment mod will then be incorporated into the stats of the equipment.
DC Universe Online - Socket Affinity Bonus
Finally, socket affinity bonus is something extra that you get when you use an equipment mod that is compatible to the color of the equipment's socket. In its simplest sense, an equipment mod is compatible to the socket if exobits of the same color had been used as an ingredient in making the mod.
DC Universe Online - Equipment Mod
Or you can just merely refer to the equipment mod's description if your confused ;p. But anyway, by putting in a compatible equipment mod into the socket, you can trigger and activate the socket affinity bonus. Do note, however, that once you've placed a mod into the socket, it cannot be removed as far as I know. So choose your mods wisely.

Apart from rarity and equip modding, equipment found in the game can also be divided into two general types, PVE and PVP equipment. And as the name suggests, PVE equipment is meant to help the player deal with environmental mobs while PVP equipment is used against other fellow players.
DC Universe Online - PVE EquipmentDC Universe Online - PVP Equipment
The primary way to differentiate between the two is by comparing their stats. PVE equipment will have a stat called "Defense" while PVP equipment would have an alternative stat called "Toughness" instead.

And the most important difference between these two stats is that "Defense" reduces damage from non-player enemies while "Toughness" works to reduce the damage from player foes. Furthermore, these two stats are mutually exclusive and cannot both exist within the same item.

So what this means is that if you are out killing mobs with PVP armor on, you are literally hunting naked as you lack the necessary defense to protect yourself from the damage dealt by those mobs. Similarly, if you are wearing PVE armor, you would be putting yourself at risk from attacks by opposing players as you lack the needed toughness to reduce the damage inflicted.

With that, I've come to the end of my introduction of the world of DC Universe Online. I sincerely hope that these articles had been useful to you.



Previous: DCUO (Part Four)