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This isn't really a blog, but more specifically towards MMO and Star Wars: The Old Republic in general. I'm pretty new to MMOs but that doesn't mean I haven't tried them before. I've played WoW for quite some time but never got above level 20 as a Mage... So naturally, I switched to SWToR and played as a Sith Sorcerer, now level 24.
So in general, I think I've played the game long enough to know what's going on and how to get better gear, but the enhancment mods such as lightsaber color, robe modifications, and debuff spells confuse me quite a bit. At this point the most confusing thing to me is artifact and crafting. I chose archaeology and bio-analysis and have been going around and collecting the required cystals and that sort of stuff. My question is, what the heck am I supposed to do with what I collected and what in the world is the purpose in doing so? It doesn't make sense to me in the slightest.
In PvP, I think I'm doing fairly ok but many times I've been scored on the leaderboard on the bottom half no matter how many people I've defeated and how many times I played and scored the objective. I know my class is supposed to be 'over-powered' and even though it is considered so, I don't think I'm playing it right. I'm spec'd in Madness as of now and considering rolling over to Lightning once I fill up the Madness tree. I want to be a good player, more specifically, I want to help me friends in raids as a good Ranged DPS person or sort.
What can I do to improve? Some basic elements in MMO I'm missing? Or is there something about this class I need to understand? So far I've just been using my Khem Val companion as a tank and popping a static shield on him during elite and strong enemy fights and just sitting back and doing damage. Also just levelling up as I go along and getting whatever gear with green +'s on everything.
TL;DR - I am new to MMO and currently playing SWToR as a Sorcerer with no idea as to what crew skills are and am looking to improve and understand how to properly play my class.
Obviously this applies to SWToR or MMO players, please refrain from answering if you don't play those games.
Thanks!
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Basic question : are you clicking your spell or do you have everything on keyboard shortcuts ? Especially in PvP this actually amounts to a great deal as far a reactivity and efficiency goes.
Can't help on ToR specifically since I just play WoW as a MMO.
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you get three crew skills. you can chose two gathering skills and a matching crafting skill. With the gathering skills you gather those resources (like you are already doing) and with the crafting skill you then make mods from them.
check this: http://swtor.wikia.com/wiki/Artifice
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May I suggest respeccing to heal for leveling? I made the switch and now im the happiest sorc out there!
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On January 11 2012 03:24 Bargil wrote:
This isn't really a blog, but more specifically towards MMO and Star Wars: The Old Republic in general. I'm pretty new to MMOs but that doesn't mean I haven't tried them before. I've played WoW for quite some time but never got above level 20 as a Mage... So naturally, I switched to SWToR and played as a Sith Sorcerer, now level 24.
So in general, I think I've played the game long enough to know what's going on and how to get better gear, but the enhancment mods such as lightsaber color, robe modifications, and debuff spells confuse me quite a bit. At this point the most confusing thing to me is artifact and crafting. I chose archaeology and bio-analysis and have been going around and collecting the required cystals and that sort of stuff. My question is, what the heck am I supposed to do with what I collected and what in the world is the purpose in doing so? It doesn't make sense to me in the slightest.
In PvP, I think I'm doing fairly ok but many times I've been scored on the leaderboard on the bottom half no matter how many people I've defeated and how many times I played and scored the objective. I know my class is supposed to be 'over-powered' and even though it is considered so, I don't think I'm playing it right. I'm spec'd in Madness as of now and considering rolling over to Lightning once I fill up the Madness tree. I want to be a good player, more specifically, I want to help me friends in raids as a good Ranged DPS person or sort.
What can I do to improve? Some basic elements in MMO I'm missing? Or is there something about this class I need to understand? So far I've just been using my Khem Val companion as a tank and popping a static shield on him during elite and strong enemy fights and just sitting back and doing damage. Also just levelling up as I go along and getting whatever gear with green +'s on everything.
TL;DR - I am new to MMO and currently playing SWToR as a Sorcerer with no idea as to what crew skills are and am looking to improve and understand how to properly play my class.
Obviously this applies to SWToR or MMO players, please refrain from answering if you don't play those games.
Thanks!
#1 - Item-wise, if orange items confuse you that's something you should def look into. Basically these are custom items, their stats depend on the mods you have in them. You can replace these mods (you can buy them, exchange them for commendations, etc) with better ones and thus improve the item. It's really quite simple once you understand that the item itself is just a shell, with the mods providing the stats (btw: ctrl+rightclick on an orange item to see its mods and put in new ones).
#2 - Debuff spells are spells that put a negative condition on your target. For example - you cast Affliction on your target. This places the debuff "Affliction" on them, which means they suffer X damage every Y seconds for Z seconds in total. Debuffs can cause damage, slow, incapacitate, etc. - or a combination of all those. If you have any specific questions on this topic, I'll elaborate further.
#3 - Choosing Archeology and Artifice is a good idea, since the materials you gather with the first are required to make stuff with the second. Bioanalysis doesn't serve any purpose in the context of Artifice - so unless you plan to sell the materials you gather with it on the GTN, you should drop it and pick up either Slicing (for money) or Treasure Hunting (for Artifice).
#4 - The Warzone leaderboard can tell you everything, or it can tell you nothing. By default, players are ranked by the amount of medals they earned that match. Medals are awarded when certain conditions are met, for example: killing an opponent in 1v1 combat, dealing 75000 damage, healing 75000 damage, getting a killing blow, getting 25 kills, etc. So to maximize your gain in Warzones, you should be trying to meet as many of these conditions as possible, all the while working towards the goals of the specific Warzone (capture and hold towers on Alderaan, for example).
#5 - PvP performance means very little at your level. Specs don't do as much for you as they do at level 50 - whatever spec you ultimately choose, you should be doing more or less the same thing - supporting the front line by debuffing, healing and providing ranged DPS. Again, do not feel you should be topping the charts before 50 because you shouldn't be - if you do, great, if you don't, also great. Just have fun.
#6 - There's a reason we start at level 1, not level 50 in these games. Not only is there an amazing story to experience, it gives us the time to figure out how the game is played. So don't be afraid to make mistakes, experiment and figure it out for yourself! But here are some basic pointers for a sorcerer anyway... Khem Val is a great companion. He tanks, you spank. It is generally accepted that the first 2 (or to some extent, 5) skill points should go in the lightning tree (+100 max force and the optional 9% force cost reduction for all abilities) - while I recommend picking up the +100 force talent, you should be able to do whatever you want with any spec. Just make sure you don't mix talent trees too early (keep putting points in the same one at least until level 40). Keep your own gear maxed by spending commendations you earn from missions - you can buy new armor/weapons, or just mods and put them in the orange gear you already have. The stats you should be going for are Willpower, Endurance and Crit. If the situation arises when you have to heal, be it your companion or another player, you should rely on Dark Infusion rather than the smaller, faster heal (it's extremely force-inefficient and heals for a small amount to boot). Use the lightning shield when you need to prevent damage quickly.
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Thanks for that RyN! That helped a ton.. Haha apparently my crew skills are way underleveled at the moment. I'm using Archaeology Level 92, Synthweaving Level 34, and I forgot the last one but that's not really that big of a deal. Another thing is that as a Sith Sorcerer I'm progressing through the game at an unbelievably hurried pace, even though I'm playing it as normal and doing side quests and junk. For example, I'm now at Alderaan after only 4 days (since I got the game), at Level 26 when I'm supposed to actually be at Alderaan at Level 28 or higher.
It's weird how I progress, maybe it's because the Sith Inquisitor has slow leveling? I don't know but it's not really that bad, I'm beating Level 28-29 enemies and I'm not going to worry about it.
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You'll find that crew skills really aren't all that essential to the game atm  If you enjoy them, go for it, but you shouldn't feel compelled to keep them up to date with your level. As for fast leveling, are you sure you're not skipping certain zones on planets? I always try to "finish" a planet (complete the main quest chain + as many side-quests that I can) before moving on. There are also the "bonus series" quests that become available on each planet after you finish the main storyline. I would definitely recommend that you don't move to higher level planets too quickly. I always try to be at least the same level as the quests/mobs, better if higher. Otherwise it can go pretty frustrating pretty fast... What helps a lot with this are space missions and PvP. I always try to complete the dailty quests for both (PvP daily is "win a warzone - shouldn't take too long on empire ) and the space mission dailies just have a crazy XP/time ratio. Plus they're super fun!
Personally, I know I hit something of a wall on Alderaan on my Sorcerer. Khem started taking loads of damage, etc. So take care 
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Ah thanks for that again! Now that I'm mid into the Madness spec tree, I want to get the upgrade for Death Field then I'll start spec onto Lightning. My goal is just insane Ranged DPS, not healing. So if someone expects me to heal them I will have nothing to do with it. They can seethe anyway.
For now I think I'll just do PvPs and some side quests to get commendations for other stuff. I probably won't leave Alderaan main story line until I'm level 30, though that shouldn't take too long. I need better gear for my companions anyway. Currently using Andonokis since his DPS is wicked good, still using Khem Val for bosses and Elites, so they don't aggro onto me while I do dps and debuffs.
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Sounds good! You're definitely welcome to go for a madness/lightning hybrid build. However if you really want to maximize DPS, I'd advise going for full lightning. Madness is mostly a debuffs-with-self-healing tree that shines in PvP, while Lightning seems to be archetypal PvE DPS tree. The reason I suggested filling a tree before putting points in another is because the skills you unlock higher up are generally more powerful than the ones you unlock by starting over in another. But as I said, before you reach 50 and start actually doing end-game content, you can pretty much spec whatever you want without worrying.
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Haha no problem dude! What server are you on by the way? I'll add you as friend if you're on The Crucible Pits, though it seems quite unlikely we'd be on the same server
Also I checked the bonus quests you talked about for each planet. I really want to thank you for this. After going back to Tatooine I did the entire bonus quest and went up literally 2 levels. This helped me so much and also unlocked some new space missions. Did those, and now I'm half way to 29 :D
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EPT
