"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."
So I've been playing SWTOR again after a coupla-month absence.
Unfortunately, when I came back, there had already been a massive rush of people leaving the game, both in my guild and out of it. (Apparently the worldwide subscription numbers, while impressive at first, fell below 1M in the first six months. That's... unpromising). Giradda had become a ghost town where we were sometimes the only Republic players on a given planet. But I was still having a good time duoing with Matt, occasionally grouping with lightgamer and Chrisco, running heroics and flashpoints, healing my lekku off.
Then Bioware started bribing us to transfer servers, which was very tempting, given both the barrenness of Giradda and the rewards they were offering. (A Gannafari pet! 25 Black Hole commendations!) The Shadowlands was the designated destination server for Giradda, and after discussing it on the guild forums, most of us who were still playing transferred there.
While The Shadowlands is certainly well-populated, the problem now is... the guild still hasn't reassembled there. Kamm has the contents of the old guild bank in his own cargo bays, but I would venture that, like us, he doesn't feel comfortable putting together a guild charter for the re-creation of a guild that was never really ours to begin with. Jeremiah, the original GM, stopped playing a long time ago, and while he transferred it to John C., he seems to have stopped playing, too.
So, I dunno. We probably have four people to sign a charter, but I don't think the guild will ever return to its former glory. In general it makes me sad that people seem to have stopped playing just as I started again. I am hoping that the game going free-to-play in the fall will encourage people to come back.
But in the meantime... well, I've been having fun, at least. So much fun that Jjaro is now a half-level from 50!
The Smuggler questline is just... awesome. I mean, the only other questlines I've sampled have been the Jedi Consular and the Imperial Agent, but this blows both of them away. Admittedly, I play a male smuggler, and I think that contributes to some of the awesomeness. It is not cool to have your sole romanceable companion be a Boy Scout who doesn't know how to take no for an answer. (Fucking Corso).
(Matt joked about Corso: "He's working on his Stalker merit badge. He's only one restraining order away!")
Some high points:
- Guss Tuno, the final smuggler companion. Man. He's hilarious. I enjoy that his full name is "Languss Tuno," which I'm pretty sure is a take on the French word for shrimp, "langoustine." Which is appropriate, since he's a Mon Cal.
Jjaro gets a few good lines against him, though: "What kind of fake Jedi are you?" There's also the fact that he insists on punching Guss as a condition for the Mon Cal joining his crew.
Also, Ive discovered that when I equip Guss with new gear, he says, "Whee!"
- The whole "Risha wants to marry Count Rineld to get back into the Dubrillion aristocracy" plot amuses me, especially coming as it does right when Jjaro finally gets to kiss Risha. Also, Lise-the-player doesn't see a problem with marriage for political convenience! As Jjaro said, "Aristocrats sleep in separate beds, right? Maybe you can just slip me the key to your room." She, uh, didn't react as positively to that as I'd hoped.
- Belsavis as a whole is a fucking chore, and I'm as sick of killing Esh-kha as I was of killing rakghouls on Taris. Buuuut some of the plots, man. The whole World Razer thing was tedious, but I enjoyed Jjaro getting to say, "nah, thanks, I'm not interesting in destroying the galaxy" in his usual snarky way and activating the Burning Way. And then getting 100 affection from Risha.
Also, in the smuggler class quest, I decided Jjaro was going to invite Ivory to join him rather than turn him in to Marshall Cavarat. Cue 50 dark side points! But it's okay. He wanted the information on Rogun, who got him into this whole mess to begin with.
- Getting to 7000(?) affection with Risha and kicking off the conversation that led to the Black Screen of Carnal Knowledge... twice.
... only to the have the second BSOCK interrupted by a jealous Akaavi bursting in and demanding what was going on. Dude, sure, I was flirting with you, but come on. The smuggler has flirt options for EVERYTHING. I didn't ask you to start telling me about your ex-lover who betrayed your Mandalorian clan and how you haven't had sex in five years!
Anyway, that moment culminated in a conversation that went something like this:
Jjaro: This isn't what it looks like!
Risha: It's exactly what it looks like. Back off, bitch!
Akaavi: You love this soft thing?
Jjaro: Well... it's okay, she's going to go marry a Count, anyway.
Akaavi: You don't know how to treat women with respect!
Risha: I think you want to drive me straight to Count Rineld!
Jjaro: Fine, do whatever you want!
At which point, he lost 83 affection with Akaavi, and four hundred with Risha. Ouch.
I joked with Matt later, "Come on. Women love it when you say 'do whatever you want,' right?"
I think what kind of surprised me was how... like, torn up I was by that conversation. I really wanted a redo of it, but just like in real life, there was no going back. (Admittedly, IRL you can't exactly hit Esc to get out of conversations that aren't going your way. Which is what I would have done, were I not so shocked by it as it was happening). So I found myself spending a lot of time wondering which woman Jjaro would be more interested in. I decided that while Lise-the-player liked Akaavi better, Jjaro would probably be more into Risha, and so he was going to try to get her back.
After that I started spamming Investigation missions, trying for gifts that would get her affection back to where it had been. In the process, I noticed that she no longer had any interest in Courting gifts, which pretty much told me that Jjaro and Risha were through.
And then we got to the 8000 affection conversation, in which there was NOT A SINGLE FLIRT option. In fact pretty much my only options were being disparaging and hateful of Count Rineld, or encouraging her to go ahead with marrying him. I chose the latter; got conversations like, "Go ahead, accept his proposal before you lose your nerve!"
It came across a bittersweet breakup moment--i.e. you want the best for the other person, even if you're sad they're leaving--which was... kind of awesome, actually? Now I sort of understand why people play BW games for these kinds of moments.
I also really wish that, even if I can't have a redo, that there were a way to replay the companion and class quest scenes in a sort of spectator/video format. Since I was so surprised at the Akaavi/Risha confrontation, I didn't really process it all, and I'd love to just be able to see it again. Without having to go through another 40-odd levels with another male smuggler, that is >.<
- More Risha awesomness: after the bittersweet breakup, we moved on to the "Risha's friend Sumalee calls worried that their mutual friend is in trouble" plot. And I got a flirt option again! Which was apparently trying to arrange a threesome >.< (Some comment about, "If you two want to catch up, we have plenty of spare bunks on my ship...")
... to which Risha responded, "Just ignore him. I've tried to have him fixed, but I can't find a vet that will do the procedure." Lulz.
(It's true, I do very much play Jjaro as a horn dog. But... the male smuggler chat options kiiiiind of encourage it).
I have more I want to write... about Scoundrel healing, and wanting to make a female Trooper, but I figure that's enough rambling for one day.
Unfortunately, when I came back, there had already been a massive rush of people leaving the game, both in my guild and out of it. (Apparently the worldwide subscription numbers, while impressive at first, fell below 1M in the first six months. That's... unpromising). Giradda had become a ghost town where we were sometimes the only Republic players on a given planet. But I was still having a good time duoing with Matt, occasionally grouping with lightgamer and Chrisco, running heroics and flashpoints, healing my lekku off.
Then Bioware started bribing us to transfer servers, which was very tempting, given both the barrenness of Giradda and the rewards they were offering. (A Gannafari pet! 25 Black Hole commendations!) The Shadowlands was the designated destination server for Giradda, and after discussing it on the guild forums, most of us who were still playing transferred there.
While The Shadowlands is certainly well-populated, the problem now is... the guild still hasn't reassembled there. Kamm has the contents of the old guild bank in his own cargo bays, but I would venture that, like us, he doesn't feel comfortable putting together a guild charter for the re-creation of a guild that was never really ours to begin with. Jeremiah, the original GM, stopped playing a long time ago, and while he transferred it to John C., he seems to have stopped playing, too.
So, I dunno. We probably have four people to sign a charter, but I don't think the guild will ever return to its former glory. In general it makes me sad that people seem to have stopped playing just as I started again. I am hoping that the game going free-to-play in the fall will encourage people to come back.
But in the meantime... well, I've been having fun, at least. So much fun that Jjaro is now a half-level from 50!
The Smuggler questline is just... awesome. I mean, the only other questlines I've sampled have been the Jedi Consular and the Imperial Agent, but this blows both of them away. Admittedly, I play a male smuggler, and I think that contributes to some of the awesomeness. It is not cool to have your sole romanceable companion be a Boy Scout who doesn't know how to take no for an answer. (Fucking Corso).
(Matt joked about Corso: "He's working on his Stalker merit badge. He's only one restraining order away!")
Some high points:
- Guss Tuno, the final smuggler companion. Man. He's hilarious. I enjoy that his full name is "Languss Tuno," which I'm pretty sure is a take on the French word for shrimp, "langoustine." Which is appropriate, since he's a Mon Cal.
Jjaro gets a few good lines against him, though: "What kind of fake Jedi are you?" There's also the fact that he insists on punching Guss as a condition for the Mon Cal joining his crew.
Also, Ive discovered that when I equip Guss with new gear, he says, "Whee!"
- The whole "Risha wants to marry Count Rineld to get back into the Dubrillion aristocracy" plot amuses me, especially coming as it does right when Jjaro finally gets to kiss Risha. Also, Lise-the-player doesn't see a problem with marriage for political convenience! As Jjaro said, "Aristocrats sleep in separate beds, right? Maybe you can just slip me the key to your room." She, uh, didn't react as positively to that as I'd hoped.
- Belsavis as a whole is a fucking chore, and I'm as sick of killing Esh-kha as I was of killing rakghouls on Taris. Buuuut some of the plots, man. The whole World Razer thing was tedious, but I enjoyed Jjaro getting to say, "nah, thanks, I'm not interesting in destroying the galaxy" in his usual snarky way and activating the Burning Way. And then getting 100 affection from Risha.
Also, in the smuggler class quest, I decided Jjaro was going to invite Ivory to join him rather than turn him in to Marshall Cavarat. Cue 50 dark side points! But it's okay. He wanted the information on Rogun, who got him into this whole mess to begin with.
- Getting to 7000(?) affection with Risha and kicking off the conversation that led to the Black Screen of Carnal Knowledge... twice.
... only to the have the second BSOCK interrupted by a jealous Akaavi bursting in and demanding what was going on. Dude, sure, I was flirting with you, but come on. The smuggler has flirt options for EVERYTHING. I didn't ask you to start telling me about your ex-lover who betrayed your Mandalorian clan and how you haven't had sex in five years!
Anyway, that moment culminated in a conversation that went something like this:
Jjaro: This isn't what it looks like!
Risha: It's exactly what it looks like. Back off, bitch!
Akaavi: You love this soft thing?
Jjaro: Well... it's okay, she's going to go marry a Count, anyway.
Akaavi: You don't know how to treat women with respect!
Risha: I think you want to drive me straight to Count Rineld!
Jjaro: Fine, do whatever you want!
At which point, he lost 83 affection with Akaavi, and four hundred with Risha. Ouch.
I joked with Matt later, "Come on. Women love it when you say 'do whatever you want,' right?"
I think what kind of surprised me was how... like, torn up I was by that conversation. I really wanted a redo of it, but just like in real life, there was no going back. (Admittedly, IRL you can't exactly hit Esc to get out of conversations that aren't going your way. Which is what I would have done, were I not so shocked by it as it was happening). So I found myself spending a lot of time wondering which woman Jjaro would be more interested in. I decided that while Lise-the-player liked Akaavi better, Jjaro would probably be more into Risha, and so he was going to try to get her back.
After that I started spamming Investigation missions, trying for gifts that would get her affection back to where it had been. In the process, I noticed that she no longer had any interest in Courting gifts, which pretty much told me that Jjaro and Risha were through.
And then we got to the 8000 affection conversation, in which there was NOT A SINGLE FLIRT option. In fact pretty much my only options were being disparaging and hateful of Count Rineld, or encouraging her to go ahead with marrying him. I chose the latter; got conversations like, "Go ahead, accept his proposal before you lose your nerve!"
It came across a bittersweet breakup moment--i.e. you want the best for the other person, even if you're sad they're leaving--which was... kind of awesome, actually? Now I sort of understand why people play BW games for these kinds of moments.
I also really wish that, even if I can't have a redo, that there were a way to replay the companion and class quest scenes in a sort of spectator/video format. Since I was so surprised at the Akaavi/Risha confrontation, I didn't really process it all, and I'd love to just be able to see it again. Without having to go through another 40-odd levels with another male smuggler, that is >.<
- More Risha awesomness: after the bittersweet breakup, we moved on to the "Risha's friend Sumalee calls worried that their mutual friend is in trouble" plot. And I got a flirt option again! Which was apparently trying to arrange a threesome >.< (Some comment about, "If you two want to catch up, we have plenty of spare bunks on my ship...")
... to which Risha responded, "Just ignore him. I've tried to have him fixed, but I can't find a vet that will do the procedure." Lulz.
(It's true, I do very much play Jjaro as a horn dog. But... the male smuggler chat options kiiiiind of encourage it).
I have more I want to write... about Scoundrel healing, and wanting to make a female Trooper, but I figure that's enough rambling for one day.