[PC Game] SW:TOR Questions

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So I finally got the game and have been reading over the classes and figuring out what my line of "work" is going to be and I'm stuck:

Jedi Guardian or Jedi Shadow

First of all, why Empire? Because I like playing on the side that's lesser populated. Sith has pretty much become the "Sephiroth" of the game. It's easily "more badass" but the "fanboi/fangurl" community that has sprung up around it has just turned me off completely.

Aethstetically I'm drawn to the Guardian. Heavy Armor. Single Saber. THE tank class.

Gameplay I'm drawn to the Shadow. Stealth mechanics. Self-Healing capability. Versatile class.

I understand that the "solo game" in TOR is helped by having a companion with you. So if I'm a Guardian, I don't have to worry about the self-healing powers as I can bring a healing companion. If I'm doing a Flashpoint, I don't have to worry about self-healing as there will be a healer.

So based on your experiences with the game, I'm curious to hear about your encounters with these classes. Either having played them or played along side them.
 
I have a 50 Jedi Shadow, and I play with a lot of Sith Juggs as well, and I can say that tanking wise, the Shadow (right now) is a stronger choice. Mostly because Juggs are broken right now, have the lowest HP of any tank, and rely on armor to mitigate. Shadows have higher HP, slightly lower armor, play more like a prot paladin (they have a shield buff to keep up is really the only reason I say that), and tend to have better defensive stats. Also, the Jedi warrior classes all have a ridic amount of abilities that they constantly use compared to everyone else.
 
See and that's just it. I've been a Paladin and mostly prot for my entire WoW career and I absolutely prefer that style of gameplay. (The Self healing and versatility vs having just the most hp and armor class) but the Shadow seems like it plays more like a Death Knight (drain HP abilities) and the lack of "Heavy Armor" and "Single Blade" make me feel like I'm playing Darth Maul more than I'd be playing a "Heavy Tank" style Jedi.

I guess I'm fighting the truth:

Guardian is what I want to be visually.
Shadow is what I want to be gameplay.

I was just hoping that Guardian was better that I was reading that it was and Shadow wasn't as good.
 
They should add a blind jedi character. No video output, just sound. You can use a force command to get a brief 5-10 second view of the general outline of things.
 
@ Dei - That is a concern as the main reasons I'm playing the game are for the storyline (To hold me over till WoW: Mists) and maybe some Flashpoint tanking, since from what I understand, Flashpoints are story driven as well. I hear alot of the Pro Shadow Con Guardian conversations mostly focus on the PVP differences but I could care less as I won't be PVPing.

Will I really feel a difference between Guardian and Shadow if I just plan on playing it as a single player storyline game? I hear Guardian leveling is just a horrid slow paced grind....

@ Stein - There's a race of blind people who just use the Force to see and they can be Jedi.
 
I have played to 50 on both sides, outside the class stories, Imperial storylines are just more polished and finished to me. So if you are playing for story, you might like Sith better, even if you want to avoid the fanboyism.
 
Maybe on my second playthrough I'll do Sith Assassin, since that'll feel more in character and I can still be a tank with better mechanics?
 
So there's not many instances where Stealth is just massively handy or drain tanking can outlast a Guardian in "elite" quests etc?

I just don't want to end up being a "Prot Paladin wishing I was a DK because DK is so ridiculously overpowered" situation again.
 
Damn I was interested in the Archeology/Treasure Hunting etc profession but honestly I dont' know a damn thing about the professions other that what I'd read in a guide.
 
100% take what you want. But reusable medpacs are very win. (my longer posts keep getting eaten from my phone, so I stopped making them sorry :/)
 
I was nearly 90% sure I was going to have to be Shadow even though I wanted to be Guardian but I think with the knowledge gleamed so far from your posts I'll be fine with Guardian/Medpacs.
 
Go Jedi Guardian. I have a sith juggernaut (same mechanics as guardian) and it felt like the iconic Jedi from the movies. The Jedi warrior story (though i played as a sentinel) is also much better than the conselor, and was again much more iconic.

Is the Jedi broken for tanking? Yeah, a little, but it won't stop you from tanking flashpoints, and end game tanking should be fixed eventually.

But it you want the iconic star wars look and story, guardian all the way.

Fyi: I built my juggernaut for dps, and enjoyed that most. Ymmv. I still tanked flashpoints, though granted i was teamed with an awesome healer.
 
My 50 is a Jedi Sentinel (the DPS class of Knight), so as for companions I can tell you this much: you don't get your healer till the mid-30's. Before that you'll be using Kira (your DPS) as the first companion, T7, is a tank and honestly really useless.

The Knight storyline is solid, to me it feels like what KotOR 3 would have been. Your healer companion, Doc, is hilarious and if you keep him in good gear he will save your ass more times than you can keep track of.

I've only played a Shadow to 24, and honestly I found the story a bit dry. I've heard it gets better after the first Chapter, but I haven't bothered trying it yet. Of what I've played so far, the Knight, Juggernaut and Smuggler stories have been good. and I hear the Sith Inquisitor (Assassin) story isn't bad either.

Also, Biochem is currently the best craft skill thanks to the reusable items and some stims (the equivalent of flasks from WoW). However, in the next patch they're going to allow the crafting of Orange gear (the kind you can replace mods in to keep the look you like as opposed to whatever stuff drops for you) from Reverse Engineering (breaking down things you make for parts in an effort to learn stronger versions of the items), which means you can just buy a stack of medpacs and save yourself the trouble of a prof you're not interested in. Reusable medpacs are nice for sure, but that also means taking time out of leveling/enjoying the story to farm mats, as you'll level into buyable medpacs faster than ones you can make. Plus, vendor pacs are stupid cheap and money flows like water once you get off your first planet.
Added at: 17:26
Go Jedi Guardian. I have a sith juggernaut (same mechanics as guardian) and it felt like the iconic Jedi from the movies. The Jedi warrior story (though i played as a sentinel) is also much better than the conselor, and was again much more iconic.

Is the Jedi broken for tanking? Yeah, a little, but it won't stop you from tanking flashpoints, and end game tanking should be fixed eventually.

But it you want the iconic star wars look and story, guardian all the way.

Fyi: I built my juggernaut for dps, and enjoyed that most. Ymmv. I still tanked flashpoints, though granted i was teamed with an awesome healer.
Also, to add here. My GL is a Guardian, and at least with Normal 50 flashpoints he's tanked just fine, in both DPS spec and tank spec. I've not done a Heroic with him but I'm willing to be he does fine. We haven't done an Operation yet, but I've heard there's plenty of Guardians and the like doing hybrid specs to allow some DPS flexibility but also allow offtanking, as the number of needed tanks in Op boss fights varies so much.
 
@ Raven + Raven - Thanks for the advice, I'm set on Guardian now, because really the first time through and maybe the only time I'm in it for the 'feel' and 'story'. If I really feel the need to try out Shadow, I will, after I've maxed my Guardian.

As for vendor packs =/= Biochem reusable packs, I'll check it out, I'm nowhere near set on my profession choices, I just through Archeology sounded the most interesting.
 
Artificing and Synthweaving are your smithing as a Jedi, basically. You'll make all your saber augments with Artifice and armor with Synthweaving. Artifice items, specifically color crystals for sabers/blasters, are stupdi expensive on the auction house.
 
Stop to farm mats? Shenanigans. I've leveled Biochem while leveling and was always drowning in mats. Also archaeology is just a gathering skill. It's not as interesting as it sounds. :/ To me, 2nd to Biochem, cyber tech/artifice are the most useful while leveling up, but they kind of peter out at 50, which will theoretically be fixed in 1.2, whenever the fuck that may be.
 
1.2 is planned for March, last I heard, and BW's been pretty punctual so far. Supposedly adding a lot of new schematics for various skills as well as a whole new planet, among other things.
 
Well also consider I'm going to be a heavy armor user... cripes Profession choosing is alot harder than I anticipated... Also Dei I meant the Artificing with archeology/treasure hunting as gathering proffs.
 
Well hey... if you like Heavy armor, you could always go Vanguard :D

OK, seriously... don't go Vanguard. I have a 50 Commando and the Trooper storyline is awful, except for a few moments (the final mission on Corellia and the Senate hearing where I did something that should have gotten me shot on the spot). You definitely want your first character to be one with an interesting story, so your kinda stuck with Jedi Guardian if your going to be playing Republic and tanking. However, when you DO make an Empire character, I highly recommend a Powertech Bounty Hunter. The storyline is great, the companions are all awesome, and Powertech tanking is a lot of fun.

Crafting wise... I've done Cybertech to max and I can attest that it's pretty great right up until 50. Being able to make Armor Plates and Mods means you'll save a ton of commendations and you'll always be able to keep your Orange gear up to snuff. However, once you hit 50, your not going to do much with it except craft earpieces (purple earpieces with an aug slot are better than Rakata stuff) until you start doing Hard Modes. Once your doing those, you'll start occasionally getting rank 23-25 mod and armor plate recipes as drops from bosses and then you can upgrade beyond what you can get from dailies, but that's assuming you don't just go for the armor sets right away.

Artifice has similar problems to Cybertech, in that it's pretty good up to 50 but then it flatlines. At 50, the only thing you make that you can't get a better version of anywhere else are your crystals and your best crystals come from recipes that are dropped randomly by two specific world bosses. You'll need a group of at least 8-10 to take them out and they spawn on 2-5 hour timers. However, it's apparently possible to get weapon drops during Kaon Under Siege Hard Mode that are slightly better than even those, so it's kind of a kick in the teeth for Artificers right now.

I personally recommend doing Biochem right now. Good implants are hard to come by and cost a lot on the GTN.
 
If you're the kind to play on rp servers, you can roll on ebon hawk. I've got a level 23 scoundrel sawbones sitting there with no one to heal.
 
Well also consider I'm going to be a heavy armor user... cripes Profession choosing is alot harder than I anticipated... Also Dei I meant the Artificing with archeology/treasure hunting as gathering proffs.
Synthweave allows you to make all the armor types a Jedi can wear. Same for Armsmech with Trooper/Smuggler.

Also like I said earlier, the big March 1.2 patch is adding in recipes that'll make having things outside Biochem worth having. On top of that, in one of the next upcoming patches, you can Reverse Engineer up to Orange slottable items. As of now your Operation or PvP gear will have to be worn due to set bonuses, but they're going to be putting the set bonus on the Armoring mod so it can be ripped and put into your look of choice.

Edit: And I agree with Ashburner, the Trooper storyline seems like it's going to be awesome at first, playing the revenge angle, but all in all I cleared Tatooine and was starting Alderaan (that's about halfway through Act 2), and really started losing interest fast around there.
 
It's worth noting that if you ever get tired of the Jedi look (it's ALL cloaks if you go Heavy), you can always get some Trooper heavy armor and rip out the mods, then replace them with Jedi stuff. I personally think the trooper armor looks fantastic, especially once you start getting into the high end sets that give you an enormous spiked pauldron.
 
It took until about level 40 for my Sentinel to get an awesome set. I just got my first piece of Op gear yesterday (gloves) and I was super sad to replace the ones I had on, spent 10 levels ripping mods out and putting them in that stuff.

It only took till maybe the end of Taris (first planet of Act 1) for my Trooper to start looking pretty awesome.
 
Personally, I really like playing a light side Imperial Agent. Havent played in a month though. REAL LIFE CALLS.

..sadly.
 
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