The Old Republic for Dummies

[mimartin]

I believe you are thinking fo matrix shards?

 

Yes

[CrisG]

I am up to six data crons..has been fun finding them.

 

Question about Flash missions....i saw one being offered in the space station but when i came back about half an hour later it was gone...so i missed out. Did not realize they were only there for a bit. Is it possible for a single player to do them or do we need a team?

[snommism]

Question about Flash missions....i saw one being offered in the space station but when i came back about half an hour later it was gone...so i missed out. Did not realize they were only there for a bit. Is it possible for a single player to do them or do we need a team?

That's where the "flash" comes in! gotta get em fast.

 

Just kidding, not sure why it would be gone.

 

You'll need a team of 4 to do them at the level they are appropriate, you may be able to get away with 3 and 1 companion but that can be tricky.

[mimartin]

You'll need a team of 4 to do them at the level they are appropriate, you may be able to get away with 3 and 1 companion but that can be tricky.

Think it more depends on what level you are at. That first flashpoint, Lynk and I did it with companions (two DPS). Think dying was involved, but not beyond giving up. I even did a chunk of one flashpoint with my agent solo, until I found a chest that had the jacket I was looking for. That entailed a lot of stealth and sneak though (and dying). Still way easier with a group, but the lower level flashpoints are possible with 2 people and companions (if you don't mind some dying).

[CrisG]

cool thanks, and thanks for the help with my Sith Lord, that was very cool. I am shy about asking for help as I really am far below the skills of everyone else but i will keep trying and working at it. I am learning the mechanics of the game as i go along, just need to focus on the technical side of using the powers and still unclear about what the "focus" thing is about, for a while my Jedi stopped attacking because i had put a force power that had a Focus cost in first place on my force bar.... changed that and he came back to life but i still need to review the manual to understand what focus is about.

[mimartin]

It was no problem and the reason it was so easy had nothing to do with skill. I even messed up in the fight, but it was not noticeable because I was so over leveled. Ratdog jumped on me during the fight and I healed myself instead of you, so instead of just healing you I decided to attack. The quick death had nothing to do with me being more skilled and everything with me having a max level character.

 

From what I’ve seen from Lynk and Mav, when playing as a Tank you really do have to pay attention to the technical side. I will say the only way to do that as a Tank is get into groups as much as possible. Don’t make my mistake and play the entire story part of the game without actually learning how to correctly play your class. I played the entire game as a DPS player in a Healers body. All it did was make the game more difficult and did not help me learn my role in groups. I would have been way better off playing the game DPS and then switching to healer when I got to level 50, since I did nothing that taught me to correctly play as healer in a group while soloing the game.

 

Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help. That is what guild mates are for. I had to have Mav and Lynk rescue me from a couple of nasty characters in one fight. Had another one that gave me a problem later in the game that I was unable to kill until I was a couple levels above the boss. Luckily it was a bonus mission, so I just went to the next planet and came back to it later. I didn’t ask for help with that one because I was just too stupid and hardheaded to ask for help.

[CrisG]

Well it was very nice i really hated that Sith Lord after fighting him over and over for four days ....but i did learn a lot levelling up to try to beat him and even learned how to get to some of the datachrons, thanks for the good advice, i will work on what you advise. and thanks again.

[snommism]

Focus is the same as ammo, energy, or dare i say... mana? (I've not played a jedi char yet)

 

If so, and you are running out often, you may need to work on your "rotation." Alternate in skills that have low or no cost. I know as a vanguard tank, and on my smuggler healer, it is easy to use up this pool and not be able to use any worthwhile skills for a while, rendering you almost useless in the meantime.

[Tommycat]

Focus is the same as ammo, energy, or dare i say... mana? (I've not played a jedi char yet)

 

If so, and you are running out often, you may need to work on your "rotation." Alternate in skills that have low or no cost. I know as a vanguard tank, and on my smuggler healer, it is easy to use up this pool and not be able to use any worthwhile skills for a while, rendering you almost useless in the meantime.

With Jedi they build up force. Leap attack gives you 2 points. basic attack gets 2 points, master strike gives you 3, so in 3 attacks you can be at 7 points to spend on attacks(that's just the basic attacks all jedi knights have). But like you said, it's all about rotation. While using your other skills pop one of those off to get your focus up.

[CrisG]

OK thanks, that makes sense after seeing how my character has been in action. i was using them somewhat at random. I will track down more info and go thru the manual. thanks again.

[Prime]

Not sure if this is the best place for this question, but how do I organize doing some of the group missions with other guild members? Both from a request standpoint and the fact that my character is somewhere in the galaxy other than the group mission trigger point. Do we all have to meet at that point, I assume? How do the level differences matter and what do I need to keep in mind?

 

Yes, I am a complete MMO newb, and up until now I have played TOR SP only.

[Miltiades]

You can group up with people wherever you are in the galaxy, as long as you know the names of the people. To go questing together, you'll obviously all have to be on the same planet. Usually, it doesn't take much longer than a minute to gather the group even if you're all on other planets.

 

Concerning requests, if I understand what you're wanting to know, you just ask through the guild channel if anyone can help with certain quests. If a guild member's on the same planet as you and around the same level, chances are s/he can help you.

 

About level differences: just make sure no one in the group is 7 levels above the recommended level for a specific quest, since you don't get any experience points for it then.

 

Other things to keep in mind: in a balanced group, you should play the role that fits your class and skills. This seems straightforward, but solo gameplay can be quite different from group gameplay. Certain situations require you to adapt, however. For example, my Mercenary (DPS) often took up the role of a modest healer when no other healer was around. In the later stages of the game, a lot more is required from group play and such things will not be sufficient, but for lower levels, this can work.

 

Also, quests like Heroic +4's can be quite overwhelming, with lots of elites and strong mobs. A CC skill (crowd control skill, which renders a target harmless for some time) is very useful in these situations, always make sure there's at least one member with such a skill for hard quests.

[snommism]

Also, quests like Heroic +4's can be quite overwhelming, with lots of elites and strong mobs. A CC skill (crowd control skill, which renders a target harmless for some time) is very useful in these situations, always make sure there's at least one member with such a skill for hard quests.

 

And make sure that people understand that damaging an enemy that is CC'ed will break the CC. In other words, if an enemy is stunned, you will wake it up when you hit it. This means be VERY careful with AoEs and turn off the "auto target next enemy."

I'm always surprised how often I have to say this in operations... I'd be willing to bet money that breaking CC is the most common reason for wipes.

[Miltiades]

Indeed. But just to make sure, I think it's best if the group knows before the fight which mobs will be CC'ed, because it's not always that easy to recognize in the heat of battle.

[snommism]

Indeed. But just to make sure, I think it's best if the group knows before the fight which mobs will be CC'ed, because it's not always that easy to recognize in the heat of battle.

Yup! Always best when targets are marked and a kill order is proposed. When in doubt, watch the tank and kill what he is targeting. I can't wait for Target of Target for this aspect.

[Mav]

"If you break my CC, I break you" that's the best policy right there.

[snommism]

agreed. I'm in a more casual guild so I don't name names, but make more general (and passive agressive) statements like "ok, we are going to be CCing some mobs here, if whoever broke the last CC can please take their aoes off their skill bar now. Otherwise we WILL wipe. thanks."

[Lynk Former]

Or you could just not be such asshats and take this so seriously. It's a game.

[snommism]

lol that too

[Hallucination]

Or you could just not be such asshats and take this so seriously. It's a game.

That's stupid, MMORPG's are descended from tabletop RPG's, and the whole point of those is to win.

[Lynk Former]

...and to be an arsehole to everyone else apparently

[snommism]

That's stupid, MMORPG's are descended from tabletop RPG's, and the whole point of those is to win.

Well, I would say that's the secondary point. The primary point in any game is to have fun.

 

...and to be an arsehole to everyone else apparently

Maybe its the person who can't not break CC that is being an ******* to the rest of the group?

As mentioned, the game is to have fun, and being in a casual guild means I do slow down for the less hardcore gamers, but I don't think "don't damage this target." is too much to ask, and when it is done repeatedly, they are stopping the other 7 people from having fun and costing them credits in repair bills.

 

Of course everyone makes mistakes, and I've made more than my share (the guild likes to bring up the three mobs in a row I right clicked instead of left clicking to mark targets (this causes my pistol to fire, pulling the mob))

[Pho3nix]

Most people are okay with others doing mistakes though, only rarely did I encounter someone raging over stuff like that back in WoW

[snommism]

yeah, I would say I am FAR from raging.

[Lynk Former]

To everyone else: If you break someone's crowd control, that's okay, it's just a game and if they're getting bitchy about them it's just that they're way too serious about the game for their own good. Don't worry about it, ignore their yelling and bitching, all you need to do is learn from the experience and think back on how you broke the CC. Once you figure stuff out then it's all good, don't be pressured into being the absolute best RIGHT NOW! just cause some asshat who has been playing it longer than you expects you to know EVERYTHING and be PERFECT just like him.

 

 

To the folks who get bitchy about stuff like this: Chill, for the most part folks are just trying to help and they don't realise what they're doing wrong to break the CC. It happens and once they figure it out then they'll be fine.

 

Another thing to realise is that part of playing in groups isn't just about learning how the game mechanics work, but figuring out how other players play and finding a way to work together, sometimes that team cohesion doesn't come very easily, sometimes it's very natural and things go smoothly... and if it does take some work, eventually with patience for those who do make mistakes, they'll figure **** out and it'll be all good.

 

 

 

I mean, TOR is my first MMO, in the beginning I was pretty rusty and didn't know much about how any of this stuff worked and folks around me had that attitude where they believed I should know everything there is to know about the game as soon as I start playing it. But despite that, I learned much about the game myself and now I'm pretty damn good at what I do. It took a lot of work and folks had to be patient with me (sometimes they weren't) but I got there.

 

Now that I am here though, when I see other folks who make the same mistakes, I don't get bitchy at them, I encourage them to figure out what they may be doing wrong or give them tips and generally just assure them that it's fine if we wipe, we can persevere and get this if we continue to try.

 

And there have been times where during hard mode flashpoints and ops I've played with folks who weren't up to scratch, the repair bill went through the roof and we were there for hours, but I enjoyed every second of it cause the folks who were having trouble finally got their game on and were doing great by the end and that's what I really like to see.