Flailing and Failing: Returning to the Game

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

The real life job that has been bullshit on my gaming schedule has receded to normal hours.  I’m patched up and ready to go.

I have no fucking idea what I’m doing.

I read the Dulfy guides, although it’s like drinking information from the space-fire-hose.  It was far easier to make a list of all the outfits I want.  I’m totally on top of that.

I started with the newest chapter of KOTET, and it took way too long to even get to that point.  First, my level 65 operative never did KOTFE (just leveled with raids and stuff) so I had no idea how to start KOTET.  After much swearing, Mr. Google was kind enough to show me the way.

But then I see triangles all over my ship.  Why?  Oh right, I never finished the conversations with my idiots.  I should probably do that before they are lost forever…

Those guys are so boring.  I fondly remember the first run through of this game where I could not bribe my idiots fast enough because I wanted to see what they had to say.  Now I don’t care what Lokin is doing.  He could be experimenting on space puppies, whatever, just don’t bother me with it.

They’re all done yammering now.  Onward to Chapter 1!

New Raid – I Mean Ops. Totally Ops.

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Apparently we’re getting a new op.  I’m happy.  No, seriously.

I mean, it’s not enough by any stretch, but compared to nothing, one op is better than zero.

In the real-life background, work is kicking my ass, so I haven’t been online.  Grown up jobs are bullshit for gaming time.  My chances of doing the op when it’s first released are slim.  Thankfully, people will still be running it through the summer since not all the bosses are releasing at once.  Yes!  BW being slow actually works with my schedule, so thanks!

But I’d best get my shit together and level up and gear up… well and choose a healing main… Like I said, grown up jobs are bullshit on my gaming schedule.

Letting My Subconscious Loose With My Credit Card

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

I took a break from SWTOR suddenly and in a huff of what Little Jedi calls a “baby tantrum” over the lack of raids.  I didn’t post about this because nobody wants to read about a baby tantrum.

A few nights ago, I dreamed about SWTOR twice.  Since, of course, my spending is controlled by my subconscious, I resubbed immediately.  I’m firmly in the casual camp right now, since I have no time for raiding (that isn’t new anyway, I mean geesh!!).

And, now that KOTET is out, I finally finished KOTFE.  But not before catching up my wardrobe collection to make up for lost time and missed cartel packs.  Because DUH.

Fair warning: cover those underboobs or face my renewed wrath.

Chapter 13: I Came, I Saw, I Profited And Plundered

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

I made an executive decision to quit playing chapters for a while and then do a few back-to-back.  Story flows better that way!  So finally, I got around to meeting up with Vette (yay) and Gault (eew).

Where do I start with Gault?  I seem to remember him wanting to swindle peasants in the BH story and I told him to stuff it.  This was back when we had affection and I took a huge hit, like the -300 of shame.  Totally worth it.

I loved Vette, always, but back in the day, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Vette was not a healer and did not accompany me in my story.  So sad.

I strongly object to this chapter because there is no Andronikos.  Seriously, he’s a space pirate.  This is totally his thing.

***SPOILERS***

Continue reading »

Companion Fashion Police Contest! Win Goodies!

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Because punishing Quinn really never gets old, Exile of Tor-Fashion and I are teaming up to bring you the Companion Fashion Police Contest!

quinnspectator

 

Step 1: Dress least favorite companion in something dumb.  Not a bikini.  Please, no bikinis.  Spare me the bikinis.  Booooring.

Unless it's Skadge
Unless it’s Skadge.

 

Step 2: Take screenies.  Best do so in your stronghold.

skadgeisrobin

quinn feels pretty

But put up some lighting, like Exile said. I failed at that.

Step 3: Submit entry!  See the tabs on the top of the page? Navigate over to the form and submit away!

Step 4: Profit.  Best part about it is that I’m providing none of the prizes.

Go there now!

Little Yellow Icon Is Mine

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

After I self-chastised for failing to do… really anything, I finally buckled down and finished the trooper story.  Done.  Bleh.  It would have been more fun if my last class to go had been imp side where I have a guild and stuff, but I’m never pub side anymore, so it was lonely and lame.

You're impressed by my showy icon.
You’re awed by my showy icon.

Not gonna lie – I was unimpressed.  After the “holy shit” moment at the end of the starter planet, which was awesome, everything went to crap.

Our slow mo walk away from... the chancellor's office. Where's a background explosion when you need one?
Our slow mo walk away from… the chancellor’s office. Where’s a background explosion when you need one?

I was particularly annoyed with the most recent Corellia tasks. I’m supposed to gather rebel leaders to my cause.  I had to literally drive over to a doorway, go into a room, talk to a guy, say the same exact thing, and watch his team roll out.  Drive to the next door.  Repeat.  Three times.  There weren’t even any dialogue options.  After that, “[Flip Garza the bird]” should have been on the discussion wheel.

"Y'all can go on vacation now, k?"
“Y’all can go on vacation now, k?”

I was so done after I finished chapter 3.  Yes, I still have a pending quest.  Apparently, Socks wants me to go with him somewhere and until I do that, he won’t propose or want to have kittens.  I’m ok with leaving that unfinished.  I’m still cheesed off at him for yakking on the clean sheets (true story, unfortunately more IRL than in-game).

Unfinished Business Still Unfinished

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

So, yeah, this is my “I’ve been awol here, oops” post.  Mostly because lazy player is lazy (and as a consequence, lazy blogger is lacking in source material.)

I haven’t done Chapter 13 or after.  I figure it will be pretty fun to blow through chapters back-to-back.  No rush.

I have to finish the stupid trooper story.  It’s my last one before I get the shiny yellow icon.  I’m on Corellia and I just have to damn well buckle down and finish.  It’s seriously been months since I created this toon.

If Bioware thinks I’m going to create a new toon for this dark/light crap they can stuff it.  It’s taken me this long to slog through trooper and that’s going to be my last true grind. I bought some level 60 tokens for credits off the GTN to solve that problem.

So what am I doing?  Raiding.  Srs bsns raiding – I mean “ops,” totally ops.  Now, I know, there’s no new content, and that really bugs me – but that’s not the reason I raid.  I get together with a bunch of people and we have fun and laugh.  We talk about bitey kittens and other random stuff.

Because my world centers around the short hours I have to raid weekly, I’m building up sets for my alts so they can raid too.  Hello, lockouts, my old friend.  Also, hello “holy shit I have no mana ever” sorc changes, wtf.  I’m looking seriously at other healing options (and gearing them up).

Tagged And Bagged

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

Congrats to me, I’ve been poked thrice1 about giving the internet 5 facts about me.  But at least they called me creative.  So there is that.

1. I have cat issues.  Guys, I have had the shittiest 6 months ever where I had to euthanize two of my three cats that had grown old and sick at around the same time.  We now have the remaining cat (6 years old) and a new kitten that is very bitey. They have not been introduced to each other yet.  This will be interesting.

kitten

2. I’m an attorney.  Half of you just said “well, duh.”  The other half said “wait, what?”

3. In real life, I pay almost no attention to fashion, other than to avoid being a fashion mistake.  Rules for my wardrobe are:

  • must be black or match with black
  • does not require ironing
  • does not require pantyhose
  • does not require a strapless bra or any other special underpants
  • no uncomfortable shoes
  • items that require regular leg shaving are rare

I keep a full “lawyer costume” in my office in case I fucked up my wardrobe in the morning and have to attend a meeting or whatever.

4. I have a Starbucks problem.  I have now involved my offspring in this problem.  But decaf for little jedi because I’m not a total idiot.

sbux

5. I get violently motion sick from things that often involve no motion, such as imax movies.  In the past I’ve tried to be stubborn and still do things like play first person shooters.  Now, I avoid things like that.  If I spend too much time in SWTOR running around in tight spaces (like decorating my stronghold) or swiveling the camera (looking for quest items), I start getting queasy.  Usually raiding isn’t a problem.

Now I’m supposed to tag people but pretty much everyone’s been tagged, so I’ll just quit now.  I’m one of those people who got chain letters as a kid and tossed em straight into the trash.  They’re just baby pyramid schemes.

Mom, Bioware Hit Me With The Nerf Bat!

Hawtpants of the Old Republic Posted on by

NO NO NO!  I’m about to throw a tantrum.  Isn’t it a bit too late to nerf the crap out of something halfway through an expansion?  Like when they suddenly changed crafting. Boooo.

Here’s the official post:

Sorcerer

  • Dark Heal now has a base cost of 70 Force (up from 55 Force) and heals for slightly more (.49%).
  • Resurgence now has a base cost of 40 Force (up from 30 Force) and heals for a bit more (4.94% for the instant heal, and 3.70% for the heal over time.).
  • Static Barrier now has a base cost of 45 Force (up from 35 Force) and absorbs slightly more damage (1.43%).

Corruption

  • Dark Infusion now has a base cost of 45 Force (up from 37) and heals for a bit more (3.25%).
  • Innervate now has a base cost of 60 Force (up from 48) and heals for a bit more (4.04%).
  • Revivification now has a base cost of 75 Force (up from 60).
  • Roaming Mend now has a base cost of 65 Force (up from 50) and heals for slightly more (1.28%).
  • The healing done by Renewal has been increased (by 3.70%) to match the healing done by the heal over time portion of Resurgence.
  • Penetrating Darkness now increases your bonus healing by 3% (down from 5%)

Designer Note

Corruption Sorcerers are presently exceptional healers who outperform the other healing disciplines in the game and create unbalanced PvE and PvP scenarios. By increasing the Force costs of heals—and counterbalancing the cost increase with a slight healing boost—we are leveling the healing potential of the Corruption Sorcerer to better fit alongside other healing disciplines and combat encounters witnessed in game.

Some may wonder why we did not just increase the healing capabilities of the other healing disciplines in the game to match that of the Corruption Sorcerer. In this instance, we could not do that because all of the combat math for the game (both PvE and PvP) is balanced around the current healing capabilities of the other healing disciplines. So if we were to increase the healing capabilities of the other healing disciplines to match the healing capabilities of the Corruption Sorcerer, then healing would be more effective than intended, which would cause problems in both PvE and PvP.

We decided to increase Force costs and slightly improve the strength of individual healing abilities in this balancing initiative to prevent Corruption Sorcerers from feeling impotent following these changes. Burst healing should feel like what is on Live, yet the sustained healing experience will be notably decreased. This design lowers the average healing output of the Corruption Sorcerer to better match other healing disciplines while still allowing the Sorcerer’s individual heals to make an impact.

Basically we’re upping the force cost of everything by 20-30%, give or take, and upping the power of the spells by… .5-4%.  Much boo.  As a practical matter, this means:

  • More GCDs spent tapping for force
  • Fewer insta-heal-puddles (because we’ll be using the charges to force tap).
  • Fewer insta-roaming-mends (where all charges go off without the target taking damage) because resurgence needs to be used on innervate to get the stacks at all costs.

This makes me stabby.  I don’t care that I was already OP.  This change may force me to change my habits.  I’m way too lazy for that.

What will cheer me up?  I know, I’ll snicker at Quinn.

quinn feels pretty

This shit never gets old.