R.I.P.

This is very off-topic, and I'm sorry, but my dog died today. She was 12. My mother took her to the vet where she was put to sleep. They discovered she had a cancer, and she was suffering, so they acted quickly. I just wish I could have seen her before it happened. Goodbye Virgule.

Planning Ahead - My Marauder Carnage talent build

Disclaimer : This post may or may not be a fairly obvious attempt at luring readers away from my previous fail post. I was planning on posting this soon anyway. Just sooner than expected! XD

My Marauder is level 21, and as for other classes, I decided to plan how to spend my talent points each level.  It might not be the best way to go, and your mileage may vary, but that's how I intend to do it, and I just thought I'd share it.

This tree comes from a very neat and very detailed guide I found on the forums. I suggest you look it up for more information on all three marauder specs, rotations, stats priority and more.

The link to this Carnage build on Torhead can be found here.

Carnage


Tier 1

10-12 Dual Wield Mastery

13-14 Defensive Forms

Tier 2

15-17 Narrowed Hatred

18-19 Enraged Charge

Tier 3

20 Ataru Form

21-22 Execute
23-24 Ataru Mastery

Tier 4

25 Blood Frenzy

26-27 Towering Rage

28-29 Enraged Assault

Tier 5

30 Gore
31-32 Rattling Voice

Tier 2 (Backtracking)

33-34 Defensive Roll

Tier 6

35-37 Sever
38-39 Overwhelm

Tier 7

40 Massacre

Rage

Tier 1

41-42 Ravager

43-45 Malice

Annihilation

Tier 1

46-47 Quick Recovery

48-50 Enraged Slash

Quick Post - Directions to the Gorinth Outpost (Balmorra)

Edit: 

OR if you're not a retard, there's an elevator right next to it. Thank you Njessi for making me less stupid.

Crew Skills are fun

Know what I did this weekend?

I crafted. And it was fun. 

I love crew skills. I love being able to send my companions to gather the mats I'm missing. I love being able to reverse engineer the things I make to get some mats back, and to have the chance to discover a better quality recipe. It makes leveling profession pretty exciting! Well, for me anyway. Maybe I'm just very easily excitable. And I actually enjoy going out of my way while questing to gather crystals, or plants, or whatever. Sure, it might slow down the leveling a bit, but I don't seem to care. I'm having fun. Never thought I'd ever enjoy gathering mats. But I am. And my goal would be to level every crew skill to 400. Lucky me, I have a shit-ton of alts!

I've been working on Artifice and Biochem mostly, as Kizu started an Assassin on the Empire server (fuck, I levelled a Jedi Knight to level 13 for nothing?!) and he needed some stuff to level faster. It's been quite fun. But I wish I had more companions. It would go faster. Would also be nice if my character could make herself useful. Because I send them to gather stuff, and craft stuff, and I just sit there and wait for them to come back. I suppose I could go gather some mats by myself, but it would be impractical, as I usually just stand by the crew skill trainer, so I can learn the next recipe.

I also played Lyrestra the Gunslinger a little this weekend. She's now completely done with Alderaan, and ready to start Balmorra. I must admit I was a little sad that the Republic gets to start on Bugtown, because I hate Bugtown, but hopefully I won't get to fight those damned Collicoids for too long. I really hope so. Fingers crossed. Fucking bugs...

On a side note, I had forgotten how much fun the smuggler/agent playstyle is. Made me want to role an Agent. Again. Maybe someday I'll be able to decide which race and gender I want to make it so I can actually level one past Hutta. 

Quick Post : Character update

So I figured out how to solve the two jedi shadow thing. (Since both me and the boyfriend were leveling one together.) I rolled a Sith Assassin instead!

(Apologies to Reznikov. I totally had to steal the look of yours. It just looks too damn good! They aren't exactly the same, but a bit close. The other tattoos aren't as cool. Please don't hate me!) I will totally get him the social pants from Kaas City's cantina, so he won't have to wear a skirt. Can't wait to get my double-bladed lightsaber!

And to actually level with Kizu, I decided to make a Jedi Guardian. I wanted to give it a try, as my Sith Warrior is a marauder. (That probably won't stop me from rolling a Juggernaut anyway.)

I made him pretty big and bulky, but he's a guardian for crying out loud. I wanted him to look at least a little threatening, even if he'll be dps. The hairstyle gives him some sort of "bad boy" look. I like it. But I think I made him more like a big softie teddy bear rather than a dangerous killing machine. Heh.

So yeah. A marauder, an assassin, a guardian and a gunslinger. Those are my main focus. For now.

I'm also still thinking about making a character over on Selly and Reznikov's server, cause I think it could be lots of fun! Although, I'm not sure what class I'd roll. Maybe (probably) another warrior, or maybe a lady Agent...

I'm making myself dizzy.  =/

It's hard coming up with an original title for the Sixth Image Meme... sue me.

Lovely Selly from a lovely starwar tagged me for the Sixth Meme that's been going around lately!

The basic premise is easy…

Go into your image folder
Open the sixth sub-folder and choose the sixth image.
Publish the image! (and a few words wouldn’t hurt, though I dare say I couln’t stop a blogger from adding a few words of their own).
Challenge six new bloggers.
Link to them.

I decided to pick a picture from my swtor screenshot folder, since this is a swtor blog. The sixth sub-folder contains pictures of my Gunslinger.

Corso: "More swamp gas? Oh, that's great. I don't think
I can hold my breath the whole time we're on Taris..."

This is the sixth screenshot, of Lyrestra and Corso somewhere on Taris. I took this picture because I completely agree with what Corso says. Apparently, he hates Taris as much as I do!

But if I go in my main image folder, where I pile everything that isn't a screenshot from a game,  the sixth sub-folder is called "Funny pics and vids". The sixth picture is this gem :

This picture, for reasons unknown, makes me laugh so hard. The look on his face is just priceless. I can't remember where I found it, but it was either on Damnlol or Memebase, which are a good way to waste hours of you life, mindlessly scrolling through thousands of funny (and other not-so-funny) pictures and comics.

I won't tag anyone, because I don't know who got tagged and who didn't, but everyone should feel free to do this if they want to, cause it's good fun!

CADD : Character Attention Deficit Disorder

Maybe you know by now that I change my mind a lot. And that I'm an alt whore.

Kizu doesn't have the time to level all sorts of alts like I do. So when he sits down and says "let's play Swtor" there aren't a thousand possibilities. He'll be either playing his Bounty Hunter or his baby Jedi Shadow. 

Me? Well. I used to play my Sorcerer with his Bounty Hunter. But I'm bored with her. Sure she shoots lightning and she is evil to the core. And I will most likely see her whole storyline someday. Just not soon. Because I've discovered that there are classes I enjoy more. Like the Sith Marauder for example.

/cue me sorting frantically through my Fraps folder (which already contains a gazillion screenshots 'cause I'm a bit crazy like that - god I wish windows xp allowed bigger thumbnails, this is a pain) for the perfect screenshot.

Lyrestra is Dark Side rank 2 on this picture.
The only reason I tolerate the mask is because
it doesn't hide her whole face, nor her hair.
Yes, I'm shallow like that.
On a side note, I wish Vette was evil.

But my Sorcerer was level 33 when I abandoned her, and the marauder was only, well, level one. So I've been leveling her - though I've given up waiting for rested XP. I want to play her, and I need her to be level 33 asap, to play with Kizu, but more importantly to see the end of Act 1 and get Jaesa in Alderaan. 

See, I'm a naughty girl. I love watching cut scenes on Youtube. Particularly the End of act 1 of each class and romances with companions. Since the moment I realized I could get a companion that would be pretty AND evil, I've wanted her. And I'm really sad that my Sith can't be a lesbian, 'cause she'd totally hit that. But anyway.

Lyrestra has been through Dromund Kaas and Balmorra so far. For some reason I can't explain, I just love Dromund Kaas. I love how it's all green and blue, I love the rain, the dark sky. I also love the quests a lot, particularly the Revanites part, Grathan's compound and the Dark Temple. I'm not sure what it is that appeals to me, but Dromund Kaas is always a lot of fun for me, maybe that's why I keep creating new characters.

He wants me dead for
cheating on him?
But it wasn't even good!

Balmorra isn't as much fun, but I liked it nonetheless. There's so much destruction to be done, so many people to kill! It would probably be a beautiful place if it wasn't for the war. I especially love the quest where a guy asks you to kill his wife for being a traitor. Poor girl is astonished that her husband could want to kill her for cheating on him. Maybe the funny part is that it's not even really about the classified documents that she supposedly gave to her lover, and more about her husband's pride.

Hopefully, today I'll be done with Balmorra and I'll be able to take a good chunk out of Nar Shaddaa. The less time I spend there and on Tatooine, the better. 

Now on the Republic side, Kizu has decided to start a Jedi Shadow. Now, that's a problem. See, we've decided to play Republic and Empire on different servers. On my Republic server, I already have a level 32 Smuggler (also named Lyrestra) which I love dearly.

I love everything about her, the story, the playstyle, the voice, the looks, and the companion/boyfriend Corso. He totally stole my heart. 'Cause he's such a sweetie. I leveled her quickly not because I was in a rush, but because I wanted to know what was coming next! And now I'm scared to see it end, so I've slowed down. In fact, I haven't played her in weeks, not because I'm bored with her, but because I don't want her adventures to end! I even considered leveling a second one, maybe as a male, to see the same story, but with different twists! And maybe I will. Someday.

But Kizu needed a leveling buddy, so I've decided to create a Jedi Shadow, too.

We didn't think this one through, though. Both our characters are females. So they have the same voice. And they wear the same robes. Heh. But I have to admit it's a lot of fun. Being able to stealth = win. We're still on Coruscant, since Kizu never feels like playing for long periods at a time. But it's been fun, and I look forward to playing some more!

Quick Post : Ugly gun is ugly - part 2

Now that's bett.... what? Still white and blue?!

Don't piss me off, I haz a water gun!

Also, a bonus : 

I think someone is
compensating for
something, here.

Quick Post : Ugly gun is ugly

Oh nice! A new gun! Wait...

White and blue for a gun is just so intimidating, you know? 

That is all. Carry on.

Guild ramblings

Ever since we started playing Swtor, Kizu and I have been leveling mostly together. I have alts that I play when he's not available, but we love to quest together whenever we can.

In World of Warcraft, we've always been in the same guilds. If one of us left, the other followed. We've been in a lot of different guilds over the years, but never have we been on our own for very long. In Swtor, we haven't even thought about finding a guild so far. We're both pretty shy, and even though we love making new friends, we haven't felt the need to be with other people. Yet.

Since we aren't planning on raiding anytime soon, we don't exactly need to find other people to raid with. I guess we could find a social guild and meet new people, but I just don't see the point. We two-man all the heroic quests, even the heroic4 ones, so it's not like we need help, really, and the only time we need to find people is to run flashpoints, which we don't do a whole lot of to begin with.

I've never felt at home in social guilds in WoW, but that might be only because I don't get what these people have in common. In a raiding guild, you know members are most likely focused on gearing up, grinding rep, badges or whatever, and preparing for raids. PvP guilds also have a common goal. Gearing up, and getting better at roflstomping other players, or whatever it is that PvP oriented players are after. But I don't know what makes a social guild feel like home.

Since I'm mostly "leveling characters for fun" oriented, I'm not sure where I fit in. I know Kizu plans on doing PvP at endgame, but I don't. I don't know what I'll be doing once I get bored with leveling and all my toons are at level cap. So far, I'm just trying to enjoy the moment and to not plan everything ahead, which is really hard for me.

I do miss the atmosphere that comes with a guild, though. The sense of membership, of belonging somewhere. I miss getting to know other players, and making new friends. I miss the (sometimes stupid) jokes. I miss being with other people, working towards a common goal. 

I guess in my case, what I would love is to be in a guild with other bloggers. I can relate to other players that write about their experience, even if I don't necessarily share their interests. If we don't share in-game goals, at least we'd know we have at least one thing in common : blogging.

How did you find your guild? Why did you feel you needed one? Are you guildless and happy to be?

Comparisons

When RIFT came out, I got in the beta, and I wasn’t impressed. It all looked like “a better version of WoW”, though I’m not sure it really was actually better. Granted, I didn't play for long, but there was nothing that made me go : "Wow, I want to play this game!" And the fact that their add said “You’re not in Azeroth anymore” was a huge turn-off for me. It sounded condescending. Like being in Azeroth was wrong, or lame. Well fuck you dude, WoW has been in my life for years, and I love Azeroth, so you’re gonna have to do better than that to impress me. But I’ve never really heard about RIFT since then, and I kinda just forgot it even existed. There must be thousands, if not millions, of people that enjoy RIFT and that’s fine. And I won’t say they made the wrong choice or that their game is lame, or that WoW is better. I chose WoW, I don’t really care what others do. Just don’t shit all over my toy.

Now Swtor doesn’t seem to want to beat other games to the ground. It’s almost as if games could co-exist and be successful without having to compare themselves to other games! So I can just discover the game, learn the mechanics, and explore this new world without constantly being reminded that it isn’t Azeroth and that some things are different? No way!

I do compare though, even if I try not to. There are some things I always wanted in WoW that are in Swtor, (Everyone can rez? Really?!? And I can heal myself between each pull, and I don’t need to buy food?! o.O) some stuff that I wish Swtor had that WoW has (I miss addons and UI customization a lot. And I strangely miss fishing and cooking, but I'm sure most of you don't), and some stuff I never even thought of asking for; like being able to look at the map AND walk at the same time without running into mobs! Companions that actually farm for you? Yes please! And the voice acting really rocks my world right now. I never thought I’d ever have so much fun questing! 

I'm not sure where I was going with this, but Swtor is amazing, and I'm glad I decided to play it. I still enjoy WoW, to an extent, and maybe it's just that Swtor is the shiny new toy and all, but I love playing both games right now, for different things. WoW for the raid finder mostly, and Swtor for the leveling experience and the story. Things change, and WoW isn't what it used to be. I most likely won't be buying the next expansion, because I'm less than thrilled about Pandaland, so I'm really grateful to have Swtor. 

Endless Torment - or what feels like it

Lyrestra the Gunslinger decided to just drop all her green Taris quests and get the fuck out of this mess.

Fuck that shit

So I thought I was done with Taris for a while... but then Kizu decided that, with our Empire characters, we should skip Alderaan and go straight to Taris! Gah!

Fuck me

So we did. Because I love Kizu. But - fortunately for me - it was late, so we only did a couple quests then called it a night. Can't say I'm in a hurry to play my sorcerer again. Though hopefully, the quests will be better on the Empire Side, and Kizu will take care of figuring out where to go, because I sure as hell won't. I get lost in my own ship, people. There's just no hope for me.

I know I've been complaining about Taris a lot lately. I promise to speak about something else. Soon. Because the other planets are pretty fun as far as I can tell. Nar Shaddaa went by so fast with my Smuggler, it was crazy. Maybe I missed a sub-zone or something, because it felt like there was only a few quests. I'm not complaining, though. I remember my experience in the Empire Side of Nar Shaddaa as pretty endless and grey and very sewersy. I didn't get the same feeling this time around. It was just plain fun!

Next is Tatooine, which so far looks pretty much the same no matter which side you're on. Except I don't remember there being as many bugs people on the Empire side. Which is a good thing. Eww bugs.

And I'm so close to Alderaan! This time, hopefully, I will have enough patience to go through all the zone at the normal pace and won't rush to the end to get my Legacy name asap. (New server, new legacy!) It's such a beautiful place, I really look forward to discovering it.

The perfect character for you

Hi, my name is Lyrestra, and I'm an altoholic. But maybe you already knew that. 

I spend a lot of time staring at the character creation screen, making new characters that often end up deleted not long after. For some reason, I looove creating new characters. Trying new races, new hairstyles. Not all those characters end up deleted though. But it often takes me a couple tries before I'm happy enough with a character to actually start leveling it seriously (as in past level 20). 

In WoW, I have deleted a couple level 70ish characters. I have even deleted a level 80 once. Because they weren't exactly right. Yes, I am slow at realizing that, I know. 

I guess you could say I'm fairly OCD about my characters. If something is bothering me, the hair, the face, the general look (or in this case, the voice), I won't want to play the character, and he will most likely be deleted shortly after that. A lot of my characters have a pretty short lifespan. 

In Swtor though, it's not only about the looks or which class to take. It's also about the voice and the companions. Which, for me, makes it very complicated to create the perfect character.

For example, let's take the Imperial Agent. 

I created Zashana, a female Zabrak, and I think she is adorable. I particularly love her hair. Now, I absolutely love the playstyle. I wasn't so sure at first, but now, I'm addicted to it. I can't remember who it was, but someone was saying in their blog that they were playing the imperial agent like it was made of pure crack, and I can only agree. But my point is, I love the way she looks, I love the class, and I love her voice. But - yes, there is a but - the romance option for female Imperial Agents is Vector. The weird ass enhanced guy (whatever that means) who has a thing for aliens and speaks strangely. He really freaks me out. 

Maybe I'm superficial, but it's important for me to actually like the romance option for my characters. And this one, I don't like. Of course, I could just not flirt with him and try and just flirt with random strangers throughout the galaxy, but it feels like I'd be missing out on an important part of my character's story.

So I thought  "Hey! Why not make a male imperial agent?" Great idea. Except... I hate the male voice! With a passion! He annoys me almost as much as Malavai Quinn does (which says a lot, because I really hate Quinn's voice.) And as a male, what would be my romance options? Kaliyo and Ensign Temple. Yuk. I simply cannot imagine Kaliyo involved in a lasting relationship with anyone, and although she's badass and I kinda like her, she has the goth vibe that I don't particularly find appealing. I watched some videos on youtube about Ensign Temple romance, and she just annoyed the crap outta me. No way I'm flirting with this one.

So my solution for this was to roll a female smuggler. Which worked out pretty nicely.

 

Lyrestra has my favourite haircut, favourite face and eyes, a sexy scar, and I like the sound of her voice. Corso is a sweetheart, and I love all the stuff he says in combat. I also love his voice, which is a plus, and aside from the painful experience in Taris, I'm really enjoying my time spent on this character. 

Maybe someday, when I'm done with my favourite characters, I will go back to the imperial agent to see the storyline. But I'm guessing it'll take a while before I come up with a character I actually want to play as an imperial agent. 

And this is only one example. I love my characters, and I care about details. I want my characters to feel right as I play them. The story, the voice and the companions are a big part of the experience, so I think it's worth it to tweak my characters until I find the combination that feels just right. Because at the end of the day, what matters is you enjoy whatever it is you are doing.

But maybe I just think too much.

Comments

Apparently, I'm a noob when it comes to Blogger, and not everyone could comment on my blog. Nice job, Lyr! >.>

I changed the settings, so it should work now. Don't hesitate to contact me by email at lyrestra [at] gmail [dot] com if it still isn't working, or for any other issues. =)

<3 Lyr

I hate fucking endless Bonus Series quests.

Especially Taris ones.

"Ah, finally, I'm done with this shit!"
/turn in quest
"Here, do more useless quests... YOU'RE NEVER GETTING OFF THIS  HELL-HOLE!"
/evil laugh
"Fuck me."

That is all.

Confession

I have a confession to make.

I REALLY hate Taris.

Might not come as a shock to you, Republic people, but this place is a living hell. Balmorra is a pleasant walk in the park compared to this. See, I play mostly on the Empire side. As my higher character is still on Alderaan, Taris was a new place for me. (Empire players get to visit Taris at level 32ish, right after Alderaan. Republic players go there at level 16.) 

A few days ago, I decided to start a cute little smuggler.

Captain Lyrestra - Gunslinger

For some reason, I really love Corso. He's great at tanking for me, and we're pretty much unstoppable so far. I was planning to have some sort of neutral alignment but to please him, I went full on light side instead. Why yes, she wants to have Corso's babies. But I digress.

Going through Ord Mantel was a breeze. Fun quests, pretty straightforward. And pretty too, despite the fighting going on.

Love the grey sky, it's kinda romantic.

Then I went to Coruscant, which was gorgeous. For like 3 minutes.

Why are all the quests indoors?  >_>

Then it became dirty and grey and sewersy. What the fuck? Am I on Nar Shaddaa? It really made me miss Dromund Kaas. At least there's some vegetation there, and you get to see the sky more than three times.

But it wasn't so bad. It was pretty damn decent compared to the nightmare that is Taris. Ruins, and dirt, and lakes of acid, and beasts that can turn you into more beasts. Charming.

Everything looks the same on Taris : ugly.

I really hated the yellow-greenish landscape, the death traps, the backtracking (what? I have to go back there? I was just there! I killed like a million people to get there and I have to go back? No fucking way.) the gazillion Rakghouls to kill all over the fucking place, the OMG WHERE THE FUCK AM I? I have to go up there? How the fuck do I go there? Oh right, by running around a goddamn wall that goes through half the fucking zone! I'm barely exaggerating.

And just when I thought I was finally done  with this hell-hole (thank sweet baby jesus), there it was... Taris : Bonus Series! You get to say here a while longer and curse at your screen! Enjoy! 

I'm not sure yet if I won't just give up and move on to the next zone (as I'm already level 22!) or put my brave face on and finish those damn quests. The mere thought makes me want to choke kittens, but I really wanted to see everything each planet has to offer. Maybe I'll make an exception, just this once.

Where's a Death Star when you need a planet obliterated? Sigh.

My plans for the immediate future

My highest character is level 32. She hit 32 on Tatooine. Doing green quests. Because Kizu and I want to see as much content as possible. and apparently being in a group gives you bonus xp or something. And we didn't even do a lot of flashpoints or pvp. 

We did skip most of the quests on Alderaan just to do our class quest and get our Legacy asap. But we're going back there to see it all. Because it's fun. (Ok, not all quests make me squee with joy, but most of them are fairly entertaining.)

I'm like everyone else, I love hitting the next level, and the next one after that. But I'm in no rush to hit 50. In a couple levels, there will be no more quests to do. There will be endgame, and farming gear, and doing dailies for credits and more gear. I don't miss that one bit. For a long time, raiding (in WoW) was all that I wanted to do. I farmed and farmed, and killed internet dragons 'til my eyes bled, and got loot to beat bigger internet dragons. Can you say redundant? Sure, it was fun at the time. But that's not me anymore. And while I get that a lot of people still enjoy that a lot, it is not what I want to spend my time on. There's no right or wrong, it's all about what's fun to you.

Me, I love creating new alts. The amazing thing with this game, is that there are tons of options as far as re-playability goes. You can choose the same class/advanced class but go dark side instead of light! You can make a second Bounty Hunter and go powertech instead of mercenary! You can make a male instead of a female and get some different flirting/sexy time options.

There's lots of potential here.

That is why I think that when my Sorcerers hits level 50... I'll just focus on another character and enjoy the ride. I want to see it all. Sure, most of the quests will be almost the same the second time around (and third, and fourth!) but I get to see different class storylines, or choose to save kittens instead of eating them. I can also go see what Unicornland has to offer. Err. I mean the Republic. 

Plus, I'm sure there are hundreds of people out there I haven't banged yet. Can't let that happen.