The End of Act 1 : Sith Warrior Edition

Disclaimer : This may contain spoilers about the Sith Warrior questline. 

Quinn, Lyr, Andronikos and Kizu in Alderaan

Yesterday I finally saw the Sith Warrior Act 1 ending, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

"I'm going to enjoy kicking
your face in."

All the time we were questing on Alderaan, all I could think about was how anxious I was to see the Sith Warrior's Act 1 ending, and get my new companion as well as the Lord title. All along, I chased a padawan called Jaesa that can see the light and dark side in anyone. Which means you can't exactly hide your intentions where she's around. Jaesa's master, Nomen Karr, tried to hide her from us, to protect her from Baras, whose spy network is compromised by Jaesa's unique ability to read people. In an attempt to lure her out of hiding, I had to (among other things) kill her parents by using force choke on them. That ability never ceases to amuse me. (Ever since I got the ability to actually do it in combat - around level 26 I think it was - I've been using it on cd. It gives rage, it keeps the mob from hitting you while you are channeling, and it's just plain fun to see.)

Being a Jedi sucks. When I grow
up, I wanna be a Sith!

After looking for Jaesa on Tattoine and Alderaan, I finally found her master on Hutta, where he tries to kill me to save his padawan. I had to defeat him three times before he finally gave up. (Those encounters were fairly easy with Quinn healing me. But I kept thinking, "What, you want me to kick your ass some more, stupid Jedi?") That is when Jaesa showed up, despite her master's order to stay away.

After I defeated her, Jaesa realized that the dark side is stronger than the light, and she wants to be a part of it. It really didn't take her long to jump ship. It's as if she was only waiting for an opportunity to switch sides. She finds the dark side to be a lot more easier, more enjoyable and more fulfilling than being a Jedi ever was. Well duh! Welcome to the dark side, Jaesa. We torture, we kill, we dance naked, covered in the blood of our enemies. Oh and we encourage you to fuck as much as you want. Hope you love it here!

I'm not sure  exactly why, but
the song "Bad to the bone"
comes to mind.

I'm quite happy that Lyr has got an apprentice who is as evil as she is. Lyr killed innocents, tortured people that had information on Jaesa's whereabouts, and she betrayed people that had helped her, only to get what she wanted, and it was all worth it. Jaesa's affection will be easy to gain.


So in conclusion, I'm pretty pleased with the Sith Warrior storyline so far. It's been good fun, and I'm looking forward to see what's coming next. I'm a bit sad though that Lyr hasn't been able to flirt with anyone, yet. At that point, my Sorcerer had shared sexy time with a fellow Sith. Quinn is pretty stuck-up, and hasn't been much fun in the romance department so far. Here's hoping that will change soon.

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!

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.

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.

Surprise

Last night, Kizu and I were questing on Tatooine. That place is... huge and sandy, to say the least. Most of the quests are ok, it's mostly about killing rogue droids, slaughtering adorable Jawas (first time I've ever felt bad about killing anyone) and dealing with the Sons of Palawa. There's also some zombie cyborg thing that is pretty interesting. Not too sure what that was about.

As a sorcerer, I had to talk to a contact at the cantina. A guy named Andronikos Revel. The name was familiar, but I didn't know why. It clicked when Khem Val started whining about how I was replacing him. Oh! Right. A new companion. Fuckin' finally.

I love Niko. He's kinda hawt. He's got the bad boy vibe going for him, and his voice is pretty sexy. That romance thing just got interesting. Plus, he does great dps, I can actually hear what he says, and he isn't in my way when I'm trying to loot or click on things. Yay for Niko. Here's hoping his story is interesting. But all I really care about, is that I finally can get rid of Khem.

After I took care of some low-life scum for Niko, I went on my merry way and ran across the desert to find people that had the artifact I was after. I was always too late and they had all left the encampment before I got there, until I finally ended up in a tent where there was a dead body. They had all killed each other, because the artifact was cursed, so all I had to do is loot the thing, and that was it. Back to the ship. It was all very anticlimactic. But Jori is now level 30 and a half!

And now, all that's standing between me and the end of chapter one is Alderaan.

...and half of Tatooine since Kizu wants to do all the quests before we move on. Sigh.

The day one of my toons got the -40 of shame... from me

Kizu finally found some time to play with me today, so Jori the evil sorcerer went from level 26 to 28 and a half. It was pretty fun.

But we we're questing in Nar Shaddaa, a level 20-24 zone. Most of the quests were unproblematic. The Heroic4 quests were somewhat of a challenge at times, as we 2man'd em, but nothing impossible. It only gave me more reason to hate Khem Val as he systematically attacked the target I had just CC'd. Grr.

At the end, the quests were grey, and so were the mobs. But we've seen pretty much all the zone had to offer. Not my favourite zone by a long shot, but I guess we can't all love the same things. The Promenade looks great, love the colours, but everything is so... indoors-y, and well ... shady. I guess you could say I'm not too fond of Hutts and the likes. But I digress.

The fun part in all this is the bonus series are level 31. Mkay. Guess we'll go level somewhere else for a while, and then come back. Maybe I'm missing something here, but doesn't make much sense to me to jump from level 24 content, to 31 in the same zone.

Or maybe they knew we'd outlevel the content and we'd be 28ish at that point. I do want to see as much of the quests as possible, but this a little ridiculous. I haven't been in a zone of the appropriate level since... Dromund Kaas.

In other news, my sorcerer is slowly but surely getting to the end of Act 1, which is good. I'm not especially fond of the storyline so far, but I get to be evil and that's fun. For the first time though, I've been completely flabbergasted by some things I had to say in order to get my dark side points. There were other answers that sounded better, and more evil-like, but they didn't give dark side points, so I had to ask for those people to give me all their credits so I could get myself robes made of solid gold.

Even I thought that was out of line. And just plain wrong. Slaughter a whole village if you like, torture innocents and butcher anyone who stands in your way, but don't take money from worshippers like some vile, low-life, greedy thief. Surely a powerful sith such as her would never lower herself to this level? Well apparently yes. And it made me feel terribly ashamed of my sorcerer.

I mean, even that no good Khem Val winced. It really was that bad.

Agent Nevie

I gave the Imperial Agent another shot, and I'm quite glad I did. Nevie is now level 8, and I'm still wondering which Advanced Class I'll be picking up in two levels, because they both look awesome. I have a slight preference for Sniper, though.

I kinda love the playstyle after all. It's pretty fun to find a good hiding spot, throw grenades and shoot people between the eyes. At first, I didn't get what her deal was. The Siths are just powerful and evil, it's what they're trained for. Bounty Hunters kill or steal or cheat and get paid for it. But what are the Imperial Agents all about?

I decided that an Agent (mine anyway) is about serving the Empire and getting the job done, no matter what. I get to be a female James Bond with a license to kill, and massacre, and inflict pain.

Plus, I get to be dark side, and my companion Kaliyo is badass and enjoys the chaos I leave in my wake. I get to be a cold bitch that cares only for herself, and knows no remorse. I don't know yet if she actually enjoys killing like my Siths do, or if she just doesn't care as long as she gets paid. I don't see her losing sleep over killing innocents. But I can't picture her as truly evil, either.

I look forward to figuring this one out. This is gonna be fun.

The things I do to make Sty happy.

Sty is evil. He made me join the Republic!

On a new server. And join a guild. With people from WoW.

After creating many characters, I decided to roll a Twi'lek Consular and try the stealthy rogue-ish class. (I already wanted to try that - the assassin that is - but since I didn't feel like seeing the Inquisitor's story again, and suffer Khem Val for any longer than I have to, seeing the republic version of it seems like a good solution.)

But apparently all my companions will hate me if I randomly kill people soooo light side it is! All that to please (yet another) foreign language speaking frog.

And my toon's lekku annoy the crap outta me. They move ALL THE TIME!

... AND I LET PEOPLE LIVE!!

/sadface

Edit : I deleted Jorie and made her human because her lekku (lekkus?) were driving me batshit crazy. She is now level 5.

The quests are fun so far, and if the story isn't as engrossing as the Bounty Hunter's was, it's still entertaining enough to hold my interest. And I'm curious to see what the Shadow class is about.

Even Siths QQ sometimes

We finally made it to the level 22. Woot! I don't know when my Inquisitor is getting a new companion, but I can't wait. Stupid Khem Val. It's sad, because it's the only companion that I don't like. And I love my sorcerer so much. Would be nice to have a companion I enjoy being with.

Kizu hasn't felt like playing much these past few days. Stupid work taking all this precious time. I'm anxious to reach level 25 and get a speeder or whatever it is, but it moves faster! So much running around. And it's so damn slow. Even with Sprint.

I hated the SI quest that had me get a serum to become a Colicoid and then go down in a pit of green goo, swarming with bugs. I got stuck in the floor, I fell to my death, and after I was done, I just used my Quick Travel ability, because I was too annoyed to fight my way back out. But it's the first time I really dislike a quest. Most of them are fun, but that might be because I hardly ever solo quests.

I rather quest with Kizu, because I'm lazy, and everything becomes so easy with a partner, especially one that can heal.

I hate Khem'Val

When I switched from Sith Warrior to Inquisitor, I was sad.

Yes sad, because the voice of my character changed. I loved how my warrior sounded. But I guess it's only that I was used to it, because now, I can barely remember it. And I love my Inquisitor's voice now. She sounds evil. And a little crazy. Love it.

I also miss Vette. It may seem silly, but companions are a huge part of the gameplay, and it just isn't the same without my blue Twi'lek at my side. The bounty hunter's first companion, the sweet Mako, is awesome, if you wanna go light side that is. I can't imagine how you could make her love you with all the killing and random cruelty the dark side people seem to prefer. But being on the light side really isn't as much fun. (What do you mean I can't kill that guy? But he deserves it! He's a big fat liar... Oh alright. This better score me lots of affection points!)

But Khem'Val is just so... meh. I don't like him one bit. He's too big and I keep clicking on him when I don't mean to. His story is far from being as interesting as Vette's or Mako's, and everytime he talks, I have to toggle on my chat window to see what he said.

Why yes, I play with the chat turned off. Why? Because I hate general chat. I let Kizu do the socializing when it is required, as in, when he wants to run flashpoints. We level together, we do every quests together, even the heroic 4 ones, and that's how we enjoy the game. Even if we die a lot to champions ganking up on us.