Sabbatical

Due to unforseen real life circumstances, I am going to have to stop playing SWTOR (and writing this blog) for now. Hopefully I'll be able to come back to this game at some point. In any case, thanks to all you readers for supporting me and giving me a way to express my opinions and love of the game. I hope you guys enjoyed reading my rambling as much as I enjoyed writing it. Keep on tanking.

Huttball

Huttball. Every game is Huttball. Sometimes faction imbalance really sucks. The thing about Huttball is that it is quite hard for me to win on my own, although it is (usually) fairly easy if I go in with a group. I PVP in the same spec I raid, 31/8/2. With that build I have decent survivability and average damage output. The reason it's hard for me to win on my own is that the role I am best suited for is guarding the ball carrier, not carrying it myself. 

When I carry, I get my defense, shielding, armor, and that's about it. Those stats are pretty unreliable when being focused by multiple people in PVP because so many abilities that players have bypass them (for example, everything that happens in ******* Operative openers). 

When I am protecting a carrier instead, that person gets a flat 5% damage reduction from Guard, 50% of the damage they take is transferred to me, everyone around them does 4% less damage thanks to Combust from Flame Sweep, and on top of that I can taunt enemies who are focusing him for 30% less damage. Oil Slick is also actually useful for guarding people in warzones since it debuffs enemies instead of buffing me. Plus in an emergency the carrier can lateral the ball to me and I can usually hold out with my tank cooldowns until help arrives.

The problem with this bodyguard style of play is that when I queue alone I am forced to rely on someone else to be competent and want to win, traits that are apparently quite rare in random PVPers. Usually the groups I end up in just ignore the ball and teamfight across the map from it, leaving me to try to carry or stop their carrier alone. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST TARGET THEIR CARRIER! RRRRRRGH! 

... *ahem* I think it's time for me to take a break.

Jormungandr's Shieldtech Stat Spreadsheet

The question about our stat priorities got me thinking a lot about it. When we think about stat priorities, what most of us mean is "What stat do I want more of right now?" While I may not be able to write a cut and dry priority list for stats, I think I can do something to help with that question. I wrote a spreadsheet to determine what stats will do to incoming damage.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ag4zALEBKKuGdFI2N0lkanpUcU05SHIxM3BzTnlGVVE

Go to the site and go to File > Make a copy... and it will create a duplicate spreadsheet for you to work with. It's pretty easy to use. Anything written in BLACK requires user input. Talent spec, Combust application, damage type, and attack type are drop down lists, while the ratings have to be entered by hand. The percent is there to check that you typed in all the ratings correctly. It should match the percentages in your character sheet if you enter ratings for gear you are actually wearing. Note that the percentage next to armor represents total DR, not just from armor. If something is off by 0.01% or so, it's most likely a rounding issue since I had to round a couple numbers when making this sheet.

Monster stats are entirely made up by me. Any kind of mitigation sim would have to include some kind of incoming damage for comparison. I simply decided to make the numbers adjustable by viewers for more realistic comparisons. I have no clue what kind of crit rates monsters have (I'm assuming they have base surge) so if anyone has any information about that I'd appreciate it.

The basic idea of this spreadsheet is that the only realistic approach to stat simming involves comparing actual pieces of gear you have access to. Gearing is all about tradeoffs. This sheet lets you equip a set of gear, note your ratings as Gearset 1, change a couple items, note those ratings as Gearset 2, and plainly see which set will give you more survivability. Of course, this spreadsheet only takes survivability into account and not threat (accuracy, aim) or the other benefits of shielding (Flame Shield, Shield Vents in ST).

Here's a basic explanation of boss attack and damage types. Thanks to Kitru on the official forums for clearing this up for me. There are four types of attack: Force, melee, ranged, and tech. Melee and ranged attacks can be defended and shielded. Force and tech attacks cannot. They are instead affected by resistance, which we have 0 of and have no way to gear for. When an attack hits, it does one of four types of damage: elemental, energy, internal, or kinetic. Elemental and internal damage bypass armor, while energy and kinetic do not. However, elemental and internal damage are reduced an extra 10% by the Sith Inquisitor's Mark of Power buff, which this spreadsheet assumes your raid has.

I have been known to make arithmetic errors in the past, so please let me know if you find anything that doesn't seem to be working right and I'll do my best to fix it. Thanks!

Shieldtech Stat Priority

I was recently asked to write a post about tank stat priority for Powertechs. Unfortunately, it turns out to be pretty difficult to just make a list saying "this stat is twice as good as that stat". This was possible on WoW due to exhaustive simming and combat log analysis, neither of which we really have for SWTOR yet. Also, since absorption and shield chance depend on each other, it is clear that the relative value of these stats will shift as the amount of the others changes. Here are our main defensive stats as tanks:

Endurance: This determines health, giving about 10 hit points for each point. There isn't any real way to gear for endurance besides augment slots, which I do not advise. Stacking health is mostly only useful when you are being insta-gibbed.

Armor: Armor provides the bulk of your energy and kinetic damage reduction. Like endurance, you pretty much just get the amount that comes on your gear.With armor comes damage reduction in general. All of us get 5% from Ion Gas Cylinder. Optionally, there is also 2% from Ion Screen in ST, 2% from Power Armor in AP, and 4% from Combust in ST (never displayed on the character sheet since it is a debuff).

Defense: Determines chance to completely avoid an attack. 5% base, 2% from Infrared Sensors in the PT tree.

Shield: Determines chance to shield part of the damage of an attack. 5% base, 15% in Ion Gas Cylinder, 2% from Shield Vents in ST, 10% from Empowered Tech in ST.

Absorption: Determines amount of damage reduced by a successful shield. 20% base, 6% from Ablative Upgrades in ST.

SWTOR has a two roll system for attacks. First, the attacker (the boss) rolls to hit. We assume the boss has 100% accuracy. The boss is rolling against your defense chance here. If he successfully beats your avoidance and lands a hit, it goes on to a second roll. This determines whether the attack is a crit, a shield, or neither. If crit and shield chances add up to over 100%, crit starts reducing shield chance. This is not something we reasonably have to worry about.

Gearing for us will probably be a constant battle between defense, shield, and absorb, with the relative values of each shifting as we gain new gear and trade out mods. The stat we want the most constantly changes as we aquire more of the others. While defense may be the worst stat for you to gear for today, it may be your best tomorrow after a new chest or legs. The goal is always to find a balance between the three that gives you the greatest average damage mitigation.

The Eternity Vault: A normal walkthrough

The Cannons: The first encounter in EV has two cannons, one on the left and one on the right. They deal A LOT of damage. Since tanks can't get into melee range this can be difficult for a lot of groups. What we do is have our Mercenary healer Concussion Missile the tower to our right, sleeping it for 60 seconds (but any other long CC would work just as well). Make sure you (the tank) run in first to get proximity aggro. A healer or DPS going in to CC can easily be killed in the run up. One tank then picks up the left tower while the second grabs the robots in the middle. DPS switch to adds when they parachute in but otherwise stay on the kill target tower. After the left tower dies, switch and do the same to the right one.

Blue are tanks, red are DPS, green are healers. While tanking the cannons, you're in range to do everything except Rocket Punch (damn you BioWare!). Don't be afraid to blow taunts, since pretty much the only way you will wipe on this fight is cannons targeting non-tanks. Mine are used almost on CD because of the rough aggro gen here. It should be noted that melee DPS with jumps can jump to the cannon and stand on top of it as long as it is not facing them. If the cannon turns towards them they get knocked back down.

Annihilation Droid XRR-3: Once the cannons are vanquished this bruiser will fly down and land in front of you. Jet Charge over to him and start laying on the hurt. Tank him facing the door with the raid behind him.

Overwhelming Swipe - When XRR-3 does this, you will be knocked far back. This is the reason you stand in front of him alone. The other tank should taunt and move to where you were standing when this occurs, giving you time to run back without the raid wiping.

Targeted Missile - Yeah, no clue what this ability is actually called. If you see a target on your character, move away from other raid members because the missile will do pretty strong AoE when it hits you.

Storm Protocol - Don't stand in fire. Red targeting circles appear on the ground. Step about a meter to the left or right and you'll be fine.

Missile Barrage - XRR-3 will crouch down and start channeling. Everyone in the raid should LoS him behind the defeated cannon towers to avoid massive damage. Make sure one healer goes to each tower so everyone can get healed up during this. When it ends the robot will stand back up, signalling you to go back in. When XRR-3 reaches 10% health, he will cast this continually until his demise. Zerg him down. Make sure everyone has their cooldowns up for this phase.

Trash: The big floaty sensor droids are easy. Just pick them up and single target or AoE them down. The black ones do have a knockback so watch your positioning. It is very easy to be knocked to your death and it is a long run back. The sensors and flesh punchers (THWACKTHWACKTHWACK) are ancestral enemies, so if you see a mixed group just wait 10 seconds or so and the sensors should kill the flesh punchers for you. In the fire area, the humongo akk dogs are similarly not a threat. Pick them up and single target or AoE them down. Use Flame Sweep liberally on all these trash pulls. I tank with an Assassin so he is usually the one with most of the mobs on him (damn his AoE aggro!) leaving me little to do.

Gharj: Uggggggg. I feel like this fight is extremely glitchy. Anyway, here is how it SHOULD go. When the fight starts, have the raid run towards where the boss is standing. Meanwhile, you shoot the boss and drag him near the rocks you came in on. This saves A LOT of hassle with trying to position the boss with his back towards the raid. Gharj has a strong cleaving attack so make sure everyone except the tank is behind him.

Leap - AoE damage. Heal through it.

Pulverizing Slam - High damage to the tank.

Frenzy - Gharj will hop up and down like a bunny on crack, dealing massive AoE damage. Everyone in melee besides Gharj's tank should run and stack on the healers until this ends. 

Howl of the Akk Dogs - Well, this may not exactly be a casted ability, but Gharj will occasionally summon a pack of low health adds. Have the tank not on Gharj pick them up and just AoE them down.

Knockback - Gharj will sometimes knock your raid back into lava. Just run back to the platform and heal up. The lava doesn't hurt too badly.

Smashing Leap - Gharj will hop up and down, covering the island with lava. Meanwhile, a stepping stone path to another island will emerge from the lava. Hop over there and have the tank stand on the far side of the island from the path. When Gharj jumps to the new island, the tank should pick him up exactly as in the initial pull.

Trash: Leaping manka cats, Batman! Group them up and AoE them down. 

Pylons: Split the raid into two groups, with one tank, one healer, and two DPS each. One group goes to the north pylon and the other to the south pylon. The goal here is to use the left and right consoles to turn the wheel, making the middle symbol match the ones on the side. Once both north and south have the correct symbol on the bottom level, the next level is unlocked. When all symbols on both towers are correct the chest in the middle opens and you can proceed.

During this, adds will spawn. Three Rakata spawn at a time around each pylon. These are high damage normal mobs. They have extremely low healths and should be killed quickly. The last mob to spawn should be a proto acklay. These HURT. Pop cooldowns if you are getting hammered by one and feel like your life is threatened. If the tank dies, this can easily wipe the rest of the group. Burn it down as quick as you can.

Infernal Council: The 1v1 room. Have each person in the raid go and stand next to a council member. Tanks should take Juggernauts, healers should take Assassins, and DPS should take Marauders. When the console is activated, the council members will be freed and will drop to the ground. Engage your target in a duel of fate. Note that these are all one on one fights. If you try to heal anyone in the raid, or attack a target that is dueling someone else, you will receive a debuff reducing all healing and damage done by you by 100%. Just beat down your target and wait for everyone else to do the same, then loot the chest.

Soa: The big bad of Eternity Vault. Run out and engage him, turning him away from the raid. For the first few seconds Soa is invulnerable, so simply Jet Charge over to him and save your attacks until the shield goes off.

Weird Blue-Green Puddle - The fire in this phase is bluish and liquid. Don't stand in it.

That's literally the only mechanic in phase one. When Soa's health drops low enough (~75%) he will put up a blue immunity shield. This is your queue to run to the outer ring. In a few seconds the middle two sections of the room will drop out from under you. Go quickly. You want to have everyone meet up where the yellow X is, by the room's entrance. As Soa's tank I prefer to run straight to the outer ring and then walk around to the X as opposed to running straight to the X (I had the floor drop out from under me on my way there before).

Now you are all grouped up in the outer ring. Find the highest up platform and hop down to it. You will see a traffic cone (Ancient Power Source). Break it and then hop to the next lowest platform. Continue all the way down like this, stopping to AoE heal when necessary. Be careful never to dally too long or the platform you are on will drop.

For the tank, phase two is pretty much the same as phase one. There are three mechanics in this phase.

Mind Trap - Soa will summon a mind trap that will suck a raid member into it. That raid member will have to kill an extremely easy normal version of Soa and then wait to be rescued. DPS not in the mind trap should prioritize killing mind traps over hitting Soa.

Ball Lightning - A glowing lightning ball will sometimes appear and randomly aggro onto a raid member. That person should kite the ball away from others. Always avoid being near lightning balls no matter if they aggro on you or not. They do hefty damage when they explode.

Force Cyclone - Soa will sometimes grab a random raid member and fling him around the room. That raid member can take no actions until the cyclone ends and is effectively just CC'd. There isn't a way to free someone trapped in this besides waiting for the effect to end on its own.

Once again, when Soa is damaged enough (~30%) he will put up a blue immunity shield and prepare to drop the floor again. Group your raid on the outer ring and proceed down as before, killing traffic cones and healing on your way. When you hit the ground again, the last phase starts. 

In this phase, Soa will keep his immunity shield up and continue using all mechanics from phase two. The tank should grab Soa and just drag him around the room with him. DPS should ignore Soa when his shield is up and instead focus entirely on mind traps. The tank should be keeping an eye on the air above the raid. Periodically, Soa will levitate massive orange-glowing pillars above the floor. The tank's job is to drag Soa under the pillar so that when it hits the ground, it hits only Soa. It WILL hurt if it hits you so do your best to position yourself away from it. When a pillar hits Soa, his immunity shield drops and all the DPS should switch off mind traps and onto him instead. When he recovers and raises his shield again, DPS should get back to mind traps and the tank should resume his search for levitating pillars. Just keep doing these mechanics until you down Soa.

Congratulations! You conquered the Eternity Vault!

Datacrons and Matrix Shards

So by now you may be finishing your datacron collection and wondering "How else can I prepare for raiding?" Well, you aren't quite done yet. First off, there is a secret datacron on the Imperial Fleet that you can get at level 50. You'll need three friends with you to get this one. It gives +10 to all stats so it is definitely worth the effort.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7miHDE_VOA&feature=youtu.be

You can also make your matrix cube, a relic crafted out of matrix shards.

We need three Yellow Matrix Shards to craft our tanking relic. Take them to the Ancient Assembly Chamber on Dromund Kaas, near the Dark Temple.

Place a Yellow Matrix Shard in each Shard Input Panel, hit the Matrix Cube Assembler, and BAM! There's your shiny new tanking relic.

Tanking hybrid mania

I've noticed on the forums lately that there is a lot of discussion (read: argument) about hybrid specs for tanking. Right now there seem to be three main specs being thrown around. I would NOT say that any one of these specs is inherently "better" than the others in every situation. They just take tanking in slightly different directions. While your personal spec is probably a couple points off, it should fit into one of these general categories:

ST (31/8/2): http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301G0GrdorogzZZb.1

The tanking spec we all know and love. This is the baseline spec that others are measured against.  The main idea of this build is to be as easy to heal as possible while generating sufficient threat to hold aggro off any DPS. Main points:

- Heat Blast, an ability which costs 24 less heat than most of your abilities and does about half the damage of a normal Rocket Punch

- 10% increased shield chance

ST/AP (24/17/0): http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301G0Grd0roMZMsrrob.1

This build is for those who feel that the top two tiers of the Shield Tech tree are lackluster and not worth the investment. Instead, those points can be applied in the AP tree to get extra threat. Supercharged Ion Gas is not taken here because it is not a significant threat increase and because Retractable Blade's DoT already ensures that Rail Shot will always be usable. Main points:

- Retractable Blade, an ability which costs 16 heat, has an internal damage DoT component, and overall does about the same damage as Rail Shot

- Heat control from Flame Barrage, giving Flame Burst a chance to make Rocket Punch free

ST/PT (21/2/18): http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#301RMrrd0roZ0MZbIbbdh.1

This spec gives up a little more survivability than the ST/AP spec in exchange for even more threat. Rail Shot is the key to this build. Everything revolves around making it as strong as possible. Incendiary Missile's DoT should always be up so Rail Shot can be used every time it comes up. Main points:

- Incendiary Missile, a 25 heat ability with a large elemental DoT that does about the same damage as Rail Shot

- Flame Burst and Rocket Punch have a chance to reset the cooldown of Rail Shot and make it free

- Rail Shot returns 8 heat if it hits a burning target (Incendiary Missile's DoT, mainly)

Each of these specs is completely viable at this time. What you choose should depend on personal preference and your raid's performance. I am running 31/8/2 because I have had no threat problems yet and my personal feeling is that I would rather go overboard on survivability than on threat. Also, my main healer is a guildmate who hasn't healed before and gets stressed easily. If your healers are having no problems keeping you up and you find yourself slipping on aggro sometimes, consider trying out one of these hybrid builds. Remember, this is just the start of a new MMO. Don't allow yourself to get stuck in cookie-cutter mentalities just yet. Move points around, experiment, and find the build that works for you.

Corellia: 50 at last!

Corellia is (essentially) the last class storyline planet for now. Sure Ilum has some quests, but none of those are really about YOU as a person. As expected for the culmination of such an epic story, Corellia is quite long and involved. I didn't mind this one bit because I LOVE urban environments. It is much like a war-torn Nar Shaddaa only with more sunlight and less chance of falling to death. I started Corellia at level 48 and got 50 a fair bit before the end of the planet by doing every quest. If you come here at level 47 you may find yourself a little short of 50 when you leave for Ilum. This planet is amazing for gathering (at least for scavenging and slicing). Nodes are EVERYWHERE so make sure to grab those while you quest. As for world PVP, I can't say whether there are even any areas where we are thrown together with 'Pubs. All I know is that I never saw anyone from the Republic in my whole time questing here, a good couple days.

Vosssssssssss

Voss is quite reminiscent of Hoth. It is a planet consisting mostly of wide open spaces, it has long and interesting stories, and you will be stuck here for quite a while. I started Voss about two levels underleveled. Apparently just doing all of the quests and sidequests on the planets is not enough to stay on target with levels without doing warzones, group quests, or a lot of flashpoints. By the end of Voss's bonus series I had completely caught up for Corellia. There is A LOT of experience available here. Also, if you are the sort of person that likes customizing gear, you should make sure to collect a lot of commendations here. Voss sells matching custom glove/boot sets for you to accessorize with.

Something strange that happened to me on Voss was that I ran into world PVP. A lot of world PVP. I ran into at least six Republic players during the day or so I spent here. I get the impression that Voss funnels 'Pubs and Imps together for a whole lot of zones, so stay on your toes. Only a couple people actually wanted to fight though. Most were happy to just ignore me and continue questing.

Sorry for the delay in posting, but this week has been hectic with family and leveling. Just one planet to go now and then I can move on to interesting topics :)

Belsavis: The prison planet

After some plot antics, you'll find yourself on the secret Republic prison planet of Belsavis. This planet has extremely interesting scenery (as seen above) and a great plot. Well, I wasn't crazy about our class plot, but the Imperial stuff was very good. There's also lots of ancient secrets, as is to be expected on a planet that the galaxy as a whole basically wasn't aware of.

All of the things I just mentioned are completely counterbalanced by the fact that it is VERY FRUSTRATING to get around Belsavis. The first few zones are remnants of prisons, with mazes of half-finished walls and random rubble. It takes at least twice the time you'd expect it to to get from point A to point B. The gaps between walls are always, always filled with mobs too. Once you are out of the first couple maps it gets a little better, but it is still a hassle to just get to where your quests are. There's a light at the end of the tunnel though: your last companion! Yay!



I hate him.

Level 40 tanking: I feel all toasty inside

Level 40. Heat Blast. THIS is the point in the game when you should start getting a visceral feel for your heat level. Heat management is the hallmark of a good Shieldtech and will determine whether you hold aggro or your group wipes again and again.


Single target ability priority:

Rail Shot > Rocket Punch > Combust > Explosive Dart > Heat Blast > Unload > Flame Burst > Rapid Shots


Heat Blast comes after Explosive Dart because ED is actually very high damage and aggro. Also from a QoL perspective, having HB further down on my priority list means that I will be less likely to accidentally use it at a time I cannot benefit from its heat dissipation. After some comments about channeled abilities when I posted level 20 tanking advice, I decided to just include them in the main priority list. I feel that on average I get approximately 2/3 of the channel off and this is the estimate I used when making this list. If your target is incapacitated and you can get a full duration Unload off, prioritize it above ED. Flamethrower is the same damage as Unload but costs 50% more heat. I really would not use Flamethrower in a one target scenario.

AoE ability priority:

Death From Above > Flamethrower > Combust > Explosive Dart > Flame Sweep > Heat Blast > Rapid Shots


Obviously, feel free to single target at your discretion. This list is only for times when all of your DPS are AoEing as well. NEVER OPEN WITH FLAMETHROWER!!! Flamethrower does not tick instantly, it ticks after one second. That may not sound like a lot but it is PLENTY of time for mobs to walk out of range of the channel. Always use Flame Sweep or DFA first and make sure you have control of the mobs before you use Flamethrower. And remember, AIM. Get used to Flamethrower's range because if you don't hit a mob with it, guess what? You get no aggro on that mob. Yeah, THAT one. The one over there eating your healer's face.

Positioning: Awareness is key to tanking. Grapple and Jet Charge should be used to move mobs wherever you want them. Use them to open on targets, peel straying mobs off of group members, and gather mobs for easy AoE tanking. Positioning is the tank's job, no one else's. Don't worry about where the DPS or healers are throwing down AoEs, just get the mobs where you feel they should be and let the other group members readjust to that. If a DPS misses an AoE it means the fight will take roughly 3 seconds longer. If you miss an AoE it could mean aggro loss and a wipe.

Heat management: Unload will break even on heat for a full channel. It's 15 heat cost is offset by the three seconds of passive heat dissipation you'll get during it. Expect and anticipate this. Flamethrower costs 25 and dissipates 15 over the duration, so expect to end up with about 10 more heat than you started with after a full channel. Unless you have a very good reason not to, always skip down the list and use the first ability you can that won't bring you over 40 or under 16 heat. Rail Shot, Rocket Punch, and DFA are exempt from this rule because they are just so damn strong.

You'll notice I added a recommended minimum heat level there. 16 is the about the amount you dissipate in one GCD if Shield Vents procs. It is roughly the line between quickslots 1 and 2. QUICKSLOT 2 IS NOW YOUR HOME. LIVE THERE.

Always remember that being a Shieldtech is all about maximizing heat usage over a fight. You never want to fritter away heat dissipation unless you have to. Use Heat Blast, Rapid Shots, and Flame Burst to control your heat level and stay in the target zone. But don't stress out over losing some heat dissipation; we're only human. Lastly, HAVE FUN! Tanking can be stressful business and even feel like work on occasion. A happy, relaxed tank is a good tank.

Quesh and Hoth: Even more barren worlds

Quesh is a very small, very dull planet. Good thing its so short or you'd probably develop lung cancer from the polluition (if your species even has lungs). Because I wondered this: when your class quest tells you to go back to the ship, yes, the class quest on Quesh is over. It is very short and felt quite random to me compared to the rest of the storyline. There was one thing I liked about Quesh. I FINALLY got to see a hutt move on its own. It was totally worth the wait! They scrunch around kinda like slugs, but when they want to move fast they do it while pumping their arms like joggers.

Hoth is like Tatooine 2.0. It is a humongous planet almost completely covered in snow and ice. Hopefully you don't mind the cold because you are going to be here for a while. I spent an entire day roaming around the icy plains. There are tons and tons of quests here, most of them fairly interesting (even if the majority of the Imperial quests involve saving them from starving or freezing to death). Plus, after Hoth you get a new companion!

On a side note, sorry for the short *cough*bad*cough* posts the past few days. I'm just finding the leveling process and story really engaging at the moment and its hard to tear myself away long enough to sit down and write about the game. Hopefully I'll hit a lull and will get to delve more into tanking again soon!

Taris

Taris will always hold a special place in our hearts as the starting world of KotOR. Now Taris is but a shadow of its former self, a giant pile of rubble slowly being consumed by the swamp. Our class quests here are really interesting IMO, involving tracking our quarry through the swamp and Mandalorian war games. Like Tatooine, upon completion of this planet another noble soul flocks to our cause.

I had a lot of trouble with Taris because at the time of me writing this, Taris suffers from some kind of game issue leading to MASSIVE FPS drops. I was routinely going under 10 FPS, which makes play extremely difficult. For those of you new to Bounty Hunting, this likely won't be a problem because a fix is on the way.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=50413

Because of this, I actually skipped some bonus quests (gasp, shock, horror). It's too bad, really. I'll have to play through on an alt at some point so I can enjoy Taris without it being tainted by stuttery gameplay.

Alderaan and the Two Ships

Politics. Intrigue. A wild tale about one planet's struggle to find the rightful heir to its throne. If you play SWTOR for the plot, Alderaan is sure to have something just for you. This was definitely one of the most enjoyable worlds I have been to, right up there with Nar Shaddaa.

Once you finish up playing kingmaker on Alderaan, head on over to the Aurora for the exciting climax to part I of our class story! This is pretty straightforward, although I do have to mention one strange thing that happened when I fought the target. Every time I dropped him below half health, he would instant cast a HoT on himself that FULL HEALED HIM. I have no idea if this is intended or if I was screwing up the fight somehow. Either way, this fight ended up lasting 7 minutes because he just couldn't damage through my DR and Mako's heals :)

The Spirit of Vengence doesn't really have much in the way of content on it. It just gives you a short quest to continue your class story.

***STORY SPOILER***
After your shenanigans on the Aurora, guess who wants to meet you? MANDALORE! That's right, the coolest damn bounty hunter in the entire galaxy wants to see YOU! And then after a short quest HE INDUCTS YOU INTO HIS CLAN AS A MANDALORIAN!!! I'm not gonna lie, I squealed like a girl from excitement, then went on to annoy my guild by going on about how cool Mandalorians are for a good 20 minutes.
***STORY SPOILER***

Tatooine

Welcome to Arrakis Tatooine! Before I begin, let me just say something:

TATOOINE SUCKS IF YOU ARE UNDER LEVEL 25!!!


This planet was CLEARLY designed with the player having a speeder in mind. The maps are humongous! Even Mos Ila (the first city) is frustrating to get around on foot. Do yourself a favor and go do a bonus series quest or run a flashpoint first if you aren't 25 when you finish Nar Shaddaa.

Once I had a speeder, I thoroughly enjoyed Tatooine. There is something quite majestic about its towering cliffs and dune seas. Who knows what secrets may lie hidden beneath the sands? (I DO :D) Another thing to look forward to is that you get your third companion after Tatooine! Yay! Don't forget to keep sending your unused companions on missions while you quest. Those rewards really add up.

Tanking in the Twenties: Hammer Station and Athiss

We are now getting up to the level where tanks are actually useful. Both of these flashpoints would be fairly difficult to do without having someone in the group built to soak damage. For the most part, these are pretty straightforward missions. Make sure to note that Battlelord Kreshan, last boss of Hammer Station, continuously spawns adds during the fight. Don't get overwhelmed. Also, the Prophet of Vodal in Athiss will vanish and summon indestructable, slow fireballs occasionally. Simply walk away from these and they will disappear shortly.

Here are some general tips for tanking at this level:

Don't stress over aggro: Before Flame Sweep, it is incredibly difficult to hold AoE threat when the DPS don't single target. Remember that silver-bordered "strong" mobs are the sort you routinely solo while questing. If a DPS pulls one of these off you it is not a big deal. They are easily soloable. Just keep the harder mobs on you and always STAY CALM. A panicking tank has led to many a group wipe.

Single target ability priority: Assuming infinite heat, your single target priority list should look something like this:

Rail Shot > Rocket Punch > Combust (Flame Burst debuff) > Explosive Dart > Flame Burst > Rapid Shots

Flame Burst's debuff should have as close to 100% uptime as you can afford. A free 4% damage reduction is nothing to sneeze at. Explosive Dart is an easily overlooked ability for single target because its damage is delayed. Surprisingly, it does more damage when it goes off than Flame Burst, so use it when the target will actually live for the duration.

AoE ability priority: AoE priority is very straightforward:

Death From Above > Combust (Flame Sweep debuff) > Explosive Dart > Flame Sweep 

Death From Above to open. While Explosive Dart is both more threat/GCD and more threat/heat than Flame Sweep, it is delayed and will not provide snap aggro. If you need threat immediately (add spawns for example) use Flame Sweep over Explosive Dart. Remember that Flame Sweep does have quite a high heat cost so don't just spam it! If your DPS are single targeting a mob in a group, it is preferable for you to single target that mob as well. Your job is not to kill enemies, it is to hold aggro and keep your heat low enough that you can be flexible if something goes wrong. What I like to do in that kind of situation is simply replace Flame Burst in the single target priority list with Flame Sweep.

Channeled abilities: Flamethrower and Unload are of debatable value for a tank. When used optimially, they are two of the most heat efficient abilities available to tanks. Flamethrower beats out Flame Sweep by a lot if you can line up a couple targets, while Unload is considerably more damage per GCD than Flame Burst. The problem is that tanks suffer from pushback a lot. Everything is constantly wailing on us, greatly diminishing the value of channels. Don't dismiss these abilities out of hand, but use them sparingly and only when you can be sure of getting almost all the channel off. 25 heat is far too much to spend on a Flamethrower or Unload that only ticks once. Death From Above, while being a channeled ability, is basically only used during the pull so suffers minimally from pushback. It is also so damn strong that it would be worth using even if you only got one missile volley off.

Heat management: ALL OF THESE PRIORITY LISTS ARE ASSUMING INFINITE HEAT!!! In reality, you cannot always simply choose the highest priority ability. Keep tabs on your heat levels throughout everything you do. Most of the time you will find yourself choosing Rapid Shots over Flame Burst in order to keep your heat low enough to be able to Rail Shot, Rocket Punch, and Explosive Dart. 40 heat is the magic number, but it isn't a huge deal if you go a little over. I will go into heat management in much, much greater detail at level 50.

Now go forth and tank!

The good and the bad and ugly (Nar Shaddaa and Balmorra)

Ah, Balmorra. A once-beautiful land marred by bloody warfare. I hated it. For me, Balmorra ranks about as far down as Hutta on the list of planets I enjoy visiting. The place is a barren wasteland. Expect a LOT of walking. On top of that, one of your main Imperial contacts there is extremely irritating and full of himself (moreso even than most Sith lords!).

Nar Shaddaa, in contrast, was one of my favorite planets ever! The plotlines were captivating and I felt the scenery and feel of the place were perfectly spot on. Standing in the Promenade was like standing in downtown New York or Beijing. Huge signs and ads, glowing lights, savvy vendors, and people everywhere. Plus there is a sidestory relating to Revan (not like those crazy Revanites) which KotOR veterans will appreciate.

For those of you on PVP servers, this is about when you will need to start watching out for the opposite faction. Some zones are shared by both sides so keep your eyes peeled for those Republic scum. Sorry for the short post but there isn't too much to say about these places without spoilers.

Sith Space: Dromund Kaas and the Imperial Fleet

I get the feeling that a lot of this game must be completely different if you play as a Sith class. As a Bounty Hunter, questing in these worlds left me with the impression that the majority of Sith are completely insane. They just never seem to have problems us normal people can relate to.

Anyway, as soon as you get to the fleet you get a quest for the Black Talon, the first flashpoint. Hold that for a few minutes and head off to choose your advanced class. I think we all know what I chose: POWERTECH, THE FIRE OF COURAGE! There isn't any switching of ACs later on so make sure you get the right one. Train Flame Burst once you are a Powertech. After that, go over and get the crew skills you decided on. Note that for non-crafting professions you can start sending your companion on missions right away (if you don't need her) by bringing up the crew skills window and clicking on that profession's icon. This may seem obvious to most people but I didn't realize it until almost level 20
-_-

Now you can finally run your first flashpoint! This flashpoint can easily be done with two people and two companions. It is designed to not really need a tank or healer, which is great because we don't get Ion Gas Cylinder until level 14. This place drops a lot of gear that is nice up until about level 20. It also drops a custom (orange) quality chest and blaster, so if you like the look of them you can just keep upgrading their parts and even use them into endgame if you so desire. Black Talon is short, sweet and straightforward. The only real piece of advice I have is don't bother trying to tank (no aggro without IGC). Also, when fighting Yadira Ban she will occasionally do this move where she stops attacking, swirls start appearing around her, and your movement speed is sharply cut. Walk out of melee range or you will get CC'd when her channel finishes.

PVP is available at this level as well. Click on the icon by the minimap to queue up for a warzone. Don't worry about being low level. What happens in this game is that after the players for each side are chosen, the lower level players in the warzone have their stats artificially boosted to be on par with those of the highest level player. It's not a perfect system but it is a significant improvement over some OTHER games where you effectively can only PVP every five levels because of stat differences in your bracket.

On Dromund Kaas, I decided to just start skipping the heroic quests because I was having trouble assembling groups. I completed every single player quest though, finishing at about level 18 with a couple Black Talon runs. It is quite a depressing planet, what with the overcast sky, large jungle animals, and crazy Sith everywhere (Mako feels my pain). Can't say I was sad to see it go. Plus, after Dromund Kaas you get your first starship (and second companion) so who could be sad about that? Once you have 2V-R8, always be sending the companion who isn't with you on crew skills missions. Your wallet will thank you later.

Hutta: And so it begins...

Don't worry, there won't be any plot spoilers in any of these log posts. I enjoy the story far too much to potentially ruin it for someone else. Today, my journey as a Bounty Hunter began anew in the stinking swamps of Hutta. Since I'm not going to talk about all the amazing adventures I had and friends I made, there are only a few things left to say about this acrid planet.

As soon as you start, go to your menu and turn on auto loot and area loot. This will save you a lot of time in the long run. Make sure to pick up every taxi point and quick travel point you find so you don't end up having to walk 10 minutes for one random quest later on.

At level 2 you get Rocket Punch. We will be using this move about once every 10 seconds for the rest of the game so learn to love it. For the amount of damage it does it is very heat efficient. Speaking of heat, I found a good estimate of 40 heat (which is the point you want to hover under) to be the line separating quickslot 2 and quickslot 3.

Like me, you may notice yourself slowly amassing commendations. It took me almost until I left the planet to find out what they were for. Take them to Specialty Goods vendor Yerk and you can trade them in for a piece of chest armor for yourself or for Mako.

I'm a pretty big completionist so I refused to move on until I had completed every quest in the area. I did them all solo (well, Mako helped) and ended up about 1/3 of a level above 11 when I left, with about 8k creds. The elite group quests were a little difficult, but Bounty Hunters are lucky enough to start with their healing companion right off the bat, making it MUCH easier. Also remember that Recharge and Reload has no cooldown so you can go into every single fight with full health and empty heat.

Datacrons: Datacrons are an item I completely forgot to mention in the leveling tips post. For the most part, datacrons resemble glowing boxes. Clicking on one will usually give you +2 to a stat predetermined by the datacron. I feel it is worth gathering these while leveling because that is when the stat bonuses will be most noticeable. Check the link in the Helpful Sites section to see how to get the datacrons for each planet. There may still be some undiscovered ones out there.

Leveling tips

Less than a day until TOR's early access program begins! Ha, maybe then I'll have some actual content :)

*ahem* Anyway, I was talking to a guildmate the other day and he brought up how much he always hated the leveling process in MMOs. I realized that I always leveled pretty quickly and had a lot of fun doing it so I thought I could share some tips about how to make leveling fly by.

Immerse yourself in the story: This may feel kind of stupid and pointless for a lot of us who don't RP, but it actually helps a lot with the tedium of leveling. At its core, TOR is just an MMO like any other and there are only so many different ways that quests can be set up. BioWare spent a great deal of effort making the storylines engaging. If you let yourself really start feeling your character and his story you'll be a lot less annoyed when you turn in 50 bear livers for a quest and get a follow up asking for 60 bear asses.

Level crew skills as you go: Some people like to skip crew skills while they grind their way up, figuring they will be able to level faster if they put off crew skills until 50. In my experience, these people do not level significantly faster than your average craftsman. In fact, they often level slower because they get bored more easily with the whole leveling experience and then get bored AGAIN when they try to just sit down and rush their crew skills at level 50.

Use companions you genuinely like: Anyone who played KotOR will understand this tip. Running around with companions you hate makes you want to tear your hair out every time they interact with you in a cutscene or try to talk to you. NO JUHANI, I DON'T CARE THAT YOUR PEOPLE WERE MASSACRED! JUST GO KILL THINGS AND STOP TRYING TO TALK TO ME! On the flipside, having companions that you really like will make you want to play more just to find out their backstories and build friendships. I would play for hours extra just to unlock the next dialogue with Mission Vao or Carth Onasi without feeling bored in the slightest.

Change up how you level: While I will happily quest all day long, I know not everyone enjoys it as much as I do. If you find yourself hating all the quests you are doing, take a break! Go queue for a warzone (little icon next to the minimap) and get some PVP action going! Warzones are fairly short, a lot of fun, and can reward you with experience and gear for doing them. Or if there is another planet you could quest on, go there and quest instead! Some areas just rub people the wrong way. I was not a fan of Balmorra when I went there, but I was a huge fan of Nar Shaddaa. There are enough sidequests in this game that you can drag out the planets you like and rush through the ones you don't without hurting your leveling speed.

Tank when you can: If you are reading this blog, you are probably one of us martyr-types who actually likes taking a beating for your comrades. Go out and tank flashpoints whenever you are on level for them. Group with guildmates if you want a low stress and fun run, with randoms if you want to build tanking flexibility and skill. The Black Talon flashpoint is available to us in the same zone we get Powertech training and it offers a lot of very nice gear for Bounty Hunters.

Practice heat management: Heat is a strange resource. It is better to get used to how it works during leveling when you have fewer abilities to manage. For those who have not experienced heat, you start with 0 heat and gain heat with every ability you use. If you hit 100 heat, you overheat and cannot use any abilities for a few seconds. Heat dissipates at 5 heat/second as long as you stay under 40 heat. This rate drops to 3 heat/second between 40 and 80 heat, and goes to 2 heat/second above 80 heat. Try to hover around 40 heat while you play for maximum damage output. Make use of Rapid Shots to control your heat gain. Spamming abilities and stacking heat will build bad habits for you later on.

The main thing idea that I want you to come away from this is: if you get bored, go do something else for a while. There are many different ways to level and they are all productive. Don't feel like you have to complete every quest in an area you hate, max your professions are level 20, or get every item from every flashpoint. Spread things out, keep yourself entertained, and you'll be level 50 and running operations in no time flat.