Thread: New to TOR

  1. #1

    New to TOR

    I recently bought swtor and new to mmo's in general but have a decent background b/c I have friends who play other mmo's. Which class would you recommend starting off with, also what server would be the best? Plus any other tips, advice and whatnots is more than welcome

  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by tlarson3412 View Post
    I recently bought swtor and new to mmo's in general but have a decent background b/c I have friends who play other mmo's. Which class would you recommend starting off with, also what server would be the best? Plus any other tips, advice and whatnots is more than welcome
    Well, lets start with the easy parts first.

    DO NOT JOIN any server that says its "light" on its population.

    Lemme emphasize that DO NOT JOIN ANY SERVER THAT SAYS "LIGHT" ON ITS POPULATION

    At this point, 9 out of 10 light servers are graveyards and you will find it either super hard, or flat out impossible to assemble groups for heroics, and/or flashpoints/operations.

    Join servers that say Standard or higher. Currently the most populated server on the whole game is "The Fatman" but be warned, there's 2 downsides of joining that particular one.

    A: at some points is so full, you actually gotta get in queue to get in.

    B: I've heard some nasty rumors about the elitism, and overall unpleasantry of a lot of the players in that server, be them reps or imps.

    You have been warned. My personal recommendation: Canderous Ordo, or Jedi Covenant. Both of them highly populated, and I've seen real nice people on both.

    Now that we got that out of the way, lets get the second thing, tips and advices:

    1: DO NOT buy anything unless you absolutely have to. You need to save every last penny you got for level 25 to buy your speeder (mount). It costs 25.000 credits to train the ability to use them, and each individual speeder costs an aditional 8.000 credits (The basic ones at least). So save your money exclusively for your class skills (Which will get progressively more expensive as you level up, currently at lvl 30 mine cost up to 8.000 each) AND your mount.

    2: Get your professions early. Its actually quite feasable to level a profession along with your toon due to tons of resource nodes wherever you go. As to what profession is more fitting........... that can vary. My personal recommendation (Again, personal opinion only, don't take this as hard-fact, others will have their own opinions too) is Cybertech. This profession is universal, unlike the others that are only good for a set amount of classes. It creates modules taht you install on your gear to boost its stats, as well as create other gadgets that other professions cant (Such as ear pieces, ect ect). If you do take this profession, take as secondary professions Scavenging and Underworld Trading. These will provide the materials you will need for Cybertech.

    Use This guide to help you level it.

    3: Don't fret too much over heroic quests. Sure their rewards are sweet, but in no way mandatorial, you CAN get by without them. If you can find help to do them, cool, if not, as I said, don't fret over it and move on. Depending on server population it can be pretty hard to find someone to help you with them, =/

    if you do find someone to help you with them, do remember that heroic quests can be repeated once every 24 hours, and that doing them again not only nets you exp and money again, but also comendations. Commendations are medals, specific to each planet where you earn them and allow you to buy special gear fitting to the level-range of that planet, so try and get as many of these as possible.

    and last but not least, as for what class to pick, I'm afraid I can't help you with that one. Every class is good at what they do, but as far as I'm concerned no class is more "newbie-friendly" than the others. They have all an equal learning curve, and their ups and downs. The one advice I can give you regarding classes is this:

    IF you pick a class that is not a force user (AKA: A class that doesn't uses lightsabers or magic) DON'T spam your skills. Troopers/Hunters/Smugglers/Agents use a resource that regens faster the more of it you have. IF you go below 50% they regen slow, if you go below 25% it regens even slower, if you go to 0%, it will take a loooooong time for it to refill. Always stay above 60% if you use one of these classes.

    other than that, the last tip I can give you is that you read this post http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...new-(Compiled)

    its very informative :P and has plenty of good tips for the new player.

    Edit: some more help regarding the classes.

    I feel that I gotta put this warning here, just in case.

    In this game, all classes can do 2 things. DPS and either tanking or healing, but there are 2 exceptions.

    Republic Side, if you make a jedi Knight, and at lvl 10 you choose sentinel as your advanced class, or if you make a smuggler and at lvl 10 choose gunslinger as your advanced class, you will be EXCLUSIVELY DPS.

    For Empire side, its the same if you make a Sith Warrior and at 10 choose Marauder, or Agent and at lvl 10 choose sniper.

    Sentinels/Marauders/Snipers/Gunslingers are DPS exclusive classes, and this carries some consequences.

    Again, this is personal opinion, but I feel that its always nice to have a choice on what do you wanna do. You should be able to choose if you want to heal, or tank, or DPS. With the aforementioned classes, that choice is taken away from you ,and you are pigeonholed into DPS role, forever, with no way to reverse that change. Bear that in mind.

    I'm not saying that Sentinels/Marauders/Snipers/Gunslingers are a bad class, no way. In fact they're awesome, specially sentinels/marauders since they dual-wield lightsabers and have some insanely cool animations. I'm just saying that by choosing these, you will be locked into DPS mode forever and ever, and its just something to take in mind. With any other class, you can do DPS, but if you feel like it, you could tank or heal by simply switching your spec.
    Last edited by Derah; 2012-05-12 at 07:05 PM.

    Por que odiar si amar es mas dulce? (*^_^*)

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Derah gratz for the post. I recomend exactly the same things. Now which role you want to fill? tank, healer, dd? And what type of dd? A ranged dps? melee? A rogue type with stealth?

  4. #4
    I cannot emphasize enough Derah's point about choosing a heavily populated server. It's like night and day and has a *huge* impact on how much fun you have while playing the game. I would go further and say don't just pick any standard server, go with just the three Derah listed on their post. If I had to reroll now, I'd probably pick Jedi Covenant.

  5. #5
    I cannot emphasize enough Derah's point about choosing a heavily populated server.
    :P I Emphasized it already. Its really THE most important part when playing this game. Its the "make or break" part of it in fact. So much on this game hinders on player grouping and socializing, that playing on a graveyard realm feels like punching a wall with your bare hands.

    Derah gratz for the post
    I do my best to help others (*^_^*)

    Por que odiar si amar es mas dulce? (*^_^*)

  6. #6
    Derah's post is great.

    Some personal opinions on the matter.

    If you want a higher population of players to play with play Imperial. - this matters more on standard and light servers
    If you want better stories closer in comparison to KOTOR quality pick Republic. -Many people will try to argue this opinion

  7. #7
    If you want better stories closer in comparison to KOTOR quality pick Republic. -Many people will try to argue this opinion.
    ... Yeah. Having done the Empire-side quests and the Republic side quests, I've just gotta say that I much preferred the Empire, especially for someone who likes good voice acting. Picking which class quest is best is probably fairly subjective, though I'd argue that the imperial agent has the best one hands down. But the vast majority of your quests will be side quests and the main planet plotlines, and on that aspect, Empire is much more preferable to me. I like actually listening to the quest the first time around instead of spacebarring or reading it, and Republic makes that damned hard with what feels like 80% alien quest givers snorting, clicking and gibbering at you until you get a headache.

  8. #8
    Immortal SirRobin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Derah View Post
    ...
    Excellent post.

    The only bit I would add goes as far as choosing a class. Are you a Sith fan? When you were a kid which character in Star Wars did you dream of playing the most? Personally I've been a fan of Darth Vader since '77 so Warrior and Inquisitor were no brainers for me. Even if the voice of James Earl Jones, we're not worthy, wasn't enough I think Korriban would still be my favorite starting planet. Did you always dream of being a Jedi? Well then Knight or Consular is the place for you.
    Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot.
    Who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor.
    Who had almost stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol.
    And who had personally wet himself, at the Battle of Badon Hill.

  9. #9
    If you want better stories closer in comparison to KOTOR quality pick Republic. -Many people will try to argue this opinion
    ... Yeah. Having done the Empire-side quests and the Republic side quests, I've just gotta say that I much preferred the Empire, especially for someone who likes good voice acting. Picking which class quest is best is probably fairly subjective, though I'd argue that the imperial agent has the best one hands down.
    Agreed. Don't believe that guy :P both sides have amazing stories.

    Contrary to what apereances can indicate, you CAN be Evil while playing republic, and you CAN be good while playing empire.

    Furthermore, its almost a popular agreement that the story of the Imperial Agent is made of 100% unadulterated awesomeness. It has all the classical tropes of the best spy flicks ever, along with some pretty damn good cutscenes, and the superb voice acting of Jo Wyatt (She's Female Hawke on Dragon Age 2) if you play female.

    The Sith Inquisitor also boasts one of the best stories in the game.

    If I had to rate the quality of the stories in this game, the top 4 are:

    Imperial Agent
    Sith Inquisitor
    Jedi Knight (these ones are GOOOOOOOD)
    Republic Trooper.

    On the second place there's these:

    Sith Warrior
    Smuggler
    Bounty Hunter
    Jedi Consular

    Hell, its almost universally agreed that the consular's story is by far the weakest of the game. If there's a tip I can give you on what class NOT to roll, don't roll Consular. At least not as your first. If you really wanna be Republic, go Knight all the way. Their story is the best on that side. I mean, the biggest selling point of this game is its story, and consulars have a kinda "meh" story. Its not really the best first impression one could hope to have.
    Last edited by Derah; 2012-05-13 at 01:56 AM.

    Por que odiar si amar es mas dulce? (*^_^*)

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Moriarty View Post
    I cannot emphasize enough Derah's point about choosing a heavily populated server. It's like night and day and has a *huge* impact on how much fun you have while playing the game. I would go further and say don't just pick any standard server, go with just the three Derah listed on their post. If I had to reroll now, I'd probably pick Jedi Covenant.
    I would counter this by saying there are plenty of standard servers that are far from dead and dying. That isn't to say they couldn't use some more loving people to join and help everyone out.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Derah View Post

    1: DO NOT buy anything unless you absolutely have to. You need to save every last penny you got for level 25 to buy your speeder (mount). It costs 25.000 credits to train the ability to use them, and each individual speeder costs an aditional 8.000 credits (The basic ones at least). So save your money exclusively for your class skills (Which will get progressively more expensive as you level up, currently at lvl 30 mine cost up to 8.000 each) AND your mount.
    Gotta disagree with this. I bought gear, companion gear, vanity items, class skills and leveled my Crew skills from the start and still made enough money from quests, junk items, vendoring green/blue items and a little PVP to buy my mount, training and class/advanced class skills at the level they were available.

    Even on your first character credits are abundant.

    For reference my Crew skills were Archeology, Treasure Hunting and Artifice.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Lifedragon99 View Post
    Gotta disagree with this. I bought gear, companion gear, vanity items, class skills and leveled my Crew skills from the start and still made enough money from quests, junk items, vendoring green/blue items and a little PVP to buy my mount, training and class/advanced class skills at the level they were available.

    Even on your first character credits are abundant.

    For reference my Crew skills were Archeology, Treasure Hunting and Artifice.
    Question, did you level said first character before 1.2 patch? or after? Because after, they severely nerfed the credits awarded from pvping.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Lifedragon99 View Post
    Gotta disagree with this. I bought gear, companion gear, vanity items, class skills and leveled my Crew skills from the start and still made enough money from quests, junk items, vendoring green/blue items and a little PVP to buy my mount, training and class/advanced class skills at the level they were available.

    Even on your first character credits are abundant.

    For reference my Crew skills were Archeology, Treasure Hunting and Artifice.
    I find that the largest credit sink while leveling is also leveling your professions. If you don't do that you'll be swimming in credits. Or if you only work on money making profs like slicing.

  14. #14
    Deleted
    Bounty Hunter!

    You get to wear the coolest armour, you get to fire off missiles and rail guns and use flamethrowers and have death from above.

    got to my 3rd 50 with my Bounty hunter and im sticking with it.

    I really liked the story too, alot better then the consulars and troopers which were my other 50's

  15. #15
    I have a 50 consular and a 50 trooper and both stories were snoozefests to me. I've leveled an Inquisitor to 44, a Warrior to 25 and a Jedi Knight to 20 and all seemed much better.

    As for server, go to Canderous Ordo. You can have my spot, since I just rerolled from there to Fatman.
    Humans are the only species on the planet smart enough to be this stupid.

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