I was able to participate in the Battle of Keren last night on Shadowfire and thought I'd share my first impressions of this on Live. I tested it a bit but was never really part of a big battle - unless a CL 90 crafter and a CL 14ish BH can be called a big battle force :)
My first thought is... I'm freaking hooked. This was what a GCW battle should feel like. A mixture of mass chaos and controlled terror. It's confusing so I strongly recommend reading a guide or two before jumping in. Right off the bat we encountered a bug - not game breaking or anything - but our map showed Keren was going to be defended by the imperials but it was actualy defended by the rebels.
Even if you have never once engaged in PvP, I recommend giving it a try in this setting. There's so much chaos and running around that even an ineffective entertainer can get in a few good hits and get a kill.
The new FPS cap makes everything incredibly crisp. The world looks so much better now.
I didn't encounter any dramatic lag issues but conversing with demoralized troops can be tricky at times as their conversation selection option has a bad habit of shifting suddenly - this has to do with the fact that they get a rally flag over their heads when they are ready to be convinced to go back to the fight and then that flag goes away.
As an entertainer in this battle I earned 153 tokens. The first item I have my eye on is a rug that costs 500 tokens. So easily obtainable with just a few battles - not like grinding for months to get a single Chronicle Reward.
When I first started playing SWG it was to feel like I was part of an Empire Divided. This update definitely feels like that!
I agree. I have had quite a bit of fun in the few GCW fights I have attended... both defending and attacking.
I havent tried with a crafter or entertainer yet but I have been with both a Commando and Elder Jedi. Fully buffed up Jedi or Commando is essential if you want to take out the 1.3 million health CL100 AT-AT's. They throw out a lot of damage and with numerous AT-ST's and Elite Silver troops running around its frantic... Even more so when enemy players also join in.
T'jak Erattic - Padawan Jedi - CL60 - Shadowfire
T'jak Erattic - Elder Jedi - CL90 - Rebel Ace Pilot - Havok Squadron - Chilastra
T'jak Erattic - Padawan Jedi - CL70 - Chilastra
Pshh, easy for you guys to say. Sure it looks great, sure it is a huge battle and everything, but you HAVE to be level 90. And that is a throw off for any newer players or older ones that have low level characters, unless you don't mind being killed every five seconds then finding that the entrace to the cloning facility is blocked by enemies (this was during a rebel defense of Keren), then you die again. The only way you can escape is to not be factioned, then once your safe, faction in again. Then you can get killed again.
Clearly, this update , just like Restuss and battlefields and instances, is designed for CL 90s. The thing I liked about Death Troopers was that it wasn't all 90s, it had stuff for level 5s.
Now, of course, this is just me, and only like 20% of the SWG community who don't have a 90 character yet.
"Master Granedier" Republic Commando multiplayer quote.
"I reject your reality and substitute my own" quote from Mythbusters.
"Boomdeyada" Discovery Channel
Only a Star Wars fan would confuse Anchorage with Anchorhead.
As R. Lee Ermey would say: OOH RAA!
I do understand. As a pre-NGE subscriber (with both Pre-NGE and a Post-NGE accounts) I never had to level below after the NGE.
There has never really been much of a content in SWG for middle range levels.. its either been all low level or all high level. The theme parks back in the original game were doable by characters without many trained skills but some parts were very difficult.
I also understand why SOE made the open world PvP content like Restuss or the GCW for the CL90s. Basically because any lower levels would be wasted easily and it would cause a lot of game imbalance. The only way around this would be to create instanced locations for GCW that restrict levels just like in many other MMOs. Unfortunately you and I know that isnt going to happen.
Out of the 5 characters I have on Chilastra I had one combat class CL90. My pre-cu Jedi. As I'd like to keep him as he is I have dropped crafting on one of my alts to pursue a 2nd combat class. He was originally a pre-nge Bouny Hunter.. not quite fully trained but decent enough to be CL61 on conversion to the NGE. Even though the Legacy Quests are designed to start from CL10 I have started doing them and I still get fairly quick experience handing in the quests (now at the CL33 quests) to level from 61.
I don't intend joining in Restuss at all until CL90 but I will participate in GCW after CL70 when I can get a little more of a health level.
Remember that you may be at a great disadvantage againt CL90 enemy players and npcs but a lower level player can still perform a vital role in the GCW as support for the main combatants... healing/debuffing/buffing. If you do get killed and respawn you DO return to an "on leave" status which should give you plenty of time to rejoin your comrades avoiding the Cloning Centre campers before you switch back to special forces.
You do not Need to be full SF to use the tools and help in the Build up Before battle. You will gain less faction and tokens but you will not get DB by players. Y ou can also stay and help with the npcs that come during battle. Just let a high lvl player start the attck on a npc and then you can attack the same NPC with out drawing fire. This sohold alow you to help in the Battle take part and have fun with friends. After all that is what swg is truly abought Having fun!
Mumat
Mumat Mayor : Star Haven, Naboo, Way point ? ? ? Raidant Bogie guild Member Black Flight squadron Storm squadron pilot Ace and Raidant # 1 Wookiee distruction crew.
Allright so maybe you will have a hard time surviving if you are like lvl 20-30, but I have seen alot of people around lvl 50-70 joining us in the battles. As long as they stay behind the barricades for cover,they can stay alive alot easier. + If you die,you go on leave automaticly. That means that even if there are a whole bunch of enemy faction mobs outside the cloner,they can't do anything to you until you go combatant again, wich is something you sohuld do as soon as you get back behind the barricades.
I have guildies who join us who are CL20s and up. You DO NOT NEED TO BE CL 90. Sorry for shouting but honestly it gets frustrating for me to hear people say that about this update. An artiste spec'd entertainer is about equal to a CL 54 combat profession. So before you start on the "I'm not CL 90 so there's nothing for me to do" train. Maybe you should actually join in with some of us. Just a thought