Legacy Perks. Get ready to get ripped off in patch 1.3

Bioware have just released a promo video for patch 1.3. The video tells us nothing really new but does provide some extra details about the new features. The video has received many dislikes and as I go over the details, you mind understand why. The changes are:

Legacy perks
Group Finder
Character transfer
Scaling social gear

First, have a quick watch of the video (bottom of this post). As you will see the Legacy perks are specific to each individual character, and they don't come cheap.

Looking at the warzone perks, the first one costs 20k and gives you a 2% XP perk to leveling in warzones. Another 30k will add an extra 2%, to the total of 4%. Each level seems to go up by 10k and add an extra 2%. So you'll be able to achieve a maximum of 10% bonus XP after spending approximately 200k. If you want to level another alt in PvP you'll have to spend another 200k. Please keep in mind that this is a guestimate as they only show us the costing of the first two.


Now is it just me or does that seem a little steep for such a pathetic return? 10% is not going to make much difference. I have three characters past act 2 and several others well on their way and I, like a lot of other players, am finding it really hard to have to re-do the standard missions found on most worlds. As it is at this stage, just to complete your class quests you have to level PvP for hours or re-do missions you've done 3 or 4 times already. I've been alternating characters to get the most out of rested XP, but it's still at the painful stage of going through this stuff for the 4th and 5th time for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the class missions and I am thoroughly enjoying every second of the story lines but I'm finding the leveling to be way more time consuming than it was originally in Beta.

Group Finder seriously should have been in the game from the start so although I'm pleased to see it being added, it's an "about time" feature, not a "wow" feature.

Character transfers are definitely going to help the lower populated servers and I hope that Bioware do the right thing and give everybody who has been gimped for months on dead servers the opportunity to move for free.

As for scaling social gear, since my main character is a Jedi Consular I can tell you now, this is broken before it's released. Currently all social gear is light armor but yet my Jedi Conuslar is still stuck in his fuggly rakata gear. As none of the promised armor bonuses transfer to other gear Bioware made a big deal about the customization abilities in patch 1.2. Apart from war hero and black hole gear, no other items in the game mods transfer. So if you're thinking of decking out yourself as a Sandperson, be prepared to loose your bonuses if you're not in the absolute state of the art gear.

I may seem a little bit annoyed about this last point, but it's one of the many options that Beta testers disputed. The change to lock-down epics was made about a month prior to the game being released. I had to do multiple videos to demonstrate the changes on mods as they were released in Beta. The community tried to advise Bioware but they did not listen and five months later we're still paying the price by having Jedis look like punces with wings on our sleeves in order to have our earned set bonuses. Unless the change is made to retro-fit older mods, this will plague the ability for players to customize themselves properly for some time.

'Tracking The Origins' Mission Guide, With all Maps

With the attack of the rakghouls world event taking place, players are running around like mad trying to get the most they can out the new content. Apart from items you can purchase through the daily missions, there is also a mission where you are awarded this awesome little non-combat pet called the Crimson Rakling. Unlike other missions, no waypoints are provided for the objectives in this mission, so I have put together a complete guide, with maps, of all the objectives in this mission called Tracking The Origins.

Note: This guide has been done with a Republic character. Although the first section leading up to collecting pieces of the ship Stardream, are Republic only, all the parts of this mission where you have to collect the ship parts, and where they are located, are the same for Republic and Sith players.

To start this mission head to Tatooine and go to the Anchorhead Starport. Click on the Emergency Notice Terminal at 1726, 455. This will give you a first buff called ‘Informed’, you will then need to go get the ‘Attacked’ and ‘Exposed’ buffs (explained below). All 3 buffs have a 10 minute timer.

Rakghoul Live Event Emergency Terminal Broadcast

To get the next buff 'Attacked' head to the North-Western part of Anchorhead and click the crashed escape pod in a wall. You get attacked but the guards help you out.

'Attacked' Buff 1783, 444 in Anchorhead

Now to get the ‘Exposed’  buffs go to the medical supplies at 2352, 434 Anchorhead.

When you have done all 3 you get a buff called  'On The Trail'. You then need to go to the Containment Operations Console next to the speeder transport point.

The Containment Operations Console is located at 1824, 445

Clicking on the console will start a mission, the objective of which is to scan 12 pieces of the downed ship called Stardream. Start your search in the Dune Sea. Unlike other missions in the game, no map or waypoints are provided, unless you have this guide ... :) If you have a mobile device, this site is optimized for mobile browsing, so you can have this guide open on your phone while you play.

Note: Some of the waypoints in the screenshots display incorrectly. Use the ones written in text and use the visual image from the maps to see where the parts are.

Part 1: The first piece of the wreckage is located at: -1395, -442.

Part 2: -2411, –756 (On the top of a half circle cliff surrounding a Sandpeople camp).

Part 3: -2030, -1896 (Next to a Mandalorian landing pad).

In between parts 3 and 4 you'll need to head to the Jundland. Take the speeder to the Dreviad Outpost.

Part 4: 738, -2545 (North of Dreviad, on top of an underground entrance).

Part 5: 1191, –1267 (Around the center of the map)

Part 6: 1094, -443 (Lodged in the side of a cliff. Jump down to get it!)

Part 7: 754, -913 (On a small ledge quite far down the wall of a sheer cliff).

Part 8: 306, 433 (On a ledge a bit east of the Sith base at Mos Anek).

Part 9: 1097, 724 (In a Heroic area (circa level 24-25) east of Imperial base Varath. If you're doing this quest at a lower level you can easily dodge the elite mobs to get to the objective).

Part 10: 1796, 602 (Find the Shattered Basin Tunnel at 1260, 575 to pass into Severin Mesa Windfarms where the fragment landed).

Shattered Basin Tunnel at 1260, 575

Part 10 found at 1796, 602

Part 11: -592, -1445 (You will find it up on a little hill nestled against a wall behind a Sand People Mooncaller and his Bantha).

Part 12: -500, -331 (Heroic quest area, the Transport Ship Crash Site. It's in between the Jundland and Dune Sea maps. you will find a wide sand ramp at -359, 136).

When you have all 12 you will get the codex entry: Rakghoul Pandemic 5 – Origins of the Outbreak and your mission tracker will change to say ‘Find the infected Risp’. Republic players should head to Outpost Largona, Imperial players can fly to Outpost Rennar. From there it should be a short drive to your mission marker at 2302, -161 where you will find a small box marked ‘Animal Carrier’.

Inside you'll find your new non-combat pet growling and attempting to bite your ankles. In the same area where you pick him up you'll find several daily missions which award tokens that will allow you to purchase this little guy's brother, a pale rakling.

I hope this guide has made it easier for you to find the objectives for this mission. If you have any feedback or comments, please leave them in the comments section below.

Bonus Series Missions tips

What a lot of people don't realize as they're advancing through the levels is that some planets offer a bonus series of missions. At Alderaan for instance, there are a level 40 series of missions that provide some sweet epic loot upon completion. Hoth has a series of missions that are unlocked at around level 47 and Belsavis has a level 50 bonus series mission line that gives you daily commendations. Although some of these missions to go back to the planet are based on your fleet space station, the Hoth one for instance, is only found by travelling back back to the planet once you've reached level 46/7. If someone hadn't told me about the Alderaan and Hoth bonus missions, I would have never known they were there!

What these bonus missions did was to put me ahead of the base level required on the advanced planets. for
example, although Corellia is a level 47-50 planet, I was actually level 49 by the time I got there. I am now level 50 and still have a tonne of missions to complete, which all provide commendations and much needed credits. As all these missions are green to me, they are very easy to complete. I under a week, I've got my 110 speed speeder and I'm well on my way to decking out all my companions. I've also got all my crafting skills maxed and able to craft a number of epic items. My experience on Beta was very different; I had no credits at level 50 and my gear was no where near as good as it is this time and things were a lot harder.

I strongly advise that you take the time to do the Alderaan bonus missions at level 40 and Hoth at level 47.

The SWTOR Leveling Experience, Levels 1 - 10

My first experiences in SWTOR began in the beta 2 weeks prior to launch.  I had initially been invited to join earlier but thought I would wait for launch and avoid any disappointment. Whilst I had faith in Bioware, I had bad experiences with other MMOs and decided I would just wait and see what would happen.  I finally decided to take up the option for the open beta after hearing a lot of discontent with the WoW die hards saying what a poor game SWTOR was looking to be. To me this could mean only that it was looking to be a decent game and this encouraged me to take advantage of the open beta and take a look for myself.

I decided very early that I wouldn't try to rush through and level as fast as I could as a lot of people in betas are inclined to. So instead I would take a look at every class and look at the dynamics and gameplay of each class. 

The first 10 levels of every character are extremely diverse and the story content of all 8 character classes was extremely unique and very well thought out. The play style of each of the 4 characters in each faction is also quite interesting and whilst a lot of people will say this is a WoW clone in the combat arena, I couldn't disagree more heartily. I feel that the differences are amazing and the only way you will learn these is playing for yourself.  I didn't want to make this a guide on how to play, guides like these have been posted all over YouTube and if you want a step by step guide then you are losing the experiences and surprises in the game. This is more about what information is important, and what you might like to know without any spoilers.

Hotkeys
Combat very early on is, as you would expect, limited to a couple of hotkeys, but knowing exactly the function of each ability is invaluable. Making certain you understand what each hotkey is for should be the very first thing you do and as you level, read and invest a little time in looking at your abilities to know what they can do. Whether or not you chain keys for higher damage or just spam a single button, early combat is really quite easy and does not make it a difficult game for the novice player. This gives you the ability to become immersed in the story and develop your skills as you go.  By about level 4 or 5 you will have 6-7 abilities which you can use to your own play style.

Missions
Questing [editor's note: it's called Missions in SWTOR you old WoW player!] is amazingly simplified in SWTOR. Your objectives are placed straight onto your minimap and the primary zones are slightly linear to allow the learning experience to progress. What a lot of experienced MMO players fail to realize is that with each new game release there is an over-abundance of new players who really have no idea what they are doing. The beginning quests for each class begins with, why your character is where they are and their immediate goals.  This leads on to a primary class quest beginning with ACT 1 and leads you into an immersing story line which is both interactive and entertaining.  Side quests are abundant and are pretty much the meat and vegies for leveling.  Not once have I had to grind or worry about not being too low to do my quests.  

Dark side vs light side
One of the first things I noticed, while getting engaged in each story line, were the light and dark side options. As a general rule I decided that if I wanted to be dark I would play dark.  I was playing light then I chose light side options.  There were no exceptions and I found by level 10 I was easily past the first tier of dark or light side points. Choosing a combination did not seem very important as it seemed to balance you closer back to a neutral option.  This may be tempting for the role players out there who are not swayed by the choices they make. 

Companions
People have heard all about companions and these in my view are a game-changing asset whether you like to play solo or with friends. Group partys are limited to 4 members which includes the use of  companions. Since beginning the actual game I have leveled with my close friend Jean (ingame name) and the 2 of us with our companions have been, for lack of a better term, "tearing it up".  I cannot stress this enough.  LEARN how to use your companions. This is vital. 

Social points
This brings up another extremely important facet of the game that a lot of people are not taking so much notice of yet, "Social Points".  Whilst you are grouped with a friend or any other person and you do quests not related to your private class quest, you will gain social points for each interaction within quest dialogue. for example, whenever you are talking to a quest giver and make a choice within this conversation you will receive points which accrue and give you access to superior (both looking and functional) equipment. 

Finally as the beginning zone draws to a close, your primary class quest becomes more prominent and those initial desires seem to be coming to fruition, for example, if you're Jedi / Sith type character your lightsaber looks to be closer at hand.

What I would dearly love to recommend is that you try to do every quest and explore these beginning zones thoroughly. This will make for a much more enriching experience and will allow you whether you are an experienced MMO player or a complete beginner, a fantastic experience which you will thoroughly enjoy.