I reached level 50 yesterday afternoon after about a month of playing. Here are some thoughts on the leveling part of the game:

• According to /played it took me somewhere between 6 and 7 days to accomplish this goal. I don’t know for sure because I forgot to check the moment I hit 50. This boils down to somewhere between 5-6 hours a day over the 28 days since the games unofficial launch. If it weren’t for a fair amount of vacation time this would never have happened.
• In the same time that it took me to get to level 50, another member of my guild has two level 50 characters and a new one in the twenties!
• The content at level 50 is tough compared to the previous content. I can only speak to Ilum so far, but I have  a long way to go gear-wise and learning to play my character in group situations to be good at level 50 content.
• I am absolutely broke! After speeder training, skill training, and repairs on equipment I have very little money left in the bank. I don’t know how I am going to fund a crafting profession.
• I played a lot of the content solo, but I did group along the way from time to time. Character quests were much better when you do them solo because you can enjoy them and not worry about holding anyone up. The rest of the content is much more fun when grouped.
• Playing as a tank spec made the process slower by-and-large. I died very infrequently with my healer companion, but my DPS output was so paltry it took a long time to get through mobs. Unlike the two imperial stealth classes, I couldn’t just sneak past them to get to  a quest point.
• I really need to invest in a gaming pad, because there are just too many buttons to push and I can’t do it quickly enough on my keyboard. As a powertech bounty hunter there are a ton of situational abilities that are essential and having only a few keys at my fingertips makes life tough.
• I am antsy to start working on another class instead of gearing up this one, but I am going to go out of my comfort zone a bit try to gear up for operations and hard mode flashpoints.
• I am closing in on the end of the “free” month and I have no qualms with paying for this game. Having a blast! /cheer for SW:ToR!

So for those of you keeping track of how dark side you are, you can apparently now do it to 13 decimal places! What the what?!

Just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Meaty Christmas and a very happy New Year!

First, I have to toot my own horn and say I have achieved my legacy status by finishing Chapter 1 of the bounty hunter story. My character’s full name is Moruth Du’ul (more-ooth d00-ool). That is the name I have given to every character in a Star Wars game since I can remember.

These are just  a couple of pics of Moruth in travel. Oddly with all the technology in this setting, people on Alderaan travel by winged toad!

The First – Dromund Kaas World Boss

Grandfather – Balmorra World Boss

Here folks from the Imperial Mercenary Corps (with a couple friends) managed to take down the world bosses for Dromund Kaas and Balmorra. On to Tatooine next!

And lastly, yeah I did that. What are you gonna do about it…

-Pid

Though I have been playing SW:ToR for over a week now, today begins day 2 since the official launch. It seems odd that the game has only been live to the masses for less than 48 hours and I am level 29 and should be finishing up Chapter 1 content in the next couple of days.

I am a little worried at the pace I have set. Now it was not too crazy, but pretty quick for me. (There are two people in our guild that were level capped just before launch or shortly thereafter.) I finished Tatooine in a little over a day’s worth of play and it was a pretty huge world. I didn’t bother to do any of the bonus quests, but it just seemed overly short. Maybe it is because I wanted to spend more time on the planet due to its significance in the Star Wars big picture.

Leveling has seemed to slow down quite a bit, but I am still capable of putting out a level and a half to two levels per day of play. It seems about right, but considering there are only 21 levels left to go, I hope that part takes a little longer. I really want to play some alts, but at the same time, I am really liking this character. I think they grow on you more when you have actively participated in their dialog and shaping their decisions throughout the leveling process.

Things should get better after the holiday season because I won’t have such gobs of time to play. If taken in smaller doses, I think the available content will be much more sustainable than at the pace I have set thus far. The big X-factor on this game will be what happens when you run out of the scripted content. What happens when the train hits the end of the line? How many alts can you make? Everyone is asking this question, but only time will answer it.

-Pid

For the last time, yes you are the beneficiary on the life insurance policy. Now why do you want me to keep backing up?

Star Wars: The Old Republic is set to officially launch in a few hours. What could be more exciting? I just wanted to write a small note to promote an awesome guild in the Imperial Mercenary Corps (IMC).

If you are a mature individual that wants to have fun in a friendly environment, please head over to the recruitment page of the IMC and apply to our guild. If you like to play in a competitive environment that doesn’t have players that use names like Ishootu and Bubba Fatt check us out. We are not a raiding guild or a PvP guild, but there are plenty of people that enjoy doing those thing. We are predominantly focused on getting numbers up so that we can find people to group with at any given time to do flashpoints and heroic content. We play on a RP-PvE server (Sanctum of the Exalted) but very few of us are strict role players.

If this sounds like something you are interested in please click on the recruitment link and prepare to meet a great group of guys, gals, and other sentient beings that want to have fun without all the grief.

If you don’t join us, you might be facing off against these guys!

Game on!

-Pid

It saddens me that the MMOverse doesn’t have enough room in it for both SWG and SW:ToR. I know that Galaxies had its ups and downs and wasn’t a powerhouse like it could have been, but there were a lot of people who still enjoyed the game. As much as I am enjoying SW:ToR, I wish it didn’t have to be one or the other. My sympathy extends to all the SWG faithful who just lost their pastime.

-Pid

Well, as it turns out I shouldn’t need a grace period for SW:ToR. I was pretty worried at first though. When the preorder announcement dropped I was on the Carnival Cruise Lines’ Imagination in the middle of the ocean. I usually order from Amazon, but all you jerks must have bought up all the Collector’s Editions before I could get to it. I opted to get it from Best Buy not having ever used them for such a “time-critical” order before. I remember riding the bus from the docks to the airport frantically searching the net on my phone to find an available copy. The expected delivery is Monday so I should be in good shape!

-Pid

PS By the looks of it this thing weighs almost as much as a sack of potatoes!

5 Days until retail launch!

-Pid