Ok I'm sure this is covered somewhere but I haven't found it yet. I just joined this weekend, and It's not quite what I expected. I was expecting a better Galaxies, and so far its just not it. Level 12 pistoleer, and its just story bound missions, When do I get to do missions I want? No houses? No crafting? etc? I can't even find a place to buy a better weapon than the one I had on Ord Mantell. All the weapons and armor don't cost credits, they cost medallions from PVP?

 

The manual online leaves alot to be desired. As do the using keys instead of mouse controls for movement. Anyway, If I am missing something about places on Coruscant to buy weapons I would appreciate it, as well as any hope that the future levels get better.

 

THanks

 

Scott

TOR is significantly different than Galaxies. It's a much more guided, story and quest driven game and much less sandbox. It has many more similarities to a more modern MMO than to Galaxies, which was more UO like.

 

To get a better weapon, there is a market on Coursant. It's sort of hard to find as it is below the Senate area(? I've not done any significant time on a Republic character since beta). When you first get to Coursant, go past the taxi speeder, past the fountain, up a little ramp and there are 2 stairwells leading down...the market is down there. A lot of newer players miss it.

 

You can also buy them with commendations, which are just a second form of "level range specific" currency you get from defeating enemies and finishing quests. Generally speaking, most of your equipment needs will be taken care of with quest rewards and trading in commendations (comms) for gear or modifications.

 

You can also find crafting trainers in that general market area or on the republic fleet you passed through on the way to Coursant.

Edited June 25, 2012 by Infalliable

This game is not "a better Galaxies"... it is much more like the post-NGE Galaxies than the pre-NGE version, but Bioware have still made a conscious decision to not make this SWGv2... if anything it is more KOTORv3.

 

The gear you are looking at is on the specific PvP vendor. If you look in the "Supplies" area of the fleet, you will find a vendor for "Coruscant Modifications" or similar. That guy sells mods for existing gear, and the one next to him sells new gear. They both work on the basis of exchanging Coruscant PvE commendations for their goods, rather than credits. To get those commendations, you can loot them from the mobs on Coruscant or as mission rewards for some missions, or from running the Esseles flashpoint (which, by the way, will also drop some gear which is a significant upgrade over your Ord Mantell gear, particularly a good chest piece and weapon).

 

Repeatedly running the Esseles flashpoint until you have those two is something I would definitely recommend.

 

If you want to pay credits for gear, the Galactic Trade Network terminals (the map symbol is a pentagon with the credit symbol inside it) is where players sell the gear they have crafted or received as loot/rewards from missions, that they cannot use or do not want. There are also vendors on Coruscant selling specific items, but unless you know exactly what you are looking for I would not suggest trying that route.

 

Lastly, the missions. There are 3 basic mission types - storyline/class missions, which tell your character's specific story; planet missions, which tell the story of the planet you are on at the moment; and Heroic/Flashpoint missions, harder than the normal story missions, they are designed to be played by groups of people working together.

The class and planet story missions are only available to be done once, while the Heroics and Flashpoint missions are repeatable (Heroics are repeatable once per day, Flashpoints are repeatable as often as you like).

There are no "randomly generated" missions, just the ones you see when you are wandering around. However, in 99% of cases the mission givers are grouped fairly close together or travelling from point A to point B for one mission will take you past any mission givers who are not grouped at a main quest hub.

Housing..no..not in the game.

 

Crafting..yes you can craft..find the crew skills trainers, they are found on all the planets ( except starter world ) and on Fleet.

 

Weapons are everywhere. Planetary Comms vendors have them, Speciality Goods Vendors have them, you can craft them or buy them on the GTN ( AH ). You will even get them as mission rewards. AFAIK all classes get moddable weapons at the end of the starter planet which you can continously improve by upgrading the mods.

 

If you have just arrived on Coruscant, take some time to explore the Senate Plaza there are a lot of different vendors in that area.

Thanks for the information. You are right, it is significantly different, and at least at this point I am not sure I like the difference. But I will give it some more time. thanks again.

Ok I'm sure this is covered somewhere but I haven't found it yet. I just joined this weekend, and It's not quite what I expected. I was expecting a better Galaxies, and so far its just not it. Level 12 pistoleer, and its just story bound missions, When do I get to do missions I want? No houses? No crafting? etc? I can't even find a place to buy a better weapon than the one I had on Ord Mantell. All the weapons and armor don't cost credits, they cost medallions from PVP?

 

The manual online leaves alot to be desired. As do the using keys instead of mouse controls for movement. Anyway, If I am missing something about places on Coruscant to buy weapons I would appreciate it, as well as any hope that the future levels get better.

 

THanks

 

Scott

 

Well, no, it's not "a better Galaxies", it's a very different game. They are often described as "Galaxies was a sandbox, Old Republic is a theme park" i.e. instead of providing you with an open world to do what you want, it gives you a closed and finite set of things to do. That doesn't mean it's a bad game though.

 

This being said:

- All missions are story-bound, but there is a bit of wiggle room in choosing which missions to do: you pretty much have to do your class story missions, but the planet missions are optional.

- There are no player housing, sadly, but when you finish the Capital World of your story class (Coruscant if you are Republic) you get a ship which is sorta your house.

- Yes there is crafting. Go to the Republic Fleet and open the map; you'll see an area marked Crew Skills. You can learn crafting skills there. They are very different than Galaxies crafting but you may like them. You should check this guide: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=530

- Some weapons cost credits, some cost PvP medallions, some cost planet commendations - which you get doing missions on that planet. The best you can do is upgrade your starter weapon with barrels, mods and enhancements that you can get, again, for credits or commendations. Also check the Galactic Trade Network for stuff sold by other players - the best barrels, mods and enhancements are those crafted by players.

- There is a shopping mall in Coruscant - go to the senate plaza and down the stairs. There you can find weapon vendors, commendation vendors (that sell weapons, armor and mods for comms) and GTN terminals.

- Check the control and keybind options in Preferences - you can indeed move using the mouse.

 

I'm not sure the game will "get better", but if you adjust your expectations to what it actually has to offer, it may be very enjoyable. I hope you'll have a good time!

I was expecting a better Galaxies, and so far its just not it.

this is not swg 2, if you played kotor/kotor2 its an extension of that. this is in essence kotor 3-10

 

Level 12 pistoleer, and its just story bound missions, When do I get to do missions I want?

there is no pistoleer class, im assuming you are a smuggler with a gunslinger advanced glass. the game is mostly linear, each planet has a specific level range designed for players, ord mantel is 1-10, coruscant 10 to 15-18ish, etc. you will follow your class quests to get companions, your ship, and other monumental aspects of your character's advancement. however, there are quests throughout the worlds which are entirely optional but will help you advance

 

No houses?

that is correct. in essence your house is your ship, though you cannot decorate it (this may or may not come in the future).

No crafting?

there is crafting. it's called crew skills. go to the fleet (where you go after you finish your starter planet) and check your map for the crew skill area, talk to each crew skill trainer to get a small bit of xp from each and a codex entry for each. for help on crew skills check out this thread

I can't even find a place to buy a better weapon than the one I had on Ord Mantell. All the weapons and armor don't cost credits, they cost medallions from PVP? Anyway, If I am missing something about places on Coruscant to buy weapons I would appreciate it, as well as any hope that the future levels get better.

you will mostly get better weapons through completing quests or as loot from bosses in flashpoints,ops, etc. that ones you are seeing are from the pvp vendors, which yes, do require you to pvp, though equivalent gear can be gotten from pve stuff like flashpoints and ops

 

As do the using keys instead of mouse controls for movement.

you can use the mouse for movement by holding both the left and right mouse button down

TOR was advertised as a story based MMORPG. Not SWG 2.0 .

Reiterating the above posters, this is definitely not Galaxies or anything like it. Galaxies is a sandbox with content being player driven. This is a story driven themepark. If you are looking for Galaxies, there are a few good emulator projects like SWGEMU (pre-CU), SWGANH, ProjectSWG (NGE) which are in various stages of development.

 

The story of this game is engaging, but if you are not into being a set role/class or having your story laid out for you, then themepark is not for you.

... if anything it is more KOTORv3

 

When I attended the Austin, Texas launch party during the developer Q&A, they said EXACTLY that! They said we've really made KOTORv3!