Um did you all play the same Bounty Hunter storyline I did (and I am talking about the actual BH story, not the side quests)? I very rarely KILLED any of my targets, I captured them and returned them to the client. If they kill them afterward, well, it's out of my hands. Seriously... the only people I killed was random stuff you got to kill cause it's an MMO. Actual story people, I killed...

I followed The Bounty Hunter's Creed which is canon from the comics and games, and by about level 35 had 10,000 affection with Mako, having not given her a single gift. My final alignment at 50 after completing all main and side quests was Light II.

Now, as for the side quests, I realize some of them, especially Taris and Belsavis, can be a bit much, but really the Bounty Hunter doesn't care about light or dark. They aren't force users, so the dark side isn't going to corrupt them. Strong emotions won't make them fall to the dark side, Jedi, Sith, it's all nonsense to them. What matters is the job. Now, the level of that, well, that depends on your character. For a TRUE Star Wars Bounty Hunter, you would follow the Creed. If you think Boba Fett is the "true" bounty hunter though, well Boba Fett WAS IMO a psychopathic killer who used bounty hunting as a way to get legal permission to kill people... there's a reason Darth Vader had to say "NO DISINTEGRATIONS!" to him. Disintigrators are a nasty and sadistic weapon banned in both the Republic and Imperial space. Not even the Imperial Navy uses them!

Have you ever played a Light Side anything? This is how every mission goes:

1. Kill 200-300 soldiers, lackeys, subordinates, mind-controlled allies, confused pets, etc.
   
2. Confront the mastermind.
   
3. Beat him to 1 health point so he drops to his knees and grows a green triangle out of his head.
   
4. Spare his life to show you are Light Side.
   

 

The BH story is no different in this manner.

 

If it upsets you sufficiently you can refuse to attack anyone until they've beaten you to < 50% of your Health. Then you can react in self-defense. Bonus LS points for spending the time pre-50% attempting to negotiate with "Eidolon Security Overseer" via /say to put down his weapons and surrender.

My personal headcanon is that none of the guys you kill enroute to your story cutscene actually die. They have a medical plan a lot like yours that rehabilitates them in the field after a few minutes. They also revive their pets, much like your character does with their companions.

So in this interpretation only the people you CHOOSE to kill in a cutscene, or have to kill to defend yourself in a storyline fight, or who are confirmed killed by someone else in a cutscene actually stay dead. Therefore dark side points! And therefore light side points if you spare them. And whenever someone mentions the number of people you've killed and they aren't specific about someone you DID actually kill in the storyline, it's just speculation/exaggeration. Otherwise yeah, your pure light side JK/Consular woulda been drummed out of the order back on Tython.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the manner in which the BH got his spaceship.

my favorite quest is republic side, you get antidote to save sand people.

but to inject that antidote, you need to wipe their village.

screw logic, it's star wars.

Seems to me what people either forget or don't seem to understand when playing an Imperial aligned character, there is no goody-two-shoes way to play it. Light sides decisions inherently tend to be pro-Empire, not bleeding heart "save the Ewoks!" mentality.

But if you ask me, best way to play (if you're not looking to min-max alignment) is turn off alignment gain visual indicators. I especially find this works well with playing a Trooper, in addition to the BH. I did this with my own BH and from beginning to end in the class story, I ended up at a Light III without even *trying* to be light sided. I played the way I envisioned my BH to be and never stopped to think to myself "this story doesn't fit with being LS".

The fact of the matter seems to be, many aspects of SWTOR are built on the notion of ideals more than black and white, light vs dark. The downside to this is the fact that light and dark point gains don't fall in line with the "grey area" they have when it comes to the rest of the game. I know personally there were numerous light sided options I took on my SW or BH that were made for one reason: personal gain. Last time I checked, that tends to fall in line more with the the dark side notion

Everything else aside, I think BH had not only the best (female) VA, but best story and companions (except Skadge, he can go diaf while screwing a brick for all I care).

Anyway, just my 2c.

Seems to me what people either forget or don't seem to understand when playing an Imperial aligned character, there is no goody-two-shoes way to play it. Light sides decisions inherently tend to be pro-Empire, not bleeding heart "save the Ewoks!" mentality.

 

But if you ask me, best way to play (if you're not looking to min-max alignment) is turn off alignment gain visual indicators. I especially find this works well with playing a Trooper, in addition to the BH. I did this with my own BH and from beginning to end in the class story, I ended up at a Light III without even *trying* to be light sided. I played the way I envisioned my BH to be and never stopped to think to myself "this story doesn't fit with being LS".

 

The fact of the matter seems to be, many aspects of SWTOR are built on the notion of ideals more than black and white, light vs dark. The downside to this is the fact that light and dark point gains don't fall in line with the "grey area" they have when it comes to the rest of the game. I know personally there were numerous light sided options I took on my SW or BH that were made for one reason: personal gain. Last time I checked, that tends to fall in line more with the the dark side notion

 

Everything else aside, I think BH had not only the best (female) VA, but best story and companions (except Skadge, he can go diaf while screwing a brick for all I care).

 

Anyway, just my 2c.

Yeah, I agree with you entirely on the turning off alignment showing. I did that with my BH and am doing it with my Trooper. With my Sith and my Jedi I leave it on for them because really i think the alignment system is a Jedi/Sith thing... my non-force users I dont' really care about what their alignment is, especially with the end game relics now not having alignment resctrictions like the early ones did. Now, my Operative I am doing full Light just because of kinda what you said, Pro-Empire, for the people, don't have to be a jerk to love your Empire. Then my Jedi Guardian I'm actually doing full light... except he has a weakness for the laidies LOL so any flirts or such I'll do, even if they are dark side (but like on Tython after he slept with the matriarch's daughter, he confessed to his master LOL and got the lightside points to counteract the dark haha)

The problem here isn't that "lightside" doesn't fit, it's that the bounty hunter is hunting bounties but is pinned into the Empire's storylines. It makes no sense for a Bounty Hunter to be defaultly aligned to the Empire - even if the Mandalorians ARE helping them.

I play my bounty hunter with the idea that I am hunting bounties and that most of my employment comes from Empire because the Republic is too squeemish to hire me. I completely agree that the questlines on planets like Taris don't make much sense because of the Empire's inherently sadistic nature, and the bland coverup of doing it for money can only take you so far.. especially since I am not utterly wealthy as a result.

I think this is a good opportunity to point out that the Smuggler and the Bounty Hunter should both be part of a freelancer's faction.. and basically have access to every quest hub on each planet, based on their choices or maybe through some alignment scale.

That way you can hunt bounties for whatever reason. Just my two cents.

Seems to me what people either forget or don't seem to understand when playing an Imperial aligned character, there is no goody-two-shoes way to play it. Light sides decisions inherently tend to be pro-Empire, not bleeding heart "save the Ewoks!" mentality.

 

But if you ask me, best way to play (if you're not looking to min-max alignment) is turn off alignment gain visual indicators. I especially find this works well with playing a Trooper, in addition to the BH. I did this with my own BH and from beginning to end in the class story, I ended up at a Light III without even *trying* to be light sided. I played the way I envisioned my BH to be and never stopped to think to myself "this story doesn't fit with being LS".

 

The fact of the matter seems to be, many aspects of SWTOR are built on the notion of ideals more than black and white, light vs dark. The downside to this is the fact that light and dark point gains don't fall in line with the "grey area" they have when it comes to the rest of the game. I know personally there were numerous light sided options I took on my SW or BH that were made for one reason: personal gain. Last time I checked, that tends to fall in line more with the the dark side notion

 

Everything else aside, I think BH had not only the best (female) VA, but best story and companions (except Skadge, he can go diaf while screwing a brick for all I care).

 

Anyway, just my 2c.

This is totally how I play all my characters. But it's an ideal that came, ironically, through my first playthrough of the BH story. Because, as you say, it wasn't so much "I'm LS" or "I'm DS". It really wasn't. It was, rather, "I'm uniquely me." It was an individual with ideas and ethics and morals distinct to their own origin and story. And she refused to be shoved into a neat little label, even if it did look pretty, like "lightside".

Warrior is much more incompatible with LS roleplaying than BH. In then, not matter how many people you spare, you're a cheerleader for Space Hitler. And there's no going around that.

I invoke Godwin's Law.

Warrior is much more incompatible with LS roleplaying than BH. In then, not matter how many people you spare, you're a cheerleader for Space Hitler. And there's no going around that.

there are some points in the story where i have picked lightside options like the duel i had with the trando on Belsavis and on koriban with the assassin i sent her to imperial intelligence but the problem is trying to go 100% light or dark most of the time, it just doesn't work for most classes.

I played both my BHers basically as galactic police officers. My Merc somehow ended up Light V (but that was after a lot of dailies) and my PT is Dark III or there about.

For the most part I made all my LS/DS choices based on what I would do if I was really in that exact scenario. There is almost always a non-lethal solution to every mark you encounter. When you do not have a choice and are forced to kill the mark, that is generally a hard coded event in the game. When the game forces your hand you shouldn't look at that as a reflection on the moral compass of your character.

I do fully agree that the stereotypical BH is far more likely to be a sociopath than the rest of the Imperial options. The profession simply lends itself to that mindset. Sith are indoctrinated with murder as a way of life simply by their "kill or die" academic experiences. But at some point in the life of every BH, they made an active decision to to take that as their chosen profession.

My personal headcanon is that none of the guys you kill enroute to your story cutscene actually die. They have a medical plan a lot like yours that rehabilitates them in the field after a few minutes. They also revive their pets, much like your character does with their companions.

That's one way to explain the respawn mechanics.

there are some points in the story where i have picked lightside options like the duel i had with the trando on Belsavis and on koriban with the assassin i sent her to imperial intelligence but the problem is trying to go 100% light or dark most of the time, it just doesn't work for most classes.

You can't look at it as "Good" vs "Evil" that's your problem. Especially on the Sith side, the Light Side Sith Warrior is NOT A GOOD GUY. He is however, HONORABLE.

A good way to look at it, the Sith Warrior Light Side to me felt very much like Lawful Evil in Dungeons and Dragons. They're evil, no doubt about it... but they have a code of honor they follow. If they feel you need to die, you die. They don't cackle and torture you to death. In fact, my juggernaut, who is Light Side 100%, has never done a single Dark Side thing, proudly wears the title of "Imperial Loyalist" because The Empire comes first in everything. That doesn't mean he has to be all dark side and go around kicking kittens.

Then with the Bounty Hunter, they're not even a force user. So, when I played my mercenary I turned off the LS/DS options, didn't know what things were until I saw what it showed on the screen when I earned points. Then, I played a bounty hunter... she's not good, she's not bad, she's a bounty hunter working for whoever has the most money to pay her fees, that being the Empire.

I played both my BHers basically as galactic police officers. My Merc somehow ended up Light V (but that was after a lot of dailies) and my PT is Dark III or there about.

 

For the most part I made all my LS/DS choices based on what I would do if I was really in that exact scenario. There is almost always a non-lethal solution to every mark you encounter. When you do not have a choice and are forced to kill the mark, that is generally a hard coded event in the game. When the game forces your hand you shouldn't look at that as a reflection on the moral compass of your character.

 

I do fully agree that the stereotypical BH is far more likely to be a sociopath than the rest of the Imperial options. The profession simply lends itself to that mindset. Sith are indoctrinated with murder as a way of life simply by their "kill or die" academic experiences. But at some point in the life of every BH, they made an active decision to to take that as their chosen profession.

Just because Boba Fett is a sociopath doesn't mean every bounty hunter is. Go to Wookieepedia and look up "The Bounty Hunter's Creed' A bounty hunter that follows the Creed isn't at all a sociopath, in fact just the opposite. "Capture by Design, Kill by Necessity" is one of the rules. You're not an assassin if you follow the creed to the letter. I even played it that way... on one bounty this guy wanted me to kill someone, I didn't. I Captured her and I said "Here she is, she's helpless now if you want her dead, that's up to you."

Imperial Guard: So, there's these Sith. They're called the Dread Masters. They radiate fear like you cannot comprehend. Whole armies fall before them in terror. We're trying to spring them from Republic custody. I'm also implying that if you fail to assist us here, we'll have you killed.

Bounty Hunter: Cool. I'll go free them then, despite being only losely affiliated with your Empire and capable of walking away any time I want to.

Me: （╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

 

Skadge: I love killing people! I'm a barely constrained homocial maniac, and I threaten you repeatedly. Can I join your crew?

Bounty Hunter: Sure thing, buddy.

Me: （╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

 

So on and so forth.

The Bounty Hunter story goes off the rails LS or DS after Act I, but at the end of Belsavis I stopped pretending that this was anything other than busywork to level. My second BH leveled primarily through PvP for this reason, but I still had to deal with Skadge.

The Bounty Hunter story goes off the rails LS or DS after Act I, but at the end of Belsavis I stopped pretending that this was anything other than busywork to level. My second BH leveled primarily through PvP for this reason, but I still had to deal with Skadge.

One problem... freeing the Dread Guards is NOT a Bounty Hunter mission... it's a Planet mission. So, if you feel your Bounty Hunter wouldn't do it (and you aren't an OCD completionist like me) then just don't do it.

As for Skadge, Yeah... I don't like how you are forced to take this psychopathic sociopath with you... although it's rather funny, they actually seem to have written it to the idea, at least so far, that Scourge is useful, you just have to keep an eye on him... but I make it quite clear I don't like him... and he seems to LIKE it when tell him I hate him... total whack job, Skadge.

And somehow I'm still almost light3. Alderaan has been the toughest planet so far cause my employer wanted me to act a certain way, & I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to hit dude for talking crazy to me. (Y'all know who I'm talkin bout) Basically my BH knows he's a "goon for hire" & if he can get it done without blood he does.....but the job always gets done.

I know I'm not the first person to notice that a the storyline for a Bounty Hunter is completely incompatible with a Lightside character. But I don't think even I realized just how badly the storyline makes no sense until I reached the Act 1 finale. There was already an increasingly jarring feeling when it comes to gameplay vs story, seeing as a Lightside Bounty Hunter still helps the Empire do all the terrible things across Tatooine, and Balmorra for no reason other than money. But the entire first act is nothing but the Bounty Hunter hunting and murdering people for sport. There's no way this makes sense for anything but a darkside Bounty Hunter or an honorable darkside Bounty Hunter.

 

"Noble" BHs look like insane psychopaths or characters who make no sense. But it's not only the PC that no longer makes sense. Mako also makes no sense, she's supposedly this sweet person who disapproves of excess violence and cruelty but she leaves a literal mountain of corpses in her wake while helping to assassinate a Jedi Master because... she's competing in an assassination contest for personal glory. The entire first Act builds up her desire for revenge against the people who murdered her adoptive father but she killed hundreds of innocent people herself without a second thought. And assuming the families of those hundred or so Republic crew we slaughtered on the way to Tarro Blood don't spend all of Act 2 and 3 plotting their revenge, I will assume it never comes up again. It's like she doesn't really understand what her profession is.

 

I've played a villain twice in the game with TOR's story (my Warrior and Inquisitor) and liked it but those were characters which I knew and intended to be the bad guys. Sure they might be worse than my Bounty Hunter and

Mako objectively speaking, but they both know they are darkside monsters. Mako and a Lightside Bounty Hunter are murderous scumbags who don't seem to realize it. I honestly found my sympathy evaporate for both of them as I neared the end of Act 1. There are some sidequests that I decided I could skip because they crossed a line but this was the necessary finale for the class quest in Act 1.

 

Probably the moment that sums it up the whole disconnect between character and story and gameplay was one scene in Nar Shadda when the Hunter breaks into an office murders everyone there and then can spare the last survivor say "What do you think I am, a psychopath?" I actually began to wonder if that was intentional.

 

I get that maybe Lightside might mean different things for an Empire character than it would a Republic one but Why would MAko and a Lightside Hunter have any sort of moral standards when they thoughtlessly kill hundreds of others every day? The ones that either of them do want to spare seem totally arbitrary in the end.

 

The storyline makes so little sense that it makes me wonder why Bioware even gave me the option to be Lightsided. It just feels so sloppy.

awwww thats too bad you should have rolled an agent instead

I played my bounty hunter trying to follow the mandalorian code: earning prestige by tracking and killing strong opponents, and like many mandalorians i earn money doing so by being for hire. if that means you sometimes have targets you'd rather not kill, that's too bad, 'cause you need the creds. Another aspect of the code of honor i followed was that when my employer asked a specific thing, eg. bring the target in alive or kill the target, i'd do it. If they didn't specify, i'd kill them if i'd beaten them in combat, or not attack at all if they showed they didn't want to fight and i tried to evade torture whenever possible.

In the end, i followed mandalorian beliefs and a personal code of honor. My BH's not a lightsider and she knows it. She's simply a mandalorian, with mandalorian honor and anyone who disagrees may discuss it with her blasters

The difficulty being that the Bounty Hunter story, at least once, forces you to violate Mandalorian codes of conduct by simple extension of the fact you cheat at a contest they organised.

I mean, it's not an attempt to rain on your personal headcanon parade or anything, it's just that the Hunter story tends to shrug off such attempts at consistent characterisation in ways that are tough to ignore.

I'm sort of surprised that you rolled a character on the EMPIRE side of things, and you found out that the story would have you do... things for the Empire? Even Lighty McLightersideson is going to do a bunch of things that are incredibly pro-empire and end up with a bunch of people dead.

You may not want your BH working for the Empire, but clearly the story as written the BH character gets all of his work from the Empire or the Hutts.