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Couple Questions from a Returning Player


Draiochta

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I'm returning to SWTOR after some years away (left as the details of 3.0's discipline system started coming out), and I had a couple questions if anyone would be kind enough to indulge me!

 

- 1) Story-wise, I'm still on Makeb (and don't want any spoilers, please!), but from some offhand in-game chat I've seen mentions about losing companions in newer content. My question is: Should I not be investing in gifts & trying to get my companions' influence level up? Temporary (even long) absences are fine, I just want to make sure I'm not wasting time with gifts to companions like Kaliyo, Khem-Val, or Aric only to permanently lose access to them for missions & crafting, or have everyones' influence levels somehow reset to 0 at a certain point.

 

- 2) Apparently one of the patches massively overhauled crew skills, moving old patterns to the "Archive" & replacing them with simplified (& cheaper) new options. My question is: Why, then, are people selling (and buying!) the old Might/Resolve/Skill etc. mods in the GTN for higher prices? Is this a novelty/nostalgia thing? Some easter egg schematic learning technique? Before anyone asks, yes, I did sell multiple different pre-3.0 crafted items to multiple different people on the GTN for about x3 what the same level of the new versatile/resistive ones are going for, before I realised the new system.

 

I'd also be happy to hear any other no-spoiler advice anyone might have for a returning pre-3.0 player. Thanks!

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Welcome back!

 

1) Yes, at a certain point in the story you'll lose access to your companions (temporarly). Some companions return rather quickly others have yet to return or even died in the story. However, there is a terminal you can get your companions back (in a non-story-related way). So if you're not to big on immersion and don't mind that maybe a "dead" companion is running around or crafting stuff for you, then you can feed them as many gifts as you want now and just get them back asap.

If you do care about immersion, it'd probably be wiser to not invest to much now, except for non-story companions like HK-51,Treek or CM-Comps or any of the sub/event-rewards, although I don't think you'll have any of them if you stopped playing before 3.0.

The influence level will not get reset when you lose access to them. Once you have them back (via story or the terminal) they'll have the same influence level as before.

 

2) the most likely answer is "because they don't know any better". People buy all kind of stupid things on the gtn, just because they are lazy/uninformed/don't read correctly.... Since the old mods would all be low level anyway and you don't actually need to buy any kind of gear for lowbies, it's most likely some people just buying the first thing that pops up when the type in "armoring" or something.

The only thing I could imagine is, that these old mods maybe act weird with bolster (bolstering more than they should) in which case the buyers would most likely be pvp'ers, but I never heard of such a bug (except for low-lvl relics).

 

Since I don't know, what type of content you like doing, I can only give some general advise:

Defenitly play through SoR and Ziost before starting Kotfe/Kotet.

If you feel a bit overwhelmed with all the new stuff in the game or dont really remember where you left off your character, it might also be a good idea to start a new character from level one. Leveling is much faster these days (and there will be a double xp event coming with the next patch)

Don't worry about gear before you reach max level.

If you like to do operations/pvp, don't worry about grinding cxp at max level, you won't really need cxp.

Edited by mrwayn
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- 1) Story-wise, I'm still on Makeb (and don't want any spoilers, please!), but from some offhand in-game chat I've seen mentions about losing companions in newer content. My question is: Should I not be investing in gifts & trying to get my companions' influence level up? Temporary (even long) absences are fine, I just want to make sure I'm not wasting time with gifts to companions like Kaliyo, Khem-Val, or Aric only to permanently lose access to them for missions & crafting, or have everyones' influence levels somehow reset to 0 at a certain point.

The "Lose Companions" point is when you begin the Knights of the Fallen Empire story. That fits into the story-telling sequence like this:

* Class story then Ilum.

* Makeb (2.0, Rise of the Hutt Cartel)

* (Oricon)

* Prelude to Revan (Forged Alliances)

* Shadow of Revan (this was the story release in 3.0)

* Rise of the Emperor (commonly called "Ziost" because that's where it happens).

* Knights of the Fallen Empire (the 4.0 story release)

* Knights of the Eternal Throne (5.0)

* War on Iokath (which introduces the now wrapped-up "Traitor" story arc).

 

Don't worry. During the KotFE/KotET stories, you will get some new companions AND you will get some of the originals back.

 

With one exception(1), the old companions do return, except that one other(2) comes back as an alternative form. Some haven't returned *yet*, but we have been reassured on multiple occasions that they will, and in some cases you can choose whether or not to accept their return, and in a few cases, you can even kill them.

 

The ones that do return come back with their Influence (replaced Affection) level intact, so feel free to train them.

 

(1) Tanno Vik, because his English-language voice actor passed away in 2012.

 

(2) Khem Val, because he's weird. I believe the substitute Dashade comes with Khem's influence rank, but I might be wrong. (I've only recruited him on a Trooper, so Khem's influence was effectively only 1 anyway.)

 

Oh, and most of the class companions, including the ship droids, can be recruited by any character. Pierce cannot be recruited by Pubsiders, and M1-4X cannot be recruited by Impsiders.

 

And failing that, you can use a special terminal that's available after you finish KotFE Chapter IX to temporarily restore a not-yet-returned companion, except for T7-O1 and SCORPIO, since both of them return before then. When the companion's true return time comes along, the "recovered" version disappears and you do the chunk of story and then you get the returned version.

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(2) Khem Val, because he's weird. I believe the substitute Dashade comes with Khem's influence rank, but I might be wrong. (I've only recruited him on a Trooper, so Khem's influence was effectively only 1 anyway.)

 

Ak'ghal Usar does not get Khem's influence rank when you get him. He starts at level 1 just like everyone else.

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The "Lose Companions" point is when you begin the Knights of the Fallen Empire story. That fits into the story-telling sequence like this:

* Class story then Ilum.

* Makeb (2.0, Rise of the Hutt Cartel)

* (Oricon)

* Prelude to Revan (Forged Alliances)

* Shadow of Revan (this was the story release in 3.0)

* Rise of the Emperor (commonly called "Ziost" because that's where it happens).

* Knights of the Fallen Empire (the 4.0 story release)

* Knights of the Eternal Throne (5.0)

* War on Iokath (which introduces the now wrapped-up "Traitor" story arc).

 

This part right here, thank you SO much for putting that into a simple text timeline I can follow, I started playing again and my 60 Smuggler is already 60 and I don't think I've touched the story yet, and I'm afraid to start KOTFE without having done ilum through rise of the emperor first, I don't want to miss them on the character that until 50 had done everything.. Do you know the list of things you are locked out of if you start KOTFE by the way, like are there some I can wait and do at70 jsut for the story line?

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This part right here, thank you SO much for putting that into a simple text timeline I can follow, I started playing again and my 60 Smuggler is already 60 and I don't think I've touched the story yet, and I'm afraid to start KOTFE without having done ilum through rise of the emperor first, I don't want to miss them on the character that until 50 had done everything.. Do you know the list of things you are locked out of if you start KOTFE by the way, like are there some I can wait and do at70 jsut for the story line?

You are locked out of:

* the class story

* the companion stories for the five class companions

* the three parts of the Revan series: Prelude to Revan, Shadow of Revan, and Rise of the Emperor.

 

For PtR and SoR, you can still play the flashpoints as flashpoints and the final part of SoR as an operation/solobattle, but the story that drives them is locked out.

 

All the dailies are available, EXCEPT for a series that happen *during* the Rise of the Emperor (Ziost) story. They are replaced when you finish RotE normally by some that take place *after* the story, and the same is true if you skip RotE by starting KotFE. The reason why is highly spoilerish, but immediately obvious if you've gone through that story.

 

Starting levels:

* Ilum: level 47. Does not strictly require completion of the class story.

* Rise of the Hutt Cartel / Makeb: 51 (up from 47 before 4.0)

* Prelude to Revan: 53. I believe the oddity that blocked access to the "solo" versions of the flashpoints before 55 has been fixed.

* Shadow of Revan: I don't know. Normally you'd do this as a follow-on to Prelude.

* Rise of the Emperor: I don't know. Normally this would be a follow-on to SoR.

* Knights of the Fallen Empire: 60.

* Knights of the Eternal Throne: 65.

* War on Iokath: Not sure, but it probably requires level 70. It's the follow-on from KotET, and it's basically impossible to finish that below level 70.

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You are locked out of:

* the class story

* the companion stories for the five class companions

* the three parts of the Revan series: Prelude to Revan, Shadow of Revan, and Rise of the Emperor.

 

For PtR and SoR, you can still play the flashpoints as flashpoints and the final part of SoR as an operation/solobattle, but the story that drives them is locked out.

 

All the dailies are available, EXCEPT for a series that happen *during* the Rise of the Emperor (Ziost) story. They are replaced when you finish RotE normally by some that take place *after* the story, and the same is true if you skip RotE by starting KotFE. The reason why is highly spoilerish, but immediately obvious if you've gone through that story.

 

Starting levels:

* Ilum: level 47. Does not strictly require completion of the class story.

* Rise of the Hutt Cartel / Makeb: 51 (up from 47 before 4.0)

* Prelude to Revan: 53. I believe the oddity that blocked access to the "solo" versions of the flashpoints before 55 has been fixed.

* Shadow of Revan: I don't know. Normally you'd do this as a follow-on to Prelude.

* Rise of the Emperor: I don't know. Normally this would be a follow-on to SoR.

* Knights of the Fallen Empire: 60.

* Knights of the Eternal Throne: 65.

* War on Iokath: Not sure, but it probably requires level 70. It's the follow-on from KotET, and it's basically impossible to finish that below level 70.

 

This is exactly what I was looking for, thank you so much for putting it all in one place and with explanations for me. I am guessing I should run through bascialy as much post 50 pre KOTFE stuff as possibel before starting KOTFE but I can save hutt cartel and ilum for after if necesary. Thanks again!

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Welcome back!

Thanks! And thank you all for clarifying things. I do hope I will be forgiven some forum etiquette ignorance (I never know if I create a new post?), but I was hoping I could also beg some more returning-player advice, now that I've been back for a couple weeks =D.

 

I opted, as suggested, to get back into things slowly and created a new character to catch up with the story a bit (got back to Makeb already, that did go faster!). Anyhow, one of the huge things I've noticed is the massive inflation everywhere. When I left, I had about 12m credits, which seemed a respectable sum at the time, but now all the stuff I'd really like seems to go for 30m-100m, so I figured I'd sell an old set or two for the money.

 

Deciding to try to sell my old (apparently discontinued?) Exterminator's set, I watched the GTN regularly for a week, and only saw it once for ~45m (& it was sold almost instantly with about 2d21h remaining), so I figured I'd offer the set for double that in the fleet and see if anything came of it. The moment I posted, though, I was instantly greeted by “lol”s, “fat chance”s, “lvl 1 medpack: 10m”s & similar. I asked these people what a fair price would be, having just returned to the game, but not a single one had any interest in doing anything but trolling (“You give it away for free!”, “you trade it for 1 desh!” etc.).

 

Anyhow, question(s) is(are): What's up with the inflation situation? Is there some list/site out there that lists fair/average prices? I tried checking another server, but the set wasn't for sale there either. Is there a point I need to get to in-game where suddenly money grows on trees, and I should hold off on the GTN until then?

 

I'm not interested in gouging anyone, but considering even decent bronze CM stronghold decorations seem to be reliably going for 5-10m, it feels like I'm missing a punchline somewhere. A quick wish-list for decorating my new stronghold & equipping my new alt totals about 1.2 billion, were I to buy at average GTN prices, yet even farming the (now very convenient, if a bit grindy) H2s, I'm only making about 400k an hour. Crafting does seem a bit more lucrative than I remember, but things usually have to be listed 3+ times at 3 days before they sell, even if I'm the cheapest.

 

To clarify, I'm not exactly looking for a money making tutorial, so much as I'm asking if I'm missing something obvious that has changed since 2.0/in newer content. Right now it seems a bit daunting to new/returning players without investing several hundred $US in the CM to resell. If that is the way it is, I'm back for the story, anyway, but I'd love to know if people get free CM packs/1m credits or something for doing a daily in newer content, and that is why everything is so wacky.

 

Thanks for the patience!

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At level 70 it is very easy to earn credits from heroics/dailies/weeklies as they scale up in their rewards with level. Heroics alone can pull in 700k+ in an hour or so, depending on which you do and including the bonus missions. Grouping up increases the rewards as well. The amounts are actually lower than they had been, so there was a period where it was even easier to gain credits than it is now. On top of that, players with some market savvy who have taken the time to learn the GTN find it easy to make credits as well, either crafting or flipping items or both. With minimal effort crafting I make a few million a day and others have reported making quite a bit more.

 

All that being said, the difference between an item selling for 45 million and 90 million is significant, so you would have been better off increasing it by a smaller amount... bumping it up to 50 million or 60 million maybe, but even that seems a bit high (though I have not priced that particular item). There are also certain psychological thresholds to consider when pricing. Think of the way stores price goods... 9.99 is essentially 10, but people tend to focus on the 9, etc. Also, offering something in trade chat always opens the seller to trolling, so you're better off posting something on the GTN if you want to sell it for a lot. The more common tactic I see in trade chat is someone undercutting the GTN price (sometimes they're not lower than the GTN even though they claim to be and they get called out for it, but often it's someone selling for less who is trying to make some quick credits). The GTN fluctuates daily, even hourly in some cases, but it's still ruled by supply and demand. Rare items that are desirable can command high prices. Ignore the trolls and list for what you'd like, but if it doesn't sell, list again and consider lowering the asking price.

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Thanks for the answer! Sounds like money is just easier come, easier go now-a-days, and there isn't some huge secret I'm missing, at least. There being a point in the recent past where money was even easier to come by explains things a bit, as well. I'm still just getting back into the game, but like I said, I was trying the H2s/dailies/weeklies and only seeing ~400k/hour, but I was probably not going about it in an idealised fashion.

 

And thanks for the warning about trolls. There were trolls before I left, too, but nothing so toxic or persistent, so I figured I must have committed some faux pas I was unaware of to merit that amount of jeering. At least on the 2 servers where I can get to the fleet, the complete set seems to either never available, or sells instantly in the 50m range, so I assumed the +/- x5 inflation since I've left, which I've seen with other things, might apply here as well. Perhaps I might have to just set my sights lower and not try to catch up to end-game level funds in a week, and accept that my couple of upper-tier items from before I left aren't so valuable any more.

 

As an aside, if someone is selling something for 9.99 and another is selling for 10.50, I'll always buy the 10.50... I find the X.99 tacky and insulting, though clearly I'm a minority, and your point about thresholds stands, to be certain.

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