So I come in and out of Swotor as time (work, school and family allow). Currently one of my characters is running the HK quest (my main skipped it); I spent more than three hours on Taris; the point of a game is fun, not running players around like lemmings to see how much annoyance is possible. Are there any plans to fix this clearly broken quest?

So I come in and out of Swotor as time (work, school and family allow). Currently one of my characters is running the HK quest (my main skipped it); I spent more than three hours on Taris; the point of a game is fun, not running players around like lemmings to see how much annoyance is possible. Are there any plans to fix this clearly broken quest?

 

I'm sorry to say, the quest is not broken. Whenever I run this quest I always quit searching after an hour and come back another time. That has helped keep the frustration to a minimum. There are times I find a part within five minutes, and there are times it takes over an hour. Looking at one of the guides can help you narrow down the area in which to focus your search, but even those guides do not show every possible spawn location. It's also important to keep in mind the 25 meter range does not cover a large distance relative to the overall search area, so you want to be sure you move in smaller increments than you might otherwise be inclined and be systematic in your search by following a grid pattern as you go. It's also helpful to have additional players looking at the same time (provided they are willing to group up and help search). I don't currently have any characters on that quest or I'd offer to help you search.

So I come in and out of Swotor as time (work, school and family allow). Currently one of my characters is running the HK quest (my main skipped it); I spent more than three hours on Taris; the point of a game is fun, not running players around like lemmings to see how much annoyance is possible. Are there any plans to fix this clearly broken quest?

No, because:

* It's really old stuff, and the older code is a real mess to fix.

* It isn't broken.

 

I had to search about half of the relevant area on Taris, and I found it in about 20 minutes. Remember that if someone "ahead" of you (i.e. searching in a part of the zone you haven't searched yet) finds it and doesn't announce it in chat / whisper to you / etc. or if you aren't paying attention to chat at the time, it will stay accessible for a minute and then move somewhere else, possibly in a spot you already looked in.

 

Also remember that if you dig through forums and find that someone found it at such and such an X,Y coordinate, all you know from that is that that person found it there.

No, because:

* It's really old stuff, and the older code is a real mess to fix.

* It isn't broken.

 

I had to search about half of the relevant area on Taris, and I found it in about 20 minutes. Remember that if someone "ahead" of you (i.e. searching in a part of the zone you haven't searched yet) finds it and doesn't announce it in chat / whisper to you / etc. or if you aren't paying attention to chat at the time, it will stay accessible for a minute and then move somewhere else, possibly in a spot you already looked in.

 

Also remember that if you dig through forums and find that someone found it at such and such an X,Y coordinate, all you know from that is that that person found it there.

 

GuRu of TOR Star Wars Land right there [Right being the operative word] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Gotta love smart people.

No, because:

* It's really old stuff, and the older code is a real mess to fix.

* It isn't broken.

 

I had to search about half of the relevant area on Taris, and I found it in about 20 minutes. Remember that if someone "ahead" of you (i.e. searching in a part of the zone you haven't searched yet) finds it and doesn't announce it in chat / whisper to you / etc. or if you aren't paying attention to chat at the time, it will stay accessible for a minute and then move somewhere else, possibly in a spot you already looked in.

 

I meant broken in the sense of poor design, when your players feel perturbed, and consider moving to an MMO (and the quest last night had me considering it), then there is a problem. But second, when I went online everyone spoke of groups of people searching. After three hours last night and another one today, I've not seen anyone else searching, so it may not be working as intended from the human perspective.

 

But how did you search half the relevant area? The description in the quest is extremely nebulous, only stating it is around the Endar Spire, I searched around the main body of the wreck before going on line, which seems to indicate searches are possible on about a third of the map. Is there at least some way of isolating this down? I searched this morning fairly thoroughly around the tents with the pirates, I've searched the crash site area before logging off, and I searched the outline of the main body of the wreck, covering quite a bit of ground.

It can also be "outside" the Endar Spire area sometimes, in the sunken city or sunken medical district or whatever it's called (I'm sorry, I don't have the name available to me at the moment, but it's something along those lines and immediately borders the Endar Spire area). I've frequently found the part in one of the bodies of water around there and also as far away as the over by the entrance to the bunker that's beyond the campsites (just before the downhill slope starts that leads into the bunker).

I meant broken in the sense of poor design, when your players feel perturbed, and consider moving to an MMO (and the quest last night had me considering it), then there is a problem. But second, when I went online everyone spoke of groups of people searching. After three hours last night and another one today, I've not seen anyone else searching, so it may not be working as intended from the human perspective.

 

But how did you search half the relevant area? The description in the quest is extremely nebulous, only stating it is around the Endar Spire, I searched around the main body of the wreck before going on line, which seems to indicate searches are possible on about a third of the map. Is there at least some way of isolating this down? I searched this morning fairly thoroughly around the tents with the pirates, I've searched the crash site area before logging off, and I searched the outline of the main body of the wreck, covering quite a bit of ground.

(To quote other people's posts correctly, use the "QUOTE" button, which puts the quoted text in the nice box with a citation that tells readers who you are quoting.)

 

It certainly *is* working as intended, regardless of the perspective. "Working as intended" means that it is working the way that the designers intended. The reason that not many people are doing it is just that it has been around for a very long time, and most of the people who know about it have already done it.

 

As to how I searched, well...

 

I looked up the guides that explained where on each planet I needed to search, and then began a "grid" search pattern. Do this on a *ranged* class (I used Lightning Sorc except for Coruscant, where more fool me I used a Shadow) so that you can fight any foes without moving, and remember to advance using the "two mouse buttons" method so that you can keep the camera aligned with a straight line. Advance along the line, about six or seven running steps at a time, and scan each time you stop. When you reach the end of the search area, turn right or left ninety degrees and advance six or seven steps before turning back the way you came and repeat.

 

On Coruscant and DK I was fortunate that someone else was doing it as well, and that person found it and whispered me to say so, but on Hoth and Taris, I had to do it myself.

 

Try not to log off while doing it, because when you log back on, you may end up on a new copy of the map or someone might find it while you are off-line, which will result in it moving to a new location, possibly one you searched the previous time.

 

It's not *hard* to do, but it is a trial of patience, but at least you only have to do it once(1). Then again, if you can't pass a trial of patience, why are you playing an MMORPG(2)?

 

(1) Other characters can do it themselves, to be sure, or you can just pay a million credits and unlock HK-51(3) on a new character.

 

(2) SWTOR is an MMORPG, which made ""your players feel perturbed, and consider moving to an MMO" seem a bit strange. "a different MMO", sure, but...

 

(3) "HK Quest" in the thread title is ambiguous, because there are also missions (SWTOR's term for quests) concerning HK-55, and if you play certain flashpoints, you will encounter HK-47.

Thanks for the tip; rarely on message boards. I finally found it, after about five or six hours, which is normally the amount of time I might have for a week, but still waiting on one of my syllabi for the semester, and currently on a steroid after a round of flu which basically prevents me from sleeping. I may simply have been a bit unlucky on Taris, but there has been a lot of lag for my main. Thanks for the attempt at help.