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My first little murder spree in SWTOR; a world pvp fan's perspective.
DarkPony
Member Posts: 5,566
Disclaimer: for the faint of heart, please do not read any further. This is a gruesome tale of unsolicited pvp encounters and contains gankage and epic failure. Also this: for every time you reply with a word containing the letters "grief", god cuts off a baby Twi'Lek's tentacles. Don't go there!
So I went out to discover Tatooine tonight ... the first "big" shared planet and I was very curious about the world design, layout and mechanics especially related to the dishonorable side to world pvp; ... attacking enemy players when they don't expect it.
I didn't found the Outlaw's Den, but I did find the Republic's questing area (which looks pretty different from the empire side with all the empty swimming pool style compounds, sandcrawlers and insect people colonies). And I also found some unsuspecting republicans ...
First challenge I encountered was the Republic's outpost at the edge of Empire territory; its exit located in a narrow canyon made it impossible to get past unscathed as a level 28 operative with two points in the enhanced stealth passive. The level 50 champion npc guards saw through it right away and pretty much pasted me all over the canyon wall in seconds.
Maybe at level 50 it's easier. But not at 28 ... without dying that is; I took the bet of ressing on the spot and could just make it past the last tight area in my 8 seconds of res stealth. At least the npc's were fooled by that. I made it in ...
(Note: On my way back however, I found an alternative, more open "passage")
First observation: NPC guards are of the unrealistic, godly kind. A disappointment to me personally. I always loved WOW's take on guards where they were a help to players defending their own towns and hubs but not a complete replacement. Overrunning a town or settlement with a large world pvp raid seems impossible with scores of level 50 champions like these. I'm hoping they are tankable at 50 for a proper group but I'm fearing the worst. Also hoping I'll at least be able to still sneak past them at later levels.
So there I was, in Empty Swimming-Pool Land and it didn't take long before I heared the promissing sound of explosions going off in the distance (sound is well implemented in SWTOR; you can hear a Trooper reaping havoc from miles away with beautifully muffled, rumbling explosions).
And yes, there he was, indeed a Trooper called Spartacus (V_V) blasting away at a solitary elite. I waited a bit but not long; him at 60% health and the elite half-way made me make the jump; backstab, stun, dot, shiv ... damn he's quick with stunning me back so I fumble for my stun-breaker and in the second that it takes he gets some distance and starts popping heals on himself. This guy isn't a nub alright ...
In the meanwhile my companion is fighting his companion; pretty much a different, secondary fight. (I still need to figure out how to best use companions for world pvp purposes). But at least I don't have to tank his one either; if this is default companion behavior they are not much of an interference in 1 vs. 1.
Anyway, during the fight I get him down to maybe 40% but while tanking that elite as well as me, he manages to keep his hp steady and even starts doing some serious damage ... When I am at 30% and already used a stim, I chicken out and blow my "vanish". I don't have enough distance however and he decloaks me right away ... WTF this guy! ... I didn't last long after that.
"Epic fail" indeed but at least I made someone feel good about himself ...
I ressed on the spot a bit later and shrugged off the sense of defeat. Lessons learned:
1. Troopers are TOUGH!
2. Troopers are tough AND can do a shitload of damage!
3. Troopers are tough and can do a shitload of damage AS WELL AS have access to a very functional decloaking ability!
4. Wait longer before solo attacking Troopers (or Bounty Hunters) untill they're overheating (or whatever the mechanics are called).
Onwards the road goes, through vast plains with empty swimming-pools and countless of npc settlements. I eventually reach a large city .. but nowhere any republicans in sight! This can't be right on a full server. I check my map: I'm in Tatooine 2. I decide to check out Tatooine 1 and I make the switch.
*insert way too long loading screen* Really Bioware, this seriously needs optimization ...
Ah that's better; a veritable host of republicans zipping past me in all directions. I quickly find my next mark fighting some sand-people in an empty swimming pool. A Jedi Consular this time ... she's at 60% when I jab the first vibro-knife seringe in her spine. It doesn't take long; back stab, stun, dot, shiv, lacerate and some blaster fire to finish her off. She did manage to stun me back but she was already too low on health to get away after I used my stun breaker. A proper gank indeed.
Apart from the kill giving me "a sense of power and accomplishment which I can't find in real life" it made me also feel a little guilty. (I'm human too).
Another observation: after killing a player who's fighting mobs you can easily restealth without those mobs switching agro to you; there apparently is a significant timeframe where they just stand there, picking their noses wondering about what the hell just happened. Or maybe they simply reason "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" 
At the end of the little trip I mapped out pretty much the entire republican side of the map and succesfully ganked an additional two Jedi's, a Consular and a Trooper. (This one was less skilled in pvp and maybe less geared because he went down really fast without putting up much of a fight).
Also I had two scoundrel kills stolen from me by their use of a dot removal skill and Stealth Screen Overload or whatever SWTOR's vanish is called. Bummer! So I guess I'll pick up that stealth detection talent next level. Hope that helps (as well as spamming my dot more often).
There was one other remarkable incident: After getting the jump on a Consular (Shadow I think) all went smooth until she knocked me back, ... careening me straight into a group of pissed off sand people! The combined dps quickly burned my health down to 20%. I vanished to lose aggro and attacked her right away again; both at 20% health it was a race for the kill; I fell ONE SECOND before a tick of my dot finished her off; our corpses laying peacefully next to eachother ... That yielded a big grin here and I hope on her / his side too.
p.s. I never killed a player twice. Not because its lame but because that ruins my own immersion: I just assassinated them afterall and I am not in it for the grief but for the excitement of the hunt ... really.
Conclusions:
From what I've seen, Bioware has been less keen to promote factions intermingling in shared questing area's compared to what WOW does with for example South Shore / Tarren Mill. You really have to go out on a road trip to find your enemy faction in the open world and not in designated pvp area's. Also their use of the aforementioned godly npc guards is kind of a bummer from any realistic world pvp point of view.
The good stuff: you have to go look for it but there's plenty of opportunity for world pvp and ganking nonetheless and the combat makes it very, very entertaining. The 1 vs. 1 fights are fast paced but take a bit longer compared to WOW. Also there is no complete stunlock possible and you never really know what will happen in a fight with all classes having such a wide range of abilities. The knock back into mobs being a good example.
All in all: the world and mechanics side of things weren't really implemented as I hoped, from a world pvp fan's perspective, but still large, open, vast and immersive. I had fun for a bit but I can see how having incentives like in Illum and groups going at eachother will be more entertaining compared to this lone gankage in a very big world. I can't see typical Hillsbrad Foothills style battle happening outside of area's which are intended for it.
*neighs*
Comments
Nice job man. i enojyed reading your pvp experience.
Currently Playing: SSFIV AE, SFxTekken, SWTOR, WoW. Waiting for: GW2, Resident Evil 6.
This sounds like random ganking that would happen on any pvp server, was there any groups fighting?
And you mentioned rewards for illum, could you fill me in on what these are? I can't find a definitive answer. Some users here say theres a bunch of rewards and on swtor forums people say there's zero rewards. I also can't find any official info on it.
Yes, pretty random.
There's definately rewards; up to and including mounts which you can buy for a thousand mercenary commendations and a thousand warzone commendations. (Merc commendations are what you get for completing repeatable world pvp quests.) I have yet to experience all this for myself though. But I've seen the rewards listed at vendors.
edit: @ Guile: Thanks Guile!
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outlaws den can be found in the area between where each faction enters the dune sea. i found it by accident when i was looking for datacrons
Good read. Though i don't like the game too much, as a fellow pvp'er i can very well relate to your experience.
It's always awesome to start PVP early in a new game when no one knows all the opponent's abilities (given one doesnt have any beta experience) and everyone still figures out his class, anything can happen. Pretty much adds to the thrill. I would have loved it, too.
It's the stuff the later memories are made of, the experience that never comes back. "Remember when we were such noobs? I run into that guy, clicked spell X all the time, trying to bring down class Y and was just fiddlin and wondering..." that sort of kind. Make some screens of your victories, it'll be worth it some day.
A technical question: does the assassin have perma-stealth or some limited, say 30secs stealth?
Next time some clips please
assassins have tooglable stealth that satys active till you either deactive it, preform an attack, get hit for damage, or revealed by a stealth dectecting ability. they also get a an in combat stealth that makes you complete indetectable for 10 secs.
http://www.torhead.com/abilities/class/2/level/1-50
Sick 'em Pony... Ponies can sick right or is that just dogs?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Ah, ok.Thank you. Pretty much old school rogue stuff.
Played 2 rogues in PVP in WoW for years, that's why i was interested.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Well that's unfortunate. Do you get anything like titles for racking up kills or rewards for completeing objectives after these quest? If it's just quest rewards and instances reward the same stuff, idk how popular world pvp is going to be.
I don't have a clue. But I'd guess so. I'll be sure to write about it though. And they don't all reward the same stuff: there is dedicated mercenary commendation (world pvp) stuff too. I only named the mount as an example.
You can exchange merc commendation for warzone commendations and the other way around but at an unfavorable rate though.
My brand new bloggity blog.
Stealth DPS operative vs what sounds like a commando trooper.... (or possibly a vanguard with a healing companion) doesn't bode well. You would have been better off focusing the companion so you would have double DPSed the player.
In a 1 v 1 fight, companions are invaluable.. take theirs out first if at all possible.
Very nice read for once on these boards. Thanks for the story
Well Played Mr. Pony, well played indeed
Thanks for the tips, man. Will try that out soon
Also thanks for liking it, folks.
My brand new bloggity blog.
Can't wait to try out an assassin myself.
It will be my first alt I think. After playing operative and experiencing just how convenient stealth is in this game (pretty similar to WOW in fact); it allows you to skip a lot of trash mobs on your way to quest objectives, it allows ninja' ing objectives in warzones and it allows you to avoid pvp and even "cancel" pvp encounters if you need to (with a 2 min cd "vanish"). And of course you can get the jump on people which is always nice.
... but I could do with some more 1 vs 1 melee dps ability and I think the assassin is better for that compared to the operative which has its skill spread out a little more over various roles.
My brand new bloggity blog.
yer on the wrong side of the fight mr pony but good reading as always!
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
Thanks for sharing your story. For BioWare, the main PvP is warzones. Hopefully the community can get some good world pvp going
If I knew the game had good world realm vs realm conflict I would buy it. Unfortunately that seems to have been an afterthought.
Horses have a nasty backkick and with those horseshoes on....its over!
***Raises plunger in salute to DarkPony!***
All my opinions are just that..opinions. If you like my opinions..coolness.If you dont like my opinion....I really dont care.
Playing: ESO, WOT, Smite, and Marvel Heroes
Coming from someone who isnt playing the game, a worthy consideration!
Good read DP!
I've actually had a blast with the World PvP, and the higher level you get the closer you end up to the opposing faction for questing. On Hoth for example many of the Republic class stories lead your right into areas that the Empire is questing into and vice versa.
I had to laugh, last night I was semi-afk there trying to get a couple of people guild invited, and set-up properly when a Trooper attacked me, and shocked the heck out of me. I had to do a double take and go after him, and it was fun dropping him and chasing, and killing him on his way back to his hub.
I did learn that the level 50 guard NPC's do hit hard, and more than a few are chained together. Looking forward to Illum! My only concern so far is that some planets are so huge (never thought you'd hear that as a bad thing huh?) That if you are ahead of the level curve you definitely have a hard time finding the opposition. Still though, it has been fun!
Great post. I'm a 20 agent havent seen a soul fpr open wold PVP. I hate the WF's so I hope to find more open world..
I am relieved that I can confirm the red bit
Alderaan is already much more intermingled, faction wise. I stumble over republicans all the time while questing now ^_^
*wipes Jedi blood of his vibro knife*
It seems that things really take off from here.
What I learned today:
I
sleeping darts on player companions. It makes your own companion assist you on the player while his potential healer / tank / extra dps is put out of business during the fight.
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can you attack someone who is in a quest dialogue? That would be pretty lame if so
And I think they want to keep World PvP limited on worlds so that more people go to Ilum (less ganks, more balanced levels, etc). If Empire and Rep both have quests that take them to the same place then that would be a good place to PvP.
I too was on Tat yesterday and ran into my first Jedi. I think this jedi thought he was playing swg and could turn around and run away. He didnt live very long.