Dec 1, 2011

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Zlatto’s Bazaar: Reverse Engineering Theorycrafting

Zlatto’s Bazaar is the one-third Wall Street, one-third criminal empire and one-half gossip rag. You need to keep up on the Bazaar if for no other reason than to keep an eye on your competitors. Don’t be a Ho-tah and visit often.  Your comments are encouraged, especially if they make me credits…

Hello, all you GTN moguls-in-training! I’m glad you decided to stop by so we can talk about the exciting math of Reverse Engineering! With the NDA gone, I wanted to get into some of the exciting non-combat mechanics of the game. No spoilers to worry about here, it’s all about crafting and Reverse Engineering in mass quantities to enable us to look a bit behind the curtain of ‘random’ as defined by BioWare.

You can toggle Reverse Engineering on in your Inventory panel, which will allow you to select certain items to... Reverse Engineer and perhaps learn to make a better version of that item!

I am not a statistics guru, but because I am skilled in short-changing purchases in any monetary unit of the known galaxy, I figured it would be best for me to share my accumulated numbers with you, and then together we could decide what they mean. I expect there is a closeted math geek or two that might read the column, so lets hope they decide to chime in and give us some deeper analysis.

This article will assume that you are all up to speed on the process, risk, and rewards of Reverse Engineering. If you are not yet a guru on the topic, take a quick moment and read Momus’ informative article on the subject found over here in Blasters, Beggars and Credits. For now, I’ve decided not to dive into the itemization gain seen at each level of Premium (green), Prototype (blue) and Artifact (purple.) That discussion could barely be covered with a 12-part series and would require more time than I can spend at the moment.

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Nov 24, 2011

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Blue Milk & Cereal: Thanksgiving Edition (Or, Should TOR Have In-Game Food?)

 

 

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers in the US!

This would seem like the perfect time to do a Blue Milk & Cereal on wether or not TOR should have in-game holidays, but we did that a while ago. Instead, I thought it might be interesting to focus on one of the central themes of Thanksgiving: the feast! While it certainly isn’t only reason for the season, it’s better than talking about doorbusters.

Traditionally, MMORPG’s have had food and drink items in-game for characters to consume. Sometimes these would provide a combat buff, sometimes a restorative effect and sometimes just something fun and social. In many cases, these items were also available for players to produce via in-game crafting and gathering systems.

Until recently, we didn’t know if Star Wars: The Old Republic would have food or drink consumables. None of the Crew Skills offered the ability to make these items, and only recently, with the drop of the NDA, we learned that some cantina vendors sell a few select items such as  Peppered Bantha Steak and Spiced Nerf Milk.

But is that enough? Should these kinds of consumables be more widespread, and perhaps craft able by players? Let’s talk it out below!

Should in-game food and drink play a larger role in TOR?

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Nov 23, 2011

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Blue Milk & Cereal: Do You Craft For Fun Or Profit?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

Crafting has always been a big part of MMORPGs. On one end of the spectrum, it might function as an entire gameplay path of progression, while on the other end the system can be as simple as click-n-build. And systems existed everywhere in-between. The first Star Wars MMO, Star Wars Galaxies, garnered praise as having one of the best crafting systems in a game – ever.

Along with that, developers have also had different visions for the role of crafting in their game. Blizzard is famous for stating that professions in World of Warcraft aren’t intended to be money makers, but to be fun and a way to enhance your character. In Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare has stated that they want dedicated crafters to gain recognition on their server, and also be able to make some money.

So when you craft (if you do) do you do so with the intent of equipping yourself and your guild with the best possible gear for the level they’re at and the role they play? Or are you in it for the credits, playing the market and keeping a close eye on supply and demand, producing products en masse for sale?

Do you craft more for fun, or with an eye on profit?

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Nov 21, 2011

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Zlatto’s Bazaar Special Edition: Gathering To 75 Before Level 10…It Is Possible

Zlatto’s Bazaar is the one-third Wall Street, one-third criminal empire and one-half gossip rag. You need to keep up on the Bazaar if for no other reason than to keep an eye on your competitors. Don’t be a Ho-tah and visit often. Your comments are encouraged, especially if they make me credits…

Zlatto here, with a special message from the other side. You can get your gathering to 75 before you can craft a level 1 item. Remember you cannot craft without a companion but gathering can be done solo.

“Tell us how Zlatto!” is what you must be saying at this point. First, raise your right hand and state the following oath.

I solemnly swear to use this knowledge for personal gain, to wreak havoc on the economy of my server, and to at least over charge players by 3%.

Beware – Spoilers Abound

The info below talks about specific locations and mobs at those locations,  it does not impact story but I will use specific examples.

Now, Zlatto’s gathering loophole. As I think about it is not really a loophole, just that it is assumed that gathering begins after your starter world. After all, the first trainers you run across are on your space station, before you hit your capital world. So the logical process is to move along your story line until you are led to the crew skills.

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Nov 14, 2011

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Blasters, Beggars & Credits: I Love Ilum – Observations from the Summit

Some players do it for glory. Some do it for infamy. Some like to accumulate the most points, or explore the far reaches of the worlds they inhabit. This, however, is not a column for those people. This is a column for those people who, quietly or not, enjoy making money so that their digital avatar can sleep on large piles of cash.

A lot of details have been making their way out of the Fansite Summit, but perhaps most tantalizing of the recent items is the sudden openness about Ilum, the hostile and frozen planet of open-world PVP.

Of course, it’s the duty of this columnist to attempt to find some manner of profit in it all, so a quick run-down on the features and how we might make find some opportunities.

First, the most obvious one: the highest-level nodes of resources spawn here. As with other games that had high-level zones that encouraged world player-versus-player, players will be fighting over the best grounds for farming materials. However, unlike other games, the zone does not have a reset or timer. Instead, while farming, you will constantly be under threat, and it will be far more likely that you will encounter a hostile intent on preventing you from harvesting that sweet, sweet cheddar. Full-contact gathering certainly has its place as a sport, but it also cuts into profits. In general, if you yourself are not a PVP (at least in combat) enthusiast, I would recommend going at off-peak hours, unless it turns into the only place to acquire some rare material – in which case, fight on!

We're going to need a bigger lightsaber...

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