Welcome to our weekly column dedicated to everything Consular and Inquisitor. If you have a suggestion for a topic you’d like covered in this column, drop Tim a line!
This week I want to talk a little about the changes coming in Patch 1.2 for SWTOR, and specifically how they apply to Jedi Consulars and Sith Inquisitors. This patch is currently available to play on the Public Test Server (PTS), but it should be noted that the functionality for this patch is not yet finalised. In other words, some features they have reported in the patch notes may not end up in the final 1.2 that is deployed to live servers. So keep this in mind when reading below!
I expect it will be several weeks before the change is rolled out, so for the next few weeks I’ll focus on some of the benefits (and drawbacks) to the patch, with an emphasis on how it affects Sith Inquisitors and Jedi Consulars. Do you find it amusing like I do when people are getting upset about how nerfed “XYZ” class is with the 1.2 patch? All I can say is at least wait until it has been finalized!
Not possessing much patience, I decided I would try out the new changes now, and connected back to the PTS (Public Test Server) and gave the patch (in its current state) a run. If you decide to use the PTS, you have to start your character from scratch again, and due to time constraints I ran out of time to get my newly created Sith Inquisitor off Korriban and to their advanced training, so I’ll report more on that next week. At this stage I am thinking it’s time for an assassin as I’ve played the Inquisitor and its Jedi equivalent quite a bit.
As an aside, if you are considering using the public test servers, note that characters are NOT deleted, but rather remain. They will have things happen to them (like reseting of advanced skills when required, etc) but the point is, you don’t have to continually start from level 1 with every patch version. Yes, it’s relatively safe to create a character and leave it there, and just login and try out new patches from time to time. Famous last words I know – I’ll probably login and find my characters gone!
Interestingly enough, I actually joined a guild on the test server, and saw a level 37 guy running around. There were a surprisingly high number of people online actually and I was in heaven because there was no trolling in general chat ! If it wasn’t for the aussie swtor lag issue, I’d consider making this my main server!
I did notice some a cool new interface editor for SWTOR where you can now customize your interface (see picture below), a nice target of target option, and some nice animation sequence fixed. The more I played it, the more I liked it, quite honestly it almost felt like a new game again.
My frame rate seemed to be notably quicker as well. So this is quite a major patch that Bioware have put together.
On the down side, there was a lot of problems with sound chopping in and out, and I had a bugged quest when I had to defeat someone and I couldn’t due to faulty line of sight indications. But it is a test server after all, so you have to expect that, and they will no doubt fix it before it goes mainstream.
Moving on, lets talk about some useful features for light saber wielding classes in 1.2. Color Crystals are being revamped in this update – Bioware’s thinking was to allow players to not have to be stressed by the numbers (stats) when choosing. As a result all colour crystals will have top end crystals which eliminates a big problem. The ability to create Magenta crystal is also being added as is an entire activity chain which is cool.
The “mandatory crew skill” award for Jedi Consulars and Sith Inquisitors goes to…..
*drumroll* … 🙂
Artifice. At least I think so because of what they have changed in the 1.2 patch. You can now do dedicated PvP Crafting with Artifice. You can earn crystal schematics of various colours in PvP, as well as the required materials, and with the 1.2 patch Artifice is the only crew skill that offers a permanent expertise bonus! This adds another cool element for those of you who only do PvP, but the benefits are also there if you, like me, only do PvP some of the time.
I’ve usually chosen Artifice as one of my three crew skills anyway, but with these changes I’d have to say for Inquisitors or Consulars this should be mandatory once the patch comes out. One other cool thing I’d like to add is that s an artificer you can make willpower-based shields for the Sith Assassin/Jedi Shadow tanks – a welcome addition.
Ok thats it for me for another week – I’ll be back next week and thanks for watching!
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Great post, Tim! You’ve made me realise that I probably don’t need to try to cover all of 1.2 in one post. Haha, it was starting to get really, really long; but you’re right, we do have a few weeks to get familiar with it ourselves.
Thank goodness for the PTS! I agree on the much improved performance, though I’m getting that niggling sound problem, too. :/ The interface editor is way too much fun!
Thanks Kate, I just saw this post, how slow am I in responding. Must pay more attention to looking at comments! Yes I thinking breaking it down is the way to go (patch 1.2) By now I am assuming your sound problem is sorted? Mine got sorted with their next PTS patch. Seeya online!
I dont feel that Artifice is mandatory for consulars. In 1.2 synthweavers will be able to RE the new 1.2 PvE epics and get them with augment slots, somehow i feel that this is better for a Consular to have because the crystals you can make will all be tradable but its looking as though the armor will not be. As a consular artifice myself I am very up in the air right now
Anybody know whether the BoP crafting gear will become BoA through Legacy?
Would make sense to allow a related toon craft top-end gear for their “family” and pass them down as “heirlooms”.
Interesting, I was not aware of that, thanks for the heads up. I think it will be useful for one of your alts to have artifice though if your main doesn’t (or to know someone in your guild perhaps).