Spawn of the Dread Master is no more; Galactic Antics has risen to take its place!
So the poll I posted last week ended up being a lot closer than I envisaged; Smuggling with a Cool Head and Galactic Antics both ended up being tied in first place. I'm a little disappointed that From the Valleys of Alderaan was left behind, but c'est a vie.
I had hoped that it wouldn't be a tie, as I'm not very good at making final decisions, but Rav raised a very good point in the previous post; Galactic Antics is the far more generic name, whereas Smuggling would get me stuck in virtually the same place as I had been stuck with Spawn: the name was based around one character while others have become more frequently used.
I can only apologise for the messiness of this transfer period; I'm not willing to pay for redirection of traffic (such a thing would be free if I had any say...), so anyone who has this blog's name in their blogroll, you'll have to update all this information manually.
Sorry..!
~~~
Some general things which have been updated:
The Character Page is back, looking much more polished than before.
The Accomplishments Page now lists direct links to my various Story Critiques (serious spoilers if you haven't come across these before).
The Blogroll has been expanded; I have never been good at keeping a 'proper' version of this, and I'll make more of an effort to maintain this in future.
~~~
Here's to continuing on with the insanity!
31/05/2016
23/05/2016
Blog Revamp: Identity Choices
The name Spawn of the Dread Master was entirely based on a running joke surrounding one of my characters, and because this character was completely disconnected from the Dread Masters otherwise (they aren't even Force-Sensitive!), the identity has never really sat in a comfortable position. Additionally, as highlighted in the Comments when I posted my possible intentions for a revamp last week, the Sithy theme does not entirely suit my writing style.
The purpose of this revamp is two-fold. The first, as you can probably gather, is to come up with an identity and a theme which does suit me and my writing style. The second is purely to revitalise my own interests in blogging. I won't lie when I say that in the past year I've had an on-again/off-again relationship with this blog, and it's time to start fixing that.
Before I get to the nitty-gritty details of the four theme ideas I've come up with, I'll go over what else I intend to do as part of this revamp.
This is a feature I've been wanting to do for some time now; a YouTube channel for uploading recordings of game sessions, be this KotFE Chapters, PvP, Operations, or even just messing around with friends and/or guildies. I've got a video showcasing an Eternal Championship run (behind-the-times? Never!) lined up as the first video as a sort of "trial" before things get more heavily underway. This won't actually come into existence until a new theme and identity for the blog has been chosen, of course.
So without further ado...
The purpose of this revamp is two-fold. The first, as you can probably gather, is to come up with an identity and a theme which does suit me and my writing style. The second is purely to revitalise my own interests in blogging. I won't lie when I say that in the past year I've had an on-again/off-again relationship with this blog, and it's time to start fixing that.
Before I get to the nitty-gritty details of the four theme ideas I've come up with, I'll go over what else I intend to do as part of this revamp.
This is a feature I've been wanting to do for some time now; a YouTube channel for uploading recordings of game sessions, be this KotFE Chapters, PvP, Operations, or even just messing around with friends and/or guildies. I've got a video showcasing an Eternal Championship run (behind-the-times? Never!) lined up as the first video as a sort of "trial" before things get more heavily underway. This won't actually come into existence until a new theme and identity for the blog has been chosen, of course.
So without further ado...
17/05/2016
Potential Blog Revamp
This blog has maintained its present format for a good 15 or so months, and a fair bit has happened in that time which means that a revamp is probably in order.
Most of the reasons for this occurring basically revolve around the transfer to The Red Eclipse, which I would say revitalised my interest in the game as a whole. Compared to how I spent my time on The Harbinger, which I heavily dedicated to one character only towards the end (Pippera the Sniper) whilst the rest were all just 'there', I now have at least three/four characters I spend time on regularly on a daily basis, which for me is actually really good going!
More than that, though, the character whose identity in turn formed the identity of this blog has now lost that identity. It doesn't seem right to keep a joke going with no true manner of justifying it. Not only could this be a revamp, but a re-branding of sorts.
I'm drumming out some ideas for what to do which I'll dish out at a later date in another blog-post once I've got something to show for it. The 'Characters' page is the first and easiest casualty at this time, because half of the characters on that list are no longer relevant, and I have always worked best with 'catalysts' setting things in motion.
As much as I'm making a big thing out of this to myself, I really don't think all that much will be changing visually in the long-term, as I'm quite fond of the layout and colour-scheme of the blog, so really it will just be "same-old, same-old" even if it is under a different header.
Regardless, I thought I'd just make my plans known. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this plan, no matter the outcome.
Most of the reasons for this occurring basically revolve around the transfer to The Red Eclipse, which I would say revitalised my interest in the game as a whole. Compared to how I spent my time on The Harbinger, which I heavily dedicated to one character only towards the end (Pippera the Sniper) whilst the rest were all just 'there', I now have at least three/four characters I spend time on regularly on a daily basis, which for me is actually really good going!
More than that, though, the character whose identity in turn formed the identity of this blog has now lost that identity. It doesn't seem right to keep a joke going with no true manner of justifying it. Not only could this be a revamp, but a re-branding of sorts.
I'm drumming out some ideas for what to do which I'll dish out at a later date in another blog-post once I've got something to show for it. The 'Characters' page is the first and easiest casualty at this time, because half of the characters on that list are no longer relevant, and I have always worked best with 'catalysts' setting things in motion.
As much as I'm making a big thing out of this to myself, I really don't think all that much will be changing visually in the long-term, as I'm quite fond of the layout and colour-scheme of the blog, so really it will just be "same-old, same-old" even if it is under a different header.
Regardless, I thought I'd just make my plans known. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this plan, no matter the outcome.
04/05/2016
Thoughts on 4.4 [Spoiler-Free]
Another update, another month.
4.4 brings quite a few things of interest; Chapter XIII, the Eternal Championship, and returning unique gear-sets now made BoL. It's quite a slim update, but there's still quite a bit to talk about.
4.4 brings quite a few things of interest; Chapter XIII, the Eternal Championship, and returning unique gear-sets now made BoL. It's quite a slim update, but there's still quite a bit to talk about.
26/04/2016
Bedding Down on The Red Eclipse
Ever since the server transfers were first opened four years ago, it was often claimed that regional transfers were "impossible", and I understood the main reason to be something involving privacy laws between server regions negating the possibility. Whether or not that was the actual reason, I still don't know.
However, earlier today, when the price of server transfers was increased from the amazingly cheap price of 90 Cartel Coins per character to 1,000 Cartel Coins per character, something else happened; the borders have finally been opened, allowing people to transfer from an American to a European server, and vice-versa, for 1,500 Cartel Coins per character.
Not cheap.
For the average player, being on the wrong continent shouldn't even be a problem in the slightest, as the nature of MMOs (and particularly the endgame) dictate that you should be on a server which suits you and your timezone.
In my difficult way I again prove an exception.
Because The Old Republic was my first 'proper' MMO and I didn't know what "endgame" involved (I literally initially interpreted the term as "saying farewell to our characters" in the actual story), I concentrated first and foremost on finding a community first which shared a specific interest of mine outside of Star Wars, and the community I found first was going to be on an American server; namely, Vornskr. Vornskr soon closed and we were all transferred into the Harbinger which has been my in-game home for just under four years.
That is, until today. With the news of regional server transfers, I have begun the slow process of transferring my characters across to The Red Eclipse, which I hope to fit in. I haven't begun looking at Guilds yet (since I haven't had the best history with guild-experimentation), but I have started redecorating the Tatooine Stronghold.
Priorities!
So, four-and-a-half years on, and I'm finally where I likely should have been from the start. It's been a fun few years, Harbinger, but I'm afraid this is farewell.
However, earlier today, when the price of server transfers was increased from the amazingly cheap price of 90 Cartel Coins per character to 1,000 Cartel Coins per character, something else happened; the borders have finally been opened, allowing people to transfer from an American to a European server, and vice-versa, for 1,500 Cartel Coins per character.
Not cheap.
For the average player, being on the wrong continent shouldn't even be a problem in the slightest, as the nature of MMOs (and particularly the endgame) dictate that you should be on a server which suits you and your timezone.
In my difficult way I again prove an exception.
Because The Old Republic was my first 'proper' MMO and I didn't know what "endgame" involved (I literally initially interpreted the term as "saying farewell to our characters" in the actual story), I concentrated first and foremost on finding a community first which shared a specific interest of mine outside of Star Wars, and the community I found first was going to be on an American server; namely, Vornskr. Vornskr soon closed and we were all transferred into the Harbinger which has been my in-game home for just under four years.
That is, until today. With the news of regional server transfers, I have begun the slow process of transferring my characters across to The Red Eclipse, which I hope to fit in. I haven't begun looking at Guilds yet (since I haven't had the best history with guild-experimentation), but I have started redecorating the Tatooine Stronghold.
Priorities!
So, four-and-a-half years on, and I'm finally where I likely should have been from the start. It's been a fun few years, Harbinger, but I'm afraid this is farewell.
06/04/2016
Thoughts on 4.3 [Spoiler-Free]
Another month, another update.
4.3 brings with it many changes and new features, including quality-of-life changes to Guilds and Strongholds, and the first new 8-player Warzone since Patch 1.6 in 2012 brought us Ancient Hypergates. Oh, and it also provided perhaps the most interesting Fallen Empire chapter yet.
There's a lot to dive into, so let's get started!
4.3 brings with it many changes and new features, including quality-of-life changes to Guilds and Strongholds, and the first new 8-player Warzone since Patch 1.6 in 2012 brought us Ancient Hypergates. Oh, and it also provided perhaps the most interesting Fallen Empire chapter yet.
There's a lot to dive into, so let's get started!
14/03/2016
Outfitting the Alliance
I've kept mostly silent regarding the myriad of Companions we can now potentially recruit as of Fallen Empire. I personally like seeing all of these characters play some part in the overall story, although I will concede that limiting which Companions are eligible to be summoned or sent on Crew Skills would be a welcome feature in the future. Having 25+ Companions when we used to have a maximum of eight is just ridiculous over-inflation.
In spite of our massively-inflated Companion lists, we can only decide the looks of so many; this is either due to the lack of outfit slots or, depending on faction, any number of customisations beyond the Cartel Market and Soovada and T.H.O.R.N vendors.
At present, only eight Companions can have their gear customised in any way. Although this number will be bolstered by at least another five Companions - I won't say which here but previewing Customisations will already reveal who these Companions are - by the end of this first season of Fallen Empire, this number is still worryingly low considering that by this point in time players could have a maximum of roughly thirty-four Companions available to them.
Having considerably improved in the creation of outfits since the last post I made on this matter some time back, I thought that I would take the time to show off outfits which I have devised for my main Pippera's slew of customisable Companions. They're stuck with us for the foreseeable, so why not work to make them more visually appealing?
In spite of our massively-inflated Companion lists, we can only decide the looks of so many; this is either due to the lack of outfit slots or, depending on faction, any number of customisations beyond the Cartel Market and Soovada and T.H.O.R.N vendors.
At present, only eight Companions can have their gear customised in any way. Although this number will be bolstered by at least another five Companions - I won't say which here but previewing Customisations will already reveal who these Companions are - by the end of this first season of Fallen Empire, this number is still worryingly low considering that by this point in time players could have a maximum of roughly thirty-four Companions available to them.
Having considerably improved in the creation of outfits since the last post I made on this matter some time back, I thought that I would take the time to show off outfits which I have devised for my main Pippera's slew of customisable Companions. They're stuck with us for the foreseeable, so why not work to make them more visually appealing?
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