raptormesh

Nice job Mellow. I'm still leveling my Guardian, and it's pretty frustrating tanking flashpoints almost akin to playing the piano. Leveled a Trooper Vanguard and it's a breeeeze, possibly taking 1/3 the amount of keystrokes to do the same thing.

More complex engineering, more fragile parts, plus increased probability of a heart attack during transformation!

Transforming the hi-metals weren't all that bad. Perhaps they can fit in the landing gears at 1/72. I'm for this too as it will increase mean swooshing time before my arms starts to complain. (I can play with a fighter mode valk for up to 30mins or more by turning it this way and that while admiring the lines.)

I win: I was getting 9 FPS during the dance off!

If there was one thing 6 years of WoW has taught me, no class remains the same for long.

Indeed, luckily with TOR's class stories I think most players would have planned to level multiple classes anyway ie the drudge of rerolling isn't such a punishment. It looks like however I will have to stick to the Jedi Guardian as my main as my wife is rolling a Consular and she prefers if we start at the same place. Ironically this may repeat my experience of trying to tank as a paladin in vanilla WoW(Got to tank MC and AQ20 in my deathbone hah!). Still gonna roll up a Trooper as my main alt.

Ironically, the 1/60 VF-17 will probably be a much more advanced and bettter toy compared to the VF-22S.

/blindfanboymode

NEVER!!! STURMVOGEL 4EVER!!

/blindfanboymodeoff

You made me sad because:

a) There is truth to what you said, and

b) Yamato will most likely never revisit the 22, what with all their stock not moving for so long.

so... /rocks back and forth in a corner hugging all his 22s and whispering things will be alright..yes.

Well, now that the testing's ended I fervently hope they're patching the Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior classes before live hits, as it is now it takes roughly three times as much button presses( or more when dealing with multiple mobs) just to tank as compared to the Trooper/BH. Seems like my initial decision to play non force classes first is paying off.

I wouldn't fault Gamlin for wanting to make super fighter pilot babies. Also, when is that D coming....aaaaaaa can't wait.

/Watches with envy. Glad they are going to deserving homes. Too bad I spent my budget on board games this holiday season. Will wait for pics!

Are there any contested zones where both factions have to quest? Or is all pvp a queue based battleground type? I remember the days in WoW where someone from the opposite faction comes out of no where and you gotta fight for your life. Really makes it fun and gets the blood pumping

Yup there are contested planets like Alderaan. If you roll in a pvp server, it's pretty much what you described.

I was a jedi guardian for the first 5, then on the last day I made a trooper and was like, oh my god, I've just wasted all my time playing a jedi . Trooper face rolls some gold elites with ranged weapons + companion help hehe.

Indeed, in the current beta build the Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior class is currently the weakest. They will be doing another pass sometime soon, hopefully before launch. Troopers/Bounty Hunters and Seers/Sorcerors are dominating high level play at the moment.

I don't think it's going to escape comparisons to WoW, but underneath that veneer it's a different animal altogether. I've been in beta for a few months now, and the starting area is probably as close as it gets to WoW. So I'll probably put a few points in here:

1) You can solo the entire game up to level cap. Obviously you will not be able to do flashpoints but it is possible to do heroic quests with a companion. This is confirmed.

2) In higher levels the areas to explore is vast. There are 17 major planets(and hundreds of small asteroids/bases), and a typical mid level planet like Hoth is as big as seven WoW regions. That's about half a continent in WoW.

3) There is no autoattack, and no auto facing in pvp. This becomes really apparent at higher levels.

4) Whereas in WoW you can easily just spam accept quests and not care about why you're doing stuff, in SWTOR you're encouraged to immerse youself, with the voice acting and the multiple choices that you have.

5) There are romance tracks with your companions, along with an updated gifting system as seen in Dragon Age.

6) Companions are used to assist in crew skills(professions). Aside from being the obvious sidekick, they can be assigned to missions independently and also to quick sell all the greys in your inventory.

It's very much easy to say it's WoW wrapped in Star Wars but that's like saying WoW is Everquest wrapped in cartoony Warhammer. They are theme park MMOs with similar resource and combat management. Not saying it's wrong, but that's a lazy way to put things.

For those of you who loved KOTOR this is basically KOTOR 3 -6 with optional co-op modes. If your experience is limited to just the low level beta weekend areas I won't blame you, but there is a lot more to do further on.

It was the strangest thing for me. I was super excited about it, but when I got it, it just didn't do it for me. Several things: 1) Not a fan of the integrated cannons. I prefer that sort of thing to be an add-on like the Tornado packs. 2) The VF-25's were sleek and just all around gorgeous. The YF-29 seemed like some bastardization. The bastard child of the VF-27 and the SV-51. It seemed like a step back. 3) The shoulder pads. They kept popping off whenever I transformed it. Drove me absolutely insane. At one point I caught myself before I threw it across the room. 4) No connection to that particular valkyrie. I didn't see the second movie up until now, and I don't regret selling it at all. While a lot of people loved the second movie, I thought it wasn't very good, and the use of the YF-29 was pointless.

But that's just my opinion. Some people really like the 29. I recommend you wait for a reissue, or a release in a different colour. Definitely no need to pay that much for this particular valkyrie.

A shame you didn't like it, though I am curious about one thing - why did you make the purchase if you hated the design? You must have seen the preview pictures. Also I never had that shoulder issue and I've transformed mine about six times now, so earlier I tried to replicate that issue and found out that yeah it is rather easy to pop them out but I had to do it intentionally. Don't get me wrong, I like the bird, but i'd agree that it's not worth that much money. I also thought it kicked ass in the movie which is why I bought it.

hay Yamato make this one

Yes please, now that's worth the money.

The NDA has been lifted.

Indeed, great game and the beta exceeded all my expectations. I'm a six year old WoW vet, along with various other meddlings into DDO, STO, Eve etc, so take that what you will.

Edit: I'm in the general beta test, so my experience isn't limited to the recent beta test weekend. If you have any questions about the game I'm sure me and other some beta testers here will try to help.

Is it bad if the first thing I looked for is a toilet paper roll in that picture?

Gamlin is the only character who really grows. Mylene seems to mature a bit but Basara is completely the same at the end as he is at the beginning.

Agree, also thought Gamlin's the hero. To me Basara was just the ever present iPod without a bloody off button. With the volume stuck on max.

This may have to do with the fact that I watched Macross II before actually watching SDFM to completion, but it has my favorite macross songs. Also Ishtar made quite an impression to someone undergoing puberty at that time.

My Sturmvogels no contest. If I have to choose one, it'll be Gamlin's ride.

Would get one, and it'll be my first VF-1 yammie .

The head for Ozma's variant reminds me a little of the Metal Siren's from Macross II. Mostly just the large forehead area and having two "eyes".

Actually it reminds of the mecha from full metal panic, kinda like it. Still not sure if i'll get one though especially if it's a web exclusive.

Darnit those are great pics. I find this bird sexier than the VF-19, but will have to hold off for the D.

oh I played the tabletop game, I bought it in 1988 to play. I still can't see it.

Eh I'm not here to convince people to like what I like, different strokes for different folks. Also I was playing it in the late 90s so it was a long ways from when you played it.

[snip]

I actually find it genuinely disheartening to see people (not you. well maybe you :x) stick with Battletech and handwave its problems away through the excuse of "well that's just the feel of it all" when it is entirely possible to revamp the system while keeping the same look and feel. I'm certainly no stranger to brand loyalty but sometimes you have to learn to scrutinize a bad thing when you see it. Also I'm pretty tired of Battletech and Mechwarrior fans (again not you personally) lording their stuff over them inferior hippie Japbots because they believe the superior "Western approach" trumps them all.

tl;dr don't get me started :[

First of all, I admire your passion to post such a lengthy discussion over the subject. I read all your points and they are good ones. Secondly I never said that btech > macross/hippejapbots. I love both in equal measure, and i actually like the dancing in the skies part about macross.

That said however, I have learnt that it is rather futile to discuss the vestiges or the integrity of a fictional IP over the internet at least for me. I liked scopedog for what it is, macross for what it is, and dozens of any other fictional IP for what they are. If I wanted realism I would go back to my work. What mattered to me was that I had a lot of fun playing the tabletop and card game(oh the horror?) with my mates and those personal memories will never change. I also had a lot of fun with the pc games and books so far. I'd like to think that was the intended purpose of the IP. I guess I am guilty of "just the feel of it" thing that you mentioned but I guess we have different priorities and opinions which is fine but I will continue to support this IP and remain ecstatically optimistic about it.

So, since many have been saying that the VF-19 Kai has a McDonalds color scheme, just for fun, I made my own interpretation of how the VF-19 Kai would look like it it had a real McDonalds color scheme with it being mostly yellow, some red and some white.

Eh i never imagined it matching Ronald's colors whenever that was mentioned, just that it matches the McDonalds logo...plus that face.

Wow the only reason I bought the game back in around 1988 was the Macross designs. The remaining in-house designs are so laughable, ugly and pathetic that the whole world has no appeal whatsoever and I can't understand why anyone would want to play this new game.

Funny, the battletech verse has a lot of appeal to me. I don't think the machines in mechwarrior are in anyway synonymous with beauty that's for sure. It's gritty, no nonsense squad based mech warfare. No dancing in the skies this one. I guess people who aren't exposed to the tabletop game and the books won't be able to see it, your loss .

From what I've seen the fandom pretty much universally rejected the Project Phoenix designs.

They're not that great.

I personally thought that they're pretty decent. Even if Mechwarrior Online turns out to be something like World of Tanks(i.e. no single player and only matches) I'd be pretty darn stoked.