SWTOR: Essential Tips and Tricks

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Every day each of us discover something new in guild chat that others have known about forever that have the potential to change our SWTOR lives for the better. This thread will serve as a collection of those "I wish I'd have known that from day 1!!!!" moments.

My first contribution: autorun. It's default toggle is NUM LOCK and it allows your character to run automatically. Take note if you use a mouse (i.e. Naga) that binds to the NUM LOCK keys...your buttons won't work when you toggle NUM LOCK. Make sure you stop auto-running via NUM LOCK lest you wind up in the middle of a fight with no working side buttons.

My second contribution: companion quickslot bar. Expand your companion's quickslot bar from time to time to see what is there. There are additional abilities you may not be aware of that aren't toggled for them to be using automatically (or some toggled for automatic use you'd rather have off or just situational).

Repeating what I said on my guild forums:

On PvE and Flashpoints: So enemies have several categories... normal, strong, elite, champion, etc. In general it seems that the "weaker" enemies still do significant damage; they're just much easier to kill. You've also got a number of abilities that have extra effects when used on normal enemies, like stuns, bonus damage, etc. This changes the PvE dynamic a bit from what we're used to in WoW. If there's a normal enemy on the edge of a group, I can jump at him with my Marauder and easily lock him down and kill him with a couple of my 30 second cooldowns. That removes his incoming damage, gives the tank time to build aggro on the tougher mobs, and if done properly shouldn't require any significant attention from the healer.

The strategy for dealing with "Strong" enemies is a bit more up in the air. In general I can take those out 1 on 1 without too much worry, but he will deal significant damage to me before he dies. That might annoy the healer, especially if they don't realize what you're up to. We'll have to experiment and work out the best way to handle them. Personally I like the idea of DPS splitting up to take out the weaker enemies, then focusing the stronger ones down.

There's an undocumented keybind for acquiring your target's target -- ctrl + F. I wonder if there are any other undocumented keybinds?

Under preferences -> Controls -> Auto Target Closest Enemy has made the game so much easier and fun. Now when I dive into a room with my Smuggler he shoots several people in a row without me having to TAB TAB TAB TAB to get targets locked.

datawang wrote:

My second contribution: companion quickslot bar. Expand your companion's quickslot bar from time to time to see what is there. There are additional abilities you may not be aware of that aren't toggled for them to be using automatically (or some toggled for automatic use you'd rather have off or just situational).

The default key bind to show the companion bar is ` (under ~). I always move my companion bar to the left side bar. Also there is no need to keep all of the companion skills mapped unless you are anal and love micromanagement (no need to tie up Ctrl 1-5). I have remapped Companion Attack and Companion Passive since that's all I really use.

Also buying stacks of crafting materials and splitting stacks are the same mechanic Shift-Right-click then DRAG. I can't emphasize how important that drag step is if you are coming from WoW or most other MMOs. When buying you still have to move the stack to your bag to complete the transaction.

The only ones I can think to add would be:

Under Options --> UI (I think its here) there is an option to turn on "Comparative tools tips for your companions". It is a life saver when equipping gear for them or rolling on loot they could use.

When Focus Target actually works and you press the modifier key it won't re-target you it just changes the cursor blue to let you know the next healing ability will be used on the Focus Target.

@Datawang, are you aware that the Naga has a switch on the underside to use the Numberpad or the 1thru= ? (I couldn't tell by your suggestion)

This is more troubleshooting than tips/tricks, but it finally fixed the momentary intermittent freezing (easily mistaken for lag) that I was experiencing:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showt...

I didn't understand why turning down/off graphic options wasn't helping at all; now I can play with all graphics options at max, and it's totally smooth.

- Show your FPS in the bottom left corner: CTRL+SHIFT+F

- In your skills menu you have an Emergency Fleet Pass ability that will teleport you to the fleet from anywhere. It has an 18 hour cooldown.

- If you make a mistake in a conversation, you can hit ESC to abort the conversation and start over.

- There is no menu option, but you can still enable anti-aliasing in the game by editing a config file. Look for the client_settings.ini file in c:\users\yourname\appdata\local\swtor\swtor\settings. Add a line reading "AntiAliasingLevel = x" in the [Renderer] section, with x being 2, 4, 8 or 12. The higher the number, the better the antialiasing and the more strain it will put on your video card. Some people have said this only works on certain video cards though...

- Turn on Enable Area Loot in the preferences menu. When you loot a corpse, it will loot all corpses in the area around you. Very handy.

Serengeti wrote:

- Turn on Enable Area Loot in the preferences menu. When you loot a corpse, it will loot all corpses in the area around you. Very handy.

Such a life-changer.

Tigerbill wrote:

Under Options --> UI (I think its here) there is an option to turn on "Comparative tools tips for your companions". It is a life saver when equipping gear for them or rolling on loot they could use.

In the same section there's a checkbox for "show detailed tooltips." What this does is it shows you all the individual mods that are slotted into a customizable item. VERY useful if you're using any orange gear.

Orange gear is defined entirely by the mods in it. The hilt, barrel, and armoring slot determine the base damage or armor rating. If you keep the mods up-to-date you can keep using the same armor or weapon for the entire game. If you want to change your look, you can rip out the mods you're using, slot them into a different piece of gear, and keep the same stats.

Sometimes the easiest way to upgrade a piece of gear is to buy a cheap, low-level Orange piece and fill it full of current mods from a commendation vendor.

This was a point of confusion that came up in guild chat. Cargo Bay access is available from level 1. No, you don't have to wait until you get your ship to store items in your cargo bay. Fleet has cargo bay access locations, as do most planets. Look for the green key sign.

Purchasing a second cargo bay at level 20 will give you a full page of inventory slots. Purchasing an inventory expansion in your pack will only net you an additional 10 slots (one row).

You also don't have to wait until you have a ship to talk to your companion "in private". Any cantina will do.

In space missions, launch entire volleys of missiles by holding the right mouse button and sweeping your cursor over several targets.

Serengeti wrote:

- In your skills menu you have an Emergency Fleet Pass ability that will teleport you to the fleet from anywhere. It has an 18 hour cooldown.

If you have a security key attached to you account the Security Vendor sells a 1hr cooldown stackable Fleet Pass for 1k.

Serengeti wrote:

- AA stuff.

This has been mentioned in the main thread I believe, but changing the .ini doesn't seem to play nice with ATI cards (a few of us use CCC to force AA [sigh at single letter acronyms]). Also AA is supposed to be available in-game when 1.1 hits in the next couple of weeks.

LtWarhound wrote:

This was a point of confusion that came up in guild chat. Cargo Bay access is available from level 1. No, you don't have to wait until you get your ship to store items in your cargo bay. Fleet has cargo bay access locations, as do most planets. Look for the green key sign.

Yes, that was my fault, because I could swear all the stuff I read on the game talked about using the bank "once you got your ship". Thankfully that's not the case because it's far too useful before then.

My contribution, which I figured out this morning, is this - if you alt-right click on a gathering node (archaeology crystal, scavenging pile, slicing safe, etc), it will send your companion to go gather that node - no matter how far away you happen to be from it at the time. I sent my companion to go gather crystals that were on the bottom of a steep cliff, at which point he promptly ran around the entire cliff getting to the bottom so he could gather it.

Word of warning - your companion can and will aggro things while running off to gather, and entering combat will cancel their attempt to gather, so it's not necessarily recommended to do this in overly crowded areas. You also have to click on the physical node itself, so you can't just do it from the minimap - you have to be able to actually see the node. But it can help for gathering things that are out in the open but in the wrong direction, since you can just send them off to gather something without having to take the detour yourself.

I thought companions couldnt trigger aggro by proximity to mobs, unless that's a change from beta that I haven't noticed. Side note: There was a bug that they fixed right at launch where you could send your companion in to attack, and as long as you stayed out of aggro range, your companion took no damage, and mobs didn't notice you. You could even take down world bosses with this exploit.

Keldar wrote:

My contribution, which I figured out this morning, is this - if you alt-right click on a gathering node ....

Uhmm, I just have to right click to do that; has been like that since the beta trials for me. They sometimes won't go do it if you move away but, they will get it if you click furiously a few times and scream at them. The screaming is the important part.

jonnypolite wrote:

I thought companions couldnt trigger aggro by proximity to mobs, unless that's a change from beta that I haven't noticed.

I don't know if they aggro things while they're walking around next to you, but they can definitely start combat if you send them running off by themselves.

Tigerbill wrote:

Uhmm, I just have to right click to do that; has been like that since the beta trials for me.

Straight right-clicking only works for me if I'm actually in range to harvest whatever it is myself. If it's anything farther than a couple yards away, the icon is greyed out, and I need to use alt to send them running away after it.

Don't try jumping over the railings inside the Imperial Fleet. It's a looong way down.

Those railings must not be canon.

Keldar wrote:
Tigerbill wrote:

Uhmm, I just have to right click to do that; has been like that since the beta trials for me.

Straight right-clicking only works for me if I'm actually in range to harvest whatever it is myself. If it's anything farther than a couple yards away, the icon is greyed out, and I need to use alt to send them running away after it.

Wierd! As long as I can see the node and get the cursor change, they will go do it.

Tigerbill wrote:
Keldar wrote:
Tigerbill wrote:

Uhmm, I just have to right click to do that; has been like that since the beta trials for me.

Straight right-clicking only works for me if I'm actually in range to harvest whatever it is myself. If it's anything farther than a couple yards away, the icon is greyed out, and I need to use alt to send them running away after it.

Wierd! As long as I can see the node and get the cursor change, they will go do it.

Same for me. Click, Alt-Click both have the same effect.

Serengeti wrote:
Tigerbill wrote:

Wierd! As long as I can see the node and get the cursor change, they will go do it.

Same for me. Click, Alt-Click both have the same effect.

Well it's working -now-. Either I just wasn't doing it right or it was bugged for some people (and one of their patches did something to change it). Or both.

Guess I'm 0/2 now as far as helping people out goes.

Article on resolve in PVP
Very useful once you understand it you really appreciate it and can work with it.

Resolve is the CC immunity mechanic in SWTOR’s PVP. It’s made visible by the while arc bar above your portrait and target portrait, and you can see it on a character as the white bar beneath their HP bar.

Here’s how it works:

While a target’s Resolve bar is empty or filling up, that target can be CC’d
Once the target’s Resolve bar is full (>= 1000 points), the bar begins to drain and the target can’t be CC’d until the bar is empty
To understand how Resolve builds, let’s look at this in-game mail from ona stud healer Ryndar (he’s the Sage who healed for 400k+ in his 30s, which is the highest output I’ve seen in Beta or live across servers sub-50):

Reosir and I tested Resolve stuff and thought I’d let you know what we found out (I can elaborate more in vent).

Resolve is a stat out of 1000 (shown on the bar above your portrait). The Resolve bar under the nameplates is a bar that is actually out of 800 (so you’ll notice it fills but doesn’t go white right away sometimes).

Stuns give 200 resolve per second of the stun. Mez (breaks on damage) gives 100 resolve per second. Knockbacks generate 400 resolve (didn’t have a way to test pulls).

When you hit the resolve cap it generates 50% more resolve than what was used to cap it. So a 4 second stun generates 800 resolve and if it goes over 1000 you get an extra 400. So two 4 seconds stuns used back to back will generate 2000 resolve.

When resolve goes over 1000 it starts to drain (not exactly sure on the rate). That is why some times the resolve bar drains quickly and some times takes a while to drain (ie if you go to 2000 resolve it takes longer to run out).

The Resolve mechanic is the most elegant CC immunity / DR (Diminishing Returns) mechanic I’ve seen in any game, because it provides visibility into the immunity state of your target, when they will likely go immune (e.g. next CC applied), and how long they will be immune for.

In some games CC immunity / DR is tracked by the game but not made visible to the player.

As I’ve said elsewhere, SWTOR provides the highest skill-cap in terms of PVP for any game I’ve played, and the Resolve mechanic is another example of elegant, innovative design by BioWare.

You can buy and equip shields/armor/etc for your ship, similar to equipping your companions via another tab in the character window.
Your first space combat missions seem to assume you've got the level 1 upgrades.

Vector wrote:

Those railings must not be canon.

muttonchop wrote:

Don't try jumping over the railings inside the Imperial Fleet. It's a looong way down.

The Empire's version of OSHA is more like an underground revolutionary movement.

kazooka wrote:
Vector wrote:

Those railings must not be canon.

muttonchop wrote:

Don't try jumping over the railings inside the Imperial Fleet. It's a looong way down.

The Empire's version of OSHA is more like an underground revolutionary movement.

Railings are for the weak.

Cod wrote:

You can buy and equip shields/armor/etc for your ship, similar to equipping your companions via another tab in the character window.
Your first space combat missions seem to assume you've got the level 1 upgrades.

I believe the first three assume no upgrades, but the next two assume level 1 or higher. When you are about to travel to the mission, the screen that roughly describes the objectives also indicates what level of upgrades are assumed for the mission.

Great tips. The lame one that I found out today was that there was a small "exit area" button that appeared over your minimap in flashpoints that let you leave from any point. (but mostly I just want to tag this thread)

maxox wrote:

If you have a security key attached to you account the Security Vendor sells a 1hr cooldown stackable Fleet Pass for 1k.

Oh that's HUGE. I thought it was on the same cd as the regular Fleet Pass.

On most planets, there is a shuttle directly back to the fleet at one of the speeder stations. It places you on the flashpoint level but if you turn around there is an elevator 5 feet from you that will take you to the main level of the fleet. Save 1k or your 18 hour cooldown and use them =)

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