Yeah so I wasn’t really into the original Star Wars series (4,5,6) mainly due to the fact that I was born in 1986… it’d be mighty hard to understand them when I wasn’t even born yet lol. I did rather enjoy them though when the next trio of Star Wars movies came out, as I went on a huge Star Wars watching spree and watched all 6 of them!

Yeah, big deal, who didn’t right? Since then though, the Star Wars fad has definitely died in me… until now. As you know, I’ve been anxiously waiting to get my hands on the new Bioware MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Well on December 24th (yeah we exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve this year so suck it!) I finally got it! In my hands, a copy of my most anticipated game of this year… let’s go play!

Oh wait… let’s not. Forgetting that my CD-Rom isn’t hooked up due to a lack of IDE hook-ups on my motherboard, I had to install the game digitally. 25 Gigs… over an internet connection… in a house with many, many other devices also using this connection. Bollocks!

Fast forward to December 27th, 12:00AM… finally! The download is complete! Let’s get this shit going! What do I roll, what do I roll? Jedi?? Hell no, every wannabe awesome and rape dead bodies bitch in the planet is going to be a Jedi, let’s not. Trooper? Really… a faggot ass, let’s run out there and get shot in the face trooper? I’d rather not be the first guy dying in battle… let’s get real.

Oh! Oh! How about a smuggler!?!? Yes! A kick ass, Hans Solo on steroids type mother fucker that will shoot first and ask questions later. To top it off, increased flight speed and long-range killing!?! Hells yeah, we got ourselves a winner! And it has been kick ass too. At the time I’m writing this I’ve surpassed the halfway point to max level 50, as I’m now level 27. There’s been 1 extremely annoying aspect to this class, but that’s about it. Everything else has been epic… let’s break it down, shall we?

The Smuggler – Overview

Advanced Class Options:

• Gunslinger – Ranged DPS that can duel wield Blaster Pistols… ohhh yeah!
• Scroundrel – Ranged DPS / Heals. Mostly supportive heals at a lower level, the Scoundrel heal class does ride with the best at max level.

I ended up going with the Gunslinger class. I was tempted to do some healing, as I’m typically always DPS, but why stray from the norm now? Many see DPS as an “anyone can do it” type of style, but true MMO fans know that’s far from true. I consider myself an above average player in this regard. I’m nothing special, but I know what I’m supposed to do. Now that I have my spec, it’s time to choose a talent tree to specialize in! That’s right, another tier of specializing.

Gunslinger Talent Tree Options:

• Sharpshooter – Straight burst damage. Sharpshooters can blow through energy really fast, but they also do a lot of damage in that initial burst.
• Saboteur – This tree uses explosives for massive AoE damage and support, such as smoke grenades for decreased accuracy.
• Dirty Fighting – Here you have your DoT tree. These skills utilize massive damage over time as well as close range combat. Effective for long winded fights.

Here I went with the Sharpshooter class. Nothing better than stepping into a fight with a one hit KO on an enemy… or deteriorating an elite mob to half health before he even realizes you exist. I did put some points into the Saboteur class early though, as it provides a 10 point increase in energy and 9% increase in Cunning (a Smugglers main stat) right off the bat. So far this class has worked out quite well. I can’t go in and solo a Champion or anything, but I believe I hold my own in most Flashpoints. Though it’s hard to tell without a damage meter… which I should look into.

The Smuggler – Annoyance

The one pain staking thing that has me sometimes regret even rolling this class at all, is the damn cover system that is involved with it. The Gunslinger utilizes cover to avoid damage and even get some nice buffs… but it’s flawed… and it’s annoying. Often times you’re forced into cover spots that are facing the wrong direction, causing a lovely little “Enemy Not in Sight” error to appear in red in the middle of your screen. No shit I can’t see him, you’re stupid ass auto-cover spot has me facing ass backwards!

Then, my hardest hitting spell, Aim Shot, half the time doesn’t work because God knows why!?!? No error, no nothing… the spell just stops midway and flashes red. WTF is that supposed to mean??? C’mon man! I literally have to leave my spot and reposition to get this mysteriously picky special move to even work. If it were some shit spell that I never used, I wouldn’t care… but often it’s my lead spell… sooo DAMN YOU!!!

*Sigh* Alright… well that’s my one pet peeve so far with the game. If they can somehow tweak that system a bit to work a little better, that would be lovely because then I’d have no complaints . Well… That about does it for my Gunslinger so far… next up, the Crew Skill system. See ya then!

Update

January 4, 2012 – Wow a day after I write about the issues with the cover system… Bioware fixes them! Lol… nice job by Bioware to get issues fixed quickly. Kudos!