FW: Guilds

Guilds: A Guide

In my previous posts, I addressed how guilds in Forsaken World made the game better.  I touched on the fact that had I not found Osiris, I would not still be playing the game.  I showed a quick picture of a guild base, but really didn't discuss them in depth. Well folks, that is about to change!

Anyone who has played in an MMORPG of any sort will likely have a basic concept of what a guild/clan is about.  Essentially it's a group of people who have a tie to one another for mutual benefit and to do things with.  That holds true in FW as well, of course.  However, taking it from where some games left off, FW takes it another step.  Being in a guild becomes nearly mandatory after a certain point, and more importantly being in an active guild with a base is vital for high end characters. Unless you feel like being a heavy cash shopper, and don't mind spending real life currency to get your in game currency to buy things you need in bulk or are really good at the Auction House.

First things first, however.  Guilds level from a level 1 guild to a level 6 guild, based on two criteria: Contribution and Zeal.  These are earned by members doing quests and events both pvp and pve.  The more of each a guild has, the higher level they can go. Once they reach level 3, they can bid on a base.  Although that isn't a sure thing, either. One of the guilds I have characters in, Shunned, has been level three for nearly a month now, and there are not enough competitors to bid against, so no auction for bases has been held.  It takes 4 level 3 guilds with enough contribution to be able to bid for an auction to be held.  One of those four guilds gets a coveted base, and the other three have to wait for another guild to join the fray.

Bases are a huge part of the game for guilds, as they unlock a number of options to do daily quests that help both the guild and the members of that guild.  First are the "GBQs" or Guild Base Quests, which are essentially construction quests.  Your base comes unfurnished.  You have to build it up, using these quests.  Most are simple and they come in packs of 4. The only requirement is that you need to be able to fly, so characters under 25 can't participate in them. One "envelope" of 4 quests gives a fair bit of guild perks to the guild, and decent contribution and merit to the player.  Merit is a currency that you use at your base to buy things which are very useful.  Merit can be used to buy high end crafting materials, experience buffs, experience buffs for your pets, and other items including soul gold, which is the currency used with NPCs.

Once a guild builds their base up, they can hold Campfires. These are guild banquets, which are open to anyone. They last half an hour, and depending on the guilds size and base completion can have up to three buffs. What this means that for half an hour people from all over show up at your base and sit there, often dancing, often chatting and soak up large amounts of experience points.  As you have to be guilded (not necessarily by the host guild) often campfires are a good place for a new guild to pick up bodies from the unguilded who want the buffs.

Campfires are a vital part of leveling for lower level characters.

 

The second event for guilds is the Base Exorcism. This is something that is done once a week by players, if they choose to, to get dedication (which is important for personal rewards) and merit.  It's also a huge amount of experience points.  An exorcism is an event where there are a number of phases to the event from running energy from one place to another to constructing towers and fighting baddies.  It can last up to two hours, but most last under one.  It usually is a good time, as there is a lot of joking around for the more social people.

The third event is the Immortal Rift.  Open to characters fifty and above, Rifts are guild vs guild territory wars. It's a pvp event on Saturday evenings.  Not only do you fight the other guild, if you are a pvper, but you can also run carts for your base. While this doesn't exclude you from PVP combat, it lessens the amount you do. It's actually rather fun, and this coming from a person who doesn't like PVP.  The guild gets things for this, among them currency to fund other functions, but also mounted combat licenses that can be given to those who participate.  These are better than those a player could get on his own.

Another event is the Guild Midas Event.  This is where characters level 60 and above can get a bonus twice a week for doing their guild base quests.  It requires a minimum of 80 dedication to get the better rewards: real gold that can be used on the AH. The more dedication you have, the more gold you get per envelope. At the high end, you can get 1 gold per envelope. Not a bad deal.

And lastly, there is the guild lottery.  Once you have 80 dedication, if you are in a level 3 or higher guild (with or without a base) you can trade 15 merit for a roll in the Guild Lottery up to 3 times per day.  The rewards can be anything from soul leaves (currency to buy a most racial mounts, pets, and fashion from the cash shop) to real gold to other things of varying value.  You can also get a VIP card either from the Cash Shop or the AH which allows you to wave the 80 dedication rule.

So that's guilds in a nutshell, and I have barely scratched the surface.  Next time I will look at the Mentor system in depth.

EdgeOfChaos, my personal guild that I created to explore some of the functions for this article.

 

Forsaken World: A Month In

Life In A Half Dressed World 

So I've been playing Forsaken World now for a month.  In that time I have leveled three characters to just over 70, and another to 62 as well as a bunch of little baby "check-in" characters.  I have learned a great deal about both the game and it's community.  While some of the luster has come off from the first few days, life in Erydia is good.  Osiris is still going strong, and I'm still happily a member.  While I don't necessarily fit the "mold" of the guild, in that I am not one to do the heavy flirting and goofing around that goes on in Guild Chat, I am an accepted and welcome member, and they have made me feel both useful and valuable to the guild.  And to be perfectly honest, what more could one ask?  

So what are my impressions of the first month of game play? Well to be honest, it's a very interesting game in many aspects.  Of course, since it is a PWE game, it's heavy on the Zen Market (ie Cash Shop).  However, if you have the time to put into the game, you can get by without cash shopping, though you are at a serious disadvantage if you do in pvp (or so I am told as those that know me know how much I pvp).  It is important to note that PVP is actually a fairly large part of the game, and I have been asked on numerous occasions to try it out. I may cave, and at least give it a look.

Past the ability to buff yourself for end game and end game pvp in the cash shop, you can get a lot of outfits or "Fashion" as they are called in game.  The rest are pets and mounts, which are a big drain in currency.  The other big drain is bag/bank slot expansions.  So there is a tendency to shop heavily amongst the clientele from what I have noticed. 

Moving on to game play.  The game is essentially in three different phases.  The first phase is leveling, and has a hefty xp buff as I mentioned in my original post.  Level 1-60 can honestly be done in a couple of days easily enough.  The next ten levels are a little slower, but not too bad still.  After level 70, however, he big 300% xp buff for quests goes away and you slow down. The other item that slows you down after you hit 60 is the soul power and scroll unlocking tasks.

Essentially, once you get to level sixty you start acquiring Soul Power which is used to buy Vice or Virtue levels to unlock skill buffs.  The various classes and trees have different needs in this regard, while one type of warrior for example may go vice for maximum buffs, another build may go virtue.  As you gain Vice/Vitue levels, you reach plateaus or gates, which require quests to unlock.  This is a very grind intensive time, with kill quests that require 240 of a specific monster to be killed to gain soul power.  Fortunately, the game allows you to combat bot.  So you can essentially afk for an hour or two and kill what you need to and come back to turn in your quest.

Another aspect of the game that is unique to other mmo's I have played is the gemming/fortification system.  No gear starts with gem sockets, but most gear can have up to either 3 or 4 sockets unlocked. However, to unlock it takes a variety of different materials which can either be purchased from the cash shop, or gained in other manners in a more hit and miss manner.  This can be a pricy process in either real money or game currency.  To unlock ones "wings" takes 100 chroma, which are obtained from the number of gems and the types of gems in your gear.  Wings make your character stronger.

Thus far, I have not gotten wings yet, but we'll get there.

This makes the game interesting for me, as there is a bit of a twist on the leveling/gearing policy.  Which is a nice change from simply grinding dungeons over and over and over again. Don't get me wrong... There is a lot of that still. Both for gaining scrolls to unlock skills as well as for some of the massive xp amounts needed to level.   

The one downside to the system as I see it currently is the lack of an archer class. While there is the Marksman, it is not the traditional archer character most every game seems to have.  Though the Marksman is fun, having to be a dwarf is less so for me personally.  Add that the male dwarf sneezes constantly and is a bit on the gross side, it lead me to make Procyona, the dwarfette.

Along with her blunderbuss and trusty Whirlwind Puppet, Setnaris

 

Thus far, I have found the marksman to be fun for me. I am, after all, a hunter at heart.  I do also enjoy most of the other classes I've played. The Vampire seems a bit overpowered to me, at least the blood spec does.  Bard is tricky, but that makes it fun.  The Mage is a blaster, go figure why I might like that one.  Assassin, or Sin as they are called in game, are more pvp based, but fun still pve other than threat issues.  Warriors are fun, lots of dps and have the ability to tank if a protector isn't around.  That's essentially all I've played so far. While I have a priest, that character hasnt really done much, so hard to get a feel for the class as yet.

Forsaken World: Osiris- A Game Changer

Guilds and Mentoring

Looking out over  Guild Base

What a difference a random event can make in your gaming experience.  One night while bored out of my mind, I decided to play Forsaken World. I was having trouble sleeping so I logged into the game. Being that I play on a West Coast server, people are still up at that hour it seems.  While playing in town doing the daily grind of quests called "Life in the Harbor" which is repeatable 30 times a day for xp and coinage and is considered a prime grinding tool, I happened to notice in World Chat a guild advertisement.  Normally, in any other game, this would be something that would be an annoyance to me, but being that as I wrote last time, my experience with the FW community had been non-existent outside of a random act of kindness from a stranger, I decide to read it.  It was a simple add, one you see all the time.  "Guild X is recruiting, Any level welcome, we like to help one another out and just hang out" or something along those themes seems to be the majority of guild spam, amirite?  Well since the X was Osiris and not something borderline offensive and sophmoric like Pygmy Hermaphrodite Chinchillas, I decided to look closer. The person who was doing the advertising wasn't some wierd sexual reference and didn't have pwn or some other pvp reference in the name, so hmmm maybe just maybe.  So I whispered him, a guy named Bashbrother.  I have to say, I had no idea what I was getting into at the time, but I am so happy that I made that step.  So I mentioned that I was new, as in a day or two of playing the game new and had no clue on many of the mechanics and nuances of the game, but that I was looking for people to play with and learn from.  And amazingly enough, the reply was simply sounds great, welcome to the game.  As a gamer, one of the worst things many people can say to you to hurt and belittle you is to call you a n00b or some variations of it.  To have a potential guild recruiter so openly welcome a new player who truly is a noob in this game was... refreshing.  So in no time flat, I basically said "sounds like what I am looking for in a guild, I'd love to give it a try if you'll have me."  And boom! I'm a new member of the guild Osiris, thank you Insomnia!

So the first thing they tell me is, we have a base and the coordinates are linked in guild chat. Go have a look around they say.  So being the curious blogger by day that I am, I did.  Mind blowing this was.  Guild housing is something I've only heard about as none of the games I've played to this point have it.  To finally see it was, breathtaking.  Set up in the sky overlooking the desert (which is very Egyptian themed of course) on "Guild Island." the base is an elaborate maze of plateaus and floating structures.  There are quest givers, vendors, and more up there.  One of the things that at the time I was not able to do are the construction quests, as I was only level 23 at the time and the quests require you to be at least level 30.  Sleep finally came, so I reluctantly logged off and went back to my nice warm bed.  

The next morning, I logged on and immediately went to my newly guilded toon rather than the others I had been putzing with more or less equally up to that point. I was eager to test the theory that if I needed any help just to ask in guild and somebody would be happy to help out, as I was told in my welcome.  So many guilds claim this, but so few deliver I was skeptical.  Let's face it, even one of my most pleasant gaming families in all of MMOs, the Dragons of New Avalon, is very cliquey and hard for new people to fit in at times.  So what would Osiris be like once the noob was loose?  One of my burning questions was regarding the Master/Apprentice system that the game keeps telling me I really need to get involved in to progress. What the heck is it? And how does one find a Master? Most of the people on the list that comes up when you search for one have obscene references or silly characters in their names, and the few that don't are too busy to reply when you pm them.  So since guild was hopping with a lot of idle chit chat between people who clearly were friends, I asked my question, prefacing it that I was a noob.  I braced for the ignoring I expected, or the backlash for being rude and interrupting a conversation that I feared.  Instead I got multiple "welcome to the guilds, and the game."   I then got one player who started to ask me about my gaming experience and we talked about WoW some as most gamers seem to.  I mentioned my experience as a player but that I was new to FW.  Then the conversation on the Master/Apprentice thing started.  It seems that the system is a set of daily quests that the pair need to do each day, and they can do other things together as well.  The apprentice gets gobs of experience points and a high level character to help them out.  The Master gets mentor points which allows them to do things at high level that help in the farming of gear and such as I understand it. So I got invited to be an apprentice, and given a great briefing on the game. Apparently Bard is a popular class as it is OP (Over Powered) as a damage class, and I had through my reading of the game text, stumbled upon the top end game build, Wind.  However, it's a challenging class to play, or so I am told.  Thus far, I have not found it so, but I am still a lowbie.

So we did our M/A quest, and I learned that "skull" mobs take only 1 hp from any ability you have, so spam your free attack only, it gives you participation but doesn't make you go Oom (out of mana) so if you have healing abilities (which I do strangely enough) you have mana for that.  We then turned it in, and I went up a level.  Just like that.  We then went to two drag throughs of level 20 and 30ish dungeons. I got some gear, some loot to put on the AH and four more levels.  Toss in a sixth level from turning in all those triple xp dungeon quests, and viola six levels in under two hours.  However, my new Master, Arblockus, was not yet done. He gave me some gear for when I get higher level (including some nice level 60+ gear) and a lot of information.  What classes are like, how to level and gear, and what the differences in guilds were in this game from others.  I was hooked.

So when I logged back on later in the evening, I found myself more confident talking in guild chat. I felt I belonged.  Not that I have too much trouble with this being an extrovert the way that I am, but hey it's nice to feel you fit in.  The grind on my own suddenly felt so... slow.  Then I learned of a Campfire event. Not just for roasting s'mores apparently.  Basically, you sit around at the Guild Banquet around a campfire and get xp buffs.  And for thirty minutes, you get xp for sitting around and chatting. How cool is that?  I crafted, brushed my teeth, got ready for bed, and chatted with my guildies.  And made nearly a third of a level from it. Gotta love free xp. :)

Pass the S'mores will ya?

PWI: Remembering Ye Goode Olde Days

Keepin' It Real

So after playing Forsaken World where the XP falls off trees, PWI or Perfect World International feels like you are caught drafting a snail.  The game has a much more old school approach to things, you have fewer health than most other MMORPGs I've seen at the start and do piddly damage out of the gate.  An hour or two of play time might get you a level or two, but not much more out of the gate.  Took me a couple of hours to get to level 5, which in a way is refreshing. It really helps you learn you two primary abilities and how to manage your resources a bit better.  Like Forsaken World, which I wrote about yesterday, PWI has several of the same benefits in that you have auto routing options, most of the mobs in the starter areas are neutral to you, and you do get some benefits to help you level up (somebody on the server hit 105 last night, it was a big deal).

Betarde, the Human Blademaster Starting Gear

Like it's sibling, it is graphically stunning, perhaps evena little more so than FW.  For those into character customization, you can go really nuts on the colors of skin, eyes, hair, lips, mascara, etc. 

Some of the things that take getting used to however are that the default key bindings for the toolbar are the Function Keys, not the numerical keys. Those are saved for the side bar.  Not sure why exactly, as yet, but it is an interesting concept.  I am certain I can swap stuff around to be more familiar when I get more familiar with the UI, given how customizable everything else in the game appears. 

The Quest system is again very similar to FW, in that you have quest text with the occasional response, though scripted, it at least gives the feeling of interaction with the Quest NPCs.   Unlike its sibling, after the starter zone, everyone does not get dumped into the same city. This gives the game a more realistic feel in a way. I don't necessarily feel that all the races of the world would melt into one melting pot flawlessly after being separated at the start.  In many ways, that is the primary difference I noticed between the two Perfect World games here, PWI has the more real feel where FW is more stylized high fantasy with that odd mix of steampunk and magic.  Both work, in their particular game, but there is something to be said for the rare game that tries to stay grounded in reality so far as a fantasy game with magic can. 

Upon arriving in the first city, you are given a quest to talk to an Elder who sends you around the city to meet up with the various vendors and skill people, not to learn their stuff but to find them.  This in turn gives you a set of gear to start your adventures with that is a complete set rather than the basic clothing you start with.

You even get a Genie Pet/Companion

Talk to the Watcher of the Earth behind me here, and you get your little Genie Companion. The Blademaster has a great weapon fighter sorta feel to it, though with a Far Eastern Flair.  I can't say I don't like the look. I think it's easily one of the nicest sets of starter gear I've seen in an MMO.

From here, I rolled my first love, an elven archer. Though Elves in PWI have little wings on the side of their heads, and can fly through full size wings that appear out of their back when they activate it, they are in most other ways typical fantasy elves. Big pointy ears, and very in tune with nature. 

Look, up in the sky it's a bird... It's a plane.... No, it's just a winged elf.

The auto-routing works better on the winged elf, since they can fly and when they take the direct route, are able to fly over obstacles that running can't get past. Though it does take some micromanaging in the Elven starter zone due to the big trees.  Once you get to the city and get your starter gear, you are much more potent than the Blademaster or at least that was the sense I got. Of course there is something appealing to me to stand back and let fly and let the mob die on it's way to me rather than having to get up in it's face and smell the stench of death first hand.  So this may be a slight bias of mine ;).

PWI does have a table top feel to it in many ways. When you level, you are given 5 attribute points to distribute between your 4 abilities.  This allows a degree of customization that you don't see in most of the other MMOs directly.  Given my table top background, I found this gratifying. 

Starter geared and ready to fly

However, the table top gaming aspect of the game may be a double edged sword in many ways. For those used to fast leveling and being able to tear through the older content to get to the "End Game" the experience of slow methodical leveling through 105 levels might just be too much.  Ironically, in a game of such massive customization options, the one thing it lacks is a talent tree system.  Not that its a bad thing since in most games everyone plays a cookie cutter one anyways, but I did find it surprising. 

If you are looking for a fast paced game where you can rip through it, this isn't for you. However, I rather enjoyed the slower pace and the gritty table top feel. And you can't beat the look of the game. More to come.

Forsaken World: Tweens Unite!

Pretty But What Else?

So Perfect World introduced "Arc" to allow players of their games to have a single loading interface to load any and all of their current games.  It also allows players to access community Forums and such from in game through the Arc Browser.  So having been playing a lot of Neverwinter I downloaded it, and installed it.  After doing so, I decided to check out some of their other titles.  Of the three games I looked at, the Forsaken World has held the most appeal to me so far.  It is a digitally attractive 3-D game world with stylized characters.  While most of the men in the game aren't "masculine" in my definition of the word, I am admittedly not their target demographic (Heck, I'm nobody's target demographic).

So, meet Roricsaxon (should be Roric Saxon) but the space wasn't allowed. He's a Warrior, that is to say a great-sword wielding killing machine in defense of the Lionheart Champions.  Of the four characters I created, he is the most "manly" in the traditional sense.

Starter gear in the town of Winter Heights

The game has a rather simple feel to it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Much of the first twenty-five levels (of 80 currently) have a tutorial feel to it.  Most of the mobs (monsters) are neutral to you, and not aggressive until you attack them, even the "rampaging beasts" that you are sent out to kill.  Makes it easy to complete quests, in case you somehow take damage and need to rest. Or if you are like me on the staff of a certain cat, and she gets hungry just as you are in the middle of a centaur camp. The other feature that I really like is the auto-routing.  Most of the quests so far have the ability to click the target in the quest text and get auto-routed to that place.  If you have a mount (freebie one around level 10-15, free flying mount at 25), it even mounts you before taking you to your target automatically.  Given the fact that the mobs don't attack you without provocation in many cases it is therefore, possible to go get a drink while your toon is running/riding/flying to the quest target area.   Combat abilities appear to work the same way.  If you are targeting something and click a combat ability, your toon will automatically move to the maximum range for that ability if it's a ranged attack, or move to melee range to execute the attack. Saves on pounding on the keyboard some.

Currently, most of the servers I saw are giving xp buffs to new players to the tune of 300% quest xp up to like level 70 or so.  Thus even though the starter area quests are up to level 10, you are usually 13-15 when you reach Freedom Harbor, the first city I've found.  The first dungeon I've heard about is around level 17, though it says 15-20.  I have yet to find a group for it, but then again I've played sparingly so far.

Screenshot showing the default UI.

The UI is simple, clean and customizable.  A second bar is placeable directly above the one on the bottom, which I have put into place since this picture as my character got more abilities.  Also as is popular in PW games, you get a combat pet who has 2 abilities that I put on the second bar as well.

My biggest complaint about the game is the community seems closed.  From what I can tell, based on reading of forums and about topics, guilds are important in the game.  Guilds get bases and such and control/occupy regions of the world.  When you enter an area it tells you which guild controls the area.  However, joining a guild seems... difficult.  Getting somebody to talk to you seems even worse.  Outside of a female character on a fancy white mount that came up to me today and gave me a beautiful rare quality weapon for when I hit level 40 out of the random kindness department, I've had no player interaction.  Unfortunately, said player had to go quickly so I couldn't ask them questions.  But hey, it was still really cool. So on the off chance that player ever finds and reads this... Thanks!

Level 15 Roric with his Wolf Pet. Though he looks like he has a hairball right now.

I do like the stylized look of the game, and the quest system is a nice mix of the WoW-style flat text quests and the more evolved Star Wars or Secret World cut scene quests in that while there is only text, it is interactive to a degree.  It gives a bit more feeling while not making you wait for a cut scene if you're not into that thing.

For the moment, the jury is still out on this game. I like the look and feel of the game, but so far the community has left me cold overall (outside of the one great moment).  I will return to this and update you as I find out more.

Customization and Collections, Patch 2.1

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic has been out about a year now. It's been a rough first year for the highly anticipated franchise.  That Bioware, a well-respected company, was behind it boded well for the product. However, for many gamers, the fact that EA was behind Bioware was frightening. However, that didn't stop the game from having a lot of hype leading up to launch.  Most people likely know by now, that the game never lived up to the expectations.   All that being said, the game has undergone a lot of changes in the last year. First and foremost was the Free-To-Pay, err Play format.  I should be clear, this is not specifically a comment strictly on SW:TOR but on most of the F2P genre. It's the current successful model, and so why not follow it?  Even Neverwinter uses it, a lot more than I thought at first (more on that in a different post).  The Cartel Market, as SW calls it, has been a huge boost to the game's financial recovery.  Based on the amount of Cartel Items on the GTN, there are people spending hundreds of dollars a week on Cartel Packs.  That adds up to a sizable amount of money for EA/Bioware.  Like it or hate it, the Cartel Market is a major reason for SW having the ability to still be around.

The second big change for the game was the first digital expansion, the Rise of the Hutt Cartel.  In this expansion that sold for either $10 or $20 depending on if you were a subscriber or a F2P member gave you 5 new levels, 4 new Hard Mode versions of lower level flash points, and a new Op.  As well as a new planet, Makeb.  The Makeb story line is entertaining, and well written.  I've played it from both sides and found the story to be good both ways.  For those who want Same Sex relationships, there is a male Sith NPC in the Makeb Imperial story line that can be flirted with/kissed by male players.  While for many homophobic gamers, this is terrifying, it's good to see them at least make good on part of their promise to players on this topic.  While it doesn't appeal to me, that doesn't mean that it doesn't appeal to others, and therefore has merit within the game.

Lastly, the first major "quality of life" improvement in SW:TOR for players who don't like their look. Patch 2.1 Customization.  This had several major changes for those who are into the whole look of their character. First they introduced the Cathar as a playable race. Again, not my thing, but I am sure there are a lot of people who want to make their Thundercat clones.   I've seen more than a few people running around with them already.  Secondly, they made it possible to get some new hairstyles that are more lush than the original ones.  Both unlocks are account wide once you pay for them once, so it's not too pricey.  The third change is the ability to change your character's race, and everything else in their look other than class and gender.  This can be done relatively cheaply as well, and subscribers get a discount.

Before, Kermit the Jedi here... It's not easy, being green.

Take for example the above. This was a before picture. Typical bland boring Jedi Knight. You see a lot of these guys running around. And well nothing goes with green well... A few cartel coins later and poof!

And you go from typical to what the heck is a Pure Blood Sith doing on Tython?!?

While the race change is pricey, the rest is under 200 cartel coins, meaning well under the monthly subscription.  Total here was about 900 cartel coins, so a month and a half's worth if you don't want to buy any coins (or can't afford to).

Artificing got buffed a bit by the expansion as well, making up for the Cartel Market killing the crystal market.  New Dyes can be crafted by Artificers to change armor colors.  These sell pretty well, though a bit of a pain to make.  However, I expect Dyes to become hot.

Lastly, is the Collections feature. And I'll be honest, if you don't like this, then either you don't care at all about what your gear looks like (which is perfectly fine) or you are just enjoying hatin' on EA/Bioware (which is ok too, if it makes ya feel better).    Essentially how it works is anything you have acquired from either the Cartel Market, Cartel Rep, or from EA/Bioware in the form of a promo/perk can now be accessed through the Collections tab.  The character that originally had the item can get endless copies of whatever it is for free, to replace parts either lost or whatever. Or for a new companion you are gearing up, etc.  For a small fee, you can unlock MOST things to be account wide.  This is a really nice feature, as it allows you to get that really rare whatever you paid x credits for or got lucky and got in one of your cartel packs and use it on everyone.  And this is not just on a specific legacy. I play on two servers, and my Collections add items from both servers to the collective.  This made for a very happy smuggler.

What good is it to be a smuggler if you never have goodies from the Dark Side?

The Overlord's Throne is courtesy of my Sith Inquisitor's purchase on the GTN, the title "Crime Lord" was something I got in an old cartel pack on the other server.  Now, my main has access to both. It's good to be the Crime Lord, Jabba eat your heart out... At least Leia didn't choke me with her chain.

While I think the system needs some tweaking still, specifically the ability to make the space ship upgrades account wide (those get expensive otherwise for each new 50...) I think it's a major step forward.  While there are those who feel (justifiably) that some of the game issues and content could be addressed ahead of these cosmetic and Cartel Market things, one has to remember that it's the Cartel Market that pays the bills.

The Guardian Fighter: Tank & Spank

Neverwinter Tanking

So the Guardian Fighter is the last of the five classes currently available in Neverwinter.  At first look, this class is confusing.  A lot of the abilities are more damage oriented than defense oriented.  Though once you get the hang of the class it becomes more apparent how it works.  Neverwinter, as a whole only allows you a few things at any given time: Two At Wills, 3 Encounters, and at most 2 Dailies. The second daily doesn't open up until level 19.  You also get a tab and a shift ability that is unique to the class you are playing.  You have far more powers than fit in those slots.  So this is where the Guardian Fighter comes through shining.  The damaging abilities are nice at lower levels where where threat isn't as necessary as it is going to be all over the place with everyone going gonzo and many groups not even using a tank in skirmishes or Cloak Tower. However, if you are serious about tanking and damage mitigation, you have abilities for this around level 15-20.  So you swap things on your tool bar for when you need tanking stuff and when you are looking to be more damage oriented.  Once I got the hang of this feature, my tank became fun and easier.  

The Tab feature for the tank is Mark, which those who are familiar with 4th edition is essentially the tanks "taunt" feature that encourages things to attack them rather than the squishy dps with a death wish.  As you get stronger in levels, your Mark becomes more potent, and is more likely to keep the bad guy beating on your trusty plate mail rather than that crazy wizard in his bath robes.

The Shift feature for the tank is Guard. This essentially means lifting your shield up to hide behind it and block that nasty ogre's golf swing before you are permanently disfigured and your head is mounted on his pike.  Holding shift increases your chance to block that attack, and it also changes your two at wills to a new skill, much like the Channel Divinity in the Cleric mentioned previously.

Roric Saxon, sporting the spiffy level 20 blues available for 10s a piece.

When you are going to go dungeon delving, you just swap out your crazier attacks for extra defenses, and suddenly you are more study by a ton.  You also get more taunts that are good for snap threat.  This makes you feel more like a tank.  I ran a second Cloak Tower in the tank configuration, and the difference was palpable. Mind you, I went from top Damage dealer to last, but that's not my role, right?  However, I also needed no healing potions, and the cleric was able to dps his heart out rather than keep me and the squishies up.