AlanShotFirst.com

So, I love to PvP in SWTOR. So much so that I leveled my Imperial Agent (sniper) all the way from level 10 to 50 by solely doing PvP.  The Double XP Weekends helped expedite the journey to 50, but nonetheless I enjoy PvP far too much it would seem.

So I get to 50 and realize that I don’t have a ship to travel the galaxy and my story/class quests were waiting for me all the way back on Dromund Kaas. So I grabbed a shuttle, got my feet on the ground in Kaas City and away I went.  I do ONLY class quests for what seemed like an eternity, BUT something curious happened along the way.

I LOVED playing the game this way!  I absolutely, 100% loved it!  I am the kind of guy that if I put a book down for 24 hours needs a summary statement or reminder as to what was happening when I last closed it. I have a good “forgetter”.  This comes in handy in marriage, because I truly can forgive and forget, BUT that is a whole different post topic…LOL!

For the next 5 days I spent every gaming moment just plowing through my Agent’s story. From Dromund Kaas to Corellia I learned about all the twists and turns the story gods at BioWare had in store for me. What a story!

This allowed me a laser focus on my character, my choices, the intrigue, the subterfuge and all the things that made the Agent story special.  I jotted down bullet-point notes as I went along and talked to others in our guild that had done it too.  The experience was fantastic.

I don’t know how you prefer to level, but I am quite convinced that from now I will try and do at least the final two chapters of every character all at once.  On a related note, there is a TON of class story in SWTOR. Much of the time I spent was due to traveling from point A to point B, but even with that necessary evil it took me almost 30 hours of gameplay to journey from getting my ship until the conclusion of my story on Corellia.

Tell me about how YOU enjoy playing your SWTOR in the comments down below.  As always, please no spoilers for me or my readers.

Thanks for reading my friends!
- Alan

Starting your first character on a new server is daunting. Especially when you’ve tasted the fruits of your labor on another server and have two max level characters with more money than you know what to do with in those character’s pockets. When I chose to be a part of the TORWars Guild on the Shadowlands back in November of 2012 I didn’t have a single character on that server and server transfers still aren’t an available option as I write this article.

Fast forward 4 months. I’ve been playing my Bounty Hunter quite exclusively and got him to level 49 by the beginning of March 2013. I was about 55% of the way from 49 to 50 and had logged out my character on Voss.  He was logged out standing in front of the flight path waiting to get down to business the next day when I logged back in.

A few days prior I had asked a question during my Community Blender segment on TORWarsTV in which I requested people’s opinions about which class I should roll next.  Many people said the Imperial Agent storyline was well written so I decided I would go ahead and get my next character setup and waiting for me so that when I hit 50 I could start playing the agent.

I had just purchased the Mirialan race unlock and wanted to use the same name as my level 6 agent so I needed to just delete my baby agent, reroll him with the same name as a Mirialan and then embark on this new adventure.

I went through all the normal steps: selected the character I wanted to delete, typed DELETE into the confirmation screen and then began to create my Mirialan agent.

It took me about 5 minutes and when I hit “play” it said the name had already been taken. I thought to myself, “Someone stole my character name that I JUST deleted in a matter of 5 minutes?!”  So I went back to the character select screen and saw that my level 6 agent was still there. Odd, I thought…perhaps the first delete just didn’t “take”.

Again, I deleted my level 6 agent and as I drew near the end of recreating my Mirialan agent I began to think, “I must have deleted one of my other toons a moment ago, but which one did I delete?!”

As I traveled back to the character select screen I quickly assessed that not only had I deleted another character, but that I had deleted my level 49 Bounty Hunter.  He was GONE!!!

I was sick. Literally, figuratively, SICK! I couldn’t believe the mistake that I had made. Never had I been so unobservant to miss a detail like that. I didn’t know what to do.

Thankfully some guildies in our Mumble server talked me off the ledge and told me to put in a Customer Service ticket to explain my mistake.  I pulled out ALL the stops. I begged, I pleaded, I offered my wife’s homemade chocolate chip cookies (no lie) and I signed my request with these words: “Help me Customer Service, you’re my only hope!”

I couldn’t sleep. I tossed, I turned. Thoughts of my Bounty Hunter running through fields of flowers and falling in love with young Mako flashed through my head. How could this have happened?!

I was eager to get word from Customer Service, but I finally drifted off to sleep somehow. A few hours later at around 6:00am I woke up to see I had received an email from Customer Service just an hour after “The Incident”. They were gracious, kind, and declined the need of my wife’s cookies and without any fuss or scolding my Bounty Hunter was resurrected from the great SWTOR Trash Bin in the sky!

So, what’s the moral of the story? When you type “DELETE”, make sure you have the right character selected, but take heart in knowing that if you do make that mistake, the Customer Service at BioWare has your back.

May the Force be with you!
- Alan

I didn’t enjoy in-game events/holidays in World of WarCraft and frankly I’m not a big fan of them in Star Wars: The Old Republic either.

At times I might participate a little, but I feel like they get in the way of the core game. I know I am in the minority on this topic, but just thought I would give a few reasons why I feel this way.

1) On holiday events: I don’t want Christmas trees, jingle bells, Halloween candy, Octoberfest or the 4th of July in my MMO. I have plenty of all those things every time I walk into a Walgreens and in my real life. MMOs are to be an escape from real life. When you infuse real life events (even if you re-skin them with a different name) it breaks immersion for me.

2) On in-game events: My friends and I in-game have a nice thing going on. We log-in, meet up for PvP and play until we fall soundly asleep at our keyboards. Try putting together a group for much of anything (besides the event) when Rakghouls are running around the deserts of Tatooine!
 In short, it divides the objectives of an online community.

3) I know I am casual and that I will always have more content to do. For that reason I rarely feel like it’s a good trade off to spend two hours taking part in an event if the payoff keeps me from leveling every toon I have to 50. Again, I know I am in the minority here, but I have to be honest…right?

4) On my current server I don’t have a 50 yet. I started over again on a new server to enjoy a more robust guild experience with the TORWars Guild (http://torwarsguild.com). Several of my friends did the same thing, but when the Gree event started two nights ago they logged into their 50s on our OLD server to take part. I did not. I enjoyed a few PvP matches, logged-off, read a few chapters of the SWTOR Annihilation novel and went to bed. Surely I am not the only one…?

I don’t know if any of that made any sense, and it probably didn’t, but what do YOU think about in-game events or holidays? Do you love them, hate them, or just couldn’t care less?  What is the best in-game event or holiday you’ve ever experienced in any game?

Leave me some comments down below and let me know!

Game on my friends!
- Alan

A not-so-passionate article on a topic that shouldn’t be so shocking.

Let’s all take a deep breath.  Breathe in… Breathe out… 

Okay, now, let’s attempt to look at things objectively for a moment…shall we?

Many, many months ago BioWare stated that Same Gender Romances (SGR) would be included in their game.  I remember reading several articles on various websites with varying opinions on the topic.  The topic was introduced, reported on, noted as coming “soon” and for most of us got cataloged in the back of our memory along with how much you love your grandmother’s homemade hot rolls and the name of your third goldfish that died just two weeks after you bought it when you were 8.

Fast forward to today’s frenzy surrounding the inclusion of said SGRs in the new game expansion on the newly awaited planet of Makeb. What are we to make of this news?  A promise fulfilled, a slight to the homosexual community, or a deviation from Star Wars cannon? 

Well, it could be all of those or none of them.  I am not going to even begin to dissect all of that.  All I know for sure is that BioWare said SGRs were coming, they are on the horizon and we as a gaming community have to be reminded of two things at this moment: 1) not every gamer is like you and 2) this is JUST a game.

On the first point, if you think that every “gamer” on your mumble server is just like you, you are dead wrong.  We aren’t all cut from the same cloth…  Republicans and Democrats, pro-gun and anti-gun, Christian and Atheist, white and black, men and women, boys and girls, straight and gay…gamers are all over the map when it comes to what makes each of us intrinsically unique.

Secondly, Star Wars: The Old Republic is just a game.  It isn’t a political statement about how you feel about same-sex unions or what you think when you see two men holding hands in public.  It is just binary code organized together in such a way to make you think you are a Jedi Master or an elite sniper for the Imperial army.  

Let’s switch gears slightly. You know just a few short weeks ago how the country was up in arms about the horrible tragedy in Newtown?  What did many politicians and people say about the shooter?  They talked about how he played violent video games…right?

Well, if you are like me you thought that the relationship of video games and the horrific acts the shooter committed are not related.  Many of us have been playing video games for 30 years and would NEVER, EVER contemplate such an act.  People fear what they don’t understand and frankly, video games are still a scary topic for many people.

So, let’s use the same logic here.  Will playing SWTOR on a planet that has same-sex romance options influence you in real life and make you “gay”? Ridiculous! Utterly stupid in fact.

So what’s all the drama about?  We play a video game, it is glorified make-believe, the developers said same-gender romance options were coming, we are days away from them as an option for our characters, and yet this imaginary line-in-the-sand has been drawn.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I am quite confident that on the dialogue wheel of choices in conversations with non-player characters (NPCs) of the same gender as your favorite Sith Warrior won’t force you down a path you don’t want to go.  I am sure that not participating in SGR will be one of the choices.  I might be wrong, but having played several toons to level 50 there is usually a “Refuse Quest” option or a way to let the NPC know you aren’t interested in them.  You don’t have to choose the “flirt” option every time.

Let’s all just take another deep breath and wait to see how BioWare implements SGRs before we pre-judge the inclusion of this game mechanic.  Remember when they told us there wouldn’t be swimming in the game…now that WAS a big deal!!

May the Force be with you!
- Alan

P.S. - Many of you know that I am a pastor.  You might think that I am a cookie cutter conservative that wants to stay away from this topic, but I want to be clear.

I am a gamer AND a Christian.
I believe that God created the earth and everything in it.
I believe that we are ALL sinners…even ME!
I believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived a sinless life and died for the WHOLE of mankind. (even people not like me…even those that are straight AND gay)
I am called, because of my relationship with Christ to love you ALL, not just straight people or people just like me.

Now, let’s all play Star Wars: The Old Republic already!

Much love my gamer friends! 

Merry Christmas my friends! 

There are many things to celebrate this time of year, but I just wanted to take a quick moment to remind ourselves what it is that brings us together as familiar strangers on this wonderful invention called the internet.

No matter what the media tells you, video games are an amazing medium to use to connect with people around the world.  I have 500+ followers on twitter because of this medium.  I have a new PC (that I am typing this on) because of these “games”.  I don’t have violent tendencies from shooting people with a blaster in a galaxy far, far away…but, I digress.

If you follow me on twitter, thank you.  If you read this blog from time to time, thank you.  If you healed my lame-self in a warzone, thank you.  If you enjoy pixels and binary code far more than you should, well, join the club!

Merry Christmas!  Or Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, or whatever you celebrate this time of year.  Here’s to another year of gaming goodness for us all!

- Alan

I wanted to post a quick follow-up to the PC Rebuild Raffle:

I got donations from Denmark, the United Kingdom, Australian and the United States.  Who knew the intraweb was worldwide?!

I learned that my involvement in the greater SWTOR community is valued.  I learned that some people care more about being kind than winning prizes.  I learned that even though I’ve met very few of you face-to-face that we still “connect”. I learned that gaming isn’t near as important as I thought in light of tragedies in kindergarten classrooms.  I learned that in spite of all my preconceived notions about what gaming is and isn’t, that surprises are just around the corner.

Special shout-outs to those of you that donated, but requested to not be entered into the raffle. Your generosity is well beyond mine.

Thanks to Aspis and the TORWars Guild for donating proceeds from their apparel sales to help me out.  I am uber-thankful for your support throughout my down-time.

Jeff & Deirdre Hollis for donating a lot of the cool stuff I got to give away. Zach Brown for the autographed Troy Denning novel. Asros/Brian for being my first donor and encourager.

A BIG thank you to @druidsfire for making a donation, winning one of the drawings and then telling me to keep it and enjoy it. Such a selfless act!

Now to purchase my new PC parts online, wait for them to arrive, and then build my new gaming rig. (well, mostly new anyway - I love my case!)

Much love my gaming amigos!  I will see you in-game soon!

Humbled,
- Alan

P.S. - I’ve had a couple of requests for my PayPal info because folks might still want to donate to the cause. If so you can click this LINK to donate. Thanks!

THREE DRAWINGS and MORE PRIZES!  See the details below!

ENTER THE RAFFLE HERE (or at the bottom of this post) —-> Donations/Tickets

Note: Drawing is on December 14th at 8pm CST.
 

So, I’ve been thinking…

I have some pretty unique items from the Fan Site and Guild Summits that I had the privilege to attend.  What better way to help spread the love than to offer some of these items to you and at the same time have some fun and raise some money for my ailing PC?!

If you want to buy a chance to get this collection of items (which I will list in a moment) then all you have to do is hit the link at the bottom of this article and donate money in multiples of 5 ($5 per raffle ticket) and you are automatically entered to win!  There is no limit to the number of tickets you can purchase.

Here are the three different drawings:
 

DRAWING ONE:

One Taun Fawn Code - This cute little Tauntaun Fawn will follow you in your many adventures across the galaxy! I know what you’re thinking, but this has to be an expensive pet to raise, right?!  Wrong!  Surprisingly they don’t eat anything.  Cheap and cute!

DRAWING TWO: (donated by Jeff and Deirdre Hollis of TORWars)

Guild Summit Coin - This limited run and unique coin was given to everyone in attendance at the Guild Summit held in March of 2012. Comes with a leather display case and certificate of authenticity this is one of the rarest pieces of “real-world” SWTOR loot in the galaxy.  This will most likely be your only chance to snag this piece of SWTOR history!

Authenticator Key Fob - Keep your prized SWTOR account safe and sound with this security device straight from the Collector’s Edition box.  You might already have one, but do you have THIS one?!  I think not!

The Fatal Alliance novel by Sean Williams - One of the novels from The Old Republic timeframe. I really enjoyed this novel and found it gave me some fun context to wrap around my SWTOR gaming experience. 

The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural - This book, found only in the Collector’s Edition, was compiled by Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan. With several removable posters and full color artwork, this is a must have for any true SWTOR fan.  Not to mention Jeff and Deirdre once held this book with their glorious hands!

DRAWING THREE:

BioWare Hand Sanitizer - I picked up this gem right off the front security desk of BioWare Austin.  If you want to clean your hands the same way the devs do, this is the way to do it! Yes, that is the BioWare logo on the front!

BioWare SWTOR Themed Folder - This is the most epic folder on the planet! At one time this folder held the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) from the Guild Summit and a personalized letter to me from the former heads of BioWare.  To see what it now holds see below.

Itinerary for the 2nd Fan Site Summit (Nov 2011) and the Guild Summit (Mar 2012) - Inside the folder you will find both of the above itineraries. On them are dated reveals and the names of former BioWare greats like David Bass and Stephen Reid.  A must read for any true SWTOR fan.

My Dark-Side/Light-Side Choice Dialogue Wheel - Made famous by the most watched video on my website (found here) the note I left on the front row of the Guild Summit to save my seat over night in the main conference room. Thankfully Light Side choices were made. Did I mention it is on a Double Tree Austin notepad?

Guild Summit T-Shirt - 1 of only about 300 in existence. This XXL T-Shirt (both sides shown below) is a SWTOR collector’s prized find! Only worn twice, this shirt sports some amazing Aurebesh on the front, which ironically translates to the same thing printed in English on the back. Frame it, wear it, burn it…the choice is yours!

Author Signed Troy Denning Novel: Apocalypse - (pictures below) This novel was made out to the former guild known as MERC (Mos Eisley Radio Community).  We were going to give it away to someone in the guild, but instead you get a crack at it.  It says: “To the community of MERC. Stay honorable. Stay true. May the Force be with you! - Troy Denning  15 March ‘12”.

This can ALL be yours for only $5.00!

ENTER THE RAFFLE HERE —-> Donations/Tickets

Disclaimers and other somewhat official details:
- Tickets are $5.00 each. Please make your donation/purchase in multiples of 5. Thanks.
- The drawing will be on Friday, December 14th at 8pm CST. 
- Winner will be announced on this site, twitter and by email.
- All entries will be put on a slip of paper the number of times they entered and a winner will be drawn randomly by Alan’s 2 year old daughter who can’t read. Fair right?! 
- This raffle is for fun and for fundraising ONLY. All proceeds will go directly to build a new PC for Alan only. Besides, he hates cruises. 
 

I’ve been a part of the greater Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) community for right at two years now.  It started back when I was an avid listener of The Instance podcast, the most popular World of Warcraft podcast, and Scott Johnson (the host) mentioned he had made a guest appearance on Mos Eisley Radio.  I had been excited about the development of the new Star Wars MMO, but had never actively looked for a podcast covering that development.

After some google research I not only found Mos Eisley Radio, but a larger family of SWTOR podcasts that included TORWars (torwars.com), Corelian Run Radio (corellianrun.com) and too many more to name.

Over the last two years the ride has been more amazing than I can even begin to explain.  Most of my adventures and videos from the second Fan Site Summit and the Guild Summit can be found on this site. (links provided)

I’ve met some amazing people on the journey.  Zach, Brooks & Evan from Mos Eisley Radio.  David Bass and Stephen Reid are class acts.  Carla and Kathy from Corellian Run Radio are two of the nicest, sincere and warmest people I’ve ever met.  Mark from the TORSyndicate loves Whataburger almost more than I do.  Jeff and Dierdre Hollis and Brian from TORWars almost feel like family.

On top of the names above, there are countless men and women from the fan side of the community that have impacted my life in many ways: Aspis, Aaron, WhiteFox, Tassedar, Steiny, Dimbo, w00d, Animus, Bob, Crozar, Almon, Braio, Crackerbox, Foust, Jakoby, Swcrusader, Rakshasa and MANY, MANY more.

Fast forward to today. My PC died this last week and the number of people that have leant their PC knowledge, donated to my new rig, figured out ways to help me raise money and have reminded me that I will be missed, but that I haven’t lost my place in this awesome community just because my PC went down have reminded me why I enjoy gaming so much.

We may never meet face-to-face, but I know that I am a part of something larger than myself, and I am thankful.  Many of us will be sitting around tables tomorrow feasting on turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce.  While you are shoveling awesome food into your awesome face pause for just a moment and think about your family.  Most of us have relatives we wish we didn’t, but overall we have much to be thankful for.  I’m thankful for guildies, podcasters, gamers, new friends and old ones. In a strange way, I am thankful for dead PCs because through this time it has reminded me about what is important.

I didn’t write this article to raise money for my new rig, but many of you have asked how you can help.  Here is a link or two to answer that question.  In the coming days I will be finding some swag from the Guild Summit last March to raffle off too.  Thanks for all of your support.  It means more to me than you know!

Thankful.

- Alan

Paypal Donations :: epic intraweb fistbumps from me!

TORWars Guild Gear :: proceeds go to my new PC fund

Free-to-Play is HERE!

Now, I am going to assume that these two news-worthy events are unrelated (see title). Perhaps BioWare put a special dose of PC-killing code in my patch since I have been a bit critical as of late about the future of SWTOR, but I highly doubt that is the case.

Free-to-Play (F2P) is here.  Perhaps I too quickly judged what the ramifications of F2P would be.  Perhaps, as I admitted in a previous post, I was unable to look at it from any other perspective but mine.  With all that out of the way, I must say that there seems to be a new energy in the SWTOR universe.  Since we don’t have any metrics about the number of returning players or fresh players new to the game it is really hard to say what the longevity of this current wave of players will be.

I for one hope that many of this new wave of players decides to stick around a while so we can truly give this game the shot that it deserves.

I think another thing that is important when you play a game like SWTOR is a solid guild experience.  I am excited to be a part of a new guild, created by the fine folks over at TORWars (http://torwars.com).  The launch of the TORWars guild coincided with the F2P launch so obviously that leant to the momentum we are now experiencing.

My PC is DOWN for the count…

Now onto the less exciting news: my PC died a quick and bloody death.  It started off simple enough with a few “artifacts” on the screen while playing a quick match of CoD4, but over the next 24 hours it turned into artifacts on the screen even during the boot-up process and in safe mode.

The rig I have is 5 years old.  I upgraded the RAM and the video card about a year and half ago.  I realized that in tech-years it is a dinosaur, so instead of paying the premium it would cost to find old parts for my old rig, I thought my money would better serve me in a whole new system.  I’m not shooting for anything high-end, just a rig that will play SWTOR  efficiently.

It may take me a month or two (or three) to get all the money saved up, but I’ve been known to be patient a few times in my life.  We will see just how long it lasts.  The longest I have gone without a PC was from 1976-1994.  Of course, I bought my first PC in 1994, and I was born in 1976 so that number may be a bit misleading.

The biggest blessing on the journey without a PC is that I am getting WAY more sleep, reading some books I’ve been neglecting, and I’ve found out there are some amazing people in our SWTOR community.

One of the members of our greater community sent me a PayPal donation to help me work towards building my new rig. It’s acts of kindness like that that truly show me that a) there are amazing people left in this world and b) friendships can be forged on the internet that have true impact in each of our lives.

Game on my friends! Be kind to one another. Have a great Thanksgiving, and expect more from me in the coming weeks because I won’t be gaming.

- Alan

I do not want to be “THAT GUY”.  You know, the one that goes from being a fanboy to a hater in a matter of seconds.  So, I won’t be.  However, I do have some initial thoughts on this whole Cartel Coin/Free-to-Play (F2P) transition for Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR).

     I will do my very best to keep my thoughts objective, but      
     with the understanding that the way I work through my
     thoughts is by writing an article like this one.  Consider this
     my open journal about my gaming life if you will.

     So, we have known for quite some time that the F2P portion
     of the SWTOR journey was coming.  No surprise.  However, I
     never thought that we would be paying for “check marks”.  
     Let me explain.

I expected to pay for Operations, WarZones, Flashpoints, gear, pets, and speeders.  No surprise on any of those things.  What I didn’t expect was to have to pay for “hide head slot” or “unify chest color” type features.  Even going as far as having to pay for speeders upgrades if you wanted to fly faster if you chose to go F2P.

I keep hearing from people that this is par for the F2P course. I understand that to an extent. I do! If a game started off as F2P these types of purchases make perfect sense to me, but for a game to transition from a subscription model and then makes you pay for items like I listed above is a bit challenging to me.

I’ve also been told that Electronic Arts (EA) and BioWare aren’t setting up the Cartel Market and F2P restrictions for players like me that bought the Collector’s Edition and have been paying $15/month since launch.  They are doing it to attract new players that will dabble a bit with the game, get enticed by the micro-transactions and then eventually become full subscribers.  This may be true, but I can’t be the only one that is thinking of transitioning from a full-sub to F2P.

Some of you will say that I am sounding like I feel entitled to game features that I shouldn’t.  I get that.  I can see that perspective.  In fact, you might be right to an extent, but as I said in my last vidcast, I really do want to love this game and continue to be an ambassador for it.  I’m just struggling with that at the moment.

I am looking forward to the new SimCity game coming our way March 5th.  I have also been doing a ton of board gaming with my son lately. (i.e. Castle Panic, Zombie Dice and Forbidden Island).  There is something quite rewarding about teaching your son about the love of gaming of all types.

So, I turn to you, my faithful fans. What say you?  Do you think I am over-reacting? Under-reacting?  Sounding entitled?  How do you feel about the info that has come out over the last 48 hours about the Cartel Market?  What do you think the “real-world” money to Cartel Coin conversion rate will be?

Leave me comments below and let’s see where this journey takes us!

May the Cartel Coin flip ever in your favor…
- Alan