Adventures In Lightsabers

Since the game officially launched 10 days ago, I’m going to assume that anyone who may be reading this blog and interested in playing SWTOR has probably already started. Which means I can begin slowly posting things here that I would have considered spoilers a couple of weeks ago. And today, I’m kicking that off by talking about experiencing the moment I got my lightsaber on both my Jedi Consular and my Sith Inquisitor. Both characters received a lightsaber at around level 9 – 10, but the experiences were vastly different.

Let’s start with Kristalys. As she is my main character, I am heavily invested into her storyline and become really excited over the smallest of things. Working my way through the starting planet of Tython, I eventually stumbled into a questline where I began hearing a bit about lightsabers. Soon I was told I needed to journey to the old lightsaber forge for a quest. Somewhere around the same time, I was sent into a cave to extract some sort of crystal. Basically, the story built up the anticipation for my lightsaber. It was being hinted about as my levels increased and I knew it was coming soon. Eventually I made my way to the forge and a really cool cut scene started that played out my lightsaber being created. You can see from the following screenshots, it was a pretty epic experience.

Cut to me leveling my Sith Inquisitor. While I am having fun because I can be a sarcastic asshole to everyone, the way in which Regan gains her lightsaber was completely boring. There was no mention of a lightsaber at all while questing. No little hints about creating one or missions to gather materials. In fact, the whole thing happened suddenly and was very anti-climatic. Basically, I completed some menial task and returned to the Sith Academy to speak with Lord Zash. She told me she was traveling soon to Drommond Kaas and that I should meet her there when I get the chance. And then the next thing I know, she’s tossing me a lightsaber through the air over her desk and saying “this is the lightsaber I had as an apprentice. I want you to have it”. I catch it, light it up and then go on about my business. YAWN!

The lightsaber is a big deal to me; I wanted to play characters that carry one. The Jedi experience was amazing, the Sith experience was disappointing. I wonder why they were so different.