Lately I've been wondering, why aren't the bonus series lvl 50? I see why they are designed the way they are. They represent the continuation of that planets story and as such needs to be in a chronological order. They also act as a continuation for players who want to continue on that planet. There's also the fact that lvl 50 areas wont work well next to lvl 16 – 19 areas, like the main areas on Taris and Balmorra. There are probably more reasons that I have missed, so don't hesitate to tell me if you find some more.
There are (as far as I'm aware) 11 planets that contain bonus series, each with 3-4 stages. Each of these with around 5 missions next to it, so about 165 – 220 missions total. That's a lot of content that is being skipped by a large number of player and as such isn't needed when initially levelling through the planet. As I see it a large reason for people skipping them is down to the characters main storyline. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the main story, but next to the planet's main story and the character main story the bonus series just hasn't got a place. You finish the planet and then the character story moves on to the next planet. And as the players already are a bit over levelled for the next planet (at least early on), they decide to move on with the story to avoid making the next content too easy.
The way I see it, the best way these bonus series could have been designed would be as end game content. They should all continue the planet's story progression post treaty of Coruscant and serve as content for lvl 50 players to enjoy, next to operations, pvp and flashpoints. I see how this may be a problems for planets like Balmorra or Taris however there are multiple ways to fit it in to the story. The areas could be instanced and inaccessible to anyone below lvl 50, however this should be a shared instance for all lvl 50s. As for the fact that they act as a continuation, to help players mold their levelling experience. I see why this would be a great goal, however due to the massive level differences you can achieve before even stepping on the next planet (for instance my sith assassin was lvl 19 before Balmorra). I see no reason for these missions to make that divide larger than it already is.
To conclude I just wanted to say that I think swtor is a good game, however with the right design decisions it could be a great game. The game is certainly going in the right way, however is held back by design decisions like this. The player shouldn't stop their stories on many planets just because their lvl 50 and there is a lot of content here that could enrich the end game. I'm not saying that they should be changed now, as this would involve rewriting the story experience as well as recoding, remodeling and remaking the entire experience for many planets. However I want this to be an after thought the designers have and as such help to prevent the lack of content for later dates.
Regards
Jim
P.S: My mate (who is sitting next to me while writing this) wants me to mention 2 other design decisions quickly.
1: We have holocomunicators and we can't send or receive a simple text message? I see why it wouldn't work for packages and money, however when there's a message sent with purely text, why not?
2: Why does the ship need to take of when the player enters? I know it's a loading screen and the ships only have skyboxes in space, however this would be an easy fix.
