We are in "A new hope" territory still. The empire will strike back soon. Empire won big on Makeb. It got the planet and the Isotope-5. Republic got a bunch of refugees and a dubious alliances with surviving Hutts.

Before I get into the meat of the review, please be aware that I will be talking about the story and directly comparing the Makeb story to previous content. It could be a spoiler for some people so be aware. I'm reviewing this from the point of view of somebody who primarily cares about the single player story experience. I haven't been able to get any groups for the new 55 hardmodes (hopefully that changes as more people hit 55) so I can't really speak to that. What would you say were the best story moments from the original Old Republic? Four in particular stand out to me. 1. The Darth Lachris line on Balmorra. It is sort of a mini quest line in itself, rapidly moving you from objective to objective, some nice background commentary from Lachris and the music picks up as you go from one thing to another, and you get a big story payoff in dealing with the captured Republic officer and going back to Lachris, who gets more development than most quest givers in the game. 2. The Black Talon. Do you remember back when the game was new and nobody was spacebaring through the dialogue? The Black Talon was so cool. It is still one of the tightest experiences in the game. It shares the strength of the Darth Lachris line by skillfully doling out story that quickly moves you from action to action. 3. Sith warrior Act 1 finale: just an epic battle, don't want to say more in case people haven't played it. 4. The entirety of Imperial agent act 2, in my opinion the best writing in the game. What were the weaknesses of the original game from a story standpoint? Voicing every little sidequest is the main one. You overloaded the player with story to the point that they couldn't keep it all straight. It also wasted a lot of resources that could have gone to other aspects of the game. Most ended up spacebaring through everything but class story so it largely went to waste. Also, many quests would have two minutes of dialogue and you completed the thing in 30 seconds if somebody had cleared the enemies from the objective. Then you finished that quest and it left your mind forever. Makeb addressed all of those problems and fixed them. The core voiced questline is the main thing you are doing. The NPCs get a lot of development and you talk to them again and again. Distractions from the core story and your reason for doing what you are doing are minimal. You motivation and goals are always pretty clear. For every individual quest, there are multiple objectives that keep you moving from one thing to another, some good out of cutscene commentary by your handler and your companion to maintain tone, and the story doesn't drag at all. I did not play the Republic story but the Empire one is great. The angle of the Empire being the underdogs (makes sense, half the time Sith are killing other Sith) is very interesting. Like virtually everyone, I would have preferred new class stories but there was enough personalized dialogue to give the story the right feel. There was even a line about very specific stuff I did in Act 1 that I appreciated. I played as an agent, and the covert operation angle felt very true to type. I have no complaints. The story ends in a sufficiently epic fashion and will leave you wanting more. I hate daily quests, feels too much like work. However, the Makeb weekly is pretty painless compared to section X or the black hole with no forced heroic. The dailies have the same engaging design as the story quests, though they aren't as fun with minimal narrative context. The seeker droid and binocular quests are an interesting diversion, but some of the voice acting wasn't very good (Evie Bo and Darth Mortis). I'm sure it will be fun for people who like to go out looking for stuff but that isn't me. The story justification was weak. This is 100% optional though so don't sweat it. As for gameplay, most of the new abilities are cool and the way you play has been reworked in some interesting ways. The new marksman sniper where every core ability triggers followthrough plays pretty well. Haven't tried others yet. My hope is that a lot of people buy this and Bioware takes lessons from it. Selling additional story content is a viable revenue stream. Keep the content focused on one set of quests at a time (The Secret World did this well, where you don't start a new quest until you finish your current questline). Keep the action moving and the player engaged by having quests that have a chain of goals instead of just one and done. Giving the player a base and a set of NPCs to keep returning to for additional story is a lot better than moving from one base to another, each with a new set of one shot quests. I definitely recommend you buy it. Makeb beats out every planetary questline in the game and most of the class stories (perhaps falling short of the more epic story act finales). This is the direction I hope the game goes in the future.

Queue for flashpoints while doing single player quests...

There is no way so many people bought it that they would have to. Probably only a few hundred thousand will buy it, mostly subscribers. But who knows? Maybe I'm wrong and a million people will return for 5 more levels, at least for a month.

How about if you have the achievement for it you can queue for it? That can't be too hard to check for. I've been on clears of EC and TFB that were pugged. I have the achievements for all the boss kills. Being able to auto queue at least for ops weekly quests would be wonderful.

I only recently got to try ancient hypergate today and while it was interesting, it didn't feel much different from what we've already been doing. So, I got an idea. I'm sure a lot of people here have played league of legends or DOTA at least once. The concept is simple, 5vs5, you have three "lanes" and a constant stream of trash coming from both sides going down each lane as well as powerful turrets at regularly intervals. The object is to fight your way down the lanes and destroy the opposing base. Some mechanics would have to be tinkered with ("leveling up" could be some kind of stacking buff awarded at X experience) and rather than selling "items" per se you could have a store in the base that sells various perma buffs or upgrades to the trash mobs or turrets. Some advantages 1. Less players per game so faster queues/easier to arrange ranked matches 2. More strategic, turrets and the leveling up mechanic heavily punish zerging down the most obvious path and getting killed over and over 3. More data for 1 on 1, 2 on 1, and other small group fights to help fine tune balancing, maybe even sell this as an expansion with new talent trees specifically designed to be used in this mode to aid balancing. Also the kind of players who like this kind of mode are very meticulous about balance and will spot problems quickly. These different matchups also make sure every game is different. 4. Proven profitable microtransaction model, easy to monetize 5. If you can add some kind of good overhead observer mode this is perfect for livestreaming/commentating at various websites and generating general interest This isn't all, adding NPCs could allow for other modes. For example, suppose you have another 5on5 scenario. The defending five get a buff, the attacking 5 get a debuff, but more NPC allies and faster respawns. The defenders must defend three lines of defense and hold out for a set period of time. However, the line is very long and the defenders have to spread out while smart attackers will try to overwhelm a single point. Including the "leveling up" mechanic via a stacking permanent buff is also a good idea that makes things interesting each time. These kind of modes are more dynamic and have more replayability after you are fully geared. I guarantee this would keep people interested in PVP in SWTOR for a long time to come. Lastly, cross server play is highly recommended. If queues keep popping people will keep playing and keep spending money. Everybody wins.

I bought it, but last chance. This game has got to be profitable now with cartel coins and people preordering Makeb. This better justify a bigger budget from EA for content updates.

Who here remembers the gambling packs from mass effect 3 multiplayer? They brought in a ton of money. That money justified a budget for new content to keep the money train flowing. The people who liked mass effect 3 multiplayer got to benefit from all the enjoyable new content in many cases even if they didn't buy any packs for real money. I am very much hoping the cartel market is a big success in SWTOR for the same reason. If it brings in a bunch of money that means EA won't abandon this game and will give them a budget to make new stuff that we want. Ever since F2P happened I've noticed updates seem to be more frequent. Remember the long drought between EC and TFB where it seemed like nothing knew came out for six months? Let's hope this new pace continues. Personally what I'd REALLY like to see is a full expansion that cost money, new class story acts, and a streamlined path to 50 to get players into the new content quickly. EA might be willing to fund something like that if people are buying a bunch of stuff on the cartel market. I have to assume you are here because you like this game and want more of it. Subscription revenue alone was not justifying a big new content budget. So that means we need to support the cartel market. Letting people pay some money to avoid a grind doesn't bother me one little bit. I'd pay a bunch of money to supercharge class story exp so I could roll some new alts without the daunting prospect of a thousand poorly written sidequests I spacebar through to get to the good story parts. With these reforms on tionese stuff and war hero gear it would seem they have gotten the message and are trying to get new 50s into operations and warzones ASAP. This is great. I can't help but thinking that this wouldn't have happened without all these people dropping tons of money on gambling packs. Hopefully they'll have some more stuff you can buy outright (I'd like some good looking orange sets for specific classes for example). For the first time in a while it seems like SWTOR has an exciting future.

Yeah, I mean it would seem an open and shut case for why people played the game in the first place. This is the story MMO, that's the point. If they just tightened it up they could release story updates more frequently and sell them as DLC/expansions. They could make money from the people who just want the story, almost all of whom are just not playing right now.

I don't see any reason why this proposal wouldn't massively cut costs for new story content, particularly if you consider how much they reuse assets. Now this would lead to fewer products that could be offered by microtransaction (EXP boosts) in the short term, but I would imagine microtransaction sales will most likely slow down in a month or two. After that you need something new. I know Makeb will be more focused, but the real draw is the personalized class stories. I really hope Bioware listens, I'm absolutely convinced this would make a ton of money and keep the game super profitable.

From all the people I have talked to it seems like a lot of players have bought big packs of cartel coins, especially long term subscribers. I hear people in guild and in ops casually mentioning they bought 5500 coins all the time. It looks like it is another Mass Effect 3 multiplayer effect where gambling packs are pushing people to keep buying. I'm hoping this means the free option and lots of returning players resubscribing and buying coins means this game is generating big revenue again. I've certainly had no trouble finding ops pick up groups when my guild isn't doing anything. This post is about what Bioware needs to do to keep people coming once this initial rush wears down. I don't think anybody can deny that the most popular aspect of this game is the single player story. It is the primarily selling point and the main reason the game cost so much to make. It doesn't have to be this way though. I'll explain why in a little bit. There are four main kinds of players in this game 1. People who come for the single player story only 2. People who come for the PvP exclusively 3. People who come for the operations exclusively 4. People who come for some combination of the previous three Category one is somewhat of a lost cause as they will play for a month, get their story fix, then cancel. Dedicated PvPers and dedicated raiders are both somewhat small. Most players are in category four. However, for those in category four it is usually the case that a player will like the story and the operations or the story and the PVP or all three. In every case the story is the initial hook that brings people in, but there is only so much of it and it is really expensive to produce. What can you do? The answer is quite simple, tighten it up. Abandon the impossible hope of a story MMO and design the leveling experience as a single player game. Voicing and designing every little sidequest is a massive drain on resources and it doesn't add much anyway. It also leads to repetitive dialogue and shortcuts that feel cheap. Furthermore, the fact is that if you talk to five random quest givers who want five random things you won't be able to keep track of it all. The story will be diluted and you will lose immersion. Reduce the leveling curve to one class storyline chain per planet, one "main" quest line that all classes of faction do on a planet (like the Thana Vesh arc on Empire Taris) and only a few "flavor" sidequests that don't take much time. The goal should be a much faster leveling experience where the story beats keep hitting you one after the other so you keep momentum and interest, perhaps 40 hours or less for 1-50. This also makes the prospect of alts more attractive and less daunting to new players, keeping them around longer. This could all be accomplished by adjusting the experience for quests that are already in the game, highlighting the "main" quests and making it clear that sidequests are optional. So, what of future development? This tighter more focused experience needs to be your design philosophy. Treat additional story acts as large DLCs or small expansions. Sell them for 10-20 dollars a class or 60 dollars together. Don't waste a bunch of resources on sidequests most people will spacebar through. Keep it short and sweet with a story act lasting 5-10 hours per class that doesn't meander and gets right to the point. Think of it like a single player game that moves from set-piece to set-piece. It doesn't have to be all action though, extended dialogue with key NPCs and investigate options might be a good idea for better storytelling Remember, the story is the hook. Get new players through the story quickly and already wanting more. Once they hit max level have a quick path for them to jump into PvP or raiding. Get them rolling alts to try out other class stories. I would recommend avoiding additional daily quests. People don't want to hit max level then start grinding dailies. Have the end game itemization paths be wholly PvP or wholly operations so players never feel like they have to do something they don't want to do. The gear will come from doing only what they like. If you can get a design pipeline going for the way you do DLC in other games I see no reason why this game couldn't be seriously profitable just from selling new story acts. Suppose you include 30 days of subscription time with a one time story act purpose. That person will blaze through the story, want more, and will test drive end game group features, namely warzones and operations. Many won't opt to subscribe, but likely far more than present. One final idea you might consider is waiting until you are at the climax of the story (perhaps act 5 or 6) is to streamline the gameplay and sell it as a boxed game (KOTOR 3) on next generation consoles. I bet that would make a ton of money, just a thought.

Read the whole thing. If you lower the time commitment to max level more players will play multiple classes and the best deal will be buying all the next story acts as a pack.

I don't think anybody can deny that the most popular aspect of this game is the single player story. It is the primarily selling point and the main reason the game cost so much to make. It doesn't have to be this way though. I'll explain why in a little bit. There are four main kinds of players in this game 1. People who come for the single player story only 2. People who come for the PvP exclusively 3. People who come for the operations exclusively 4. People who come for some combination of the previous three Category one is somewhat of a lost cause as they will play for a month, get their story fix, then cancel. Dedicated PvPers and dedicated raiders are both somewhat small. Most players are in category four. However, for those in category four it is usually the case that a player will like the story and the operations or the story and the PVP or all three. In every case the story is the initial hook that brings people in, but there is only so much of it and it is really expensive to produce. What can you do? The answer is quite simple, tighten it up. Abandon the impossible hope of a story MMO and design the leveling experience as a single player game. Voicing and designing every little sidequest is a massive drain on resources and it doesn't add much anyway. It also leads to repetitive dialogue and shortcuts that feel cheap. Furthermore, the fact is that if you talk to five random quest givers who want five random things you won't be able to keep track of it all. The story will be diluted and you will lose immersion. Reduce the leveling curve to one class storyline per planet, one "main" quest line that all classes of faction do on a planet (like the Thana Vesh arc on Empire Taris) and only a few "flavor" sidequests that don't take much time. The goal should be a much faster leveling experience where the story beats keep hitting you one after the other so you keep momentum and interest, perhaps 40 hours or less for 1-50. This also makes the prospect of alts more attractive and less daunting to new players, keeping them around longer. This could all be accomplished by adjusting the experience for quests that are already in the game, highlighting the "main" quests and making it clear that sidequests are optional. So, what of future development? This tighter more focused experience needs to be your design philosophy. Treat additional story acts as large DLCs or small expansions. Sell them for 10-20 dollars a class or 60 dollars together. Don't waste a bunch of resources on sidequests most people will spacebar through. Keep it short and sweet with a story act lasting 5-10 hours per class that doesn't meander and gets right to the point. Think of it like a single player game that moves from set-piece to set-piece. It doesn't have to be all action though, extended dialogue with key NPCs and investigate options might be a good idea for better storytelling Remember, the story is the hook. Get new players through the story quickly and already wanting more. Once they hit max level have a quick path for them to jump into PvP or raiding. Get them rolling alts to try out other class stories. I would recommend avoiding additional daily quests. People don't want to hit max level then start grinding dailies. Have the end game itemization paths be wholly PvP or wholly operations so players never feel like they have to do something they don't want to do. The gear will come from doing only what they like. If you can get a design pipeline going for the way you do DLC in other games I see no reason why this game couldn't be seriously profitable just from selling new story acts. Suppose you include 30 days of subscription time with a one time story act purpose. That person will blaze through the story, want more, and will test drive end game group features, namely warzones and operations. Many won't opt to subscribe, but likely far more than present. One final idea you might consider is waiting until you are at the climax of the story (perhaps act 5 or 6) is to streamline the gameplay and sell it as a boxed game (KOTOR 3) on next generation consoles. I bet that would make a ton of money, just a thought.

Yeah seriously. They need to massively buff the medals for objective play. For example I'd support cutting the medal requirements in half if it was done within close proximity to the objective. For example you might get a medal for 300k dps or healing. Have a medal for 150k dps or healing within a certain range of the huttball, etc.

Simple solution to faction imbalance: exp bonuses. Say the split is 55-45 empire, then republic quests, mob kills, and pvp yield 5% more exp than normal 60-40 split make it 10% more 70-30 split 20% more I play empire but I'd like to roll some republic alts at some point for the story. If leveling was faster I'd totally do it. Merge a few of the low pop servers (not all are low pop, my server mind trick has well over 200 in Imperial fleet at peak hours which I consider to be a lot) and give exp bonuses to incentivize faction balance. Those who want to see more class stories do and the grind is much less. I'm sure there are also at least some heavy republic servers where this can work in reverse. Everybody wins.

Suggestion: when you are grouped have every kill yield a small number of social experience the same as legacy experience so it isn't as dependent on group conversations.

So a few things: 1. 2. What I want to know is how much should I regret my choice? Will there be story payoff later where this decision will matter? Or did I just cheat myself out of a big end of act 1 climactic battle?

I totally 100% agree. The story of this game is great but the story chunks are too spread out to keep driving you forward. There is simply too much MMO grind to get the next story payoff. If you 1. Made this a single player RPG 2. Reduced it down to the class story quests, main planet quest lines, and a few flavor side quests like kotor or mass effect 3. Tightened up the gameplay and reduced it down to 6-12 really good abilities per class 4. Let you have multiple companions at once so your group has all roles available (and allows for inter party banter like dragon age) I would pay 20-25 bucks PER class. I'd probably buy them all except the stories I didn't like (sorry consular/inquisitor). You'd make more money, the game would have cost way less to develop, and everybody would be happy. I love this game but the MMO parts are the least fun parts of this game to me. I would have much rather had actual kotor 3.

You know how you get the "Call to Arms" quest that leads to boarding party and foundry on the empire side? Is there a general quest that leads to these two flashpoints and if so where do you pick it up? I'm 50 and haven't seen anything.

Either side could win. The republic and sith empire have both been totally destroyed only to emerge again later. One instance of which is right there in the movies. The republic falls, it is destroyed. Then rebels found the republic again. This has happened before.

If you look back at the Dural story recap videos you will see that the entire casus belli for this war was the attempted genocide of the sith by the republic/jedi.

And it isn't like this would require much change would it? The trooper is supposed to be a near mirror of the BH isn't it? You'd just have to give powertechs the proficiency and all the abilities should work. Heck if you wanted to get crazy (and this would probably require a serious overhaul/expansion) but I'd like to give at least one player class the ability to use blades/staffs primarily. If you want to talk about Canderous Ordo I always turned him melee with vibroblades/vibrostaffs. Sith warriors can use them theoretically but in practice it never happens, I think most of our abilities require lightsabers. Scrap the shared 3rd tree and give mercs a dps tree for the staff and powertechs a dps tree for the blade + shield. There are already companions who function like this so there is a design precedent. This of course would require a ton of work and is kind of a long term request. PTs with rifles would seem to be very easy to implement and would change little other than add to the appeal of the class and help the economy by increasing demand for aim rifles.

Power tech with a rifle would be pretty cool, I would role one. Also it would be nice to see more +aim rifles on the GTN for my companion Pierce as a sith warrior, I can't find them anywhere. PT's need something to make them stand out and a rifle would be it.

The sith warrior story was what the inquisitor story should have been when you think about it. There is a ton of intrigue, plotting, and most of your strikes against the republic are covert assassinations and the like.

As far as I can tell each planet has a main story quest line in addition to your class quests. I've only made it to Hoth and played empire so far but I have strong opinions on what I have seen. Be warned extreme spoilers are about to ensue. Balmorra Nar Shadda Tatooine Alderaan Taris & Quesh What do you think? Do you have a favorite planetary quest chain? So far Balmorra wins hands down in my mind.