I remember the excitement when Knights of the Fallen Empire was announced. I couldn't stop watching the trailer and it was the first time in a very long time a MMORPG made me feel the hype. Skip ahead a few months and here it is, the expansion finally arrives! I have my army of level 60s ready to set foot in the new content. I decided that my bounty hunter would be the first on my list and here it comes, the famous yellow text appears. The excitement, my excitement, reached its peak, my sweaty palms are witnesses, the setting is epic, grandiose! Before I continue, I would like to say I will use as few spoilers as humanly possible, but there will be some, and there won't be a spoiler box to hide them, simply because I feel they are making an important point in my review. Apart from the trailer and the announcement of the expansion, I closed my eyes (ears?) to pretty much everything concerning the upcoming content. I knew about companions changes and the fact you lose them early on, only to get them back later if you so choose and that is pretty much it. So I went in this expansion totally green and that is going to be reflected in how I view things, just remember that. First thing I have noticed, is the heavy use of cut scenes, it almost felt like an abuse at some points, but felt very cinematic and I was ok with it for the most part. Some new NPCs are very good, some are very bad and or plainly annoying and being forced to have them with you makes certain part of the story tedious. At some point, early on, you are given the choice to go with one or the other first, and whoever you didn't pick, you will accompany them second. Now depending if you are light side or dark side, you should choose carefully, because at the end of the second mission (remember, second mission is with the companion you DID NOT pick) you are faces with a dark and light choice, which will lead to "your actions will be remembered" text on the bottom left, but we will come back later on this. My bounty hunter being light side and choosing the wrong companion, was confronted with a loss of affection with his companion and that said companion will also remember my actions. I thought I was done for, as this was the companion I wanted to romance. So overall, for companions and heavy usage of cut scenes, I give it a 3/5. As for the story itself, well I am sad to say that what was advertised by Bioware is simply not true, so far anyway. The extent of the matter of your choices being companions and contacts will remember what you did, but they don't really give a damn about it. My Bounty Hunter was able to romance Lana even though, if we look at the bad choices I made with her at my side, looks like she hates my guts. The guy in my head keeps hating what I respond to him, yet he continues to offer his help. Can you see where this is going? The story is also identical for every class and it led me to frustration on both my Bounty Hunter and Sith Assassin. I have done all the story, most of the alliance planetary recruitment, and I still have not regained a single of my old companions. What I mean is, they could have done a better job at splitting the companions better in the first 9 chapters and then from the alliance system. I think every class should have had at least 1 companion back by the end of the story, and one more during the alliance "end-game" system (2V-R8 does NOT count!!). I know we can get them back from the terminal and that is fine, but I wanted to know what they have been up to for those 5 years. Same thing happened with my inquisitor, having to wait all the way to the end to get one of the most annoying companions ever, but at least, I know what my apprentice has been up to, so that makes 2 companions back for my sith, which is alright I guess. For the story, which is a masterpiece in itself, but is very poorly implemented, I give it a 3/5 as well. As for the other changes, crafting, companions power, etc. I do not feel like I tested it enough (crafting) or I simply do not care (companion power, level syncing). In conclusion I will say this. The price tag of this expansion makes it excellent value for money spent, especially if you planned to subscribe anyway. After playing through the story 2 times, I can say that I was entertained enough to justify my subscription. That being said, my expectations were much higher than this. I actually expected choices that matter and after playing light side and dark side, I can tell you, it is the same thing as before. The difference lies in light vs dark and the outcome remains the same. That left me with a bitter taste after all the effort Bioware went through to tell us our choices will really matter this time around. The amount of cut scenes makes the second time you are playing the expansion a real pain in the back (I spent more time spacebarring my way out of cut scenes than actually playing my character), but is also very good the first time, so it's all a matter of opinion at that point. TL/DR : Expansion is worth it, but only because it is pretty much free.

They said they removed comm gear vendors to make leveling process more "challenging"

/HK-51 Approves

Is this a joke? The new crew is a one-man crew with a variety of different skins, that's what it is. They removed all the uniqueness companions had. Some people paid REAL money for comps (HK, Treek), how do you think they feel now?

That made me laugh, but it's not even funny.

Well, at least you are aware of it I guess.

Eh, I'm somewhat in the same boat, but with a twist. I was subbed until aug 5th while I was away on vacation and I was unaware of the change in dates, I thought I was fine but they changed it to aug 10th instead of july 31st for the first reward and I didn't bother to renew my sub until close to aug 31st, at which point I realized I had been screwed over, oh well, no biggie, what's one more week in a lifetime y'know?

let's see ... 1654207 ... Dang!

Nah, not worth it either. But 15$ a month for flashpoints, PVP, OPs, story and bug squashing ... Now that seems about right. I always said if you play MMOs for only one aspect, you can find a much better experience elsewhere. If you ONLY like stories, there are FAR BETTER games out there for you. Most of the stories in this game are okay at best, with a couple of good ones mixed in with some mediocre ones. If you ONLY enjoy PVP, then again, other games do it better than SWTOR will ever do, same with OPs, flashpoints, questing, etc. When it comes to choosing the "right" MMO, you have to look at the whole package, not only a single element of it, otherwise, you are in for disappointment. I personally participated, at some point or another, in all of the aspects this game has to offer and I'm pretty sure a lot of people have too. In the MMO market, putting all your eggs in the same basket is a bad business decision, no matter which basket you choose to fill.

You would be surprised at the number of people selling their items at the default value. Yesterday i bought 25 major xp boosts at default value and that happens regularly, to the point i relist them now, as I think I have enough major xp boosts to level 50 characters to 60.

bug free? nah I can live with bugs, but more than one year, same bug> come on white knight, even you can't deny it's BS.

When you try to use quick travel, only to find out your character miraculously forgot the location he went to so many times before and then, a forum search on the issue points out the bug has been reported numerous times for over a year. Good times.

I was thinking it would be nice to create a professional huttball league completely independant of the ranked warzones. Here is what I was thinking: - One team per server, competing against other servers' teams. - There would be seasons, just like the ranked matches, with a tournament at the end of each season. - There would be a pre-season intra-server tournament to determine which team represents the server. - Players from all servers can watch the matches (Spectators). - Tickets for spectators could be available through the cartel market for a very low amount of coins or with credits. - There would be unique rewards for the season winning team. - The reward for every players at the end of the season would be a unique set of armor with the logo of their team. P.S. Let's keep this thread clean. Please, if you do not like the idea, tell us why, otherwise i would ask you to refrain from posting. On the other hand, if you like the idea, but would like to add to it, please let your voice be heard! Peace.

Back online ...stop the QQ.

That is actually EPIC. Keep up the good work Bioware, keep "fixing" them bugs. LOL!

2AM CST = 8-10AM Europe right? Down for 6 hours means 2-4PM it's back for you. That is what you qualify as Prime Time or am I missing something?

I am going to criticize it and point its flaws so they can make it a better game, I do not wish this game to die, even if I am not going to continue playing it in its current form. Actually if the issues I pointed out are being adressed, I might even come back in the future. P.S. on you comment about cancelling my sub before the 20th, you never know, things happen IRL that you have no control over whatsoever. I am not going to go emotional here as I don't feel the need to be pitied, but ya, things happen that make a sub to a game just the last of your priorities.

And every planet is isolated by a loading screen, all the solo instances on each planet, yes, it is a real issue, to me anyways.

Because forums are the evil!

Gotcha, the model is the same yes, you are absolutly right. And comparing a mmo at launch state in 2004 to one in 2011 is not what i meant at all as the expectations are not the same now as they were back in 2004.

No, in fact as much as I would like to, they do not cancel your sub and refund the "unused" period of time you paid for, so unfortunatly, I am going to be around until 19th of feb.(very possible i get banned before tho), sorry Does that mean I cannot talk about the obvious flaws of the game so the devs can actually improve their game and keep some subs going from people who might think like me? The only posts i ranted on, in this thread anyways, is when people did what you accused me of doing. I hope you see the humour in my post now tho, btw. Back on topic; I answer to the OP about his damn question and I get told to **** of the game? Then i get flamed for pointing out flaws in the game design. Finally, some people telling me how I play the game (obviously they know better than I do about my gaming experience). I am sorry if I sound to be on the defensive a little bit, it's nothing personal. Here is my take on this game. As much as I wanted to love the game, the lack of MMO features was not compensated by the supposedly great storylines. As simple as that. I would like the devs to take that into consideration; Story brings players in, end-game keeps them playing. This is how I feel about the game, I understand it was hard to get the whole point when it's over 40+ pages of forum trash, and it is exactly why i took the time to re-write it here.

welcome late comer. Comments in RED

We all know it's a MMORPG, but it does not FEEL like one. sharded or instanced parts of the game that cut you out are far too many in number to give me the feel I am a part of an online community. That sums up pretty much the whole idea. Now you have the exact opposite when you reach end-game, you are "forced" to group with others to complete stuff (I will repeat myself here; that content is boring, too easy and has no sense of progression). This gives both MMO and single-player oriented crowds a bad taste (again, not everyone, but some of them).

Considering this game costed 20 times the average mmo, we can't call that a huge success either, can we?

^that^ EDIT: You're even defending me now? The end is coming!