The only major change, is level sync'ing. Everything else is minor. Sure, it adds up, but there's nothing else major going on with the existing content.

I played Lord of the Rings Online for a few years, great fun with a mix of solo and group content - Though it is weighted pretty heavily to the solo side. If you play a lot of alts, you can earn enough of their version of Cartel Coins (Turbine Points) to unlock pretty much everything instead of paying for a sub. If you don't... It is highly restrictive - With quests for each region being locked unless you're a subscriber, and regardless, you do have to pay for each expansion that's out (Though they often have sales on them). No idea what the community is like currently, as they are in the process of merging servers, and I haven't really played in a couple of years, but I'll be back on there soon to catch up on everything I've missed the last couple of years.

Except that you can't fix an engine whilst its running.

Why? It's just an expanded cap, like the level cap is going up from 60 to 65.

I think they said that they will, though if I remember right, max influence is increased to 20,000 so you'll only be half way there.

Achievements don't mean anything in this game anyway, but yeah, they do seem to be removing them for the sake of removing them. The new ones last 8 hours, and you get multiples per crafting task, so I've no complaints.

That's funny. I thought the community hated anyone who actually likes the game, or doesn't entirely agree that the game is the worst piece of programming ever devised by the mind of man. Who cares what people think. Are you having fun? Continue to play. Are you not having fun? Go elsewhere.

No. You'll get the initial 9 chapters out of 16, and possibly the 10th, as that's due to be released in January. Then the remaining 6 chapters are planned to be released monthly thereafter - Though I'll wager that the schedule will slip.

As opposed to running the Conquests and not getting the materials anyway as the system is broken?

If you think that a single chapter of KotFE will contain as much content as Shadow Of Revan, with Rishi, Yavin IV and Ziost, I've got a bridge to sell you...

We aren't losing affection, we're losing the achievement. Affection is being renamed to Influence, and I believe the maximum doubled to 20,000. Influence will be used to boost companions effectiveness in combat, so its actually becoming more useful. Perhaps instead of compensation, you should pay EA a premium for boosting its usefulness?

I've got to say I'm a bit baffled by this. Why remove the achievements? If its because its a bit pointless, well... The whole achievement system is pointless. Is it because it'll interfere/contradict/get in the way of some new unannounced system? I can only assume so, as removing it for the sake of removing it would be extremely... Daft.

It is. And when you play through on the Imperial side, you'll see why it is.

But come July (The earliest Season One of KotFE will be complete (I'm expecting the monthly schedule for new chapters to slip quite a bit)), you'll have the whole expansion and 4950 extra cartel coins. I on the other hand will have the whole expansion, 500 cartel coins, and ~$120 (Or more likely $120 worth of other stuff). Thats a pretty big benefit to me - And the break from the game will help prevent burn out, and turning into one of those people on the forums who do nothing but moan and complain about how the game sucks.

It's an expansion, it builds on whats already out. I doubt they've made any major engine changes that would necessitate hardware testing beyond a quick check on the two different brands of graphics card and whatever version of Windows.

I'm pretty sure thats not how it'll work. My understanding is that the Planetary Arc hasn't changed, its just had its experience bumped up a bit and a fancy purple icon and text. Other than that it's the same.

They've done private testing, not public. That's the norm for expansions.

Do a little of this and a little of that, and you'll find minimal repetitiveness. Unlock boosts via your legacy. Use experience boost items - Plenty going cheap on the GTN. Deliberate park up characters for a couple of days in rest zones so that they get double experience on kills.

Or you could do it in other ways, using class missions and: Planetary arc Other miscellaneous missions Warzones Flashpoints. Space Missions. Repeating heroics. GSF Or any combination of the above. You've got a wide variety of choices. The galaxy is within your grasp - Reach!

Some of the restrictions from preferred that cannot be unlocked: Experience is reduced by 20% after level 15. Crafting tasks cannot be stacked. Only three companions can be sent out on Crew Skills at any one time. Chance of learning crafting schematics is halved. Boxed rewards cannot be claimed (Including the gear drops from Prelude to Revan or the Yavin IV weekly). Chat is limited to one post per minute. Reduced travel options from strongholds (No travel to fleet or ship). There are a few more I can't think or right now. Nothing major, but it does add up. Personally, my sub ends now-ish, and I'll be fine till I re-up when Chapter 16 is out, with the only restriction that I will find annoying being the credit cap, but that's because I went out of my way the last couple of weeks to get all my characters to level 60 and the end of Yavin, and have maxed out my crafting skills. When I log in, in future before I re-up, it'll be to complete missed content on various characters. Give the level-synced heroics a whirl (Actually... The stream we saw had the on-level reward shown as a boxed item, so pref's probably don't even get that...) and if there's a sale on character slots, I'll muck about with a couple of new characters I set up yesterday, and left at level 15... Good enough for me.

That's what I'm doing. I'd have happily paid out for the expansion AND renewed my sub, but as that's not an option, I'm waiting till all Season One is out (I'm assuming Season Two is also planned to be the same delivery method) before I re-sub. Still, I need to take a break from this game in order not to burn out, so its useful... Especially as a few single player games I'm interested in release over the coming weeks and months.

You couldn't have put this line at the top? I've just suffered through reading the earlier bits...

It's not being removed. It's being changed.

And a Consular's Project is just Sith Lightning with a different animation...

Hmmm... Maybe one who's been missing for 20 odd years? Perhaps one who looks younger than he should...?