2.0 my 2 cents...

[aluisi]

I see haters and I see praise of this new content. I am trying to give you all a objective view. Dont worry spoiler free!

 

I am Mara (yes I know!) and made lvl 55 last night. It took me about a total of 6 1/2 hours to reach 55. No I didn't rush or play all night. I played 1 1/2 hours the night it came out and about 5 hours last night. First off if ya like story this one is good. Not great but good. I don't see how the hutt cartel is "rising up" but you all will see when you finish it.

 

First off mobs. My god is this planet loaded with mobs. It's rare you come across a single pull or even double pull. It's consistently 4-8 mobs per pull. I thought Hoth was bad but Hoth is a god send compared to makeb. I didn't space bar through anything. I watched every cut seen did every bonus mission and heroic. Some thing just felt drawn out and a just plain wast of time. For example the heroic 2. By the time you finish the story you have about 5 areas left unexplored. I was at lvl 54 when I finished the main story. I started to do day missions and they sometimes brought me to the unexplored areas. I came across 1 pub the entire time I was going through the lvling. So don't expect much if any world pvp. It's another separated leveling planet.

 

It's going to be really hard and super frustrating for people who are not in campaign gear to lvl. This is due to zones having consistently a gold or silver mob in almost every pull for every mission. My suggestion is to run flash points and lvl 50 ops to get some gear and basic coms if you don't have campaign. The old lvl 50 ops and fp's are not available to you from the group finder at lvl 55. So if you are having issues que up and run some stuff for gear while leveling.

 

The achievement system what a mess. A convoluted list of just mass proportions. 90% of the codex I have we're not updated in this system. I am sure there will be a fix soon. I am glad they put this in but it need some serious streamlining.

 

Day missions it's fantastic to see different quests to choose instead of the same boring ones. So great job on that bio.

 

So all in all a good little x-pac.

 

Final thoughts

 

Missions are are meh.

Planet looks beautiful.

Way to many mobs.

Bonus quests are just plane to long in some cases.

Day mission variety YAY!

Worth $10

Not worth $20 non subs I feel are getting hosed on this big time considering the amount of restrictions on them.

Guild perk of 5% xp bonus YAY! About time they have give guilds a little love.

No Cather yet

Just wish there was a little more here. Just seams heavy on mobs and little on content.

Edited April 11, 2013 by aluisi

[HappyHeyoka]

Excellent post!!! I appreciate the effort to hold an objective stance as I too grow tired of the Hater-Fanboy dichotomy.

 

I wonder how many people that feel disappointment (to any degree) would have felt that the content met exceptions more precisely if it was presented as “DLC” rather than a full on “Expansion”. I played WoW for two short stretches of time (I moderately detest that game lol and experienced the launch of both the Cataclysm and Kung Fu Panda expansions. The Panderia content in particular felt like a match to what internally, myself and some others, associate with the phrase “expansion”.

 

To provide some imagery I would offer the difference between going from High School sports to College to Minors to Pros verses going from regular season College to National tournaments. It is the difference between (and this is when I'll sound a bit contradictory) expanding the same experience and elevating the experience to a similar but new-and-higher playing field. I feel like DLC expands and Expansions, at their best, both expand and extend or reach higher and wider – not just wider.

 

I have yet to play RotHC so the above commentary doesn’t reflect my experience with SWTORs newest content release but perhaps my ongoing hope for BioWares baby (EA's micro cash crop?). That said, I am a founder and despite a recent break for school (from which I have recently returned) a long time subscriber. So, I praise threads like these that help inform the community without the strong bias that is typically found in the wilderness of gaming forums.

 

I would love some more information if you have the time or anyone knows the answer and would care to share.

 

Rant starts.

First, Id like to say that a major attraction for me personally is the new achievement system. In short, I’m excited that work on it has begun but sad to see it is in need of as much refinement as you have pointed out. Secondly, where the **** are the rest of the guild perks?!?! Sorry, but I had to. As one of the founders of the guild I’m in I can say from virtually a year of experience trying to develop and manage a team in the TOR universe, the lack of guild perks, levels, or otherwise explicit in-game benefit beyond camaraderie and convenience is a major PITA. In other MMOs there are compelling reasons to contribute to your guild even if you are a casual player. You would think a game that has had retention problems like SWTOR would be aggressively developing community resources. Guess, not. Gambling boxes work too though, right?

Rant stops.

 

Further Questions:

 

How does the achievement system look from a fresh players perspective? Still messy or does a majority of the challenge come from the seemingly arbitrary way it retro-credits our work?

 

Any word on expanding the guild perks beyond the XP bump? Does this even work for F2T? (Yes, this game is Free to Try not Free2Play, #Dealwithit, lol j/k)

 

Does the mob density work well for 2-4 player parties?

 

Do the new Day missions give the same rewards as the Ilum, Belsavis, Black Hole and Section X ones? If not then beyond credits is there any reason to do them? Considering that, did the list of dailies for end game just get smaller or larger?

 

I hear you on the new race frustration but cat-woman isn't my thing personally, that said, anyone share my love for the Nautolan race?

[aluisi]

Thank you Sir.

 

to touch on your if this feels like a xpac I would have to personally say no. In all honestly this feels more like a paid digital download like EQ has been doing for year. There is nothing in this on the scope of a WoW or any other MMO expansion. There just isnt enough content IMO. Thats why I feel the F2P crowed is getting a huge ripoff at a $20 price tag for this. IMO this should have been $5 for subs and $10 for F2P.

 

Further Questions:

 

How does the achievement system look from a fresh players perspective? Still messy or does a majority of the challenge come from the seemingly arbitrary way it retro-credits our work?

 

The achievement system to me is a mess. I have played WoW and seen there system go through many changes. This one is not bad for the first go at it. I am super happy the system is in there dont get me wrong. Its just the way the menu is laid out. First off its under the Legacy screen. Having it here not a bad thing but it should have its own tab here. If you expand your Achievement section you then have this HUGE list of things. They did some what organized it but i needs to be streamlined a bit. Like dont have all the sub categories expanded. They should be collapsed and open only if you hit the + and only that one section open at a time. This would make it look a little less cluttered.

 

Now each thing you click on shows a status screen with another list in the middle (and yes another scroll bar) for say quests or HM / SM. You click on one of them and then you get another list with the achievements you can get and select. Some of them can be a long list so oh look there is another scroll bar for a total of 3. Then there is a another list on this window that shows the achievements and each rank. You can then click on each icon and get a description of how to gain that achievement and if you want to track it or not. Its just a HUGE cluttered mess. you will see. This achievement system window needs some serious attention and streamlining PLEASE Bio.

 

Any word on expanding the guild perks beyond the XP bump? Does this even work for F2T? (Yes, this game is Free to Try not Free2Play, #Dealwithit, lol j/k)

 

This is the golden question isnt it. WE need more guild perks PLEASE. I wish i had a answer for ya.

 

Does the mob density work well for 2-4 player parties?

 

Soloing unless you have 61 / 63 forget about it. You will have a heck of a time. 2 people with non 61 gear doable but i can see it being very frustrating. 3-4 people with out 61s not to bad. But who has the time to constantly run with the same people all the time? No one is looking for groups that I have seen with the exception of the heroics.

 

Do the new Day missions give the same rewards as the Ilum, Belsavis, Black Hole and Section X ones? If not then beyond credits is there any reason to do them? Considering that, did the list of dailies for end game just get smaller or larger?

 

Credits a rep item and basic coms for the Makeb ones so far. Cant speak for the sec x or illum sorry.

 

I hear you on the new race frustration but cat-woman isn't my thing personally, that said, anyone share my love for the Nautolan race?

 

I want droid or Wookie personally.

[Excorsion]

My take on the planet.. it's spot on.... your complaint about a gold or silver in every pull... what do you want? the weak mobs and nothing else? I can take on two or three golds at a time and i don't run operations and am not in campaign gear... play smart and not just bash your head into a wall and you can do any of the quests in there.

[aluisi]

My take on the planet.. it's spot on.... your complaint about a gold or silver in every pull... what do you want? the weak mobs and nothing else? I can take on two or three golds at a time and i don't run operations and am not in campaign gear... play smart and not just bash your head into a wall and you can do any of the quests in there.

 

Its not a complaint just more of a observation and how it could be frustrating for people who are not geared out. Non stealth classes are going to be the ones with the issues I feel.

 

And to me it just feels a little lazy if they couldnt figure out how to balance the mobs health around. Seams to me they just took a short cut added a bunch of mobs tossed in a few harder ones just to draw out the lvling.

Edited April 11, 2013 by aluisi

[LeonBraun]

If you were in charge of a planet under siege, don't you think you would have troops positioned all over?

 

Honestly, yeah there are a lot of mobs, but it's a lot better than the empty dead space we see on many other planets.

 

I've played modestly since the exp launched and have not died once on a single pull, and I am modestly geared. In fact the free 50 Tionese gear that we were given I gave to Doc, so he could be a little more useful. My main toon is wearing a mash of blues, oranges, and a few level 50 purples... And that's it.

 

Here are a few of my comments:

 

-The fade to black shuttles I don't like. This makes the planet feel smaller than it is.

-The first heroic 4 I just finished never had any social points after. Missed opportunity for revisits by players.

-No extended companion quests or affection level.

-New crafting favors certain professions over others. ie, no new crystals for Artifice.

-The only opening cinematic I've seen so far was done very well. I enjoyed it, and heard others comment as well.

-No clear rest zone. People have been asking about Cantinas in chat every 5 minutes.

-Bravo on the same gender romances. My Knight sadly is respecting Jedi code on this one though...

 

My final initial thoughts: I hope this step in a positive direction sparks some creative storm in EA/BioWare and we can look forward to more story and expanded class and companion stories in the future if Makeb is recieved well.

[aluisi]

If you were in charge of a planet under siege, don't you think you would have troops positioned all over?

 

Honestly, yeah there are a lot of mobs, but it's a lot better than the empty dead space we see on many other planets.

 

I've played modestly since the exp launched and have not died once on a single pull, and I am modestly geared. In fact the free 50 Tionese gear that we were given I gave to Doc, so he could be a little more useful. My main toon is wearing a mash of blues, oranges, and a few level 50 purples... And that's it.

 

Here are a few of my comments:

 

-The fade to black shuttles I don't like. This makes the planet feel smaller than it is.

-The first heroic 4 I just finished never had any social points after. Missed opportunity for revisits by players.

-No extended companion quests or affection level.

-New crafting favors certain professions over others. ie, no new crystals for Artifice.

-The only opening cinematic I've seen so far was done very well. I enjoyed it, and heard others comment as well.

-No clear rest zone. People have been asking about Cantinas in chat every 5 minutes.

-Bravo on the same gender romances. My Knight sadly is respecting Jedi code on this one though...

 

My final initial thoughts: I hope this step in a positive direction sparks some creative storm in EA/BioWare and we can look forward to more story and expanded class and companion stories in the future if Makeb is recieved well.

 

Just a few things the shuttles i had one bug on me and i saw the shuttle move so fast it was unreal then it faded to black when I landed lol. I think they did this cuz the areas are so spread out they wanted to hide how fast the shuttle travels to each location.

 

Same Gender romances /sigh......Only guy on guy if imps and girl on girl if pub. Why not both for each faction. Glad its in there but come on.

[aluisi]

Oh one other thing the LAAAAAAGGGGG my god the lag. i am on Makeb with only 45 people and there are spikes of 1-2 second ability and freeze delay. This needs to be fixed. Its going to be a lag fest when the planet gets flooded.

[Voxx_Voltaare]

I haven't had enough time to play much so can't give a detailed impression other than from what I've seen so far I think it's great, and I'm really loving the changes to my Scoundrel Sawbones spec.

 

A quick comment about the shuttles fading to black. I really don't mind it as it does save a bit of time. That said, what I think would be better for all shuttles/taxis is the ability to skip like all the other cut scenes. I know this is probably a more complicated issue programming-wise than just flipping a switch somewhere due to the way each of the planets were designed. But if you could skip then it would be your choice and if you wanted to enjoy the ride you still could. Whenever it comes to game mechanics like this I am always in favor of giving the player a choice.

[tzagheru]

Oh one other thing the LAAAAAAGGGGG my god the lag. i am on Makeb with only 45 people and there are spikes of 1-2 second ability and freeze delay. This needs to be fixed. Its going to be a lag fest when the planet gets flooded.

 

the same sad story everytime something new happens.

 

it was the same when section x launched and it continued until ppl got bored of the area, less ppl no lag thats how 'the team' handles it. there is no fix and never will be.

its like they anticipate the lack on interest ppl will have, so why bother looking into this.

 

inb4 replies "i have no brain but i have i7 6ghz and 32gb ram and I HAVE NO LAG"

Edited April 11, 2013 by tzagheru

[JimG]

I see haters and I see praise of this new content. I am trying to give you all a non objective view. Dont worry spoiler free!

I think you meant an objective view and not a "non objective" view.

[gorstram]

Great posts Aluisi. I couldn't agree more with you that this is nowhere near an actual expansion level experience. If BW is going to do this, they need to provide three more of these releases prior to year end to make it an actual expansion for 2013. This is nothing more than a DLC. This will not slake everyone's content thirst. This is a shot glass of content.

 

I'm looking forward to more content. Especially stuff that involves plot advances for our character classes. That should be a rule for any DLC in this game.

[aluisi]

I think you meant an objective view and not a "non objective" view.

 

Ya that's how I originally wrote it for some reason I wasn't thinking and existed my post and added a non duh me that's what happens when you interwebs late at night

[aluisi]

Great posts Aluisi. I couldn't agree more with you that this is nowhere near an actual expansion level experience. If BW is going to do this, they need to provide three more of these releases prior to year end to make it an actual expansion for 2013. This is nothing more than a DLC. This will not slake everyone's content thirst. This is a shot glass of content.

 

I'm looking forward to more content. Especially stuff that involves plot advances for our character classes. That should be a rule for any DLC in this game.

 

You are right about the plot point I didn't even think of that. A expansion for almost every MMO continues the over all story of the game. Well swtor does have a over all story but it was never clear to the player through the planet quests. What was very clear was the class stories. But this DLC continues the vague over all story of the game. Last I remeber corillia imps won and pushed out the pubs. Illum both pubs and imps are facing the new threat of the false imp. Then after that its is hinted we are going to war with each other. Never really siad in the over story line ( not including class quests) that we are at war it says war is eminent. I know some class story's they make this a clear point but its like 1 out of the 8 maybe. So now with this some how we are full thrusted into war and what the hutts are doing just doesn't at all make them feel or seam like a threat to the over all picture. It's just a planet story that kinda mixes in with the over all vague we are at war story witch wasn't very clear to begin with.

 

I remeber reading a interview with some one from Bio about the game it was around this time last year I belive. I remeber them saying well at 50 you see how every thing can change and the galaxy is at war. I thought hu? What is this guy talking about. I played through the sage story line the sith warrior the trooper the sith inquiz the agent and in all of them so far the agent one that had a slight vague mention of the imps and pubs going to war but it was left so open ended. So ya this DLC has no right in my mind to be called a expansion. It doesn't further along the over all or class story. It introduces you to a new part of a vague story that you had no clue about.

 

In all honestly I found myself at the end of this DLC thinking HU? What did that have to really do with anything. Every new content they added in the past starting with KP on had something to so with the dread masters. Now I haven't tried the new raid yet so I don't know the story to it. This over all story had NOTHING to do with the dread masters. It's like the game had ADHD.

Edited April 11, 2013 by aluisi