Forged Alliances story line

[CyberneticDucks]

i was pretty bummed out that the first part of the "forged alliances" story line was really just two tactical FP. i really don't want to be sharing my story content with 3 other random people. not to mention a 1-round conversation before the final boss doesn't even count as small talk.

 

recently bioware had released a news update talking about the future of "forged alliances" and how the story will effect the next RotHC-type expansion coming out in the distant future.

 

i am really glad bioware has given information regarding some actual story content, because ops and FP do not count as story, they're just really long heroic missions.

 

i am optimistic, which is rare regarding my personality, that they will make some good story content. they did a nice job in RotHC mentioning early feats of your class story, but i hope they will take it a bit further this time and make the story slightly different for each class.

 

a bounty hunter might be hunt the leaders of an organization or an imperial agent would do subterfuge and sabatoge from within. hopefully they'll make it entirely specific to each class but if not i would be very happy with just making the story take a different path to the same destination depending on the style of each class.

 

 

i bet the devs are already deciding, but i just wanted to give my feedback. with RotHC i felt that it was genuine story, i actually haven't got past the part on my sorc with the giant tanks. i'll try again with my improved gear when i stop going on the GTN every 30 minutes and doing warzones left and right.

 

here is the link i was referring to:

http://www.swtor.com/info/news/blog/20140723

[jstankaroslo]

I also dislike tha fact that new story has to be done in a group. I did both factions of Forged Alliances and I am dissapointed. I couldn't appreciate the story cause other 3 people in my group wanted to race as fast to the finish as they could.

I also heard here on forums that the last instalment gonna be a raid. This I will not do.

I know this is a current approach -make people to group in this game, and I don't like it. I hope sometime in the future the devs will change this, but for now it is not fun.

Probably gonna unsub and re-sub once the whole Forged Alliances (3 flashpoints, or 2 flashpoints and a raid, and a new story/expansion) will be released.

I wish the devs would realise that this kind of forced group content kills the story to the casuals, as we cannot appreciate it the way we're used to (class stories).

I am not agianst the MMO aspects of this game. I just wish I wouldnt be forced to experience the story in other peoples pace

[PavSalco]

i am really glad bioware has given information regarding some actual story content, because ops and FP do not count as story, they're just really long heroic missions.

Some do count as the story.

DF and DP are important to the storyline as it's the place where you kill the Dread Masters and it finishes the story on Oricon.

 

I couldn't appreciate the story cause other 3 people in my group wanted to race as fast to the finish as they could.

People usualy do not know which person does not skip, so ignore what they type in the chat and enjoy the dialogue?

If they know that you do not skip, inform them that it's your first run?

i don't see a problem here.

Edited July 23, 2014 by PavSalco

[jstankaroslo]

 

People usualy do not know which person does not skip, so ignore what they type in the chat and enjoy the dialogue?

If they know that you do not skip, inform them that it's your first run?

i don't see a problem here.

 

I did, and they did not skip. It is just that they ran through the flashpoint and gave me no time to be awed by the fact that it was Tython and Korriban.

What I mean is: storywise it is the first time when your hero sets foot on other factions holy world. A visit to Korriban for a Jedi Knight should be a great experience. Seeing demolished Tython Jedi Temple is a sight to behold. You cannot appreciate those things when the rest of your team is running as fast as they can. No one takes time to wonder who the flashpoint bosses actually are etc.

And this is not the players fault -they play it the way they do and I dont blame them -it is probably their n-th run on this. I'm not happy the story is designed as flashpoint as it is no fun for me. No time for immersion, for enjoying the story, the scenery etc.

So I'm not that much looking forward for the rest of Forged Alliances. And IF the climax of the story is in a raid, then I'll not be seing it, as I don't play those.

[LordArtemis]

They did mention you didn't have to do the FPs.

 

But I don't know...this storyline just doesn't seem to be creating the kind of buzz you would normally expect.

[Clarian]

It is just that they ran through the flashpoint and gave me no time to be awed by the fact that it was Tython and Korriban...You cannot appreciate those things when the rest of your team is running as fast as they can...No time for immersion, for enjoying the story, the scenery etc.

 

Yeah, I play exactly the same way. Grouping and story just don't mix, and I'm here for the story.

 

So I'm not that much looking forward for the rest of Forged Alliances. And IF the climax of the story is in a raid, then I'll not be seing it, as I don't play those.

 

Same with me...when there's no more story I can do solo, I'll be done with the game.

 

Now, there are some games that have been around so long, and have had so many level cap raises, that it's possible to solo the early raids. I hope SWTOR is around that long.

[CyberneticDucks]

They did mention you didn't have to do the FPs.

 

But I don't know...this storyline just doesn't seem to be creating the kind of buzz you would normally expect.

 

yes, you also don't have to play the game, but i like it and care about its success and enjoyability. i bet a lot of people will not find SWTOR enjoyable if they continue this pattern.

[TheRandomno]

Now, there are some games that have been around so long, and have had so many level cap raises, that it's possible to solo the early raids. I hope SWTOR is around that long.

 

Hmm, let me think... WoW?

 

With a lvl increase to 60, if EV/KP remain lvl 50 some bosses will be soloable.

[Damask_Rose]

The air got taken out of my sails when I heard they were ending the arc with a raid like thye did Oricon.

 

They did mention you didn't have to do the FPs.

 

While most of the content is outside of the flashpoints, you still have to do them in order to advance to the next one. Since I don't mind doing tacticals, this hasn't been a problem for me, but a raid is a whole different kettle of fish.

 

Some do count as the story.

DF and DP are important to the storyline as it's the place where you kill the Dread Masters and it finishes the story on Oricon.

 

As far as my story goes, the Dread Masters are still out there having a grand old time wreaking havoc and likely will until they die of old age.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Damask_Rose
typo

[Draqsko]

Hmm, let me think... WoW?

 

With a lvl increase to 60, if EV/KP remain lvl 50 some bosses will be soloable.

 

Not the whole raid though. For example with EV:

 

Annihilator Droid: Definately soloable if the level cap and gear was raised to level 60. Nothing mechanics wise to prevent soloing

 

Gharj: Same as the Annihilator, gotta deal with champ adds but they are pretty low in hp.

 

Ancient Pylons requires you to be in two places at the same time, while SM is possible to 2 man with the set up and well overgeared and leveled. HM and NiM would be impossible because of the debuff that prevents you from clicking the terminals, the puzzle would time out and reset, never letting you complete it.

 

The Infernal Council can reset on a timer as well. The best I've done in NiM EV is kill 2, I could probably get 3 within the time limit but that would be a real push. You'd have to kill 8 to solo, and that could take awhile.

 

Soa would be impossible, the second you got stuck in a mindtrap, it would be all over, nothing you can do, no one to free you.

[Callaron]

Yeah... when it comes to storylines I prefer them to stay single player.

I absolutely LOATHE the fact that the Macrobinocular and Seeker Droid storylines ended with Heroic 4's, and I still hope they'll eventually give them an overhaul and make them regular missions (like other games have done in the past where it made sense).

 

That's not to say I don't enjoy story content in flashpoints. I absolutely adore Esseles and Black Talon, but I prefer for it to be stand-alone content rather than part of a storyline that's all single player and then suddenly goes "Tada! Time to go find some random guys who will keep you from choosing the dialogues you really want to see! But don't worry, after you spend another obscene amount of hours running through the single player story on another character you'll get another chance to get the dialogues you want! If the stupid random dice favor you!"

 

At least the new flashpoints are repeatable, and don't have any light/darkside choices that carry over into the rest of the storyline.

[CyberneticDucks]

The air got taken out of my sails when I heard they were ending the arc with a raid like thye did Oricon.

 

 

 

While most of the content is outside of the flashpoints, you still have to do them in order to advance to the next one. Since I don't mind doing tacticals, this hasn't been a problem for me, but a raid is a whole different kettle of fish.

 

 

 

As far as my story goes, the Dread Masters are still out there having a grand old time wreaking havoc and likely will until they die of old age.

 

^this! unless someone has done the dread master raids, they won't understand the next part of the story. at least with the class stories you were forced into a storyline with a linear progression in order to progress to the next thing. also, it doesn't make too much sense if you slaughter all of the dread masters in the op but continue to do dailies on oricon and section X that have to do with 'stopping the dread masters'.

 

also, since the raids and FPs are optional, someone could skip them and miss the story entirely. the same goes with skipping ilum before going to makeb, which i did since i was a bit impatient to see what that was like. then the intro when i log in at the beginning of the RotHC says "after her victories on ilum, T'lare..." and i had no idea what happened. i never knew that dropping out of an imperial military operation that darth marr ordered me to do because i was impatient to go to makeb counts as a win, but oh well.

[CyberneticDucks]

Yeah... when it comes to storylines I prefer them to stay single player.

I absolutely LOATHE the fact that the Macrobinocular and Seeker Droid storylines ended with Heroic 4's, and I still hope they'll eventually give them an overhaul and make them regular missions (like other games have done in the past where it made sense).

 

That's not to say I don't enjoy story content in flashpoints. I absolutely adore Esseles and Black Talon, but I prefer for it to be stand-alone content rather than part of a storyline that's all single player and then suddenly goes "Tada! Time to go find some random guys who will keep you from choosing the dialogues you really want to see! But don't worry, after you spend another obscene amount of hours running through the single player story on another character you'll get another chance to get the dialogues you want! If the stupid random dice favor you!"

 

At least the new flashpoints are repeatable, and don't have any light/darkside choices that carry over into the rest of the storyline.

 

i happen to be a huge fan of regular FP, but the tacticals are boring and lack any story outside of the introduction prologue. i've never done a raid because i couldn't find anyone in GF and no one was doing SM, but i'll try now with the bostered ones.

 

kind of hated that no one really stuck around to enjoy flashpoints, everyone was rushing through them and usually ignored bonuses. most of the time everyone keeps using pulls to get me to the group because i keep looking for hidden chests and stuff, which are pretty fun to find.

 

i admit the story in some of them, especially the first FP are really intricate. one problem is that i never seen the intros to the other ones and have to piece the story together because group finder just teleports me to the group and i have no idea what is going on.

[OddballEasyEight]

i was pretty bummed out that the first part of the "forged alliances" story line was really just two tactical FP. i really don't want to be sharing my story content with 3 other random people. not to mention a 1-round conversation before the final boss doesn't even count as small talk.

 

This part makes me think you only did the FP's through groupfinder.

Most of the story takes place before and after the FP's...

Like they say in the article, you really should talk to that little droid.

[Kulyok]

An op as the third part of FA? Oh dear gods, please no. I still can't appreciate the story of the Dread Masters because of DP/SnV and another level 50 op I've never done, will Forged Alliances be the same?

 

I really wish they gave us an option to enjoy the story at least once. A one-time only solo run of Dread Palace and every other op with a token comm reward(say, five elite(55)/classic(50) comms; I'd gladly take zero) - is that too much to ask?

 

 

And, yeah, I did all the Korriban/Tython Empire/Republic flashpoints on the first day of the release, and nobody skipped dialogue yet, and thankfully I could enjoy the ending/beginning convos solo in a separate instance/in a bar afterwards, but it still was kind of a rush. I wish I could take my time, too, but I'm not geared well enough to solo it.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Kulyok

[Tsillah]

They did mention you didn't have to do the FPs.

 

But I don't know...this storyline just doesn't seem to be creating the kind of buzz you would normally expect.

 

Once bitten, twice shy I guess.

 

Normally I would've been excited but after Makeb I've just not been very hopeful of new story content. I am sure that the people who actually care about story are in large part also the people who were upset by the lack of class missions.

 

They hint at the biggest story content update since Makeb. Well Makeb wasn't that big of a deal story content wise to be honest. The game started with 3 chapters. Chapter one comprised 6 planets and 31 levels. Chapter 2 is 3 planets and 10 levels. Chapter 3 is 3 planets and 9 levels. There are also some locations in between particularly at chapter endings.

 

Now for me, the logical expectations for the MMO that brings a new dimension: story, the logical step would've been chapter 4.

 

But instead we got Makeb. Which officially spans 5 levels but I am hard pressed to get more than 3 levels out of it, has no class stories and is just like a one off short story at best. It certainly didn't feel like a chapter 4.

 

And now we had the two flash points with a couple of more installments as a prequel to.....well a prequel to what exactly? Now this is where I am not feeling that excited anymore because I don't believe we will get a proper chapter 4 so really what am I to be excited about? All these small little snacks that are advertised as full meals leave me hungry...but no hungry for more, but rather hungry for something else. The type of story that this game is no longer producing since the game came out.

[deltadt]

I also dislike tha fact that new story has to be done in a group. I did both factions of Forged Alliances and I am dissapointed. I couldn't appreciate the story cause other 3 people in my group wanted to race as fast to the finish as they could.

I also heard here on forums that the last instalment gonna be a raid. This I will not do.

I know this is a current approach -make people to group in this game, and I don't like it. I hope sometime in the future the devs will change this, but for now it is not fun.

Probably gonna unsub and re-sub once the whole Forged Alliances (3 flashpoints, or 2 flashpoints and a raid, and a new story/expansion) will be released.

I wish the devs would realise that this kind of forced group content kills the story to the casuals, as we cannot appreciate it the way we're used to (class stories).

I am not agianst the MMO aspects of this game. I just wish I wouldnt be forced to experience the story in other peoples pace

 

amen grouping is okay from time to time but to have to do it all the time in swtor. would be overkill. i want to do some solo story and use hk-51 or whatever companion comp for killling some sith.

[Apeth]

The air got taken out of my sails when I heard they were ending the arc with a raid like thye did Oricon.

 

 

 

While most of the content is outside of the flashpoints, you still have to do them in order to advance to the next one. Since I don't mind doing tacticals, this hasn't been a problem for me, but a raid is a whole different kettle of fish.

 

 

 

As far as my story goes, the Dread Masters are still out there having a grand old time wreaking havoc and likely will until they die of old age.

 

Have you tried an op? U may like it and sm ops are very easy . If not your story is just gonna have to end on you waiting for a group of hero' s to come back from killing the badies.

 

I think its great they incorporate different parts of the game into the story, it forces people to try new things.

[TX_Angel]

This part makes me think you only did the FP's through groupfinder.

Most of the story takes place before and after the FP's...

Like they say in the article, you really should talk to that little droid.

 

That is story?

 

You go and have a short conversation before launching on the mission? The "story part"?

 

Wow, if THAT passes for "new story content", you are not very picky... It is crap, filler, a nothing tossed in that should have taken a weekend to throw together...

 

It is why I maintain this game is on MX mode, they put out stuff like that and 4 months later we have nothing else.

 

What story, it is just a cut scene excuse to have 2 new tactical flashpoints, no more or less.

[PavSalco]

also, it doesn't make too much sense if you slaughter all of the dread masters in the op but continue to do dailies on oricon and section X that have to do with 'stopping the dread masters'.

What?

If I beat Vaas and his boss in FarCry 3 it means I should not fight the pirates in their camps on the island because it doesn't make sense?

You take this game too seriously.

I know RP players who can truly enjoy the game and don't complain about its MMO aspects They even embrace it.

If I was a RP player I would explain it that after defeating Dread Masters the planet Oricon is still occupied by the remnants of their forces and you attempt to purge it completely.

[jedip_enguin]

Having to group to see story doesnt bother me, but FA part one left me cold, even as a huge story fan.

 

The lead in was a little perfunctory. For SIS being so involved in the story i'd have expected to have engaged in a little covert sabotage prior to the full blown invasion.

 

The FP's themselves were an utter snooze (and I mean that literally, I actually fell asleep on my keyboard during the Tython one) and poorly optimised to boot. The lack of a HM is also a missed oportunity to add a little more much needed variety to the GF queue.

 

And most importantly it was all over far too quickly, I mean the Storyline on Oricon took longer to play through and that was a daily lead in for a story that had already had 1 planet and 2 ops to build it up.

 

This was supposed to be the first chapter in an 'Epic' story, and it was over in 30mins.

 

Something more akin to the Macro/Seeker missions (only a bit grander)combined with flashpoints that actually require being awake to complete and have a bit of substance (compare Tython/Korriban to the other paired story FPs and they come off very poorly) could have been great, alas all we got was a missed opportunity.

[Darth_Wicked]

Having to group to see story doesnt bother me, but FA part one left me cold, even as a huge story fan.

 

The lead in was a little perfunctory. For SIS being so involved in the story i'd have expected to have engaged in a little covert sabotage prior to the full blown invasion.

 

The FP's themselves were an utter snooze (and I mean that literally, I actually fell asleep on my keyboard during the Tython one) and poorly optimised to boot. The lack of a HM is also a missed oportunity to add a little more much needed variety to the GF queue.

 

And most importantly it was all over far too quickly, I mean the Storyline on Oricon took longer to play through and that was a daily lead in for a story that had already had 1 planet and 2 ops to build it up.

 

This was supposed to be the first chapter in an 'Epic' story, and it was over in 30mins.

 

Something more akin to the Macro/Seeker missions (only a bit grander)combined with flashpoints that actually require being awake to complete and have a bit of substance (compare Tython/Korriban to the other paired story FPs and they come off very poorly) could have been great, alas all we got was a missed opportunity.

 

This was EXACTLY what I was looking for, after finishing the conversation with Theron, Republic side. Instead, he goes out investigating, while I go back to my ship to clip my toenails.

 

So anti-climatic.

 

Even more so if you're an Imperial Agent, following the one with Lana.

[jedip_enguin]

This was EXACTLY what I was looking for, after finishing the conversation with Theron, Republic side. Instead, he goes out investigating, while I go back to my ship to clip my toenails.

 

So anti-climatic.

 

Even more so if you're an Imperial Agent, following the one with Lana.

 

Strange minds think alike I guess :-)

[Damask_Rose]

Have you tried an op? U may like it and sm ops are very easy . If not your story is just gonna have to end on you waiting for a group of hero' s to come back from killing the badies.

 

I think its great they incorporate different parts of the game into the story, it forces people to try new things.

 

I'd be happy to, but I haven't seen anyone looking for an ungeared, inexperienced tank who doesn't know the fights.

 

My guild is dead, everyone I knew quit playing and no one chats in pugs, so I haven't met anyone new.

[Draqsko]

I'd be happy to, but I haven't seen anyone looking for an ungeared, inexperienced tank who doesn't know the fights.

 

My guild is dead, everyone I knew quit playing and no one chats in pugs, so I haven't met anyone new.

 

Post in your server forums for a new guild, and put down you are interested in tanking but undergeared and inexperienced.. Any guild worth anything would be more than happy to start showing you the ropes and helping you gear up. The only requirement is you are willing to listen and learn.

 

PS I also find it much easier to teach someone new if they admit they are inexperienced. It shows they are candid, and they haven't picked up any bad habits you have to drive out of them. The ones I hate are the ones that insist they know how to tank but clearly don't and therefore never learn because they don't see the problem is themselves.

Edited July 24, 2014 by Draqsko