12xp has re-invigorated the game for me. I'll be sad to see it end.

[Syart]

I've been playing this game since about the middle of game test, with only a few very short breaks for business travel interspersed within that timeframe.

 

I have 22 characters. Most of them are level 55. I think something like 4 are not. I've played every class at least once, most twice, and a few many times.

 

I pre-ordered 3.0 as soon as it became available, but I've been quite busy with work for most of the 12xp duration. That all changed this past week as I've been on vacation. It has allowed me to take advantage of 12xp, finally.

 

What I found was quite enlightening. I found it playing through the Warrior story for the second time. I found that 12xp makes the game feel more like... the game.

 

Up until 12xp, I've always had to leave the story interspersed with everything else. Sometimes it was the planetary and side quests, sometimes flash points. But I had to do something else to stay on level so I could keep doing the class story line.

 

I eventually figured out the pattern to level via flashpoints after the origin worlds, then go back and do all the class stories after hitting level 50, but that leaves a bit to be desired. Mostly it's a lot of grinding to get to the story, which for me is one of the true gems of this game. BioWare. Story. Go figure.

 

Anyway, I found in doing just my class story quests on my Warrior that... I didn't remember any of it. It was all as if it were fresh story. This is probably because the first time through the class story got lost in the shuffle with all the extra garbage (sorry, it's good once, but garbage thereafter) filler story.

 

What's more, it made sense. My Sith Warrior felt like a Sith Warrior. She did Warrior things. Which means she mostly pulled out her lightsabers and shredded stuff with them. But that's what Sith Warriors do, right? The story was good, but more than that, it felt right.

 

As I sit here typing this, I find myself wondering what other gems I've missed in the rest of the class stories. I've done a few enough times that I know the class story cold. But a few, I have not.

 

I think I would like to do this run with a Bounty Hunter and a Smuggler. But, alas, the fun is ending Monday at bed time. And I have a lot of IRL stuff to do between now and then so... the fun is pretty much over now.

 

I'm sad to see it go. But I'm hopeful that Musco's idea, or something similar to it, will find its way into the game sooner rather than later. I think I'd play a rotating schedule of classes, just to keep seeing all the great class stories.

 

BioWare, I know you did this mostly to help sell the 3.0 expansion. Getting characters ready for the new content creates demand for the new content. But I thank you nonetheless for the side effect it created - making the game much, much better if only for a short while.

 

Logged in just to post my total agreement with this from start to end - I've had so much fun just doing the stories, it's been truly inspiring. I really really hope a way can be found to give us the 12 XP again, even if we have to pay for an unlock for each character, it would be so worth it

[LordArtemis]

I am confident the internal metrics back up what many folks are saying here...this was a very popular event that reinvigorated the game for many.

 

I still hold to the idea that had this been in place on day one the amount of players we have would have been MUCH higher than they are now.

 

But that is just me.

[Anzel]

Instead of a CM option for 12x , I would like to see this as a legacy level unlock.

Reduced price or free for subscribers and perhaps a hourly option buff from the market.

It is such a great option to simply let die.

 

I think the higher your legacy level the more the bonus is. So say 2xp at Legacy Level 10, then 4xp at Legacy Level 20, etc. etc. etc. Until 12.3 xp at Legacy Level 50

[Jadescythe]

I am confident the internal metrics back up what many folks are saying here...this was a very popular event that reinvigorated the game for many.

 

I still hold to the idea that had this been in place on day one the amount of players we have would have been MUCH higher than they are now.

 

But that is just me.

 

This would have been an exceptionally bad feature at launch. Players would have played the stories they wanted and quit long before they did. Not to mention, all of the side quests were extremely enjoyable and add to the experience of being in the game when you haven't seen them all multiple times. Players were completely unfamiliar with the game and leveling up so quickly would not have prepared them to play their class effectively. Picking up new abilities ever 10 minutes at early levels would be overload.

 

If you meant an option to do this once you have a 55 like people want now, you have the same argument. It's convenient, but some form of a grind is good to keep players interested and give them something to do outside of raiding/PvP/FPs/Dailies. They have already significantly increased the amount of XP given out and even more so for subs since launch. They hand out XP boosts in multiple ways through the leveling process and you can get more from the CM or GTN. I think it could be increased a little more, but I don't know how healthy 10-15 hour 55s are for the game.

[DarthTHC]

This would have been an exceptionally bad feature at launch. Players would have played the stories they wanted and quit long before they did. Not to mention, all of the side quests were extremely enjoyable and add to the experience of being in the game when you haven't seen them all multiple times. Players were completely unfamiliar with the game and leveling up so quickly would not have prepared them to play their class effectively. Picking up new abilities ever 10 minutes at early levels would be overload.

 

If you meant an option to do this once you have a 55 like people want now, you have the same argument. It's convenient, but some form of a grind is good to keep players interested and give them something to do outside of raiding/PvP/FPs/Dailies. They have already significantly increased the amount of XP given out and even more so for subs since launch. They hand out XP boosts in multiple ways through the leveling process and you can get more from the CM or GTN. I think it could be increased a little more, but I don't know how healthy 10-15 hour 55s are for the game.

 

Sorry, the grind of doing flash points I've seen hundreds of times or planetary quests that I've already seen more than a dozen times doesn't even come close to making me interested in playing the game. It does exactly the opposite.

 

I've been in the situation where I'd love to play through X class story again, but I won't because the grind to stay on-level dissuades me. If I'm dissuaded enough, I stop playing. If I stop playing, I stop subscribing.

Edited December 1, 2014 by DarthTHC

[DeLaaNie]

Thanks to this event, I was not only able to hit Legacy 50 in a short amount of time, but I was also able to unlock all of the corresponding Legacy attacks and view all of the Class stories. It was actually quite fun to just continue the story sans interruption, and not only that, it allowed me to rank the stories according to my tastes.

 

It even allowed me to play my favourite class repeatedly and now I have many different copies of said class, each with their own alignment, skill tree, look, etc. I don't think I will level anything else so in all honesty I am not sad to see it go, but it was a blast for the time it lasted.

 

Money well spent.

Edited December 1, 2014 by DeLaaNie

[Cidanel]

"Fun" is subjective...I enjoy group content - Ops, FPs, WZs...I HATE leveling. Leveling, to me, only gets me to where I can start having fun - the "stories" make it less grueling, but not necessarily more exciting for me. I don't mean to speak for DarthTHC, but from what I gather, he enjoys the stories, picking dark/light options, male/female toons, not so much the dailies or same FPs as I do. However, given our different styles, I think we both still have "fun".

 

So again, you are saying you enjoy repeating the same handful of FPs and OPs dozens upon dozens of times at level 55, but hate repeating anything up until that point?

 

To each his own, but you are blatantly contradicting yourself. You say you hate the 'grind' of leveling, but what you do at level 55 is more of a grind than leveling ever is.

[Jadescythe]

Sorry, the grind of doing flash points I've seen hundreds of times or planetary quests that I've already seen more than a dozen times doesn't even come close to making me interested in playing the game. It does exactly the opposite.

 

I've been in the situation where I'd love to play through X class story again, but I won't because the grind to stay on-level dissuades me. If I'm dissuaded enough, I stop playing. If I stop playing, I stop subscribing.

 

This seems to be the line of thinking that many people have that came into the game from the KOTOR series. To treat the game as an online single player game. Honestly, that is a short term gain, long term loss. I bet a lot of players came back or played more because of the 12x XP.

 

If the new expansion doesn't offer an improvement in end game content, players who may have turned to leveling another class while waiting for the next update may unsub now. So for every player you keep around to finish seeing the other stories and leave, you could lose another player who would have spent 30-40 hours leveling a new character for 2-3 months had it not been available.

 

TL;DR I'm not saying you're wrong that people will unsub if they don't enjoy the grind, but players will unsub as well if there is nothing to do. It has to balance out.

[Dreadicus]

Oh Darth of the house of Tetrahydrocannabinol - I completely agree with your initial assessment.

 

I would love to see Bio offer something as such;

 

Each class you've leveled to 50 (or 55, or 60, whatever suits for the cutoff) - 2xp given for all class quests going forward. (new content not applicable, bonus xp gain not applied till well, the 'new' xpac becomes the 'old' xpac as Makeb has).

 

For the class bonus XP to compile, even per class (3 Juggs @55 is your thing? Well, 6xp for you on your next Jugg, or class you want to run!).

 

Or if '1 of each' is your thing - that would mean you're at 12xp after getting 6 different classes to 50 (or 55, or 60, etc)

 

Finally, for there to be a cap 'of' 12xp (As seen, that's 'just right' to do just the class quests and level up).

 

Thus.. Altaholics such as myself see the long term benefit immediate; non-altaholics also see the long term benefit as they burn out on a class, and start a new one.

 

Annd finally - either a 'button' or 1-time prompt (certainly at new character creation at least) of -'do you want to apply bonus XP or level as normal?' button/question/selection thingie.

 

Takes care of all concerns; Alt happy folks can alt like mad and choose fast or slow method to leveling, folks just trying to get a new class done will see benefits from having at least completed 1 (or more) classes previous, those that don't want the bonus can elect not to use it. What other complaints did I miss?

[Anzel]

There's been such a big response to the 12xp thing I'm a little surprised that they haven't said anything about it.

[DarthTenor]

Sorry, the grind of doing flash points I've seen hundreds of times or planetary quests that I've already seen more than a dozen times doesn't even come close to making me interested in playing the game. It does exactly the opposite.

 

I've been in the situation where I'd love to play through X class story again, but I won't because the grind to stay on-level dissuades me. If I'm dissuaded enough, I stop playing. If I stop playing, I stop subscribing.

 

Well said. most of the planet a side quests are interesting to the lore and I've enjoyed doing them 1-2 times and that's it. Without this 12x XP gain it's a grind to level up another character/class.

 

Re-playability is a very important factor for me. I just don't want to constantly play the same class/character everyday or when time permits doing dailies just to keep up. That was the biggest let down in Many MMO's to me.

 

I've said it before.... I'm an altaholic.... that's where the re-playability lies for me. it's not fun to grind the same stuff. If I have 15-20 characters I can play with in the span of several months I would have fun. The 12x allowed me to experience all the stories for every class. I haven't finished them all. The only one I've finished is the Consular Story line even with this boost.

 

I'm not sure I can muster the time to enjoy the game without this boost after the expansion is released. It won't be worth it to me if I only have a few hours of the week to play.

[KhamG]

It sounds like many have enjoyed the event so I won't argue that it was not a good idea. However, personally I do think that it should have been optional and that the leveling will exhaust itself fairly quickly. Some of the class stories are good, i agree, but how many times before they become stale as well? There are only 8 of them after all

[Shipwright]

I'd love to have 12x as an option. I really enjoyed it after leveling many characters. Now, I just snuck in a slinger tonight and he'll get just a few levels under 12x....I hope I can stick with the character when it is back to the long slow slog of leveling.

 

The option to have 12x is something I would absolutely love.

[LordArtemis]

This would have been an exceptionally bad feature at launch. Players would have played the stories they wanted and quit long before they did. Not to mention, all of the side quests were extremely enjoyable and add to the experience of being in the game when you haven't seen them all multiple times. Players were completely unfamiliar with the game and leveling up so quickly would not have prepared them to play their class effectively. Picking up new abilities ever 10 minutes at early levels would be overload.

 

If you meant an option to do this once you have a 55 like people want now, you have the same argument. It's convenient, but some form of a grind is good to keep players interested and give them something to do outside of raiding/PvP/FPs/Dailies. They have already significantly increased the amount of XP given out and even more so for subs since launch. They hand out XP boosts in multiple ways through the leveling process and you can get more from the CM or GTN. I think it could be increased a little more, but I don't know how healthy 10-15 hour 55s are for the game.

 

I strongly disagree. The idea that players had to be loaded with content DID NOT WORK...in fact it likely had the opposite effect.

 

Having the ability to level the characters, storyline only if you so chose would have likely caused MORE players to stay, not leave, as they would have been more invested in the game.

 

Naturally folks can stick to the old addage that content was needed to hold players, but history can not be denied. The game lost a very large portion of it's original players shortly after launch DESPITE the fact that no XP boost was in place.

 

Those that wanted to grind it out to 55 did so in short form, then left. Those that didn't care for the side quests were saddled by tedium and left.

 

Had this been in place, IMO, at least we would have kept the latter folks. My opinion only naturally....unsubstantiated and speculative at that.

[irished]

Hi as a returning player I have to say one of the biggest selling points of the new expansion was for me the 12x experience, which I got the day before the dam thing ends. Ok not to worry I have other level 55`s but I would have liked to play my new toon to this level and enjoy the story again. For me the worst thing about the old republic is the long tedious slog to get to 55 the normal xp way, I left the game before because I just could not be bothered slogging through the whole thing again endlessly killing things that become a chore rather then enjoying myself, what bioware could have at least done was leave the 12xp open until you reached 55 for that toon and then back to normal, but I agree with others that this feature should stay because I think a lot more people then too would stay.

[MusicRider]

Not sure if mentioned but 12x xp boost proportional to legacy level.

[Darka]

When i heard TOR was story based many many years ago pre launch, this is how i imagined it

Your class story being the focus, with various theme parks all could take part in

More so then class + planet + everything else to level

Things get lost in the wash

 

Before the 12x xp weekend, to enjoy class stories I ended up grinding to 55 with a toon then going back and starting chapter one, so i could focus on it alone, and the stories were really great doing it that way.

[MasterTholme]

I have been with this game since the early days. And in that time, due to 3 part time jobs, college and now grad work, I've managed to get one character to Level 55 and one to Level 51. As soon as the preorder opened, I pretty much jumped in solely for the 12x XP as it would finally allow my long gestating Sith Warrior to move up quickly. Prior to this, he was at level 30. Now, he's at 49 and nearly 50. I also managed to up my Smuggler to 51 while he was previously at 25. My Agent is now in the mid 30s and I even started a brand new trooper who is at level 13 and has not even left Ord Mantell yet.

 

I loved the side quests the first time. But my 55 Consular literally did ALL of the early missions and most of the side missions for the later acts. And my 51 Knight and Smuggler did the same. So I was rather way of going back as a trooper for a 4th round. But the XP really allowed me to focus on what I love- which is the story. I don't have time to do Guild Quests. I'll hop into PVP sure. But I've yet to do a single Operation due to my schedule. I enjoy the single player aspect of my class story and the character growth.

 

I certainly hope another opportunity like this one is made available in the near future. Prior to this, I was seriously considering cancelling my subscription. This really got me back into the game these past few weeks.

[Jadescythe]

I strongly disagree. The idea that players had to be loaded with content DID NOT WORK...in fact it likely had the opposite effect.

 

Having the ability to level the characters, storyline only if you so chose would have likely caused MORE players to stay, not leave, as they would have been more invested in the game.

 

Naturally folks can stick to the old addage that content was needed to hold players, but history can not be denied. The game lost a very large portion of it's original players shortly after launch DESPITE the fact that no XP boost was in place.

 

Those that wanted to grind it out to 55 did so in short form, then left. Those that didn't care for the side quests were saddled by tedium and left.

 

Had this been in place, IMO, at least we would have kept the latter folks. My opinion only naturally....unsubstantiated and speculative at that.

 

I realize that your play style does not seem to revolve around end game, but that's what caused a massive amount of subs to leave. EV was bugged to hell and KP was just coming out at launch. People were 50 within a few days. PvP had 50s in PvP gear against level 11s. They didn't start getting features like UI changes, group finder, ranked PvP, etc. in until 1.3. Features that had become standard in MMOs were missing at launch and were not even added for many months.

 

Most of the players that stayed were either extremely interested in Star Wars or played more casually. I had never played MMOs, so I didn't have a 50 for quite some time. I tried different classes and enjoyed leveling. This is not typical of today's MMO player, however. Then there were many promises made to improve the game that couldn't be followed up on until 2.0 due to the move to F2P. The absolute lack of any game progress during the transition to F2P caused a massive amount of players to leave that were looking for more than the option to level more characters no matter how quickly.

 

F2P has certainly improved the game, but the time it took to get there was an enormous loss for the game. Had it launched with this model and/or found a way to deliver on the promises of the guild summit during the transition, I think many more players would have stuck it out.

[chosonman]

12x will ruin crafting and the economy if players are allowed to power level all their characters in legacy in just a matter of days. More characters = more dailies, more reputation, more crew skills, more gathering missions, more GTN slots, basically more of everything and screws those who actually spent the time and effort making their characters the old way. I understand why people want it but it's not good for the game and it's unfair to long time players. I'm all for a superboost to lvl 60 if you're a new player as a 1 time perk, but allowing everyone to power level ALL the characters in their legacy to 60 is just asinine and will kill the game. Bioware if you are reading this consider this carefully and consider why WoW only allows a 1 time boost to 60 for only 1 character.

[jackofrost]

Bioware if you are reading this consider this carefully and consider why WoW only allows a 1 time boost to 60 for only 1 character.

 

I didn't really want to necro this thread, but... well, 2 weeks isn't that long ago.

 

I found most of your post to be absurd, basically a "it will negatively affect me so no one should have it" argument against 12xp... but I had to clarify the quote above, in case anyone took you seriously.

 

Firstly, the boost is to level 90, not 60. If you're at 60 when you use the boost, it maxes your professions as well. You got one "free" boost per expansion per account.

 

More importantly though, you can buy an unlimited number of boosts for $60 a pop... not just one. So you're comment to Bioware about "being careful" because even WoW didn't allow unlimited boosts... you are very wrong.