3.2 was SWTOR at it's best.

[Chazcon]

WHILE we are searching for another game to play, we are lamenting how terribly Bioware screwed up the game, and remembering how much better 3.2 was.

 

4.0 was interesting as long as one play through of the KOTFE story lasted. Then we all got down to business to take a good look at what they had REALLY done.

 

1) Crafting - destroyed. Nonsensical arbitrary changes. Was the crafting team REQUIRED to come up with 15 things to change? Stupid.

 

2) Level Sync - We were really looking forward to this. But you're still OP on planets. Didn't work.

 

3) Companions - How to take arguably the best and most unique feature of the game and destroy it, too. I don't want new companions shoved down my throat. I didn't ask for them. I just want my old companions back. I LIKED gearing my companions. I LIKED the fact that they had different FIXED roles. And Affection/Influence/Fyou set at 50? Why not 500, or ONE MILLION INFLUENCE! You turned a nice, and achievable feature into a horrible grind. Most of us are saying, why bother?

 

Our guild is definitely saying why bother. We may go back to LOTRO or GW2, Division is not an MMO but it's looking good too.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Chazcon

[branmakmuffin]

I don't even want your stuff.

[Chazcon]

I wouldn't give you my toenail clippings.

[Uruare]

Use of the Royal 'We' doesn't make your individual opinion look bigger than it is.

[DarthDrachonus]

All of your points Op, have this same "I'm entitled so wahhhh waaaaahhhhhhhhhhh WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" attitude about them. You'll get your original companions back as time goes on, level sync is there, it lowers your level, you want it even harder, get level specific equipment and go from there, crafting..dunno about that I rarely craft.

[RogerApple]

This game is unique in the choices. That's the main reason I played this game. It would have been better honestly if they just made Knights of Old Republic 3-4-5-6-7 then at least they could milk each game separate. That's what fans really wanted. I love that I get to play a MMO with the choices. The bugs the constant high nerf on companions then a small buff. It does get to me at times and the engine is my biggest complaint.

 

If they simply coded their own engine it would been so much more smoother. I'm happy it exists the game its better then nothing but for a mmo that was the most expensive in history they could or should have at least coded their own engine. I'm not even w a Dev. I'm a fan even I know you create your own engine.

[Raphael_diSanto]

Use of the Royal 'We' doesn't make your individual opinion look bigger than it is.

 

I do so love how people try to speak for the community. Don't you?

[SentinelDranoel]

Oh gosh no. In fact, I don't think any one update is SWTOR at it's best. I have been playing since launch and I have to go back years into the past to find an update I liked more than 4.0. Heck, 2.0 was the last time they got me to steadily subscribe to this game for months.

 

Galactic Starfighter? Nope.

Strongholds? Nope.

Conquest crap? Nope.

Edited November 26, 2015 by SentinelDranoel

[MonBrav]

you want it even harder, get level specific equipment and go from there.

 

It appears to me that sync gives everyone the same stats regardless of gear, is this not correct?

[FalmeseReb]

Level sync is too casual I agree, but companions having fixed roles was not cool. Being able to use more than 2 companions is great.

[Nommaz]

Level sync is too casual I agree, but companions having fixed roles was not cool. Being able to use more than 2 companions is great.

 

FORCED level sync sucks, there is no we, only I

[Allamirr]

I love not having to blow credits on gearing up companions and i love all the new companion variety. Only thing i dont like is not being able to dress the new companions the way i want them to look. You can still have all your old companions, they have a terminal on Odessan to get them back if you started the story. If you didnt start the story you still have your companions. Level sync i could cares less either way, as long as companions are powerful, level sync doesnt bother me. We should be OP for the newbie planets, I didnt spend all these years becoming the most powerful Jedi or Sith only to go back to Korriban and Tython and get bitshslaped by newbie apprentices! Had level sync made things alot harder on every planet, i wouldnt be playing this game. It would have destroyed all roleplay totally.

[FerkWork]

WHILE we are searching for another game to play, we are lamenting how terribly Bioware screwed up the game, and remembering how much better 3.2 was.

 

4.0 was interesting as long as one play through of the KOTFE story lasted. Then we all got down to business to take a good look at what they had REALLY done.

 

1) Crafting - destroyed. Nonsensical arbitrary changes. Was the crafting team REQUIRED to come up with 15 things to change? Stupid.

 

2) Level Sync - We were really looking forward to this. But you're still OP on planets. Didn't work.

 

3) Companions - How to take arguably the best and most unique feature of the game and destroy it, too. I don't want new companions shoved down my throat. I didn't ask for them. I just want my old companions back. I LIKED gearing my companions. I LIKED the fact that they had different FIXED roles. And Affection/Influence/Fyou set at 50? Why not 500, or ONE MILLION INFLUENCE! You turned a nice, and achievable feature into a horrible grind. Most of us are saying, why bother?

 

Our guild is definitely saying why bother. We may go back to LOTRO or GW2, Division is not an MMO but it's looking good too.

 

You know there was 3.3 before 4.0 as well?

[Arlon_Nabarlly]

Agree with the OP except on #3. I'm fine with the new companions, I'm not OK with how OP companions have become. That also is the real problem with level sync feeling OP as well. They really messed up with this expansion. Story was OK, but with the combat so easy a caveman could do it I found my self bored to tears by 10 seconds into a second play through. Not to mention choices still don't matter...

[Asroha]

OP is spot on. I enjoyed the game before 4.0, but too many changes here for my liking.

 

This is the 2nd game I've invested time in that has been changed midstream so dramatically that it barely resembles the game I started playing. So with that, this will also be the last "MMO" I will ever play.

 

It seems that companies NEVER learn...

[hooty]

When was STWOR at it's best? IMO that is right exactly now.

[DocDAM]

To me, 4.0 is a mixed bag.

 

Agree that running the storyline part was great. That's what I wanted. But the post-9 grind is a poor time filler that won't tide me over while I wait for each subsequent chapter. Did it with my Guardian. Don't plan to do again.

 

1) Crafting? Not my thing.

 

2) Level-sync. I wasn't a fan. Now I'd say it was in general a good idea. Could have been executed better, but it's not bad.

 

3) Companions - agree. I liked the uniqueness. Not a believer in more = better. But I'll sheepishly admit I sometimes like the OP.

 

Gearing is simplified, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. A lot of the uniqueness is gone with the removal of all the vendors and gear-based rewards. BTW, all those boxes? F2P and Pref don't get them.

[LordArtemis]

I would disagree that 3.2 was SWTOR at its best, though that was a great update with many great features added and adjusted.

 

I would say sometime after the F2P/Market launch, but before they started the balance crusade and ruined many of the abilities/animations the classes had was probably the games best state.

 

I think there is so much wrong with class abilities and animations now that it would be difficult to fix it all. Its a hot mess IMO. If you walked away from the game prior to the balance crusade kickoff and returned now I expect that game would seem foreign to most folks.

 

So, it has improved in many ways, but in some ways took a step backward IMO.

 

Here is my all time list of stumbles for this game since the launch of F2P/Market.

 

1) Balance crusade and destruction of many iconic animations and effects

2) GSF (IMO a huge disappointment)

3) Nightlife event actually being an event instead of a game feature

4) CSM and how it was designed/handled

5) Stronghold hook design

6) Appearance designer paid with CC only

7) Refusal or inability to expand class stories

8) Requiring players to pay for skills they had already purchased

9) Companion changes and level sync released before they were ready

10) Allowing exploits to run much longer than they should have

11) Failing to communicate with players, and/or not testing changes before they go live

 

It is my hope this list does not continue to grow, but if the back and forth on companion strength after 4.0 is any indication I am a bit wary. They seemed to handle it well at the end, so I give them that.

 

Hopefully that will be the trend and not the exception.

Edited November 27, 2015 by LordArtemis

[Furiant]

...I LIKED gearing my companions. I LIKED the fact that they had different FIXED roles. And Affection/Influence/Fyou set at 50? Why not 500, or ONE MILLION INFLUENCE! You turned a nice, and achievable feature into a horrible grind. Most of us are saying, why bother?...

 

I liked gearing them too; or at least I didn't mind it. I liked having control over their performance via their gear. I feel like I have very little control now and that they really suck at their jobs. They stop healing mid-fight, the can't hold aggro on more than one mob, and they're way too squishy as DPS.

 

That said, I love being able to run with companions that I wouldn't have before, because their role is assignable now. I do miss certain unique aspects of some of them, but I guess the flexible roles required some homogenization.

 

As far as influence, yeah. I feel like I worked my butt off to max them out, and now that equates to "chatted with them at some party last week". I am down with the idea of managing their power with influence investment, but currently the scaling doesn't make that worth it. Not with 15 characters. It's also a bit awkward starting a new character, knowing you're not going to want (say) Qeyzen around later, but needing to pump gifts into him just so he can do his job until you get the companion you want.

 

But I want their original weapon kits back.

 

I don't know; I'm okay with the new system overall, but the bugs need to be ironed out soon. It's just too important a mechanic to be malfunctioning for long.

[Artaniz]

WHILE we are searching for another game to play, we are lamenting how terribly Bioware screwed up the game, and remembering how much better 3.2 was.

 

4.0 was interesting as long as one play through of the KOTFE story lasted. Then we all got down to business to take a good look at what they had REALLY done.

 

1) Crafting - destroyed. Nonsensical arbitrary changes. Was the crafting team REQUIRED to come up with 15 things to change? Stupid.

 

2) Level Sync - We were really looking forward to this. But you're still OP on planets. Didn't work.

 

3) Companions - How to take arguably the best and most unique feature of the game and destroy it, too. I don't want new companions shoved down my throat. I didn't ask for them. I just want my old companions back. I LIKED gearing my companions. I LIKED the fact that they had different FIXED roles. And Affection/Influence/Fyou set at 50? Why not 500, or ONE MILLION INFLUENCE! You turned a nice, and achievable feature into a horrible grind. Most of us are saying, why bother?

 

Our guild is definitely saying why bother. We may go back to LOTRO or GW2, Division is not an MMO but it's looking good too.

 

QQ , dont let the airlock hit you guys on the way out.

 

Seriously the game is better now than it has ever been before, only reason i am subbing the game again now.

[Zanriel]

SWTOR 1.x, 6/10

SWTOR 2.x, 7/10

SWTOR 3.x, 8/10

SWTOR 4.x, 9/10

 

There are only three things that bother me so far about 4.0:

 

1. Level 65 crafting. I think anyone should be able to craft level 65 gear but this isn't the case. I still haven't figured out how to get schematics for any level 65 gear except implants, which were trainable, but still require HM Ops mats to craft. I think it's silly for crafting to require mats or schematics from the content you need them for. It's like a catch-22 that boggles the mind. Why aren't any of the other schematics over 55 trainable? I don't get this. How do you get schematics again? I keep hearing conflicting information and I'm just baffled by it all.

 

2. Everyone gets the same companions, a bunch of strangers you can't customize except for color crystal, and you lose all your old companions except maybe one if you do the KotFE story. For this reason I've only gone through KotFE on one character and I still kind of regret it.

 

3. Overwhelming number of items that require storage, or at least, make you not want to throw them away. I love collecting cosmetic gear but I wish there was some kind of collection system for Bind on Legacy items instead of having to take up cargo space. I believe BW did this to encourage people to spend Cartel Coins on storage expansions.

 

I love the level sync, although I agree it needs at least some kind of slider so you can choose your own difficulty between min and max.

 

I love how they've made almost all of the old FP's and heroics relevant. I skipped most of the endgame stuff past vanilla and just leveled alts through 2.0 and 3.0 so it's cool I get to see all that stuff I missed and actually get something out of it.

 

The FP bolstering and level sync system means I can take almost any character and play it with my friends and family without wasting their time or mine, and without having to worry about keeping characters synced up to play with friends/family who never log on.

 

I don't miss having to gear up companions but at least (until they fix it) weapons still make a difference. I used to run old heroics all the time trying to earn enough commendations to gear up my companions but it was a HUGE mountain to climb. I gave up on my dream of maxing all my companions a looong time ago. So I don't mind the "grind to 50 influence" system because it's a lot like the old system of gearing companions in terms of being a huge mountain to climb, but it doesn't bother me at all for being there. To me, 50 is a hard limit I'll probably never reach on more than one or two companions and that's fine. Even without it they're still (thanks to 4.0.2a) as good as they were in 3.x, and in some cases better. I'm totally okay with that.

 

Overall 4.0 is the best SWTOR has ever been in my book. There are still a few bugs, especially with classic content (broken missions, missing companions) but I know they got a lot of those fixed in 4.0.2a.

 

SWTOR just keeps on getting better and better, and it's why after 3 years off and on (but staying subscribed) it's now my #1 go-to MMO. Until they resurrect City of Heroes (or one of the successors gets off the ground), SWTOR is home.

[zhandao]

I LIKED the fact that they had different FIXED roles.

I agree with your other points, but I nitpick this one.

 

I want to pick Companions because they have dialogue during scenes.

 

I do not want to be forced* to pick a different Companion for gameplay reasons. *By "forced" I mean stuff like not having a healing companion = a lot more dowtime.

 

In other words, Pure story activity should never be tied to Gameplay.

 

That being said, I do believe that each Companion should still have unique skills despite having multiple roles. For one thing, there's no reason to take away unique healing skills if they were already healers, because it's not even extra work - the animations, etc., were already put in the game. I can understand having generic abilities for each Companion's "new" roles, but there's absolutely no reason to take away abilities from their previous role when they can perform the same role now.

[Magnouss]

I agree with your other points, but I nitpick this one.

 

I want to pick Companions because they have dialogue during scenes.

 

I do not want to be forced* to pick a different Companion for gameplay reasons. *By "forced" I mean stuff like not having a healing companion = a lot more dowtime.

 

In other words, Pure story activity should never be tied to Gameplay.

 

That being said, I do believe that each Companion should still have unique skills despite having multiple roles. For one thing, there's no reason to take away unique healing skills if they were already healers, because it's not even extra work - the animations, etc., were already put in the game. I can understand having generic abilities for each Companion's "new" roles, but there's absolutely no reason to take away abilities from their previous role when they can perform the same role now.

 

How about giving companions a bonus say 25% to one of the three roles (Heal/Tank/DPS). That way you can use whatever companion you want but if you want a little extra for a particular situation you can grab another companion. It also might give people a reason to get more companions to influence 50.

[Sol-Ra]

WHILE we are searching for another game to play, we are lamenting how terribly Bioware screwed up the game, and remembering how much better 3.2 was.

 

4.0 was interesting as long as one play through of the KOTFE story lasted. Then we all got down to business to take a good look at what they had REALLY done.

 

1) Crafting - destroyed. Nonsensical arbitrary changes. Was the crafting team REQUIRED to come up with 15 things to change? Stupid.

 

2) Level Sync - We were really looking forward to this. But you're still OP on planets. Didn't work.

 

3) Companions - How to take arguably the best and most unique feature of the game and destroy it, too. I don't want new companions shoved down my throat. I didn't ask for them. I just want my old companions back. I LIKED gearing my companions. I LIKED the fact that they had different FIXED roles. And Affection/Influence/Fyou set at 50? Why not 500, or ONE MILLION INFLUENCE! You turned a nice, and achievable feature into a horrible grind. Most of us are saying, why bother?

 

Our guild is definitely saying why bother. We may go back to LOTRO or GW2, Division is not an MMO but it's looking good too.

 

1) Crafting seems fine, I don't do a lot but the steps to get when I need seem pretty much the same. I craft a few components to make items I want or need now but that's pretty much it.

 

2) Level Sync gave me some worries, but I gave it a shot. And liked it. I usually passed over Heroics because they took too long or finding a group at the right time too time consuming. Level Sync was their way of getting us into Heroics on each world without having to redesign the Heroic of instance areas to accommodate higher levels. And I was fine with that. It didn't make going to each planet difficult or cause me to have trouble going from point A to point B.

 

3) Companions, I enjoy not having to spend crystals on mods for their gear, saves more for me. As for new ones, it's part of the story. And I like having new faces. They are all stated the same and it's nice to have a different face aiding me on my adventures. Being the Outlander I should have more resources to draw from, I'm a galactic hero. There is a terminal in your instance HQ that you can use to get old companions back early, I did not use it because I'm sure Kira and company will swoop in to help save my Jedi a$s at some point making their return fun. The grind is to keep us busy, you get so many gifts now it's tedious when you have so many, but doable. Focus on one at a time if that helps. Me personally I'm slowing working each group at the same time. The main KOTFE cast i'm working separate from the supporting cast (ones unlocked through Alliance Alerts).

 

All in all I'm having more fun now that I was before. Aspects of the story I had left to try someday (old Heroics) I am doing for the Alliance grind and having fun doing so. Crafting is just as it was to me, easier to get resources but still the same cIickity click click steps. And companions are easier to enjoy, you think about your gear, your stats and beat their Imperial asses.

[zhandao]

How about giving companions a bonus say 25% to one of the three roles (Heal/Tank/DPS). That way you can use whatever companion you want but if you want a little extra for a particular situation you can grab another companion. It also might give people a reason to get more companions to influence 50.

Sounds perfectly fine to me.

 

I agree with your last line, too.