KotFE: What's Left

[DomiSotto]

My character used to be a Major of the Republic Army, loyal to his wife, and happy to be the the cavalry. He'd jump in his ship, go on another Mission Impossible, kill some Imps, quibble with his superior over doing the right thing... and go kill some more Imps. He had a squad that save for one person was willing to put their life on the line for him.

 

What is he now? Well, not much, really. He's lost everything, including his wife, his Republic, his squad,and his personality.

 

Ever since a series of unfortunate events, no enemy of his dies when he shoots them fair and square. Not only the 300-years old, or the millennium old powerful entity far beyond his scope and understanding (seriously, is he the best we got to deal with those? Can't we get a Jedi specializing in that sort of stuff?) , now apparently even the whiny teenage brats use the revolving doors installed on the gates of the afterlife. In fact, I am almost positive one of them is actually Darth Zhorrid come back again in a double afterlife cheating whammy.

 

Major was under the impression that Yunn, the good guy he's recruited on Hoth all those months ago, and who fought by his side from then on, will need but a comm call to rejoin. But apparently he needs to fly somewhere. Then rinse and repeat it. Where is communication technology when you need it? Or has the Galaxy adopted Alderaan's snooty approach to ignoring the modern conveniences?

 

Don't know about you, folks, but I used to think of the Easter egg hunt quests as a necessary evil to level up some, while teasing out the main story-line. But now, the Easter Egg Hunt is the main story-line.

 

So, one character destroyed, the story abandoned, and the enemies that could never be defeated.

Edited December 13, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Costello]

It does seem the characters personality is some what gone and we are now a generic outlander who often gets carried along by our companions making no choices of any note.

 

While companions we have grown close to either forget that they used to be part of our team or worse have disappeared while we travel around recruiting people picked by our companions to get more companions that are fairly generic.

 

While the epic feel of a galaxy spanning war are not felt outside of the 10 chapters as once they are complete you teleport back 5 years to the gelaxy as it was, with the eternal empire having little to no effect on the planets (outside of couple of recruitment or star fortress missions).

[Kacynski]

It does seem the characters personality is some what gone and we are now a generic outlander who often gets carried along by our companions making no choices of any note.

 

That is actually the main gripe I have with KotFE - it made literally everything we did before null and void. Everything that defined our characters as, well, characters has been stripped away. The only thing left from the past is a single letter you might get

from your love interest.

 

 

From now on it is just being the outlander, which has no distinction from any other outlander there. This decision nullified everything we ever did on our alts and I have to say I am royally pissed of because of it.

[KraytAssassin]

Yeah they went from 8 class stories to 2 faction stories (ROTC) to 1 story from 2 different POV (SOR) to 1 story with 1 POV. Its sad to see BW couldn't even give some of that renewed focus on story to another faction story at the very least.

[Mirandel]

Yeah they went from 8 class stories to 2 faction stories (ROTC) to 1 story from 2 different POV (SOR) to 1 story with 1 POV. Its sad to see BW couldn't even give some of that renewed focus on story to another faction story at the very least.

 

Add to this the fact that the last story is written with only 2 classes in mind - JK\SW (because do not tell me you truly find it fitting for the Emperor to tell a smuggler "you are the only one in all my millennia who got my attention and who like me changing galaxy" and to be killed by a smuggler) - and the list will be complete.

Do not mind it that much - I have enough JKs to play with and enough imagination to cover the plot-holes for other force-users, but as OP said for other classes it does look sad.

[Calinaph]

Add to this the fact that the last story is written with only 2 classes in mind - JK\SW (because do not tell me you truly find it fitting for the Emperor to tell a smuggler "you are the only one in all my millennia who got my attention and who like me changing galaxy" and to be killed by a smuggler) - and the list will be complete.

Do not mind it that much - I have enough JKs to play with and enough imagination to cover the plot-holes for other force-users, but as OP said for other classes it does look sad.

 

Pretty much this. This has been my biggest problem with KOTFE- the actual set up makes no sense for most of the classes beyond the JK/SW story- and even those are a stretch.

[Eialune]

My character used to be a Major of the Republic Army, loyal to his wife, and happy to be the the cavalry. He'd jump in his ship, go on another Mission Impossible, kill some Imps, quibble with his superior over doing the right thing... and go kill some more Imps. He had a squad that save for one person was willing to put their life on the line for him.

 

What is he now? Well, not much, really. He's lost everything, including his wife, his Republic, his squad,and his personality.

 

Ever since a series of unfortunate events, no enemy of his dies when he shoots them fair and square. Not only the 300-years old, or the millennium old powerful entity far beyond his scope and understanding (seriously, is he the best we got to deal with those? Can't we get a Jedi specializing in that sort of stuff?) , now apparently even the whiny teenage brats use the revolving doors installed on the gates of the afterlife. In fact, I am almost positive one of them is actually Darth Zhorrid come back again in a double afterlife cheating whammy.

 

Major was under the impression that Yunn, the good guy he's recruited on Hoth all those months ago, and who fought by his side from then on, will need but a comm call to rejoin. But apparently he needs to fly somewhere. Then rinse and repeat it. Where is communication technology when you need it? Or has the Galaxy adopted Alderaan's snooty approach to ignoring the modern conveniences?

 

Don't know about you, folks, but I used to think of the Easter egg hunt quests as a necessary evil to level up some, while teasing out the main story-line. But now, the Easter Egg Hunt is the main story-line.

 

So, one character destroyed, the story abandoned, and the enemies that could never be defeated.

 

I have another Trooper who's very much the same. He wants to be in the trenches. He wants to be the "grunt," he just cares about fighting for fairness, he isn't interested in medals or ceremonies or recognition. He doesn't think of himself as better than any other helmeted, faceless NPC mook.

 

...but I've actually really enjoyed the turmoil that thrusting him out of that role has caused. He's not equipped to deal with it, he doesn't want to deal with it, and everyone keeps forcing him into that role because it's what they need. So he'll try to be what they need of him - this figurehead, some rallying point - even though he doesn't believe he's suited for the job. He's lost his crew, he's lost the world he knew, but his personality is still the same, and it's made running the story and doing the content with him actually really fun as a result.

 

My point is that while some characters may not fit the KotFE storyline, it's entirely possible to enjoy the fact that they may not fit it, and enjoy the character developments that arise from that.

[annabethchase]

...

 

...but I've actually really enjoyed the turmoil that thrusting him out of that role has caused. He's not equipped to deal with it, he doesn't want to deal with it, and everyone keeps forcing him into that role because it's what they need. So he'll try to be what they need of him - this figurehead, some rallying point - even though he doesn't believe he's suited for the job. He's lost his crew, he's lost the world he knew, but his personality is still the same, and it's made running the story and doing the content with him actually really fun as a result.

 

My point is that while some characters may not fit the KotFE storyline, it's entirely possible to enjoy the fact that they may not fit it, and enjoy the character developments that arise from that.

 

So yeah, that's The Mockingjay storyline from Hunger Games. Kind of awesome coincidence

[Calinaph]

So yeah, that's The Mockingjay storyline from Hunger Games. Kind of awesome coincidence

 

It's not really a new story. The "reluctant hero" trope has been around in movies and literature for a long time.

[t-darko]

My character used to be a Major of the Republic Army, loyal to his wife, and happy to be the the cavalry. He'd jump in his ship, go on another Mission Impossible, kill some Imps, quibble with his superior over doing the right thing... and go kill some more Imps. He had a squad that save for one person was willing to put their life on the line for him.

 

What is he now? Well, not much, really. He's lost everything, including his wife, his Republic, his squad,and his personality.

 

Ever since a series of unfortunate events, no enemy of his dies when he shoots them fair and square. Not only the 300-years old, or the millennium old powerful entity far beyond his scope and understanding (seriously, is he the best we got to deal with those? Can't we get a Jedi specializing in that sort of stuff?) , now apparently even the whiny teenage brats use the revolving doors installed on the gates of the afterlife. In fact, I am almost positive one of them is actually Darth Zhorrid come back again in a double afterlife cheating whammy.

 

Major was under the impression that Yunn, the good guy he's recruited on Hoth all those months ago, and who fought by his side from then on, will need but a comm call to rejoin. But apparently he needs to fly somewhere. Then rinse and repeat it. Where is communication technology when you need it? Or has the Galaxy adopted Alderaan's snooty approach to ignoring the modern conveniences?

 

Don't know about you, folks, but I used to think of the Easter egg hunt quests as a necessary evil to level up some, while teasing out the main story-line. But now, the Easter Egg Hunt is the main story-line.

 

So, one character destroyed, the story abandoned, and the enemies that could never be defeated.

 

I got at least one character in every class. KotFE is solely reserved for my very first main, the Jedi Knight, as it makes most sense that he should be the one to carry the missions of the outlander. My other toons is out on missions for the Republic/Empire, those who don't, hunts bounties in the wars hot spots, the warzones(pvp) or goes on yet another smuggle run. For my force sensitive chars the odd datacron hunt has been their main priority as they search the galaxy for any knowledge the Infinite empire left behind, and those 'supplies'(every heroic above lvl 59 renders a KotFE supply crate as reward regardless if they are doing the KotFE or not) my JK seem to be in great need of. That's the only way my other toons will support the outlanders fight against the Eternal Throne.

 

So been dabble a bit in the genre of RP, suddenly understood that community's outcry over the nonexisting "chat bubbles". Even tried some Ops for the first time in 2 years, mostly for the story of them, have some guildies that shared my curiosity. My JK does a Fortress once a week or something depending on who of my friends that's online.

 

One of my secret hopes is that KotFE is the beginning of the end for this game, that we somehow will get a new Star Wars MMO(Rpg). after 2 grand Betas, SWG and SWTOR, the third one must be the charm, ah well, one can only keep hoping!

 

Now a day I just roam the servers for some decent PvP . . . One of the most important revelations though is that you as a SWTOR player need to create the environment that keeps you playing, whether it's 'just' the friends you play with.

 

Time and a Disney buy up rushed this game to what it is, and the fact that the original developers failed to tell the gaming world what this game would not be.

 

I will be here until this game gives its final notice of existence, but I will not support the Respirator that is the Cartel Market. There will always be a Star Wars MMO, but only the one that cater to all aspects of gaming today(PvP, Raiding, RP, a great story experience, social interaction) will survive in the long run. The casual players is the ones with the wallet, the hardcore gamer is not. Time is the new world's commodity, a hard fact that the gaming world(as in game creators) is starting to realize.

 

Do I have a point to all this random thoughts, well not really, just airing my thoughts, or maybe I do; If this game doesn't 'do it' for someone anymore don't linger, just move along . . . and I don't mean that in any hostile way, if cookies doesn't 'do it' for you anymore, no one would blame you for stop eating them, would they?

Edited December 13, 2015 by t-darko

[DomiSotto]

I am glad that the fans of the Hunger Games find the plot familiar and satisfying. Me, I loved SWTOR because it was a powerhouse of a video game that dared to give the main character a unique voice, where the villains died, and some of the MainChars were not reluctantly accepting a Grand Destiny "Cause the Ancients Told Us So".

[Frenesi]

I am glad that the fans of the Hunger Games find the plot familiar and satisfying. Me, I loved SWTOR because it was a powerhouse of a video game that dared to give the main character a unique voice, where the villains died, and some of the MainChars were not reluctantly accepting a Grand Destiny "Cause the Ancients Told Us So".

 

Not only this, but the way characters (well, some of them) were allowed to develop. I planned to play my agent as cold-blooded imperial loyalist. But the way she ended act 1, and the entire act 2, completely turned that character concept around, and I finished her as deeply traumatized person, without loyalties left, simply trying to stop the war.

 

My knight got similar development during act 3, turning from slightly naive jedi into quite ruthless general, abandoning jedi teachings and pretty much getting booted form the order (yea, SoR somewhat corrected that, but still).

 

That's what made the game great. Personal stories, personally affecting characters. No other game of Bioware (outside of DA2, and that was the only reason I enjoyed it) done that. Now KotFE forces us back to the old tired heroic formula...

[Eanelinea]

But guys, we're the chosen one!! You know, no one else in the entire galaxy could take on the Dread Masters, or Tavus, or old Rakata things, or Revan. We're the only ones. We should feel special....

[Eialune]

I am glad that the fans of the Hunger Games find the plot familiar and satisfying. Me, I loved SWTOR because it was a powerhouse of a video game that dared to give the main character a unique voice, where the villains died, and some of the MainChars were not reluctantly accepting a Grand Destiny "Cause the Ancients Told Us So".

 

Why not both?

 

In all seriousness. My main is a SW, and his character development has been completely different and felt completely different from my Trooper's, even though the storyline is so similar. From a certain point of view, etc., etc. While playing through on my Trooper felt like a reluctant hero/fish out of water/in over his head archetype, playing through with my Warrior felt like a continuation of the same chosen one kind of story his class story was.

 

While we don't have different individual storylines, the way characters interact with you in all the dialogue is (with a few exceptions) different depending on the player's class/alignment. Maybe it would be cool to get a separate storyline for each class but I'd honestly rather they do it in a SoR kind of way, with a separate side class story going on concurrent to the main one.

 

...I wonder if I would dislike it more on an insta-60, though, where I hadn't already DONE those drastically different class stories?

[ryoutou]

I like the storytelling in KOTFE, but no doubt about it - it only has mild replay value.

 

Which is why I find it so very puzzling to seeming discard endgame. No new pvp maps, no real progression raiding, none of that stuff - which is far, far cheaper to develop than the voice acting/writer heavy content which is so ephemeral.

 

I hope there is a pivot. I think there will be. But it will be after a management change. I think that all the missteps that have been made recently are going to frame what they had hoped would be a massive influx of people from the movie, but in 90 days cold hard reality is going to settle in. And we'll see some personnel shifts.

 

At least if I was a betting man thats the number I'd put some chips on

[JouerTue]

yes kofte is horrible, just skip everything to 65, forget the story and go back to endgame.

[Swissbob]

"In all my centuries, you alone have merited my full attention," said the millenia old, host shifting, galaxy conquering, world eating, immortal and invincible god to the 30 year old, flirtatious illegal goods transporter.

 

Yeah, the whole chosen one trope always frustrates me, especially when it is completely out of the blue and nonsensical. In this case, it can ""work"" for the Jedi Knight, and not be totally atrocious for the other Force users, but for the Bounty Hunter? The Smuggler? It frankly doesn't make any sense.... and is utterly laughable when you take into account the context of who is saying it:

 

Vitiate has been around for over a millenium.... he's pulled strings from Unknown Space throughout the centuries, manipulating galactic events, mobilizing a warrior culture (Mandalorions) to bring down the Republic, turning legendary Jedi (Revan, Malak.... the former of which he shared his mind with for 300 years....) to the dark side to also wage war on a galactic scale.... weakening the Republic for centuries while bolstering his own strength in the shadows, all culminating in an epic final invasion, to take revenge for the defeat of his brethren all those centuries ago, to crush the Republic and the Jedi once and for all, and establish the Sith dominion Naga Sadow dreamed of! It's a pretty cool, (dare I say "epic") storyline that's been written by several authors over the course of over a (real life) decade, with multiple video games (Kotor) and books all leading up to SWTOR's conclusion.

 

Except.... no. No.... apparently that's not it at all. It's all somehow because he really, really, likes this one particular Smuggler who is going to be born some centuries in the future.... That's his ultimate goal, his "full attention." Sorry Revan, sorry Mandalore the Ultimate, sorry Marka Ragnos and Naga Sadow, sorry epic, millenia long conflict between the Light Side and the Dark Side of the force (you know, Star Wars at its very core). It's all about the Smuggler. Who needs ultimate galactic domination when you can get.... erm.... intimate with this really cool illegal goods transporter?

 

It's really a shame I find the new story so terrible, because clearly so many resources went into it when compared with the previous expansion stories, and on a technical level (voice acting, environment design, cut scene quality, mission design, etc.) it's great.

 

Bioware really put all their eggs into one basket, with almost all of the new content of this expansion being story content, and that story being a single narrative that's the same for every class and character with little to no replayability. Unfortunately for me, the basket broke.... And now I really don't have anything to do in SWTOR.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Swissbob

[DocDAM]

That's why it was a no brainer for me to choose my JK for the initial run through KOTFE. And although I'm enjoying the story, I just don't feel much compulsion to run any of my 7 other L60 classes through it.

[okimbored]

Ahh five years in carbonite and I still can't find a way back to my wife on Voss? Odd how I never went back to see her, never got another letter (if only the divorce papers) I wonder if we ever had any kids? Oh well I need to get back to endlessly searching the galaxy for others to join my cause

[Cedia]

That is actually the main gripe I have with KotFE - it made literally everything we did before null and void. Everything that defined our characters as, well, characters has been stripped away. The only thing left from the past is a single letter you might get

from your love interest.

 

 

From now on it is just being the outlander, which has no distinction from any other outlander there. This decision nullified everything we ever did on our alts and I have to say I am royally pissed of because of it.

 

And if you're bugged, like I was, TWICE, you don't even get that.

 

Add to this the fact that the last story is written with only 2 classes in mind - JK\SW (because do not tell me you truly find it fitting for the Emperor to tell a smuggler "you are the only one in all my millennia who got my attention and who like me changing galaxy" and to be killed by a smuggler) - and the list will be complete.

Do not mind it that much - I have enough JKs to play with and enough imagination to cover the plot-holes for other force-users, but as OP said for other classes it does look sad.

 

And yes, while I love my Bounty Hunter to pieces, I'm starting to think that perhaps rolling a Sorceress and taking her through would be the better choice. At least until I know how the Mandalorians return.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Cedia

[GalacticKegger]

yes kofte is horrible, just skip everything to 65, forget the story and go back to endgame.

Alliance reminds me too much of Cataclysm dailies grinds that prompted me to leave WoW. So after playing through the story and starting the dailies, my wife and I chose to skip the expansion altogether, hoping to at least get back into good old traditional SWTOR early game play. I mean, a simple expansion couldn't have possibly done anything to the rest of the game? Right?

 

Wrong. Group play, where players could help each other progress though the other's class story, as well as playing though planet story while participating in planet story quest dialogues together (both of which are completely gone in the expansion) are all that remain of original early game.

 

Progressing though planet story ... then through planet heroics ... then through planet end game flashpoints en route to the next planet ... GONE. My wife and I want to feel level progression as we advance through a planet - and we don't want it forcibly leveling with us. We want to feel gear progression, both character and companion, as we advance through a flashpoint or hard mode - and we don't want either forcibly done for us. Freedom of choice and a leveling progression that mimicked end game progression is what made SWTOR our game. It's why we have almost 40 level 60s between us ... and KotFE killed it. ALL OF IT.

 

As one size fits all made planet leveling, heroics, flashpoints & HMs dead to us, my wife & I are left with early game class stories for PvE. We looked forward to playing between 16 to 20 hours a week. Now we fight feeling double crossed and sold out when we try to log in.

 

Bioware knew KotFE would be killing off segments of their purist player base, and increased server character slot thresholds to 40 as compensation for them. Did they really think that funneling their purist players back into early game - then have them pay for more character slots to accommodate it - would somehow make everything okay? Especially after butchering the early game they're sending them back to?

Edited December 14, 2015 by GalacticKegger

[GhostNappa]

I have another Trooper who's very much the same. He wants to be in the trenches. He wants to be the "grunt," he just cares about fighting for fairness, he isn't interested in medals or ceremonies or recognition. He doesn't think of himself as better than any other helmeted, faceless NPC mook.

 

...but I've actually really enjoyed the turmoil that thrusting him out of that role has caused. He's not equipped to deal with it, he doesn't want to deal with it, and everyone keeps forcing him into that role because it's what they need. So he'll try to be what they need of him - this figurehead, some rallying point - even though he doesn't believe he's suited for the job. He's lost his crew, he's lost the world he knew, but his personality is still the same, and it's made running the story and doing the content with him actually really fun as a result.

 

My point is that while some characters may not fit the KotFE storyline, it's entirely possible to enjoy the fact that they may not fit it, and enjoy the character developments that arise from that.

 

Really well-said! This was my opinion the whole time.

[Tarbuch]

What is the point of doing the class quests now, you will level much faster if you skip the whole of that and just level with group finder doing FPs, once you start FE you will loose all your companions any way so why bother.

Why even bother getting a space ship, you can just use group finder to port to your FP and park yourself at fleet.

 

And then you are left with the mad grind of influence for you new 20+ companions and allience specialists.

 

It is basically WoW where the game starts at max level, the low levels are just waste of time until you get to the end game grind.

 

No more NiM ops as they don't drop anything, but mounts over the higlighted ops; which drop 224 rated gear.

[jstankaroslo]

This is really sad.

I mean, I can even find reasons for my favorite characters (BH, Trooper) that are not best suited for KotFE to participate in it.

I can devise plots that justify even my smuggler to be Valkorion's chosen one.

Problem is: this is getting old after 3rd character.

The story is ok, but not great. Many SW plotholes (where did DS/LS conflict go? Knights of Zakuul using force not falling to LS/DS?) but I could live with that.

 

But the repeating.... And there's simply not much to do

1. How many times do I have to run SF H2? I did it all. 2-man, 4-man, solo, solo for 1 and only achievement (even during the 1 week companion nerf), ranged, melee, alliance buffs/no buffs. If I do it again I'll probably just uninstall the game...

2. The grind on levelling planets -good idea, but it is either mind numblingly easy (Ilum, Tats, Hutta, Tariss etc) or surprisingly hard in few cases (Makeb and... Alderaan former imp bonus). But once I did every mission like 5 times it gets much too old

3. Some good ideas like forced pvp, forced World Boss or trophy hunting. But again -it is fun for 1-2 characters. I'm done on my JK, almost done on my BH, in the middle of things on my Commando and I'm dreading the gamethrough with my Inquisitor or Sage....

4. The vanilla game difficulty. Companions solo the game. No fun with equipping them, no fun with different roles. Khem Val can heal. Not fun for me.

 

I can't even create new character, and re-live their story again, as the even easier fights will put me to sleep.

 

Duh, even the DK gen chat lost its charm as half of DK residents now either left or grind SF on Odessen.

 

Overall -good try conceptually BW, ****ed up on implementation. You lost me, I'm not staying. No sub reward is gonna keep me.

In the immortal words of Han Solo" "No reward is worth this"

[GalacticKegger]

Bioware really put all their eggs into one basket, with almost all of the new content of this expansion being story content, and that story being a single narrative that's the same for every class and character with little to no replayability. Unfortunately for me, the basket broke.... And now I really don't have anything to do in SWTOR.

To players who love this solo planet story / Alliance companionville expansion: well met and I am truly happy for you. To Bioware from a purist backer: you can have your expansion - just f***ing give us the rest of our game back. Please. Edited December 14, 2015 by GalacticKegger