Kleli Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Hi, I’m a big fan of this game and have played it since launch. One of the biggest reasons why I play this game is the story. So I was very happy when BioWare announced that they will refocus on story with KOTFE and game update 4.0. However I do not understand the reasoning behind the planetary bonus series that were changed with 4.0. Before 4.0 the bonus series often took place right after the main planetary quest chain or in some cases (like Alderaan bonus series) a little later in the overall story. But now, since 4.0, the bonus series are unavailable until you reach level 60 and the different quest givers (located on fleet and on the planets) have now been removed. This means that a big part of the story has been reduced and/or removed. There is no longer any story explaining why you need to go back and do the quests. Also, now when all bonus series start at level 60 (after that you’ve finished your class story and main game) the story doesn’t make sense. A lot of these bonus series story are designed to take place before the conclusion of the main game story arc. So now when you have to do them after the main game it just leaves the story in a big mess since the stories are no longer taking place in the correct chronological order. I really do not understand why this was changed with 4.0. BioWare say they want to focus more on story and then they make a big change that destroys the main game story. At first I thought that the level 60 requirement for the bonus series was a bug. But with 4.1 they removed the old quest givers which makes it clear that this change is by design. Can I please get some clarification on the reasoning behind this change? What is the intended way to play through the main game and bonus series now after 4.0? I’ve also noticed that the quest giver that sends you off to Section X have been removed. Why? Why do you remove the in-game story explanation as to why you are travelling to new places to help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlynnBradley Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 I too am confused. It's not like there aren't enough things to keep someone at level 60+ busy. I'm a completionist and very much prefer to complete all quests on a planet as I go so that I need not go back later... A logical response from devs would go a long way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pietrastor Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 I don't get why they just didn't move the fleet quest-givers to entry ports/stations on the planets. Seems like a more elegant solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi_riches Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 Yeah I don't understand the change either, it means many of the bonus series are being done at the wrong point in the storyline, I am just glad that common sense at least prevailed for the Republic Taris and the Imperial Balmorra bonus series staying where they were since its impossible for them to be correct at level 60 in terms of story and characters. My only hope is that because I do everything regardless as to how overlevelled I am I hit level 60 ASAP so that I can still do the majority of bonus series in the right order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Da-Mo Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 I too play this game mostly for the story and now the story is totally messed up. The fun is to follow the story and discover new places with no hurry to level up. Without the bonus series at the right level I do not got the "help" to discover the full planet. Please, Bioware, set this right again and let us enjoy the amazing stories you made for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi_riches Posted February 18, 2016 Share Posted February 18, 2016 I too play this game mostly for the story and now the story is totally messed up. The fun is to follow the story and discover new places with no hurry to level up. Without the bonus series at the right level I do not got the "help" to discover the full planet. Please, Bioware, set this right again and let us enjoy the amazing stories you made for us. I have made a spreadsheet of all the planets and where each bonus series should be placed so I know when to run them once I hit 60 (I should hit 60 some time during chapter 1 hopefully meaning I don't miss too many being done at the right level). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kleli Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 Glad to see I'm not the only one who recognizes this issue. I'm supprised BioWare hasn't done anything to fix the bonus series since the current state makes the base game incoherent and even broke in some cases. Here are some other examples: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=856006 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=862263 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=849398 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=849697 http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=863238 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaragonB Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) Wondering about the same but its a general issue with 4.0. They messed the FPs also totally up. I don't understand why they have to be tactical now and whats the sense in being open for all levels. I mean some FPs tell parts of the story be it for the general one with the emperor or the revan plot. Now as soon as you are L10 you might be fighting Revan and his minions in your first FP before you even freed him from his prison, you might run through Korriban or Tython before you are in your chars story at a point where it would make sense. Takes a lot of fun out especially when a player is new or hasn't had a char played yet fully to its end in the story like me. Now I already know where all is heading to even before I made one char beyond chapter 3. Well it doesn't make me so much curious about the rest as it had been there before I knew whats going on. All the gibberish talk about how important story should be with 4.0 and then they mess the old parts up. But I don't wanna start with a L60 token, I want to go right from the start and level through the whole age of SWTOR, find it out while playing and be a bit surprised from time to time Edited February 20, 2016 by DaragonB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pietrastor Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 (edited) Story progression for lvl 1-60 is a rather hot mess after 4.0 - Revan Flashpoints, False Emperor, Battle of Rishi etc available for lvl 15s for some unexplicable reason - bonus series all locked till 60 despite taking place way earlier progression-wise - Section X/Black Hole story NPCs removed - no option to turn-in Heroic Missions manually and finish their actual stories the traditional way - I'm also hearing Makeb Staged Weekly story NPCs got removed? Edited February 22, 2016 by Pietrastor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi_riches Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Story progression for lvl 1-60 is a rather hot mess after 4.0 - Revan Flashpoints, False Emperor, Battle of Rishi etc available for lvl 15s for some unexplicable reason Yeah this is bad design, it spoils too much story for those who may not have played them before, Bioware need to a cap on what the highest flashpoint you can run is, for instance the forged alliances flashpoints are only in gf after players have finished chapter 3. - bonus series all locked till 60 despite taking place way earlier progression-wise Yeah this is also bad design they were placed where they were before for a reason and they no longer make sense to play them after chapter 3, at least they had the sense not to move republic Taris and imperial Balmorra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mawrak Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) They did not change ALL the bonus missions. I think Imp Balmora, Rep Taris are left unchenged. But I 100% agree, there was no reason to change the rest. Now noone will even be able to find those missions, because you have to go actively look for them. New players don't know there are such missions and they are not going to look for them at all! The worst is Tatooine, because it has one of the best Bonus missions series AND it references class story for Reps, but I just can't be bothered to go back and do them when I am lvl 60 and can just move on to KOTFE. Bioware are really weird sometimes. Edited February 23, 2016 by Mawrak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi_riches Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 They did not change ALL the bonus missions. I think Imp Balmora, Rep Taris are left unchenged. Well these did have to stay where they were due to certain NPC's "circumstances" so Imp balmorra bonus series must come before chapter 3 of the consular story and Republic Taris has to be done before the completion of chapter 3 of the republic stories, I can only remember the NPC showing up in the final cutscene of the Trooper story though. P.S. Left a vague as possible just in case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kolowhip Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 The story was ruined and focused too much on sprinting to the newest expansion pack,I had to skip content as I literally had no clue what I was doing and how it bridged together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kleli Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Story progression for lvl 1-60 is a rather hot mess after 4.0 ... - Section X/Black Hole story NPCs removed ... This one is really strange! The change to bonus series is a really strange design choice. But the removal of the story NPCs for SectionX and Black Hole makes absolutely no sense at all. The areas haven't been repurposed in any way so why remove these NPCs? They've just removed story content for no reason!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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