Free 60 & Kotfe Vs companion story class and Presence (not happy)

[sebastienrivas]

Hello,

 

Ok, I was glad I could purchase a token for free lvl 60 and go straight to the latest expansion.

Meanwhile truth be told, I have not yet unlocked all companions for presence increase in the legacy.

I hate to grind, rinse and repeat and I just am impatient! spending 10 minutes on a speeder to go fetch or kill is an annoyance; therefore I saw those token as a good thing to circumvent all this time spent on speeder and travelling.

 

I understand well a free level 60 has to lock character main story line as if it was done. Although while I could get my companion back (t7, Kira, Scourge etc...), I also understand there is no way to progress those companions for Presence increase and the character cannot unlock legacy class perks either.

 

 

This renders those tokens evil or Bioware just does not like me for spending money. I get it very well a free 60 makes standard game and the expansion not long together story-wise, at the same time a free 60 means re-leveling same class 1 to 50 if you want presence and legacy done, so free 60 are not the same as standard character, worse it becomes a KOTFE spoiler since a player must level up a character from lvl 1 and onward again.

 

I was not hoping, I was expecting the story 1 to 50 to be untouchable which makes sense but as for the rest of the game mechanics, I just feel it makes the free lvl 60 purchased token useless and its companions soulless and little bots following me

 

Something has to be done with next expansion, this free 60 system negative impacts out-burden leveling 1 to 50 but it also breaks disbelief and that's a killer!

[SteveTheCynic]

They aren't evil. The player *chooses* to use one or not. If you want to have the Presence bonus, you do the class story and the companion stories (caveat: you only have to do it once for that class to get the bonus, and the bonus applies to the whole legacy). If you don't want to do the stories, get the token and accept that you won't have the bonus.

 

Key point: it is up to you. Nothing forces you to use the token.

 

And in any case, if you truly are as impatient as you say, it's highly likely that MMORPGs are the wrong kind of game for you.

[sebastienrivas]

Hi Steve,

 

I know I have to accept the facts but the raise of my post is looking towards if it truly does have to be that way?

 

The fact in story for example I help Kira Carsen be more than what she is then it is a sole story, does it have to be enticed with the player character story? apparently not so much because she has her own quest line such as meeting on a said location for example. Does that make my character more or less of a jedi if my whole standard story has not been done... manually?

Everyone and me included would say yes it does matter but Kira Carsen is not me, I play my own character and I help Kira Carsen which I love how Bioware have blown life to those characters are just their own acre, soul, and persons with needs, like, and less like but in no way are they me!

Although again I repeat, the fact I have no way to access those quest lines just render those characters soulless and deprives the player of disbelief. This cannot occur with missing the standard playing character story line because Kotfe makes you jump over it. Meanwhile at any given point, a player can switch between kotfe and standard.

 

The second point is that indeed, blowing ~10 bucks for playing a character that cannot give you all perks as a free or subscription character because I was happy to circumvent all these travels and time for a story I already know from a character played on another server is just a breaking point and heavy weight in my heart but that is personal, yet, Bioware must be aware that this is certainly NOT an ideal mechanic, not to retain or help to come back player base and there are "whatzillions" other ways to make it better, fair is subjective, but certainly more lvl 60 token engaging. After all, once 65+ and done with ktofe story done, player can keep on working with the alliance and go through planetary heroics which again could reinvigorate standard story players to play heroics on low played servers. I know I tell on planet and say "going there, who needs it?"... Anyway I am escaping the point but you catch my drift actual mechanic can easily be bested to players' point of view.

 

So again, it does not need to happen overnight but that jump over to lvl 60 but cant be equal to everyone else mechanic is deadly blow.

 

Hey you won a car, great isn't it? here you go.. a steering wheel. Catch my drift?!?! that lvl 60 token thing must be as much of a headache to Bioware as it is to players since inception but it does not have to be...

Edited September 1, 2016 by sebastienrivas

[Limariko]

At risk of LS/DS comparisons, going the Free 60 token route is the fast, easier route which carries the penalty of losing out on the class storylines of which the companion storylines are intertwined and the reward of skipping over all that you consider tedium to what's essentially close to endgame. Taking the longer route of playing through the class storylines and all gives the reward of going through and experiencing the companion storylines while carrying the penalty of it taking longer than going the token route.

[SteveTheCynic]

Hi Steve,

 

I know I have to accept the facts but the raise of my post is looking towards if it truly does have to be that way?

Of course it doesn't *have* to be that way. It *is* that way, and I think it was the right decision.

 

(Also: if you think of the token as a way for existing experienced players to quickly jump a character into KotFE, then the way it is works well.)

The fact in story for example I help Kira Carsen be more than what she is then it is a sole story, does it have to be enticed with the player character story? apparently not so much because she has her own quest line such as meeting on a said location for example. Does that make my character more or less of a jedi if my whole standard story has not been done... manually?

You also have to consider the history of the game. Back when 1.0 came out (five years ago, nearly!), the classic class story was more or less all there was, plus some "end-game" content (Operations, high-level flashpoints, etc.). Presence and Heroic Moment benefits have no effect on how we play in Operations, because they are both tied into use of companions, and there are no companions allowed in Operations.

 

And of course you are neither more or less of a Jedi because you did or did not do the class story, but with 4.0, the companion story progression became tied to progression in the class story (which is more or less reasonable, and avoids certain oddities that were possible before, like when I reached 9000 affection on Elara before finishing Chapter 2 of the Trooper story, and, when she came back from being injured (it's a spoiler to explain why, sorry), I had the entire rest of her conversations back-to-back, before going to Belsavis).

 

The essential point is that the companion stories are *part* of the class stories. They are not separate from them, even if the narratives are only a bit linked. Taking your example of Kira, she talks about Master Kiwiiks as if you know who she is talking about, which is reasonable if you link the two stories together, but that only works if you, the player, have pushed your character through the class story.

This cannot occur with missing the standard playing character story line because Kotfe makes you jump over it. Meanwhile at any given point, a player can switch between kotfe and standard.

KotFE does *NOT* *make* you jump over it. It *allows* you to jump over it, but does not require that you do it. I have started KotFE on six or seven from-level-1 characters and two insta-60 characters (one free, one paid for, more fool me), and on the from-1 characters, I did the complete class story for all of them. (One interrupted Shadow of Revan on Rishi, but that was my choice that I made knowing that she would not be able to finish it.)

So again, it does not need to happen overnight but that jump over to lvl 60 but cant be equal to everyone else mechanic is deadly blow.

Deadly blow to *what*, though? And you *can* be equal to everyone else. Running a different character through the class and companion stories gives the Presence (etc.) benefits to your *whole* legacy, retroactively.

Hey you won a car, great isn't it? here you go.. a steering wheel. Catch my drift?!?! that lvl 60 token thing must be as much of a headache to Bioware as it is to players since inception but it does not have to be...

It's a headache for Bioware (if, indeed, they think of it as a headache) because it isn't what some players want it to be, but in my opinion, it is what it *should* be. It is a shortcut to level 60, and should not offer the benefits of taking the scenic route to level 60.

[ZanyaCross]

I still have the free token I got when KotFE launched. There are just way too many reasons to take the scenic route. Either pick new story and character options, picking up crafting mats on the way that my Lv 65s can use, and putting them through lowbie and midbie pvp to get tons of comms s they'll have a set of 208 gear with set bonuses all ready for them when they hit Lv 65.