An Honest and Detailed Review of KOTET [Minor Spoilers]

[heythereqt]

This is meant to be an objective feedback discussion towards the devs. These are my personal experiences, but I think a lot of players will agree with what I have to say. Feel free to add or comment! I'll start with the good and move towards the bad.

 

Story Chapters

One word: Spectacular. They really were fantastic. It's funny because a few weeks prior to 5.0, I talked about how KOTFE was like "netflix with skytroopers" and was a bit dull. Man, you guys REALLY turned that around and aced it this time through. Every chapter had something new and exciting. The new planets were unique and fun to explore, and the old planets looked so good that they were barely recognizable. I don't know if I've ever felt more immersed into a storyline. The action and chaos going on while I battled through the zones was so on-point and immersive. If you guys continue to produce that kind of story content in the future, I'm 100% on board and looking forward to it. 10/10 will play again and again.

 

Performance Enhancements

Wonderful. The changes seem very subtle, but really make a big difference in the cut scenes. I've also seen major improvements (less lag) in warzones/FPs/Uprisings. Teleport-to-target abilities now work much better as well. I'd love to see more minor/major performance improvements like this done in future expansions. 10/10

 

Class Changes

I think the class changes are very underrated for 5.0. You guys did a great job at making really subtle but effective changes to classes without just slapping a new ability on each class to make them more mobile like you did in 3.0/4.0. The changes/additions you made to utilites were really nice, and I'm really enjoying them so far. I'm still a bit bitter about the removal of phase walk from sins, but the new utilites and force speed cooldown make up for it. Removal of channeled abilities is something I'm OK with, because IMO mobility > cool animations for melee classes. My only real gripe here is giving DPS guard. Any pvp team that doesnt have a sin/jugg/PT is at a huge disadvantage, and that's become pretty obvious already in the matches that I've played. 8/10

 

Uprisings

The reactions to these have been all over the place, but I like them. Something new and refreshing is always nice, and these will be great for when I don't have the time for a full op or fp. I think you guys learned from your mistakes with the Star Fortresses and did these the right way by making them group only and making them the primary focus of Galactic Command. The big universal problem that everyone seems to be having so far is that story uprisings are far too difficult without a healer. This isn't a "too much damage" problem as much as it is a "lack of healing" problem. Easy fix: change the healing stations into the respawning ones like we have in Vet FPs so we can heal when we need to without having to wait until a party member leaves so we can pull a companion. Looking forward to seeing more of these released soon, and giving master uprisings a go when they are out. 7/10

 

Galactic Command & Command Crates

I think the principle idea for Galactic Command is great. I play every aspect of this game, especially flashpoints and pvp, so the idea of being able to gear up playing anything I want is wonderful. Receiving cool items like cosmetic gear, jawa junk, companion gifts, etc. in Command Crates is great too. With that said, RNG gearing is the worst possible gearing method I've ever seen in an MMO. It completely negates anything else remotely good about Galactic Command. The thought that a person could grind for months to get to command rank 300 and never have a full set bonus along the way is pretty terrifying. On top of that, the grind is brutal for alts, and most of us have at least 10-20 max level alts after events like DvL and 12xp. 4/10 (because I like everything else except the gearing)

 

-How it should have been done: keep the RNG for the other items in the crates, but give us an actual gear progression. Example: when you hit command rank 100 you should have a full set of tier 1 gear, rank 200 a full set of tier 2 gear, and rank 300 a full set of tier 3 gear, all with set bonuses. Having a long endgame grind is perfectly fine, but we at least need a carrot on the end of the stick. Additionally, introduce a catch-up mechanic for those of us that have 10+ alts that we plan to level up to 70.

 

Other Aspects of 5.0

The big problem with KOTET has nothing to do with the content that it gave us (except RNG gearing, that is and will always be terrible). It has everything to do with the lack of content that it gave us. The story chapters are phenomenal, but many people--including myself--have already run into the problem of "what do I do when I finish those?" Replay old content that I've done for the Nth time, just to level up endlessly in an endgame system that in all likelihood won't reward me for all the effort I'm making? Additionally, it's no small secret that group-oriented players have had nothing new for 2 years now (uprisings are an OK first step)...but outside of the main story, you've left your solo-oriented players with nothing to do either. Pre-4.0 we had reputation grinds, daily and weekly quests to complete, crews that we could customize, companions that had their own specific dialogue and side quests, places to explore...we don't have any of that now. I'm supposed to be the leader of a massive galactic-wide alliance that is the center of power in the galaxy...and yet my ship is as quiet and lifeless as the day the alliance first started, and my alliance base and crew aren't cusomizable and have zero real progression outside of the storyline. All the alliance members that I've gathered to my side don't serve any real purpose outside of the story...I can't customize them, I have no dialogue with them, no side missions, nothing. My biggest complaint is the fact that we still--after a year of constant requests and discussion--can't customize our new companions. One of your most loved features of this entire game pre-4.0 was omitted from any new companion...the ones that you've forced us to focus on so much because of the story...and in all the time since KOTFE we haven't received a single word from a dev as to why that is. If this lack-of-communication fiasco trend continues with the RNG gearing, it might be the last straw that results in me pulling my sub from a game that I so desperately want to continue enjoying and supporting. 1/10

 

Looking Ahead

Overall, KOTET was much more fun and engaging than I thought it would be. It's great for what it added...but there are still a LOT of concerns and gaps to be filled if you want to be able to keep this game alive. In the livestreams, you (the devs) said you would use 2017 to focus on group content again. Ben also made mention of dailies and explorable places in the final KOTET livestream IIRC. If you guys can follow through on giving us new group content and things like daily areas/reputations in early/mid 2017 (dare I say new strongholds and pvp/gsf maps too?), then KOTET will be my favorite SWTOR release thus far. Better than all the other expansions, and even better than vanilla. But you NEED TO FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THOSE PROMISES. I'd love to see a similar model in future expansions, where you release mind-blowing story content and smaller group content initially, followed by more endgame content later in the year.

 

Thanks for reading.

Edited December 5, 2016 by heythereqt

[SolarSaenz]

Thank you for posting a civil, level headed and honest opinion of 5.0. It's refreshing.

I pretty much agree with everything that's been said here.

[Leklor]

The lack of people responding to this post should speak for itself. If you have not understood that statement let me further clarify. You are entitled to your own opinion, and the majority of what you wrote is just that. In addition it makes us wonder if you even played the new expansion, or if you watched someone play it. The only truth I can see coming out of your post was the "Other" section, because frankly all the rest sounds like you work for either EA or BW ; and trying to feed the players cow dung by 'acting like one of us' and posting something with the guise of just being a regular subscriber.

 

What are you going on about?

You do realize his opinion mostly aligns with the general consensus?

That the story is a step up from KOTFE, that the Uprisings are a good idea but aren't fully developed as they could.

That the Galactic Command COULD have been interesting but is instead a disaster?

That KotET still lacks content overall?

 

Did you read what he wrote before accusing him of being basically a EA/BW employee trying to give good publicity to the game?

[Andryah]

Thank you for posting a civil, level headed and honest opinion of 5.0. It's refreshing.

I pretty much agree with everything that's been said here.

 

I agree.

 

GC needs work right now, and I am sure they will get to it. Personally, I am steering clear of it until they settle on some fixes. No point in bashing ones head against something not working right and then getting frustrated. There is plenty to do in game right now as I am a diversified player.

[Andryah]

What are you going on about?

You do realize his opinion mostly aligns with the general consensus?

That the story is a step up from KOTFE, that the Uprisings are a good idea but aren't fully developed as they could.

That the Galactic Command COULD have been interesting but is instead a disaster?

That KotET still lacks content overall?

 

Did you read what he wrote before accusing him of being basically a EA/BW employee trying to give good publicity to the game?

 

^^ /Praise.

[Cynomen]

The lack of people responding to this post should speak for itself. If you have not understood that statement let me further clarify. You are entitled to your own opinion, and the majority of what you wrote is just that. In addition it makes us wonder if you even played the new expansion, or if you watched someone play it. The only truth I can see coming out of your post was the "Other" section, because frankly all the rest sounds like you work for either EA or BW ; and trying to feed the players cow dung by 'acting like one of us' and posting something with the guise of just being a regular subscriber.

 

I respectfully disagree with you here. I feel the post was spot on to my opinion of the update and I can assure you, I do not work for EA nor BW. You have an opinion as well of course, but you should not assume just because someone likes something, that they are part of the "system".

[heythereqt]

The lack of people responding to this post should speak for itself. If you have not understood that statement let me further clarify. You are entitled to your own opinion, and the majority of what you wrote is just that. In addition it makes us wonder if you even played the new expansion, or if you watched someone play it. The only truth I can see coming out of your post was the "Other" section, because frankly all the rest sounds like you work for either EA or BW ; and trying to feed the players cow dung by 'acting like one of us' and posting something with the guise of just being a regular subscriber.

 

Read, then think, then reply. Not the other way around.

 

My review details the positives AND negatives of KOTET. If you had read past the first sentence where I said "I'll start with the good and move to the bad," you would have seen that. A few negative things don't mean that this entire expansion is a failure. In fact , it's better than KOTFE in more ways than not. With that said, it does still need a ton of work...first and foremost with the removal/replacement of RNG gearing.

[heythereqt]

Glad most of you enjoyed/agreed with the review so far. Here's to hoping they legitimately take some of it into consideration as good feedback!

 

Would be awesome to see them address and fix the big problems KOTET has next year, but you can never get your hopes up for these things.

[Fallahmain]

I fully agree with the OP in his post. I enjoyed the expansion and the new substance they offered, but am left scratching my head at some of their decisions.

 

And please, give me Jaesa back, just long enough for my Marauder to separate her head from her shoulders for turning her back on him.

[heythereqt]

I fully agree with the OP in his post. I enjoyed the expansion and the new substance they offered, but am left scratching my head at some of their decisions.

 

And please, give me Jaesa back, just long enough for my Marauder to separate her head from her shoulders for turning her back on him.

 

Totally forgot to address the lack of returning companions. That's a big head-scratcher for me as well, especially considering how vital to the story some of them should have been. Hopefully they give us some sort of time table as to when they're returning.