Choosing a Faction on Iokath

[Luxiana]

Hi, I'm a devoted SWTOR player and I loved both KotFE and KoTET expansions. I rarely find any reason to complain about the game, but I simply have to get this off my chest. I was extremely disappointed when I learned you have to choose between the Republic and the Empire on Iokath. We are the commander of the Eternal Alliance that connects everyone, that is "so much bigger" if I can use Luke's words from the new trailer. That's what I loved about the new story. An alliance that actually stood a chance of a galactic peace. So why did the War on Iokath have to take us back to that petty squabble between the Empire and the Republic? I don't want to defeat any of these sides. I want to help them recover after Zakuul nearly wiped them out. I can't understand why the game would make us choose between them after building the alliance that transcends that for two expansions! To make matters worse, the decision is even more cruel to the Republic players who have previously allied with Acina. Please, don't continue the story down that path in the future! For now, all I can do is completely ignore the Iokath story and hope I can continue any future content without it, even though I'd love to play dailies and the new operation... Edited May 22, 2017 by Luxiana

[kimiko_tomiyama]

I think the worst part of Iokath was that, after Knights of the Eternal Grind and the rest of 5.x I really wasn't surprised that basically the only difference in your choices is who is reading the exact same lines. I did it on a couple characters... mostly to see how fast I could blow through it (about 15 minutes with the space bar.

 

I want to be angry. I want to shout "Fix this mess!" But I can barely be bothered to log in anymore. I now take a week to manage to get the log in time I used to get in a day. My sub runs out end of June... and I am trying to think of a reason not to let it lapse, at least till October... maybe permanently.

 

I detest the whole command system, but I could stomach it if I felt like the story was engaging. As it stands, the story is thin. At best it might be good for 2 playthroughs (one on each side).

 

At this point I'm waiting for the final outrage... that whole casino thing... now improved with bonus command crates. Who knows? I might even care enough wake up.

[Deewe]

Hey folks,

 

As we mentioned in our PvP post last week, and on our original 5.2 livestream, when you arrive on Iokath you will be able to choose which Faction you want to side with in the War for Iokath. We know that there will be many questions coming off of this around what this actually impacts so we want to clear up exactly how this works, and exactly what it affects. First, to avoid any confusion: The faction you choose has no effect at all outside of Iokath. It only impacts story choices in the Iokath storyline (and future stories) and some gameplay impacts on Iokath.

 

Let’s start by talking about how the Faction choice works mechanically. You will be able to choose which Faction you want to side with initially during your character’s storyline on Iokath. Once you have completed the storyline and have access to the daily area, there is a terminal you can activate to switch sides once per day. Using this terminal does not override your story choice, but it does allow you to join your friends and play the opposite side’s daily missions if you so choose. Now that you know how you move between Factions, let’s talk about what you can do on each side:

• The Faction choice you make during the storyline does have story consequences, so choose carefully! This is the choice that will be remembered in future storylines.
  
• After the story, your current Faction will determine what base and Daily Missions you can access.
  
• Completing a Daily Mission will award you with Reputation for your chosen Factions rep track on Iokath.
  
• Killing enemies can drop Reputation consumables for your chosen Faction.
  
• In open world PvP, players’ allies and enemies are determined by their currently selected Faction.
  
• If you do anything off of Iokath such as Warzones, Operations, etc. your Class’s Faction is what will determine things as normal.

 

Let us know if you have any questions about Faction switching on Iokath or its impact.

 

-eric

In regards of the faction choice In the current iteration you have the following scenarios.

 

Player choose either:

1. Faction A and Companion A
   
2. Faction B and Companion B
   

 

Now we are missing:

1. Faction A and Companion B
   
2. Faction B and Companion A
   

 

So whatever good the writing/story the way the design is made is you are not pleasing 100% of the players who wanted the 2 other outcomes.

 

In that case I wanted to get rid of Quin and my Jug would certainly not go to the Republic. I can't. I'm screwed whatever choices I make.

 

As such a player should never be obliged to choose either for a faction or a companion.

 

I'm extremely worried that this is the path they're taking. I hope it's not, and that the traitor will be someone else.

The traitor "feature" has to be put dormant for a long time. It's really getting old now.

 

Before leaving, I have to admit the renewal of the war between the protagonist was really not convincing. It felt like having been written on a napkin and given 10% of the required budget to implement. And then you threw in companions with quite no context and voila.

 

This writing and scripting would have been ok 5+ years ago, though regarding the quality of the story we have in other games like Risen, Witcher (that are not even story based) you should do much better.

 

I'm playing Farcry 4 now and not only the story and dialog sounds better but also the characters gestures and body movement feels realistic in the cutscene. Sometimes it feels like they acted some cutscene and mocap them.

Edited May 22, 2017 by Deewe