What is missing?

[Gokkus]

So I notice that whenever I have been playing this game for a while, I want to start a new character and/or go back to the old planets and old quests. There is something about the original story and planets that the new format does not offer.

To be clear, I really liked the KOTET story and the way they made the choices matter. It certainly has some advantages over the original format. The epic feel (leading big battles) and companions are such advantages imo.

 

So it might be worth discussing what is missing in the 5.0 format and how to bring this back (realistically). Here are a few topics that matter to me personally:

 

Flashpoints

I understand uprisings, in the sense that they take less time and are action-packed. However, they are far less interesting (to me) than FPs because of the lack of story and (often) scenery. When you are fighting standard units, it feels far more like clearing trash than it does for FPs, where it feels like you are working towards an actual goal. The Esseless, Cademimu, Depths of Manaan, those are FPs I did not mind repeating as they rarely felt grindy. I would rather have a few shorter FPs with some new story/places than a bunch of uprisings.

 

Ruler of the galaxy

Although it was a logical step and it feels nice to be powerful, a lot of options are now gone because of being the Alliance Commander. Everything you do now has to be big. You can't just stop and help a random person by the side of the road anymore. The feeling of being just a guy/gal wandering the streets of Nar Shaddaa is gone. Even if you were saving the planet back then, most people were unaware of this. But for the smuggler, BH and IA classes, that role comes more natural than leading an entire faction. So there is no room for aimless exploring anymore...

 

Exploration

This aspect is all but gone with the chapters. You no longer enter planets, run out of the spaceport excitedly and wonder what the new planet has to offer. Zakuul, Odessen, Iokath. They are nice, but there is 0% exploring and can be annoying to navigate because of lifts/mobs. Darvannis was the only planet that made me feel like I was in a semi-open world again. And that felt good. I miss planets like Alderaan, Tatooine, Balmorra. Open worlds where a lot is happening.

 

Railroading

This relates to the previous point. You have to do everything in the right order, in the right way. Even bonus quests rarely require you to go out of your way. Following a path without any branches can feel a bit claustrophobic at times. There is no choice, no skipping quests the second or even tenth time, no secrets to be found, no chests to be opened, no champions lurking in the shadows.

 

Same story for every class - replayability

Yeah it has been discussed to death already, but replayability is a serious issue. Makeb started this process by having only 2 storylines (which was still very nice imo), SoR only had a single class quests per class which often did not really fit into the main story, which made it feel somewhat unnatural. Since KotFE even that is gone. After two playthroughs you have done Light and Dark and that is it. Combine this with the railroading, and KotFE and KoTET start feeling like a real chore.

 

So yes, I know there is less people working on SWTOR now, but that does not mean nothing can be done. So what are the options? How do we get more of that old feel back again?

Edited April 27, 2017 by Gokkus