So, about skipping Kotfe-Kotet..

[FlameYOL]

I'm a KOTFE/KOTET fan/defender, and even I can say that after repeating it many times it gets very tedious to bring new alts through because it's almost identical every. single. time. It's been fun for me to see the differences with Sith/Jedi Commanders, and I like seeing the different KOTFE Alliance Alerts and the way those companions react, but that's not enough to want to slog through the same exact 25 chapters again and again and again.

 

And lest anyone use this as ammunition to slam KOTFE/KOTET, I feel the same way about Makeb, the story side of Oricon, Ilum. I LIKE that content. I like some of it a lot. But after playing through it so many times and getting the max reputation, it can be a bit boring.

 

It's like watching a favorite TV show. Most of the time even if you love the show and the actors, you don't want to watch the same episode over and over again. You want them to release new episodes.

 

Agreed.

[casirabit]

I can see why some people want to skip this expansion but I don't agree with getting the choices you want. If you skip the content, then the romances should be locked out. Yea I know it can be a pain to do the expansion again but why should we be rewarded with a romance if we skip the content.

 

While I many not like every chapter, if I skip a chapter and it had a romance attached to it then I wouldn't expect to just "check a box" and be rewarded with a romance.

[kodrac]

You probably do not want to understand.

 

Don't get your panties in a twist. Something got lost in translation.

 

I wasn't talking about running through KOTFE/ET, which I have done multiple times myself, by the way, so you can take that lazy comment and put it somewhere else. I'll let you guess where. The suggestion was an optional world state editor to let us customize our character's background if we create an advanced 60/65/70 toon. Oh but that's lazy too? Too bad, they're available and it's not up to you, thankfully, if people use them or not.

 

But it's only a suggestion so it probably won't happen. You don't have to worry yourself with people getting naughty things like convenience.

Edited September 13, 2018 by kodrac

[DarthFixxxer]

And lest anyone use this as ammunition to slam KOTFE/KOTET, I feel the same way about Makeb, the story side of Oricon, Ilum. I LIKE that content. I like some of it a lot. But after playing through it so many times and getting the max reputation, it can be a bit boring.

 

There is a main difference.

 

If you complete the vanilla storyline for a character, gather all companions, your ship, your titles, your established background, you can choose to do Ilum, Makeb, Oricon, Rishi, Yavin, Ziost, and you are not missing out on anything if you choose not to do those. In fact, I have completed Oricon, Rishi, Yavin, Ziost with almost all of my characters, since these planets and storylines have a high replay value, but I usually skip Makeb and Ilum. Plus, you don't even have to pick up the Makeb or Ilum storylines. They are optional.

 

But, skipping KOTFE/KOTET removes the option for you to do Iokath, Umbara, Copero, Nathema, and of course stuff like The Eternal Championship. The problem is that if you do NOT skip KOTFE/KOTET and actually go ahead with it, you will lose all your original companions (some of which you will not get back), you will get a new Alliance with 25 companions (that I don't personally care for) plus all the Alliance alerts and missions on your log that I don't care for either.

 

So while Makeb, Oricon etc are not a nuisance in any possible way, KOTFE and KOTET completely ruin it for me.

Edited September 13, 2018 by DarthFixxxer

[Mubrak]

And lest anyone use this as ammunition to slam KOTFE/KOTET, I feel the same way about Makeb, the story side of Oricon, Ilum. I LIKE that content. I like some of it a lot. But after playing through it so many times and getting the max reputation, it can be a bit boring.

 

Kotfe/Kotet is worse though. You can't just trudge through it and be done. You will forever have dozens of useless companions (or companion alerts), and your dear original class companions are lost in the mass of other companions, and lose their character quirks (influence gains, area-specific comments) that made you like them in the first place. Even those trash companions you kill or let go will still clutter up your companion list.

 

If you think that the companions are important for a character's identity, better skip directly to Iokath or wait for 6.0, and pretend 4.0 and 5.0 never happened.

Edited September 13, 2018 by Mubrak

[kodrac]

But, skipping KOTFE/KOTET removes the option for you to do Iokath, Umbara, Copero, Nathema,

 

Does it? I'm pretty sure you can go to your ship and pick up the start of Iokath without doing KOTFEET. But, yeah, all the other stuff being gated behind it makes it a total cluster **** to deal with.

[FlameYOL]

There is a main difference.

 

If you complete the vanilla storyline for a character, gather all companions, your ship, your titles, your established background, you can choose to do Ilum, Makeb, Oricon, Rishi, Yavin, Ziost, and you are not missing out on anything if you choose not to do those. In fact, I have completed Oricon, Rishi, Yavin, Ziost with almost all of my characters, since these planets and storylines have a high replay value, but I usually skip Makeb and Ilum. Plus, you don't even have to pick up the Makeb or Ilum storylines. They are optional.

 

But, skipping KOTFE/KOTET removes the option for you to do Iokath, Umbara, Copero, Nathema, and of course stuff like The Eternal Championship. The problem is that if you do NOT skip KOTFE/KOTET and actually go ahead with it, you will lose all your original companions (some of which you will not get back), you will get a new Alliance with 25 companions (that I don't personally care for) plus all the Alliance alerts and missions on your log that I don't care for either.

 

So while Makeb, Oricon etc are not a nuisance in any possible way, KOTFE and KOTET completely ruin it for me.

You can start the traitor story arc, even without completing KOTET though. Pretty sure you only need to be level 70, the game will assume default choices happened in case you didn't ran KOTET at least once.

Edited September 13, 2018 by FlameYOL

[IoNonSoEVero]

But, skipping KOTFE/KOTET removes the option for you to do Iokath, Umbara, Copero, Nathema, and of course stuff like The Eternal Championship. The problem is that if you do NOT skip KOTFE/KOTET and actually go ahead with it, you will lose all your original companions (some of which you will not get back), you will get a new Alliance with 25 companions (that I don't personally care for) plus all the Alliance alerts and missions on your log that I don't care for either.

 

Actually, that's not true. You can do the three flashpoints without doing the KOTFE/KOTET expansions, IIRC you just have to be level 70. I've run Copero on characters that are nowhere near KOTFE/KOTET. You just don't get the story parts before and after the flashpoint.

 

My favorite companion and the only game romance that means anything to me are both in KOTFE. I am actually glad to lose some oft he class companions and I just pull the ones I love from the terminal.

 

You can also skip KOTFE by starting KOTET, and you can skip both expansions. You can also go directly to Iokath if you are a level 70. It shows up on your ship's mission console from the moment you hit 70.

 

But the issue is that if you choose to skip KOTFE and go right to KOTET, or choose to skip both, some critical story choices are pre-filled due to your alignment and faction. The same way, if you get a L60 or 65 token, some class story choices will be filled in for you that you may or may not agree with.

Edited September 13, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[IoNonSoEVero]

Kotfe/Kotet is worse though. You can't just trudge through it and be done. You will forever have dozens of useless companions (or companion alerts), and your dear original class companions are lost in the mass of other companions, and lose their charcter quirks (influence gains, area-specific comments) that made you like them in the first place. Even those trash companions you kill or let go will still clutter up your companion list.

 

If you think that the companions are important for a character's identity, better skip directly to Iokath or wait for 6.0, and pretend 4.0 and 5.0 never happened.

 

The only romance that means anything to me (the F/F one) and my favorite companion (Lana) are both in KOTFE. For that alone I want to go through that expansion. And as I said, I *like* KOFTE and KOTET, I just don't like doing them 100 times.

 

Some of the class companions I love come back pretty quickly (Vette for example) and I just pull the others from the terminal. If you pull them from the terminal before they've had an official return, they actually keep getting influence from flashpoints/planetary quests as before.

 

And some of the class companions I really don't care about at all, and I'm glad they are gone.

 

I don't find the extra companions 'useless.' Since you can send out 8 companions on crew skills when you're at level 600 you need some of them. I can make my own little crafting/crew skills armies. I also like being able to get some of the companions I like (Blizz and Talos Drelik, for instance) for all of my characters.

 

The only thing I find that is 'clutter' is the list of companions I killed off. I kill characters like Senya and Skadge because I don't want them there; I'd rather be able to hide them permanently in my companion panel. But in the end of the day that's trivial because it's not as though I'm staring at the companion panel all day.

[Jdast]

I can see why some people want to skip this expansion but I don't agree with getting the choices you want. If you skip the content, then the romances should be locked out. Yea I know it can be a pain to do the expansion again but why should we be rewarded with a romance if we skip the content.

 

While I many not like every chapter, if I skip a chapter and it had a romance attached to it then I wouldn't expect to just "check a box" and be rewarded with a romance.

 

I take your point but I think there is a compromise. And who doesn't like being found in compromising positions?

 

I think if you skip KotFE / ET then you should be locked out of romances with Theron, Lana, Koth,, and Arcann.

 

Original class companions, however, assuming you completed those respective story lines, should be allowed to continue. I agree a case can be made that Jorgan, Vette, Kaliyo, should require KotFE / ET, but I see little harm lore wise for allowing those romances to continue.

 

But for companions that return after KotFE / ET storylines, I definitely think you should be allowed to rekindle the romances or get the alert at a minimum. So far that list includes Mako, Akaavi, Vector, Felix, and Ashara. I was a bit peeved to find on my BH who did everything up to Ziost, but then skipped KotFE / ET that I didn't get the Mako alert.

 

Having run KotFE / ET 16 times now (twice each class) -- I got the T-Shirt, punched the ticket, and it is no longer on my bucket list!

 

Dasty

Edited September 13, 2018 by Jdast

[Batwer]

[quote=kodrac;9647771Don't get your panties in a twist. Something got lost in translation.

 

I wasn't talking about running through KOTFE/ET, which I have done multiple times myself, by the way, so you can take that lazy comment and put it somewhere else. I'll let you guess where. The suggestion was an optional world state editor to let us customize our character's background if we create an advanced 60/65/70 toon. Oh but that's lazy too? Too bad, they're available and it's not up to you, thankfully, if people use them or not.

 

But it's only a suggestion so it probably won't happen. You don't have to worry yourself with people getting naughty things like convenience. :rolleyes]:

Exactly, that's lazy.

If you could adjust everything from the love relationship to the alignment ....Why then play at all?

[IoNonSoEVero]

ITA that if you don't do KOTFE you should be locked out of the romances with Lana, Theron and Koth and that if you don't do KOTET you should be locked out of the romance with Arcann. The point of the romance arcs is to actually develop the romance and that should never be a check box.

 

IIRC that actually is how it is if you use a L65 token or skip KOTFE.

[casirabit]

I take your point but I think there is a compromise. And who doesn't like being found in compromising positions?

 

I think if you skip KotFE / ET then you should be locked out of romances with Theron, Lana, Koth,, and Arcann.

 

Original class companions, however, assuming you completed those respective story lines, should be allowed to continue. I agree a case can be made that Jorgan, Vette, Kaliyo, should require KotFE / ET, but I see little harm lore wise for allowing those romances to continue.

 

But for companions that return after KotFE / ET storylines, I definitely think you should be allowed to rekindle the romances or get the alert at a minimum. So far that list includes Mako, Akaavi, Vector, Felix, and Ashara. I was a bit peeved to find on my BH who did everything up to Ziost, but then skipped KotFE / ET that I didn't get the Mako alert.

 

Having run KotFE / ET 16 times now (twice each class) -- I got the T-Shirt, punched the ticket, and it is no longer on my bucket list!

 

Dasty

 

I agree about the vanilla companions but if you don't do the expansion is there really a reason to rekindle a romance that you already have since you have never lost any companions if you are skipping those expansions? Most of the alerts dealing with those companions have to do with the expansions and what they were doing while you were fighting Arcann/Valiyn. If you didn't do the expansion then they would have never left and none of what happen or what they did would actually have happened.

Edited September 13, 2018 by casirabit

[kodrac]

Exactly, that's lazy.

If you could adjust everything from the love relationship to the alignment ....Why then play at all?

 

To skip old content and start with the new. Maybe that's not rigid enough for you, but that's why the tokens exist. I love the vanilla stories and occasionally make new characters to experience them, but its 7 year old content now. Makeb, SoR, etc all showing their age and I've played them all dozens of times. I still get character ideas but don't want to slog it all out again. It's the same reason I customize the world state of Dragon Age games. So I get a different experience depending on the choices I select in the editor with every new character.

 

Which, by the way, is one of the major flaws of KOTFEET. You don't get a different experience. It's the same no matter what choices are made previously. There's a tiny bit of class recognition, but that's it. And that's another good reason to skip it entirely on your second, third or twentieth character.

[DarthFixxxer]

Does it? I'm pretty sure you can go to your ship and pick up the start of Iokath without doing KOTFEET. But, yeah, all the other stuff being gated behind it makes it a total cluster **** to deal with.

You can, but that takes your toon in a post-KOTFEKOTET status, where you lose all the companions.

 

You can start the traitor story arc, even without completing KOTET though. Pretty sure you only need to be level 70, the game will assume default choices happened in case you didn't ran KOTET at least once.

Yes, exactly, which basically prevents you from doing the Traitor story arc.

 

Actually, that's not true. You can do the three flashpoints without doing the KOTFE/KOTET expansions, IIRC you just have to be level 70. I've run Copero on characters that are nowhere near KOTFE/KOTET. You just don't get the story parts before and after the flashpoint.

 

My favorite companion and the only game romance that means anything to me are both in KOTFE. I am actually glad to lose some oft he class companions and I just pull the ones I love from the terminal.

 

You can also skip KOTFE by starting KOTET, and you can skip both expansions. You can also go directly to Iokath if you are a level 70. It shows up on your ship's mission console from the moment you hit 70.

 

But the issue is that if you choose to skip KOTFE and go right to KOTET, or choose to skip both, some critical story choices are pre-filled due to your alignment and faction. The same way, if you get a L60 or 65 token, some class story choices will be filled in for you that you may or may not agree with.

My bad, I didn't phrase it correctly. Yes, you can do the 3 traitor storyline Flashpoints, but without context. Which is actually perfectly fine, it was pretty nice to be able to access content even with toons that have not (and never will) do KOTFE/KOTET.

 

When it comes to companions, which is my main problem with the whole mess.... here's what I am thinking. The fact that YOU are fine with losing some of the companions doesn't make it a good design. Being forced to get a bunch of flat uninteresting storyless companions because you started a storyline, while losing your classic 5 companions, is just awful. Which was not a problem with the previous story arcs. Hence why I think everything pre-5.0 was designed much better. You could do any or all of the Makeb, Oricon, Ilum, CZ-198, Rishi+Yavin+Ziost storylines independently, without any consequences to any part of the game whatsoever.

Edited September 13, 2018 by DarthFixxxer

[Batwer]

To skip old content and start with the new. Maybe that's not rigid enough for you, but that's why the tokens exist. I love the vanilla stories and occasionally make new characters to experience them, but its 7 year old content now. Makeb, SoR, etc all showing their age and I've played them all dozens of times. I still get character ideas but don't want to slog it all out again. It's the same reason I customize the world state of Dragon Age games. So I get a different experience depending on the choices I select in the editor with every new character.

 

Which, by the way, is one of the major flaws of KOTFEET. You don't get a different experience. It's the same no matter what choices are made previously. There's a tiny bit of class recognition, but that's it. And that's another good reason to skip it entirely on your second, third or twentieth character.

As written ... I do not care if you skip content.......But then you do not want to have any restrictions. I'm sorry, but that's not the way it is. I hope BW can not be persuaded again, as the 70s token.

The tokens were there to meet Kotfe / Kotet. But then people were crying because they could no longer play the Char stories and did not get any titles.

Edited September 13, 2018 by Batwer

[IoNonSoEVero]

When it comes to companions, which is my main problem with the whole mess.... here's what I am thinking. The fact that YOU are fine with losing some of the companions doesn't make it a good design. Being forced to get a bunch of flat uninteresting storyless companions because you started a storyline, while losing your classic 5 companions, is just awful. Which was not a problem with the previous story arcs. Hence why I think everything pre-5.0 was designed much better. You could do any or all of the Makeb, Oricon, Ilum, CZ-198, Rishi+Yavin+Ziost storylines independently, without any consequences to any part of the game whatsoever.

 

I never said that everyone was fine with losing the companions - and in fact since I get some of my classics back at the terminal I want them. By the same token just because YOU find the extra companions uninteresting doesn't mean everyone does.

 

If one doesn't want the non-main-story companions, you can always ignore the Alliance Alerts or refuse to take the companions at the end of their quests.

 

But for me, as someone who identifies with F/F romance, Lana and that part of KOTFE are invaluable. KOTFE+ is also the only place M/M long term romance can happen.

 

If you don't want to do KOTFE and KOTET - don't. As mentioned, you can either do the flashpoints without context, or skip to Iokath directly and live with whatever choices the devs pre-selected for you.

Edited September 13, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[DarthCasus]

As written ... I do not care if you skip content.......But then you do not want to have any restrictions. I'm sorry, but that's not the way it is. I hope BW can not be persuaded again, as the 70s token.

The tokens were there to meet Kotfe / Kotet. But then people were crying because they could no longer play the Char stories and did not get any titles.

 

Putting needless restrictions on content is pointless at this point though. I didn't know the game's current content was of high enough quality to justify keeping such features from even being discussed, I was a bit too distracted by the 3 people on any chapter at any given time, slogging away on what's likely another 70 to catch up and see newer content and reunions. Really, the game had so much replay value up to these two expacs and instead of helping retain players, you think lamenting options that could be enhanced with negative aspects is really more beneficial?

 

What do you honestly care that people can skip ahead to points in those two expansions (not the rest of the game) where pivotal choices are flipped on if the player chooses? What I can tell you is though I've made it through 4 times and that's ENOUGH. Can't say the same for my friends who stayed this long and they've been waiting for returns or years like the rest of us.

[Jdast]

I think there is some misunderstanding about what accepting the quest Fractured Alliances / Find a Findsman actually does.

 

It most certainly does situate you square and center in the Traitor Arc storyline. You do the intro quest with Theron as your companion. You see the cutscenes and make choices which by definition presuppose that you did KotFE / ET. For example, when Acina talks about why you should help her vice Malcom because of the Empire's prior support. It is absolutely no different than if you did all of 5.0.

 

So there is absolutely context for the Traitor Arc story. This is true also for companions that first appeared or reappeared during KotFE / ET.

 

On my Trooper, for example, by completing to Find a Findsman, which you can do without completing either KotFE / ET, I now have the option to summon both Kaliyo and Koth. In the case of Kaliyo, it says that she decided to stay with me despite me not blowing up the city. For Koth, he says he is thankful for me not doing so. On my Sith Marauder, who also went from Ziost directly to Find a Findsman / Fractured Alliances, I don't have the option to summon Koth at all.

 

Point being: The constant is that choices are already being made. The variable is who is doing it. As of now, it is BW and not the player.

 

It is the inconsistency that bothers me. If you do Little Boss to get Blizz back, the text makes very clear that the events of KOTFE where you were frozen in carbonite took place. Ditto Forex, ditto Qyzen, ditto Rusk, ditto Broonmark, etc. So why can't I get the alert for Mako? Corso? Vector, etc.?

 

TL-DR: It is flat out incorrect to say that accepting Fractured Alliances / Find a Findsman means you were not frozen in Carbonite and the events of KotFE / ET did not take place. So what makes BW the better decision maker for your character?

Edited September 15, 2018 by Jdast

[kodrac]

As written ... I do not care if you skip content.......But then you do not want to have any restrictions. I'm sorry, but that's not the way it is. I hope BW can not be persuaded again, as the 70s token.

The tokens were there to meet Kotfe / Kotet. But then people were crying because they could no longer play the Char stories and did not get any titles.

 

Don't be so rigid. I'm not talking about restrictions. I'm talking about making my own choices for my own characters. As Dasty points out, it's not the player making those choices. It's just customization. Just like in Dragon Age games, I don't have to play the old content, but I can customize the previous protagonists and events to shape the world my new character plays in. That's all I want to do: Customize the world my character will play in. I don't give a flip about titles.

 

Even on characters that have started KOTFE but never finished I get stuck with dialog and choices I would never had made. *side rant* You know what I do when I have a character stuck on chapter 12 of KOTFE and don't feel like butchering my character by skipping ahead? I don't play it anymore. Why is that character stuck you ask? Why did I start KOTFE and not finish it? Because KOTFE 1-9 wasn't half bad. But had I known I'd absolutely hate playing chapters 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 and all of KOTET once, let alone multiple times, and most of my companions would still not be returned after two and half years, I would never have started it in the first place. I'm being punished for starting their craptastic cliff hanger story.

 

By messing up characters it also acts as a gate and a gate is a deterrent. That's bad for business. Especially when you consider skipping Makeb, Oricon, SoR, basically everything since the class stories up until KOTFE, doesn't have any negative or character altering affects.

 

They way they've handled KOTFE/ET with characters, companions, later content et al is a complete **** show honestly.

Edited September 13, 2018 by kodrac

[kodrac]

You can, but that takes your toon in a post-KOTFEKOTET status, where you lose all the companions.

 

Ugh. That's punishment. Terrible.

Edited September 13, 2018 by kodrac

[IanArgent]

I want Elara Dorne as a companion but I do not want to side with the Republic.

 

You can pull the rejected companion from the return terminal. I did it in a moment of madness on a couple of characters

[DarthCasus]

You can pull the rejected companion from the return terminal. I did it in a moment of madness on a couple of characters

 

Sucks even more if you skip KotFE and Kotet on a toon that's done everything prior to them, you still have no access to Odessen's console. Again, symptom of a half-baked idea, intentional or not.

[Jdast]

Sucks even more if you skip KotFE and Kotet on a toon that's done everything prior to them, you still have no access to Odessen's console. Again, symptom of a half-baked idea, intentional or not.

 

Just to clarify, and maybe I misread your post so may not apply to you, but still may be helpful to others. There is a pretty easy workaround, but requires you keeping a quest in your log, which may bug some people. What I do is go the mission terminal on my personal ship. Then:

 

A) I accept KotFE, but then scroll down and immediately accept Chapter 1, Wrath and Ruin, of Eternal Throne.

 

B) As the intro to Chapter 1 is playing or right at the start, just exit the quest.

 

C) Voila -- you are on Odessan with access to everything, including Companion Return Terminal, Find a Findsman quest with Yuun (which opens up a host, but not all companion returns), Star Fortresss, Alliance Turn-Ins, etc.

 

The one downside as mentioned above is that you have Chapter 1 Wrath and Ruin stuck in your quest log. For me, that's a small price to pay. Obviously, if you are skipping KotFE / ET for the purpose of keeping your companions on your personal starship, then this not the route to take.

 

Dasty

Edited September 14, 2018 by Jdast

[DarthCasus]

Just to clarify, and maybe I misread your post so may not apply to you, but still may be helpful to others. There is a pretty easy workaround, but requires you keeping a quest in your log, which may bug some people. What I do is go the mission terminal on my personal ship. Then:

 

A) I accept KotFE, but then scroll down and immediately accept Chapter 1, Wrath and Ruin, of Eternal Throne.

 

B) As the intro to Chapter 1 is playing or right at the start, just exit the quest.

 

C) Voila -- you are on Odessan with access to everything, including Companion Return Terminal, Find a Findsman quest with Yuun (which opens up a host, but not all companion returns), Star Fortresss, Alliance Turn-Ins, etc.

 

The one downside as mentioned above is that you have Chapter 1 Wrath and Ruin stuck in your quest log. For me, that's a small price to pay. Obviously, if you are skipping KotFE / ET for the purpose of keeping your companions on your personal starship, then this not the route to take.

 

Dasty

 

Great workaround, will try on another sacrificial lam- alt.. I meant alt. Have you tried contacting support to have it removed though? I just remembered I have a bonus from my Sage's Voss story (completed everything on him YEARSSS ago) from back in 2.x that's still there so I'll eventually try myself but have you?