More choices please

[Tobytja]

In the past several years the game was stripped of many choices we formerly had, and more choices are completely meaningless. Choice of species is meaningless, choice of companion is meaningless, there are extremely limited choices during character development (you select a class at the beginning and then 8 times from 10th to 70th level some ability out of very small number).

 

Formerly classes had their abilities, that were defining them, like strength, aim, etc. and now it's just mastery and all equipment is for everyone. Formerly there were three skill trees, and we were able to combine them, if we so desired, now after making the initial choice that's basically it. Formerly each companion had his/her purpose and you had to think which one to choose to whatever role you needed, now all companions are the same, except for their looks. At least the differences in the behavioral area remained, at least for now, but I fear that's also about to be removed in the future, so that everything is "unified" and all companions will have the same character. The game development definitely goes in this direction.

 

Is it really necessary to have the game playable by 5 years old kids? Because I can't see any other reason, why this direction is being followed. The game is continually being made more and more simple, which is something I really don't appreciate. And I really don't think I'm the only one, I occasionally see it in the chat, that people reminisce the skill trees and other features that were removed from game. I even heard that in the past, when I wasn't playing yet, even choice of species had some meaning. Why do you keep removing the choices we are able to make in our gameplay?

[SteveTheCynic]

OK, let's go through this in order:

Choice of species is meaningless

Choice of species was always meaningless in terms of game mechanics.

choice of companion is meaningless

That's a good thing in some ways - it means that you can be accompanied by the companion *you* want without it interfering in game mechanics. (Dislike your healer? In the old schema, you were stuck with a choice between having a healer and having a companion you like. Now, you're not.)

 

I guess that what I'm saying is that this change *adds* choice - I can choose a companion based on which one I like rather than based on game mechanics.

there are extremely limited choices during character development (you select a class at the beginning and then 8 times from 10th to 70th level some ability out of very small number).

That change goes together with the removal of skill trees, and was done to remove hybrid builds which are difficult to balance for because there are so many of them. That ship sailed when 3.0 came out, and it's never coming back.

 

I wouldn't like to say whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a thing, and it won't be changed.

 

That said, the new gearing / itemization (ugly word) changes for 6.0 look like they are adding some choosability in things, even if the question of "best of breed" dictates that people end up all choosing combination XYZ (with the penalty for not choosing it being instakick in high end content, or even in medium-weight). (But hey, that problem existed before the switch from trees to disciplines.)

Formerly there were three skill trees, and we were able to combine them, if we so desired, now after making the initial choice that's basically it.

Go see the <Skill Mentor> NPC on the fleet or buy the Field Respec character perk, and you can change that choice.

Formerly each companion had his/her purpose and you had to think which one to choose to whatever role you needed, now all companions are the same, except for their looks.

See above. The change to companions *increased* our ability to choose.

At least the differences in the behavioral area remained, at least for now, but I fear that's also about to be removed in the future, so that everything is "unified" and all companions will have the same character. The game development definitely goes in this direction.

Do you mean their personalities as shown in the stories? No, that's nonsense. There's no way they will change that for story-linked companions. Tau and Anri and Lana and Kaliyo and ... all have different personalities, and it's going to stay like that for future story-linked companions, because storytelling is one of this game's strengths, even if they've sometimes done things we don't like. No matter what I like and don't like about the stories, I have to say that they do portray *all* the NPCs as different, and that's not going away.

I even heard that in the past, when I wasn't playing yet, even choice of species had some meaning.

Not as such. There have always been spots in the game where the detailed dialogue options depend on your species, and they are still there(1), but there's no other significant difference, and there never was.

 

(1) I'm interested to see how the introduction of Nautolans as a playable species will affect some lines in KotFE. There's at least one place where the existing dialogue will stand out as spectacularly stupid things for people to say when standing next to a Nautolan player character. They didn't rewrite the Stolen Medicine mission on Ord Mantell when they added Cathar, but that's a minor mission open only to two base classes. The moment I'm thinking of (Chapter VII in the Heralds' base) is squarely on the main narrative line, so everyone who follows the whole story will see it.