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Star Wars: The Old Republic |OT2| In a F2Play galaxy far, far away

Moff

Moff

Member
BattleMonkey said:
It's them trying to turn the game into something else ontop of an established framework. And obviously being done on a budget since this is not a big paid for expansion or anything. At the same time you have people complaining about the exact opposite of how this expansion and new direction completely is ruining the MMO aspect of the game.

This was never going to be perfect since they have obvious budget restrictions, they can only do so much without making this a big paid for expansion project. Can't really fault them for the limits of what they have done, but at the same time I think their idea for KotfE were a bit too ambitious in just adding this content and change in direction without charging for it.



That's what the game has technically always been, only difference before was that you were forced into doing side quest content so the world was made more open and larger to fit the side content in. Now that there is next to no side content in the new story, it's just further streamlined.

If you play through the game currently from the start with the new XP system in place, its essentially that, just you going from instance to instance story content since you have no need to do anything else anymore.
Click to expand...

I don't really buy the "it's free" PR.
if you don't pay, you cannot play this expansion.
if you are one of the whales, who subs anyway, you will get it on top of that (on top of what exactly? what was the last content update?)
but if you are free to play, you cannot play KOTFE, it's not a free expansion.
it's just a different payment model than previous expansions.

starfighter was truly free, KOTFE is not.
makeb and revan cost either 20 bucks (as f2p) or 10+15 bucks as a subscriber.
KOTFE costs 15 bucks minimum, you cannot play it if you do not pay anything, this is vital.

so in the very best case, if you sub after all chapters are released, you can pay 15$ once and you get the whole of KOTFE for 15$, that would make it not free, but at least the second cheapest expansion of four so far.

however, of course it's a gamble by bioware/EA. they expect that players will sub every month a new chapter comes out. and I think the gamble will pay off for them, I am sure they will make a lot more money per playing customer with KOTFE than with the previous expansions. again, this is vital. they will make a lot of money with this.

but in any case, it's not free, if you don't pay anything, you cannot play it, so I can't justify their lazy, linear and limited attempt at a "true bioware RPG experience" with it's payment model.
 
S

StudioTan

Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
Paganmoon said:
Really can't wrap my head around KotFE. 95% of it is instanced, which makes me wonder why they even bothered to have uninstanced parts. They could've very well just made them instanced, so you don't see 10 other people with identical T7's running around, pressing the same buttons, killing the same mobs. Sure it's a tiny part of the expansion (so far), but I just don't get what they're trying to do here. And personally I'd have loved to not see any other players running around.

I'm at Chapter 9 now, and all of a sudden, the dialog UI has changed into KotOR like UI, no longer the circle for the choices. Feels disjointed as hell.

Edit: Ok, in-game it's called "classic conversations" haha, holy shit, what a way to spin "we cheaped out on VA work".
Click to expand...

It's not just a case of "cheaping out" considering they just added 10 hours of new fully voiced content, I don't know how they could do it logistically. They want to be able to add Alliance content more often and having to bring in the main 16 voice actors each time for these conversations doesn't seem feasible. The way it is now they just need to get 1 actor which is much easier for scheduling.

Plus there have been some issues lately with the voice actors guilds over how much people are getting paid which may lead to a strike.

It's a bit jarring at first but I got used to it pretty quickly. There other option was to have your character just repeating the same lines over and over. This approach at least gives them the ability to have more dynamic conversations with more paths to follow.
 
M

Milly79

Member
Is it worth coming back to check it out? I've been out of the loop... forever. Considering I'm pretty sure they've added nothing to PvP (aside from class changes), I'd be coming back for purely the story.
 
B

BattleMonkey

Member
Moff said:
I don't really buy the "it's free" PR.
if you don't pay, you cannot play this expansion.
if you are one of the whales, who subs anyway, you will get it on top of that (on top of what exactly? what was the last content update?)
but if you are free to play, you cannot play KOTFE, it's not a free expansion.
it's just a different payment model than previous expansions.

starfighter was truly free, KOTFE is not.
makeb and revan cost either 20 bucks (as f2p) or 10+15 bucks as a subscriber.
KOTFE costs 15 bucks minimum, you cannot play it if you do not pay anything, this is vital.

so in the very best case, if you sub after all chapters are released, you can pay 15$ once and you get the whole of KOTFE for 15$, that would make it not free, but at least the second cheapest expansion of four so far.

however, of course it's a gamble by bioware/EA. they expect that players will sub every month a new chapter comes out. and I think the gamble will pay off for them, I am sure they will make a lot more money per playing customer with KOTFE than with the previous expansions. again, this is vital. they will make a lot of money with this.

but in any case, it's not free, if you don't pay anything, you cannot play it, so I can't justify their lazy, linear and limited attempt at a "true bioware RPG experience" with it's payment model.
Click to expand...

Other MMOs for such content charge you as a content pack or a full fledged expansion. This was free to any subscribers. Even content like Makeb and Revan required us to pay a separate fee. No extra fees ontop of any subs we already had, this time KOTFE required no extra purchase. They already released length of content longer than full priced games with just this new expansion endeavor.

At the same time do you expect them to put out a full fleshed out open world RPG at no extra charge or with new content each money as well? Really again it's an issue with the business model and building upon what they have. Putting in open mmo rpg content takes alot of time, as we saw with every other MMO and their previous content releases. So it's keep doing releases like that, or them switching to this style of content focus with smaller more focused linear content.

I personally would have rather them continue on with old method with like 2 Revan sized/styled expansions a year, as really the concept of KOTFE while neat, was never going to work under the SWTOR business model and just building it upon whats already established. It's as if they wanted to make a sequel to the game without making a new game and without the budget to do it with.
 
A

Anbokr

Bull on a Donut
So is it worth it to reverse engineer a bunch of blue augments until you get the purple advanced augment? Or am I better off just selling mass amounts of blue augments for maximum credits?
 
Moff

Moff

Member
BattleMonkey said:
Other MMOs for such content charge you as a content pack or a full fledged expansion. This was free to any subscribers. Even content like Makeb and Revan required us to pay a separate fee. No extra fees ontop of any subs we already had, this time KOTFE required no extra purchase.
Click to expand...
it does for f2p players. they need to pay at least 15 dollars for it. you cannot play KOTFE for free, subscribers don't play it for free either, it simply does not require an extra purchase.
that doesn't mean it's free, though, it's simply a different payment model that will probably bring in more money than the "paid expansions" makeb and revan.
they are not charity and it's not a long term strategy either to haul in more subbers. people need to pay now if they want to play it now and they will need to pay again if they want to see the end of the story, and several times in between if they don't want to wait.
it will pay out for bioware/EA, because it's not free.

Anbokr said:
So is it worth it to reverse engineer a bunch of blue augments until you get the purple advanced augment? Or am I better off just selling mass amounts of blue augments for maximum credits?
Click to expand...

of course you sell the purple ones, that's what you need the adaptive circuitry for, that's where the money is.
and yes, you need to reverse engineer the blue ones, chance is high, 60%

be happy, up until now we could not learn the recipes from trainers and we had to find the schematic for the green ones > reverse engineer for the blue ones > reverse engineer for purple, and the chances were lower
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
I'm going to give this a try. Since I was a player years ago, it looks like I can boost one character to 60. I almost exclusively tank in MMOs (at different times I've tanked in Warcraft, LOTRO, FFXIV, etc.).

I played a Jedi Guardian to mid-50s a couple of years ago but he seems to be gone. What do you guys suggest for tanking? I'm usually 80% PVE, 20% PVP. I'm fine playing traditional sword and board melee tanks, or more complicated classes. I've experienced most of the Guardian story (and the operative story, not that it matters).

Are there still three tanks? Guardian, Shadow, and the trooper build (sorry, don't know the name)? Any preferred options? Specializations such as a better offtank, or better AOE aggro management? I might be swayed by a lightsaber, but could go either way. Bear in mind I'll do group stuff and solo stuff but unlikely to do cutting edge raid content.

One more question: what server and faction has the healthiest player base? Looks like the server I played on no longer exists. West coast, mainly PVE. Republic or Empire?

Thanks in advance for any help. I didn't learn much on the official forums.
 
A

Anbokr

Bull on a Donut
Can't decide between my jugg and mara for a pvp main; I absolutely love both lol. When I play one; I miss the characteristics of the other :(.
 
I

iosefe

Member
Tragicomedy said:
I'm going to give this a try. Since I was a player years ago, it looks like I can boost one character to 60. I almost exclusively tank in MMOs (at different times I've tanked in Warcraft, LOTRO, FFXIV, etc.).

I played a Jedi Guardian to mid-50s a couple of years ago but he seems to be gone. What do you guys suggest for tanking? I'm usually 80% PVE, 20% PVP. I'm fine playing traditional sword and board melee tanks, or more complicated classes. I've experienced most of the Guardian story (and the operative story, not that it matters).

Are there still three tanks? Guardian, Shadow, and the trooper build (sorry, don't know the name)? Any preferred options? Specializations such as a better offtank, or better AOE aggro management? I might be swayed by a lightsaber, but could go either way. Bear in mind I'll do group stuff and solo stuff but unlikely to do cutting edge raid content.

One more question: what server and faction has the healthiest player base? Looks like the server I played on no longer exists. West coast, mainly PVE. Republic or Empire?

Thanks in advance for any help. I didn't learn much on the official forums.
Click to expand...

we have an East Coast pub guild on jedi Covenenat
 
B

BattleMonkey

Member
Moff said:
it does for f2p players. they need to pay at least 15 dollars for it. you cannot play KOTFE for free, subscribers don't play it for free either, it simply does not require an extra purchase.
that doesn't mean it's free, though, it's simply a different payment model that will probably bring in more money than the "paid expansions" makeb and revan.
they are not charity and it's not a long term strategy either to haul in more subbers. people need to pay now if they want to play it now and they will need to pay again if they want to see the end of the story, and several times in between if they don't want to wait.
it will pay out for bioware/EA, because it's not free.
Click to expand...

Most content post expansion release via content updates required a sub to access, and restrictions on the MP focused content was always gated content from the f2p players. This is essentially just one giant content update, which the game hasn't had one in a long ass time so it needed to be meaty. Still the amount of cutscenes, va, and gameplay is bigger than the paid expansions so far.

But this doesn't change that the scope of the project is too big for how much they are charging or their release strategy. Hence why it feels so linear and restricted instead of a more open rpg anymore. The whole KOTFE while neat story wise, is conceptually not going to work with their budget constraints unless ppl are going to be happy accepting the half assed linear rpg we got now. So every month we get a bit more corridor? Against I would have far preferred them to focus on more open world content even if it wasn't epic story expanding, and more systems that made use of the game assets already in place. Doesn't help that they obviously are resource restrained since any time they add a system to the game, it's supported for a few months and then abandoned almost like an after thought. Star fighter, housing, the repeating events, guild conquests, arenas, and so on.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
CmdrShepard said:
a little confused on star fortresses as i am not up to them yet but are they repeatable instances like heroics?
Click to expand...

they are basically different versions (for each planet, with minor cosmetic differences) of the same mini flashpoint.
so yes, repeatable.
 
I

infi

Member
CmdrShepard said:
a little confused on star fortresses as i am not up to them yet but are they repeatable instances like heroics?
Click to expand...

Yeah, you get a standard solo version that you can do. In order to do the heroic version you need to complete a couple of quick quests on the planet you want to do the heroic Star Fortress before the heroic version unlocks. You will also get a new companion for each different planet version of the heroic star fortress you complete.

There's also a slight randomness to the star fortress, the maps change slightly and a different side mission will pop up as well as different paladins appearing. And for the heroic version you can get special abilities if your alliance specialists are rank 10 or more, these abilities are randomly place around the map.
 
M

Milly79

Member
What's up with the Cantina codes? I finally found one I could redeem and it didn't seem to do anything? Unless the mail is delayed?

Have there only been 2 codes as well?
 
I

infi

Member
Milly79 said:
What's up with the Cantina codes? I finally found one I could redeem and it didn't seem to do anything? Unless the mail is delayed?

Have there only been 2 codes as well?
Click to expand...

There's been five or six I think. The codes only last about 30 days and each code can only be used by 5 people. I've received the ingame mail on all my characters when I log in after using the code and I've never had to wait.

Edit: Just checked mine and the only code not expired is the NY one.
 
M

Milly79

Member
infi said:
There's been five or six I think. The codes only last about 30 days and each code can only be used by 5 people. I've received the ingame mail on all my characters when I log in after using the code and I've never had to wait.
Click to expand...

So if they only last 30 days, then I'm screwed?
 
Moff

Moff

Member
so, anyone else wondering where they are going with the story?

I have the feeling the choices, which let valkorion take control of you will be important.
I always wondered where the class stories might have been going if they ever continued them. my inquisitor was always my main and I always had the feeling that he would be the next body vitiate would possess.
and now with thes "possessions" you can let happen in KOTFE it's my suspicion that this is exactly where they are going. vitiate is looking for a new body, and that's you galaxy jesus and the over and over proven champion of the universe.
this might even explain why he is suddenly such a nice, or at least grey character, when he was always an all consuming monster up until very recently in ziost. maybe he did all of this just so you, the outlander, would let him take control of you.
 
H

HarryDemeanor

Member
Moff said:
so, anyone else wondering where they are going with the story?

I have the feeling the choices, which let valkorion take control of you will be important.
I always wondered where the class stories might have been going if they ever continued them. my inquisitor was always my main and I always had the feeling that he would be the next body vitiate would possess.
and now with thes "possessions" you can let happen in KOTFE it's my suspicion that this is exactly where they are going. vitiate is looking for a new body, and that's you galaxy jesus and the over and over proven champion of the universe.
this might even explain why he is suddenly such a nice, or at least grey character, when he was always an all consuming monster up until very recently in ziost. maybe he did all of this just so you, the outlander, would let him take control of you.
Click to expand...
I think it's pretty obvious that he's slowly trying to take control of you to rule Zakuul once again. One thing I feel might happen is that Arcann might die at some point with Vaylin taking over. I'm kind of confused if she knows that her brother killed Valkorion and she's just playing along or if she doesn't really know.
 
I

infi

Member
HarryDemeanor said:
I think it's pretty obvious that he's slowly trying to take control of you to rule Zakuul once again. One thing I feel might happen is that Arcann might die at some point with Vaylin taking over. I'm kind of confused if she knows that her brother killed Valkorion and she's just playing along or if she doesn't really know.
Click to expand...

I'd guess she knows but she doesn't care. Heck she might even be involved.

After playing this game since launch I've only just found out you can drag windows like the inventory or character sheet around. Can't believe I never figured it until someone pointed it out to me.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
infi said:
I'd guess she knows but she doesn't care. Heck she might even be involved.

After playing this game since launch I've only just found out you can drag windows like the inventory or character sheet around. Can't believe I never figured it until someone pointed it out to me.
Click to expand...

you couldn't do that since launch. I think they introduced that with the interface editor
 
A

Anbokr

Bull on a Donut
Moff said:
so, anyone else wondering where they are going with the story?

I have the feeling the choices, which let valkorion take control of you will be important.
I always wondered where the class stories might have been going if they ever continued them. my inquisitor was always my main and I always had the feeling that he would be the next body vitiate would possess.
and now with thes "possessions" you can let happen in KOTFE it's my suspicion that this is exactly where they are going. vitiate is looking for a new body, and that's you galaxy jesus and the over and over proven champion of the universe.
this might even explain why he is suddenly such a nice, or at least grey character, when he was always an all consuming monster up until very recently in ziost. maybe he did all of this just so you, the outlander, would let him take control of you.
Click to expand...

My random ass speculation:
-Agree with the dude above that at some point Vaylin might take over, regardless, somewhere along the line I think her mind is going to be "unlocked" and she'll be at her full power.
-I have a feeling Thexan may be revived somehow, or maybe we'll see his force ghost at some point. I feel like the ending cut scene of CH8 where the siblings remark how they miss him and wish he were there kind of hints at that. Someone's gotta rule Zakuul after the expac is over right? Think it'll be a revived Thexan or Senya.
-Valkorion will probably end up being the big bad with some sort of final boss fight that takes place in your mind. Although with the whole Valkorion approves/amused/dislikes prompts, maybe he's actually here to stay, either in your head going forward or as a companion in future expansions. I think it's obvious that they want you to think that he wants to take control of your body, but I hope they pull a 180 and he has other plans.
 
Moff

Moff

Member
yeah I definitely think that valkorion could be a companion at some point.
same for marr and satele.
I'd prefer vaylin, though
 
P

Paganmoon

Member
Gothos said:
Hm, I coulnd't find it on Origin... Maybe it's available only in certain countries...
Click to expand...

Strange, I got my 60 day game-time from Origin in mid October, checked now, and it's no longer available. Could be they've removed the option of buying from Origin.
 
C

Cystm

Member
Moff said:
yeah I definitely think that valkorion could be a companion at some point.
same for marr and satele.
I'd prefer vaylin, though
Click to expand...

Would love to have force ghost Marr chillin' everywhere I go. lol.

As an aside, can Sith even do that? I thought it was for lightside/redeemed (ala Anakin)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
I

infi

Member
Cystm said:
Would love to have force ghost Marr chillin' everywhere I go. lol.

As an aside, can Sith even do that? I thought it was for lightside/redeemed (ala Anakin)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...

During the inquisitors story you meet a few sith who've done that.
 
S

Spiritreaver

Member
I did the entirety of the KotFE storyline last night just so my sniper dude could get the Theron Shan romance. He's so dreamy.

It upset me that he
doesn't even show up until the final chapter. WTF? I'm sure he'll play a bigger role from here on out, but it was a pretty silly move considering they threw him and Lana at us equally in SoR. Does anyone actually like Lana?

The letter from Theron sent to you while you're in carbonite was really sweet though.
 
I

infi

Member
Cystm said:
I thought that was something different.
Because they weren't tans parent blue.
Click to expand...

It's been a while since I played it but I thought they were. I'm probably wrong as I have a terrible memory when it comes to these things.

Spiritreaver said:
I did the entirety of the KotFE storyline last night just so my sniper dude could get the Theron Shan romance. He's so dreamy.

It upset me that he
doesn't even show up until the final chapter. WTF? I'm sure he'll play a bigger role from here on out, but it was a pretty silly move considering they threw him and Lana at us equally in SoR. Does anyone actually like Lana?

The letter from Theron sent to you while you're in carbonite was really sweet though.
Click to expand...

I agree about Theron showing up late. I was expecting him to be helping Lana free you at the start but he didn't show up until the end. The letter my bounty hunter got from Mako was sad. Can't wait to meet up with the romance-able characters again.
 
C

Cystm

Member
Spiritreaver said:
I did the entirety of the KotFE storyline last night just so my sniper dude could get the Theron Shan romance. He's so dreamy.

It upset me that he
doesn't even show up until the final chapter. WTF? I'm sure he'll play a bigger role from here on out, but it was a pretty silly move considering they threw him and Lana at us equally in SoR. Does anyone actually like Lana?

The letter from Theron sent to you while you're in carbonite was really sweet though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought that was odd as well. Maybe they have metrics that indicate Lana is more popular? Either way they could've split it in a similar fashion to SoR. Especially given the whole Pub/Sith Alliance factor.
 
H

Heysoos

Member
Spiritreaver said:
I did the entirety of the KotFE storyline last night just so my sniper dude could get the Theron Shan romance. He's so dreamy.

It upset me that he
doesn't even show up until the final chapter. WTF? I'm sure he'll play a bigger role from here on out, but it was a pretty silly move considering they threw him and Lana at us equally in SoR. Does anyone actually like Lana?

The letter from Theron sent to you while you're in carbonite was really sweet though.
Click to expand...

My favorite letter by far has been Nadia's

edit: I think
 
W

Walshicus

Member
Getting back into TOR after a very very long time away. Is there still a GAF guild?

Character name is Walshicus if there's invites to be received!
 
R

repeater

Member
I'm thinking of reinstalling this to check it out again after a long time away.
A question which you guys may or may not know the answer to: is it worth installing the game from my old vanilla TOR disc, or will it probably be quicker to download everything through the launcher rather than trying to patch the vanilla disc?
 
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