Also there's a hidden achievement that was just added to the game, possibly ahead of schedule. Next time you're all on the fleet, go to the cantina and look for a Twi'lek in helmet named Paxton Rall...
This holiday, the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ team is excited to announce a new Premium player (Subscriber) reward* – the new Twi’lek Pirate Companion, Paxton Rall! The most notorious pirate to rise to fame across the galaxy since the invasion of the Eternal Empire, Paxton Rall scours the stars in an endless hunt for adventure and profit, making him a formidable ally in your Alliance.
Another damn companion. As things are right now no one will ever need more than ten. On my main I have like forty. And so far this guy has only had lines in Huttese when he cameos in cantinas across the galaxy.
Still, I guess it's...something?
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CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
Also there's a hidden achievement that was just added to the game, possibly ahead of schedule. Next time you're all on the fleet, go to the cantina and look for a Twi'lek in helmet named Paxton Rall...
This holiday, the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ team is excited to announce a new Premium player (Subscriber) reward* – the new Twi’lek Pirate Companion, Paxton Rall! The most notorious pirate to rise to fame across the galaxy since the invasion of the Eternal Empire, Paxton Rall scours the stars in an endless hunt for adventure and profit, making him a formidable ally in your Alliance.
Another damn companion. As things are right now no one will ever need more than ten. On my main I have like forty. And so far this guy has only had lines in Huttese when he cameos in cantinas across the galaxy.
Still, I guess it's...something?
OK but maybe bring all the old companions back first SWTOR?!
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
I'll be happy if he brings in purple skin and those new tattoos as options for Twi'lek player characters. I have been grumpy about the lack of purple as an option for Twi'leks basically since I started playing.
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AssuranIs swinging on the SpiralRegistered Userregular
IMHO, the Makeb heroics are worse. I've leveled from 65-69 1/2 on my sorc just doing the Korriban and Tatooine dailies. I couldn't be bothered to do the Knights storyline again. December patch can't come soon enough so I can skip that wreck.
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
edited December 2018
ALERT
Cartel market unlocks are 50% off, don't know for how long. If you've been saving your coins, get your super-cheap unlocks!
EDIT: They also did a story update thing on the website. Some interesting things have happened Sith side if you have a good memory for one-and-done questgivers (or even more minor characters).
How is this game even still alive? Every time i redownload it to try and get a star wars fix there are like 2 people on the fleet or whatever. Has the population picked up or something?
How is this game even still alive? Every time i redownload it to try and get a star wars fix there are like 2 people on the fleet or whatever. Has the population picked up or something?
There's only 3 servers left, but Star Forge feels pretty lively, at least. Regular PVP pops pretty consistently, at least and I hear ranked pops pretty decently at night (though I'm still not geared enough for ranked).
I was just browsing around the website for it and im not really sure whats going on. Are there multiple expansions to buy to get caught up? Or do you just subscribe and you get all the content? Getting a new computer soon and was thinking about playing through a bunch of stuff ive missed. I last played during the hutt cartel expansion i think. And there hasnt been other star wars games other than the fps.
Subscribe for all the content, which you get to keep even after you end your sub.
Signing up for a month or two (and using that time to catch up, with a minimum of bullshit blocking your way) is absolutely worth it.
Is there another expansion in the pipe or is it more just a content patch for the thing with the brothers? I think i remember the last time i logged in it was a total train wreck about where to go/do anything. Is that any better now?
ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
The story with the brothers is over, but the ramifications are still in play. As for following the story, there's a mission console on your ship (you can tell because of the purple quest marker), and once you start the stuff with the brothers the game just feeds you one chapter after another until that's all done.
I've kind of had to admit to myself that Sith Warrior gameplay is tedious enough that I'm never going to actually finish the story to this, and there's just enough content that I've already done that I don't want to replay it on my Consular (whose gameplay I prefer).
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
...I just realized that for my last batch of alts (which when completed will bring me up to one character for each spec on both sides), I forgot to equip the first few with the experience-boosting armor.
Uh...whoops?
I can't even say I got more credits or whatever for drawing out their leveling experience longer because credits would have scaled as they gained levels faster, and in the end I would have gotten more max-level characters faster, which would increase my ability to earn credits through missions.
Ah well. Problem solved now.
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Still? Yikes.
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
The official twitter claims the servers should be back up as of a half hour ago. Looks like they took them down after the patch due to “a severe issue” that required further patching.
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Looks like the 7 year anniversary rewards are out, and word of warning, maybe you want to play through the new content first, cause it sure looks like they give away a massive storyline spoiler.
Big picture right up on the top of the page announcing it.
CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
See I like unconventional romance usually, and I would have loved one with Scourge, Dr. Lokin, Gus Tuno, or Bowdar, but Khem makes me intensely uncomfortable!
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
See I like unconventional romance usually, and I would have loved one with Scourge, Dr. Lokin, Gus Tuno, or Bowdar, but Khem makes me intensely uncomfortable!
Regardless of its execution, the very weirdness of it amuses me!
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
edited December 2018
Let's talk about 5.10. Or as I like to write it, 5.Ten.
It's time once again for Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Beta!
I kid. I kid because I love. I have to say I honestly got excited just from seeing a new loading screen after over two years.
As for the actual content... (loooooong and spoilers)
I remain impressed by Bioware's commitment to their quasi-cinematic look for the conversational scenes since 4.0, complete with what I think is an all-new music cue for the first conversation with Lana (which nonetheless managed to feel like Star Wars, even if it is very short). I'm also impressed by the set dressing and lighting, for lack of a better term--Lana and the Outlander walking through an autumn forest near sunset both not-so-subtly hints that the Alliance isn't going to be independent much longer and just looks fucking beautiful
I was leveling a trooper on Monday afternoon, so it was nice to see Jonas Balkar return Repside. Odd that he turns out to be bi, too. At this point I was wondering if they'd retcon other single-gender flirt options who show up in new content to be bi. Doc wasn't--but Nadia was, to my surprise. Regardless, it's been a good eight years in universe; maybe Jonas figured something out about himself. Sadly I generally don't play with sound on, more often listening to podcasts and such, so I can't remember it well enough to say if Jonas's VA forgot how to do the voice.
NR-02 was a surprise return, even knowing the super-spoiler below. He wasn't nearly so...shall we say acerbic?...as he used to be, to my disappointment. Although the fact that the last time you saw him you were a nobody and now you are Very Much Someboy is probably a reason for that.
Daeruun, the new Republic general, kind of drives home the age of the engine. His big fucking lizard head doesn't animate very well, certainly not in a way that agrees with his otherwise-human body language. I'm also annoyed that they defaulted to "Show, not tell", and had Lana tell you that Daeruun is shrewd--though given that Lana's not the best judge of character (seriously that's been her main character flaw through her entire arc), maybe that's meant as a hint that Daeruun is gonna fuck things up in future updates. In the meantime, however, they contrast his bestial appearance with an appreciation for the finer things and high culture, which I like. Also it's weird that the insistence on a light attack force, or even alone, automatically defaults to "alone". I mean, Theron even says he wants to go but can't. His email after lets you know that he went on a trip somewhere but he didn't say where. Maybe he was catching up with Satele?
Also, the "small and stealthy" ship just looks a like slight retool of the same shuttle model that's been in use since the start of Fallen Empire.
Moff Pyron's return is nice to see--though he personally looks rough. Nothing more than hints at something bigger he was involved in, but he didn't just run to the Rishi Maze, he was doing something there are Acina's behest, possibly building ships? At least in the Imperial storyline, Theron not coming along makes a lot more sense.
Feels like a missed opportunity to reintroduce Nadia and Doc at the same time. Khem and Jaesa--and for that matter even Light Jaesa and Dark Jaesa all got separate stuff. I like that Nadia's voice actor seems to have matured the character; Doc's feels like he just cranked up the ham factor. Though at least their confidence in you if you're one of the Jedi classes feels justifiable. Almost like Rey talking to Luke, asking him to join the Resistance against the First Order, except your Knight probably isn't so embittered (despite suffering a major failure recently), nor facing such insurmountable odds.
Gnost-Dural barely features in the story Republic-side, mostly getting talked up by Tau, but it's still cool to see him finally make an appearance in-game, and also not die. Imperial-side he's the coolest boss in a while.
Tau Idair is...interesting. She's got a very distinct visual design; I hated her outfit at first but it's grown on me. I have to admit I thought she would be a young man based on the art from the new loading screen. I think she's voiced by the same actor who voices Master Ranos, except the VA is actually trying this time. One thing I noticed: part of her backstory is a Sith with two lightsabers killed five of her friends in one second, and then in the mission to save Gnost-Dural at the library, a Sith with two lightsabers ambushes the two of you partway through. I just thought that was neat and/or cruel on the part of the developers. Strange that they immediately made her unavailable afterward, but I suppose they're aware that most players will be full up on companions.
I did not expect Malora to actually be monstrous in appearance. I thought the look she had in the loading screen was just, like, makeup and hair dye. But no, the red spiky bits are part of her face, her ears are pointed, and her voice is filtered. I imagine she'd have sharp teeth if the engine were capable of rendering humanoid teeth like that.
Major Anje is all right. A bit too straightforward "working class soldier made good", completely with an unexpected hobby that makes her oddly useful on the mission. I understand why it's done--partly because it's true to life and partly because you need to appeal to players who pick that side--but I'm always a bit leery of it when Star Wars makes the people on the side of the fascist theocracy entirely likeable and reasonable. They also picked so believable a lie to get the troops fired up. The Jedi are known to be one of the major obstacles to the Sith, so if they're hiding here, they must be doing something related to fighting the Sith, right?
Right?
And then we get to the big spoiler. I will only be putting the big spoiler in double spoilers.
Malgus is back. And it's not a lie of Malora's. He really is back.
After that, the surprisingly well-done in-engine aerial battle where the Republic comes to the rescue at exactly the right moment and then hits the Imperial base is just gravy. Though it's odd to see that the Empire has apparently decided shuttles make the best bombers? Were they supposed to be dropships?
Also, flirting option for the lizard man. And a flirt option for Tau. My smuggler's so happy. Especially since her canonical boyfriend, Koth, has apparently VANISHED UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES, BIOWARE. If it were possible to go straight to the Empire (she wouldn't, but it's not even possible yet) there's also a flirt option for Anji.
I kind of like that Malora is still a bit of a butt monkey even as a Dark Councillor. And, for that matter, that the Dark Council whack-a-mole game appears to have started up again. And as previously mentioned, as someone who recently completed the trooper storyline again, I'm glad to see a dark/light decision where the option to let her go isn't present, never mind it being the light side option.
I really liked Daeruun's ending speech. It really drove him his "cultured warrior" thing. Malgus's was meh.
Also, a whole shit-ton of emails at the end. On my Sith Warrior, 10. On my Jedi Knight, 12. On my Agent, who is joining the Republic, 13. And yet...still nothing from Senya. Or even Arcann. Did they just bugger off to try to stabilize Zakuul? If so, why didn't they send me an email? And while some will send you emails intimating they won't help you depending on what side you go with, they do still remain available. Some are more "I like the work the Alliance does, but I won't do anything that helps the Empire", and some are just "with the war going on I've been recalled, so I must bid the Alliance, who have sided against my homeland, a fond farewell". If you're a traitor, one's an interesting but simple code that's easy enough to figure out when you know that it is a code.
Speaking of switching sides...deeply disappointed that the first steps towards switching sides are so basic and uninspired. I thought there might be a great scene where you come out, and the person who thinks you're on their side is heartbroken or enraged. But no, it's just a couple of bonus quests, a couple of lines of dialog you don't get to pick, and not even any way to avoid killing your new allies in instances. You can't even get different results by taking different dialog lines--I imagine they probably couldn't do anything different with the lines themselves, different takes depending on what side you're actually on, e.g.--but you could get a bonus to your mission for picking the line that fits the most with your actual mission. And the open world being basically the same I can understand, but they could've switched up the text on the dailies! With the Imperial supply drop mission, the text could say you're dropping supplies in the wrong place--or, similar to how the sensor jammer/remove the sensor jammer dailies work, you would sabotage the supplies that loyalist players place. With the mission to retrieve lightsabers from the Jedi temple, you could damage them, or collect them but say you couldn't find any, and give them to the Empire. I don't know how much extra work that would be, but it would definitely be easier than going whole hog and creating four separate storylines.
Jaesa's return is very thorough, and very buggy, but perhaps not the best thought-out, story-wise. Light side Jaesa is only slightly less annoying that she was in vanilla. She at least understands she's not cut out to be a Jedi, and sides not with the Empire but with you and your Alliance, where regardless of which side you're picking you still have Sith and Jedi working together. But the way it's handled is sad. I'm also not certain I like that light Jaesa is in love with a Sith Warrior.
As for dark Jaesa, she comes at your forces on Iokath--so Iokath still exists. So why, when you have a weapon that can scour planets (i.e. the droid superweapons), do you have to pick sides? There's never been word one of whether or not the Eternal Fleet's or Zildrog's destruction affected them--and they somehow manage to capture her and bring her in. That's...so underwhelming. Aside from the metanarrative reason of light Jaesa only showing up now, why would dark Jaesa wait till now to appear? Light Jaesa was specifically on Ossus for most of her time, so that explains why she wasn't there. Why is dark Jaesa only turning up now?
That said...the actual scene where dark Jaesa returns is amazing. The animators push the emotes as far as they'll go, the dialog feels more real than anything dark or light Jaesa got to do in vanilla, and Rachel Leigh Cook kills it. Even with its narrative weaknesses it might be the best returning companion scene in terms of real emotional impact yet.
Khem Val's return is...all right. It's fine! It's nothing special. Supposedly Bioware wanted to wait until they had something worth it for his return, but if this was it, I'm not impressed. That said, it is an interesting wrinkle that he is a) free, and b) only willingly joins you if you say that Zash is definitely permanently dead now, in which case he decides to come back out of gratitude. It's also fitting that you can't romance him until he's free from your control; kind of reminds me of how they realized the unfortunate implications of the Vette relationship and prevented players from doing it if they didn't remove her collar.
And speaking of Zash, where the fuck is she? On one of my Assassins I stuck with her, then Khem Val came back and died in Nathema Conspiracy, but now he's back again and Zash is nowhere to be found? Fuck's sake Bioware.
Thus far, I'd have to say that Jedi Under Siege's story feels like Battle For Azeroth after Legion (complete with bugs). But, like, in a good way. The KOTFE/KOTET and related stories were so all-consuming that there was no room for anything else in the game. And now that that's done we can get back to the old Horde vs. Alliance fight. Only this feels less dumb, if only because the game acknowledges that one side in this conflict is, in fact, the bad guys. There are not really shades of gray over what's going on here.
As ever with fresh TOR content that's not a full expansion launch, the main frustration isn't even the bugs, it's just that it's just so short. In this case, however, it's clear this is just the first part of a greater arc, which might even be leading to a full expansion.
Non-story notes: They seem to have added a visual effect for enemies' "Spinning Strikes" channeled attack, showing you the radius. I don't know if this is for all enemies or just the ones on the new planet, but I presume it's just the new ones. They also added an AI thing where if that Spinning Strikes attack isn't damaging anyone (or possibly just a player character), the enemy will stop channeling it of their own volition and switch to another attack.
In addition to tracking "character approves" or "character disapproves" (though I didn't notice any such things in the story yet), they've also begun tracking what your decisions do in the overall storyline. "Your [action] has [result]. [Character] will be pleased." Again, I presume this only happens with the new content.
If you're level 70, on Ossus at least, green gear can now drop at level 228. Blue drops can be 238, and orange ones (though orange gear has previously been rated the same as blue) is 242. (Previous level-70 drops, green 210, blue 220, and purple 228 can still happen, though.) You can get purple (252) in a number of ways. You can buy them from a vendor (if I'm right you'll probably be limited to one piece per week per character due to the special currency), by getting a loot box for doing the weekly once you've unlocked the dailies, or by completing a one-time mission to kill both the world bosses, which allows you to pick a mainhand or offhand. The vendor requires 2 "masterwork data crystals" for each piece of 252 gear, one of which is awarded for completing a weekly quest to beat one of the new world bosses or do a certain amount of ranked PVP, and one of which can be gotten from a smuggler for 500 of the components you receive for disintegrating command box gear. (You can get another crystal from the smuggler, but the price goes up to 1000 components. "Supply and demand", and all.) As for the loot box, after completing the weekly you choose one of three, with each box having gear for different potential slots. (For reference, one box can give a chestpiece, one box can give pants, and the third can give a helmet; other slots are divided about equally between the three.) There is also purchasable gold (258 gear), which will require certain reputation with the new faction and cost 4 crystals each plus the item from that slot, so an effective total of 6.
According to the dev tracker it appears to be possible to get 252 gear or masterwork data crystals from tier 3 and 4 command crates as very rare drops. There may also be world purple drops, but I haven't seen any yet.
There are three datacrons on Ossus. One is +6 Mastery, a second is +5 Presence, the third is +2 Endurance. The Endurance one is, oddly, the absolutely worst, but it also gives a weapon tuning that's BoE, so you can give it to another alt. All three also give codex entries about Ossus, though they aren't numbered. There are also three different heroic missions for each side (including a heroic 4, though they're still soloable with the right builds, or if you're just completely uncaring about repair costs from dying), two world bosses, and at least a few hidden things, including a joke I forgot to make in this thread back when it was timely.
Don, the Exiled Knight, is now a canon character within TOR. Can you find him?
Before he vanished, Doc could gain maximum affection from courting gifts, regardless of gender or if he was in a romantic relationship with someone. (This fits thematically with his "best gift" phrase being "You love me, admit it.") And he still does. So if, like me, you've been hoarding those Gree Temporary Mind-Link Devices, those Zeltron Personal Aroma Sets, those Personalized Holoportraits...put your Jedi Knight through Jedi Under Siege, because Doc will happily devour them all. This also cleared out a lot of room in my legacy cargo hold, where I had been keeping said courting gifts (not just rank 5 ones, either), so double win.
Bugs I've found so far:
The "Remembering the Past" daily doesn't show the indicator for where to scan one of the targets, the Jedi Padawan statue (it's just inside the library entrance).
If you kill the world boss, you'll get the achievement, but it doesn't always give you completion for the quests. (I killed both; some ops members got credit for one, some got the other, I and others got neither.) I anticipate a hotfix. In the meantime, there's a workaround, which I will not be attempting, because I only do workarounds when they're 100% guaranteed to work--when a world boss hits 5%, leave the ops group and when it goes down you should get credit.
If you didn't get the weekly for the masterwork crystal on Tuesday (the one that requires you to either the world boss kill or a ranked PVP kill), you couldn't get it from the mission board for the rest of the week which seems like a huge fucking oversight.
If you're a Sith Warrior you can recruit two characters when you should only be able to recruit one.
After completing the story on Ossus, you will not be able to access any of your companions for crafting if you don't leave before coming back to do the dailies.
The Inquisitor gets a returning companion even when they shouldn't.
Bugs I've heard of but haven't seen yet:
If you haven't finished the KOTFE or KOTET storylines, it will default to the standard or default triggers for that (which vary depending on your faction and even your character class)--meaning that if you killed certain major characters but didn't finish every chapter in that part of the story, it can reset and that character will be alive and well in your companion pane. I have had this happen on characters who've finished the storyline when first starting the new content--for example, on my Warrior who's married to Vette, Torian was added to the list, but like the others wasn't available to summon--but when I complete it he's back on the dead list. But I gather it might be permanent if you didn't actually finish the story.
Last but not least: a while back in this thread, I mentioned that because Tharan had a bonus ability when in DPS mode, he was the best companion. Someone else pointed out Shae Vizla's AoE attack, and I said that was just the standard companion AoE attack. I was wrong; not only does the tooltip explicitly say Shae's aerial annihilation ability does somewhat more damage than other AoE abilities, I think even that might undersell how much damage she actually does with it.
Shadowen on
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Last but not least: a while back in this thread, I mentioned that because Tharan had a bonus ability when in DPS mode, he was the best companion. Someone else pointed out Shae Vizla's AoE attack, and I said that was just the standard companion AoE attack. I was wrong; not only does the tooltip explicitly say Shae's aerial annihilation ability does somewhat more damage than other AoE abilities, I think even that might undersell how much damage she actually does with it.
Someone, somewhere, did the math on all the companions, parsing them vs. raid dummies, and yeah, Shae Vizla is far and away the highest DPS companion in the game. Ranged two-handed companions come after her. Z00M is the highest parsing healing companion. Treek is now garbage, as is HK-51. Nadia, who used to be top tier, is now mediocre at best. Too bad.
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
The "quitting the ops group will get you the world boss mission credit" trick seems to work, but I forgot to do it for one of the bosses on Sunday (the swarmlord) and I still got credit, while doing it with the other and I got credit. Meanwhile I've heard multiple stories of people who left but didn't get credit. So it's still not 100%, but leaving does seem more likely to complete the mission for you--but I'd wait until at least Thusday, if you want to avoid all that trouble.
The new Jedi Knight chestpiece has the longest crotchflap that isn't just a robe I have ever seen in this game. It seriously hangs down past your knees. It's the kind of loincloth a character in a hentai who was like a demon pornstar with six prehensile dicks would need.
I have a Sith Warblade. yayyyy
You might have noticed: all the characters get a brief subtitle when they turn up in KotFE and later content in the companion pane. Senya is "the vengeful enforcer", Vette is "the tomb robber", etc. Doc gets "The Galaxy's Most Brilliant, Skilled, and Handsome Doctor". It's so long it runs into the role symbol, his influence rank, and the summon button. I hope this is deliberate and never gets fixed. (Also Iresso didn't get a subtitle after his return because he's that bland even to the devs.)
The Spinning Strikes effect showing you the radius of the ability does apply to abilities used by enemies in older content. Just fought one in Cleanse the Corrupted (a Voss-side heroic mission). In addition they seem to have expanded it to many abilities used by enemies that have an area of effect; this is demonstrated in the boss battles at the end of the new content, but also applies to battles with enemies in the older game world. As far as I can tell, any enemy's channeled or charged attacks that are melee or centered on the caster and have an area of effect have the new visual.
There is not a quick travel ability to go to Ossus in the unlocks or on the fleet, but you can use the activities pane (Ctrl+G), go to Solo, and scroll down to Ossus to travel there from wherever you are with one click and not spending credits.
Old set bonus and new set bonus are not stacking. This is apparently not intended.
As of Tuesday they still haven't haven't fixed the glitch with people having to drop to get credit for killing ops bosses. You can get the weekly for the masterwork crystal (as it's Tuesday, but that might not be fixed by Wednesday, so get it today)...but the weekly doesn't track progress so you don't even know if your kills count or not. A patch is currently intended for Thursday to address the biggest issues.
I stopped playing this midway through Knights of the Eternal Throne (I think), though I still have a sub. Has there been lots of good story since then? I don't really want to raid or anything, but I need some character driven RPG in my life now that AC: Odyssey has just shit the bed.
I stopped playing this midway through Knights of the Eternal Throne (I think), though I still have a sub. Has there been lots of good story since then? I don't really want to raid or anything, but I need some character driven RPG in my life now that AC: Odyssey has just shit the bed.
They've put the Eternal Empire stuff to bed pretty much and are building up to the next expansion with the latest content patch which features a few familiar faces as well as one that hasn't been seen in game yet but has been part of the game since before it launched.
I stopped playing this midway through Knights of the Eternal Throne (I think), though I still have a sub. Has there been lots of good story since then? I don't really want to raid or anything, but I need some character driven RPG in my life now that AC: Odyssey has just shit the bed.
Since Eternal Throne came out (spoiling for courtesy's sake, but also long)
1. The Eternal Throne - The Alliance has defeated Zakuul, killed Vaylin, destroyed Valkorion for good, and seized the Eternal Throne to control the Eternal Fleet. The Alliance Commander (i.e. the player character) has chosen to either take the Throne as a throne (basically declaring themselves Emperor, though people still call them Commander) or to use the Fleet as a resource to help police and repair the galaxy. The Alliance is renamed the Eternal Alliance.
2. Uprising - The Alliance has dealt with a number of minor Uprisings across the galaxy since taking control. (These were more or less mini-flashpoints that are entirely optional.)
3. The Forgotten World - With Iokath becoming safe for exploration, a small detachment was sent to explore it--only to find that somehow, both Empire and Republic knew of it and were already fighting over the technology found there, in particular a superweapon that might outstrip any other known. The Alliance intervened, only to find that within a certain range of Iokath, the Eternal Fleet stopped responding, putting them on even footing with the interlopers, at least on Iokath. The Commander had to choose between aiding the Republic or the Empire (either option was acceptable) to keep their opposite number from acquiring the superweapon (which turned out to be a pantheon of indestrusctible machine gods, i.e. half a dozen enormous droids with the power to scour life from a world). The disruption the conflict between Empire and Republic caused in Iokath's systems allowed the Alliance control of the Eternal Fleet again, but the gods were still awakening and had to be dealt--this became an operations questline and did not need to be concluded, though it was still a purple quest. In addition, while the Commander was rushing to head off the activation of the first of these machine gods, a traitor within the Alliance attempted to assassinate them.
4. Crisis on Umbara - Flashpoint. With the Empire/Republic war starting to heat up again after the events on Iokath, even with the Alliance playing either tyrant or peacekeeper, and with the galaxy all but exhausted after decades of on-again-off-again war and Zakuul's pillaging, resources are becoming scarcer. The Umbarans have recently acquired a shipment of very valuable Ilum crystals (used in many kinds of technology from lightsabers to cloaking devices), and moreover seem ready to sell them to whichever side the Alliance sided against on Iokath--and moreover, intelligence indicates the traitor is there with them. Heading there to seize the shipment and confront the traitor, they are revealed as Theron, who claims to have, since the Alliance took the Throne, been working to overthrow the Alliance and kill the Commander for their burgeoning tyranny, doing everything from sparking most of the uprisings to being the one who tried to kill them on Iokath. Theron escapes with a small collection of Ilum crystals; the Alliance gets more but are still on the back foot.
5. A Traitor Among The Chiss - Flashpoint. A Chiss representative comes to the Alliance requesting aid--the conspiracy to bring down the Alliance, Theron among them, has entered Chiss space and subverted one of the ruling families. The other ruling families cannot intervene directly, and could not openly accept an outsider's help, but they might be willing to look the other way if the Alliance came to the rebel family's world and...chastised them in their search for their own traitor. There, the Alliance finds that Theron is looking for some information that could only be found in Chiss databanks, but he again escapes, with one of his new friends dying to give him the time to escape. Shortly after the event, a transmission between Theron and persons unknown is intercepted by the Alliance, identifying their enemy: a group calling itself the Order of Zildrog.
6. The Nathema Conspiracy - Flashpoint. Tracing other transmissions has lead the Alliance to an abandoned space station the Order of Zildrog was using as a base of operations, where depending on the choices they've made in the story, characters old and new might against them, but the main antagonists are a former Horizon Guard who is angry over how far Zakuul has fallen since the Alliance defeated it and a GEMINI captain who since acquiring free will wants to eliminate all the others to silence the noise in her mind. They also learn their plan--Zildrog, the last of the machine gods and possibly the most powerful, has been located on Nathema; the Order intends to use it to destroy the Alliance--and uncover evidence that Theron infiltrated the Order to bring it down from the inside. Following the Order's trail, they land on Nathema, which since the Emperor's death has suddenly started to turn green, and soon meet up with Theron, who sneaked away. The GEMINI captain somehow knew everything going on within the Alliance base, or seemed to, and so Theron could never appear to be anything but sincere in his betrayal, but he was always on the Alliance's side. On their way to the hidden facility where Zildorg was kept (it is implied Zildrog was used by Valkorion in his ritual to drain the life from Nathema and make him immortal), they encounter another obstacle, commanded by another figure from the Commander's past--this one dependent on their class and alignment or other story choices. (For example, if you're a Sith Inquisitor who sided with Zash, somehow Khem Val has freed himself and has sought vengeance against you, while if you sided with Khem, Zash managed to possess someone else and is doing the same.) Going deeper into the facility, the Commander, Lana, and Theron come face to face with the Order and Zildrog--or rather, face to mind with Zildrog. Only part of Zildrog is here, the massive droid brain controlling the body...which is, in fact, the Gravestone. With the help of the GEMINI captain, they seize control of the Eternal Fleet long enough to put it into a position rendering them completely vulnerable to the Gravestone's primary weapon. The entire Eternal Fleet, thousands of ships, is annihilated in a single chain reaction shot. Before Zildrog can turn against Odessen, however, the Commander, Theron, and Lana defeat the remaining members of the Order and destroy Zildrog's brain, causing the Gravestone to self-destruct. Theron is wounded, and the Commander can choose whether to save their life or leave them to die, and afterwards whether to let them back into the Alliance or exile them. In addition if they have a romantic relationship with Theron or Lana, they can choose to propose.
7. Jedi Under Siege - Suddenly diminished to third or even fourth most important power in the galaxy (behind the Republic, Empire, and possibly even the Hutts), the Alliance finds it necessary to declare for one side or the other. Regardless of faction, and even the decision on Iokath, the Commander can make whatever choice they want--however, they still end up doing roughly the same story as other people in their original faction (so a traitorous Republic character will do the same story as a loyal Republic character, and a traitorous imperial character will see the same part of the story as a loyal one). The idea here is that turncoat characters act as spies, undermining the other side from within, which largely amounts to either bolstering or messing with systems on their original side. For example, if you're an Imperial character, you can give Imperial ships different IFF codes to either make it more difficult or easier for Republic ships to get a lock on them. As for the story itself...on Ossus, a former Jedi stronghold that was scoured of life in a supernova centuries ago, a group of Jedi fled from the conflict with the Eternal Empire to train the next generation of Jedi instead. Led by the historian and Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, they have not only been eking out a living but somehow thriving on the blasted world, though they have only a few ships and no interstellar communications in order to to make it less likely they're discovered. Unfortunately, they have been, and with the resource war going on, the Republic is not able to spare enough ships to intervene directly in the Empire's probing attacks on the settlement...while the Imperial forces, lead by Darth Malora, are currently unable to commit to more than probing attacks. Malora is a bioengineer and has mutated Geonosians into, basically, smart Zerg, whom she can only point at the enemy, not directly control. A Republic character must cut off the Geonosians' ability to make surprise attacks by blocking off tunnels and head off Imperial attacks on the settlements, while an Imperial character must rescue Imperial scouts from the feral Geonosians and retrieve information on what exactly the Jedi are doing here. For her failures, Malora is soon replaced by Darth Malgus, who was resurrected by Empress Acina to be the new Empire's Wrath (if you killed Acina on Iokath, she has been replaced by Vowrawn, from the Warrior storyline), though she survives his initial attempt at execution. Malora tries to steal all the lore she can from both the Republic and the old Jedi library, while Gnost-Dural tries to defend the library against Imperial incursion until the colony is ready to be evacuted or Republic rescue arrives, only to be defeated by Darth Malgus. If the player is Republic, Malgus leaves Gnost-Dural for dead and the master's life is saved by the Republic, and they can choose whether to kill Malora or take her prisoner. If the player is Imperial, they can offer Malora a place in the Alliance (she does not immediately accept) and choose whether to kill Gnost-Dural or take him prisoner. (They receive this choice whether they are traitor or not.) In either case, as the Empire is about to launch an all-out attack on the Jedi colony, Republic reinforcements arrive. If you are a traitor, your original side lost a lot, and if you are loyal, your original side weathered the storm quite well. Afterwards, it's all but confirmed that the war is back on--and the third time might be the charm for one side to completely defeat the other.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Did EA disable the bitraider removal thing? I just jumped through the hoops to remove it and the client reinstalled it and reverted all the changes I made to have it not work on bitraider.
Been playing as a good guy. Light side choices all the way except for Romancing Kira and the twilek in the first village.
I saved Arcann and didn't feel too bad about it.
I still killed Saresh and that traitorous Imperial minister and honestly. I feel kind of good about it.
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
Oh, new patch, how silly you are.
So they finally removed the conversation with Khem Val in the Ossus storyline for those who betrayed him (and thus caused the Order of Zildrog to kill him). Characters who didn't get him can continue without fear they're somehow borking everything up.
And then he turns up on Odessen anyway, with dialog exactly the same as if things had broken his way. I can't imagine it's intended.
A friend of mine and I are going to start this game tonight or tomorrow. We've been doing independent research and comparing notes to make sure we have some idea of what we're getting into, but this game has been around so long and is so dense that I'm having trouble finding answers to some simple things.
1) When can my friend and I begin questing as a group?
2) We're planning on mostly playing together- is there a lot of downtime we need to be aware of when talking to our companions or anything like that? Are we ever split into our own areas between quests or anything like that?
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CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
1) When can my friend and I begin questing as a group?
You can actually do that immediately from your starting (tutorial) planet, after your opening cutscene material, as long as you are both on the same side (empire or republic). The only way this doesn't work is if you start on a different tutorial planet (there are two tutorial planets for each side). Like say if you decide to roll Republic, if you do a Guardian class and your friend does a Commando, in that case it will be around level 10 before you can join up - though that's putting too fine a point on it, I've always gotten off tutorial planets around level 8 and some people do so even earlier. It just depends on how long it takes you to finish your starting missions. Of course if you both start on the same planet, like if you did a Vanguard and your friend did a Gunslinger, that means you can really start grouping immediately (and they can watch the cutscenes for your story if they join you in your instances, and you can do the same for theirs)
2) We're planning on mostly playing together- is there a lot of downtime we need to be aware of when talking to our companions or anything like that? Are we ever split into our own areas between quests or anything like that?
As long as you select the checkmark for "allow friends into my instances" they will always be in the same areas you are EXCEPT I don't think they can actually appear on your ship? It's been a while but I think that's true, everyone is always only on their own ship. There are two things that take place on board ship: chatting with companions, and receiving new planet locations from whoever your commander/higher up/boss is for your class, so your friend and you will have to go to your own ships for that stuff, then meet up at the planets to fulfill the missions. But every class goes to the same planets after the starting planet, so you'll always be meeting up in the same places. I'm not sure what you mean "a lot of downtime", there will be a few companion chats for each companion, and a couple of companion-related quests for the 'important' ones, they don't take a lot of time compared to the other missions, and when those missions actually mean going planet-side you can bring your friend with you on those as long as they are instanced.
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
1) If you're on the same planet (so both Jedi/Sith characters of some sort or both Not Jedi/Sith characters of some sort), Level 1 immediately on game start. Otherwise, roughly level 10 (about 2 hours in).
2) Not really. There are companion dialogues on your ship that you can do whenever, that's about it.
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Oh hey look at that.
New Premium Player Reward: Paxton Rall Companion*
Another damn companion. As things are right now no one will ever need more than ten. On my main I have like forty. And so far this guy has only had lines in Huttese when he cameos in cantinas across the galaxy.
Still, I guess it's...something?
OK but maybe bring all the old companions back first SWTOR?!
Cartel market unlocks are 50% off, don't know for how long. If you've been saving your coins, get your super-cheap unlocks!
EDIT: They also did a story update thing on the website. Some interesting things have happened Sith side if you have a good memory for one-and-done questgivers (or even more minor characters).
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
There's only 3 servers left, but Star Forge feels pretty lively, at least. Regular PVP pops pretty consistently, at least and I hear ranked pops pretty decently at night (though I'm still not geared enough for ranked).
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
Signing up for a month or two (and using that time to catch up, with a minimum of bullshit blocking your way) is absolutely worth it.
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198004484595
Uh...whoops?
I can't even say I got more credits or whatever for drawing out their leveling experience longer because credits would have scaled as they gained levels faster, and in the end I would have gotten more max-level characters faster, which would increase my ability to earn credits through missions.
Ah well. Problem solved now.
Installed it, logged in, all servers are down.
http://www.swtor.com/community/devtracker.php
And there's a trailer!
Wait, wait, wait, is a Khem Val romance a real thing?
Khem Val romance spoilers!
edit:
Read the comments, they're hilarious
...I hope.
Big picture right up on the top of the page announcing it.
Edit: No spoilers for this one though!
See I like unconventional romance usually, and I would have loved one with Scourge, Dr. Lokin, Gus Tuno, or Bowdar, but Khem makes me intensely uncomfortable!
Regardless of its execution, the very weirdness of it amuses me!
It's time once again for Star Wars: The Old Republic - Knights of the Eternal Beta!
I kid. I kid because I love. I have to say I honestly got excited just from seeing a new loading screen after over two years.
As for the actual content... (loooooong and spoilers)
I was leveling a trooper on Monday afternoon, so it was nice to see Jonas Balkar return Repside. Odd that he turns out to be bi, too. At this point I was wondering if they'd retcon other single-gender flirt options who show up in new content to be bi. Doc wasn't--but Nadia was, to my surprise. Regardless, it's been a good eight years in universe; maybe Jonas figured something out about himself. Sadly I generally don't play with sound on, more often listening to podcasts and such, so I can't remember it well enough to say if Jonas's VA forgot how to do the voice.
NR-02 was a surprise return, even knowing the super-spoiler below. He wasn't nearly so...shall we say acerbic?...as he used to be, to my disappointment. Although the fact that the last time you saw him you were a nobody and now you are Very Much Someboy is probably a reason for that.
Daeruun, the new Republic general, kind of drives home the age of the engine. His big fucking lizard head doesn't animate very well, certainly not in a way that agrees with his otherwise-human body language. I'm also annoyed that they defaulted to "Show, not tell", and had Lana tell you that Daeruun is shrewd--though given that Lana's not the best judge of character (seriously that's been her main character flaw through her entire arc), maybe that's meant as a hint that Daeruun is gonna fuck things up in future updates. In the meantime, however, they contrast his bestial appearance with an appreciation for the finer things and high culture, which I like. Also it's weird that the insistence on a light attack force, or even alone, automatically defaults to "alone". I mean, Theron even says he wants to go but can't. His email after lets you know that he went on a trip somewhere but he didn't say where. Maybe he was catching up with Satele?
Also, the "small and stealthy" ship just looks a like slight retool of the same shuttle model that's been in use since the start of Fallen Empire.
Moff Pyron's return is nice to see--though he personally looks rough. Nothing more than hints at something bigger he was involved in, but he didn't just run to the Rishi Maze, he was doing something there are Acina's behest, possibly building ships? At least in the Imperial storyline, Theron not coming along makes a lot more sense.
Feels like a missed opportunity to reintroduce Nadia and Doc at the same time. Khem and Jaesa--and for that matter even Light Jaesa and Dark Jaesa all got separate stuff. I like that Nadia's voice actor seems to have matured the character; Doc's feels like he just cranked up the ham factor. Though at least their confidence in you if you're one of the Jedi classes feels justifiable. Almost like Rey talking to Luke, asking him to join the Resistance against the First Order, except your Knight probably isn't so embittered (despite suffering a major failure recently), nor facing such insurmountable odds.
Gnost-Dural barely features in the story Republic-side, mostly getting talked up by Tau, but it's still cool to see him finally make an appearance in-game, and also not die. Imperial-side he's the coolest boss in a while.
Tau Idair is...interesting. She's got a very distinct visual design; I hated her outfit at first but it's grown on me. I have to admit I thought she would be a young man based on the art from the new loading screen. I think she's voiced by the same actor who voices Master Ranos, except the VA is actually trying this time. One thing I noticed: part of her backstory is a Sith with two lightsabers killed five of her friends in one second, and then in the mission to save Gnost-Dural at the library, a Sith with two lightsabers ambushes the two of you partway through. I just thought that was neat and/or cruel on the part of the developers. Strange that they immediately made her unavailable afterward, but I suppose they're aware that most players will be full up on companions.
I did not expect Malora to actually be monstrous in appearance. I thought the look she had in the loading screen was just, like, makeup and hair dye. But no, the red spiky bits are part of her face, her ears are pointed, and her voice is filtered. I imagine she'd have sharp teeth if the engine were capable of rendering humanoid teeth like that.
Major Anje is all right. A bit too straightforward "working class soldier made good", completely with an unexpected hobby that makes her oddly useful on the mission. I understand why it's done--partly because it's true to life and partly because you need to appeal to players who pick that side--but I'm always a bit leery of it when Star Wars makes the people on the side of the fascist theocracy entirely likeable and reasonable. They also picked so believable a lie to get the troops fired up. The Jedi are known to be one of the major obstacles to the Sith, so if they're hiding here, they must be doing something related to fighting the Sith, right?
Right?
And then we get to the big spoiler. I will only be putting the big spoiler in double spoilers.
After that, the surprisingly well-done in-engine aerial battle where the Republic comes to the rescue at exactly the right moment and then hits the Imperial base is just gravy. Though it's odd to see that the Empire has apparently decided shuttles make the best bombers? Were they supposed to be dropships?
Also, flirting option for the lizard man. And a flirt option for Tau. My smuggler's so happy. Especially since her canonical boyfriend, Koth, has apparently VANISHED UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES, BIOWARE. If it were possible to go straight to the Empire (she wouldn't, but it's not even possible yet) there's also a flirt option for Anji.
I kind of like that Malora is still a bit of a butt monkey even as a Dark Councillor. And, for that matter, that the Dark Council whack-a-mole game appears to have started up again. And as previously mentioned, as someone who recently completed the trooper storyline again, I'm glad to see a dark/light decision where the option to let her go isn't present, never mind it being the light side option.
I really liked Daeruun's ending speech. It really drove him his "cultured warrior" thing. Malgus's was meh.
Also, a whole shit-ton of emails at the end. On my Sith Warrior, 10. On my Jedi Knight, 12. On my Agent, who is joining the Republic, 13. And yet...still nothing from Senya. Or even Arcann. Did they just bugger off to try to stabilize Zakuul? If so, why didn't they send me an email? And while some will send you emails intimating they won't help you depending on what side you go with, they do still remain available. Some are more "I like the work the Alliance does, but I won't do anything that helps the Empire", and some are just "with the war going on I've been recalled, so I must bid the Alliance, who have sided against my homeland, a fond farewell". If you're a traitor, one's an interesting but simple code that's easy enough to figure out when you know that it is a code.
Speaking of switching sides...deeply disappointed that the first steps towards switching sides are so basic and uninspired. I thought there might be a great scene where you come out, and the person who thinks you're on their side is heartbroken or enraged. But no, it's just a couple of bonus quests, a couple of lines of dialog you don't get to pick, and not even any way to avoid killing your new allies in instances. You can't even get different results by taking different dialog lines--I imagine they probably couldn't do anything different with the lines themselves, different takes depending on what side you're actually on, e.g.--but you could get a bonus to your mission for picking the line that fits the most with your actual mission. And the open world being basically the same I can understand, but they could've switched up the text on the dailies! With the Imperial supply drop mission, the text could say you're dropping supplies in the wrong place--or, similar to how the sensor jammer/remove the sensor jammer dailies work, you would sabotage the supplies that loyalist players place. With the mission to retrieve lightsabers from the Jedi temple, you could damage them, or collect them but say you couldn't find any, and give them to the Empire. I don't know how much extra work that would be, but it would definitely be easier than going whole hog and creating four separate storylines.
Jaesa's return is very thorough, and very buggy, but perhaps not the best thought-out, story-wise. Light side Jaesa is only slightly less annoying that she was in vanilla. She at least understands she's not cut out to be a Jedi, and sides not with the Empire but with you and your Alliance, where regardless of which side you're picking you still have Sith and Jedi working together. But the way it's handled is sad. I'm also not certain I like that light Jaesa is in love with a Sith Warrior.
As for dark Jaesa, she comes at your forces on Iokath--so Iokath still exists. So why, when you have a weapon that can scour planets (i.e. the droid superweapons), do you have to pick sides? There's never been word one of whether or not the Eternal Fleet's or Zildrog's destruction affected them--and they somehow manage to capture her and bring her in. That's...so underwhelming. Aside from the metanarrative reason of light Jaesa only showing up now, why would dark Jaesa wait till now to appear? Light Jaesa was specifically on Ossus for most of her time, so that explains why she wasn't there. Why is dark Jaesa only turning up now?
That said...the actual scene where dark Jaesa returns is amazing. The animators push the emotes as far as they'll go, the dialog feels more real than anything dark or light Jaesa got to do in vanilla, and Rachel Leigh Cook kills it. Even with its narrative weaknesses it might be the best returning companion scene in terms of real emotional impact yet.
Khem Val's return is...all right. It's fine! It's nothing special. Supposedly Bioware wanted to wait until they had something worth it for his return, but if this was it, I'm not impressed. That said, it is an interesting wrinkle that he is a) free, and b) only willingly joins you if you say that Zash is definitely permanently dead now, in which case he decides to come back out of gratitude. It's also fitting that you can't romance him until he's free from your control; kind of reminds me of how they realized the unfortunate implications of the Vette relationship and prevented players from doing it if they didn't remove her collar.
And speaking of Zash, where the fuck is she? On one of my Assassins I stuck with her, then Khem Val came back and died in Nathema Conspiracy, but now he's back again and Zash is nowhere to be found? Fuck's sake Bioware.
Thus far, I'd have to say that Jedi Under Siege's story feels like Battle For Azeroth after Legion (complete with bugs). But, like, in a good way. The KOTFE/KOTET and related stories were so all-consuming that there was no room for anything else in the game. And now that that's done we can get back to the old Horde vs. Alliance fight. Only this feels less dumb, if only because the game acknowledges that one side in this conflict is, in fact, the bad guys. There are not really shades of gray over what's going on here.
As ever with fresh TOR content that's not a full expansion launch, the main frustration isn't even the bugs, it's just that it's just so short. In this case, however, it's clear this is just the first part of a greater arc, which might even be leading to a full expansion.
Non-story notes: They seem to have added a visual effect for enemies' "Spinning Strikes" channeled attack, showing you the radius. I don't know if this is for all enemies or just the ones on the new planet, but I presume it's just the new ones. They also added an AI thing where if that Spinning Strikes attack isn't damaging anyone (or possibly just a player character), the enemy will stop channeling it of their own volition and switch to another attack.
In addition to tracking "character approves" or "character disapproves" (though I didn't notice any such things in the story yet), they've also begun tracking what your decisions do in the overall storyline. "Your [action] has [result]. [Character] will be pleased." Again, I presume this only happens with the new content.
If you're level 70, on Ossus at least, green gear can now drop at level 228. Blue drops can be 238, and orange ones (though orange gear has previously been rated the same as blue) is 242. (Previous level-70 drops, green 210, blue 220, and purple 228 can still happen, though.) You can get purple (252) in a number of ways. You can buy them from a vendor (if I'm right you'll probably be limited to one piece per week per character due to the special currency), by getting a loot box for doing the weekly once you've unlocked the dailies, or by completing a one-time mission to kill both the world bosses, which allows you to pick a mainhand or offhand. The vendor requires 2 "masterwork data crystals" for each piece of 252 gear, one of which is awarded for completing a weekly quest to beat one of the new world bosses or do a certain amount of ranked PVP, and one of which can be gotten from a smuggler for 500 of the components you receive for disintegrating command box gear. (You can get another crystal from the smuggler, but the price goes up to 1000 components. "Supply and demand", and all.) As for the loot box, after completing the weekly you choose one of three, with each box having gear for different potential slots. (For reference, one box can give a chestpiece, one box can give pants, and the third can give a helmet; other slots are divided about equally between the three.) There is also purchasable gold (258 gear), which will require certain reputation with the new faction and cost 4 crystals each plus the item from that slot, so an effective total of 6.
According to the dev tracker it appears to be possible to get 252 gear or masterwork data crystals from tier 3 and 4 command crates as very rare drops. There may also be world purple drops, but I haven't seen any yet.
There are three datacrons on Ossus. One is +6 Mastery, a second is +5 Presence, the third is +2 Endurance. The Endurance one is, oddly, the absolutely worst, but it also gives a weapon tuning that's BoE, so you can give it to another alt. All three also give codex entries about Ossus, though they aren't numbered. There are also three different heroic missions for each side (including a heroic 4, though they're still soloable with the right builds, or if you're just completely uncaring about repair costs from dying), two world bosses, and at least a few hidden things, including a joke I forgot to make in this thread back when it was timely.
Before he vanished, Doc could gain maximum affection from courting gifts, regardless of gender or if he was in a romantic relationship with someone. (This fits thematically with his "best gift" phrase being "You love me, admit it.") And he still does. So if, like me, you've been hoarding those Gree Temporary Mind-Link Devices, those Zeltron Personal Aroma Sets, those Personalized Holoportraits...put your Jedi Knight through Jedi Under Siege, because Doc will happily devour them all. This also cleared out a lot of room in my legacy cargo hold, where I had been keeping said courting gifts (not just rank 5 ones, either), so double win.
Bugs I've found so far:
Bugs I've heard of but haven't seen yet:
If you haven't finished the KOTFE or KOTET storylines, it will default to the standard or default triggers for that (which vary depending on your faction and even your character class)--meaning that if you killed certain major characters but didn't finish every chapter in that part of the story, it can reset and that character will be alive and well in your companion pane. I have had this happen on characters who've finished the storyline when first starting the new content--for example, on my Warrior who's married to Vette, Torian was added to the list, but like the others wasn't available to summon--but when I complete it he's back on the dead list. But I gather it might be permanent if you didn't actually finish the story.
Last but not least: a while back in this thread, I mentioned that because Tharan had a bonus ability when in DPS mode, he was the best companion. Someone else pointed out Shae Vizla's AoE attack, and I said that was just the standard companion AoE attack. I was wrong; not only does the tooltip explicitly say Shae's aerial annihilation ability does somewhat more damage than other AoE abilities, I think even that might undersell how much damage she actually does with it.
Someone, somewhere, did the math on all the companions, parsing them vs. raid dummies, and yeah, Shae Vizla is far and away the highest DPS companion in the game. Ranged two-handed companions come after her. Z00M is the highest parsing healing companion. Treek is now garbage, as is HK-51. Nadia, who used to be top tier, is now mediocre at best. Too bad.
Other notes:
The "quitting the ops group will get you the world boss mission credit" trick seems to work, but I forgot to do it for one of the bosses on Sunday (the swarmlord) and I still got credit, while doing it with the other and I got credit. Meanwhile I've heard multiple stories of people who left but didn't get credit. So it's still not 100%, but leaving does seem more likely to complete the mission for you--but I'd wait until at least Thusday, if you want to avoid all that trouble.
The new Jedi Knight chestpiece has the longest crotchflap that isn't just a robe I have ever seen in this game. It seriously hangs down past your knees. It's the kind of loincloth a character in a hentai who was like a demon pornstar with six prehensile dicks would need.
I have a Sith Warblade. yayyyy
You might have noticed: all the characters get a brief subtitle when they turn up in KotFE and later content in the companion pane. Senya is "the vengeful enforcer", Vette is "the tomb robber", etc. Doc gets "The Galaxy's Most Brilliant, Skilled, and Handsome Doctor". It's so long it runs into the role symbol, his influence rank, and the summon button. I hope this is deliberate and never gets fixed. (Also Iresso didn't get a subtitle after his return because he's that bland even to the devs.)
The Spinning Strikes effect showing you the radius of the ability does apply to abilities used by enemies in older content. Just fought one in Cleanse the Corrupted (a Voss-side heroic mission). In addition they seem to have expanded it to many abilities used by enemies that have an area of effect; this is demonstrated in the boss battles at the end of the new content, but also applies to battles with enemies in the older game world. As far as I can tell, any enemy's channeled or charged attacks that are melee or centered on the caster and have an area of effect have the new visual.
There is not a quick travel ability to go to Ossus in the unlocks or on the fleet, but you can use the activities pane (Ctrl+G), go to Solo, and scroll down to Ossus to travel there from wherever you are with one click and not spending credits.
Old set bonus and new set bonus are not stacking. This is apparently not intended.
As of Tuesday they still haven't haven't fixed the glitch with people having to drop to get credit for killing ops bosses. You can get the weekly for the masterwork crystal (as it's Tuesday, but that might not be fixed by Wednesday, so get it today)...but the weekly doesn't track progress so you don't even know if your kills count or not. A patch is currently intended for Thursday to address the biggest issues.
They've put the Eternal Empire stuff to bed pretty much and are building up to the next expansion with the latest content patch which features a few familiar faces as well as one that hasn't been seen in game yet but has been part of the game since before it launched.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
Since Eternal Throne came out (spoiling for courtesy's sake, but also long)
2. Uprising - The Alliance has dealt with a number of minor Uprisings across the galaxy since taking control. (These were more or less mini-flashpoints that are entirely optional.)
3. The Forgotten World - With Iokath becoming safe for exploration, a small detachment was sent to explore it--only to find that somehow, both Empire and Republic knew of it and were already fighting over the technology found there, in particular a superweapon that might outstrip any other known. The Alliance intervened, only to find that within a certain range of Iokath, the Eternal Fleet stopped responding, putting them on even footing with the interlopers, at least on Iokath. The Commander had to choose between aiding the Republic or the Empire (either option was acceptable) to keep their opposite number from acquiring the superweapon (which turned out to be a pantheon of indestrusctible machine gods, i.e. half a dozen enormous droids with the power to scour life from a world). The disruption the conflict between Empire and Republic caused in Iokath's systems allowed the Alliance control of the Eternal Fleet again, but the gods were still awakening and had to be dealt--this became an operations questline and did not need to be concluded, though it was still a purple quest. In addition, while the Commander was rushing to head off the activation of the first of these machine gods, a traitor within the Alliance attempted to assassinate them.
4. Crisis on Umbara - Flashpoint. With the Empire/Republic war starting to heat up again after the events on Iokath, even with the Alliance playing either tyrant or peacekeeper, and with the galaxy all but exhausted after decades of on-again-off-again war and Zakuul's pillaging, resources are becoming scarcer. The Umbarans have recently acquired a shipment of very valuable Ilum crystals (used in many kinds of technology from lightsabers to cloaking devices), and moreover seem ready to sell them to whichever side the Alliance sided against on Iokath--and moreover, intelligence indicates the traitor is there with them. Heading there to seize the shipment and confront the traitor, they are revealed as Theron, who claims to have, since the Alliance took the Throne, been working to overthrow the Alliance and kill the Commander for their burgeoning tyranny, doing everything from sparking most of the uprisings to being the one who tried to kill them on Iokath. Theron escapes with a small collection of Ilum crystals; the Alliance gets more but are still on the back foot.
5. A Traitor Among The Chiss - Flashpoint. A Chiss representative comes to the Alliance requesting aid--the conspiracy to bring down the Alliance, Theron among them, has entered Chiss space and subverted one of the ruling families. The other ruling families cannot intervene directly, and could not openly accept an outsider's help, but they might be willing to look the other way if the Alliance came to the rebel family's world and...chastised them in their search for their own traitor. There, the Alliance finds that Theron is looking for some information that could only be found in Chiss databanks, but he again escapes, with one of his new friends dying to give him the time to escape. Shortly after the event, a transmission between Theron and persons unknown is intercepted by the Alliance, identifying their enemy: a group calling itself the Order of Zildrog.
6. The Nathema Conspiracy - Flashpoint. Tracing other transmissions has lead the Alliance to an abandoned space station the Order of Zildrog was using as a base of operations, where depending on the choices they've made in the story, characters old and new might against them, but the main antagonists are a former Horizon Guard who is angry over how far Zakuul has fallen since the Alliance defeated it and a GEMINI captain who since acquiring free will wants to eliminate all the others to silence the noise in her mind. They also learn their plan--Zildrog, the last of the machine gods and possibly the most powerful, has been located on Nathema; the Order intends to use it to destroy the Alliance--and uncover evidence that Theron infiltrated the Order to bring it down from the inside. Following the Order's trail, they land on Nathema, which since the Emperor's death has suddenly started to turn green, and soon meet up with Theron, who sneaked away. The GEMINI captain somehow knew everything going on within the Alliance base, or seemed to, and so Theron could never appear to be anything but sincere in his betrayal, but he was always on the Alliance's side. On their way to the hidden facility where Zildorg was kept (it is implied Zildrog was used by Valkorion in his ritual to drain the life from Nathema and make him immortal), they encounter another obstacle, commanded by another figure from the Commander's past--this one dependent on their class and alignment or other story choices. (For example, if you're a Sith Inquisitor who sided with Zash, somehow Khem Val has freed himself and has sought vengeance against you, while if you sided with Khem, Zash managed to possess someone else and is doing the same.) Going deeper into the facility, the Commander, Lana, and Theron come face to face with the Order and Zildrog--or rather, face to mind with Zildrog. Only part of Zildrog is here, the massive droid brain controlling the body...which is, in fact, the Gravestone. With the help of the GEMINI captain, they seize control of the Eternal Fleet long enough to put it into a position rendering them completely vulnerable to the Gravestone's primary weapon. The entire Eternal Fleet, thousands of ships, is annihilated in a single chain reaction shot. Before Zildrog can turn against Odessen, however, the Commander, Theron, and Lana defeat the remaining members of the Order and destroy Zildrog's brain, causing the Gravestone to self-destruct. Theron is wounded, and the Commander can choose whether to save their life or leave them to die, and afterwards whether to let them back into the Alliance or exile them. In addition if they have a romantic relationship with Theron or Lana, they can choose to propose.
7. Jedi Under Siege - Suddenly diminished to third or even fourth most important power in the galaxy (behind the Republic, Empire, and possibly even the Hutts), the Alliance finds it necessary to declare for one side or the other. Regardless of faction, and even the decision on Iokath, the Commander can make whatever choice they want--however, they still end up doing roughly the same story as other people in their original faction (so a traitorous Republic character will do the same story as a loyal Republic character, and a traitorous imperial character will see the same part of the story as a loyal one). The idea here is that turncoat characters act as spies, undermining the other side from within, which largely amounts to either bolstering or messing with systems on their original side. For example, if you're an Imperial character, you can give Imperial ships different IFF codes to either make it more difficult or easier for Republic ships to get a lock on them. As for the story itself...on Ossus, a former Jedi stronghold that was scoured of life in a supernova centuries ago, a group of Jedi fled from the conflict with the Eternal Empire to train the next generation of Jedi instead. Led by the historian and Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, they have not only been eking out a living but somehow thriving on the blasted world, though they have only a few ships and no interstellar communications in order to to make it less likely they're discovered. Unfortunately, they have been, and with the resource war going on, the Republic is not able to spare enough ships to intervene directly in the Empire's probing attacks on the settlement...while the Imperial forces, lead by Darth Malora, are currently unable to commit to more than probing attacks. Malora is a bioengineer and has mutated Geonosians into, basically, smart Zerg, whom she can only point at the enemy, not directly control. A Republic character must cut off the Geonosians' ability to make surprise attacks by blocking off tunnels and head off Imperial attacks on the settlements, while an Imperial character must rescue Imperial scouts from the feral Geonosians and retrieve information on what exactly the Jedi are doing here. For her failures, Malora is soon replaced by Darth Malgus, who was resurrected by Empress Acina to be the new Empire's Wrath (if you killed Acina on Iokath, she has been replaced by Vowrawn, from the Warrior storyline), though she survives his initial attempt at execution. Malora tries to steal all the lore she can from both the Republic and the old Jedi library, while Gnost-Dural tries to defend the library against Imperial incursion until the colony is ready to be evacuted or Republic rescue arrives, only to be defeated by Darth Malgus. If the player is Republic, Malgus leaves Gnost-Dural for dead and the master's life is saved by the Republic, and they can choose whether to kill Malora or take her prisoner. If the player is Imperial, they can offer Malora a place in the Alliance (she does not immediately accept) and choose whether to kill Gnost-Dural or take him prisoner. (They receive this choice whether they are traitor or not.) In either case, as the Empire is about to launch an all-out attack on the Jedi colony, Republic reinforcements arrive. If you are a traitor, your original side lost a lot, and if you are loyal, your original side weathered the storm quite well. Afterwards, it's all but confirmed that the war is back on--and the third time might be the charm for one side to completely defeat the other.
Woohah!
Finishing up Chapter II as my JK.
I saved Arcann and didn't feel too bad about it.
I still killed Saresh and that traitorous Imperial minister and honestly. I feel kind of good about it.
So they finally removed the conversation with Khem Val in the Ossus storyline for those who betrayed him (and thus caused the Order of Zildrog to kill him). Characters who didn't get him can continue without fear they're somehow borking everything up.
And then he turns up on Odessen anyway, with dialog exactly the same as if things had broken his way. I can't imagine it's intended.
1) When can my friend and I begin questing as a group?
2) We're planning on mostly playing together- is there a lot of downtime we need to be aware of when talking to our companions or anything like that? Are we ever split into our own areas between quests or anything like that?
You can actually do that immediately from your starting (tutorial) planet, after your opening cutscene material, as long as you are both on the same side (empire or republic). The only way this doesn't work is if you start on a different tutorial planet (there are two tutorial planets for each side). Like say if you decide to roll Republic, if you do a Guardian class and your friend does a Commando, in that case it will be around level 10 before you can join up - though that's putting too fine a point on it, I've always gotten off tutorial planets around level 8 and some people do so even earlier. It just depends on how long it takes you to finish your starting missions. Of course if you both start on the same planet, like if you did a Vanguard and your friend did a Gunslinger, that means you can really start grouping immediately (and they can watch the cutscenes for your story if they join you in your instances, and you can do the same for theirs)
As long as you select the checkmark for "allow friends into my instances" they will always be in the same areas you are EXCEPT I don't think they can actually appear on your ship? It's been a while but I think that's true, everyone is always only on their own ship. There are two things that take place on board ship: chatting with companions, and receiving new planet locations from whoever your commander/higher up/boss is for your class, so your friend and you will have to go to your own ships for that stuff, then meet up at the planets to fulfill the missions. But every class goes to the same planets after the starting planet, so you'll always be meeting up in the same places. I'm not sure what you mean "a lot of downtime", there will be a few companion chats for each companion, and a couple of companion-related quests for the 'important' ones, they don't take a lot of time compared to the other missions, and when those missions actually mean going planet-side you can bring your friend with you on those as long as they are instanced.
2) Not really. There are companion dialogues on your ship that you can do whenever, that's about it.
OH WOW hahahaah. Dear god I may have to fire this thing up for a month just for that.