One of the strongest anchor points of any BioWare RPG, alongside the story, is the cast of characters thrown into the mix. The character list of Fallen Empire is no exception to this, providing a slew of decent, entertaining, and interesting characters onto the already quite sizeable pile of characters one can encounter in this game.
Before I begin, this list is only looking at the main characters/followers and villians in order of appearance; the various Alliance Specialists and related Companions will get their own post next week.
29/10/2015
4.0 Impressions: The Knights of the Fallen Empire Story
BioWare have always claimed that Fallen Empire was going to be their big chance to return to their roots, something which was met with both enthusiasm and scepticism. With the expansion having launched, we can finally see for ourselves how successful they were in achieving this outcome.
22/10/2015
4.0 Impressions: Universal System Changes
So 4.0 has finally hit and whilst not everyone has access to the story, which I shall cover next week, or Level 65, everyone has access to the changed systems such as Companions and Level-Sync. This is just to look over what has changed and what my feelings are on the matter.
17/10/2015
The Imminent Falling Empire
So, here we are, just a few short days away from Knights of the Fallen Empire. 3.0 still feels like it hit only relatively recently and yet already we're preparing to embark on yet another expansion, and one that's changing so much more about this game than any update that came before it.
At this late stage I've been keeping myself busy by acquiring various bits of armour and armaments for Companions, mostly from the GTN and Cartel Market; I would write a blog-post about that, but it would be an incredibly boring read even with pictures. No reason to do anything more than that as far as I'm concerned since I like to get a feel for the new systems on one geared character long before worrying about managing the gear of other characters for their inevitable playthrough.
I'm looking forward to it. The story promises to be one of the most compelling and captivating "universal" stories done in an MMO - at least on the first run-through but much like Shadow of Revan people would likely only be able to tolerate a few repeats at most - and the level-sync system should hopefully pave the way for reasons to return to former planets in the story and complete aid missions to add more context to the galaxy's turmoil under Zakuul. At least, I hope they make use of it for that and it won't only be a feature just for the sake of it being a feature.
Other than that, I'm curious to see how the new Companion system is realised and exactly what difference higher levels of Influence will have on their performance, especially when coupled with maximum Presence which is, admittedly, likely to pale somewhat in comparison to the Influence "bolster". I'll also be keeping an eye on the new Hard Mode for Red Reaper, something which a lot of people - myself included - have been requesting for a long time.
I likely won't be making much or any use of the updated Crafting system outside of training some of the new BioChem stuff, but that's because I'm not particularly big on it to begin with. Hopefully certain changes won't prove too problematic in practice for those that are, since I'm aware that there's already some controversy surrounding some of the decisions made, notably the decision to take away Enhancements and Armorings from Artificers and Cybertechs, respectively. Not my scene, though, so I'll leave it at that.
Knights of the Fallen Empire is going to be an interesting expansion, that's for sure. Exactly how successful it is going to be depends entirely on whether the story is as captivating as BioWare has promised it is going to be. I don't have any doubts about that myself, but considering that this is the only new content in a game with otherwise re-relevant "old" content, this is doubtless going to be the main keystone holding everything together for quite a few months to come.
At this late stage I've been keeping myself busy by acquiring various bits of armour and armaments for Companions, mostly from the GTN and Cartel Market; I would write a blog-post about that, but it would be an incredibly boring read even with pictures. No reason to do anything more than that as far as I'm concerned since I like to get a feel for the new systems on one geared character long before worrying about managing the gear of other characters for their inevitable playthrough.
I'm looking forward to it. The story promises to be one of the most compelling and captivating "universal" stories done in an MMO - at least on the first run-through but much like Shadow of Revan people would likely only be able to tolerate a few repeats at most - and the level-sync system should hopefully pave the way for reasons to return to former planets in the story and complete aid missions to add more context to the galaxy's turmoil under Zakuul. At least, I hope they make use of it for that and it won't only be a feature just for the sake of it being a feature.
Other than that, I'm curious to see how the new Companion system is realised and exactly what difference higher levels of Influence will have on their performance, especially when coupled with maximum Presence which is, admittedly, likely to pale somewhat in comparison to the Influence "bolster". I'll also be keeping an eye on the new Hard Mode for Red Reaper, something which a lot of people - myself included - have been requesting for a long time.
I likely won't be making much or any use of the updated Crafting system outside of training some of the new BioChem stuff, but that's because I'm not particularly big on it to begin with. Hopefully certain changes won't prove too problematic in practice for those that are, since I'm aware that there's already some controversy surrounding some of the decisions made, notably the decision to take away Enhancements and Armorings from Artificers and Cybertechs, respectively. Not my scene, though, so I'll leave it at that.
Knights of the Fallen Empire is going to be an interesting expansion, that's for sure. Exactly how successful it is going to be depends entirely on whether the story is as captivating as BioWare has promised it is going to be. I don't have any doubts about that myself, but considering that this is the only new content in a game with otherwise re-relevant "old" content, this is doubtless going to be the main keystone holding everything together for quite a few months to come.
01/10/2015
The Developer Stream and Changes to SWtOR
Finally, after such a long period of nothing but promises and actually quite interesting Class Change blogs, the Developers of The Old Republic allowed a Twitch Stream showing more than just basic Companions changes and Story spoilers. Sure, there were those included as well, but they were a part of the overall larger scheme of showing off more of what was changing in the game.
It was a very informative Stream, and only one aspect was announced at not being covered: the Alliance system. Nico Okarr is becoming a part of this for all eligible players once the first nine chapters of the story were completed, but as they detailed Companions separately it is to be assumed that this is a whole other system entirely which just happens to feature potential Companions. The more, the merrier.
This is just to offer my thoughts on what we'll be seeing when the expansion launches. Order of topics based on that of the Stream, of which you can find a write-up here and a YouTube mirror here.
It was a very informative Stream, and only one aspect was announced at not being covered: the Alliance system. Nico Okarr is becoming a part of this for all eligible players once the first nine chapters of the story were completed, but as they detailed Companions separately it is to be assumed that this is a whole other system entirely which just happens to feature potential Companions. The more, the merrier.
This is just to offer my thoughts on what we'll be seeing when the expansion launches. Order of topics based on that of the Stream, of which you can find a write-up here and a YouTube mirror here.
11/09/2015
The Nico Conundrum
Ever since the Return trailer, people have been asking after Nico Okarr. Much like Shae Vizla, there was never any sign of him and there were no answers as to where he had disappeared off to.
We're finally getting those answers with Fallen Empire, which many are happy about. What people are not too happy about, however, are changes to particular elements of his equipment. We as players will be receiving copies of his coat and blasters, but they are noticeably different from his trailer counterparts which has caused a bit of an uproar.
I have decided to take it upon myself to look over the gear in detail and analyse whether these complaints are justified and whether there are any "suitable replacements" for people disgruntled with the actual items. I will also be offering my own views on the matter which I shall get out of the way first.
As always, any images within just click to view larger.
We're finally getting those answers with Fallen Empire, which many are happy about. What people are not too happy about, however, are changes to particular elements of his equipment. We as players will be receiving copies of his coat and blasters, but they are noticeably different from his trailer counterparts which has caused a bit of an uproar.
I have decided to take it upon myself to look over the gear in detail and analyse whether these complaints are justified and whether there are any "suitable replacements" for people disgruntled with the actual items. I will also be offering my own views on the matter which I shall get out of the way first.
As always, any images within just click to view larger.
08/09/2015
The Unyielding Vault of Nightmares
For the longest while we've all been under the impression that every single Operation with its different iterations of difficulty would survive into Fallen Empire. The operations blog served as a confirmation to this.
Today, however, news has emerged that the Nightmare Iterations of both Eternity Vault and Karagga's Palace are being outright removed when the expansion launches. With them go the chance to earn the "Infernal" and "Unyielding" titles and every Nightmare Achievement, which, unlike the Makeb Weekly Achievements, are simply being moved to an "archived" section of Achievements and not permanently removed.
I can see why they've done this. Neither Nightmare EV and KP are anywhere near as challenging compared to their Hard Mode iterations as their later NiM cousins, so keeping these in the game would provide for a very simple manner of groups gearing themselves using Nightmare-Grade Gear week after week. To be fair, groups will be able to do this anyway using the "Highlighted Hard Modes", but better to have all Operations of this type present similar challenges rather than have two weak points.
I like to view this as a sign of how much Nightmare Modes have evolved since their introduction. NiM EV and KP were all about the "challenge" and never about the gear since it dropped the same as Hard Mode; Rakata. From NiM EC onwards, the challenge, whilst this was still a presiding factor, was ramped up significantly and NiM became its own considerable tier of progression with its own gear.
On the other hand, I am slightly disappointed that they aren't in some way tweaking these Operations at that difficulty and keeping them in, especially with the fact that they've been left behind ever since NiM EC was introduced. Eternity Vault is still one of the best Operations they have done, so it will be a shame to see it reduced to just Hard and Story Modes.
As far as I'm concerned, this change is thus a double-edged sword. I like that they are in some way managing this vast discrepancy between challenge between the various Nightmare Modes, but it is still disappointing that there wasn't another path beyond outright removal, or at least not that we can see to have been considered.
Today, however, news has emerged that the Nightmare Iterations of both Eternity Vault and Karagga's Palace are being outright removed when the expansion launches. With them go the chance to earn the "Infernal" and "Unyielding" titles and every Nightmare Achievement, which, unlike the Makeb Weekly Achievements, are simply being moved to an "archived" section of Achievements and not permanently removed.
I can see why they've done this. Neither Nightmare EV and KP are anywhere near as challenging compared to their Hard Mode iterations as their later NiM cousins, so keeping these in the game would provide for a very simple manner of groups gearing themselves using Nightmare-Grade Gear week after week. To be fair, groups will be able to do this anyway using the "Highlighted Hard Modes", but better to have all Operations of this type present similar challenges rather than have two weak points.
I like to view this as a sign of how much Nightmare Modes have evolved since their introduction. NiM EV and KP were all about the "challenge" and never about the gear since it dropped the same as Hard Mode; Rakata. From NiM EC onwards, the challenge, whilst this was still a presiding factor, was ramped up significantly and NiM became its own considerable tier of progression with its own gear.
On the other hand, I am slightly disappointed that they aren't in some way tweaking these Operations at that difficulty and keeping them in, especially with the fact that they've been left behind ever since NiM EC was introduced. Eternity Vault is still one of the best Operations they have done, so it will be a shame to see it reduced to just Hard and Story Modes.
As far as I'm concerned, this change is thus a double-edged sword. I like that they are in some way managing this vast discrepancy between challenge between the various Nightmare Modes, but it is still disappointing that there wasn't another path beyond outright removal, or at least not that we can see to have been considered.
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