Indeed, it's been the preparations for 3.0 that have, ashamedly, kept me from finding worthwhile things to actually report about here; I've done absolutely nothing in-game save for farming the Oricon and Ilum missions, day-after-day for the past 6 weeks (!), for their Commendations across the two characters that I feel I'll be using most come 3.0. This is in order to get the most from the as-of-yet-unannounced conversion rates for Basic Commendations. Even if all I'll be using them for is replacing Dread Forged mods, barrels, and enhancements with the Dread Master equivalents*, at least it will still be something to write home about.
I do promise to be more active following the launch of 3.0. I've yet to do a blog post showing off my Tatooine Stronghold.
Now that's a thought...
Anyway.
~~~
There actually is one thing that has emerged from recent Q&A sessions that has piqued my interest. Reportedly, towards the end of the vanilla storyline, we will get the chance to either take on Revan by means of the standard Operation or build up an army consisting of companions and "other allies" through a series of Daily Missions before storming his sanctuary (although this will not actually be the Operation itself). This is all in the name of allowing people to actually experience the story without the need for a Raid Team and this is something that I absolutely adore. This expansion brings in something as-of-yet unseen in the form of an Operation that ties directly into the bigger storyline.
Whilst we did see something similar for Oricon and the Dread Operations, these were very much "optional extras" that really had no meaning to the overall story apart from the end of the Dread Masters. Here, though, we have an Operation which is neither "something to be done" (a la Scum and Villainy) or "part of a side-story" (explained above), but something that is a part of the infinitely bigger picture that actually has consequences** and for people to lose out on such a crucial aspect just because they couldn't get a group that manages to clear the content, don't want to raid, or some other factor, is something which would be jarring to many people.
Worth noting after all this, if the above wasn't enough to excite, we will reportedly have all of our Companions as part of this. Out of all the class missions in the game, the ones where I personally have felt the most powerful were the ones in which one's team followed you out of your ship's airlock and instigated boarding action or what-have-you. Heck, this only affects two classes, and so for every single class to just ride out with their companions, especially for those who have yet to see this, sounds ridiculously awesome and I cannot wait to see this in practice.
That said, I do not want to see Skadge be the one to deal the ending blow to Revan.
~~~
I've said it before; I'll gladly say it again. Bring on 3.0. We've been led to see and believe much that has got even former players intrigued again, and I sincerely hope that it pulls off just the way BioWare intend it to.
Addendum:
* I must state here that I do not believe that the gear we will be able to buy will be actual Dread Master gear. If anything, it is likely to be "blank" - that is to say, no Set Bonus - versions in order to give everyone a chance to get the "starter grade" gear whilst still needing to do Operations for the Set Bonus. Based on the gear available from the Basic Comms vendor back in 2.0, this should include the Mainhand and Offhand (though the former will probably require a Reputation pre-requirement) and the better-stat-laden Enhancements throughout the gear itself.
** Note how the Dread Palace Operation actually has a different ending depending on your Faction. This difference in of itself does not indicate that there will be any severe lasting effect of their downfall. BioWare have, conversely, been very adamant that Shadow of Revan will lead to much bigger things and so to have yet another Operation leave a similar effect would, of course, feel very lackluster.
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