So Shadow of Revan launched three days ago for those who pre-ordered before November 2nd, and I must say so far it's been a blast. The new planet stories are really well done, the flashpoints are phenomenal, and it's just so good to have something new and exciting to do after a year of Oricon and Dread.
~~~
I must state here that I am going to be talking about everything story-based in very general terms. There will be some specifics mentioned here-and-there but for the sake of those who can't yet access the new content, I will not talk about any certain story moments unless they have been featured in the various trailers.
Whilst I did make a post relating to the theory of Disciplines last week, I will also not be discussing them in this post, as many would prefer to work out their own opinions of that in practice now that they have the opportunity to do so.
~~~
Rishi and Yavin IV are both excellent in terms of story, although I must admit that I far and above preferred Rishi over Yavin. Both are significantly smaller than Makeb and thus make for a comparatively easier levelling experience than we had in 2.0, which is fantastic. To give some more specific sense of scale, I want to say that Yavin is 25% bigger than Oricon, whilst Rishi is nearly twice the size. As Rishi is the definitively bigger planet, of course there is significantly more to the story than that of Yavin, which makes sense. In the very first trailer, we only saw Yavin and it was seen as the "common ground", so in order for that to be so, the build-up is relegated to Rishi. Indeed, Yavin only has four story missions, the fourth of which could involve an additional six if you so choose. Rishi has far more to it, including many one-time side-missions that don't really add to the story much.
As Daily Areas, Yavin has eight Dailies whilst Rishi has five. However, Rishi gives far more Reputation than Yavin, in that the eight Yavin Dailies grant green tokens and the five Rishi Dailies grant four Blues and a Purple; only the Yavin Weekly grants Purples, but at least it grants two. Thus, if you're looking to grind Reputation, you're going to have a much easier time for Rishi than for Yavin, especially as doing the story and all side missions on one character grants you over twenty thousand Reputation points at max % Guild Boost; Yavin only gives you four Blues for the story and everything else must come from the Dailies.
~~~
With 3.0, you can now do a lot of the otherwise group-content by yourself. This includes the four Forged Alliances flashpoints, but it also means that you can do the two new Flashpoints - Blood Hunt and Battle of Rishi - by yourself for the story. You can only do Solo Mode for the Flashpoints once, though - if you've already done Forged Alliances on a certain character you won't be able to use them in Solo Mode at all - but at least people can actually see the story without a group. In Solo Mode, you get a droid who literally makes everything easier. He heals, tanks, guards, and deals damage, which is rather fun. Yes, he can die, but it takes a lot for him to do so!
There is another item you can Solo, though. Towards the end of the Yavin story, you will be given a choice to either do Dailies and whittle away the enemy forces and then face the final fight with allies or to do the Operation. The solo-fight, surprisingly, is actually a Weekly mission, which implies that even if you choose the Operation you will be able to see both versions. Obviously, choosing the solo-mode means you will still be able to see the Operation equivalent as the two are not synonymous, but it is interesting that you can see both regardless of your choice.
~~~
One thing that has garnered a fair bit of response is the slight change-up to how certain missions are given. In the game as we all knew it, clicking on an NPC would launch a fully-voiced cutscene with conversation wheels and everything. Now, though, certain missions just have the NPC and your character sharing a spoken line outside of any cutscene - similar to you clicking on a companion in the field - and they give you a quest window. It's very similar to how other MMOs have done it; I've only had experience of LOTRO but apparently WoW does this as well. It's a very interesting change, and I do like it for the Dailies. Ilum was rather annoying because literally every Daily had a conversation attached, adding some unnecessary delay time; I want to say Belsavis had some missions you could find at terminals, but it's been some time since I myself did Belsavis Dailies. Oricon, Black Hole, and even Makeb got their Dailies 'right' in that they were all found at terminals (barring the Staged Weekly and the Imperial Black Hole Heroic), meaning you could just turn up, click the terminal, and done. With Rishi and Yavin, yes you need to travel to find the Dailies - akin to Ilum and Belsavis - but only one of the Daily missions launches a proper conversation, so you get the personal factor but in a way that the flow is not interrupted.
It's strange and rather jarring to have it three years in, but it's a very interesting and nice change and I hope they keep it going, as it means that they can have many more missions per area at a cheaper and less-time-consuming cost.
~~~
I haven't yet experienced either the Hard Mode Forged Alliance Flashpoints or the new Operations (Ravagers and Temple of Sacrifice), but I am certainly very interested in seeing how people deal with the new mechanics and supposedly "most challenging" Operation yet.
~~~
Crafting, of course, has been given new levels, and certain Crew Skills have been thrown a very big bone. Rating 36 items - otherwise identified as "Dread Master" equivalents - can now be crafted, meaning that you can get a purple (186) mainhand without ever entering Dread Palace Nightmare. Every Artificer can craft new Ruusan Relics that are even better than Dread Master (Purple Focused Retribution relic grants 835 main stat, for example) - the Relics don't even need to be reverse-engineered (except to improve), as they can just be bought from the vendor! This means that - even without raiding before 3.0 - it is very possible for a new player or character to get many items superior or directly equivalent to the best Raiding peripherals of 2.x. As this is the first week, of course prices on the GTN are through the skylight, but I do like the fact that crafters are now in good high demand right off the bat.
~~~
Is 3.0 any good? Yeah, it's fantastic. Great story, fantastic planets, and just all-round fun! I personally believe that with 3.0, SWTOR has placed itself in a very secure position for the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment