Well, it’s time for the next chapter of Knights of the Fallen Empire for Star Wars: The Old Republic. As usual, there will be spoilers after the break (although I do try to gloss over some stuff), but first, my commentary on non-chapter related stuff.
The biggest (from my own biased point of view) is that Guss is not returning after all with this chapter. The devs put up an amusing post indicating that Guss “carried out an overly-elaborate con job to convince the galaxy that his recruitment mission would go live with Chapter XV […]. But as with most of Guss’s con jobs, this caper has failed spectacularly.” (And I immediately pictured my Smuggler saying, “Dammit, Guss!”), so it looks like we won’t see him until the final chapter. Maybe. Is it just me, or is it that none of the other classes have had any trouble having their alerts work okay, but Heaven Forbid that the Smuggler companions get released on schedule. Of course, that’s probably the issue right there-they’ve probably learned from the Smuggler to never cooperate with authority….
The next biggest detail is something that has not gone over well with the forum population, at least. There’s been a hard nerfing of Heroic missions as far as payouts go. I’m glad I managed to finish up my “Alliance Commander” achievement, because from what I’m reading, the payouts got slashed by up to half of what they were. Guess most of the interesting stuff on GTN just went out of reach of most people again; not to mention returning a painful grind for anyone hoping to unlock rooms for strongholds or flagships. I’m not thrilled with the change, myself. But I’ll live-I just won’t worry about doing the Heroics anymore. The whole point was to get payouts commensurate with the effort, and while not all content in the game does do that, that content often makes up for it in other ways (like, say, being a compelling story).
Light versus Dark began as well; I’ve already put up my thoughts on that in the last post, and I won’t regurgitate here. I’ll likely have a series of “Building Character” posts chronicling my two representatives to the event at some point, similar to how I’m planning the “Rick Masters” posts for the Star Trek Online expansion in July. I’m actually looking forward to taking a new look at the content I’ve done, and I haven’t really put effort into leveling characters since KotFE rolled out. My expectation is to do as much as possible, including side quests that I no longer have to do; way I see it, it’s more opportunities to get Light/Dark Side choices and weigh into the event goals. Still no decision on Light or Dark Side for me. Stay tuned.
For those looking for info on the next HK-related toy…it’s not July yet. It’s a July reward-so it didn’t come in yet. So don’t panic when you can’t find the new poster in your mail.
So, without too much to comment upon aside from the main event, spoilers await ahead! Last chance! Turn back if you don’t want to see the details on the GEMINI Deception!
Faces of the Ranger 