tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post1039127455692030089..comments2024-03-26T20:47:12.919+00:00Comments on Going Commando | A SWTOR Fan Blog: Solo Flashpoints - Good or Bad Idea?Shintarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-79930275512565832122015-08-06T10:28:50.189+01:002015-08-06T10:28:50.189+01:00I enjoy the flashpoints as they break up the struc...I enjoy the flashpoints as they break up the structure and add variety to the feel of the game, although I couldn't always find the people to do them with and missed out a lot. I think it's a good idea to add ways to allow players to enjoy the story even if they're struggling to find a party to do it with, but the droids do seem a bit OP. I thought the point of flashpoints was first and foremost to be designed around a group doing it, and some of the choices they've made do seem a little odd. I have to admit that it has bothered me on other games to be doing a solo run to find myself forced into a situation where I need to find a group to continue. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-53828328871847048112015-01-31T21:46:38.872+00:002015-01-31T21:46:38.872+00:00Yeah, I got to experience that little surprise as ...Yeah, I got to experience that little surprise as well... at least it makes things a little more interesting. :PShintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-8556519174689453392015-01-30T22:28:55.020+00:002015-01-30T22:28:55.020+00:00The Jesus droid has a quirk that can bite you in t...The Jesus droid has a quirk that can bite you in the ass if you're not paying attention. The droid appears to be dependent on you as you are; if you ding, the droid despawns. And, of course, this is virtually always going to happen in the middle of a fight, so you need to pay attention when you get close to leveling to hit the resummon as quickly as you can if you're in combat and don't think you can drop your opponent(s) solo.srmalloyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03331203633105846275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-27311557321978619912015-01-04T01:40:59.499+00:002015-01-04T01:40:59.499+00:00@Rohan,
That could be. It's been a while. (A...@Rohan,<br /><br />That could be. It's been a while. (And I really hate Makeb.) But that does make sense, especially as Darth Marr couldn't put you back in the records properly even if he wanted to. So, yeah, god only knows what the Empire thinks your skills are after that point.<br />(Though clearly one should've changed one's appearance and moved to the far side of the galaxy!)<br /><br />Though that doesn't fix that it's still really weird for the Empire or Republic to be putting what appear to be official operations in the hands of random civilians. (That is, nothing really fixes the weirdness for Smugglers and Bounty Hunters. Which, granted, has been a bit of a problem through the whole game.)<br /><br />@Shintar<br /><br />Hmm, assuming that does make the assault part of the Forged Alliances seem less odd. (Though I still think framing both as getting intel would've been from a story standpoint. Except then it would seem weird for the Sith classes. Unless maybe it was phrased as very sensitive intel on that side... Having things make sense for all classes isn't easy, I admit.)<br /><br />It still leaves the rescue your faction's Force User planet weird, though. There'd _have_ to be official missions to do that, even if yours isn't. I guess maybe you're meant to have arrived before (or during?) the official mission and just somehow never stumbled across anything that gave it away.<br /><br />Then again, I think you're given a medal (Republic side, at least) afterwards. Of course, that could've been completely fake.<br /><br />I can't really figure out anything in universe to make the PC not being disavowed/hunted/whatnot at the end, though. Unless it turns out Revan has other plans for you and is supposed to have intentionally not targeted you. (Except he just tried to kill you. Though I suppose they could pull an "I knew you would survive and left you free to act so that you could be manipulated into doing X for me. Thank you so much. And now I _will_ have to kill you."<br />depizannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-71273966970526849562015-01-03T22:34:51.954+00:002015-01-03T22:34:51.954+00:00Fair enough, thanks for elaborating. Maybe I haven...Fair enough, thanks for elaborating. Maybe I haven't noticed this as much as I mainly play Republic side and mostly classes for which you admit it does make sense. Also, I was under the impression that often the missions you're given are not necessarily officially sanctioned by your faction, but that's it more of a case of certain individuals hiring you for your reputation.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-88941608690062078662015-01-03T02:40:11.489+00:002015-01-03T02:40:11.489+00:00I sent you the info. If someone starts stalking m...I sent you the info. If someone starts stalking me, I'll know who it is. ;-)<br />Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-23831830304568286802015-01-03T00:23:46.189+00:002015-01-03T00:23:46.189+00:00If I remember the Makeb intro correctly, if you...If I remember the Makeb intro correctly, if you're an Agent and disappeared, Darth Marr tracks you down. That "disappear" option only removed you from the existing Imperial records. People, important people even, still remember you. <br /><br />Darth Marr then grants you the rank of Commander from that point on, mainly to give you authority for the Makeb mission.Rohanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-70357071102874328052015-01-02T23:23:14.718+00:002015-01-02T23:23:14.718+00:00Well, Empire-side, it seems sort of weird to have ...Well, Empire-side, it seems sort of weird to have an Agent lead the assault on Tython - shouldn't _Sith_ lead an attack on the HQ of the Jedi Order? or at least someone with military command experience? This is a _major_ offensive. And it's just plain inexplicable to have a Bounty Hunter, who isn't even an Imperial, do so. "Here, random mercenary, please lead our armed forces!" Republic-side is a little less weird to start with, since you're supposed to be grabbing information during the assault, not leading it. Except then you're supposed to go save Tython... which makes slightly less than no sense if you're playing a Smuggler. "Here random badass normal criminal who isn't actually a member of our armed forces or anything, go save the Jedi Order from Sith!" Whut.<br /><br />The game story has had a few of those moments along, but when you're dealing with the HQs of the Sith and Jedi, it's really hard to ignore how bizarre the whole thing is. It takes it from just a gameplay thing to "badass normals are canonically BETTER able to fight Force Users en mase than other Force Users are" which... no... just no. I mean, either way, you - a completely non-powered person - are saving the _home base_ of your faction's Force Using order from the other faction's Force Users!<br /><br />And it comes back to a similar sort of failed logic at the end when Lana and Theron are disavowed and somehow everybody but you, the PC, are now wanted by their own faction. I get why, from a game aspect, they couldn't have the PCs wanted, but story wise it makes no sense. I can see it with the Sith and Jedi PCs - those classes end with enough power and esteem that it might be very hard to turn the Empire/Republic against them. Maybe, just maybe, I can believe that Havoc Squad has gained too much attention and esteem. But an Agent? When Imperial Intelligence has been disbanded? And Smugglers and Bounty Hunters are criminals or quasi-criminals even according to their own faction to begin with. If Revan and co can send a Sith Lord and a high up SIS guy (whose mom runs the Jedi Order!) into hiding, they should be able to screw over most of the PC classes. It was a bad writing decision to set it up like that.<br /><br />And, while this isn't unique to Forged Alliances and the Shadow of Revan, it was a horrible, horrible idea for them to have included an *erase yourself* ending for the Imperial Agent because the game doesn't follow through on that. The intro to Makeb is the _only_ time the game even acknowledges it. And the Forged Alliances flashpoints disregard it completely by their very design. You're not just not disappeared, you're somehow a Commander in the armed forces!<br /><br />Though, depending on the ending you took as a Bounty Hunter, again there are serious missing repercussions even before you even get to the Empire randomly hiring you to lead military campaigns.<br /><br />It just feels like they mostly focused on a story that works for the most powerful (politically and literally) classes and didn't really care if it made sense for the other classes. And, yes, the game story (outside of one's class story) has always leaned that way, but this - particularly the Tython/Korriban parts seems to be taking that up to 11.<br /><br />Gee, the SWTOR tumblrs I follow are mostly fanart and fanfic focused (not that they don't talk about the game, obviously). I don't know of any that mainly just focused on the game itself.depizannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-83909796567477034882015-01-02T22:00:19.902+00:002015-01-02T22:00:19.902+00:00Interesting, can you name any specific examples wh...Interesting, can you name any specific examples where it feels like the story doesn't work for your class? Other than the obviously "gamey" fact that each of our heroes can kill hundreds of enemies on their own?<br /><br />(On a side note, I love the phrase "WTF on toast".)<br /><br />And can you recommend any good SWTOR Tumblrs? I feel like I should investigate since I agree with their stance on this. :PShintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-45912090250077618522015-01-02T20:32:34.103+00:002015-01-02T20:32:34.103+00:00I'm not that fond of grouping (mostly because ...I'm not that fond of grouping (mostly because I'm pretty sure I'm somewhere between mediocre and terrible and really don't want to inflict that on anyone else) so I was glad I could see the Forged Alliances story without having to group.<br /><br />However...<br /><br />I found the whole thing hilariously implausible on a _story_ level. I mean, I've had a little bit of a disconnect between the devs thought was reasonable for badass normals to accomplish and what made sense to me in the Star Wars universe, but I really came away feeling like they'd written that part of the story for Jedi and Sith only (okay, _maybe_ Troopers). As a group flashpoint, it might not have been so glaring, but soloing them? To me it was WTF on toast.<br /><br />Story is a big part of this game and I really wish they'd do a better job of writing stories that make sense for all classes than they did with this. Makeb (much as I HATE it) handled the classes and even the more difficult endings to class stories reasonably well. When my Agent (who took the *disappear self* ending) was called on to go to Makeb, it didn't feel like the devs had forgotten that ending or decided retroactively to make the Black Codex nothing but a fancy paperweight. Here, there was no attempt to make sense (probably because they were group flashpoints to begin with), not just with potential class endings but with the fact that not all classes are actually part of their respective factions' governments. They began nonsensically and ended nonsensically.<br /><br />Maybe it wouldn't have made any difference, but I kind of feel like the fact that they were writing group content hid the fact that the content made significantly more sense for some classes than others. (Especially as this is a consistent issue with the flashpoints - it's just underlined here by making it main story and having people solo through them if they haven't done them already.)<br /><br />Another downside to this move is that people (apparently) will have to solo through all these flashpoints on every one of their alts in order to do the expansion. There's been much griping about that on tumblr, since flashpoints really aren't the same as normal content. (Even with a Jesus droid.) They're much heavier on fighting and lighter on story, for one thing.depizannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-59365537295146528052015-01-02T18:27:42.832+00:002015-01-02T18:27:42.832+00:00Oh, and: Gunslinger on TRE? Let me know your name ...Oh, and: Gunslinger on TRE? Let me know your name so I can stalk you! :DShintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-55324621613967677822015-01-02T18:27:02.105+00:002015-01-02T18:27:02.105+00:00I absolutely agree that they had to make the flash...I absolutely agree that they had to make the flashpoints leading up to this expansion soloable.<br /><br />The thing is, if they see it like you say, that they "boxed themselves in" and probably shouldn't handle a big storyline the same way again, then I'm OK with that.<br /><br />However, I'm worried that instead they'll go: "Great, with solo mode available we can put whatever we want into a flashpoint" instead of thinking about whether that story is really best told that way. Or: "Hm, we can save development time by just putting a random part of the main storyline into an instance, scaling up the hitpoints for multiplayer and calling it a day."Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1538233114133115363.post-86632854538243255102015-01-02T17:48:53.516+00:002015-01-02T17:48:53.516+00:00I look on the solo flashpoints as both an experime...I look on the solo flashpoints as both an experiment and a way out of being boxed in. <br /><br />The Malgus story is a complete story all by itself, and the two flashpoints are one way of allowing more players to experience that story's ending whereas in the "good old days" it would have had a raid on the end.<br /><br />The Oricon story is the same way, and it ends with a classic raid.<br /><br />The questline that (eventually) leads to Revan's Happy Fun Times began with flashpoints, and so I look at this as Bioware's realization that they were kind of boxed in: they had this entire expac that was dependent upon people completing FPs that they may or may not have wanted to do. It would be akin to having Blizzard say that you can't get to go to Draenor without having first finished off Siege of Orgrimmar. Maybe for continuity's sake it would make sense to do so, but restricting the expac to only the subset of people who finished the FPs leading up to the Revan storyline basically destroys whatever income you were hoping to get from the expac.<br /><br />The solo FP option was a way to fix this problem that Bioware had, but I'm sure that they're watching the players' reaction to see if this is something they should use in the future.<br /><br />Knowing how I do things, it'll probably take me a long while to get to the point of actually trying out the Revan expac --about the closest I have is my Sorcerer who just finished the Oricon quests, and I'm presently leveling another Gunslinger on The Red Eclipse-- so for me the solo FP option presents the path of least resistance. Particularly so since I tend to play at odd hours.<br />Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.com