(Source: swtor.com)
Friday my gaming circles were buzzing with news of my two favourite MMOs. Both Star Wars: the Old Republic and Lord of the Rings: Online announced new content on June the 28th. Or well, let's see about 'new'...
While my LOTRO friends were rejoicing at the news of a new raid coming out in four days already, I suddenly found my SWTOR friends all raging about this new Dark vs Light event. In fact, on my guild's Friday TeamSpeak gathering, people were more agitated about the event than Brexit! To be honest, I had no idea what they were talking about at first. Time to investigate.
SWTOR's slick-looking event website was my first stop. It read generic gaming advertisement language like "Battle to change the fate of the galaxy" and "Earn galactic rewards!" It didn't really correspond to what I heard players say around me and was being its usual pain to navigate, so I looked around a bit more. Keeping up its reputation, Dulfy has a good guide offering an overview of all rewards (which are divided over tiers, each tier with their own objectives), and if you prefer listening over reading, Vulkk made a video wrapping up the event. He even did a shoutout to me 27 minutes in (yay).
Vulkk's preview of the event is very detailed (the video is 36 minutes!)
(source: https://youtu.be/6QEDu8zmqqs)
(source: https://youtu.be/6QEDu8zmqqs)
This blog post won't be about what's exactly involved in the Dark versus Light event, though: the sites I mentioned above have already done that. Instead, I'll give another overview, namely that of why a large part of the community is upset about this event. Or, in other, less politically correct words:
4 reasons the Dark versus Light event sucks
(Ohh Rav, what happened to "Light Side V, there is no emotion, there is peace"? Ikr. I'm just gathering dark side points for the event companion.)
1) It goes in against what the devs have been stimulating people to do for years
Ever since the legacy update with 1.2, SWTOR has been all about leveling up alts to play through the different stories and unlocking skills and handy utilities through the legacy system with it. "Build your own legacy!" and all that. As a result, many players have built an army of alts. The use of all that for the Dark vs Light event? Nothing. On the contrary: the most dedicated players will have to spend millions of in-game credits or real money on extra character slots to be able to participate in the event in the first place.
2) It does not introduce any new gameplay into the game
Instead it focuses on getting players to replay old content, keeping them satisfied with digital treats. It is understandable that a game studio chooses to release new content after the summer, as the summer is notorious for a drop in player activity: players go on holiday or spend more time outside. However, the event's way of wrapping up old content as new content is just a little too obvious.
3) You have no control over which companion you get rewarded with
If you put enough effort in, there's one thing you get rewarded with that actually is new to the game: a new companion. The developers have created two companions, one light side, one dark side, and only one will be released to the game. There is some confusion over this in the community, but you in fact don't get to chose which companion you'll get through making light side or dark side choices. The idea behind this is that it's a community effort: if most of the players make dark side choices with their event characters, everyone that is eligible for the companion will get a dark side companion and vise versa. Some people feel that light side choices are generally over represented, resulting in an almost guaranteed light side character for everyone.
4) It focuses only on new players
And this is probably the main reason a lot of people are upset over the Light vs Dark event: while nothing is wrong with trying to attract new players, the event completely ignores old time players, who have spent the past three years completing the very objectives included in this event, but don't get credited for them in any way. In other words, the event objectives do not count retroactively and players that have already completed them can spend the coming months repeating what they did over the course of three years, on brand new characters. For the legendary reward level, you need to reroll all eight classes and play one through Knights of the Fallen Empire (effectively leveling it up to level 65). Sounds like fun? It doesn't to me either.
Will you be actively participating in the Light versus Dark event? Humour me and be the first person to say it all sounds awesome in the comments.
And now it's official. #LOTRO's getting a new raid before #SWTOR! 😮 Would've laughed if you told me this 1 year ago. pic.twitter.com/n659xlIfaC— Ravanel Griffon (@Rav_Griffon) June 24, 2016
3) You have no control over which companion you get rewarded with
If you put enough effort in, there's one thing you get rewarded with that actually is new to the game: a new companion. The developers have created two companions, one light side, one dark side, and only one will be released to the game. There is some confusion over this in the community, but you in fact don't get to chose which companion you'll get through making light side or dark side choices. The idea behind this is that it's a community effort: if most of the players make dark side choices with their event characters, everyone that is eligible for the companion will get a dark side companion and vise versa. Some people feel that light side choices are generally over represented, resulting in an almost guaranteed light side character for everyone.
4) It focuses only on new players
And this is probably the main reason a lot of people are upset over the Light vs Dark event: while nothing is wrong with trying to attract new players, the event completely ignores old time players, who have spent the past three years completing the very objectives included in this event, but don't get credited for them in any way. In other words, the event objectives do not count retroactively and players that have already completed them can spend the coming months repeating what they did over the course of three years, on brand new characters. For the legendary reward level, you need to reroll all eight classes and play one through Knights of the Fallen Empire (effectively leveling it up to level 65). Sounds like fun? It doesn't to me either.
Dark vs Light event? This summer I'll be playing LOTRO
I am one of these old time SWTOR players. If you check the archives of this blog, you'll see that I started blogging about the game back in 2012. My "legion of death" counts 16 characters; in reality I have 22 (I haven't come around to including the names of some newer PvP alts). I don't mind casually rolling a couple of characters to level them up through PvP, but creating 8 new ones, leveling them all up to 50 and doing operations on them? Definitely not. I might go for some of the lower tier rewards if I'm bored, but if LOTRO's raid turns out to be good and I can find some people to battle them with, I'll probably head over to there instead. Yes, you're reading it right: I'll be playing Lord of the Rings Online. The almost ten year old hopelessly old fashioned MMO that everyone has deserted will release more group content this summer than SWTOR has in a year. Sigh.Will you be actively participating in the Light versus Dark event? Humour me and be the first person to say it all sounds awesome in the comments.
Alas, I can't tell you that I think it's awesome, but I will be participating in the event. Getting to Legendary level is absurd, but Eternal level is certainly doable.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand why players are upset, as it totally ignores everything that they've invested in the game from whenever they started playing up to this point.
I think BioWare should've have compromised on this one. Make everyone create new characters to get to Eternal level and then go retroactive for Legendary level.
I've been playing since launch, and I haven't completed everything necessary for Legendary. I think there would be plenty of Vets. with a few items left for that.
To be honest, I do understand why the rewards are not retroactive (there wouldn't be much incentive for old time players to do anything at all otherwise), and I also understand the Legendary level being so hard and offering something 'exclusive'. I personally don't "need" that ridiculously looking tank mount, but it's just the kind of show-off thing that a percentage of the players is fond of. Making it retroactive would remove that exclusivity.
DeleteAt the same time I strongly feel it's a stupid thing to neglect the entire veteran player base. Giving some sort of cool reward to vets who have completed everything necessary for Legendary on their 'old characters' at a set point in time would go a long way in making this feel less like a fat middle finger aimed at loyal SWTOR players. I have already completed those objectives, but I agree with you that many people won't. Something like this would definitely enthuse them about this event.
Thank you for the link and mention. Since you already watched my video you know my opinion. I would just like to correct you on a small detail about it - there's almost nothing "visual" in it as you described it :). Mostly browsing and explaining the parts of my written guide in the background and discussing the details.
ReplyDeleteI haven't played LOTRO for real in over 5 years and haven't logged in at all for over 2 or 3 years. I like the idea and might go back to check Middle-earth once again, sadly, only as F2P.
Oh! You're right. That was just me typing too fast without thinking it through. Fixed now.
DeleteI agree with you, sadly, that there is not much reason to subscribe to LOTRO. I feel lucky that I took the lifetime deal when it was there. Luckily it's very doable as F2Per as well, nothing compared to F2P in SWTOR. And if you haven't played for a while, there is a lot of new quests and areas to catch up with.
I think how much time I'll spend on the Dark vs Light side event will totally depend on how much fun LOTRO's new raid will turn out to be. I only have a limited amount of time available, after all. LOTRO has had both stellar and atrocious raids in the past (including raid bosses that literally couldn't be beaten!), so there's no way to tell.
The Light vs Dark Event seems like a *lot* of work and as someone with Chronic Pain I doubt I will get very far. I feel I should try it just to see what it's like, but there is still a lot of content I have yet to do: Macrobinocular Arc, Seeker Droid Arc, Eternal Championship and some alliance recruitment missions, along with other daily missions in Black Hole, CZ etc.
ReplyDeleteI have 20 alts across 2 servers and I don't really want to start yet another one to be honest. As most guilds have activity expectations, and I have to play to my pain levels, having the time (and energy) to do this kind of scale event is likely to be low.
I am also slightly annoyed that, after all the KotFE content about the 'new way' being Balance in the Force, to divide the galaxy by Light and Dark is at least, mis-timed. This event should have been released a year ago - or maybe in a year's time when I suspect Republic/Empire divide should return once the Eternal Empire is gone, they can't string out the same storyline for many years.
On top of that replaying 'old content' gets dull - and I love SWTOR. But I have just installed LotRO on my External HD so I will also be playing some LotRO in the coming months as I can get 2 characters' worth of free content under F2P up to Level 50.
I'm starting to wonder about having so many SWTOR characters if they all follow the same story, content, events, achievements. The decision consequences aren't as great as they could have been written and it's a shame that we're forced into a pigeon hole regardless of character make-up.
In short, I may investigate this event, but I won't be pursuing it as I have content yet to play. Sorry for the long rant!
You make a really good point about the Light vs Dark side theme being ill-timed and out of place with the current KOTFE content. I hadn't thought of it like that yet. And I totally see how a real effort for the event from someone in your situation is simply not happening. But even if you could do it, would you be enthusiastically going for it?
DeleteFor the rest, I like the idea of the event in general - it's very original. I just feel it's badly executed. There seems to be a trend to focus on content in order to get new players lately, starting with KOTFE being advertised as a sort of "KOTOR 3". While I like new players just as much as everyone else, I feel the current player base gets neglected a bit as a result. It's cool to attract new people, but content to keep people interested long-term (with replayable content, such as new group content) is just as important. I think getting yet another thing aimed at pulling in more people is why people are so upset by this event. It's all about context.
I love playing my character's class stories, even if I've already done them before (usually it's so long ago that I've half forgotten what happened anyway), but when it comes to KOTFE I really don't feel the need to play it on more than 2 characters or so. I was disappointed by what was announced as "choices that matter" as well. After characters have hit level 50 I usually bench them for lowbie PvP or storymode operations. I don't feel like taking them through the content that was designed for all classes at once.
Finally, your comment didn't come off as a rant at all! It was written eloquently and you voiced opinions well. I like reading people's honest thoughts about something, whether they're positive or negative. All opinions are welcome here, as long as they're respectful towards others (and they always have been, so far). :)
It'll be awesome!!
ReplyDeleteWell, somebody had to say it...
No, I really don't care either way. Sure, it'd be nice to have an extra companion, but I think the focus isn't on altoholics, but it's on a) new players, and b) making sure people don't completely abandon the old zones. Considering how easy it is to level these days, L25 is easy to get to. I have an old Commando I'd created ages ago and abandoned at Coruscant, and discovered just by doing all the non-heroic missions that you can leave Coruscant around L18-19, having gained about 4 levels in about 2-3 hours. Hitting L25 before finishing Taris seems eminently doable.
Still, it's not a big deal to me either way, because a) I don't raid and b) I try not to get all worked up over this. Considering how gung-ho the Mini-reds have been going into SWTOR the past few weeks, this is right up their alley.
(Brexit has me considerably more worked up, especially for my friends who are directly affected by it.)
The ultimate end of the event is what I'd consider the SWTOR equivalent to the Insane in the Membrane WoW achievement. Sure, you can do it, but the grind will eventually drive people nuts.
DeleteWait, I did actually achieve all those things you need to do for the ultimate tier... but I guess "nuts" may not be a bad way to describe me. :P
DeleteBut yeah, I took 3 years getting there and trying to do the same in 3 months (or so, we don't know the exact end date) is plain unhealthy. But of course there will be people who will be doing it.
The Brexit remark was in jest. Although technically correct, we didn't want to talk politics on TS. The majority of our guild is actually from the UK, and they didn't all vote the same. But discussing the Dark vs Light event was great for bonding. :P
And don't worry, I'm not getting all worked up over this either. I do really think it is badly designed and a slap in the face of longtime players, but I'm happy for new(ish) players enjoying it and reap the rewards. Yes, I am disappointed, but I'll find my gaming fix elsewhere, either in LOTRO or single player games. And I still login to SWTOR twice a week to raid with my guild. I hope the mini-Reds will enjoy the event! :)
Well, I think it sounds neat and will give it a go. So I wouldn't say that the community unanimously hates it.
ReplyDeleteNot sure the LOTRO comparison is entirely fair either, because how long has it been since LOTRO's last raid? More than one and a half years I reckon... I do hope for you that the new one is a fun one.
Very well, fixed that.
DeleteOh, the LOTRO comparison is absolutely not fair, and that is kind of the point. LOTRO hasn't released a new raid in 3 years now (although they surprisingly did create a substantial amount of 3- and 6-man content of varying quality in that period, despite having declared that nobody is interested in group content) and I perceive it as a B-quality MMO with a small playerbase and infrequent updates, whereas SWTOR is still considered to be an A-quality MMO that is in the spotlight of the general MMO playerbase. Because of this I feel it is extra cynical that LOTRO now introduces a new raid, while new group content (or any announcement of it) is lacking for SWTOR. SWTOR's raids are of great quality and unique in the current MMO landscape (which seems to focus more and more on casual gameplay), and I would hate for them to go down the same road as LOTRO. There are many differences between the two games, but there are also parallels, and those make me worry. Sorry for the wall of text!
Polyana carebear incoming...lol! I totally understand the frustration with the event. Am not unhappy because about half the stuff I haven't done yet, and I haven't finished 3 classes yet. The nice thing is the event is optional.
ReplyDeleteThe only other thing i will say is you had issue with not being able to choose the faction of companion you will get at the end. Just a reminder, we didn't get to pick the companions in the first place. The writers write the characters and stories, and the fans have little creative input. At least the community gets to influence that a little.
Hiya, welcome to Ravalation and sorry for activating your carebear mode straight away! :P I'm usually a bit more "balanced in the force" when I write my blog posts, but I guess I was just really disappointed with this one.
DeleteI actually don't really care all that much about the companion (and I agree with that the devs write our game and it should be like that), but I know others do. I don't think they will have a super detailed background story or conversations (although I'd love to be wrong in this!), as that seems to be the trend lately. That said, I'd love to have them, but if I'm going to put in the effort will depend on what will go on in other games. I have so many characters already, and I don't see the point in starting anew on a server where I don't know anybody (nor have my awesome strongholds that I'm working on).
Actually, the eight classes only need to be levelled to 50; only one Empire and one Republic character need to hit 65 and only one of these needs to complete KotFE. Levelling is really not the most tedious aspect of this, as once you ding 50 on that character it can be scrapped regardless of where it is in its story.
ReplyDeletePeople have taken to getting involved really quite well on The Red Eclipse, it seems. Certainly the levelling planets are very active, which is very nice to see. Not sure what it's like on the other servers, though.
Thanks for clearing that up, that makes it less tedious for sure (especially since the KotFE story doesn't feel all that different when replaying it). Fixed it in the blog post (I definitely could've used more time to fine-tune it before publishing).
DeleteI still think it's ridiculous I have to buy eight character slots or start anew on another server as an old-time player if I want to make an effort. I *like* SWTOR events and would've loved to be enthusiastic about this one. I do see how it's great for new and returning players, though, so it's good to hear they are taking the opportunity.
I really love swtor, but the game got dump down since 4.0. I hate it that they remove 4 primary stats.. and now this is like slap to the face to the old players, but i still doing it cause well what else better to do lol, no new ops.. new pvp map oddessen proving groud is so buggy, almost everyone i know quit the game heck im the last one in my guild that stick around still hoping for better content. I just hope maybe just maybe at the end of the year bioware would release something that make old players come back.
ReplyDeleteLol sorry i know my comment doesnt look like related to your post and english is not my first language
Hey, no worries, English isn't my first language either! I still love SWTOR and the game has a ton of content, but this year has definitely been lacking in the content-that-make-old-players-stick-around department. I'm still rooting for some new group content. SWTOR has some of the best raids out there and I honestly feel it would be a huge shame if they were not to invest in it further.
Deletewhy are they not giving the new companions to free-players
ReplyDeleteI think you already know the answer: to give an extra incentive to players to subscribe.
Deletei just started playing swtor and the l.v.d event as a free-play player with no money to be a subscriber and i want to know why you can't get the new companion at heroic and legacy levels? do you think that is fair?
ReplyDeleteHeh. I'm guessing you're hoping I'll say it's not fair? I'm currently subscribing to SWTOR (although I don't know how long I can keep that up), but I play other games in which I am not. As a student, I don't have a lot of money, so I know where you're coming from. But personally, when I'm playing a game as a F2Per, I accept the business model they've created to make revenue - and if it's too ludicrous I'll just stop playing the game; I don't want to get frustrated by a game. I understand that game companies need to make money in order to exist and keep making new content, and I try to be happy with what they offer me for free. For SWTOR the business model is heavily focused on gaining subscribers and the F2P restrictions are in my opinion annoying to live with, but at least you do get to play 8 stellar class stories all for free.
DeleteHey. A good aspect that really helps grinding the event and no one ever mentions it anywhere, because they don't actually participate in it and just like to complain, is the new rewards you get after the first 4 tiers. There is this new armor that is legacy bound and you can just give it to any new alt. So what does this Valiant Pioneer armor do? You get 3 pieces of it after doing second tier, reaching lvl 50. You get 2 more by reaching chapter 9 in kotfe and 2 more after grinding the solo/tactical flashpoints. This armor is rating 128 and equippable even by a level 1 player, making you godly. 3 pieces give you a 25% overall xp increase. 5 pieces give you 40, while full armor gives you a 50% xp increase. Well, imagine how easy is to reach lvl 50 on 6 more alts with 50% xp + a major experience boost. Most people will probably never have to play past higher Balmorra/Taris. All you have to do to get the new event companion is reach 65 on the opposite faction and you have some permanent rewards that can help your legacy in the long run.
ReplyDeleteThe XP bonus gear is quite good for DvL leveling, I agree. However, the main argument of this article is that the event is an obvious way of keeping people occupied in a time of content draught by letting them replaying old content for new rewards. Mentioning yet another carrot does not change that.
DeleteAbout the only reward worth grinding all the new/old objectives in the game is the pioneer armor that gives a boost to xp earned. makes lvling so insanely easy it's pathetic. When you add up all the xp boosts, you're making almost a 200% xp bonus. other than that, the event is extremely boring. I did all the tiers up until I got the full 7-piece armor set, and then stopped. I'm playing Star Trek Online until Knights of the Eternal Throne comes out.
ReplyDeleteI would probably just be playing another game (LOTRO) too, if I wouldn't still need to get a DvL Imp character to level 65: the companion is really the only thing that I really want (the completionist in me doesn't want to miss out on it). On a positive note: KOTET's almost there!
Delete