The only major change, is level sync'ing. Everything else is minor. Sure, it adds up, but there's nothing else major going on with the existing content.

I played Lord of the Rings Online for a few years, great fun with a mix of solo and group content - Though it is weighted pretty heavily to the solo side. If you play a lot of alts, you can earn enough of their version of Cartel Coins (Turbine Points) to unlock pretty much everything instead of paying for a sub. If you don't... It is highly restrictive - With quests for each region being locked unless you're a subscriber, and regardless, you do have to pay for each expansion that's out (Though they often have sales on them). No idea what the community is like currently, as they are in the process of merging servers, and I haven't really played in a couple of years, but I'll be back on there soon to catch up on everything I've missed the last couple of years.

Except that you can't fix an engine whilst its running.

Why? It's just an expanded cap, like the level cap is going up from 60 to 65.

I think they said that they will, though if I remember right, max influence is increased to 20,000 so you'll only be half way there.

Achievements don't mean anything in this game anyway, but yeah, they do seem to be removing them for the sake of removing them. The new ones last 8 hours, and you get multiples per crafting task, so I've no complaints.

That's funny. I thought the community hated anyone who actually likes the game, or doesn't entirely agree that the game is the worst piece of programming ever devised by the mind of man. Who cares what people think. Are you having fun? Continue to play. Are you not having fun? Go elsewhere.

No. You'll get the initial 9 chapters out of 16, and possibly the 10th, as that's due to be released in January. Then the remaining 6 chapters are planned to be released monthly thereafter - Though I'll wager that the schedule will slip.

As opposed to running the Conquests and not getting the materials anyway as the system is broken?

If you think that a single chapter of KotFE will contain as much content as Shadow Of Revan, with Rishi, Yavin IV and Ziost, I've got a bridge to sell you...

We aren't losing affection, we're losing the achievement. Affection is being renamed to Influence, and I believe the maximum doubled to 20,000. Influence will be used to boost companions effectiveness in combat, so its actually becoming more useful. Perhaps instead of compensation, you should pay EA a premium for boosting its usefulness?

I've got to say I'm a bit baffled by this. Why remove the achievements? If its because its a bit pointless, well... The whole achievement system is pointless. Is it because it'll interfere/contradict/get in the way of some new unannounced system? I can only assume so, as removing it for the sake of removing it would be extremely... Daft.

It is. And when you play through on the Imperial side, you'll see why it is.

But come July (The earliest Season One of KotFE will be complete (I'm expecting the monthly schedule for new chapters to slip quite a bit)), you'll have the whole expansion and 4950 extra cartel coins. I on the other hand will have the whole expansion, 500 cartel coins, and ~$120 (Or more likely $120 worth of other stuff). Thats a pretty big benefit to me - And the break from the game will help prevent burn out, and turning into one of those people on the forums who do nothing but moan and complain about how the game sucks.

It's an expansion, it builds on whats already out. I doubt they've made any major engine changes that would necessitate hardware testing beyond a quick check on the two different brands of graphics card and whatever version of Windows.