Founder here. Subscription cancelled. What were they thinking with this update?

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I really appreciate it.

I played from pre-launch into SoR, but quit playing before KOTFE and KOTET came out. I’ve recently returned and just hit 70 on a character (I’ve been messing around with alts and class stories). Being new to command crates, I’m curious about something. Is there any reason to not simply open every command crate I get instantly? The interface for opening them seems a little odd and is making me wonder if I’m supposed to save them to open multiple crates at once or something. Thanks in advance and any tips that would be relevant to someone new to this feature would be appreciated.

Lots of good responses, but I think this one hits most of the highlights. It also just feels so long...like trudging through an endless swamp.

I think both of these are spot on. Moving the story to something completely generic made it necessary to erase anything about the player character from the story. Not only must every hero of the Republic be able to fit into this story, but so must every hero of the Empire as well. This necessarily means that the non-player characters become the main characters of the story. The player character has to be an empty shell with no characteristics at all. I also agree that the pacing is way off. It just drags and drags and feels like a morass you are wading through rather than something you can enjoy.

I love playing through the class stories and I also enjoyed the Makeb & Revan stories. Why is it that I just can't enjoy myself playing through KOTFE & KOTET? Why does it feel like work instead of fun? I'm trying to put my finger on it, but I'm having trouble figuring it out precisely. I think it has a lot to do with the eradication of the Imp/Republic division as an important point in the story and the way it bastardizes the Force with the idea that the Knights of Zakuul are somehow more powerful than the light or dark because of their more neutral path. It just isn't fun. It doesn't feel enough like Star Wars. Who thought this was a good idea for a story direction?

The problem is that the game offers no real sandbox to play in, which means you don't really have the tools to create your own story. It is reliant on developer crafted stories because its design doesn't really make space for users to make their own.

People are entitled to their own opinions about whether it has become too easy or not, but it's a fact that it used to be much more difficult. I've recently returned to the game to play through class stories again and it is really difficult to die on anything labeled as solo content. That was not the case at launch. There were some bosses in the class stories that had abilities that would definitely kill you if you didn't get them interrupted. What's more, there were only a handful of Heroic Missions that were easily soloable (while level appropriate) when the game launched. It felt like a real accomplishment if you were able to solo a Heroic 2+ mission. Now, nearly all of them can be soloed without even bothering to worry about things like interrupts or keeping enemies CCed. It isn't just an issue of leveling faster either. You can be level appropriate for fights that used to be challenging and they are an absolute joke now.

I'm a little surprised that Elara Dorne is getting a lot of hate. I really enjoy her character. She is extremely capable and her defection from the Empire and fierce loyalty to the Republic makes her character really interesting to me. On the subject of evil, it's subjective. You don't have to commit mass genocide to be evil, but most people are more complex than just good or evil.

We can play the game and it’s characters however we want, but it’s a fact that the inquisitor was heavily inspired by Emperor Palpatine in the same way that Boba Fett inspired the Bh and Han Solo inspired the smuggler. It’s not really a matter of opinion. You can disagree all you like, it doesn’t make it any less true. Whether or not that fact makes Ashara an inappropriate companion is certainly subjective, but I think it makes the inquisitor (who is after all Sith) seem pathetic.

Most of the base classes in this game are inspired by archetypes we have seen in the movies. If you want to be Luke or Obi Wan you can be a Knight. If you want to be Vader you can be a Warrior. Han Solo is a smuggler, Bobba Fett is represented by the BH...etc...etc. The inquisitor, especially the Sorcerer, is the Emperor Palpatine archetype. Now, you can obviously play these classes in many different ways. I’m not suggesting that an inquisitor must be dark side. My point is that the inspiration for the class is that Emperor archetype that can manipulate and twist people to the dark side. Forcing a light side Jedi companion (who cannot be turned to the dark side) on that character is an inexplicable and bizarre choice that simply doesn’t fit.

I really don't mind most companions. Some aren't all that interesting to me, but they don't bother me. Ashara sticks out because she just doesn't fit with the archetype that class is supposed to represent. I'm trying to be like the emperor and I can't twist one prideful padawan to the dark side?! It makes the player character seem pathetic. I'm seeing a lot of people echo my complaints about Skadge. He isn't an interesting character on top of being annoying and not fitting the archetype. As far as favorite companions, Khem Val comes to mind simply because he fits the inquisitor so well. Yes, I'd love to have a dark side monster who once served a legendary Sith Lord at my side. Honestly, there are a lot of companions that I really enjoy. Jaessa, Mako, Kira, Scourge, Qyzen, Elara, M1-4X, Bowdaar, and Kaliyo are all interesting characters to me.

I nominate Ashara Zavros and Skadge. Ashara makes absolutely no sense as a companion for the inquisitor. The archetype based on the emperor...a being a dark side power...and your companion is a zealous Jedi who won't abandon the light that you cannot manipulate to the dark side. Who the actual crap thought that fit into this character's story? It is the worst. I want to jettison her stupid rear out of an airlock the first time she tells me she won't abandon the Jedi teachings. Really? Skadge is just annoying. My Bounty Hunters are professionals and Skadge doesn't fit with my crew. He isn't especially talented. He isn't professional or discreet. He is a blunt instrument in the hands of a character who uses advanced weaponry. I want to put a hook through one of his 17 chins and drag him behind my speeder through the all of Tatooine.

The consular story was ok. It might be a little weak, especially when compared to the Knight story, but it was fine. I thought the Trooper story was excellent in Act 1 and Act 2, but Act 3 was underwhelming. I don’t think they did enough to build up Rackton so your showdown with him felt epic.

If it were only due to his lack of agreement with me, then it would be out of line, but that wasnt’t the motivation. I’ve made every effort to engage with him in good faith, but he either can’t follow the argument properly or else he refuses to do so. Either way, he is wasting my time.