I'm currently on Makeb, doing the storyline for the "Rise of the Hutt cartel", and as I am looking for Lemda, vice commandant Gremin popped up in the com channel uninvited and told my character "...you're outnumbered by troops who have run ops in thirty systems..."! And yet, the troops I have to deal with are mostly REGULAR, with the occasional STRONG, and even the more rare ELITE, which includes some trained DOGS, there are trained dogs in the camps that are much tougher than the big majority of the "ops in thirty systems" troops. I honestly expected a HEROIC zone, after I heard the "friendly" warning line, but I am disappointed by what I got instead, and the planet is beautifully done!

It's bravado. He's trying to make you afraid of his troops.

 

Well, that's one way to interpret it, anyway.

It's bravado. He's trying to make you afraid of his troops.

 

Well, that's one way to interpret it, anyway.

 

It's not just his bravado, the Hutts obviously thought they were good enough to deserve the fat credits that they offered them, and so was the Republic when they chose to ask for the char's help. The game should have matched that claim.

 

On top of that my follower Nadia, keeps popping here and there when moving between the zones, as level 70. I have to lower her level appropriate for the planet by logging out then logging back in.

Heroic mission areas were pretty difficult, if even possible, to solo, pre-KOTFE. Too many people were simply unable to finish these missions because nobody would group with them. Also the fact that companions needed gear in those days, their strength wasn't always up to par.

 

Companions were heavily buffed under the influence/presence system, especially for veteran players who'd completed the story missions for all eight base classes, which gives stacking presence buffs.

 

Very little content actually demands a group these days. A few people are even able to solo the Seeker Droid finale. That's one quest I really wish I could go back and re-do on my sniper. She's LS 5 but someone else in the party also had the quest, rolled the dark side choice and won, I was forced to eat that choice or else I still wouldn't have the mission finished even today, several years later.

 

Anyway, Makeb might have seemed or felt tougher pre-KOTFE than it does now. When it first came out, the GSI-satellite buff system was almost paramount to survive there unless you and your companion were well geared (again, companions NEEDED gear back then). Now it's superfluous.

 

Finally, remember the player character is supposed to be truly legendary, the best of the best of the best, so mighty that the explosion of Alderaan when destroyed by the death star, barely raises enough dust to make the character sneeze. At least, that's how all the galactic leaders singing our praises, make it seem, haha.