SOLO players asked for it here in this forum a couple months ago.

 

I was one of them. To be honest, if the change in companion healing and the change in level sync weren't pointed out to me, I never would have noticed. I'm just not seeing much difference at all. Since I haven't done all of the heroics or all of the flashpoints since 6.0, I'm open to the idea that some have been affected more than others.

I was one of them. To be honest, if the change in companion healing and the change in level sync weren't pointed out to me, I never would have noticed. I'm just not seeing much difference at all. Since I haven't done all of the heroics or all of the flashpoints since 6.0, I'm open to the idea that some have been affected more than others.

There is hardly any difference. The Companions only heal you above a certain percentage. I think the healing skills take a few seconds longer. They are now beating around on a mob for a few seconds longer.

 

I also like to do it easy. If the difficulty is so high now that you die every 3 steps. Then I would not say anything, but that's ridiculous....

You know you people could've just *not* used the kolto stations, right? Why demand their removal? Just don't use them, how hard could that be? Edited November 19, 2019 by sentientomega

I consider myself a solo player (Cose I play alone), but I haven't see a rise in difficulty. But then again, I do play as a Healer and make my comp Tank . and no, none of my companions are maxed in affinity (yeah like I'm gonna grind that **** , it aint fun BW!!!) .

 

I did start a new Alt , a JK with the droid companion and cleared all the heroic on Coruscant easy .

 

So dunno, did they change later planets heroic or something ?

 

I'm guilty of asking for upping the difficulty . BUT I never asked to change the heroic or FP . The only thing I ever wanted, was for the Boss (like baras, Thanaton..etc) be upped in difficulty...cose you could sneeze and they die , which didn't make it much fun..considering they are supposed to be the final boss of your personal story . Add to that, since they are in an Instance...I always though they could dunno..make it a choice like in KOTFTET chapter ?

SOLO players asked for it here in this forum a couple months ago.

 

Really? Solo players asked for it?

 

No a few players asked for it and dare say some would have been solo players, which some were solo others not. I'm a solo player did I ask for it? did the OP? Considering how few players actually post on these forums out of the entire player base your statement is just plain wrong. The OP is also right a player finding it to easy can do a lot to change that, a player can do little the other way round. Personally other than the odd FP boss such as the final boss in the Tython FP I'm not finding it hard but that's me, if other are it's an issue. If a player like Tsillah find it to easy and does not remove gear to get to a power level he finds enjoyable for him that's on him. No one else, he can do but choses not to. I also bet he's in maxed out gear with augments at a guess?

 

However as FP's are all instanced BW should just remove the nerf for Fp's. Any player can still remove gear if required or do the Master version if good enough to do so. Also all Fp's should now have all 3 versions, Story, Vet and Master as they are instance. There is little point in making a change to the game if that mean some players (yes it will only be a few) then just skip over large sections of the game. I know I now just skip the entire Reven preludes and Reven main story just because of that 1 boss on Tython. How is that good for the game?

I don't like how they nerfed companions - that is they didn't change the companion's base damage or healing abilities, they simply added longer cooldowns.

 

Take healing companions - at the start of combat, they can still heal to full a player no matter how much damage they are taking (typically overhealing), then they hit a point where all of their abilities are on cooldown and do NO healing at all.

 

If they wanted to nerf companions, they should have reduced the base healing (or damage) coefficients but left the ability timers and cooldowns alone.

 

This is also why higher ranked companions have been devalued - all companions regardless of rank have the same cooldowns, so all players will have periods of plentiful heals followed by no heals at all.

 

Also it ticks me off when I see this was done so they could add a new set bonus - take a look on the vendors, one of the new generic sets has a bonus that increases the speed of ability activation of companions - as in it reduces the effects of the 6.0 companion nerf.

Edited November 19, 2019 by DawnAskham

I don't like how they nerfed companions - that is they didn't change the companion's base damage or healing abilities, they simply added longer cooldowns.

 

Take healing companions - at the start of combat, they can still heal to full a player no matter how much damage they are taking (typically overhealing), then they hit a point where all of their abilities are on cooldown and do NO healing at all.

 

If they wanted to nerf companions, they should have reduced the base healing (or damage) coefficients but left the ability timers and cooldowns alone.

 

This is also why higher ranked companions have been devalued - all companions regardless of rank have the same cooldowns, so all players will have periods of plentiful heals followed by no heals at all.

 

Also it ticks me off when I see this was done so they could add a new set bonus - take a look on the vendors, one of the new generic sets has a bonus that increases the speed of ability activation of companions - as in it reduces the effects of the 6.0 companion nerf.

 

yes, same here, I've noticed it a lot in the harder heroics, especially mek-sha, using a 50 zoom (who's probably the best healer), we're doing grand, then boom, she stops healing, i get the crap stunned out of me, and poof, I'm dead....very frustrating.

Also it ticks me off when I see this was done so they could add a new set bonus - take a look on the vendors, one of the new generic sets has a bonus that increases the speed of ability activation of companions - as in it reduces the effects of the 6.0 companion nerf.

 

Ugh. Seriously? Figures, though. It feels like a very Bioware kind of a move. What sucks is that all of these little buffs that make the game less tedious and more playable happen at level 75, when you really don't need them. I feel even more sorry for new players now.

Please name one MMO where you can get through content by doing... whatever it is you are doing that apparently isn't enough to survive solo content in SWTOR. Because I'm struggling to think of any. WoW? Nuh, there is plenty of difficult content, that game isn't solo friendly at all. Even in low level zones you can get your teeth smashed in sometimes thanks to level sync. ESO? Easier, but still more difficult than SWTOR in its current state. Neverwinter? Haven't played it in long while, but I don't recall it being this easy. So what are you basing your idea of a good game (MMO game, mind) on, exactly?

 

I am enjoying it right now, thank you very much. You are the one complaining about how things are at the moment.

 

 

Neverwinter is easier than this...way easier

 

Star trek online is Easier than this

 

Secret World Legends is Easier than this

 

DCUO Online is easier than this

 

I can solo everrything in all of those, unless the game itself forces me to group

And remove the health stations in solo mode.

 

Why are you trying to take the fun from solo players? There are solo content and MMORPG nowadays shouldn't be about forcing ppl to group for a lot of content.

 

Diving into the conspiracy answer would be - to sell more compendiums in CM ...

But most probably they just did what they do every time they use the nerf bat ... overkill.

 

Whole mess with tuning a whole game to part of the player base could be solved much easier if they simply added more instances (similar to PvE/PvP planetary ones) to everything (planets/Solo or SM FP/quest instances & so on - solo players activities) with option to choose instance difficulty level (same way as KoTFE/KoTET chapters)

Neverwinter is easier than this...way easier

 

Star trek online is Easier than this

 

Secret World Legends is Easier than this

 

DCUO Online is easier than this

 

I can solo everrything in all of those, unless the game itself forces me to group

 

There are no difficult heroics in this game, only really bad gear. Are you augmented? Do you have 306 gear?

 

L2P your class. You should be able to solo H4’s TBH.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Rion_Starkiller

There are no difficult heroics in this game, only really bad gear. Are you augmented? Do you have 306 gear?

 

L2P your class. You should be able to solo H4’s TBH.

 

I would frame it differently. The problem for solo players is a combination of two factors -- the longer companion activation time and the Stat capping.

 

TL-DR: The companion timer nerf plus level synching makes old content less enjoyable, not necessarily more difficult. This impacts solo players disproportionately. I'm not worried about the base planetary or class missions so we are clear. I'm talking about former so-called group content that was 'more' soloable.

 

Let's stipulate at the outset that there are two ways to improve one's performance to complete content:

 

a) improve your understanding of your class / learning the encounters; and b) getting better gear.

 

The problem is right now that Option B, getting better gear, is limited because of Level Synching down. Pretty sure Rion, you know full well that this results in Stat capping and that certain gear stats become useless.

 

So where does that leave us? Yes, it is possible to still do that content we could before. In many cases, however, it's not a L2P issue -- it's an issue of annoyance. In my case, I play a lot of alts so it hasn't impacted me too severely yet, but I can assure you -- I avoid Section X, Oricon, etc. -- at least on non-stealth classes.

 

The longer-term impact for me is going to be on soloing Vet FPs. Now, one cay say (tritely), well Dasty, you aren't supposed to solo H4s or solo Vet FPs outside of faceroll Hammer Station. Fair enough, but that means content I could do before, I find far, far more annoying to do now. Encounters are lengthier because even if I know my rotations, CDs, etc., they are still essentially just HP sponges.

 

And what happens when they raise the gear Ilvl past 306? It will help only for the brand new content. It won't mean squat for everything pre-6.0.

 

The end result is that BW is offering me less variety of content than I'm willing to put up with because of the annoyance factor. Yes, that's my personal decision, but it hardly seems like i'm alone. And, well, when I run out of interesting, enjoyable content...(dunh, dunh, dunh!)

 

Dasty

Edited November 19, 2019 by Jdast

And having gear that puts us above the level for a planet we're going to should make us more powerful, not less.

 

At best, paper-thin health and hitting like a wet lettuce leaf is what we've got now, thanks to their sync changes. We are less powerful than if we went there while being at the planet's max level.

 

 

 

No-one's talking about being able to solo Vet or Master mode FPs, no-one's talking about soloing Uprisings, we're talking about the basic solo grind we got with 4.0: heroics, especially the H2+ variety.

 

Even before 6.0 dropped, I ended up never touching Aurora on any non-stealther, because I found it too stressful. As for Makeb's heroics, I steered clear of them, too, for the same reason.

 

As for Oricon? I've always had to play as if it was 2.x, never mind whether it was 4.x or 5.x. If you ask me, this sync fracas is about draining trillions of credits in repairs so as to bankrupt players, and to make the game so unfun for casual/solo/casual solo players that they're basically inclined towards self-exile.

 

The OP isn't talking at ALL about which content he's referring to. If it's Heroics then you had your fun because they were way too easy to do and it doesn't make sense in my view that Heroics, which are essentially like Veteran Mode quests intended for min 2 players should be so incredibly easy to solo. I'm sure they are harder to do now but I do NOT consider them under the header of SM content because they are called heroics for a reason.

The OP isn't talking at ALL about which content he's referring to. If it's Heroics then you had your fun because they were way too easy to do and it doesn't make sense in my view that Heroics, which are essentially like Veteran Mode quests intended for min 2 players should be so incredibly easy to solo. I'm sure they are harder to do now but I do NOT consider them under the header of SM content because they are called heroics for a reason.

 

Then why have them under the SOLO section of the Activity Finder? Intended for two players, my foot!

 

They're the only solo grind we have to any great degree, so they need not to be impossible, which, right now, they are, to me, and to others. Just because you find something easy, doesn't mean everyone else has to, or has to play the way you want to. They should be both easy for the people who want them easy, and hard for the people who want them hard.

 

As I said, I don't want to exclude anyone, be they hardcore or casual, from doing content in the way that they can enjoy. Unlike *some* people...

 

I think so much of the "game should be harder" people really just *hate* everyone that enjoys things easier, with an unquenchable passion.

 

They didn't have to nerf healing comps, you could've all just not used them, or just not've used all their healing abilities. You do know that you can click them off? You didn't have to demand kolto station removal, you could've just not used them!

 

No, it's pretty clear what the challenge-hungry are really about, and that's spoiling the fun of anyone and everyone who doesn't think the same way they do about gaming and difficulty.

 

"It's not enough that I succeed, everyone around me must fail.", or words to that effect.

 

If the adrenaline junkies here didn't feel this way, then they would not be demanding everything be tailored just to them, they would be demanding that every kind of player be accommodated so that all kinds of players could actually play the way they wanted, and enjoy the game in the way that they wanted. They would have no objections to separate instances or tokens which altered people's stats, they would have no objections to people enjoying having things easier. Why would they care about how other people enjoyed the game, unless the real issue was them wanting to spoil the enjoyment of players not like them?

Edited November 19, 2019 by sentientomega

The OP isn't talking at ALL about which content he's referring to. If it's Heroics then you had your fun because they were way too easy to do and it doesn't make sense in my view that Heroics, which are essentially like Veteran Mode quests intended for min 2 players should be so incredibly easy to solo. I'm sure they are harder to do now but I do NOT consider them under the header of SM content because they are called heroics for a reason.

And yet they're listed in the "solo" activity tab...

As are the weeklies, which include the Section X H4...

 

Anyways, as the fightings are boring to me i mostly ran heroics and weeklies with stealthers (unless i was trying to lvl up a non stealth character), now i'll just do it only with stealthers, at least i can avoid 99% of the useless fights and not waste too much time

I would frame it differently. The problem for solo players is a combination of two factors -- the longer companion activation time and the Stat capping.

 

TL-DR: The companion timer nerf plus level synching makes old content less enjoyable, not necessarily more difficult. This impacts solo players disproportionately. I'm not worried about the base planetary or class missions so we are clear. I'm talking about former so-called group content that was 'more' soloable.

 

Let's stipulate at the outset that there are two ways to improve one's performance to complete content:

 

a) improve your understanding of your class / learning the encounters; and b) getting better gear.

 

The problem is right now that Option B, getting better gear, is limited because of Level Synching down. Pretty sure Rion, you know full well that this results in Stat capping and that certain gear stats become useless.

 

So where does that leave us? Yes, it is possible to still do that content we could before. In many cases, however, it's not a L2P issue -- it's an issue of annoyance. In my case, I play a lot of alts so it hasn't impacted me too severely yet, but I can assure you -- I avoid Section X, Oricon, etc. -- at least on non-stealth classes.

 

The longer-term impact for me is going to be on soloing Vet FPs. Now, one cay say (tritely), well Dasty, you aren't supposed to solo H4s or solo Vet FPs outside of faceroll Hammer Station. Fair enough, but that means content I could do before, I find far, far more annoying to do now. Encounters are lengthier because even if I know my rotations, CDs, etc., they are still essentially just HP sponges.

 

And what happens when they raise the gear Ilvl past 306? It will help only for the brand new content. It won't mean squat for everything pre-6.0.

 

The end result is that BW is offering me less variety of content than I'm willing to put up with because of the annoyance factor. Yes, that's my personal decision, but it hardly seems like i'm alone. And, well, when I run out of interesting, enjoyable content...(dunh, dunh, dunh!)

 

Dasty

Well said. I identify heavily with this. For me, it's not so much difficulty as it is boredom that is an issue. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this somewhere in some amount of detail while the changes were still on PTS, too.

 

The non-new parts of the game are very old and stale and repetitive and at least for me, one of the few things that makes them bearable solo (where they are doable for my skill level solo) is being able to pull out a DPS comp, to speed things up a bit, because this game apparently has an obsession with leaving things spongy, even when they are "technically" soloable, such as some H2 heroics.

 

Anything that makes it take longer to do just makes the already stale content that much less appealing. Frankly, Bioware should be paying me to replay their old, stale content. If it wasn't for (in my case) the idea of space barbie and farming credits to play space barbie, I probably wouldn't have bothered most of the time in the past, as it is. So for me, the motivation to bother was already very fragile and then they made things worse. Had they rejuvenated the old content somehow (though I can't imagine how) maybe I'd be more willing to put up with it. But they didn't... they just took the same old crap and tweaked it.

 

There's a well-known saying, "You can't put lipstick on a pig." Well some of the content kinda was a situation of lipstick on a pig before, imo. They just wiped off some of the lipstick. Now it's just more pig. Oink oink. And I didn't sign up to play in a pigpen. This is what happens when I make analogies after recently waking up. I have no idea where I'm going with this, but I think the rest of the post is to the point, so this analogy can go off the rails.

As a solo player, I find the comps in a VERY similar place as they were. You just have to play a little smarter. Don't bounce into 10 mobs right off the bat. Hit attack on your comp before bounding in and that will take a couple of seconds off the prep time of the first heal. Solo Content is still super easy.

I'd say reasonably easy on my main a Sith Inq with lightning spec (yes, they still have suckfest DPS) and "super easy" on the other classes I've played since 6.0. For my lightning spec sorc I switched companions (I usually have Theron) however I've found Arcann is a way better companion for her than any of the others I've tried so far.

 

I the OP is flying into groups of mobs and expecting their companion to save the day, then that serves them right. Companions were altered in 6.0 to make the game a bit more challenging iirc from the PTS.

 

Those who don't want an easy run in pre kotfe flashpoints, just ditch the god bot; problem solved, however, if you need to farm gear, god bot and 50 influence companion set to damage is my choice.

Uh, you said you play with your wife though... a lot of people play solo. Also, the differences can be subtle in my limited experience with the changes. You'll think it's all hunky dory and then it'll catch you off-guard on something you used to be ok in.

 

But honestly, casual is kind of a misnomer anyway. There's casual meaning hours put in and then there's casual meaning the mindset you have in how you play the game, and then there's your actual skill level. You can put few hours in and be highly skilled, you can have a casual mindset in how you play the game and be highly skilled, you can have a hardcore mindset in how you play the game and be mediocre at it, you can put in few hours and be low skilled. There's just so much more variation than the casual/elite or casual/hardcore dichotomy people like to do.

 

The bottom line is, some people are more skilled at the game than others. It's a spectrum. It may be you rank higher on the spectrum than you think you do. It's easy for people to have an inaccurate picture of how skilled they are and difficult to get an accurate one.

 

Full disclosure: my wife and I only play together on the weekends before lunch. When I play during the rest of the week it is all solo. We'll play probably 8 hours between Sat. and Sun. and I'll probably play 6 - 8 hours solo during the rest of the week.

 

I like your differentiation on casual and I agree that people can be more skilled at the game than others. There are some specs that I just can't seem to get and I am probably awful at them

And yet they're listed in the "solo" activity tab...

As are the weeklies, which include the Section X H4...

First of all, they are still called H2s so this argument doesn't counter that.

Secondly, the solo tab gives you a weekly for the H2s. The Heroics themselves are not in the solo tab. It only takes you to the terminal.

Thirdly, you know that the group tab has set rules for groups and the H2 format wouldn't fit in that. You cannot queue for an ops unless you are 8 people and you cannot queue for a FP in the group tab unless you have 4 players. That wouldn't work for H2s as it is because you can do them with 1-4 players.

 

So really, people need to stop clutching at straws and realise that Heroics are harder content than normal quests and secondly that BioWare isn't really consistent in their terminology.

 

Because let's be honest, Veteran Mode has 3 meanings:

Veteran Mode KotFE/ET chapters mean solo content but harder than SM so HM solo content.

Veteran Mode FPs means role-neutral group content of Story Mode level

Veteran Mode Ops is HM group content that's not role neutral

 

And even with difficulty levels there is no consistency.

 

But to call heroics SM level content is just not true when you solo them by any of the definitions.

Yes, they are in the solo tab; you're taken to the terminal, which lists the heroics. The terminal doesn't send you to another terminal with a "Thou shalt not solo these" tag on them, they are supposed to be soloable.

 

Unless BW actually comes out with a public statement saying that heroics aren't supposed to be soloable in any way, shape, or form, you're not going to convince me that they shouldn't be, just because you don't think they should be, which is how it's sounding, frankly.

 

No-one's equating Heroics with story content, but they're the only real solo grind we have. They need not to be more like NiM Ops...

 

H2=1 player, 1 companion, 1+1=2, which was something that was deliberately said some four years ago when revision of heroics first came up with 4.0.

Edited November 20, 2019 by sentientomega

Yes, they are in the solo tab; you're taken to the terminal, which lists the heroics. The terminal doesn't send you to another terminal with a "Thou shalt not solo these" tag on them, they are supposed to be soloable.

Please, I hate it when people confuse things themselves and then try to use their confusion as an argument. Of course they are soloable but that's not the same is it being designed as solo content or easy. Let's not forget that the thread here is about the OP claiming that SM means it should be easy for everyone.

Unless BW actually comes out with a public statement saying that heroics aren't supposed to be soloable in any way, shape, or form, you're not going to convince me that they shouldn't be, just because you don't think they should be, which is how it's sounding, frankly.

Again, they are soloable but they are not easy SM content as per the topic of this thread.

No-one's equating Heroics with story content, but they're the only real solo grind we have. They need not to be more like NiM Ops...

Again I've asked the OP what the content is he's struggling with that is SM. He hasn't been willing to share that. Someone else mentioned H2s and I dismissed those on the grounds of them not being intended as "easy SM" content which AGAIN is what the thread is about.

H2=1 player, 1 companion, 1+1=2, which was something that was deliberately said some four years ago when revision of heroics first came up with 4.0.

Which is odd since normal quests are also for 1 player and 1 companion so it makes no sense to make that distinction... but I'll accept that because BW does more illogical things in that respect. As long as you agree that Heroics do not fall under the header of "easy SM content" then we are on the same page as far as what this thread is about.

I suppose that'd depend on how reasonable you're willing to be about how hard any solo grind should be...

 

You want it to be tough? You should get that, but not at my expense.

 

I want it easy? I should get that, but, likewise, not at your expense.

 

BW has all the tools it needs to expand the scope of actual difficulty options, it's about time they acted on that positively.

 

In my posts, I've listed some ways in which they could do that, and channeled other posters' ways.

 

You know, they could also just make GSI droids available to everyone, almost everywhere. It's not like anyone *has* to use it, but it'd be a nice backup.

 

But, you know what? Even if a system was in place so that as many players as possible could enjoy all the content in the way that each wanted, there would still be someone saying "Game is too easy", just to make trouble for those who get to enjoy things easier.

 

There is no reason to adopt an exclusionary attitude, it just isn't right. And for this game in particular, because it is Star Wars, and EA and the devs need to stop giving prospective new players and current casual/solo/casual solo players all the vibes of "you're about as welcome as waterborne disease" for that very reason of it being Star Wars.

Edited November 20, 2019 by sentientomega

Heroics were designed to be a group activity, and were far more difficult to solo + comp before 4.0 (at level). This is also why you get more loot for being in a group doing heroics.

But, you know what? Even if a system was in place so that as many players as possible could enjoy all the content in the way that each wanted, there would still be someone saying "Game is too easy", just to make trouble for those who get to enjoy things easier.

 

There is no reason to adopt an exclusionary attitude, it just isn't right. And for this game in particular, because it is Star Wars, and EA and the devs need to stop giving prospective new players and current casual/solo/casual solo players all the vibes of "you're about as welcome as waterborne disease" for that very reason of it being Star Wars.

 

You seem to have a very paranoid attitude to people, thinking they are out to get you and spoil your fun.

 

Quite frankly every heroic is soloable in this game. At least to my knowledge. And I see no exclusionary attitude in this game. So not sure what your getting at.

 

Tbh, SWTOR has lost more veteran players and put off more new players with how easy the game is than it has lost them because of how "hard" it is.

 

Personally I've not noticed any difference with the companions. I still think they are way to powerful but I've been around since launch and enjoyed it when you had to gear them. Was very rewarding having a good geared companion and soloing harder content.

Nice try, but your baiting attempt has failed.

 

The evidence of what I'm talking about is there for all to see, you just have to want to see it.

Edited November 20, 2019 by sentientomega