It's a testament to the combination of stupidity of some developers with numbers, and also a lack of depth on the game Bioware has created, that leads you to experience such a ridiculously hard grind when starting a playthrough of the KOTET expansion on Master Mode.

 

Truthfully, as far as I've progressed through chapter one so far. It's not been that bad.

There's companion restrictions to Lana and also to Theron, and as I never bothered levelling those two in favour of creature companions, I was naturally challenged outright by using low level companions as healers.

 

The chapter one droid was annoying to beat, but with a solid knowledge of when to use interrupts, and when those interrupts were on cool down, stasis and awe (I play a sentinel), i managed to beat it within 5 cycles by using my hardest hits. I was downed on some of the other fights but its a simple case of perseverance and you get through.

 

However you end up in the tower of prophecy, as many of you may recall its the area where you and Lana fight waves of enemies until you defeat the Horizon Guard Captain, with Theron and a few mercenaries at your side as prime meat shields.

 

And this is where the level becomes absolutely toxic.

Im an endgame player, with gear all between 252 and 258. My HP is just under 140,000 points.

 

Yet I can be one hit killed by a move called Thundering Blast that deals 150k damage a hit. It can be interrupted, but unless you have fish eye vision and nine hands there's very little chance of seeing all three enemies to be able to effectively do so. I was using Force Barrier, which negates 99% of the damage dealt to your sentinel, in order to walk through the first shot, and rotate on another guard, who dies reasonably fast, in order to then focus the guard that hasn't yet used Thundering Blast, and buy myself the most time possible.

 

However that's not the end of it. Each normal attack the guards do ranges between 30k to 70k damage on a crit. So essentially at most you're dying in four shots and there's three enemies. Your companion dies in two, so you need to run to the kolto, and usually get rewarded by a 150k one hit wonder for your innovative journey.

You die so fast the game its self is pausing and going "Yo dude, you just got knocked the **** out!" every time these guys pounce.

 

The icing on the Bioware Cake is that, even if by some feat of luck you do make it past the three guards by seeking asylum at the kolto tanks, you then have a guard captain to beat who is much the same in terms of damage, completely overpowered. Bearing in mind this expansion is from a time where 258 was not the max cap and is capable of taking out a fully geared player with good knowledge of the game and mechanics, its pretty plain to see that the developers have all ready derped completely on Master Mode, and its not even half way into chapter one yet.

 

This is clearly stupid, and it should be more balanced.

Edited March 11, 2019 by sdom

First, Chapter 1 of Fallen Empire is on Darth Marr's ship. You're talking about Chapter 1 of Eternal Throne. Second, Master Mode chapters are supposed to be hard, so you're complaining that Master Mode, the hard hard-mode, is too hard for you. Third, it's known that Master Mode chapters can be pretty unforgiving to melee classes as there are several mechanics that can one-shot you. As you are clearly seeing.

 

The only advise I could offer, since I don't play Sentinel, is to exit out and feed gifts to Lana and Theron to rank them up. Master Mode chapters are intended to be done with a high level companion. You could also look online, Dulfy, Vulkk, YouTube, for guides on how to do the chapter on Master Mode.

First, Chapter 1 of Fallen Empire is on Darth Marr's ship. You're talking about Chapter 1 of Eternal Throne. Second, Master Mode chapters are supposed to be hard, so you're complaining that Master Mode, the hard hard-mode, is too hard for you. Third, it's known that Master Mode chapters can be pretty unforgiving to melee classes as there are several mechanics that can one-shot you. As you are clearly seeing.

 

The only advise I could offer, since I don't play Sentinel, is to exit out and feed gifts to Lana and Theron to rank them up. Master Mode chapters are intended to be done with a high level companion. You could also look online, Dulfy, Vulkk, YouTube, for guides on how to do the chapter on Master Mode.

 

I was waiting for someone to come out like "It's Master Mode" as though that excuses it.

 

As I've stated the one hit kill with Thundering blast is capable of taking out a player in full endgame gear completely in one shot, and this expansion was created at a time when endgame gear as we know it wasn't available yet.

That makes absolutely no sense, for the level or in terms of mechanics.

 

I wasn't aware that there were several of these mechanics, and the fact that it hits Melee classes harder. That is also, equally stupid. Its star wars. While its more an issue of gameplay than series, what movies are there that aren't about Melee classes. Star Wars is all about Melee classes, so again - its stupid, that if what you say is accurate melee classes can be singled out as having a hard time completing these Master Modes.

 

While your advice is solid on doing some research, I have to decline your suggestion as its not the point. I've all ready outlined the only possible strategy to beat them from my toon. Which is survive the first one hitter, and kill the NPC next in line to use the ability before focusing the NPC that would cast 3rd. This focus , done successfully, means they do not have the time for the one hitters. As outlined however, the problem is, you then have to beat a guard captain whom if you fail, resets the phase back to the guards, And this captain has equally out of proportion abilities.

 

A story based MM run should not be harder than a MM FP. with the exception of some of the beginner levels. That's a group MM instance. This single player MM instance is supposed to be done by a single player. Which is my basis for saying its monumental stupidity. No one can "master" a way round being killed by over powered mechanics short of changing the mechanics. It should be about knowing your class, and in no way should a rdps character have an edge over a sentinel with three defensives,

 

Edit - I corrected my error in calling it fallen empire at the beginning of this thread,

Edited March 11, 2019 by sdom

And yet people have done it, and in lower quality gear, too. One shot kill mechanics have been in this game since the begining. Master Mode chapters are setup to be more difficult for some melee classes, but people have still completed them. So when faced with the possibility that your strategy isn't working, or you're not executing it effectively, your decision is to double down instead of looking at some guides that might offer you alternatives.

There is legitimately one effective strategy for beating them on a sent, and that is it..

Are you using line of sight? Are you using heroic moment? Unity? Your threat drop? The kolto stations? You can LoS the Horizon Guards with the stairs, which is the only way to break their blast. You say you're using the one and only strategy for Sentinel's in MM ET Chapter 1. I'm skeptical.

Are you using line of sight? Are you using heroic moment? Unity? Your threat drop? The kolto stations? You can LoS the Horizon Guards with the stairs, which is the only way to break their blast. You say you're using the one and only strategy for Sentinel's in MM ET Chapter 1. I'm skeptical.

 

Yes I know how to LoS. It can be effective but its getting to the stairs that's hard.

Then there's getting back from the stairs to the kolto, which as mentioned in the OP, of course im using.

Unity - No idea what that is. I'm going for the answer - "game engine", to which my response is: "possibly not".

Threat drop - don't have any on a sentinel.

And as for heroic moment, thats a great idea, if my companion would stay alive long enough after force barrier to make it possible to pop.

I can feel your frustration and I can tell you: Especially as a melee class this game pushes you in the master-mode-chapters to the limit. But as you already said: It's about mechanics, right timing and using all bonuses, the game gives you.

 

So check out, that you have everything active or ready to use:

 

- best stim and adrenal

- healing-"potion" for you AND you companion

- level 50-companion (at least level 30+ which is easily to achieve with only green gifts from the fleet)

- for very hard fights start your "heroic moment" at the begin of the fight - it not only gives you high-dps-skills, it also heals you for the hole time - even if you companion is already dead

- use "unity" (you get this legacy-skill when you reach "light 5" with any char) when you companion is down to 50% or you can not avoid a very high damaging attack. "unity" gives you AND you companion 50% damage reduction for some seconds

- turn you companion on and off if there are huge aoe-damage-areas, so he/she walks out of them

- use line of sight as much as you can for breaking channeled attacks

- sometimes it is better to have the companion on dps and not healing to get these 3 seconds more burst you need to kill the enemy

 

I am sure, that i forgot some points. But you get the picture, right? So stop whining and go out there, Outlander (sic!), and hunt that Vailin to the end of the galaxy!

Yes I know how to LoS. It can be effective but its getting to the stairs that's hard.

Then there's getting back from the stairs to the kolto, which as mentioned in the OP, of course im using.

Unity - No idea what that is. I'm going for the answer - "game engine", to which my response is: "possibly not".

Threat drop - don't have any on a sentinel.

 

And yet these are the strategies that people in lower quality gear used to complete that chapter in Master Mode. As far as Sentinel having a threat drop. Force Camouflage.

Master mode is suppose to be extremely difficult, I've beaten master mode with horrible gear. Sure its frustrating but it can be done. As someone mentioned raise up Lana and Theron with gifts, and master mode is extremely difficult for melee classes

Unity - No idea what that is. I'm going for the answer - "game engine", to which my response is: "possibly not".

Of course it's not referring to the game engine. Why would people be talking about a game engine here, especially one that SWTOR doesn't use?

 

It's referring to the legacy-unlocked ability you get on all characters when you first get a character to Light V. (You don't have to *keep* the character at Light V, and it's even available to characters who are at Dark V.)

 

When cast, it puts a 15-second buff on the player character and the companion that gives 50% damage reduction.

OP, I've beaten both KotFE and KotET on Veteran mode (or whatever the middle difficulty was called) with a sorcerer in 220/224 gear and with companions that don't go above level 20 (most of the time they were also set as dps or tank). Could the difficulty of the chapters been handled better than just ramping up the dps output of the enemies? Absolutely. But things are what they are. So either suck it up and keep trying until you beat it, or lower the difficulty.