TLDR up front: My elderly mother managed to get the One and Only achievement after 6 hours in a star fortress. She had to improve her game to get the victory, and has learned new skills as a result of the experience. I, who am bored to tears with how easy the game is, was amazed by how difficult she found it and have a greater appreciation for why Bioware has made the game so much easier--so people like her can play.

 

So my 63 year old mother plays this game and loves it. Lately she's been trying to get through the Star Fortresses because she wants to see all the story. I've been carrying her through them on all 8 characters because she's not the most skilled player. In fact, she'll often just spam a class's targeted ground AoE because rotations are too confusing for her.

 

So she calls me up today, extremely excited because she just got the One and Only achievement. She beat the Tatooine Exarch on her Marksman sniper, who is decked out entirely in 190 greens, 178 blues, and no relics. I was dumbfounded.

 

As she tells it,

 

She used Heroic Moment to defeat the Praetorian and the ambush room, and didn't kill Paladins since they're too hard.

 

On the last part of the sun reactor, she used Heroic Moment and DCDs to survive until the Exarch summoned the droid, killed it with heroic abilities, looted it, then died. Wait 5 minutes, do it again, die. Wait 5 minutes, send the companion in, drain the Exarch twice, hit the console, die.

 

It took her 4 hours to kill the Exarch. Not to clear the Star Fortress. Just to clear the Exarch. Her gear is so bad that the companion drew aggro and promptly died. She had to use Unity to keep the companion up, then use Heroic Moment to deal enough damage to pull, then use DCDs to stay alive until the Exarch switched to using ground aoes that she could run out of. At that point it was just a matter of staying out of the red and hitting basic attack/overload shot until he died.

 

The entire Star Fortress run, from meeting the contact to killing the Exarch, took 6 hours.

 

Here's the thing: she learned how to stay out of the fire from this adventure. She learned how to use defensive cooldowns in ways that would help her companion and herself. She never learned a rotation, but she learned not to use suppression fire all the time. She's still bad, but this run made her a little less bad. As much as I lament how easy the game has become, it brings a smile on my face to hear her talk about becoming a "Galactic Hero" by clearing all the heroics and how excited she was now that she beat the Exarch. These things would be out of her reach prior to KotFE.

 

Of course the next time she called, I wasn't smiling so much. "Sorry to bother you, but could you help me with this quest? I need to go to this place called Oricon...."

That's a pretty cool story, actually.

 

I doubt my own mother would have the perseverance to pull through something like that in a video game.

I think shes bada**. Big time, kudos to her!

I think shes bada**. Big time, kudos to her!

 

This!

I think shes bada**. Big time, kudos to her!

Yeah, really. Beating an Exarch in that kind of gear! And having the persistence to spend that much time doing it. And having the self-awareness to learn how to overcome the gear.

Wow ! She's an example to any elite player !

 

Zorz should invite her !

Edited April 8, 2016 by AlrikFassbauer

Tell your grandmother she is truly a woman not to be reckon with. I don't think I could stay for 6 hours and play that. I am truly impressed with her time she has put in for that achievement, and learning new things. I'm glad to know that she's enjoying the game over all.

This should be a sticky post for all of the crybabies asking for content nerfs since they can't beat it in full 224 from KP/EV.

 

If your mother can do it, those young bastards surely can do it, too.

But she's a bada**, true that.

So she calls me up today, extremely excited because she just got the One and Only achievement. She beat the Tatooine Exarch on her Marksman sniper, who is decked out entirely in 190 greens, 178 blues, and no relics. I was dumbfounded.

 

Okay. I consider myself a fairly good player. And soloing an Exarch without any Alliance abilities, without any Alliance buffs, and 190 green/178 blue gear with no relics would something I'd shy away from. New nickname for your mother - Senior Indomitable.

 

As my Dad would say, growing old ain't for the faint of heart.

Edited May 3, 2016 by AshlaBoga