Warning there will be spoilers ahead!!!

Yesterday I started JUS as a JC since I heard Nadia and Zenith were returning. Previously I sided with the empire on Iokath due to my relationship with Lana, but felt bad for Theron due to Jace Malcom's death, which went away with Crisis on Umbara, Traitor Among the Chiss, and then I put it behind me with The Nathema Conspiray. But after going through all the dialogue options with Lana I was unsure which side to go forward with.

So instead I played as my Sith Warrior with the empire, got all kinds of great loot, 242 (modifications inside wow!!!), got Jaesa back, broke up with her, gently, kept her around to get the achievement of killing said number of enemies with her, had a few new romantic moments with Lana, and got messages from my pub companions-allies, who seemed conflicted but fine with my decision to stay with the empire. But other players didn't seem to have such a good time at least going off the general chat on Ossus. I understood some of their frustrations but it seemed in just a few hours since release everybody was completely pissed which disheartened me.

But what did you guys think? What faction did you side with? Did you reconnect with companions romantic or otherwise? What did you think of Ossus in the game compared to the old EU books and comics? What messages did you receive? Did you like Ossus as much as Makeb or Ziost? Do you think we're due for a whole new era of great gaming like those worlds implied?

Let me know!!! In particular any pubs who allied with the Empire!!!!

Please keep the discussion the Civil and May the Force be with you!!!

One thing to note, it's Nadia and Doc returning. We've still had no word about Zenith that I'm aware of.

I went through as a Jedi Knight, sided with the Republic. I like being the goody two shoes, what can I say hehe. She reunited with Doc so yay and it was actually nice to see he got a little tiny bit of story time. Heard a little bit about Kira and Scourge so also nice. It was also nice to see Nadia as a more mature individual. I look forward to her interaction with my Consulars. As to the story itself, typical Jedi vs. Sith blah blah *snore*. I mean, I liked it well enough from the Republic side and I know some people are happy to return to it but ... *snore*.

The only thing I was actually disappointed about though was the return of a certain someone. I really wish the writers would just let the dead stay dead - but even then it's just a mild disappointment and nothing I'm actually angry about.

So, overall it was enjoyable enough and once they get some of these companion issues squared away I'll happily take other characters through. I have one character who is sticking with the Empire so I'll see that side of it. I have others who will become saboteurs so I'll see that side of it as well.

I thought visually that Ossus was quite interesting. One of the things I've always liked about SWTOR is that all of the planets have a distinct look to them. Ossus is also does not seem to be so packed with trash mobs that it feels like a slog to travel although that might be just b/c there were a lot of people there keeping the place cleaned up. There was only one daily quest that I found irritating. I went there with a character in all 230 gear and the difficulty felt fine. I think the weekly and overall caps for the Ossus relics are too low.

So far I've only completed the Ossus story with a Republic-loyal consular. I enjoyed it. The planet is beautiful - feels like a place very suited to my consular. I found Tau and Daerunn really well-written, particularly considering they only had a few conversations to establish their personalities. I kind fell in love with both of them just a little bit, so serious kudos to their writer(s). And it was amaaaaaaazing to meet Master Gnost-Dural. He was written beautifully too, very consistently with his portrayal in the Annihilation novel (speaking of which, A+ on the little callbacks to that with Theron). I'd say the only thing that stuck in my throat a little was Daerunn being all "we know of one member of the jedi council..." while my consular, a literal member of the council, is standing right there, lol. I mean I know she's been cut off from the jedi for years, so she's not exactly what he's looking for in this context of finding the missing jedi, but still, it wasn't her choice to get frozen. She still thinks of herself as a council member. Oh well.

Was great to see Nadia again and for my consular to meet Doc for the first time. It was especially sweet how Nadia gushed that everything was going to be fine now her old master, the Barsen'thor, had arrived. It did feel a bit weird though that the consular didn't react at all to Nadia being there - the consular was written as so laser-focused on the mission that she didn't even have a chance to be surprised or happy or anything else on being reunited with her old padawan.

Anyway, once it was over, we got the chance for that chat when Nadia arrived on Odessen. And the various letters from Alliance members were great to receive. I think the choices of who "stays" and who "goes" largely made sense (though clearly that's from a story point of view; gameplay-wise they all stayed in my list). Talos is very loyal to the Empire, so of course he would go - but I appreciate how he says the consular can call on him for anything that isn't opposing the Empire (which I suppose is the justification for leaving him in the companion list). Whereas I don't think Vette has ever had massive love for the Empire, just some people in it, so naturally she would stay.

The experience would've been improved by some content related to my consular's husband, Felix, but she got nothing on that front, not even a letter. But perhaps the absence of a letter does mean that even though he feels abandoned by the Republic he remains more strongly opposed to the Empire. Maybe if she'd sided with the Empire she would've received a letter in that case. Well, I won't read too much into it (trying to interpret something from nothing isn't a good plan). I just do sorta wish the opening scene with Lana had been with him instead. When he came back, something that clearly stood out to him was the beauty of Odessen - a real change after the place he'd been for five years. So I have been imagining that they'd go out for a lot of walks in the wilds, with the beautiful trees and waterfalls, to help him recover physically and mentally. Then getting a scene in that environment with Lana was kinda... ouch.

I appreciate that Lana has been placed in the role of our second-in-command, plus she's one of the few companions who'll always be alive in every scenario, so it makes an amount of sense for the conversation about who to side with might be with her, but I'd rather the beautifully lit scene in the wilderness was for a romanced character (so it would still be with Lana if she's the PC's LI) and the rest of us had a more neutral scene with Lana. I know Bioware streamlines a lot of things to save money and dev time so that's unlikely to happen, but still... It feels like there's a lot of rewards in terms of screentime for those who romance Lana and not so much for everyone else. Plus Lana "reaching out to her SIS contacts" made me roll my eyes and laugh, when she's not exactly the person in the Alliance one might expect to have the most contacts there. It was especially ridiculous with my SIS-loyal agent (I've just done the first couple of conversations with her), since Lana comments that the SIS has been trying to for ages to recruit the agent but she (Lana) has been rebuffing them. My agent who's been working for the SIS since her class story is just standing there thinking "excuse me???", particularly since the Nathema story already forced Lana to be standing right there when Shara Jenn / Watcher Two / Keeper flat-out said my agent had been working for the Republic for years.

So... the broad strokes of Jedi Under Siege were great. Stunning visuals. The new characters were excellent. I liked the companion reaction letters and Nadia's return. But there are a lot of little individual moments where the lack of reactivity to past choices is very jarring.

Copy/Paste of my response in another thread -

The Imperial storyline was much more interesting. I'm not thrilled that they pulled yet another resurrection card from the deck (*sigh*), but might as well make the best of it, and Malgus was interesting in the way he presented himself. I couldn't stand Malora, but I definitely enjoyed that my Sith Inquisitor could lay into her pretty good about being weak. I know someone said that Malora became a recruitable companion, but that never happened for me...which is fine, because I guess my SI was just mean enough to her.

I also really liked that my character stood up to Malgus, wouldn't bow to him, and THE SNARK. I loved that she could give him all the snark. I also enjoyed the bit of fangirling going around with the troops. I'm not sure if all Imperial classes got it, but it meant a bit more for the SI knowing that she was a Dark Councilor before too. There was some political talk with the Major that was interesting.

The only thing that really bugged me was that our contact was a droid, while the Republic side gets Jonas. It just felt like that even though our characters are OMG SO IMPORTANT, we were given a droid. Like Acina couldn't even be bothered to send someone worthy of our time. But we're so important and equals...being leaders of our own faction and all. She should be kissing our patooties...you know, considering we still control Iokath and all those droid factories, and our assistance is the only thing that's going to give them enough of an edge to win the war. Malgus was the only one that felt genuine in his treatment of an equal. (Again, I'm not sure if that plays true for someone who isn't a Sith.) It also bugged me in the end when the Sith Inquisitor (or any character, I'm assuming) is like "I'm here to serve, Empress..." NO YOU'RE NOT! You were an Empress yourself, Lelu! Don't show your belly to her! She's only there because she was literally the last one standing. Where was the pattootie-kissing Acina from the KOTET storyline?

Oh, yes...and I forgot about Pyron. That felt like a burn for my SI.

I just hope that there's more development later about my more political SI getting involved again. And there's no way she's going back to being a peon. I'm looking forward to learning more about what's going on with Malgus (that look of fear in his eyes stuck with me)...and I'm almost wondering if he's going to be a victim in the end. Acina kinda feels...different...like I'm wondering if she's going to be a big baddie at some point.

I've only done Republic side yet. Will be doing my Sith and Agent today for Imperial. I thought the story was really quick. It just seemed in less than an hour I was done.

My Knight had options to keep asking for Doc to come with her and they kept making reasons for him to not come along so I was stuck with the Amazonian girl. She was an interesting character though. There were some odd flirt scenes like the one with the rhinoceros general. Tai or whatever her name is sends a mail about the general apparently flirting with her as well.

The other mail I got was different. I had some people say they were leaving my alliance now, others asserting their continued commitment, and some just complaining that Lana is prying into their lives. Theron also sent a short letter about his jedi friend. The letter from Doc was the most interesting because he talks about Kira and Scourge.

Honestly, I think the one from Theron and Doc should have been actual conversations, but oh well...

Taking a page out of Dracofish's book and copying my reply to a different thread here.

I give the expansion a 7/10. I'm not thrilled to be forced back into the Imp/Pub war, but at least I'm not a lacky. I've done it 3 times (loyalist for both sides and a double agent against the Empire). It took me a little bit to remember where Malora was from (didn't figure that one out until I ran my main who has done almost every quest available). She's....changed....

Storywise, it was only ok. Not their best work, but not a whole lot of plot holes (yet) either.

I like the two new companion(ish) characters, and getting Jaesa and Nadia back was cool (Nadia looks so cute now). I've only run Warriors and a Consular so far, so I haven't seen the others yet.

I played both sides as a Loyalist, and I think the Republic storyline is more streamlined. Malora is not that interesting, although, to be fair, she does seems to be in way over her head in Ossus. I don't know, maybe I was expecting... more? I quite liked the twi'lek Major. Wished we could have more scenes together. Didn't care one bit for "the Return", but... meh, I'll play along for now.

Doc and Nadia are great in the colony base. I loved to see how both of them have grown and matured (yes, even Doc). Tau and Master Gnost-Dural are awesome. The dynamic and the interplay there between them is very well written.

As for the grind... eh. I won't go into that rabbit hole again. I don't do MM Ops and I don't PvP anymore, so whatever. I'll just skip this mad grind and wait for 6.0 to drop.

Loved it on the Republic side. I main a JK so it was a natural continuation of her story. I gotta tell ya, SWTOR really is her game. Just the way the stories have flowed.

This felt like old school BW writing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm going to play through it on my SI tonight so I might have a different perspective. I also need to play through on my edgelord SW who basically left no one alive. He's got like five or so companions

Looking forward to reuniting with DS Jaessa.

That which is dead should stay dead. I am really hopefully its not going to be another Revan Reborn where they go from having something of a legacy to being a mockery of their former self.

As for the experience, it was good. I am very disappointed with the Dark Side Jaesa return, bugs and how it was handled it can only be done once Jedi Under Siege is completed by the looks of things yet you meet in a now destroyed throne room and seems to be so far removed from events its anyones wonder what she is talking about.

The actual story though was good, a nice teaser. But it only works as a teaser, the daily area doesn't seem to work with the conclusion of the story which was a shame. So it needs to be followed up with galactic war, as if taken as a stand alone story it didn't have much of a conclusion, while the e-mails were a nice touch it was strange to get them mostly from people I don't care about and not from the companions whose opinions I would like to know what they thought.

That which is dead should stay dead. I am really hopefully its not going to be another Revan Reborn where they go from having something of a legacy to being a mockery of their former self.

 

As for the experience, it was good. I am very disappointed with the Dark Side Jaesa return, bugs and how it was handled it can only be done once Jedi Under Siege is completed by the looks of things yet you meet in a now destroyed throne room and seems to be so far removed from events its anyones wonder what she is talking about.

 

The actual story though was good, a nice teaser. But it only works as a teaser, the daily area doesn't seem to work with the conclusion of the story which was a shame. So it needs to be followed up with galactic war, as if taken as a stand alone story it didn't have much of a conclusion, while the e-mails were a nice touch it was strange to get them mostly from people I don't care about and not from the companions whose opinions I would like to know what they thought.

I honestly don't think Jedi Under Siege is meant to be taken as a stand alone story but more as a prelude to the next actual expansion. We might get another story bit here and there that continues with the setup but I wouldn't expect anything major until the expansion.

One thing I forgot to mention, there was a pretty powerful moment when Tau(?) kills some imperial soldiers and pauses, saying that these aren't mutated Geonosians. These are people, and it was different. Coupled with her backstory about the Sith who jumped aboard her transport on Corellia and killed her companions and the grisly way she killed him , this was actually quite powerful.

As you and her walk away, the camera lingers on the body of the dead soldier before cutting to black.

I was like, "Whoa."

I've only done the Imp story so far.

This feedback is mainly about story. I've discussed gear in other threads.

There were some nice moments in the story. There were a couple class-specific nods to our character, which always makes me happy. It was neat that previous choices were taken into consideration and had a flavour effect on the story. Old story characters showing up was cool and made the world feel more real. Some areas of Ossus look great, especially the library. It was good to be back with our classic faction again, and cool that we could pick faction, but it should've been something that is reflected in-game.

As with KotFEET (and to lesser degree areas of older content), there were also two recurring and related things that I find very bothersome.

1: Our player character, despite having done great things in the past, often appears like a side-kick to (weaker) NPCs, or a child coddled and led by (weaker) NPCs. There were way too few cool independent moments befitting their character. When our PC got a dialogue like "No, I'm doing it this way", they usually got shut down by NPCs basically saying "no" and that's that. That could maybe work for certain non-force using classes depending on the NPC, but for example a Sith Lord as powerful as the PC would not take that. They would take charge and boss the others around. (Like we saw a certain NPC do.) For any actual choice, they got coddled and led to by NPCs, like a child. It's annoying and immersion breaking.

2: A one story that is meant to fit all classes. It ends up not fitting many (and often none). Force-users end up looking weak, not using their force powers, and being talked down to by NPCs, unable to retaliate. A powerful Sith Lord would not use bombs to open doors, as we had to in one mission -- they'd use the force! Everyone is called "Commander"; I was really hoping we could finally go back to being My Lord, Agent, Captain, Jedi Master etc again this time around! I'm tired of "the Alliance" and have been since early KotFE. I don't like being treated like an outsider in my faction. The Alliance fits some characters, but not all.

I wish that instead of putting so much resources into making cutscenes where NPCs appear awesome, you would put more into making class-customised dialogues and cutscenes where our player character appears fittingly powerful. That's what I want to see: my lovely characters being awesome and being the class they are.

Other than that, the story felt strange at times. I was left with questions, but I realise this is just the beginning, so not really bothered by it. Overall, it was an experience mixed of both disappointment and joy.

Interested to see more, and hoping for more of the good stuff in the future.

My reaction is pretty simple - a patch that doesn't allow me to play not only the new content, but breaks even the base game is pure BS!

I'm probably going to regret this but, huh?

I'm probably going to regret this but, huh?

Quite simple - travelling to any planet other than Odessaan, Zakuul, Hutta, Korriban or Iokath result in a 100% crash to desktop.

Same. I had fun! Thought the "return" was cheesy and illogical though, but the execution was well done and had plenty of "cool" factor to it. I liked the new characters.

Was VERY pleased with a return of a NPC character in the SI story class, same with a companion. I am hoping some of the conversations I had with the Major were previews of storylines to come that seemed to harken back to my original class story. If that is the case, it would make me very happy!

Strongly considering forgoing the gear grind. I am not going to be forced to doing MM Gods of the Machine. Too many raiders have quit and wipes are just not fun. The drop rate for 252 is insanely low from crates. The masterwork DC's, I have yet to hear of anyone getting one. So CXP is officially useless. Just not sure it is worth it. Too much work for too infrequent and too random a reward.

I went through the Empire side and enjoyed it. Loved "the return" and the undertones of things to come. Like the daily area. Not sure on the gearing seems too grindy but keeping an open mind for now.

One thing I forgot to mention, there was a pretty powerful moment when Tau(?) kills some imperial soldiers and pauses, saying that these aren't mutated Geonosians. These are people, and it was different. Coupled with her backstory about the Sith who jumped aboard her transport on Corellia and killed her companions and the grisly way she killed him , this was actually quite powerful.

 

As you and her walk away, the camera lingers on the body of the dead soldier before cutting to black.

 

I was like, "Whoa."

I also thought this was a very powerful moment. The writer(s) accomplished a lot with Tau in just a few short scenes.

I wish that instead of putting so much resources into making cutscenes where NPCs appear awesome, you would put more into making class-customised dialogues and cutscenes where our player character appears fittingly powerful. That's what I want to see: my lovely characters being awesome and being the class they are.

^ This.

Bioware - This guy/gal gets it.

All The Best

As of Day 1, I really enjoy Ossus. I haven't had this much pve fun (non-ops) since Yavin and Oricon. The only downside I have is that it's easier than the PTS was... and I was in full 258's there. A few other observations below:

• On my first toon I decided to do the story mission on the pvp instance as a stealther. In hindsight, I should have done the Ossus storyline on a PvE instance, because taking Tau as a level 1 comp helped me to lose a few battles. I don't really regret it though because there was so much OWPvP everywhere that I practically had tears of joy. Once I finished the storyline, I was able to bring a real companion.

  
  

• The world bosses are wonky. I defeated both but didn't complete the mission -- I'm not even sure if I got credit for one of the bosses because the mission doesn't list them separately.

  
  

• Ossus is -- seemingly -- gimmick free! No silly hotbars, or reinvent-the-wheel missions where you play as a walker or mouse droid. Good old classic SWTOR missions. Ahhhhhhh!

  
  

Saw Theron for 2 seconds. No Aric or other LIs except returning Doc who you hardly see. Likely to get bored very quickly if thats howmits going to be from now on moving forwards.

THIS. The bricking is real, and I'm tired of it. I can't make myself care about the story or the characters anymore because EA's devs cheap out on creating content for LIs with a kill option, so all the NPCs I actually like end up taken away in favor of their Star Wars waifu Lana. I've always liked Lana, but that's starting to change now that she continues to be shoved in everyone's face while Theron gets one single line and other LIs don't put in any appearances in the new story.

Between that and the fact EA refused to beta test their story content, I still haven't started Ossus yet. I haven't wanted to bork anything up in case there's another hotfix patch soon. I've just been reading the forums and listening to my friends. Nothing I've heard from anyone has made me want to rush to play it--especially the new extra-grindy gear treadmill that will no doubt be made obsolete when an actual expansion will drop. And the set bonuses of the new 252 gear don't stack with the bonuses of the 248 gear, so if you want to keep your set bonus with better numbers you have to acquire 6 whole pieces of the new set! And the fact you're required to PvP for a PvE planet weekly is just wretched. The gear grind is bad enough without forcing players to do something many of them hate.