Initially I was happy with the recent changes to conquest. Adding more objectives made it possible for me to complete my personal conquest while doing activities that I enjoy. However, at the time I didn't realize that every single conquest objective gives a massive amount of xp, often more than double the amount of conquest points.

 

Personally I play this game in order to enjoy the story missions from 1-50. Normally I like to do the planetary missions, side missions, exploratory missions, and space missions as well, but since the changes to conquest, even just doing the class story and nothing else, even skipping most bonus missions and stealthing through most of the enemies, I end up outleveling every zone before I even get there.

 

Before anyone says anything, yes, I know there's a double xp event right now. I'm using the white acute module, and have confirmed that it is working and that I am not gaining double xp. I was pretty puzzled as to why I was leveling up so much faster than usual until I noticed that the conquest objectives, which I unavoidably earn just from playing, were the culprit.

 

I want to be able to level up via missions, not conquest. It's not fun for me to have to skip 95% of the game's content while leveling. It's even less fun for me to have to skip 95% of the game's content and still be overleveled in every zone, making every fight trivially easy. Here are some suggestions as to how Bioware could fix this:

 

1) Add an option to turn off xp gain from conquest. If selected, no conquest objectives will grant xp.

2) Add an option to turn off conquest entirely (per character). I would gladly give up conquest rewards in order to be able to play through more missions at the appropriate level.

3) Create some method of pausing xp gain, such as can be found in WoW.

4) Create an item that slows down xp gain by 50% or more, like the opposite of an xp boost.

5) Have every zone scale to every level like in ESO (I imagine this is unlikely due to difficulty).

 

I don't want to take anything away from those who like to level fast. But there really, really, really needs to be at least ONE option to NOT speedlevel. I love this game, but I am incredibly discouraged right now.

It's not fun for me to have to skip 95% of the game's content while leveling

What law says you must skip?

 

I am building up a new legacy on an alt account. That means I don't have all the class stories completed. That means to get the achievements for completing the class stories, I must complete each and every single class planet quest and companion story arc.

 

I just hit 70 on Belsavis.

Via level sync, combat is still competitive despite me being dozens of levels higher than the mobs.

 

Level is irrelevant until 75. Doesn't matter if you're 10 or 70 on a given planet, you can still do what you need to do, and there's nothing at all demanding that you skip content for being over leveled. That's what planet level sync permits.

 

So I'm telling you now, I'm crawling just fine through all of the class stories, one class story arc at a time, leveling fast. But I'm not skipping content. I have literally played hundreds of characters over the years from level 1 to max level, both with and without planet sync, and to be honest, I can't really tell that much of a difference.

 

Make a mountain out of it if you wish, but there are people crawling through every last detail of every last class story, leveling like crazy... and doing just fine.

Edited May 8, 2020 by xordevoreaux

If you don't notice any difference from being overleveled, I'm happy for you, but it's extremely noticeable to me. Considering that I've seen people complain about final bosses on Korriban &c. being level 13, I don't think I'm the only one who's ever noticed it.

If you don't notice any difference from being overleveled, I'm happy for you, but it's extremely noticeable to me. Considering that I've seen people complain about final bosses on Korriban &c. being level 13, I don't think I'm the only one who's ever noticed it.

 

You still haven't explained the reasoning behind believing you must skip content for being overleveled. Nothing says you must skip it.

Edited May 8, 2020 by xordevoreaux

I didn't say I have to skip it, period. I said I have to skip it if I don't want to outlevel the content, which, although you may not mind it, is something which makes the game less fun for me.

I didn't say I have to skip it, period. I said I have to skip it if I don't want to outlevel the content, which, although you may not mind it, is something which makes the game less fun for me.

 

Even without frequent conquest points and double xp, I routinely outlevel content, starting with the starting planet. My main account? Practically every datacron acquired. Legacy perks including all classes completed, meaning my hour-long buffs are at max. I'd have to work NOT to overlevel, even before 6.1.1. And for what?

 

So don't blame double xp and frequest conquest points on your over-levelling.

 

For people with old accounts and lots of legacy achievements and perks, outgrowing content is standard, but with planet sync, it's not horrid. You only out-level the earliest mobs that you encounter, not the last before you leave your starter planet.

I didn't say I have to skip it, period. I said I have to skip it if I don't want to outlevel the content, which, although you may not mind it, is something which makes the game less fun for me.

 

Your exact words were "not fun for me to have to skip"

So yes, you did say you have to, which the point I took up, which is the point I'm disagreeing with. Everything else is just all over the board.

Edited May 8, 2020 by xordevoreaux

True, even before the recent changes it was not possible to do every mission without overleveling. However, I could still at least do the planetary story arcs, and maybe a few others here and there. With the changes to conquest, I'm now getting about double the xp from just doing the class missions, so I had to cut all of those out if I wanted to maintain the same rate of leveling, which I do.

 

I'm not sure why you're so invested in telling me I shouldn't care about something just because you don't care about it, or why you're so hostile to my suggestions when they wouldn't harm you or anyone at all.

I'm not sure why you're so invested in telling me I shouldn't care about something just because you don't care about it, or why you're so hostile to my suggestions when they wouldn't harm you or anyone at all.

 

Far be it for the devs to get some skewed notion that now everyone's skipping story content for fear of leveling, and that therefore something must be done to nerf anything whatsoever, so I provided a counter-example to your argument by showing that there are in fact people who are happy to level however fast they may while still doing all manner of class story, companion story arc, and planetary arcs. In other words...not skipping a thing.

I want to be able to level up via missions, not conquest. It's not fun for me to have to skip 95% of the game's content while leveling. It's even less fun for me to have to skip 95% of the game's content and still be overleveled in every zone, making every fight trivially easy.

 

Relative levels make almost no difference to the difficulty of combat in the class story. BW opted a while ago to make progressing the class story easy to the point that your level doesn't matter. I stealthed through the Operative's class story, which led to regularly being several levels below enemies. I was only 46 when I finished the story. Fights against mobs 6 levels higher than me were difficult because they were literally impossible - you miss 100% of the time where the level gap is 6+. All other combat was trivial to the degree that I could have got up from my computer, made myself a cup of coffee, come back, and the fight would be over.

 

I do wish that the combat in the class story missions wasn't so meaningless, at least for instanced areas. It does somewhat cheapen the story when you go up against someone who is meant to be a big bad but who dies in the blink of an eye. You also don't learn how to play your class while levelling. That's the way the game is currently designed though. If you want to make the the story at all challenging, you will have to do something unusual to weaken yourself like making your companion passive or not using all your abilities.

You can use the white Acute module buff available from a vendor on the fleet to essentially “turn off” double XP while it’s active. But, that doesn’t seem to work for conquest XP.

 

If you are doing normal lvling activity like quests, pvp or flash points, the double XP from “those” rewards or kills is set to normal (aka, no double XP) when using the WAM.

 

The issue is with so many extra things added to conquest, you get all those extra XP rewards each time you achieve something, which is every other minute.

 

I am not complaining about the conquest points themselves because they drop at reasonable rate. No, the problem as I see it is how much XP those activities reward.

 

Now because they dropped the new conquest in and double XP at the same time, it’s hard to know how much XP conquest activities should be giving normally. And with my short testing with the White Acute Module (WAM), it seems the XP (for conquest) doesn’t change with it on or off.

 

Which begs the questions.

1. Are conquest activities getting double XP and the WAM doesn’t work to turn off double XP for them?

Or

2. Are XP rewards from conquest activities excluded from double XP and they are just providing too many to start with?

 

Of course, this isn’t a problem for everyone and really depends on how you play the game.

ie, if you are someone who likes playing lowbie pvp, you can lvl too fast during double XP. To get around that you only had to apply the WAM to your character. But with the changes to conquest, this has less affect in slowing down your XP lvling than it has in the past.

 

Obviously the fix could be to make the WAM turn off double XP in conquest or totally turn off XP in conquest if people prefer no XP from conquest rewards (that could stay available even when a double XP event isn’t on)

You get adjusted to a lower level once you start out-leveling the planet content. There's really no issue to be had. You could always opt not to gear up or get your skills. I think that's the only difference while leveling.

 

You could always do a naked run if you want. You sound like a masochist that would like that.

You get adjusted to a lower level once you start out-leveling the planet content. There's really no issue to be had. You could always opt not to gear up or get your skills. I think that's the only difference while leveling.

 

You could always do a naked run if you want. You sound like a masochist that would like that.

 

It’s not a gear / stats issue for many players. It’s the amount of extra abilities, both passive and active ones you get as you lvl up.

Remember, all of this content was designed around you only having certain abilities at certain Lvls.

So when you have extra abilities, the content actually gets easier even if you don’t use all the active ones because you get passive ones as well. This does make the content easier even if you run around naked. There is no easy way around that if you want to play the game as it was designed.

With the changes to conquest, I'm now getting about double the xp from just doing the class missions

Do not blame that on Conquest.

 

Alongside the changes to Conquest, 6.1.1 *also* activated a period of "double" levelling XP and Renown XP for everything. This was originally intended to run until mid-May, but with the problems they had with the Bounty event that week, they extended "double" XP until 12 June.

What level you are really doesn't impact nor should it impact one's enjoyment of the game. The level sync still makes it competitive and overall, the level has no influence on any of the story content nor its progression. Heck, I don't even bother leveling, I just use a boost to level 70 token the moment I get to the Imperial or Republic Fleet. By the time I finish the capital planets, I'm level 75 (and I do all the missions that I encounter).

 

The level of your character shouldn't have an impact on how you enjoy the story of the game. If I were you, I'd simply learn to accept it that leveling goes fast and focus on the story and content you are playing.

I really want to say "Much ado about nothing", but I get it. Here's the irony: In every MMO I play players are complaining about "The Grind". Someone does something to alleviate it, and someone complains about that too... Catch 22, I wouldn't want to be a game developer for anything...

I really want to say "Much ado about nothing", but I get it. Here's the irony: In every MMO I play players are complaining about "The Grind". Someone does something to alleviate it, and someone complains about that too... Catch 22, I wouldn't want to be a game developer for anything...

 

This ^^ lol When Blizzard did their double exp event for WoW due to COVID-19, people were on here complaining that Bioware wasn't doing it too. XD

Edited May 8, 2020 by BellumEstBellum

If I didn't have extra skills for being way above level on starter worlds my new characters without companions would die every time they level in combat and lose half their hit points. Which happens every time now. I didn't use to get this bug.

I'm level 65, and I just started class story on Belsavis.

I only did class story, planetary story, first flashpoint and two Revan flashpoints. Story. Nothing else.

I can't get equipment anywhere - when I try to do heroics, I get pieces of purple junk I'm supposed to turn post-expansion (but first I have to do Chapter 3, Ilum, Makeb, Revan fashpoints, Revan expansion and then first 9 chapters of Fallen Empire). Seriously, that's not optimal.

If I recall, you get most of the skills by visiting a trainer. If you really don't want those skills too soon, don't visit the trainer, too soon. 🙂

Granted, it may be a pain to find out when and where the skills should normally come.

 

Some of the difficulty here may have do with some new players wanting the game to be a challenge. Unfortunately, the 'story' parts of the game haven't been a challenge for a long time. You basically need to wear no armor and not use a companion to get any challenge.

Most of the challenge these days comes from endgame-ish stuff like MM flashpoints and OPS, and World Bosses.

I'm level 65

---snip---

I can't get equipment anywhere -

Um, at 65, and at 70, you can get green gear on fleet at a vendor.

I'm level 65, and I just started class story on Belsavis.

I only did class story, planetary story, first flashpoint and two Revan flashpoints. Story. Nothing else.

I can't get equipment anywhere - when I try to do heroics, I get pieces of purple junk I'm supposed to turn post-expansion (but first I have to do Chapter 3, Ilum, Makeb, Revan fashpoints, Revan expansion and then first 9 chapters of Fallen Empire). Seriously, that's not optimal.

 

You can buy mods for your gear on fleet, and green gear, and the gear that drops should be scaling to your level.

I'm level 65, and I just started class story on Belsavis.

I only did class story, planetary story, first flashpoint and two Revan flashpoints. Story. Nothing else.

I can't get equipment anywhere - when I try to do heroics, I get pieces of purple junk I'm supposed to turn post-expansion (but first I have to do Chapter 3, Ilum, Makeb, Revan fashpoints, Revan expansion and then first 9 chapters of Fallen Empire). Seriously, that's not optimal.

As soon as you hit 70, travel to Ossus and buy the old 5.0 gear. It's really cheap now - 20k per slot for 252 and an optional additional 30k per slot for 258.

 

I'd just buy the ilvl 252 gear - if you make it to 75 fast enough you can sell it back for full price, and if not it's a miniscule loss. If you buy the 258 gear, you can only recoup part of the total 50k investment per slot via sellback; 30k sellback plus the value of selling the 252 gear to the vendor normally.

Edited May 9, 2020 by Aulus_Claudius

As soon as you hit 70, travel to Ossus and buy the old 5.0 gear. It's really cheap now - 20k per slot for 252 and an optional additional 30k per slot for 258.

 

I'd just buy the ilvl 252 gear - if you make it to 75 fast enough you can sell it back for full price, and if not it's a miniscule loss. If you buy the 258 gear, you can only recoup around part of the total 50k investment per slot via sellback; 30k sellback plus the value of selling the 252 gear to the vendor normally.

 

I wish they would let you buy set bonus gear like that from lvl 40-50. It’s a complete waste because you can only use it for 4 Lvls and then it’s worthless again.

Or even better, let the set bonuses work at lvl 75.

Everyones mostly geared up now for content that requires the new set bonuses, it would be nice to still be able to use the old ones we have.

Ideally, they would make them all legacy bound and should just remove the lvl limit to use the shells (since they removed the set bonuses off the armoring pieces). Then they would just be normal legacy shells that you could put lvl 8-75 mods into them.

Edited May 8, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

Which begs the questions.

1. Are conquest activities getting double XP and the WAM doesn’t work to turn off double XP for them?

Or

2. Are XP rewards from conquest activities excluded from double XP and they are just providing too many to start with?

 

Of course, this isn’t a problem for everyone and really depends on how you play the game.

ie, if you are someone who likes playing lowbie pvp, you can lvl too fast during double XP. To get around that you only had to apply the WAM to your character. But with the changes to conquest, this has less affect in slowing down your XP lvling than it has in the past.

 

Obviously the fix could be to make the WAM turn off double XP in conquest or totally turn off XP in conquest if people prefer no XP from conquest rewards (that could stay available even when a double XP event isn’t on)

Thank you for being the one person willing to consider my point of view. That being said, the white acute module is working for me even for conquest xp. I specifically checked it, and the amount of xp listed for conquest objectives changes depending on whether I have the module activated or not. The problem is just that I'm now unavoidably receiving a large chunk of xp daily from conquest which I wasn't receiving before, so I'm leveling significantly faster. I'm not sure whether Bioware considered this before implementing the changes or not. Anyway, providing some way to turn off xp from conquest, turn off xp altogether, or some kind of xp deboost would solve the problem.