Yeah yeah, Im going to compare with wow - shoot me -.-

 

But seriously, fights like Ragnaros, Illidan and the Lich King were extremely satisfying at all these points:

 

1) LORE

2) CHALLENGE

3) BUILD UP

4) WRITING

5) LOOT

6) VILLAIN PERSONALITIES / PRESENCE

 

The only thing wow failed at here that SWTOR does good so far atleast is DIALOGUE. In WoW you had no oppurtunity to talk to your famous enemies and actually get a response.

 

On the points mentioned, how well does SW:TOR execute them?

Yeah yeah, Im going to compare with wow - shoot me -.-

 

But seriously, fights like Ragnaros, Illidan and the Lich King were extremely satisfying at all these points:

 

1) LORE

2) CHALLENGE

3) BUILD UP

4) WRITING

5) LOOT

6) VILLAIN PERSONALITIES / PRESENCE

 

The only thing wow failed at here that SWTOR does good so far atleast is DIALOGUE. In WoW you had no oppurtunity to talk to your famous enemies and actually get a response.

 

On the points mentioned, how well does SW:TOR execute them?

 

I'll cover lore, build-up, and writing together: the lore and build-up go hand in hand. Some like Scum & Villainy play well with what's already been shown to you throughout higher levels of the game. The Dreadguards are introduced on Belsavis, come into play again in Section X, and become an integral part of the Op. Overall pretty well done.

 

In general, somewhat the same with Terror From Beyond, though you have to have done the Gree event to really be "immersed". The situation can be hit or miss though. There main story FPs build upon one another all the way up to False Emperor, with side-quest type instances such as Directive 7 sprinkled in, but the new Czerka area really just feels like a toss up. Nothing to pull you into the story, nothing appreciable of note during the encounters. Go here, press this, kill that is about all you get.

 

The challenge varies, with the FPs being overall balanced and some being relatively simple if you know the mechanics. The Ops keep you on your toes throughout for the most part. I'd definitely say that the scripting for Makeb could take a piece from Scum & Villainy: focused pulls to keep you on your toes, but don't have mobs every two steps just for the hell of it.

 

Loot is good overall. Even Czerka for all its woes provides a good drop for the weekly. Single piece drops with bonus stats for all the Ops bosses, pretty decent payout for all the area/storyline bosses on Makeb, etc.

 

As to the villains they seem to be pretty good overall: The Dreadguards--and we know there's more to come from them--The Archon, The Terror, even the false emperor--don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't hit that yet and happens to read this. Again, Rasmus and the entire Czerka area are the only items of note that fall completely on their face. When complaints are being made about BioWare, it's usually not over the writing.

Thanks alot for taking your time to write an answer!

Lore is pretty good imo if you take the time to watch the cinematics and stuff and not space bar throughout 90% of the game.

I also forgot: freaking LOVED Kaon Under Siege. That FP had some real atmosphere to it. Very well done.

The lore itself is nice. The planets storylines are interesting (though ofc, once or twice then spacebar to hell). Operation storys are interesting. I think BW needs to expand out a bit with the content, kinda drag it out but not to the point its "Just cut it from the truck please.. just.. make it stop." drag out it

I am a HUGE fan of Taral V, and Maelstrom Prison. For me those are two really fun flashpoints. Actually I could say my first few runs through all the FP's were awesome. Now though, that ive burned them so many times b/t two lvl 55 toons, i'm pretty much done. On a second note i'm a casual player and have only ran one op and that was TFB, one time, and I havn't done the Gree event so I really didn't feel that impressed. I absolutely love playing this game though. I played SWG, and now this, I am a Star Wars fan not an mmo guy. End Game is definitly cool with me!!!

Oh, just to clear up with what the second poster said:

In ops, the bad guys are always the dread masters, not the Dread guards. Dread masters are the Sith you're fighting against, the guards are their army.

I suggest doing the ops in this order for full immersion:

-Eternity vault

-Karagga's palace

-Explosive conflict

-Terror from beyond

-Scum and villainy

And coming soon...

-Dread fortress

-Dread palace

There is quite a lot of Lore building up to this final fight on Oricon (Upcoming daily area and location of 2 operations): Makeb(Planet/Dailies), Section X (Dailies), Eternity Vault (Operation/Raid), Karagga's Palace (Operation/Raid), Explosive Conflicts (Operation/Raid), Terror from Beyond (Operation/Raid), Scum and Villainy (Operation/Raid) are all due to the Dread Masters

There is quite a lot of Lore building up to this final fight on Oricon (Upcoming daily area and location of 2 operations): Makeb(Planet/Dailies), Section X (Dailies), Eternity Vault (Operation/Raid), Karagga's Palace (Operation/Raid), Explosive Conflicts (Operation/Raid), Terror from Beyond (Operation/Raid), Scum and Villainy (Operation/Raid) are all due to the Dread Masters

 

actually Oricon is gonna be a fleshed out planet like Ilum, not just a daily area

From the perspective of a casual PVE player, I can say the endgame material seems very very haphazard. Until doing a little research I had no idea that the ops were even part of a bigger story line. They seemed like totally underdeveloped one-shots with a few random bosses and no external tie-ins. Considering the Dread Master story line can be completely skipped if not completing every mission on every planet or unless previously aware of their existence and taking an active role in engaging in their missions, the value of ops in terms of lore and story building are lame.

 

The fp's seemed to have a decent story line but even then with the inconsistency of being able to find a group and the lack of incentive to do them in the right order you only get a grip on the story after having completed them all 4 or 5.

 

Imho adding an opening cutscene that got you immersed in the story would be great.

From the perspective of a casual PVE player, I can say the endgame material seems very very haphazard. Until doing a little research I had no idea that the ops were even part of a bigger story line. They seemed like totally underdeveloped one-shots with a few random bosses and no external tie-ins. Considering the Dread Master story line can be completely skipped if not completing every mission on every planet or unless previously aware of their existence and taking an active role in engaging in their missions, the value of ops in terms of lore and story building are lame.

 

The fp's seemed to have a decent story line but even then with the inconsistency of being able to find a group and the lack of incentive to do them in the right order you only get a grip on the story after having completed them all 4 or 5.

 

Imho adding an opening cutscene that got you immersed in the story would be great.

 

there are beginning cinematics/cutscenes for every operation... Maybe you should not just jump in the queue, but look around on fleet, talk to the quest givers etc...

Also to skip the Dread Master storyline completely you would need to skip a ton of missions.

Yeah, to see the Dread Master storyline you simply have to take the secondary story arc when you hit Belsavis, which is something it would seem likely to do if you have any interest in picking up on the lore of the game. Those arcs help tie you in to the universal conflicts of the game, not just those related to your class. The daily areas also further add to that immersion. You really only miss out on it if you keep the blinders on and only do your main quest.