How did you feel about Onslaught?

[Poppincaps]

Overall I enjoyed it. It was worth the 15 dollar sub in my opinion and I'll probably stick around and do a Class story or something before my sub runs out. That being said I do have some complaints. Keep in mind I quit after Chapter... 6? of KOTET. Whatever the last one was at launch. Never resubbed to do the rest, so I replayed through all of it as a refresher.

1. So this isn't a new one, but jesus christ is the engine bad. Like some of the maps like Ossus and Onderon are beautiful and the lighting in the last chapter of KOTET? Ugh so good. That being said the pop in in most of the cutscenes is horrible and the game runs like ass. There was a recent earnings report that said that SWTOR has made 1 billion for EA so far, so I hope they keep supporting it but I worry that this game will eventually break due to how horrible their engine is.

2. I really started to miss the structure of the 1-50 experience where you're put on a planet to explore and you can do your main missions, but there's also a lot of side missions that give you context into the world and it's politics/culture. But you really just end up going through Ondaron and Mek-sha in the story missions and not really getting much in the way of side quests. KOTET was so fucking linear you were just jumping around from planet to planet running down narrow corridors. They improved this in Ossus and the Onslaught zones, but they just kinda wind up being large and... empty at least in terms of reasons to explore. I am pretty ignorant on the structure of SWTOR though so maybe I'm wrong about this part.

3. It's short. It seems like there are giant gaps in content in SWTOR and while I am only a tourist, I could understand people waiting all this time just to get a story that lasts 2-4 hours and being upset. The quality is definitely there though and I'm definitely excited for the future content.... whenever that drops.

[Swnem]

I have a pretty good impression now.

The engine, yes, it's nothing new. In PvP it can be especially frustrating as an operative or assassin flickers across the map being unattackable and suddenly pop further on ahead.
They have been improving the engine with the years. But, they never truly fixed the problems in PvP and it's just frutrating cause it's so enjoyable.
On the other hand though, the game has aged wonderfully and looks really nice for an mmo.

But, this is nothing new, and it's somehing we learned to live with.

The planets have become smaller but they are filled with dailies/heroics, secret collect a tons and very good datacron secrets. They are smaller but they are better designed than the larger expanses of the vanilla release. Also makes traveling not be annoying.
Also, yes, the expansion is short, though it is in line with what swtor called expansions in the past.

It's short, but it's sweet.

Anyways, this is all not regarding the true meat of the expansion, wich are the gearing changes and difficulty increase.

The new gearing is good at first, frustrating second and finally alright. I'll explain.
Once you get to 75 all content starts dropping higher ilvl gear pieces. This part goes relatively well and it's fun to get upgrades, but as you hit 280 it will slow down and get annoying until you hit the 306 cap. This is the vertical progression and tbh i found it annoying.
But, once that is cleared, it becomes a game of collecting tech fragments from desintegrating gear from all content you run to get your desired tacticals and set bonuses. This part is good. It's also good cause all gear is legacy wide, wich means you can pass all the unneeded 306 gear you got to an alt and it will completely bypass the vertical progression.

The other thing, as i mentioned is the increase in difficulty. This made all content that used to be faceroll into actual challenging and enjoyable content again and kind of reset all the ops and HM dungeon progressions. Harder mode stuff has in some cases exclusive rewards but also has better drops. Dxun, the new operation is apparantly not pug material too.

So, you actually have fun overcoming challenges and customizing your gear/your alts gear, wich actually is quite fun!
So, i'm quite enjoying the xpac. It's an example that systems are more important than content cause it directly correlates to fun.
I do miss those crazy world boss tuesdays from Ossus though.

Of course, we all wish it had more content. But, what we got was pretty good.

[Edge-]

Caught up from the last bit of KotFE through Onslaught (think I did everything in between) so it's a bit of a blur but...I liked the story of Onslaught. Haven't poked around beyond it yet, but IMO this is one of the better stories they've done in quite a long time. Enjoyed the sabateur plot line and that you're still a part of your faction but can work with the other side if you want.

[derpkitteh]

i enjoyed it.

was nice to be back to the empire, but i'm wondering about my seat on the council since my inquisitor is imperius and wouldn't yeet anathel because that's not in the best interest of the empire.

the republic side was ok. the bit with the mek-sha slaves wasn't done very well though. there really should have been a way to scold arn for endangering the mission without going ragemode on him.

[Harvey Benson]

IMHO, the Onslaught DLC is good. It is not great, but is it good and a number of elements included in the new 6.0 patch are things the game needed moving forward.

Pros
- Crafting Storage
- F2P & Preferred changes
- Spoils of War (Item Rating)

Cons
- Limited Story
- Old Bugs
- Spoils of War (Still a lot of RNG)

[Ergar]

I liked it but i was definitely disappointed by how short it was, especially considering all the hype and buildup it had prior to release. Obviously they don't have huge budgets like games like WoW or FF14, but it still doesn't feel great forking over 13 euros for 2,5 hours of content. I'm excited to see where the story goes with the whole Satele thing, but it's hard to get hyped when i know it'll be months before i get more story that will be 2 hours at max.

[Swnem]

I've enjoyed Onslaught quite a lot, definitely much more than KOTFE or KOTET. But, as said, it's too short. 6.1 especially was such a short tease.



I actually despise the difficulty of the automated group finder content. It's just too difficult much of the time for 4 random strangers, half of them brain dead, to complete in any reasonable amount of time. This is why I keep coming back to WoW, actually. The dungeons in WoW are not terribly fun to me but at least I know any group I end up in will be able to complete them. In SWTOR I find myself with nothing to do quite often because I don't really want to sign up in the group finder and waste my time.

Are you talking about MM FP's? Cause veteran's are pretty easy.

I actually kind of regret my comment there, cause once you are 306 geared with set bonus and tactical, it is not that much harder than it was before 6.0. You can definitely carry a veteran group if you are well geared. MM, the group needs guidance or to know what to do.
I mean, you can think of it like heroics and mythics in WoW at release of a new expansion. It also depends though, there are some FP's harder than others. Hammer station is fairly easy in all difficulties. Nathema is fairly difficult in all difficulties. But, the rewards are better on the hardest one (you get cosmetics/recipes).

I liked it but i was definitely disappointed by how short it was, especially considering all the hype and buildup it had prior to release. Obviously they don't have huge budgets like games like WoW or FF14, but it still doesn't feel great forking over 13 euros for 2,5 hours of content. I'm excited to see where the story goes with the whole Satele thing, but it's hard to get hyped when i know it'll be months before i get more story that will be 2 hours at max.

Yeah, it's unfortunate they don't have a bigger budget, but the meat of 6.0 was the new gearing system. If you are only going for story, you are only going to get things like that.
But, SWTOR is the only one with multiple paths on the story. You have several choices you can make and you can't forget that there are 2 sides to this with different stories. With the new gearing system, all gear is legacy wide, so it's really easy to quickly gear a character on the other faction. I actually play both factions myself.

[Katchii]

Are you talking about MM FP's? Cause veteran's are pretty easy.

Funnily enough I'm talking about veterans. With a guild group of competent players they may be easy, but with whatever dross you get from the automated group finder they are exhausting. 4 dps, some without any clue how to play, many without any clue of the mechanics of a flashpoint, will fail repeatedly even in veterans.

I much preferred it before, when they were called Tacticals and they were more easily doable with whatever you got out of the group finder.

For the most part, Veteran FP's are easy, but if you get some that have relatively difficult pulls with no class that can CC in combat or CC the type of mob you're up against it can make things REALLY aggravating.

One instance comes to mind, Hammer Station early on has two gold droids and a ton of little mobs around them, if you can't CC one of those gold droids it makes that pull pretty painful if you have all DPS classes. Kuat Drive Yards, the elite defenders can be a real pain in the ass too if you don't have healers. Mandalorian Raiders has a spot where there's like 6 or 7 dogs that are all linked and rush in and can decimate a non-tank in a few seconds without a dedicated healer. The Veteran FP's are roflstomp if you have even a companion healer, but can turn pretty painful without one.

[schwank05]

I love it, I don't really care about the story, but the gear system and getting max level loot in FP's is amazing and the fact that its all legacy bound so I can easily jump into max level content with alts. I have been having a blast.

- - - Updated - - -

For the most part, Veteran FP's are easy, but if you get some that have relatively difficult pulls with no class that can CC in combat or CC the type of mob you're up against it can make things REALLY aggravating.

One instance comes to mind, Hammer Station early on has two gold droids and a ton of little mobs around them, if you can't CC one of those gold droids it makes that pull pretty painful if you have all DPS classes. Kuat Drive Yards, the elite defenders can be a real pain in the ass too if you don't have healers. Mandalorian Raiders has a spot where there's like 6 or 7 dogs that are all linked and rush in and can decimate a non-tank in a few seconds without a dedicated healer. The Veteran FP's are roflstomp if you have even a companion healer, but can turn pretty painful without one.

Spammer Station is simple just LOS pull the mobs and easily aoe them down. Or if that is an issue run straight to the drill the mobs will deaggro and pull the boss. Kuat Drive Yards is just cancer, there is 1 boss so one chance at loot and the damn last boss is pointlessly long and drawn out for no reason. I basically just Q for Spammer station and be done with it takes about 10 mins to run through.

[Swnem]

Funnily enough I'm talking about veterans. With a guild group of competent players they may be easy, but with whatever dross you get from the automated group finder they are exhausting. 4 dps, some without any clue how to play, many without any clue of the mechanics of a flashpoint, will fail repeatedly even in veterans.

I much preferred it before, when they were called Tacticals and they were more easily doable with whatever you got out of the group finder.

For the most part, Veteran FP's are easy, but if you get some that have relatively difficult pulls with no class that can CC in combat or CC the type of mob you're up against it can make things REALLY aggravating.

One instance comes to mind, Hammer Station early on has two gold droids and a ton of little mobs around them, if you can't CC one of those gold droids it makes that pull pretty painful if you have all DPS classes. Kuat Drive Yards, the elite defenders can be a real pain in the ass too if you don't have healers. Mandalorian Raiders has a spot where there's like 6 or 7 dogs that are all linked and rush in and can decimate a non-tank in a few seconds without a dedicated healer. The Veteran FP's are roflstomp if you have even a companion healer, but can turn pretty painful without one.

Oh... no, you are supposed to corner pull them to the tunnel you came from and aoe (hammer station). I can't remember any dogs. Is this on the rakghoul plague one? Pretty sure you are supposed to run out when they are about to die cause they explode. If it's what i'm thinking.
But, as i said, some FP's are harder than others. That is the case indeed. You need to know what to do or things will get hairy. But, if you know what to do, it's all good. But, while gearing up you should indeed avoid the harder ones. Remember that in this game several FP's have solo modes too. Even under geared these are very doable. I ran Tython and Korriban solo while gearing up. Tython i got down to a 12m run. Vertical progression is the worst part, after you do it once though, it's all good cause gear is legacy wide, so you can bypass it on alts and just focus on those juicy set bonuses and tacticals (and min-maxing amps, armorings, mods and enhancements).

[Katchii]

Spammer Station is simple just LOS pull the mobs and easily aoe them down. Or if that is an issue run straight to the drill the mobs will deaggro and pull the boss. Kuat Drive Yards is just cancer, there is 1 boss so one chance at loot and the damn last boss is pointlessly long and drawn out for no reason. I basically just Q for Spammer station and be done with it takes about 10 mins to run through.

Oh... no, you are supposed to corner pull them to the tunnel you came from and aoe (hammer station). I can't remember any dogs. Is this on the rakghoul plague one? Pretty sure you are supposed to run out when they are about to die cause they explode. If it's what i'm thinking.

I've been spammed with Hammer Station, and that pull has caused problems more often than not because without a healer the mobs just decimate whoever pulls first and many times the party AoE just isn't enough to take everything down before the party dies. Any time there's been someone who can CC that second gold/elite droid though, things go MUCH smoother. LoS that pull doesn't help honestly because the target all the mobs are focused on just melts without a healer, even with defensive cooldowns.

The "dog" pull I'm talking about is in Mandalorian Raiders (not rakghoul plague), near the beginning, as you're going from a bigger open area into a smaller tunnel and that first pull has a couple humanoids and a bunch of dogs, no gold mobs but those dogs just bum rush whoever pulls (they have a jump dash move that brings them right to their target right after they aggro) and because there's so many of them at once whoever pulls just get eaten alive without a healer.

[schwank05]

I've been spammed with Hammer Station, and that pull has caused problems more often than not because without a healer the mobs just decimate whoever pulls first and many times the party AoE just isn't enough to take everything down before the party dies. Any time there's been someone who can CC that second gold/elite droid though, things go MUCH smoother. LoS that pull doesn't help honestly because the target all the mobs are focused on just melts without a healer, even with defensive cooldowns.

The "dog" pull I'm talking about is in Mandalorian Raiders (not rakghoul plague), near the beginning, as you're going from a bigger open area into a smaller tunnel and that first pull has a couple humanoids and a bunch of dogs, no gold mobs but those dogs just bum rush whoever pulls (they have a jump dash move that brings them right to their target right after they aggro) and because there's so many of them at once whoever pulls just get eaten alive without a healer.

I guess, I don't have an issue on Spammer just AOE I pretty much can kill that pack myself as a MM. But just running past to the drill is the fastest way you don't even need to kill them.

[Katchii]

I guess, I don't have an issue on Spammer just AOE I pretty much can kill that pack myself as a MM. But just running past to the drill is the fastest way you don't even need to kill them.

First, I think you're heavily exaggerating about you being able to do it solo. You might be able to melt the group yourself, but if you're the one being focus fired by the mobs you'll melt too and won't survive long enough to kill everything. I've been in groups of full level 75's and still had issues with that pack when there's no healer in the group. Any time there's a healer it goes significantly easier, and having a tank makes it much more manageable if there's someone with off-heals.

Second, that's good to know about being able to just skip it, I'll make sure I try that out the next time I get there.

[schwank05]

First, I think you're heavily exaggerating about you being able to do it solo. You might be able to melt the group yourself, but if you're the one being focus fired by the mobs you'll melt too and won't survive long enough to kill everything. I've been in groups of full level 75's and still had issues with that pack when there's no healer in the group. Any time there's a healer it goes significantly easier, and having a tank makes it much more manageable if there's someone with off-heals.

Second, that's good to know about being able to just skip it, I'll make sure I try that out the next time I get there.

I only Q for hammer station when gearing since I think its the fastest FP. I also recommend running across the bridge and skipping the 2 turrets as well.

[Katchii]

I only Q for hammer station when gearing since I think its the fastest FP. I also recommend running across the bridge and skipping the 2 turrets as well.

Yeah, we typically skip the turrets unless there's a knucklehead who just insists on killing them.

I've wondered for a while why I always got Hammer Station in the random queues, I figured it was because it was the fastest, but wasn't 100% sure since I don't know all the FP's. Good to know my assumption was correct.

[Swnem]

I've been spammed with Hammer Station, and that pull has caused problems more often than not because without a healer the mobs just decimate whoever pulls first and many times the party AoE just isn't enough to take everything down before the party dies. Any time there's been someone who can CC that second gold/elite droid though, things go MUCH smoother. LoS that pull doesn't help honestly because the target all the mobs are focused on just melts without a healer, even with defensive cooldowns.

The "dog" pull I'm talking about is in Mandalorian Raiders (not rakghoul plague), near the beginning, as you're going from a bigger open area into a smaller tunnel and that first pull has a couple humanoids and a bunch of dogs, no gold mobs but those dogs just bum rush whoever pulls (they have a jump dash move that brings them right to their target right after they aggro) and because there's so many of them at once whoever pulls just get eaten alive without a healer.

It's not a big deal if someone dies cause you revive just 5 steps away. If the group doesn't have the damage it's bad. But from my experience, only one good player is enough. You may die but you res right there and can carry on. Kill the smaller ones first, stun/interrupt the big ones.

I don't remember the other one though. So i don't have advice for it. But you know... defensive's/stuns are your friends.

[Katchii]

It's not a big deal if someone dies cause you revive just 5 steps away. If the group doesn't have the damage it's bad. But from my experience, only one good player is enough. You may die but you res right there and can carry on. Kill the smaller ones first, stun/interrupt the big ones.

I don't remember the other one though. So i don't have advice for it. But you know... defensive's/stuns are your friends.

In the groups I've been in where it was bad, the rest of the group didn't last long enough to make rezzing make much sense so in those situations we focus fired the mobs we could to make sure as many died as possible to make the next attempt easier to handle. Most it took was three tries because the first one went horribly and nothing died.

Yeah, the dog pull is manageable as long as you're on point with stuns, defensive's and off-heals. The damage just comes hard and fast so if you're caught off guard the person who pulls will likely end up dead and after that things just fall into chaos so it's hard to recover from. Only wiped on it once, it's just something to watch for.