On February 15, the new expansion Legacy of the Sith was released. It brought SWTOR a new max level, new story content, and numerous gameplay improvements. However, many fans of the MMORPG are currently quite dissatisfied with the expansion. We reveal what the problems are.
What do the players say? Those browsing through the SWTOR subreddit will find numerous negative threads. 10 out of the 15 threads with the most upvotes on the subreddit criticize the expansion. There are various aspects that players are currently unhappy about.
Some feel that the scope of the story is too small. It only lasts a few hours. Others are bothered by gameplay changes from the expansion, such as adjustments to the UI or the new loot and equipment system. Several new bugs and technical issues have also made their way into the game.
The criticism has reached a point where several players are even wishing for a reset to the state of Onslaught, the previous expansion.
Story should be completed in two hours
What bothers the players about the story? The new story introduced with Legacy of the Sith only takes two to four hours of gameplay. In our own test, we needed just under three hours. Many have already completed it entirely, even though the release was less than 24 hours ago.
It has been criticized that almost a year has passed since the last small story patch 6.3 and more than two years since the last “major” expansion. The scope is therefore considered far too small. On reddit, Erastopic writes:
I think that the majority of TOR players play it for the story, and rewarding these players after 2 years of waiting with a 2-hour short story that could have been a story update for Onslaught is at best an insult.
If this is the new standard of expansions regarding content, it’s time to stop calling them that.
He is not alone in his criticism. Even with Onslaught, the previous expansion, there was criticism regarding the length of the story. Back then, there were about six hours of new content.
Additionally, many play SWTOR as a kind of single-player RPG, where they can also meet other players. For them, the story is the main focus.
Gameplay improvements are rather perceived as degradation
What bothers the players aside from the scope? With Legacy of the Sith, some general changes were made to the game that have been heavily criticized. The new UI is where it all begins:
- The appearance of many windows in the UI (such as the character view or the bank) has been revamped and now looks more minimalist. However, some criticize it as a “mobile interface.”
- The skill boxes from the character window are now said to not match the boxes in the cast bar.
- In the revised character creation, there are issues with the correct icons and character positioning.
- There are significant FPS drops during character creation.
Those interested can even read a detailed thread just about the problems with the UI here (via reddit).
One of the core features of the new expansion was the abolition of random loot. This also came with a general overhaul of equipment. However, both have received criticism. The user lildende69 writes about this (via reddit):
The gear system is completely outdated. You can’t even min-max anymore, because there are no item modifications and no set bonuses. The gear system is also totally awful and the worst gear system in the history of SWTOR.
Overall, the update is said to have introduced new bugs, lags, and FPS issues into the game that many users did not have before the release. The criticism is also so harsh because the expansion was specifically delayed by two months to resolve issues from the test server that are still alleged to remain in the game (via reddit).
lildende69 therefore demands: “This game needs to revert to the old expansion 6.0 because 7.0 is completely broken.”
Many are disappointed, but not everything is bad
Are there any positive changes? Yes! The adjustment that players now have access to all advanced classes, even if they chose a different story at the start, has received much praise. The only restriction is that you must distinguish between force classes and soldier classes.
Specifically, this means: While you could previously only play the story of the Imperial Agent as a Sniper or Saboteur, you can now access all 8 advanced soldier classes and carry two pistols with you.
And the story of the Imperial Agent is ultimately the best story in SWTOR.
Some also find the criticism of the new gear system exaggerated. After all, you can now improve your equipment by completing tasks daily. The user Ramzabeo writes about this (via reddit):
This gear path may be more complicated, but it gives people a reason to do daily areas, to PvP and to do more than one operation. They are trying to get people to interact with other players. Because if you want to have the best equipment now, you have to do ops. Isn’t that what an MMO should be?
And I want to add: Even if you don’t get this gear, what exactly do you lose? PvP is the only thing I could see as a problem, and the developers have limited the rating to 326, which anyone can achieve. Where is the problem?
In general, some perceive the adjustments as a step back towards more MMO content and away from pure single-player gameplay. The user Baron_Blackfox praises this in a lengthy post (via reddit).
Around loot and the new equipment, there are also positive voices who find the changes beneficial. However, the limited scope of the story and adjustments to the UI are criticized by almost all players.
What do you think of the new expansion so far? Have you played Legacy of the Sith and made your own experience? Are you satisfied or rather disappointed? Feel free to write it in the comments.
