On February 15th, Star Wars: The Old Republic released the latest expansion. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch has already played Legacy of the Sith. However, despite many good approaches, it offers him overall too little content and too few innovations.
SWTOR and I have an on-off relationship. I look forward to a new expansion every time and play through it as quickly as possible. After that, I usually take a break for several months or even years before I catch up on the new story content that appears between two expansions.
And with a new expansion, the process starts all over again.
But even with Onslaught, the expansion from 2019, I felt a noticeable dampening of my love for the “Star Wars” MMORPG. Because I mostly value the story, and neither the scope nor the fight against Valkorion was able to really excite me back then. It always seems to be about Valkorion; a new villain would really do the game good.
With Legacy of the Sith, I hoped for improvements until a few days ago but was greatly disappointed. SWTOR has noticeably declined again. In addition, there are numerous problems that could have been avoided.
And all of this, coincidentally, in the expansion that should have celebrated the 10th anniversary of the game.
Three things I really like and spark a desire for a new beginning
There is not everything bad about Legacy of the Sith and the new Patch 7.0. One of my absolute favorite changes is related to the new class system. Now you can choose one of the four story branches at the start and play it not with two but with four or eight different classes.
- You can now play the Force stories with the four Force classes.
- With the soldiers, both the Republic and the Empire now have access to all 8 classes, allowing them to play as a frontline fighter or Powertech and experience the history of the Imperial Agent, which is by far the best in the game.
This change was long overdue, as SWTOR has placed a lot of emphasis in the base game on having its own stories for each class path. It is very well done, and it’s worth experiencing each of the eight stories.
However, the problem was always that you were bound to two classes for the story. If you didn’t like both play styles, you couldn’t experience the story or had to struggle through it. This is no longer necessary since Patch 7.0.
The change made me want to experience the story of the Jedi Knight again, which I believe is the second best. Only now can I finally play a Jedi Shadow for it.
Another very useful change SWTOR has borrowed from other MMORPGs. There is now “Shared Tagging.” It no longer matters who attacked an enemy first; all attackers receive the reward and the loot. Especially when questing in the open world, it has been annoying for years that we could steal each other’s mobs.
The third highlight is the story. Even though it is quite short, the section on Manaan is particularly fun. I don’t want to spoil too much, but I can recommend playing that part of the expansion.
It only takes two to three hours.
Too little story, strange revisions, and missing incentives
The story is both a highlight and my biggest criticism of Legacy of the Sith. Although the nearly three hours are very entertaining, the scope is almost an insult for an expansion. After all, more than two years have passed since Onslaught.
However, this is just a continuation of the trend that has been established in SWTOR for a long time:
- The expansions Knights of the Fallen Empire / Knights of the Eternal Throne brought about 20 hours of story content together
- The last expansion Onslaught brought only about 5 to 7 hours
By comparison, the class stories in the base game keep you occupied for between 20 and 40 hours, and there are a total of 8 different stories. That’s a lot of content for new players.
Generally, the content of the expansion is a disappointment. The story and a flashpoint, a dungeon that you can complete in two different difficulty levels, are basically the only new things.
While there were numerous other adjustments and revisions, two of which also count among my highlights, they hardly justify a return to the game. Some even have the opposite effect.
The removal of random loot sounded really interesting on paper. Instead of having to hope for a random reward, I should now be able to farm specific improvements. In reality, however, this means that I have to grind flashpoints every week and there are hardly any alternative ways to improve my gear.
Complicating matters further is that the new gear is static and can no longer be modified. Previously, you could adjust the stats according to your wishes afterward. A feature that I am currently missing painfully.
More MMO content in an MMORPG
In general, I see the changes to endgame gear with mixed feelings. In Onslaught, I was able to farm one of the strongest gears through solo dungeons and some heroic missions. That was helpful to be strong enough right at the start of the new expansion.
Overall, I have always seen SWTOR more as a single-player game with optional other players. This is also due to the good story and the fact that story missions with friends in voice chat can be incredibly annoying. Those who enjoy the story do not want to be distracted by other players.
But now I have to complete flashpoints with other players if I want good gear. That makes sense when I think that SWTOR is an MMORPG, but it doesn’t fit my playstyle.
Since there was only one new instance with Legacy of the Sith, I end up grinding old content again. This is good for new players, as they will experience dungeons they might never have played otherwise, but for veterans, it only brings limited variety.
Balance, UI, and other problems
Legacy of the Sith wouldn’t be such a big disappointment if only the scope had turned out to be too small. This can probably be explained reasonably well with a small development team. ZWhile SWTOR is a very successful MMORPG in terms of revenue, it is not successful enough to receive massive updates like Final Fantasy XIV or WoW.
However, the new expansion brought many things that have made the game worse.
Besides the already mentioned lack of mods for the gear, I find the adjustments to the interface everything but satisfactory. While the old windows could certainly use an update, the new interface looks too sterile and minimalist. Also, the fact that some icons no longer fit into the design of the interface feels strange.
If an overhaul is made, then it should be done properly and with a bit more attention to detail.
Moreover, the balance changes in SWTOR are hotly debated. Here I am not very deep into it, but anyone who plays a match in PvP immediately notices the problems. Jedi Shadows and Sith Assassins are way too strong. Also, you constantly feel stunned, which, at least at the beginning of Onslaught, wasn’t so bad.
Lastly, Patch 7.0 also introduced some bugs, FPS drops, and lags into the game. These will surely be fixed in the coming weeks, but at the beginning, such problems are just annoying.
The problems leave a bitter aftertaste, especially because the expansion was delayed by another two months right before release. Even before that, players had criticized the problems with the interface, balance, and equipment system.
The new expansion is not enough to breathe fresh life into SWTOR
Star Wars: The Old Republic celebrated its 10th anniversary two months ago. However, those who hoped that Legacy of the Sith would bring some party atmosphere will be sadly disappointed. The expansion offers overall too little to spark hype around the game.
Three hours of story and a flashpoint are the new features on one side, problematic equipment systems and a hasty change to the interface on the other. If you want to experience something truly cool, it’s best to play the story from level 1 on. It’s a lot of fun, and thanks to the revisions of the class system, you are as flexible as never before. But aside from that, there are just too many problems with balance and bugs in endgame.
SWTOR has been languishing for years, receiving updates but no real incentive to dive deep back into the game. Unfortunately, the new expansion worsens this feeling. More updates are planned that will continue the story, and a new raid will come directly with Patch 7.1. Whether that will turn things around is something I doubt.
Alexander Leitsch
Expert on MMORPGs at MeinMMO
What are your experiences with the new expansion? Did you like Legacy of the Sith more or do you agree with me and my experiences? What does SWTOR need to turn things around?
Currently, Star Wars: The Old Republic still belongs to the most popular MMORPGs on Steam. Which ones are still highly regarded, we reveal here:
The 10 MMORPGs on Steam with the best ratings in 2022
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