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Wednesday 14 October 2015

Are you ready for Knights of the Fallen Empire?


The time is there: just one more week and Knights of the Fallen Empire will take off for subscribers.* In an ideal world we players would just sit back and relax before a new expansion hits. In reality, though, there are usually things to take care of before big changes are implemented.

I've gathered a few in the form of a last-minute check list. If you actually want to do these things is of course entirely up to you!


Last-minute KotFE Checklist


☑ Cartel Certificate items

Edit: Well done, you've already completed the first action! Turns out this change has been revoked due to player feedback. Thanks go to the sharp-eyed Darkbrew for pointing this out (see comments).
Check the reputation vendors in the Bounty event area of the fleet for things you want to barter for with Cartel Certificates (those things you get from buying cartel packs or using the slot machine). Don't worry, the certificates won't be removed from the game, but some of the things that are being offered will be removed when the Coffee expansion hits. This includes all non-reputation specific items from Cartel Reputation vendors and 1 credit items. So it's fine to keep your certificates, but if there's something you really want it's best to play it safe and buy it now.

❏ Makeb achievement

If you care about completing all achievements or stronghold decorating, you may want to complete the Making the Connection (Rep) or Well Connected (Imp) achievement on Makeb. The achievement is being removed from the game with the expansion for some reason - my guess is that they want to streamline how quests are bestowed with the major quest overhaul and Makeb chained weeklies are an odd duckling. Everyone completing the achievement will receive a unique decoration: the Makeb Gazebo. I have no idea if it looks good, but I want it just for stronghold fangirl completionism reasons! If you haven't worked on the achievement yet at all, you'll need three max level characters of the same faction that have completed the Makeb storyline in order to make it in one week.
Useful background information / achievement checkerDulfy's Achievement Guide (Rep)  / (Imp)

We're doing everything to get that gazebo!

❏ Companion affection

Although there have been updates about how companions will work with Knights of the Fallen Empire, I would not presume to understand every aspect of it until I've seen it in effect with my own eyes. Since I don't want to risk missing out on conversations or companions as a whole, I've been working on their affection. If you are like me and don't have time to complete them all, focus on the companions you care about for the first character you plan on taking through the expansion: it's been confirmed that you can't complete any companion missions on that specific character from then onwards.

❏ Group content

Nightmare mode will be removed for Eternity Vault and Karagga's Palace, so if you want to have the achievements and/or stronghold trophies for them, now is the time to act. Yet another design decision that has to do with streamlining content: all nightmare modes will have additional mechanics compared to hardmodes, and these two only had a difference in boss health. I'd personally rather have seen new mechanics added to them than have them be removed altogether, but I guess resources didn't allow for that. I think I'll be skipping this one: I'm only missing the 16-man nightmare modes and the stronghold trophies are the same as the 8-man ones.

Then there are some people that hunt achievements for content that will be scaled to level 65 now because they will be harder to complete after the expansion hits. The Oricon raids, Nightmare mode Explosive Conflict and flashpoint achievements (complete 25x etc) are popular examples. I'm personally not doing this because I don't care enough about the achievements and like the idea of having some challenges left to complete with KotFE.

Vintage Ravanel meeting hutt of questionable fashion

❏ Storylines

If you don't plan on rolling a brand new insta-level 60 with the expansion, I would definitely recommend finishing the Shadow of Revan and Ziost storyline with the character you want to play with KotFE. When it comes to the pre-50 content, the jedi knight and sith warrior storylines are directly connected to Shadow of Revan and are worth playing through. If you are subscribing you can easily blast through them within a week with 12x XP. The Maelstrom Prison (Rep) and The Foundry (Imp) flashpoints are also relevant. Heck, I even have a friend who is playing through KOTOR 1 & 2 as we speak just to get the whole picture, but I admit that you have to be a die-hard story addict for that.

❏ Commendations

If you have easy access to ultimate commendations, it may be worth stacking them in order to get a new set of comms gear with the expansion. I'll be skipping this one because I can't be bothered to grind and I have plenty of commendations leftover from the previous months. I really hope they will do away with the endurance-heavy commendation gear policy with the expansion: I don't know about you, but the only thing my ultimate comms have been useful for is gearing up tank companions (and even that won't be possible anymore with KotFE).


❏ 198 Deceiver gear

Dataminers have found all operation gear back save the 198 Deceiver gear. If you'd like one of the Deceiver sets for cosmetic reasons, now is the time. I'm no great fan of the look myself (hood, weird arm flaps, satellite thingy - gaah), so I can save some time here.

Have I missed anything? Let me know in the comments!

* The plebs will have to wait until the 27th. I sort of envy them, because I still have so many things to take care off!

15 comments :

  1. Hmm...focus for me is getting my trooper through Ziost (He's on Makeb now) and maybe if there is time, getting my Jedi knight finished. Other than that I was never a rep grinder. I kinda regret it now that I see the Makeb Gazebo but oooohhh well. There will prolly be more fun stuff in the future. The 3 classes I will have not completed by expansion time are Inq, Consular and Jedi knight. I fire the alts too damned quickly. Perhaps with new slots available in expansion I'll finish everything or if I need to keep something on the back burner I can.

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    1. You don't need any reputation for the Makeb Gazebo, sorry if that wasn't clear! The only thing you need to do is those quests - but since they are locked by a weekly (which unlocks after having done the Makeb storyline on that specific character) and you need to complete 3 weeklies for the achievement, you'll need 3 characters in order to make it in just one week. If anything, not having the maximum reputation with Makeb is an advantage, because then you're actually getting something extra out of doing those quests!

      That said, it's really not important and totally optional - just thought I'd point it out, since it sucks if you find out after the expansion and regret not doing it.

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  2. I somehow missed the Cartel blog - I knew there were changes but didn't get the details. I'll have to see how many certificates I have, and whether or not I can actually buy anything (not a big spender here).... Thanks for the list!

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    Replies
    1. Seems like they changed their stance on this; see Darkbrew's comment and the updated post. Hope you didn't spend them all yet!

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  3. I feel... ready enough. Planning to do a post on it on Monday. :)

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  4. Regarding the Cartel Market vendors, they're reverting the change where they're removing items. So everything available on the vendors today will still be available in KotFE.

    http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8479165#edit8479165

    Hey folks,

    Thank you for all your feedback today. Based off of that feedback we will be reverting the change to the reputation vendors. We are still condensing down to a single vendor per reputation, but it will contain all items that are currently available on Live.

    Please keep the feedback coming.

    Dan Bunten
    Cartel Market Producer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oi, am I glad you pointed that out to me. Would've hated to have caused people to spend their Cartel Certificates while it wasn't necessary. Hopefully there's no damage dealt. Thanks!

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  5. As is my usual methodology, I'm going to let everyone else run ahead and clear out before I start on KotFE myself. Considering that I kind of prefer noodling around in the Chapter 1 planets, that's not a big issue.

    Still, best of luck to those who want to brave the insanity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like a sound plan. I usually go slow through the content the first time, enjoying what there is to see while the majority rushes through. I might login for KOTFE a few days later just to avoid the expected insane lag. I still remember Rishi when that was just live - that was atrocious.

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    2. We saw someone on the spacedock last night already at 64. smh

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  6. I'm just a patient one. I don't know where it came from, but I have been this whole time. I haven't been playing hard as I was in the past but RL issues stopped that, plus I lost the desire to play since I've done all 8 class stories, and redone some just for the kicks of it, like my LS Warrior, and my LS Agent were fun to redo, but alias I just lost the desire to be in there until new expansion drops in well now 5 days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's always a good thing to have some distance to the game. I may finish the L55+ storylines on my alts when they're ready to go through KOTFE during the expansion, too, just to mix things up a bit. I've never been a fan of repetition. Of course I'll go through the new content on my sage at first, and she has completed everything necessary.

      Hope your RL gives smooth sailing soon again. :)

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  7. Checklist:

    - Cartel certificates, can you still get them after kotfe? I have 8 and would like to have 2 more to buy the meditation chair, well I will see. There is probably another way to get the chair
    - Make the connection check :D,
    - well connected - hope to finish tomorrow, if you have time to do the last weekly :)
    It was however a enormous grind, oh I am never going to be on makeb any more
    - companions - one character is done, hk and Qyzen were the hardest, they never seem to like the choices I made. This was also kind of a grind, in the end I just bought some gifts from the gtm. Now I have to do the other level 60 alts... Maybe I will just do the imp alt and see over a month if I am in the mood for the others.
    - Story line no problem there :)

    The rest I do not care. Of course I have not finished all the class stories, but they mentioned that that would not be a problem. You just should not start the kotfe story line. So I will take my time levelling them :).

    I am getting very exited about the expansion :).

    Ps. I sincerely hope that the gazebo was worth the grind :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. - There's no indication that they won't, so I don't expect any differences.
      - Still need to do one week.
      - We did it!
      - Same here, only 100% done with the ones I care about on Ravanel.
      - Same!

      And I'm with you hoping the gazebo was worth the dark side points in hatred I've developed for Makeb!

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