SWTOR has always been a solo friendly MMO. You can do your whole class story without needing to group with anyone. Grouping was only necessary for Flashpoints and Operations. This led to a bit of a disconnect. In 2.0, we saw Operations become the ending points of storylines, like in the Dread Palace for the Dread Masters arc. Players could experience the lead up to it on Oricon, but unless they grouped that was as far as they got.
In 3.0 they aim to fix this issue and more. The two new Flashpoints will have solo modes, using droid assistants. So all players will get to experience them without having to group. Operations will NOT be solo, but they have gone a different route. The Revan storyline can be finished by players without completing the Operations. The details are still hazy, but players can choose a solo route or to do the Operation.
Overall, I am pretty happy about this new philosophy. I would do Flashpoints just once so I could experience them. Now I can do them at my own pace instead of dealing with a group. I also don't do Operations. It would have sucked to play through the Revan expansion but not get to see the ending. Now, I'll be able to which is great. It will be interesting to see how this philosophy plays out over the coming year.
Is this good for the health of the game though? Will it lead toward longer queues, less guilds, less end game competition? I'm not sure. I think it will just remove people like me who just want to do things once to see the story. That's probably a good thing, as I'm just a dirty tourist in raids :)
Tomorrow Shadow of Revan launches!
Monday, December 1, 2014
SWTOR Gets More Solo
