As part of this week’s The List, we took a look at five of the most awesome aspects of Star Wars: The Old Republic Update 1.2: Legacy. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the opposite side of the coin and highlight a few of the worst aspects of the update.
New Armor Sets
I covered this extensively in an article devoted to this issue and the larger issue plaguing MMOs, but it definitely ranks up there as one of the more disappointing bits of Update 1.2: Legacy. With the update, BioWare has introduced multiple new armor sets for players to chase after, but (and this is subjective) many of them look rather poor. Of course, we can take solace in the expanded ability to modify armor in 1.2, so this ranks at the bottom of my list for now. Fortunately, BioWare has gone on record to say they’ve heard the community’s feedback on this issue and will be changing direction as far as endgame armor art design goes, though this course change won’t be appreciated until the next endgame set is released.
Ranked Warzones
Or lack thereof. One of the marquee features of Update 1.2: Legacy was the beginning of ranked warzones pre-season. Players were excited to queue up with their friends and get into some real competitive PvP (full eight-man premades supported!) but due to a number of issues, the feature was pulled from the update before it went live. Hopefully we’ll see ranked warzones in update 1.3 as I’m looking forward to putting together my own team with my friends.
Legacy Unlock Costs
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The Legacy system is a brilliant combination of both fluff and functional unlocks (thank god for Sacrifice!) with lots of room to grow, but the costs associated with some of these unlocks are sometimes substantial. Many unlock prices are in the realm of millions of credits, which isn’t really doesn’t really fit into the theme of the system. You might argue that someone with high enough of a Legacy level to unlock these features is probably in a position to make enough credits to afford them (level 50), but that’s not always the case. One can have a fairly high Legacy level by being an altaholic with a number of characters in the 30s which really doesn’t give you a lot of money-making potential.
Heck, I’ve got some high level characters and a 50 of my own and I can’t afford most of this stuff without getting deep into crafting and playing the market. I get that this system needs to have some long-term goals, but I feel the prices could stand to be a bit more accessible given the number of unlocks (and the tons more on the way in 1.3). Players will still have to make a choice about what they purchase.
Rakghoul Pandemic
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Huh? Wasn’t this one of the best features of Update 1.2: Legacy according to this week’s The List? Yes! However, the awesome event was basically shut off this week which means BioWare only gave players a week to complete it; which is just frankly too short. To make matters worse, one could only take one new daily quest per day during the course of the event, so if you came into it a bit late, you weren’t necessarily able to complete the whole thing depending on when you started it. It’s clear that BioWare put some work into the Rakghoul Pandemic and I’m honestly a bit shocked it concluded as quickly as it did. Players really should have been given more time to participate in the event. I truly hope BioWare brings it back or doesn’t make a habit of making these events so short in duration.
The Legacy Promotion
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BioWare has been aggressively courting both current and former subscribers with a number of initiatives, but the latest promotion was handled quite poorly. In order to celebrate the launch of Update 1.2: Legacy, BioWare announced that their most loyal subscribers would be awarded with 30 days of free game time for their dedication to the game. If this sounds like a great promotion it’s because it is, in theory. The problem was that BioWare defined these most valued or loyal subscribers as players that had level 50 characters, dividing the community into the haves and have-nots.
I’m not really sure how a company as large as EA didn’t have the foresight to realize this was going to backfire pretty badly. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of outrage over this stipulation. BioWare eventually amended the promotion to include players who had reached Legacy level 6, which is attainable by having a number of alts at various level ranges. This did a pretty good job of calming most of the community down, but they really should have just given everyone with an active subscription the free 30 days. Every player’s $15 should be just as valuable to BioWare as the next, regardless of their in-game accomplishments, and so the handling of this promotion should serve as a lesson in how not to handle what would have otherwise been a PR boon.
