Hello, TORWarriors! It’s coming close to a month since Star Wars: The Old Republic launched (if we count Early Access) and whilst reviews are trickling out for the game in general, very few are covering high level content or the full end game. But who can blame them, only losers like me hit level 50 a week after launch (I played endlessly…) If you did every single quest (like I did), there’s very little to go back to. But that’s not a bad thing.
Taris seems so long ago!
*Spoiler Warning: Republic-based End Game content revealed below.*
Ilum & Daily Questing
You can only access end game content once you finish your class story. But the story is awesome, so I don’t think that will be a problem for you! Once you finish your story you will be given directions to Ilum to complete Ilum’s world story arc along with the daily quests. However, there is also the planet Belsavis. Once you finish your class story there will be a rather large Twi’lek Republic officer offering you a bonus mission series to Belsavis which then leads you onto the daily quests for Belsavis. Ilum is a lot harder than Belsavis, so I recommend going to Belsavis first and getting used to the step up difficulty as Belsavis is easier than Ilum.
The daily quests are fun; whilst they are repetitive (as you’d expect), they are still enjoyable to do. This is helped by the fact that some are very short – in fact the vast majority are. This really helps you with the grind of collecting commendations for modding your armor or picking up implants and so on. There are also a few daily Heroics to do that are designed for level 50s that can offer some really nice drops. Regrettably, most of the dropped stuff is unmoddable. That means it’s practically useless to a level 50.
Don't worry, even in the end game there's still plenty more Imperials to kill
Hard Mode Flashpoints
Why are unmoddable drops useless to a level 50? Because you need the daily quest commendation reward mods in your armor to stand a chance in hard mode. Without the extra armoring, stats and health, you will get destroyed in hard mode because hard mode is exceptionally difficult. It’s natural to think this is an over exaggeration; but really, it isn’t. Hard mode is truly difficult. I’m not talking about frustrating, I’m talking about trash mobs being so powerful that if you’re not careful you will get downed by Womp Rats.
It’s hard to say how challenging it is without you experiencing it; but it is unbelievably difficult. I’ve been in several experienced teams and we can get to Ironfist on The Esseles (an achievement in itself), but that’s where it just all goes wrong. However, some others have had more luck than I. I’m rather sad to report that the drops are pretty poor. There is the chance of awesome loot, but given the difficulty being exceptional, and the time it takes to complete a hard mode run (two hours is the fastest I’ve heard so far), it doesn’t quite seem fair. Especially when you’ve probably dropped 20K in repairs during the run.
At least hard mode is pretty...
I love a challenge, but I think that the hard mode setting is just a bit too hard currently. I don’t think your average player can just turn up and get something out of it, especially when experienced teams struggle to get past the first boss on The Esseles. With all the Ilum modifications and enhancements, we were still getting destroyed. I can only come to the conclusion that if you were to do an Operation and get lucky and get the super high mods – reportedly the mods can go to 60, allowing you achieve 25K HP! – then hard mode might be a walk over because you’ll be so incredibly durable.
But, unsurprisingly, no one has achieved that yet! You can complete a hard mode run, but you need the perfect team and all the luck you can get. If the rewards were certain, instead of luck-based, it’d be more worthwhile going through the heartache. But since it’s luck-based in terms of loot, I don’t think that in its current form it’s very appetizing.
The Overall Review of End Game
Listed above is the intended end game content. I haven’t included a review of Operations because I haven’t been able to get into one (sad face). So how do I rate the end game? Well, it’s important to acknowledge that the game has just been launched and the end game is fertile soil for planting more seeds. Currently, there isn’t that much to do end game for solo players. You have the daily quests but as I said they don’t take very long. And that’s pretty much it for solo players; daily quests and that’s it. You’re kind of forced to invent your own end game; like I went back and did all the heroics I had to miss because when I first passed through I was the only person there.
If you’re in a guild or a team, the end game naturally includes hard mode and Operations. But since hard mode is nearly impossible for your average player, that leaves you with Operations. But it’s highly likely you’ll struggle to find a eight people willing to do an Operation, and it’s very unlikely eight members of your guild are at level 50 currently and are the classes you need for an Op. But I imagine Operations to be a mega part of end game soon once more people reach 50. I’m really excited to get into an Operation, but it’s just a waiting game currently!
You really, really need to buff up for end game!
Since most of the time you’ll be playing solo, Ilum is a bit of a disappointment. I love the planet, it looks and feels amazing, but there needs to be more quests than there are. It’s really quite a small planet with a total of maybe 10 daily quests total. And since most take five minutes (or even less since a few are grouped together), you can knock the entire daily quest bundle out in an hour.
Belsavis has more daily quests, but they’re even shorter than Ilum’s and are really quite easy. If I’m honest, I expected end game to be more pronounced. I actually tried PvP (I used to loathe PvP) because I ran out of daily quests and got bored. Which leads me onto the best aspect of end game – PvP. PvP is awesome in this game. It’s fun, interesting, unique, and you can make some pretty good friends in there. It’s also endlessly replayable. Whilst I do wish that The Voidstar to Huttball ratio was tipped a little more favourably to Huttball, it’s all great fun.
So what’s my rating for intended end game? I’d say 6/10. Daily quests are great, but there’s need to be more of them. Or the daily quests just need to be more epic as they often boil down to collecting this, collecting that, or slaughtering this and so on. Hard mode, whilst I love a challenge, is just too hard currently. And whilst most people enjoy a difficult challenge, it’s so difficult that it can quite often just make it not fun which means people just give up. And since the loot is luck-based, it can feel a bit like a slap in the face as you’ve spent two to three hours struggling through only to come out with a few thousand credits and trash loot.
Just one of the ways to prevent the slap in the face
End game is a lot like fancy wine, it matures over time. Whilst there are only a few things to do currently, it’s only been a few weeks since launch. Most MMOs and games don’t have half as much end game content as SWTOR, especially when first released. In the coming months end game will evolve, Ilum will likely treble in size and more quests will be added. I’m really excited for more end game content because it is a lot of fun; but currently, it’s a little bit sparse. And don’t forget… you can always roll a new character!
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That’s what I was thinking. I already have 3 in the 10-15 range just waiting for my Snuggler to reach max level. It’s taking me awhile. I stop and smell the roses a bit too much I think. Either way, I’m loving it.
I have completed the Heroic Black Talon (which I believe is the Empires version of the Essles) in just under 30min with a guild group on vent. I have also got to the end boss on Heroic The False Emperor and Directive 7. (would have completed them if there would have been fewer bugs and/or more time to do them)
I have enjoyed the challenge of doing these. I am glad they are hard right now.(although I would wish for fewer bugs)I expect Bioware to follow the path of other MMORPG’s (read Blizzard)and nerf the content sometime in the coming months. Leave the difficulty bar where it is right now. I relish the challenge, the current Heroics are on par with a good raids in that other big MMO. (which haven’t been good for a while in my opinion)
I look forward to starting Operations as soon as enough of my guild level up and gear up. I am hoping they are, and remain to be, as challenging as the Heroic Flashpoints are at this time. (or maybe even a bit harder) I hope that it remains so until my guild has a chance to clear the content and then they can free it up to make it easy to PUG.
Thanks for the review. It’s pretty illuminating for those of us who’ve yet to reach endgame.
One thing I have to ask: what server are you on? Because I want more Voidstar. Huttball is the bane of my PvP career in SWTOR. I get it maybe 10 times to every time I get either Voidstar or Alderaan. And 7 times out of 10 it’s my full PUG against a really coordinated team led by a premade of decked out 50s.
I think the problem is that my server is very Empire heavy, so Huttball is more likely because the teams aren’t split along faction lines. It should be roughly equally divided between Huttball and Voidstar/Alderaan on a random queue with a nearly equally balanced faction split. But when one faction is more strongly represented, the mandatory random queue (which really sucks in my opinion) skews toward the one without a faction split.
For reference as to how Empire heavy we are on Shadow Hand, I’ve never seen a single Republic player on any of the contested planets I’ve been on, and I’ve gotten as far as Alderaan. I actually went to one of the Republic outposts on Tatooine and didn’t see a single player. I’ve won at least ten Alderaan/Voidstar matches by default because there weren’t enough Republic players. I kinda think Bioware should implement faction caps to keep this sort of thing from happening.
Sorry about my long-winded complaints here.
Hard modes and Operations are amazing. The only glaring issue is that on The Eternity Vault, when fighting Soa, some of his ball lightening randomly goes invisible throughout the fight (not an actual fight mechanic, but a bug) causing tons of wipes.
[...] Anthony at TORWars has an early review of SWTOR’s end-game content, which he currently gives a 6/10 rating [...]
About Hard Mode Flashpoints:
(I did some more hard mode since i wrote this… :p)
Esseles HM is damn near impossible. But the other HM FP’s such as Mealstrom Prison, Taral V and so on; are pretty easy, but do need a bit of working out for the bosses. So i’d say Hard Mode on Esseles needs to be tweaked a bit, and the other FP’s made slightly harder as we basically ran through Taral V without an issue
Operations:
(Since this i got to do both Operations entirely) Operations are stunning. It’s easy to see why i gave 6/10 without including Ops, but including them, i’d easily say 8/10. The only bad thing is the two day lock out. Operations are hard (i’ll write a guide for both soon) and very challenging. I mean we got the last boss in Eternity Vault to 1325 HP and wiped. Just pure heartbreaking
Operations are the single biggest, most epic fun you can have in game. Operations are perfect. The loot is fantastic, it feels right, it’s smooth, challenging, fun, interesting – Operations are utterly amazing. They utterly destroy any raid you’ve probably ever done, especially Eternity Vault! 
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I play on the Hydian Way server
I really have no idea how the PvP games are staggered, you’d think it might be a rolling repeat, but seemingly not =/
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Lol shortbus; that’s what got me as the main tank. A sneak invisible light ball slammed into my back at the worst possible moment
Ops are amazing fun though, beat any raid i’ve ever done.
Being a melee DPS is very frustrating with the current invisible lightning situation. Especially when the balls pop INSIDE THE BOSS. I heard through the grapevine that they are fixing this and also the number of lightning balls/orbs that spawn during the Soa fight on Tuesday. Whether this is true or not, I haven’t the slightest, but I am hoping it is a fact. I really do feel bad for people who are currently flying solo in SWTOR; they are missing out on some truly amazing stuff.
We didn’t have that many issues with invisible balls, we had more trouble stopping people running into them…
I think the main concern is fixing the boss not spawning if you wipe at the turrets and don’t reset the quest. As in, if you wipe at turrets, boss wont spawn, so you’ve got to go out, reset the quest, make sure you dont wipe, then do the turrets then the boss
Karagga’s palace is really short, it takes like 20 minutes total; 10 minutes clearing the way there, then 10 minutes on bone thrasher. The loot is pretty good as well, i’ve got 2/5 columni pieces already!
Fortunately they actually have same-faction warzones. The queues would be awfully long for imperial players if this option did not exist. Better to fight imperials with a short queue than not at all!
I actually quite enjoy the opportunity to go head-to-head with players of my own faction- and on the same server, it’s a stroke of genius!
Not only does it keep the queues down (Imagine having to wait so long to actually fight a band of republic players….)
But it encourages competition between same-faction players.. Which i have always experienced as a positive thing. A good way to make friends and meet good players…. Unfortunately, that won’t always be the case.
Personally, i play republic so i’m not subject to these annoyances, instead i’ve been given other problems… like having to do alderaan warzones 9/10 times… when my favourite is huttball ;D Should’a rolled imperial!
I disagree about the hard modes being overly difficult. I’m on the empire side and have done every hard mode completely, except for foundry, and colocoid… 3rd boss in the battle of ilum is probably the most difficult fight out of all the hard modes. We wiped probably 5 times before we downed that boss. (apparently they’re nerfing this fight soon). We use 2 powertechs, a mercenary healer, and a marauder. False emperor on HM was tough with this comp because it’s best to have 2 knockbacks, but we got it first try.
As for operations… They’re a joke at the moment. Regular mode EV is doable in quest gear and fresh 50s. Hard mode is definitely a challenge, which is good… Unfortunately, it’s also bugged, as are a lot of the hard mode flashpoints. (boarding party, foundry, etc)
The end game has potential but they really need to work on the bugs. Operation difficulty could be ramped up, and hard mode FPs should be left alone, aside from bug fixes.
[...] SWTOR lovers are looking for more content, and as our own Antony Spronson mentioned in a recent article, the end-game at the moment isn’t exactly deep and varied. This leads to the eternal quandary of [...]