#and i was annoyed when we had to backtrack in flashpoint

[a-master-procrastinator]

First impressions on 7.0 story

I did the story on both Imperial and Republic sides, but only one time, so my thoughts and impressions might change after another replay. In general, it felt lackluster. Not without some bright moments, but 7.0 leaves more questions than answers and confuses me even more.

Spoilers under the cut!

Since I don't have backup characters (not main characters, so if something bugs I won't be disappointed) to experience new story, I took Airistan (DS-neutral Knight, Republic loyalist) and Jett (neutral-light BH, still unsure about loyalist/saboteur thing, both are terrible options for her, so I have 2 versions rolled with different options, today it's Imperial saboteur).

Didn't expect Manaan to be first, kinda figured it would be a story between the overall plot with Malgus and war. I didn't know what to expect from this plotline other than "we need kolto!" for either Republic or Empire, and, honestly, the game didn't get me invested. I don't know how to put it, but when Onslaught came out with the whole deal about Meridian complex, I had a sense of importance of either defending or destroying it. With Manaan I didn't have this feeling. Maybe it was my sleep deprived brain (can't rule it out), maybe it was lack of necessity of this mission in overall plot. Other than one "if we had that kolto shipment we'd get you more soldiers" line, Manaan's story don't have impact on anything else, at least so far. I'm willing to wait until next story updates release and see if the result of mission on Manaan has any more consequences.

Underwater mission was fun though. Gave me a little nostalgia from KOTOR.

New area looks good (even if it burns my computer and I have to lower shadows to get better fps and not hurt my eyes). Also happy about characters using their class ship.

Republic

Glad to see Arn again, congratulations on passing the trials and becoming Knight, even if his doubts are still there. Too bad Airistan can't help him much with his struggles as a Jedi (because she doesn't care about Jedi path).

Colonel Gallo is cool, hope she appears again (but pls don't make me come back to Manaan if it's gonna be so slow again).

Surprised that Airistan chose to save people instead of kolto, but in retrospective it makes sense - kolto isn't exactly a resource that's going extinct, and gaining trust by saving Selkath over kolto can help in future relations with Selkath. Airistan is devoted to win the war by any means, but she is also clever. Usually.

Empire

Ooops, another Dark Councilor is dead on Jett's watch, must be a coincidence. Shouldn't have gotten overly ambitious. In other words, Darth Norok didn't impress me.

Colonel Korrd wasn't super interesting at first, but with time I got more invested. Jett even didn't expose him and told to go Odessen.

Anri is great as always. I felt shame when she said "I know I can trust you".

Kolto was sent to Odessen, but to be fair, Jett would do so regardless of saboteur/loyalist status.

I still have characters ready to do Manaan, so maybe my opinion will change.

(about Darth Nul) "Even so... I struggle to think of anyone else with the power to wipe someone from history so completely" ever heard of Black Codex? (people who main Agents, pls tell me that they make a comment about this)

Then we finally get to the main plot of the, ahem, expansion.

Elom is even better looking, but I could not get through this flashpoint without lowering graphics. A few more updates, and even NASA computers won't handle SWTOR at highest graphics.

Anyway, I'm intrigued by Darth Nul and hope we learn more about her work in future.

Absolutely didn't expect to capture Malgus so early on, seeing how he is the main hype about this expansion, but it's not the last time we see him, plus they seem to focus more on Sa'har now.

Republic

Okay, but you can't convince me that Tau and Lana's bickering isn't them flirting.

New girl gang shot just dropped! (maybe not as iconic, but still cool)

Love all the Jedi who come to capture Malgus. Arn, Tau, Aryn, Gnost-Dural, SATELE HELL YEAH!!!

"Malgus is too dangerous to keep alive. We should kill him while we have the chance" ah yes, good old Airistan, finally back.

Empire

[Not this guy...] Heh, poor Rivix, Jett gives no cares about you.

"If he crosses us, we kill him" even better xD, making life difficult for Acina.

Rivix's interactions with Lana are fun as well.

Was wondering how non Force-users go about Malgus throwing a big ass rock at them (Jedi and Sith simply stop it with the Force and throw back at him), such an iconic slide.

So, Imperial cameos - Xarion, Krovos, as expected; even Acina decided to show up? (or Vowrawn if he's the Emperor, I guess).

As much as Jett enjoyed taunting Malgus on Ossus and Corellia, this time it would be outright asshole behavior, and she kinda understands not wanting to serve the Empire.

Lord Eldrid... hm, name drop and possibility to replace Savik on the Dark Council? I have a feeling we'll see Eldrid again.

In general, story was very short, yet at the same time it felt so long to get there (especially Manaan). I have mixed feelings about it: on one hand, not much happened, and Manaan didn't feel overly important, on another hand, I loved some characters, and story seems to have only started, so here's hoping it gets better with new story releases.

My thoughts on all technical stuff (combat styles, conquest, GS 2 and all that) will be later, as there's still many new things to try.