SWTOR - ACH: expansion overview

As I suspected in my review of the Dulfy and DarthHater interviews published, an NDA on Makeb's closed beta was lifted yesterday. The opportunity for these sites to distribute a lot of information, screenshots, videos, guides, etc. The Swtor-Guide team did not have this access to the closed beta, so we will be content for the time being with translations / summaries of the information given by the sites mentioned below.

In addition, we have decided, for the moment, not to translate the articles which are real guides to the new quests (both the Makeb history quest and the weekly news) and to present a summary instead. First, because by definition they are full of spoilers, then because as no one has access to them at the moment it is not useful and finally for a matter of time (and yes, it takes a long time to do these translations, and sometimes even more than doing the guide yourself).

This article is therefore more of a synthesis of these insights. Lots of videos and screenshots (some containing spoilers, but they are usually marked) are featured on the source sites, which I invite the curious to check out if they want to learn more. For others, let's get started now!

Makeb

The planet and the scenery

• Dulfy describes Makeb as a vast planet that is 3-4 times the size of traditional planets like Corellia (a map from Dulfy is available here). Darthhater also describes it as "rather huge" with each circular area being a quest area and the map does not include many underground or interior areas.
• As we have already learned from the Making of videos and other "official" descriptions, Makeb's geography is quite unique and consists of mesas (highlands) which form islands lost in a sea of ​​clouds. As can be seen on the map, the area is therefore divided into numerous islands.
• The environment is unique and has never been seen on other planets. Dulfy describes it as resembling a peaceful tropical paradise on the surface, with ugly marks left by huge industrial complexes.

 

The history

• Regarding the story, Makeb has resources in Isotope 5, something everyone wants because it can be used as a powerful weapon capable of changing the outcome of the conflict. The Hutts know this and have decided to invade the planet to mine this resource for their own use. Of course, the Hutt invasion did not go unnoticed and both Empire and Republic sent their own troops.
• The two factions have their own histories which are different, but interconnected. Dulfy advises playing out the stories of both factions to gain a better understanding of the conflict on Makeb.
• As we already knew, there are no class specific stories, but the story is epic enough to play the role. There is a lot of action that makes you feel like the hero of the galaxy.
• As we also already knew, Makeb is the first planet in SWTOR to have gay romance options with quest NPCs. Note however: in the Makeb history quest, the female-female options are on the Republic side and the male-male options on the Empire side (this point has been confirmed on the official forum). There is, however, a small female-to-female option in the quest for the Macroscope on the Empire side (and we can expect a similar small male-to-male option for the Republic).
• All the cutscenes of Makeb's main quest are around 1h20 according to Dulfy.

 

Quests

• Leveling is easy on Makeb, according to Dulfy. We go from island to island and each island contains part of the main quest as well as a daily quest. She finds it to be a lot different (and better) from hubs where you collect lots of quests and then forget what they are about. She finds that there is a sense of accomplishment when you finish one island and go to the next.
• There are also 3 heroics available that are part of the leveling experience.
• The main story alone does not get to level 55, most players will likely be level 53-54 after completing the main story. This can be a bit of a problem according to Dulfy as there will be instances where we find ourselves fighting mobs 2-3 levels higher. She believes that the use of experience boosts is recommended.
• It takes 7-9 hours to finish Makeb content, but that's only the top of the iceberg as there are loads of new content (Daily, Weekly, Macroscope and Seeker Droid quests) to keep busy for days.
• Makeb's mob density is quite high so those with specializations with a lot of AoE will probably go faster than others. On his Heal Sorcerer equipped in Dread Guard, Dulfy had no issues with missions or mobs. With another character in Rakata / Campaign (also a healer) she didn't have a big problem either, but things got a little more difficult in the end.

 

Datacrons

• There are two datacrons on Makeb, one +10 presence and the other +10 stamina
• The +10 presence is quite easy to obtain
• The +10 endurance is "as elaborate and long" as the Fleet datacron. Dulfy says it's best to be prepared to spend at least 1-2 hours to get it if you're not good at jumping or afraid of heights.

 

Makeb's reputation

• We already knew that there will be a new reputation linked to Makeb.
• This reputation is mainly earned by doing the Makeb Daily and Weekly.
• The Reputation Vendor offers two sets of purple armor and level 53 weapons for Basic Commendations. The two armor sets are different between Empire and Republic and don't change appearance if sent to a character of the opposite faction, so there are actually 4 new armor skin sets with that reputation.

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The Macroscope and the Seeker Droid 

The Macroscope

• As we could see in the video of Making of n ° 2 or guess it, the macroscope is therefore a kind of pair of binoculars that can be used to identify objects and which is used in a new series of missions to scan certain objectives. .
• The use is quite simple, because most of the time we are told what to scan and the objects to be scanned light up when we pass over them.
• The Macroscope brings another dimension to the game by revealing certain hidden objects that must be interacted with during a puzzle, for example.
• The Macroscope has its own series of missions that require traveling to different planets and scanning certain objects marked on the map. It may sound a bit boring, but puzzle missions break up the monotony. You will have to use your brain to figure out how to pass grids of laser beams or open locked doors using the macroscope to find interactive objects that you would not have spotted otherwise.
• If puzzles aren't your thing, you might be interested in jumping over voids or crates to reach places you can't otherwise. There is a solo instance created with the leap in mind.
• If solo jumping or puzzles aren't enough, there are also two Heroic 4's at the end of the mission series. One of them involves a long "car" chase across the sky of Nar Shaddaa where you have to jump on moving speeders to chase your enemy. 2). The other heroic is a series of group-oriented puzzles with an interesting boss.
• The whole quest series is detailed at Dulfy, but since I don't want to spoil myself too much I haven't watched?

 

Seeker droids

• The Seek Droid is a small droid that you can use to dig up items required for another set of missions (presumably this appears as an ability in "General").
• This series goes with that of the Macroscope because they ask to travel on the same planets.
• The droid is simple to use: you deploy it on the ground and it scans a circle about 5m in radius. If it finds anything, it will light up green and dig up the object. Otherwise, it will light up red. After that, he places a small circle under your feet if you are near a buried object. If there is no nearby object, a red circle appears, otherwise a green semicircle appears giving you the direction of the buried object. (You can see screens here, here or there for the excavation, here or there for the circle, or even a video of the procedure done several times here)
• There are consumables called GSI Triangulation Enhancers. They give a ten minute buff that's supposed to improve the range and accuracy of the little circle under you, but Dulfy says she hasn't seen much of an effect.
• For those who still have nightmares of finding HK-51 components, you can rest easy as the items required for the missions are not as hard to find. The area you need to scan is marked and it looks like there are a lot of these items buried under the ground. For most missions, Dulfy says she was able to locate mission objects within 5-10 minutes of scanning.
• Some locations on different planets contain buried items that are not part of any quest but may give rare components for some speeders sold by GSI reputation vendors (see our article on this reputation). This prompts players to go outside and dig things up for a chance to get these components. Locations containing these rare components can be spotted with the Macroscope, which provides excellent interaction between these two objects.
• There is also a Heroic 4 at the end of the Seeker Droid Mission Series. It doesn't have any puzzles or jumps, but it does contain some interesting boss mechanics. You also have to make a Light / Dark choice at the end which gives you a different chest piece depending on your decision.
• As with the macroscope, the entire questline is detailed at Dulfy, but as with the macroscope I don't want to spoil everything so I haven't watched?

 The missions of the GSI

• A new reputation related to Nar Shaddaa had already been spotted on the public test server, but it was not known how we could increase this reputation, it is now done.
• GSI quests (the new reputation) can be taken as soon as you start the Macroscope and Seeker Droid questlines. They combine the use of these two tools and create daily hubs on formerly sparsely populated planets.
• There is a GSI Daily Quest Terminal on Alderaan, Hoth, Makeb, and Tatooine. Each planet has its own unique solo and heroic 2 daily questlines.
• There is thus a weekly related to the GSI, which requires to do 10 missions of the GSI and 1 heroic mission of the GSI (which also counts in the 10 missions), giving basic distinctions and trophies of reputation.
• On each of the planets mentioned above, there are 4 solo daily and 1 heroic 2 (all different between the planets). Again, I don't want to spoil everything for myself, so if you want to know more I invite you to check out the guide made by Dulfy.

There you go, I think that's about it for now (but it already gives a lot of new details). As I have repeated several times, I intentionally did not go into detail of everything, especially because I want to discover the majority of the new quests in the game rather than by reading guides, especially when they look so original. than those of the Macroscope. However, I invite the most curious of you to go directly to the sites indicated at the beginning of the article.

And, curious or not, please let us know in the comments what you think of this new information!