Damn, a hell of a two hour livestream like this one today ... and which brings us a very, very VERY large amount of information on the changes to come with Knights of the Fallen Empire. Thanks to Eric Musco for this livestream!
By the way, this summary is certified 100% spoiler-free on the story!
Let's start with one of the big novelties, the characters directly level 60:
- We already had some information in the previous live, especially concerning the creation screen.
- For each new directly 60 character that you buy, you get an additional character slot on the server, and the attainable limit is now 40-50 (to be confirmed). It is not specified whether this limit of 40 can be reached with "classic" pitches or only with 60 pitches.
- A straight 60 character will have a maximum of three crew skills (see section about this).
- The gear you start with is Rank 188 and is fully inherited (implants / atrium included but not relics). It is not modifiable.
- The purchase price of a 60 character is not yet defined.
The second important point is of course the story of Fallen Empire :
- You won't need to have Rise of the Hut Cartel, Shadow of Revan, or even Ziost to begin the Fallen Empire story.
- Note that if you start the first chapter of Fallen Empire, you will no longer be able to return to the class quests (acts 1 to 3) or to the quests mentioned above.
- We can always go back to the old planets once we have started Fallen Empire.
- Eric Musco did not serve as a physical model for the two brothers in the trailer (hey! That was still a very present question!).
- The first 9 chapters will be available when Fallen Empire launches. The tenth chapter should be available after the Christmas holidays.
- Those who have watched the story report on the previous live will know that they stopped the story preview on a very important choice. It is possible that a month after the launch of Fallen Empire they will release a statistic on the number of people who will have chosen one or the other of the options (note: I'm curious to see the result!).
- Entry into KotFE: special window, chapter summary, "Launch" button
As for the partners, we know that changes will happen :
- They have a basic role. Example: care for Mako. But you can change it by right-clicking on their portrait (so Tank, DPS or Healer).
Spoiler on a Fallen Empire partner
- Impossible to change their role during a fight.
- They no longer need any equipment, their stats depend on level and Influence (replacing Affection).
- One can always change the appearance of a partner (if it is possible for the particular partner) with equipment, or with partner customizations.
- Old equipment (apart from the weapon) reserved for a partner can now be worn by anyone.
- They are investigating players' request to once again receive basic equipment from a partner. They would really like to offer this possibility but it sure will not be when Knights of the Fallen Empire launches.
- During conversations, we can see "partner approves" according to our conversation choices, surely to increase Influence.
- There is a new type of partner in the Cartel packs, example: the Akk dog. They are partners focused on the fight and who will not have a personal history nor who will be able to intervene in the dialogues. Note that we can sell them on the Galactic Market.
- There is a new menu "Partners and Contacts" which is linked to our alliance. More details to come soon in this regard.
Let's move on to crew skills now :
- When creating a level 60, certain crew skills will be selected according to the class and increased to 500. Possibility of abandoning them, but it will be necessary to start from zero. Example for the bounty hunter: Illegal Trade, Collecting and Crafting Armor.
- Crew skill rank still at 500, but there will be no more intermediate tiers (400 and 450).
- To craft an item, a step is added. We will no longer manufacture directly with the materials, but we will first manufacture intermediate objects to be able to manufacture the equipment.
- Harvest: 8 levels now, materials will disappear, they will be detailed in a blog post
- It will be possible to harvest on nodes higher than the crew skill level, but less material will be harvested. The reverse is true, and more material will be harvested from lower level nodes.
- All harvesting missions are now available, and no longer 4 or 5. No need to change area to get "Prolific" missions.
- The old learned plans will now be in an "Archives" section if you still want to craft them for the visual (their statistics will be less good anyway).
The inheritance benefits from some changes too :
- Speeder piloting can now be unlocked via inheritance from level 1.
- Two new spells available for free with the inheritance: one to randomly summon a pet among those possessed, and the other in the same way but for a mount / vehicle.
- There is an Inheritance Power Bar (see interface section) when triggering the Heroic Moment. It would appear that the inheritance powers have undergone a rebalancing.
- If we have all eight classes in the game and have completed Chapters 3 of each class quest, we will have legend status. Along with a notification on the login screen, this manifests as a small icon next to your name once in-game.
- Datacrons, ALL datacrons, will now be unlocked for all inheritance! Eric is 99% sure it's retroactive. The inheritance tab about datacrons allows us to know which ones we have unlocked or not. Although the name of these datacrons is indicated as "Datacron Planet Presence" they will grant the static good news.
- No inheritance wallet.
Changes to statistics and distinctions :
- No more will, aim, trick or vigor, there will now be only one common statistic: Mastery.
- Everything about critical hits is now just a stat as well.
- Classic, Elite, and Ultimate accolades are renamed Common, Glowing, and Radiant Data Crystal.
- The limits for these three distinctions are now 1000, 500 and 500 respectively.
- There is no longer a weekly limit on the number of crystals you can earn.
- No change regarding war zone distinctions
Interface :
- Changes concerning the interface editor, we can now activate a grid to be able to position the various elements more easily.
- You can now import and export your keyboard shortcuts.
- New temporary skill bar:
- Skill bars may be displayed temporarily under certain conditions.
- Huttball bar for example: no need to put the ball throw in its usual bar.
- Inheritance Power Bar containing our Inheritance Powers and that appears when we trigger the Heroic Moment.
- Slight changes to the minimap: in purple will appear the class quests and planetary quests. It seems that doing these will be roughly equivalent to the current x12 boost (which, remember, will be disabled when Fallen Empire launches).
Group and Heroic Missions
- The group finder has a new design.
- The operation available by the group finder will now change every day and the next one to come is indicated.
- Operations, as well as ZL, will be available from level 50 to 65. We can therefore conclude that the boost will always be available and will allow grouping with higher levels.
- New Heroic quest terminal on the fleet, it contains all the weekly quests for each planet (that's a lot).
- More H4 quests than H2.
- These Heroics offer Common Data Crystals, Credits, and Boxes that contain rewards of our level.
- A teleportation pass to the Heroic quest area is given when taking a Heroic mission, allowing you to go directly to the quest area.
Collections :
- Now when we open the collections, all categories are closed and not expanded.
- There is now a search field to quickly find a specific object with its name: example Hyrotii for speeders in this range.
- There are also several options for sorting the results.
- We have a counter of the total number of objects in a category (weapons for example) as well as the number we have.
- It will be possible to unlock an item for all the inheritance from the character who owns it (currently you have to switch to another character).
- Next Pack Shipment Name: Alliance Packs
Cartel Bazaar and Reputation Vendor :
- Now in the Cartel Bazaar, we can see new vendors on the bounty hunt side. These are the vendors of the various events: Gree, Bounty Hunt and Rakghoules. They are centralized in the same place.
- A private saleswoman also appeared: Ambassador Ky'lee (Republic side). It has exclusive objects as well as objects from old events: the Chevins (Acquisitions Race), and the first edition of the Rakghoules.
- You need a combination of rewards from the 3 current events to be able to buy him something.
Finally, several things without a specific category :
- The level will be adapted to the maximum of a planet when we return to a lower level planet. It's all over the planet and not just the Heroic areas.
- This level synchronization is not optional.
- No new PvP area open.
- We can right-click on the name of a friend in the guild setting so that he whispers directly to him. It is impossible at the present time.
- Cloaks will no longer pass through vehicles! Some vehicles will still have this issue, but it is fixed on the majority of vehicles and mounts.
- The armor and speeder visible on one of Eric's characters during the livestream are taken from the next Combine Pack which will be released at the same time as Fallen Empire!
A number of articles from the developers' blogs should soon complete this information. Here is a list of those (at least the advertised ones):
- The Alliance System
- Crew skills
- Upcoming Combat Changes
- Changes to the Cartel Market and how it will work
Come on, given the time I am going to bed, but before that I leave you on this pretty image present during the live!
