Star Wars: The Old Republic recently released its long-awaited Legacy of the Sith expansion to mark its 10th anniversary, but the final product is disappointing. Early reactions to the expansion criticized many quality-of-life changes in the 7.0 SWTOR update. As a result, many players have called for BioWare to withdraw the update until it can improve the content's overall quality. Unfortunately, it appears players are stuck with Legacy of the Sith's many issues for the time being. Despite suffering a month-long delay, SWTOR's player base has filled Reddit and the official SWTOR website with complaints about glitches, unwanted quality-of-life changes, and flaws that may have passed unnoticed during playtesting.
Star Wars: The Old Republic's Legacy of the Sith expansion starts on Manaan, with Imperial and Republic players battling over the water planet's kolto resources. Players meet several new characters and lead various military operations across the planet. However, the focus shifts soon to Darth Malgus. BioWare has used The Old Republic's Darth Malgus as a villain multiple times before, but the renegade Sith has a new plan that threatens to shake the galaxy's foundation. Players can now reach Level 80 and face a new Flashpoint on Elom, with an Operation launching in the future.
Reception to new Star Wars: The Old Republic expansions are usually positive, with recent additions like Onslaught and Knights of the Eternal Throne providing players with thrilling narratives, new characters, and exciting planets to explore. Unfortunately, despite intense advertising for Legacy of the Sith, the failure to implement player feedback has left many unsatisfied with the finished product. There are many reasons why Legacy of the Sith hasn't experienced a positive reception like other expansions, but a few critical failures stick out as being particularly damaging.
Star Wars: Old Republic's Legacy Of The Sith Wrecked The UI
There are many changes and improvements BioWare tried to implement in SWTOR's Legacy of the Sith expansion, including a change to the UI. As an MMO that launched a decade ago, many features in Star Wars: The Old Republic are visibly dated and may serve as a barrier to entry to some players. BioWare tried to address this issue by introducing new UI elements, but the resulting product backfired horribly. The changes have left many players complaining about the updates. A key component in any MMO is organizing a character's abilities and powers, ensuring players can easily use an appropriate attack in combat. SWTOR features a UI customizer, allowing players to move their various abilities throughout their screen, but this can't counteract the effects of LOTS' changes.
Star Wars: The Old Republic's character sheets previously displayed character equipment, levels, titles, names, and other stats, but Legacy of the Sith adjusted character sheets to include loadouts. This feature seems like a massive improvement on the surface, providing players with the opportunity to utilize one character in many ways. Every SWTOR class features attacks and abilities that players can use in offensive, defensive, and support methods. Loadouts can also assist players in swapping between different equipment and ability presets.
Unfortunately, several bugs are present when editing loadouts manually that cause the preset to suffer a total reset. Additionally, the images for various items have received significant criticism for their unimpressive graphics. While this may seem minor compared to other glitches and bugs in Star Wars: The Old Republic, players are constantly forced to examine their inventory for valuable items in battle. The different icons make it more difficult for players to locate items and remind players of the expansion's many shortcomings.
SWTOR's Legacy Of The Sith Story Is Too Short
While Star Wars: The Old Republic's dark side-focused Legacy of the Sith expansion features interesting characters and beautiful story locations, the story missions are far too short. Unlike previous expansions that had dozens of hours to enjoy, LOTS restricts its story gameplay to approximately six hours for the Imperial storyline and Republic storyline. While the military campaign on Manaan helps players move towards their respective allegiances once more, BioWare's continued use of Darth Malgus is also becoming old, as players' killed' him in the False Emperor Flashpoint years ago. His return in SWTOR's Onslaught expansion was surprising, but Malgus' potential soon succumbed to his villainous nature again. While Imperial players may experience more connection to Malgus due to his former Sith status, Republic players can again defeat an intimidating Sith Warrior in a heroic tale. However, Legacy of the Sith fails to set itself apart from other expansions in its short runtime.
Compared to Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne, SWTOR's Legacy of the Sith is a highly disappointing addition to mark the MMO's 10th anniversary. KOTFE and KOTET featured 16 and nine chapters respectively, with each chapter providing an hour or more of content. Onslaught offered minor story content, but players believed it would serve as an interlude to BioWare's next big story. Instead, as Republic players work alongside Manaan's security forces and Imperial players assist their military in conquering the planet, the expansion embraces a traditional Star Wars tale of good vs. evil but ultimately fails to embrace more complex themes. One of Star Wars: The Old Republic's most significant advantages is its ability to dictate stories from both sides of the war. Still, Legacy of the Sith fails to take steps towards creating equally balanced narratives.
Legacy Of The Sith Ruined SWTOR's Character Builds
While MMO expansions are often paired with balance fixes and the removal of various combat abilities, Star Wars: The Old Republic's latest update may have gone overboard with specific changes. One significant change present in Legacy of the Sith is the addition of combat styles. While particular abilities and subclasses were once restricted to player classes, LOTS unlocks powers depending on a character's Force Sensitivity. For example, Jedi Knights and Sith Juggernauts can now access powers that were once unique to one class or the other. Unfortunately, this change came at the price of many reworked or removed abilities. Many players found their builds completely demolished after loading the 7.0 update, further souring the expansion's in-game effects.
While some of these complaints can be fixed by BioWare, the story is an unfortunate failure. It's unlikely for players to receive additional story missions beyond the upcoming Flashpoint and Operation, but complaints about the UI and removed abilities in Star Wars: The Old Republic are manageable fixes. BioWare needs to fix many problems in the coming months to make Legacy of the Sith's changes positive instead of damaging.