This installment of MMO Co-Opportunities, we take a look at content that is associated with expansions for three different MMOs. We have a new raid for FFXIV: Heavensward, details on Neverwinter: Strongholds, and details on changes to flashpoints and operations coming in SWTOR: Knights of the Fallen Empire.
FFXIV: Heavensward Adds New Raid
Patch 3.01 rolled out for FFXIV: Heavensward last week. The big news here is that a new raid dungeon (Alexander: Gordias) has been added. It’s intended for 8 characters of Disciple of War or Magic level 60. The advertised time is 90 minutes and it requires the completion of the “Disarmed” quest to enter. If a character meets all the requirements, they can solo queue for the raid through the Duty Finder.
Completion of Alexander: Gordias produces treasure coffers that contain tokens which can be traded for gear. Characters are only allowed a limit of one token per floor per week. This eligibility is reset at a static time every week (Tuesdays at 1:00 AM PDT). You can check out the trailer for Alexander: Gordias below.
Neverwinter Details Strongholds
Neverwinter: Strongholds, the 7th expansion for Neverwinter, was announced earlier this summer. Strongholds focuses on content specifically for guilds. Over the past month, details about this expansion have been slowly revealed. Each guild will have its own Stronghold adventure zone, which will be the biggest zone created the game at this time. A guild’s Stronghold starts off as a ruined structure with the surrounding land infested by enemies. As the guild ranks up, however, the Stronghold similarly progresses with the central structure receiving repairs, townsfolk moving into the area, and new structures beginning to be built. Guild members can donate items to the guild coffers which can then be spent by officers to build more structures in the Stronghold adventure zone. Each structure has 10 ranks which unlock new stronghold abilities and boons for guild members. Strongholds even have the potential to later produce very powerful gear.
As Strongholds rank up, however, so too do the enemies in the adventure zone. Different Heroic Encounters await for guilds to defeat and drive from their land. These encounters will get tougher as the guild gains more power. Iconic bosses such as Beholders and Dragons will even make appearances.
An exact release date for Neverwinter: Strongholds is currently unannounced, but the planned release date is this summer.
SWTOR to Change up Flashpoints and Operations in Upcoming Expansion
Knights of the Fallen Empire, the fifth expansion to Star Wars: the Old Republic (SWTOR), was officially announced last month. Between now and the game's fall release, the development team has been revealing information about the expansion as well as changes coming to the core game experience. Knights of the Fallen Empire (or KotFE) takes place five years after SWTOR. How is this accomplished, you ask? Carbonite stasis, of course! At level 60, players will be frozen in carbonite. When they wake up, it’s five years later and the the Eternal Empire has won the war. That can't be good.
KotFE will raise the level cap for SWTOR by another five levels, making the new level cap 65. In part due to this increased level cap, there will be some big changes coming to already existing Flashpoints and Operations. All Operations (SWTOR’s raids) will be raised to the new level cap, which means they will drop a new tier of Elder Game gear as well as new vanity items. Operations will still be able to be played from level 50 to 65 in Story Mode, however.
For non-raiders, Flashpoints (SWTOR’s dungeons) will be getting some love, too. Fourteen Flashpoints (the ones Bioware found to be important to the core story of the game) will have a Solo mode added to them. Players will be able to tackle these by themselves (or with a companion), allowing them to experience the game’s story if they can’t or don’t want to find other people to accompany them. Also, fourteen Flashpoints (some of them the same ones that will receive Solo Mode, others different ones) will now be Tactical Flashpoints. Tactical Flashpoints will apply a Bolster effect to lower level characters. This means that anyone levels 10-65 can play them with anyone else and the game will scale their power appropriately. Last, Hard Mode Flashpoints will receive a similar bolstering system, albeit within a smaller level range. Players 50-65 will be able to tackle Hard Mode Flashpoints together on similar power levels.
SWTOR: Knights of the Fallen Empire is due to release October 27th (or October 20th, for those with early access).
What expansions to MMOs are you currently looking forward to? Or which MMO's expansions are you currently enjoying?