I am getting back into it for a bit with a friend. Who might be able to bring me up to speed what’s changed in the last few years and what cartel market unlocks are worth their money?
When was the last time you played? Also, are you subbing or F2P? Also, keep in mind 6.0 comes out in about a month and a half and there are some base mechanics that are getting massive overhauls. (Specifically gearing and how it relates to specs.) As for Cartel buys, the only "must-have" is the rocket boots, so if you don't have them already get them asap. After that, it's really up to you.
It’s been several years. Back when level 50 was the max. I am F2P but preferred for whatever that’s worth. I still have over 6000 cartel credits from somewhere I found, though
Wow. That is a long time. Okay, since you're F2P and have all those CC, the very first place you might want to think about buying is the Artifact Authorization. This will allow you to wear purple gear. I'm not sure about gold/yellow, but I don't think I've ever seen a yellow < level 70 anyway. However, if you think you're going to sub in the future, then you can skip it since blues are more than enough to get you by. Which leads me to my next point. The game is way easier now. Between gear creep and the suped-up companions, the single-player stuff is laughably easy. Unfortunately, group content (for you) is a mixed bag. The only group content you'll have access to is the basic flashpoints and only on the easiest difficulty. Unfortunately, with the current bolster system, several of these aren't balance very well and are in a weired way are almost harder than their hard-difficulty counterparts - especially in PUGs. Sadly, save for a specific few, they've become a very inefficient way to level, and I pretty much avoid them completely unless I have a premade. The harder difficulty ones are fine though once you meat the gear level (which isn't high), but again those are behind the sub paywall. I mention all this because you said you were going to play with a friend. And you won't be able to do the operations at all. I should also mention that a handful of Flashpoints (all the story-heavy ones) all have solo modes now. These are also really stupidly easy and can actually get kind of boring. But they're there for the purpose of letting you watch all the story/cutscenes without someone yelling at you to skip them. To access the solo modes, talk directly to the quest giver and you'll be prompted with a choice on which one you want. And really - one could argue 'sadly' even - the game has become even more solo-player friendly than STO, to the point where it pretty much is just KOTOR 3 with a little MMO on the side now. Speaking of, there's an old promo code - REVANSFATE - that grants access to the Sadow of Revan storyline (really everything up to level 60). As far as I know, it still works. It's just one of those things where it was a one-time promotion but they never nullified the code, knowing it was still found around the internet. It doesn't really matter though since all that stuff is become free with 6.0, anyway. I only mention it because it's 2XP for the next few weeks and you'll probably get that far before 6.0 goes live. (They're in the process of relaxing a lot of the F2P restrictions. They changed a bunch of stuff in last week's patch, even.) As far as leveling, the best advice I can give you is to stick to purple quests. Some time ago, they changed all the quest icons. They have the same old yellow once (with three different types) for all the side content. And all the main storyline quests now have a purple icon. They had their XP adjusted to keep you on the level curve. But, as I said, it's 2XP now so you'll be way ahead anyway. In fact, with 2XP you can almost get by just doing the main class storyline and skipping all the planet-specific stuff. If you do need to supplement XP you can always do some Heroics. As I said, the game is way easy now. So you can do any heroic in the game with just your companion. Most of the hard ones have been severely nerfed on top of the other power-creep stuff. However, this might actually be the way to go if you want to play with a friend. For one thing, heroics give you a chunk of the xp from everyone else in your group. So it's a great way to level with others. Also, they can all be accessed from the fleet. There's a big terminal in the combat training area. That has all the heroics. (You can literally fill you quest log wit them.) And then in the quest pager, there will be a little clicky icon. This will transport you directly to the heroic "entrance". Plus they auto-turn in when you complete them. And they reward random blue gear. (And lots of credits.) So one popular thing to do is do all the heroics one by one and then go back a blow through the class questline. That reminds me, if you want to spend your extra CC on stuff, you might consider all the quick transports. There are three unlocks for the quick travel wich will reduce its cooldown to zero. There's also various transport to fleets and other areas which help you zip around the galaxy. One big introduction about a year ago was the galaxy transport system. Most (not all) quests in the game will have a little Saturn icon next to them. If you click on it you can transport directly to that planet and or quest. I think F2P might have to buy the Quick travel to Starship unlock for it to work, but it's not much. And really, aside from when the storyline forces you, you'll hardly go to your ship at all. This is where having an M.2 drive (or at least a fast SSD) make a huge noticeable difference. So as far as what to spend your CC on, I think travel/speed QoL stuff is the way to go, to which I include the aforementioned rocket boots. And the artifact unlock if you think you'll need it. Else, you can always unlock hide head slot and unify colors. The account unlocks for both those aren't very much. Otherwise, I'd say you're free to spend it on vanity. As far as what to play, I'm assuming you're probably faction-locked to whatever your friend is doing. If you want something simple and easy, then I'd go with Commando Trooper / Mercenary Bounty Hunter. - the Gunnery/Arsenal spec specifically. It's very simple and easy to learn. It does get really boring and repetitive in the mid-levels but level 55+ it becomes fun AF. It is also the most popular non-Force spec in the game. Might even be the most popular period. If you want something melee, I would look ad Guardian Knight / Jugg Warrior. As a rule, Mauraders/Sentinals are way more popular (two glow sticks are better than one), but I think the added survivability is worth it. The Vigilance/Vengeance spec is the way to go. It has a little more range with an extra saber throw. Also, its rotation is an infinite loop so it's really easy to learn. Plus the animation for the level 58 skill is probably my favorite in the game. If you're open to anything, then I'd say start with an Imperial Agent - assuming you haven't played through the story before. The story is excellent and easily the best in the game. Plus it has five possible endings. As for as which class, Opraive is my bag for life. But I think you play an Engineer in STO if memory serves. Well, there is an Engineer spec for snipers. The specifics are different obviously, but is still built on the same basic principle: crouch in place and shoot the baddies in the head whist your various gizmos blow them up. It also has the most AOE of any spec in the game. The last bit of advice I can give you is, once you hit level 15 go to either the supplies area on the fleet or the main hub area of the capital planet and there will be a large hologram dude with a quest. Talk to him and he'll give you a quest to get your stronghold. There will then be some screens nearby that act as vendors. Most of the strongholds cost CC but you can buy one on each of the capital planets for essentially free. (They're like 10 credits or something.) Once you by one Press U and you can go inside and complete the quest. Afterward, wait like five to ten minutes and you'll get some mail. Inside one of the mails is a legacy bank that you can plop. You get a mailbox and a vendor woman (for selling trash) you can all plop inside. I keep all that stuff right by the door. Obviously, I'm not going go into any great detail about strongholds. But I wanted to mention the legacy bank since you don't get a regular one as a F2P. Sorry for the meandering stream of nonsense, I was just trying to cover anything I could think of.
Started it again a month of two ago, didn’t play too far. Which about how far I got the first time. I dunno, loved kotor, but can’t quite get into this one. There’s a LOT of wasted travel time, seem to spend 75% of my time wandering down trails to get back to a base
Pretty sure they just removed the time restrictions of quick travel and they haven't required you to unlock taxi stations for quite a while, so there's no reason for you to have to do that in most cases. Indeed, these last few years the one thing that's really jumped out is just how much easier it is to get around these days. You don't even really need your own ship anymore.