Primary Testing Needs a Reboot

Every time the Gree event rolls around I get excited. I get to ride my trusty Tauntaun through the icy chasms of Illum, and thanks to the outfit designer, I can even dress like I’m adventuring on an icy death trap of a world.

It’s a lovely diversion from the daily grind of Yavin IV or whatever serves as the major quest hub at the time of the event. It’s an opportunity to do something a little different and get some great rewards like the legacy off-hands. I always look forward to the Gree event, and then I do Heroic: Primary Testing (Primary Studies on the Pub side).

It rewards a Gray Helix, the Gree currency, so you absolutely want to complete it every day. The problem with this question is that it requires you to assemble a dream team of heroes to complete. You know the extra boss in the Heroic Manaan Flashpoint? I feel like it borders on that. Seriously, you need a tank, a healer and two DPS if you want any hope of it going smoothly. Even then, it probably won’t go well.

When attempting to do this quest, one out of three things usually happens. Incredible cooperation and coordination. Incredible douchebaggery with people clicking and tagging things “out of turn”, or you get ganked because somehow your group got flagged PvP.

Only one of these situations is positive and it happens to be the one that occurs the least.

So what can be done to fix it?

The objectives should be cut in half. Currently, you have to kill three Guardians and six sets of droids. Reduce it to one Guardian and three sets of droids. And shorten the respawn timer on the Guardian.

Next, modify the difficulty so that it’s more like a Tactical Flashpoint where any four people can do it. Make it role agnostic.

Finally, instance the damn thing. Put the pylons in a cave or something.

The Gree event is meant to be fun, and I’m a big believe that player collision in an MMO should be a positive experience. This quest just brings out the worst in everything and there’s no reason for it to be that way.

2 Comments on “Primary Testing Needs a Reboot”

  1. i don’t think Primary Testing is THAT difficult. >_> i’ve been able to do it in a group of less than 4. half the time, i just grab one other guildie, and we duo it with our companions. and depending on what toon i’m on, i’ve been able to solo it as well (though it does take much longer if you do so).

    also, keep in mind that if you do that quest out in the pvp area, the mobs that spawn there are FAR easier to kill. it’s a really big difference. the only thing is you have to keep an eye out for gankers. if you go out there during slow times, that shouldn’t be an issue though.

    1. I’ll admit to taking a wee bit of artistic license in describing the difficulty of the quest. I do think things would be better served is they cut the objectives in half though.

      I may give the PvP area a try next time I do it.

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