1 + 1 = 4

After leaving Tython my next stop was the Imperial Fleet – wait, no, the Republic Fleet, which is totally not the same place.

(Yes it is, and the sheer laziness of the two faction hubs being the exact same location only with slightly different decor never ceases to amaze me.)

Before moving on to Coruscant I ventured into the first flashpoint – The Esseles. Flashpoints are four player group content. I went in solo, naturally.

The flashpoints have been balanced and rebalanced multiple times over the years, and how doable they've been solo (one player + one companion) has varied a great deal. I've completed this one in the past, back when I think it was still possible to outlevel the flashpoint. More recently, though still pre-blog, I ran it once on what the game calls 'Story Mode', which provides the solo player with a Combat Assistance Droid in addition to their regular companion. This wildly overpowered killbot enables the player to see the fun parts of the flashpoint by effortlessly mashing every enemy encountered along the way. I guess it's one way of doing things but from a gameplay perspective it's not much fun, and I didn't select that option this time around. Instead I went in with just my companion – set to Tank, which in normal content more or less ensures no enemy will ever come near me – and it went well up to the first boss.

Then it didn't go well. Oh well, I'll finish it some other time. Probably.

For some years now all flashpoints have been set to level 60, with the player(s) scaled up accordingly. I'm not fond of level scaling at the best of times and one of the things I dislike about, in any game, it is fully in evidence in SWTOR – a low level character scaled up to level 60 is simply nowhere near as powerful as an actual level 60. They don't have the skills, the passives or the anything elses of a real high level character and it always shows. This works both ways - a high level character scaled down to a lower level is always noticeably more powerful than they were when they were actually at that level.

Just how much more more powerful varies from game to game, and my impression is that the scaling in SWTOR may have been tweaked since the last time I ventured into the Esseles. I didn't die to the first mobs I encountered but I didn't get that far either. 

Of course the closer I get to level 60 the narrower the gap becomes between how powerful I should be and how powerful I actually am. I'll likely revisit the Esseles as I proceed through the game, and see how long it takes for me to reach the point where I can actually complete it. This, and the other flashpoints, will thus provide something of a pure gameplay challenge, which is otherwise rather lacking in SWTOR.