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For those interested in 'what you get' for buying the expansion, here is a quick rundown.
Firstly, my opion is probably biased by my fondness for the game and the gameplay. There are many things about the game I wish were different, but overall, I love playing this game. It fits in perfectly with my very casual gaming style. With a few friends/guildmates who play fairly regularly, we can do most of the endgame content (all of the flashpoints), and with some some cooridnation with other small guilds, we can run most of the end game operations.
As far as what you get for your money. It's somewhat difficult to differentiate what came as part of the normal 2.0 game update, and what was included with the expansion, as both were implemented at the same time. I'm not going to attempt to differentiate between the two.
If your gaming style involves racing to 'finish' as fast as you can, and your idea of consuming content is "get to max level and finish the main mission as quickly as possible", then honestly, you might not think the $10 is justified.
However, if you are more of a tourist, like me, and are in it for the enjoyment of the ride, and not just the satisfaction of getting to the destination, then there is a *lot* to consume with this update/expansion.
Makeb as a planet is huge in comparison to any other planet in the game. I believe there are something on the order of 15 taxi points for each faction. The mission areas a dense with mobs, and there is a lot to explore.
The core mission is indeed 'on rails', but there is so much other stuff to do along the way, that it does not have the feeling of a rail quest at all. In fact, if you just do the main story, without breaking off the rails and doing the side missions, you will almost certainly not make it to 55. Based on the way the difficulty escalates, I believe the designers intended for you to break off and do some of the new flashpoints, and other side missions, and to utilize the new commendation systems to upgrade your gear as you go.
The basis of the story is that the Hutts have taken over Makeb and are furiously mining it for powerful energy source called Isotope-5. Your role as a player will vary depending on the faction you are playing, but it involves either helping liberate the people of the planet from their occupiers and the destruction caused by the Hutts over-mining, or taking over their operation for your own benefit.
At level 52 (1/3 of the way through the story or so), you unlock three new mission types that are not unique to Makeb.
The Macrobinocular series of missions is based on a new technology that you can use to scan objects to help understand how to defeat/bypass/slice/destroy/unlock them, depending on the overall mission objective. Many of the missions you will do for this series, or any of the related follow up series, will require you to use the binoculars to solve puzzles, riddles, mysteries, etc.. that must be solved in order to complete the mission objectives. I had a lot of fun with these. I would imagine that once the spoiler sites have all of the puzzle solutions mapped out, it will be less of an adventure, but I really had fun trying to solve some of these puzzles and figuring them out on my own.
The Seeker Droid missions are an introductory series of missions where you are using a special droid technology to search for artifacts, etc...
There are several types of missions that involve the Seeker Droid, and how you use it will vary depending on the mission type.
The main mission line involves going to specific areas on a half dozen planets to search for specific items. Places like Hoth, Taris, Alderaan, and Tattooine, along with Makeb, have several new areas dedicated to these missions. These areas have level 50+ mobs, including Boss/Champion mobs roaming around. You will use your Seeker Droid to find an item required to move on to the next phase. Each planetary series ends in a Heroic 2. These all culminate in a Heroic 4 at the end of the series.
Upon finishing the Seeker Droid missions, you will 'unlock' a new series of hidden missions that ultimately result in a full set of Legacy bound adaptive (any class can wear it) armor (Dreadseed or Star Forager).
Galactic Solutions Industries reputation missions are also unlocked at level 52. This is a separate set of missions that are given out of mission terminals on the same planets, and many require the use of (or benefit from) the Macrobinoculars and Seeker Droid technology. As you do you the missions you increase your standing with GSI, enabling you to access items from their merchants.
Note that reputation in SWTOR is different than most games. Most of the rewards are unique cosmetic items. Unique mounts, adaptive armor and weapon shells, novelty items like pets, etc... There is no need to grind reputation as a way to advance your characters gear level, etc...
In addition to the GSI daily missions on the various planets, you can also find unusual/unique items using your seeker droid and macrobinoculars, that can be traded to the GSI vendors for unique rewards.
One example; As you adventure around on Makeb, you can pause and activate your Macrobinculars, scanning the skyline. If you are lucky, you may see a 'quest icon' over an area. This means there is something of interest in that area and it can be searched using your Seeker Droid. Searching these areas with your Seeker Droid will reveal random treasure. I believe each area will have at least one artifact level item, but I'm not certain of the details. I've found a half dozen of these areas and my experience searching them varied. The first one I found, I spent about 20 minutes searching with my droid, and found several grade 28 green item mods, some vendor junk, a couple of blue level 50+ gear pieces, and the last piece was a 'Secret Crate', which was purple 'Artifact' grade. Upon opening the crate, the area went inactive. In this case the crate contained a unique part for a speeder. Once I find the rest of the parts, I can trade them in at the GSI vendor for an assembled version of the speeder.
All tolled, I have found two unique speeder parts, and enough green armoring and mods to outfit most of my companions with appropriate level gear.
These treasure areas are dynamic in size and duration. The last one I found, which happened to be near the courtyard of the final boss, was huge in size, and lasted several hours before I had to log off. There were at least a dozen other players searching the area, and I know I pulled two Artifact level items from it, and at least one other player found a speeder part there, and the area was still 'active'.
In addition to the Macrobinocular series, Seeker Droid series, and GSI reputation series of missions, there are [STAGE] Makeb planet dailies, which are themselves huge in scope. I have not even scratched the surface of these staged missions yet, despite having spent several hours attempting it (got distracted by the seeker droid searches).
There are also new level 55 Hardmode Flashpoints and a new series of Operations (raids). I haven't even begun to explore these yes, as I've been too busy with the other missions.
They expanded all of the crafting professions from 400 to 450, and implemented an achievement system that is integrated into your legacy. The scope of it is huge. It rewards unique titles and in some cases a few Cartel Coins to spend on the marketplace.
Bottom line is, there is way more than $10 worth of content here. With a full time job and only weekends and a few evenings to play, it will likely be months before I've explored all of it on both factions.
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