That is unfortunate. Bioware / EA should not secede the entire potential China MMO market to Blizzard and Warcraft. That is a huge potential customer base / revenue stream that they really ought to be trying to court and develop.

Hi Team SWTOR! Long time SWTOR player here. Followed the game from the initial PR launch in 2008, jumped in on release for several months. Stepped away for work / career reasons, came back again in 2016 for several months and have subscribed again. Each time back is a blast and I am always looking forward to seeing how the MMO has evolved since the last time my Light Side of The Force Sith Marauder traversed the galaxies. I am excited to exploring the United Forces update / content and completing all the story content I have yet to experience (going back to the Revan chapters!) but I am worried about the lack of a Oceania / Asia Mega Server. I am dealing with high ping times around the 200 / 300 range and feel that this will have an impact on my endgame group play experience. Any chance another Mega Server can be brought online for your Asia fans / players?

/signed

They didn't flat out say no to Class Stories but they have said many times that it is an expensive investment and they feel development is best utilized towards group content. But there has been a never ending roar for more Class Story since release and we FINALLY getting a new Class Mission for each class - written by Alexander Freed, celebrated writer of the Imperial Agent Class Story.

/signed It's the only thing that makes it truly shine when compared to the rest of the MMO market.

You kind of answered your own question over there. You would pay that extra money to acquire/experience extra content for the game. Those who don't pay the sub fee won't have access to that content or the rest of the bells and whistles that come with a sub. And mind you - we're not taking expansion level content here. Just short missions - or access to additional dallies and the like. And you're right, as a sub it's not your job to help Bioware / EA make money or buy any of the extras they develop for the game and sell through the CM. No one is going to force to buy that extra content. It would be up to you to make the decision to make that extra content part of your gameplay experience. You could always choose not too, as I have done for the costumes they sell on the CM. I just have 0 interest in that kind of stuff but I would pay money for additional story content happily. And the big stuff, like expansion level content, items and tweaks to the game, should still be offered through content updates like SoR.

A big HELL yes. It's would be far more worth my money than the stupid random packs. ^_^

It is a bit of let down isn't it, when you run into one of us senile old acients.

Ashikaga Oda. 34074 Registered on the forums in October 2008. You can see my original Fan Fiction posts on the pre-release forums here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=462048 CE owner. Played through 1.2 and then abandoned the game when support for additional Class Story was dropped. Back for Shadows of Revan and the new Class Mission content. Hope to stay here for years and years, as long as they give us some more Class Story content.

That would be pretty rock, actually.

/signed. Great post!

Awesome! Great news Zion. I still have a lot of faith in the new development team. And I know the story component of SWTOR is something they care about as deeply as we do. I hope the stars align for them and give them the chance to enhance Class & Group Story moving forward. ^_^

I am still holding out for the SWTOR developers and hoping that 2015 is a return to form and a new chapter of Class Story.

Lollerskates.

Those random items packs on the CM are pure, unadulterated gambling. The Cartel Market (and man, even the name of the Cash Shop boils my blood) was one of the reasons I de-subbed back in 2012. It is a wretched hive of scum and villainy and a disgrace to the original vision of SWTOR.

/signed. And thanks to the SWTOR team for FINALLY giving us a Class Mission for all the iconic classes. I re-subscribed on that basis alone. I am hoping Shadows of Revan is the start of getting back to the original spirit of the game. SWTOR was built on cinematic story, bring it back devs. <3

So between no more Class Stories or buying a Class Mission or two every now and then on the Cash Shop, you'd choose the former? I honestly don't get it. I would think anyway to return Class Story for the game would be a cause for celebration among a lot of SWTOR players.

I am pretty pumped for VII and think the title is great. It perfectly sets up the spirit for the reboot under the sure directorial hand of JJ Abrams. ^_^

You are right hadoken. I'm sure it's been talked endlessly on these forums ever since Class Story development came to a grinding halt in the later parts of 2012. But the mere fact that it still gets brought up time and time again by loyal SWTOR veterans just goes to show that there is a good chunk of the player base that would lose their minds if Bioware began to support Class Story again. Let's hope this Class Mission is a sign of better times for one of the strongest (and most neglected) features of SWTOR.

Hey there! I don't know what exactly it will take to make your companions come back to life again but I know that it all needs to start with the return of Class Story. You can read my thoughts on the need/challenge to return to Class Story here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=774063

That's what happens when you're a returning player, you miss out on a good chunk of an MMO's post release history! If that's true then that's very unfortunate. But from what I read up on the ED, it was mostly a waste of $. It a series of Quest Flagger that came with a short cutscene, that's not what I would call a Class Mission. In my mind, a Class Mission is a robust quest that helps advance your iconic character's lore in the setting of KOTOR. I'm just pitching solutions over here, I would like Bioware to begin adding Class Mission/Story back to SWTOR but as long as Bioware cannot find a way to monetize Class Story again, it's not going to happen again for SWTOR. And to me, that's even more unfortunate than seeing CM's added to the CS, seeing as how this game was originally sold on the continuation of Bioware's KOTOR-like storytelling.

Gawd. I hope your source is wrong Jduensing. I really don't think that'll be the case though. I don't think they would risk the PR blowback with a Class Mission as limited as that - or bring back Alexander Freed to just write several lines of dialog for all the classes. Your sources information doesn't make much sense TBH.

Hey Essence! You're gold man, nothing but <3. Lot's of respect for your work on the New Player forum! I understand your reservations at the thought of adding Class Missions to the Cash Shop but I would happily take that option as opposed to simply having no Class Missions at all, ever again. And again, I would support individual Class Missions on the Cash Shop as long as they are reasonably priced (again, to simply fund their development again) and not Chapters, which should be made available through digital expansions that could be charged at 20 USD a go.

1) Yes. But because of the logistics and cost of developing Class Story they haven't touched it since release. By adding Class Stories to the Cartel Market, they would actually fund MORE Class Story with the extra revenue. 2) Yes. But that was back in 2012 before the game went Free To Play and lost hundreds of thousands of subs. While they have updated the game, it is now 2014 and there has not been any talk of a substantial PvE expansion to the game (on the scale of a WoW expansion) and Class Story is always the FIRST to go on the chopping block when developing new content. 3) The Cosmetic Shop stopped being a Cosmetic Shop a long, long time ago. I would rather buy a Class Story than another stupid costume (<3 to everyone that loves costumes) 4) See point 2. Having that said, I wish the conditions where Bioware wouldn't think twice about adding additional Class Story to the game but sadly they haven't for a very long time. And please note that I do think Class Missions are separate from Class Chapters - and additional Chapters should only be offered through expansions as you suggested, not through the Cash Shop.

You can call it however you want to see it but clearly Bioware wants both current (and new) players to be near the end game and ready to experience the Shadows of Revan content. Most the current users are already prepared for SoR with 55's throughout their accounts. It's the new players that benefit the most from the XP boost.