Given the testing experience it appears some of us have had on completely fresh toons without any legacy or datacrons, I'd say you are not right. The only thing that's simple here is your snarky comments.

Yep, pretty much. I already cancelled. Runs out in about a week. I might be back once all of the final seven chapters are released, but haven't decided yet. While the story was interesting, the replay value was very lacking. I'll see how I feel in late 2016 when the season is done to see if I'll bother returning.

Actually, the general feedback across the internet was that people quit because all Warlords of Draenor offered was raiding or the Garrison crap that was about as much fun as playing a FB cllick game or the mind numbing Supply Crates here in SWTOR's version of the Garrison . . . sorry, meant Alliance base. Warlords of Draenor screwed-up in a lot of ways, from the trash that Ashran was for PvP, to the massive PvP bot issues in Battlegrounds thanks to HonorBuddy, to the simple fact that dungeons had little reason to be re-run too often. Even crafting professions and gathering were gutted thanks to the Garrisons. It offered nothing but Garrisons (which grew boring fast) or Raids. It offered the least endgame options of any WoW expansion to date. That's what cost it subs. One thing that was said about it over and over again was that the raids in Warlords of Draenor were a lot of fun. But even raiders don't only want to just raid, especially with lock-out timers. But (as I said) PvP was in its worst place ever, crafting/gathering was gutted via Garrisons, and dungeons ended-up having limited value. So yes, people left. And if you think Blizzard "needs the money," you have a very strange view of reality. Even with the lost subs, I'll bet you WoW is still making plenty for them. Pretty much. Me, I'm a sucker and just spend on a game of I want it. Obviously, I have a subscription here. But I've also already pre-ordered both Legion and Overwatch over in Blizzard-land. I'm 42 years old, I've been playing Blizzard games since the original Warcraft first launched and, I'll admit, I'm unlikely to stop soon. They're far from perfect, not even close as a matter of fact, but their games have always entertained me. Even Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm (and I generally have a disdain of MOBAs).

As a successful business owner, myself, I so love customers like you. Honestly, you guys are so easy to take advantage of, and half the time you don't even realize it's happening.

I would absolutely be doing so, if I honestly felt the game was in a good state. In my personal opinion, it is not. Therefore, I'll not be promoting that now is a great time to subscribe. Now, since I don't feel the game is in a good state right now, I'll dispute your stating it as fact that it is: "people aren't really doing their part to educate and promote the fact that the game is in a good state, where everything is attainable and accessible" That is not a fact, it's an opinion.

SP4 is the new Microsoft Surface Pro 4. It's their new tablet. And I seriously doubt it has the capabilities of properly running SWTOR.

Then why bother saying it? You said above that you were done, should have stuck to your guns. But then that wouldn't make ya feel special.

Is that a stated fact? If so, link please. Because all I keep seeing is "early 2016," which does not necessarily mean January.

Saw this linked over at the SWTOR Reddit. Thought some of the forum folks might want a read. http://swtorista.com/articles/kotfe-story-questions-with-charles-boyd/

Although I am not a SWTOR raider myself, I'm yet finding myself more in agreement with this post than any other in 4 years reading these forums.

Now see, that didn't bother me about the Orcs, but I'm not overly interested in a Warcraft movie, either. What is baffling me is that absolutely no trailer I have seen so far has made me want to rush to see Episode 7. Every trailer I've seen for Star Wars: Episode 7 has, honestly, looked absolutely boring. Might be the first Star Wars film I just wait for on Blu-Ray. And fact: Neither movie is going to bring a lot of players into either MMO. There is actually very little cross pollination there, as even SOE found out with SWG and the prequels. I will bet money that Episode 7 is not going to suddenly create an influx of Star Wars MMO players, either.

And yes, the raiders should have been given new raids. I 100% stand behind that. Here's a history lesson, SWTOR launched with a lot more story than KoTFE offers, and very little end-game for the MMO players. It tanked post-launch. A massive Star Wars MMO forced into F2P to survive before its one-year launch anniversary. So, yeah, I support the OP. Why? Because both player demographics need to be supported for any MMO to survive. EA tried this story-only model 4 years ago, and it didn't work then long term either. And despite what your ramblings come off as, I'd actually like to see SWTOR be healthy, not suffer another possible flash in the pan spike with KoTFE like it did at its launch. Unfortunately, BioWare doesn't seem to know how to work with both demographics; they're too much an either/or development company. And that is what's hurt SWTOR for 4 years.

Do you read? I'm guessing no. Go back over my posts. Go ahead, I'll wait. Could you read them? If you could, you would have read where I said I am not a raider in SWTOR. Let me repeat that for you: I said I am not a raider in SWTOR. Now let that sink in. I'll go get a coffee and sandwich and wait while you struggle with what I previously posted. Okay, now (maybe) you understand what's typed on a screen. I am not a SWTOR raider, but yet that does not exclude me from supporting the OP. Guess what, too? I don't raid in Wildstar either. The most raiding I ever do is the ocassional LFR level in WoW. So, try to do a little thinking and reading before you spout off at the mouth.

I don't dislike the expansion at all. But at the same time, it hasn't enticed me with the Alliance system, or simply the redoing of re-leveled old content, to stay subscribed long-term. Likely what I'm going to end-up doing is just subscribe again after the next seven (7) chapters are all released, play through them in a day or two, and see where the game is at by that point. The story was good, no argument. But the short story alone isn't going to keep me subscribed throughout a month. I can only run the same rails-driven story so many times before I just don't care anymore (I found out that was three times, though I struggled through a fourth). Supply Crate Alliance grinding is not my idea of fun. That's a one-character deal right there. So that means four characters at Level 65. Only one that advanced the Alliance. And all my others locked at level 60 because we have no idea yet what the future holds for characters who leveled to 65 without the KoTFE story. Like I said, I can't say that I dislike the expansion. It had some good. But it killed replayability for me. Which killed the subscription.

Wildstar failed for a variety of reasons, the "hardcore raids" were just one part of a very large list of reasons. I know, I was there at launch +3 months. Yes, some complained about the raids, but even more about servers unable to handle serious player loads and lagging in very bad ways (same issue they ran into again with the F2P relaunch), many bugged and broken quests, the combat style, leveling was too slow and grindy (and it was at the time, but not anymore), and more reasons. I saw what happened, what chat was talking about, and all the myriad reasons it plummeted. The raiding was a small part of it. Matter of fact, its launch sales and launch population were stellar, and it in fact marketed itself pre-launch as a hardcore raiding game. So, funny that, by your argument, that a game that marketed itself as hardcore would have such high launch sales numbers. But it was all the game's many, many other issues that really caused its downfall. It was not yet ready to be launched. They were warned in Beta. Just like SWTOR was, and EA didn't listen either. Wildstar was never, ever a "1999 design." If you actually played in 1999, then stop talking out the side of your mouth. If you weren't playing back then like some of us were, then stop trying to discuss something you know nothing about.

Or, you could read it. Good grief, why is reading such a dying art?

And I'll stop caring right there, as that is either the most poorly worded statement I have ever seen, or is so far out there that I'm not even remotely interested in trying to decipher the mentality behind it.

That is true. The fundamental difference, though, is that neither KOTOR game required a subscription. Even if released today as full-on $60 games, that would still only equate to four months of SWTOR at the regular month-by-month price. So, for SWTOR to maintain subscriptions throughout a year, which is obviously what EA is going for with this KoFTE must subscribe, cannot buy it separately like the previous two expansions, they are going to need to also continue the MMO elements along with it. And I mean new MMO elements. I'm not even a raider in SWTOR, not even close, and already after playing the story four times, and seeing the Alliance system just once, I'm on the fence about continuing to subscribe, or just waiting until six, or all seven, of the remaining chapters are released and then just subscribing then for a month or so to see them. I've done the Flashpoints to death, and have already done Star Fortress to death. I can't fathom grinding out the Alliance supply crates through the same old Heroics over and over again on more than one character. After already seeing the same story four times now, my other level 60 Alts look to just rot. The story is good, but not that good. So unless they have a magic rabbit up their sleeve, I cannot imagine KoTFE sustaining the game as it stands, when eight individual class stories alone could not sustain it at launch. Thus F2P a mere 11 months later, and the game surviving primarily thanks to the Cartel Market.

It's been a long, long time since I touched LoTRO (probably about 6 or 7 years), but didn't they do something like this in their Monster vs. Free-People PvP, since they couldn't do traditional PvP under the terms of the license (no Freeps vs Freeps)?

Story being the core of SWTOR is not in question here. That BioWare can usually (far from always) do story well is also not in question. The question is the financial sustainability of doing story, and such a rails-driven one with limited replayability at that, to the current near-exclusion of any other new "MMO content." I think it's a bad idea. But I don't have a magic 8-ball, so the next couple quarterly reports will tell. We'll see where things are at in the report for the quarter that ends June 2016 (i.e. next year's Q2 report), as that will be a decent indicator of whether enough people stayed paying and playing for the monthly chapters, or if after the short run that chapters 1-9 turned out to be, they just decide to wait until all, or a majority, of the remaining seven chapters are released and then sub at once for them. Something that even I'm currently on the fence about doing. I'm one of those folks that just don't see a ton of replayability in KoTFE. I've already taken four characters through the story with different choices, and none of it mattered in any material way. I'm really not doing the Alliance stuff on all four of those. That's just too much Supply Crate grinding. And meanwhile, my other Alts will just end-up rotting at level 60. And like I said, I am not a raider in SWTOR. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

It's second nature by this point. They've been perfecting the craft for 4 years now. In all seriousness, though, this is becoming a common theme in MMOs, and more so nowadays. I tried Wildstar for the past month. Carbine not only botched their original launch, they did a complete rerun of it on their F2P relaunch. Lag like hell, bugs galore, changing systems then changing them again. Went back to DCUO, and can't explain what the heck happened over there in the past 2 years, either. And don't even let me get started on the Heart of Thorns expansion for GW2 . . . .

Yeah, I wouldn't hold your breath at this point. If I had to hazard a guess? I'd say late 2016 only because they seem damned and determined to focus on a limited replayability, single-player, rails-driven story with seven (7) more chapters to go, starting monthly sometime in "early 2016." I don't even raid in SWTOR and think this is a bad idea. Since, ya know, story worked so well at launch to keep people subscribed.

I hear ya, man. The wife left SWTOR after the forced solo story of SoR. Although I played the KoTFE story, she saw what an utter single-player experience wall it was, and refused to rejoin me. I'm another that didn't want KOTOR 3. We didn't join SWTOR on launch day to get a KOTOR 3. We did it to get a story driven, themepark designed, Star Wars MMO. The mandatory single player story design they started with SoR and hammered into the wood with KoTFE now has us playing together in a different MMO.

I agree. It's also written and submitted by a Forbes contributor, not a Forbes reporter, which is a huge difference in credibility. Just like the other contributor that called World of Warcraft in its final days because Activision, moving forward, will no longer be providing actual subscription numbers. Never mind that with the $20 WoW Tokens and other microtransactions, WoW's sub numbers are no longer indicative of actual revenue, anyway. But just another example of the credability of the Forbes video game contributors. Reading a Forbes Contributor is like putting stock into IGN or Massively. And that's not saying I dislike KoTFE, because as a whole, I do not. I just dislike a couple parts of it, huge difference. But that can be said for any MMO expansion.

EA also claimed in pre-launch interviews that SWTOR would challenge WoW for market share. Then again, they also said that about Warhammer Online pre-launch. Never listen to EA. They live in a parallel reality.