I think we need to be realistic about the amount of work they will put into this. It is hard enough to get them to produce new content, so I expect them to take a relatively simple approach to all of it, especially as they are working on a defunct engine for a game that launched nearly ten years ago. All I expect is that this change will allow any Tech User to access any Tech Advanced Class, with the current weapon/skill limitations that currently exist remaining in place.

I actually think Makeb was better than SoR, because whilst the over all story happening was the same for everyone, the perspective and individual role of the player was different for each faction. And not just slightly different, very clear difference in objectives and missions, even though it was treading across primarily the same maps and mobs. By all accounts it sounds like we are getting something on the scale of Onslaught, which is better than nothing, but I hope that they don't have exactly the same story but with just a different flag depending on your faction.

I have the same issue, in-game mail saying I have it, but nothing in my mission log.

MMOs used to be pay per hour (some were pay per minute), and some in China still charge that way (WoW for example). It was horribly expensive back then though, and I think Chinese WoW is equivalent to about $1 an hour. SWTOR is probably different, given those who have exhausted the content, but most people play MMOs for more than 15 hours a month.

The idea of the alliance is too expensive for them to actually represent within the game itself.

They've really taken this whole "not part of canon" thing to heart haven't they? Really isn't Star Wars anymore.

I suspect they contracted the Voice Actors of the story characters for the two seasons, so keeping Koth, Arcann, Senya, etc alive, is how they save on money.

There are some life/death choices in the original game and ROTHC, but nothing since. They've killed off plenty of important characters too. But since then, the only noticeable deaths have been Revan's second and Marr.

But this isn't how the class stories are, or ROTHC and SOR. It isn't how WoW is, or FFXIV, or EQ2, or any number of other MMOs. And isn't Star Wars about heroes and villains? Why don't BioWare want us to be heroic or win? Ignoring the story for a moment, is it really good business to make your players feel useless, or even worthless?

Not really, whether we had killed Valkorian or not, we would still have been frozen in carbonite and end up fighting against the Zakuul throne. Whether the big bad Emperor is Valkorian or Arcann doesn't really change anything.

Simply put, prior to KOTFE, our character, regardless of anything else, was a Hero. In KOTFE, we're nothing but a tool that people other people use, and even then we fail to accomplish the goals set out for us by those other people. Well, most of the SWTOR team is on other games now, I know some are on Mass Effect, including writers, so maybe KOTET will be better, but I doubt it.

I must admit, I am curious who thought it was a good idea to not have the player be a Hero anymore in the game. This isn't our story, we're not an important character, we don't win or defeat anything, we're constantly betrayed and tricked... it really does feel like we've gone from hero of the galaxy to the court jester. I'm still struggling to understand why anyone likes KOTFE, the idea of it is fine, but the experience has been disappointing. I can't think of any other RPG, online or off, that makes the player character a worthless piece of trash that has zero impact on the story. Well done BioWare.

I don't see how you screwed up, Koth being gone is the best thing that happens in KOTFE.

Class stories are significantly better than KOTFE, you'd have to be insane to skip them for it.

I think that's pretty accurate. The thing that gets me about KOTFE is, I simply can't imagine anyone publishing this story as a book, comic or film. It has some good moments, mainly in the dialogue, but the actual over all story is just dull and doesn't even end.

I'm impressed you were able to die in that fight. My character simply couldn't die, even if I just stood still the healing was so powerful that it made the whole fight pointless.

There is no choke order from EA. BioWare as an entity within EA answers only to the CEO, they are entirely within control of all RPG content from EA outside of mobile. SWTOR's team itself has always had free reign even within BioWare itself. Stop trying to pass the blame away from the development team. They've openly admitted to not wanting to communicate about anything before it is ready to avoid a backlash. This is a case though where they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. In that scenario, they should have the common sense to at least try to please some of the players, rather than pissing them all off.

You cannot use the unknown future as an argument that Choices Do Matter. In KOTFE, the ONLY choice that mattered, was whether Koth left you or not, and it only mattered because of what happened at the end of the last chapter. Every other choice in KOTFE was gave the same result regardless of which option you chose, so the choice didn't matter. We will see what happens in KOTET, but if KOTFE is an example, we may get ONE choice that matters in the entire season. That hardly supports their insistence throughout KOTFE that Choices Matter. You could argue it is even false advertising, but I don't think anyone cares enough about SWTOR anymore to pursue that.

You're right that this has happened enough times that people should be aware that their choices won't matter. However, it is still irritating that BioWare continue with the false advertising for KOTFE. They shouldn't need to lie to people, unless they believe that the content isn't good enough to sell on it's own merits.

The thing is, in that final scene where Koth storms out because you still didn't kill Arcann, I'm taking a bet that he's off to steal the Gravestone and attempt to finish it himself. Either between Seasons or at the start of Season 2, so your Dark or Light choices become irrelevant again, as Koth's only goal is to kill Arcann and neither choice leads to that. This would bring the only part of the KOTFE story that has branched into two back into one branch, like everything else is. Also, I'd predicted months ago we'd be up against another big bad on the throne once we dealt with Arcann, the last chapter implied it would be Scorpio, but now we know it is Vaylin. This isn't a slight towards BioWare's writing or even their possible intentions, but simply because in the creation of the Zakuul Empire and everything it entails, they created an enemy that is too powerful within the context of the game and it's setting. A single empire that can lay waste to the Republic and Sith Empire, plus with antagonist that are more powerful than any being in existence, means you don't really have anywhere left to go afterwards. Power creep at it's worst.

Choices don't matter.

Didn't you get the memo? That's the reason why have 500 companions now... you no longer equip customisations to change the look, just summon a new companion instead!

I expect Jaesa to default to Dark Side, as her canon, but it would be really nice if the player, when recruiting her, was given a mission chain that allowed for the change to bring her back to the Light Side.... Still don't think they will do it, but I can dream of the possibilities

Lots of people asked for more story, though there was an emphasis on class story, or personal story. I don't think we can deny that KOTFE is the result of BioWare's deviation from it's story telling promises pre-launch and the feedback that generated. However, I'm not sure anyone expected them to focus solely only one thing at a time. RotHC and SoR were both well received in general thanks to their mix of content, to suddenly change and only do one thing is a bit weird. Hopefully they go back to doing a bit of everything again.

Rachael Leigh Cook has been reluctant/too busy to do VO work in the past for SWTOR, I'm not sure if that has changed.