Straight to the point. Last year, BioWare finally gave us outfitters a long-awaited quality of life improvement--customizing the Zakuul expansion companions. Theron, Shae, Lana, Koth, and Senya were all made customizable with different gear sets, finally allowing for some diversity between the companions of us players. The problem is that we still haven't seen this change applied to Nico. Which is surprising, since Nico is a standard body type 2 male, which should be much easier to implement than Lana, Koth, or Senya. But still, Nico is trapped in his dusty old jacket. I was hoping that he would have been changed during the recent Nico&Shae subscriber promotion, but alas nothing. I understand not making Arcann customizable because the cyborg arm would be difficult to account for, but Nico is long overdue. So please, make him customizable!

Yes, please! I bought this Stronghold when it first came out and was planning on making it like a luxury barge or something similar, but the no mounting thing really kills incentive to decorate. Please fix this!

I suppose there's always 5.6...

Denied from patch notes today... my optimism persists that there might be a little surprise!

This wasn't in the Road map... I am sad now

I really do hope that we will see more of Arcann, among others. A lot of people don't think so because of the claim that, once a character is killable, they'll be gone from the story. There is legitimacy to this, as you may remember Kaliyo and Jorgan from KOTFE had virtually no dialogue in KOTET because they could have been killed. On the contrary, however, I remember reading that Arcann's voice actor was recording lines for something cryptically described as "what comes after Umbara", so I'm still holding onto hope.

That is definitely a stinger in my side. KOTET is a good example of this in its treatment of Jorgan and Kaliyo. We see them in cutscenes but (unless their romanced) they don't have a single thing to say in any of the cutscenes! Not One! Just a small blurb of ambient dialogue on Iokath. Now, I'm still holding on to hope for next expansion. I don't judge War for Iokath and Crisis on Umbara for their lack of Koth, Senya, and other potentially dead companions. But if those characters disappear in the next story expansion too? Then I'm gonna be a little bit upset. However, I did hear something a while back that Arcann's voice actor was recording voice lines for, as it was described, "what comes after Umbara". So I'm going to hope with a side of salt that these companions will still be around and important in the next xpac. As a side note, not that I'm a super BW defender, but I don't think the killing off of a character is the main reason for their departure from the story. Sure, it is definitely one of the reasons, but the thing with the "epic single story" that all classes have to share is the massive cast of characters that have to be balanced. So with the focus on Theron and presumably more old companions trickling back in, it's hard to manage all your different characters pick and choose which of the "dead" should get some lines in a scene.

Must be a bug for you, I guess. He was moved on my companions list to the "unsummonable" section with SCORPIO and Marr.

Not a bad idea. But that can't happen. Not yet, at least. To have a divergent ending like you say would mean the end of the SWTOR story, and thus the end of SWTOR. The game is (planned) to have at least a few years more of life, so the "endings" to each expansion or story update can't be radically different. or it will be too difficult to move forward with future story updates. The eight class stories, as well as Republic/Imperial stories, have all merged into one "epic single story", and everyone's opinion on this is different, but the Devs have made claim that the last two expansions were their best, so we can guess they will stick to the "epic single story" concept. Though I can still appreciate what the devs have done in giving us choices to make our characters a little more unique (dictator v peacekeeper, Imperial supporter v Republic Supporter, Romances). But every story will have to follow the same guidelines to make it possible for future content.

No further missions right now. We'll be getting a roadmap soon that will outline SWTOR's direction into early 2018, so that will give us indication on WHEN the next story update will release. A realistic guess would be 5.6, likely sometime in November.

I'm also hoping that this truly is a very new enemy. Malgus, Jadus, the Dread Masters. They were all great because they were NEW and UNIQUE characters found exclusively in Swtor. I've enjoyed the reappearance of old enemies like Revan, but after spending the last three expansions with a focus on Valkorion, a character dating back to the lore of KOTOR, it would be good to get something fresh with small connections to other pieces of game lore.

Gotta give you a shout out, man. I never particularly had any issue with this scene, but this is a great job of connecting the dots that I hadn't fully seen before. Since SWTOR is a choice-based campaign, the character development of the main character isn't always clear and is presumed to be left to players' headcanons. However, this truly is a great culmination and it helps me appreciate KOTET just a little bit more. So Thanks!

A Force-using Outlander duels Arcann aboard his crumbling Flagship. Arcann (Tone of Disbelief): "You're different... stronger... how...?" Outlander: "I have mastered the Force. I am beyond Light and Dark!" In my opinion, the most climactic line in the game. Still wishing we could have said something similar to Valkorion in KOTET, as sort of a poetic justice that he mentored and trained his own usurper.

Well I mean he almost did kill us as soon as the duel started... but then Valkorion used his forcefield powers to save us from Arcann's blade, so.... No, but is all seriousness, our character had become a better duelist than Arcann by Chapter 16. Either by drawing on both the Dark and the Light (Force-users) or by having developed an understanding or Arcann and Zakuul that gave us leverage over him (Non Force-users). Even before he lost his balance, he noted that we were "stronger" than before, and likely "stronger" than him.

In my opinion, Charles' explanation did manage to connect the dots and finally reveal the entirely of the life of Valkorion. Though while I do appreciate that post tremendously, I will admit that the overall chronology does feel a bit weak at points since a lot of the correlations were not confirmed in the actual game, and we needed this "behind the scenes" type of thing to fully understand everything. This was likely another result of the enormous shortening of the Valkorion/Zakuul expansion storyline, as there were naturally a lot of things they needed to include and some of the Valkorion details didn't make the cut.

I'm not sure if you're aware OP, but as the post above me has linked, Charles did reveal a lot of the details you speculated on, at least in terms of the story's intended length. Three separate "expansions", which are really just big bursts of Chapters, with Monthly Chapters in between. If you work out the math, it does indicate that the whole story was planned to be a total of 41 Chapters long (9 KOTFE + 7 Monthly + 9 KOTET + 7 Monthly + 9 Final Xpac). Instead, we got 25 Chapters. It seems Kotfe played out as the writers intended (Arcann's story, the beginning of the Alliance, reintroducing companions, etc). But then, tragically imo, too many people gave negative feedback and thus the remaining concept of 25 more chapters was scrapped and condensed into 9. Don't get me wrong: I thoroughly enjoyed both expansions and the monthly chapters, and have come to appreciate how they have propelled the game. But when you look at this information, it really doesn't take much analysis as to exactly why we never saw Kira Carsen or Lord Scourge, or any of the other plethora of still missing companions, or why the pacing of KOTET felt rushed. BioWare would have likely featured a many more in the expansions and intended monthly releases, but the condensing left no room for details like that. As for my guess? A 16-Chapter KOTET might have played out similarly to KOTFE: It would have been an extended story for Vaylin and SCORPIO while also giving us a better scope of the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic and their response to the Alliance's rise. We did basically get all that, but it would have had an additional 7 chapters to fill in all the plot holes (I also suspect Saresh would have played a bigger villain role than the 10 minutes of screentime she got). Along with this would of course be returning companions and more story roles for the ones that came back in KOTFE. As for the final expansion that would have contained the nine-chapter finale, there's a lot less meat to speculate on. Though I suspect it would have been an action-packed conclusion to the story as we waged war with Valkorion. This xpac could have seen the arrival of Scourge and shown him playing a role in Valkorion's ultimate destruction. But who can say. Perhaps one day Charles will elaborate on the What could have been... On another note, the above posts mentioned a "leaked" story that involved 8 class stories? Here's the link. It was posted during the Forged Alliances storyline, before Shadow of Revan was announced. Though there are some striking similarities (most interestingly the fact that this post called Revan before anyone else), it does seem to have been a well-thought out fanfiction in the end. At least, that's my opinion.

Sounds like him. Though do you remember Musco's idea way back when? If you entered combat, Kai would just sit down and say something like, "I think you got this!"

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease! I need my smuggler companion to look as dope as me!

There are some potential evidence points to indicate Valkorion's hand in things. Though, there is also evidence to the contrary. After all, Valkorion was bound to the Outlander. On a world where he weakened, I doubt he'd have the strength to separate temporarily and mess with Theron.

This is actually a consequence of one of your choices. If you picked Peacekeeper in Chapter 9, then Odessen's weather remains bright and sunny as usual. If you chose the Dictator ending, then the Lightning storms appear. So it's unlikely this is tied to Vaylin.

New theory.... "There remain Sith who do not approve of the alliance I offer. They cling tight to the old ways." - Empress Acina 1. The Sith Empire will become an enemy in the upcoming storyline, regardless of the choice made on Iokath. They will be the center stage enemy while the Order operates in the background. 2. How this happens? One way or another, the Empire gets a new leader. If you sided with the Republic, Acina is dead. If you sided with the Empire, there is further dissent in the Sith ranks as they dissatisfied with, as they see it, their Empress "bowing" to the Eternal Alliance (This is the idea of the quote above). 3. This was all the Order's plan: to leave the Empire leaderless. One of the Order's members, Darth Jadus, returns to the Empire and manages to seize command. He redirects their strength against the Alliance. If you sided with the Empire on Iokath, Acina will be ousted from the Empire and join the Alliance as a permanent companion. 4. The Republic situation. If you sided with them on Iokath, then you have a powerful ally in the fight against the Empire and Order. However, if you sided against the Republic, then your Alliance is facing a war on three fronts. It is one more reason Theron implored you to side with the Republic on Iokath: he knew the Empire would betray you, and thus wanted you to have the Republic as an ally when that happened. 5. As the Alliance is hammered by the Empire (and maybe the Republic), the Order uses its extensive knowledge and influence to sabotage the operations of the Eternal Alliance. It's possible they also uncovered information on Iokath about defeating the Eternal Fleet. Keep in mind that at the start of the War for Iokath storyline, there was a mysterious (and partially unexplained) signal that managed to shutdown the entire Fleet temporarily. 6. Maybe Theron reveals his infiltration to help the Commander defeat the Order so that their sabotage efforts fail.... Not sure. Also, if you're being gunned at by both Empire and Republic, maybe more opportunities to lose allies or companions. I really wasn't entirely sure where I was going with this, but there's just a bunch of theories linked together. There's still a ton of details that I couldn't include, but this was just a few ideas.

I Didn't think much of this idea at first, but this could indicate some foreshadowing... who knows.

New point: Will we see characters like Teff'ith, Marcus Trant, or Gnost-Dural? They're all former associates of Theron. It's very likely Satele will return in some capacity, but it also appears to be a great way to bring in some of these new characters to the game's roster. We spent some time back in the Empire on Dromund Kaas in KOTET. This could be our way of getting some additional insight into the Republic now. I don't think we got nearly enough of the Republic with Malcom on Iokath.

That's actually an interested correlation. I hadn't made it myself, so thanks. I suppose it's possible for Valkorion to have a hand in this, but the way the Devs have mentioned him in interviews and behind the scenes, it does indicate that Valkorion is truly done for good. Normally I wouldn't be upset to see his return, but such a point has been made that he was truly gone for good at the end of KOTET that it would bother me to see him return.

Most of your post does have a good basis. But there is a lot that could be interpreted a different way. I mean, we know Theron has significant trust issues, even with people in the Alliance. Remember when Lana got him captured on Rishi? And if this order had been observing, and had become aware of Theron's issues, they could manipulate him into seeing things their way... but that's just one perspective. I've mentioned before the idea of Theron's betrayal being a ploy for characters that have a good relation with him, while being sincere for characters that have alienated him time and again. I think it's totally within reason for him to witness the choices of a "darker" Outlander over the Zakuul storyline, and each "bad" choice pushes him toward this mental breakdown in which he appears out of character but has actually, as the story pointed out, just become massively disillusioned. On another note, I do like the idea of the double-meaning to Theron's line. I never considered that before, and it would an awesome thing for that to be legit. Though maybe you're unaware, but for "darker" character, his line is actually something like "We both know you would have thrown me in a cell or worse if I had confronted you earlier." Which again could be fodder for Light v Dark alignments equaling a Ploy v Sincere betrayal.