Petition - Save the Future of our Class Stories...

[adventurethis]

Signed

[Armagedion]

Signed

[Trooperclay]

Many people have signed already, but I doubt Bio ware can do anything about it considering EAs stance.

[Essence_of_Light]

Many people have signed already, but I doubt Bio ware can do anything about it considering EAs stance.

 

EA: The killjoys of modern gaming

[Pikkupstixx]

I support the continuation of the individual storylines 100%! To me the individual storylines are why i played this game and now that they aren't continuing and we have yet to get much content since the 1-50 release i feel like my money is best elsewhere..

[Kaisernick]

if they feel class story's will take to much time they should at least add some missions unique to each class in the next planet they add, Makeb is boring and not fun at all once u have played through it once. that could be elevated if each class goes on one or two missions that are unique to them (eg knight goes off to kill a big wig sith, trooper goes off to kill a Imp general) it may not be class storys but it would at least make playing through the same planet less boring.

[ImmortalLowlife]

if they feel class story's will take to much time they should at least add some missions unique to each class in the next planet they add, Makeb is boring and not fun at all once u have played through it once. that could be elevated if each class goes on one or two missions that are unique to them (eg knight goes off to kill a big wig sith, trooper goes off to kill a Imp general) it may not be class storys but it would at least make playing through the same planet less boring.

 

Agreed!

[Nerdymidgetkid]

Signed.

 

I know where Bioware is coming from--the stories need to evolve, and not be just the same old stuff. Having said that, the class stories were the only reason I played this game. All those annoying side quests, PVP, and flashpoints were a chore that would get me to the level I needed to be at to play them.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure if Bioware makes enough money from this game to create more content on the scale that it was seen in level 1-50, but I would implore them to prioritize it over EVERYTHING else. No more crappy Cartel Market stuff. No more flashpoints and ops. Forget PVP expansions. These things are exactly what every other MMO has, and unfortunately, a lot of MMOs do them better than SWTOR does. The thing that sold this game was the storytelling. Bioware, you made a good game, but you did a lot of things wrong. The combat is deplorable, the side quests are overlong and tedious and everything else is just...average. Normal. And yet, people can still really enjoy this game, after all the last vestiges of hype have died down. Why? Because of the story. Because of the thing that you always advertised. Because of the thing that made this game stand out, that made it revolutionary. Please, don't fool yourselves into thinking you can revive this game with anything but class stories. Look at Galactic Starfighter. Look at Makeb. They both added to the player base for about two weeks. If there is any way you can make more class stories, do it, and make them different. Make them better than before. Throw whatever resources you have into it. Otherwise, there is no doubt in my mind that this game will slowly wither into nothing--it's already been going on for a long time now.

 

If you want to make it different, here's an idea I posted in suggestions a while back. Throughout levels 1-50 (I've only completed the inquisitor but I'm close to finishing the Warrior) you go from absolute zero to "living legend" as you guys put it. The trouble is, all you get for your trouble is the ability to beat bigger and badder enemies. Note that I'm not saying you feel stronger or more powerful. Since as I said I've only completed the inquisitor, I'll explain what I mean from that perspective.

 

At the end of Act I, you kill a sith. At the end of Act III, you also kill a sith. Yeah, there is a big difference in the power of these sith, in the story. But is Thanaton harder to beat than Zash? Not really. I needed help for Zash and not for Thanaton. However, I'm not saying that he SHOULD have been more difficult to beat. That would have just made it feel impossible, like every Act I boss battle that ever happened and the entire planet of Alderaan. What I'm saying is, you don't really feel more powerful. Right now, I am Darth friggin Imperius. I am a dark lord of the sith! So if you add more class story, give me some epic stuff to do. Let me take on an army or something. Give me something to do that feels different to every boss battle that I've done before.

 

The next problem is bigger still. All through the game, you set about becoming more powerful, increasing your influence. By the end of act III as Kallig, you have a total of three apprentices, not counting Ashara, and you literally own Nar Shadda. By all rights, you are more powerful than the guys who are ordering you around in act I. And yet, those guys got to go around and send people out on missions, calling the shots and forming grand scemes, and in Hutt Cartel, I just...didn't. Sure, everyone makes a point of saying "dark lord" and bowing lots. But I'm still running around, getting told what to do by imperial captains and doing the grunt work in just the same way as I was in act I. For the inquisitor, this is especially bad. You're supposed to be like the Emperor: Behind the scenes, pulling the strings, and every now and again duelling your greatest enemies. Instead, the story still treats you like you're an apprentice. Now, I'm, not saying that an MMO could work by just having the character calling the shots. But at least make me feel a bit more in charge. Let me assign tasks to other lower-ranked sith outside of bloody crafting. Let me make choices in battles that don't always result in the same outcome. Sure, I'll go in and fight, but when I do I want to actually feel like it's a job nobody else can do. Yeah, I'll go kill that big massive sith lord or take on that army. Yeah, I'll intervene when that massive invasion force is attacking our base. But I don't want to spend my time destroying shield generators or thinning out enemy ranks. Sure, I'm the most powerful guy there, but by now, there are other guys under my command who are as powerful as I was back in Acts I and II. To try to put it simply, I feel more like a "living legend" when I'm so bad-*** that the ultra-bad-asses who do the jobs few other people can do are of lesser power than I am and are subservient to me, than when I'm a super-bad-*** who simply does jobs that nobody else can do.

 

If possible, do all this in the biggest possible way. I always thought it would be epic to be actually command a ship in battle--not a little corvette, but a massive Star-Destroyer. Have a nice long cutcene where I get to make key decisions along the way. Maybe even go further. Let me command a whole fleet or army. If you're looking for something new, if you want to make a player feel like a "living legend" then this is the way to go.

 

I know that was super long, but to sum it up: You spend so much time in levels 1-50 building up so that you will be on the same level that Baras or Zash was when you were serving them. If you want to make a player feel like they have achieved this, allow them to do the sort of thing that Baras and Zash used to do.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Nerdymidgetkid

[Mayweda]

/signed

 

Class missions are what set this game apart from the other games i used to play. I enjoy leveling mainly because i want to know what happens with the class story missions. I dont want to do the same thing over and over again with all my characters.

Makeb was a disappointment because of that. After i did the missions on the 1st characters on each side, i didnt feel the need to do it all over again for the other characters. It just becomes so boring.... Makes no sense to me why they wouldn't want to keep doing something that works.

Many games before have failed because of focusing on the wrong type of players. End game content is not everything that matters.....

[ReclaimerDonar]

/signed

 

Class stories are what brought me to this game.

[Kaedusz]

Minor additions to the class stories would be nice. Like a certain mission(quest chain),related to your class,on a random planet,released every couple of expansions or something. Edited March 23, 2014 by Kaedusz

[AhsokaTanorules]

Seriously, they say their biggest issue with continuing lore is paying the voice actors? Simply use some of thier employees with good voice mimicry skills or maybe hire some cheap foreign labor who could do the same. If Seth McFarlane can do it why not others?

 

Sure it might suck that Laura Bailey no longer voices Kira Carsen but even I for one would get over it and move on.

[NickAlexander]

Or at least give us the options to replay the story with level balancing in the story specific phases. You've proven it could be done!!!

[Lesaberisa]

Seriously, they say their biggest issue with continuing lore is paying the voice actors? Simply use some of thier employees with good voice mimicry skills or maybe hire some cheap foreign labor who could do the same. If Seth McFarlane can do it why not others?

 

Sure it might suck that Laura Bailey no longer voices Kira Carsen but even I for one would get over it and move on.

 

Where have they said that?

 

Every answer I've seen on the subject says one of three things

 

1. It's difficult writing stories with consequences that have to be taken into account later on in the story

2. Shared quests are more group-friendly than class-specific ones

3. People liked Makeb so therefore they must also like generic quests more than class ones going forward.

[Darth_Wicked]

Where have they said that?

 

Every answer I've seen on the subject says one of three things

 

1. It's difficult writing stories with consequences that have to be taken into account later on in the story

2. Shared quests are more group-friendly than class-specific ones

3. People liked Makeb so therefore they must also like generic quests more than class ones going forward.

 

This one was hilarious.

 

Like people enjoying Makeb would pretty much imply there's no further demand for more class stories.

[Kaisernick]

This one was hilarious.

 

Like people enjoying Makeb would pretty much imply there's no further demand for more class stories.

 

indeed i enjoyed makeb but i have only done it once for each side I HAVE ZERO INTEREST IN GOING THROUGH MAKEB WITH ALTS so if they think this new path will keep strong player base they are in for a big surprise.

[AlrikFassbauer]

One problem I see is this : What do I do with such an powerful character as the player's character has grown into by the end of act 3 ?

 

In my opinion, the story progresion was far too fast in SWTOR ... The player character is much too powerful at the end of act 3. There just cannot be any progression anymore except almost god-like status (which in Dungeons & Dragons can indeed happen).

 

In my opinion, the character progression should have been much more slowly throughoiut SWTOR. The character of Act 3 should be just as powerful as in act or so. This would leave more "blank space" to fill.

 

But now it is too late for that.

 

All in all, I'd like to see more class stories as well. Action-based games can be found anywhere; story-based games are more rare.

[Ravager]

I am fully in support of the future of class stories. Even if it means the class stories only happen in updates once every two years while the dev team works on other content, I'd support it. In fact, I think it would be very interesting to have a Chapter 4 and 5 that were "shared" among classes before splitting Chapter 6 into class stories, and Chapter 7 and 8 being shared, etc. Probably far-fetched, but I am in support. Edited March 24, 2014 by Ravager

[ArenCordial]

This one was hilarious.

 

Like people enjoying Makeb would pretty much imply there's no further demand for more class stories.

 

Its a bunch of BS to justify walking away from the class stories. My favorite was how they kept trying to sell Makeb as "Avengers style" storytelling. As if somehow we were never capable of grouping for a planetary arc before. I'm just glad it seems like the stopped that comparison after every pointed out after the Avengers Marvel went back to individual driven stories.

[AhsokaTanorules]

Seriously, they say their biggest issue with continuing lore is paying the voice actors? Simply use some of thier employees with good voice mimicry skills or maybe hire some cheap foreign labor who could do the same. If Seth McFarlane can do it why not others?

 

Sure it might suck that Laura Bailey no longer voices Kira Carsen but even I for one would get over it and move on.

 

One thing I would like to know actually. During some parts of makeb they would have your companions speak out. They even had Khem Val in my case

rightfully use the Zash voice

.

 

If all the other VA's like Laura Bailey got let go then surely by this time they had other people voice acting them?

[wainot-keel]

One thing I would like to know actually. During some parts of makeb they would have your companions speak out.

 

As I understand, for GSF all companions have some banter too.....

[Darth_Wicked]

One thing I would like to know actually. During some parts of makeb they would have your companions speak out. They even had Khem Val in my case

rightfully use the Zash voice

.

 

If all the other VA's like Laura Bailey got let go then surely by this time they had other people voice acting them?

 

I'm fairly sure the VA for Makeb was done BEFORE the game was even released.

 

The reason I say this is because the VA who did Tanno Vik, David Anthony Pizzuto, died on February 2012 and he's still voicing the character there.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Anthony_Pizzuto

As I understand, for GSF all companions have some banter too.....

 

I don't understand what you mean here.

Edited March 24, 2014 by Darth_Wicked

[AhsokaTanorules]

I'm fairly sure the VA for Makeb was done BEFORE the game was even released.

 

The reason I say this is because the VA who did Tanno Vik, David Anthony Pizzuto, died on February 2012 and he's still voicing the character there.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Anthony_Pizzuto

 

 

I don't understand what you mean here.

 

Doesn't seem like Tanno Vik's voice would be that hard to replicate. And I agree with your end statement too.

[Adaliaya]

/Signed

 

:-) this is what I want. Even more than a new operation

[AbsolutGrndZero]

The reason there will be no more class stories is simple. You and I, we are the minority as much as we'd like to think we are the majority, we are not. When the game first came out, it broke all records for MMO presales. It was the most successful MMO release in history. But then, players wanting World of Warcraft... IN SPAAACE! powerleveled (some due to a pvp bug) to 50. The epic story we all love? They skipped it. Those that didn't exploit the PvP bug I imagine spacebarred all the "annoying dialogue." Because.. as anyone who plays World of Warcraft can attest to, the game doesn't start until endgame is the view of most of the World of Warcraft player base. So, the day of launch, 3 days after the pre-launch started, standing on fleet... I heard hundreds of players complaing that the game has no content. Where is the end game? How could EAware (because remember boys and girls, the way to show your disgust with Bioware is to call them EAware!) be so fail to release a game with no actual content? These players quit in rage. They quit in droves. They fueled the idea that... the game was not the success it seemed it would be, it was a complete and utter failure... why? Because it wasn't meant to be a fast as you can grind to 50 so you can constantly farm "raids" or in our case operations. But, a large portion of the player base that bought the game at launch wanted this. Well, you can thank them for Bioware having to completely change their plans going forward, because as much as we love the stories, those that don't care about it voted with their wallets by quitting. Many of them stayed, and operations (raids) are pretty decent. But just play any flashpoint and look at the number of people saying 'OMG spacebar this crap" and you'll see I'm right. The majority don't want story content, they want to be max level so they can grind out the best gear. But, Bioware knows that we are here, they know its their original intent, so I really beleive they are trying their best to try to work to both sides of the fence... we get the story of the operations, just they can't afford to make individual class stories anymore.

 

As for not doing Cartel Market stuff and prioritzing story, should Pizza Hut stop making wings and prioritize pizza? It's a silly analogy, but I think you should kind of get my meaning. The wings sales help Pizza Hut make money, but because most people who go to Pizza Hut go for the pizza doesn't mean they should just forget everything but pizza.

 

TL;DR: I want class stories back too, but as much as we wish we were, we're not the ones keeping the hamsters fed.

Edited March 24, 2014 by AbsolutGrndZero