Continued class stories 'sooner' not later according to Bioware

[AlaricSevGirl]

They are not talking about grouping for dailies *sigh* but grouping for the story arc which indead makes the experience interesting as I explained a couple of pages earlier (once again run the content with a friend instead of strangers *sigh* bis)

 

If you like running every quest as a lone wolf good for you, I for one enjoy sharing this experience with someone else and I can get their point, class quests don't really work as a group: if you are playing the same class you will need to play the same instance twice, if you are playing a different class you are only a spectator. Planet story arcs are the only ones that can achieve that expected level of satisfaction of playing in a group.

 

I totally disagree with this. I did Makeb with a friend. Hated it. She got all the RNG wins and my character didn't get to say jack and she's an all light side on an imp character. it completely didn't make sense at all. RNG in this game sucks and people do not think through the choices. it isn't about what's good for the quest but hey that's got a red or a blue, guess I better choose it to get to light or dark V. Real fun, that.

[Lesaberisa]

To give another, slightly different example, of how planetary arcs aren't necessarily "better" for grouping with friends...

 

My first time on Makeb was on my knight, which I leveled alongside my friend's sonsular (we did everything from 1-50 to get ready for the expansion, then continued on). The jokes he made about the story/planet were the only part of Makeb I enjoyed and he hated Makeb so much he pretty much stopped playing entirely afterward. One specific thing he noted was that from 1-50 he at least had his personal story that he felt invested in, even if the planetary arc was bad or boring. With Makeb, it was just that planetary arc, and he thought it was horrible (I did too, for what it's worth, but I still had/have alts I wanted to level ).

Edited August 27, 2013 by Lesaberisa

[ikinai]

I totally disagree with this. I did Makeb with a friend. Hated it. She got all the RNG wins and my character didn't get to say jack and she's an all light side on an imp character. it completely didn't make sense at all. RNG in this game sucks and people do not think through the choices. it isn't about what's good for the quest but hey that's got a red or a blue, guess I better choose it to get to light or dark V. Real fun, that.

 

I never choose my response based on red or blue, cause I have that turned off. I choose my responses based on what my character would do. Can't tell ya how many Black Talon runs I've blown choosing the wrong answer for people, but the current character I was running was just choosing their appropriate response. I'd say about half of my characters are either light side 1 or dark side 1, at least until I can farm BT/Esseles for those points solo, since we still don't have true neutral gear >.<

[ZionHalcyon]

Dulfy is as solid as it gets.

 

If this remains true though, I am pissed. Class story is one of the key separators for this game.

 

Yep.

 

And the devs remain totally tone deaf on this.

 

 

I get that there will never be a level by level hand-holding experience like levels 1-50, and am fine with that. But is it too much to include some class story advancement intertwined with the group story? I mean, having 2 or 3 class missions that directly relate to your story and how it was left at level 50 mixed in with the greater group story? Certainly it can't be THAT hard to write a story where you have your group story, but the different classes each at points in the story have their own personal agendas they take care of before rejoining the group story?

 

Really, story is why I got so excited. YOUR STORY was the KEY SELLING POINT FOR THE GAME. Now to just abandon it really leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

[Lionflash]

How hard is it to understand?

 

There is NO MONEY FOR CLASS STORY. For every hour of class story, they could make FOUR hours of planetary story. Class story is not feasible as long as the game has less than a million subs, and I doubt it'll have more than that anytime soon..

 

That's exactly it.

 

I understood and agreed with this for awhile. I wouldn't mind if they focused the stories to converge into 2 faction storylines. With each faction having 1 of 4 heroes that you could have embark on these quests.

 

However, they could appease everyone if they involved the companions and maybe each class more. When I look at what they did with Makeb.

 

- Companions didn't talk in cutscenes.

- The Personal Starship class specific bread crub quest pick-up had silent companions although they a few did gather in the bridge of your starship.

- Companions had a few rare vocal moments at some specific locations on Makeb.

 

I mean, I liked the very few things they did with companions like they still gained and lost affection at points but it all felt very minimal. So far, none of my character's Romance Companions cared that I flirted with other NPCs. I know a few might not care, but when my Smuggler flirted infront of Akaavi... and she didn't bat an eye... felt wrong. Those who romanced Akaavi should know what I'm talking about.

[Icebergy]

No more class stories is one of the biggest things on a list of things about this game that makes me worried for its future

[Darth_Exar]

Class stories are all that keep me subbed, Makeb was very disappointing but not a total disaster, as I said before in other posts, once I did it on either faction, I had no desire to do it on my other 50+ characters Now I cant even try another MMO because I cant stand the lack of personalization and depth that Swtor provides from its Class based story telling. Please don't continue down this path Bioware.... Its more dangerous than you seem to think. Once I finish my trooper class (the final one I haven't completed yet) I feel that I'll probably leave. Edited August 27, 2013 by Darth_Exar

[Callaron]

I totally disagree with this. I did Makeb with a friend. Hated it. She got all the RNG wins and my character didn't get to say jack and she's an all light side on an imp character. it completely didn't make sense at all. RNG in this game sucks and people do not think through the choices. it isn't about what's good for the quest but hey that's got a red or a blue, guess I better choose it to get to light or dark V. Real fun, that.

 

Except for a few characters that were meant to team with a friend I'd never even consider running the story missions with other people.

The way I see it those actions are part of your character's history, and to let that be decided by a random roll of the dice... no thanks.

 

I know that they are trying to appeal to the crowd that goes "Ugh, we have to go there now just for YOUR class quest... so lame...", but it's not a direction I like very much.

[MaximusRex]

I totally disagree with this. I did Makeb with a friend. Hated it. She got all the RNG wins and my character didn't get to say jack and she's an all light side on an imp character. it completely didn't make sense at all. RNG in this game sucks and people do not think through the choices. it isn't about what's good for the quest but hey that's got a red or a blue, guess I better choose it to get to light or dark V. Real fun, that.

 

This is more a problem (that I agree exists) with the light/dark system then with grouping. Its hard to cap without Diplomacy, and then its hard to keep it there.

[Icebergy]

This is more a problem (that I agree exists) with the light/dark system then with grouping. Its hard to cap without Diplomacy, and then its hard to keep it there.

 

Completely disagree. My main was LS capped right around the time he first dinged level 50, and he is not Diplo.

[Mercurial_Harpy]

Class stories are all that keep me subbed, Makeb was very disappointing but not a total disaster, as I said before in other posts, once I did it on either faction, I had no desire to do it on my other 50+ characters Now I cant even try another MMO because I cant stand the lack of personalization and depth that Swtor provides from its Class based story telling. Please don't continue down this path Bioware.... Its more dangerous than you seem to think. Once I finish my trooper class (the final one I haven't completed yet) I feel that I'll probably leave.

 

Pretty much this. One of the lead story writers confirmed on Twitter yesterday that they had no plans to continue class stories. Not "for the time being" or "foreseeable future," but just "no plans." That's the hardest "no" you're going to get out of EA/Bioware. The link is in the petition thread somewhere, I don't have the energy to hunt it down.

 

When SWTOR went F2P and launched the CM last summer, lots of nay-Sayers decried that move as an end-run around having to put one more dollar into development of the game, paired with blatant cash grab before sun-setting the license. Foolishly, I chose to believe there was no way EA would torpedo the game like that. Unfortunately, those fears seem to have been realized.

 

Class story aside, we know from Dulfy's data mining that EA has 4-6 planets worth of material, likely with Voice Acting already recorded. But all the players will see is the generic, 2-faction questing. So, once again, a member of the Dark Council and an exiled Agent, or Barsen'thor and Trooper, will have pretty much the same exact responses to NPCs. No thanks, I'll pass. Even so, let's say they launch these new planets every six months to a year. If EA got the standard 10 year deal that SOE did for Galaxies, & provided they have stopped future development, that content won't take them through the end of their license. We're looking at 2016-2018, maybe. So what then?

 

EA set themselves up for this kind of backlash by launching an MMO with awesome immersion in the Star Wars universe, then 6 months after launch, deciding they can only recoup their losses by turning it into WoW in space with a cash shop, totally eliminating the individual experience promised at launch.

 

This paired with the "Heal to Full" debacle, makes me think of a line in the movie "He's Just Not That Into You."

 

If a guy is treating you like he doesn't give a sh*t, he genuinely doesn't give a sh*t. No exceptions.

 

...and so it goes with EA.

 

***Edit, apparently they are addressing the Heal to Full stuff; it only took a youtube vid to get their attention

Edited August 27, 2013 by Mercurial_Harpy
***Edit, apparently they are addressing the Heal to Full stuff; it only took a youtube vid to get their attention :)

[joshohelp]

Even if they don't do anymore personal class stories it will be fine as long as each class is a bit different in terms of the planetary arcs so meaning your class choice actually matters a bit more in the planetary arcs.

 

But, once F2P came and they went from a 500 man team to a 150 man team they can't possibly do all the stuff that they wanted. so, they have to prioritize. I would like to see class stories as well maybe something will change and if not there is nothing we can do about it.