Eric, When if ever are we going to get an update on STORY content?

[ZionHalcyon]

Yes, it is your opinion, one that obviously BW does not share. You are free to post as much as you wish, I am pointing out that your expectations are too high.

 

Look, if you want to win a pissing contest, look elsewhere. Because it seems that's all you're here to do.

 

That, and bump my thread, so maybe I should invite more of your silliness.

[ELRunninW]

Look, if you want to win a pissing contest, look elsewhere. Because it seems that's all you're here to do.

 

That, and bump my thread, so maybe I should invite more of your silliness.

 

I find this insulting, I do not think this is appropriate for these forums.

[ZionHalcyon]

Oh and in case people think I am talking out of my rear...

 

Look at what happened before the writer layoffs:

 

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/star_wars_the_old_republic/news/star_wars_old_republic_class_stories_continue_sooner_not_later.html

 

And what happened after (question 7, also echoed in the cantina tour in Chicago):

http://dulfy.net/2013/08/23/swtor-germany-gamescom-cantina-tour-files/

 

The original plan was always to continue class stories. But those people got laid off.

 

If the Cartel Market is making cash hand over fist (which by all accounts it is), then the argument that it costs too much to continue them seems rather moot.

[mecher]

Oh and in case people think I am talking out of my rear...

 

Look at what happened before the writer layoffs:

 

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/star_wars_the_old_republic/news/star_wars_old_republic_class_stories_continue_sooner_not_later.html

 

And what happened after (question 7, also echoed in the cantina tour in Chicago):

http://dulfy.net/2013/08/23/swtor-germany-gamescom-cantina-tour-files/

 

The original plan was always to continue class stories. But those people got laid off.

 

If the Cartel Market is making cash hand over fist (which by all accounts it is), then the argument that it costs too much to continue them seems rather moot.

 

I don't think you understand, those people that were laid off now work at other companies.

 

Drew, the main guy, no long even works in the gaming industry for one.

 

You seem to be in massive denial and it's hilarious and sad at the same time.

[ZionHalcyon]

I don't think you understand, those people that were laid off now work at other companies.

 

Drew, the main guy, no long even works in the gaming industry for one.

 

You seem to be in massive denial and it's hilarious and sad at the same time.

 

Actually, its you who are a bit slow in connecting the dots.

 

That they've been laid off is inconsequential.

 

Lemme run a scenario by you.

 

Company A sells a product and touts feature "Y" as being one of the core parts of said product. Tons of people go out and buy the product because of feature "Y". The people in charge say they will continue to develop feature "Y".

 

Then there are a bunch of layoffs, including people up at the top. No firm announcement is ever made that "We no longer will support Feature Y". Instead you get "We are going to give you a reduced version of feature Y because its better for our bottom line, and we're not making a lot of cash right now." And then the company implements another feature, lets call it feature "C" that allows it to make a TON of cash, and easily be able to support feature Y and then some. Add to that, that there are a lot of people who quit over the reduced support of feature "Y" who would come back if it is re-implemented as the previous staff promised, or at least brought back in some better capacity. But they refuse to even talk about it.

 

At the end of the day, that company is going to lose customers. Because Customers don't care about the turnover. They know that someone representing Company Brand A sold them something, and now that same company is going back on what they said when they sold the product in the first place. There was no real dialogue with the customers, no discussion, just "this is what it is, take it or leave it."

 

And many have left it.

 

I'll be following suit soon enough. The story hasn't been engaging enough to keep me here because once the class stories are done, it ends, and faction stories are damn boring after you play through them for the first time. With no class story tie in, there is absolutely nothing keeping me invested in my character.

 

You choose to mock that, but that only shows your ignorance, or else hides a sad life full of low expectations where you never strove for more.

 

Not going to respond to the troll bait from here on out. All I will tell the inevitable trolls is this:

 

Thank you for bumping my thread.

[Vandicus]

Maybe you missed the part where they said they had no plans for class stories in your analogy above?

 

Basically their position is that there are no class stories planned, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of them doing class stories in the future.

[ZionHalcyon]

Maybe you missed the part where they said they had no plans for class stories in your analogy above?

 

Basically their position is that there are no class stories planned, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of them doing class stories in the future.

 

Nope, didn't miss that. Others did.

 

Its part of the reason why I felt discussion was warranted. The door was left a crack open.

 

What I tire of is people pretending they are devs and know what the devs are thinking, and that they are just simple messengers of the devs divine message. *bleep* that noise - that's just people's hubris.

 

I would love a discussion straight from the source - leaves no guesswork.

[mecher]

So your only reply to my post was to essentially ignore the fact that all the people have moved out that worked on the stories, which makes it literally impossible to continue the storylines in and meaningful way, and then you call me a troll?

[Sportiva]

Hmm ... I've often wondered how much relation there is to the choice of the 3D Engine and BW initial plan to focus heavily on story.

 

In particular, I wonder:

1) Was the crappy pre-Alpha Hero Engine chosen because of the commitment to stories?

 

-OR-

 

2) Does the crappy pre-Alpha Hero Engine inhibit or make story production more costly?

[Darkemace]

In particular, I wonder:

1) Was the crappy pre-Alpha Hero Engine chosen because of the commitment to stories?

 

-OR-

 

2) Does the crappy pre-Alpha Hero Engine inhibit or make story production more costly?

 

Here's another question: is there any other game that uses the Hero Engine?

[Costello]

I would like to know what happened to the 4th Pillar that was all we heard about for years prior to Launch.

 

But even if we accept that the big selling point and much of what people most enjoyed about TOR being the class stories has been scraped and just look at the faction stories it is a little sad that in 2 years there hasn't been more added t to the overall story of ToR.

 

One new story planet of Makeb and the Dread Masters in 2 years. Anyone would think George R. R. Martin was in charge of getting the story out. The story has stagnated and along with it much of what made TOR stand out from the other MMO's out there. After all the work involved in story and companions for it all to be ignored it makes for one game from 1 to 55 and then you hit cap and everything that has made the game unique is forgotten and you move to text based quests.

[Andryah]

I would like to know what happened to the 4th Pillar that was all we heard about for years prior to Launch.

 

Um.... the 4th pillar is story. Not... CLASS specific story... but STORY. They have continued to add story to this game since launch.... it's just that as they have stated... they have moved to faction based story.. and they also stated that they found it to be well received by most players.

 

They have also stated more then once that there is currently no plan to add class specific story any time soon AND which is being deliberately ignored by the OP. And, they have not definitively said never... so I guess the OP hopes he can brow beat them into dropping everything and doing it post haste.

 

None of which in any way invalidates the player bases "desire" for more class story.... but the topic of this thread has in fact been answered by Bioware in multiple ways, and multiple times. Most players would enjoy more class story I am sure. It's just that the OP feels if he keeps demanding a new response he might get a different answer... which is unlikely, AND considering the rebuttalist and sometimes pejorative tone to every thread response he does not like.... I'd say it's moved to extremely unlikely this thread will get a gold response on the topic.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Andryah

[theinfamousbrad]

Eric has said numerous times there will be no more personal class story quests as they're "too expensive and time consuming". All quests will be faction based ( one rep, one imp ) from now on.

 

And yes, it sucks.

 

Oddly enough, I predicted this when the game was announced. To add even one story to the game, even an ordinary flashpoint or operation, means fully voicing all 3 dialog tree options for 8 different character classes for every NPC interaction -- and that's before you add any branching options, where (say) the story goes in a different direction if the person who wins the roll picks 2 instead of 1 or 3. The classic content in this game is great. But it was way too expensive to develop for them to ever make more of it, I would think.

 

(I can count on the fingers of one hand all of the MMOs in history that haven't had this problem, but none of them more so than TOR.)

[mecher]

Hmm ... I've often wondered how much relation there is to the choice of the 3D Engine and BW initial plan to focus heavily on story.

 

In particular, I wonder:

1) Was the crappy pre-Alpha Hero Engine chosen because of the commitment to stories?

 

-OR-

 

2) Does the crappy pre-Alpha Hero Engine inhibit or make story production more costly?

 

None, it has nothing to do with the engine and everything to do with the fact the same didn't get millions of subs.

[theUndead]

I just have certain expectations, ones Bioware themselves set with their communication levels when the game started.

 

You want a good example of communication in an MMO?

 

Here you go.

 

That level of discussion is what should be expected from an MMO of this stature.

 

Yes but isn't your expectations a bit large? I mean it has been proven by several posts that class stories are in fact finished so why would you seek further validation on the topic? I understand you are disapoited, but this thread is a fruitless endeavor and will only end in further frustration in my mind.

[Callaron]

Not really, your judgment is misguided. That approach is very common, and it makes a lot of sense. One could actually say the same thing about you. You believe that you actually deserve any attention. I am just trying to be polite, event though I don't agree with your views.

 

It happens on pretty much all of the big MMO's; the community managers act as a filter and mouthpiece for the Devs - and in the process prevent them from saying something they will end up regretting later; either by rising to flamebait or by getting too enthusiastic about a feature they are working on - and then when it turns out the feature can't be done after all (for whatever reasons), people start screaming the devs are liars and how they "promised" this feature was coming.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Callaron

[Callaron]

I just have certain expectations, ones Bioware themselves set with their communication levels when the game started.

 

You want a good example of communication in an MMO?

 

Here you go.

 

That level of discussion is what should be expected from an MMO of this stature.

 

Not just DDO, TSW's devs also do an amazing job at communicating with the players - read one of their monthly "Game Director Letters" some time, where the game's Director gives an update as to what's coming and in some cases what just came out.

He's also an active poster on their forums, and probably the most straightforward dev I've ever seen.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Callaron

[Abbyssion]

Not just DDO, TSW's devs also do an amazing job at communicating with the players - read one of their monthly "Game Director Letters" some time, where the game's Director gives an update as to what's coming and in some cases what just came out.

He's also an active poster on their forums, and probably the most straightforward dev I've ever seen.

 

oo a dev that communicates how much does that cost on the Cartel Market?

[Callaron]

oo a dev that communicates how much does that cost on the Cartel Market?

 

Sorry, devs like that are limited edition only. Try Ebay.

[AshlaBoga]

None, it has nothing to do with the engine and everything to do with the fact the same didn't get millions of subs.

 

^This.

[janne_josefsson]

I agree fully with OP, this is Frickin Star Wars, people have read related comics, read related books (theres even novels about the olf republic), watch the moviesl, played the other start wars games with story in it, they watch clone wars etc etc all over the world since the fricking first movie. so isn´t there a chance that some of us are here for goof questlines that makes me feel that i am actually doing something storybased and well done att that instead of resubbing for Makeb, do a so so story that ends in a "ah well, its going to hell but ill be able to do some stuff here" and if all ends in dailies and another faction grind, and the quests are mostly given by questmachines and thats it. Same with all other content, few quests, some messy but ok, but after that ...another daily rep grind .

 

And for the record, the prices to unlock the stuff from market so that all chars can have access should get a makeover, today i bought a cool gun for roughly 400 cartel cash (about 4 euro maybe?) but then i have to pay 600 cartel coins to enable it for other chars...please take look at this.

 

If star fighter thingie is the new "major content release" ill resub some other year to see if you have taken what was once a fantastic game and gone back to our roots. Dailys from a box as content can suck it,.

[OddballEasyEight]

I agree fully with OP, this is Frickin Star Wars, people have read related comics, read related books (theres even novels about the olf republic), watch the moviesl, played the other start wars games with story in it, they watch clone wars etc etc all over the world since the fricking first movie. so isn´t there a chance that some of us are here for goof questlines that makes me feel that i am actually doing something storybased and well done att that instead of resubbing for Makeb, do a so so story that ends in a "ah well, its going to hell but ill be able to do some stuff here" and if all ends in dailies and another faction grind, and the quests are mostly given by questmachines and thats it. Same with all other content, few quests, some messy but ok, but after that ...another daily rep grind .

 

And for the record, the prices to unlock the stuff from market so that all chars can have access should get a makeover, today i bought a cool gun for roughly 400 cartel cash (about 4 euro maybe?) but then i have to pay 600 cartel coins to enable it for other chars...please take look at this.

 

If star fighter thingie is the new "major content release" ill resub some other year to see if you have taken what was once a fantastic game and gone back to our roots. Dailys from a box as content can suck it,.

 

Wow, I am impressed that you used your real name as your forum name.

That said, the cartel guns that cost 400cc to buy cost 200cc to unlock for your other characters. So that's 600 in total.

And 400cc is only around 2 euro (a little less i think, since my calculations are based on SEK and not euro).

So you get a gun that is permanently available for all characters you have and ever will have for around 3 euro.

That's not exactly expensive.

And sure, most of us are here for the stories, but stories take time to write and implement. There won't be enough stories to keep you around if you do them at the pace of the average mmo gamer on these forums (content locusts).

But if you can't find fun in the game then maby you should go play something else that gives you new, fully voiced and cut-scened stories fast enough to make you happy.

 

Please let me know when you find that magical game.

[Prisoner]

I would like to know what happened to the 4th Pillar that was all we heard about for years prior to Launch.

 

What happened was that stories take a lot of time to produce and are content that players burn through extremely quickly. Once people played through them and got to the level cap, they unsubbed in droves, pretty much killing any future major story content and focus shifted to short term stuff that's easier to produce and keep people busy for much longer: dailies, pvp arenas, short events, etc... Do you really expect them to go back to a buisness model that didn't work?

 

Honestly, I don't even get why threads like this exist. Bioware has been extremely clear that story content going forward will be planetary arcs and not individual class stories. Sucks, but there it is. Y'all can start all of the forum threads you want about this, jump up and down like bratty 4 year olds demanding that they pay attention to you, but none of that trumps the fact that people already voted with their wallets.

[Callaron]

And 400cc is only around 2 euro (a little less i think, since my calculations are based on SEK and not euro).

So you get a gun that is permanently available for all characters you have and ever will have for around 3 euro.

That's not exactly expensive.

 

Nope, he was actually closer to it than you are.

On the in-game store it's 450 CC for 4€, and my currency actually is euros - no conversion needed here.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Callaron

[janne_josefsson]

Nope, he was actually closer to it than you are.

On the in-game store it's 450 CC for 4€, and my currency actually is euros - no conversion needed here.

 

THank you<3 was gonna reply to the previous replier but since he had that "but go play something else then!!!!" attitude, i prefered this.

 

Merry christmas<3