"SWTOR Is Dying and Strongholds are a Failure!"

[Darth_Wicked]

You make that sound like there have been a dozen relases for SWTOR this year that were on schedule. But when you loke on what schedule original was promised when SWTOR had gone f2p, you would see that basically everything since was too late! So, my assumption is that they have not yet given us a release date for the expension is just because they already know it would be really optimistically to really hit that, and i am pretty sure some internally at BioWare already regret that it was said it will come this year.

 

Could you possibly be less abstract, please?

 

Again, I mentioned Strongholds for example, which - as far as I'm aware - is the only that was delayed this year. Is there anything else as noteworthy? Even from previous years?

[ghoul_drool]

You make that sound like there have been a dozen relases for SWTOR this year that were on schedule. But when you loke on what schedule original was promised when SWTOR had gone f2p, you would see that basically everything since was too late! So, my assumption is that they have not yet given us a release date for the expension is just because they already know it would be really optimistically to really hit that, and i am pretty sure some internally at BioWare already regret that it was said it will come this year.

 

Considering they came out and said on a public event yesterday that the expansion would come out this year, I'm pretty certain they're confident it'll be done on time.

[Drudenfusz]

Considering they came out and said on a public event yesterday that the expansion would come out this year, I'm pretty certain they're confident it'll be done on time.

Sorry, pretty cartains looks different to me, like having a release date earlier than 4 month. And again, I am not saying it will not happen, only that I doubt it. So, what is so unacceaptble that I have that view that all you guys have to attack me for my opinion?

[Darth_Wicked]

Sorry, pretty cartains looks different to me, like having a release date earlier than 4 month. And again, I am not saying it will not happen, only that I doubt it. So, what is so unacceaptble that I have that view that all you guys have to attack me for my opinion?

 

No one's attacking you.

 

You on the other hand refuse to acknowledge anything that is said to you, going so far as to say you'll only believe the expansion will be out this year once you're playing it.

 

That's just beyond extreme.

[Drudenfusz]

No one's attacking you.

 

You on the other hand refuse to acknowledge anything that is said to you, going so far as to say you'll only believe the expansion will be out this year once you're playing it.

 

That's just beyond extreme.

Sorry, I am just not made to be a believer! Deeds not words are what I am interested in. You might call that extreme, I think of it as pragmatical.

[ivanhedgehog]

You mean other than the repeated and consistent statements from BW that it'll be out this year? yeah, other than the actual company saying over and again for the last six months that it'll be out this year, there's no reason to think that it'll be out this year.

 

and we were using our strongholds in june, just like they told us.

[keitzy]

and we were using our strongholds in june, just like they told us.

 

Also the fact that there is no information on an upcoming expansion is worrying, normally you get some sort of preview a couple of months in advance but with a mere 2 and 3/4 months to go until the 3rd year of SWTOR begins it is looking very likely not until maybe February/March until an expansion hits.

[CmdrShpd]

Also the fact that there is no information on an upcoming expansion is worrying, normally you get some sort of preview a couple of months in advance but with a mere 2 and 3/4 months to go until the 3rd year of SWTOR begins it is looking very likely not until maybe February/March until an expansion hits.

 

And your basis for predicting a February/March expansion (which was contradicted by the Devs as recently as yesterday) is...what? I mean, I can see the value of being skeptical, but you appear to be pulling info out of your butt.

Edited September 2, 2014 by CmdrShpd

[iDraxter]

Also the fact that there is no information on an upcoming expansion is worrying, normally you get some sort of preview a couple of months in advance but with a mere 2 and 3/4 months to go until the 3rd year of SWTOR begins it is looking very likely not until maybe February/March until an expansion hits.

I don`t understand why ppl ever expected the devs to give us any info for 3.0 before 2.10 hits, I never did. I presume 3.0 would launch around the 20th December if there`s no delays

[keitzy]

I don`t understand why ppl ever expected the devs to give us any info for 3.0 before 2.10 hits, I never did. I presume 3.0 would launch around the 20th December if there`s no delays

 

Take a look at the GSF expansion.

 

We knew of it around August/September 2013 and the full expansion did not drop until 4th February 2014 so really , I am being optimistic.

 

Also, we just had an expansion, Galactic Strongholds is an expansion according to the main website of SWTOR, hover over about, click digital expansions and it will take you to Galactic Strongholds.

Edited September 2, 2014 by keitzy

[Darth_Wicked]

Also the fact that there is no information on an upcoming expansion is worrying, normally you get some sort of preview a couple of months in advance but with a mere 2 and 3/4 months to go until the 3rd year of SWTOR begins it is looking very likely not until maybe February/March until an expansion hits.

 

Are people even reading what is being said?

 

They've already confirmed that the expansion is bound to hit this year still. Charles Boyd on his twitter page even confirmed he has some stuff on the works, concerning story blog entries for 3.0.

 

Just face it already: A lot of people - me included mind you - had little to no faith on Bioware's ability to deliver 3.0 on 2014 still. This idea was pretty much squashed over and over again in the last couple of months... Why insist on flogging a dead horse?

 

Do you people actually believe they would say that 3.0 was bound to be released in 2014, if they weren't absolutely sure already? Can you imagine the sh*t storm it would ensue if they failed that?

 

Seriously...

Edited September 2, 2014 by Darth_Wicked

[Lotharofxev]

Wait - are you telling me that paying 50 million for the privilege of re-running old FPs doesn't constitute "new content"? C'mon now, people wanted the SIMs and they got the SIMs.

[Infernixx]

Wait - are you telling me that paying 50 million for the privilege of re-running old FPs doesn't constitute "new content"? C'mon now, people wanted the SIMs and they got the SIMs.

 

I'm kinda curious why you would expect 'new' content at the tail-end of a two year old expansion? Where exactly did you get the impression that any MMO company would dump a ton of resources, time and money into tacking on a new Raid onto the end of an old expansion while they have a new one forming up and getting ready to be released within the next few months?

 

Seriously, though, do you understand how the expansion cycle works? I can explain it to you if you don't.

[Bugattiboy]

That blue text is really hard on the eyes.

 

I wouldn't say strongholds was a failure because housing has always been a niche feature in online games. It's not meant for masses. I'm not in that niche so aside from the legacy bank I can't see the value add.

[LordArtemis]

IMO there is nothing wrong with being optimistic or pessimistic. Both are healthy stances IMO. However, it's a bit ridiculous IMO to beat the failure drum or second coming at this point.

 

It seems GSF did NOT bring in the droves of players that some folks suggested would definitely happen, nor did the game fold in half. It continues to live, perhaps not thriving, but certainly not dying. It is still early to say if Strongholds has or will have any effect on game longevity and/or health, but my money says it likely will not hurt (I personally believe that despite having some merits GSF did more harm than good).

 

This game is not perfect, nor is it a disaster....even if that could be said about it's launch. In the past this game was likely failing in spectacular fashion despite arrogant comments from certain memorable forum members, most who seem to have seen the light about the games early days.

 

But that is not today. Today the game is a MUCH better product than it was 2 years ago. To deny that is silly at best, hateful at worst.

 

But there is PLENTY of room for improvement, and even this team has had a few missteps...counting some of the design aspects of Strongholds among them.

 

I think it can be said that the QoL improvement is the Strongholds saving feature. In this respect this feature is brilliant....IMO even those that do not care for hooks (myself included) or the ridiculously overcomplicated crafting associated with the feature must admit this QoL aspect seems to be popular.

 

And that could make all the difference. Lets give it some time before we christen it a failure.

[annabethchase]

Yeah, they probably do want to release it this year. Doesn't mean they will. I'm not saying "Oh my god, Bioware suck, everything is terrible ahhhh" - just, it might be late. Plan for it being late, be pleasantly surprised when it turns up on time. That way, we don't get massive whine threads when November hits and no 3.0.

 

It's just a different way of looking at things.

 

It's basically Eoer from Winnie the Pooh's way of looking at things. Just saying

[Jerba]

Could you possibly be less abstract, please?

 

Again, I mentioned Strongholds for example, which - as far as I'm aware - is the only that was delayed this year. Is there anything else as noteworthy? Even from previous years?

We can definitely find examples that back this up. For example. they originally had a 6-8 week content cycle for new Game Updates, but for 2014, they switched to a 9-week cycle. At the same time, the recent Game Updates were relatively small (culminating in just nightmare mode and the casino event for 2.8). There were some endgame players who were not satisfied with recent content (GSF, tactical flashpoints) since they only want operations and don't care about other content. Between 2.8 and 2.9, there even was a 10-week break instead of the usual 9 weeks.

 

But all of that is history now. Looking back now, it is totally understandable that 2.7 and 2.8 were a little small compared to previous patches, given how much content we got with 2.9, and 2.10 next week. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep up the 9-week cycle after 3.0, I'm looking forward to the future patches.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Jerba

[annabethchase]

I'm kinda curious why you would expect 'new' content at the tail-end of a two year old expansion? Where exactly did you get the impression that any MMO company would dump a ton of resources, time and money into tacking on a new Raid onto the end of an old expansion while they have a new one forming up and getting ready to be released within the next few months?

 

Seriously, though, do you understand how the expansion cycle works? I can explain it to you if you don't.

 

Bioware's expansion cycles are nothing like World of Warcrafts cycle. For instance, many people never set foot on Makeb since their first run through, because it really was just a patch. Yet there's been lots of stuff added consistently every 2 months. Different ways of doing things.

 

Now personally, I'm hoping so much that this is a 3 planet or more expansion that does rival a WoW expansion in scope and purchase price. Happy to pay for it. Story content is what drives Star Wars and that's what I'm hoping for.

[GadgetDon]

To be honest, I wish they'd stop repeating so often that the expansion is coming in 2014. There's four months left in 2014 and while that seems a lot, for game development that isn't that much. (Plus, November/December/January are not going to be full productivity so "ship in December" is always a bit of a gamble.) They aren't giving details yet, certainly not on test server yet. Things can happen. It can happen in the code development. And once players get their hands on it on the test server, problems will be found, exploits uncovered, things prove not to be as much fun as they expected.

 

Have internal goals and timetables based on 2014 release, fine. Push like hell for having it in great shape for release. But by publicly stating it will ship in 2014, they are setting up a strong incentive to ship regardless of the state its in. Happens to the best of companies. And it's proven so often to be a huge problem.

 

Will they ship in 2014? I haven't a clue. If they ship in 2014, will it be in great shape, rock solid, lots of fun? Or will it be something with weekly patches for the next several months fixing problems? I haven't a clue. I'd much rather it ship rock solid in February 2015 than ship poorly in December 2014, and I'd rather they not set up artificial incentives to ship early.