Jeff Hickman and Bruce Maclean now on IGN with details on story

[Icykill_]

This is what there better than cross server is by uniting the factions into one faction.

 

Let's hope... Fingers crossed

[Devrius]

Huh, so I guess the whole no faction thing many imagine is true then?

 

I mean of both the Empire and Republic are gone I don't see how our force using Captain Americas are gonna be pat of either.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Not just the bugs but also the difficulty in general. The designers wanted to create challenging boss fights because all the nightmare progression guilds asked for it but because of that, the more casual guilds were not able to run through them. No longer could you carry weak players through SM, which made the operations inaccessible to many players, and caused other players who previously always participate in progression to quit the game.

 

Nevertheless, we have to keep in mind that the decision to create KotFE was likely made before SoR released so we can't say that they based their choices on Ravagers/ToS alone.

 

Yeah I agree this must have been in development for quite some time. They made this choice towards story some time ago as again illustrated by the 'No need for story' operations we did just get.

[Sarfux]

This is all super exciting. From the screenshots it looks like a major graphics upgrade. The reinvestment into the game is substantial, it looks like, and the rewards plus expansion being free for subscribers points to an aggressive mentality, as if they are going to try to build this back up to the juggernaut the originally envisioned. I see no downside here ... better to try and fail than to subsist and never know. But I don't think they will fail. Star Wars is going to be omnipresent in our culture for the next 10 years.

 

Of course it's not going to fail! SWTOR isn't going anywhere anytime soon at all. It's here to stay for YEARS to come. Whenever you see people talk about doom and gloom, it's ridiculous. It's because THEY see it like that. It's not how the game is doing. But lots of folks like to hop on the doom wagon and call "death" before anything is stated.

 

If anything is an indicator of how well the game is doing, just look at the quality trailer we got and the amount of content that's going to be in this with the new mechanics and stuff. And that's just announced TODAY!

 

I'm so excited and thrilled! This is too good to be true! I think they are going to decide to keep 12x permanent because they want us to see the story. The debuff npc is on the fleet if you want to do the other mmo bits as Jeff said but I think they will keep the 12x in place and are using this period as a "trial run" to see how they can tweak it or keep it/dump it.

 

This trailer was fantastic and the more information that comes out it will show that EA and BioWare are really going all out on SWTOR now. "screw it" in a good way

[Jerba]

Yeah I agree this must have been in development for quite some time. They made this choice towards story some time ago as again illustrated by the 'No need for story' operations we did just get.

Make sure to also read through the Polygon interview. Jeff Hickman emphasized how they are not talking away flashpoints and operations and will continue to have them in the future. Just because they are focusing on story does not mean they abandoned it, in fact he confirmed that there will be new operations.

And that's all that I needed to know and now I can really look forward to SWTOR's future.

[bigray]

Of course it's not going to fail! SWTOR isn't going anywhere anytime soon at all. It's here to stay for YEARS to come. Whenever you see people talk about doom and gloom, it's ridiculous. It's because THEY see it like that. It's not how the game is doing. But lots of folks like to hop on the doom wagon and call "death" before anything is stated.

 

If anything is an indicator of how well the game is doing, just look at the quality trailer we got and the amount of content that's going to be in this with the new mechanics and stuff. And that's just announced TODAY!

 

I'm so excited and thrilled! This is too good to be true! I think they are going to decide to keep 12x permanent because they want us to see the story. The debuff npc is on the fleet if you want to do the other mmo bits as Jeff said but I think they will keep the 12x in place and are using this period as a "trial run" to see how they can tweak it or keep it/dump it.

 

This trailer was fantastic and the more information that comes out it will show that EA and BioWare are really going all out on SWTOR now. "screw it" in a good way

 

I agree, from what it looks like in the interview, the 12x XP is likely going to be a permanent thing. It's too bad that the side quests can't somehow be repurposed into rep, as they seem to be shifting philosophy towards for the xpac, because there is genuinely good stuff there. But much like the Draenor expansion this is basically going to be a new game and a new starting point for people and all of their focus will be there. It's almost like a SWTOR 2.

[Ghisallo]

"I want to be really clear to our fans out there who are deep MMO fans. We're not forgetting about that part of the game either," said Hickman. "We just have a focus right now on the story. We're doing lots of stuff around flashpoints and operations and raid bosses and PvP and that stuff. But it's all about story this year.

 

That Last sentence is VERY dangerous. They themselves said to the GDC, they screwed up lacking a focus on end game and that is why the game population dropped the way it did. Now they are going back to what they already said failed, for a year?

 

This to me says that BW actually has no direction. They are a rudderless sailing ship that simply sails in the direction where sorry strongest wind is blowing from. That can blow you onto the rocks.

 

if they do not have as many NEW FPs and OPs as SoR did I think this will blow up in their face because even SoR was near anorexic.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Ghisallo

[Infernixx]

That Last sentence is VERY dangerous. They themselves said to the GDC, they screwed up lacking a focus on end game and that is why the game population dropped the way it did. Now they are going back to what they already said failed, for a year?

 

This to me says that BW actually has no direction. They are a rudderless sailing ship that simply sails in the direction where sorry strongest wind is blowing from. That can blow you onto the rocks.

 

if you read into that, you'd see that they're basing this decision to focus on story and not Operations on 3 years worth of gathered data from what we're actually doing.

 

They're looking to see what subbed players are doing and based on what they're doing with the game, it looks like the most devoted and profitable players are focused on story content and not raiding.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Make sure to also read through the Polygon interview. Jeff Hickman emphasized how they are not talking away flashpoints and operations and will continue to have them in the future. Just because they are focusing on story does not mean they abandoned it, in fact he confirmed that there will be new operations.

And that's all that I needed to know and now I can really look forward to SWTOR's future.

 

"We continue to expand on that" and "We're doing lots of stuff around flashpoints and operations and raid bosses and PvP and that stuff. But it's all about story this year." does indeed mean we will get more and we'll definitely get flashpoint's since they can get jesus droid.

 

It's a strange quote though, on one hand they are working on thhat stuff yet on the other this year they are focusing on story? Not "we are working on operation etc. content and this year we are focusing on story but the mmo content will be part of that"

 

Either way I read that as no new operations this year unless one launches prior to 4.0 ( assuming it's 4.0 ) to finish of the vitiate storyline perhaps?

[Aries_cz]

http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/15/8736559/star-wars-old-republic-knights-of-the-fallen-empire-expansion

 

Not what I meant

 

Sadly no. Once the livestream is over, I can get a link to the specific part but for now, you have to rewind or maybe someone can screen capture the interview and upload it.

You can also check out my first post on page 1, I transcribed through the interview so you can at least read through it.

 

I know about the transcript, and I applaud you for your effort, I just wanted to see and hear them actually say these things

[MeNaCe-NZ]

That Last sentence is VERY dangerous. They themselves said to the GDC, they screwed up lacking a focus on end game and that is why the game population dropped the way it did. Now they are going back to what they already said failed, for a year?

 

This to me says that BW actually has no direction. They are a rudderless sailing ship that simply sails in the direction where sorry strongest wind is blowing from. That can blow you onto the rocks.

 

if they do not have as many NEW FPs and OPs as SoR did I think this will blow up in their face because even SoR was near anorexic.

 

Can you quote that bit about GDC exactly? I would be interested in comparing the quotes verbatim if they contradict one another so greatly. Afaik they've always this year talked about focusing on story. You sure it was about a lack of end game focus and not about how poorly the content that was released had any sort of QC?

 

Also you could say this is ALL new end game content and lots of it so in that regard they aren't contradicting themselves at all really.

[DarthDymond]

Can you quote that bit about GDC exactly? I would be interested in comparing the quotes verbatim if they contradict one another so greatly. Afaik they've always this year talked about focusing on story. You sure it was about a lack of end game focus and not about how poorly the content that was released had any sort of QC?

 

Also you could say this is ALL new end game content and lots of it so in that regard they aren't contradicting themselves at all really.

I believe the one he's talking about is from GDC 2013:

Ohlen's presentation was marked by sincerity and sobriety as he described the ups and downs of SWTOR's launch. "Some of the risks that we identified going into launch were becoming worse than we thought... The most worrisome was that people were going through the content a lot faster than we expected. We had expected our playerbase to play through the game and get to the endgame, on average, in about three to four months, maybe five months. It was 170-180 hours of content. But our metrics were showing us that, on average, for the millions of people playing our game, they were going through the game at a rate of 40 hours a week."

[...]

Still, Ohlen expressed the team's shock at how fast players were playing through SWTOR's content. "[40 hours a week] was the average! We actually had people doing 80 to 100 to 120 hours a week, which I can't even comprehend."

[...]

There was a tone of regret in his voice as Ohlen continued his recounting of the month after launch: "We had people going through the game so fast that within one month, four to five weeks, we suddenly had close to half a million people at the endgame. It was something we didn't expect at all. We had all those people at the endgame and suddenly certain things like having only one Operation, and having no group finder [tool] become much bigger challenges than what we thought they were going to be."

Edited June 15, 2015 by DarthDymond

[Bobs_YourUncle]

Just wow. I'm on the hype train now lol. Its what everyone has been asking for, pvp aside. I assume ops will be forthcoming shortly as well as fps if not released at release. Totally siked.

[Diviciacus]

All i can say is OMG. we get frozen in carbonite and wake up years later, teaming up with old and new friends scattered all over the galaxy. now that's a great story.

but also a bit sad that our loved republic and loved empire will be gone.

one thing is for sure i already can't stand this bearded guy;) he will learn how strong the force is in us

 

I want him dead. I will unsubscribe and never touch TOR again if I don't get to watch him die at some point.

 

This Eternal Empire is no better than ISIS. THERE. I SAID IT. If you watch the trailer (obviously everyone ever has by now), they don't just attack Korriban - they destroy the statues, the tombs, the academy. They destroy the Sith as a culture, as a species. That bearded son of a ***** isn't fighting a war of conquest, he's fighting a war of extermination.

 

I. WILL. END. HIM.

[Tyber]

And that's all that I needed to know and now I can really look forward to SWTOR's future.

 

I'm a bit more bothered by this quote:

Max: Well, this is awesome. So because the Expanded Universe has been cleared out, you got a little breathing room.

Jeff: Absolutely.

Bruce: Yeah.

 

I mean the following:

• SWTOR is set around 3643- 3640 BBY
  
• KotFE is set a few years later, so to make sense it will approximately be around 3635-3630 BBY
  
• The next big thing in the Expanded Universe are the New Sith Wars, starting around 1030 BBY
  
• They heavily claimed and incorporated stuff from Tales of the Jedi, the Knights of the Old Republic comic, KotOR I & II and the accompanying literature
  
• They themselves connected the dots to the stuff which came before
  

 

So my question is:

 

What existing stuff could possibly be hindering for the creative purpose of this expansion - at all?

[DarthDymond]

I'm a bit more bothered by this quote:

 

 

I mean the following:

• SWTOR is set around 3643- 3640 BBY
  
• KotFE is set a few years later, so to make sense it will approximately be around 3635-3630 BBY
  
• The next big thing in the Expanded Universe are the New Sith Wars, starting around 1030 BBY
  
• They heavily claimed and incorporated stuff from Tales of the Jedi, the Knights of the Old Republic comic, KotOR I & II and the accompanying literature
  
• They themselves connected the dots to the stuff which came before
  

 

So my question is:

 

What existing stuff could possibly be hindering for the creative purpose of this expansion - at all?

I honestly wouldn't read too much into that. Sometimes you just roll with the interviewer rather than get bogged down in correcting the minutia - the underlying idea was "you guys have a ton of creative freedom and it looks like you're making the most of it", and that's the sort of sentiment that you just say "yes" to and move on.

[Jerba]

I'm a bit more bothered by this quote:

 

 

I mean the following:

• SWTOR is set around 3643- 3640 BBY
  
• KotFE is set a few years later, so to make sense it will approximately be around 3635-3630 BBY
  
• The next big thing in the Expanded Universe are the New Sith Wars, starting around 1030 BBY
  
• They heavily claimed and incorporated stuff from Tales of the Jedi, the Knights of the Old Republic comic, KotOR I & II and the accompanying literature
  
• They themselves connected the dots to the stuff which came before
  

 

So my question is:

 

What existing stuff could possibly be hindering for the creative purpose of this expansion - at all?

I am not entirely sure about that part of the interview. I'm pretty sure they talked about the questions beforehand, so Jeff and Bruce have probably green-lighted the question about the Expanded Universe. Nevertheless, just because the IGN guy (who doesn't know much about SWTOR except what he prepared for the interview) says "you got a little breathing room", it doesn't make it true. Even though Jeff and Bruce said "Exactly", that alone is no confirmation that they now break with existing EU material or that SWTOR is canon, they just didn't want to go into more detail I think.

 

What makes me more concerned is how they want to streamline all the existing content. Does this mean all planetary quests and bonus arcs are completely removed from the game? Yes, they may feel long and boring but they are still story and I hope they don't remove them if we still want to play them.

 

 

Anyway, I found the high-quality version from the new concept art in the Polygon article in case anyone is interested: https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3785978/SWTOR_KOTFE_PlanetConcept.0.jpg

The article only includes a small version with no function to magnify it.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I believe the one he's talking about is from GDC 2013:

 

Ah ok so that's more or less irrelevant in terms of what he was addressing and what is currently going on.

[Tyber]

I am not entirely sure about that part of the interview. I'm pretty sure they talked about the questions beforehand, so Jeff and Bruce have probably green-lighted the question about the Expanded Universe. Nevertheless, just because the IGN guy (who doesn't know much about SWTOR except what he prepared for the interview) says "you got a little breathing room", it doesn't make it true. Even though Jeff and Bruce said "Exactly", that alone is no confirmation that they now break with existing EU material or that SWTOR is canon, they just didn't want to go into more detail I think.

 

What makes me more concerned is how they want to streamline all the existing content. Does this mean all planetary quests and bonus arcs are completely removed from the game? Yes, they may feel long and boring but they are still story and I hope they don't remove them if we still want to play them.

 

I know, I know. But the sucker punch with Canon/Legends is still hurting me badly. So every comment in that direction strikes a nerve...

 

"Breathing room" sounded just wrong considering everything they did to move SWTOR away in time from KotOR as well as maintaining enough of a distance to the Darth Bane stuff from then lead writer Drew Karpyshyn. In short, I can't imagine what they could do to break existing EU (or Legends) canon.

 

Re: Streamlining.

I got the impression that they were talking about the 12 XP boost or stuff in connection with that. When they first implemented that I pushed 8 characters to lvl 55 without doing any of the planetary side quests.

Removing stuff seems quite a bit out of the question, so I have no worries there.

[DarthDymond]

You can already go back to Imperial-controlled Balmorra, even after the storyline has progressed to where the Republic has liberated it. You can already pop into Flashpoints that explicitly happen during the Cold War even after the Second Great War has started.

 

I think (and hope) this will be the same deal - gating off all the old content would be kinda nuts.

And yet they gave us a preview of how they could handle this with Ziost. Once you click a panel, Ziost changes entirely and you can't go back. It's possible they will do something like this. it's possible they won't. We just don't know yet.

Yeah, I'm actually gonna walk back on the "I think" part of my original post and take a full-on 'wait and see' approach. Since the Polygon interview went up, this part:

"You're able to recruit help and additional companions from an expanded cast, including companions who were previously exclusive to other classes," said Maclean. "Building that alliance involves going to all the planets in the galaxy and doing activities and missions that build faction. If you want to recruit a character who's favorable to the Mandalorians, you'll be able to do missions for them. You want to recruit a character who hates the Hutts, you'll do missions to build your alliance standing against them."

has me thinking some of the new chapters might be set on the old worlds, which might lead to a Ziost-style approach.

 

Way too early to tell, I'm sure more will become clear over the next four months, but I could definitely see it going either way. (I still hope the original versions of the worlds are fully accessible, though. )

[Koichi]

Way I see it is that it's in the form of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Awakening. You either continue off from where you left off from Origins into Awakening or you make a new character for Awakening. Companion varies on how you start from. One you naturally level up to 60 and it includes reforming your old crew, while maybe getting to new additions. If you are going straight to 60, then either you just get the new companions in the expansion or you have to start from scratch in forming a bond with the old companions. Edited June 15, 2015 by Koichi

[Tyber]

Way too early to tell, I'm sure more will become clear over the next four months, but I could definitely see it going either way. (I still hope the original versions of the worlds are fully accessible, though. )

 

I thought it could be possible via an... um... in-game savegame of sorts. Like if you want to play the expansion story, you go to a console and click "Continue", and if you want to do all the old and MMO stuff, you go like "Back to Community area" or so...

[Genghistwelve]

SO let me get this straight. In December 2011, my Sentinel Watchman began life in the canon universe of Dark Horse Comic' Tales of the Jedi and Knights of the Old Republic, and Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic continuous mythology that lasted a hundred years after A New Hope. Then in April 25, 2014 the Sith Emperor apparently hatched some arcane ritual that apparently destroyed that universe making him a legend.

 

Now, he got frozen in carbonite somehow, and has reawakened in a new canon universe once again?

[MillionsKNives]

SO let me get this straight. In December 2011, my Sentinel Watchman began life in the canon universe of Dark Horse Comic' Tales of the Jedi and Knights of the Old Republic, and Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic continuous mythology that lasted a hundred years after A New Hope. Then in April 25, 2014 the Sith Emperor apparently hatched some arcane ritual that apparently destroyed that universe making him a legend.

 

Now, he got frozen in carbonite somehow, and has reawakened in a new canon universe once again?

 

Your knight lives in a universe shortly (300 year?) after KOTOR and about 3,000 years before A New Hope, goes about his merry business, gets frozen in carbonite, and awakens at some indeterminate time slightly less than 3,000 years before A New Hope.

[DarthDymond]

SO let me get this straight. In December 2011, my Sentinel Watchman began life in the canon universe of Dark Horse Comic' Tales of the Jedi and Knights of the Old Republic, and Bioware's Knights of the Old Republic continuous mythology that lasted a hundred years after A New Hope. Then in April 25, 2014 the Sith Emperor apparently hatched some arcane ritual that apparently destroyed that universe making him a legend.

 

Now, he got frozen in carbonite somehow, and has reawakened in a new canon universe once again?

Your Sentinel Watchman began life in the C-Canon Universe of Dark Horse Comics' Tales of the Jedi and Knights of the Old Republic and BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic continuous mythology that lasted a hundred years after A New Hope. Then on April 25, 2014, Disney renamed C-Canon into "Legends" and decided to stop producing new works in that continuity, but SWTOR continued along.

 

Now, he got frozen in carbonite somehow, and has reawakened in one of two continuities, A: (the far more likely scenario) he is still in the same Legends continuity, or B: he is in a third timeline that does still treat everything set prior to SWTOR as binding continuity (so Tales of the Jedi and Knights of the Old Republic), but is no longer bound to anything set after it (again, far, far less likely).

 

In any event, SWTOR is definitely not part of the new Disney Canon, Knights of the Fallen Empire isn't changing that.

 

awakens at some indeterminate time slightly less than 3,000 years before A New Hope.

Um, that would have put him in carbonite for over 600 years

Edited June 16, 2015 by DarthDymond