Jeff Hickman has promised we will NOT be getting any new MMO content this year.

[GalacticStarfigh]

Bioware is taking that bet. They literally are betting that the content they are producing is exactly what the majority of customers want.

 

It is a really good and safe bet for them to make.

 

You know what sucks about awesome multi million dollar 4 min daddy issue CGI? It lasts for 4 mins. And, say, 10 hours of story content, no matter how good or bad, lasts for 10 hours. Post vanilla story content is exactly what people have been asking for and what they want. But how long will the same people keep playing and paying for this slice of 10 hour content?

 

Vanilla stories is another matter; nevermind the quality, the sheer quantity of talking heads alone is utterly humbling. I'm sure we all agree whatever we are about to get is going to be much more..modest in scale. "This year will be all about the story." I can totally get how this is awesome for everybody for that 10 hours. "This year" has six months.

 

Of course, Bioware's idea of forcing longevity in the picture is to time gate half of it, releasing some small slice bi-montly etc. I think People need to be very easy or story needs to be very good for it to work out.

Edited June 24, 2015 by GalacticStarfigh

[Cedia]

Yes, very happy. It was the game's main bullet point and strongest feature. It's why I became a founder and continue to support the game with two subbed accounts from that day. Considering that fact, it's about damn time that they finally got back to what makes this game great - we had a good 3 year period there where there was very little story being added at all in favor of all those MMO elements you are crying about.

 

Yep, it's about time that they give their loyal fans what they want. I came back for the purple crystals and I'm staying for the story.

 

Now if they would fix the bugs that affect the story I'd be ecstatic.

 

Also, I wish the Dragon Age team would take notice instead of focusing on multiplayer.

[Aelflaed]

I came back for the story, having been burned out *completely* on 'MMO features,* which seems to mean raiding & rated pvp. I'd stay awhile, refreshing the stories, then leave again, were that what they were offering here. But offering a ME type story in an MMO? I think that's the greatest. More opportunities for a good, ongoing story, a dynamic world with interaction with others, that doesn't require a 3 hour a night commitment, and a focus on character over all that stuff I was so happy to leave behind. I hope it's a real promise, personally, but I'm sure there will be more of that kind of content, anyway.

[Zoom_VI]

I have seen reports of anywhere from 1% to 10% of the playerbase that PvPs and/or Raids..

 

Raiding is a nother matter, but PvP'ing at least in regs is fairly common. there was a dev quote a few months after launch where the devs said they where surprised and hugely unprepared for many people where pvp'ing. Now that's not a hard number, but it carries a point.

 

1% is ********, 10% is a extremely low estimate.

[Thompsons]

Clicked on the article. Here's the key portion:

 

This shift in focus is almost entirely driven by observed player behavior patterns and by player feedback, according to Maclean. "We have three years of data on how people play the game and what they want. We know what our players want. They've told us. They've told us in person, on the forums. They've also told us through their play behaviors.

 

I'm not agreeing with the logic. All I'm saying is that, apparently, the devoted MMO players' claims that this game is going to lose more players than it will gain if eggs aren't put in the MMO basket might not have a whole lot of evidence behind it. Granted, it would be nice to SEE the evidence regarding hours played, etc.

[Anaesha]

Considering BW said that old players have been coming back and new players have joined due to the news of Fallen Empire I'd say their shift back to story driven content is a good thing.

[GalacticStarfigh]

Clicked on the article. Here's the key portion:

 

 

I'm not agreeing with the logic. All I'm saying is that, apparently, the devoted MMO players' claims that this game is going to lose more players than it will gain if eggs aren't put in the MMO basket might not have a whole lot of evidence behind it. Granted, it would be nice to SEE the evidence regarding hours played, etc.

 

SW:TOR has certainly found it's niche. Significant majority of people here seem to love Bioware talking heads in unconditional fashion. Giving the community some dante's inferno version of endless BBCHARDtalk episode with camera crew asleep is exactly what everybody wants. Just that well, for 10-20 hours you'll be busy getting 10-20 hours of " exactly what you want". What then? Are people supposed to play it again and again, be excited about it again and again? MMO that wants to keep you playing and paying should worry a whole lot about longevity. Being " all about story" for a year is exactly what community asks for. But it is always almost an 'anti' and mockery to longevity in MMOs...

 

...Unless they go colossal and provide some huge vanilla-like slice of storyline etc. I'm sure that isn't in the cards.

Edited June 24, 2015 by GalacticStarfigh

[GalacticStarfigh]

Considering BW said that old players have been coming back and new players have joined due to the news of Fallen Empire I'd say their shift back to story driven content is a good thing.

 

Absolutely. It is clear people love to watch absolutely awesome 4 min cinematic. It was really well done, really expensive and got loads of people excited. Cool looking video ->> XXXXXX -> so the expansion will be awesome!! I fail with the middle step. Most seem more agile. Great marketing.

 

And great example as to why spending 8 mils to CGI is always much better than spending it on the game itself.

Imagine if they had used 8 mils to make GSF, or Warzones, or raidng, or conquest awesome? Far less people would have cared.

[Anaesha]

Absolutely. It is clear people love to watch absolutely awesome 4 min cinematic. It was really well done, really expensive and got loads of people excited. Cool looking video ->> XXXXXX -> so the expansion will be awesome!! I fail with the middle step. Most seem more agile. Great marketing.

 

And great example as to why spending 8 mils to CGI is always much better than spending it on the game itself.

Imagine if they had used 8 mils to make GSF, or Warzones, or raidng, or conquest awesome? Far less people would have cared.

 

You've been making assumptions that you can't prove. such as how long the expac will be how much they spend on the trailer etc. etc.

[BrianDavion]

he said there won't be any major NEW content in this YEAR regarding raids and flashpoints. but... that makes perfect sense if it's not coming out with 4.0. they'll scale some stuff up to 65, and that'll be our end game content for the first few months. (remember it comes out in late october so they have november to patch. and december to have time off and put out a winter event) January'll likely see some more patches. and we'll get a new raid and FPs in early febuary

[Infernixx]

Absolutely. It is clear people love to watch absolutely awesome 4 min cinematic. It was really well done, really expensive and got loads of people excited. Cool looking video ->> XXXXXX -> so the expansion will be awesome!! I fail with the middle step. Most seem more agile. Great marketing.

 

And great example as to why spending 8 mils to CGI is always much better than spending it on the game itself.

Imagine if they had used 8 mils to make GSF, or Warzones, or raidng, or conquest awesome? Far less people would have cared.

 

Spending 8 mil PVP and Raiding may well be a waste. There aren't enough PVPers and Raiders in this game to justify that kind of expense.

[annabethchase]

It is a really good and safe bet for them to make.

 

But how long will the same people keep playing and paying for this slice of 10 hour content?

 

I think People need to be very easy or story needs to be very good for it to work out.

 

I'll play the same story content 10 or more times a year. I have since launch. I anticipate taking a new character through the whole story about once a month.

 

I think based on what I'm reading that this story is infinitely deeper than Makeb, Revan or anything in between. And yes, I thought those two sounded thin on content when the first promo material for them came out. So I'm comparing apples to apples.

[GalacticStarfigh]

You've been making assumptions that you can't prove. such as how long the expac will be how much they spend on the trailer etc. etc.

 

Trailer bit is more like a decent guesstimate; number of past and present video game devs like to speak about cost of CGI. Mostly when busy justifying why their game doesn't come with any. It has been well established by people who are part of that industry that it costs millions/minute to pull something that looks magnificent in contemporary eyes. Talent costs.

 

Estimations of expansion duration are pure guesses, yeah. Level cap will be increased by five lls though. Just like it was in Revan and Hutt Cartel. Based in that and other hunches, I fully expect something in duration and scale comparable to Rishi+Yavin etc. And I feel it makes a pretty well justified expectation. Do you honestly think it'll be much more? How much more? We'll know soon enough though, for sure.

Edited June 24, 2015 by GalacticStarfigh

[Anaesha]

Trailer bit is more like a decent guesstimate; number of past and present video game devs like to speak about cost of CGI. Mostly when busy justifying why their game doesn't come with any. It has been well established by people who are part of that industry that it costs millions/minute to pull something that looks magnificent in contemporary eyes. Talent costs.

 

Estimations of expansion duration are pure guesses, yeah. Level cap will be increased by five lls though. Just like it was in Revan and Hutt Cartel. Based in that and other hunches, I fully expect something in duration comparable to Rishi+Yavin etc. And feel it makes a pretty well justified expectation. Do you honestly think it'll be much more? How much more? We'll know soon enough though, for sure.

 

Yes like I said you're making assumptions nothing more nothing less. Fallen Empire has 16 chapters in total and for all you or I know the lvl cap could be 80 or higher by the time they release all 16 chapters for it.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Anaesha

[annabethchase]

Absolutely. It is clear people love to watch absolutely awesome 4 min cinematic. It was really well done, really expensive and got loads of people excited. Cool looking video ->> XXXXXX -> so the expansion will be awesome!! I fail with the middle step. Most seem more agile. Great marketing.

 

Ok, we're not just "guessing" what the content will be beyond solo story. There have been half a dozen articles or interviews giving information in just the first 10 days of this expansion being known.

 

For example, We KNOW there are companions to recruit by doing reputation quests that aren't part of the main line. That is the most interesting thing I've seen in this game to date. Building a team of jedi is basically the dream for some of us.

 

Also, the blur cinematic estimate is $1 million per minute. So your about double reality.

[annabethchase]

Estimations of expansion duration are pure guesses, yeah. Level cap will be increased by five lls though. Just like it was in Revan and Hutt Cartel. Based in that and other hunches, I fully expect something in duration and scale comparable to Rishi+Yavin etc. And I feel it makes a pretty well justified expectation. Do you honestly think it'll be much more? How much more? We'll know soon enough though, for sure.

 

Several people are reporting that their walkthrough of chapter 3 from E3 indicated a couple of hours for that chapter. So likely double your estimate on core story time.

[Jumajin]

How is it a lie?

 

Your hyperbole would make Fox News envious.

 

Yes, he said: "But it's all about story this year." But he also said, in the same paragraph: "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."

 

And he also said, earlier in the article: "We can look at this stuff and say, 'look, if you want to go and play the standard MMO game — PvP, doing a flashpoint, operation raiding — we have that. We've always had that. We continue to expand on that. But we also heard, loud and clear, this scream for story, for personal custom story.'"

 

So, at no point did he say there would be No New Group Content for a Year. He said their focus would be on story, but that: "We're doing lots of stuff around flashpoints and operations and raid bosses and PvP and that stuff."

 

Their marketing push for KoTFE right now is on story, for the story folks, because their data shows that's where a majority of the people like to play (according to earlier, pre-KoTFE, interviews).

 

OKsowaitaminutehere.

Am I to understand that there are now people that consider *only* endgame content to be actual MMO content? Oh that's just too much. I mean, really. I've played an MMO that didn't even have an endgame at all (CoH, before they added raiding only 2 years before shutdown). And yet, somehow, that was magically considered an MMO.

 

This attitude of "the game doesn't start until the cap" really needs to go. It's ruining the genre.

 

Indeed. Again we see the narrow-mindedness of the gaming community - much like when the discussion of what Pay to Win means comes up. There is more to an MMO than just PvP and Raids. Point of fact, for nearly every MMO I have every seen, when devs give stats out about what their playerbase is doing, only a small percentage of that playerbase actually engages in the "MMO elements" of the game. I have seen reports of anywhere from 1% to 10% of the playerbase that PvPs and/or Raids. Therefore, I would venture to say that PvPing and Raiding are in fact very minor parts in the overall MMO of a game.

 

Yeah . . . someone should go ask Blizzard how well their focus on Raid or PvP or Go Home design vision worked in Warlords of Draenor. Or go ask Carbine how well that worked for them at launch for Wildstar.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Jumajin

[GalacticStarfigh]

Several people are reporting that their walkthrough of chapter 3 from E3 indicated a couple of hours for that chapter. So likely double your estimate on core story time.

 

We'll see soon enough. Those who are physically unable to stop loving every single second of looking at a talking head, those who hate Bioware Narrative, Bioware itself and EA behind BW will all be asking " wellp, is this enough new content with enough integral longevity to keep ppl playing and paying?" We'll all get our answer soon enough.

[Zoom_VI]

Yes like I said you're making assumptions nothing more nothing less. Fallen Empire has 16 chapters in total and for all you or I know the lvl cap could be 80 or higher by the time they release all 16 chapters for it.

 

Nope. They said they would be releasing a chapter monthly next year. I can guarantee you they are not going to be raising the level cap every month.

 

In fact I'm willing to bet that the first chapter or two will have you at 65, 9 chapters to go up five levels would mean that chapters are no more than two missions.

[Anaesha]

Nope. They said they would be releasing a chapter monthly next year. I can guarantee you they are not going to be raising the level cap every month.

 

In fact I'm willing to bet that the first chapter or two will have you at 65, 9 chapters to go up five levels would mean that chapters are no more than two missions.

 

At this point it's all assumptions and speculations on every ones part because we have extremely limited information at the moment.

[Eanelinea]

I came to this game solely for the story, voice acting, companion interaction and cut scenes. While I DO pvp, raid, do flashpoints, play with friends, whatever, I am here and have always been here ONLY for the story. If all I wanted to do was raids or whatever I could have kept my *** in Wow and done those. Since I'm not in wow, that should tell you that while raids are important and fun, they are NOT what makes SWTOR a unique and special snowflake. It's the stories. The end. Period.

[GalacticStarfigh]

 

Yes, he said: "But it's all about story this year." But he also said, in the same paragraph: "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."

 

 

"This year will be all about story" VS " ah but we totally do things and stuff sometime later!"

 

I'm actually pretty amazed if you somehow manage to have both of these resonating in equal measure. One lists main focus and features of coming expansion and on-going year. Other is a mention of " STUFF" that totally gets done some other year or whatever.

 

 

 

Yeah . . . someone should go ask Blizzard how well their focus on Raid or PvP or Go Home design vision worked in Warlords of Draenor. Or go ask Carbine how well that worked for them at launch for Wildstar.

 

Uh well, WOD launched with 10 mil subs and still has 7 million iirc. From what I hear, raids are very good too. So..I guess it worked pretty well? It is an expansion for game is 10 years of age.. I find it easier to be amazed it somehow has 7 mil subs than being amazed by it losing 3 mil. Very unlikely " bad example" to pick.

 

Need I remind you of how badly TOR failed initially? Despite 200 mil budget, AAA treatment and having magnificent, staggering amount of BIOWARE STORYTELLING all over it? It began finding success after they fixed UI, bugs, and payment model. You know, #justMMOthings.

Edited June 24, 2015 by GalacticStarfigh

[Zoom_VI]

At this point it's all assumptions and speculations on every ones part because we have extremely limited information at the moment.

 

What I said may technically be "speculation" but it will happen no other way. I'm sorry but they will not be raising the cap every chapter if they are going to be releasing chapters monthly, the workload of raising the cap that often would kill the combat devs, not to mention anger the entirety of the endgame community for absolutely no gain.

 

speaking of a sure thing is hardly speculation.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Zoom_VI

[GalacticStarfigh]

Yes like I said you're making assumptions nothing more nothing less. Fallen Empire has 16 chapters in total and for all you or I know the lvl cap could be 80 or higher by the time they release all 16 chapters for it.

 

 

I checked my magic 8 ball. It said one chapter is going to be like 1-3 daily quests.

If there is anyone out there who honestly expects some epic 100 hour journey with lvl 80 cap and chapters somehow comparable to...well, length of an average chapter in average RPG..then boy are they ever gonna have a bad day around launch.:l

Edited June 24, 2015 by GalacticStarfigh

[Anaesha]

I checked my magic 8 ball. It said one chapter is going to be like 1-3 daily quests.

 

Unless you can PROVE anything you say regarding how the new content is arranged you'd be better off just keeping quiet. It's saying crap like that that is how the asinine rumors get started.