New Information regarding FE content.

[Jerba]

Thanks for the link! Didn't know about it yet.

 

Ever since I saw this picture I wondered where it came from. And now I know which interview it is from.

Full transcript in case anyone is interested:

 

Joseph Bradford (@lotrlore) and an unknown journalist, with

Michael Backus and Ben Scott, designers on SWTOR

 

Joe: Okay, so you mentioned that anyone can basically start at level 60. What does that entail? When you start at level 60, do you get gear towards that? Do you get, now obviously, skill points to use for you class?

Michael: You basically get everything and are ready to jump in. Not only do we give you equivalent gear but yeah, you do have some abilities. Actually, Ben [scott] being lead level designer is instrumental in. His team is designing episode one as a bit of a tutorial. Obviously, it is a huge barrier to come in as level 60, never having played the game. Or even if you took a break and stopped at level 35. So all of episode one has a bit of that built-in, pace the abilities out to you so you are ready, "Oh yeah, I get this" You can figure out what to do, figure out your roll, figure out your rotation, what your different abilities do. And by the end of that, we expect you to be up and running.

Ben: Yeah, that first chapter is a tutorial but it's still action packed.

Michael: The story, yeah.

Ben: So while you are playing the story you are engaged, you are getting a set of abilities as you progress, and you will be learning more about what your character can do, but it's still extremely story-focused.

Michael: Yeah.

Joe: Is there a cost or limit associated with that, or--

Michael: So, as far as level 60 characters?

Joe: Yeah.

Michael: So we are going to give everyone who subscribes for KotFE one free character. We are also going to give you an additional character slot so players who are long time fans don't have to delete characters or anything like that. They can come in and just create one. After that, we are going to allow you to purchase more additional level 60 characters.

French reporter: And can older players can they ticket to create instantly a level 60 character?

Michael: Yes.

Ben: So everyone who subs--

French reporter: The Cartel Market?

Ben: with this--

Michael: Exactly. Go ahead.

Ben: So everyone who subs will get a free one. Like one. When you start the game, as soon as you setup, you'll have one unlocked. And then there will be the option, if you want, to roll another one beyond that. There'll be an option to purchase that.

Michael: And it will be done through the Cartel Market, which is our in-game store.

French reporter: Okay.

Joe: But what if you're not a sub, what if you just buy the expansion?

Michael: Okay, so it is completely free to subscribers and the only way to get it is by subscribing.

French reporter: Okay, so there's no option to pay?

Michael: Exactly.

Ben: Free-to-play players don't have access to this but what free-to-play players will have access to is the core game revamp. So we're going to, like Michael said earlier, we've not just taken the XP curve and redone it but we've redone the itemisation, the quest rewards. Basically--

Michael: Crafting.

Ben: Crafting. Basically, we've redone almost the entire core game to focus on the story and on those specific class quests. And all that stuff will be for free-to-play.

Joe: So in order to access this--

Ben: You have to sub.

Michael: Exactly.

French reporter: Do those revamp will have an impact on the previous expansion?

Michael: Oh yeah, it's all been integrated into one thing. So as well as not only getting KotFE on becoming a subscriber, you are going to get all of the content we have released up until this point. So Shadow of Revan, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, Galactic Starfighter, all of our expansions, you'll get all of it. So yeah, that leveling curve extends all the way up to level 60.

Ben: Exactly.

Joe: Sorry, I have questions that are not done.

Michael: No. No, go for it. I think you guys have a lot--

Joe: Trying to find something that you guys haven't answered already.

Michael: Sure. Well since you are recording now, I will go over some of the highlights we touched on just earlier.

Joe: Okay.

Michael: October 27th is the day we are going to release. With the release, you are going to get nine chapters of Season One. We are going into a little bit of a break and allow employees to go on holiday. Then, you are getting a monthly cadence of an additional chapter. Season One is 16 chapters in total. Those of you, those players who subscribe early, also, there's additional rewards. So not only will early subscribers be able to login a week earlier on October 20th. If you subscribe as early as the end of July, July 31, you'll get a new companion, Nico Okarr, which if you are familiar with our Blur cinematics, he's that smuggler guy kind of with the cowboy-looking head in the Republic one. He'll be one of your companions that you can adventure with. And again, we can't show how much, how excited we are about this next huge step as far as BioWare story-telling. Like, you guys saw, just in what you guys saw, it's very cinematic.

Joe: I was having flashbacks to when I played the KotOR games.

Ben: That's really what we are drawing on as designers and as writers and everybody in the studio. That's what-- We're like, "If we can make an expansion, you know, in the Year of Star Wars, what would it be like?" And everyone is like, "You want to basically get it as close to KotOR or Mass Effect, make it really feel like a true BioWare game." So that's why it's so personal story just driven to those cinematic moments. And, like I think I am probably the one person in the studio who has seen the most of it, and I can assure you that if you think that this is exciting, you won't believe some of the other chapters. Like it's--

Michael: Every chapter is that. It's, it's choice, it's redemption, it's betrayal, it's the introduction, plot twists.

Ben: Yeah.

Michael: It's very, very cool

Ben: It's very cool.

French reporter: Can you tell me more about the pure MMO mechanisms in this expansion?

Michael: Uh, yeah. We're definitely not ignoring it. Just for E3 is the focus on story. So you can come in and enjoy all of the story. All the MMO stuff is still there. The PvP and the warzones, the flashpoints, we haven't gotten rid of any of that stuff. We're going to announce more of that as we get closer to our release in October. We are right now just focusing on what we think is one of the best and coolest parts of it all, which is the story.

Joe: So picking back up on Nico Okarr. Is--

Michael: Yeah.

Joe: Is he going to essentially function like a traditional companion, romanceable and stuff like that?

Michael: So as far as story-wise, we are going to announce more of that, and there's some cool news coming up soon that touches exactly on that comment. But how do you interact with your companions, what is their role. So we have news coming about that that you'll have to wait for.

Joe: Okay, that's fine.

Michael: But personally, it's one of my favorite things about the entire expansion, so stay tuned for that.

Joe: That's good to hear. Okay, so that one. You said that the new chapters, you are going to start off with nine chapters right off the bat, and you are getting one each month until you hit 16 at the end of the holiday break.

Michael: Right.

Ben: There'll be a break after that, and then Season Two.

Joe: Can you elaborate on the Empire of Zakuul, I believe it is called.

Michael: oh, so. Let's see, how much of the lore can I tell you? Uhm, so mixing what you know from the Blur trailer plus what we showed you, Emperor Valkorion is the father figure Emperor that you saw. His son, the one who kills his brother, is Prince Arcann. The female Jedi that you saw towards the end-- the female Force user you saw toward the end of the demo, is Vaylin. She's the daughter of the emperor as well. And I don't want to give too much away because there's plot twists and reveals that I don't want to spoil. But basically, this threat comes out of nowhere, deep in Wild Space, and attacks both the Republic and the Sith Empire.

Joe: So would you say this is like the Star Wars version of the huns invading Europe?

Michael: You know what? I think the motivations and the background to it all, in my opinion are very, very, very cool. And it all ties into things that we've already established and been hinting at. But it's not unlike that. But yeah.

Joe: Just coming out of nowhere, from totally different events.

Michael: And when you get some of the reveals, yeah. It's very cool, it's very cool.

Ben: Like, you know, you jump in, this is chapter 3. And chapter 1 and 2 deal primarily with that. Like, I don't want to get too far into it, but it will all be explained in a sense.

Michael: Exactly. So it feels like it's out of nowhere but then you start to see pieces of what's going on.

French reporter: And can we expect new technologies, new weapons?

Michael: As far as actual tech for the game or in-game abilities and things like that? So, in-game obviously, with the level cap, new items, all of that good stuff, raising the cap for crafting, all of those things will happen. Even with the core world kind of transformation that we did, we are reitemizing all of the quests, so you're getting cool new rewards as you go. Recently, we've just released the Yavin 4 stronghold as well, so new decorations obviously for all of your different strongholds. All of those things will happen. Now to answer your question more from coming from the development side. What you see here is kind of a reflection of where we have been focusing a lot of our technology. Like if you remember this from The Old Republic, we now have moving cameras, we have better mocap (motion-capture), we have better animations, more VFX (visual effects). So we have really pushed a lot of what we can do, especially just from a storytelling standpoint. Even game mechanics, they make quests more interesting, things like that. Things we haven't talked about yet that we will in the future, to enhance that storytelling experience.

Joe: Now to pick it back at the tech question though, have you guys made a decision whether or not this will be DirectX 12, have any features that utilise that in the future or?

Michael: Uh, we really haven't even delved into it that I know. We're both designers, so I'm sure our Technical Directors probably have those discussions. I don't have an answer for you but it's probably better for an engineer to answer that.

Joe: I'm sure that's incredible hard.

Ben: We are always discussing optimisations and engine improvements, stuff like that. It's always a topic that comes up and whereever we can, we absolutely want to improve the engine, make it perform better, make it run better. But we don't have anything specifically to any engine improvements.

Michael: And after the last few patches actually we have seen tremendous performance improvements. We're always looking for ways to do those things.

Joe: Cool. Yeah, I think everything else has been answered that I had.

French reporter: Me too.

Michael: I think we touched on everything else that we need to touch on. So yeah, if you guys have no other questions, we really appreciate your time.

Joe: Awesome, well thank you so much, guys.

Michael: Of course, of course, our pleasure.

 

Of course, many of the things we knew about but there a few interesting mentions. Like how the Zakuul Empire is coming from Wild Space.

I look forward to the itemization changes. If you go back to the older planets, all the gear from vendors, loot and quests is a mess. Because of moddable gear, 99% of the items are useless unless you want them for appeearance but then the quest rewards are BoP and can no longer be obtained after selling them. And you are getting way more XP boosts than you can use.

I find it interesting that he mentioned decorations. So will we get decorations as quest reward now?

I really want to level a new character after KotFE just to see those changes, and I hope that they are not removing content. The planetary quests, no matter how distracting they are, show remain an option if you want to do them to see even more story.

I can't help but feel sad that they change the leveling curve. I remember how back in 2012, they were very proud at how smooth the leveling curve in SWTOR is, way better than any other MMO, so any change to it can only make it less perfect.

 

Álso, I found it interesting how he had a slip of the tongue and said that Vaylin is a Jedi. That would be kind of interesting, her being a light-side user against the ideals of her brother if it turns out to be true.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Jerba

[typenine]

Thanks for the link! Didn't know about it yet.

 

Ever since I saw this picture I wondered where it came from: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHuWSkNUYAAf28q.jpg:large. And now I know which interview it is from.

Full transcript in case anyone is interested:

 

Joseph Bradford (@lotrlore) and an unknown journalist, with

Michael Backus and another SWTOR designer

 

Joe: Okay, so you mentioned that anyone can basically start at level 60. What does that entail? When you start at level 60, do you get gear towards that? Do you get, now obviously, skill points to use for you class?

Michael: You basically get everything and are ready to jump in. Not only do we give you equivalent gear but yeah, you do have some abilities. Actually, Ben [scott] being lead level designer is instrumental in. His team is designing episode one as a bit of a tutorial. Obviously, it is a huge barrier to come in as level 60, never having played the game. Or even if you took a break and stopped at level 35. So all of episode one has a bit of that built-in, pace the abilities out to you so you are ready, "Oh yeah, I get this" You can figure out what to do, figure out your roll, figure out your rotation, what your different abilities do. And by the end of that, we expect you to be up and running.

Unknown designer: Yeah, that first chapter is a tutorial but it's still action packed?

Michael: The story, yeah.

Unknown designer: So while you are playing the story you are engaged, you are getting a set of abilities as you progress, and you will be learning more about what your character can do, but it's still extremely story-focused.

Michael: Yeah.

Joe: Is there a cost or limit associated with that, or--

Michael: So, as far as level 60 characters?

Joe: Yeah.

Michael: So we are going to give everyone who subscribes for KotFE one free character. We are also going to give you an additional character slot so players who are long time fans don't have to delete characters or anything like that. They can come in and just create one. After that, we are going to allow you to purchase more additional level 60 characters.

French reporter: And can older players can they ticket to create instantly a level 60 character?

Michael: Yes.

Unknown designer: So everyone who subs--

French reporter: The Cartel Market?

Unknown designer: with this--

Michael: Exactly. Go ahead.

Unknown designer: So everyone who subs will get a free one. Like one. When you start the game, as soon as you setup, you'll have one unlocked. And then there will be the option, if you want, to roll another one beyond that. There'll be an option to purchase that.

Michael: And it will be done through the Cartel Market, which is our in-game store.

French reporter: Okay.

Joe: But what if you're not a sub, what if you just buy the expansion?

Michael: Okay, so it is completely free to subscribers and the only way to get it is by subscribing.

French reporter: Okay, so there's no option to pay?

Michael: Exactly.

Unknown designer: Free-to-play players don't have access to this but what free-to-play players will have access to is the core game revamp. So we're going to, like Michael said earlier, we've not just taken the XP curve and redone it but we've redone the itemisation, the quest rewards. Basically--

Michael: Crafting.

Unknown designer: Crafting. Basically, we've redone almost the entire core game to focus on the story and on those specific class quests. And all that stuff will be for free-to-play.

Joe: So in order to access this--

Unknown designer: You have to sub.

Michael: Exactly.

French reporter: Do those revamp will have an impact on the previous expansion?

Michael: Oh yeah, it's all been integrated into one thing. So as well as not only getting KotFE on becoming a subscriber, you are going to get all of the content we have released up until this point. So Shadow of Revan, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, Galactic Starfighter, all of our expansions, you'll get all of it. So yeah, that leveling curve extends all the way up to level 60.

Unknown designer: Exactly.

Joe: Sorry, I have questions that are not done.

Michael: No. No, go for it. I think you guys have a lot--

Joe: Trying to find something that you guys haven't answered already.

Michael: Sure. Well since you are recording now, I will go over some of the highlights we touched on just earlier.

Joe: Okay.

Michael: October 27th is the day we are going to release. With the release, you are going to get nine chapters of Season One. We are going into a little bit of a break and allow employees to go on holiday. Then, you are getting a monthly cadence of an additional chapter. Season One is 16 chapters in total. Those of you, those players who subscribe early, also, there's additional rewards. So not only will early subscribers be able to login a week earlier on October 20th. If you subscribe as early as the end of July, July 31th, you'll get a new companion, Nico Okarr, which if you are familiar with our Blur cinematics, he's that smuggler guy kind of with the cowboy-looking head in the Republic one. He'll be one of your companions that you can adventure with. And again, we can't show how much, how excited we are about this next huge step as far as BioWare story-telling. Like, you guys saw, just in what you guys saw, it's very cinematic.

Joe: I was having flashbacks to when I played the KotOR games.

Unknown designer: That's really what we are drawing on as designers and as writers and everybody in the studio. That's what-- We're like, "If we can make an expansion, you know, in the Year of Star Wars, what would it be like?" And everyone is like, "You want to basically get it as close to KotOR or Mass Effect, make it really feel like a true BioWare game." So that's why it's so personal story just driven to those cinematic moments. And, like I think I am probably the one person in the studio who has seen the most of it, and I can assure you that if you think that this is exciting, you won't believe some of the other chapters. Like it's--

Michael: Every chapter is that. It's, it's choice, it's redemption, it's betrayal, it's the introduction, plot twists.

Unknown designer: Yeah.

Michael: It's very, very cool

Unknown designer: It's very cool.

French reporter: Can you tell me more about the pure MMO mechanisms in this expansion?

Michael: Uh, yeah. We're definitely not ignoring it. Just for E3 is the focus on story. So you can come in and enjoy all of the story. All the MMO stuff is still there. The PvP and the warzones, the flashpoints, we haven't gotten rid of any of that stuff. We're going to announce more of that as we get closer to our release in October. We are right now just focusing on what we think is one of the best and coolest parts of it all, which is the story.

Joe: So picking back up on Nico Okarr. Is--

Michael: Yeah.

Joe: Is he going to essentially function like a traditional companion, romanceable and stuff like that?

Michael: So as far as story-wise, we are going to announce more of that, and there's some cool news coming up soon that touches exactly on that comment. But how do you interact with your companions, what is their role. So we have news coming about that that you'll have to wait for.

Joe: Okay, that's fine.

Michael: But personally, it's one of my favorite things about the entire expansion, so stay tuned for that.

Joe: That's good to hear. Okay, so that one. You said that the new chapters, you are going to start off with nine chapters right off the bat, and you are getting one each month until you hit 16 at the end of the holiday break.

Michael: Right.

Unknown designer: There'll be a break after that, and then Season Two.

Joe: Can you elaborate on the Empire of Zakuul, I believe it is called.

Michael: oh, so. Let's see, how much of the lore can I tell you? Uhm, so mixing what you know from the Blur trailer plus what we showed you, Emperor Valkorion is the father figure Emperor that you saw. His son, the one who kills his brother, is Prince Arcann. The female Jedi that you saw towards the end-- the female Force user you saw toward the end of the demo, is Vaylin. She's the daughter of the emperor as well. And I don't want to give too much away because there's plot twists and reveals that I don't want to spoil. But basically, this threat comes out of nowhere, deep in Wild Space, and attacks both the Republic and the Sith Empire.

Joe: So would you say this is like the Star Wars version of the huns invading Europe?

Michael: You know what? I think the motivations and the background to it all, in my opinion are very, very, very cool. And it all ties into things that we've already established and been hinting at. But it's not unlike that. But yeah.

Joe: Just coming out of nowhere, from totally different events.

Michael: And when you get some of the reveals, yeah. It's very cool, it's very cool.

Unknown designer: Like, you know, you jump in, this is chapter 3. And chapter 1 and 2 deal primarily with that. Like, I don't want to get too far into it, but it will all be explained in a sense.

Michael: Exactly. So it feels like it's out of nowhere but then you start to see pieces of what's going on.

French reporter: And can we expect new technologies, new weapons?

Michael: As far as actual tech for the game or in-game abilities and things like that? So, in-game obviously, with the level cap, new items, all of that good stuff, raising the cap for crafting, all of those things will happen. Even with the core world kind of transformation that we did, we are reitemizing all of the quests, so you're getting cool new rewards as you go. Recently, we've just released the Yavin 4 stronghold as well, so new decorations obviously for all of your different strongholds. All of those things will happen. Now to answer your question more from coming from the development side. What you see here is kind of a reflection of where we have been focusing a lot of our technology. Like if you remember this from The Old Republic, we now have moving cameras, we have better mocap (motion-capture), we have better animations, more VFX (visual effects). So we have really pushed a lot of what we can do, especially just from a storytelling standpoint. Even game mechanics, they make quests more interesting, thinks like that. Things we haven't talked about yet that we will in the future, to enhance that storytelling experience.

Joe: Now to pick it back at the tech question though, have you guys made a decision whether or not this will be DirectX 12, have any features that utilise that in the future or?

Michael: Uh, we really haven't even delved into it that I know. We're both designers, so I'm sure our Technical Directors probably have those discussions. I don't have an answer for you but it's probably better for an engineer to answer that.

Joe: I'm sure that's incredible hard.

Unknown designer: We are always discussing optimisations and engine improvements, stuff like that. It's always a topic that comes up and whereever we can, we absolutely want to improve the engine, make it perform better, make it run better. But we don't have anything specifically to any engine improvements.

Michael: And after the last few patches actually we have seen tremendous performance improvements. We're always looking for ways to do those things.

Joe: Cool. Yeah, I think everything else has been answered that I had.

French reporter: Me too.

Michael: I think we touched on everything else that we need to touch on. So yeah, if you guys have no other questions, we really appreciate your time.

Joe: Awesome, well thank you so much, guys.

Michael: Of course, of course, our pleasure.

I believe the second designer is Ben Scott but I am not 100% sure.

 

 

Of course, many of the things we knew about but there a few interesting mentions. Like how the Zakuul Empire is coming from Wild Space.

I look forward to the itemization changes. If you go back to the older planets, all the gear from vendors, loot and quests is a mess. Because of moddable gear, 99% of the items are useless unless you want them for appeearance but then the quest rewards are BoP and can no longer be obtained after selling them. And you are getting way more XP boosts than you can use.

I find it interesting that he mentioned decorations. So will we get decorations as quest reward now?

I really want to level a new character after KotFE just to see those changes, and I hope that they are not removing content. The planetary quests, no matter how distracting they are, show remain an option if you want to do them to see even more story.

I can't help but feel sad that they change the leveling curve. I remember how back in 2012, they were very proud at how smooth the leveling curve in SWTOR is, way better than any other MMO, so any change to it can only make it less perfect.

 

Álso, I found it interesting how he had a slip of the tongue and said that Vaylin is a Jedi. That would be kind of interesting, her being a light-side user against the ideals of her brother if it turns out to be true.

 

Have they released the Yavin stronghold?

And Thexan/Dexan could've been Jedi-like for all we know

also i missed Vaylin in the trailer can someone point that out to me?

Edited July 7, 2015 by typenine

[Callaron]

also i missed Vaylin in the trailer can someone point that out to me?

 

She wasn't in the trailer AFAIK. But she can be seen in Chapter 3, which a lot of game journalists got to play (including the guys doing this interview).

[Jerba]

Have they released the Yavin stronghold?

And Thexan/Dexan could've been Jedi-like for all we know

also i missed Vaylin in the trailer can someone point that out to me?

No, they haven't released it yet. Backus probably remembered it wrong since he is on a different team and he doesn't know the release schedule too much.

 

Arcann certainly seems like a light-side user/Jedi since he is always helping his brother but Thexan (that's the correct spelling) is more dark-side. I think they are neither Jedi nor Sith but are a new type of Force-user.

 

 

Vaylin does not appear in the trailer but she will be a character in KotFE. You encounter her during Chapter 3.

Images with Vaylin:

• Concept art
  
• Screenshot 1
  
• Screenshot 2
  

And here are all the texts mentioning her:

• http://www.swtor.com/fallen-empire/characters
  VAYLIN, THE REMORSELESS PRODIGY.
  "RULES ARE FOR PEOPLE WHO LACK THE CREATIVITY TO BREAK THEM."
   
  I have always been held back. All my life, my power has been restrained for fear of the chaos and bloodshed that I might inflict on a whim.
   
  But our whims represent our truest selves. And now that my power is fully my own, I intend to be very truthful.
   
  
• http://www.ladyinsanity.com/blog/swtorkotfe-e3
  In the final escape, you are confronted by Vaylin, who tries to stop you and Lana. More notably, Lana is familiar with who Vaylin is. Lana is actually willing to sacrifice herself to fight Vaylin so you can escape, but certain role-play dialogues pop here to say whether you want her to sacrifice herself or not. As the fight looks like it's about to start and more Sky Troopers join in, Vaylin puts away her lightsaber, saying she does not need it. In the next moment, Koth appears with the ship and shoots at Vaylin, where this screenshot appears. As you jump onto the ship and are pulled in by HK-55, a yellow/orange model of HK-47, your escape is where the demo ends.
   
  
• http://massivelyop.com/2015/06/23/e3-2015-bioware-dishes-more/
  Backus delved a bit into the story about major players who were seen in the trailer as well as those in the walk-through. The Emperor of the Eternal Empire is Valkorian, who has twin sons — Thexan and Arkan — and a lightning-flinging daughter, Vaylin. Backus noted that there are a lot of politics going on with this family, but he wouldn’t share details saying that the background is part of the chapters of the epic story.
   
  

 

Though in there, she doesn't sound very Jedi-like.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Jerba

[typenine]

No, they haven't released it yet. Backus probably remembered it wrong since he is on a different team and he doesn't know the release schedule too much.

 

Arcann certainly seems like a light-side user/Jedi since he is always helping his brother but Thexan (that's the correct spelling) is more dark-side. I think they are neither Jedi nor Sith but are a new type of Force-user.

 

 

Vaylin does not appear in the trailer but she will be a character in KotFE. You encounter her during Chapter 3.

Images with Vaylin:

• Concept art
  
• Screenshot 1
  
• Screenshot 2
  

And here are all the texts mentioning her:

• http://www.swtor.com/fallen-empire/characters
  VAYLIN, THE REMORSELESS PRODIGY.
  "RULES ARE FOR PEOPLE WHO LACK THE CREATIVITY TO BREAK THEM."
   
  I have always been held back. All my life, my power has been restrained for fear of the chaos and bloodshed that I might inflict on a whim.
   
  But our whims represent our truest selves. And now that my power is fully my own, I intend to be very truthful.
   
  
• http://www.ladyinsanity.com/blog/swtorkotfe-e3
  In the final escape, you are confronted by Vaylin, who tries to stop you and Lana. More notably, Lana is familiar with who Vaylin is. Lana is actually willing to sacrifice herself to fight Vaylin so you can escape, but certain role-play dialogues pop here to say whether you want her to sacrifice herself or not. As the fight looks like it's about to start and more Sky Troopers join in, Vaylin puts away her lightsaber, saying she does not need it. In the next moment, Koth appears with the ship and shoots at Vaylin, where this screenshot appears. As you jump onto the ship and are pulled in by HK-55, a yellow/orange model of HK-47, your escape is where the demo ends.
   
  
• http://massivelyop.com/2015/06/23/e3-2015-bioware-dishes-more/
  Backus delved a bit into the story about major players who were seen in the trailer as well as those in the walk-through. The Emperor of the Eternal Empire is Valkorian, who has twin sons — Thexan and Arkan — and a lightning-flinging daughter, Vaylin. Backus noted that there are a lot of politics going on with this family, but he wouldn’t share details saying that the background is part of the chapters of the epic story.
   
  

 

Though in there, she doesn't sound very Jedi-like.

 

Thank you

Weird he said she was in the trailer towards the end.

Can't wait to play this!

Edited July 7, 2015 by typenine

[Max_Killjoy]

Cleavage window...

[Reno_Tarshil]

Cleavage window...

 

Oh no! Not cleavage!

[Callaron]

Though in there, she doesn't sound very Jedi-like.

 

Keep in mind that the "slip of the tongue" could as easily just be an embarrassing mistake where he got his Force users confused.

That or she's playing her part very well.

[ArielaKnight]

Still no answer to one question myself and my friends would like to know:

 

How will grouping work?

 

I.E. Can you still group like we did in Yavin, Ziost even if we have to do it twice in a group. Maybe not important to some of you but important to myself and some of my friends as we have always played in groups since launch.

[Callaron]

Still no answer to one question myself and my friends would like to know:

 

How will grouping work?

 

I.E. Can you still group like we did in Yavin, Ziost even if we have to do it twice in a group. Maybe not important to some of you but important to myself and some of my friends as we have always played in groups since launch.

 

I think they've already said it'll be like Shadow of Revan. (And like the class stories. Only one person makes choices and finishes the mission)

[ScarletBlaze]

I think they've already said it'll be like Shadow of Revan. (And like the class stories. Only one person makes choices and finishes the mission)

 

I hope so, though I haven't been on the forums much lately so I haven't see that. This would be okay.

[Callaron]

I hope so, though I haven't been on the forums much lately so I haven't see that. This would be okay.

 

Here you go. Enjoy!

http://massivelyop.com/2015/06/22/e3-2015-swtors-upcoming-expansion-builds-on-the-legacy-of-kotor/

 

Because the story is personal to you, playing with even one friend is restrictive. Unlike the base game, where friends could play together and follow different class storylines, Fallen Empire has just the one epic story, so it can only be played out one player at a time. That means friends have to either take turns doing the steps or take turns completing an arc for each other. That’s good in that friends can witness your epic story without affecting it but bad in that it will spoil it for any friend that hasn’t already played through.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Callaron

[ScarletBlaze]

Here you go. Enjoy!

http://massivelyop.com/2015/06/22/e3-2015-swtors-upcoming-expansion-builds-on-the-legacy-of-kotor/

 

Thanks Callaron! My boyfriend and I thank you! God bless.

[JabbaWabbA]

Until they announce it, I'll remain pessimistic.

 

lol..

[DarthMaulUK]

From that interview, it feels like that they are shutting the door on a game they no longer want to, or can support and instead offering scripted story, which is easier for them to manage. If story was the killer USP in this game, it should be extremely popular but it's not. Do story once, end of story.

 

Interesting that they will be offering all the previous expansions free to pre-60s,despite having a recent sale to get some extra credits.

[Kulyok]

From that interview, it feels like that they are shutting the door on a game they no longer want to, or can support and instead offering scripted story, which is easier for them to manage. If story was the killer USP in this game, it should be extremely popular but it's not. Do story once, end of story.

 

Um, no? The story is extremely popular with me: I'm playing my third Trooper now and enjoying it(and in my opinion, Trooper is the worst story; other seven are _better_). It is the killer: levelling is the best part of the game for me. Well, that, and making money, but making money is easy and tedious; story is interesting.

[Zoom_VI]

or can support and instead offering scripted story, which is easier for them to manage.

 

Story content is actually the most developer intensive content they can do. Story content requires Artists, Writers, and Animators working around the clock just to put out content that will be consumed by the players in a couple hours.

 

If they where going for the easier to produce route they would have gone for PvP content which has the lowest production cost.

[darthgamer]

but my friend, they said new more pvp, flashpoints, etc. they will announce them down closer to launch

 

LUL they've said a lot of stuff in 9 years.

[Stoofa]

The precedent for "fib telling" begun around the time of pre-ordering for this game when people were told "Buy the collectors edition - we'll give you access to a special vendor that is regularly updated with unique things only you can buy" - this has carried on right up to now.

 

Hold your breath - I wouldn't.

[OddballEasyEight]

You guys should really stop announcing you don't read what people write and just act on a trigger word.

 

Really, seen the design documents have you? Played the expansion?

 

Besides, you sound like just another of the white knights acting on a trigger word and not on what is actually said.

 

Maby stop using triggerwords in the thread title if they have no part of your message?

[OddballEasyEight]

From that interview, it feels like that they are shutting the door on a game they no longer want to, or can support and instead offering scripted story, which is easier for them to manage. If story was the killer USP in this game, it should be extremely popular but it's not. Do story once, end of story.

 

Interesting that they will be offering all the previous expansions free to pre-60s,despite having a recent sale to get some extra credits.

 

I've done the BH story 3 times so far.

 

I've done the Troopper story 2 times so far.

 

Smuggler once, working on 2 more.

 

Warrior once, working on 2 more.

 

Inquisitor once, working on 1 more.

 

Knight, working on 2 different characters.

 

Consular, still on my first.

 

Agent, holding that one off for a while, as I'll be wanting to play it at least three times.

 

 

But sure... "Do story once, end of story."

Edited July 7, 2015 by OddballEasyEight

[DeltaaXx]

wonder if this is their way of getting back into a "sub only" format and have a finite line of f2p/preferred so that you can play up to level 60 but beyond that, sub or don't have access (at least for now).

 

will be interesting to see what they do and how they do it. i guess we know what they've been doing last few years, since i don't think this will be a "small update" and probably a pretty significant undertaking.

 

i'm both anxious and apprehensive given this new info. more the former than latter but a bit more of latter than what was there a few weeks ago.

 

Honestly I like it. As a preferred player (formerly) I still think this is a good idea. It gives a WONDERFUL incentive for players to sub.

[DeltaaXx]

I sure am glad I found this info for the forums. I haven't seen an NGE thread in at least 30 minutes.

 

If it's any consolation, the info eased a lot of worries I had lol and confirmed a few suspicions I had.

[menofhorror]

This is all so confusing still.

 

It all depends how long the chapters are content wise. If they offer GOOD story and explanations, not so much auto dialouge, interesting dark/light choices, companions talking in cutscenes. It needs to have the quality of the vanilla class stories. Otherwise.....well otherwise they can have as many chapters as they want if the story isn´t engaging it won´t work.

 

We will see. Though I absolutely HATE that they are going to get rid of the dialouge wheel in group phase. That was pretty fun in world quests.

[TUXs]

when they talk about core game changes they mean the changes to smoothing out the 1-50 progression we already have heard about I would assume

 

Yup. I assume they mean the Class XP boost and nothing more. People are expecting WAAAAAAAAY too much from FE right now...keep it realistic folks.