Dev post about forthcoming article has been deleted...

[MeNaCe-NZ]

there is no imagine if because after all the data mined info that has been release it is a reality that it is happening I mean there are plenty of people saying after they read the info they are unsubbing because of the direction the game is going so please accept the reality of it you will be better off.

 

There are? I'm yet to see barely any ( if any, can't think of any based on recent datamined data quitting ) make such statements. Let me guess friends of yours and people from your guild right?

 

I've seen a bunch of folk here on the forums say ( regardless of their points of view around ops and known knowledge )

that they will wait for launch and see what happens, most are inclined to give it a go at least.

 

But by all means please provide me with examples of "people saying after they read the info they are unsubbing because of the direction the game is going" - emphasis on the word "plenty".

[MeNaCe-NZ]

the budget is based on how much money the game is pulling in by subs and CM money so no matter how you word it or change what you are talking about we are funding it because had the subs dropped drastically before they got the money for the expansion they would have nixed the expansion.

 

The budgeted sales/subs/etc. for KoTFE will be set for after KoTFE launches. They would not have decided to try fund everything that goes into KoTFE by the sales leading in to KoTFE.

 

By your logic they basically announced an expansions and hoped enough people would sub to the game for them to fund it ( *cough* star citizen *cough* ) and if it didn't pan out then oh well they just won't make it. Sorry but that's not how it works for games like this. This expansion is already paid for, how it performs against budget will dictate the future expansions and well future of this game. Because if it under performs they will have a tough time selling any future expansions to EA to pay for ( ahead of time as it's done ).

 

It's no different to say Battlefront ... are you trying to say they are basically funding that game on pre sales? No, it's already funded and paid for now they just have to hope to sell it to at least budget or better.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Clearly you have no idea how the business world works because subs warning BW that they will quit tells the company that they should think about the direction they are going in and they need to hear when the people that pay for them to continue working are upset by the direction of the game and what it might cost the company because in reality your way of seeing this is no better then a yes man constantly only telling them positive stuff causing them to make mistake after mistake because you aren't being truthful to them.

 

From your previous posts I don't think you should be accusing other people of not knowing how the business world works.

 

Also it would help people read your posts if you used a bit more punctuation. I'm no grammar nazi because I often err but damn 5 lines with no punctuation is a lot.

 

Also as an FYI - not everyone is unhappy with this direction. I would hazard a guess there is a great majority in favour of the direction things are going than against it.

[Khiriath]

For me the problem starts here:

Although it won't necessarily be a traditional "Friday Update" like you referenced, we are planning to have regular content from now through launch. Everything from blogs to screenshots. We will be sure to keep you intrigued and ready for Fallen Empire.

 

-eric

 

PS - Tait and I will continue to consume string cheese throughout this period, for science.

 

Back in June we were promised regular content updates regarding things like ops, crafting, comps, and class changes. We were promised some major reveals at Gamescon. We have been met with virtual silence. It is completely out of order to make promises to gamerbase and then when for whatever reason unable to follow through, pretend that it never happened. There needs, at the minimum to be some form of acknowledgement and apology.

 

Now I want to know what's going to happen with comps, but realize that would be a spoiler and so have no need(or desire) to find out ahead of time.

 

I want to know what is going to happen with crafting, but in truth it doesn't matter so much as there will be com gear and crafted gear, and I can usually stay on top of those things.

 

I need to know how ops are going to work. Is there going to be a bolster or a level sync? Will that work for al ops or only those in Group Finder? Same with FPs. We were given a rather vague blogpost, and since then in Q&A the Devs have seemed increasingly uncertain how that will work. First that is disconcerting. Second as part of the leadership team of a very large and active guild that Ops 5-6 nights a week, FPs the same I need to know how that is going to work. I need to know if we are going to be able to put ops on the calender for Oct 20th-27th, or if we are going to need to be worried about leveling and trying to figure out the new GF rotation.

 

I also need to know about class changes. My guild always has a large number of leveling and new players, and we do our best to help them learn the game and their class. I don't want to have to tell them, "hang on, we're trying to figure it all out, give us a week before you ask your questions."

 

Neither of those things is game spoiling. They are simply very basic mechanics that BW/EA promised us we would already be getting updates on, and have failed to follow through. The sooner they can put that information in our hand the better, the longer they delay the more the frustration is going to build, as much from their own broken promises as anything.

[Khiriath]

Clearly you have no idea how the business world works because subs warning BW that they will quit tells the company that they should think about the direction they are going in and they need to hear when the people that pay for them to continue working are upset by the direction of the game and what it might cost the company because in reality your way of seeing this is no better then a yes man constantly only telling them positive stuff causing them to make mistake after mistake because you aren't being truthful to them.

 

Fact: EA saw a 15% net profit increase after the launch of Shadow of Revan(google it if you want verification), which is huge for a corporation.

 

Fact: Most of the positive feedback was based around the story aspects(which weren't that great IMO).

 

Fact: Most of the negative feedback was based around the ops. You can even watch Milas from <Zorz> complain about the ops be overtuned at the cantina event where he was flown out by BW and given a trophy for TOS HM world first. People were also upset that the other 7 ops were made completely irrelevant.

 

So if you really want to speculate what is going on inside the BW board room from a business perspective, I think it looked a lot more like this:

 

Wow!!! Who woulda guessed that this was the direction that the fanbase wanted to head in. We know we promised them more regular ops and said we had a few in the works, but let's table all that stuff and start working on a new story driven model. Oh look we also got a lot of negative feedback about previous ops being irrelevant and endgame being limited to primarily 2 ops and PvP, and obviously we screwed the pooch on the 2 new ops and the Yavin hidden boss, to the point where the folks who whack things with lightsabres are feeling pretty useless. That is bad because this is game focused around folks who whack things with lightsabres. So why don't we make those former ops relevant again? We'll either buff them or level sync them or something. That will solve one of our issues while taking the pressure off until we can figure out how to do ops right.

 

 

Now yes some subs are threatening to quit. In my perception fewer than threatened to quit over Shadow of Revan, so given its huge success I think BW is willing to make the gamble. Granted if the forever prophesied and never realized mass exodus of subs occurs they will probably rethink things or shutter the game... but I don't see it happening.

[Kaizersan]

There are? I'm yet to see barely any ( if any, can't think of any based on recent datamined data quitting ) make such statements. Let me guess friends of yours and people from your guild right?

 

I've seen a bunch of folk here on the forums say ( regardless of their points of view around ops and known knowledge )

that they will wait for launch and see what happens, most are inclined to give it a go at least.

 

But by all means please provide me with examples of "people saying after they read the info they are unsubbing because of the direction the game is going" - emphasis on the word "plenty".

 

Can't link to them because of the connection to data mined info but just look on reddit in the companions data mined stuff you will see plenty of people quitting.

[Kaizersan]

Fact: EA saw a 15% net profit increase after the launch of Shadow of Revan(google it if you want verification), which is huge for a corporation.

 

Fact: Most of the positive feedback was based around the story aspects(which weren't that great IMO).

 

Fact: Most of the negative feedback was based around the ops. You can even watch Milas from <Zorz> complain about the ops be overtuned at the cantina event where he was flown out by BW and given a trophy for TOS HM world first. People were also upset that the other 7 ops were made completely irrelevant.

 

So if you really want to speculate what is going on inside the BW board room from a business perspective, I think it looked a lot more like this:

 

Wow!!! Who woulda guessed that this was the direction that the fanbase wanted to head in. We know we promised them more regular ops and said we had a few in the works, but let's table all that stuff and start working on a new story driven model. Oh look we also got a lot of negative feedback about previous ops being irrelevant and endgame being limited to primarily 2 ops and PvP, and obviously we screwed the pooch on the 2 new ops and the Yavin hidden boss, to the point where the folks who whack things with lightsabres are feeling pretty useless. That is bad because this is game focused around folks who whack things with lightsabres. So why don't we make those former ops relevant again? We'll either buff them or level sync them or something. That will solve one of our issues while taking the pressure off until we can figure out how to do ops right.

 

 

Now yes some subs are threatening to quit. In my perception fewer than threatened to quit over Shadow of Revan, so given its huge success I think BW is willing to make the gamble. Granted if the forever prophesied and never realized mass exodus of subs occurs they will probably rethink things or shutter the game... but I don't see it happening.

 

Fact: BW metrics on the player base wanting story over everything else is skewed due to 12x xp being a story mode based bonus had it been pvp based the metrics would read the player base wants more pvp.

[Kaizersan]

From your previous posts I don't think you should be accusing other people of not knowing how the business world works.

 

Also it would help people read your posts if you used a bit more punctuation. I'm no grammar nazi because I often err but damn 5 lines with no punctuation is a lot.

 

Also as an FYI - not everyone is unhappy with this direction. I would hazard a guess there is a great majority in favour of the direction things are going than against it.

 

You obviously haven't bothered to read the data mined info then otherwise you might think differently.

[Kaizersan]

The budgeted sales/subs/etc. for KoTFE will be set for after KoTFE launches. They would not have decided to try fund everything that goes into KoTFE by the sales leading in to KoTFE.

 

By your logic they basically announced an expansions and hoped enough people would sub to the game for them to fund it ( *cough* star citizen *cough* ) and if it didn't pan out then oh well they just won't make it. Sorry but that's not how it works for games like this. This expansion is already paid for, how it performs against budget will dictate the future expansions and well future of this game. Because if it under performs they will have a tough time selling any future expansions to EA to pay for ( ahead of time as it's done ).

 

It's no different to say Battlefront ... are you trying to say they are basically funding that game on pre sales? No, it's already funded and paid for now they just have to hope to sell it to at least budget or better.

 

Not really this is different from other expansions remember as it is a monthly released system and not all at once so a massive drop in subs could cause the 2nd season of the expansion to drop off due to lack of money to pay for development.

[Khiriath]

Fact: BW metrics on the player base wanting story over everything else is skewed due to 12x xp being a story mode based bonus had it been pvp based the metrics would read the player base wants more pvp.

 

Fact: 12x XP ended before the start of Shadow of Revan, and was not brought back until the summer. 15% net profit increase was from 4Q, 1Q and 2Q. 12x XP had nothing to do with either the profit increase from SOR or the customer feedback regarding what they liked and didn't like.

 

You can keep making things up if you like and calling them facts, but what you are saying cannot be found in any credible source of information. It is starting to seem like you simply don't want people to be happy with the new expansion and are willing to say whatever you need in order to get your majority of unhappy subscribers.

 

You also seem to think that relying on datamined information to inform you of how the game is going to be when it goes live is a good thing. However, one thing that the Gamescon Q&A should have told you is that a lot of things, very fundamental things, are still in flux. So the datamined information is at best a guess.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Khiriath

[Sardorim]

Some others in the thread have guessed correctly. The thread where I made that post got out of control. Lot's of people doing things and making posts which were against the rules so we opted to have the thread removed.

 

I know there is frustration right now about the amount of information you have. We are actively working on gathering details around a lot of the questions you have and will start releasing them very soon. I will have specifics in the next few days, but you will start getting more details about some of the nitty gritty things with our live stream next week and beyond.

 

-eric

 

If none of those answers involve Jaesa, Kira, Torian or Jaxo than I'll be sad.

[MuratReis]

And some people have said flat out they want the information so that they can prepare ahead of time... in effect to get a jump on everyone else.... particularly crafters.

.

 

Not really. Crafting takes a lot of preparation and time (before and after an item is made). If the whole system is going to change, they could end up wasting a lot of time and credits.

 

I think people want to know more because the "expansion" has been presented as a "game changer." We've invested so much time in this game over the years that we are worried about our toons and frankly a game that we love. If Bioware made a website equivalent in detail to what Blizzard did for their next expansion, I don't think we would be having this conversation.

Edited August 19, 2015 by MuratReis

[Kaizersan]

Fact: 12x XP ended before the start of Shadow of Revan, and was not brought back until the summer. 15% net profit increase was from 4Q, 1Q and 2Q. 12x XP had nothing to do with either the profit increase from SOR or the customer feedback regarding what they liked and didn't like.

 

You can keep making things up if you like and calling them facts, but what you are saying cannot be found in any credible source of information. It is starting to seem like you simply don't want people to be happy with the new expansion and are willing to say whatever you need in order to get your majority of unhappy subscribers.

 

You also seem to think that relying on datamined information to inform you of how the game is going to be when it goes live is a good thing. However, one thing that the Gamescon Q&A should have told you is that a lot of things, very fundamental things, are still in flux. So the datamined information is at best a guess.

 

False: the metrics they tout that people want story are due to 12x xp nothing more nothing less and many others in the community like Ootinicast have realized that the metrics are skewed due to 12x xp.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Kaizersan

[znihilist]

Impatience is your issue, not his. The good news is that you can fix your own issues yourself. You don't need Eric for that.

 

And yours is presuming too much about people, next time stick to talking about things you know about.

Edited August 19, 2015 by znihilist

[Transcendent]

For the people getting so worked up about lack of information.. most of what they are asking for (demanding is more like it) falls into the area of spoilers (mild or major) IMO. That includes changes to game mechanics... which frankly.. nobody needs to know before 4.0 actually goes live.

 

I can understand some of the concerns though, especially the one relating to companions. Is it worth spending a lot of time and credits now to gain max affection on companions, to have it all made null and void in 4.0 with the incoming changes?

 

It's the little points like this that it would be nice to have clarified (and this is possibly the main one for me personally). Just a little detail on how the new system will work, and if the old system is still compatible (as in companion gifts providing affection or something similar). I don't expect BioWare to start telling me that I'm losing x y or z companion, or could lose x y or z companion, or that I will not have access to x y or z companion for the first 5 chapters - that is spoiler territory.

 

However there are things that can be clarified without giving us spoilers.

 

Also some clarification on how we'll be able to craft, if we don't have access to certain companions. This change would be nice to know in advance, so crafters can decide if to jump straight into the new story, or hold off for a while on their main crafting characters. Again, not spoiler territory. It's a mechanics change that needs a little more detail provided so all crafters in this game can make a considered decision on how to proceed. Bear in mind for crafters that the first 1-4 weeks of an expansion / level cap increase is one of the busiest times for certain professions, the rest of the time not so much. Some players only play the game for crafting, so if the story is going to impact on their ability to play the part of the game it would be nice to know in advance so they can plan.

 

These are basic mechanics that can be explained prior to 4.0, without providing spoilers on the story content itself. Not every player plays this game purely for the story content, and while it's nice to have an update in this area of the game, BioWare shouldn't just ignore the rest of the player base that plays the game for different reasons.

 

Equally said if the changes themselves are going to be subject to change, then add a disclaimer in there. It's simple enough. Most of us know (or should know) that plans potentially change due to varying factors.

Edited August 19, 2015 by Transcendent

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Can't link to them because of the connection to data mined info but just look on reddit in the companions data mined stuff you will see plenty of people quitting.

 

Right because reddit is a huge sub section of the game and not full of people who threaten to quit over this, that and every other reason and never really go through with it. Wonderful metric you use to prove a point though ... "people on reddit said". GG.

 

Fact: BW metrics on the player base wanting story over everything else is skewed due to 12x xp being a story mode based bonus had it been pvp based the metrics would read the player base wants more pvp.

 

Oh right, you work for Bioware now and have access to their metrics to call that a fact? Nice, what do you do for their team?

 

You obviously haven't bothered to read the data mined info then otherwise you might think differently.

 

I have and, taking it with a grain of salt as one should, even what is presented I feel is quite positive though it really is only so far painting 1/4 of a picture. I've certainly seen nothing people should get overly enraged about and if they do well I can't see how they would be any sort of majority or anything.

 

Also if you read what you quoted ... what on earth does what I said have anything to do with data mining?

 

Not really this is different from other expansions remember as it is a monthly released system and not all at once so a massive drop in subs could cause the 2nd season of the expansion to drop off due to lack of money to pay for development.

 

Second season? As in the one not announced or do you mean the chapters coming after the first 9?

 

A "second season", as in after chapter 16, would be a different/new project so would again require a new budget ideally and yes funds generated from this "first season" would contribute to that second season ( or atl east justifying it to EA depending on how BW is run by EA ).

 

Personally I think if "season 1" as in the first 16 chapters fails you won't see much of anything new from SWToR. I hate to doom n gloom but that's just my opinion. This is an all in sort of expansion.

 

Now if you mean chapters 10-16 and they might not get released ... lol.

 

False: the metrics they tout that people want story are due to 12x xp nothing more nothing less and many others in the community like Ootinicast have realized that the metrics are skewed due to 12x xp.

 

I was being sarcastic above btw, I don't really think you work for BW and what I really think is you have absolutely no clue about what metrics they've got at all.

Instead of talking about these metrics though how about actually presenting them so you can show us how they are wrong and why ... also someone's podcast and thus their opinion doesn't do a thing to back up your "metric" theory.

Unless of course they too came from data mined sources ... DUN DUN DUN!

 

I won't quote your next reply since it breaks rules and should be reported as such. I would say it's not confirmed though otherwise Eric wouldn't have made posts about talking about such things and people wouldn't be having posts complaining about a lack of communication confirming such things ... think about it.

Edited August 19, 2015 by MeNaCe-NZ

[MeNaCe-NZ]

 

These are basic mechanics that can be explained prior to 4.0, without providing spoilers on the story content itself.

 

And they will, just not right now this very moment today.

 

Two months to launch still you see, why the rush?

[Khiriath]

False: the metrics they tout that people want story are due to 12x xp nothing more nothing less and many others in the community like Ootinicast have realized that the metrics are skewed due to 12x xp.

 

Proof? What is your source?

 

I'm going from EA investor reports. I'm not sure how you can claim that 12x lead to their massive profit increase when 12x was not in effect for any of the the 3 quarters that I cited.

 

So you can continue to make this claim but you have yet to back it up with any factual or verifiable information.

[Khiriath]

And they will, just not right now this very moment today.

 

Two months to launch still you see, why the rush?

 

Because they promised us this information back in June. Then ignored that promise and said we would get it at Gamescon. Now they are saying, "in good time soon", which is a spoof off of Cat's in the Cradle.

 

So first I am frustrated that they consistently gone back on their promises to us the subscriber base without so much as an acknowledgement let alone an apology.

 

Secondly, I'm worried that the ending will be the same as the song they are spoofing... Never.

[Transcendent]

And they will, just not right now this very moment today.

 

Two months to launch still you see, why the rush?

 

I don't expect answers today (or even tomorrow). It's actually a little over 9 weeks before the actual launch (8 if early access), which isn't really that long. What I don't really want is to be bombarded with information in the month prior to launch (which is unlikely considering... BioWare).

 

So asking for some information (that may be subject to change), much like asking for an actual roadmap (that may be subject to change) isn't really asking for much. The point is it'll help quell the scaremongering on the forums because of all of the data-mined information floating around.

 

It depends on whether the community of this game is important to BioWare I guess, we've asked for more communication on more than one occasion. Which part of that is hard to understand?

[AetherShanty]

Mockery: But we must conform to their hate! We can't like it if they don't! Don't you understand that supposed fact of their life?!

 

Observation: These forums remind me of the comment section of Star Wars posts on a social media site (YouTube, Google+, Facebook, etc.). The post is a happy/cool post about something in Star Wars, sometimes involving a really neat article. After reading the article I think: "Yeah. It was cool. I enjoyed that, especially that one part. I wonder what others thought was cool about it and why." I get to the comments section, and 95% of it is (in summary) "I HATE THE PREQUELS!!!!!11!!@1@!" "JAR JAR IS STUPID!!!!" "GEORGE LUCAS SHOULD DIE IN A FIRE!!!!" "OMG STAR WARS IS RUINED!!!" "WHAT?! YOU LIKED THAT?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!". My only reaction is: "This was a post about LIGHT SABERS!!!"

 

Addendum: The increased negativity by those that feel the need to post their hate all over the place, though not always done by just one person, is what's ruining Star Wars. They ruin their own enjoyment, they ruin the enjoyment of other long-time fans, and they ruin the enjoyment of newcomers to the story.

 

Statement: The same thing is being done here with this game. It needs to stop.

 

Fact: Constant negativity dose nobody any good. If you don't like the game that much, then stop posting about it. If you want to post something you disliked that should be fixed, fine. That's one thing. But constantly posting in threads NOT RELEVANT to your plight, or that you utterly hate the game, doesn't help. Negativity is poison.

 

Request: Please do the community and yourself a favor and stop with the hate posts. You'll feel better, your peers will feel better, and even the Developers and Community team will feel better.

 

Weary Resignation: Bah. What do I know? I'm the crotchety old droid that's been around for a while and might have picked up a thing or two along the way. Why listen to me? My ways MUST be out of date. So go on. Keep hating. Maybe you'll get these forums shut down to the point that only the Developers can post here and any feedback will be via in-game communications.

 

Pitying Statement: Poor kids. I pity all of you. Then I blast you.

 

You're my favourite HK, can I have you as a companion?

[ScarletBlaze]

Query: Where does this idea come from? Is it one of those datamined things?

 

No HK, check here http://dulfy.net/2015/06/15/swtor-knights-of-fallen-empire-official-expansion-info/

 

Datamined I don't pay attention to.

[Exly]

False: the metrics they tout that people want story are due to 12x xp nothing more nothing less and many others in the community like Ootinicast have realized that the metrics are skewed due to 12x xp.

 

The fact is that this game has always had troubles keeping people subbed that were here for end game content.

 

Initially this was due the lack of content, and over time it was because of the slow pace at which new content was introduced (among other reasons).

 

The result is that there are more people playing the game for story than for the end game content, and BioWare's acknowledgment of that should also serve as a notice to them that they failed so many player's that left the game due to their inability to produce enough content at a pace that would satisfy those players.

 

Now, imagine how many people would be playing this game today if they had succeeded at keeping those that left the game happy, and it would not be hard to see how having those people would effect metrics that BioWare is now using to decide what future content to produce.

[Shwarzchild]

Im just curious about these new systems that are going to come into play. Some people keep spouting off about how that's a spoiler. I just don't agree. When we were getting disciplines instead of skill trees did bioware not explain them in detail? Me thinks they did. When bioware change classes do they not outline why they are doing it or what those changes are going to be? Me thinks they did.

 

So I do expect them to release information about new systems, or new stats, or their thought process around the changes. I do not expect them to release what happens to specific companions since that is spoiler territory. I may be jumping the gun regarding the timing of things. I don't remember which patch disciplines came out in, or when the bioware detailed explanation came in relation to that patch. But none the less. That's what I expect from them in terms of communication regarding this alliance system, or any new system. I want to know what it does. I want to know their expectations for it, and I want to know their reasoning behind the change. Disciplines, to me, is a great example of what we should expect them to provide.

 

Do I care when? Not really. I will however expect them to push out information when they say they are going to. If they say "by gamescon" I expect something by gamescon. If they say by [insert arbitrary date here] I expect something by that so on and so forth.

[Bobs_YourUncle]

Im just curious about these new systems that are going to come into play. Some people keep spouting off about how that's a spoiler. I just don't agree. When we were getting disciplines instead of skill trees did bioware not explain them in detail? Me thinks they did. When bioware change classes do they not outline why they are doing it or what those changes are going to be? Me thinks they did.

 

So I do expect them to release information about new systems, or new stats, or their thought process around the changes. I do not expect them to release what happens to specific companions since that is spoiler territory. I may be jumping the gun regarding the timing of things. I don't remember which patch disciplines came out in, or when the bioware detailed explanation came in relation to that patch. But none the less. That's what I expect from them in terms of communication regarding this alliance system, or any new system. I want to know what it does. I want to know their expectations for it, and I want to know their reasoning behind the change. Disciplines, to me, is a great example of what we should expect them to provide.

 

Do I care when? Not really. I will however expect them to push out information when they say they are going to. If they say "by gamescon" I expect something by gamescon. If they say by [insert arbitrary date here] I expect something by that so on and so forth.

 

Yeah as far as the changes to mechanics goes, that's stuff that they'll explain as they can narrow down what is most likely to change and exactly how. 2 months out from release and given the stuff that shall not be named, it appeared to be smack in the middle of being worked out. Nothing about spoilers, but Im guessing there is a lot of trial and error they need to get through before being able to more definitively be able to say exactly what is changing and how beyond the very basic: Companions for example. Its bad that I have to guess, but that's what I assume to have been the hold up with the information on them and the alliance system we were supposed to be getting leading up to gamescon.