I Just Don't Get It

[robertthebard]

Right now, with the huge amount of single player content, it's shifting towards being like Diablo or The Division. KOTFE has been primarily single player. Lots of stuff you can do by yourself, then some content you can group up for.

 

And yeah, that raises the question: why subscriptions?

 

I must have been missing something along the way here.

 

Base game: A lot of SP content with some group stuff you can do along the way.

 

Ilum: Some SP content with a couple of FPs at the end, which, btw, earned some wrath for not being a complete SP story. Hey, check it out, the same can be said for Makeb, only Operation, instead of FP, and Oricon. SoR started out as FPs with solo modes which makes sense, considering the nature of the story behind the content.

 

I must have missed something along the way, eh?

[Jedi_riches]

I agree with the OP, I guess the people who always played this as a MMO are not so happy with the change.

 

I mean look at this game from a business perspective, maybe the dev's have just decided that they cannot compete in the 'MMO' market and that new direction was needed to 'ensure' the games survival.

 

There is nothing wrong with a Star Wars MMO, but why have a sub for a single player game?

 

I'd say it's more of a single player/MMO hybrid at the moment.

 

Only time really will tell if this Hybrid will be a successful model, especially given all the star wars films to come out thanks to disney.

[Hazevamp]

by monthly content update you mean the 15 minute 'story', yeah cos that's worth 15 bucks, go buy a book...

^This.

 

Anyone who thinks these chapters provide 15 dollars worth of content is exactly the type of delusional fan BW is making their money off of. It's why they have no reason to really change. If anything the entire KOTFE story is worth 15 bucks.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Hazevamp

[Jedi_riches]

by monthly content update you mean the 15 minute 'story'

 

A 15 minute story that takes about 45mins - 1 hour to complete, oh wait I actually bother watching the story rather than space bar all cut scenes just so I can come on the forums and ***** about how fast I completed it.

[Crossward]

You may have missed a couple things along the way.

 

The base game was as you described it, but the pre-2.0 updates tended to focus on group content, introducing Lost Island and, Kaon under Siege as flashpoints, and the addition of Explosive Conflict and Terror from Beyond operations. Additionally, during the game's conversion to F2P, they introduce HK-51, which was intended to require a group for the Heroics and flashpoint requirements. This update also brought in the powerful Dreadtooth and the game's first super boss, Dreadful Entity. Taken with the base game operation with Karagga's palace, this starts the Dread Master storyline, which is largely told through operations.

 

2.0 opens with a story, but after you evacuate/capture Makeb, SWTOR turns its focus to multiplayer over single player content. The Scum and Villainy raid is released, along with Toborro's Courtyard and boosting TFB to level 55. Operation Nightmare is released shortly after, which adds Nightmare modes, and also the Hateful Entity super boss. Galactic Starfighter, a renewed focus on ranked PvP are also released in this era. CZ-198 is released during this time, with a short daily area that supplements two flashpoints.

 

In perhaps SWTOR's largest piece of mid-expansion content, Oricon is released! There is a short series of daily quests and a 2 person heroic to keep players entertained, but the real draw is the pair of operations that are released, finally closing the Dread Master storyline. A few months later, Bioware puts an even larger focus on Nightmare Mode with the introduction of NiM DF/DP, Nightmare Power, and special rewards for guilds that clear it while the bosses are empowered. Galactic Strongholds releases after that. While GSH *is* a single player activity, it effectively boosts participation in multiplayer activities by awarding conquest objectives and decorations. Finally, 2.0 closes with the Forged Alliances arc. Remember that in this era the flashpoint quartet required a group. Players were incentivized to group together to get the first taste of the Revan story.

 

3.0 is really where your point about SWTOR being a prominent single player experience starts to take form. Where base game encouraged group activities through flashpoints on nearly every planet, SoR encourages players to use the solo mode option. Temple of Sacrifice is released, but a solo mode option is available to bypass the operation and complete the quest, unlike with Oricon in 2.0. The Ravagers raid is released as well, giving SoR 10 bosses to start with. Later, the Colossal Monolith is added. The Monolith comes as a smaller part of the Ziost storyline, which is geared for single players. Although Ancient Threat is added as 3.0's super boss, it is clear that the developer's priorities are not on group content anymore.

 

TLDR: If you joined the game during 1.0 or especially 2.0, there was an abundance of group content to be found, easily outnumbering solo story content. 3.0 started the pendulum swing in the other direction, and 4.0 has all but abandoned group activity as a priority for the game. The question is, will it swing back?

[robertthebard]

You may have missed a couple things along the way.

 

The base game was as you described it, but the pre-2.0 updates tended to focus on group content, introducing Lost Island and, Kaon under Siege as flashpoints, and the addition of Explosive Conflict and Terror from Beyond operations. Additionally, during the game's conversion to F2P, they introduce HK-51, which was intended to require a group for the Heroics and flashpoint requirements. This update also brought in the powerful Dreadtooth and the game's first super boss, Dreadful Entity. Taken with the base game operation with Karagga's palace, this starts the Dread Master storyline, which is largely told through operations.

 

2.0 opens with a story, but after you evacuate/capture Makeb, SWTOR turns its focus to multiplayer over single player content. The Scum and Villainy raid is released, along with Toborro's Courtyard and boosting TFB to level 55. Operation Nightmare is released shortly after, which adds Nightmare modes, and also the Hateful Entity super boss. Galactic Starfighter, a renewed focus on ranked PvP are also released in this era. CZ-198 is released during this time, with a short daily area that supplements two flashpoints.

 

In perhaps SWTOR's largest piece of mid-expansion content, Oricon is released! There is a short series of daily quests and a 2 person heroic to keep players entertained, but the real draw is the pair of operations that are released, finally closing the Dread Master storyline. A few months later, Bioware puts an even larger focus on Nightmare Mode with the introduction of NiM DF/DP, Nightmare Power, and special rewards for guilds that clear it while the bosses are empowered. Galactic Strongholds releases after that. While GSH *is* a single player activity, it effectively boosts participation in multiplayer activities by awarding conquest objectives and decorations. Finally, 2.0 closes with the Forged Alliances arc. Remember that in this era the flashpoint quartet required a group. Players were incentivized to group together to get the first taste of the Revan story.

 

3.0 is really where your point about SWTOR being a prominent single player experience starts to take form. Where base game encouraged group activities through flashpoints on nearly every planet, SoR encourages players to use the solo mode option. Temple of Sacrifice is released, but a solo mode option is available to bypass the operation and complete the quest, unlike with Oricon in 2.0. The Ravagers raid is released as well, giving SoR 10 bosses to start with. Later, the Colossal Monolith is added. The Monolith comes as a smaller part of the Ziost storyline, which is geared for single players. Although Ancient Threat is added as 3.0's super boss, it is clear that the developer's priorities are not on group content anymore.

 

TLDR: If you joined the game during 1.0 or especially 2.0, there was an abundance of group content to be found, easily outnumbering solo story content. 3.0 started the pendulum swing in the other direction, and 4.0 has all but abandoned group activity as a priority for the game. The question is, will it swing back?

 

It easily outnumbered 8 individual class stories? The hyperbole is strong in this one.

[peter_plankskull]

So based on what I can see, month-to-month A true singleplayer game provides more content per dollar spent if you remain subscribed to SWTOR from KOTFE's release through Chapter 16.

 

However! SWTOR provides more entertainment per dollar spent if you choose not to subscribe until KOTFE is fully released.

.

 

Yes, you get the base game, Makeb, SOR, and KOTFE all at once, but if your not subbed for that month and unsub later you're not going to be pretty hampered going through it. Unless your decked out with unlocks and such, you're still going to probably resub, as one month probably isn't enough time to get all those unlocks, especially since your going to be playing the base game instead of playing the GTN or grinding dailies. So then dragon age, or a true single player game, is going to be better in the long run as you're not going to be restricted for not constantly maintain upkeep.

 

In another words, single player RPGs are better in the short run and the long run.

Edited April 20, 2016 by peter_plankskull

[Crossward]

It easily outnumbered 8 individual class stories? The hyperbole is strong in this one.

 

If you read the first sentence you'll see that I agree that the base game was as it was described, which was a single player game with grouping elements as you go (that is to say the flashpoints). However, I don't believe it's hyperbole at all to say that between the release of the base game and the release of Shadow of Revan, that is to say Patch 1.x-3.0, SWTOR's focus has been on group content as opposed to single player content.

 

Yes, you get the base game, Makeb, SOR, and KOTFE all at once, but if your not subbed for that month and unsub later you're not going to be pretty hampered going through it. Unless your decked out with unlocks and such, you're still going to probably resub, as one month probably isn't enough time to get all those unlocks, especially since your going to be playing the base game instead of playing the GTN or grinding dailies. So then dragon age, or a true single player game, is going to be better in the long run as you're not going to be restricted for not constantly maintain upkeep.

 

In another words, single player RPGs are better in the short run and the long run.

 

It depends entirely on what kind of value you want to get out of the game as a preferred player (you already paid for the sub after all). You can get all of KOTFE, all 8 stories (of which you can keep 6 due to character limits), RotHC and SoR for $15 dollars. Leveling up is slower, but still faster than it used to be. For someone who's just here for the story, there's a good value judgment to be made between $65 for Dragon Age's story and $15 for KOTFE

Edited April 20, 2016 by Crossward

[rklontz]

For someone who's just here for the story, there's a good value judgment to be made between $65 for Dragon Age's story and $15 for KOTFE

 

Not quite true KotFE is going to cost around $150 by the time it ends in September or October. And have virtually no replayability and be considerably shorter than Dragons Age

[Crossward]

Not quite true KotFE is going to cost around $150 by the time it ends in September or October. And have virtually no replayability and be considerably shorter than Dragons Age

 

True, but that's why I said in the big post that if you sub month-to-month a game like dragon age is a better value.

 

However, if you choose to wait until all chapters are released before subscribing and you're a fresh player, $15 gets you the entire KOTFE experience plus the previous expansions and base game. All that content plus the low price may make the preferred status hurdles seem like a fair tradeoff.