Will there be a break before Season 2 of KOTFE starts?

[IanArgent]

The S1 chapters are, more or less, already in the can. Story is easy, mechanics are hard. They've cleared their decks of "new mechanics" (the new PvP game type and the Eternal Championship) this month and next. I expect from now till October they're working on S2 and whatever "big" thing will be in 5.x. Think about how 4.x and KotFE rolled out last year, and GSF/Strongholds and 3.x rolled out the year before.

 

June/July timeframe is when I expect to see more info.

[XiamaraSimi]

Well, going off the past four years, we know they will take two months off for Christmas vacation so we should expect nothing from mid November to mid January. Edited April 30, 2016 by XiamaraSimi

[Yermog]

Here's a thought, maybe to fill in the break gap before Season 2, they release more alliance alerts.

Yeah, but if they bring back all the old non-LI companions before Season 2, then will we have no more alliance alerts? Or are they going to add in new companions? That might be kind of interesting.

[CaptRogue]

I hope they finish the whole KOTFE storyline by August. Make August's chapter huge & finish it once & for all. Since they've lost all momentum & sense of purpose from the original chapters.

 

(E.g. April's chapt, seemed like you're getting back to the whole Valkorion thing with Arcann & Vaylin coming to blows with you soon. Leaves you with what happened. INSTEAD of picking up there, what are we doing May, robbing Arcann's treasury! I mean WHAT. THE. CRAP! WHY?!)

[Eanelinea]

If they do what they did before, I'm expecting 4-9 chapters of season 2 and then nothing for like 2 months. I'd love 9 chapters in a row again with things to do. Even on my 11th play through of original season 1 it took me about 2-3 hours to complete 1-9. That would be great. And I want my husbands back asap, dangit!

[Eanelinea]

I hope they finish the whole KOTFE storyline by August. Make August's chapter huge & finish it once & for all. Since they've lost all momentum & sense of purpose from the original chapters.

 

(E.g. April's chapt, seemed like you're getting back to the whole Valkorion thing with Arcann & Vaylin coming to blows with you soon. Leaves you with what happened. INSTEAD of picking up there, what are we doing May, robbing Arcann's treasury! I mean WHAT. THE. CRAP! WHY?!)

 

Why are we robbing the treasury? Well, I would have to take an educated guess and....

 

Theron comes to us (cause it's almost always Theron) and we find out that we're running short of funds. All our Alerts and story Alliance people brought what money THEY had into the alliance and it's running dry. You've got a **** ton of mouths to feed and cloth and you gotta pay people. It's an Alliance, but even Tora says that we pay them well. (Even if game wise we don't spend a dime of our money, thank god)

 

So, he hears there's these two criminals or whatever they're calling Vette and Gault and they've got info on where Arcann is keeping all the money and tribute he's been getting the last few years from the Empire and Republic and we could use that money along with recruiting two more allies.

 

We go to get the money, course there will be skytroopers, knights, Vaylin and Arcann ************ about us the outlander and them ************ amongst each other like before when Arcann told Vaylin to basically kill off half their knights for s & g.

 

I'm pretty sure, our Alliance desperately needs the money from those vaults and such that chapter 13 is introducing. Even if we were backed by, let's say Hutts, or a really wealthy man/woman, those funds would run out.

 

We have our allies to pay, basic allowance.

We have food we have to get for everyone in our Alliance, they're all mortal, they have to eat.

We have to be able to replace some clothing, no one's going to wear the same pair of underwear from months or years.

We need money for repairs of our equipment, it's not cheap.

We probably need money to keep the lights on, not an electric bill, but the generators, whatever else happens to keep the place comfortable when it's hot or cold.

 

So, even though it's just a game, in the universe of KotFE and our Alliance, we need money and if we have to steal it from Arcann and Vaylin, well, they're both ******s, so it's not something against our morals, even light side 5 jedi knights would be all 'show me the money'.

[AnisaBadgett]

Anything more than a month break would be too long, and that's without considering other MMOs (which they should, don't get me wrong).

 

A lot of people are tired of such little content for $15 -- seriously, even Chapter XII was not 1/4 of a console game's worth of investment -- and while Chapters I-XVI *might* end up being worth the same as a $60 console game, we have spent $165 for it and we STILL DON'T HAVE OUR COMPANIONS BACK.

 

I don't want to piss on KotFE because that's a waste of time, I get that, I give in, I bow to the juggernaut of this marketing campaign and whatever decisions from TPTB that prompted it. But this grand disruption took a lot of things from a lot of people -- lack of/changes to endgame content that devastated our guilds and our companions that devastated our love of the story. [not to mention, our toons' love lives, lol.]

 

If people binge-subbing every few months is what keeps the lights on, I guess that's the price we pay. But it has really sapped a lot of what made this game the first thing I wanted to do when I got home every night. And waiting too long for a new *season* whatever that means without something to tide us over might just be what puts me in the binge-subber category, too.

Edited April 30, 2016 by AnisaBadgett

[ImmortalLowlife]

I don't play any other MMO's, but I can't see them taking more than a month or two off between seasons. A WoW expansion and movie are on the way, & that in itself will likely draw players away. BW shouldn't ignore this.

 

Imo....they'll take Sept & Oct off then start S2 in Nov by releasing a block of chapters at once. They'll do their usual "Dec off" and pick it back up in Feb.

[cardmonkey]

That sounds likly

[Yermog]

I don't play any other MMO's, but I can't see them taking more than a month or two off between seasons. A WoW expansion and movie are on the way, & that in itself will likely draw players away. BW shouldn't ignore this.

 

Imo....they'll take Sept & Oct off then start S2 in Nov by releasing a block of chapters at once. They'll do their usual "Dec off" and pick it back up in Feb.

I hope we'll still get our companions back during those possible blocks of chapters. I would be VERY unhappy to discover that my LIs aren't showing back up until Season 3, if there's going to be a Season 3.

[XiamaraSimi]

.

We have to be able to replace some clothing, no one's going to wear the same pair of underwear from months or years.

 

Unless your a Shan, it only took Satele about 40 years to change her clothes, and going off the holo vid of Theron as a teenager on Sateles ship, hes been wearing the same outfit for at least 10 years...

[Eocosa]

I would not be too surprised to find a bit of a low patch in content for a bit while the teams work on more "mundane" details of the game.

 

Personally I think that having that drought around the time of the new expansion for WOW is a fairly decent idea. Many MMO players these days seem to be drifters (myself included) who will have a "primary" MMO home that they enjoy the most, but do take breaks to try other games out occasionally. Those who feel at home here may very well go out and try the new content with WoW or any other game that releases, however they will inevitably come back when this game releases new content.

 

To straight up compete may lead them to the lowest numbers financially as some will stay and some will go, but the content that EA invested money into will see smaller returns initially as they did not pull the same amount of people that they may once those players had burnt through the new content WoW released.

 

One of my favorite MMOs (Warhammer online) tried to compete this way by releasing just around the time WotLK came out, and I honestly think that set them back soooo far compared to taking the time to finish the game and releasing 6 months later or so.

 

Please note that I also agree that WoW does not have this MMO killing power it used to as the game has become dated and many people know everything it offers and have found more preferred interests, but to simply claim it has no power over MMO players is not accurate either.

 

My two credits anyways on them taking a break.

 

E

[Eanelinea]

Unless your a Shan, it only took Satele about 40 years to change her clothes, and going off the holo vid of Theron as a teenager on Sateles ship, hes been wearing the same outfit for at least 10 years...

 

I know right. I'm almost tempted to break up with him since he hasn't changed his clothes in decades. lol

 

I believe Marr may have told Satele she stinks and that's why she finally changed. lol

[JennyFlynn]

Don't think there'll be a third season, not if they stick with the 'model' they've got now. 1 or even 2 companions in the chapter itself plus an alert here and there should be enough to cover all remaining companions with another 16'ish chapters.

 

O/T: I'd love to see Theron change his clothes for once.. I love his outfit but it's all he's worn for how long now? Either he reeks by now or he genuinely has a closet with like 20 red jackets..

[Eanelinea]

Don't think there'll be a third season, not if they stick with the 'model' they've got now. 1 or even 2 companions in the chapter itself plus an alert here and there should be enough to cover all remaining companions with another 16'ish chapters.

 

O/T: I'd love to see Theron change his clothes for once.. I love his outfit but it's all he's worn for how long now? Either he reeks by now or he genuinely has a closet with like 20 red jackets..

 

I hope he doesn't reek. I had two guys hook up with him so they're together in a relationship. I really don't wanna log in one day and have my male characters giving me the stink eye because Theron smells like a homeless man who hasn't bathed in years.

 

I'm married and I have AHEM ran into a smell issue once in a blue moon with my husband. It ain't pretty and it requires clothing changes and showers. lol

[PennyAnn]

I think players go through content too quickly for that. 16 chapters, even if they're each 2 hours long, is still only 32 hours of game play. I can't see that lasting more than a week before players have gone through it at least once, possibly several times. Now you're looking at 8 months or more with things like Alliance alerts and events like Bounty Week and the Rakghoul plague to hold players over.

 

This amazes me. So, released all at once, and it's not NEARLY enough content to keep a player base happy and occupied. But, the same amount of content trickled out somehow IS enough? The sheer act of Bioware making you wait for the little pieces instead of having the whole puzzle makes it worth $180/year? This is just madness to me.

 

I know there are a lots of people who love the fact that the game is super easy now and holds little to no challenge in the leveling process. They like the story only "content" and are satisfied to watch a half hour SWTOR related movie and spam their basic attack at a hallway of adds in between scenes here and there. That's great and I'm happy for them. But this game used to be so much more than that. I like the story, too... but it isn't enough on its own. I support and continue to play this game because it is different than other MMOs and is heavy on the story line and I like that about this game in particular. However, I'm still someone who believes that KBN was right... story is flavor, and content is content. Things like new PvP maps, Flashpoints, Eternal Championships, Heroic missions, New planets.... those are content. The story is the vehicle to immerse you into those activities. Story alone feels cold and frankly just... not enough to make the game feel like a full game. But it used to feel that way! That's how I know it could feel that way again with just a little effort on something outside of story.

 

Okay, so releasing operations isn't likely to happen. Even if they take a break between seasons, I do not expect them to put any new operations into the game, and likely neither should you.

 

#1 - They don't have a team to do that anymore and the people that ran the show in development of operations have left to work on other games.

 

#2 - It is not financially lucrative for them to produce operations anymore. Back in the day when they had an operations development team and a sizable player base that were operations focused? Yep. But those days are long gone. Killed by Bioware with content droughts that lasted more than a year apiece. I would bet that even if they put out an operation TODAY that more than half of the raiding community would NOT come running back to SWTOR. Those days are done.

 

What they DO need to find a way to do is to add more content to the game that is at least small group oriented. I would suggest something like the eternal championship, but for groups of 2 - 4 players (with or without companions). The story mode operations have been dumbed down to the point of lunacy anyway... might as well rework those so that a group of 4 and their companions could attempt them.

 

I have given up the dream that was raiding in SWTOR, but I think it is a mistake to let the game become a single-player only game. Friends and families and guilds that want to play together should have something NEW to do on a much, much, much more frequent basis than Bioware is giving us. Otherwise, why be a month-to-month sub instead of just waiting for all chapters to be available for the low low price of a month's subscription? As stated at the top of this post, that obviously isn't enough content to keep you subbed for that length of time if released all at once? Why let Bioware keep you on the leash (and paying for the leash) if there is little else to do along with it? You are just allowing them to force you to wait, otherwise... and paying for the privilege.

 

Either way, the fact that they would have to take a break from the story to fix bugs is also madness. But if that's what they need to do to address the HUNDREDS of bugs encountered on a daily basis, then that's what they need to do. There is not one single area of the game that isn't plagued by bugs that make it more difficult to play (and sometimes impossible). That should never be the case... and you shouldn't need several months break from what you are producing to take care of it, but if that's where we are at then DO IT already.

 

To answer the OP's question: Who knows what they will do, but I'm hoping it isn't "take a few months off" or my sub will absolutely get cancelled. It is barely hanging on by a thread as it is.

[CloudCastle]

I was kind of expecting Season 2 to start in October, just like Season 1 started in October of last year. I also hope they dole out a big chunk of chapters for the beginning of Season 2. I think there's going to be a backlash when players who are not already "in the know" discover just how many companions BW had no intention of returning for Season 1. It's going to be a blow when people realize how much longer they will have to wait and they will be chomping at the bit to get Season 2 underway.

 

I think they made a mistake with the single chapter a month releases, actually. It's been obvious since the release of KOTFE that the dev team is having trouble keeping up with the bugs that crop up, and every time they release new content, more new bugs form, compiling on top of the old. I think they would have been much better off releasing the entire Season 1 as a "story expansion," and then leaving behind a whole bunch of other PVE activities to hold people over until Season 2. (Star Fortresses, Eternal Championship, a whole bunch of Alliance Alerts. Heck, a new Op, even.) This way, I expect we'd see the same amount of bugs as would during a regular expansion, which the players expect and can deal with, and is an amount that we already know is manageable for BW.

 

Honestly, my patience is wearing thin on the way they are dragging out the companions returning. It feels manipulative. I'm tired of holding back characters because I don't feel comfortable playing them in KOTFE until I know how things stand with my favorite companions. I'm especially annoyed that my main has been waiting for 7 months and hasn't gotten back ANY companions, let alone any favorites. Now that's ridiculous. Remind me why I should bother playing her through KOTFE again?

[Lunafox]

Well, going off the past four years, we know they will take two months off for Christmas vacation so we should expect nothing from mid November to mid January.

 

You're probably right. Precedents have been set.

 

I do hope they don't have a break, or at least not a long one, I need for the story train to keep on coming. But perhaps, they'll take a couple of months, and give something to entertain the raiders. Ideally they'd do both, keep the story coming, and give the raiders some things to...I dunno...raid.

[Lunafox]

Honestly, my patience is wearing thin on the way they are dragging out the companions returning. It feels manipulative. I'm tired of holding back characters because I don't feel comfortable playing them in KOTFE until I know how things stand with my favorite companions. I'm especially annoyed that my main has been waiting for 7 months and hasn't gotten back ANY companions, let alone any favorites. Now that's ridiculous. Remind me why I should bother playing her through KOTFE again?

 

It does feel a bit manipulative doesn't it. It's like they know the ones people love most and they're deliberately holding them back until the very bitter ending, whenever that is. I would like to get Malavai, Vector and Scourge back well before the game is over.

[CaptRogue]

Why are we robbing the treasury? Well, I would have to take an educated guess and....

 

Theron comes to us (cause it's almost always Theron) and we find out that we're running short of funds. All our Alerts and story Alliance people brought what money THEY had into the alliance and it's running dry. You've got a **** ton of mouths to feed and cloth and you gotta pay people. It's an Alliance, but even Tora says that we pay them well. (Even if game wise we don't spend a dime of our money, thank god)

 

So, he hears there's these two criminals or whatever they're calling Vette and Gault and they've got info on where Arcann is keeping all the money and tribute he's been getting the last few years from the Empire and Republic and we could use that money along with recruiting two more allies.

 

We go to get the money, course there will be skytroopers, knights, Vaylin and Arcann ************ about us the outlander and them ************ amongst each other like before when Arcann told Vaylin to basically kill off half their knights for s & g.

 

I'm pretty sure, our Alliance desperately needs the money from those vaults and such that chapter 13 is introducing. Even if we were backed by, let's say Hutts, or a really wealthy man/woman, those funds would run out.

 

We have our allies to pay, basic allowance.

We have food we have to get for everyone in our Alliance, they're all mortal, they have to eat.

We have to be able to replace some clothing, no one's going to wear the same pair of underwear from months or years.

We need money for repairs of our equipment, it's not cheap.

We probably need money to keep the lights on, not an electric bill, but the generators, whatever else happens to keep the place comfortable when it's hot or cold.

 

So, even though it's just a game, in the universe of KotFE and our Alliance, we need money and if we have to steal it from Arcann and Vaylin, well, they're both ******s, so it's not something against our morals, even light side 5 jedi knights would be all 'show me the money'.

 

ROFL Nice.

Not quite the meaning of the question I was asking, but there is the BW "logic" in what you stated. lol

[Eanelinea]

ROFL Nice.

Not quite the meaning of the question I was asking, but there is the BW "logic" in what you stated. lol

 

HAHA. Well I tried to make an educated guess. For all I know we're just looking for more goobers to join us and they just happen to be trying to steal monies cause lots of monies. *shrug*

[CloudCastle]

It does feel a bit manipulative doesn't it. It's like they know the ones people love most and they're deliberately holding them back until the very bitter ending, whenever that is. I would like to get Malavai, Vector and Scourge back well before the game is over.

 

I believe that they were definitely aware of what companions are the most popular and planned the schedule accordingly based on that. The fun part of why I love certain companions is that it makes my play throughs of each character feel more special knowing that they are going through their journeys with their best buddies/love interests at their side. I think getting certain favorites back a little earlier would be MORE incentive to play the chapters not less.

 

I agree that Quinn, Vector and Scourge are in my top Most Wanted list as well. But I also want Corso and Elara too. Waiting more than a RL year to be reunited with certain companions in the story feels extreme and I'm surprised BW went that route. Feels risky.

[JennyFlynn]

Oh they're definitely saving the best for last which I both love and loathe. I'm very eager to get certain ones back, namely Quinn, Scourge and Vector. I'm okay with waiting but I do hope the wait will be worth it. If they bring Scourge back via an alert that's all "Oh hey heres a dude who once worked for the Emperor and worked with the Jedis but now he's a nobody and he probably hates your guts.. kill him or recruit him, whatever" I'll probably throw a massive fit. =\

[Codedrago]

I believe that they were definitely aware of what companions are the most popular and planned the schedule accordingly based on that. The fun part of why I love certain companions is that it makes my play throughs of each character feel more special knowing that they are going through their journeys with their best buddies/love interests at their side. I think getting certain favorites back a little earlier would be MORE incentive to play the chapters not less.

 

To others the favourites have already been brought back, many people adore Kaliyo and Jorgan. Hell, with chapter 13 I'll have my two faves back as well, Forex and now Vette. Even going by the fourm, the most popular companions have already returned aside from maybe one or two.

[CloudCastle]

To others the favourites have already been brought back, many people adore Kaliyo and Jorgan. Hell, with chapter 13 I'll have my two faves back as well, Forex and now Vette. Even going by the fourm, the most popular companions have already returned aside from maybe one or two.

 

I don't agree. Reading the forums through the years gives me the strong impression that the most popular companions are the LI's, and of those, only TWO have returned. So, yes, a small number of people may have gotten their favorites back, but for the majority? No.