No SWTOR Reveal at E3?!!! The Silence Is Deafening. And Worrying.

[Savej]

Did he say season 2? Which stream?

 

Ok, answering myself... There is a mention of next season's chapters here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8905159#post8905159

[iowaboynca]

You know looking at that video that EA did i find it a little funny that as the VP of Visceral is talking about bringing in talent they show the Bioware studio...not reading anything into I just found it a little funny.

[commanderwar]

Ok, answering myself... There is a mention of next season's chapters here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8905159#post8905159

 

Ok good, because I have not found the stream yet

Edited June 13, 2016 by commanderwar

[Max_Killjoy]

Wait, wait... go back.

 

 

E3 is going on this week?

 

 

Gee, I guess I totally missed it. And here I give so many EFFS about what happens at E3. Oh darn.

[KyaniteD]

Ok, answering myself... There is a mention of next season's chapters here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=8905159#post8905159

 

Thanks for that. I read that twice over the past couple weeks, don't know how I missed that bit (guess the non-chapter content caught my attention more). That's a bit more reassuring than what I was aware of this morning. Although plot summaries in April for the next season of chapters doesn't spark much optimism about the time frame...

[MeNaCe-NZ]

It was once people cared and were worried about a lack of any more MMO content coming to this game but now that they've driven most of the community away and kept quiet about absolutely everything this topic is now more worried about whether or not there will be a season 2.

 

Well done Bioware, this topic proves to me at least your transition from an MMO to a solo online game that you can play with friends ( sort of ) is now complete and the frustration at a lack of new MMO content has now become quite minimal.

 

I hope at least you are making the revenue goals that were set when this transition decision was made since that dictates if it's a success or failure.

[Alssaran]

Alright. I think some people seem to take what they feel about this game, and then they project it into an industry standard about how others supposedly feel about this game. I think there are some rather objective points as to why EA has choosen to not highlight something like a new CGI trailer or season announcement during EA Play.

 

The first issue is that I would say 95% of the EA Play audience do not care for the Old Republic. I know some people will hate me for this, and I think some people want to deny that someone might not actually care for it. The fact remains that EA Play is a means for their big shots to show off. This game makes some revenue, and it turns an acceptable profit, but it is in no way on the forefront of gamers attention. I know this is a subjective opinion, and someone might prove me wrong, but I dare say that barely 5% of the audience had ever played Star Wars: The Old Republic - let alone the few people who actively play it.

 

Most people there probably care for the big games in their arsenal. Battlefield 1. Madden and Fifa. Mass Effect Andromeda. Highly acclaimed and new games. You want those people to take the stage when those are the leading expectation drivers this summer. It wasn't hard to guess that EA would focus their advertisement on those titles. The year for Star Wars comes again in 2017. The new mainstream movie will hit. The advertisement will go full swing for Episode 8. I dare say 95% of the people there wanted to see Battlefield 1 gameplay more than anything.

 

The second thing is about getting maximum effect from the advertisement. Releasing a SWTOR trailer together with Battlefield 1 and Mass Effect Andromeda will undoubtedly make the trailer sink back into nothingness between the three big titles. They stand to get more effect when the trailer is released on its own - for example during the Star Wars Celebration or the Cantina Tour thereof. That's the target medium. Not the wider gaming scene. Not some shooter players who will never touch an MMORPG with a ten feet pole. Star Wars gamers. Fans of the lore. People playing the game or who previously played the game.

 

The third issue are those predictions about the content drought. I dislike the current approach as much as the next person. I'm a casual raider, and I think it's less and less enticing to keep your sub up. But that's not their target audience. Their target audience are whales with addictive personalities. Whales who spend hundreds of dollars each month on hypercrates. I think a two month content drought won't be as much of a deal breaker as people make it out to be. Keep in mind that we had a two month break in chapter releases before, and the game is still standing. People should really stop this "If Bioware goes a single month without any content, this game will immediately crash burning!". I dislike the current approach, but I doubt that there aren't enough whales/addicted players to catch the fall for a month or two in preparation of the new chapter release.

 

In short? I think we should all step back a bit. It wasn't hard to guess that EA would choose to reveal the cinematic trailer later on. For example during Gamescom or Star Wars celebration in London. EA Play was simply not their audience. Those people were probably invested into Battlefield and the sports gaming scene, and less into a five year old MMORPG on a less than optimal engine.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Alssaran

[MTCason]

Alright. I think some people seem to take what they feel about this game, and then they project it into an industry standard about how others supposedly feel about this game. I think there are some rather objective points as to why EA has choosen to not highlight something like a new CGI trailer or season announcement during EA Play.

 

The first issue is that I would say 95% of the EA Play audience do not care for the Old Republic. I know some people will hate me for this, and I think some people want to deny that someone might not actually care for it. The fact remains that EA Play is a means for their big shots to show off. This game makes some revenue, and it turns an acceptable profit, but it is in no way on the forefront of gamers attention. I know this is a subjective opinion, and someone might prove me wrong, but I dare say that barely 5% of the audience had ever played Star Wars: The Old Republic - let alone the few people who actively play it.

 

Most people there probably care for the big games in their arsenal. Battlefield 1. Madden and Fifa. Mass Effect Andromeda. Highly acclaimed and new games. You want those people to take the stage when those are the leading expectation drivers this summer. It wasn't hard to guess that EA would focus their advertisement on those titles. The year for Star Wars comes again in 2017. The new mainstream movie will hit. The advertisement will go full swing for Episode 8. I dare say 95% of the people there wanted to see Battlefield 1 gameplay more than anything.

 

The second thing is about getting maximum effect from the advertisement. Releasing a SWTOR trailer together with Battlefield 1 and Mass Effect Andromeda will undoubtedly make the trailer sink back into nothingness between the three big titles. They stand to get more effect when the trailer is released on its own - for example during the Star Wars Celebration or the Cantina Tour thereof. That's the target medium. Not the wider gaming scene. Not some shooter players who will never touch an MMORPG with a ten feet pole. Star Wars gamers. Fans of the lore. People playing the game or who previously played the game.

 

The third issue are those predictions about the content drought. I dislike the current approach as much as the next person. I'm a casual raider, and I think it's less and less enticing to keep your sub up. But that's not their target audience. Their target audience are whales with addictive personalities. Whales who spend hundreds of dollars each month on hypercrates. I think a two month content drought won't be as much of a deal breaker as people make it out to be. Keep in mind that we had a two month break in chapter releases before, and the game is still standing. People should really stop this "If Bioware goes a single month without any content, this game will immediately crash burning!". I dislike the current approach, but I doubt that there aren't enough whales/addicted players to catch the fall for a month or two in preparation of the new chapter release.

 

In short? I think we should all step back a bit. It wasn't hard to guess that EA would choose to reveal the cinematic trailer later on. For example during Gamescom or Star Wars celebration in London. EA Play was simply not their audience. Those people were probably invested into Battlefield and the sports gaming scene, and less into a five year old MMORPG on a less than optimal engine.

 

I appreciate your perspective and counter-point, but there would be even fewer vested interests in attendance at the Star Wars celebration which is much more similar to a ComicCon than any gaming convention, or Gamescom which is in mid-August, after the last Chapter in Season 1 is out and far too late from a timeline perspective. There must be enough interest at E3 as that's where they chose to make the announcement last year for the first season of KOTFE so it would stand to reason that they'd likely choose the same venue for Season 2. Last year it received an enormous amount of media attention and was one of the most popular games of the show. I think there's enough interest to justify it, and the fact that we've not simply had no announcement but not even a hint of what kind of timeline they're looking to for the first chapter of Season 2 is worrying. They cannot allow a lapse between seasons.

[Alssaran]

I appreciate your perspective and counter-point, but there would be even fewer vested interests in attendance at the Star Wars celebration which is much more similar to a ComicCon than any gaming convention.

 

Which still doesn't chane the fact that a convention focused around the Star Wars IP, and the first major Cantina Tour Event in 2016, are much less of a long shot than EA Play. There is a better chance to get maximum effect with Star Wars fans and old players/current veterans at either of those two events than EA Play.

 

Or Gamescom which is in mid-August, after the last Chapter in Season 1 is out and far too late from a timeline perspective.

 

Gamescom 2016 is ~15th of August. That's supposedly two and a half weeks from the last chapter release, and they could show a CGI trailer and announce a new season release as early as September 2016. There is no rule to immediately start the content release four weeks after chapter sixteen has hit. That is only your subjective point of view as to how frequent you would see this content release.

 

It remains a fact that there was a three month break in chapter releases before, and the game is still around, and it turned a profit. A month of break-time to polish the content will not kill this game - not from an objective point of view.

 

There must be enough interest at E3 as that's where they chose to make the announcement last year for the first season of KOTFE so it would stand to reason that they'd likely choose the same venue for Season 2.

 

They choose E3 2015 as their battlefield for the new CGI trailer for a multitude of reasons - and I actually alluded to one of them there.

 

Battlefield: There were fewer games in their lineup during E3 2015. Battlefield was still in development, and there was nothing substantial to show for it. This year was all about Battlefield 1, and it was the most highly anticipated title of the year. Then there was Mass Effect Andromeda - a Bioware title. For every Bioware fan, that game has to be the main focus of their attention. Even with a new CGI trailer for this game, I doubt many fans in the audience would care.

 

Star Wars Hype: 2015 saw a major Star Wars hype going on. That is why they choose to market SWTOR and Battlefront the way they did. It was a good fit for the overall theme of the year. Everybody was talking about Star Wars, and it was the thing. It's much different this year. There is a spin-off movie coming out in December, but nobody can actually say that it receives the same hype as a trilogy movie. It's kind of there. People know about it, but nobody wants to have this second Star Wars year in a row. It would be oversaturating the market with Star Wars - which is also the reason they leave any new Star Wars game announcements for E3 2017. Having 2015 show off Star Wars trailers, then presenting Star Wars in 2016, and then have two new major Star Wars games in 2017 would burn people out on the IP.

 

Ubisoft is trying to cram a new AC game down our throats every single year, and the discontent with that shows in the gaming industry. It has become somewhat of a running gag. This year is a Battlefield and Mass Effect advertisement year, and we will return to Star Wars advertisement during E3 2017 with the new Visceral title and a followup Battlefront game.

 

Last year it received an enormous amount of media attention and was one of the most popular games of the show.

 

Because it was one of the better CGI trailers at the time, and it did not compete with substantial and acclaimed titles such as Andromeda and Battlefield 1. Excuse me for being blunt here: Nobody would give a bloody thought about a season 2 trailer for half an MMO expansion when it aired at the same time as the first Mass Effect Andromeda trailer (which contained some substantial informations and character introductions), and one of the most anticipated shooters of the year. A CGI trailer of KotFE would be an afterthought between those two giants, and the media would not jump on it.

 

I think there's enough interest to justify it.

 

Nope. You're giving too much credit to the EA audience. The broader EA audience probably doesn't care one bit about a five year old MMORPG that's based on a less than average recoding of the hero engine. This game is old, and you notice it quite a bit.

 

The fact that we've not simply had no announcement but not even a hint of what kind of timeline they're looking to for the first chapter of Season 2 is worrying.

 

There is no need to announce a season two and advertise for it when season 1 isn't even finished for another six weeks. Every trailer or cutscene content would contain spoilers for the end of season 1. They could finish season 1 at the end of July, and then announce season 2 during mid August with a supposed release date of early September. Nobody would mind.

 

They cannot allow a lapse between seasons.

 

Which is your subjective opinion. Even though I dislike the current content approach, I don't think that the game will empty out and die in agony when Bioware takes a break from releasing a story chapter for a single month. It's not possible. Most people will probably just keep their subscription going for a single month, resort to buying old packs or farming old items they still need, or farm some achievements for two weeks.

 

What do you expect they do from this point forward? Keep releasing content every single month until the game shuts down in a few years?

 

It's completely acceptable to take a month during the late summer and work on refining the next chapters. Keep in mind that most people are on holiday during August anyway. The game had a three month chapter release gap just a short while ago, and the servers are still online.

[MTCason]

The three month gap your refer to was after we had the first 9 chapters of Season 1. Plenty of content to fill that span. In this instance, there'll be nothing save, perhaps, the anniversary event. All any of us have, here, are our subjective opinions. I never claimed to speak for anyone save myself and others who have voiced the same concerns in this and other threads. And my concern is that a lapse between Seasons will be a terrible blow for SWTOR. They have had a year, now, to get everyone used to this. A new Chapter every month. Deviate from that and you disrupt the playing experience of the community. No matter how that's viewed, it isn't good. And personally, I think it would be a huge mistake for them to take several months off until they get a big chunk of Season 2 out same as they did Season 1. I HOPE that is the direction they are headed in, but to have no word now less than a month and a half before Chapter 16 will be released (the first week of August), confidence is waning.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I appreciate your perspective and counter-point, but there would be even fewer vested interests in attendance at the Star Wars celebration which is much more similar to a ComicCon than any gaming convention, or Gamescom which is in mid-August, after the last Chapter in Season 1 is out and far too late from a timeline perspective. There must be enough interest at E3 as that's where they chose to make the announcement last year for the first season of KOTFE so it would stand to reason that they'd likely choose the same venue for Season 2. Last year it received an enormous amount of media attention and was one of the most popular games of the show. I think there's enough interest to justify it, and the fact that we've not simply had no announcement but not even a hint of what kind of timeline they're looking to for the first chapter of Season 2 is worrying. They cannot allow a lapse between seasons.

 

You ignore the possibility that maybe this game didn't ever reach the goals set by EA after the previous E3. It might have been a financial gamble that didn't reap the rewards they hoped it might.

 

Heck it might be worse and this game might just be on an auto pilot style of development now with no real "new" content in terms of gameplay etc. and just more and more story turned out month after month and year after year with whatever else they can lump in with the limited team working on other areas and however long that might take.

 

If all they are going to do is release another season of KoTFE then no wonder they didn't want to waste any money or time pushing it hard - there is nothing new to push and KoTFE imo already feel well under what was promised and advertised at the time.

 

Expect something at the star wars celebration etc. of course because that's the niche market for it and where they'll get the best ROI for any push they do make towards this game but beyond that ... don't expect much at all I personally believe.

 

As always, I would be very happy to be proven wrong and see some massive, unforeseen announcement on the horizon ... I'm just quite pessimistic about this game right now and don't see that happening.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

The three month gap your refer to was after we had the first 9 chapters of Season 1. Plenty of content to fill that span. In this instance, there'll be nothing save, perhaps, the anniversary event. All any of us have, here, are our subjective opinions. I never claimed to speak for anyone save myself and others who have voiced the same concerns in this and other threads. And my concern is that a lapse between Seasons will be a terrible blow for SWTOR. They have had a year, now, to get everyone used to this. A new Chapter every month. Deviate from that and you disrupt the playing experience of the community. No matter how that's viewed, it isn't good. And personally, I think it would be a huge mistake for them to take several months off until they get a big chunk of Season 2 out same as they did Season 1. I HOPE that is the direction they are headed in, but to have no word now less than a month and a half before Chapter 16 will be released (the first week of August), confidence is waning.

 

Maybe they'll fill the gap with 2 operations and 2 flashpoints and a new planet for dailies ... wouldn't that be awesome

[AlienEyeTX]

Maybe they'll fill the gap with 2 operations and 2 flashpoints and a new planet for dailies ... wouldn't that be awesome

 

Ugh... more dailies. I get that people need Ops and FPs. I suppose a change of scenery is fine for dailies, but really... there are SO MANY areas to do dailies. I'd much rather them give PvP something more to look at than to give us another boring daily area.

 

I know, I know... PvP just got a new arena and a new WZ. But they still need to do more. A new arena is almost worthless because they are all the same and no one even looks at the enviro. There is no denying that there is just a sad number of WZs for a game of this age.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Ugh... more dailies. I get that people need Ops and FPs. I suppose a change of scenery is fine for dailies, but really... there are SO MANY areas to do dailies. I'd much rather them give PvP something more to look at than to give us another boring daily area.

 

I know, I know... PvP just got a new arena and a new WZ. But they still need to do more. A new arena is almost worthless because they are all the same and no one even looks at the enviro. There is no denying that there is just a sad number of WZs for a game of this age.

 

Not enough players do PVP to warrant any more content ever imo. I honestly expected a lot more players to do PVP ( at least in the short term ) after the new arena and map dropped but it felt like the numbers barely rose at all.

 

The ROI there must be quite horrible I am guessing so yeah ... I doubt you'll see any more PVP.

[Alssaran]

The three month gap your refer to was after we had the first 9 chapters of Season 1. Plenty of content to fill that span. In this instance, there'll be nothing save, perhaps, the anniversary event.

 

And now you have the Eternal Championship, all the Alliance alerts, two new PvP maps, the new event, and the seven remaining chapters every person who will resub in August for a month to gain the remaining content will have. I don't see how currently taking a break for a single month is that much of an issue when the three months break back then was resting on the idea of nine short chapters and the repetitive SF content. It's not that much of a stretch.

 

All any of us have, here, are our subjective opinions. I never claimed to speak for anyone save myself and others who have voiced the same concerns in this and other threads. And my concern is that a lapse between Seasons will be a terrible blow for SWTOR. They have had a year, now, to get everyone used to this. A new Chapter every month.

 

And they never said anywhere that this would continue ad infinitum and ad nauseam until this game shuts down. It is completely reasonable for them to take a month to polish new content and then continue the release of the next eight chapters without a delay for eight months straight. They have previously had this content gap under less favourable circumstances, and with less KotFE content - a longer gap if I might add.

 

And personally, I think it would be a huge mistake for them to take several months off until they get a big chunk of Season 2 out same as they did Season 1.

 

But KotFE season 1 worked well for them. Less production cost, a higher ROI, and a good profit to boost. The game made approx. 53m€ in revenue over the past months - that's not bad sign. The game took a slight drop during November-Januar, but it was still 40m$+ overall. That's a good profit margin, considering that the production cost for KotFE was susbtantially lower than that.

 

The fact is that, subjectively, we might not like a content gap of 2-3 months, but it's unlikely to matter in the long run. Even the content locusts and subscription lapses are well accounted for in their business department. It's something analysts and managers actually take into account when making the timetables for new releases and investments. A two month content gap for new chapters is unlikely to hit the game into the ground.

 

There is also the matter of crunchtime and christmas to consider. Depending on how much crunchtime was done, the developers will definitely want longer holidays for that. It means that nobody would be around during most of December and early January to oversee the release of the chapter, and guarantee a bug-free release. I had to snort a laugh there, but it's true.

 

Depending on whether the crunchtime was used or not, we might see this "release a few chapters at once - break - monthly release" schedule continuing this year. It all depends on their overall marketing strategy.

 

I HOPE that is the direction they are headed in, but to have no word now less than a month and a half before Chapter 16 will be released (the first week of August), confidence is waning.

 

And again: There are several issues with announcing season 2 before season 1 has actually ended.

 

Imagine they release a cutscene trailer, and there is a group shot without Theron. Literally everyone is standing in the alliance base, but Theron is missing. That could be a spoiler that Theron dies in chapter sixteen. It's an example, and it's unlikely to happen.

 

Or imagine that the new CGI trailer shows Scorpio commanding a few GEMINI units. Or Vaylin fighting Scorpio. Or Arcann lying defeated and half dead. Or Valkorion doing something that's not revealed yet. Depending on what the trailer shows, releasing it before "The GEMINI Deception" is a bad idea.

 

We are very likely to receive it next month - after chapter fifteen. Or at the same time as chapter sixteen. If they would want to release it spoiler free, and after giving everyone a substantial time to play the chapter, I think a Cologne Cantina Tour event during Gamescom would be the bet to take. It's two weeks after the chapter. Most people who want to play through KotFE will have done so by then.

[kasanth]

Not surprising. Its getting so expensive for companies to do anything at E3 that quite a few dont do it anymore.

[Fireswraith]

I actually think we might see Nintendo duck out of more E3's in the coming years.

[Falensawino]

THis thread got picked up by the swtor subreddit.

 

reddit.com/r/swtor/comments/4ny0lr/star_wars_the_old_republic_no_swtor_reveal_at_e3/

 

Basic comments saying anyone who wanted something new from swtor at E3 misplaced their expectations because KotFE hasn't finished and season 2 was already forecast.

 

 

 

"There was absolutely nothing new to expect or announce from the dev." - redditors

 

 

posted by: Greaterdivinity received: 9 points submitted: 4 hours ago

 

...why would anyone expect any major reveals for SWTOR right now, especially at E3?

 

They're still in the middle of the Fallen Empire expansion, which wraps up in a few months, and will likely have some additional content that's not story related to release afterwards. Wasting stage time during E3 week to announce some new minor content updates in SWTOR makes no sense.

 

People need to enhance their calm, sheesh.

 

 

 

-----------------------

Blur' Studios big trailer this E3 was the Halo Wars 2 cinematic trailer. if they were working on anything for Bioware or EA, it was put on the backburner.

 

Loosely based on what's found on wikipedia, Bioware's relationship with Blur Studio was setup by Lucasarts when it was still a developer. EA and Disney seem to have little motivation to honor that deal for future projects after The Old Republic.

 

Blur created all the space sequences in James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster film Avatar, and produced the trailers for LucasArts' Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II.

 

----------------------

Not surprising. Its getting so expensive for companies to do anything at E3 that quite a few dont do it anymore.

 

I actually think we might see Nintendo duck out of more E3's in the coming years.

 

It's speculated that E3 will look more like a fan event in the future, less of an industry event.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Falensawino

[MeNaCe-NZ]

And now for those that avoid reddit for various reasons we have people bringing reddit to us anyway.

[AlienEyeTX]

Not enough players do PVP to warrant any more content ever imo. I honestly expected a lot more players to do PVP ( at least in the short term ) after the new arena and map dropped but it felt like the numbers barely rose at all.

 

The ROI there must be quite horrible I am guessing so yeah ... I doubt you'll see any more PVP.

 

I am so glad you don't make the decisions.

 

PvP has its place and if the devs paid any attention to it, you'd see more people participating.

 

IMHO, of course...

[Falensawino]

And now for those that avoid reddit for various reasons we have people bringing reddit to us anyway.

 

Just following BenIrving's open letter,

Despite that, our whole team, myself included try to digest all of the internet for SWTOR information – The forums, Reddit, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Recently there have been questions and concerns around the quality of our releases and the ongoing support for SWTOR and I wanted to stop by to address those concerns.

thought some people would've liked to know they were being watched. phantom menace: "like we're being watched"

 

Doesn't make much of a difference, most of the angsty accounts on the subreddit don't have active subscriptions.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Falensawino

[Suplax]

They will release something... once the new movie drop and they can profit on it.

[Rolodome]

There was only a brief nod to the entire lineup of Star Wars games from EA. Thankfully they did include SWTOR in that lineup but it got no more than a passing mention, the same as with all other Star Wars titles.

Seems to me they just made a marketing decision based on having a lot of titles to talk about. EA is a big publisher. BW is just one developer under them.

 

And SW has always been way bigger than any one SW game. A generalized SW E3 pres may actually draw more attention to TOR, with it being included, than a TOR specific E3 pres. Cause then you get viewers who know nothing about TOR, but came for SW. Now TOR is in their heads. Specially with Youtube and the internet being how it is.

 

I don't see any cause for concern here. Just evolving practices in a relatively young industry.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

I am so glad you don't make the decisions.

 

PvP has its place and if the devs paid any attention to it, you'd see more people participating.

 

IMHO, of course...

 

They paid attention to it and nothing positive came from it, more whinging and more players leaving not to mention annoying "balance" changes just to suit PVP ( that barely anyone plays ).

 

The best decision the devs could make is to ignore PVP completely and focus on more content in the PVE environment even if that does mean solo story content.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

Doesn't make much of a difference, most of the angsty accounts on the subreddit don't have active subscriptions.

 

Which is why I tend to avoid reddit, a bit too OTT on the negative outlook and bias.

 

Though here at times can be just as bad in the opposite direction ... "there are no issues, what issues? OMG just don't play the game if you hate it so much because you have an opinion that isn't how wonderful and successful this game is!"