Let me get this straight...

[casirabit]

Just to set some expectations... We do have a renewed focus on MMO and group content but this in no way means that we will only deliver that content and nothing else. Different content is not mutually exclusive, in fact it is often in support of each other (Oricon/Dreadmasters, as an example).

 

We are still BioWare, story and companions will remain a cornerstone of SWTOR.

 

-eric

 

Thank you. One thing that sets you apart from all the other MMO's is the story. I loved the story and the leveling experience and really enjoyed the stories, just wish they were a little more in depth.

 

I came from SWG and the one thing I liked about SWTOR was the stories and that is one thing that I miss when I play SWG is your stories.

 

I am not a big operation person, though I have done some. I do like group activities but mainly small ones that I can do with my boyfriend or a few friends that doesn't take 2 hours to complete.

 

My boyfriend and I did a couple of the uprising and we actually enjoyed them due to the length of time it took. Some may have more time to devote to operations and/or flashpoints but not everyone does so I do appreciate what you did with the uprising.

[casirabit]

Maybe just maybe the game has story content you won't do then? We've had 25 chapters of purely solo story content so if we get a nice side story that is tied to operations then to so be it - this game needs it.

 

You also said "I don't play OPs" which almost implies you aren't even willing to give them a try so I have little sympathy if that's the case.

 

Whilst I wouldn't be opposed to them adding an easier tactical mode for newer 8 person groups ( 16 person was always a breeze for newer players to tag along but not enough players left to form those sort of groups very often ) I really hope they don't do a solo mode again like with 3.0 otherwise you'll get the solo player whinging about a lack of new content when they beat the fight first day and get nothing new for months.

 

 

The problem with the operations is they can take up to 2 hours and that is if you are lucky enough to find a group that actually knows what they are doing. Not everyone has that kind of time to devote to one thing in the game. I don't think gating content behind an operation is a good idea. I like the way they did Revan, where you had a choice to do it solo or as an operation, therefore you could finish the story and those that like operations or had the time could do it. Those that didn't could do it the other way. It really was a win/win situation for everyone involved.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

The problem with the operations is they can take up to 2 hours and that is if you are lucky enough to find a group that actually knows what they are doing. Not everyone has that kind of time to devote to one thing in the game. I don't think gating content behind an operation is a good idea. I like the way they did Revan, where you had a choice to do it solo or as an operation, therefore you could finish the story and those that like operations or had the time could do it. Those that didn't could do it the other way. It really was a win/win situation for everyone involved.

 

Except it discouraged raiding imo. In 2.0 people wanted to finish the dread master story? They had to do the raid and thus many did. 3.0? They could and did choose the alternative.

 

In the reduced population we have now that is primarily made up of solo story players ( one would assume ) not having some reason to really push them into doing the raid would make it a disaster for the actual raiding purpose of it imo.

 

I've been a big fan of mini operations personally. Something the length of SnV say but split over 3 raids. And I mean raids/operations - not flashpoints and not uprisings - 8/16 player big bad *** bosses with a little sprinkling of decent trash on the way.

They are all then linked by story and may even be their own separate side story combined - so no "here do this solo stuff and now to finish it you need to do a raid" you either do the raids or don't see the side story.

That takes care of the time factor and hell throw in a tactical version for ***** and giggles to make things really easy ( but still requiring a big enough group ).

 

My other concern without "gated" raiding of some sort if there is no preferred gearing system anymore as a carrot - it's all this GC **** so there needs to be something to really encourage people to raid - anything that's not "solo mode".

 

Not that I want to force people to play how I want to play but I need people to play with and I am all for means to encourage people to raid as opposed to giving them an option to avoid it altogether and I'm sure if BWA put in dev effort to more raids they must be thinking the same thing i.e. "why waste all these dev resources and then give them a way to avoid it entirely".

[HuaRya]

Eric, hope you might be still reading this thread despite the antagonistic comments which some have logic to.

 

The one thing to have the most profound impact will be to make a new operation. I would go with one based on Iokath robot world. This would pull people back to the game as only operations really give a working guild something to do as a collective. Everything else is a distraction because Operations are the Roller coasters of the MMO Theme park.

[YoshiRaphElan]

Maybe just maybe the game has story content you won't do then? We've had 25 chapters of purely solo story content so if we get a nice side story that is tied to operations then to so be it - this game needs it.

 

I don't mind that. My point is that the main story should be accessible to Solo or Group content. The Dread Masters had been primarily in Ops so that was one thing (albeit a bit annoying that you can play through Oricon solo...only to not ever be able to finish that story if you're not good at or can't play Ops for whatever reason, but that's beside the point). My problem would be if the main ongoing story is locked behind Group content that not everyone can do.

 

You also said "I don't play OPs" which almost implies you aren't even willing to give them a try so I have little sympathy if that's the case.

 

It's not that so much as I don't feel like I'd be good at them.

 

Whilst I wouldn't be opposed to them adding an easier tactical mode for newer 8 person groups ( 16 person was always a breeze for newer players to tag along but not enough players left to form those sort of groups very often ) I really hope they don't do a solo mode again like with 3.0 otherwise you'll get the solo player whinging about a lack of new content when they beat the fight first day and get nothing new for months.

 

Well, then it's on them if they do whine. Why not do it for those who want it just because a few, a vocal minority, will whine about it? People are going to whine no matter what happens, so at least they could try to please the largest amount of people possible.

 

But this is kind of premature; we're not even sure how much story will be involved in group content, or even if it will be Ops. It might be Flashpoints and Uprisings.

[MadDutchman]

Except it discouraged raiding imo. In 2.0 people wanted to finish the dread master story? They had to do the raid and thus many did. 3.0? They could and did choose the alternative.

 

In the reduced population we have now that is primarily made up of solo story players ( one would assume ) not having some reason to really push them into doing the raid would make it a disaster for the actual raiding purpose of it imo.

 

I've been a big fan of mini operations personally. Something the length of SnV say but split over 3 raids. And I mean raids/operations - not flashpoints and not uprisings - 8/16 player big bad *** bosses with a little sprinkling of decent trash on the way.

They are all then linked by story and may even be their own separate side story combined - so no "here do this solo stuff and now to finish it you need to do a raid" you either do the raids or don't see the side story.

That takes care of the time factor and hell throw in a tactical version for ***** and giggles to make things really easy ( but still requiring a big enough group ).

 

My other concern without "gated" raiding of some sort if there is no preferred gearing system anymore as a carrot - it's all this GC **** so there needs to be something to really encourage people to raid - anything that's not "solo mode".

 

Not that I want to force people to play how I want to play but I need people to play with and I am all for means to encourage people to raid as opposed to giving them an option to avoid it altogether and I'm sure if BWA put in dev effort to more raids they must be thinking the same thing i.e. "why waste all these dev resources and then give them a way to avoid it entirely".

 

If given an option of solo vs ops, and people take solo, then that is absolutely an option that should be available going forward. It would be foolish to ignore the Oricon lesson.

 

Rather than forcing people into group content they would rather not do (yes, that is what it is), they'd be far better off incentivising ops more (and with more than just a faster gear progression).

 

I've never even finished the solo part of Oricon, since I know I won't be able to actually complete the story. It's a whole section of the game that might as well not exist for me since I can't (in my case, it is not just preference, it is a physical impossibility) actually complete it, there is no point even starting.

 

Dangle a big enough carrot in front of players, and make the entry into ops faster and simpler, and people will do them. Try to force them into it and most will just refuse out of spite.

[TrixxieTriss]

Just to set some expectations... We do have a renewed focus on MMO and group content but this in no way means that we will only deliver that content and nothing else. Different content is not mutually exclusive, in fact it is often in support of each other (Oricon/Dreadmasters, as an example).

 

We are still BioWare, story and companions will remain a cornerstone of SWTOR.

 

-eric

 

Hi Eric, Please read this and address/discuss this issue in the live stream

 

The elephant in the room.

 

Without increased server populations, any group content you release will only be viable on some servers. Just from looking at your own server status link we can see there are really only 3 (maybe 4) viable servers in the US and 2 in the EU.

After reading all the forum posts about dead servers, low population servers, server merges and free legacy transfers, it paints an even worse picture than just looking at the server status data.

People can't play group content on most of the dead severs. Pvp is impossible on most because it just doesn't pop. Operations are impossible unless you have a guild that can coordinate enough people to be in the game at the same time, you can't even get a few randoms to join if you are short.

Most dead servers have become the domain of the solo story players. They like these dead servers because they are quiet, they don't have to share mobs or resources. For them it's like playing a solo game, not an MMO. I don't want to ruin the game for them but you have other people stuck on those servers who want the full group content promised when they sub.

I don't think it's fair that people should have to pay to get off them. It's not the players responsibility to pay money because the server died. It should be Biowares responsibility to provide a system so that all players can login and play all the content they pay for in a subscription.

 

I really only see 2 alternatives to fix this problem.

 

1. Give a permanent option of "free, whole legacy transfers" with all of the things people have, to a populated server of their choice. But only allow people to transfer to healthy population servers. Not to other dead ones. You could then restrict those accounts from rerolling on the dead servers. This option should remain in place permanently so that any returning players or new players to the game have the option to get off those servers when ever they may return to the game in the future.

 

2. Merge servers. This seems to be the most controversial for those solo/guild players because they are worried about a smooth transition of things like guild ships and banks as well as having to share servers switch other people.

 

It won't matter how much group content you add if people can't play it.

 

Plus having dead servers is a disservice to the game, any new player or returning players who end up on one and see that it's dead will leave and bad mouth the game.

IMO, removing the server population status on the selection screen was a bad move, especially as far as new players are concerned.

Edited January 24, 2017 by TrixxieTriss

[BenKatarn]

We are still BioWare, story and companions will remain a cornerstone of SWTOR.

 

-eric

 

With all due respect, no, you're not Bioware. Not anymore. I don't know if even your Canadian brethren still count as the Bioware most people remember.

[DarthWoad]

2 - We definitely never said that. Although it is true that we are refocusing in on group and MMO content, that doesn't mean there is no more story coming.

 

3 - Actually quite the opposite is true. Charles himself has said that his personal goal is to ensure that all original Companions come back in a meaningful way. The question is just when/how.

 

I honestly didn't expect any other response from Bioware.

[americanaussie]

New content coming tomorrow, feb, and March. Tomorrow will be 5 new Uprisings. Not a clue what Feb and march will bring but they're announcing that this week. They are making the next xpac story already. Don't know the date on story content but we will know more thursday/Fri for aus

[Glzmo]

Just to set some expectations... We do have a renewed focus on MMO and group content but this in no way means that we will only deliver that content and nothing else. Different content is not mutually exclusive, in fact it is often in support of each other (Oricon/Dreadmasters, as an example).

 

We are still BioWare, story and companions will remain a cornerstone of SWTOR.

 

-eric

That's good. I hope that also means we'll finally get long-awaited features like chat bubbles for /say, /yell and /emote player chat and the removal of factional chat restrictions to improve communication with other players as well.

[Rabin_Lorac]

Really, let's see what MMO players should expect from an expansion, shall we (and no, this isn't from WoW).

 

Here is one for comparison:

• Level cap increase to 60 (from 50 to accommodate a lot of new content)
  
• Three new character classes
  
• Three new zones that are each three times the size of the original in game zones (i.e, equivalent to nine zones) that are fully explorable (you know, real zones not corriders used once for a story mission)
  
• A new playable race
  
• Flying mounts
  
• 819 new quests (including 3 unique quests for EACH class)
  
• Story continuation from level 50 (not an entirely new story like SWTOR)
  
• 18 new 4-man dungeons
  
• 6 new 8-man raids (level 60)
  
• 3 new 24-man raids (level 60)
  
• Three new abilities for all classes
  
• Three new PvP modes
  
• Mini-games including a casino/carnival games, mount racing and a few others.
  

 

All told it takes a few months to play through the content of that expansion. Just FYI, the base game prior to the expansion had 1,268 quests, 29 dungeons, 6 8-man raids (level 50), 3 24-man raids (level 50) and nine zones (which are 1/3 the size of the expansion zones). In other words, the expansion was equivalent in content to almost 75% of the original game. In fact, people are still playing through the content since the expansion launched and another expansion, similar in scope and size, is launching this fall.

 

What did we get with SWTOR 5.0 "expansion" for new content:

• 9 story chapters
  
• 5 uprisings
  

All told, it is about 6-8 hours to play through the content and 90% of it is really not repeatable. People were pretty much done with this the first week it launched.

 

Finally, the price for the comparison above? $20. The price for a BW expansion is at least a month's sub so $15... look how much more you get for your money with the other.

 

It is pathetic how little content BW has given for wanting people to subscribe over the last two years. Frankly, they are taking players to the cleaners with this game compared to most MMOs on the market.

 

I do not like WoW. This game you describe might sound fun. What is this game?

 

Thanks!

[Talon_strikes]

Really, let's see what MMO players should expect from an expansion, shall we (and no, this isn't from WoW).

 

Here is one for comparison:

• Level cap increase to 60 (from 50 to accommodate a lot of new content)
  
• Three new character classes
  
• Three new zones that are each three times the size of the original in game zones (i.e, equivalent to nine zones) that are fully explorable (you know, real zones not corriders used once for a story mission)
  
• A new playable race
  
• Flying mounts
  
• 819 new quests (including 3 unique quests for EACH class)
  
• Story continuation from level 50 (not an entirely new story like SWTOR)
  
• 18 new 4-man dungeons
  
• 6 new 8-man raids (level 60)
  
• 3 new 24-man raids (level 60)
  
• Three new abilities for all classes
  
• Three new PvP modes
  
• Mini-games including a casino/carnival games, mount racing and a few others.
  

 

All told it takes a few months to play through the content of that expansion. Just FYI, the base game prior to the expansion had 1,268 quests, 29 dungeons, 6 8-man raids (level 50), 3 24-man raids (level 50) and nine zones (which are 1/3 the size of the expansion zones). In other words, the expansion was equivalent in content to almost 75% of the original game. In fact, people are still playing through the content since the expansion launched and another expansion, similar in scope and size, is launching this fall.

 

What did we get with SWTOR 5.0 "expansion" for new content:

• 9 story chapters
  
• 5 uprisings
  

All told, it is about 6-8 hours to play through the content and 90% of it is really not repeatable. People were pretty much done with this the first week it launched.

 

Finally, the price for the comparison above? $20. The price for a BW expansion is at least a month's sub so $15... look how much more you get for your money with the other.

 

It is pathetic how little content BW has given for wanting people to subscribe over the last two years. Frankly, they are taking players to the cleaners with this game compared to most MMOs on the market.

I would take all of that over story content any day!

 

I do not like WoW. This game you describe might sound fun. What is this game?

 

Thanks!

If I'm not mistaken it's FFXIV

Edited January 24, 2017 by Talon_strikes

[PlasmaJohn]

Except it discouraged raiding imo. In 2.0 people wanted to finish the dread master story? They had to do the raid and thus many did. 3.0? They could and did choose the alternative.

The gating that Oricon did was a big mistake. For every person it pulled into raiding it caused several more to rage about it. Over one fight and a stupid cut-scene. Content gating (in both directions) is just as bad an idea as forced PvP.

 

You said it yourself, the utterly broken tuning was what killed raiding in 3.0. Content gating would not have solved anything there.

[Kagekeishu]

That's good. I hope that also means we'll finally get long-awaited features like chat bubbles for /say, /yell and /emote player chat and the removal of factional chat restrictions to improve communication with other players as well.

 

Sorry to burst your (chat)bubbles but it was once clearly mentioned by the Devs that there never ever will be chat-bubbles in SW:ToR because the engine can't handle it.!! If the would introduce them the only thing players would get would be endless lag and nothing more... And just in case you'll now start asking for *why not give the game a new game-engine?!*... This was also discussed over and over again with the result that it won't happen because it would be to expensive and time consuming (thats the conclusion the playser came to not the devs!!)...

 

Best regards

Kage

[Resputin]

I would take all of that over story content any day!

 

 

If I'm not mistaken it's FFXIV

 

Well first you cant compare. The one has a expansion which cost 20 bucks on top of the sub. The other one is a update that comes with your sub. Just because they call it a expansion doesnt make one. In my opinion expansion is content you get on top of the regular game and comes with a purchase price. My only guess is that they dont think they would profit by spending a X amount of money in a true expansion with the amount of revenue they would make from it. I guess SOR their last true expansion was not that profitable. If it was my guess is that instead of every December us getting updates we would of got huge expansions like 2.0 and 3.0.

[TUXs]

Well first you cant compare.

Wrong. You CAN compare. Both are MMOs. Both are fighting for the same customers. Both sold their last update as an "expansion". It's 100% fair and accurate to compare the 2 expansions, despite how terrible Bioware looks in comparison.

[HuaRya]

Wrong. You CAN compare. Both are MMOs. Both are fighting for the same customers. Both sold their last update as an "expansion". It's 100% fair and accurate to compare the 2 expansions, despite how terrible Bioware looks in comparison.

 

Yes but we have 41 flavors of light sabers and a story about an evil Earnest Hemmingway who didn't much like his kids and they came at him like had a bad experience at military school.

 

Must be a great reward for FF fans to have a game that is staffed by people determined to give them the most value added experience cause that is a theme park update of epic proportions.

[Ratajack]

Wrong. You CAN compare. Both are MMOs. Both are fighting for the same customers. Both sold their last update as an "expansion". It's 100% fair and accurate to compare the 2 expansions, despite how terrible Bioware looks in comparison.

 

Of course, if BW looked better , then it would not be a fair comparison, right? As an example, Wow charges $25 per character transfer, this game charges less than $10, even when there is no sale, but we can't compare this game to that game, despite the fact that they are both MMO's and are fighting for the same customers.

 

Once again, some people do not miss an opportunity to find fault with BW.

[Talon_strikes]

Of course, if BW looked better , then it would not be a fair comparison, right? As an example, Wow charges $25 per character transfer, this game charges less than $10, even when there is no sale, but we can't compare this game to that game, despite the fact that they are both MMO's and are fighting for the same customers.

 

Once again, some people do not miss an opportunity to find fault with BW.

Except WoW doesn't have dead servers, has x-server, and the devs aren't punishing customers for their own mistakes.

 

The devs should be ashamed of themselves and should fix the issue. Merge servers again and have 2 megaservers for US and 1 for EU. There is NO excuse for dead servers to still be up and operating and forcing customers to pay to transfer to a populated server.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Talon_strikes

[TUXs]

Wow charges $25 per character transfer, this game charges less than $10, even when there is no sale, but we can't compare this game to that game, despite the fact that they are both MMO's and are fighting for the same customers.

WOW has cross realm play. What does SWTOR have? WOW invested in their game to help players on lower pop servers still enjoy the benefits of group activities...what did SWTOR do?

[HuaRya]

Except WoW doesn't have dead servers, has x-server, and the devs aren't punishing customers for their own mistakes.

 

The devs should be ashamed of themselves and should fix the issue. Merge serves again and have 2 megaservers for US and 1 for EU. There is NO excuse for dead servers to still be up and operating and forcing customers to pay to transfer to a populated server.

 

It's nice being separated from other gamers analogous to the islands of Hawaii. Over here on the island of Kahoolawe our PVP/GSF pops once every hour during prime time and when I mean prime time I mean we've been conditioned to think you can only game in a window between 8pm-10pm. Isn't that the window that all the other MMO's in existence have? When people say the population will return when school is out, school is back in, summer is out, winter is in I'm drinking that kool aid and believing it.

 

Did I mention when we do get a pop it's against that same old premade?

Edited January 24, 2017 by HuaRya
grammar

[Quraswren]

Just to set some expectations... We do have a renewed focus on MMO and group content but this in no way means that we will only deliver that content and nothing else. Different content is not mutually exclusive, in fact it is often in support of each other (Oricon/Dreadmasters, as an example).

 

Why did you get so far away from that philosophy and really only created single player content for so long (baring uprisings that really are some of the most mediocre content made)? Different content is not mutually exclusive but you focused so much on just one area with little else being focused on for a very long time and to the detriment of the game as well as your gamers.

 

I'm curious why you moved so far away in design and development to the very thing you CLAIM to be trying to get back to. There were never mutually exclusive as you said.

 

We are still BioWare, story and companions will remain a cornerstone of SWTOR.

-eric

 

You still being bw well, thats not carrying a lot of weight or instilling a lot of confidence these days given the past min of 2 years with this game. You have to know that.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Quraswren

[cagthehack]

I thought I might take a stab at adding clarity to some of your questions.

 

1 - I made a few posts on it last week, this is the main one. Here is the short version. Starting in 5.1 you can get Unassembled Pieces from Ops which you can turn in for gear. Playing PvP will give you Unassembled Components which you can turn in for an Unassembled piece to turn in for gear. Gear turn-ins require Command Tokens which are a Legacy-wide currency you get from Command Crates.

 

2 - We definitely never said that. Although it is true that we are refocusing in on group and MMO content, that doesn't mean there is no more story coming.

 

3 - Actually quite the opposite is true. Charles himself has said that his personal goal is to ensure that all original Companions come back in a meaningful way. The question is just when/how.

 

As an added note, I would recommend tuning into our stream this Thursday as we will be talking about some of these exact topics .

 

-eric

 

Ok. Thanks. I will watch the stream.

[Resputin]

Wrong. You CAN compare. Both are MMOs. Both are fighting for the same customers. Both sold their last update as an "expansion". It's 100% fair and accurate to compare the 2 expansions, despite how terrible Bioware looks in comparison.

 

So you think its good to compare these two examples and expect them to have the same amount of content.

Example A

Expansion =15 sub

Example B

Expansion = 20 on top of your 15 sub

 

I have no clue how anyone could look at that and expect example A to have the same amount of content example B drops. You have less revenue so you put out less content.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Resputin