Where is this Story Going?

[LunaticFringer]

Barely matters to me now, OP. Too little too late as far staying a subscriber after my current card finally runs out.

 

However, I don't think it a far stretch to figure out what is going to happen with the story.

 

Mechanically, they want to get back to Republic vs. Empire.

 

Via the story though they can use Iokath (SCORPIO) to tell a broader story about the Infinite Empire as, perhaps, both a renewed threat or just a history lesson going forward. On a personal class note, I think it'll eventually scrap our Alliance to force our characters to choose sides again. A classic, history repeats itself story basically.

 

*shrugs*

 

To be honest, they already wrapped up a major portion of the KotOR storyline with this last expansion. I'm still expecting them to say something about a new mmorpg soon.

[Yezzan]

Yeah they should just make a new game and start fresh. The best part of SWTOR is from level 1-50 with class stories, planetary stories and side-quests. it went to hell with Rise of the Hutt cartel.

[Foambreaker]

Alright, class.

 

Can anyone in the room tell me, in one concise sentence, what the point of every story update, beginning with Forged Alliances, all the way through to Knights of the Eternal Throne was?

 

To save programming costs by moving us all to a one size fits all story.

[casirabit]

Alright, class.

 

Can anyone in the room tell me, in one concise sentence, what the point of every story update, beginning with Forged Alliances, all the way through to Knights of the Eternal Throne was?

 

The point of the story was (for me) to destroy the emperor.

 

Side note; Becoming empresses was perfect for my sorceress as she was never "empire per se". How could she after everything and my agent, being pro empire????

(Nope, after being brainwashed by the very people she was helping? sorry for me leaving the empire makes the perfect choice. How would my agent ever trust them again and if you can't trust them, you sure not going to want to support them.

)

[Cuiwe]

Alright, class.

 

Can anyone in the room tell me, in one concise sentence, what the point of every story update, beginning with Forged Alliances, all the way through to Knights of the Eternal Throne was?

 

I can do it in three words:

 

COST RATIONALIZATION of DEVELOPMENT

 

Meaning, less $$$ invested by them for more $$$ extracted from us. It's a basic business logic. Minimize the cost / maximize the gain.

[Ralei]

Yeah. I figured that's what y'all would say.

 

Let me rephrase a bit.

What was the entire point, story wise of the last 3 years/expansions?

 

Do you have a specific answer in mind that no one's saying or are you just being weird?

[Cuiwe]

Yeah they should just make a new game and start fresh. The best part of SWTOR is from level 1-50 with class stories, planetary stories and side-quests. it went to hell with Rise of the Hutt cartel.

 

*1000000 -> HELL YES!

 

1-50 is the best part. Everything after is a tired attempt at keeping subs and copy / pasting what works elsewhere.

[Foambreaker]

The point of the story was (for me) to destroy the emperor.

 

Side note; Becoming empresses was perfect for my sorceress as she was never "empire per se". How could she after everything and my agent, being pro empire????

(Nope, after being brainwashed by the very people she was helping? sorry for me leaving the empire makes the perfect choice. How would my agent ever trust them again and if you can't trust them, you sure not going to want to support them.

)

 

Having us betray the emperor was the end of the story to me. Republic wins, Empire loses, game over.

 

What were they thinking?

[Cuiwe]

Yeah. I figured that's what y'all would say.

 

Let me rephrase a bit.

What was the entire point, story wise of the last 3 years/expansions?

 

Aha, story wise. Hm, let's see.

 

Ilum makes perfect sense.

 

RotHC makes perfect sense.

 

SoR came from nowhere-they basically resurrected a 300 year old character(ok, he was "in stasis" /whatever)

 

Ziost makes perfect sense, but I'd prefer if the battle of Dromund Kaas was the final defeat of the Emperor.

 

Zakuul story makes no sense-even less so than SoR. I mean, how did Zakuul defeat the Republic-which by that time was back to its 80% territory control. I mean, only Okara can pump out like 1000 droideka-like droids per DAY(and Republic has like at least 1000 Okara type factories!). You can't beat that kind of logistics(think Zerg type of macro *1000)! Even 5x larger Empires than Zakuul couldn't even scratch the Republic(except a) terrorism[attack on Coruscant prior to SWTOR] and b) defilement-Palpatine, ofc). Zakuul maybe is a good story, but it makes ZERO SENSE to EVER happen. Also, why are the likes of Trooper or Agent(hyper patriots) willing to work with the Alliance(whatever that is) AGAINST their own country. I mean... :confused:

 

Without SoR and Zakuul, it'd be a pretty self contained story imo. Very nice.

Edited April 6, 2017 by Cuiwe

[Belegnole]

Wow, if hey wrote themselves into a hole there's an easy way out. Just go all Battlestar Galactica!

 

It's easy, want to leave those unresolved issues behind. No problem! It's a HUGE galaxy!

 

Fresh new story in a new place what could go wrong....

 

 

oh right, they couldn't reuse everything......

[Quraswren]

There comes a point where, if you railroad everything you write into a specific plot, that you write yourself into a hole so deep that "nuke everything and start all over again" is the only realistic option.

 

I have a very strong feeling that is exactly what is going to happen.

 

Some massive poorly written scenario where you lose everything. Your entire fleet disabled because why not. Your entire alliance is somehow crippled, turned useless and you are forced to pick a side because why not. What else is the ruler of the most powerful faction going to do but lose it all in a nonsensical way as if the player knows nothing.

 

Follow the dots and just go with it no matter how bad it is. SOP here I think.

 

I really don't see how any halfway-competent writers couldn't still finesse a "new cold war" scenario out of even this piece of hackneyed, Swiss-cheesed second-rate fanfic tripe (No, seriously: Whoever wrote this should have stuck to 'shipping Arcann and their self-insert Mary Sue in whatever obscure corner of the Internet they call home), but actual talent costs money.

 

Got that right ^

Edited April 7, 2017 by Quraswren

[Blakinik]

Bioware is known for their epic storytelling...how can you have so little faith in them? These are the same people who brought back Revan 300 years AFTER he should have died...they've brought Kephass back THREE times as an Operations boss...they have successfully combined EIGHT individual stories into ONE story that fits all eight classes equally...if they can do those things with such success, how can you possibly doubt them on this?

 

TUXs - have a virtual cookie on me man. That was one of the best satirical responses ever. Loved it!

 

Sadly we talk about story, story, and story, but wasn't TFA nothing but episode 1 & 4 replayed as episode 7? Add jokes aside, you have to admit they haven't gone down the force tearing a whole in the time stream continuum only to suck Anakin, Yoda, Luke, and Han back in time to finally slay Valkorian for that one last time.*

 

* That is until a new whole opens and Chewie, Padme, and Leia are again sucked through the tear in the fabric of space time for the final time.**

 

** That is until Luke and Yoda again come back with the force ghost of Obiwan to deliver some prophesy about the undying nature of the former Sith Emperor and are forced to again slay the Sith Emperor - this time for sure is the last time! ***

 

*** Well the next time with alternate universe manga style Leia, Luke, their love child with master Yoda somehow enter the universe in which Luke and Leia truly never were siblings so their love child really isn't as bad as you think.****

 

**** But it was a all a mystic mind trap somehow set up 3 millennia ago by Vader and Palpatine to ensure that the Sith Emperor was still around to do a giant Sith conga line thru the halls of the Galactic Republic on the exact date of the birth of Yoda.*****

 

***** Forget it man - story has gone so far off the rails I give up even trying to call it a continued story. It makes Robotech look like one continuous and well thought out storyline from the same 3 animation studios....

[Blakinik]

Let me first say that I have enjoyed the story so far. It's not the most amazing story ever, but it was entertaining and I felt that it was worth the price of my subscription.

 

However, it didn't feel like a Star Wars story.

 

Star Wars isn't just about the technology and factions, that's not the heart of it. Sure, there were Jedi and Sith and lightsabers and the Force, but those are just cosmetic aspects of the genre. I wish the writers would watch all the episodes of the animated Star Wars series, Clone Wars and Rebels, and take copious notes. Not notes on new mounts and weapons to create, but notes on the morality, themes, and emotional context of each story.

 

It also seemed to be lacking variety. Here comes the big betrayal, now fight your way through increasingly bigger foes until you defeat the main betrayer. Now there's a new faction that hates all other factions. Kill them, too. Far too much comes down to killing, or in rare cases, simplistic and largely undeserved redemption.

 

My issue with the last two expansions wasn't whether or not it was even a "Star Wars" story - it was believability. Look I know we are playing a scifi MMO here that basically has wizards (force users) battling science & technology (non-force users), but the entire Eternal Empire I just couldn't come to believe. Here is why.

 

Even at this time in the history of the republic, there are several Trillion inhabitants across over many known worlds. Yes in the SW Universe, if you want a new world for a new story you can make it up on the fly and chances are it will never ever impact the canon of another world - that is how many. So with a space fleet of a few million ships, no one ever said "You know - there is some unknown regions, maybe we could set out and explore the vast deepest of space. What do you think? Would could spare a few hundred or thousand ships you think?" After all, prior to the reemergence of the Sith, the Republic was battling - nobody according to canon? Maybe a few space pirates and smugglers. Heck, even during a time in which some down and out loser from the lower levels of Courescant could purchase a tugboat like it was a beat up old pinto station wagon, it never dawned on anyone just flying off to the west and seeing if they could have a better life for themselves?

 

So that leads to the fact that they somehow came out of the blue unexpected. I get it if they were millions of light years established from the galactic republic, but every atlas of the systems colonized during this time show that the entire republic is pretty much spread out across the galaxy, not a single peep or story of some mystical all powerful empire was accidently discovered with technology that could significantly alter the balance of power across the universe as they knew it? Even the Jedi couldn't sense it? Sorry but you can't be as evil as the Sith Emperor and NOT stand out like a massive lighthouse on the shoreline. Furthermore, even all the comics during that time show that hyperspace wasn't some multi-year jump or even multi-month, but maybe days to travel across the galaxy.

 

Then you got the Eternal Fleet - the shear amount of maintenance and material required to upkeep let alone build Zakuul and its massive spires would have required the resources of several planets to not only feed the population, but sustain the fleet without 99% of the planet and ships being mothballed at any given time. Sure a particular Dyson Sphere played part of a role here, but even then, unless there was a massive dead spot surrounding that Dyson Sphere leading everyone to thinking it was empty space, it would have consumed the entire resources of hundreds if not thousands of systems - and that is assuming there was literally 100% utilization of every atom of matter used. And that is for a very small cold star - like a red dwarf. Its the reason why even Dyson himself ever regrets throwing out the idea of a Dyson sphere because it an absurd concept. I am not even going to discuss the technology needed to somehow magically enable perfect union of the entire sphere simultaneously...

 

Even if I could accept that the Dyson sphere was plausible and the Emperor could have somehow guarded the existence of his planet from the galaxy for nearly a few centuries if not millennia, being able to tie EVERYTHING together is just jumping the shark....

Edited April 7, 2017 by Blakinik

[TUXs]

My issue with the last two expansions wasn't whether or not it was even a "Star Wars" story - it was believability. Look I know we are playing a scifi MMO here that basically has wizards (force users) battling science & technology (non-force users), but the entire Eternal Empire I just couldn't come to believe. Here is why.

 

Even at this time in the history of the republic, there are several Trillion inhabitants across over many known worlds. Yes in the SW Universe, if you want a new world for a new story you can make it up on the fly and chances are it will never ever impact the canon of another world - that is how many. So with a space fleet of a few million ships, no one ever said "You know - there is some unknown regions, maybe we could set out and explore the vast deepest of space. What do you think? Would could spare a few hundred or thousand ships you think?" After all, prior to the reemergence of the Sith, the Republic was battling - nobody according to canon? Maybe a few space pirates and smugglers. Heck, even during a time in which some down and out loser from the lower levels of Courescant could purchase a tugboat like it was a beat up old pinto station wagon, it never dawned on anyone just flying off to the west and seeing if they could have a better life for themselves?

 

So that leads to the fact that they somehow came out of the blue unexpected. I get it if they were millions of light years established from the galactic republic, but every atlas of the systems colonized during this time show that the entire republic is pretty much spread out across the galaxy, not a single peep or story of some mystical all powerful empire was accidently discovered with technology that could significantly alter the balance of power across the universe as they knew it? Even the Jedi couldn't sense it? Sorry but you can't be as evil as the Sith Emperor and NOT stand out like a massive lighthouse on the shoreline. Furthermore, even all the comics during that time show that hyperspace wasn't some multi-year jump or even multi-month, but maybe days to travel across the galaxy.

 

Then you got the Eternal Fleet - the shear amount of maintenance and material required to upkeep let alone build Zakuul and its massive spires would have required the resources of several planets to not only feed the population, but sustain the fleet without 99% of the planet and ships being mothballed at any given time. Sure a particular Dyson Sphere played part of a role here, but even then, unless there was a massive dead spot surrounding that Dyson Sphere leading everyone to thinking it was empty space, it would have consumed the entire resources of hundreds if not thousands of systems - and that is assuming there was literally 100% utilization of every atom of matter used. And that is for a very small cold star - like a red dwarf. Its the reason why even Dyson himself ever regrets throwing out the idea of a Dyson sphere because it an absurd concept. I am not even going to discuss the technology needed to somehow magically enable perfect union of the entire sphere simultaneously...

 

Even if I could accept that the Dyson sphere was plausible and the Emperor could have somehow guarded the existence of his planet from the galaxy for nearly a few centuries if not millennia, being able to tie EVERYTHING together is just jumping the shark....

BRILLIANT post!!!

 

The only thing I'd add is how Valkorian was GOD like. Even Darth Sidious needed the Death Star to destroy a planet...Valkorian pulled it apart with the force?! If that were the case, all Jedi AND Sith would have been wiped out the very next day. Anyone with that much unanswerable power is a threat beyond imagination.

[Imperial_Envoy]

They are pulling a STO line of thinking

 

We have the uber Federation, and because there are no easy folks to fight, let's make even more harder enemies like Species 8472, The Borg, The Vaaudwar, The Na'Kuhl etc, to keep the powercreep going, wrap it in a box with some story line to satisfy our players and then write another super enemy (Iconains) that will render all your hard work useless and keep going from that.

 

One problem: You can only keep it up that long.

[perotta]

Am I the only one who thinks that the writers forgot that it's not another Mass Effect or Dragon Age? The story feels like something we could have gotten in those games, only distilled. You get special-snowflake'd in the first 30 minutes, you go against the uberpower that had never been seen before, you gather allies to form an alliance of sorts, you get two advisers, male and female, you get a female LI who is shoehorned with you at every opportunity (Lana, I love you, but Bioware is doing you a disservice), you get a villain who engages in some armchair-villainy, a villain who is a bigger threat with a God complex....

 

Only you know, much, much shallower. The powers you get don't make sense for half the characters, the uberpower receives just about zero world building and makes no sense in context, you receive your Alliance on a silver plate without moving a finger, the Bigger Bad acts like his plans aren't painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain...

 

I don't know where this story is going, but it's nowhere good. It's just not fixable at this point. The writers can either go further with Zakuul direction, which aggravate the issues above, or try to return to the roots, which would require a lot of Idiot Balls thrown around.

[Khaleijo]

I have come to wish for a quick end of the whole Valkorion Zakuul nonsense.

Although i normally would consider this cheap i just can't see a better way to get out of the corner we are in:

 

Just have my character wake up in a medbay with a bad headache, either because of a hangover after drinking himself into delirium after Ziost, an accident, speedercrash or even a terrorist attack on the fleet from the new to be introduced enemy.

All my inquistor remembers is a weird dream. Then we are back to square one at a post Ziost state of the galaxy, with every road open to a new more Star wars feeling and hopefully better written story.

 

If BW doesn't want to get rid off all of Vitiate/Valkorion, they could even implement a mysterious chuckle with the emperors voice over from Ziost to indicate that he has played one of his games with us again and we can go back to him at some later point.

Having all the new companions available wouldn't even matter, as they aren't really used in the story anyway, old class companion possible to kill during KOTFE/KOTET won't show up in the future story either.

 

Even the cross class recruitment is still possible, as per canon my character is the big hero anyway, why not solve it like with T7 who joins the Jedi knight, but tells about his former master.

I never was the hero of Tython, the new underworld boss and the new Wrath at the same time according to game canon. The others do exist but playing the story was always one perspective at a time, though we were able to change it by playing another class.

No need to keep for example Talos from abandoning Nox to be reassigned to the warrior, to have Mako trip something intelligence related and meet my agent who 'steals' her from the BH. Or even have her survive an BH assassination attempt on the player character with the choice to kill her or spare and recruit her.

There are so many possibilities...

 

Give those class companions that weren't brought back yet, more screentime when you introduce the new enemy faction and everyone is happy.

 

I just don't see any believable way to get off the eternal throne and back to Republic vs Sith Empire. In my opinion it's better to just say 'oops it all didn't really happen', and start fresh than to just go on with this mess.

Edited April 7, 2017 by Khaleijo

[SentinelThain]

I just completed it yesterday and all I can say is thank f u c k for that.

The whole thing was a HUGE clusterf u c k from the start.

And the ending LOL,it was laughable.A Smuggler becoming the Emperor wow,just wow.

As some above posed I just wish the whole Zakuul thing was a very bad dream.

Why not have the Mandalorians as a new faction instead of the made up bs.