Game Update 5.7 and Beyond

[uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu]

Same for Jaessa. It could open up new paths. You had LS Jaessa and now want to turn her DS. Or you had LS Jaessa and she wasn't a LI but now she can be, etc etc.

 

Hadn't considered this either great point. It's at least a little hopeful in my eyes that we might see some half decent returns out of this. Which is why it bugs me so much how many people are crying about it just because they want every bricked companion on every character at the expense of good story. Hope the devs aren't swayed by this.

[Rheshalea]

Hope springs eternal...

....WHAT IF these returning comps, CLASS specific, is a lead-in to more CLASS specific content?

Different classes and different takes on whatever the overall storyline in the future is?

Presented in snippets like this, a couple of classes per month or so, and boom, by summer it all comes together in a glorious secret expansion no one saw coming because we all thought I was hallucinating due to content drought..?

[uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu]

Hope springs eternal...

....WHAT IF these returning comps, CLASS specific, is a lead-in to more CLASS specific content?

Different classes and different takes on whatever the overall storyline in the future is?

Presented in snippets like this, a couple of classes per month or so, and boom, by summer it all comes together in a glorious secret expansion no one saw coming because we all thought I was hallucinating due to content drought..?

 

Going back to class based stories would be an absolute dream come true. Before the naysayers who always feel the need to state the obvious come, yes I know it is far fetched and EA doesn't give enough money to this game to support such a big move blah blah blah. Doesn't mean we can't dream. And doesn't mean we can't make it clear that's what we would like most in a perfect world.

[talesdae]

PLEASE put your game F2P!..... Now you block command experience and money so its useless to play.. I wondered why there is a crasy number of reroll in your game... now i know....

[Furtled]

Hope springs eternal...

....WHAT IF these returning comps, CLASS specific, is a lead-in to more CLASS specific content?

Different classes and different takes on whatever the overall storyline in the future is?

Presented in snippets like this, a couple of classes per month or so, and boom, by summer it all comes together in a glorious secret expansion no one saw coming because we all thought I was hallucinating due to content drought..?

 

It's always possible to keep one core plot but have different actions/lines depending on the class, Makeb managed that reasonably well, although the companion interactions were lacking. If that is where this is headed I'd definitely be more likely to stay subbed.

Edited January 19, 2018 by Furtled

[TheLexinator]

Obviously w will get more than this, because as is, this is pathetic.

[ExarSun]

Obviously w will get more than this, because as is, this is pathetic.

 

I don't see where it is obvious that we will. Nothing points to that...in fact it points to the same content quantity 2017 had.

[Rheshalea]

Going back to class based stories would be an absolute dream come true. Before the naysayers who always feel the need to state the obvious come, yes I know it is far fetched and EA doesn't give enough money to this game to support such a big move blah blah blah. Doesn't mean we can't dream. And doesn't mean we can't make it clear that's what we would like most in a perfect world.

 

Yeah, I don't really think it's going to happen. But IF Bioware had something like that up their sleeve, it would be kinda typical for them not to tell us and just sneak it in for us to discover.

 

 

It's always possible to keep one core plot but have different actions/lines depending on the class, Makeb managed that reasonably well, although the companion interactions were lacking. If that is where this is headed I'd definitely be more likely to stay subbed.

 

 

My brain went a little wild with daydreaming, so WHAT IF:

- We get old comps back, 2 classes per month for 4 months

- These old comps have been busy trying to find/rescue us while we were busy playing Lana/Theron's games

- The old comps unearthed some New Threat/Secret/Artifact (to note, Andronikos is a space pirate, Corso/Risha hung out with a Smuggler and Risha was basically a space pirate to start with, while Corso is too chivalrous to let her go into danger on her own)

- Different classes get different hints through their own old comps until all 8 classes are at the same timeline, but at different locations. So 8 different prologues, while the devs have time to work on the rest of the story

- Month 5 all classes are at their own starting points, and given the info needed to go forth towards finding the Big Bad. For characters that skipped KotFEET, one of the old comps we haven't been able to kill in KotFEET can deliver this info, or for that matter, any new driving force-NPC. But to make it more personal and class story-like, why not use one of the old comps?

- This way, all classes get a personal spin on the Next Story. It will lead up to the same end goal, but via different paths. WHAT IF Andronikos/Risha&Corso found the same Object of Absolute Power on Belsavis? What happens when the Smuggler and the Inquisitor "race" to find it?

Meanwhile, say the Consular and the Bounty Hunter are adversaries, and have their own "race" on Alderaan for a different Object of Absolute Power, and so on.

- Month 6, when all classes are at the same point in the story, EXPANSION TIME!

- 4 different storylines starting at different locations, leading to (let's be a little realistic, still) the same locations for the same hints and clues and parts that will ultimately lead everyone to the Object of Absolute Power

- while each class has it's own flavor of the story, because it's presented in a class-specific way by our old comps

- and the player can choose in which order to do things after the first planet

- and at crucial points, there could be several options of how to reach the story objective using the same instanced map. WHAT IF Imp/Rep had different starting points into the instance map that gives the player the objective? Possibly like Star Fortresses with some random elements and extra bosses or objectives? What if these maps were playable in a variety of different ways? Players could then choose if they want to reach the objective through PvP (new WZs) or FP/Ops (with a story/solo FP mode)

- and after completing all stories (the same ones, but at different times) on 4 (or more!) planets, gathering all the clues/parts/whathaveyou, the Grand Finale would feel different for all classes because the story of how they got there and their reasons to get there was different.

 

Of course, I'm not a game dev and I don't work for Bioware/EA/Disney, so I have no idea if any of that is even possible. But it would be cool if it was, and it would be even cooler if something along those lines were in the works, and we all are given a huge, wonderful surprise on Tuesday when Smugglers and Inquisitors start shouting about the Prologue chapters their comps are bringing with them.

 

EDIT: I forgot about the whole Traitor-storyline. It would of course need to be wrapped up too, but it could work it it timeline-wise happens shortly after these first old comps are returned

Edited January 20, 2018 by Rheshalea
added last paragraph

[Tsillah]

It's always possible to keep one core plot but have different actions/lines depending on the class, Makeb managed that reasonably well, although the companion interactions were lacking. If that is where this is headed I'd definitely be more likely to stay subbed.

Makeb also had an empire and republic side of the story. So it wasn't a single story line back then. Considering how much unused space there was on Makeb and how ridiculously high the XP was at the time (to bridge the level cap raise), I firmly believe that the Makeb main story was actually the planetary story arc that all other planets also had and was shared between the classes.

 

If you look at the Makeb story it was completely superfluous and just a small diversion with links to the storyline built around the operations at the time, but really it felt no different to me that the planetary quest lines on other planets we had before. As such we were not fighting powerful force users but a powerful Hutt and a planet that was on the verge of literally falling apart. As such it was class neutral.

 

The agent story line was pretty cool but has one big eye sore - the direct combat with Darth Jadus that you win as if you were the equal or better rather of a dark council member. That never sat well with me. Now if you'd pulled something that gave you an unexpected advantage or something clever that he hadn't seen coming that would've been acceptable. But winning in a straight combat at lower level against a dark council member was just not believable.

 

Sadly with KotFE/ET they decided to put that on all tech classes and compound the error by repeating it multiple times. But then for how powerful Vaylin was, her death was a real let down as well.

 

But I do agree with you, they should be able to have a core story where such inconsistencies can be avoided by making sure that when certain force encounters happen that tech users get a different version of how they go about defeating someone they couldn't possibly defeat in direct combat and that certain interactions are done differently to fit the classes.

 

I mean I would prefer class stories like before but it would already be a LOT better if they had a story line that actually had deviations between classes so it actually fits the classes. Of course you'd have to be a bit more clever to put that together. It seems that Bioware is employing writers though that do not have this capacity or are not allowed to be.

 

Sometimes I just feel this KotFE/ET story was written in the spirit of a 14 year old boy playing D&D who just got a major ***** because his rogue found a +5 vorpal sword and a ring of superior invisibility. And then the DM realises that perhaps he took things too far and the story has become unsalvageable.

 

I thought it was already rather quick to become a dark council member by the time we got to level 50, let alone an emperor/empress at level 70. And the scions on Iokath already talk about you becoming a god. But what is the effect?

 

Become dark council member -> do dirty work for Darth Marr

Become alliance commander -> do dirty work for Theron and Lana

Become empress -> do Lana's job for her (dealing with uprisings and chasing a traitor)

 

You see, it's not doable to write an interactive story where you make the character too important. The agent story endded nicely. I could hide away in the shadows, lead my own life and make my own choices. Until Bioware decided I had to become an alliance commander. Something that my agent would NEVER do.

 

So whatever they do, I really hope that they will completely rip this Alliance apart and have our characters not be something important anymore. I'd love to just have the galaxy back to a rebirth of the Empire and Republic, both too weak to really attack each other with Zakuul in ruins. Our characters can then be off on all sorts of adventures looking for hidden knowledge, power, artifacts, tech, whatever fits the classes. Just not the same thing for everyone. Think of entering a lost temple on a forgotten planet that you rediscover and to gain entry to the temple each class gets their own challenges or their own way of defeating/solving the challenges. The prize at the end will be something entirely different again depending on the class. Maybe the temple will even look different and have a different background story dependent on whether you're a force or tech class (just two variants then instead of 8).

 

But they have to be a bit more creative to make it work and feel like our characters are actually following their story and not someone else's. That's how I see it in any case.

[ExarSun]

Become dark council member -> do dirty work for Darth Marr

Become alliance commander -> do dirty work for Theron and Lana

Become empress -> do Lana's job for her (dealing with uprisings and chasing a traitor)

 

Imagine if Palpatine were to deal with every rebel attack, operation, traitors in the empire and etc all by himself all the time....sounds stupid doesn't it...After KOTET it doesn't feel you are like the Emperor at all...and throughout the story it felt you are some errand boy for different npc's....

Edited January 20, 2018 by ExarSun

[Rheshalea]

 

(snipped out awesome thoughts to address the following)

 

So whatever they do, I really hope that they will completely rip this Alliance apart and have our characters not be something important anymore. I'd love to just have the galaxy back to a rebirth of the Empire and Republic, both too weak to really attack each other with Zakuul in ruins. Our characters can then be off on all sorts of adventures looking for hidden knowledge, power, artifacts, tech, whatever fits the classes. Just not the same thing for everyone. Think of entering a lost temple on a forgotten planet that you rediscover and to gain entry to the temple each class gets their own challenges or their own way of defeating/solving the challenges. The prize at the end will be something entirely different again depending on the class. Maybe the temple will even look different and have a different background story dependent on whether you're a force or tech class (just two variants then instead of 8).

 

But they have to be a bit more creative to make it work and feel like our characters are actually following their story and not someone else's. That's how I see it in any case.

 

Just not the same thing for everyone.

 

Maybe this could be presented by the returning class specific companions? Maybe the first ones might start this prologue to the next storyline on Tuesday for Smugglers&Inquisitors?

See my post above Tsillah's for wild, wild guesses and daydreams on my part.

[Tsillah]

Imagine if Palpatine were to deal with every rebel attack, operation, traitors in the empire and etc all by himself all the time....sounds stupid doesn't it...After KOTET it doesn't feel you are like the Emperor at all...and throughout the story it felt you are some errand boy for different npc's....

It's like Darth Vader coming to you and telling you that you need to go down to Endor with them to kill the rebel infiltrators. Completely nuts.

Just not the same thing for everyone.

 

Maybe this could be presented by the returning class specific companions? Maybe the first ones might start this prologue to the next storyline on Tuesday for Smugglers&Inquisitors?

See my post above Tsillah's for wild, wild guesses and daydreams on my part.

You have some nice thoughts. I just have to wonder why Bioware is having a hard time getting this. We're getting some class comps back again now but I really just want to get some good news about the next expansion. Galactic Command failed as a reward system and as a story. Not everybody will feel that way but I'm convinced they've lost a lot of players over this...too many in fact.

 

I just unsubbed and am waiting on a reason to resub. Hopefully it sends a signal but I'm hardly playing at the moment. I'll resub if they are showing a direction with the roadmap that I can get behind. Otherwise I just can't be bothered really. I don't even feel angry anymore, just worn out and disappointed...bored and apathetic. I still kind want this game to go in a positive direction but not sure if there's a point in having hope.

 

If they closed the doors on this game tomorrow I'd be fine with that but not because it's what I want but because at least it'll all be over then. Just tired of having hope and getting it crushed over and over again.

[LordArtemis]

Wishing there was some way they could add player tools to generate player made content.

 

I know, I know....perhaps too sandboxy...but if there is one thing I know from my experience with SWG, it is that Star Wars fans know how to create content.

[Tsillah]

Wishing there was some way they could add player tools to generate player made content.

 

I know, I know....perhaps too sandboxy...but if there is one thing I know from my experience with SWG, it is that Star Wars fans know how to create content.

It's not a bad idea though. I feel that there are a lot of interesting ideas going around that could be great sources for content.

 

I already proposed a Stronghold for guilds that are basically an empty location and the decorations are warzone elements. This way people could create their own warzones just to have fun within the guild or invite other players to join in. It will also allow people to learn to pvp within the safety of the guilds thereby creating a fun atmosphere that could bring more players to do pvp as they are not so afraid of it anymore and generally improve the quality of the pvp.

 

I agree that it's probable a bit more wishful thinking for story content but you could also have people building their own jumping puzzles and such in Strongholds if they had enough of the right hooks and decorations to facilitate that.

 

People could make their own rewards and Bioware can do competitions for the best warzones and jumping puzzles and actually make some of them part of the general game etc.

 

Just not sure if giving players such tools might blow up the game entirely.

[Rheshalea]

It's like Darth Vader coming to you and telling you that you need to go down to Endor with them to kill the rebel infiltrators. Completely nuts.

 

You have some nice thoughts. I just have to wonder why Bioware is having a hard time getting this. We're getting some class comps back again now but I really just want to get some good news about the next expansion. Galactic Command failed as a reward system and as a story. Not everybody will feel that way but I'm convinced they've lost a lot of players over this...too many in fact.

 

I just unsubbed and am waiting on a reason to resub. Hopefully it sends a signal but I'm hardly playing at the moment. I'll resub if they are showing a direction with the roadmap that I can get behind. Otherwise I just can't be bothered really. I don't even feel angry anymore, just worn out and disappointed...bored and apathetic. I still kind want this game to go in a positive direction but not sure if there's a point in having hope.

 

If they closed the doors on this game tomorrow I'd be fine with that but not because it's what I want but because at least it'll all be over then. Just tired of having hope and getting it crushed over and over again.

 

I'm in the boat next to yours. Still subbed, but hardly playing at all, and just waiting for the Roadmap to decide if I'm going to stay subbed or take another break.

I'm still a little hopeful, though. Keith's visions should start to show any time now, and hopefully his direction will be closer to what a lot of people want from the game than Ben's was.

If not.... meh, it's been a good ride, mostly. And I can certainly think of other uses for my sub money.

[Tsillah]

I'm in the boat next to yours. Still subbed, but hardly playing at all, and just waiting for the Roadmap to decide if I'm going to stay subbed or take another break.

I'm still a little hopeful, though. Keith's visions should start to show any time now, and hopefully his direction will be closer to what a lot of people want from the game than Ben's was.

If not.... meh, it's been a good ride, mostly. And I can certainly think of other uses for my sub money.

I unsubbed because it allows me to give feedback and so I don't forget I'll be happy to resub as soon as I get a reason to. The game in its current state just doesn't do it for me anymore.

 

I remember when 5.0 came out I was extremely angry. I said I'd quit and I did. Then I thought well maybe I don't want to quit just out of anger, so I resubbed a few weeks later. People were laughing at me but the truth is that shortly after I quit again and didn't play for like half a year.

 

Then I tried it again and it was ok for a while. I think though that with 5.6 it really hit home cause they just really changed things to extremely easy things being the most rewarding and seeing how that's all people were advertising for in the fleet. Last boss runs in the gf and ranked group mats farming. I did it for a bit and hey it got my toons geared, but it just was uninspiring and boring so it couldn't last. Not for me anyway but it seems I'm not alone.

 

I really think that GC made gearing too easy but more importantly it devaluated most of the game's existing content. People hardly play anything else unless they are a guild dedicated to something specific. The biggest thing that I see is conquest. That's why last boss runs are also such a thing. So I guess it's the combination of GC and Conquest that really polarized content in this game.

 

I wonder what would happen if conquest rewarded killing all individual bosses and gave a progressive bonus for killing multiple bosses in each given operation. Say that you get 500 points per boss and as you kill more of them you get that bonus (Kill one boss = 500 points, kill a second boss +750, kill a third +1000, a fourth + 1500 and the 5th +2000 and +1000 for completing the entire ops.

 

That way you would gain 500 x 5 = 2500 if you did last boss runs, but 6750 points if you did one ops with all 5 bosses.

 

This is just an example and it needs to be tweaked so it's not too punitive if you join an ops later but you get the idea.

 

The point is, do you want to encourage high repetition last boss runs or do you want to encourage people to do the whole operation?

[ExarSun]

I'm in the boat next to yours. Still subbed, but hardly playing at all, and just waiting for the Roadmap to decide if I'm going to stay subbed or take another break.

I'm still a little hopeful, though. Keith's visions should start to show any time now, and hopefully his direction will be closer to what a lot of people want from the game than Ben's was.

If not.... meh, it's been a good ride, mostly. And I can certainly think of other uses for my sub money.

Not that I am defending or blaming anyone here and I only speculate, but I somewhat doubt the disaster that was last year was all Ben's fault..class nerfs just so they can put another tier and some augments as content...., server merges, dishonesty with playerbase (merges, traits), next to no content, nothing to show that 2018 will be better.

At the very least the devs before showed themselves regularly on streams to talk about state of the game and so on...even this is lacking..."great communication" mind you...

[Avianatorsparkma]

Class specific companion returns are truly disappointing.

Please make those companions at least available via the Odessen terminal for other classes.

[VanderII]

i hope returning Kira, my love, only for the Jedi knight

[DarthSpuds]

Wishing there was some way they could add player tools to generate player made content.

 

I know, I know....perhaps too sandboxy...but if there is one thing I know from my experience with SWG, it is that Star Wars fans know how to create content.

 

The player made content in Neverwinter is often far better than the Studio written stuff. Neverwinter started out with The Foundry as a method for players to fill "content gaps" from the Studio and so they are OK with that.

 

Frankly, I am not sure it would work in SWTOR - when we used to get Livestream after Livestream telling how "exciting" and good the new content was going to be, only to end up getting a pale shadow of real content, and no excitement at all, I am just not sure the "egos" at Bioware or EA could stand having players create better content.

 

And there clearly are such egos in play, otherwise CXP would have been dumped, and we be well shot of this by the numbers, boring as hell, mono-story.

 

All The Best

[VirtualMorrigan]

I'm supremely underwhelmed by the contents of the next patch, but the thing that puzzles me most is this:

 

We are suddenly doing an 180 and go back to class-specific companions, which at this point in the game makes no sense whatsoever.

 

So unless you are the companion's original class, you cannot get them. It's a restriction, not a feature, just to stretch out "content", perhaps another carrot to make you drag another alt through the Knights Of Eternal Boredom story, so the metric show again how people love that drivel story. And there are really people who confuse this with a return to class stories? What the absolute hell?

 

_At this point_, given how the original stories were mashed up into the Outlander nonsense, I am absolutely against some companions arbitrarily being restricted to their original classes.

[AlienEyeTX]

I'm supremely underwhelmed by the contents of the next patch, but the thing that puzzles me most is this:

 

We are suddenly doing an 180 and go back to class-specific companions, which at this point in the game makes no sense whatsoever.

 

So unless you are the companion's original class, you cannot get them. It's a restriction, not a feature, just to stretch out "content", perhaps another carrot to make you drag another alt through the Knights Of Eternal Boredom story, so the metric show again how people love that drivel story. And there are really people who confuse this with a return to class stories? What the absolute hell?

 

_At this point_, given how the original stories were mashed up into the Outlander nonsense, I am absolutely against some companions arbitrarily being restricted to their original classes.

 

I'm hoping it's because they will start doing things that make sense again. Trying to shoehorn everything in to fit every single character was a cruddy decision.

 

Believe me, not one of my characters (including the SI) would be interested to meet Andronikos.

[VirtualMorrigan]

I'm hoping it's because they will start doing things that make sense again. Trying to shoehorn everything in to fit every single character was a cruddy decision.

 

Believe me, not one of my characters (including the SI) would be interested to meet Andronikos.

 

It's a matter of personal taste, I was looking forward to having him on my main (SW).

Edited January 21, 2018 by VirtualMorrigan

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

I'm supremely underwhelmed by the contents of the next patch, but the thing that puzzles me most is this:

 

We are suddenly doing an 180 and go back to class-specific companions, which at this point in the game makes no sense whatsoever.

 

So unless you are the companion's original class, you cannot get them. It's a restriction, not a feature, just to stretch out "content", perhaps another carrot to make you drag another alt through the Knights Of Eternal Boredom story, so the metric show again how people love that drivel story. And there are really people who confuse this with a return to class stories? What the absolute hell?

 

_At this point_, given how the original stories were mashed up into the Outlander nonsense, I am absolutely against some companions arbitrarily being restricted to their original classes.

 

 

I agree, they should make all the class's original class companions available to all players regardless of the class being played, except in the case of Sith Warrior. I don't want any of you animals going anywhere near my first two wives.

 

I am however looking very forward to spending some quality alone time with both Ashara and Kaliyo, a.k.a. wife number #3 and wife #4 =]

 

I'm hopeful that both of them will enjoy getting slapped around for fun as much as Jaesa and Vette do.

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

Wishing there was some way they could add player tools to generate player made content.

 

I know, I know....perhaps too sandboxy...but if there is one thing I know from my experience with SWG, it is that Star Wars fans know how to create content.

 

Like STO. Some of those fan made story/adventures were really friggen good. I'd love to see that here, totally 'off the record' of course, but still. Could be a lot of fun and things never get old that way.