Winter/Spring 2018 Roadmap Update

[DarthSpuds]

@Keith @Eric @Charles

 

What is happening with STORY???

 

Hey, you'll get 90 seconds of cutscene dialogue.

 

That'll be the Story element; and at least in 90 seconds they can't mess it up too much.

 

All The Best

[DarthSpuds]

Alright... this is going to come across as rather pointed... but it needs to be said:

 

Why? What is so uncertain that you cannot talk about anything regarding the game beyond 90 days?

 

I think it is unprofessional of you to lay this out on the table with absolutely no clarification as to why.

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WITH A REASONABLE DEGREE OF CERTAINTY WHAT THE STUDIO WILL BE DOING MORE THEN 90 DAYS OUT... I personally find it difficult to take you seriously in the role of Producer.

 

NO.. we don't need to know everything in detail.. as I think any reasonable player knows that exact details of implementation can and do change. But to imply that you can make absolutely ZERO disclosures at a summary bullet point level about what is planned for the full year of 2018.... suggests to me you guys are just making stuff up month by month.. and that is a valid concern for players (both the irrational ones as well as the rational ones).

 

You may or may not realize it.. but your cryptic approach here is just reinforcing the negative conspiracy theories about the game closing down or being starved to death to the point people completely lose interest. Is this really what you want to convey to your active player base? Really?

 

Absent more clarification and transparency from the Producer of SWTOR... I find it hard to blame players for some of the very negative rhetoric in the forum these days.

 

Not often I am 100% in agreement with you Andryah, but I am today.

 

I'll just point out though that these are the concerns I have seen with the game for close on a year now; and at times you have lambasted me for expressing them.

 

All The Best

[fushnchips]

1 boss 1 flashpoint and no other content apart from them rewriting things that were deformed in the first place and returning companions.

 

To me both these 5.8 and 5.9 are just as bad as 5.7 they lack what a AAA MMO should be providing in regular patch cycles. It's very sad they have to include problems they caused with horrible programming in the first place .

 

Now I understand it's out of Keiths and Erics hands they are both wonderful people but the way this roadmap was focused. I don't understand why you can't just give people the truth yes some may not like it and this is maybe how i'm approaching this map but why not give brief outlines till 6.0 and don't include Cartel Market stuff and so on just the juicy bits that can be something that players want to look forward to. Also why not bring back 90cc just for a weekend or something.

 

We have lost to many players in this game due to how decisions were made and this path isn't changing and none of us want this effect.

[olagatonjedi]

So many people viewing this as an expansion on its own instead of the years worth of new content.

[DarthSpuds]

So many people viewing this as an expansion on its own instead of the years worth of new content.

 

By "year's worth" of "new content" you mean the 10 or so hours of content we got ALL LAST YEAR.

 

Oh and the Conquest changes are OLD Content.

 

In comparison just one of the four major updates to ESO delivered over 30 hours of new content last year.

 

All The Best

[AngFour]

Hey, you'll get 90 seconds of cutscene dialogue.

 

That'll be the Story element; and at least in 90 seconds they can't mess it up too much.

 

All The Best

 

Bioware says, "Hold my beer."

[TrixxieTriss]

Yeah, I apologize if that came of as snarky, I'm laughing out of dispair and trying to laugh with you not at you.

Believe me, I'm laughing at myself enough too.

I'm with you, because I might not pvp at all, this game needs every single player to stay alive.

I was just trying to highlight the absurdity of the situtation, where one of the parts of the community always have to get the short end of the stick. Why does it have to be that way, it's beyond me.

 

As to the subject, I'm afraid you are mistaken, the main material, the Charged Matter Transubstantiator can only be obtained from Ranked PvP and Command Crates.

Yes, not from PvE content, like Operations or hard mode Flashpoints, only Command Crates, and let me tell you the drop rate is abysmal, I get one in every 30 or 40 crates.

 

 

I might not have been aware of this issue, but it's a different issue and not what I was responding to in the first place.

The post I was responding to only complained about having to do PvE content to get schematics for new augments.

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but you need mats from both pvp and pve content. That is what I was refering to.

 

“The PvE items (Encrypted Memory Core) drop directly from Master Mode bosses. The PvP items (Charged Matter Transubstantiator) are rewarded from the daily and weekly Ranked quest”

[olagatonjedi]

By "year's worth" of "new content" you mean the 10 or so hours of content we got ALL LAST YEAR.

 

Oh and the Conquest changes are OLD Content.

 

In comparison just one of the four major updates to ESO delivered over 30 hours of new content last year.

 

All The Best

Yep, for the 1% of players who rush thru content and believe they are the average player.

 

Not sure about you, but i still havent completed all of the content and we are a year into it.

Edited February 17, 2018 by olagatonjedi

[TrixxieTriss]

Alright... this is going to come across as rather pointed... but it needs to be said:

 

Why? What is so uncertain that you cannot talk about anything regarding the game beyond 90 days?

 

I think it is unprofessional of you to lay this out on the table with absolutely no clarification as to why.

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WITH A REASONABLE DEGREE OF CERTAINTY WHAT THE STUDIO WILL BE DOING MORE THEN 90 DAYS OUT... I personally find it difficult to take you seriously in the role of Producer.

 

NO.. we don't need to know everything in detail.. as I think any reasonable player knows that exact details of implementation can and do change. But to imply that you can make absolutely ZERO disclosures at a summary bullet point level about what is planned for the full year of 2018.... suggests to me you guys are just making stuff up month by month.. and that is a valid concern for players (both the irrational ones as well as the rational ones).

 

You may or may not realize it.. but your cryptic approach here is just reinforcing the negative conspiracy theories about the game closing down or being starved to death to the point people completely lose interest. Is this really what you want to convey to your active player base? Really?

 

Absent more clarification and transparency from the Producer of SWTOR... I find it hard to blame players for some of the very negative rhetoric in the forum these days.

 

I agree with what you’re saying and that response has caused worry across the whole community. But I think you inadvertently answered the question as to why he won’t commit or say anything past 90 days.

 

They just don’t know wether the game will still be active in a year, 6 months or even 90 days. Obviously Kieth can’t/won’t come out publically and say that. The same as he didn’t come out to categorically deny that article. His response to the article was to say they were producing a road map.

 

Yes, they’ve hinted at a 6.0 update, but not when it will be. My opinion is they’ve been told to wait and see if and when they will stop making new content. Bioware may not even want them spending time and energy on something they know they won’t need. It could even be possible they plan to pull even more resources (people) from the swtor team to put on Anthem.

 

Best guess, Keith honestly doesn’t know what’s happening past 90 days or if he does, he’s been told not to say. The last thing he probably wants is to be called a liar and raged at if he says they have stuff planned and then it gets cancelled. Which means the only option he has is to say he won’t commit to what they are doing with content past 90 days.

 

Hopefully I’m wrong about that, but the writings been on the wall for a while now and you guys are only just catching on. Welcome to the party of negative and worrying feelings about the direction and continued development of the game.

Edited February 17, 2018 by TrixxieTriss

[TrixxieTriss]

but I tend to feel like we are considered the red-headed stepchild of the family, and not just by EA.

 

Ranga’s FTW 🤾*♀️

[leine-b]

I’d really love some clarity on how the upcoming story is being delivered: similar to pre-KOTFE questing, or through FPs again? It sounds like the latter and whilst I love the characters of this game, I probably would cancel my sub.

 

I honestly wouldn’t mind even a fetch quest at this point, just for some new dialogue that resembles a conversation, not an explanation of events. I feel like even these small things helped so much with the world building in the 1-50 story. Like some other people have said, you don’t even need to create a whole new area, we can revisit an old planet, talk to npcs and have a bit of non-FP fighting in open areas (people fighting alongside one another!) in between? For me, I personally miss how in the old expansions it would start you off in your ship bantering with your crew. It really added to the ‘RP’ aspect of a Roleplaying Game in that it made the characters and their relationships feel real, and I think that’s what people look for with ‘Bioware Storytelling’, to feel a part of the story. I would argue this hasn’t been achieved with this Theron arc as, if you took away the player character’s ability to speak, would anything actually change at all? At least Makeb made me feel like I’d caused mass destruction by the end.

 

Sorry for that ramble if anyone actually bothered with it but I do think the formatting here is a bit strange? You can create a story-heavy game and make it still open as a MMO, FFXIV comes to mind. Maybe a FP once in a while, like for a chapter/arc climax? But not as a replacement for actual story, I think.

[LordArtemis]

I too think a bit more focus, filling out the margins, so to speak, would go a long way here. They are being a bit too vague IMO considering the amount of rumors swirling around the game at the moment, combined with the perceived drought of content.

 

My concern is for the overall health of the game, and I think they need to step it up a bit if they wish to help stabilize the games rep at present. My suggestion is to schedule weekly livestreams for one hour each, where they chat with players and answer questions where they can.

 

IMO this would give the games rep a rather healthy boost.

Edited February 17, 2018 by LordArtemis

[woganator]

watch it be poorly written

 

...Still a better love story than Twilight?!? high five?!?

[andveryginger]

Keith and crew:

 

I don't spend a lot of time on the forums, as my post count will show... and there are already a lot of responses to wade through. Still, I figured I might as well toss in my two credits. To that end:

 

I'm probably one of the few that really enjoyed the serialized nature of KotFE: I really enjoyed having a new chapter to look forward to each month. Unfortunately, there were a lot of technical issues related to this, followed by a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth among the player base (and probably the TOR team) so I can understand why this might not be ideal.

 

So, the serialized drops we're getting now -- not too bad, in my opinion. I have two issues with continuing this structure, however: 1) Time between drops, and 2) replayability. The story arc we find ourselves in the middle of is unfolding like a mystery or a spy novel. If I were reading it, I would definitely take time and go back and re-read key passages of the previous chapters before I continued on -- especially if there were a long time between reading sessions. Using that analogy, we're getting story content every couple of months, but, unless we've been able to video capture it, we have no means of replaying the previous content without rolling up a dozen more toons. This means that our recollection of details can be faulty and frustrating. It also makes the story feel disjointed even when it isn't. This sells the storytelling short -- a problem for those of us who really enjoy that aspect of TOR.

 

One of the key things I loved about KotFE and KotET (aside from Theron and Lana -- thank you) was being able to pull up and replay a chapter on demand. I could run my favorite character through the story, locking in my response, then run the same content, making different choices, seeing how it unfolded. This new arc -- these "Fractured Alliances" -- doesn't afford me that same opportunity. Intentionally or unintentionally, I'm once again mirroring SoR, wherein I have to roll up a completely new toon to explore different outcomes, and to replay the content. The new datacrons help some with this. As does the fact that I've taken to video capturing my play-throughs. But let's be fair: I don't have $20 to throw at a character every time I want to play through SoR or, now, "Fractured Alliances" ... and I don't always have the patience to play through the entire vanilla arc, plus KotXX to get to the current sections of story arc.

 

I'm sure more will occur to me later but, for now, that's my 2 creds worth. As always, I appreciate you guys opening the dialogue, and giving us an idea of what's in the pipeline.

 

Regards,

Ginger

[DanNV]

At this point, what I want is a way to reset my character who haven't completed KotFE/KotET back to the end of Shadow of Revan. I get my companions back and can pretend the last 2+ years of garbage never happened.

[TrixxieTriss]

Hey folks,

 

With the roadmap in front of you feel free to shoot us your feedback and questions in this thread. We are gonna sit back and let everyone digest and get questions out for a bit before we start responding. Expect quiet from us for a couple of hours and then we will be in here addressing your questions.

 

Roadmap day!

 

-eric

 

Can you tell us if there will be another double XP / CXP event really soon?

[Eanelinea]

Ermagerd!!! ARCANN ROMANCEEEEEE ITS HAPPENING!!😰😰🤗🤗

And so soon too, thank you!!!

 

 

So this means we'll continue to get snippets of story and updates of content like we are now? Not to be nitpicky, but the part where you say, "I like having updates released regularly instead of waiting for long time in between" kind of bugs me. does this mean we wont get traditional expansions anymore because the team likes it the way it is or am I missing something?

 

I can't read his mind, but from what I gather, the team doesn't like one big *** expansion cause then WE have to wait a long while. So smaller bits of the expansion every couple of weeks or months is better. We may get an expansion for 6.0, but it won't be like SoR, it'll be a mix of SoR, KOTFE, and how they did Forged Alliances. IF I'm reading what he wrote correctly.

[Eshvara]

I can't read his mind, but from what I gather, the team doesn't like one big *** expansion cause then WE have to wait a long while. So smaller bits of the expansion every couple of weeks or months is better. We may get an expansion for 6.0, but it won't be like SoR, it'll be a mix of SoR, KOTFE, and how they did Forged Alliances. IF I'm reading what he wrote correctly.

 

You're probably right, but these small updates are too infrequent and small, I don't see many happy people either.

[ShadowGovernator]

At this point, what I want is a way to reset my character who haven't completed KotFE/KotET back to the end of Shadow of Revan. I get my companions back and can pretend the last 2+ years of garbage never happened.

 

Yea this no longer feels like a AAA MMO after KotFE, that's what happens, when you try to run it with the FFF team.

Ben made some really questionable decisions when he was in charge and when they put the customer service guy in charge after Ben left speaks volumes.

 

Let's see;

No vision - where do we want to go.

No mission - how do we want to get there.

No basic communication. You don't listen to feedback, you don't act on feedback and you don't implement changes based on your customers feedback.

A few months release schedule. With half-baked implementations, delays, nerfs, stealth-changes, server down-time/lag etc.

No Quality Assurance, patches are released to your paying customers with little to zero internal testing and with no stable procedure for the use external test server.

No real bug fixes - with tons of in-game bugs and with every Game Update you introduce new and even more bugs.

Even your customer service is really bad.

 

The current team is clearly not real professionals - they are certainly not able to provide great quality content in a timely manner. They are only able to run the game in the most simple way and they fail even at this on a regular basis.

 

Change the current team.

Rehire the original teams - you know the people that made the original game great!

 

So we the paying customers can get some great full expansions.

And make swtor great again!

 

If not EA is going to lose it's Star Wars licence.

[Mubrak]

This is great news about Vector's weapon, now what about that whole 'mouth glued shut' thing. Any word on when that will be fixed?

 

I think this needs a better explanation to get it on the todo list:

 

The companions we get back after Kotfe are actually different NPCs than the ones we met in the class story. It's most obvious for companions like Torian who change their weapons, but the others also are clones. Those new companions no longer comment about the scenery on the old planets, and they no longer move their lips when we try to them to talk to them when they have nothing to say. They still say their random piece, but their lips don't move.

 

There is an old bug where sometimes when two players with the same companions are close to each other, you can click on your companion and the other player's companion will speak instead, also making it look like your own companion is a ventriloquist. My guess is that after Kotfe, it's still your original companion that is actually speaking, i.e. the "talked to" event of the new NPC still pointing to the original one.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Mubrak

[McBaal]

I doubt we will get another expansion ever again. Not because the team doesn't want to, i seriously believe they are doing their best. But if there are realy only 5 devs left it is just impossible to do so. Imagine if even one gets sick (especially now during winter) this means they loose almost a quarter of their manpower. The same again if someone goes on vacation. There is no realistic way to create another expansion AND give us something to do while we wait. So all the team can do is give us vague promises, a FP once and a while (the Nathema map basically already existed from KOTET i guess), and 2 minute cinematics for companion returns.

Maybe devs from Anthem return to SWTOR after they did their part of the job, maybe not. Maybe Disney puts some pressure on EA to create more SW content, but i doubt it.

 

You can call the current situation milking the community or hope that someday the teamsize is increased again. But i doubt it. Bioware is all in on Anthem, if the game succeeds they are safe for a while. If it fails they end up on EAs chopping block just like all the other studios. SWTOR is dead and Bioware most likely doomed. I'll enjoy it while it's still available

[Master_Morak]

Let's see;

No vision - where do we want to go.

No mission - how do we want to get there.

No basic communication. You don't listen to feedback, you don't act on feedback and you don't implement changes based on your customers feedback.

A few months release schedule. With half-baked implementations, delays, nerfs, stealth-changes, server down-time/lag etc.

No Quality Assurance, patches are released to your paying customers with little to zero internal testing and with no stable procedure for the use external test server.

No real bug fixes - with tons of in-game bugs and with every Game Update you introduce new and even more bugs.

Even your customer service is really bad.

 

The current team is clearly not real professionals - they are certainly not able to provide great quality content in a timely manner. They are only able to run the game in the most simple way and they fail even at this on a regular basis.

 

Change the current team.

 

Yes Sir, your words are true, ist a shame what they do.

[Trlance]

I can't understand why we waited for Copero 2-3 months and now we must wait 5 for another new fp, heh. + you wanna give us last boss Izax when Iokath is totally broken with bugs (group finder thing and dark corruption missed on face). I send tickets about it 3 months ago and 3 times you said i must wait for next update

 

In last weeks i played Revan story with my alt and there was no week where i didn't discovered bug (totally missed first cutscenes on Blood Hunt and Battle Rishi, bug with two heads monsters Satele and Theron on Safehouse on Rishi, bug when we meet Shae Vizla when she walking on arena and fire didn't disappear). Wonder what i will find on Ziost. Today i played Copero story with another my alt and Darth Malak set what i wear is totally bugged when character keep moving on cutscenes. Milions creds for this set and bug as a gift.

 

No big expansion for last 16 months. How long i must see Vaylin ugly face when i start the game? 6.0 on november/december?

Edited February 17, 2018 by Trlance

[ExarSun]

 

No big expansion for last 16 months. How long i must see Vaylin ugly face when i start the game? 6.0 on november/december?

 

Going by the roadmap, you wont see an expansion for 16 more months probably if ever...

[Master_Morak]

No big expansion for last 16 months. How long i must see Vaylin ugly face when i start the game? 6.0 on november/december?

 

This developing team is not either not competent für an great expansion nor had they the resources.

The game is on maintenace for more than 2 years and will still dying.

 

Bioware is only a shadow of former days, fading away in Nirwana.