Imperial Personnel Bundle - False Advertising!

[Laendser]

The unreleased cartel market item "Imperial Personnel Bundle" as it currently sits is in very near danger of gross false advertising!

 

A more appropriate name would be: "Imperial Alien Freaks Bundle".

 

So far we have:

1. Zabrak "Imperial General" - Who appears (due to the small scale of the preview window) to not be wearing a proper uniform jacket of a general.

2. Kaleesh "Imperial Vanguard" - Whose bone faced mug is hilarious, as is the clipping of his tusks into his chest!

3. Rattataki "Imperial Pilot (Female)" - Yeah, because what could possibly go wrong letting psychopaths like them get their hands on top-grade military starfighters?!

4. Chiss "Sith Intelligence Keeper" - Hey, I love Chiss as much as the next fan, but really, the HEAD of Intelligence???

 

(the preview window is too small to make positive species IDs on the remaining two circus attractions, but here's my best {or is it WORST?} assessment)

 

5. Chiss "Sith Intelligence Watcher" - Yes, it does make me a bit uneasy having her big, glowing red eyes burning into me as she watches.

6. Chiss "Sith Intelligence Cipher" - Yes, I know he's a cipher, but I still can't understand a single word he's saying. "It's all Cheunh to me."

 

Variety and having multiple options is always best, but please BioWare, if you have to open the floodgates to release the alien invasion, please do so as a secondary bundle titled: "Imperial Personnel Bundle (Alien)". Give us a proper Human bundle first.

 

Let us enjoy our Human High Culture now, I cant wait millennia for Palpatine to save us!

[Andryah]

I think you need to look up what "false advertising" actually means.. both in a legal sense as well as a generally understood sense.

 

Here.. let me help you with that ---> it's false advertising to present the bundle as having one set of NPCs, while loading the pack with completely different NPCs. I don't see any of that with this bundle.

 

There is no false advertising here.. just a mismatch between your own personal expectations and bias compared to what the studio if offering. So I encourage you to revise your thread title and post accordingly. Unless of course your misrepresentations here were a deliberate move to click bait.

 

Do you also rail on every player in game with an Imperial character that is not pure Human too? If so.. then I see a very troubling bias here. If not.. then why go off on a tangent over a pack of NPCs that is actually being advertised for exactly what it has in it?

 

Note: my comments are specific to the way you have chosen to complain and the misrepresentation of your topic With regard to having more human NPCs in decorations.. I agree with you on that part... both for Imp AND Pub.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Andryah

[Ardrossan]

I think you need to look up what "false advertising" actually means.. both in a legal sense as well as a generally understood sense.

 

OP's post was funny in a "laughing with you" way, but your post treating it as serious and nitpicking every detail was also funny, but in a different way.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Ardrossan

[Lunafox]

Considering how the Empire feels about aliens--that no matter how good or helpful they might be, they will always be 'substandard' to humans/cyborg humans and Sith.

 

It doesn't make sense to have so many aliens. I agree with the original poster that including one or two, would've been fine, but the majority need to be human. Seriously, in how many star wars movies, when you look on an Imperial star destroyer, how many aliens do you see? Hmmm? None.

[Andryah]

Considering how the Empire feels about aliens--that no matter how good or helpful they might be, they will always be 'substandard' to humans/cyborg humans and Sith.

 

It doesn't make sense to have so many aliens. I agree with the original poster that including one or two, would've been fine, but the majority need to be human. Seriously, in how many star wars movies, when you look on an Imperial star destroyer, how many aliens do you see? Hmmm? None.

 

In the original SW timeline of the movies.. I would agree with you Lunafox.

 

But we are in a completely different timeline of the SW universe with SWTOR..and many things are different.... like many sith and jedi force users all over the place just to name one example. So there is no precedent for this point in the timeline with respect to Empire and Republic views on different races, planets, and civilizations. Hence the studio can and will present it as they choose. In essence.. the studio can flesh out their story and game anyway they choose within the timeline, as long as Disney does not make lore objections.

 

As for the studios choices on race per faction... the character creation process has pretty well demonstrated that for almost 7 years now. And it appears to scale across the game in terms of NPCs as well. Players appear to be taking advantage of it too. I'm sure if the studio agreed with the core feeling of the OP (forget the over the top false advertising narrative), and other players ... then when we roll an Imp character.. our only choice would be Human. The one glaring detour on the part of the studio here though is that when they rolled out the Legacy system years ago.. they then allowed players to unlock actual racial feature options and use them on the opposing faction. So.. instead of something like Zabraks having different customization options on character creation... they allowed the player to unlock the ability to cross couple the features to remove the faction restrictions, but again.. their timeline so they have a lot of creative freedom in their choices (unlike SWG which was in the timeline of the movies, and hence under Luca's personal thumb on everything.)

 

I guess at the core.. this is a discussion about Canon vs Non-Canon SW. SWTOR is clearly not Canon and never has been.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Andryah

[Karameck]

In the original SW timeline of the movies.. I would agree with you Lunafox.

 

But we are in a completely different timeline of the SW universe with SWTOR..and many things are different.... like many sith and jedi force users all over the place just to name one example. So there is no precedent for this point in the timeline with respect to Empire and Republic views on different races, planets, and civilizations. Hence the studio can and will present it as they choose. In essence.. the studio can flesh out their story and game anyway they choose within the timeline, as long as Disney does not make lore objections.

 

As for the studios choices on race per faction... the character creation process has pretty well demonstrated that for almost 7 years now. And it appears to scale across the game in terms of NPCs as well. Players appear to be taking advantage of it too. I'm sure if the studio agreed with the core feeling of the OP (forget the over the top false advertising narrative), and other players ... then when we roll an Imp character.. our only choice would be Human. The one glaring detour on the part of the studio here though is that when they rolled out the Legacy system years ago.. they then allowed players to unlock actual racial feature options and use them on the opposing faction. So.. instead of something like Zabraks having different customization options on character creation... they allowed the player to unlock the ability to cross couple the features to remove the faction restrictions, but again.. their timeline so they have a lot of creative freedom in their choices (unlike SWG which was in the timeline of the movies, and hence under Luca's personal thumb on everything.)

 

I guess at the core.. this is a discussion about Canon vs Non-Canon SW. SWTOR is clearly not Canon and never has been.

IT's mostly human in The Old Republic as well though. It's a major feature of several quest chains and mentioned repeatedly if you choose to play a non-human in the Imperial Agent story.

[Lunafox]

In the original SW timeline of the movies.. I would agree with you Lunafox.

 

But we are in a completely different timeline of the SW universe with SWTOR..and many things are different.... like many sith and jedi force users all over the place just to name one example. So there is no precedent for this point in the timeline with respect to Empire and Republic views on different races, planets, and civilizations. Hence the studio can and will present it as they choose. In essence.. the studio can flesh out their story and game anyway they choose within the timeline, as long as Disney does not make lore objections.

 

As for the studios choices on race per faction... the character creation process has pretty well demonstrated that for almost 7 years now. And it appears to scale across the game in terms of NPCs as well. Players appear to be taking advantage of it too. I'm sure if the studio agreed with the core feeling of the OP (forget the over the top false advertising narrative), and other players ... then when we roll an Imp character.. our only choice would be Human. The one glaring detour on the part of the studio here though is that when they rolled out the Legacy system years ago.. they then allowed players to unlock actual racial feature options and use them on the opposing faction. So.. instead of something like Zabraks having different customization options on character creation... they allowed the player to unlock the ability to cross couple the features to remove the faction restrictions, but again.. their timeline so they have a lot of creative freedom in their choices (unlike SWG which was in the timeline of the movies, and hence under Luca's personal thumb on everything.)

 

I guess at the core.. this is a discussion about Canon vs Non-Canon SW. SWTOR is clearly not Canon and never has been.

 

I realize, it's a different time span, and you'd think things would be different, but if you examine how aliens are treated in the game...whether you roll one to play (and you're called 'scum' all the time and you don't get the same flirt options, like Watcher 2 will only date non aliens iirc) or if you're a human/cyborg type and you see how the aliens are treated. An alien that was helpful to the Agent and worked in intelligence didn't even get a designation even though he was doing important work...why didn't he get the designation? Because he's an alien.

 

Aliens are treated differently--at the Sith Academy, they waste no time calling you trash and scum. More than one overseer/instructor makes mention of it, so there is some adherence to the values established by the movies. On Ilum you hear the personnel talking about the aliens in a derogatory way, the Wookiee and the Ongree.

 

The game did have precedents for how aliens were treated...they had comic books and novelizations for the Old Republic. In the comic books about Thanaton when he was young and called Teneb Kel, he had a pet alien (Abyssin) that they named Maggot (another clue that aliens weren't well treated) that was his slave and friend and it was treated badly.

 

The precedent was set by the original sets of movies and the comics, game, and novels followed suit. In Annihilation, Tef'fith who is Theron's friend who he thinks of like a sister is a Twi'lek and was badly treated.

 

I'm not saying the Devs couldn't present as they choose, because it is 3000 years before the movies, and they could've done something different, but they didn't, they went with the basics set down by the future stories so that it would retain 'star wars' flavor. There has to be a dark side and racism and slavery are quick ways to denote an evil side and the game has both.

 

I think the decision to allow legacy and to allow classes to play whatever they wanted (in terms of appearances) was an afterthought so that people would get what they want and be happy, it was a quality of life decision that didn't mesh with the stories they'd laid out in advance. Even now, the game says odd things to aliens and doesn't make certain recognitions like a Cathar Trooper being with Aric...there is still talk of adoption...why would they adopt when they're the same sort?

 

I will agree that SWTOR isn't canon and likely won't be, which is too bad, there is a wealth of storytelling that would make for fabulous movies. But to get back on point, it doesn't make sense to me to have so many aliens in an "imperial personnel" pack.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Lunafox

[MikeCobalt]

That Bundle is odd. I was a bit..*Shocked seeing all those *Alien Heads poking out of the Imperial uniforms. This is exactly what Malgus was going on, and on about during the "False Emperor" F.P. about how the Empire Neglected/Refused the abilities of the "Aliens". Once you make it past the trench to the compound that guy on the radio says "It looks like an "Alien Shooting Gallery" (That's not a compliment). I thought in this era it was Only the Humans, Chiss (limited seeming as the Imperial troopers on Hoth are Gossiping (" Exotic, you want to wake up with a Dagger in your back?" Or something like that), and the Sith because..they're the Sith. Odd bundle anyway.

[Mournblood]

This game may not be cannon for Disney, but it certainly has it's own version of cannon. While Darth Malgus was more accepting of alien species in the Empire, that tolerance ended with his failed bid for power, as the Imperials in this game have historically been anti-alien. As was pointed out by another poster, if you did the Imperial Agent story as a Chiss, your race is a reoccurring theme in that story arc.

 

If you disagree, I challenge you to go to any Imperial base in this game and count the number of non-humans (excluding Sith). I don't believe I've seen a single alien Imperial outside of Chiss, so why would someone create a deco bundle with Imperial aliens? It almost sounds like there was a misunderstanding within the development team...

 

Design Manager Rick stops by the desk of one of the developers, "Hey Johnny," who loves playing on the Republic side of the game, "can you design some cool Imperial personnel for Strongholds?"

 

"Imperials?", Johnny asks as he wrinkles his nose.

 

"Yep. Players have been asking for this, so we have an opportunity to make some easy money in the CM on this. We'll finally be able to get that foosball table in the breakroom everyone has been wanting," Rick replies excitedly.

 

"Ok, fine", Johnny agrees as he considers ways to make this more Republic themed....

 

A few days later, Johnny stops by Rick's office. "Rick, I've finished those Imperial personnel you assigned to me."

 

Rick perks up, "Great! Let's take a look at them." As they pull up the models, Rick's expression becomes puzzled. "Um, Johnny, these are.....aliens."

 

Johnny proudly explains, "Yea, I re-used some Republic NPC models, and threw Imperial uniforms on them. Don't they look cool though?"

 

Rick considers it for a few seconds, then shrugs in acceptance, "Players will buy it anyway. Good work, Johnny!"

So it stands to reason that a deco bundle of alien Imperials is very incongruous with what we've seen from the game's own cannon, and I agree with the OP that it would have been far more appropriate to have that bundle of Imperial personnel as humans, with maybe a Chiss or two at most.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Mournblood

[Andryah]

I realize, it's a different time span, and you'd think things would be different, but if you examine how aliens are treated in the game...whether you roll one to play (and you're called 'scum' all the time and you don't get the same flirt options, like Watcher 2 will only date non aliens iirc) or if you're a human/cyborg type and you see how the aliens are treated. An alien that was helpful to the Agent and worked in intelligence didn't even get a designation even though he was doing important work...why didn't he get the designation? Because he's an alien.

 

Aliens are treated differently--at the Sith Academy, they waste no time calling you trash and scum. More than one overseer/instructor makes mention of it, so there is some adherence to the values established by the movies. On Ilum you hear the personnel talking about the aliens in a derogatory way, the Wookiee and the Ongree.

 

No disagreement that the Empire, generally speaking, looks down on alien races in the grand theme of a conflict based game. They also look down upon Republic humans too, perhaps even more so. It's a classic neo-evil story theme at work, which resonates with prejudicial exigencies of human beings broadly. In fact. the way the OP chose to portray their disappointment of the pack contents pretty well spotlights this as a theme in humans.

 

It's not even racism per se.. more like deliberate US vs THEM conflict themes at play... because they also look down on Republic Humans as well.. perhaps even more so given the notional theme of conflict between Imp and Pub. That said... as I noted earlier... if the studio did not want Empire players and NPCs to be rendered as alien races.. they would not put it in game that way. Like all things in this game, from Jedi, to Sith, to <insert your pet conflict point here> it serves the purpose of injecting conflict points in the grand story arc.

 

About half of my Imperial characters in game by the way are Chiss. And even in the time line of the original movies... Chiss held positions of power and influence in the Empire (such as Zhan's Grand Admiral Thrawn character). And then we have Darth Maul in Episode 1.. hand picked protégé of Darth Serious who is human) .. which to some extent belies the claim that the Empire always looks down on all alien races. I encourage players to explore beyond the surface level stereotypes presented in Lucas original movies, because the studio certainly has.

 

Back to the pack itself.... I firmly believe that no matter what they included or excluded in the pack.. some players would be complaining about it. It's simply the nature of MMOs played by a widely divergent set of player interests, which in my view is fine. Declaring it somehow "false advertising" though is just simply ridiculous and nothing more then a pretense rather then presenting an honest and coherent criticism of the pack.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Andryah

[Swingkittie]

I realize, it's a different time span, and you'd think things would be different, but if you examine how aliens are treated in the game...whether you roll one to play (and you're called 'scum' all the time and you don't get the same flirt options, like Watcher 2 will only date non aliens iirc) or if you're a human/cyborg type and you see how the aliens are treated. An alien that was helpful to the Agent and worked in intelligence didn't even get a designation even though he was doing important work...why didn't he get the designation? Because he's an alien.

 

Aliens are treated differently--at the Sith Academy, they waste no time calling you trash and scum. More than one overseer/instructor makes mention of it, so there is some adherence to the values established by the movies. On Ilum you hear the personnel talking about the aliens in a derogatory way, the Wookiee and the Ongree.

 

The game did have precedents for how aliens were treated...they had comic books and novelizations for the Old Republic. In the comic books about Thanaton when he was young and called Teneb Kel, he had a pet alien (Abyssin) that they named Maggot (another clue that aliens weren't well treated) that was his slave and friend and it was treated badly.

 

The precedent was set by the original sets of movies and the comics, game, and novels followed suit. In Annihilation, Tef'fith who is Theron's friend who he thinks of like a sister is a Twi'lek and was badly treated.

 

I'm not saying the Devs couldn't present as they choose, because it is 3000 years before the movies, and they could've done something different, but they didn't, they went with the basics set down by the future stories so that it would retain 'star wars' flavor. There has to be a dark side and racism and slavery are quick ways to denote an evil side and the game has both.

 

I think the decision to allow legacy and to allow classes to play whatever they wanted (in terms of appearances) was an afterthought so that people would get what they want and be happy, it was a quality of life decision that didn't mesh with the stories they'd laid out in advance. Even now, the game says odd things to aliens and doesn't make certain recognitions like a Cathar Trooper being with Aric...there is still talk of adoption...why would they adopt when they're the same sort?

 

I will agree that SWTOR isn't canon and likely won't be, which is too bad, there is a wealth of storytelling that would make for fabulous movies. But to get back on point, it doesn't make sense to me to have so many aliens in an "imperial personnel" pack.

 

The only time I saw an imperial/Sith warm up to aliens was with Malgus. He wanted the Kaleesh warriors for himself. And on the False Emperor you see different races supporting Malgus. Now whether he was just using them, I am not sure. But the implication is that he was more accepting of alien races than the rest of the Empire. Perhaps because of his prior relationship with Eleena?

 

However, in the comics I recall Ngani Zho explaining that he was trying to help the alien slaves that the Empire was using to construct their super weapon only to see them all die because they were used as test subjects for the weapon after they helped build it.

 

In Fatal Alliances, Shigar Konshi - a Kiffar takes issue with Darth Chratis because he is well aware of what happened to his people on Kiffu by the Imperials. Ula Vii is an Imperial Agent and his race is Epicanthix. He may be an agent but it is clear the Imperials don't respect or like him much.

 

In Deceived, the Treaty of Coruscant gave the Empire control of several worlds. They used that to gain leverage and conquer them, enslaving the inhabitants of those worlds.

[Lhancelot]

Do you also rail on every player in game with an Imperial character that is not pure Human too? If so.. then I see a very troubling bias here.

 

Oh no you didn't! Did you just call him a XENOPHOBE?!?!

[Sarova]

shrugs in acceptance, "Players will buy it anyway. Good work, Johnny!"

You hit the nail on the head I reckon! This is me; I'll buy almost anything from that damned Cartel Market if it's shiny and new enough. As a result I have been living on dustbin food scraps for about three years now

Edited October 3, 2018 by Sarova

[IoNonSoEVero]

There are a number of Chiss in officer positions throughout the Empire (Yudrass springs to mind, and the commanding officer promotes him without hesitation). The Sith who orders the Imperial Agent around on Corellia is a Khaleesh. The Sith Academy also has their policies relaxed to allow aliens to become Sith. Even if aliens are treated horribly by a lot of Imperials they do appear to be gaining ground.

 

The only one I see as being out there is the Zabrak officer because there's no precedent in the game, but in the new Empire with a lot of people killed by the Eternal Empire, and Acina being more laid back, who knows. Not every person in the Empire is a racist.

Edited October 3, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[Cawyden]

The unreleased cartel market item "Imperial Personnel Bundle" as it currently sits is in very near danger of gross false advertising!

 

A more appropriate name would be: "Imperial Alien Freaks Bundle".

 

So far we have:

1. Zabrak "Imperial General" - Who appears (due to the small scale of the preview window) to not be wearing a proper uniform jacket of a general.

2. Kaleesh "Imperial Vanguard" - Whose bone faced mug is hilarious, as is the clipping of his tusks into his chest!

3. Rattataki "Imperial Pilot (Female)" - Yeah, because what could possibly go wrong letting psychopaths like them get their hands on top-grade military starfighters?!

4. Chiss "Sith Intelligence Keeper" - Hey, I love Chiss as much as the next fan, but really, the HEAD of Intelligence???

 

(the preview window is too small to make positive species IDs on the remaining two circus attractions, but here's my best {or is it WORST?} assessment)

 

5. Chiss "Sith Intelligence Watcher" - Yes, it does make me a bit uneasy having her big, glowing red eyes burning into me as she watches.

6. Chiss "Sith Intelligence Cipher" - Yes, I know he's a cipher, but I still can't understand a single word he's saying. "It's all Cheunh to me."

 

Variety and having multiple options is always best, but please BioWare, if you have to open the floodgates to release the alien invasion, please do so as a secondary bundle titled: "Imperial Personnel Bundle (Alien)". Give us a proper Human bundle first.

 

Let us enjoy our Human High Culture now, I cant wait millennia for Palpatine to save us!

 

Actually there is only one Chiss in this bundle according to the decorations preview.

 

The Sith Intelligence Cipher is a human (or cyborg) male, the Watcher is a human female and only the Keeper is a Chiss.

 

And there is additionally an imperial commando which is a human female.

 

Anyway - whatever this bundle is called I am happy to get more NPCs for decoration and I am especially happy about Chiss so I am actually a little sad it is only one Chiss in this bundle.

[Karameck]

There are a number of Chiss in officer positions throughout the Empire (Yudrass springs to mind, and the commanding officer promotes him without hesitation). The Sith who orders the Imperial Agent around on Corellia is a Khaleesh. The Sith Academy also has their policies relaxed to allow aliens to become Sith. Even if aliens are treated horribly by a lot of Imperials they do appear to be gaining ground.

 

The only one I see as being out there is the Zabrak officer because there's no precedent in the game, but in the new Empire with a lot of people killed by the Eternal Empire, and Acina being more laid back, who knows. Not every person in the Empire is a racist.

I think the point was not "There can't be aliens" but rather "It's weird that there are so many aliens".

 

For the first release of an imperial bundle you would have thought it would contain the stereotypical cast of characters. People who want to recreate an Imperial space will be more inclined to recreate what's most commonly found in the game, which is not aliens. Not that they don't exist, but they aren't common.

 

You brought up Yudrass, let's think back to his role for a moment. His character was notable specifically because he would be the first Chiss in the role his able to achieve in that quest line. It's remarkable because it's unusual.

 

And yeah, not everyone in the Empire is racist, which is another plot point you can explore with certain classes, but the overwhelming majority of the Empire is. There is potentially a need for them to embrace alternatives (the entire Ilum/Malgus quest line) but they don't currently. That would be a deviation from the current policies.

 

So again, it's not that aliens aren't there, they just aren't frequent so to have them make up the bulk of an imperial personal bundle is strange. Although the most likely reason for this, if I had to guess, would probably be pretty simple. We've already had human imperial officer items introduced and the goal of the bundle was likely to provide more variety and new items.

[Laendser]

... We've already had human imperial officer items introduced and the goal of the bundle was likely to provide more variety and new items.

 

Karameck,

 

I'm not aware of the deco. you mention here, could you give the exact name of it please, I'd like to look it up!

 

Thank you.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I think the point was not "There can't be aliens" but rather "It's weird that there are so many aliens".

 

For the first release of an imperial bundle you would have thought it would contain the stereotypical cast of characters. People who want to recreate an Imperial space will be more inclined to recreate what's most commonly found in the game, which is not aliens. Not that they don't exist, but they aren't common.

 

You brought up Yudrass, let's think back to his role for a moment. His character was notable specifically because he would be the first Chiss in the role his able to achieve in that quest line. It's remarkable because it's unusual.

 

And yeah, not everyone in the Empire is racist, which is another plot point you can explore with certain classes, but the overwhelming majority of the Empire is. There is potentially a need for them to embrace alternatives (the entire Ilum/Malgus quest line) but they don't currently. That would be a deviation from the current policies.

 

So again, it's not that aliens aren't there, they just aren't frequent so to have them make up the bulk of an imperial personal bundle is strange. Although the most likely reason for this, if I had to guess, would probably be pretty simple. We've already had human imperial officer items introduced and the goal of the bundle was likely to provide more variety and new items.

 

Well, we actually don't know very much about what they're doing - our characters haven't been within the Empire in any sort of meaningful way in 7 years. In that time a lot of people have died off, and out of pragmatism, if not progressiveness, there might be far more aliens in the Empire now than before. So this bundle might possibly be a harbinger of what we're going to see in the game.

 

I do get that a human bundle makes more sense from a lore perspective, but the OP seemed to be melting down about the fact that there were any aliens at all.

[Karameck]

Karameck,

 

I'm not aware of the deco. you mention here, could you give the exact name of it please, I'd like to look it up!

 

Thank you.

Imperial Officer might have been a poor choice of words, but the personell items that are Empire aligned are almost exclusively human with the exception of this latest bundle.

 

For actual Human Imperial officers you'd be limited to placing Talos Drellik, Malavai Quinn, Raina Temple or Pierce. (NOTE: there is no non-human option for this unless you count Vector Hyllus who was a diplomat, not technically in the ranked services. Worth mentioning Diplomats do seem to be more diverse in race as we do see a Zabrak Male pier of Vector's in the story.)

 

In the same vein however you have: Imperial Grenadier, Imperial Guardsman (both of which are wearing masks which makes it impossible to determine actual race, but does severally limit the alternative options), and Imperial Medic

 

For Sith (Empire aligned) you have: Sith acolyte, Sith Apprenctice, Sith Assassin, Sith Lord, Sith Ravager, Sith Ritualist, and Dark Honor Guard (again this one wears a mask, so maybe not human but limited alternatives).

 

Prior to this bundle there was only one empire-aligned non-human I've aware of and that was the PureBlood Sith Lord personnel item.

 

Well, we actually don't know very much about what they're doing - our characters haven't been within the Empire in any sort of meaningful way in 7 years. In that time a lot of people have died off, and out of pragmatism, if not progressiveness, there might be far more aliens in the Empire now than before. So this bundle might possibly be a harbinger of what we're going to see in the game.

 

I do get that a human bundle makes more sense from a lore perspective, but the OP seemed to be melting down about the fact that there were any aliens at all.

That could be true, but in the absence of anything actually stating things changed in regards to their views on other species it seems unwise to assume such. The last statements we have on the matter were pretty clear, and anything else is pure speculation that can not currently be backed up by any "canon" sources.

[IoNonSoEVero]

 

That could be true, but in the absence of anything actually stating things changed in regards to their views on other species it seems unwise to assume such. The last statements we have on the matter were pretty clear, and anything else is pure speculation that can not currently be backed up by any "canon" sources.

 

Regardless of their overall views on other species they do already have aliens in meaningful jobs in the game, so the deco bundle isn't completely out of character.

 

Someone could actually have an alien Imperial PC or be RPing an Imperial who actually isn't racist, too. Just saying.

[Karameck]

Regardless of their overall views on other species they do already have aliens in meaningful jobs in the game, so the deco bundle isn't completely out of character.

 

Someone could actually have an alien Imperial PC or be RPing an Imperial who actually isn't racist, too. Just saying.

I never said otherwise, if you reread my previous posts you'll see I've already said as much myself.

 

It's not out of character in that these things can't/don't happen, it's just an unexpected direction considering the trends in game. However, as I've also stated the decision was likely made more on trying to fill gaps in available items as opposed to trying to conform to any specific expectations.

[IoNonSoEVero]

I never said otherwise, if you reread my previous posts you'll see I've already said as much myself.

 

It's not out of character in that these things can't/don't happen, it's just an unexpected direction considering the trends in game. However, as I've also stated the decision was likely made more on trying to fill gaps in available items as opposed to trying to conform to any specific expectations.

 

I read your posts perfectly well. We'll have to agree to disagree on how this can be interpreted.

 

At any rate, it someone doesn't like it, they do have the choice not to buy it, and to put out the numerous other personnel and companions that are human Imperials instead. Seems like that might be more reasonable than working oneself up about it as the OP seemed to do.

Edited October 3, 2018 by IoNonSoEVero

[VAChem]

That could be true, but in the absence of anything actually stating things changed in regards to their views on other species it seems unwise to assume such. The last statements we have on the matter were pretty clear, and anything else is pure speculation that can not currently be backed up by any "canon" sources.

 

I would argue that there is in-game evidence that things have changed. Any Imperial character that completed the mission "To Pierce the Heavens" in the ROTHC storyline should have the "Alien Initiatives" entry in the lore section of their codex. Basically, it establishes that after Malgus' rebellion the Empire began a more concerted effort to integrate loyal alien subjects into the military. Did the hardline conservatives object? Yes, but in the end pragmatism won out as the Empire wouldn't have had the manpower to survive the war without aliens. So there is in-game lore justification for the alien personnel.

[Karameck]

I read your posts perfectly well. We'll have to agree to disagree on how this can be interpreted.

 

At any rate, it someone doesn't like it, they do have the choice not to buy it, and to put out the numerous other personnel and companions that are human Imperials instead. Seems like that might be more reasonable than working oneself up about it as the OP seemed to do.

I mean... you said this:

Someone could actually have an alien Imperial PC or be RPing an Imperial who actually isn't racist, too. Just saying

after I said this:

And yeah, not everyone in the Empire is racist, which is another plot point you can explore with certain classes

 

Not really sure how you could interpret me saying "not everyone in the Empire is rascist" to mean anything other than "Not everyone in the Empire is rascist." But.... ok.

 

As to the other point I don't think OP was worked up. Came across as satire to me. "Alien Freaks" "floodgates to release the alien invasion" all seem to be hyperbole.

[Karameck]

I would argue that there is in-game evidence that things have changed. Any Imperial character that completed the mission "To Pierce the Heavens" in the ROTHC storyline should have the "Alien Initiatives" entry in the lore section of their codex. Basically, it establishes that after Malgus' rebellion the Empire began a more concerted effort to integrate loyal alien subjects into the military. Did the hardline conservatives object? Yes, but in the end pragmatism won out as the Empire wouldn't have had the manpower to survive the war without aliens. So there is in-game lore justification for the alien personnel.

Can you quote or link to said Codex entry?

 

EDIT: To add, a single initiative doesn't necessarily reflect a general trend. You'll find that often initiatives are one-off or failed endeavors. Depending on the wording it may not establish anything other than "some people tried this".

Edited October 3, 2018 by Karameck