Long Term Down the Road

[MingusPho]

I imagine the main features for Onslaught and 6.0 are set in stone by this point. So here are some things I'd like to see EA/BW implement next. And I seriously hope what follows Onslaught doesn't end up being 2 years of class balance changes and minor quality of life updates

 

1) Swoop racing

2) Stronghold mini games

3) 100 percent revamp of all space combat to include group pve content

4) Radiant quest and evolving dungeon mechanics

 

My suspicion at this point is that the F2P changes and the release of 6.0 are intended to hold us for one to two years without anything new. Although, I'm holding out hope 6.0 has a few major tricks up its sleeve that haven't been announced yet.

[Phazonfreak]

I imagine the main features for Onslaught and 6.0 are set in stone by this point. So here are some things I'd like to see EA/BW implement next. And I seriously hope what follows Onslaught doesn't end up being 2 years of class balance changes and minor quality of life updates

 

1) Swoop racing

 

Please no. They already tried to expand upon the traditional MMORPG genre by adding Galactic Starfighter and we know how that turned out. It has nothing to do with lack of quality, since GSF is actually quite good if you enjoy space combat, but as it clearly demonstrates by the general feedback GSF is extremely unpopular because the absolute majority of all players want to play an Mmorpg and not a space combat game. Same would most likely happen to a racing game addon.

 

2) Stronghold mini games

 

Could be fun depending on what kind of games exactly.

 

3) 100 percent revamp of all space combat to include group pve content

 

Goes in the same direction as swoop racing. While nice to have the majority of players are not playing Swtor for space combat. Regardless of whether it is a rail shooter or free roam combat.

 

4) Radiant quest and evolving dungeon mechanics

 

I personally am not a big fan of randomness in quests and dungeons and while the idea behind it to keep things fresh is nice, it often boils down to annoyance by getting draws that you don't like.

 

My suspicion at this point is that the F2P changes and the release of 6.0 are intended to hold us for one to two years without anything new. Although, I'm holding out hope 6.0 has a few major tricks up its sleeve that haven't been announced yet.

 

 

You don't consider a complete itemization and loot mechanic overhaul a big trick up their sleeves, hence a lot of work?

Edited July 5, 2019 by Phazonfreak

[TonyTricicolo]

Being that this game is not pre beta any more, they don't have a massive team working on it, they lack the funds they had when they first started making this game AND it's history of how they distribute content, my predictions are that 6.0 will be an underwhelming small drip of content that most people will finish within the first few days of release. As filler, they'll continue with their monthly events as we run around doing old content to get our new tactical items. Christmas will come and they'll go on vacation. Some time between mid January and early February we'll get a heads up on a State of the Game/roadmap that will be coming soon. Around April we'll probably get some new content. After that, it will repeat the cycle-end of summer content, long stretch of nothing, vacation, spring content and around and round we go. Edited July 5, 2019 by TonyTricicolo

[Keta]

Being that this game is not pre beta any more, they don't have a massive team working on it, they lack the funds they had when they first started making this game AND it's history of how they distribute content, my predictions are that 6.0 will be an underwhelming small drip of content that most people will finish within the first few days of release. As filler, they'll continue with their monthly events as we run around doing old content to get our new tactical items. Christmas will come and they'll go on vacation. Some time between mid January and early February we'll get a heads up on a State of the Game/roadmap that will be coming soon. Around April we'll probably get some new content. After that, it will repeat the cycle-end of summer content, long stretch of nothing, vacation, spring content and around and round we go.

 

Pretty much.

[Celise]

I imagine the main features for Onslaught and 6.0 are set in stone by this point. So here are some things I'd like to see EA/BW implement next. And I seriously hope what follows Onslaught doesn't end up being 2 years of class balance changes and minor quality of life updates

 

1) Swoop racing

2) Stronghold mini games

3) 100 percent revamp of all space combat to include group pve content

4) Radiant quest and evolving dungeon mechanics

 

My suspicion at this point is that the F2P changes and the release of 6.0 are intended to hold us for one to two years without anything new. Although, I'm holding out hope 6.0 has a few major tricks up its sleeve that haven't been announced yet.

 

6.0 was likely completed as an expac a few months ago, but work is still being done to balance, optimise and the like the closer it gets to launch.

 

1. its been suggested before by others and nothing ever came of it and what would be worth having swoop racing in this game, it would mean building competely new mechanics to get people to race against each other on special courses with a range of swoop bikes. It would be too much of an undertaking for what purpose is another matter.

 

2. can't see the point in it. expand on what it is you are asking.

 

3. revamp it to what? if you mean to reimagine the experience, that will take resources and time to do, probably new mechanics in there as well. Do you want more story content or upgrading old content which frankly hasn't mattered in a long time.

 

If you really want support, the only thing i can suggest is that the space missions become a part of the main storyline and these levels of gear are done away with. beyond that? i got no interest.

 

4. evolving and adapting quests and level designs? psh! There is even more creative mechanics and resources that will be sunk into such a project, more than previous ideas you mentioned. None of them are particularly easy ideas to implement and i doubt BW has those resources on hand or is EA a charity case to bankroll it.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Celise

[UmbralSpirit]

And I seriously hope what follows Onslaught doesn't end up being 2 years of class balance changes and minor quality of life updates

 

Too bad because that's exactly what you'll get, Muhahaha.

[MingusPho]

Too bad because that's exactly what you'll get, Muhahaha.

 

Lol, yeah....I mean I already know 6.0 ain't gonna be enough to keep me subbed. I definitely intend to check it out but as soon as I get bored with it, I'm moving on. I just really don't want to see a repeat of nondevelopment periods and poor development choices. Not really worth going through it again imo.

[Phazonfreak]

Being that this game is not pre beta any more, they don't have a massive team working on it, they lack the funds they had when they first started making this game AND it's history of how they distribute content, my predictions are that 6.0 will be an underwhelming small drip of content that most people will finish within the first few days of release. As filler, they'll continue with their monthly events as we run around doing old content to get our new tactical items. Christmas will come and they'll go on vacation. Some time between mid January and early February we'll get a heads up on a State of the Game/roadmap that will be coming soon. Around April we'll probably get some new content. After that, it will repeat the cycle-end of summer content, long stretch of nothing, vacation, spring content and around and round we go.

 

Sounds about right, if slightly oversimplified. The only major thing you forgot is the Cartel Market, which basically became the pacemaker of the game. Of course we will also get new armor sets, flairs, weapons and tunings, decos, mounts and the likes in the coming months and in a steady pace.

And we will all buy them up and trade that stuff like heroin, I know I will...

Edited July 5, 2019 by Phazonfreak

[JediQuaker]

Long Term Down the Road.

Depends upon how long term. But I would guess that, if anything major were to happen it would involve a complete re-vamping of the game - new engine, etc.

[ReverendAnderson]

I imagine it's a pipe dream by now, but SWTOR could really use a combat overhaul. The old WoW style combat is getting real long in the tooth, and vast majority of the game is you-just-cannot-lose level easy. I like that they're moving more towards Destiny with the new itemization, but I don't think a couple of new abilities are going to freshen up SWTOR's largely mindless fighting.

[MingusPho]

I imagine it's a pipe dream by now, but SWTOR could really use a combat overhaul. The old WoW style combat is getting real long in the tooth, and vast majority of the game is you-just-cannot-lose level easy. I like that they're moving more towards Destiny with the new itemization, but I don't think a couple of new abilities are going to freshen up SWTOR's largely mindless fighting.

 

Now that's interesting. What are you imagining for a combat overhaul? Personally I could go for more tactics oriented gameplay---i.e. kneeling increases aim but weakens melee defense, that sort of thing. A hold shift to sprint feature in addition to whatever class based sprint maybe. Fighting, harvesting from mounts. More mount friendly ops and flashpoints. Honestly what needs overhauling the most IMHO is space combat. It just feels off. It doesn't bring about any special feeling of excitement just frustration and perhaps anxiety for me. I remember SWG JTL....my god. Now that was an experience from the way both combat and flight functioned to the visuals to the customizations. But by comparison, Freelancer, Freespace, Wing Commander, heck even Star Fox64 felt more natural and enjoyable. Ultimately though, if they truly wanted to deliver, they'd mirror Battlefront gameplay.

[UmbralSpirit]

I imagine it's a pipe dream by now, but SWTOR could really use a combat overhaul.

 

They could call it the "Combat Upgrade" or the "New Game Enhancement"....

[SteveTheCynic]

1. its been suggested before by others and nothing ever came of it and what would be worth having swoop racing in this game, it would mean building competely new mechanics to get people to race against each other on special courses with a range of swoop bikes. It would be too much of an undertaking for what purpose is another matter.

Guild Wars 2's mount races show *a* way that it could be done, except that handling GW2 mounts takes a certain amount of player skill(1), and SWTOR mounts do not(2).

 

It's worth noting two key points about GW2's mount races:

* They are no more than a "bit of fun".

* They take place in the open world. It's possible to lose a race because you got knocked off your mount by hostile enemies, although that's significantly harder in GW2 than in SWTOR.

 

(1) Not *much* skill in the case of the Raptor, but correctly handling the Roller Beetle is a whole other matter.

 

(2) The fastest of SWTOR mounts (any mount at all at Piloting V) travels at less than a third of the Roller Beetle's full speed, and their turning circle is essentially zero.

[JediQuaker]

1. its been suggested before by others and nothing ever came of it and what would be worth having swoop racing in this game, it would mean building competely new mechanics to get people to race against each other on special courses with a range of swoop bikes. It would be too much of an undertaking for what purpose is another matter.

Personally, I play SWTOR for the RPG aspect. If I wanted to play cutesy racing games I would just break out Mario Kart.

[Arundo]

3) 100 percent revamp of all space combat to include group pve content

 

Yes please bombing runs like the attack on the death star on warfronts, cities, industry, miningstations etc.

[ZionHalcyon]

I don't know if I agree, but here is what I think:

 

 

Graphics Engine Performance Update: Note, I am not saying replacement as a complete overhaul and graphical update would be impossible from a time and finances standpoint. However, that doesn't mean they can't improve the performance of what is already in place. Given the current state of hardware, they should try to integrate 3 key pieces of technology into the engine - DX12 support, Vulkan Support, and multi-core support on processors. There have always been performance issues with the game, and modernizing it may help. Note this is not something I would put on a "timetable", but just have a team working on it, and then it is ready when it is "ready".

 

Cutscene Pass: Right now, the Cutscenes from the beginning of the game through Ziost feel disjointed from the cutscenes from KotFE, on. At a bare minimum, Introduce the KotFE style splash chapter titles over the cutscenes to create a better sense of congruity. If possible, I would up the quality of those cutscenes to KOTFE standards, even if it means creating better models. The vanilla game could use that love, and it would help the game feel less disjointed.

 

Past that, I want to see what potential improvements Onslaught offers.