Bioware Should Charge us Atleast 20 Dollars per Expansion

[Jesira]

Well EA won't spend a penny without a renewed IP license from Disney, and the clock is ticking, it takes time to make new games, even recycled ones.

 

They have several unannounced Star Wars games in development now though, one of them could be the SWTOR/KOTOR sequel by now. I doubt they will wait 4 years before making another Star Wars game because whether or not they get that renewed IP license, they will want to cash in on it while they can, especially during this Star Wars renaissance going on in the TV and cinema mediums. I also kind of doubt Disney won't renew the license with the size of EA and all the different studios at their disposal, and just going off what they said last time this subject came up, they seem content to keep things as is, especially since they are interested in using the SWTOR era for new shows and movies, and if Fallen Order does well, I think they will have pretty much secured the license, and I say this as someone who is not particularly a fan of EA, I mostly just love BioWare, but yeah I don't see Disney giving the license to anyone else. I can't really think of any other company that stacks up to what EA has under their umbrella. :/

Edited November 8, 2019 by Jesira

[Batwer]

I would pay more if some things change.

 

- Continuation of the class stories

- Repair all bugs also very old bugs

 

But will never happen. Maybe there will be a new SW MMOPRG game soon. Then they will hopefully make it better.

[sharkfishman]

Guys, flash idea here quick.

 

First, read the thread about the Kai Zykken biochem plans.

 

Then read the one about the Tulak Hord server.

 

Then come back to this one.

 

The effect is really cool, trust me. You can even Google this at the same time:

[sharkfishman]

Wait, better song to listen to while reading these threads.

 

[JainiaDral]

Wait, better song to listen to while reading these threads.

 

 

I'd just go with this one:

[sharkfishman]

I'd just go with this one:

 

Classic.

[Jesira]

Returning to class specific stories will never happen, and I think part of the trouble they had with Onslaught was simply trying to write 2, or 3 stories under one story. They are able to create a lot more story content when we are all experiencing the same story but now they've had to divide them between the two factions, the alliance, and sabeur in order to try and appease as many people as possible, so in order to do that they probably sacrificed having a better paced story with more chapters and I don't think it's worth that. I would rather have 6 initial, more substantial chapters under one story with the choices being one of two ways, the way they had been doing it until now, than 2 or 3 short chapters where they're trying to make swtor vanilla purists happy. Edited November 8, 2019 by Jesira

[Kaywinnit]

But those are grinds in new content for specific things, things that are exactly what I want / need.

 

Here its a grind, of content that was primarily already "old" 4 years ago for a chance at RNG that has 9/10 so far given me a downgrade.

 

There's only one choice there for an intelligent person, isn't there?

 

All The Best

 

Don't forget to grind old content reps, to unlock races, so you can regrind all the grind you've grinded. I'd much rather play SWTOR, than the insane levels of grinding and un-alt friendliness that is BfA.

[DarthSpuds]

Don't forget to grind old content reps, to unlock races, so you can regrind all the grind you've grinded. I'd much rather play SWTOR, than the insane levels of grinding and un-alt friendliness that is BfA.

 

Extra, largely cosmetic, races are optional extras. If there was a Cash Store like here I am sure Blizzard would have put the races there.

 

Gear isn't an optional extra.

 

So far I have found BfA far more Alt-Friendly than Onslaught. But then after now 8 hours of play in BfA I am still not at "End-Grind". I was there in approximately two hours in Onslaught.

 

I am sure I will find things I don't like in BfA; I've not liked what Blizz have done with Crafting for several years now, but there's always more Quest Content to get on with so I have something to do.

 

Here I get 2 Hours of Quest Content once a year, and then am FORCED to Grind the stuff I don't like if I want to continue playing.

 

MMORPGs are, for me, about The Journey (to end game), not the Destination of it.

SWTOR used to have one of the best Journeys in the industry.

Now it is so little, so infrequently and of such barely mediocre quality that it is nowhere near "one of the best".

 

Two hours of questing is simply not enough, not even if the story was ten times better quality than it is.

 

All The Best

[jimmorrisson]

This expansion is not about the story.

This expansion is about the gear which is only a variation of 5.0 with added gear slots to grind for.

[TrixxieTriss]

They should charge for expansions like other MMO’s do because then they could afford the resources to make a real expansion worth the the charge.

BUT, they need to make sure there is enough content, better systems in place, not overly bugged (better quality control) and not feel rushed out the door.

None of which this “expansion” has. As others have pointed out, it’s the equivalent of a content patch in other games.

So no, this expansion certainly wouldn’t fit the definition to charge players.

[Rolodome]

I believe I've said something along these lines before, but here's why this is an unhealthy idea for the game:

 

The playerbase is relatively small already. That's strike one.

The game is already divided up into three different tiers of access: f2p, preferred, and sub. That's strike two.

And strike three is, as others have pointed out, they don't put out enough content to justify charging that kind of money for an expansion on top of the $15 for a sub to get access.

 

But if they did, it still wouldn't make sense. It would be adding a 4th tier of access to an already (relatively) small population game. In a design sense, they can know that if someone is subbed they have access to everything (with the exception of accessory items in collections). If they did this with a new expansion, they no longer have that guarantee. Now they have: f2p, preferred, preferred+expansion, sub, and sub+expansion. They could limit it to that by steadily lowering the access barrier to let people into old expansions like they do in the existing system. But it's still extra complication, on top of an already convoluted system.

 

Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, there's the general problem of the playerbase getting splintered more. You're a sub, but you didn't buy X expansion. Well you can queue up for this and this, but not that. What if the expansion doesn't sell well? Now the few people who have access are struggling to find anyone to do the group content with them. That sort of thing.

 

When the two tiers are: sub and sub+expansion (or in the case of a game like GW2, b2p and b2p+expansion), things can be relatively simple. This system is already convoluted enough and there aren't strong population numbers to justify splintering the playerbase further like that.

[TrixxieTriss]

I believe I've said something along these lines before, but here's why this is an unhealthy idea for the game:

 

The playerbase is relatively small already. That's strike one.

The game is already divided up into three different tiers of access: f2p, preferred, and sub. That's strike two.

And strike three is, as others have pointed out, they don't put out enough content to justify charging that kind of money for an expansion on top of the $15 for a sub to get access.

 

But if they did, it still wouldn't make sense. It would be adding a 4th tier of access to an already (relatively) small population game. In a design sense, they can know that if someone is subbed they have access to everything (with the exception of accessory items in collections). If they did this with a new expansion, they no longer have that guarantee. Now they have: f2p, preferred, preferred+expansion, sub, and sub+expansion. They could limit it to that by steadily lowering the access barrier to let people into old expansions like they do in the existing system. But it's still extra complication, on top of an already convoluted system.

 

Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, there's the general problem of the playerbase getting splintered more. You're a sub, but you didn't buy X expansion. Well you can queue up for this and this, but not that. What if the expansion doesn't sell well? Now the few people who have access are struggling to find anyone to do the group content with them. That sort of thing.

 

When the two tiers are: sub and sub+expansion (or in the case of a game like GW2, b2p and b2p+expansion), things can be relatively simple. This system is already convoluted enough and there aren't strong population numbers to justify splintering the playerbase further like that.

 

You may or may not be right. Your logic is pretty compelling, so with the game in its current state, I’d lean towards you being mostly right

 

I will say though, part of the problem is Bioware should have always charged for expansions so they set the expectations. This would also have allowed them to keep making better and larger expansions, as well as having extra income to have more regular content patches in between.

Maybe the game would have still declined like it has, but my guess is more content, more often, even with the need to pay for it, would have kept a great deal more players around than there are now.

[Rolodome]

You may or may not be right. Your logic is pretty compelling, so with the game in its current state, I’d lean towards you being mostly right

 

I will say though, part of the problem is Bioware should have always charged for expansions so they set the expectations. This would also have allowed them to keep making better and larger expansions, as well as having extra income to have more regular content patches in between.

Maybe the game would have still declined like it has, but my guess is more content, more often, even with the need to pay for it, would have kept a great deal more players around than there are now.

Perhaps you're right. They did charge for expansions early on, right? RotHC at least? I wonder what caused the change. If it was too logistically complicated, or they just didn't feel confident in getting the sales if they did so, or what.

[Estelindis]

Perhaps you're right. They did charge for expansions early on, right? RotHC at least? I wonder what caused the change.

Well, ultimately only they can tell us, but I imagine they've crunched some numbers and deduced that they get more income by presenting expansions as "free with subscription" vs. explicitly paid. I reckon people like the idea of getting something for free more than they like the idea of paying for something. The sense of what the payment is for might make enough of a difference that more people would pay the subscription than would pay for an expansion presented as such. At the end of the day, though, every person who subs for Onslaught who wouldn't have otherwise subbed is effectively purchasing the expansion, just under a different name.

[Rolodome]

Well, ultimately only they can tell us, but I imagine they've crunched some numbers and deduced that they get more income by presenting expansions as "free with subscription" vs. explicitly paid. I reckon people like the idea of getting something for free more than they like the idea of paying for something. The sense of what the payment is for might make enough of a difference that more people would pay the subscription than would pay for an expansion presented as such. At the end of the day, though, every person who subs for Onslaught who wouldn't have otherwise subbed is effectively purchasing the expansion, just under a different name.

Fair point and the purchasing part is not lost on me. It's a $15 expansion as is, in one sense.

[BelorfinSiana]

This expansion is not about the story.

This expansion is about the gear which is only a variation of 5.0 with added gear slots to grind for.

Perhaps, but I only play this game for two reasons. Story, and "space Barbie", as it's called.

[NogueiraA]

I'd only pay for an expansion if they announce a 64bit dx11 revamp of the game. Edited November 9, 2019 by NogueiraA

[Theradonh]

I'm fine with paying for an expansion (and even sub for it) like in WoW, but then I want content like in WoWs expansions, or atleast 50%? Even 10% of WoWs content per expansion would be a huge step for swtor...

 

 

But I think Rolodome is right anyway. It would split the playerbase even more.

Edited November 9, 2019 by Theradonh

[Nefla]

Let's be real, that $20 expansion charge would go straight to developing whatever new cash grab, pay to win, lootbox infested garbage EA will be developing at any given time, it wouldn't be reinvested back into SWtOR just as the majority of profits from SWtOR are not being reinvested into it now but being used for garbage like Anthem.

[Qouivandes]

only if it was an actual expansion.