7.0 expansion? - 2020?

[Rion_Starkiller]

The devs haven't announced anything yet after 6.2. I wouldn't expect much until the Fall. They've alluded to pvp maps and such, then something big for the 2021 10 year anniversary. If we were to use 2019 as a framework on the dev's release schedule, I'd say we'll get a pvp update late summer, then maybe something similar to Ossus for story September-ish.

 

Who knows if we'll get an expansion though. 7.0 may not be until 2021.

 

Hey everyone,

 

Happy 2020! It has been a little while since my last post and I wanted to kick the year off with a bit of an update. Before I do, I really want to say Thank You to everyone who has stayed with us and have joined us to play SWTOR. It’s been very exciting to see so many players on beginning and core worlds, participating with older expansion content, and joining us on Ossus, Onderon, Mek-Sha and Corellia. I continue to play the game a lot as I believe it’s vitally important to have the same type of experiences as our players. This enables me to leverage what I learn which helps guide future changes with our game.

 

I know a big question on your mind is, what is coming next? Here is a quick look at my thoughts on what is coming soon, and in the future:

• Tomorrow! – The Umbaran Patrol Tauntaun will kick off of as a “February” sub-reward. Be a subscriber at any time before Feb 29, starting tomorrow, and you will have the Tauntaun waiting for you in your in-game inbox.
  
• Game Update 6.1 – Many of you had the chance to check out the Alderaan Stronghold and the upcoming class changes on PTS, and we really appreciate the feedback you provided. I am happy to announce (barring any emergencies), Game Update 6.1 will launch on Tuesday, February 11th.
  
• Game Update 6.1.1 and 6.1.2 – Our next two game updates are currently scheduled to be pretty quick on the heels of 6.1. You should expect to see these updates in the next couple of months after 6.1 is live. They will include some new quality of life changes for Conquests, more class changes, Master Mode Dxun, and more! Stay tuned to the PTS forum for more details on specifically what is coming in each update.
  
• 2020 – The team is working on a lot of exciting things for this year. We will really have a big focus on quality of life, updated stories, PvP improvements and much, much more. We want to ensure your time in SWTOR is very enjoyable by having plenty of activities, goals, and rewards.
  
• Star Wars Celebration- Right now we are also looking forward to this year’s SW Celebration! We are planning to have a Cantina there and would love to see you all in person. We’ll have some cool announcements, swag, and many SWTOR developers available for you to meet.
  
• 2021 – SWTOR’s 10th year! This seems like a great target to work towards doing something major…more to come, of course, but I wanted you to know we’re already starting to plan out the next few years.
  

 

Again, thanks for playing SWTOR and helping us make it an awesome experience for so many new players.

 

Respectfully,

 

-Keith----------

 

Thanks Luke. My intention was to say hi, let you know SWTOR will be around for years to come, that we’ve had a lot of fun this past quarter with Onslaught, and now it’s time to move forward with 2020 starting with Game Update 6.1. So, scrapping my old post, here’s my new one:

 

• Hi
  
• SWTOR will be around for years to come (cuz we’re planning to release something big for our 10th anniversary)
  
• Onslaught continues to be a lot of fun, but we need to start providing updates – so on Feb 11th, we’ll release 6.1 (but that’s only one of many in 2020).
  
• Will get you more details about upcoming releases
  
• Hope to see you at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, CA
  

 

😊

 

---Keith---

Edited May 24, 2020 by Rion_Starkiller

[MWidowmaker]

*tips hat* Next time the honour can be yours!

 

i wouldn't be as polite and patient as you have been, i would have probably said something incendiary because i have a decided lack of tact. i freely admit this is by choice simply because i dont really give a patootie who i offend anymore with how blunt i am.

[casirabit]

And let's be honest, it's not to do with corona as you suggested. The OP is a veteran of many years as am I and the issue of content or the lack thereof is not new. Now I don't think he's being realistic in his expectations towards BioWare but I do understand the sentiment. Perhaps if you want to defend the game you could use a more positive approach. These low comments of yours are counterproductive really.

 

 

Let's not start that game who has been here longer. I was here before the game launch and have played constantly but I also have known there are others that have been here just as long. I was doing forum roleplay with the people that are now my guild. In fact that is how we started our guild.

 

The way the OP started this thread reminded me of a two-year child demanding a toy. The devs had mentioned something big for 2021 but the virus had put a lot of things on hold or pushed back. Whether people want to believe it or not is their problem. There been a lot of things that were canceled. Some states are now reopening and since they are headquartered in Texas, they may be returning back to the office as Texas is one of the states that are reopening.

[Ylliarus]

The way the OP started this thread reminded me of a two-year child demanding a toy. The devs had mentioned something big for 2021 but the virus had put a lot of things on hold or pushed back. Whether people want to believe it or not is their problem. There been a lot of things that were canceled. Some states are now reopening and since they are headquartered in Texas, they may be returning back to the office as Texas is one of the states that are reopening.

 

But that's the difference between mature people and immature people. Mature people will understand why things are being postponed or why there has been a lack of content in these recent weeks and months. Immature people will stomp their feet like the OP did and then run away when things got heated beneath their feet. Because the moment multiple players started calling out the OP on his childish behaviour, suddenly he had lost interested in the thread and called it pathetic...

 

i wouldn't be as polite and patient as you have been, i would have probably said something incendiary because i have a decided lack of tact. i freely admit this is by choice simply because i dont really give a patootie who i offend anymore with how blunt i am.

 

I appreciate your commentary. I admit, I had something a lot more... impolite, shall we say, on mind. But then again, I am not that interested in getting a warning

Edited May 24, 2020 by Ylliarus

[ProbablyNotGabe]

even with the pandemic, i don't think it'll be another 3 years until we see another expansion.

 

after the disaster that was KOTET, bioware was in damage control, between the change of leadership (which was a good decisions) & a lot of people working on anthem, the gap between 5.0 & 6.0 was frustrating, but understandable.

 

things seem to be going better, though. onslaught has definitely been an overall success and it genuinely seems like the devs are excited for the future of TOR

[jedimasterjac]

even with the pandemic, i don't think it'll be another 3 years until we see another expansion.

 

after the disaster that was KOTET, bioware was in damage control, between the change of leadership (which was a good decisions) & a lot of people working on anthem, the gap between 5.0 & 6.0 was frustrating, but understandable.

 

things seem to be going better, though. onslaught has definitely been an overall success and it genuinely seems like the devs are excited for the future of TOR

 

I agree. I think that the misfire of KOTET really set the company back, and, while Onslaught was small, it's a positive step forward. Hopefully they can build momentum despite the pandemic.

[Ylliarus]

I agree. I think that the misfire of KOTET really set the company back, and, while Onslaught was small, it's a positive step forward. Hopefully they can build momentum despite the pandemic.

 

Agreed, KotFE and KotET were a huge misfire, but with Jedi Under Siege the game really has changed course towards a much better direction. I trust the devs, I trust Bioware to keep up the good changes (the Conquest overhaul is an example of why the dev team and BW deserve our trust) and keep improving this game as the years go by! I am sure we'll get something awesome in 2021, pandemic or not

Edited May 24, 2020 by Ylliarus

[DavidAtkinson]

I agree. I think that the misfire of KOTET really set the company back, and, while Onslaught was small, it's a positive step forward. Hopefully they can build momentum despite the pandemic.

 

This is subjective...

 

I loved both KOTET and KOTFE and found Onslaught boring as hell.. I was so bored with it that I spacebarred through the cutscenes. To me it totally lacked any creativity and imagination and was just made out of the blue to try and please people .

 

Their previous expansion was a bold one. They kind of tried something new and it " misfired" because usually people don't like change .

Edited May 24, 2020 by DavidAtkinson

[-Bob-]

LOL @ this troll thread

I'll give 7/10 only because so many people took the bait.

[jedimasterjac]

This is subjective...

 

I loved both KOTET and KOTFE and found Onslaught boring as hell.. I was so bored with it that I spacebarred through the cutscenes. To me it totally lacked any creativity and imagination and was just made out of the blue to try and please people .

 

Their previous expansion was a bold one. They kind of tried something new and it " misfired" because usually people don't like change .

 

I generally like change. I can understand why people liked KOTFE/ET. I still did not enjoy it at all.

 

But my calling it a "misfire" has nothing to do with my opinion of the expansions. Everything from the cinematics to the investment shows BioWare hoped it would elevate the game to new heights; it did not. Whether or not you liked or disliked KOTFE/ET, it did not succeed at bringing in the subscribers the game hoped to.

Edited May 24, 2020 by jedimasterjac

[SteveTheCynic]

The delicate aroma of stale bridge is very strong in this thread. How has it managed to reach six full pages?

[DavidAtkinson]

I generally like change. I can understand why people liked KOTFE/ET. I still did not enjoy it at all.

 

But my calling it a "misfire" has nothing to do with my opinion of the expansions. Everything from the cinematics to the investment shows BioWare hoped it would elevate the game to new heights; it did not. Whether or not you liked or disliked KOTFE/ET, it did not succeed at bringing in the subscribers the game hoped to.

 

Actually the cinematics was one of the reasons I liked it.... Cinematic storytelling was something Bioware was very good at in their gold era . Also, the dialogues in kotet-kotfe with companions were very good , but the expansions lacked funding and enough resources to max out their potential.

[fishpeople]

Agreed, KotFE and KotET were a huge misfire, but with Jedi Under Siege the game really has changed course towards a much better direction. I trust the devs, I trust Bioware to keep up the good changes (the Conquest overhaul is an example of why the dev team and BW deserve our trust) and keep improving this game as the years go by! I am sure we'll get something awesome in 2021, pandemic or not

 

I'm going to disagree with you there. A different direction yes but a better one? Problems introduced in KOTFE/ET such as killing companions and character waste are still present. Take the dark council members from Onslaught for example - Four (Five if you include Malora from JUS) dark council members can be killed off within a short time span making them look weak and wasting their characters for anything that could happen in the future.

[jedimasterjac]

Actually the cinematics was one of the reasons I liked it.... Cinematic storytelling was something Bioware was very good at in their gold era . Also, the dialogues in kotet-kotfe with companions were very good , but the expansions lacked funding and enough resources to max out their potential.

 

You're still ignoring my point, which is that KOTFE/ET failed to bring in the players they hoped it would, which makes it a misfire.

 

I'm specifically talking about the two, multi-million-dollar cinematics we got. While nice, they're a huge investment with arguably little payoff, considering the lackluster numbers from KOTET.

Edited May 24, 2020 by jedimasterjac

[OlBuzzard]

I agree. I think that the misfire of KOTET really set the company back, and, while Onslaught was small, it's a positive step forward. Hopefully they can build momentum despite the pandemic.

 

Ummm…

 

Sorry: but KotFE / ET wasn't a total misfire. That really is subjective (as someone else has already pointed out ) .

 

That said there really were some things that took place inside of that era that did hurt:

** the elimination of ALL companions. All of them were promptly shelved all at once without warning. Back then the credits and the means of raising a companion to max level was a bit more time consuming … etc. Sooo yeah .. when that happened … POOF ! Instant uprisings !!

** The writers strike … hard to remember all of the difficulties … but there were several IRC.

** Gearing changes

** The mergence of all of the class stories into essentially two (more or less) .

** Kill the Jedi story driven directives were exchanged for one annoying old fart known as Valkorian.

(personal note: I'm glad to see that character gone ) . Like it or not if he was that irritating (and IMO he was) … then the writers did a great job in creating a villain that we loved to hate.

** IMO .. the only real down side is that they kind of rode that horse a little too long. Shorter stories that move characters around more frequently seem to work well for many players.

 

On a side note: IMO JUS was too focused on just one "companion" that we were unable to change … and a bit too grindy. The story itself, however was a good move.

 

Onslaught … frankly from a story stand point was so - so . Not great... but still OK. It did move quickly. The art work on Onderon is excellent (some of the best yet). I am definitely looking forward to the next chapter of the SWTOR story.

 

The game over all is definitely improving.

 

Most of us have things that we are looking forward to in the upcoming months. Frankly I have several !!

 

7.0 date ??? Kind of hard to say really.

[Ylliarus]

The delicate aroma of stale bridge is very strong in this thread. How has it managed to reach six full pages?

 

I agree it should be left to die at this point, yeah.

[MWidowmaker]

Ummm…

 

 

** the elimination of ALL companions. All of them were promptly shelved all at once without warning. Back then the credits and the means of raising a companion to max level was a bit more time consuming … etc. Sooo yeah

** The mergence of all of the class stories into essentially two (more or less) .

** Kill the Jedi story driven directives were exchanged for one annoying old fart known as Valkorian.

(personal note: I'm glad to see that character gone ) . Like it or not if he was that irritating (and IMO he was) … then the writers did a great job in creating a villain that we loved to hate.

** IMO .. the only real down side is that they kind of rode that horse a little too long. Shorter stories that move characters around more frequently seem to work well for many players.

.

 

these are the main reasons i am kind of meh on the whole KoT**

I now have way too many companions, Frankly I would have been fine with having the imp companions for imp characters and Pub for pub instead of imp and pub for both, with a few that would be reserved for that class like Jaesa, Khem, Risha, Nadia etc and just added Lana, Theron, Senya/Arcann, HK-55, Koth etc

 

I think it was dragged on a bit too long also, it really could have been cut in half since a lot of chapters had to do with recruiting companions (Kaliyo, Aric, SCORPIO, Gault/Vette, Torian[although the Mando chapter on Darvannis was one of the highlights for me])

 

as far as the villain we love to hate, it reminds me of Paul Reiser. the guy is such a phenomenal actor that i still hate him because of Aliens......

[Tofu_Shark]

Actually the cinematics was one of the reasons I liked it.... Cinematic storytelling was something Bioware was very good at in their gold era . Also, the dialogues in kotet-kotfe with companions were very good , but the expansions lacked funding and enough resources to max out their potential.

No, they pulled back on the KotFE/KotET instead of going all-in because of negative player feedback. The thing is, there's only a small portion of the playerbase that provides feedback. It was supposed to be a trilogy with some chapters dedicated to the return of certain companions. Instead, it got condensed into a watered down duology.

 

This is the opposite side of the coin of Executive Meddling, when an audience has an unhealthy influence on the direction a project goes in, resulting in worse outcome than if the decision makers just trusted their instincts. It's of course much rarer than the former, as audiences historically have had very little direct impact on the direction a story goes in.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Tofu_Shark

[fishpeople]

Wasn't resources also being diverted to Anthem and Andromeda at the time? Didn't that play a part in why KOTET was rushed?

[ThomasStarWars]

This game will never get Revan/the two expansions everyone hates sized expansions again.

[OlBuzzard]

This game will never get Revan/the two expansions everyone hates sized expansions again.

 

Ya know … I haven't really considered this that much... BUT that might be why the last few stories have been so short.

 

IMO... some where in between is really the best idea.

 

Good short stories that allow the game / characters and a good story line to develop... and yet not quite as long as the two KotFE / ET (combined). I did like the stories (even if I hated Valcorian ). There were just several different things that all happened at the same time which created the over all "perfect storm" for SWTOR. I believe that the team has learned from that and has began to take on a healthy overall format.

 

More work to be done … definitely !!

 

BUT... looking good right now !!

 

7.0 will get here. All in good time !

[jedimasterjac]

This game will never get Revan/the two expansions everyone hates sized expansions again.

 

I'm not so sure Onslaught is actually that much smaller than Revan? We have: A medium-sized planet, a small planet, a flashpoint, and an operation.

 

SOR brought us: A medium-sized planet, a small planet, three flashpoints, and two operations.

 

Like, sure, there's a difference, but is it as drastic as people are saying?

Edited May 25, 2020 by jedimasterjac

[OlBuzzard]

I'm not so sure Onslaught is actually that much smaller than Revan? We have: A medium-sized planet, a small planet, a flashpoint, and an operation.

 

SOR brought us: A medium-sized planet, a small planet, three flashpoints, and two operations.

 

Like, sure, there's a difference, but is it as drastic as people are saying?

 

Interesting point …

 

How about from the time line from the events unfolding on Manaan … ( to me personally that sort of the beginning) to the end of the events on Yavin 4 (the conclusion).

 

That sort of format seemed to work quite well ! (at least to me it did) and the story kept unfolding well too … IMO .. one of the better stories !

[jedimasterjac]

Interesting point …

 

How about from the time line from the events unfolding on Manaan … ( to me personally that sort of the beginning) to the end of the events on Yavin 4 (the conclusion).

 

That sort of format seemed to work quite well ! (at least to me it did) and the story kept unfolding well too … IMO .. one of the better stories !

 

I'm hopeful that's what we might get out of the future. I don't mind a more "piecemeal" format like with Jedi Under Siege, Onslaught, etc., if it means that we can get the occasional flashpoint and operation too. I don't think that's unlikely, anyway.

[Goreshaga]

I'm not too fond of the FP format.

That's why, while i really like the FA/SoR storyline, i usually skip it on characters for whom it's not that relevant (aka the ones who will not romance either Theron or Lana), because of all the FPs.

 

I like the Onslaught format more, with only 1 FP to play through, or JUS where there were no FP.

The latest are not even fully replayable, as the cutscenes are only there in the version that's part of the story, but if you replay them, you don't have the cutscenes...