Darth Wehavezerofreshideas for the next Big Bad!

[Pietrastor]

After 3 years of thinly written and glacially-paced Keeping Up With Malgus (which is twice as long then the entire KOTFEET fun fact) we finally learn who will take over as the next Big Bad in SWTOR after Malgus kicks the bucket! Can you guess? Of course you can because OF COURSE it's yet another Sith!

 

Does anyone at Bioware have ANY fresh ideas left anymore? Does anyone at Bioware remember that Star Wars has more potential villains/enemy factions than (rogue) Sith? Star Cabal? The Hutts? Hello? I know 10 years was a long time ago but it happened in this very game itself! So why do we keep getting Sith after Sith after Sith as the Big Bads over and over and over again? Is it because of the same reason Mass Effect Andromeda's writing was so subpar? Why Anthem's story had less effort behind it than even Call of Duty single-player campaigns? No, seriously, what in the world happened to this company? Forget about polished gameplay from Bioware in the 2000s, even the writing is a minimum-effort joke these days...

Edited August 31, 2021 by Pietrastor

[Tsillah]

This is as good as it gets. You essentially have 3 options:

 

• Accept it and learn to live with it
  
• Don't accept it and become the next Don Quixote
  
• Time to say good-bye to this game
  

 

Personally, I will wait till 7.0 releases to see if they can still somehow surprise me or I'll go for option no. 3. I might still come back at some point but it wouldn't be soon. The last break I took was for over 1.5 years maybe even 2.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Tsillah

[Sarova]

After 3 years of thinly written and glacially-paced Keeping Up With Malgus (which is twice as long then the entire KOTFEET fun fact) we finally learn who will take over as the next Big Bad in SWTOR after Malgus kicks the bucket! Can you guess? Of course you can because OF COURSE it's yet another Sith!

Who cares!? If it is another Sith, I hope it's Jadus! It's star wars, of course the big bad is going to be Sith. At least they gave the big-bad-sith haters at mando story too this time (meh to that; more sith baddies please).

[Kalnarius]

funny when people complain about returning republic vs empire and wondering what the next big bad is of course its going to be a sith, mandalorian, disgruntled civilian or a hutt. It is star wars of course majority of the big bads are going to be sith. The new sith the game is referencing is not a new sith big bad rather than the sith that was referenced in the livestream annoucement video of LotS most likely. Xarion or Jadus are probably the only sith right now behind malgus that have the juice to be a threat or the fan theory that vaylin is lingering in the shadows.

 

though i would love to see the demon sel makor from voss actually make real appearance, a splinter group of rakata that survived and still have the force, or even the hutts actually become a threat but they rather watch the republic, empire and mandalorians tear each other apart than to get involved with the big dogs.

[MystyqeofXev]

"We have identified a new threat."

 

"Oh noez! Who?"

 

"Darth Fresh!"

 

"Is he royalty? is his Padwan / Apprentice Jazzy Jeff?"

[OddballEasyEight]

Ugh... I hope BW listens to your whining and the next boss is "Bob the disgruntled store clerk" and you have to fight a whiny store clerk that's somehow more powerful than the most powerful dark side force users out there.

 

Because "waah, I don't want the next baddie to be a baddie".

[Hrafnhildur]

Ugh... I hope BW listens to your whining and the next boss is "Bob the disgruntled store clerk" and you have to fight a whiny store clerk that's somehow more powerful than the most powerful dark side force users out there.

 

Because "waah, I don't want the next baddie to be a baddie".

 

Naaah, i have a better idea! Darth "I wanna speak to the manager" lady :D:D

Edited September 1, 2021 by Hrafnhildur

[Gokkus]

I just hope they will be able to make a decent bad guy again, instead of using one created by the original team, like Malgus.

 

If it has to be a sith then make him like before: heavily armored, dangerous and brimming with power. Someone who inspires fear and respect. Malgus, Jadus, Marr. Defying them meant death, and you knew it.

 

Sith-wise, we have to content with Acina, Vowrawn, Rivix, Krovos, Shaar, Savik etc. Who are all political and cunning, but do not have any of the above mentioned characteristics. We need powerful sith again, as bad guys or dark council members.

[LeMage]

Never mind the sith, they are pansies compared to the flesh raiders of Tython. All the Jedi masters at the temple have yet to rid the planet of these guys and they've had how long? They even took one in as a Padawan. That's not gonna end well.

 

So yeah a horde of flesh raiders should be the next big baddie.

[Hrafnhildur]

Never mind the sith, they are pansies compared to the flesh raiders of Tython. All the Jedi masters at the temple have yet to rid the planet of these guys and they've had how long? They even took one in as a Padawan. That's not gonna end well.

 

So yeah a horde of flesh raiders should be the next big baddie.

 

Ummm.. isn't the big guy from the Czerka FP a flesh raider?

[Shayddow]

Wellllll, you could have a corrupt senator from the Republic as the big bad.

 

Not one who is a secret Sith. (not doing a Palpatine here). Just one who is hutt-like in morals, and who is trying to undermine democracy and who is trying to murder the chancellor, etc, who has a power base of smugglers and organized crime.

[vianiel]

I feel like if the villain isn't some sort of Force User all the edgelords are going to be disappointed because their fearsome Sith toons can flick a finger and snap necks for fun.

 

But eh, I'm already checked out on the story from Onslaught anyways so where it's going now I couldn't care less.

[xordevoreaux]

T7 goes rogue and starts killing EVERYBODY with an army of (we weren't built for combat yet gun-wielding) starship droids.

 

Total. Annihilation.

[Hrafnhildur]

T7 goes rogue and starts killing EVERYBODY with an army of (we weren't built for combat yet gun-wielding) starship droids.

 

Total. Annihilation.

 

No! T7 re-assembles Corruptor Zero and HK 47 and uses them as his lieutenants! Imagine hearing the lines " You are not allowed to win!! " and " Die horribly! " in the same operation LMAO

But your idea is good too! T7 might also repair and recruit also the protocol droid my BH destroyed on Balmorra outsidethe office of Imperial-dude-with-his-hand-on-cathar-girl-behind ( forgot his name ):D:D

Edited September 2, 2021 by Hrafnhildur

[Tulmara]

Main problem I see is a huge wealth of material to draw from but a minuscule dev budget (in comparison with MMO giants such as WoW, FFXIV). Its something we have to face up to when playing SWTOR. Its not the devs fault, its not Bioware's fault, the fault lies with EA's priorities. The game is still bringing in money but stockholders needs must come first so much of the wealth the game brings in goes to them and whats leftover goes to running the game on the least amount of funds possible.

 

3 content updates in 2 years

 

SWTOR is an indie like game now.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Tulmara
spelling

[Ramalina]

Wellllll, you could have a corrupt senator from the Republic as the big bad.

 

Not one who is a secret Sith. (not doing a Palpatine here). Just one who is hutt-like in morals, and who is trying to undermine democracy and who is trying to murder the chancellor, etc, who has a power base of smugglers and organized crime.

 

They already basically did that in the Smuggler storyline. Though the Senator was a flunky for the Voidwolf rather than a ah, "self employed" villain.

 

 

What I'd like to see is a little less recycling. I mean, their content creation rate is glacial. So they don't need to start with a new big bad. They can start with some ambitious or aggrieved nobody, and develop them as they climb to power, creating havoc in their wake. Sort of like our characters do in the 1.0 era class stories. In game as far as the NPCs are concerned, to at least SOME faction, we are the ultimate big bads after all. So take that structure and recycle it, Saresh basically did that: minor planetary governor to chancellor to power hungry duplicitous maniac, and Malgus is doing it a second time apprentice, warrior, loose cannon warlord, loss to players reset, mind controlled servant, loose cannon on the run up to who knows what, we find out what, we defeat him again.

 

I mean in some ways some of the KoTET and Onslaught stuff has been nice that way. "Who's Lorman?" "It's MINISTER Lorman." Or for example Darth Malora. "Malora, who is Malora. Oh, wait, I remember you! It's animal brains lady from Korriban! Or was it some other part, I don't remember." They're recycled characters which has some nostalgia value, but they're not recycled villains, they moved from minor NPCs and got promoted. What's missing is the process of that growth. Instead of going from minor nuisance to full blown villain, let's have some steps in between where they do annoying disruptive things so that there's a reason for us to want to squash them like a bug.

 

After all, in a sense, our characters are established powers. We are, "The Man," we have outsize influence on, "The System." People interested in disruption are going to be trying to disrupt our plans, our power, our networks of allies.

 

Congratulations Hero. You have saved the princess and rescued the kingdom. Oh, by the way, the barons are on average 3.5 years behind on paying their taxes, there's a peasant revolt brewing in the west, the ambassador from the Empire of going to war for no particular reason is furious because the outhouse seat collapsed due to termite damage and he landed in the moat and survived because it was a soft if somewhat smelly landing, and your wife the prin- er excuse me the Queen is furious about something but she won't say what to anyone but you. What would you like to deal with first your lordship?

 

That's basically our characters in SWTOR at this point. I don't expect the writers to take advantage of it, but I wish they would.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Ramalina

[WHTJunior]

I feel like serialized storytelling just runs into this problem, regardless of which media format is used. TV shows, movie sequels, game series (including MMOs), comic books, novels, etc can all run into the same issue. How do you continue to represent the in-universe characters and environments, while also being fresh and innovative? Too far in one direction and fans get bored. Too far in the other direction, and fans might feel like too much is changing.

[Tsillah]

I feel like serialized storytelling just runs into this problem, regardless of which media format is used. TV shows, movie sequels, game series (including MMOs), comic books, novels, etc can all run into the same issue. How do you continue to represent the in-universe characters and environments, while also being fresh and innovative? Too far in one direction and fans get bored. Too far in the other direction, and fans might feel like too much is changing.

I always thought that your rise in the original stories for some classes was ridiculously fast, but they had to do that because they pitted you against other massive enemies, which was the biggest mistake. I mean they could've held back a lot more and just focus on the personal story rather than becoming a Dark Council Member for example...only to ignore that progress afterwards because it's hard to top.

 

The trooper ended with you getting the title of major. That's fair enough, but without wanting to give too much details for new players, particularly the force classes just go through the ranks way too quickly and that's a high starting point to tell the next stories from.

[RameiArashi]

Who says?

 

It may be a dead woman who was never a Sith who has taken possession of Jedi.

[Shayddow]

Here's another idea. It borrows some ideas from Directive 7 flashpoint, the Nar Shaddaa Imperial bonus missions, and one of the side missions from Coruscant.

 

GOAL 1: BUILD DROID FACTORY on (Planet of Choice)

Prerequisite: Player character must have completed flashpoint DIRECTIVE 7, be able to access Iokath and Zakuul.

 

Both Imperial and Republic Mission:

STEP 1:

You get sent to the remains of Directive 7 where you have to pick up some sliced data from the remains of Mentor (this can be incorporated into a drop in Directive 7 flashpoint itself- just as the HK-chip was put into the Malgus flashpoint) .

STEP 2:

You get sent to a Zakuul Droid making plant where you have to recover schematics for other DROID parts

STEP 3:

You get sent to Iokath where you have to recover some parts from the remains of "ARIES". This plays out differently depending on what your decision was for Scorpio. (people who saved her have a little bit easier time obtaining this, while others have to work it out the "hard way".)

 

RESULTS:

You build droid factory: how much independence and decisions you make along the way, such as you give the droids you make, will have input (affection level) on companions T7-01, HK-51, HK-55 and Z0-OM, all of which you can use in various missions. You also will be able to send fully produced droids to replace slave labor (Empire- light side decision), replace slave labor in the outer rim (Republic light side mission), or produce slave collars for the Brothers (mek-sha). (Both faction- dark side-republic will have to have some sort of NPC they can deal with for this, whereas Imperial side will have an NPC in their faction location on Mek-sha). How much independence you give your droids will also affect the outcome.

 

This doesn't require one "big bad", rather you are dealing with over-all issues that both the Empire and the Republic have to deal with .

[Hrafnhildur]

Hi.

 

There are some unexplored possibilities for future " big bad guys" :

 

 

- Vodal Kressh, his prophet says " he will rise again, in another thousand years", maybe Vodal found a way to return earlier by taking over the body of some random dude/dudette?

- Talos Drellik's brother, taken as an apprentice by Darth Marr

- Padawan Fia & other jedi who survived after the action in Tython fp

- the Advozse Hegemony - the new Supreme Warlord could try again to capture Empire/Republic ships, military facilities or secret weapons

- Tenebrae's siblings, if you remember Lord Dramath said he sired many children, what if among them was another force sensitive or maybe more?

- Vaylin !

- ancient Sith Lords

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Hrafnhildur

[Ardrossan]

Remember that BW's MO in this game is to steal all the good ideas from other games. With that in mind, my thought is

 

Return of the Rakata!

 

We know from the class stories that there's a few space-faring Rakata still around. They're trying to get their force sensitivity back, or screwing around with the Star Cabal, or releasing rampaging species from lockup. We know how dangerous Rakatan tech can be from stuff like Tatooine and Manaan. There's nothing in the teasers we've gotten that denies the possibility of Rakatans behind everything, especially if they retcon the Sith origins to the Rakata.

 

And yes this also makes sense because ST:O did it with the Iconians to good success. If you thought the Eternal Empire was bad, a cannibalistic force-using race that conquered the galaxy 30,000 years ago and is now BACK would be much worse. And yes this also gives us a chance to see flesh raiders in action outside Tython again, maybe even a storyline connected to Tython.

 

In fact, virtually every storyline in this game post-50 has been "mysterious enemy / faction long thought disappeared returns to devastate the galaxy." Very little has been the result of cause and effect, with the possible exception of Vinn Atrius. Of course, if the devs were GOOD writers, they would try to surprise us with something innovative for a change...but that's not what this thread is about.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Ardrossan

[turbomagnus]

...Like Jedi and Sith, around the cycle has come, hm?

 

Seriously, first it was 'give us something new, we're tired of Jedi versus Sith, we want something different'; then it was 'The Eternal Empire is wrong! It's Star Wars, we want Jedi versus Sith!'; now it's 'Jedi versus Sith is so limiting, be more creative and give us something new'.

 

Based on that, even if they did give us 'something new', within two or three years of 'something new' content, people would be demanding a return to the Jedi/Republic versus Sith/Empire dynamic...

[Darcmoon]

When did they say who the next big bad is? Edited September 4, 2021 by Darcmoon

[Kurj]

Star Wars is an homage to Saturday matinees, so a certain amount of cheesiness is not only allowed but expected, IMO. As long as it's not the re-re-resurrection of Vitiate or Malgus, I think I'll be fine with whatever we get.