An update on the development of SWTOR

[GeneralGyro]

i knew it since 7.0 released. 

 

good thing the 1-50 stories are the only ones i enjoy if the game does go into undeath

[kinhoandrei]

1 minute ago, Dayshadow said:

I'd be fine if there were o more updates and they just maintained the servers. I have no interest in anything beyond the vanilla game anyway in terms of story. If the the new company would just fix some bugs that Bioware won't and just leave it be that would be cool. It's been over 10 years and Risha and Vette have had no interaction. Games been on maintenance mode for a while now already. Goodbye, Bioware.

I think more or less the same. Fixing old bugs and making small improvements to the day-to-day game would be enough. I also don't see it as a bad thing if they added some small text quests to polish up stories left behind, without the need for cutscenes or voice recording. It would be enough to enjoy another year or two before leaving.

[Exly]

This announcement and the associated responses to it kind of remind me of the ending to the movie "The Truman Show".

In the movie, the show is something that people watch obsessively, but in the end the main character walks off the set never to return.  A moment later people watching the show briefly think about what just happened and then simply start flipping channels to see what else is on.

Edited June 7, 2023 by Exly
spelling

[kinhoandrei]

4 minutes ago, Exly said:

This announcement and the associated responses to it kind on remind me of the ending to the movie "The Truman Show".

In the movie, the show is something that people watch obsessively, but in the end the main character walks off the set never to return.  A moment later people watching the show briefly think about what just happened and then simply start flipping channels to see what else is on.

This is the gamer's life. Every game has an end, whether planned or not. One hour you find another hobby or keep jumping from game to game.

[TrixxieTriss]

15 hours ago, OlBuzzard said:

I rather suspect that some items (such as the CM) will probably just fade away

That was my first thought also. Because I have around 17,000 cartel coins sitting there. I’m guessing I should spend those so I don’t lose them 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Nee-Elder]

23 minutes ago, kinhoandrei said:

. Fixing old bugs and making small improvements to the day-to-day game would be enough.

One thing i forgot to mention/ask in my earlier post:  How the heck does SWTOR supposedly have  80 "devs" ?!?!?   Like, there's no way. 

@KeithKanneg or  @JackieKo  , could either of you at least comment on that one fact? ( which seems fake, since imo  if SWTOR actually had 80 devs  working on it, we not only would've had a real expansion but also would've had a  legit *10th Anniversary* celebration worthy of the Star Wars brand.    )

Unless people are confusing/conflating exactly what the word "dev"  truly signifies, in a coding & creative sense.

[Tharianus]

55 minutes ago, kinhoandrei said:

My main character is Dark Knight, but I have others in different levels and servers. I'm not exactly a pro player, I end up playing more alone and doing one or another dungeon through the search engine.

you should try to find a group. FF14 really shines when it comes to group content (savage or ultimate) and those fights will definitely challange you to your very limits i can guarantee you that.

[Khoxion]

14 minutes ago, Nee-Elder said:

How the hell does SWTOR supposedly have  80 "devs" ?!?!?

I guess the ign writer uses "developers" and "employees" as interchangeable terms; seems to happen fairly often when all kinds of people talk about the gaming industry nowadays.

[meddani]

on the brightside: swtor classics coming sooner than i expected lmao

[TrixxieTriss]

3 hours ago, Mzuta said:

I heard FFX is great. i moved on to ESO. The amount of expansions they have released in a short time show they are dedicated to continue to roll out new content.

Sadly, none of them are Star Wars 😞

[DawnAskham]

22 minutes ago, Nee-Elder said:

One thing i forgot to mention/ask in my earlier post:  How the heck does SWTOR supposedly have  80 "devs" ?!?!?   Like, there's no way. 

@KeithKanneg or  @JackieKo  , could either of you at least comment on that one fact? ( which seems fake, since imo  if SWTOR actually had 80 devs  working on it, we not only would've had a real expansion but also would've had a  legit *10th Anniversary* celebration worthy of the Star Wars brand.    )

Unless people are confusing/conflating exactly what the word "dev"  truly signifies, in a coding & creative sense.

Who knows and I wouldn't expect a response.

The 80 number is most likely a generic FTE count covering all the resources assigned or allocated to SWTOR and covers everything from core infrastructure support such as servers, database, and networking to all the creative staff from designers, artists, and story writers to management staff to staff like Jackie to maybe even allocated overhead from Bioware / EA to the janitor or building maintenance staff in Austin. 

Difficult to quantify is how resource-intensive SWTOR is compared to other games; rumors and interviews with developers over the years paint a picture of a development environment that is cumbersome and difficult to work with, which would suggest even a moderate-sized staff of 80 (many other MMOs seem to have development staff that runs into the hundreds) may not be enough resources to produce significant amounts of content.

[Khoxion]

 

28 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

Sadly, none of them are Star Wars 😞

I played ESO recently and the combat has still that "animation cancel" nonsense built-in which they double down on since the beginning. It is also supposed to be an "action combat" game, yet combat, particularly in PvP, feels less dynamic than in SWTOR.

They messed up core combat mechanics a few patches ago and have apparently no clue how to fix the problems. There are lots of other issues too.

I really tried to like it despite the combat, no chance.

[Nee-Elder]

15 minutes ago, DawnAskham said:

The 80 number is most likely a generic FTE count covering all the resources assigned or allocated to SWTOR and covers everything from core infrastructure support such as servers, database, and networking to all the creative staff from designers, artists, and story writers to management staff to staff like Jackie to maybe even allocated overhead from Bioware / EA to the janitor or building maintenance staff in Austin. 

Difficult to quantify is how resource-intensive SWTOR is compared to other games; rumors and interviews with developers over the years paint a picture of a development environment that is cumbersome and difficult to work with, which would suggest even a moderate-sized staff of 80 (many other MMOs seem to have development staff that runs into the hundreds) may not be enough resources to produce significant amounts of content.

Fair point yep  i hear ya and thanks for your solid reply.

Still would be nice to hear from BioWare though.  ( hopefully  *soon* , once deal is finalized & authorized, etc. )

p.s.  My new thread from yesterday  ( before the news ) sure didn't age very well 

[NeoBlakkrstal]

To quote Star Wars, "I have a bad feeling about this." Admittedly, I am a pessimist who sees the dark side of everything, and to my vivid imagination I see all kinds of bad things going forward. I hope I am wrong, but my gut is telling me that this could be the end. This game was my first MMO, I have played for 9+ years now, been subbed since month 2, and I will miss it terribly when, or if, it does end. But, as I have said to my guildies over the years, I will be the last man out, and I will turn off the lights and shut the door when I leave. God bless you Bioware, and thanks for some lovely memories.

[NeoBlakkrstal]

1 hour ago, kinhoandrei said:

This is the gamer's life. Every game has an end, whether planned or not. One hour you find another hobby or keep jumping from game to game.

I have played other games since I started playing SWTOR 9+ years ago, but I have always returned because none of those games is Star Wars. Unless someone comes up with a Star Wars MMO on par with SWTOR it is a bleak future indeed. Yes, there will be other games, there always is, but none of them will be SWTOR.

[NeoBlakkrstal]

5 hours ago, fabsus said:

Imagine you work in a company and the boss tells you at the beginning of the year that the company will close at the end of the year. Would you try to find another job as soon as possible to continue working there safely, or would you wait until the company closes and possibly forgo wages? 

The preparations must have started months ago in order to define the conditions of employment and the expected situation. For example, a somewhat simpler balancing through fewer simultaneously usable abilities, a 64-bit client and an adaptation to be able to run on flexible server structures that make an operation with an even smaller player population more sensible.

If they had announced at the beginning of the transition that SWTOR was moving to another company, we would probably have only half the current player base. 

Nobody is betting on the dead horse.

We cannot expect further changes to be communicated transparently and honestly here either, as this may well be perceived as damaging to the new operator. 
 

For all newcomers, there are hundreds of hours of fun to be had and no one should let others' opinions take away from the fun. Have a wonderful time in the Star Wars universe. 
Veterans will sooner or later leave the game if no new content is to be expected. However, it will remain a great game for newcomers.

I have basically been playing the first three chapters now since my first run through of KotFE years ago. Yeah, I do the new content, eventually, but it is not, and never has been a priority for me. As long as the game actually remains up, I suspect that I will continue to have fun. As I have said before, no matter how bad they mess up End Game, the original game is still brilliant.

[wombatjake]

LOL so many people pooping their pants over this. Idiots who are certain of what this change will mean are so funny and extreme. One camp says durrrr the writing's on the wall the game is going in to maintenance mode, the other camp is excited and thinks that when devs go to smaller companies they bring big ideas and success with them. Non sense. Very few examples of that and most games usually flop when that style of new company or change occurs. 

I just went full whale mode on this game. yeah ill lose my ish if it goes in to maintenance mode soon, considering what ive spent on (cosmetics, dont worry the only boosts ive gotten in stats are from color crystals) the cartel lately. 

Sadly, I can't think of a single MMO that changed developers and became more successful or got better after the change. Can any one else think of one? Sure could use the confidence facade until the truth emerges down the road lol. Come on... any one? Please?! 

[wombatson]

I mean the only reason I freak out is because I don't know what that means, will the servers go permanently down or the game? As long as the game exists and I keep playing I'm ok with no updates too. Maybe also because I just sub'ed for 3 months lol. It's one of those games that actually made my life happier to cope with personal issues and it's like a comfort game for many people.

[Floplag]

1 hour ago, Tharianus said:

you should try to find a group. FF14 really shines when it comes to group content (savage or ultimate) and those fights will definitely challange you to your very limits i can guarantee you that.

I legit just cant get behind the graphics of FF.... tried multiple times the whole anime style just does nothing for me. 
I Dont really want to go back to WoW since i dont have time to keep up with the endless grind.
ESO and GW2 are options but they are also far from perfect.
This for me could not have come at a worse time.   No idea where to go from here as im not wild about any of the current options. 

[Tharianus]

3 minutes ago, Floplag said:

I legit just cant get behind the graphics of FF.... tried multiple times the whole anime style just does nothing for me. 
I Dont really want to go back to WoW since i dont have time to keep up with the endless grind.
ESO and GW2 are options but they are also far from perfect.
This for me could not have come at a worse time.   No idea where to go from here as im not wild about any of the current options. 

well nobody said that FF14 is perfect. But it is a solid option and i understand that you do not like the art style. I played wildstar and i hated the art style at first but i played with friends so it was fine for me.

[commanderwar]

15 minutes ago, wombatson said:

I mean the only reason I freak out is because I don't know what that means, will the servers go permanently down or the game? As long as the game exists and I keep playing I'm ok with no updates too. Maybe also because I just sub'ed for 3 months lol. It's one of those games that actually made my life happier to cope with personal issues and it's like a comfort game for many people.

There is a lot of uncertainly at this point about the future, on content, plans, unsure of a lot, but one thing that is 100 percent sure, that there transferring the devs to an existing studio to work on swtor, so I can say with certainly right now they will keep the game online.

[lEziol]

I am just glad the game is going to continue to live on!! I am hopeful that we see overall graphical and animation improvements down the road. With the 64-Bit Update, anything is possible at this point for the future.

[Balameb]

1 hour ago, Nee-Elder said:

p.s.  My new thread from yesterday  ( before the news ) sure didn't age very well 

Yesterday, i was preparing a long followup replay to that thread. After the news it all just went downhill, it felt pointless.

You started a good thread. timing did suck.

 

2 hours ago, Nee-Elder said:

One thing i forgot to mention/ask in my earlier post:  How the heck does SWTOR supposedly have  80 "devs" ?!?!?   Like, there's no way. 

...

Unless people are confusing/conflating exactly what the word "dev"  truly signifies, in a coding & creative sense.

Even if they count accounting, receptionis, security and janitors in that number; it is still to high for the amount of content released. After R4 and Manaan daily (what was used to be included in 7.0 originally), we only got a 'chapter like' story content, a new daily area and we will get another one and a FP in 7.3. That is all they did in one year.

Even Cartel Market is not getting as much love as it used to.

If the team is really 70 to 80 employees, then they probably have too many middle/upper management that produces nothing and helps even less.

 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Balameb

[CrazyScruffy]

30 minutes ago, commanderwar said:

There is a lot of uncertainly at this point about the future, on content, plans, unsure of a lot, but one thing that is 100 percent sure, that there transferring the devs to an existing studio to work on swtor, so I can say with certainly right now they will keep the game online.

We know some devs may transfer. I honestly wouldn't believe any of the numbers they reported. If they already have gotten 30-40+ devs to agree o move, I feel like this would have leaked sooner. I believe that number is what they are hoping to see happen but I wouldn't count on it. This all feels a lot like what happened with Anthem - promised continued support; showing off the cool new stuff; to then just cancel it all. I don't believe we'll see 7.4 released. They'll talk it up and then it will be canceled 

[CrazyScruffy]

20 minutes ago, lEziol said:

I am just glad the game is going to continue to live on!! I am hopeful that we see overall graphical and animation improvements down the road. With the 64-Bit Update, anything is possible at this point for the future.

Unfortunately as others have said, this was probably done to make it easier to move it to another company. I would not expect any graphical or animation improvements. We'll be fortunate enough to get another major update of any kind