An update on the development of SWTOR

[OlBuzzard]

I've read the latest post from @KeithKanneg.

** Encouraging?  Somewhat!
** No changes?  Actually some of us were looking forward to a few GOOD changes!  (Sorry ...  not being hateful.  But, still skeptical).
** I would start a wish list ... but IMO there are enough haters around that they would destroy it!  (just being honest)
 

For whatever it's worth:  I do hope the best for you, the team and SWTOR.  AND if I see something a little more concrete I'll be on board! (I don't think that is being unreasonable all things considered).

It has been fun!

[LJ_Gibbs]

35 minutes ago, TonyTricicolo said:

I appreciate your candidness in the other thread, but I'm still skeptical because for the last few years all we've heard was big things were coming and not to worry about this and that. To be quite frank, I don't believe anything you guys say anymore. 

THIS THIS THIS!

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me 100 times... shame on me.  Not going to be 101.

[Char_Ell]

28 minutes ago, TonyTricicolo said:

I appreciate your candidness in the other thread, but I'm still skeptical because for the last few years all we've heard was big things were coming and not to worry about this and that. To be quite frank, I don't believe anything you guys say anymore. 

And yet you are still here, still paying to play SWTOR.  So as long as you keep paying to play I think Keith Kanneg and the rest of BioWare Austin (soon-to-be Broadsword Austin?) can live with you not trusting what they say.

So Keith Kanneg is basically telling us nothing is really changing where SWTOR development and player experience is concerned in the near-term.  Only time will tell how this studio change actually impacts the game over time.  I know for me Galactic Seasons and gear progress have been the systems that have kept me engaged.  After four Galactic Seasons and more than a year into current gear progression I've found gearing and GS are losing their luster.

[xxSHOONYxx]

37 minutes ago, TonyTricicolo said:

I appreciate your candidness in the other thread, but I'm still skeptical because for the last few years all we've heard was big things were coming and not to worry about this and that. To be quite frank, I don't believe anything you guys say anymore. 

They actually didn't. They spoke about "story and modernizations like direct x12" 

That is good news to me at least, they don't say anything about the mmo part of it or they don't see this is a mmo so i can finally move on from the game. At least i started playing a different game in the last couple of months that has actual mmo content

[OlBuzzard]

Just now, Char_Ell said:

And yet you are still here, still paying to play SWTOR.  So as long as you keep paying to play I think Keith Kanneg and the rest of BioWare Austin (soon-to-be Broadsword Austin?) can live with you not trusting what they say.

So Keith Kanneg is basically telling us nothing is really changing where SWTOR development and player experience is concerned in the near-term.  Only time will tell how this studio change actually impacts the game over time.  I know for me Galactic Seasons and gear progress have been the systems that have kept me engaged.  After four Galactic Seasons and more than a year into current gear progression I've found gearing and GS are losing their luster.

For me (as previously stated) ...

The last GS series was proof positive that VERY little of anything that we say (AKA requested feedback) ever carries with it any SIGNIFICANT value or weight.  All anyone has to do is read the thread that was started by a member of the development team REQUESTING player input / feedback.  It was promptly ignored.  That is something that was clearly controlled by someone inside of the team!

IMO ... that is why this entire process has left such a bitter taste.  

IMO ... the clock is ticking.  By August 1 I'll either be in or OUT!

[LJ_Gibbs]

Just now, xxSHOONYxx said:

They actually didn't. They spoke about "story and modernizations like direct x12" 

That is good news to me at least, they don't say anything about the mmo part of it or they don't see this is a mmo so i can finally move on from the game. At least i started playing a different game in the last couple of months that has actual mmo content

FF XIV?

[xxSHOONYxx]

Just now, LJ_Gibbs said:

FF XIV?

yes

[Nee-Elder]

1 hour ago, KeithKanneg said:

Poking in here to say that I made a thread that provides more info regarding this topic. You can read it in its entirety here. We are going to be keeping that thread locked and will add more info accordingly over time. So for now, please use this thread to continue discussion and conversation.

-Keith 

Thanks for the update post,  @KeithKanneg ...but unfortunately i don't see anything regarding GSF, which for some odd reason ( code too old? ) has been systematically ignored by BioWare for many many many YEARS.

Please give me & other dedicated pilot$  some hope for GSF expansion at least one development cycle in 2023-2024.

Please?

[TonyTricicolo]

9 minutes ago, Char_Ell said:

And yet you are still here, still paying to play SWTOR.  So as long as you keep paying to play I think Keith Kanneg and the rest of BioWare Austin (soon-to-be Broadsword Austin?) can live with you not trusting what they say.

 

5 minutes ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

They actually didn't. They spoke about "story and modernizations like direct x12" 

Have the two of you so quickly forgot the last few years? Like seriously? Look at the game's track record for Pete's sake. Can you honestly say with a straight face that you have confidence in this game given what we've seen? Really? Do you not remember the laughable 10 year anniversary celebration? I guess we're all just conditioned to just take what they give us and say "Thank you, please. Can I have another?" as we continue to get slapped across the face. You know what's that called? Stockholm syndrome. Ha ha. 

 

[Traceguy]

Even without Direct x12, AWS, or 64-bit, the game is/was doing fine. What's not fine is the complete negligence for bugs in this game. We have a forums board here for bugs, which Jackie claims each and every one of the posts are read, but being read means nothing if you're not actively doing anything about it. I see the patch planned for tomorrow will fix Shrubs that got broken in 7.3. How in the galaxy does fixing shrubs have so much priority over things we've been reporting non stop for years?

Edited June 20, 2023 by Traceguy

[JakRoanin]

It's what they can fix at the time. Look, no game is ever going to be bug free. I'm irritated about this...Light of Diplomacy Onderon Beacons Not Clickable - Bug Reports - SWTOR | Forums because I can't progress. But I know it will get fixed. Patience is a virtue.

[Nee-Elder]

12 minutes ago, Traceguy said:

How in the galaxy does fixing shrubs have so much priority over things we've been reporting non stop for years?

Speaking as a  former 'Dev' on another SW mmo: Typically the easy/obvious  bugs are fixed first/fastest.  ( notable exceptions being of course gamebreaking issues and urgent exploits )

Having never seen SWTOR's code, my guess is some of the issues to which you're referring  would require a complete overhaul of prior infrastructure ( or refactoring ) .  Or, they just haven't had time/focus  yet to pinpoint the root cause.

[xxSHOONYxx]

9 minutes ago, TonyTricicolo said:

Have the two of you so quickly forgot the last few years? Like seriously? Look at the game's track record for Pete's sake. Can you honestly say with a straight face that you have confidence in this game given what we've seen? Really? Do you not remember the laughable 10 year anniversary celebration? I guess we're all just conditioned to just take what they give us and say "Thank you, please. Can I have another?" as we continue to get slapped across the face. You know what's that called? Stockholm syndrome. Ha ha. 

You dont seem to get either of the comments.
First comment is if you dont like it then why do you support the game by subing.
And my comment is that they didnt promise the world like in 7.0 because they said "story and modernizations" Leaving everything a mmo is about out of their plan/vision. They just stated what their priority is/will be and i never played this game for the story, i acually play a little game when i had to do story that is how fast i can press spacebar. I haven't even logged in over a month and all my friends already left when r4 nim was cancelled. Game is just not for me and at least they said it

[Ardrossan]

28 minutes ago, TonyTricicolo said:

 

Have the two of you so quickly forgot the last few years? Like seriously? Look at the game's track record for Pete's sake. Can you honestly say with a straight face that you have confidence in this game given what we've seen? Really? Do you not remember the laughable 10 year anniversary celebration? I guess we're all just conditioned to just take what they give us and say "Thank you, please. Can I have another?" as we continue to get slapped across the face. You know what's that called? Stockholm syndrome. Ha ha. 

 

Dude, relax. The first one you quoted is not worth consideration, they are, as you say, 'conditioned' to believe everything bioware tells them at face value. We all know it, and there have been plenty of players like that in this forum over the years. Second one already clarified their position, they're on their way out like me. Neither are useful for gauging what most players would actually think of the announcement. 

[TonyTricicolo]

23 minutes ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

You dont seem to get either of the comments.
First comment is if you dont like it then why do you support the game by subing

I get them, I assure you and my subscription is over come September. Until then I will voice my concerns the way I feel. 

 

23 minutes ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

And my comment is that they didnt promise the world like in 7.0...

I'm just jaded is all. I been here since beta I'll tell ya I'm tired of it all to be honest. It's my fault that I expected so much more from this game and alas it always seems to let me down. This may seem like a rekindling to some but to me it smells like smoke and looks like fire and I'm done being burnt!

 

My apologies to Char and Shoony. I was pissed off. Shouldn't have teared in ya! /wink

Edited June 20, 2023 by TonyTricicolo

[SteveTheCynic]

25 minutes ago, Nee-Elder said:

my guess is some of the issues to which you're referring  would require a complete overhaul of prior infrastructure ( or refactoring )

Oops.  Not quite.

Done with a pedantic adherance to the original definition, refactoring does not fix bugs, but it doesn't add them either.  It makes them easier to fix, but *fixing* them is not part of refactoring.  In essence, it takes the existing code and restructures it so that fixing bugs of type X or type Y will be easier, while *not* making type Z bugs harder to fix (in the ideal case).

[Char_Ell]

Quote

Moving to a third party studio would allow us a lot of creative freedom, and we're very much looking forward to the opportunities that will be open to us.

Any thoughts on this statement from Keith Kanneg's update post today?  I know Lucasfilm Games/Lucasfilm Story Group could be perceived as a restraint on the devs' creative freedom but I'm sure that is not going to change with the transition to 3rd party studio.  Is it, as Chris Schmidt's serial posting on Twitter seems to imply, a matter of BioWare Edmonton holding BioWare Austin back by using SWTOR revenue for Edmonton projects and reassignment (usually temporary?) of SWTOR dev resources to Edmonton projects?  I am not sure what to make of Keith's assertion here.

[Whykara]

1 minute ago, Char_Ell said:

Is it, as Chris Schmidt's serial posting on Twitter seems to imply, a matter of BioWare Edmonton holding BioWare Austin back by using SWTOR revenue for Edmonton projects and reassignment (usually temporary?) of SWTOR dev resources to Edmonton projects?

I'm 100% certain that this is what Keith is alluding to. I've said it a few times and I'll say it again, leaving BioWare is the best possible scenario for this game. 

[LJ_Gibbs]

4 minutes ago, Char_Ell said:

Any thoughts on this statement from Keith Kanneg's update post today?  I know Lucasfilm Games/Lucasfilm Story Group could be perceived as a restraint on the devs' creative freedom but I'm sure that is not going to change with the transition to 3rd party studio.  Is it, as Chris Schmidt's serial posting on Twitter seems to imply, a matter of BioWare Edmonton holding BioWare Austin back by using SWTOR revenue for Edmonton projects and reassignment (usually temporary?) of SWTOR dev resources to Edmonton projects?  I am not sure what to make of Keith's assertion here.

It's PR speak.  He's saying it to give the sheep HOPE.  Ya know... the ONE thing that keeps the game from not completely dying.  The Hope of the Sheep.

LG/LSG have no idea this game exists and don't care what it does with it's story.

 

[LtGeneralGezlin]

5 minutes ago, LJ_Gibbs said:

It's PR speak.  He's saying it to give the sheep HOPE.  Ya know... the ONE thing that keeps the game from not completely dying.  The Hope of the Sheep.

LG/LSG have no idea this game exists and don't care what it does with it's story.

 

I'll take hope over being overly bitter and jaded over a video game any day of the week.

[JakRoanin]

8 minutes ago, LJ_Gibbs said:

It's PR speak.  He's saying it to give the sheep HOPE.  Ya know... the ONE thing that keeps the game from not completely dying.  The Hope of the Sheep.

LG/LSG have no idea this game exists and don't care what it does with it's story.

 

Sorry but that's absolutely not true.

[Char_Ell]

1 minute ago, LJ_Gibbs said:

LG/LSG have no idea this game exists and don't care what it does with it's story.

I'm not sure how you came to believe this.  At the 2019 San Diego Cantina meet-and-greet Keith Kanneg shared a story with me how the SWTOR team had created a new speeder mount and had submitted it to Lucasfilm for review and approval as per the usual process for content being added to SWTOR.  The Lucasfilm team rejected adding the mount to the game and Keith could not understand why.  It wasn't until the movie trailer for The Force Awakens showing Rey on a speeder on Jakku that Keith realized that the mount they had submitted was quite similar to Rey's speeder.  Keith figured Lucasfilm rejected the mount because they didn't want it to look like SWTOR had the mount before it was officially revealed.

[commanderwar]

Thank you keith for the update, I am excite for the dx12. I have been negative in the choices made in development since 7.0 (gearing, hurting the poor with credit sync choices, ect) I will hope that the devs learn from the mistakes made. I will look forward to the next update for swtor and hope for the best

[LtGeneralGezlin]

Just now, Char_Ell said:

I'm not sure how you came to believe this.  At the 2019 San Diego Cantina meet-and-greet Keith Kanneg shared a story with me how the SWTOR team had created a new speeder mount and had submitted it to Lucasfilm for review and approval as per the usual process for content being added to SWTOR.  The Lucasfilm team rejected adding the mount to the game and Keith could not understand why.  It wasn't until the movie trailer for The Force Awakens showing Rey on a speeder on Jakku that Keith realized that the mount they had submitted was quite similar to Rey's speeder.  Keith figured Lucasfilm rejected the mount because they didn't want it to look like SWTOR had the mount before it was officially revealed.

I heard a similar thing around time time that Treek was added. As long as there was no mention of Endor by name, or Ewoks (by name), Lucasfilm was totally fine with Treek's addition.

[Nee-Elder]

26 minutes ago, SteveTheCynic said:

, refactoring does not fix bugs,

i never said it did.  My mentioning of that term was merely to imply what may or may not be holding BioWare back from fixing certain things "faster" .

As per usual, your need to parse my words ( whilst flexing your own prior acumen ) has blinded you.

18 minutes ago, LJ_Gibbs said:

  The Hope of the Sheep.

All humans need hope ( except maybe sociopaths lol ) .

Even the "wolves" .

18 minutes ago, LJ_Gibbs said:

LG/LSG have no idea this game exists and don't care what it does with it's story.

You are partially incorrect.

By original licensing law, LucasArts/LucasFilm/DISNEY ( which acquired LA in 2021 i believe )  still has partial chain-of-command involvement & input approval on ALL Star Wars  lore & canon storylines.

Check end-credits for SWTOR expansions, as well as this website, and other content that shows such end-credits.  ( yes i'm one of those nerds who waits & watches until end-credits finish  ) .

In other words, BioWare/Broadsword  might get the Edmonton shackles loosened soon, but they still have some constraints by those above their pay-grade.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Nee-Elder