An update on the development of SWTOR

[Whykara]

3 hours ago, robwettengel said:

EA may be the good guy here given that it was BW that decided what portion of the funds EA gave to the studio would be put towards TOR's development.

The uncomfortable truth with EA and BioWare is that EA has never been the bad guy in the relationship. 

Mass Effect 3 ending? BioWare writers confirmed it was their idea, EA had nothing to do with it and nothing to gain from it. 

Mass Effect Andromeda? Everyone blamed EA for rushing the game. Later it came out that EA gave BioWare near unlimited resources and time, but BioWare completely mismanaged it. They wasted the time and then hastily threw together something barely coherent in the last year of 5 years dev time. EA also had nothing to with the writing. "My face is tired" and non-binary Asari are BioWare's achievements alone. 

Anthem? Also near unlimited resources. BioWare made many questionable design choices and failed to give the game an identity. Then, after a rocky start, they more or less immediately abandoned it. The horrible communication on BioWare's part put the final nail in the coffin. 

SWTOR seems to be similarly mismanaged. EA most likely provides enough resources, but BioWare doesn't use them for the benefit of the game. 

I'm really curious what a future without BioWare will bring for SWTOR. 

[Traceguy]

This post will probably be deleted since it's not "Pro Bioware", but for what it's worth, Bioware has been making mistake after mistake, poor design design after poor design desion, and doing the absolute worst job possible with community relations.

I mean, look at the whole Quick Travel fee fiasco. They put this in PTS, and asked us for feedback. 99% of players complained about it for weeks, and guess what. Bioware took our complains, threw them in a toilet, peed on them, and flushed them away while laughing maniacally. If you're not going to take Feedback, stop asking for it.

We have people reporting bugs for years, and Bioware is like "Oh no, so anyways, instead of fixing this bug, here's some more nonsensical changes to the game".

We have been reporting concerns with gameplay, and they are never addressed. These are some of the more recent ones.

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928074-heroic-2-possessed-hunter-doesnt-count-as-heroic-completion

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926404-regal-apparel-mini-skirt-now-shows-leggins-ingame

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926965-long-time-bug-killing-multiple-enemies-instantlyquickly-doesnt-count-towards-conquest

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928075-heroic-2-saving-face-doesnt-complete-sometimes

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928177-ord-mantell-npc-travi-pott-is-missing-not-spawning

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928158-hutta-npc-geric-the-quest-giver-for-heroic-2-the-man-with-the-steel-voice-is-missing/

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/927776-turn-exploration-missions-on-by-default

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928204-change-how-gear-is-swapped-when-swapping-loadouts/

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928361-can-no-longer-see-server-ping

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926966-bonus-kill-enemies-for-the-face-merchants-on-coruscant-respawn-too-slowly/

 

 

I've probably made over 100+ /bug reports in the game for this one. I do it after each and every update, and I am sure I will be doing it again today.
https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926965-long-time-bug-killing-multiple-enemies-instantlyquickly-doesnt-count-towards-conquest

 

I don't think Bioware deserves SWTOR. A company who cares about the game, and its fanbase should be in charge. Bioware is not that.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by Traceguy

[jedimasterjac]

5 minutes ago, Traceguy said:

This post will probably be deleted since it's not "Pro Bioware", but for what it's worth, Bioware has been making mistake after mistake, poor design design after poor design desion, and doing the absolute worst job possible with community relations.

This entire thread has been almost nothing but criticism of BioWare and it’s stickied at the top of the forum. Come on, man. Who’s the persecution complex helping?

Edited June 13, 2023 by jedimasterjac

[sithBracer]

11 minutes ago, Traceguy said:

This post will probably be deleted since it's not "Pro Bioware", but for what it's worth, Bioware has been making mistake after mistake, poor design design after poor design desion, and doing the absolute worst job possible with community relations.

I mean, look at the whole Quick Travel fee fiasco. They put this in PTS, and asked us for feedback. 99% of players complained about it for weeks, and guess what. Bioware took our complains, threw them in a toilet, peed on them, and flushed them away while laughing maniacally. If you're not going to take Feedback, stop asking for it.

We have people reporting bugs for years, and Bioware is like "Oh no, so anyways, instead of fixing this bug, here's some more nonsensical changes to the game".

We have been reporting concerns with gameplay, and they are never addressed. These are some of the more recent ones.

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928074-heroic-2-possessed-hunter-doesnt-count-as-heroic-completion

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926404-regal-apparel-mini-skirt-now-shows-leggins-ingame

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926965-long-time-bug-killing-multiple-enemies-instantlyquickly-doesnt-count-towards-conquest

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928075-heroic-2-saving-face-doesnt-complete-sometimes

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928177-ord-mantell-npc-travi-pott-is-missing-not-spawning

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928158-hutta-npc-geric-the-quest-giver-for-heroic-2-the-man-with-the-steel-voice-is-missing/

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/927776-turn-exploration-missions-on-by-default

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928204-change-how-gear-is-swapped-when-swapping-loadouts/

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928361-can-no-longer-see-server-ping

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926966-bonus-kill-enemies-for-the-face-merchants-on-coruscant-respawn-too-slowly/

 

 

I've probably made over 100+ /bug reports in the game for this one. I do it after each and every update, and I am sure I will be doing it again today.
https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926965-long-time-bug-killing-multiple-enemies-instantlyquickly-doesnt-count-towards-conquest

 

I don't think Bioware deserves SWTOR. A company who cares about the game, and its fanbase should be in charge. Bioware is not that.

 

 

When 5.0 was coming out all of the beta testers, yes all, 100% of them, no hyperbole, literally (used correctly) all of the beta testers told them to NOT release galactic command because it will kill the game. These were people who were so passionate about the game they would test it for free. These were people who BW trusted with their closed beta. Of course bioware didn't listen to them, released galactic command and lost half of their subs and never recovered.

Edited June 13, 2023 by sithBracer

[Tashia]

9 minutes ago, Traceguy said:

This post will probably be deleted since it's not "Pro Bioware", but for what it's worth, Bioware has been making mistake after mistake, poor design design after poor design desion, and doing the absolute worst job possible with community relations.

I mean, look at the whole Quick Travel fee fiasco. They put this in PTS, and asked us for feedback. 99% of players complained about it for weeks, and guess what. Bioware took our complains, threw them in a toilet, peed on them, and flushed them away while laughing maniacally. If you're not going to take Feedback, stop asking for it.

We have people reporting bugs for years, and Bioware is like "Oh no, so anyways, instead of fixing this bug, here's some more nonsensical changes to the game".

We have been reporting concerns with gameplay, and they are never addressed. These are some of the more recent ones.

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928074-heroic-2-possessed-hunter-doesnt-count-as-heroic-completion

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926404-regal-apparel-mini-skirt-now-shows-leggins-ingame

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926965-long-time-bug-killing-multiple-enemies-instantlyquickly-doesnt-count-towards-conquest

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928075-heroic-2-saving-face-doesnt-complete-sometimes

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928177-ord-mantell-npc-travi-pott-is-missing-not-spawning

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928158-hutta-npc-geric-the-quest-giver-for-heroic-2-the-man-with-the-steel-voice-is-missing/

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/927776-turn-exploration-missions-on-by-default

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928204-change-how-gear-is-swapped-when-swapping-loadouts/

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/928361-can-no-longer-see-server-ping

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926966-bonus-kill-enemies-for-the-face-merchants-on-coruscant-respawn-too-slowly/

 

 

I've probably made over 100+ /bug reports in the game for this one. I do it after each and every update, and I am sure I will be doing it again today.
https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926965-long-time-bug-killing-multiple-enemies-instantlyquickly-doesnt-count-towards-conquest

 

I don't think Bioware deserves SWTOR. A company who cares about the game, and its fanbase should be in charge. Bioware is not that.

Then let Daybreak have the game -- they aren't great, but Everquest and Everquest II have new expansions every year at the same time ..  look how old they are ---  Daybreak probably didn't want the game after Sony took down SWG 

9 minutes ago, Traceguy said:

 

 

[Ardrossan]

8 hours ago, Whykara said:

The uncomfortable truth with EA and BioWare is that EA has never been the bad guy in the relationship. 

Mass Effect 3 ending? BioWare writers confirmed it was their idea, EA had nothing to do with it and nothing to gain from it. 

Mass Effect Andromeda? Everyone blamed EA for rushing the game. Later it came out that EA gave BioWare near unlimited resources and time, but BioWare completely mismanaged it. They wasted the time and then hastily threw together something barely coherent in the last year of 5 years dev time. EA also had nothing to with the writing. "My face is tired" and non-binary Asari are BioWare's achievements alone. 

Anthem? Also near unlimited resources. BioWare made many questionable design choices and failed to give the game an identity. Then, after a rocky start, they more or less immediately abandoned it. The horrible communication on BioWare's part put the final nail in the coffin. 

SWTOR seems to be similarly mismanaged. EA most likely provides enough resources, but BioWare doesn't use them for the benefit of the game. 

I'm really curious what a future without BioWare will bring for SWTOR. 

This is the only reason I'm hopeful about the sale to broadsword. I've read all the updates and done the research about the studio and it paints a very gloomy picture about future updates. The only saving grace is that bioware has been incompetent for years in virtually every aspect of managing this game. Bioware's defenders--still shilling for them in this thread, I see , despite a very brief moment of clarity at the beginning of the thread--blame EA for everything wrong with this game despite having no evidence to back that up.

When I see posts like "Jackie is very nice" and "I feel bad for Keith" I cringe. The devs and community managers were never on our side, they never went out of their way to communicate with the playerbase--ALL of the playerbase not handpicked favorites on discord or private forum messages--unless they absolutely had to, as with Keith's comments in this thread. They certainly never listened to feedback unless it already agreed with their vision for the game, or unless it was pure praise. Their defenders assume they were contractually obligated to act this way. It's an excuse: were they contractually obligated to not communicate with us for the last decade 

No, I don't feel bad for the devs. I feel bad for the VAs who have been sidelined from this game, first by the devs and now by players claiming AI should substitute for them--do y'all not GET what the writer's strike is about. I also feel bad for the original team that wrote the class story (excluding the ones like Keith and James Ohlen who were coopted into the new hierarchy that steadily eliminated the uniqueness of the 8 class stories post-Makeb). ME3 had bad endings, and Andromeda had bad design and cookie-cutter plotting, but the crew/companion writing was on par with or superior to the companion writing in this game. 

This game talks about 'legacies' a lot, as in followers, apprentices, the inheritors of a certain tradition and reputation. In the class stories this is a vague concept they tack on at the end to set up future storylines (which obviously never happened), but to me there's a real world analogue: the people who wrote the stories, like Karpyshyn, and the VAs who've been here all along, like Grey DeLisle and Jennifer Hale, are the ones who built this game's legacy. The devs and writers who came after inherited that legacy, but they have not been good caretakers in my opinion.  Let's see if Broadsword can do any better.

 

[Traceguy]

7 hours ago, jedimasterjac said:

This entire thread has been almost nothing but criticism of BioWare and it’s stickied at the top of the forum. Come on, man. Who’s the persecution complex helping?

I'll have you know, I have a couple infractions on my account for posting something negative about Bioware. Jackie sites the rules, which include not speaking negatively about Bioware staff. 

[Traceguy]

5 hours ago, Ardrossan said:

When I see posts like "Jackie is very nice" and "I feel bad for Keith" I cringe. The devs and community managers were never on our side, they never went out of their way to communicate with the playerbase--ALL of the playerbase not handpicked favorites on discord or private forum messages--unless they absolutely had to, as with Keith's comments in this thread. They certainly never listened to feedback unless it already agreed with their vision for the game, or unless it was pure praise. Their defenders assume they were contractually obligated to act this way. It's an excuse: were they contractually obligated to not communicate with us for the last decade 

1000% this

[Nee-Elder]

6 hours ago, Ardrossan said:

 They [BioWare] certainly never listened to feedback unless it already agreed with their vision for the game, or unless it was pure praise. Their defenders assume they were contractually obligated to act this way. It's an excuse: were they contractually obligated to not communicate with us for the last decade

No, I don't feel bad for the devs. I feel bad for the VAs who have been sidelined from this game, first by the devs and now by players claiming AI should substitute for them--do y'all not GET what the writer's strike is about. I also feel bad for the original team that wrote the class story (excluding the ones like Keith and James Ohlen who were coopted into the new hierarchy that steadily eliminated the uniqueness of the 8 class stories post-Makeb). ME3 had bad endings, and Andromeda had bad design and cookie-cutter plotting, but the crew/companion writing was on par with or superior to the companion writing in this game. 

This game talks about 'legacies' a lot, as in followers, apprentices, the inheritors of a certain tradition and reputation. In the class stories this is a vague concept they tack on at the end to set up future storylines (which obviously never happened), but to me there's a real world analogue: the people who wrote the stories, like Karpyshyn, and the VAs who've been here all along, like Grey DeLisle and Jennifer Hale, are the ones who built this game's legacy. The devs and writers who came after inherited that legacy, but they have not been good caretakers in my opinion.  Let's see if Broadsword can do any better.

i've run out of clicky-reactions today but i must say  that ^ is one solid and well-articulated post.

Not saying i agree 100% with all of it , but i def. agree with the overall sentiment when it comes to appreciating those employees/artists/creators  who have worked tirelessly  behind-the-scenes.

[robwettengel]

16 hours ago, Whykara said:

The uncomfortable truth with EA and BioWare is that EA has never been the bad guy in the relationship. 

Mass Effect 3 ending? BioWare writers confirmed it was their idea, EA had nothing to do with it and nothing to gain from it. 

Mass Effect Andromeda? Everyone blamed EA for rushing the game. Later it came out that EA gave BioWare near unlimited resources and time, but BioWare completely mismanaged it. They wasted the time and then hastily threw together something barely coherent in the last year of 5 years dev time. EA also had nothing to with the writing. "My face is tired" and non-binary Asari are BioWare's achievements alone. 

Anthem? Also near unlimited resources. BioWare made many questionable design choices and failed to give the game an identity. Then, after a rocky start, they more or less immediately abandoned it. The horrible communication on BioWare's part put the final nail in the coffin. 

SWTOR seems to be similarly mismanaged. EA most likely provides enough resources, but BioWare doesn't use them for the benefit of the game. 

I'm really curious what a future without BioWare will bring for SWTOR. 

Thanks for the Bioware historical refresher. I had forgotten about the clusters of Andromeda and Anthem, and how the Kotaku article (which I went back to reread) makes it clear that the game languished in pre-production hell because there was no single final decision-maker on the project until very late in the development cycle. Now I can vividly recall the lifeless, dead eyes in Andromeda and the quickly repetitive play of Anthem--also, its lack of a captivating story or, honestly, much of a story to begin with. 

Then there was Galactic Command with the launch of TOR's 5.0 update in Dec 2016. Before this update went live, I didn't read patch notes or look at the forums much. I was in my first grad school class at the time--historiography--and had gotten into my head that Galactic Command was going to be a new mini-game that was going to introduce some military strategy into the game: with being able to move fleets and armies around the galactic map to defend against Eternal Empire attacks. I was incredibly disappointed to log into early access to see it was just to score points and with X points you get an RNG loot box.

Hopefully EA will continue to provide sufficient resources, and Broad Sword is interested in investing in the game. Hopefully, the acquisition of TOR for them is part of a long term strategy. 

[WayOfTheWarriorx]

8 hours ago, Ardrossan said:

The devs and writers who came after inherited that legacy, but they have not been good caretakers in my opinion.  Let's see if Broadsword can do any better.

Agreed.

Bioware has been given many chances to improve things, they've received tons of player feedback, often asked for, and really not taken much of it to heart. If you're not going to allow player feedback to serve as some guiding element (not in everything of course), especially when there is clearly a large sentiment shared among a large portion of the player base, than don't ask for it to begin with.

Maybe Broadsword, with the help of some BW devs (so they're not starting from a blank slate), can do a better job of it with SWTOR. Worth a try.

[jedimasterjac]

I feel like you can trace all the stages of grief on this forum thread. 

[JayForerunner]

13 hours ago, jedimasterjac said:

This entire thread has been almost nothing but criticism of BioWare and it’s stickied at the top of the forum. Come on, man. Who’s the persecution complex helping?

To be fair, there are other corporations - both profit and non-profit - which have a heavy-handed approach to censorship, so I don't blame 'em for worrying about that coming to pass.

 

 

Also, 1) the "Legacy" thing is more a "new game plus" so that there's some in-character reason (no matter how flimsy) to justify those little +10 presence perks you get from companions that carry over across your whole account. The whole system of the Alliance is cool at least on paper, I just wish some of them weren't so painful (Dr. Rakghoul needs you to, I kid you not, wait for a very specific and very time-sensitive event to transpire even after grinding medical supplies for him, and Lizard Hunter wants you to search for ghosts of spawns or pray you get a huge group to take on World Bosses...oh and the big Recruiter veteran of Havoc Squad is still competing for the most painful of all: PvP).

 

Where was I? Oh yeah, right, the whole lot of meh. Pre-Alliance, what I liked most was keeping the clean-cut Republic vs Empire, but what I don't like is falling into the same tired cliches of every MMO ever. There's a whole cartoon focused on WoW that illustrates what I'm talking about, and the points are as valid here as they are there.

 

And 2) I'm shocked that the "EA is evil" narrative is either false or open to debate. I have no data to add, just simple surprise. But it makes sense, they're the ones investing in games like that (that's what producers and publishers do), so it's fair for them to keep a leash on deciding how these teams utilize finite resources (I must stress the word FINITE here). For if there's nobody to hold the leash, we end up with Star Citizen (for both good and bad).

 

3) The tiny fee/tax on quick travel only hurts the poor people and new players. All of us "Legendary" people just snicker at the 4 digit price tag while we bathe in our 7 digit credit balances (many even having 10 digits). I get what they're going for: drain the inflation. But there's got to be a better way than making noobs suffer. (Because Galactic Seasons is very capable of that on paper, but I do not have the insider data to state whether or not it is actually successful with that goal.)

 

4) I haven't gotten to "Galactic Command" stuff yet, but it sounds like the way the guides describe the Alliance in general. On paper, you're building your forces in preparation to fight the Eternal Empire (very cool, reminds me of taking on some Reapers with uniting the whole galaxy and how juicy that could be if executed correctly), then the guides are basically like "Naw, all you get are loot boxes with some cosmetic clothes and companion gifts, plus a bit of flavor text and more bodies in your base." So, the payoff is only surface deep? Remember, Mass Effect 2 was the peak design, the final "Suicide Mission" was all about the game judging you on how thoroughly and correctly you accomplished the whole game. Juxtapose that with here, and...

 

5) AI is going to bring the "End of All Jobs", and there's just nothing we are willing to do to stop it. For all the decrying, progress will march on at its mathematically predictable pace unless something seriously biblical happens. A certain virus, for example, has attempted such upheaval with taking over the world and ruling all civilizations (yet I must emphasize the word ATTEMPTED). What would happen if such an "attempt" were completely successful through-and-through?

Edited June 14, 2023 by JayForerunner

[Alithia]

Be real, the game will never ever get content updates. I doubt they can only do new CM items. It will just be kept in a coma-like state. You can log in, run in circle on the fleet, and that is it. 

[Whykara]

15 hours ago, Ardrossan said:

the people who wrote the stories, like Karpyshyn, and the VAs who've been here all along, like Grey DeLisle and Jennifer Hale, are the ones who built this game's legacy.

As ridiculous as it may sound, Xanthe Elbrick (female inquisitor) is a huge reason why I play this game. The way she delivers these snarky lines is delightful. VAs and the class stories give the game its character and identity. 

[JayForerunner]

1 hour ago, Whykara said:

As ridiculous as it may sound, Xanthe Elbrick (female inquisitor) is a huge reason why I play this game. The way she delivers these snarky lines is delightful. VAs and the class stories give the game its character and identity. 

I can +1 that, particularly the lighthearted Smuggler storyline and the male Smuggler's voice actor. I honestly enjoyed that one a lot more than I thought I would. And "The Jackal" is among the only antagonists in general (doubly in SWTOR) that I honestly "love to hate" (which means whoever wrote it totally nailed it).

[Khoxion]

3 hours ago, JayForerunner said:

AI is going to bring the "End of All Jobs", and there's just nothing we are willing to do to stop it.

I don't want to derail this most useful thread but the problem is not that AI will reduce jobs/work hours, that is what machines have been invented for. The problem is that it will reduce the income normal people have available. Currently, it leads to further transfer of wealth into less and less hands.

The problem is the money that you got before because of being forced to sell your work to make a living, now remains at those who profit from that gain of efficiency from AI (eg your former employer). This would more and more lead to a paradox world with companies that produce goods and services that no one can buy (in theory ofc, but before it goes that far, there would happen something else probably 😉).
As an artist, nothing stops one from doing art when your job has been replaced by AI. You could still sell it to interested people or make it just for fun. Maybe, even in the future, AI products/services are considered to be inferiour by some people and there is a market for "handcrafted" things.

So people should stop crying "They took our jobs!" and start demanding income compensation; the money still exists, it just changed hands.

[JayForerunner]

2 minutes ago, Khoxion said:

I don't want to derail this most useful thread but the problem is not that AI will reduce jobs/work hours, that is what machines have been invented for. The problem is that it will reduce the income normal people have available. Currently, it leads to further transfer of wealth into less and less hands.

The problem is the money that you got before because of being forced to sell your work to make a living, now remains at those who profit from that gain of efficiency from AI (eg your former employer). This would more and more lead to a paradox world with companies that produce goods and services that no one can buy (in theory ofc, but before it goes that far, there would happen something else probably 😉).
As an artist, nothing stops one from doing art when your job has been replaced by AI. You could still sell it to interested people or make it just for fun. Maybe, even in the future, AI products/services are considered to be inferiour by some people and there is a market for "handcrafted" things.

So people should stop crying "They took our jobs!" and start demanding income compensation; the money still exists, it just changed hands.

Traditional economics were not designed with the unemployables in mind, and to tie it back to here, that's going to make it harder for people of any level to actually contribute on games such as SWTOR. We're already seeing "senior or bust" to the point where anyone with less than years of work experience (college degrees and/or certifications don't count) might as well not bother doing anything other than creating stuff for fun, so when not even "senior" is good enough for the competition's unbeatable price of $0 we're going to need to redefine modern living.

[Khoxion]

1 minute ago, JayForerunner said:

Traditional economics were not designed with the unemployables in mind

Yes, and therefore it must change as it doesn't fit to the reality of our time anymore.

All people should profit from AI/machines by having more free time etc. instead of having to worry about their income being transfered to less and less hands, while beating each other over a few crumbs. What i mean is that AI/machines are not inherently bad, they just don't fit to our economy and the mentality of many people.

[Kristallia]

1 hour ago, Alithia said:

Be real, the game will never ever get content updates. I doubt they can only do new CM items. It will just be kept in a coma-like state. You can log in, run in circle on the fleet, and that is it. 

I think its fair to expect atleast some content updates if more than half of current devs moves to broadsword like rumored, writers included.

Its not like broadsword will put the swtor writers to write some rap songs or something, I think its reasonable to think that they continue to work on the game like they used to.

[Revan-the-knight]

40 minutes ago, Kristallia said:

I think its fair to expect atleast some content updates if more than half of current devs moves to broadsword like rumored, writers included.

Its not like broadsword will put the swtor writers to write some rap songs or something, I think its reasonable to think that they continue to work on the game like they used to.

Musco Rap? 😛

[ReKabNad]

13 hours ago, JayForerunner said:

Traditional economics were not designed with the unemployables in mind, and to tie it back to here, that's going to make it harder for people of any level to actually contribute on games such as SWTOR. We're already seeing "senior or bust" to the point where anyone with less than years of work experience (college degrees and/or certifications don't count) might as well not bother doing anything other than creating stuff for fun, so when not even "senior" is good enough for the competition's unbeatable price of $0 we're going to need to redefine modern living.

And thus one of the core conceits of Frank Herbert's Dune Universe: The Butlerian Jihad, in which war was waged against "thinking machines" and once Humanity defeated them, it became illegal to "make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."  If people In Real Life aren't very, very careful, it might actually come to that someday. 

[Samcuu]

14 hours ago, Kristallia said:

I think its fair to expect atleast some content updates if more than half of current devs moves to broadsword like rumored, writers included.

Its not like broadsword will put the swtor writers to write some rap songs or something, I think its reasonable to think that they continue to work on the game like they used to.

I really don't see ppls logic when they say swtor won't be seeing anymore updates. Why would they send like 40 developers over to Broadsword if that's the case? Lol make it make sense. I know u all wanna qq about something but at least be logical about it instead of dishing out these big brain takes 😂😂

[Ardrossan]

37 minutes ago, Samcuu said:

I really don't see ppls logic when they say swtor won't be seeing anymore updates. Why would they send like 40 developers over to Broadsword if that's the case? Lol make it make sense. I know u all wanna qq about something but at least be logical about it instead of dishing out these big brain takes 😂😂

Well, for me it's that 40 developers part. It's the claim that 70-80 devs work on this game currently, and half of them are going to broadsword. It's just an incredible number. They have that many devs and all they came up with was what we got in 7.0? Really? And the prevailing theory is that actually, they aren't all devs, that this huge number includes support staff who don't do any direct work on the game.

It would be nice to just take them at their word, the only problem with that is that the people who communicate with us lie by omission or directly all the time, and artificially inflating the number of true devs to reassure the playerbase so we don't all unsub is absolutely in their wheelhouse. If IGN hadn't broken the story early and forced them to improvise, the way they explained the sale might have looked very different, because they would have been in control of the situation instead of scrambling. 

Fortunately, they can always count on the engrained appeal to authority for a lot of the playerbase who just uncritically accept everything they're told and waste everyone's time debating the perfectly obvious  

  

[Samcuu]

7 minutes ago, Ardrossan said:

It would be nice to just take them at their word, the only problem with that is that the people who communicate with us lie by omission or directly all the time, and artificially inflating the number of true devs to reassure the playerbase so we don't all unsub is absolutely in their wheelhouse. If IGN hadn't broken the story early and forced them to improvise, the way they explained the sale might have looked very different, because they would have been in control of the situation instead of scrambling. 

Neither EA or Bioware have made a statement about how many devs work on the game. That part of the IGN article you are cherry picking from most likely came from the anonymous person who broke the news to IGN. So what are you even talking about? Lmaooo