An update on the development of SWTOR

[emilydeylan]

2 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said:

That last line is totally laughable!!!

Basically : "We've gotten as much out of it as we can, now we're moving it to a retirement home till it keeps getting visits while we focus on something else."

[Nee-Elder]

2 hours ago, Kazjan said:

EA has been ruining this game for years. You should be excited that this game is finally going away from EA. 

i wouldn't say i'm "excited" , but i'm definitely a mix of....concerned & curious.

1 hour ago, OlBuzzard said:

  This whole switch-over to the cloud stuff and the 64 bit change was just to make it possible for the transition to take place.  Otherwise, NOBODY would have messed with SWTOR as it was.

Bingo ^ .

1 hour ago, emilydeylan said:

Exactly, still want a proper cry over it though, its been apart of my life for 12 years.

i went thru all the possible emotions ( especially rage at LucasArts ) when SWG shutdown, but i'm not really sure yet  how i'll feel about SWTOR's inevitable  ending.

Sorta depends on whether or not the next Star Wars MMO will be coming soon  to "replace" it  how SWTOR tried to do for SWG.

16 minutes ago, TonyTricicolo said:

 Exactly how some of us felt when the shutdown of SWG was announced. This makes sad to say I lived through yet another Star Wars MMO.  Maybe, just maybe, they release the source code and the game continues as an emulator.

Yeah  for me i dunno, i just can't see myself getting into  an SWTOR emulator  the way i was so passionately ( and professionally ) for the original SWGEmu . ( the one from which everyone else eventually borrowed our code    )

11 minutes ago, commanderwar said:

Also if anyone cares here is EA response to IGN article

“Almost 12 years after launch, Star Wars: The Old Republic remains a success and continues to grow its dedicated and passionate community. We’re so proud of the work the team has done, and the future of the game and the community continues to be very bright. We’re evaluating how we give the game and the team the best opportunity to grow and evolve, which includes conversations with Broadsword, a boutique studio that specializes in delivering online, community-driven experiences.

Our goal is to do what is best for the game and its players.”

 Yeahhhhh riiiiightt, EA. 

( i def.  feel for  @KeithKanneg and  @JackieKo and most of the other BioWare team , but i'm very suspicious of EA  tbqh. )

p.s.  This news gives me even more incentive to finally get that goshdarn  NiM 'gods' cheevo!

Edited June 7, 2023 by Nee-Elder

[OlBuzzard]

3 minutes ago, emilydeylan said:

Basically : "We've gotten as much out of it as we can, now we're moving it to a retirement home till it keeps getting visits while we focus on something else."

Talk about milking SWTOR for everything it's worth ...  

[/facepalm]

Ebenezer would be proud! 

[Amodin]

Broadsword is a maintenance mode company for MMOs.  Ironically, one of SWTOR's previous Game Directors was from Broadsword (formerly Mythic Entertainment) and when he was there, DAoC was an utter s*-show.  He came here and did the same thing to this, so I wouldn't hold my breath for updates for this game.  As a former Team Lead for Mythic, I can say that interference in DAoC by developers was beyond frustration.

EA also loses its exclusivity at the end of 2023, and I hope every other publisher out there frankly does better than EA, after the way they have mandated how this game has gone.  It's been in life support mode for some time already, even though we've been getting a bone here and there, it's nothing like a developer/publisher should be doing even for a game this old.  FFXI is older than this spaghetti and it gets updates, so age is not an excuse.  There is mind blowing interest in Star Wars, and if developers were allowed/cared to fix bugs, make things right, stop screwing around, this game could be really good again.

 

[OlBuzzard]

2 minutes ago, Nee-Elder said:

[/snip / snip / snip]

( i def.  feel for  @KeithKanneg and  @JackieKo and most of the other BioWare team , but i'm very suspicious of EA  tbqh. )

[/snip]

For me ... I'm totally done with EA.  I don't play anything that they own the rights to ... and I will make CERTAIN that doesn't happen in the future.  And I would rather suspect that if enough people decided to see EA for what they are ... EA could be looking at a downward spiral in their overall profits the rest of this year and next as well!

And yes ..  I agree regarding @KeithKanneg and @JackieKo.  

[emilydeylan]

7 minutes ago, Nee-Elder said:

i wouldn't say i'm "excited" , but i'm definitely a mix of....concerned & curious.

Bingo ^ .

i went thru all the possible emotions ( especially rage at LucasArts ) when SWG shutdown, but i'm not really sure yet  how i'll feel about SWTOR's inevitable  ending.

Sorta depends on whether or not the next Star Wars MMO will be coming soon  to "replace" it  how SWTOR tried to do for SWG.

Yeah  for me i dunno, i just can't see myself getting into  an SWTOR emulator  the way i was so passionately ( and professionally ) for the original SWGEmu . ( the one from which everyone else eventually borrowed our code    )

 Yeahhhhh riiiiightt, EA. 

( i def.  feel for  @KeithKanneg and  @JackieKo and most of the other BioWare team , but i'm very suspicious of EA  tbqh. )

p.s.  This news gives me even more incentive to finally get that goshdarn  NiM 'gods' cheevo!

I don't think i can get into any new SW MMO if it's set in the new lore, i've really not liked anything beyond rogue one and the first season of Mano. The rest of Disneys actions have ranged from horrid to questionable when it comes to the I.P.

[Amodin]

3 minutes ago, OlBuzzard said:

For me ... I'm totally done with EA.  I don't play anything that they own the rights to ... and I will make CERTAIN that doesn't happen in the future.  And I would rather suspect that if enough people decided to see EA for what they are ... EA could be looking at a downward spiral in their overall profits the rest of this year and next as well!

And yes ..  I agree regarding @KeithKanneg and @JackieKo.  

Looks like you can start playing this game then and not feel guilty about a subscription.  

[OlBuzzard]

43 minutes ago, Amodin said:

Looks like you can start playing this game then and not feel guilty about a subscription.  

I'll wait to see what the new maintenance mode interprets to!  More than likely I'll just move on to another game.  I rather suspect that the new proprietor will NOT be investing the kind of cash that's needed to not only fix a ton of bugs ... breathe new life into the game as well.

While the situation is unquestionably frustrating ...  there's nothing left for any of us to do!

(No wonder customer input has been ignored for so long now!  It all adds up!)

Edited June 7, 2023 by OlBuzzard

[TUXs]

Really, this can't be any worse. Pacing from Bioware has been pathetic, and there's no way I believe they have 70-80 devs working on THIS game. There's no chance - not for the content they release. I thank Bioware for YEARS of constant fun, and I look forward to years more to come from Mythic.

[lukeisjedi]

I'm sad but in a wait and see mode. I'll continue to play occasionally and try to get legendary but if they don't release new story after 7.4 I'm probably done.

[eabevella]

Can I have a single player version of SWTOR instead of whatever maintenance mode this game will be?

If we're not getting new contents, at least let me replay the old stories alone, in peace?

[ReKabNad]

I'm gonna wait and see what happens, and keep playing my characters until I can't. 

[juliushorst]

I expected Anthem to underperform and it and it not only underperformed, it was a catastrophe. I expect DA and Mass Effect will underperform - porobably will not be catastrophes thanks to brand recognition but they won't be massive hits.

This chicken called SWTOR doesn't lay golden eggs but regular eggs can be useful too. It wouldn't be smart to kill it.

[Amodin]

11 minutes ago, juliushorst said:

I expected Anthem to underperform and it and it not only underperformed, it was a catastrophe. I expect DA and Mass Effect will underperform - porobably will not be catastrophes thanks to brand recognition but they won't be massive hits.

This chicken called SWTOR doesn't lay golden eggs but regular eggs can be useful too. It wouldn't be smart to kill it.

Which surprised me, because I actually really enjoy Anthem.  It had a good story, the graphics are absolutely stunning, the gameplay is fun... but the story just... ran out.  Nothing after you finished it.  Extremely disappointed with that aspect of it.

[Blakinik]

4 hours ago, OlBuzzard said:

Soooo who is Broadsword?  Are they connected to EA in any way?  Will they be able to maintain the game as they see fit?   I rather suspect that some items (such as the CM) will probably just fade away.  IMO that was EA's cash cow!  

Well I know Mythic Entertainment was the forerunner of Broadsword interactive and Mythic Entertainment was part of Bioware.  That said, I looked up UO and looked at the releases - appears nothing since 2014 in terms of a "release".  Broadsword took over in 2018 and the only change has been everything is F2P with severe limitations and restrictions unless you buy their "packs".  On the UO website they seem to offer "shards" but that appears to be more "customer rulesets to earlier periods" than actual product development.

So what does this mean?  I have no clue.  I do know that there is a shift in the market to more Micro-based transactions of content selling.  Content releases generally run at $20 or so per release.  Example of this would be Conan Exiles in which you pay for access to new content, which is mostly a private server experience of Conan MMO.  Even Paradox does this for their entire gaming model  to push life into games that are older - Just look at Stellaris and Crusader Kings 3 as examples.

If I was to venture a guess, we will likely see an abridged ending to missions.  Think of it as Ziost 2.0 where it "appeared" that we'd get some massive story line only to have a month later some daily area that seemed like the video game recreation of Robotech where you took different games and smash them together. This is more what I am afraid of - we are going to get pushed off to some new company this have an effective "reset" of 10 plus years of playing where they will make some tweaks and say they need to wipe all the characters to make it go into effect.

And with this I am really torn - I feel like maybe this is where we put grandma on life support because she is effectively in a vegetative state but we don't want to say goodbye just yet.  For the game we know as SWTOR, would it be better to have it added to a new studio who likely will maintenance mode it till their cost plus determined ROI isn't meant and then unceremoniously turned off or simply have it come to an end once the story line is played through.  For me, I think there is far more stories, but again its like some intellectually bankrupt story like an episodic TV show where you are effectively in the "defeat the next big baddie" like how Stargate SG-1 ended up before they finally ended its run in favor of movies till those were canceled by MGM.

I just paid my 6 month subscription and therefore think I have 180 days to decide if it will happen again and I re-up again under the assumption it would even be offered.  I will take a cautious wait and see approach, but in the back of my head, I truly hope they do offer some sort of "conclusion" if they are effectively going to maintenance mode.  We shall see now right?

Blak

[akdonkey]

How about making it Play how you want again before you guys hand it off.....

[commanderwar]

3 hours ago, TUXs said:

Really, this can't be any worse. Pacing from Bioware has been pathetic, and there's no way I believe they have 70-80 devs working on THIS game. There's no chance - not for the content they release. I thank Bioware for YEARS of constant fun, and I look forward to years more to come from Mythic.

Completely agree

Overall I think since 7.0 the game just went downhill in every aspect communication to content. Everything handle in 7.0 for me was bad and screams of bad management. no communication, no listening to feedback, out of touch decisions. Like BW not telling players nim r4 was cancelled, or delaying a lot of 7.0 content, making promises and hyping up the "year of swtor" in 2022, and not delivering. Not to mention bugging content, bad gearing system and everything launching in 7.0 was half done. I could go on, but I stop their.  I just want dev leadership who play their game, see the perspectives of their players, communicate and come to a middle ground with the players on unpopular decisions. Which BW does none of that. What's worse is that I feel  most of the problems come from BW themselves and not EA. I think of BW in a negative light at this point, I started player in 2013, took breaks, but been so disappointment since 7.0 I was considering for the first time uninstalling the game, in which I have never done. I think now I will wait and see what happens.

At this point I'm just hoping for good content and good decisions being made. Hopefully the deal can be made soon, so they can let us know their plans.

Edited June 7, 2023 by commanderwar

[Kirameki]

Well I shall see how it goes. It can't go much worse. However I did stop my 6 month subscription (got 121 days left) and when it runs out I will go back to a monthy or gamecard option for 30 days max. 

[Venjirai]

If the new studio just manages to fix all the bugs that have been in the game for 10 years and otherwise don't add any new content to the game then that, for me as a PvP-only player would already count as an improvement...

I just have doubts because they are overtaking 40 of the current devs... I hope they were just MASSIVELY mismanaged by Bioware.

[Anttu]

I so hope this doesnt lose our amazing cinematics 😧 Then that we get expansions still and not just maintain the game to all systems. I want it to continue to grow and continue to become better. Sure some things might not have been ideal but I still can live with it in the game. It hasnt changed how I play the PVE or RP. I have fun and that is what is important I do hope what ever happens that we will not lose this game to people getting bored because nothing new is coming. Like look at star wars galaxy it is still alive. Even tho you cant become a new player to it. All the old once have made it awesome. So maybe swtor can grow a lot more   Thank you Bioware detactment Swtor for all your hard work and the hardwork going forward <3

[Ollmich]

Quote

Currently, roughly 70-80 people are part of the core development team of The Old Republic, more than half of whom are expected to move to Broadsword. Those remaining with EA would have an opportunity to look for roles elsewhere within the company, but may otherwise face layoffs.

I’m about to go through somewhat similar changes at my own work, which I’m not exactly thrilled about, and now I read that news about my favorite-comfort-zone game. Life is ironic. Best of luck to devs and all the staff in their careers.

At the very least I expect SWTOR losing in the future updates (beyond 7.4) its identity and uniqueness which, ironically, set it apart from the other MMO titles - voiced story with roleplaying options. All these seasons, conquests, events and other systems have always been fluff aimed at keeping us busy between meaningful story updates, regardless of the size and quality of these updates. All this stuff is undoubtedly cheaper to produce/maintain, and the game will probably still rely on it instead of full maintenance mode, it just won’t be the same game.

Still, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. Our main source material is called A new hope after all…

Edited June 7, 2023 by Ollmich

[Iollaum]

9 hours ago, RikuvonDrake said:

Broadsword seems to be working primarily as a studio that "maintains" games in a status quo, looking at their other titles and how they phrase their recruiting, I suppose this would mean the same for swtor.

So everything stays the same?

[jedimasterjac]

5 hours ago, Amodin said:

Looks like you can start playing this game then and not feel guilty about a subscription.  

EA’s still getting their cut. That’s the case for both MMOs they currently run.

[jedimasterjac]

4 hours ago, eabevella said:

Can I have a single player version of SWTOR instead of whatever maintenance mode this game will be?

If we're not getting new contents, at least let me replay the old stories alone, in peace?

It’s never gonna happen. It would take a huge amount of investment to get that to work. 

[Syal]

They want to change when the current team was look like fine ! How a trap !