Is it Time for a Big New Story Drop?

[TrixxieTriss]

2 minutes ago, DWho said:

And over the last 7 years they have gone out of their way to drive people who like the Star Wars story from the game.

Now you’re just saying anything to argue. Because that’s the biggest lot of nonsense I’ve ever seen posted on these forums & I’ve seen some nonsense over the years.

[GeneralGyro]

the sad few who will just spend money on CM shinies  dont care for anything other than that

[DWho]

Just now, TrixxieTriss said:

Now you’re just saying anything to argue. Because that’s the biggest lot of nonsense I’ve ever seen posted on these forums & I’ve seen some nonsense over the years.

How so. The story content since KotET has been miniscule and pathetic at best. All of it together doesn't even amount to as much as the Rise of the Hutt Cartel and that was a pretty small expansion. Most of the post KotET story has been recycled group content (like the traitor arc flashpoints) or massively linear content.

[JakRoanin]

2 minutes ago, DWho said:

And over the last 7 years they have gone out of their way to drive people who like the Star Wars story from the game.

Amen! I will be completely honest and say I don't understand why people find raiding so great. Now, I cannot physically do it. I don't have the Eye-hand coordination and I have tried many, many, times with my wonderful guilds! But the reality is Raiding is simply memorizing a set pattern. It never changes once you crack the pattern it's lather rinse repeat. Whereas in story you can change dozens of things simply by pressing 1 2 3.

[xxSHOONYxx]

1 minute ago, DWho said:

When it is by far most of the content released, yes. You also forgot all the flashpoints they added which they tried to pass off as story but were really dumbed down group content with a few cutscenes.

Flashpoints are hardly mmo content on this game. They are boring and with swtor's gearing since 4.0 + 6.0 they ruined them for like everyone. To me they are what yo say it's not, story content that can be done with some randoms, and to those that actually care about the story can be ruined because they picked something you don't wanted to pick.

 

 

7 minutes ago, DWho said:

t dipped quickly because there was almost no story at all. People showed up for the new story burned through it in an hour or two (and the ending flashpoint was horribly bugged) and then saw nothing else that interested them and left.

No, doesn't work like that. The bad month was not because they did story and then they all left. 7.3 peak player base was 9.1k players, compared to the 12.1k peak of previos month. The average and peak player was lower on a update month vs no update month. 
 

10 minutes ago, DWho said:

GS seasons, as far as I can tell, along with conquest is pure MMO content. All MMOs use grinding to extend player "participation" There is no MMO that doesn't have a significant amount of grind in it.

 It's not a mmo content something that makes you do +10 year old content. Plus it takes 0 work on their end, code is done, all they need to do is update rewards on the code.
Grindy content would be okay, if it's something new to do. Not hammer station  for the 15615684th time.

 

13 minutes ago, DWho said:

Lack of actual content is the problem and that is why we need a big influx of players and as I said, story is the only reliable way to bring in players but it needs to be significant.

Hard for you to read why the 4.0 player increase happened even when many quit? FORCE AWAKENS.
Maybe go and ask Disney to stop effing up and make a good movie or create a new pandemic if you want more players in this game. Because the devs can't do it, whether if it is by their own lack of skill/understanding what an mmo needs or lack of money.

 

16 minutes ago, JakRoanin said:

Also, I have to wonder what people who scream at the top of their keyboards that "story isn't content" did with the base game

Maybe ask those that left when the game went from a million subscribers to F2P in months. 

[DWho]

2 minutes ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

No, doesn't work like that. The bad month was not because they did story and then they all left. 7.3 peak player base was 9.1k players, compared to the 12.1k peak of previos month. The average and peak player was lower on a update month vs no update month. 

Well since there was no real story added in 7.3 you can't blame those numbers on the story.

[JakRoanin]

1 minute ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

Maybe ask those that left when the game went from a million subscribers to F2P in months. 

Okay, guess what, you know what really confuses me, when this game clearly and distinctly advertises itself for immersive SW's story. Why would you want to bother with it?

[DWho]

Nice to see we are two pages in and there has been no alternative way of bringing players in brought up. Just continuous attacks on story content as the "evil that destroyed SWTOR". How about some of you that think KotET and KotFE were terrible suggest how they could have been done better.

[xxSHOONYxx]

Just now, DWho said:

Well since there was no real story added in 7.3 you can't blame those numbers on the story.

So first 7.3 story was good but short so people left quick and the reason why the average was lower.
Then i said even the peak  was just as  low as the average and now 7.3 had no story.
Patch notes

"Story Update - “Old Wounds” - This story update brings players to the Wild Space planet, Voss. Players will join the “Shrine Restoration Initiative” alongside Voss and Gormak to explore the Interpreter’s Retreat, a previously unseen landing zone"

You are just a troll. No point on entertaining you. 

[DWho]

Just now, xxSHOONYxx said:

So first 7.3 story was good but short so people left quick and the reason why the average was lower.

My point exactly. There wasn't enough of it to move the needle. When I said "no story" I meant "no significant story" but fine I'll take your shot on that one.

[JakRoanin]

One idea I've been thinking about for a while is some sort of story mission developing Odessen. Now, since we've been there seven-ish years I find it hard to believe that with all those people within a relatively small area did not 1. Start paring up and procreating! (unless Dr. O sterilized everyone) 2. Bring their families with them. 3. Have a massive influx of refugees who stick around.

So, why not start developing the planet. As a Republic Loyalist you can have tension as to keeping in environmentally balance al la Voss or Alderaan or turning in into a city planet like Corellia or Coruscant. 

As a Dark Side Imperial you could set up a planetary powerbase to challenge the Emperor.

As an Independent you could make a totally unique place. 

[psikofunkster]

24 minutes ago, GeneralGyro said:

the sad few who will just spend money on CM shinies  dont care for anything other than that

I've been one of those, even i paid for the first four GS in advance in order to support the company but this is my last year.

[TrixxieTriss]

16 minutes ago, DWho said:

My point exactly. There wasn't enough of it to move the needle. When I said "no story" I meant "no significant story" but fine I'll take your shot on that one.

But if we use your argument, they don’t have the resources to do it. 

[xxSHOONYxx]

3 minutes ago, JakRoanin said:

Okay, guess what, you know what really confuses me, when this game clearly and distinctly advertises itself for immersive SW's story. Why would you want to bother with it?

Because is/was a buy + subscription mmo, it needed to do what an mmo does to survive and succeed. And when it changed to sub only mmo they messed it up again by just adding story and reducing their revenew of subbed time.
As i said before, even the most amazing single player games with multiple GOTY have a HUGE dip after 1 month. But they are 60-70 dollars up front not as monthly subscription. 

Kotfe and Kotet blew all their budget on story giving nothing to keep on playing after those chapters and numbers plummet, making the same mistake as on release of having no player retention. 
Not even counting, it took me 1-3 months to finish one story when i started, multiply it by 8 and you have a hefty amount of months subscribed, 120-360 dollars. Now they made everything so fast and easy in a week i can probably finish the 8 stories so 15 dollars.

Story alone, even if they produce the best story it has been written is not going to make the game successful with a subscription model again unless they change it to 60 dollars expansions upfront. If you have a sub model you need content that keeps people playing and engaged. 
An mmo needs all their pillars to be successful, Swtor put all their money in one basket and since then they haven't been able to recuperate.

[DWho]

10 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

We are explaining why it won’t do what you think it will & why there are more urgent matters to attend to, like class balancing in PvP 

No you're not. You yourself even admitted that story brings in players and what we need now is players. You are saying don't do story because an expansion 7 years ago didn't implement it correctly for everyone. I'm pretty sure PVP class balancing is pretty low on everyone's list except for the small percentage of people that are hardcore PVP players (as opposed to the entire game community)

9 minutes ago, TrixxieTriss said:

But if we use your argument, they don’t have the resources to do it. 

Resources can be increased or redeployed. Extending the update cycle is another way to go at it. A big story expansion every two years would be an improvement over what we have seen for the last 7. It doesn't have to be on the scale of KotFE/KotET. Something the size of Rise of the Hut Cartel or Revan would do wonders to bring the game population back up to a more sustainable level.

Edited November 13, 2023 by DWho

[JakRoanin]

@xxSHOONYxx I never said that story alone should be done. But if people like you keep dragging us down you won't get anything We support you, not the other way around.

Edited November 13, 2023 by JakRoanin

[LanceDefender]

Ah yes sure. PvP is the most important aspect of the game. Thousands of players play this game to do PvP with one of the most toxic group in this game.
Sure. Story? Nah. Noone plays swtor for story.
PvP? Everyone plays it!

It's a joke, right?

With such thinking I'm not surprised this game is dead and is dying still. Just make the maintance mode already and be over with it.

Edited November 13, 2023 by LanceDefender

[TrixxieTriss]

6 minutes ago, DWho said:

Resources can be increased or redeployed.

Then they can do that for class  balancing too. 

Edited November 13, 2023 by TrixxieTriss

[Nee-Elder]

13 minutes ago, DWho said:

Nice to see we are two pages in and there has been no alternative way of bringing players in brought up. Just continuous attacks on story content as the "evil that destroyed SWTOR". How about some of you that think KotET and KotFE were terrible suggest how they could have been done better.

i have been suggesting  'story' alternatives to BioSword for years,  like this one for example--->  https://forums.swtor.com/topic/927076-possible-sandbox-land-owner-type-system-and-potential-credit-sink/   ...which could very easily be augmented/upgraded with PLAYER created storylines, quests, and even player designed operations/flashpoints.   Heck, charge us CM coins to unlock the upgrades & such if you want, np.

Point is though: If  EA won't  grant BioSword enough writer$ & budget$  for more  significant content more often, then why not start letting the COMMUNITY do it for them?

But just like 99%  of everything else in that  bottomless pit called 'Suggestion Box'  forums, it was totally ignored. ( along with GSF and PVP and Crafting   )

p.s.  i personally  thought  KOTFE & KOTET  expansions ( real expansions ) were incredibly fun and beautifully Star Warsy, in spite of all  the flaws/complaints.

Remember SWTOR was originally marketed & promoted as being a continuous flood of the proverbial  4th Pillar ( aka story ) .   But unfortunately BioWare never listened to us SWG 'sandbox' influencers back in early 2011 testing, when we warned them about how  no matter how much 'theme park'  content you think you can churn out as coders,  it will never be enough.  ( since a player's own imagination is boundless )  --- In other words, they needed to give PLAYERS much more freedoms & functions to create their own content  , which would then help fill the long inevitable  development/expansion  voids that happen with all MMO's.

[DWho]

Just now, TrixxieTriss said:

Then they can do that for PvP balancing too. 

Sure, include PVP balancing with the big new story drop. I'm fine with that. You seem to think that my post is about just do story and nothing else. It is in fact about boosting the number of players in the game, then the PVPers and Raiders have more population to work with.

[LanceDefender]

PvP balance. You and 5 other PvP players. Indeed this is it my friends. PvP will save us lol

The moment they stop doing any story game is going to trash. All other content is additional stuff to do in the meantime. Story is what brings people to this game and many still play this game for story. If you enjoy other content? Great! If they should do other content as well? Yes. But story should be first always. Because without star wars theme this game would be dead years ago.

Edited November 13, 2023 by LanceDefender

[xxSHOONYxx]

2 minutes ago, JakRoanin said:

I never said that story alone should be done. But if people like you keep dragging us down you won't get anything We support you, not the other way around.

I can't speak for everyone, so i will talk just for myself. 
You should get your story but in the same amount i get the things i like. In the last 9 years, 3 ops released.
So when i see people asking for even more story or as if story is the saviors, it upsets me. Because i was here before 4.0 and 5.0 and the damage those expansions made to the game as a whole is hard to put into words. Watching the before and after of those two story focused expansions is disheartening. 
Look at everything that was added in 2.0 and 3.0 and compare it to 6.0 and 7.0.

[TrixxieTriss]

1 minute ago, DWho said:

Sure, include PVP balancing with the big new story drop. I'm fine with that. You seem to think that my post is about just do story and nothing else. It is in fact about boosting the number of players in the game, then the PVPers and Raiders have more population to work with.

But you were just telling us today in the PvP forums that class balancing is a waste of resources & they shouldn’t do it & that it doesn’t matter to players. Have you changed your mind? 

[JakRoanin]

I wish they'd do more self-contained mini stories like Shroud of Memory! I'd love one doing a spy mission as Theron. Or a rebuilding mission as Satele or something.

[JakRoanin]

2 minutes ago, xxSHOONYxx said:

I can't speak for everyone, so i will talk just for myself. 
You should get your story but in the same amount i get the things i like. In the last 9 years, 3 ops released.
So when i see people asking for even more story or as if story is the saviors, it upsets me. Because i was here before 4.0 and 5.0 and the damage those expansions made to the game as a whole is hard to put into words. Watching the before and after of those two story focused expansions is disheartening. 
Look at everything that was added in 2.0 and 3.0 and compare it to 6.0 and 7.0.

But I and people like me pay for yor stuff.