Very disappointed with the stream.

I'm sorry but fluff (HK-55), more solo content and a longer then ever release cycle (16 weeks +) doesn't excite me at all.

You guys over-hyped way too much for an announcement so mediocre.

Where is the group content? New Operations and Warzones? It's been one year since we got new Operations. A year and a half since the last new warzone map, and three years since a new Warzone game-type.

I'm sorry but that is disgusting.

I enjoy the solo content, but I also play this game as a socialising tool (as do other people) and only having the same old group content to do over and over again is getting really *********** old. New group content keeps things fresh. Solo content DOES NOT keep people playing LONG TERM.

I want to love SWTOR because I love Star Wars but the lack of new group content (Warzones and Operations) is so pathetic!

I guess at this point I'm only still playing cause my guildies are (sporadically). If they all get bored and stop playing, I'll be leaving too.

I like reward for subscriber that you show us today. However, about this themed around HK-55 in the future you should have these themed around another companions as well like Lana or Senya.

I'll look forward to Vette month! ^^b

The thing with the stream and the announcement it was announced it was for subs.

Okay let's do this:

(1) Raids- Those are not just for subs. Those are for anyone who does them, whether they are subs, F2P or preferred. so why would they announced a new operation or something like that in a stream that was advertised for subs.

(2) PVP- Again not just for subs. Those are for the people that do them whether they are subs, F2P or preferred and again they would not announced new pvp in a stream that was advertised for subs.

(3) Balance- See (1) and (2)

So that leaves?

Rewards for people that sub. Now those would be only for subs and that is what was advertised and would fit in line with what was advertised.

I am not saying raids, pvp, balance, etc is not needed but the advertisement specifically mentioned subs so it stands to reason it would be something that only applied to subs.

By that logic one could refrain from buying any game until it is down to $5 on Steam or in a bargain bin at Walmart.

 

Yet games still sell millions of dollars worth at the full $60+ retail price point when they launch, even though you could get the same product by waiting a while so as not to "waste your money". Same principle at work here - you want the chapters when they come out, you pay the premium price-point for them.

Poor analogy really.

When people buy those games they are getting usually at LEAST 20+ hours of content and that is if they rush and before replayability or online content.

Here you get what ... 1 months story for your subscription ( let's forget the subscriber rewards as I honestly don't see those being the deciding factor in a "bored" player staying around or not )?

What people are saying is they might as well wait until it's all done to get it all at once because ideally they aren't missing out on anything waiting - they will see the end of the story the same time you will except it cost them A LOT less money.

Also this whole episodic content only works when your episodes are at least a few hours of gameplay like how telltale do, not 1 hour in what people to believe utter boring grind ( trash) with a few boss fights and then choose yes/no but your choice won't matter that much ... oh and some nice cutscenes in as aged graphic engine.

Heck even look at TV now, already people are getting sick and tired of the "wait a week" for an episode and preferring to digest content in one hit once the series completes be it online or by buying sets ( Kurt Sutter touched on this with the recent cancellation of The Bastard Executioner ). Already shows are releasing now in their entirety for you to watch as you wish.

This model will fail, I have no doubts about this, unless BW can seriously up the amount of content/time invested people get from each update or associate some other content to keep people occupied and having fun ( couple of operations/flashpoints + new heroics every 3-6 months would probably do it ).

Hey folks,

 

Here is a wrap-up of the things we talked about on the Producer Letter Livestream…

 

Chapter 10 – Anarchy in Paradise will be launching on February 11th. Along with Chapter 10, will be Game Update 4.1 which will include Fighting for the Eternal Championship, Bowdaar as an unlockable Companion through Alliance, and updates to Crafting. We will have more details on those changes in January.

 

We have a whole host of new subscriber rewards for you as well:

• Be a subscriber on January 11th and receive HK-55 as a playable Companion when 4.1 launches on 2/9.
  
• Be a subscriber continuously from January 11th through the launch of Chapter 16, and receive an entire bonus Chapter where you will play as HK-55!
  
• Be a subscriber on the 1st of each month, and receive 2 days of early access to any Chapter which launches that month. This includes Chapter 10 in February.
  
• There will also be additional monthly subscriber rewards throughout Season 1, most of which will be themed around HK-55.

 

Throughout the month of December, we will have plenty of things going on as well. The Gree, Rakghoul, and Bounty Contract events will each run for a week. Log in any time from 12/8 to 1/5 to receive our 4th anniversary rewards, including an HK-51 Stronghold Decoration, more information later this week! We will also be running Life Day and Double XP, more info on those tomorrow.

 

We hope you enjoyed the stream and want to thank you all for tuning in. If you have any questions about the stream or anything else, throw them in this thread and I will work with Ben on getting them answered. Thanks!

 

-eric

Wasn't expecting much more than the announcement of chapter 10,so getting HK back is cool,and so is the decoration for the stronghold.

Not surprised at all at the posts upset about it,many in this community wouldn't be happy no matter what was offered. Although I do agree we do NEED more PvP options,and OPs as well.

I'll make this brief…

 

Story is not content. To be clear, I started playing this game in the first place because of story. However, even with that enthusiasm and focus, I wasn't planning on playing for very long. Because story doesn't last. I played KOTOR I probably over 30 times, and ME1 almost that much, but that is dwarfed by the amount of time I've spent in SWTOR.

 

The time I've spent in SWTOR has not been because of its story. I've certainly played all of the story content, and I've enjoyed it… the first time through. But now it's over. I have no desire to re-play even the KotFE storyline, despite its excellence. Story doesn't retain ongoing activity in the game.

 

Story is flavor. Content is substance. Content is something that you do in groups, because people are what give meaning and variety to repetitive actions. PvP and GSF are the embodiment of this philosophy, but PvE (especially operations) are as well. Operations, GSF and warzone maps. These are content. These are what players have poured endless hours into repeating, despite the unchanging nature of the boss fights or objectives or terrain. Nobody is pouring that amount of time into any story.

 

SWTOR needs new content. Desperately. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvE content since 3.0. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvP or GSF content for even longer. Without content, communities have nothing to do. Guilds die and players leave. All you have left are solo players who log in for a few hours every week, trickle-consuming the story.

 

I'm not even sure there's a question in here, other than the obvious "when will you release any new content?" And don't say story, because story isn't content.

Eloquently put. I don't think it can be said any better

I'd argue that in a small way, the community could be pinned for part of the fault, but not the entire community. Specifically, we can pin it on the trolls, and only the trolls, that make a hobby out of jumping into every new post on here that says something along the lines of "I don't like the direction this game is going" and posting immature answers like "Bye. Here's a cookie" or "Can I have your stuff?" These posts do nothing but start wars and derail any topic from where it started, meaning the feedback, even the more uncommon constructive feedback, gets lost in the forum battles with the 5-year-olds.

 

If I were a Bioware employee and got on the forums, all I would see is arguments, no real feedback or anything like that. I'd probably see people defending what the devs are doing, but enough research would show that these "defense" responses come from a small group. When the responses started flooding in from the stream, I saw tons of these immature responses and it saturated the forums to where I couldn't find out what was trying to be addressed in the first place. Once I started placing this group on my ignore list, the discussions became much clearer, and the more constructive, and mature, responses began to show themselves. Luckily, most of this group is getting ignored tonight, and we're seeing actual feedback instead of just useless pot-shots.

It is a fact on any forum that people who are dissatisfied with something make the most posts, The people that are happy have no real need to post anything. I am totally happy with the what the devs have announced.

Example- Comp nerf

A tiny amount of the player base complained about the comps being over powered, There were no posts to defend the comps staying as they were (The majority were happy the way it was and had no reason to visit the forum).

The comp nerf happened which made the majority (That don't normally post here) very, very angry.

Therefore we had the fastest U-turn in the history of SWTOR. Bioware wont even twitch if the tiny minority of pvp/nihm ops mob unsubbed.. But they crapped their pants when the silent majority did exactly that over the comp nerf.

All the pvpr's, Nihm ops people should be careful what they complain about.. The backlash from the majority may see pvp, hm and nihm ops removed altogether.

There is no way -- NO WAY -- that they are designing content based upon the feedback from the forums.

.

Go ACTUALLY READ the threads about companions and the gist of the type of content people want ... BW totally are, they just aren't putting out enough of it.

Now I disagree with this angle of them doing this completely but if you don't think this community is mostly to blame for this direction ... you are delusional.

The thing with the stream and the announcement it was announced it was for subs.

 

Okay let's do this:

 

(1) Raids- Those are not just for subs. Those are for anyone who does them, whether they are subs, F2P or preferred. so why would they announced a new operation or something like that in a stream that was advertised for subs.

 

(2) PVP- Again not just for subs. Those are for the people that do them whether they are subs, F2P or preferred and again they would not announced new pvp in a stream that was advertised for subs.

 

(3) Balance- See (1) and (2)

 

So that leaves?

 

Rewards for people that sub. Now those would be only for subs and that is what was advertised and would fit in line with what was advertised.

 

I am not saying raids, pvp, balance, etc is not needed but the advertisement specifically mentioned subs so it stands to reason it would be something that only applied to subs.

Actually that leaves "Chapter X drops next week", or "subs can now pay for their sub with in game credits", or numerous other better things, other than the 'here's the bribe to keep you paying for things you've had for years now'. Oversold and under-delivered.

Very disappointed with the stream.

 

I'm sorry but fluff (HK-55), more solo content and a longer then ever release cycle (16 weeks +) doesn't excite me at all.

 

You guys over-hyped way too much for an announcement so mediocre.

 

Where is the group content? New Operations and Warzones? It's been one year since we got new Operations. A year and a half since the last new warzone map, and three years since a new Warzone game-type.

 

I'm sorry but that is disgusting.

 

I enjoy the solo content, but I also play this game as a socialising tool (as do other people) and only having the same old group content to do over and over again is getting really *********** old. New group content keeps things fresh. Solo content DOES NOT keep people playing LONG TERM.

 

I want to love SWTOR because I love Star Wars but the lack of new group content (Warzones and Operations) is so pathetic!

 

I guess at this point I'm only still playing is cause my guildies are (sporadically). If they all get bored and stop playing, I'll be leaving too.

Exactly my point, not sure what to do now...

Enjoying the solo stuff but we are in guilds for socialising and doing group content, mostly the later socialising comes later lol

As a mostly casual raider who doesn't PvP, I'd already cancelled the renewal of my subscription. Mainly because what I expect to be 30 to 60 minutes worth of new content each month didn't really feel like value for money. I'd decided to return when there was enough fresh new content to make me feel engaged again (primarily either enough new story and/or new operations).

I mostly enjoyed the KotFE story. Chapter IX was less story, and more introduction to the to companion grind. But for the most part it was okay. The shine came off it though once I repeated the levelling process and realised that whilst there are some differences based on decisions... those differences are minor, almost inconsequential.

Flashpoints that have been added mid expansion have felt redundant, in so much as the gear from them was never an upgrade and once you've seen the story - there's little point to repeating it. Maybe the people who like cosmetic gear could find more reasons to go back than I did.

Sadly, the new companion alliance system felt like a bad facebook game.

Then there's the remainder of the PvE content... a rehash of everything I've done before. It's nice that all that content has been made available again. More so that it's relatively a challenge again. But it's last year's Xmas present wrapped in new wrapping paper.

I will miss not having HK-55 as a companion. Most people I speak to already think they already have too many companions - but HK has character. I couldn't give a hoot about Nico, but HK will leave a bad taste in my mouth that I missed out. But that's my choice.

Likewise locking a full new chapter behind the paywall of "please subscribe, even if there's nothing really much going on right now" seems a bit of a crappy move. Again, it'll be my choice not to subscribe for the whole 7 to 8 month period (Jan 11th to Aug 11th, when Chapter 16 comes out).

None of these subscriber rewards tempt me to stay a subscriber during this lean period.

And honestly, that you feel people need bribing to stay subscribers right now makes me worried about the position the game is in from a development investment point of view. People should be falling over themselves to subscribe to your game because of the wealth and quality of content and enjoyment they can get from playing it. Subscriber rewards should be a nice novel bonus, not full blown content that has to be written, scripted, voice acted and integrated into the game engine. I guess I'll just watch it on Youtube sometime after September next year.

I'm looking for substance, not gimmicks.

For me, that would be fix the bugs.

Revisit the "thousand cuts" type threads that have been posted over the years.

Add enough content. What's enough? I guess that depends - but for me it would be 2 new concurrent operations I can do each week (Like EV/KP, TFB/S&V, DF/DP).

As a side note, you might want to stop investing massive amounts of time and money into both ingame and out of game projects that you abandon either on completion (Starfighter, World PvP, Huttball, Space Missions) or give up on before they've seen some sort of reward from the investment put into them (Class Representative, Every "no really, we're going to start doing proper communication this time, honest" initiatives, etc).

Finally, try to stop trying to get people to subscribe today for promises of something better tomorrow. Deliver something better today and I'll subscribe today. Promise me better tomorrow and I'll wait until tomorrow before I think about giving you my money.

This line intentionally left blank.

I'll make this brief…

 

Story is not content. To be clear, I started playing this game in the first place because of story. However, even with that enthusiasm and focus, I wasn't planning on playing for very long. Because story doesn't last. I played KOTOR I probably over 30 times, and ME1 almost that much, but that is dwarfed by the amount of time I've spent in SWTOR.

 

The time I've spent in SWTOR has not been because of its story. I've certainly played all of the story content, and I've enjoyed it… the first time through. But now it's over. I have no desire to re-play even the KotFE storyline, despite its excellence. Story doesn't retain ongoing activity in the game.

 

Story is flavor. Content is substance. Content is something that you do in groups, because people are what give meaning and variety to repetitive actions. PvP and GSF are the embodiment of this philosophy, but PvE (especially operations) are as well. Operations, GSF and warzone maps. These are content. These are what players have poured endless hours into repeating, despite the unchanging nature of the boss fights or objectives or terrain. Nobody is pouring that amount of time into any story.

 

SWTOR needs new content. Desperately. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvE content since 3.0. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvP or GSF content for even longer. Without content, communities have nothing to do. Guilds die and players leave. All you have left are solo players who log in for a few hours every week, trickle-consuming the story.

 

I'm not even sure there's a question in here, other than the obvious "when will you release any new content?" And don't say story, because story isn't content.

This sums up how I feel in a more eloquent way.

Thank you for the stream. I am glad to see there will be a subscriber rewards program! It will be nice to have HK-55 as a companion, but please do not forget about your subscribers that don't love him. Personally, I prefer more human-like companions (I love customizing them to make them unique and suit my taste), and I already have HK-51.

Speaking of customizing companions . . . Eric, I have a question I'm hoping you can please pass on to the devs. Are there any plans to allow us to equip armor on the new KotFE companions such as Lana and Theron? I'd really like to hear more about why they cannot have armor equipped, and the thought process that went into making this decision.

I love the companion system - it is one of my favorite parts of the game -- and not being able to customize the new KotFE companions was a huge let down.

I'll make this brief…

 

Story is not content. To be clear, I started playing this game in the first place because of story. However, even with that enthusiasm and focus, I wasn't planning on playing for very long. Because story doesn't last. I played KOTOR I probably over 30 times, and ME1 almost that much, but that is dwarfed by the amount of time I've spent in SWTOR.

 

The time I've spent in SWTOR has not been because of its story. I've certainly played all of the story content, and I've enjoyed it… the first time through. But now it's over. I have no desire to re-play even the KotFE storyline, despite its excellence. Story doesn't retain ongoing activity in the game.

 

Story is flavor. Content is substance. Content is something that you do in groups, because people are what give meaning and variety to repetitive actions. PvP and GSF are the embodiment of this philosophy, but PvE (especially operations) are as well. Operations, GSF and warzone maps. These are content. These are what players have poured endless hours into repeating, despite the unchanging nature of the boss fights or objectives or terrain. Nobody is pouring that amount of time into any story.

 

SWTOR needs new content. Desperately. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvE content since 3.0. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvP or GSF content for even longer. Without content, communities have nothing to do. Guilds die and players leave. All you have left are solo players who log in for a few hours every week, trickle-consuming the story.

 

I'm not even sure there's a question in here, other than the obvious "when will you release any new content?" And don't say story, because story isn't content.

Bioware, you falsely claimed in your livestream that you payed attention to the community and wanted to do what we were interested in. You're oblivious. Please read this one more time.

The thing with the stream and the announcement it was announced it was for subs.

 

Okay let's do this:

 

(1) Raids- Those are not just for subs. Those are for anyone who does them, whether they are subs, F2P or preferred. so why would they announced a new operation or something like that in a stream that was advertised for subs.

 

(2) PVP- Again not just for subs. Those are for the people that do them whether they are subs, F2P or preferred and again they would not announced new pvp in a stream that was advertised for subs.

 

(3) Balance- See (1) and (2)

 

So that leaves?

 

Rewards for people that sub. Now those would be only for subs and that is what was advertised and would fit in line with what was advertised.

 

I am not saying raids, pvp, balance, etc is not needed but the advertisement specifically mentioned subs so it stands to reason it would be something that only applied to subs.

I can't argue with your statements if you are only referring to the livestream. However, Musco did say this thread was for any and all questions, and I feel that there has been too much time without information for new content, let alone new content at all.

Hey thanks a lot. 4.0 was fantastic am I having more fun than I have EVER HAD before in the history of this game. Yes, I'm serious. wait..is that possible?

I don't know why some people in those few threads are COMPLETELY FLIPPING OUT over this! Thanks a lot though for this stuff and keep the good work up on the game. It's awesome.

Hey thanks a lot. 4.0 was fantastic am I having more fun than I have EVER HAD before in the history of this game. Yes, I'm serious. wait..is that possible?

 

I don't know why some people in those few threads are COMPLETELY FLIPPING OUT over this! Thanks a lot though for this stuff and keep the good work up on the game. It's awesome.

Its not a few people, its people taking 30mins to write their opinion. Ironically people are spending more time on the forums posting their feedback, then it will to complete chapter 10.

Its now a few people, its people taking an 30mins to write their opinion. Ironically people are taking more time on the forums posting their feedback, then it will to complete chapter 10.

Welp. Lights out everyone. Nothing else to say than this.

I do actually really like the rewards but.......

Speaking on behalf of most end game players. Can we have some information, or at least a nod to suggest you are looking at these 3 things?

Class Balance.

New Operations.

New Warzones.

HK-55 is a neat toy. Early Access is meh. The HK chapter will probably be interesting so that's a plus for me. I absolutely loved Brawler's Guild in WoW so I'm hoping the arena content is as interesting. The mechanics are going to have to be top notch, though. Giant HP sponges will not cut the mustard with that content. However, if you copy Hexos, I will spam your actual mailbox with rotten cabbage for years. I'll withhold judgment on the other monthly rewards until we see them but I'm sure they'll be nifty.

All that being said, paying for a single player RPG via subscription is not making me happy. We need more MM in our ORPG. Operations, Flashpoints, open world raid bosses, stuff that encourages getting together with friends and having some fun. If there isn't any progress on that front soon, people will leave for good, Inflatable HK-55 Decoy toy or not.

"We're breaking all precedents with our new Subscriber Rewards"

oh, you meant your precedents in disappointing your subsribers! And to think some got their hopes up or were at least excited about it.

Devs/Eric&Co., please, keep your enthusiasm low and/or stop taking extazy.

What you announced was just a BIG, VERY BIG, let down.

Hey folks,

 

Here is a wrap-up of the things we talked about on the Producer Letter Livestream…

 

Chapter 10 – Anarchy in Paradise will be launching on February 11th.

Hint: Don't wait until February to release the next chapter. Get these chapters out every three weeks.

I can technically let my subscription expire tomorrow, come back in twelve months, and enjoy the remaining chapters in a two month period. Unless you release 'new' content, the subscription rewards alone will not keep people playing.

Quote: Originally Posted by GrandLordMenace

Seriously. Nothing about group content at all, you do realize you're going to kill hundreds of guilds? What's the point of having a group system, guilds, anything but armies of solo players if we literally don't have any new content to do as a group?

I'm deathly afraid of my own guild going rip in pepperonis cause of the dev team's incompetence, and my faith in you guys is seriously lacking. It's kinda annoying how you guys are literally backstabbing the players that have played since beta, tested everything publically testable, devoted hundreds upon thousands upon tens of thousands of hours to your game, and literally worked on everything from fan sites, to guides, to podcasts, to general server events, and in order to whore yourselves out to new players, you're gunning for a quick buck with story and hoping that people will stick around, as if people actually played say, KOTOR, for months at a time.

I'm only here because I love this game, but right now I'm contemplating moving on. Show me I shouldn't.

What he said, I'm deathly afraid my guild will quit if we don't get new ops and class balance soon.

My guild is down to 10-12 active players, and they are not on everyday. we started this game with 90 players (on day 1) from our SWG guild and quickly grew to over 200. i saw 6 guild mates on at one time and i was extremely happy.

Can we get some ACTUAL guild content please.

1. Do another SSSP - ADD PVE and PVP free roam and missions around each planet. let us fly to other planets not just hyperspace jump. (dont remove the hyperspace jump BTW)

2. GUILD Expansion: Guild calendar added to left side of the character selection screen.

If not in a guild add a way to search guilds with a description of each guild added by guild leader.

Be able to apply to a guild, which then sends an email to the guild leader and officers of the guild. with the email be able to accept or decline the person applying, even if the person applying is not on line.

3. GUILD MAIL - guild leader and officers be able to send to all in the guild a mail.

4. GUILD Strongholds - With terminals to launch to flashpoints and operations (both space and ground missions)

5. Guild In game voice - When you join a guild it automatically adds you into a guild voice channel.

6. Guild Flashpoints and OPS - Give people a reason to be in a guild, only accessible while you are in a guild. High end loot etc , once you leave the guild you loose access to guild flashpoints and ops

I'll make this brief…

 

Story is not content. To be clear, I started playing this game in the first place because of story. However, even with that enthusiasm and focus, I wasn't planning on playing for very long. Because story doesn't last. I played KOTOR I probably over 30 times, and ME1 almost that much, but that is dwarfed by the amount of time I've spent in SWTOR.

 

The time I've spent in SWTOR has not been because of its story. I've certainly played all of the story content, and I've enjoyed it… the first time through. But now it's over. I have no desire to re-play even the KotFE storyline, despite its excellence. Story doesn't retain ongoing activity in the game.

 

Story is flavor. Content is substance. Content is something that you do in groups, because people are what give meaning and variety to repetitive actions. PvP and GSF are the embodiment of this philosophy, but PvE (especially operations) are as well. Operations, GSF and warzone maps. These are content. These are what players have poured endless hours into repeating, despite the unchanging nature of the boss fights or objectives or terrain. Nobody is pouring that amount of time into any story.

 

SWTOR needs new content. Desperately. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvE content since 3.0. There hasn't been a single piece of new PvP or GSF content for even longer. Without content, communities have nothing to do. Guilds die and players leave. All you have left are solo players who log in for a few hours every week, trickle-consuming the story.

 

I'm not even sure there's a question in here, other than the obvious "when will you release any new content?" And don't say story, because story isn't content.

I couldn't agree more on this post. I have been playing this game since launch and just like KBN said was lured in the first time by the story. Operations and PvP were the content that has kept me and my guildmates playing the game all these years.

I really don't mind new story content. I absolutely enjoyed the nine first chapters of KoFTE, but I doubt I'll play through it again more than twice (as light and dark side female and male pub and imp characters). I truly wish devs would listen to us and focus on keeping long time subscribers playing with new OPS, FP's and PvP maps rather than gaining short time new subscribers with new story content. This is a MMO afterall. If the game would have been single player offline game from the start, well that would be different story.