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Discussion Topic: Game Update 5.4 and the Next Roadmap


KeithKanneg

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I personally hope that there will be a completely new direction in the story that takes us out of this silly Zakuul stuff and allows us to go straight from the ending of SoR to that new direction. I'll be happy to carry on being able to ignore KotFE and KotET and move on from it.

 

This. All day long, this. I'll repeat that having no way to completely opt out of that mess means BW completely opting out of my wallet.

Sub zero basket weaving on Csilla for 6 years? Better than ever touching KotFE/ET on any more characters.

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But a bad dream really, really is a poor cop out.

 

Yes, it is. I am painfully aware of that.

 

But given that the best Bioware creativity could manage over the last 2 years has been the abysmal FE/ET/Iokath story arc do you honestly think they could manage anything better than a "really, really poor cop out" to get us back to being Star Wars again?

 

If you do you give them far more credit than the evidence suggests they deserve.

 

All The Best

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Yes, it is. I am painfully aware of that.

 

But given that the best Bioware creativity could manage over the last 2 years has been the abysmal FE/ET/Iokath story arc do you honestly think they could manage anything better than a "really, really poor cop out" to get us back to being Star Wars again?

 

If you do you give them far more credit than the evidence suggests they deserve.

 

All The Best

I found Iokath underwhelming (although to be fair that storyline is still in-progress, so they might yet bring it around), but I thought KotFE and KdtET were, overall, better than at least three of the Class Stories, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, the Dread Masters Interlude storyline, and most of the one-off Interlude stories like CZ-198 and Rise of the Emperor. (None of those are stories I actively disliked, I just comparatively liked FE/ET better.) The remaining Class Stories, Forged Alliances, and Shadow of Revan are the only ones to strike me as better.

 

To each their own.

Edited by DarthDymond
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I hope we wake in our apartment on Coruscant / Dromond Kaas and the whole KotFE/KotET/Iokath garbage has been a bad dream.

 

Make it so that it has been an "implanted dream" from our respective factions, as a warning of what may happen unless "Our Side" wins the current Empire/Republic conflict quickly and decisively and let us get back to playing Star Wars; all this Keeping Up With The Valkorions rubbish has gone on far, far too long.

 

All The Best

 

I've been hoping for something like this for ages. Implanted bad dreams while we were stuck in carbonite for some end-of-SoR-related story reason. When we wake up, our spouse or main OLD companion can be there to explain what someone did to a) out us in carbonite in the first place and b) program our dreams. The whole new story can start off by having to find out who this supreme butt of a person is and why s/he did it (hint: NOT Revan again, please!) and eventually, after many long and interesting adventurers where our CHARACTER is the main character and gets most screentime and a lot of actual proper playtime, not only endless cutscenes, we can face that butt of a person and take him/her down.

 

Of course, this is hamfisted and blatant and horrible, but I'd still prefer that over more of the Vaylin's Latest Tantrum-show. And of course, KOTFEET should still be available and playable for those who want to, and skippable for those who want to go that way.

The biggest problem I see is how to excuse all the new companions. If it was all a dream, where did they come from? Sure, we might have been in carbonite for years, but there has to be a plausible reason for having access to all the things we've worked for in KOTFEET.

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still outstanding that a MMO like star wars didn't propose a new class in 5+ years .... not even mentionned by devs...

 

ALL mmorpg proposed a new class at least once, ALL !

 

this shows the poor budget and possibilities that bw have for this game.

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still outstanding that a MMO like star wars didn't propose a new class in 5+ years .... not even mentionned by devs...

 

ALL mmorpg proposed a new class at least once, ALL !

 

this shows the poor budget and possibilities that bw have for this game.

 

There isn't a need for a new class and apart from maybe a zakuul knight class, I couldn't really think of what else there could be.

Besides, balancing the current classes is already hard enough apparently, and you want a new one to join in?

A new class is a luxury, I rather have them correct the current ones.

Edited by Eshvara
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I am incredibly happy that they finally, really, actually let us kill the Emperor / Valkorion, once and for all.

That's a huge step in the right direction.

 

Now we have this problem where some characters sat on the Eternal Throne and have a massive fleet at their disposal. It doesn't have to be a huge problem if the story is carefully written. We have a massive military and intelligence operation, but not every problem can be solved by military might and good intel. The story could go back to personal stories of Light versus Dark, recovering our lost companions, building relationships with our companions and spouses, exploring alien worlds, solving ancient mysteries, handling diplomatic situations, searching for lost technologies, and so forth.

 

I'm already disappointed that we didn't get to keep an alliance with the Republic and Sith Empire. We really should have had an option to take a neutral role. If it was going to break, it should have happened much later. It feels like we worked hard for something that we lost almost immediately. I hate "take it back" storytelling.

 

Hopefully the Roadmap will focus on upgrading and fixing what we already have, with a secondary focus on moving our stories in a new, less epic direction. By less epic, I mean more personal stories. The whole galaxy doesn't need to be at risk for the story to be compelling.

 

Here's a story idea -- what if Theron Shan gets accused of some major crime on a planet belonging to the faction we allied with on Iokath? We could investigate to see if he did it. If we're Light side, he didn't, otherwise he's guilty. If we're sitting on the Zakuul throne, he thinks his actions were justified, and if we gave it up for a democracy, maybe he feels bad about what he did. Now we get to decide if he gets off because he's a spy, our friend, our lover, or our indispensable employee. Maybe we let him face justice. Maybe we handle the justice ourselves. The choices impact the relationships with him and our other companions. No major space battles, no worlds in jeopardy, no slogging through mooks, just a story about honor and loyalty and the hard choices spies make during their careers.

Edited by Xina_LA
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I thought KotFE and KdtET were, overall, better than at least three of the Class Stories, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, the Dread Masters Interlude storyline, and most of the one-off Interlude stories like CZ-198 and Rise of the Emperor. (None of those are stories I actively disliked, I just comparatively liked FE/ET better.) The remaining Class Stories, Forged Alliances, and Shadow of Revan are the only ones to strike me as better.

 

To each their own.

 

I thought the first half of KotFE was good - the bit that was all released together. After that it got so disjointed it was like whole chapters were written by different people, many of who had never played what had already been delivered. It became disjointed, at times incoherent, and plot holes were so big you could lose a fleet of super star destroyers in them. The (IIRC) Voices In The Wilderness chapter (where you forge a new weapon) makes no sense, none at all, from a non force users point of view, and then to top it off we didn't need the weapon anyway because we got a "magic shield" to fight Arcann.

 

The combat throughout was unimaginative, repetitive, boring. With Bosses that throw CC/Interupts like confetti at a wedding being used as a proxy for challenge. It's like the combat designers just couldn't be bothered to turn up for work until the last patch before release and just threw CC Spam in as the default combat mechanism.

 

The only Class Story that I think could be objectively classed as worse than KotFE/ET is the Trooper. Which is unimaginative, repetitive, boring and utterly devoid of choices and plot twists. Why wasn't there an option for the Trooper to collect data on the mistreatment of Havoc Squad and hold Republic Command to account for example?

 

You are correct about much of the "interlude" stories, but they too were written by the post class story writing team, the same people responsible for KotFE/ET. Although I enjoyed Hutt Cartel quite a bit, but then I thought Forged Alliances pretty much acts as a prelude to the "quality" of the story in KotFE/ET - the only notably enjoyable part for me was a trip to Manaan.

 

All The Best

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There isn't a need for a new class and apart from maybe a zakuul knight class, I couldn't really think of what else there could be.

 

Beast Master Jedi / Sith.

 

By the same token they could add in a Tech Pet User somewhat like the Engineer in Wildstar.

 

Can't believe there is not a Pet User class in this.

 

All The Best

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Beast Master Jedi / Sith.

 

By the same token they could add in a Tech Pet User somewhat like the Engineer in Wildstar.

 

Can't believe there is not a Pet User class in this.

 

All The Best

 

With companions around, I don't really feel like there's a need for a pet class, but that#s my opinion.

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Also, SIS Agent, Imperial Trooper, Force Adept (could be a neutral, non-factional class). There are opportunities.

 

Bounty Hunter and Smuggler should have been able to be cross factional depending on quest arcs and social choices anyway.

 

So many opportunities missed.

 

All The Best

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Beast Master Jedi / Sith.

 

By the same token they could add in a Tech Pet User somewhat like the Engineer in Wildstar.

 

Can't believe there is not a Pet User class in this.

 

All The Best

 

was exactly my idea and what i want to see. a beastmaster sith and his mirror jedi with robots maybe (or other animals)

 

we saw these sith/jedi in some quests. ( a sith beastmaster to kill in Taris and a jedi with robot pets)

 

new class, a story around it, how can you don't want it?? this is needed in a MMORPG. and it will prove that the devs want to add a new starting content

Edited by Thaladan
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Implementing a new class is just too much effort, starting at 1-50, developing a whole story around it like you say, possibly for each faction. I'm not saying it wouldn't be cool, I just don't see it happening. Especially with what we're given in terms of story and how long it takes to get buffs/nerfs and utility changes. The budget already doesn't seem high, I don't see how a new class would fit into that. It certainly would be a surprise if they were to somehow pull it off.

 

And it's not so much that I don't want it, but given the state of the game, it just doesn't seem logical to do that right now.

Edited by Eshvara
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an effort other mmos do ! and this mmo is a subscribers mmo.

 

after 5 years this type of content is needed that's all if they want to see this game continue in a long time period.

 

it's a sign, and signs actually are no good.

 

and at least if they are very lazy and with little ressources, they can just create new class and implement it to a class story already existing.

 

example : new beastmaster sith class --> mara/jugg class story

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Other mmo's do a lot, WoW implements classes like there's no tomorrow. And crappy mmo's like Aion add new classes too.

Again, it would be fun and if more money was involved, it would be a nice idea. But as things are as they are now, it wouldn't make sense to do it.

Besides, Ea doesn't seem like they want to pump a whole lot of money into SWTOR. But 6.1mil for a cinematic seems to be alright.:rak_03:

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  • Dev Post

Hey folks,

 

Keith, Charles, and I wanted to apologize for our lack of posting this week. The whole team has been pretty heads down working on a variety of things and so we haven't paid you forum-goers our usual love. Here are a variety of things we have updates on or seen questions about.

 

  • Class Changes in 5.4 - We will make posts around each of the upcoming Class changes, akin to what we did with 5.3. My hope is to start those next week. Either way I will give you a better idea of timing next week.
  • Season 8 Rewards - The rewards blog is nearly finished and will contain all the deets, including tier breakdowns and reward screenshots. I am pretty confident it will go up next week as well. I will give you a status update next week.
  • Unassembled Component Changes - As Keith alluded to previously, there are Unassembled Component changes coming to PvP Mission Rewards. The TLDR is that we want you to be able to get more Unassembled Components each week overall while also making Ranked play a bit more appealing. We are in the final stages of locking down these exact numbers and so look for a post on this next week with the specifics.
  • Follow-up to Master Mode Ops Drops - Based on your feedback from the discussion thread, we are planning to add Unassembled Components to Master Mode boss drops with GU 5.5.
  • Follow-up on Bolster discussion - It was clear from the discussion thread that most of you would like to see Bolster go as high as possible, while still meeting our teams goal of having gear progression be relevant. We will be increasing Bolsters to 242 in PvP for GU 5.5 as well.
  • Umbara Stronghold - There were some questions about how this works. In short, you will need to run the Flashpoint to earn currency. That currency can be used to purchase rewards from a vendor, including a key to purchase the Stronghold. Once you have the key, you can then unlock the Stronghold for a reduced amount of Credits/CC. You cannot outright purchase the Stronghold, it has to be earned by running the Flashpoint to get the key.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

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at least a keith's answer about it would be nice.

 

it's an important part of a MMO : to renew interest for old players AND give interest to new players to begin a class in same time as other players.

Edited by Thaladan
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[*]Unassembled Component Changes - As Keith alluded to previously, there are Unassembled Component changes coming to PvP Mission Rewards. The TLDR is that we want you to be able to get more Unassembled Components each week overall while also making Ranked play a bit more appealing. We are in the final stages of locking down these exact numbers and so look for a post on this next week with the specifics.

 

So still no chance for non PvPers to get UC from FPs.

 

Well done... ...not.

 

All The Best

Edited by DarthSpuds
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Hey folks,

 

Keith, Charles, and I wanted to apologize for our lack of posting this week. The whole team has been pretty heads down working on a variety of things and so we haven't paid you forum-goers our usual love. Here are a variety of things we have updates on or seen questions about.

 

  • Class Changes in 5.4 - We will make posts around each of the upcoming Class changes, akin to what we did with 5.3. My hope is to start those next week. Either way I will give you a better idea of timing next week.
  • Season 8 Rewards - The rewards blog is nearly finished and will contain all the deets, including tier breakdowns and reward screenshots. I am pretty confident it will go up next week as well. I will give you a status update next week.
  • Unassembled Component Changes - As Keith alluded to previously, there are Unassembled Component changes coming to PvP Mission Rewards. The TLDR is that we want you to be able to get more Unassembled Components each week overall while also making Ranked play a bit more appealing. We are in the final stages of locking down these exact numbers and so look for a post on this next week with the specifics.
  • Follow-up to Master Mode Ops Drops - Based on your feedback from the discussion thread, we are planning to add Unassembled Components to Master Mode boss drops with GU 5.5.
  • Follow-up on Bolster discussion - It was clear from the discussion thread that most of you would like to see Bolster go as high as possible, while still meeting our teams goal of having gear progression be relevant. We will be increasing Bolsters to 242 in PvP for GU 5.5 as well.
  • Umbara Stronghold - There were some questions about how this works. In short, you will need to run the Flashpoint to earn currency. That currency can be used to purchase rewards from a vendor, including a key to purchase the Stronghold. Once you have the key, you can then unlock the Stronghold for a reduced amount of Credits/CC. You cannot outright purchase the Stronghold, it has to be earned by running the Flashpoint to get the key.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

Eric, given the radio Silence from you guys for a bit, I think this was the perfect post to make.

 

Seriously you've been on the ball more than I've ever seen you out on the forums. Well done!

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[*]Umbara Stronghold - There were some questions about how this works. In short, you will need to run the Flashpoint to earn currency. That currency can be used to purchase rewards from a vendor, including a key to purchase the Stronghold. Once you have the key, you can then unlock the Stronghold for a reduced amount of Credits/CC. You cannot outright purchase the Stronghold, it has to be earned by running the Flashpoint to get the key.

 

 

So we have to earn in-game currency AND Credits / Cartel Coins.

 

So you are making us pay with the New In Game Currency, Credits/CC AND Grind Time.

 

Jeez, how cheap can you guys get?

 

You really are giving us less and less reasons to stay aren't you.

 

All The Best

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Hey folks,

  • Class Changes in 5.4 - Kind of dreading this, as I main a Ruffian, but here's hoping the nerfs are sane. And that you're not nerfing Scrapper or Sawbones!
  • Unassembled Component Changes - My officer will like this, because it means I might actually run Warzones with her every once in a while :rak_03:
  • Follow-up to Master Mode Ops Drops - Obviously not the solution everybody's hoping for, but depending on what the payout is like (e.g. every boss downed funding an upgrade from 242 to 248), this may not be too tragic...
  • Follow-up on Bolster discussion - Another gentle nudge to get me into Warzones, I suppose :rak_03:
  • Umbara Stronghold - Thanks for the info, looking forward to seeing the actual SH : )

 

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

/5char

Edited by masterceil
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It seems the plan is to up the rewards until said activity becomes the fotm method of obtaining top tier gear.

 

So people aren't playing ranked PvP , up the reward! People aren't playing MM OPS, up the reward! People aren't playing GSF, post about it then probably do nothing but up the reward!

 

Nothing seems to be addressing the lack of population on the servers other than to offer cheap transfers, buyer beware all that you may lose but thats not your problem the stupid player opted to pay for the transfer. Likewise there seems nothing to encourage people to come back or even to remain in game.

 

Everyone has their issues and there are so many as so many aspects of the game have been neglected, (if it was an animal it would no doubt be take off BW) but lets just take replaying the story content. All this does is highlight the lack of any choice, while unless you think increasing damage to a point that trash does 40k damage in its opening second equates to more fun it turns out veteran and master mode didn't add anything to the enjoyment of the one size fits all story. But the increase in difficulty doesn't really matter as you can win through a war of attrition as good play is indistinguishable from using the respawn button to slowly work through mobs so its not as if there is any achievement to it. Yet there seems nothing that is being done by the team (heads down as they are) to encourage logging into the game. With the only fix in sight is to increase rewards with each update in a hope that enough of a reward will disguise the fact that its the same only 5.5 year old content rehashed for the 4th time as end game content.

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  • Class Changes in 5.4 - We will make posts around each of the upcoming Class changes, akin to what we did with 5.3. My hope is to start those next week. Either way I will give you a better idea of timing next week.

 

-eric

I really hope these changes revert some of 5.3's changes...the numbers don't lie Eric. 5.3 has hurt your game...stop making it so difficult to have fun and play the damn thing.

Edited by TUXs
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Hey folks,

 

Keith, Charles, and I wanted to apologize for our lack of posting this week. The whole team has been pretty heads down working on a variety of things and so we haven't paid you forum-goers our usual love. Here are a variety of things we have updates on or seen questions about.

 

  • Class Changes in 5.4 - We will make posts around each of the upcoming Class changes, akin to what we did with 5.3. My hope is to start those next week. Either way I will give you a better idea of timing next week.
  • Season 8 Rewards - The rewards blog is nearly finished and will contain all the deets, including tier breakdowns and reward screenshots. I am pretty confident it will go up next week as well. I will give you a status update next week.
  • Unassembled Component Changes - As Keith alluded to previously, there are Unassembled Component changes coming to PvP Mission Rewards. The TLDR is that we want you to be able to get more Unassembled Components each week overall while also making Ranked play a bit more appealing. We are in the final stages of locking down these exact numbers and so look for a post on this next week with the specifics.
  • Follow-up to Master Mode Ops Drops - Based on your feedback from the discussion thread, we are planning to add Unassembled Components to Master Mode boss drops with GU 5.5.
  • Follow-up on Bolster discussion - It was clear from the discussion thread that most of you would like to see Bolster go as high as possible, while still meeting our teams goal of having gear progression be relevant. We will be increasing Bolsters to 242 in PvP for GU 5.5 as well.
  • Umbara Stronghold - There were some questions about how this works. In short, you will need to run the Flashpoint to earn currency. That currency can be used to purchase rewards from a vendor, including a key to purchase the Stronghold. Once you have the key, you can then unlock the Stronghold for a reduced amount of Credits/CC. You cannot outright purchase the Stronghold, it has to be earned by running the Flashpoint to get the key.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

-eric

 

One question about the stronghold/flashpoint, can it be done in story mode?

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