I just listened to that interview and that answer is frightening. I don't want all the classes to culminate into one Avenger's style storyline. I can't think of anything that would make me abandon this game faster. I love the fact that each class has its own storyline. I hate the idea that they would have spent so much time and resources encouraging players to roll so many alts to experience so many new storylines only to pull the rug out from under them. It's already almost impossible to play through the same side quests for the 2nd+ time for each faction just to experience the stories, can you imagine trying to take all 8 classes through the same storyline? BORING. That's why I hate the way Makeb sounds, I hate the implication of what Makeb means for the future of class quests, and I hate the fact that BioWare won't even use the word "class storylines" anymore and that a year has gone by without any mention of continuing the story whatsoever.

 

How about that question Mr. Lead Writer (who I do believe is talented and means well), will we get new class storylines or has BioWare abandoned them completely, and will you be honest about it and tell us?

 

Continuing to develop class specific stories I think would be impossible without taking two or more years to develop them into a proper expansion. That being said i have no issue with the group "Avengers" style of story quests. I think tying more of the stories together is a good idea and would save them on development costs. We should be careful not ask for the moon here; they are short on devs and i don't want to give EA anymore reason to shrink it further. No other MMORPG comes even close to the scope SWTOR went to to develop story, so i can forgive them if they feel it necessary to tighten it up a bit and combine the story; frankly this game need more group centered content.

The Smuggler is my favorite as well. Story, play-style, mechanics, all of it!

I've always been a fan of Sith and Jedi when reading comics and novels but I have now discovered an interests in the smuggler's world since swtor. After completing the smuggler's story on a pvp server I immediately started over on an RP server playing a female smuggler with a personality adapted from Niles Ferrier as seen in the Thrawn Trilogy.

 

Great fun!

Isn't that basically what flash points and ops are? Where 2 emporers hands a few Agent 9 and a few Darths come together to do an avengers Assemble style story. Which ultimately has very very little story and far more generic content.

 

Yes, that is very generic, but what I'm thinking is actual class story overlap....think of all the NPCs you have come to know in your class stories. Some are more constant than others (The Watchers and Keeper in the Agent story, for instance). It's hard for me to imagine the stories not having those characters at all. I kind of like the idea of doing a quest where you literally require one of each class to complete and not as much based on combat roll. I suppose some people would not like that idea.

Edited November 2, 2012 by chuixupu

Yes, that is very generic, but what I'm thinking is actual class story overlap....think of all the NPCs you have come to know in your class stories. Some are more constant than others (The Watchers and Keeper in the Agent story, for instance). It's hard for me to imagine the stories not having those characters at all. I kind of like the idea of doing a quest where you literally require one of each class to complete and not as much based on combat roll. I suppose some people would not like that idea.

 

Or branch exposition cut-scenes into Legacy, and have characters meet. (Example: BH runs into the Agent, who's sent to handle the aftermath of a shoot-out the Hunter got drawn into.

I'm interested in knowing a little more detail on how you went about working for Bioware as a writer, Mr Hood. What kind of qualifications did you need, and what type of things should an interested person put in their portfolio? I ask from the point of view of a person who has no experience with quest and/or level design, but who does has a Diploma in professional writing and editing (and hopefully will be undertaking a Bachelors degree in the same).

 

I'm also interested in whatever tidbits you can give us on SGRAs in SWTOR. It has severely impacted my ability to play (especially since I now have two characters at level 50, and don't want to miss my chance with any future alts, if it turns out you need to speak to the companions at a particular point in their stories).

Edited November 2, 2012 by Zandilar

Here's my only question for Mr. Hood:

 

When shall we see SAME GENDER RELATIONSHIPS implemented?, is it coming with Makeb or will we have to wait longer??

Nice read. Although as always questions spring to mind, but I will try to limiot it to just 1.

 

One of the minor things that bugs me is the fact that many daily missions (which clearly are designed to be done daily) and all end game flash points have dialog which suggests doing them only once. As these are known to be daily's why were they not written in such a manor as to make sence to be done more than once? I free the same corrupted Jedi, I kill torvix and Malgus a lot. Why not have them more open ended with the idea that I am taking part in a massive war not in effect ending it in one final blow?

Thanks for taking the time, Mr. Hood!

 

First off, I really liked the JK story. I haven't quite finished it yet, since I'm leveling my IA, but my JK is level 45. It was a neat storyline and Kira is one of my favorite characters in the game.

 

If I may ask, how did you decide BioWare was the right company for you as opposed to other game companies that have mostly rpgs? Also, as Zandilar said, what qualification do you need to have to be a writer for ToR and BioWare in general?

 

Also, please put me down as another one for clarity on SGRs. The deleted tweet was quite odd and we'd hope you could expand on it. There is a lot of controversy over this matter, but I feel the entire player base has the right to know more about this.

Edited November 2, 2012 by natashina

Very interesting read, but one topic was sadly missing. Like many I wonder about the promised SGRAs.

When will we see it live? Will it come with the Makeb patch/expansion?

And what would mr. Hood say has been the most interesting parts about writing SGRs when compared to the OGRs?

I've seen bits and pieces of five of the eight classes and am pretty impressed with how the class quests are tied together, and how they're different depending on your choices. I do wonder if these can be more varied though, or can be tied in to quests that aren't strictly class. The light/dark options are cool but could there be more options? A light V character might have a different outcome than a light II character for example. Or maybe a character's words & tone changes based on alignment scale. You might even be able to set some battle mechanics as a function of alignment. I don't want to give spoilers but, I would say that having more subtle story lines, more of what I think was psychological game-play, and just more consequences for not just pivotal class quest choices but one's choices taken more as a whole would really make the game that much more interesting. While I can't speak for other gamers, being as I'm only casual and this is my 1st MMO, I do greatly enjoy the complex narrative that SWTOR can offer.

Thank you for the updates Mr. Hood.

 

However, I would like to come with some feedback on how you've developt the story, specially the world story.

 

I think you've made one crucial mistake regarding the World Story, which sit that there is too much of it, and to little of the class story.

 

I've personaly leveled up 4 characters nad now I'm getting very bored of doing the same world content again and again and again.

 

I would love to see all the class stories, however the only define around 10 % of my leveling experience when they in my opinion should at least be defining % 50 or above.

 

I hope you will consider this when creating future content.

 

More class story, less world story!

More class story, less world story!

 

Actually, I think it would be interesting to have "more" world story in as much as you are given more quests and more quests lines which complete the goal of your faction's purpose of being on the planet. Kind of like the bonus series', but running concurrently and they take different angles to 'same' end results - they could of course be based around how the archetypes work. A lot of Stih players have complained about doing the jobs of lesser Imperials, so why not have the planet story take into account your standing as amazing Darth McShootLightning and have a different style of story to what the Bounty Hunters and Agents would have?

What is in the glass Hall?

Hey Hall,

 

Thanks for your contributions to the great stories, Smuggler is friggin' hilarious and fun. After reading the interview I'll be adding rolling a Knight to my TOR to-do list.

Mr. Hood, what do you think of player's reactions to the various class stories?

 

If you've ever been to the Fan Fiction sub-board, you'd see there are many "head-canon" stories that fill out the romance story lines, the class stories and sometimes the planetary quests. In particular, dealing with the Quinncident via the medium of fiction has proven to be popular and enduring. In the Story and Lore boards, that particular incident and others get brought up fairly regularly and are discussed.

 

So, did you feel that any moments of the stories were contrived or suffered as a result of the constraints of game-play?

Mr Hood, can we see some form of update regarding the same-gender romance questions, or at least something to do with your previous twitter posts linking to Gabe Amatangelo interview. You mention in the blog that you're a big fan of writing "companion characters, especially the ones players can romance." I would love to hear how you've found writing the SGRA's and what reasoning you had in mind when you chose to write the companions that you did.

I rolled a smuggler (female) during beta because I wanted to choose a class I would least likely play when the game goes live and not spoil anything for the classes I'd play right from the start.

 

I had so much fun with her, that I made her my main (same looks and all) for the live game. The dialogue, especially the non-goody-two-shoes options, is hilarious. And the voice acting for it is spot-on. I was often laughing out loud and regretting that I could not record the encounters to share with my guild mates, who were all exclusively Jedi at that time.

 

And yes, Risha is my favorite companion, hands down, too. I love her. She and my smuggler are a dynamite duo. I wish she had more to say, I wish there was more interaction with her and I wish I'd be more involved in her companion story. I wish her companion story would continue and let me be an active part in getting her throne back.

 

At first, I didn't like her appearance, but in the end, I never changed her appearance. When customization for her was offered, she had been on my ship for several levels and I got to know her with her default looks. Suddenly, none of the customizations available matched the person I got to know and that's when I realized how attached I had become to her already.

 

Finally, I would love to complete the experience with her and also follow the romance path, but alas, as a female smuggler that's something I may never get to see with how things are looking right now. However, if we should ever get more companion story content, including for Risha, I'd be very happy already.

 

Thank you for a great, fun experience, and as I said, I hope there will be more Risha in my smuggler's future.

Is there a continuation of the class stories planned?

An Act IV V and VI so to speak?

 

Cheers

Olaf

Yes thanks a ton Mr Hood for the smuggler character (my main is a female scoundrel, and I also rolled a male gunslinger) : I did love many many of the dialogues, they were indeed excellent ! Edited November 2, 2012 by Shoogli

I just wanted to thank you and everyone involved in the writing for what you've done. While parts may seem rather old-fashioned or cliché, the overall writing is consistent, fits the setting (let's be honest, the entirety of Star Wars is a bit on the cheesy side), and has some really awesome, touching to downright scarring moments.

 

Reading through this, I came about the "Avengers-like super story" for the first time, which I find disturbing. While it would definitely be cool to have a plot singularity where all class stories intersect and culminate into something cool, I definitely would not like them to remain unified. I do realise that unifying stories that way may be cheaper since it allows more re-use of assets, but it would be cheaper in every meaning of the word. In the end, the multitude of stories is maybe the strongest points the game has.

 

I have been playing a lot of class story quests together with a friend, and I always found it very interesting how genuinely intriguing things become when you miss parts of their story and re-join at a later point. Taking that away would be a huge loss. Please don't reduce the surprise and enjoyment from doing that or playing a new class, and don't cheapen the quite markable differences between characters that have been established up to this point.

Going forward with the story, it seems like it would be necessary to build on the endings of all the class stories, since they all change the course of the war in major ways. Is there going to be a "story so far" scene to catch players up on the state of the Galaxy, or will everything be kept vague in order to minimalize spoilers for other class story arcs?

If it becomes a combined story, how are you going to improve replayability? Currently, class quests are very good, but many of the planetary quests get a little dry the 2nd, 3rd or 4th time through? Would it be a case of every time you start the next segment, it includes references to the previous characters you brought into it (thus always making it play differently) or tied to legacy or simply static?

 

On a similar note, will it complete the companion quests? With only half the romances implemented and live, it really feels like companions are incomplete and just not up to the Bioware standard

I was wondering... Since you seem to draw inspiration from the movies, what are your thoughts on the recent announcement on Episode VII in 2015? Do you think that the new "untold story" contents will positively affect your work? What are your thoughts on the new episode?

Do you think that the new "untold story" contents [in Episode VII] will positively affect your work? What are your thoughts on the new episode?

 

Extending that question, it would also be interesting to know how creative control is split between Bioware and Lucasfilm, and if (or how) that is expected to change; but it's probably way too early to ask that.

Extending that question, it would also be interesting to know how creative control is split between Bioware and Lucasfilm, and if (or how) that is expected to change; but it's probably way too early to ask that.

 

He actually went into that a bit on the podcast (TORWars?) that interviewed him. Basically BioWare has a lot of creative control because they kind of carved out the era for themselves early on, but LucasArts still reads and vets everything to make sure nothing contradicts the greater lore. Who knows if that would ever change.