from your post here it seems you don't know much about star wars lore. The fact that the Hutts control several planets and operate many major hyperspace trade lanes make them more then just a minor player.

 

Yes by the time the Civil War comes around they are much smaller but we are not there yet.

Largest ''minor'' galactic power is quite an approriate expression

The Hutts are smaller than the Republic or the Empire, but much more poweful than Hapes or Csilla.

Quesh Empire side should be the final straw for the cartel. not giving any spoilers, but really they should be pissed at empire and to some extent the republic for how they get treated. Hutts are mafia of star wars and right now they have had to bow or die to both factions. it is time to start going on the war path. would love to see a neutral class choice spawn from this BW! ;);)

let me expand on this concept and it's value.:

Smuggler and Bounty Hunters can go neutral but in truth work for the hutts and the Hutt faction. players can visit and play both factions sides and do both factions quest for the Hutts. playing and working both sides to further the Hutt agenda.

The re-playability alone being able to play both sides and do each sides quest as these two classed would be epic!. then you could let the smuggler trade illegal goods from the empire side, like republic gear for empire as well empire could get republic gear. As well the bounty hunters could finally be able to hunt players since they would be able to travel both sides of each faction and the rest would take this game to the a whole new level of Star Wars awesome.

 

The people of Makeb have remained neutral in wars between the great political powers in the galaxy. Relying on their wealth, isolation, and an army of mercenaries, the citizens have enjoyed centuries of prosperity. However, in the midst of the current galactic conflict, the Hutt Cartel has recognized the planet as a crucial stepping stone to increase their organization's standing and reclaim the strength of their ancestors’ empire. They've hired Makeb's mercenaries away and have made the citizens prisoners in their own homes, forcing them to reach out to the Republic in a desperate bid for rescue.

 

I guess the thing I am failing to see is why is this unknown planet important to the Hutt's or either faction? If this planet has remained neutral throughout all the galactic conflicts in the last 300 years, what value does it hold that would actually change the tide for either the Empire or Republic? Crucial hyperspace route? Minerals/ore? Technology? Any one of these should have thrown this planet into the conflict far earlier than a decision by the Hutt's to make a power grab. And could this single planet really have that much of a mercenary force to alter the power distribution in the galaxy? As much as I am intrigued by the idea of the Hutt's making a power play, I'm not seeing the bigger picture yet with respect to this planet. Hopefully things will be made clear in the future.

I do hope the Dread Master's story isn't forgotten. Was my concern when I saw the announcement was, what happens to the running Dread Master's plot?

Are we going to get a conclusion right before this releases or will it carry over? I certainly hope it carries over and that we don't get a last min Naxx style addition which is quickly forgotten because people don't get a chance to get into it.

Ohh

Thank you for posting a little bit of Lore concerning the expansion. Made me really happy!!

The Hutts are, without any doubt, the biggest minor ''player'' on the Galactic space.

 

By the time of the Cold War, there is little doubt that the Hutts would rank just a notch below the Empire or the Republic when thinking of worlds controlled or economic power.

 

And this is without considering that the Hutts in TOR times or ''modern'' SW times are the remnant of a vast empire that ruled around 15 000 ABY, before being devastated by the Hutts Cataclysm (the destruction of their homeworld Varl) and the Crusades from the Pius Dea.

I honestly like the Underworld side of star wars, so im looking forward to this direction. it ALSO opens the door for a future real expansion introducing a third playable faction, which I would join in a heartbeat. However what depresses me about Makeb is the lack of 8 class stories. That and the level cap, but mostly lack of stories. I PRAY we get 8 more stories eventually.

Will the story be linear? Or will there be incentive to play it through with different characters for different outcomes and paths? I always liked the concept of class storylines as they were unique for every character and think TOR doesn't have enough of those. I am afraid that the expansion story being the same for all characters of the faction will make it boring to replay with different characters as levelling quests except class quests have been so far (if you have levelled up multiple characters to 50 doing all the same quests and experiencing the same story over and over with little variation, you'll know what I mean).

A very non-linear, forked story that could be different for each playtrough could be the solution to that. Have you considered this when designing it? Or will it just be linear and the same for everyone of the same faction?

Will the story be linear? ...

A very non-linear, forked story that could be different for each playtrough could be the solution to that. Have you considered this when designing it? Or will it just be linear and the same for everyone of the same faction?

While I would agree and love to see a vastly changing story, I think you are basically gonna be stuck with the outcome ending in one or maybe two ways... I was discussing this notion with my friend. Aside from personal character growth (forking in whatever direction you want your character to go) I would imagine things being forced to shape up much like mass effect does. There should be deep character growth and shifting, but the overall story (the main plot) will most likely be forced to start and end the same way. This is because when you release more story after the fact, it has to work with all possible variations of the previous stories. If the stories continue to fork out over time, it becomes a tad... unrealistic...

if each planet had three forks, by the time you got to the end of the game 1-50 you would be looking at (assuming 12 planets) 531,441 unique endings... This is why everyone was so shocked by the prospect of at least 12 different endings to mass effect 3 (which sadly never happened) since that in itself is a massive undertaking.

TL;DR - Most likely not gonna happen, sorry... just not technically feasible to keep splitting the story.

We think players interested in lore are going to really enjoy the story in Rise of the Hutt Cartel, and I'd like to share a few more details – this seemed like a good thread for it!

 

The people of Makeb have remained neutral in wars between the great political powers in the galaxy. Relying on their wealth, isolation, and an army of mercenaries, the citizens have enjoyed centuries of prosperity. However, in the midst of the current galactic conflict, the Hutt Cartel has recognized the planet as a crucial stepping stone to increase their organization's standing and reclaim the strength of their ancestors’ empire. They've hired Makeb's mercenaries away and have made the citizens prisoners in their own homes, forcing them to reach out to the Republic in a desperate bid for rescue.

 

The Republic recognizes the Cartel's seizure of Makeb as a bid for galactic power. With victory over the Empire seeming possible for the first time in decades, Supreme Chancellor Saresh is determined to respond to Makeb's request for aid to stop the Cartel before they can become an even greater threat and compromise the Republic’s chance for victory.

 

Taking advantage of the chaos erupting between the Hutt Cartel and the Republic, the Sith Empire makes their own bold play for the hidden power of Makeb, seizing their chance to regain some of the strength lost to internal struggles and at the hands of the Republic's military resurgence. They plan to outmaneuver all their enemies to usher in a new era of Imperial dominance.

This, I think, is the third thread in which you gave some additional info on Makeb. But one of us had to make a thread for you to do that.

Why? Why do we have to drag that info from you? Why isn't all of that on the front page? How freaking hard is it to post this in one big notice and put in somewhere where everyone can read it?

I did peek in there to see if a new thread for the Makeb story had been posted yet, but didn't see a recent one. We might move this one over there, though, since the discussion will hopefully be lore-oriented! If I get some new details, I'll bring them here!

Hello Allison, I hope I don't come across rude but if you checked the lore section and there wasn't a thread there then why didn't you just create one?

Quesh Empire side should be the final straw for the cartel. not giving any spoilers, but really they should be pissed at empire and to some extent the republic for how they get treated. Hutts are mafia of star wars and right now they have had to bow or die to both factions. it is time to start going on the war path. would love to see a neutral class choice spawn from this BW! ;);)

 

let me expand on this concept and it's value.:

 

Smuggler and Bounty Hunters can go neutral but in truth work for the hutts and the Hutt faction. players can visit and play both factions sides and do both factions quest for the Hutts. playing and working both sides to further the Hutt agenda.

 

The re-playability alone being able to play both sides and do each sides quest as these two classed would be epic!. then you could let the smuggler trade illegal goods from the empire side, like republic gear for empire as well empire could get republic gear. As well the bounty hunters could finally be able to hunt players since they would be able to travel both sides of each faction and the rest would take this game to the a whole new level of Star Wars awesome.

You don't have to stop there... I'm sure the Hutts would love some ex-Republic troopers (who could prove their loyalty, of course) and even some ex-Imperial agents. Neutral/Unaligned Jedi would also be right at home.

if each planet had three forks, by the time you got to the end of the game 1-50 you would be looking at (assuming 12 planets) 531,441 unique endings... .

Your math is horrible. By your details. There's 12 planets, with 3 different endings and 8 classes. That's 12*3= 36, 36*8= 288. Where you came up with any number about 1,000 is beyond me. When you actually do the proper math for it and get the correct answer. You realize that it's not too much to ask for different endings for each class. Also seeing as how all the other class missions are of this same way. It's natural to expect an expansion to carry on it on.

..This just in...

Republic investigators have discovered that profits collected from the black market, otherwise known as the "Cartel Market" were directly used to finance the takeover of the mercenary forces on Makeb.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled chat in progress.

..This just in...

 

Republic investigators have discovered that profits collected from the black market, otherwise known as the "Cartel Market" were directly used to finance the takeover of the mercenary forces on Makeb.

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled chat in progress.

Hilarious! Lol

Your math is horrible. By your details. There's 12 planets, with 3 different endings and 8 classes. That's 12*3= 36, 36*8= 288. Where you came up with any number about 1,000 is beyond me. When you actually do the proper math for it and get the correct answer. You realize that it's not too much to ask for different endings for each class. Also seeing as how all the other class missions are of this same way. It's natural to expect an expansion to carry on it on.

I think Chickensevil was talking about a scenario where you have 3 endings that carry forward to different planets, so for Planets A and B:

Planet A plot: 'Bad Guy A' has a dastardly plot

A1: Player kills 'Bad Guy A'

A2: Player lets 'Bad Guy A' live but foils his plot

A3: Player assists 'Bad Guy A' for selfish reasons, building raport for later darkside storylines.

Planet B1 plot: 'Bad Guy B' has a dastardly plot ('Bad Guy A' is dead)

B1-1: Player kills 'Bad Guy B'

B1-2: Player lets "Bad Guy B' live but foils his plot

B1-3: Player assists 'Bad Guy B' for selfish reasons, building raport for later darkside storylines.

Planet B2 plot: 'Bad Guy A' is displaced to Planet B after his Planet A plot is foiled and teams up with 'Bad Guy B' with a new dastardly plot.

B2-1: Player kills 'Bad Guy A' and 'Bad Guy B'

B2-2: Player kills 'Bad Guy B', foiling his plot, but lets 'Bad Guy A' continue to live.

B2-3: Player foils the plot of 'Bad Guy B', but lets both Bad Guys live.

Planet B3 plot: 'Bad Guy B' has a dastardly plot and is getting support from 'Bad Guy A' (who is still running a successful base on Planet A).

B3-1: Player kills 'Bad Guy B' but 'Bad Guy A' (back on Planet A) continues to live, providing support to future Bad Guys.

B3-2: Player foils the plot of 'Bad Guy B' but both bad guys continue to live, providing support to future Bad Guys.

B3-3: Player assists 'Bad Guy B' for selfish reasons, building raport with both Bad Guys for later storylines.

So, if they had gone this direction with the game, as Chickensevil speculates, it would obviously be a very enriching story, but it would quickly become unwieldy. That's just 2 planets with 3 arcs, but already up to 12 total arcs in the game. If I did a 3rd planet, I'd have to do 36 more stories to cover all the possibilities that Planet B left behind. That would bring the total up to 48 just for 3 planets. That's why it would quickly get into the hundreds of thousands (of possible story arcs) by the time you got through act 3. It would be wonderful to have more story possibilities than you could possibly every see in a lifetime, but it's just not feasable.

The Republic recognizes the Cartel's seizure of Makeb as a bid for galactic power. With victory over the Empire seeming possible for the first time in decades, Supreme Chancellor Saresh is determined to respond to Makeb's request for aid to stop the Cartel before they can become an even greater threat and compromise the Republic’s chance for victory.

 

Taking advantage of the chaos erupting between the Hutt Cartel and the Republic, the Sith Empire makes their own bold play for the hidden power of Makeb, seizing their chance to regain some of the strength lost to internal struggles and at the hands of the Republic's military resurgence. They plan to outmaneuver all their enemies to usher in a new era of Imperial dominance.

Could this cause the planet to sway from Sith Empire to the Republic and vise versa?