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No more class stories


ZionHalcyon

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http://www.darthhater.com/articles/feature/23676-developer-q-a-featuring-bruce-maclean

 

Where does the development team stand with regards to individual class stories? Are these still a priority for upcoming content?

 

Great question. The way you choose to overcome your own personal villains is a crucial part of what defines your character, and once you’ve gotten closure on your personal story, you’re ready to be a key player in the larger conflicts that threaten the Empire and the Republic. Moving forward, we’re focusing on those stories – conflicts that decide the fate of the entire Galaxy and demand the attention of other living legends like yourself. You can still put your personal touch on these stories, and you’ll develop relationships just like before, but now the stakes are higher, and the experience can be shared with your friends.

 

 

 

Great. Congratulations Sith Warrior. You are now

the Emperor's Wrath and Personal Deliverer of Justice until the emperor finds a new voice

who now no longer really has anything to do with that, but is just some heroic grunt doing grunt army work because the hutts want power.

 

 

Seriously, and there are other holes in other stories as well. As in, this build up to being this certain THING, and now, oh lets forget about that other than a couple throw-away lines of dialogue nodding to what you did. How cheap.

 

Don't get me wrong - I can accept the whole "entering the larger galactic war" part just fine - it makes sense and isn't what I am upset about.

 

What has me upset is not continuing your own class's personal storyline. Some of these need more than a "personal touch" and some tossaway lines from some NPC. There's plot here that needs to happen.

 

 

I get its financial, but poor decision by EAWare. Take some of that new infusion of cash shop money, and put it towards some more class quests. It doesn't even need to be in the scope of the first 50 levels, but even just a divergence from the greater galactic war to handle "personal business" for 3-5 levels worth of content, and then have that tie back into the greater story that's going on would be huge now and again.

 

But no class stories at all going forward is just *ugh*. If story is a selling point, then this is just some crappy writing.

 

:(

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not to white knight this situation, but you havent even seen how makeb planet story will play out. i say wait two weeks and play it, then declare that SW is now a grunt.

 

Its not looking good. I agree that there is potential for changing my mind, but just what I am hearing is all things designed to manage expectations, which means I am probably right.

 

Don't get me wrong either - I don't mind the general direction they are taking the story either - its just that total abandonment of the class stories is just UGH.

 

There should be more class stories integrated in the future - and this article makes it seem like that just won't be happening.

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Yeah, this game was uniquely different and excelled at the personal story.

 

On a side note, is there any way to properly assess if a game is going to be doomed to fail pre-launch? I'd like to avoid buying a CE for a game that eventually will fail (judging by the PTS and new changes to the way we play the game, I'll likely be canceling both of my subs).

 

I understand that the game needs to evolve to keep drawing new players, and I hope the dev's understand that the changes they are proposing and/or have already been designed into 2.0 are going to drive away us diehard fans.

 

Feel free to bite the hand that feeds you. Just don't expect it to be extended again.

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Its not looking good. I agree that there is potential for changing my mind, but just what I am hearing is all things designed to manage expectations, which means I am probably right.

 

Don't get me wrong either - I don't mind the general direction they are taking the story either - its just that total abandonment of the class stories is just UGH.

 

There should be more class stories integrated in the future - and this article makes it seem like that just won't be happening.

well makeb is going to make or break this game for a lot of ppl, tbh. if its truly lackluster than im afraid that the ppl who are here solely for the story is gonna pack up.

 

not doomsaying, just being honest. so your fears arent unfounded

Edited by astrobearx
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well makeb is going to make or break this game for a lot of ppl, tbh. if its truly lackluster than im afraid that the ppl who are here solely for the story is gonna pack up.

 

not doomsaying, just being honest. so your fears arent unfounded

 

it's an MMO first and foremost...and it's SW IP. Anyone that is simply here for the story arcs won't stay anyway...because there is absolutely no way Bioware can ever build and install stroy arcs into the game fast enough for this demographic. Just like anyone who is here only for end game raiding is not going to stay... because there is no way any MMO producer can build end game raid content fast enough to please the raider demographic.

 

People who play MMOs for only one facet of play are destined to be quitters IMO.

 

As for Makeb story arcs...... I am amazed at the number of people (not directed specifically at anyone) who will judge and decide before ever even seeing the content. Folks might actually find it progresses nicely from the class specific story arcs.

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it's an MMO first and foremost...and it's SW IP. Anyone that is simply here for the story arcs won't stay anyway...because there is absolutely no way Bioware can ever build and install stroy arcs into the game fast enough for this demographic. Just like anyone who is here only for end game raiding is not going to stay... because there is no way any MMO producer can build end game raid content fast enough to please the raider demographic.

 

People who play MMOs for only one facet of play are destined to be quitters IMO.

 

As for Makeb story arcs...... I am amazed at the number of people (not directed specifically at anyone) who will judge and decide before ever even seeing the content. Folks might actually find it progresses nicely from the class specific story arcs.

well isnt the main reason why most play swtor oppose to the other hundred mmos is because it of the storylines?

 

just because this game is a SW ip doesnt mean swat, take star trek online;now, i am a hardcore trekkie, but even i can knew STO wasnt good enough to subbed long after its release due its game mechanics and such.the only reason why i stay as long as i did because of the ip, but that wore off pretty quickly

 

as for judging before playing, well i agreed with you there. i havent play it yet so i will reserved judgement ; however, let be honest here, the one thing most ppl praise about this game is the class stories and if makeb feel like the other world storylines (like taris or balmorra) then you cant be surprise if ppl QQ over makeb due to how "generic" it feel from playing the planet over again with toons on the same alliance/ side

Edited by astrobearx
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however, let be honest here, the one thing most ppl praise about this game is the class stories

 

I think most people really enjoy the storylines period. It's not just class stories. Storylines in the quests are better in this MMO then any other. So, advantage to SWTOR for this. Can you get tired of the same story over and over... sure. That is true of the class stories as well....so there is nothing magical about the class storylines, except that you can play them once as dark and once as light if you like.. which many people do not have the patience to even do.

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I think most people really enjoy the storylines period. It's not just class stories. Storylines in the quests are better in this MMO then any other. So, advantage to SWTOR for this. Can you get tired of the same story over and over... sure. That is true of the class stories as well....so there is nothing magical about the class storylines, except that you can play them once as dark and once as light if you like.. which many people do not have the patience to even do.

 

There's a lot special about the class stories. There are things that some classes do and some don't. I.e. imperial agent can go undercover as pretty much anything, but you go and try to tell a sith lord to do the same...you'd probably end up bleeding in the floor.

Apart from class stories, it's just help guy x because you are paid/you are a patriot/he can command you/just for the fun of it. Not every time, but mostly.

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I kinda like where this is going. Honestly. Instead of a main story, planetary arc and miscellaneous quests (it's all distracting as hell!) you get well built and designed planetary arc with cool villains and characters (so far the only one I really liked was Dromund Kaas and Imperial Taris). However I would like to see a return of the class stories at some stage because they are what truly defined TOR and new personal challenges and villains do make our characters special.
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i made a bunch of decisions at the end of my inquisitor storyline that SHOULD have impact on the story that follows, at least 2-3 decisions.

 

so if bioware isn't suppose to keep people here for story or end-game happy... then what are they suppose to do?

come out with more and more armor sets and pets that you buy for real money so u can put that money into one-story-fits-all expansions? i dont know who is driving the ship into the iceberg, but just give us a chapter four.. say that with the success of the expansion and the cartel market (i know u are making boat loads of cash and downsizing like crazy) that you are happy to announce that writers will begin working on Chapter 4 of each classes personal story (if they havent already you are dooming yourself to become just another mmo) and you would like our input on how each story could be continued.

Edited by dipstik
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I can ses the big picture of entering a galactic war. That sets the stage perfectly for furthering the story of the classes (at least the ones I've played I know for sure)

 

Now there are only two stories to play through with Makeb, Republic/Empire. That gets dull which is why I don't do the planetary story arcs anymore, I've seen them, they lost their value after the 5th time. Now if there was another chapter to play through for the classes on Makeb, then OMG thats 8 chapters of more fun and story, yes please!

 

Hope BW realises how much of an impact this has, I'm holding out for completing the remaining class stories... If the stories aren't expanded uppon by the time I'm done or there isn't anything left here game mechanic wise that would entice me to stay then bye swtor, my friends and I are off to better things.

 

/disappointed

Edited by LanceCorporalDan
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I'm worried and a bit upset. I wanted more companion story and class story with the people I have now, particularly the romanceables. I never really felt properly resolved with my SW and Quinn for instance. I think there should be more there. I just need more story. Thats what this game is to me, story, and without it, well...it's not special or different than anything else out there.

 

This was the closest thing to a mental 'holodeck' out there. The class and companion stories as they are from 1 -50 really made it the best.

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not to white knight this situation, but you havent even seen how makeb planet story will play out. i say wait two weeks and play it, then declare that SW is now a grunt.

 

Agreed. Let's see if BW can pull off an excellent broader story before passing judgment on whether the change is a bad thing. If HK-51 is any indication, the shared story could be pretty impressive, not as personal as the class story of course, but still very entertaining (the Theoretika was awesome).

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One thing that bothers me is that we've already had larger picture planet storylines since the start. It's not a replacement, it's just removing class storylines. While it may be good, it's highly likely my desire to play all 8 classes will end at 50 with the class stories. Bioware hasn't written a story i'd play 4 times in a very long time. Edited by jpem
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I must be coming to a differant conclusion than most people, but that quote does not tell me that indiviual class stories have been abandoned entirely. What I take away from it is that there will be more smaller expansions like RotHC that deals with Republic/Imperial storylines. The class stories will be reserved for larger expansions, of which we may only see one or two, maybe three, over the next four to six years.

 

In other words, Bioware is going to release small expansions more frequently than the large ones we would expect. Maybe 2-3 small expansions before the large one expanding the class stories. Given that things have changed so many times since launch and so many people from BW say things that contrdict each other, who the hell knows what they are going to do?

 

Like I said, I have a differant take on the recent statement regarding storylines. I just do not see them abandoning the class stories completely given that they pushed the game hard based on those stories. We just won't get the updates as often as we would like.

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You can relax people.

 

Planet itself is very immersive and looks great just really great. Feels like you are in the skies.

New mecanics, NPC move around more and have fun new mecanics.

Music is lovely and plays alot, really awesome new soundtrack.

Both your characters and companions have lots of new VO that is great.

Story that is shared i actually think is better then most class stories in many ways ! no joke.

Even orbital space station looks great compared to the others,gives you a hint of things to come.

Game also feels more smoth and look better, and plays faster, atleast feels that way.

 

Just wish this was the new end game planet with all the vendors on it so we could get away from fleet.

 

Source: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=615752

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^ that's 1 opinion, isn't it?

 

From a beta tester who can now talk since the NDA is lifted.

 

As opposed to the doom and gloom crowd who have not seen it, but are positive it sucks.

 

Ima gonna go with the person who has actually seen the inside of the expansion. ;)

Edited by Andryah
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From a beta tester who can now talk since the NDA is lifted.

 

As opposed to the doom and gloom crowd who have not seen it, but are positive it sucks.

 

Ima gonna go with the person who has actually seen the inside of the expansion. ;)

 

Hmm two broad stories that will get old after the first playthrough or two?

 

Orrrr eight new stories (the only thing unique that sets this game apart from other MMOs) along with the two broad stories which are provided and to be expected on any planet?

 

I'll go with the class stories, that's the main/best feature this game has. :)

Edited by LanceCorporalDan
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From a beta tester who can now talk since the NDA is lifted.

 

As opposed to the doom and gloom crowd who have not seen it, but are positive it sucks.

 

Ima gonna go with the person who has actually seen the inside of the expansion. ;)

 

I'm going to go with logic. You know what they say about giving a little something to everyone.

Also, there are some class stories that don't really need much anything interesting to beat it. I.e. trooper already did much do-what-your-commander-says-missions and lead troops to battle, basic stuff that any sith or jedi could also do.

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  • 3 years later...

May seem like an old thread is being reawakened here but the criticisms of this thread very much apply to the most recent in-game content. Played through all expansions up until the latest chapter of KotFE which hasn't been released yet. Unfortunately, none of the class quests have evolved past the original 3 chapters. Your class characters all become the outlander and all get exactly the same dialogue options minus 1. Recognition of your character as a member of his class and 2. When you rekindle a relationship with an old companion from chapters 1-3, as opposed to meet a new companion which originally belonged to another class from chapters 1-3; slightly different dialogue occurs in your "meet again" conversation as a result. That, and continued combat abilities are about all the chosen class has to do with anything in the post-original class story chapters.

 

Bioware is awesome due to storytelling. That's your claim to fame. So if you want it so bad that subscribers continue to pay to play; vary the content between each class, b/c otherwise fans will subscribe once to play through new content, and kill their subscriptions the moment they're done. Vary that content per each class, and you'll multiple your revenue because players will want to play through each class story before they unsubscribe. Granted it takes longer to introduce new content if you change to this route, but who cares? People will continue to play your game rather than switch to competitors which will pay attention to very common complaints such as those made in this thread.

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May seem like an old thread is being reawakened here but the criticisms of this thread very much apply to the most recent in-game content. Played through all expansions up until the latest chapter of KotFE which hasn't been released yet. Unfortunately, none of the class quests have evolved past the original 3 chapters. Your class characters all become the outlander and all get exactly the same dialogue options minus 1. Recognition of your character as a member of his class and 2. When you rekindle a relationship with an old companion from chapters 1-3, as opposed to meet a new companion which originally belonged to another class from chapters 1-3; slightly different dialogue occurs in your "meet again" conversation as a result. That, and continued combat abilities are about all the chosen class has to do with anything in the post-original class story chapters.

 

Bioware is awesome due to storytelling. That's your claim to fame. So if you want it so bad that subscribers continue to pay to play; vary the content between each class, b/c otherwise fans will subscribe once to play through new content, and kill their subscriptions the moment they're done. Vary that content per each class, and you'll multiple your revenue because players will want to play through each class story before they unsubscribe. Granted it takes longer to introduce new content if you change to this route, but who cares? People will continue to play your game rather than switch to competitors which will pay attention to very common complaints such as those made in this thread.

 

good idea that's surely going to be profitable!

 

you need to be hired asap!

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