the excuse of cost via paying for voice actors is mute, i mean your character speaks in the new dlc dont they, so they have already paid for them.

I think you mean "moot"

And yes, the cost of voice acting has been confirmed to be not an issue, but rather, the amount of development and QA that it takes to get a huge load of converging storylines with converging outcomes to work out.

I don't think class stories are completely dead, yet, though. I remember reading somewhere that they've essentially been mapped out, but it'll really depend on how the game continues to do over time.

I suppose. I'm happy with the xpack/DLC, considering that it was only $10. I get to play my favorite characters again.

 

I think class stories were dead the moment the game didn't bring in WoW-money.

Wow didn't make that money over night....which is silly on their part thinking that it would happen. Oh EA...you make me laugh.

I also would like to have seen a new flashpoint. Hammerstation is not a very fun flashpoint and i oculd have done without a level 55 version

The class story thing was a concern at first but each character has there own take on the situation with there own cut scenes in begining.

*Watch out Smugglers, my Bounty Hunter is coming*

The only thing I am a bit dissapointed with is that there is not PvP armor from level 50-55. I realize there is a bolster system, but on the PvE side i get black hole gear and campaign gear to push through those last levels. I would like to buy stuff while I level my PvP toons. At the very least make the level 55 armor purchasable but not wearable before level 55. Not the biggest deal, but my biggest complaint really.

If you want to split hairs and be technical....there is a Chapter 4 storyline, it's Makeb and culminates all of the class storylines into one. They did at least take the time to program slight differences in the storyline into it and pull some bits and pieces of information from the class stories to make it not 100% identical for all classes (at least the dialog).

 

Also, there are "new" flashpoints. There are new heroic versions of previous flashpoints that didn't have heroic versions before. While not entirely new....they are new to us in the sense that there are some added mechanics that require a little bit of re-learning them.

 

As others have stated, the problem with continuing class stories is in the cost. Both cost for development time plus cost to all of the extra paid voice actors as well.

 

Keep in mind that this is the first real expansion for SWTOR and future expansions may get bigger. SWTOR was suffereing before the f2p influx of players, so honestly I can understand their limited budget for their first xpac.

 

In the end, I feel that we got what paid for ($10 worth of content) for this go around and hold out hope that cash income from f2p and cartel market will give BW/EA more $$ to work with and more incentive to make the next xpac much larger.

Former bioware owners are on the record that the voice acting was a small cost and wasn't anywhere near what caused ballooning costs for the game. Apparently even though most of the decision trees are mostly illusion since they branch the player out for a mission or two and then graft them back to the main story for the class, there was a very large cost associated with the branching decision trees and getting it all working correctly. A little google fu on the subject and you too can read up on why voice acting actually wasn't a driving expense issue that everyone thought it was.

the excuse of cost via paying for voice actors is mute, i mean your character speaks in the new dlc dont they, so they have already paid for them.

Moot, not mute.

Your preferences/choices do not equate to the majority. I know that everyone likes to think that they are the smartest/best/etc... and that the majority obviously think and feel as they do, but that's simply wrong.

 

It may be that the majority of players don't play through all the stories, or it may be that the majority do. The legacy system certainly encourages people to play through them, although the rewards could be a bit nicer considering the amount of time investment it takes to go past legacy 30 for only a reduction in ship travel every 10 legacy levels, lol.

 

The point is that it's a very poor assumption to assume that you are the norm.

I never said I was the norm, I was just using myself as an example. How many characters do you have?

I don't think it's an unfair assumption that the majority of people don't have 8 level 50s, one of each class. Even still, I don't have to know the answer, Bioware does and they almost certainly do. So they will be the ones to know whether it is worth it to spend the time to do 8 stories or 2.

Story costs too much to make, we won't ever see class stories again.

 

They could've, should've, done a Flashpoint on Makeb, I hope they have one planned for a future update soon.

But they already said that "voice acting isn't expensive" so what's the cost coming from?

I remember when Bioware were boasting about how they were planning on releasing new content for the game once every month (Content in general, not necessarily FP'S or quests)

With that never happening, I was assuming there would be a bit more content added with Makeb, but alas, woe is me. I have been fooled yet again. At least I don't have to run this game via Origin... Yet.