Yes, I have played both factions. I have 5 50s....

 

I'm not disagreeing with you about your desire for more story content. There is nothing that I want more. But going by what I know from people who work in the industry, and what I have read from the developers in this game, I'm simply stating that it's not a simple task to accomplish, and if anything, because of how time consuming and expensive it is, don't be surprised if it's it gets put on the backburner somewhat. However, they do know that players expect it and that it is the cornerstone of their MMO, so as long as the game continues to be profitable enough to sustain that level of story content they will continue with it. The game is a business above all else....and it's EA in charge...

 

As for reusing planets....seriously, if I have to see Taris again, I might just unsub >.<

Edited September 20, 2012 by chuixupu

New and alternate story lines would be wonderful, unfortunately those are exactly the things that take the most time and resources. Voice actors are expensive and not necessarily available the instant you want them. Writing a good story takes time and a lot of resources to put it in the game in a way that makes sense.

 

I don't think anyone is disagreeing that it would be an awesome thing to have, they are saying that it is an expensive and time consuming thing to implement and so it won't come out as fast as you seem to think it could.

 

Meanwhile, I'm leveling a character of each class and swapping between Rep and Imp so that the planetary quests are a bit less of a grind. I'm sure that they will give us more story (Makeb is coming soon!). It just isn't something they can churn out quickly if it is going to be high quality.

 

The part I bolded and underlined is what I have a problem with. People are jumping to conclusions there, because NOWHERE did I say how fast I think they could do it. I did correct one person who seemed to think they would have to remake the entire game to do what I suggested based on his comments, but careful reading of the back and forth would show I was responding to him directly, because while I know it would take a bit, he definitely was grossly overthinking it.

 

But just understand, nowhere, NO WHERE did I ever indicate how fast I thought they could churn out a new story. By the same token, the approach I laid out is the one I feel would give the game the best replay value.

Edited September 20, 2012 by ZionHalcyon

Ok, since now there are two people making the same error in not knowing how to read something in context, I'll give a Cliff notes version.

 

 

I LOVE STORY. PLAYING SAME STORY OVER IS BORING. DEVS SHOULD MAKE MORE CLASS STORIES FOR EACH CLASS.

 

That sum it up well enough? Because it seems some people are acting like I hate the story aspect, when in fact I am merely asking for MORE of it, for people who re-roll. And I did say something like that would be good for an expansion pack - I am not suggesting they get on this now, when the main stories aren't even complete yet.

 

Are YOU reading what people are saying in response to your original post? The story isn't the same for a dark side Jedi Knight as compared to a light side Jedi Knight. The story isn't the same for a Jedi Knight as compared to a Jedi Consular. There are, at a minimum, 8 unique stories, each with a light and dark side (and neutral options in between). Have you played all 16 aspects of the story mode?

 

Creating story content is expensive and time consuming. There's a reason why BioWare is able to more quickly pump out Mass Effect 3 multi-player content as opposed to single player content. I'm sure right now the main question is whether this game will ever get a true single player expansion beyond additional ops. Will they see adequate return on investment for the animators' and VO time? Probably not, but none of us really know what they're clearing in profit at this point.

I have to agree. I've been on these forums for a long time bashing many things hindering this game, and one of them has to be the PvE leveling grind a la Story and side-quests.

 

The Story is great, don't get me wrong, but all I do is PvP and Story missions leveling up very slowly. I hate alting. I'm not an altoholic and I came here for PvP and endgame content like Operations and RWZs. The side-quests are boring, grindy and irrelevant because the worlds around you are static. The only dynamic things in this game are the things that move you towards certain datacrons.

 

I'm sorry but the replay value of this game is poor at best, and EAWare just proved that a story-driven, on-rails MMO is deemed for failure, unless you can dump hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars into that, (O)PvP, raiding, RPG and social content.

 

This game really needs to get away from that "Story Pillar" of theirs and move onto greener pastures by putting in lots more endgame and RPG contents/features. I didn't come here for single-player experiences.

Are YOU reading what people are saying in response to your original post?

 

Honestly, I don't believe he is. I believe he is just prosecuting a personal opinion upon the forum. Which is fine I guess. Not very constructive though, IMO. He's bored with replaying a story arc. Some people agree, some do not. I personally disagree with him, but I do not believe he cares.

They need to play some City of Heroes. Perfect model for balancing sandbox and linear narrative. The game may not have had huge numbers but it had longevity. 8 years running and killed off long before it was in any threat of going into the red.

One added benefit btw of having a finite story and then creating a new one - MUCH more predicability in terms of the budget - you'll be able to better track costs for creating a new class story, 1-100, and once you have that you have a ballpark on how much it would cost to do it again for say, another expansion pack.

They need to play some City of Heroes. Perfect model for balancing sandbox and linear narrative. The game may not have had huge numbers but it had longevity. 8 years running and killed off long before it was in any threat of going into the red.

 

Ninja killed by Korean business men. They tend not to continue what they consider to be trivial business (as in revenue triviality). Though personally I think this was their answer to a dispute with the developers, becasue they also whacked the studio if I understand correctly.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Andryah

You realize though you are in the minority? And I would challenge that even you eventually will get bored.

 

I mean, trust me I get where you are coming from - when I hear a great song, I can listen to it a million times. But eventually, I burn out. Everyone does.

 

And if this game is going to be big again with the casual person, you need an easy replay factor to the game.

 

Saying someone will get bored of something is ridiculously obvious. I would argue this game has way more replay value than many other similar products. It just depends on WHEN they get bored, not if they get bored.

Its something I think the devs may have missed the boat on, particularly when Daniel Erickson goes on about his vision of a "never-ending story" in the MMO.

 

-snip-

 

Just cause you misinterpreted his quote doesn't mean the game fails. All MMOs are 'never ending stories' lolol they're always creating content and the story always goes on. Derp

 

Cute theory and all though. . .but how is it any different than ANY other MMO? Apart from going down a 'different leveling path', you're just completing the same content. Whether you're spacebarring through the cut scenes(in swtor), or clicking the quest accept/complete buttons and never reading the quest text(in other mmos). . .it's all the same.

Edited September 20, 2012 by FourTwent

Well, the problem is that creating story chapters, animating and voicing them is the single most expensive and time consuming aspect of the game. They literally cannot pump that stuff out. So they somewhat painted themselves in a corner there.

 

Replay value for classes isn't that bad though. I've got 3 level 50 Imperial Agents. It's the more mundane planetary stuff that I hate to go through over and over.

 

You couldn't be more wrong.

 

All those animations are in game and programmed already. You can literally feed the model a sentence and it will automatically make the correct facial motions. Same with the gestures in the game.

I have 3 sith warriors and just made another one. Comparing this to re-playability of for example EQ2 - SWTOR beats it 100:1

Ninja killed by Korean business men. They tend not to continue what they consider to be trivial business (as in revenue triviality). Though personally I think this was their answer to a dispute with the developers, becasue they also whacked the studio if I understand correctly.

 

I think it's uglier than that. Perfect World's (publisher of Champions) "strategic partner" Nexon, bought out 12% of NCSoft's stock about a month before Paragon/COH got the axe following a bunch of restructuring efforts in Korea. I've seen multiple estimates that COH was bringing in a cool 10 or so mil a year, which isn't WoW money but certainly much better than Aion's been doing. This was shortly before a much-anticipated issue release.

I think that replaying the very same storyline can get a bit boring. I have 9 alts (one of each class + one repeat). The 9th one is a shadow tank that I created to level with a friend. Having already done the sage version of the consular storyline, I pretty much know how this one goes and am not that interested in it.

 

However, the other 8 storylines have been a lot of fun for me and have occupied quite a bit of my time, in-between doing ops and stuff.

 

As long as I don't repeat too many side and planetary quests I'm fine. (Except for my IA, for which I do everything.) I could listen to Jo Wyatt read the phone book and not get bored. <3

Edited September 20, 2012 by Khevar

What I think is a major barrier to this game is that once you have completed a story, repeating it to grind out another character is PAINFUL.

 

I disagree with this. There are only two things I do in this game...PvP and the Class stories. I find that using the WZ XP perk and the class stories to be more than enough to keep me engaged and enjoying the game. What's painful is Space Combat or doing the World quest lines or side quests multiple times on alts. I learned my lesson on my first alt that those are to be avoided at all costs.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the stories for each class are pretty unique. I have already reached max level on more alts in this game than I did on the last MMO I played for 5 years. The class story and companion quests are enough to keep me interested in continuing to level alts, and therefore subscribing.

 

But more importantly, I can PvP through a majority of the leveling process. Before Legacy, this was a bit of a pain because leveling felt real grindy without the perk. But since Legacy and the WZ XP perk, leveling via PvP is entertaining again if you do the class questing along with it.

 

If there is one thing about this game that I've been impressed by it's the playability of Advanced Classes. They actually really play differently so combat in PvP doesn't really get old. Sure the WZ maps are tired, but the style you approach each match is impacted by the class you are playing in a significant enough way that each match stays fresh when bouncing around different toons.

 

What I have found disappointing though is that the Class stories really are over once you hit 50. Companion quests help to keep them going somewhat, but the level of engagement is not near as deep. It's been almost a year and there have been no Class story additions to any of the content. Sure, I understand that type of content is probably more difficult and expensive to produce, but it's really a key to keeping the PvE side alive at level cap.

You couldn't be more wrong.

 

All those animations are in game and programmed already. You can literally feed the model a sentence and it will automatically make the correct facial motions. Same with the gestures in the game.

 

You're looking at the wrong part of it. The animation is the easy part. The actual story writing that allows for different paths and recording of voice work is the time consuming part. Hence our characters were silent and couldn't make any choices during the Chevin event.

Edited September 20, 2012 by chuixupu

What I think is a major barrier to this game is that once you have completed a story, repeating it to grind out another character is PAINFUL.

 

Disagree. I am enjoying running alts, and plan to eventually fill up all 12 character slots with one of each advanced class on both factions. I like the voice acting/quest stories. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I love this game for what it is, which is a PvE-focused, voice-acted, story-driven MMO.

 

yeah I find alts in this game a absolute blast. I have played EQ, EQ2, SWG, WoW, WAR and AoC. In every single one of those I have never been able to level an alt past level 20 or so. I just find it too grindy. Even in WoW I couldn't even level a character of the opposite faction.

 

In this however I have leveled 4 different classes. The key for me is to switch back and fourth between the two factions on each alt. Also each time through do different planets. For example first time through on the Republic I only did the class missions on Taris but all of Belsavis. Second time through I did all the Taris Missions but only class on Belsavis. This kept it interesting as there was story I hadn't seen before.

 

Now granted the game does need more planets for leveling. But i dont' think its as bad as some people say.

 

Also if I ever started to get bored. I would STOP PLAYING. let my character get some rest xp for a week or so and then come back when I was in the mood again.

I LOVE STORY. PLAYING SAME STORY OVER IS BORING. DEVS SHOULD MAKE MORE CLASS STORIES FOR EACH CLASS.

 

Although I agree, I would love to see them create more class story post Level 50, I also wonder if the OP or anyone else saying 'playing the same story over is boring' ever played games like KOTOR, Dragon Age, or Mass Effect multiple times? Because playing multiple Revans, Wardens, or Shepards doesn't seem very different, to me, than playing multiple Smugglers. It's the same story, the same side quests, the same end result, it's just the dialogue options and choices along the way that's different. And yet there are many people out there who have played those SP games , 4, 8, 20 times.

I'm having more fun leveling my 5th alt (8 months in) then leveling in GW2 the week of its release. A major reason is SWTOR does story way better.

 

That being said, I have very little hope there will be any more class stories added to this game. Producing class stories is *very* expensive. This is the strategy they took when creating the game, and it has not panned out. From here on, I'm willing to bet the content they create will be focused on replay value.

 

It sucks for people like me who want to see more story content. Unless F2P suddenly makes this game a roaring success, it's not going to happen.

While I'm sure some people are going to have no problems repeating the same storylines over and over (the person who has run SW three times stands out as , well, aberrant) , the ugly reality is that most people will not and planning to retain people with story requires you to place most of your investments on an ongoing basis in story.

 

Instead, what they've done is add increasing amounts of non-story content, usually repeatable non-story content -- dailies, ops, FP's , and PVP -- in lieu of actual sandbox content. Unfortunately, with the exception of PVP , these all get used up. Raids become boring eventually. FP do also. Dailies are already boring and with the merges, doing them is getting to be nightmarish. There's more PVP at times on Corellia than there is daily running!

 

I'm sure someone will make the utterly asinine argument that "well, the class stories are all different" , but that misses the larger point.

 

The current configuration is great for :

 

-slow leveling players

-players with very limited time to play

-altaholics who love to experiment with playstyles

-people who love story and are willing to repeat content for it

 

But it is bad for

 

-fast levelers and grinders

-people not interested in story

-people who play through a story once and then lose interest

-anyone with lot of time to play (they will consume all available story and then have nothing left)

 

We don't have good numbers on how many people favor each time, but Bioware must, and Bioware's completely ignoring story content for non-story content should tell everyone something.

The hidden killer? this game already has plenty of reasons people have been quitting, story would land on the bottom of that list.

couldn't agree less, the story lines are what keep me coming back. There so many different options out there.

I mean, how many of you actually used the shock collars on kaliyo. How many even know how you get to do so.

Everyone has gone the same way in their storys and presume they should max out reputation because of the perks to crafting etc ..... but you dont have to, you know

 

i would, admittedly, like to be able to kill off certain companions or chose not to bring em .. that has a bit more impact on later gaming or storylines though. Say, for example, you dont take Kaliyo and tell her to go (*&^%% herself, as shes ugly and useless.

Then she arrives much later on with her big brother, hell bent on exacting revenge for the insult.

stuff like that.

 

Personally, the storylines are really excellent and my favourite part of this game .. by quite a distance.

Nope, this is the part I'm disagreeing with. Loved smuggler story. Playing it though again. Love bounty hunter story. Playing through again.

 

class story is fun, we can play bh or other class again,

but the side quests repeated is painful,

easy fix, just let the legacy make ur alts can lv to 50 just doing their own class quest.

 

skip all other side quests, do them once is enough.

Just cause you misinterpreted his quote doesn't mean the game fails. All MMOs are 'never ending stories' lolol they're always creating content and the story always goes on. Derp

 

Cute theory and all though. . .but how is it any different than ANY other MMO? Apart from going down a 'different leveling path', you're just completing the same content. Whether you're spacebarring through the cut scenes(in swtor), or clicking the quest accept/complete buttons and never reading the quest text(in other mmos). . .it's all the same.

 

The mind numbing side missions with some fat bastard talking so much crap about how he needs this transmitter, not one, but 10 of them from these special kind of droids to make some super droid weapon for the Empire.

They designed it far to close to a single player game, even with it being "revolutionary" with the 4th pillar voice overs!!

 

World of Warcraft quickly did it better with a lot of the redesigned zones in Cataclysm, voiced over story quests without making me feel like you're forced to sit still and watch it in video format. Being unable to control your character in these moments actually takes away more than it adds to the game. Full character control at all times outside of flight path stuff is important.

 

I feel they would have been far better suited to just have character/main planet quests voiced over, a lot less work wouldn't feel nearly as repetitive.

 

But also unlike World of Warcraft there are not alternate places(planets) to go at certain levels and you are forced to do planets because of your class story like a single player game.

 

I quit wow and play this game because I have more fun however when it comes to leveling alts I find it sometimes to just be spacebar spam sessions.