Hey Dev's How about an actual expansion? Is that in the works ?

It's just like my title says, how about an actual expansion? I don't mean what we got with makeb which was not really an expansion but a paid update that once upon a time (before BioWare got bought and eaten by EA) BioWare would have dropped as a free update to a game. They did this with Baldurs Gate just to name one title. What I would like to see is an actual expansion with new classes such as Teras Kasaii, beast trainers, Imperial guard, as well as races such as wookie (no ewoks pleas). I would like to see classes with a third faction, like bounty hunter should have been. Crafting should be expanded and made more nuanced.

I believe part of the reason there was such a drop off of subscriptions early on was due to the fact that a lot of staunch Star wars Galaxy players were disappointed because they though in some ways this would be the rebirth or continuation of that . I would also like to see some serious revamping of the battle system. I feel that too much of WOW was used in the making of this game and not enough of BioWare or other company influences. A bang up job was done with classes other than jedi and sith but with those I feel they have been reduced to little more than pretty colored baton wielding characters. Supposedly this was done for balancing issues but I think that is a cop out .
I would like to see in an expansion the ability to customize characters to make ones own jedi, sith, or bounty hunter. Part of the fun of making a character is customizing it and discovering which skills not only synergize with each other but with an individuals play style. Even though two people may have the same sets of powers they didn't have the same powers per say. So it would be nice if an expansion is in the work to see other influences such as City Of heroes, Dragon Age, KOTOR, or Jedi knight Jedi Academy as more of an influence in terms of a battle system and skill selection.

The template for an expansion is already there. At the end of each story line its made pretty clear that the war is going to break out again. This is a great launch for an expansion story with new classes, abilities, and new options with crafting or actual guild bases. Now don't misunderstand me. I like the game, if I didn't I wouldn't pay for a monthly, but I can point out weakness (in my opinion) that should be addressed and the game has been out for a while so I'm wondering rather or not its time to consider an actual sold by the box expansion.

Boxed expansions are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Companies are rapidly embracing the idea of F2P mechanics and DLC (including downloadable expansions and digital copies of the base game). More and more games are now storing data in the cloud and retail sales of titles are dropping off. Just because an expansion doesn't come in a box doesn't mean it isn't an expansion of the game. That kind of thinking is rather archaic at this point.

F2P is the future, at least for now. It's proving to be a highly profitable method for companies to release content rather than through a subscription. Judging F2P games by how many subscribers they have is an inaccurate way of judging how well a game is doing. I'm actually quite impressed with how many players I see in the game on a daily basis. They enrich the game, whether they're subscribed or not. The only bottom line for the developer is if the F2P people are buying things in the store.

Expansions can provide a wide array of content. Whether it contains a new planet, new character creation options, or just new gear, what an expansion contains is entirely up to the developer and their vision of the game. Will we see another expansion for SWTOR? I hope so. That depends entirely on how well their business model is doing.

My 2 cents.Thanks for reading.

I didn't know someone on a F2P account was not a real player.

Even if half the F2P accounts are inactive, this game is easily the second most populated MMO in the west.

WE NEED TO GET AWAY FROM SIMPLY COUNTING SUB NUMBERS. THIS IS NO LONGER A VALID WAY TO MEASURE A GAME.

By necessity, a character is built in any MMO out of choices the player makes. Also by necessity it can and in fact must be entirely possible for any other player to create the exact same character you did simply by making the same choices.

Your "uniqueness" in any MMO is therefore all in your head- even in the most complex of character creation systems, someone can (and will) make the same snowflake you did. It's inevitable, and it's why this particular neurosis isn't something I let ruin my play experience. For me, it's a non-issue, because I don't base the way I spend my spare time on whether or not people are spending theirs similarly.

If you are the sort of person for whom "uniqueness" is an obsessive mote in your eye, it's only in a single player game (like KOTOR) where this isn't a problem (or is, at any rate, a less readily apparent one) since you'll rarely have someone else's similar choices thrown in your face in the way you will in an MMO.

Do you understand now? The problem will never go away. The problem is the player and the player is crazy. It doesn't matter what they do, the player is crazy. The more crazy the player gets, the more crazy the game does. Full circle, Cycle of Crazy.

Can you pick and choose abilities in this game or is it preset to open based on level?

You make a certain point, SkunkWerks. I think a lot of the quitting posts in any MMO usually revolve around what they don't like with the game personally and how it doesn't live up to their expectations. This is usually paired with a justification of some kind, such as "hardly anyone plays the game anymore!", or "look how many subs they've lost!", which is rarely truth. Those statements are used to give their post weight or value that isn't there, and really, what difference does it make when any one individual quits? The forums are a vocal minority in any game, so for all we know, for every 1 player that quits, 2 more start playing. Can't please 'em all.

And if Bioware follows the collection of data and makes changes accordingly, people will STILL complain and leave. It reiterates my point: People are crazy. It doesn't matter what collection of data a game developer follows, someone will always be pissed. So then the game will lose players regardless. So the smart decision would be to make the changes that result in the least amount of player loss, right?