It's been nearly three years since I last checked into the topic. Any looming news on this front? Is this even something people are still interested in? Anyone do some decent polling? Any rumours at all?

I know it seems a bit vain and trivial, but getting a few fresh species to play as would really reinvigorate my interest.

A fresh new species, fresh new class stories that’s tied in with the new species, and a few new open world planets that are not flashpoints.

Ahh, at least I can dream.

It's been nearly three years since I last checked into the topic. Any looming news on this front? Is this even something people are still interested in? Anyone do some decent polling? Any rumours at all?

 

I know it seems a bit vain and trivial, but getting a few fresh species to play as would really reinvigorate my interest.

Sad to say, but, I don't think it'll ever happen at this point. =[

Sad to say, but, I don't think it'll ever happen at this point. =[

I wouldn't write it off entirely, but rather it is very unlikely.

I thought BW did a great job on Togruta, female especially, and the changes they made to how gear works with headslots in the process probably makes it easier to implement another new species.

The hurdles to putting another in, particularly one that is more "alien" than the launch species have been overcome - it's just a matter of if it's worth it to them financially and having the personnel to dedicate to making another, which I doubt is the case.

The game really feels like it's in wind-down mode, with making as much as possible of the CM packs and old gear along the way, perhaps a couple more years of slim updates alongside. I really want this to not be true, but I don't see any evidence of something to the contrary being implemented.

After the KotFE Chapter model didn't work, it feels like EA all but dumped the game.

I wouldn't write it off entirely, but rather it is very unlikely.

 

I thought BW did a great job on Togruta, female especially, and the changes they made to how gear works with headslots in the process probably makes it easier to implement another new species.

 

The hurdles to putting another in, particularly one that is more "alien" than the launch species have been overcome - it's just a matter of if it's worth it to them financially and having the personnel to dedicate to making another, which I doubt is the case.

 

The game really feels like it's in wind-down mode, with making as much as possible of the CM packs and old gear along the way, perhaps a couple more years of slim updates alongside. I really want this to not be true, but I don't see any evidence of something to the contrary being implemented.

 

After the KotFE Chapter model didn't work, it feels like EA all but dumped the game.

Unfortunately, that's been EA's MO since the tail end of beta.

Purchase a company known for compelling stories, another for engaging faction PvP MMOs. Gut their original products and secure the Star Wars IP to ensure their game cannot fail. Support their product in no significant ways for either mode of gameplay that these developers have expertise in. Force those developers post-release to develop for a playerbase that belongs to another game entirely already. Get pouty and go F2P almost immediately. Milk, milk, milk.

I haven't seen so much as a peep, though the new customization options coming out at least means the species team isn't totally dead, so you never know.

Trouble is, it's kinda hard to get a feel right now for how much is being invested in the game, since we really don't know how many resources were consumed (and still are being consumed fixing stability/performance problems) with the server merges, since those are inherently behind the scenes type stuff.

The roadmap coming sometime in the next number of weeks will be very enlightening on this subject. I'm not overly optimistic but until then I'm reserving judgement.

I think people still want new species. A topic about new race or new species appears every few days. There appear to be 3 main issues.

1) Most people want difference species - this is a real concern but there are some common requests and I don't see why we can't have multiple new species.

2) Are they kissable - personally I think this argument is insane. This isn't a dating game, only person who sees these cut scenes is the player playing the alien and they wont care about the likely hood of the romance and just don't take the flirt option if it upsets you.

3) Do they speak basic - Turns out even Hutts can speak basic. A lot of people look at the game to see if a species can speak basic while a lot of aliens speak alien because its cheaper. Look at Clone Wars and it can be seen most aliens can / do speak basic.

Hopefully we will hear more about new species in the 2018 roadmap, I can't see why alien species are so slow and few in coming. While they might not make a fortune in direct sales if people start a new character they will start again sub and purchase other items for this character.

I think people still want new species. A topic about new race or new species appears every few days. There appear to be 3 main issues.

1) Most people want difference species - this is a real concern but there are some common requests and I don't see why we can't have multiple new species.

2) Are they kissable - personally I think this argument is insane. This isn't a dating game, only person who sees these cut scenes is the player playing the alien and they wont care about the likely hood of the romance and just don't take the flirt option if it upsets you.

3) Do they speak basic - Turns out even Hutts can speak basic. A lot of people look at the game to see if a species can speak basic while a lot of aliens speak alien because its cheaper. Look at Clone Wars and it can be seen most aliens can / do speak basic.

 

Hopefully we will hear more about new species in the 2018 roadmap, I can't see why alien species are so slow and few in coming. While they might not make a fortune in direct sales if people start a new character they will start again sub and purchase other items for this character.

Do you think Bioware wants to have broken things on purpose? Playable Hutt, Hutt can't wear armor, doesn't have casting animations, cant kiss, can't talk, can't drive mounts and the list goes on. Yes this game isn't a dating sim, but it has technical limitations. Some things just do not work. Saying something like this is just as stupid as flagging vanilla companions in vanilla content as multisex. Does it affect my gameplay when Quinn calls you an unique woman while you're playing a male? No. That doesn't make it any less absurd and it's downright shameful if they want to have a game full of bugs intentionally just to please players.

Seeing a Hutt or a Jawa with the voice of a Jedi Knight or a Sith warrior...what a joke.

Do you think Bioware wants to have broken things on purpose? Playable Hutt, Hutt can't wear armor, doesn't have casting animations, cant kiss, can't talk, can't drive mounts and the list goes on. Yes this game isn't a dating sim, but it has technical limitations. Some things just do not work. Saying something like this is just as stupid as flagging vanilla companions in vanilla content as multisex. Does it affect my gameplay when Quinn calls you an unique woman while you're playing a male? No. That doesn't make it any less absurd and it's downright shameful if they want to have a game full of bugs intentionally just to please players.

 

Seeing a Hutt or a Jawa with the voice of a Jedi Knight or a Sith warrior...what a joke.

Hutt was just an example that shows that saying because you encountered a Kel-dor who speaks alien means none of them can speak basic which is simply wrong.

As for this game when it was released I think they had a plan for what they wanted the game to be and thought they knew better than everyone else hence the game we got. The species were dull and simply repainted humans. In beta and later release there were lots of people arguing for new species now a new thread shows every few days asking for a new race or new species but I suspect most of us have little hope they will release a race bundle or an alien creator like STO.

Hutt was just an example that shows that saying because you encountered a Kel-dor who speaks alien means none of them can speak basic which is simply wrong.

 

As for this game when it was released I think they had a plan for what they wanted the game to be and thought they knew better than everyone else hence the game we got. The species were dull and simply repainted humans. In beta and later release there were lots of people arguing for new species now a new thread shows every few days asking for a new race or new species but I suspect most of us have little hope they will release a race bundle or an alien creator like STO.

I know Hutt was just an example, but it still applies, so do the other species that are unplayable due to limitations. Why introduce something that's not meant to work a certain way, just cause?

I know Hutt was just an example, but it still applies, so do the other species that are unplayable due to limitations. Why introduce something that's not meant to work a certain way, just cause?

If you knew Hutt was an example of a species that appears not to speak basic but when it was best for the story they could do, why did you jump on that one species and talk about what armor it can wear and how they can't ride vehicles. It seemed like you wanted to turn the example into something it wasn't just to try and discredit it when at no point did the poster suggest hutt could ware armor or ride vehicles and it was just about speech. As for how they sound is it normal that every sith player warrior in the galaxy regardless of species sound the same differentiated only by gender, hell no but its better than going to Kotor style conversations.

As for deliberately putting in something that is broken, No one is forcing you to play that species. If its all about dating and that 2 second kiss turned to black then you don't have to purchase from the CM store that species or then create a character with it. New more alien species is just an option for those that would like it and add to the overall feel of the game when you walk into a star wars area and aside from some static npc's the vast majority of the population (the players) is various colored humans. As for things that are deliberately broken and added, that would mean that none other than a Human or a Pureblood Human should be able to play the Sith Warrior, part of the story is how you are preferred over a near human because his only a near human and your pure blood, don't make much sense if your a Cathar. Along with the vast number of other issues that don't fit exactly right because its a game and they felt choice was more important and necessarily or for the game play. Hell at level 10 a sith warrior can rip a blast door a part on the black talon but at level 70 has to use a mouse droid to open a door on the eternal empire ship.

For people that don't want more alien species they save some CC and the only impact on their game play is more variety of species hanging around the fleet or seen in the open world. While those that do get to play their star wars story how they want not impacting anyone else. I know I'd find it more valuable for money than a reskined armor set sold in the CM that seems the norm of late.

A fresh new species, fresh new class stories that’s tied in with the new species, and a few new open world planets that are not flashpoints.

Ahh, at least I can dream.

I'm only seeking the new species and new open world planets. They're the two I've been waiting for an hoped to see last year but that was a big fat no.

Nautolans have been my dream since launch and I've seen this backed up on the boards. Bring in Nautolans SWTOR team! They're already in-game everywhere. Just make them playable!

You can't really compare bringing in new species in this game to other games because of the massive amount of Voiced content, especially in the early game. They cannot likely bring in someone to re-record all of that with a different vocal quality, so whatever race you create has to "fit" with all of the voice over material that is already in the game.

Plus things like fitting in all armors, on all mounts, etc.

It's a lot of work for anything that is not basically humanoid with an alien head.

That said, I think there are races that they have put in the game (companions) that obviously would work as player character models as well. Any of the star fortress alien companions, class companions, etc. I would think wouldn't be too tough to transition.

I'm glad they are adding new hair styles/makeup/facial markings to the game as well, but they should expand that to a variety of twi'lek colors, patterns, etc. and same for Togruta. More variety of pureblood Sith would also be nice. If they would just expand on what we already have even, that'd be really cool.

If you knew Hutt was an example of a species that appears not to speak basic but when it was best for the story they could do, why did you jump on that one species and talk about what armor it can wear and how they can't ride vehicles. It seemed like you wanted to turn the example into something it wasn't just to try and discredit it when at no point did the poster suggest hutt could ware armor or ride vehicles and it was just about speech. As for how they sound is it normal that every sith player warrior in the galaxy regardless of species sound the same differentiated only by gender, hell no but its better than going to Kotor style conversations.

 

As for deliberately putting in something that is broken, No one is forcing you to play that species. If its all about dating and that 2 second kiss turned to black then you don't have to purchase from the CM store that species or then create a character with it. New more alien species is just an option for those that would like it and add to the overall feel of the game when you walk into a star wars area and aside from some static npc's the vast majority of the population (the players) is various colored humans. As for things that are deliberately broken and added, that would mean that none other than a Human or a Pureblood Human should be able to play the Sith Warrior, part of the story is how you are preferred over a near human because his only a near human and your pure blood, don't make much sense if your a Cathar. Along with the vast number of other issues that don't fit exactly right because its a game and they felt choice was more important and necessarily or for the game play. Hell at level 10 a sith warrior can rip a blast door a part on the black talon but at level 70 has to use a mouse droid to open a door on the eternal empire ship.

 

For people that don't want more alien species they save some CC and the only impact on their game play is more variety of species hanging around the fleet or seen in the open world. While those that do get to play their star wars story how they want not impacting anyone else. I know I'd find it more valuable for money than a reskined armor set sold in the CM that seems the norm of late.

I had my own example, it also applies to Jawa and the other species that don't have mouths. Nobody is forcing me to play a certain species, it's just absurd to put in something in game that doesn't work. Rodian race, Dashade, Jawa, Kel'dor(?) Wookies... Most things in game just don't work for them. If you can't look at it from that point, look at it from BW's. The amount of work they'd have to go through, to make it work, it'll probably be broken, it'll probably break more things. It's not worth the effort and it'll look ridiculous.

Honestly, after the first two new species added over the years, I don't much see the sense in adding more.

Reasons for this feeling?

1) a new species does not really add any sort of new dimension to game play because they are simply a different skin for a character. It does not carry with it any sort of unique story arc. In essence... it is simply a new cosmetic choice, and we have so many options in terms of "cosmetic play" in SWTOR already.

2) A lot of players are nostalgic and crave a species for nostalgic purposes, which is fine, but it has not wide consensus in the player base. Like wanting a Wookie so they can get their inner Chewbacka fulfilled in some way... as just one example... some people want to be Wookies... some do not.. so there is simply no consensus on any particular species.

3) The diversity in desire in the player base dictates that in most cases... if they do add a new species, it will please some and get others severely worked up because it was not the new species they personally wanted.

4) The most passionate desire expressed by players seems to be non-humanoid species.. and it has been made pretty clear by the studio that they will not go down this path.

Personally, I'd rather see them add more customizations for existing species AND/OR weapons to the appearance tab mechanism before expending any development resources on some new species.

While I agree that they will never please all the people a few more alien species really wouldn't be that hard. I know some people don't care what species or character they play so it won't make a difference to them to others of us what we play changes how much effort we put into the character and how many other cosmetic options we buy. Lets face it 95% of the cartel market so a new species fits in perfectly.

I know the original development team were against any species that Leia wouldn't kiss but I don't think any of them are still around.

The most complicated part of having new playable races are the mindsets of the developers. The main argument is still in place, "No alien looking race". So, ...basically 99,9999% of all the races in Star Wars.

'Dafuk man! It's still my decision if I want a male Rodian alt who is having an affair with Malavai Quinn. If I want Quinn to kiss a Flyhead, than that's my personal SM show!:p

Basically BioWare could add with ease those races into the game.