I played some story chapters of KOTFE and KOTET after raking in big CXP from the dalies.

It's been a while since I've played those, so I also wanted to see if the story is really as bad as some say or not.

This is what I *think* happened. Please note that I don't have any inside information about BW/EA, so my thoughts are just pure speculation.

KOTFE was probably envisioned as the first season (remember in the beginning they called it 'season 1') of a trilogy of "Knights of FILL IN THE BLANK", because SW is all about trilogies (alot of the time).

If you look at the first 9 chapters of KOTFE, they are actually done fairly well for what they are. But, around ch. 10, the chapters show signs of losing their creative touch. That doesn't mean all chapters 10 - 15 are bad. But overall, those chapter certainly feel to me like something is missing that wasn't missing in ch 1 -9.

Of course, as we saw, the model of KOTFE (releasing 1 chapter at a time about 1 month to 6-8 weeks a part) didn't work out, so they trashed the original plan. As a result, KOTET was condensed into what was released towards the end of last year. And, now, it looks like they might be trying to go back to imp vs pub story maybe, but we'll have to wait to see what happens.

This what makes me think this.

In the days right before 4.0 was released and all during that, we were told repeatedly that "choices matter" and even in game, you would see things like "your actions or decisions will be remembered". but, then nothing seemingly occurred as a consequence.

Ex: Kneeling to valkorian, taking Senya or Koth to meet the herlads of zildrog, choosing who to save in ch 14, telling your crew to stay and fight or leave in FE ch1.

Obviously, some decisions did matter.

But, for all the hype about decisions matter, I think more decisions would have actually mattered and we would have seen their consequences had BW stuck to the original plan and fully fleshed out the would-be "Knights of" trilogy.

Instead, we now got Knights of the Eternal RNG Grind.

Otherwise, why tell us over and over again, "decisions matter"? I don't think that they would have intentionally lied to us. At the time with the original plan, I think "decisions matter" was an accurate statement. But, things change.

What also makes me think that there was a lot more planned for "Knights of FILL IN THE BLANK" is the missing companions. It was already stated that KOTET didn't introduce returning companions to keep in short (in so many words). But, I'm willing to bet my lunch that in a fully fleshed out KOTET and whatever was planned after KOTET would have brought back more love interests and other companions. I doubt from the start that BW just yanked all our original class companions with no plan to return them. There probably were high level plans on how to return them, but again, things didn't go as planned. So, now, they're having to think of ways to return companions. I've heard of a voice actor strike going on. But, then I also hear that the VA strike doesn't affect SWTOR, so I honestly don't know how a VA strike factors into returning companions.

I'm sure BW had some sense before KOTFE was released how attached players were to their companions, especially the LIs. So, I really don't think they decided "hey, let's make everyone hate us by taking those companions away and not have any plans to return them". There probably was a plan, but again, plans don't always go as planned.

I really feel KOTFE should have been its own game, separate from SWTOR. After going back and playing some of the chapters, I see that there is some good stuff in the story. I can pick out 2 main things really though bother me (along with other smaller things).

1. I don't like of any of the 8 class characters becoming generic hero of the galaxy. The 8 class stories should have continued. Stream lined story is okay for side stuff (like Ilum or the planetary 1-50 quests or even the stories leading into the Oricon operations and Czerka FPs and daily area). but the "main" story should have continued in 8 unique class stories appropriate for their class. But, apparently, unique class stories are out of the question now, and we can only have (very little) "class flavor".

2. The condensed-ness of KOTET. I really think KOTET should have been the middle story, not the end of the story. Towards the end of KOTET feels rushed and not that thought out. Case in point: The saying about "My mind my rules". To me, that's not far off from "it was all a dream".

Other stuff bothers me to. Vitiate almost seemed "rectonned" into Valkorian, it kinda maybe fits but not really. I know Charles somewhere gave his explanations about how its supposed to fit, but I found that post as an afterthought and not that great of an explanation.

KOTFE would have worked great as either an online RPG or offline RPG with DLCs that can still take place during the 2nd great galactic war but maybe like 100 years after the events of SWTOR ended. The 8 characters from SWTOR are either dead (either casualties of the war or died of natural causes/old age) or retired and really, really old. And, you are some new hero who has risen, maybe inspired by one one of the 8 characters from SWTOR.

In this way, the chapter visions in the dark chapter in KOTFE (or was it dark passage?) could be a launching point into your "advanced class". This is where game mechanics could have intersected with the story and made that part of the story more meaningful, if you gain your "advanced" class then, along with the first weapon for your advanced class and start to learn new abilities.

Also, if KOTFE had been its own game, it would be able to focus more on the narrative and fleshing out companions instead of having to heavily focus on bringing back old companions. (Where is Tora now? She was actually a fun character, but she's all but vanished by now) Really, most of the KOTFE chapters 10-15 felt too focused on bringing back old companions, which was needed given how much people wanted their companions back.

That's what I think KOTFE should have been its own separate game, not tagged onto SWTOR. But, what's done is done.

An insider discovered some of earlier concept of KotFE and Shadow of Revan. I don't have the link to the original post or whatnot, but they did claim that KotFE was originally supposed to be 8 individual class stories. I forget most of the details, but I know some of them to be true as some of them DID become true. For both SoR as well as KotFE.

For example, the trooper in KotFE was supposed to fight alongside Imps against the Eternal Empire with the possibilities of even joining them (if I recall correctly.) I don't think it's any coincidence that we got something similar for the War on Iokath with even Elara Dorne being present.

Consular was a diplomat going to different worlds to build up an Alliance separate from the Republic and the Sith Empire to combat the Eternal Empire, and we DID get an Alliance.

Inquisitor was supposed to absorb Valkorian or at least attempt it.

Valkorion wasn't going to betray his Wrath. Rather, as the Knight or Inquisitor defeated him, the Sith Warrior would sense it and come to his aid, only to find that it is too late.

They also claimed that they were planning to add homosexual fetishes starting in SoR. And we did get that, adding to the validity of his report.

As I said, there were some other things, but I don't remember them off the top of my head. All I do know for certain is that most of it was a heck of a lot more awesome than what we got and I'm even getting a little angry thinking about it right now.

EDIT: They also claimed that they were considering abandoning the Expanded Universe and integrating SWTOR into the Disneyverse. That hasn't happened, but it's been hinted at with the various armor sets and whatnot being inspired by the new films and material and the devs own love for that *******, indicating that they may vary well have considered it, and thus adding credibility to this insider's report.

An insider discovered some of earlier concept of KotFE and Shadow of Revan. I don't have the link to the original post or whatnot, but they did claim that KotFE was originally supposed to be 8 individual class stories. I forget most of the details, but I know some of them to be true as some of them DID become true. For both SoR as well as KotFE.

 

.

Does anyone have a link to the original post?

It was already on the slide sometime after Manaan. To try to give people something to do after KOTFE they devised the star fortresses and the H2 box collecting. - But people either burned through it very fast, or saw it for what it was, - a stalling tactic.

There was very little reason for them to skip ahead 5 years. No reason to take the companions away other than to make you play enough to get them back. There may have been a plan of steady re-recruitment, but that took time and investment that they didn't have.

It appears that they went for a story that ticked all the boxes, instead of actually planning out a proper story arc and filling it with interesting characters. It was a given that budgets couldn't stretch to 8 individual class stories, so they settled for a JK story, and shoe-horned in the other classes, which on the surface looked okay, but if you play through them seem very ill-thought out. a new romance. - Which ran out of steam after 2 or 3 convos. Even if you make diametrically opposed choices, it's still essentially the same story- making the choices moot.

Granted they might have had a big plan for choices mattering, but eventually it came down to 3 or four characters and whether they remained or left the alliance and some half-assed attempt at starting a new romance.

It looks as though they ran out of steam, out of money and out of motivation to carry this off. it was unravelling faster then they could deliver content. The story went south. The players were unsatisfied and the lack of new repeatable content put the numbers into decline. - In the fall of 2016 things were desperate. the numbers didn't justify the development, but by then they were all at sea. - Since they had nothing in the tank, they upped the level max, and introduced a new lengthy grind to keep players on the treadmill, but very few liked it, and a lot saw the writing on the wall. It's taken almost a year of needless tinkering with Galactic command. - But it's fiddling well after Rome has burned.

These story-driven chapters were supposed to be the saviour of the game. Instead they became an expensive mistake, which no-one had the balls to pull the plug on.

PvE is starved of content, PvP is old and tired. The operations guilds are bored of the same old challenges, and can't really get behind a boss every few months. There may be a lot of players, but they're spread rather thin meaning that people can't group up in successful pugs, can't get groups for content, can't get challenges or PvP done in a timely fashion. A lot of guilds are starved of members, and many people have simply left.

TLDR; People log on, or keep watching for something new. But the studio continually fails to deliver anything meaningful. - That's the decline, and chances are that'll be the thing that kills it.

An insider discovered some of earlier concept of KotFE and Shadow of Revan. I don't have the link to the original post or whatnot, but they did claim that KotFE was originally supposed to be 8 individual class stories. I forget most of the details, but I know some of them to be true as some of them DID become true. For both SoR as well as KotFE.

 

For example, the trooper in KotFE was supposed to fight alongside Imps against the Eternal Empire with the possibilities of even joining them (if I recall correctly.) I don't think it's any coincidence that we got something similar for the War on Iokath with even Elara Dorne being present.

 

Consular was a diplomat going to different worlds to build up an Alliance separate from the Republic and the Sith Empire to combat the Eternal Empire, and we DID get an Alliance.

 

Inquisitor was supposed to absorb Valkorian or at least attempt it.

 

Valkorion wasn't going to betray his Wrath. Rather, as the Knight or Inquisitor defeated him, the Sith Warrior would sense it and come to his aid, only to find that it is too late.

 

They also claimed that they were planning to add homosexual fetishes starting in SoR. And we did get that, adding to the validity of his report.

 

As I said, there were some other things, but I don't remember them off the top of my head. All I do know for certain is that most of it was a heck of a lot more awesome than what we got and I'm even getting a little angry thinking about it right now.

 

EDIT: They also claimed that they were considering abandoning the Expanded Universe and integrating SWTOR into the Disneyverse. That hasn't happened, but it's been hinted at with the various armor sets and whatnot being inspired by the new films and material and the devs own love for that *******, indicating that they may vary well have considered it, and thus adding credibility to this insider's report.

Now, THAT would have been awesome! Of course, it would require a big budget. But, I would (and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way) pay $$$ in addition to keep paying my monthly subscription fee for that expansion. Is it inappropriate or not good financial sense to have an expansion adopt a "pay to play" business model along side a subscription model? Other MMOs do it. I bet our server populations woes would be non existence if they had gone the route described above for KOTFE and continued with it.

And, from a story/lore-wise perspective, if the Knight had killed Valkorian, that would have fit Sourge's vision of someone who wasn't Revan killing the Emperor. Just saying.

An insider discovered some of earlier concept of KotFE and Shadow of Revan. I don't have the link to the original post or whatnot, but they did claim that KotFE was originally supposed to be 8 individual class stories. I forget most of the details, but I know some of them to be true as some of them DID become true. For both SoR as well as KotFE.

 

For example, the trooper in KotFE was supposed to fight alongside Imps against the Eternal Empire with the possibilities of even joining them (if I recall correctly.) I don't think it's any coincidence that we got something similar for the War on Iokath with even Elara Dorne being present.

 

Consular was a diplomat going to different worlds to build up an Alliance separate from the Republic and the Sith Empire to combat the Eternal Empire, and we DID get an Alliance.

 

Inquisitor was supposed to absorb Valkorian or at least attempt it.

 

Valkorion wasn't going to betray his Wrath. Rather, as the Knight or Inquisitor defeated him, the Sith Warrior would sense it and come to his aid, only to find that it is too late.

 

They also claimed that they were planning to add homosexual fetishes starting in SoR. And we did get that, adding to the validity of his report.

 

As I said, there were some other things, but I don't remember them off the top of my head. All I do know for certain is that most of it was a heck of a lot more awesome than what we got and I'm even getting a little angry thinking about it right now.

 

EDIT: They also claimed that they were considering abandoning the Expanded Universe and integrating SWTOR into the Disneyverse. That hasn't happened, but it's been hinted at with the various armor sets and whatnot being inspired by the new films and material and the devs own love for that *******, indicating that they may vary well have considered it, and thus adding credibility to this insider's report.

Ughhhhhhhh screw you so hard for even making me have to consider how awesome that would have all been :( :(

If they just stuck to the template of giving us a single giant planet to explore (VOSS, Alderaan, Belsavis) with buildings/rooms/bases specific to certain classes they would've been fine. In order to know all the angles of KOTFE/KOTET you would have to do them on all 8 separate classes.

Instead we have to enter this rat maze that you have to finish in a marathon format to get to the end of the tunnel so you can do end game content again. In an open world you can queue for group content while in the middle of your quest. Try doing that for some of the KOTFE/ET chapters and they get screwy.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=9339708#post9339708

A lot of what you speculate was posted by Charles a couple months ago.

I'm not sure if you're aware OP, but as the post above me has linked, Charles did reveal a lot of the details you speculated on, at least in terms of the story's intended length. Three separate "expansions", which are really just big bursts of Chapters, with Monthly Chapters in between. If you work out the math, it does indicate that the whole story was planned to be a total of 41 Chapters long (9 KOTFE + 7 Monthly + 9 KOTET + 7 Monthly + 9 Final Xpac). Instead, we got 25 Chapters. It seems Kotfe played out as the writers intended (Arcann's story, the beginning of the Alliance, reintroducing companions, etc). But then, tragically imo, too many people gave negative feedback and thus the remaining concept of 25 more chapters was scrapped and condensed into 9.

Don't get me wrong: I thoroughly enjoyed both expansions and the monthly chapters, and have come to appreciate how they have propelled the game. But when you look at this information, it really doesn't take much analysis as to exactly why we never saw Kira Carsen or Lord Scourge, or any of the other plethora of still missing companions, or why the pacing of KOTET felt rushed. BioWare would have likely featured a many more in the expansions and intended monthly releases, but the condensing left no room for details like that. As for my guess? A 16-Chapter KOTET might have played out similarly to KOTFE: It would have been an extended story for Vaylin and SCORPIO while also giving us a better scope of the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic and their response to the Alliance's rise. We did basically get all that, but it would have had an additional 7 chapters to fill in all the plot holes (I also suspect Saresh would have played a bigger villain role than the 10 minutes of screentime she got).

Along with this would of course be returning companions and more story roles for the ones that came back in KOTFE. As for the final expansion that would have contained the nine-chapter finale, there's a lot less meat to speculate on. Though I suspect it would have been an action-packed conclusion to the story as we waged war with Valkorion. This xpac could have seen the arrival of Scourge and shown him playing a role in Valkorion's ultimate destruction. But who can say. Perhaps one day Charles will elaborate on the What could have been...

On another note, the above posts mentioned a "leaked" story that involved 8 class stories? Here's the link. It was posted during the Forged Alliances storyline, before Shadow of Revan was announced. Though there are some striking similarities (most interestingly the fact that this post called Revan before anyone else), it does seem to have been a well-thought out fanfiction in the end. At least, that's my opinion.

It was already on the slide sometime after Manaan. To try to give people something to do after KOTFE they devised the star fortresses and the H2 box collecting. - But people either burned through it very fast, or saw it for what it was, - a stalling tactic.

 

There was very little reason for them to skip ahead 5 years. No reason to take the companions away other than to make you play enough to get them back. There may have been a plan of steady re-recruitment, but that took time and investment that they didn't have.

 

It appears that they went for a story that ticked all the boxes, instead of actually planning out a proper story arc and filling it with interesting characters. It was a given that budgets couldn't stretch to 8 individual class stories, so they settled for a JK story, and shoe-horned in the other classes, which on the surface looked okay, but if you play through them seem very ill-thought out. a new romance. - Which ran out of steam after 2 or 3 convos. Even if you make diametrically opposed choices, it's still essentially the same story- making the choices moot.

 

Granted they might have had a big plan for choices mattering, but eventually it came down to 3 or four characters and whether they remained or left the alliance and some half-assed attempt at starting a new romance.

 

It looks as though they ran out of steam, out of money and out of motivation to carry this off. it was unravelling faster then they could deliver content. The story went south. The players were unsatisfied and the lack of new repeatable content put the numbers into decline. - In the fall of 2016 things were desperate. the numbers didn't justify the development, but by then they were all at sea. - Since they had nothing in the tank, they upped the level max, and introduced a new lengthy grind to keep players on the treadmill, but very few liked it, and a lot saw the writing on the wall. It's taken almost a year of needless tinkering with Galactic command. - But it's fiddling well after Rome has burned.

 

These story-driven chapters were supposed to be the saviour of the game. Instead they became an expensive mistake, which no-one had the balls to pull the plug on.

 

PvE is starved of content, PvP is old and tired. The operations guilds are bored of the same old challenges, and can't really get behind a boss every few months. There may be a lot of players, but they're spread rather thin meaning that people can't group up in successful pugs, can't get groups for content, can't get challenges or PvP done in a timely fashion. A lot of guilds are starved of members, and many people have simply left.

 

TLDR; People log on, or keep watching for something new. But the studio continually fails to deliver anything meaningful. - That's the decline, and chances are that'll be the thing that kills it.

Would have great however provided they did not have the budget to do so looks like more a delusional post (whether from a player or a disgruntled dev) than else

Would have great however provided they did not have the budget to do so looks like more a delusional post (whether from a player or a disgruntled dev) than else

They had enough budget for those crazy-expensive trailers...... But not the longevity of the endgame to back it up.

People don't tend to play SWTOR to watch cutscenes and movies. That's what the cinema and anime are for. -They come to be immersed in the SW universe with players from around the world, interact with them, be social with them, shoot them, and adventure with them.

I just wished they would have gone through with their (supposedly) original plan of 41 chapters. I loved their monthly chapter system. It was for the first time that I felt that this game is catering to me. Too bad I'm such a (supposedly) weird person that this didn't last very long.

I picture that in a few weeks we would have gotten the final 9 chapters, maybe Knights of the Eternal Alliance (KotEA) and that Iokath and the Gods would have played a role in fighting Valkorion.

I think it would have been epic.

It probably must have been very depressing for the devs to cut down their content more and more and more and more.

It's like being a football coach. You have your top 11 players available for the game on Sunday. On Tuesday your winger wins a weekend spa holiday trip with his wife. On Wednesday in training the striker gets injured. On Thursday your goalkeeper gets sick. On Friday your playmaker gets a work shift on Sunday that he cannot skip. On Saturday your central defender remembers he has to go to his grandmother's 90th birthday on Sunday. On Sunday on their way to the game, one car with three of the players inside has an accident and they won't make it in time to the game. And finally, during warmup your second goalkeeper also gets injured which means that you, as the coach, have to play as keeper, without warmup and being 10 years older than the oldest player on the field. And then, on top of it all, the fans are complaining during the whole game, because the team doesn't perform overly well. After the game you have to give an interview to the local press and have to pretend that you have everything under control, but in reality you just want to quit.

Been there, done that.

I really liked the chapter formula and I'm rather sorry they couldn't ececute it to it's full potentian but at the same time I kind of see why it failed. The story stops making sense after Ch. 9:

- 10. No matter who I am, light or dark, Force user or not, the chapter sends me to do some terrorism and recruit a terrorist with borderline personality. One person, mind you, not an entire organization. The first thing we do as the Alliance Commander is recrouting a useless, crazy terrorist and helping her to assassinate a police officer who doesn't seem to be the worst person in the universe.

- 11. Recruiting a team of supercommandos seems like a good idea but fooling around in the swamps with them - not so much... Everything after the initial meeting is pointless and doesn't move the story forward.

- 12. This chapter makes sense for Force users but it makes no sense for half of the classes and the whole philosophy lesson leads to nowhere further in the story.

- 13. Inoffensive heist story that adds nothing to the plot. If they found something interesting in the vault, that would be really cool but as it is it's just about stealing funds.

- 14. This actually makes some sense as having Mandalorians on your side is a good thing. Pitty, once again, it leads nowhere and Mandos don't get bigger role later on.

- 15 & 16 - rather predictible filale.

So, after the Alliance is established nothing really happends until the end of the expansion. If every chapter added something to the plot, laid some mystery for us to solve or drop some clue; anything to keep the audience hooked.

And cliffhangers. Episodic storytelling can use a good, memorable cliffhanger with satisfying resolution. Here's how not to do it:

I've found myself not to caught up in what was originally planned vs what we actually got.

I remain disappointed in what we actually got to this day.

Oh I remember reading part of that post. I remember it sounding like it was made up back then, and it sounds even less plausible now.

I just read it and that was my take as well. It sounds like someone with a very active imagination.

People don't tend to play SWTOR to watch cutscenes and movies. That's what the cinema and anime are for.

I don't know about that. That's what BioWare games are known for.

I don't know about that. That's what BioWare games are known for.

Not saying you should do what others do. - by all means enjoy it your own way. But if the cutscenes and the mini-movie sequences are all that someone logs-in for, then why not just watch them on repeat on YouTube?

Not saying you should do what others do. - by all means enjoy it your own way. But if the cutscenes and the mini-movie sequences are all that someone logs-in for, then why not just watch them on repeat on YouTube?

It's nothing to do with what other people do. I've played BW games before, including KOTOR, and knew exactly what to expect. As for Youtube, that's not my character that I created and designed in someone else's video. Nor may it be the decision path I would make, making me search for other videos of other people's toons.

TL;DR: It's not the same thing.

It probably must have been very depressing for the devs to cut down their content more and more and more and more.

For few years now Bioware seems to screw up on planning part, many projects which looked well on the start had a tragic outcome.

imho I would have liked expansions to be more like ROTHC,

mix of great unique story + daily areas for solo + gorup content and achievements while introducing a REAL new large planet to explore.

One thing I had meant to respond to in the OP was regarding companions. I can't help but question whether they actually did have a concrete plan to bring them back.There were 40 companions total, including 19 love interests. That would be a huge investment. It's been two years now and they have brought back only 6 of them, often with a fairly minimal role. Even taking into account that their plans were drastically cut, they have made us wait so long for so little that I've been wondering whether they ever had any specific plan at launch beyond stalling for time for a while with the mystery of what happened to them (for anyone but Vette, Jorgan, Kaliyo, and Torian).

Maybe they felt they could just deal with the problem (or the fallout of not fixing it) later without having to worry about it for the next few years.

Not to detract from your theory, OP, but there was a post on Reddit a couple of years back now (literally about 2 years now) that seemed to lay out the plans for the game which included what we got in the whole Eternal Throne expansion. Now, it was nuked out of existence since the posting (though I'm sure some here may remember it) but a lot of what was on that post actually did transpire.

I think the most notable exceptions were-- SWTOR has not gone multi-platform. There was something in there that had suggested that would happen. And the other part was that, if I remember correctly, at the end of FEET >>best expansion abrv ever!<< we were to be grand fathered into a new game of sorts. IE... maybe not what you'd call SWTOR 2... but the game would change into almost a new mmorpg. It has been awhile since I got to read the post.

Anyway, I'll just agree that it seems like there was indeed a plan in there somewhere-- and the execution and player reception didn't quite go how they expected?

If FEET failed anywhere though it is that it leaned too much on what SWTOR couldn't deliver from launch. IE... each class was always suppose to have it's own story going forward. As the reality set in though... we wound up with one generic story shared by all classes no matter what you play.

Not to say it was stinky FEET... I did kind of enjoy the story myself. But you may well be right on some of it OP. On other parts of it? I think there was something bigger in the works and it just kind of fell flat on it's face somewhere.

One thing I had meant to respond to in the OP was regarding companions. I can't help but question whether they actually did have a concrete plan to bring them back.There were 40 companions total, including 19 love interests. That would be a huge investment. It's been two years now and they have brought back only 6 of them, often with a fairly minimal role. Even taking into account that their plans were drastically cut, they have made us wait so long for so little that I've been wondering whether they ever had any specific plan at launch beyond stalling for time for a while with the mystery of what happened to them (for anyone but Vette, Jorgan, Kaliyo, and Torian).

 

Maybe they felt they could just deal with the problem (or the fallout of not fixing it) later without having to worry about it for the next few years.

I'm not saying you are wrong. I just find it hard to believe that BW/EA could have such an attitude of "We don't care what our players (customers) think. We're going to do something we already know they will terribly hate", on such a grand level.

It's pretty apparent from the game's history that BW/EA takes on that attitude at times.

And, "the next few years" could be said to have already passed. KOTFE was released in 2015, and here it is basically, Q4 of 2017. Alot of the fan favorites still haven't returned.

I'm saying, I find it hard to believe they would have that attitude on such a high level. It's a whole new level of arrogance that I really honestly can't even put into words.

I find it believable that they didn't have a concrete plan to return ALL companions, but surely they had concrete plans to return at the very least most of the fan favorites. Alot of us are still waiting on Kira. Anyone heard anything like if Kira's voice actor is still interested in voicing Kira or moved to something else?

Tangent: I honestly don't see why they haven't brought back Khem Val. He's not a personal favorite of mine, but his voice acting is pretty much the same like 5 lines just repeated. You don't even need to do new voice recordings. I find that odd. I understand if there is a delay or even no return of Jaesa Willsaam. I heard her voice actor got pregnant and then started something else. Unless BW/EA feels they can get Jaesa Willsaam's VA in the studio maybe like next year or something, I say just give a cut scene where they explain how she died or show her in her new life (no lines of dialogue) with a narrator explaining what she's doing. (You can say that's already been sort of done, in the sense that Master Ranos gives a few lines of vague dialogue about Jaesa). Basically, give closure to her character if Jaesa's VA (or any character's VA) is just unavailable for SWTOR for however long SWTOR has left.

Not to detract from your theory, OP, but there was a post on Reddit a couple of years back now (literally about 2 years now) that seemed to lay out the plans for the game which included what we got in the whole Eternal Throne expansion. Now, it was nuked out of existence since the posting (though I'm sure some here may remember it) but a lot of what was on that post actually did transpire.

 

I think the most notable exceptions were-- SWTOR has not gone multi-platform. There was something in there that had suggested that would happen. And the other part was that, if I remember correctly, at the end of FEET >>best expansion abrv ever!<< we were to be grand fathered into a new game of sorts. IE... maybe not what you'd call SWTOR 2... but the game would change into almost a new mmorpg. It has been awhile since I got to read the post.

 

Anyway, I'll just agree that it seems like there was indeed a plan in there somewhere-- and the execution and player reception didn't quite go how they expected?

 

If FEET failed anywhere though it is that it leaned too much on what SWTOR couldn't deliver from launch. IE... each class was always suppose to have it's own story going forward. As the reality set in though... we wound up with one generic story shared by all classes no matter what you play.

 

Not to say it was stinky FEET... I did kind of enjoy the story myself. But you may well be right on some of it OP. On other parts of it? I think there was something bigger in the works and it just kind of fell flat on it's face somewhere.

Some years ago I heard the rumor about how SWTOR was planning on releasing pretty much a "SWTOR 2" and how we would be able to import our character into "SWTOR 2". At the time I thought that the guy who said this was just living in the land of unicorns and leprechauns.

But seriously, if BW/EA just has the 16 voice actors for the PC (8 classes times 2 genders) sitting around the studio or can easily be called in to do voice records AND they have the additional voices of NPCs from KOTFE and KOTET, plus the new voice actors (voices for Senya, Arcann, etc), then there is no excuse why they couldn't do class stories for each of the 8 classes. Of course, each class story wouldn't be as big as the original class stories from vanilla. But, you do like a chapter or 2 for each class and then just continue from there for each expansion or update. Or something. If you use a little creativity, BW/EA could have made class stories happen. Unfortunately, judging by the quality of the story since KOTFE ch 10 (I maintain that KOTFE ch 1-9 were pretty good; after that though, the quality of the story went downhill fast), they are lacking in the creativity department.