Trust me, I know the devs have spoken when it comes to the continuation of class stories.

From the Cantina Tour Chicago:

They do not forsee Class stories as they have been going forward. (No link, but I was there and asked this question myself - needless to say, the answer felt at best, narrowminded, as if I was asking to continue class stories as they were exactly)

From the Cantina Tour Germany:

7.They rather do planetary story arcs, than class stories, because the group experience is better, when playing through them (like on Makeb)

However, there are a number of things surrounding these that just haven't been clarified, or at least haven't been properly addressed, and I'd love it if Eric or one of the other Community people could jump in and clarify, or at least take this back to the design team, that is, if enough people here on the forums support a return of class stories IN SOME FORM.

Things I feel haven't properly been addressed:

ITEM 1

• When the game launched, and leading up to the game, the selling point, the big hook for this game was STORY. Your own story where YOU were the hero. Now, to some degree, you could see that as being fulfilled in the class quests 1-50. However, there is a problem. A number of the class quests leave quite a few loose ends (Sith Warrior and Imperial Agent come immediately to mind), and although Makeb really was a lot of fun, the throwaway lines there to your class story feel cheap, worthless, throwaway in a lame effort to placate story fans, and actually a bit of a slap in the face to those who got the game for the story and wanted to see how their story integrated with Makeb.
  

I get why the devs would lean towards group story content. This is in no way knocking that, and yes, more group story content please. But given some of the variances of class story, can a better job be done in terms of the writing to better integrate class story endings into the group content other then "Hi Dark Council Member! Now here's your grunt work."

Examples:

1) Sith Warrior :

2) Imperial Agent:

Both of those at LEAST acknowledge what was done in the class story, and feel less cheap than just a throwaway line at the beginning of the quest line.

ITEM 2

• Whenever its been brought up about stories and class quests, the impression I get is that the developers think we are asking for, lets say, a continuation of the existing class stories with the pacing and handholding through levelling. That was the impression I got from the response in Chicago and the same impression I get reading the response in Germany.
  

What's never been clearly answered is why can't there be more class stories that just act also as a part of the larger group story?

For example. Say you are a bounty hunter. The next "group questline" is about the Empire hiring out people (including you) to lay siege to planet x in order to obtain artifact Y for the Empire. That's the group quest. What's wrong with 2 or 3 class stories while you are there that intertwine with the group story? In this case, you find out a high credit mark is hiding on this war torn planet in question, and take the job with the Empire BECAUSE you have a mark down there, and leveraging the empire to get access makes the most sense? Then you do your group quests to lay siege to whereever, until you get a com call from Mako letting you know she found the mark, he's a member of the resistance, and you need to do XYZ to prepare, so on to the next class quest. Finally, on the last leg of the group quest, one of your "bonus objectives" is the mark, so you can do that quest (and your party is there so they can help too if they want) on your way to completing the final group objective. Then the group quest is done, and on your ship you collect and get a class quest sendoff for that leg of it.

In that example, most of your levelling is being done via the group quest, but you get 2-3 class missions that coinside with the group mission and make sense in the greater context of the story. Thats about less than half, maybe even a quarter or less than a quarter of a planet's worth of class quests.

Is there a reason why that isn't a possibility, so that at least our personal story can still move forward while still engaging and levelling mainly on "group" story content?

Sorry if this is long-winded, but enough people care about this, and obviously in multiple locations if the same type of questions are being asked in 2 different cities halfway across the world from each other.

Here's hoping for at least a response, if not a civil dialogue on the subject and perhaps some light shed on why we can't (or can we?) have some class stories moving forward, respect to design timelines included.

The SW was well aware the emperor is dead, didn't you get the mail? Also he knows darth marr.

The Emperor's VOICE is dead. He is searching for a replacement, which is why he is out of commission at the moment and using his hands to communicate his will with the Wrath. That was what were in the emails.

The VOICE is what was killed at the end of the Jedi Knight Storyline, NOT the emperor himself as the Knight was led to believe.

You missed the point of the OP. There are solutions out there that don't involve an all or nothing approach to class stories.

Exactly. and what's frustrating is the dev seemed to miss the point I was trying to make as well when I asked him with my cantina crawl question in Chicago.

It doesn't even need to be every release of a new planet - every other one works - alternate. And keep in mind what I said in item 1 about better writing that respects the class stories, not pithy throwaway lines that slap you in the face and minimalize your story 1-50.

I support more individual class and companion story, even if it's just a few quests per planet. I think I've raised enough of a ruckus on the forum with my thoughts and feelings on the topic, but I will continue to pursue this with the utmost persistence, because it's important to me, and others, and was what brought many of us to the game.

The platform for this game was 'you are the hero of your own unique adventure'....I don't feel terribly unique in in any of my guises as the classes I play (I play all of them in all degrees of experience m/f, light/dark etc) with material like Makeb. I've no issue with stuff like Makeb as content, but there must also be the continuation of our class stories and companion stories.

The replay-ability factor of material like Makeb is practically nil. I've been thru this planet five times with different classes, and quite honestly, I can fathom getting a root canal before I can fathom going through it a sixth or seventh time.

Oh, I'd love to hear a developer or Erickson spin this. But I seriously doubt we'll get EA to admit the obvious; that there are additional chapters written, and likely recorded, but EA is not interested in devoting the resources to pushing them out. I absolutely, 100% believe they intended to continue at launch, but they were scrapped when the game went F2P. That's why your loading screen said "Interlude."

It's obvious to many (although some may disagree) that almost all of the stories lack the definitive closure necessary for EA to get away with "Yeah, no more class stories." Cases in point as noted by the OP: Agent, Warrior. Also, I have no idea how they'll get around the fact that a Dark Council/Jedi Council member is running around doing grunt work. Or why the best smuggler in the galaxy is doing fetch quests without the promise of an enormous payoff.

Honestly, I would have been happy with 1 or 2 more class-specific quest chains to place our characters in a position to logically explain why they are doing what they are doing, maybe similar to the seeker droid quest, but class-specific. Not even full chapters; just a little freaking closure. An in-game mail once in a while. Anything. And that's not even getting into the issue that players have married companions that have simply stopped speaking to them, with no plans to correct that, either. Sad, sad, sad.

Again, some may disagree, but IMHO, these are huge issues that are a deal-breaker for me. There was a way for EA to transition 8 individual stories to 2 faction-based story arcs. The way it was done was the worst way possible. And that makes me totally uninterested in continuing to play.

The way it is now, class storylines are dead. You've reached the pinnacle with your character in almost every class (with the exception of a few) and it'll only go downhill from there. I'm one of those who bought this game for the story and I've long given up hope that I will meet the emperor with my SW or have an actual discussion in the dark council with my Inquisitor and plan the war or even command war assets as you supposedly do.

It's pretty clear that the original 1 to 50 storylines were made by ambitious people who wanted to do more with it, and they were good even if some storylines had a few weak or predictable moments.

Bioware's or EA's understanding of story is now a planetary quest line where you still slave your behind off and just get a handshake or a pat on the shoulder in the end and none the wiser. You just scratched the surface and everyone loves you and this and that but there's no real satisfaction in the end, no parade, no cheering, no drowds cheering your name. It's all fine when you play a modest type. But what's wrong with a crowd cowering in front of a warrior, a bunch of high officials kneeling for an inquisitor, troopers cheering on their major, etc...

All of their promotional vids are flashy and heroic but there nothing of that past the original storyline anymore.

Now ofcourse even in the original storyline there were faults, or so I think. I found the lack of impact from some of your choices annoying. Yes, there were some great choice moments with impact but a lot of the choices are either "good/bad" leave no room for anyone who wants to do it differently, and mostly the choices never last longer than 3 quests later where you're confronted with the result of your choice and you then permanently end it.

There is no longer any YOU in the story, but THEM, US or WE. The galaxy, governments, political institutions, academies etc do no longer care what you did for them. Be it saving the faction or conquering the galaxy, you're just one of the many and the only reflection of your past accomplishments are things like; "My Lord.." "I've heard a great deal about you..." "OH my, it's you!!" but that's it.

I'd love to hear some developper's reaction on this thread but I'm sure their answers will leave you with more questions than answers about this topic. Should they decide to actually give it another go, I sincerely hope they'll ask some feedback from the community, as in what would you like to do with your character? But for now, we'll have to wait and see, swallow some more dread master stuff

and see what comes after that.

I don't believe I've posted in the forums before, but let me just say that I too am questioning my subscription (at least) to the game, given this obvious developer - or more likely producer - disinterest in the class story project.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the game and I've enjoyed it since pre-launch, but as mentioned above, this is a game about "your story". My story is e.g. my Sith Inquisitor's story, sensitive to what he is and what he uniquely does and who he uniquely knows, such that the Avengers-style interludes (to my mind) like Makeb can somehow matter.

Otherwise it's like that stereotypical old washout for whom every new experience is a chance to reminisce about the old days (that time you killed X or did Y in the 1-50 story). There's no narrative development: just extended plot.

All that said, and given the reality of the producers' reluctance to invest in class stories (which I think can be taken for granted), the kind of 'intercalated class story' the OP describes does seem to be the only viable solution.

No class stories will fundamentally hurt the motivation of many of us to play, and also to pay to customise our character (to what end, besides looking cool in arenas?) - and lead to unsubscribing, and significant loss of profit.

Not to mention I don't envy SWTOR's fortunes when the next generation of emergent-gameplay MMOs shows up.

Developing 4 (x2) class stories seems too much for the Bioware Austin team to stomach financially. Fair enough.

But: develop one story, use your instance technology (see: personal starships) to give Inquisitors, Warriors, etc. something to do that is unique to them as part of that story, have an old friend cameo in it, keep subscribers.

(Or at least myself. It won't take more than such relatively meagre effort to keep me, and I don't think I'm alone.)

This really is the red line marking SWTOR's reputation as a story-based MMO, or a has-been story-based MMO. Could we have some indication of whether Bioware Austin is willing to entertain an intercalated approach? Eric? Courtney?

They're not going to start a dialogue because they have nothing else to say.

Stories are free to play, so they aren't going to be making any more.

It makes me sad, it makes me angry, but it's the reality.

Makeb was pretty short, and that was for everyone. Imagine if it had been 1/4 the length.

They're not going to start a dialogue because they have nothing else to say.

I'm sure they do, if we start leaving the game that's paying their salaries.

(And less cynically, it's possible they care about satisfying their customers with token gestures, such as what the OP and myself are discussing. By no means is full reinstatement of those infamous four datamined planets on the table.)

Edit: But nor is Makeb enough. There's 'token gesture' and there's a token of a token, as it were.

 

Stories are free to play, so they aren't going to be making any more.

That in itself isn't an excuse: They can charge for an expansion of class story, just like they charged for an expansion of two faction stories on Makeb.

They just can't afford to pay all the writers and Q&A to develop that scale of diverging storylines anymore.

They're not going to start a dialogue because they have nothing else to say.

 

Stories are free to play, so they aren't going to be making any more.

 

It makes me sad, it makes me angry, but it's the reality.

 

Makeb was pretty short, and that was for everyone. Imagine if it had been 1/4 the length.

Then let them come here and definitively say that.

Rather than trusting player angst, I'd rather have a dialogue with the devs on player class stories and also think if there is enough positive support here, maybe they might alter their thinking enough to at least allow a continuation of the class story.

Either way, it would be nice to get some direct feedback as pertains to the items I mentioned.

That in itself isn't an excuse: They can charge for an expansion of class story, just like they charged for an expansion of two faction stories on Makeb.

 

They just can't afford to pay all the writers and Q&A to develop that scale of diverging storylines anymore.

See Item 2 though - they don't have to be that diverging anymore in order to continue the class story, nor do they need to be the main levelling vehicle as they were 1-50.

The class storylines are a huge part of the game. It does take a lot of time and money to continue them. If this game stayed sub only and kept at least 500k+ subs, then I would bet there would be a continuation of class stories. But there just isn't that income or time now that the CM is the focus and then the other content that keeps needing to be done. They can say they feel people want the grouping more etc. but imo I think it is just an excuse because they can't just say, "Well we don't have the time or money to continue to do class stories so we had to take another route."

I am sure if they did an in-game poll, more people would want class stories to continue vs how Makeb was.

Maybe on a major expansion they will but who knows.

This goes for probably why no new classes will be introduced. They will need to completely do a whole new storyline for them lvl 1-50. Not saying they won't ever add one, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

If they continue just focusing on world arcs, then each class should at least get SOME class-specific stuff. An intro cutscene w/ convo, one or two missions exclusive to them diverging from the main world arc, and an end cutscene w/ convo. That and at least one new companion quest or something, but failing that, some dialogue from them during a conversation or something at least.

But yeah, as I said in another thread, some developer input on the subject would be great. (Particularly if they actually take any of this into consideration)

The class storylines are a huge part of the game. It does take a lot of time and money to continue them. If this game stayed sub only and kept at least 500k+ subs, then I would bet there would be a continuation of class stories. But there just isn't that income or time now that the CM is the focus and then the other content that keeps needing to be done. They can say they feel people want the grouping more etc. but imo I think it is just an excuse because they can't just say, "Well we don't have the time or money to continue to do class stories so we had to take another route."

 

I am sure if they did an in-game poll, more people would want class stories to continue vs how Makeb was.

 

Maybe on a major expansion they will but who knows.

 

This goes for probably why no new classes will be introduced. They will need to completely do a whole new storyline for them lvl 1-50. Not saying they won't ever add one, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

There's a flaw with your thinking. That being the devs have already stated the CM team and the content team are two distinctly separate teams, and the CM team in no way affects the timeline on what the content team can do.

To put it bluntly, EA don't have the manpower and do not want to waste excessive amount of time and money for content that will be cleared in < 10 hours.

EA only cares about luring gullible customers to keep purchasing gambling packs, hence one of the reason why EA keep hashing out re-skinned pack as "new".

If they continue just focusing on world arcs, then each class should at least get SOME class-specific stuff. An intro cutscene w/ convo, one or two missions exclusive to them diverging from the main world arc, and an end cutscene w/ convo. That and at least one new companion quest or something, but failing that, some dialogue from them during a conversation or something at least.

 

But yeah, as I said in another thread, some developer input on the subject would be great. (Particularly if they actually take any of this into consideration)

Exactly what I said. And they can even do it in every other planet release, which is fine by me. And on the planets they don't do it on, they really need to do a much better job of writing and remaining faithful to the events of the class stories in the dialogue.

Exactly what I said. And they can even do it in every other planet release, which is fine by me. And on the planets they don't do it on, they really need to do a much better job of writing and remaining faithful to the events of the class stories in the dialogue.

Eh, to be honest I have doubt that expansions would come often enough that every other planet would be satisfying. It could be said beggars can't be choosers, but I'd REALLY prefer they give us at least that kind of thing on EVERY new planet release.

To put it bluntly, EA don't have the manpower and do not want to waste excessive amount of time and money for content that will be cleared in < 10 hours.

 

EA only cares about luring gullible customers to keep purchasing gambling packs, hence one of the reason why EA keep hashing out re-skinned pack as "new".

Then let them say that.

My point being - you don't know. There are people who have theories and angst, and outright anger, but none of that means they have an inside look into the inner workings of Bioware and their thought process - just their anger and their opinions.

Hence why I would love for there to be some dialogue. Takes the guessing game right out. And to be honest, I am far less trusting of a player with a chip on their shoulder than I am a dev of the game.

I do hope they've read this, are willing to come and discuss, and so on. And I want to keep this civil. It's less of a "scream at the devs" thread and more of a "are you aware of the large class story sentiment, are there options (and are the ones I listed for instance, feasible?)" Its a call for dialogue and understanding, not of mechanics or the upcoming game stuff, but of the current Bioware philosophy and is it possible to move them even a little from their current thinking, and if not, help the players to understand why we can't even in part have some continuation of the class story going forward.

Anyway, I think this is a heady enough topic that if they did choose to respond, they'd probably have people to talk to, have to triple check what they can and cannot say, and would be trying hard to craft a response that both satisfies the powers that be in the building by not revealing anything crucial, while still giving enough meat that those reading have enough to interact on. Something like that will take time. The community team have jobs to do, and busy ones, after all, so if there is any dev movement on this, I would expect it no earlier than today and more likely later in the week, if they choose to respond (which they might not to, sadly).

But I think the key is, if we want them to respond, people really need to voice their support for class stories in a noticable but respectful manner, and would like it if that can provide some leverage in starting an ongoing discussion on the subject.

Eh, to be honest I have doubt that expansions would come often enough that every other planet would be satisfying. It could be said beggars can't be choosers, but I'd REALLY prefer they give us at least that kind of thing on EVERY new planet release.

The thing to keep in mind, is that they probably are actually very far along on the dev cycle on the next planet, maybe the next TWO, so its entirely possible that even if we did sway them, we likely wouldn't see changes until 3 story planets out.

Its something to keep in mind and keep perspective on, but I'd wait if it meant the return of class stories in some form, even as a part of the greater planetary story.

If nothing else, this thread is a call for their writers to step up their game as well, in addition to asking for a return of class stories in some form.