What's the difference between an EXPANSION and a PATCH ?

That is how every other software market except gaming would see it.

New features for free.

This expansion pack is going for $9.99 for subscribers, there is not time limit or pre-order limit to this price for subscribers. Free to play will get it at a cost of $19.99. I also disagree with the OP in that the expansion packs for most games such as WoW, Guild Wars, DoD online, and Everquest all cost upwards of $39.99 and in the Free to play models such as Guild Wars upwards of $49.99 per expansion. While this expansion does not seem in line with the amount of content other expansions for other games has, the price is comparable. I see it as especially comparable seeing how SWTOR gives content such as Warzones, OPs, and armor without the cost of an expansion pack whether subbed or not.

In other words, quit ************. If you do not find value in the expansion pack do not buy it. If you aren't happy with the game after you make the decision not to purchase the expansion i suggest finding or going back to a different game. I do not want to see people leave this game since the population determines how long i will continue being able to play, but i get so sick of the horrible communities in MMO's.

Well they have stated, in their defense, that they will be releasing a lot more information on the expansion as it nears.

In TOR's case, the difference is 10 dollars.

your expectations are too high. you need to stop comparing everything to wow. the word "expansion" will have a new meaning for this game since it is being redefined now by its content. get over your self as soon it will have a new meaning when it comes to this game.

not every "expansion" needs races, character classes and skills. this is a wow only mindset. it was and still is unattainable in most mmos even today.

Don't forget male and female voice actors for the 8 classes , it's not 8 but 16.

I think Wz's and Op's are all part of what we pay a sub for so they will come and I think THIS expansion is worth $9.99 or $19.99. It's especially worth it for how I have been playing the game , i wanted a level cap increase and welcome it with open arms.

Cheers,

BadOrb.

all these would be nice and I'd love it if we get Cathars along with Makeb and a few Ops, WZs and/or FPs.

theoretically in this game we'll never get a new class as they would have to write fresh chapters 1, 2, & 3 for them with complete voice acting. Otherwise a new class would come across as shallow and not even worth the effort since the major selling point in TOR is story. In any other MMO where the story is the same for every class this could be done but in TOR with the emphasis on story that would be a huge cash and development sink. They'd likely charge way more than 20 USD for an expansion with a new class because it'd be so expensive to develop.

New ACs might be possible but I don't really see a need for it since it would just mess with the AC balance we have. I'd rather them work on fine tuning the existing ACs further and/or adding new dynamics to game play. Particularly if those new dynamics allowed us to customize weapon loadouts/fighting styles to further make each character unique without sacrificing class utility to do so.

This I would like to see, especially if it was stuff like giving Shadow DPS the opportunity to be more martial and less Force power based just to add a variety of game play. Heck even if the only new ability was to implement a KOTOR style dual wield (ie where dual wield applies to both dual sabers & DBLS and of course allow this to work similarly for blaster based weaponry) it'd be worth it in my book just because we'd have so many more options to customize the look of our characters.

Like classes this would be a massive undertaking as they'd have to write an entire faction Level 1-50 story line, add new areas to existing planets (as otherwise it'll get way too crowded), or create a boat load of brand new faction exclusive planets (unwise as players of the original factions will feel left out of a lot of brand new content) and do a lot of voice acting. They'd also have to find some way to make it not seem odd that the original two factions go along merrily with their class/faction quests never once mentioning this other faction. While it would be nice, for a story driven game like TOR there's just no way this could be done well without months or years of development. It'll also cost us a heck of a lot of money if they do this because it would be like developing an entirely new game.

This I believe they already said will come and that will be nice to have.

sounds to me like your setting yiour self up for dissappointment. especially as there have been plenty of expansions that have released without these new features

I see, so in actuality, if your a subscriber paying $15.00 and purchase the game, you will pay an additional $10.00 making your monthly total for that month, $25.00

Meanwhile the non-subscriber will pay $20.00 for the month.

So I just paid $5.00 more, and I am giving them money monthly. Maybe I should stop subscribing.

And for the record, no matter what discount they offer, at the end of the day, the content is valued at $19.99 because that's what a non-subscriber would pay for it. The fact that you are already paying $15.00 a month as a subscriber and still required to pay for content, is not a good thing, especially when it's $5.00 more then a person not paying at all.

I hope the developers are smart enough to fill this "EXPANSION" with benefits for subscribers.

I call it an Xpac because of the level cap increase & the expanded skill trees. I think that's only real difference. In the last 12 monthes patchs have given us the BH and Section X land areas ~ so land area isn't really a distinction.

The whole purpose of the announcement is so BW can get feedback on what the community expects for their money for an Xpac. If players would pay $40 for a 5 level cap increase and nothing more - we'd have to pay $40 to get it. Bottom line is RotHC probably isn't even closed to complete yet. I'll be VERY surprised if it goes live before March.

While I think the Op is more than a little cray-cray if they think we'll get all that for $10 or $20, for that price I would expect to see the following.

1) Makeb
2) 5 levels, 5 new skills per tree, 5 new levels of blues/greens, and ONE new tier of PVE gear
3) Thunderca... I mean Cathar (just because that content is probably already finished)
4) 1 new WZ ~ just to give the PvP crowd a reason to buy
5) IF they are feeling generous maybe 1 new SM FP -
6) IF BENEVOLENT AND LOVING GREMLINS HAVE OVERRUN BW - we'll get a SM OP or a HM of the new FP

I doubt very seriously there will be any OPs or space missions in the xpac. Hopefully NiM content will be enough to keep people busy once they hit BiS gear. At least until they produce another OP.

Sometime in 2013 patches will probably include HM versions of hammer station, athis, mandalorian raiders, or red reaper.
We we probably also get 1 more OP, a nightmare mode, and a WZ. Otherwise everything else is going to be cartel shop items.

Keep in mind that a chunk of Makeb is going to be a dialy area, and that at least 30% of area will be inteded for use by the oposit faction. Even a big planet shrinks dramatically when you never go to a third of it, on any particular toon.