Bad feeling about lack of "Expansion" news

I'm pretty sure we're going to see new flashpoints and ops, and I'm pretty surer we'll see a new crafting tier. they've not announced anything but I can't see them raiseing the level cap without doing it. just because they've not said "DO THIS RAID" doesn't mean it's not gonna be deployed.

I wouldn't say there's any innovation, but WoW and other MMOs seem convinced that leveling is something awful that needs to be rushed through as quickly as possible to get to the real game.

But they never really had a good plan about how they could possibly update all these fully voice-acted personal stories and keep them fresh.

Players come to SWTOR to play out a story about being a Jedi hero or Sith arch-villain, and then leave when the story ends.

Details are murky but this expansion seems to have 1 planetary storyline which not only won't continue player stories, but will have even less replay value then the 8 playable stories that came before. And since even Bioware isn't promising that it's at all comparable to a real expansion, it's hard not to be skeptical.

Perhaps the 5 levels will be just that... 5 more levels. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that this means new and better gear, the next tier etc. but this isn't necessarily the case. We may very well see new 'looking' gear with a level 55 requirement but similar if not identical stats to current BIS gear. Would they really force people to buy the expansion if it meant the difference between having access to the best gear? Think about it.

If I were to wager a guess, I would say most of the new (and better) stuff will not be released when RotHC goes live, they will stagger the content giving us the planet and new level cap first, introduce some new dailies later on (as well as sgr, cosmetics, other silly things), then add the new abilities/skill tree points, then an op/wz or two, and when things settle down (expansion sales decline) they will introduce an 'Access Makeb' unlock in the cartel market along with the next tier so it is available to all, effectively screwing over everyone who initially bought it with money instead of the coins they may have already had at the time. I totally expect something shady like this coming from them but hopefully I will be proved wrong. Am I being pessimistic? Sure. Could the release be disastrous amidst misinformation and broken expectations? Maybe. Would it be to both parties benefit if they gave the community more (meaningful) information before the end of February? IMO, yes, definitely.

Couple of things worth mentioing
-new level 55 gear will not be BIS. The Devs have said it BH/Campaign and Dread Guard will still be used. Just my opinion, the best gear given out (not including new HMs or OPs) may be better than Columi, but that's it. Dread Guard is equal to level 63, Campaign/BH is equal to level 61, Rakata is equal to 58, Columi is equal to 56 and Tionesse is equal to 51. So at best the purple SM gear may be equal to Columi or even fall just short. There's really no need to increase the stats of the level 55 gear beyond that considering how many casual players have BH, due to how many coms you can get in a week w/o doing a single operation.
-I'd be shocked and very dissappointed if this expansion only included 5 new levels and 1 planet of faction stories. I think at minimum, this expansion will include a new and larger operation. I'm not a hardcore raider, but I know the raiders want an operation with more than 5 bosses, maybe as many as 10. If Bioware decides to stay with 5 boss operations, then 2 is a possibility. I'd also expect a few flashpoints tuned to level 55. HMs for Hmmer Station, Athiss, Mandalorian Raiders, Cademinu, Colocoid War Games and Red Reeper tuned to level 55 would be ideal.
-I can do w/o crafting. Nothing we make should be BIS, and as long as we can RE new raid items to learn those schematics, the I would be fine.
-Companion stories likely will not be expanded this go around and not untill class stories are continued.
-Likely 2 warzones as well. I don't pvp, so that's definately an after thought for me

and fwiw, w/o this expansion you will be left behind. You can likely still do TFB HM and EC HM/NiM, but you will likely have a hard to finding a group unless your guild is running it.

Why should they be telling us anything? If they were advertising it more someone would be ************ that they are over hyping it to sell more preorders before release.

I am not expecting a level increase till 2.0, which in an ideal world would be close to 18 weeks after 1.7, so June mid or late.

I am expecting that in house at Bioware with the game being named to shareholders as a big earner for EA they have been expanding the workforce. This means a settling time on getting everyone working together, and is exacerbated by Makeb being the big draw card for getting returning players, part of the creation workforce (seperate to the maintenance workforce) has to be alocated to it, while others must be kept for creating and betaing 1.7, 1.8 1.9. Dividing the experianced with new workers slows everying further.

EA may even be pushing this to be more content to get more players in since TOR is no longer an embarrassment to them, leaving the developers and spokesmen in the dark on what exactly will be added between now and release, limiting firther what they should advertise. Or knowing EA they are going to advertise big rather than make content and so another multi million dollar video is in the works that will be nice but also tell us nothing of the content.

I am not expecting new ops or flashpoints, because this is where we should be seeing the nightmare modes with new mechanics for EV and KP, and probably NiM Flashpoint versions to bolster elder game choice for Group finder. A new warzone would be nice but could as easily be in 2.1

And finally not that one can keep secrets in an internet world but if they did have a secret draw card, it is way too early to be advertising it with rival companies able to copy and release similar first.

I see the deveopers are fairly quiet on the forums and minimal advertising for a big upcoming release that is months away, not the end of the world.

Its simple really. They have more important things to think about. Cartel Market and what crap they can fool people to buy on it. Thats what all their resources and money goes into, nothing else. Wake up people.

*Yawn*
Still posting the same thing over and over I see.

That doesn't make him wrong.

I agree with what will be there but my thoughts drift to this old video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdgVap9yQig

A brief preview of the raid hinting at boss encounters using in-game footage with a bit of the lore behind it. Give us some hints at the new raids and content, what we'll be fighting along with some hints as to WHY we'll be fighting it. The story is held as incredibly important, so the reasons why we go to the various places matter a great deal to me.

Considering that Bioware has already begun to take people's money for this content I would argue that the "cannot promote due to over-hyping" excuse no longer applies.

Bioware has taken, and is asking for more, player money for Makeb.

Ergo, it is time to give us more information about it.

Unlike many I do not blindly purchase items simply because a brand or developer name is attached to it.

However, as it is likely Makeb will seriously alter End Game balance through potential new gear, abilities, skills, and perhaps crafting it is going to be a required purchase for anyone in a Guild and with plans to continue playing competitively.