Page 15 and I still don't really know what to respond. Let me put it friendly like that:

 

I don't believe one single yellow word in this thread until he proves that it's true this time.

 

The same happened around February 2017. No, wait. 2016. No, wait. 2015. No, wait. 2014. No, wait, 2013. Every year the same. When they notice that they have overdone (more like underdone) things too badly, they try to calm us down. Been there, done that.

 

I have never had the impression that our community manager was managing his community. And if I interpret his latest messages right, he is less limited in his methods than we speculated through the years (which we did in his defense). It's actually his choice to handle things like he does.

 

Since he mentioned that they have one new community team employee since last year, I really wonder how it is possible that even with double manpower, their output halved. Unbelievably bad job imo. There is no way to sugarcoat it.

 

My prediction: We will see increased yellow texts here throughout March. Starting April, things will get "back to normal". All the time I think of this quote:

 

"The same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?"

"The same procedure as every year, James."

 

I'd be positively surprised if they prove me wrong. Given our experience, everyone should lower their expectations. That's my response.

 

^ This.

 

Eric has basically gone for the "we'll tell them we really mean it this time" approach - it worked the previous 5 times we had no intention of changing how we communicate.

 

Fool me once....

 

Words are pointless... ...we are our DEEDS.

 

All The Best

The same happened around February 2017. No, wait. 2016. No, wait. 2015. No, wait. 2014. No, wait, 2013. Every year the same. When they notice that they have overdone (more like underdone) things too badly, they try to calm us down. Been there, done that.

 

Maybe that with the Anthem fail and bad notes from professional game sites, Bioware is trying to save its *** with SWTOR ...

Is it?

How many previous times have we been told they are going to be more communicative?

Has it ever actually happened?

 

Throwing in an anecdotal excuse doesn't change a damn thing.

Only a change of behaviour does.

 

All The Best

 

I waited all weekend in the hope he would actually post on Monday and he did. +1 point. He only needs 99 to get the weekly community forum challenge complete

I figure if we don’t give him some room to prove there will be a change, then he won’t change. I think we feel the same as you do, now it’s up to him to show us he means it.

So I’ll be polite and give him this final chance and I hope for the actual game’s sake that he is serious. If not, well, you reap what you sow.

Edited February 26, 2019 by TrixxieTriss

Since everyone here for the most part said all there is to say and I fully agree with them, I have only one question left to ask....."Soooo, what is the next "well thought group content that Keith and his raid group are going to waste this game's resources on?" (insert sarcasm or not).....seriously tho, I feel bad I always leave my sub to 6 month renewal and the renewal was little before the disaster JUS. Havent logged since i've done the 20min excuse of a story on 2 chars. Before that at least I could do GSF and PvP for gear in GC.

But keep it up devs....making content for a very small percentage of the populace always ends up well (see 2017 and 2018 for example)! Cant wait for the next thing Keith's raid group has in store for this game! (insert sarcasm or not).

Whoever made decision about this game's direction for the last 2 and a half years should be ashamed. Much wow, much incompetence.

Maybe that with the Anthem fail and bad notes from professional game sites, Bioware is trying to save its *** with SWTOR ...

I also found it rather coincidental that Eric decided to post just as Ben Irving was getting lambasted on Reddit for his Anthem loot box nerf...suddenly, SWTOR players seem to matter...

 

/yawn

I hope they are still watching this thread and I hope they read your post, I really do. I have complicated feelings on this subject. My husband is, coincidentally, trying to make a small sci-fi rpg in his spare time and we discuss topics like this every day. I'll put this part of the post in spoiler tags because it's only symbolically related to the topic.

 

 

My husband is a fantastic storyteller, he always has been, he has crazy, fun, funny, smart, interesting ideas. But he's a guy, and he writes like a guy. So many things that we've come to expect in BW storytelling can be found in his writing. From the default perspective being male, to hot female LIs and side characters, to jokey/ugly/throwaway male side characters - it's all there. It just comes out that way, it's what he is and what he knows, it's not conscious and it's definitely not deliberate. The difference is that unlike BW, my husband is, well, interactive. He likes to hear my opinions, he wants to know how to make his game fun for me too.

 

My opinion is pretty simple: Everything he enjoys about a story is everything I enjoy about a story. Nothing, after our discussions, about the main story has changed over time, whatsoever. A few small tweaks here and there is all it takes to make me feel valued. Little things like the LI for a female pc being hot, and non-disposable. Like, just a couple of those previously weird, uh, high concept side characters are now flirty and cute because I like eye candy too.

 

I'm not complicated OR special, and I require no "girl stuff" scenes if they don't already exist for guys. Everything bad that happens to the male pc should happen to me. And everything good should too. That's pretty much it. I'm not an elaborate puzzle or an unsolvable mystery.

 

 

 

I don't know if Bioware cares about giving us an entertaining gaming/story experience. I wouldn't be surprised to find out, some day in the future, that they gave up caring and trying. But let's assume for now that they do care. How much of our misery could have been avoided if, when they were writing their stories, they ranked our happiness one notch above their artistic license?

 

Or maybe the ability to empathize is the problem. If that is the case, perhaps Bioware should not surround themselves with voices and opinions that perfectly mirror their own. Examples of this problem presenting in the storytelling are numerous, for example:

Vette, Pierce and Lana all badmouthing Quinn to the pc with impunity, even though he was/is our spouse and had been forgiven years ago. The Wrath meekly accepts people mocking her spouse?

Things like this were what made kotfe a hideous and upsetting experience for me.

 

I have one last point I'd like to make, quickly, because said husband is waiting for me to hurry up and finish this post so we can watch our show. I'm not perfect at what I'm asking Bioware to be better at. The Theronmancers have pointed out problems in the story that went over even my head, and I thought I was pretty vigilant about these things. But again, one person, or rather perspective, is not enough if your goal is to make your entire playerbase (or even the majority of it) happy. Happy paying playerbase.

Superb feedback. Eric/Devs I hope you take notice of this.

My feedback doesn't matter, but I will go ahead and give it:

 

- RNG seems to have become an obsession with your company, I don't like that.

- I like the content difficulty BEFORE the 4.0 change.

- I liked having PVP gear.

- I don't mind lv sync, but the content difficulty from 1-60 (pre 4.0) needs to at least be somewhat challenging.

- I'm bored and haven't been playing very much daily (1-2 hours or less), and sometimes don't play for 3 days at a time.

- 1-60 content (Pre 4.0) has been the only thrill I've gotten from this game since I joined in 2015, which includes PVP and FP's, and OP's (if I ever decide to give that a try).

- I liked having changeable stances.

- I liked starting out as a base class and changing jobs at level 10.

- I don't like the cookie-cutter, bind-to-slot feature put into 252-258 gear. Is this game becoming an assembly line now?

- And finally..., I'm am sick and tired of Loot Boxes and RNG (For gear) . Yeah yeah i know, there's UC's, but how long does THAT TAKE to even get enough to get one toon fully 248 geared....?

 

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of anything else atm.

 

Edit: - Oh and the Base CXP for Class Quests, Exploration Quests, and Bonus Quests should be at 150 CXP, to at least feel SOMEWHAT rewarding.

Edited February 26, 2019 by ZeroTypeR

^ This.

 

Eric has basically gone for the "we'll tell them we really mean it this time" approach - it worked the previous 5 times we had no intention of changing how we communicate.

 

Fool me once....

 

Words are pointless... ...we are our DEEDS.

 

All The Best

 

BW Customer Services:

Field Marshal Eric has formulated a brilliant new tactical plan to ensure final victory in the excuses war.

 

SW Palyerbase:

Ah. Would this brilliant plan involve feeding us a vision for the future based on a drunken workshop in the local pub where ideas were scribbled down on the back of an old cigerete packet?

And putting at the end of the post “this time we really mean we are going to do it”?

 

BW Customer services:

How could you possibly know that? It's classified information!

 

SW Playerbase:

It's the same plan that you used last time and the seventeen times before that.

 

BW Customer Services:

Exactly! And that is what is so brilliant about it! It will catch the players totally off guard! Doing precisely what we've done eighteen times before is exactly the last thing they'll expect us to do this time! There is, however, one small problem.

 

SW Playerbase:

That everyone always sees through it and leaves to play other games?

 

BW Customer Services:

That's right. And Field Marshal Eric is worried this may be depressing both PVE and PVPer’s a tad.

So he's looking for a way to cheer them up.

 

SW Playerbase:

Well, his resignation and suicide seems the obvious choice.

 

BW Customer Services:

Hmm, interesting thought. We’ll Make a note of it.

 

(Thanks Blackadder)

 

Be Safe

I also found it rather coincidental that Eric decided to post just as Ben Irving was getting lambasted on Reddit for his Anthem loot box nerf...suddenly, SWTOR players seem to matter...

 

/yawn

 

Posts like this remind me of how absolutely ecstatic I was upon learning that he was moved over to Anthem.

Posts like this remind me of how absolutely ecstatic I was upon learning that he was moved over to Anthem.

 

No kidding Best thing to happen to SWTOR ever imo!!!

 

edit: love your sig!!!

Edited February 26, 2019 by TUXs

I think the problem with EA is that they don't know which game type attracts the Loot Box player base. Loot Boxes only work with a certain demographic of player. What makes them think that a BioWare fanboy of DragonAge and Mass Effect wants RNG loot boxes? What makes them think Star Wars fans want RNG loot boxes?

Maybe that with the Anthem fail and bad notes from professional game sites, Bioware is trying to save its *** with SWTOR ...

 

Anthem hasn't failed (yet). And SWTOR can't save Bioware.

 

Yeah, we've heard all this stuff in the past. And more than once.

I don't think this has anything to do with the state of Anthem, this is our annual we will communicate more post. Its a tradition, for a week it lasts, no real information, but dev tracker is more interesting or at least more active then dies off again.

 

While Anthem is perhaps failing in the worst possible way for Swtor, base game good, lack of content. Well they will argue that if they had more devs like the 2 that are left on Swtor they could produce more content. And lets face it they aren't really doing much here other than catering to Keiths raid progression group so its unlikely much of an argument will be made they can't be transferred to Anthem. At least if it had failed on just being awful game play a few extra devs wouldn't make much difference at this point.

Thanks for asking for feedback!

 

As a person who has played since the beginning of the game, I am frustrated and sad that most everything goes into PVP (which I hate) now. Focus on more story content that doesn't require other people for those of us playing solo. What I love about TOR is the open world rpg.

 

Fix all the codex, or just grant the codex and xp for all the old, and broken ones. Achievement chasers (like me) get really frustrated at being denied the satisfaction of completion when codex are messed up. There are broken codex from the start of the game.

 

Fix Felix to quit using Zenith's voice.

 

Allow guilds to be created with two people.

 

Allow subscribers to bind their gear to their legacy, not just character.

Bioware you've changed much over the years...

 

I played your games since around 2003 with the original kOTOR, Jade Empire and those kinds of games are what made you a name in the industry.

 

Sadly nowdays you are making games with big guns, eye candy graphics and loot boxes ? No more memorable characters and story ? I know it's not your choice. Your publisher is obsesses with $$$...

 

Honestly people still want the same thing: Good story, good - gameplay memorable characters, nice world that feels alive. Something they can lose themselves in.

 

If you do the above mentioned things right they won't mind the cash shop... but if the game is more focused on making money over time and has pretty " shallow" content ? Well.. that won't make the players happy and willing to spend.

 

As for SWTOR ? It's really ironic that it is still one of the best games you;ve in this decade and it's a shame you don't seem to be focused on it. I mean you cannot fail with the Star Wars name. Even with all your bad choices over the years we are still here playing this game and that means something doesn't it ?

Almost a week has gone by and nothing from Musco...17 pages worth of replies...0 interaction.

 

The flash staff emblem on these threads are doing their job. Makin it feel like they have our interest at heart while keeping us pre occupied while they try to come up with a new useless thread.

 

Enough with the antics. Give us news. Give us a road map. Do. Your. Job!

Almost a week has gone by and nothing from Musco...17 pages worth of replies...0 interaction.

 

The flash staff emblem on these threads are doing their job. Makin it feel like they have our interest at heart while keeping us pre occupied while they try to come up with a new useless thread.

 

Enough with the antics. Give us news. Give us a road map. Do. Your. Job!

 

Musco and Dan have been active in other threads. Take a look at the Developer Tracker, it hasn't been this active in a while.

Hey folks,

~deleted wall of PR~

With all of that out there… how can we improve?

~snip~

-eric

 

-Stop allowing the exploitation of Activity Finder, primarily the rampant use of lockouts and squelching players who are not guildies. Make the elitists do their fast grinds elsewhere. Why have an Activity Finder if it doesn't find anything

 

-Make the elitist jerks go grind somewhere else for their gear

 

-Stop taking advice and suggestions from elitist jerks who could care less about the general population and 90% of all other content

This is the end folks. They're asking for feedback, and trying nto to be ironic. Its over.

Almost a week has gone by and nothing from Musco...17 pages worth of replies...0 interaction.

 

The flash staff emblem on these threads are doing their job. Makin it feel like they have our interest at heart while keeping us pre occupied while they try to come up with a new useless thread.

 

Enough with the antics. Give us news. Give us a road map. Do. Your. Job!

Did you expect something else? That was clear. They always tell us the same crap. If the answer does not fit is kept silent.

To slightly adapt the stupid crystal equipment system would be easy.

1. Increase the yield of crystals.

2.Tie the things to the legacy.

It should be done quickly. Turn 1 into 3............................................................

What you should take away as feedback, is that we plain don't trust y'all. Every single time you've said things were going to get better, they haven't. 5.0 gear changes were met with a 'thud' but we were told it was 'fun'. 5.8 positively killed my guild, but we were told it was background changes that we didn't understand. 5.10 brings a wholly different gearing system, but you keep trying to call it tier 5. WE DONT TRUST YOU. Everything keeps getting worse. It would be so much better, if y'all just put it in maintenance mode and fixed bugs. Every time you say its going to get better, we lose half the population again. There isn't a half to divide again.

Musco took a long weekend eh? Back to not talking about the feedback you supposedly requested? Maybe both.

 

On the plus side, good job Mr. Steed for posting more than we've seen from Musco in the last 4 months.

Musco and Dan have been active in other threads. Take a look at the Developer Tracker, it hasn't been this active in a while.

 

Being active v.s being productive are two different things. Don't be tricked by the fancy golden lettering. 99% of the activity is either them starting a thread for us to discuss/argue over or a couple two liner posts to distract us.

Feedback Eh? hmm I still have glitching graphics on all starting worlds that seem to clear up past Coruscant/Koraban since like Launch. Across all my computers all bought at different times and locations. they are older computers because I cant afford to upgrade to a newer one very often. but they were a lot newer at launch. OH how about when we install the game default setting isn't 800x600 Resolution that might help some too "Cough" OH also fix the error message on origin when people install the game it has been popping up for a few years now too.. hmm maybe if you fixed the minor bugs and issues you would get a more positive feedback from people who love this game and still wish to call it home since day 1? just a thought.

 

EDIT: Before I forget couple other things that would help... put the DvL Armor set people earned on the Class Legacy Venders for those who completed that portion of the Event. also you still haven't lowered the requirements to the pre-order crystals other than war hero's.. why are the others still Req. Level 50?? in fact why are there even restrictions on crystals? anyhow all crystals especially cartel ones should have a requirement level 1 the artifact ones do. oh but only those with a kiosk in their SH can actually purchase those on the GTN... see its things like that to which doesn't make any sense that seemingly gets forgotten about and BW/EA just sits on the thumbs... Sorry Eric I wish I could be really positive but, not seeing these changes and no word on if they will ever be addressed gives me and I am sure a lot of people... rage syndrome. just saying Lol!

Edited March 1, 2019 by CKNORTH

I don't think this has anything to do with the state of Anthem, this is our annual we will communicate more post. Its a tradition, for a week it lasts, no real information, but dev tracker is more interesting or at least more active then dies off again.

 

While Anthem is perhaps failing in the worst possible way for Swtor, base game good, lack of content. Well they will argue that if they had more devs like the 2 that are left on Swtor they could produce more content. And lets face it they aren't really doing much here other than catering to Keiths raid progression group so its unlikely much of an argument will be made they can't be transferred to Anthem. At least if it had failed on just being awful game play a few extra devs wouldn't make much difference at this point.

This^ plus this:

Did you expect something else? That was clear. They always tell us the same crap. If the answer does not fit is kept silent.

Is what I think but want I to be wrong; I hope they're are reading, understanding and acting on all of our feedback. Breath not being held