Does anyone think the new expansion will bring...

[Arlee]

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/01/...ntcmp=features

Wow there is so many offensive statements in that article it's astonishing...

I dont see any way to side with fox on this one. calling it a segregated gay planet is wrong on every level. people are talking about it as if only gay people live on makeb.
if you look at it what it really is, bioware finally living up to their promise to finally include SGR options, which means a few lines of text and a cutscene in a whole planet of gameplay. you really need to be a twisted being to go from that to a planet where gays are segragated from straights, it would be ridicoulus if it wouldnt be so sad.

Well... They do have the point that people who are interested in SGR are only going to have access to those on Makeb. Nowhere else in the galaxy are those options available. Which just seems weird if you consider it from a real work perspective. I mean I get why they did it that way, they would have had to go back and changed a number of options in various old planets to add in the options. It's much easier to just include the options with new content.

[moff]

Well... They do have the point that people who are interested in SGR are only going to have access to those on Makeb. Nowhere else in the galaxy are those options available.

and that makes it in any way ok to call this the gay planet, while its only a minor detail of this content update? or to say that swtor segregates gays from straights, when this is obviously just a first step for bringing SGR romances to the game? exactly IF you look at it from a real work perspectice, it becomes absolutely clear why bioware handled it that way, and its absolutely ok. sure, it would have been better to hire voice actors again and overhaul the whole romance mechanics from level 1-60, but I would understand peope more who would have been offended by that, because the game clearly needs other fixing than that.

bioware honored their promise to add SGR, and thats all there is to say to the ridicoulus "gay planet" accusation.

[katta]

and that makes it in any way ok to call this the gay planet, while its only a minor detail of this content update? or to say that swtor segregates gays from straights, when this is obviously just a first step for bringing SGR romances to the game? exactly IF you look at it from a real work perspectice, it becomes absolutely clear why bioware handled it that way, and its absolutely ok. sure, it would have been better to hire voice actors again and overhaul the whole romance mechanics from level 1-60, but I would understand peope more who would have been offended by that, because the game clearly needs other fixing than that.

bioware honored their promise to add SGR, and thats all there is to say to the ridicoulus "gay planet" accusation.

Its only a minor detail of the content? How much have they given on the expansion yet that is actual content. the planet and the 5 levels along with the 5 points added are not actually content. So with all the content they have mentioned so far I think SGR is a big part of it.

EA/Bioware make a planet for the gay people where its the only planet with gay people = gay planet.

[moff]

Its only a minor detail of the content? How much have they given on the expansion yet that is actual content. the planet and the 5 levels along with the 5 points added are not actually content. So with all the content they have mentioned so far I think SGR is a big part of it.

the serveral hours of gameplay for leveling and questing on the new planet are "not actually content" but the few seconds for the scenes that involve SGR is a "big part" of the content?
ok... glad we talked about it

[ariakul]

I agree with ya'all, calling Makeb a "gay planet" is offensive.

(I'm straight btw). The Chicago Gay Pride Parade is one of the most awesome parades/partys I've been too. If Makeb was a "gay planet" it would look like Nar Shaddaa, everyone would be there, the music would rock, and there wouldn't be any war going on............haha.

(my hypothesis is that SGR is only on Makeb otherwise they would have to go back and redo a lot of the companion quests on previous planets/stories)

[Daax]

how could they not put new raids in?

[LonestarHero]

In regards to Fox News, do mainstream news outlets ever get stories on video games or science down correctly?

[Boramir]

EA/Bioware make a planet for the gay people where its the only planet with gay people = gay planet.

That's just such a juvenile way to look at it.

It's a new aspect of the game that they said they would introduce and are finally able to do so with this new "xpac." It's not a segregation of the player base as foxnews has misrepresented (go figure).

[Edge-]

A lvl cap raise is forcing people to level = spend time in the game and so did WoW/ EQ2, you name it. Having no lvl cap increase means that you'll never get new abilities (which could be cool, if done properly), you'll have 5 more skillpoints to use which can change the prefered skillsets for several classes and you ultimately make older content easier for everyone which didn't got through.

City of Heroes and Guild Wars 1 both released content with character progression without level cap increases or even really gear progression for over half a decade. Level cap increases, or even gear improvements, are absolutely not a requirement for character progression.

[Arlee]

and that makes it in any way ok to call this the gay planet

Which is why I said "so much of that article is offensive". However just because they use crap language doesn't mean that their larger point is not valid.

[slime]

I'd say no. I am a good example, i think. I bought it when it launched, loved it - leveled 2 characters to 50 - raided with both of them. Then, whatever everyone else hated about this game kicked in and everyone left. My server was one of the ones that was so bad it got moved (merged) with another server. My problem was this took 3 months for them to do.. maybe more I stopped paying attention. Since I pre-paid for 6 months, I felt royally screwed - no option to transfer - no tool for Dungeon crawling and a long time to make a group for a FP - much less a raid.

I won't be looking at this game ever again.

About people giving a game a second chance, most won't be in my position of enjoying it in the first place. Most will think well an expansion will bring more content - but I don't like the game in the first place, so they feel an expansion isn't going to change the game enough to win them back.

[Golden]

I think SWTOR would have done really well with a buy-to-play payment model. IMO, it's strong points are that it is a good coop game with decent PvP. I think it's a better game than GW2 and yet GW2 gets "game of the year" and SWTOR pretty much gets "flop of the year." Millions are waiting for GW2's expansion, yet not many are waiting for STWOR's expansion, etc.

Games that use a subscription-based payment model need to provide constant sizable updates and good support to the players...especially now that there is actually competition in the market. EA apparently doesn't get that.

[Deleted]

Who would it bring? Old subscribers? Why would they feel any incentive to come back due to a piece of content that they were promised to get for free when they unsubbed is now paid, especially when what little we do know about it is off putting.

And seeing as the content patch really doesn't seem to bring anything mentionable that changes the game, because otherwise they'd have shown it, why would new people come considering the current game has proven unable to attract them.

It is what it is, a desperate money grab.

[notorious98]

Wow there is so many offensive statements in that article it's astonishing...

No way, Fox News says something offensive. I know I'm shocked. They're nothing but the most politically correct television station in existence. They're fair and balanced. They even say so.

---------- Post added 2013-01-15 at 11:53 PM ----------

I think SWTOR would have done really well with a buy-to-play payment model. IMO, it's strong points are that it is a good coop game with decent PvP. I think it's a better game than GW2 and yet GW2 gets "game of the year" and SWTOR pretty much gets "flop of the year." Millions are waiting for GW2's expansion, yet not many are waiting for STWOR's expansion, etc.

Games that use a subscription-based payment model need to provide constant sizable updates and good support to the players...especially now that there is actually competition in the market. EA apparently doesn't get that.

Millions waiting for the GW2 expansion? I'm going to say that I doubt it.

---------- Post added 2013-01-15 at 11:56 PM ----------

City of Heroes and Guild Wars 1 both released content with character progression without level cap increases or even really gear progression for over half a decade. Level cap increases, or even gear improvements, are absolutely not a requirement for character progression.

Bingo. Hell, Storm Legion could have just released and created a more robust Planar Attunement leveling system instead of 10 new levels. The problem is that people have this unnatural obsession with the need to get a new level point or else they feel less satisfied.

[Edge-]

Bingo. Hell, Storm Legion could have just released and created a more robust Planar Attunement leveling system instead of 10 new levels. The problem is that people have this unnatural obsession with the need to get a new level point or else they feel less satisfied.

Yup, and it's constantly reinforced. It's mainly because gaining levels is the easier way to convey progress and an increase in power. So if you want to make them feel more powerful, giving them new levels will do far more than giving them new gear, expanded secondary progression options, and more powerful abilities.

[Kelimbror]

Bingo. Hell, Storm Legion could have just released and created a more robust Planar Attunement leveling system instead of 10 new levels. The problem is that people have this unnatural obsession with the need to get a new level point or else they feel less satisfied.

To be fair, it has become expected from player bases to feel significantly more powerful than old content once they have attained the maximum in a new expansion. The majority of people don't want to feel like things they already triumphed over are still challenging. The caveat being that the added levels actually significantly increases your stats, and the mobs are scaled dramatically as well.

SWTOR is picking the worst combination of everything. You get levels, but they might as well be meaningless as they have stated they are going to keep gear and old content valid. I don't think it's going to work at all, but yeah.

The other alternative is to have you downleveled, which is ok as a gimmick but not good in practice. GW2 is fun, but not having a choice on whether you are downleveled isn't enjoyable. Rift really does that aspect perfectly.

[notorious98]

To be fair, it has become expected from player bases to feel significantly more powerful than old content once they have attained the maximum in a new expansion. The majority of people don't want to feel like things they already triumphed over are still challenging. The caveat being that the added levels actually significantly increases your stats, and the mobs are scaled dramatically as well.

SWTOR is picking the worst combination of everything. You get levels, but they might as well be meaningless as they have stated they are going to keep gear and old content valid. I don't think it's going to work at all, but yeah.

The other alternative is to have you downleveled, which is ok as a gimmick but not good in practice. GW2 is fun, but not having a choice on whether you are downleveled isn't enjoyable. Rift really does that aspect perfectly.

To be honest, how challenging is a tier 1 raid when you're sporting tier 3 gear? I know, in WoW, going back into Naxx after having already cleared ToC made that content laughably easy. I know that it has become expected, but that doesn't mean it needs to be the norm or that it must be the be all end all.

But what it comes down to is not expectation, but addiction. Leveling is addictive and it's how MMOs keep people logging in and playing. It's the reason for things like Planar Attunement or any other alternate advancement tactic. But that's how you can get around the need to increase the levels because they're just arbitrary numbers. It can have the same type of impact.

[moff]

Which is why I said "so much of that article is offensive". However just because they use crap language doesn't mean that their larger point is not valid.

even witthout the crap language its a bullshit statement, for reasons I listed above.

[Psychlon]

City of Heroes and Guild Wars 1 both released content with character progression without level cap increases or even really gear progression for over half a decade. Level cap increases, or even gear improvements, are absolutely not a requirement for character progression.

I agree and I'd welcome it though I don't see how you could improve character progression without a lvl cap increase in SWTOR. New abilities/ more skillpoints/ better gear without a lvl cap increase would make the current content just as obsolete as with.

@gay discussion....

Unfortunately it is still a topic which causes red heads. We had gay people back in the middle age and most likely long before. When do some people start open their eyes instead of proclaiming that nothing like this does exist. It's the same as the russian government doesn't acknowledges handicapped people. (not to speak of gay people...). So narrow minded.

[Jtbrig7390]

People back to this game? If so, for a long period of time, or do you think it will fail?

As a starwars fan, I really want this game to be good. It's sad that the first game was disappointing.

I wonder if EA realizes what they screwed up on in the first game and attempt to make the game how people want the game to be.

Personally I don't see many if any people buying the new expansion when all it is at most is a content update they are charging 10$ for to subs and 20$ to free players.

Its a big slap in the players face and slowly SWTOR is dieing off cause of it. It really dose suck cause I never got to play SWG in its glory days and was hoping SWTOR would make up for that.