SWTOR - Disappointing info for 2018

[quras]

i really wanna give swtor a try, im so tired of warcraft. infact i wanna see if swtor could replace warcraft altogether. im switching from rogue to possible jedi knight.

Small bit of advice.

Don't be in a rush to get to end game. It's just not that good.

Play the Jedi knight. Hell, play all the class stories and find out which of the 8 you like best. Class stories are the best the game has to offer so play through those.

Just don't be in some huge rush to get to end game. Play those class stories as end game really isn't worth it and to be honest, everything after those class stories goes down hill pretty fast.

[SkagenRora]

i really wanna give swtor a try, im so tired of warcraft. infact i wanna see if swtor could replace warcraft altogether. im switching from rogue to possible jedi knight.

Just be aware, that Swtor is mostly for the story you get while leveling up, There is not much waiting for you if you plan to rush max level to do end game.

But the story is amazing, each of the class stories are wonderful, The expansion stories are nice aswell, but those are the same no matter which class.

[Rogalicus]

But the story is amazing, each of the class stories are wonderful, The expansion stories are nice aswell, but those are the same no matter which class.

I started playing recently (after the news that the game might be shut down soon) and, to be honest, I don't know where is this praised amazing story everyone is talking about. I'm playing as a shadow consular and so far story was very boring and predictable at best (and Alderaan one was just atrocious). Gameplay is also a slog, but at least infiltration doesn't have ability bloat that is clogging probably every other class I've tried.

[SkagenRora]

I started playing recently (after the news that the game might be shut down soon) and, to be honest, I don't know where is this praised amazing story everyone is talking about. I'm playing as a shadow consular and so far story was very boring and predictable at best (and Alderaan one was just atrocious). Gameplay is also a slog, but at least infiltration doesn't have ability bloat that is clogging probably every other class I've tried.

The Councler class has the weakest of all stories tho, But i guess it's not for everyone, I have enjoyed most of the class & planet stories quite a lot so i will continue to say it has great story.

The ability bloat is real tho, for sure, Which is one of the down sides to the game.

I haven't played the stealth class myself but I don't think the game is any less slow/sloggish than WoW (Which is the only other Tab/target MMO i know :>)

[Rogalicus]

Those with low attention span or just want "Rush Rush Rush" Might not enjoy it as much as others.

You don't have to use indirect insults to defend what you like. My attention span was high enough to get Loremaster achievement in WoW and to enjoy both KotOR1 and KotOR2, as well as some other Bioware RPGs (just to make it clear, I know, that KotOR2 was made by Obsidian). SWTOR is just too serious (in tone, not in plot itself) for its' own good, planetes feel like movie decorations with tons of NPCs that you can't even interact with, choices are just poorly written.

[SkagenRora]

You don't have to use indirect insults to defend what you like.

Which is why i removed that part and re-wrote my reply a bit shortly after clicking reply.


I'm not someone who can pick up on Poorly written/bad acting stuff, so that stuff just flies over my head, It tends to make many movies and games more enjoyable, But i can't really talk more indepth for why i like this game, I just do.

[jazen]

Do you have to buy SW:TOR to play through the class stories? I see it's F2P but I remember when I tried it out a while ago there were so many limitations on the F2P model that I couldn't do it.

[SkagenRora]

Do you have to buy SW:TOR to play through the class stories? I see it's F2P but I remember when I tried it out a while ago there were so many limitations on the F2P model that I couldn't do it.

The Class stories are the base game so those you can do without paying anything. I've never played swtor as F2P tho, so i dono exactly how the F2P experience is.. all i know is that it has a lot of stupid limitations like, You can't hide helm and you have less action bars than paying players.

[Derah]

If Anthem is a success (and I don't see how it could ever be given it's about 3rd in line of similar games) their resources will stay at Anthem to push that success. They will development more content for Anthem and swtor will continue to starve for content. I don't see them putting resources back to swtor if Anthem does well. They would push Anthem.

This is a fallacy.

You don't need the same amount of people to DEVELOP a game from scratch, as you would to support the game once completed.

There's a reason why so many gaming companies hire like 100 devs to make a game, but once the game launches, they fire like 80 of them and only keep 20 for patching and future content.

Right now they funneled all their personnel and resources to develop Anthem, but once the game is completed, that much people on the game wont be needed, and they'll be reshuffled back to the other projects they have cooking, like Dragon Age 4, or Mass Effect Andromeda 2, and yes, SWTOR.

If Anthem is a success, it simply means the studio keeps forward, but it doesn't mean every single soul at bioware will be dedicated to Anthem. You don't see every single soul at blizzard devoted entirely and exclusively to wow.

[Katchii]

This is a fallacy.

You don't need the same amount of people to DEVELOP a game from scratch, as you would to support the game once completed.

There's a reason why so many gaming companies hire like 100 devs to make a game, but once the game launches, they fire like 80 of them and only keep 20 for patching and future content.

Right now they funneled all their personnel and resources to develop Anthem, but once the game is completed, that much people on the game wont be needed, and they'll be reshuffled back to the other projects they have cooking, like Dragon Age 4, or Mass Effect Andromeda 2, and yes, SWTOR.

If Anthem is a success, it simply means the studio keeps forward, but it doesn't mean every single soul at bioware will be dedicated to Anthem. You don't see every single soul at blizzard devoted entirely and exclusively to wow.

Given how SW:ToR is performing which is just to say, not that well, I don't see them dumping more than the bare minimum of resources back into it after Anthem launches to keep it on life support until the license agreement ends. I hope I'm wrong, and only time will tell, but I can't see this game staying online in any noteworthy aspect for more than another year or two (MAX) if things don't change.

That said, if Anthem tanks, BioWare is done and SW:ToR along with it.

[quras]

This is a fallacy.

You don't need the same amount of people to DEVELOP a game from scratch, as you would to support the game once completed.

There's a reason why so many gaming companies hire like 100 devs to make a game, but once the game launches, they fire like 80 of them and only keep 20 for patching and future content.

And that is true to some extent as bioware cut their staff long ago. However, at this time they are running at below minimal staff as many have been moved off to Anthem. That is where EAs focus is, not swtor. While the game doesn't need 300 developers at this point, it still needs a healthy staff and swtor just doesn't have that right now. You can tell by the amount of content we got over the past year. You can tell by the length of time it took as they nerfed every class in the game. Soemthing like that you want done fairly quickly. It took them nearly a nearly a year to nerf everyone.

I'd wager bioware is well below any minimal number of staff needed. You can also take into account the last road map. They are unable to nail down content outside of 90 days and now have to drop back to just 60 days. It is a very sad bit of news to find out bioware can't plan up to 90 days and feel good enough about that content to tell gamers so they have to back it up to just a 60 day window.

Right now they funneled all their personnel and resources to develop Anthem, but once the game is completed, that much people on the game wont be needed, and they'll be reshuffled back to the other projects they have cooking, like Dragon Age 4, or Mass Effect Andromeda 2, and yes, SWTOR.

Thats a guess I do not think will happen the way you think. swtor will see little chance while the others might get the resources. If Anthem is a success, there is no reason to put those devs back to the floundering swtor. They will want to milk the new game, get the other games ready, not a 6+ year old game which is already being milked. Anthem will get the DLC and updates and new content for a while longer than just it's release date.

If Anthem is a success, it simply means the studio keeps forward, but it doesn't mean every single soul at bioware will be dedicated to Anthem. You don't see every single soul at blizzard devoted entirely and exclusively to wow.

If Anthem succeeds, you can bet EA will keep their focus there for a while. IF it doesn't, like what others have said, bioware and in turn swtor will be closed down as many think this is biowares last chance,

[Tackhisis]

Do you have to buy SW:TOR to play through the class stories?

No, but you will level 25% more slowly, everything will be 25% dearer, and you won't be able to equip the rewards for the main quest (they have "no F2P" flag), so you will need to buy upgrades for your stock weapon every 4 levels. The ridiculous 30 inventory slots and no bank will also bog you down.

[Daethz]

Game was a flop from release, they missed out on so many little things they could have done to make the game better.
Like having zero blackscreen elevators, elevators that actually ride around the fleet so you can look out at space, real sized expansions, shrug.

[Derah]

If Anthem is a success, there is no reason to put those devs back to the floundering swtor.

Yes they will, because, and this is the part you ignored: you don't need as many people to DEVELOP a game as you do to support it.

Once Anthem is ready, whether its a success or not, you DO NOT need 400+ people devoted to it. You can make do with two dozen people, and put the rest on other projects.

Try and keep the same number of people who developed a game to support it, and you'll end with 70% of the staff just holding their dicks doing fuck all. Creating a game from scratch is not the same thing as creating content for an already completed game. This is why it took like a hundred people to develop skyrim, but even the most complex skyrim mods are made either solo, or by half a dozen people at most.

[quras]

Yes they will, because, and this is the part you ignored: you don't need as many people to DEVELOP a game as you do to support it.

I didn't ignore it. I simply do not believe it will happen. They are more likely to send them home than to send them back to swtor. Especially if the current small crew at bioware can keep the cartel market alive and that trickle of content to have enough money coming in for the next year.

They wont come back at all. EA's focus will still stay on Anthem as the new money maker. Developing content there. Saving money by sending the rest they don't need to DA or another game but not swtor.

[Derah]

I didn't ignore it. I simply do not believe it will happen.

You can choose not to believe in gravity. That doesn't mean you wont plummet yourself to your death if you walk off the roof of a building.

They are more likely to send them home than to send them back to swtor.

Why? they'd only do that if SWTOR was actually losing them money. As long as SWTOR is profitable, they'll keep a staff to support it. If they recalled that staff temporarily to increase production of a new title, that's their prerogative, but they have no reason to kill a product that is still giving them money. Its not like SWTOR would compete with Anthem as they're different genres of different games for different people.

EA's focus will still stay on Anthem as the new money maker.

You do realize EA has released plenty of other games since SWTOR went free. Including games like Battlefield and Battlefront, all of them with microtransactions, and at no point have they decided to kill their other games to funnell the players towards their newest shiniest toy.

That'd be as retarded as blizzard deciding to kill wow to force their players to play Destiny or Overwatch.

[xuros]

things you cant blame bioware for:
no more dlc - EA sacked the Andromeda staff.
the shitty engine - frostbite is EA DICE and from reports was forced on them and wasn't suitable for rpg games most of the 5yr dev was getting it to work.
strangling resources from bioware causing short staff

things you can blame bioware for:
hiring that racist prick dev (me and a large group boycott it just for that)
reports of massive office politics between Montreal and Edmonton.
the wasting of dev time on trying to get procedural generation to work meant they had to massive outsource in the last 18 months to get the game out.
sending the game for review to fuck wit media reviewers who don't no shit giving them false confidence.
the SJW shit storm. idk what it was about id already written the game off before it came out but throwing politics into a game you all ready know has problems isn't going to help, (apparently after doing some research on this point according to some pissed of dev leaks they were after the free publicity that comes from jerking the left wing media but underestimated how unpopular the medias opinion was) (something they haven't learned from it seems by the shit storm of devs now coming out in anger over the Anita visit... le sigh)

all in all it was $40million and 5 years to make a game. that did spin a profit but when it comes to that size of company you don't just need to make a profit you need to make a PROFIT to drive growth at the very least you need to double your money.

First i've heard of this. What did he do to be called a racist?

[Anjerith]

Not exactly a shocker. EA is all about money and SWTOR isn't raking in cash, I'm sure it'll be milked for for the foreseeable future with small bug fix patches until they pull the plug.

Yes, how evil of them to expect payment for continuous support and work on ongoing titles...

[quras]

You can choose not to believe in gravity. That doesn't mean you wont plummet yourself to your death if you walk off the roof of a building.

and you can choose to believe unicorns shit rainbows but that isn't happening either. bioware has been scare of resources for some time now. Regaining them isn't likly to happen this year or next even when Anthem is released given how little resources bioware has for the past while.

Why? they'd only do that if SWTOR was actually losing them money. As long as SWTOR is profitable, they'll keep a staff to support it. If they recalled that staff temporarily to increase production of a new title, that's their prerogative, but they have no reason to kill a product that is still giving them money. Its not like SWTOR would compete with Anthem as they're different genres of different games for different people.

Why? because the few resouces left at swtor continue to find ways to get it's gamers to do the same old content again and again and thats the majority of what their devs have done.

The new content is very little and slow coming. It doesn't take much to continue that content cadence given they have been doing it for over a year and the game is still profitable enough to not see the doors close just yet. Thats probably because it takes even less resources to push the cash shop sales and items we see there which is biowares main focus these days.

They will keep just enough staff to put out very little new for the next year. You can pretty much guarantee that given we were told 2018 will be like 2017 and that sucked when you think about how little content we got over an entire year. The fact they were not even able to complete one entire raid and could only get 3 out of 5 bosses done is a terrible sign for the days to come.

Then you look at biowares, yet again, way to get gamers to do old stale content again. The conquest revamp. It doesn't take many resources to get gamers to do old content.

They are not killing a product. They are shifting it to a holding pattern. Some say maintenance mode but I don't think we are there just yet. It's more of a what can they do with minimal staff. It's not that swtor has to compete with Anthem, it's just that EA doesn't seem to put a lot of stock in swtor and as long as they can do very little and still pull in enough to make it profitable, then swtor will limp along but I'm under no illusion that swtor will get those resources back in a years time when Anthem finally does release.

If swtor makes it this year with the minimal staff it has. There is no way EA will bulk it's resources higher. They will simply let it continue with that minimal staff, making the money it can till it's not profitable anymore but the days of swtor being a highly supported game are over.

[Derah]

-snip-

Believe what you want to believe buddy. I'm done trying to argue this point with you. Go ahead and quote me just to repeat what I just said if you want to have the last word anyways. See if I care.