Rise of The Hutt Cartel: First Digital Expansion

[Kelimbror]

*snip*

I wasn't believing that was some stated objective and I read the articles about how it was intended to be humorous, but it's even more funny now as an ironic extension of disbelief. I just went with the flow.

[Deleted]

I wasn't believing that was some stated objective and I read the articles about how it was intended to be humorous, but it's even more funny now as an ironic extension of disbelief. I just went with the flow.

Ah I didn't get that from your initial comment. I thought you'd believed what many also did. If you see the clip of the joke it's hard to see how any article writer could have believed it to be serious but then again most online journalism seems to be based on 3rd party fact-checking.

The game has many flaws. I just tire of seeing made up ones tacked on willy nilly. This whole '500 planets by 2025' lark reminded me of those times when haters lose credibility. Was 2011 but we still have some occurances of it today on this very forum even.

[Edge-]

Ah I didn't get that from your initial comment. I thought you'd believed what many also did. If you see the clip of the joke it's hard to see how any article writer could have believed it to be serious but then again most online journalism seems to be based on 3rd party fact-checking.

The game has many flaws. I just tire of seeing made up ones tacked on willy nilly. This whole '500 planets by 2025' lark reminded me of those times when haters lose credibility. Was 2011 but we still have some occurances of it today on this very forum even.

I posted it in jest as well since it was pretty funny.

The issue is though...the reason people take it seriously, is because BW has made a ton of ambitious claims like that in the past. I can't count the number of things they've talked about doing in the year before the game and just after launch, which have still yet to materialize in-game. It's frustrating, because you get so excited for all these features they hype up, and they're never delivered. It's like, the whole studio has become Peter Molyneux.

The article does make note that the statement was in jest. But it's not too out of line with the kind of bold ambitious statements they made for a while : /

[notorious98]

btw just a question.. what would happen to my 8 toons if i went f2p? would they just delete everyone but 2 or what =P?

You choose which 6 you want active.

[Deleted]

I posted it in jest as well since it was pretty funny.

1) The issue is though...the reason people take it seriously, is because BW has made a ton of ambitious claims like that in the past. I can't count the number of things they've talked about doing in the year before the game and just after launch, which have still yet to materialize in-game. It's frustrating, because you get so excited for all these features they hype up, and they're never delivered. It's like, the whole studio has become Peter Molyneux.

2) The article does make note that the statement was in jest. But it's not too out of line with the kind of bold ambitious statements they made for a while : /

1) Agree with most of what you wrote. BW has had some funny things that were prioritzed over others. For a long time pre-launch it seemed that everything was being put up on the wall of crazy. I'm not sure we've seen one item that was on that wall actually be implemented. The planet boast was so far over the line of feasible though that I can't quite put it anywhere near the other 'wall appendages'. I mean, seriously, 1 new planet every 10 days for 15 years straight? Guild capital ships was ambitious. 1 new planet created every 10 days for 15 years straight is about as obvious a joke as you can get.

2) Google it and you'll find 10 articles or more than treat the '500 planets' as fact not humor. For every single article that debunks it there are 10 or so that consider it gospel. So I'm sure that Kitty and you read a humorous one but there are many more that treat the story seriously...and I'm afraid many more people who believed it.

One thing is sure, BW still are crap at communication. Be it attempts at humor, retractions or a general lack of info...they suck at it.

[Dreary]

yea and again WoW charges like FIFTY bucks for all of said new stuff. we are paying 10-20 for a new planet, 5 lvls, added story missions for each class, and thats just to START off( i hope there will be more) so its not that big a deal but i guess in todays times people must make it an issue.

but again i will hold judgement until i see it

What do you mean that's just to start off? You're buying this thing on the "hope" that it's more than what they're advertising???

If Bioware actually had anything else, they'd be announcing it. They're trying to sell us something, and you're buying their product on the hope that it's more than what they've announced?

Just sounds stupid to me... Why withhold judgement at all? They've said exactly what it is, it's a planet and storyline that they first announced 6 months ago which was supposed to be a regular free content patch. So what in the world did they add to this patch that now makes it an expansion? They certainly haven't said anything here. And it appears they don't need to, since fools will throw their money at them. What incentive does Bioware have to actually add anything now? They already have your money, they don't need to add anything else now. Any new content they can just save for the next update, then call that an "Expansion", and you'll probably buy that one too.

This is such a blatant money grab I can't fathom how people are falling for it. I bet if instead of calling it an "Expansion" they raised the price to $60 and called it a game without adding anything else you people would still buy it. All based on false hopes.

---------- Post added 2012-12-22 at 08:48 PM ----------

I sincerely hope it is more than that though.

How can it be? Feasibly? Look at what they're doing, they have no team left and they're looking around the factory floor for scraps that they can tidy up and sell to us. Look at the cartel market where they take existing models already in the game, recolor them and sell them for ridiculous prices.

None of what they announced for this expansion is new, this is content that they announced back in June. There's no surprises here in terms of content, in fact the only surprise is that they're charging for it.

This is EA we're talking about. They aren't some struggling minor developer. They have the money to actually make a real expansion pack, instead look at what they're giving us. They're looking for any content that's been around since before the layoffs, fixing it up and then selling it to us, when it was supposed to have been released this year as a free update.

[Psychlon]

None of what they announced for this expansion is new, this is content that they announced back in June.

Just because information about Makeb was datamined/ given via a very questionable survey to people which unsubscribed... doesn't mean that neither the planet nor anything else was anywhere near to be complete. We know today already most of the stuff we'll have next year, holidays, events etc. but we aren't just shrugging it off because we already know about it do we?

Blaming was always the easy part... that's probably why so many are doing it.

[Edge-]

Just because information about Makeb was datamined/ given via a very questionable survey to people which unsubscribed

Makeb was officially announced at E3 in June, so it wasn't datamined. Here's the link to the announcement on their site: http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20120604

[Psychlon]

It was datamined before and the issue is the same. They didn't announce it to be released by June, it was merely a preview of what is yet to come and for some, seeing it actually becoming very much realitiy, I find it a lame kind of complain to say "well we knew about that already... give us something new new".

[Repefe]

Does anybody know if there is any indication BW will change the VO interaction ? As in let you skip VO on generic quests ? That would be feature worth paying for.

[Edge-]

It was datamined before and the issue is the same. They didn't announce it to be released by June, it was merely a preview of what is yet to come and for some, seeing it actually becoming very much realitiy, I find it a lame kind of complain to say "well we knew about that already... give us something new new".

Well, to be fair, expansions are generally for "new" content, i.e. stuff that hasn't been public knowledge for 6 months. When an expansion gets announced, brand new content gets announced with it. This isn't brand new content, this is something they've talked about with somewhat relative frequency for 6 months, giving many indications this would be a content patch (Interview with one of the lead dudes where he calls it one of the largest non-expansion content releases, or something to that effect) rather than an expansion.

I'm more or less ambivalent on the issue since I have zero plans to spend 20 bucks on it (don't feel there's enough value delivered for it from what we know of it so far), but I can see how them announcing that already-announced and hyped up content is going to be the core of an expansion, isn't "super duper exciting".

I honestly can't think of another expansion/DLC that came out where the content was revealed and discussed in the 6 months before the official announcement of the expansion/DLC. That makes this a pretty unique situation.

[Psychlon]

Does anybody know if there is any indication BW will change the VO interaction ? As in let you skip VO on generic quests ? That would be feature worth paying for.

I hope I don't have to pay for this as subscriber... they could make it a lvl 50 legacy perk though.

Well, to be fair, expansions are generally for "new" content, i.e. stuff that hasn't been public knowledge for 6 months. When an expansion gets announced, brand new content gets announced with it. This isn't brand new content, this is something they've talked about with somewhat relative frequency for 6 months, giving many indications this would be a content patch (Interview with one of the lead dudes where he calls it one of the largest non-expansion content releases, or something to that effect) rather than an expansion.

I'm more or less ambivalent on the issue since I have zero plans to spend 20 bucks on it (don't feel there's enough value delivered for it from what we know of it so far), but I can see how them announcing that already-announced and hyped up content is going to be the core of an expansion, isn't "super duper exciting".

I honestly can't think of another expansion/DLC that came out where the content was revealed and discussed in the 6 months before the official announcement of the expansion/DLC. That makes this a pretty unique situation.

To be fair, people were talking about doomsday in June and the months prior etc. . Obviously they wanted to show that they aren't going to give up just then and still have a "lot" of stuff waiting to be released. I remember back in EQ2... I think the first few expansions came as "surprise" until some guys found out where SOE is licensing their expansion and you'd knew at least the name pretty early on for the coming expansions which is very similar to what we've seen from Makeb. Not much.

However I do think that they still didn't find the right way between designing and releasing. We get stuff more frequently which is good, however, it's still not very much content if any. I also don't think that it's impossible for them to do (releasing more content frequently), especially stuff they've talked about on the guild summit. It's nice to have a wall of crazy but at some point at least partially it needs to turn out to be something real, otherwise it's going to turn out as the wall of "things you'll never see".

[Armourboy]

I hope I don't have to pay for this as subscriber... they could make it a lvl 50 legacy perk though.



To be fair, people were talking about doomsday in June and the months prior etc. . Obviously they wanted to show that they aren't going to give up just then and still have a "lot" of stuff waiting to be released. I remember back in EQ2... I think the first few expansions came as "surprise" until some guys found out where SOE is licensing their expansion and you'd knew at least the name pretty early on for the coming expansions which is very similar to what we've seen from Makeb. Not much.

However I do think that they still didn't find the right way between designing and releasing. We get stuff more frequently which is good, however, it's still not very much content if any. I also don't think that it's impossible for them to do (releasing more content frequently), especially stuff they've talked about on the guild summit. It's nice to have a wall of crazy but at some point at least partially it needs to turn out to be something real, otherwise it's going to turn out as the wall of "things you'll never see".

There is a difference in people figuring out what something is going to be named, heck it happens with WoW too, and the company coming out and discussing it, referring to is as free content, and then turning around and charging for it. Thats what has people up in arms and not to thrilled with it, this is content that, while not promised to be free content, was definately more than hinted at to be.

I can't really blame anyone for not being all that excited about it.

[Psychlon]

I can't really blame anyone for not being all that excited about it.

Frankly I'm not that hyped for it either... there are other issues I'd like to have them addressing before a new planet, not to mention the downside with a lvl cap increase.

[Edge-]

To be fair, people were talking about doomsday in June and the months prior etc. . Obviously they wanted to show that they aren't going to give up just then and still have a "lot" of stuff waiting to be released. I remember back in EQ2... I think the first few expansions came as "surprise" until some guys found out where SOE is licensing their expansion and you'd knew at least the name pretty early on for the coming expansions which is very similar to what we've seen from Makeb. Not much.

There's a difference between internet sleuths digging up URL registrations/trademark applications, and official announcements. I seriously can't remember the last time a company officially announced and hyped up a piece of content, giving many indications that it would be coming as part of normal content patches, only to go on to announce that it would be the centerpiece of an expansion/DLC pack/adventure pack.

I don't know what the end of the world nonsense has to do with this conversation though...it's beyond irrelevant to the current discussion.

You're right though, they were trying to show they weren't giving up. But they've done that with the 500 other pieces of content/features that they've talked about implementing or hyped up at one point or another. This clearly wasn't "waiting to be released" either, as you mentioned earlier that they were in the very early stages of development back in June.

[Svifnymr]

Did they ever give a reason why you can't just buy the expansion with Cartel Coins?

[Repefe]

Did they ever give a reason why you can't just buy the expansion with Cartel Coins?

From what I read the only post that "clarified" the situation stated you will only be able to buy the expansion for real money. No reason supplied.

[Valeron]

From what I read the only post that "clarified" the situation stated you will only be able to buy the expansion for real money. No reason supplied.

Seems like a strange decision. Most other games, such as DCUO and Age of Conan, allow you to purchase expansions and adventure packs (DLC) with their shop currency.

[Edge-]

Did they ever give a reason why you can't just buy the expansion with Cartel Coins?

I can imagine a few reasons.

1. They'll run CC deals and they don't want you getting the expansion for cheaper than the purchase price. SoE did this with their Station Cash, and people were getting subscription time for far cheaper than usual. They had to remove the ability to purchase subscription time with Station Cash because of it.

2. Subscribers could get it for free if they waited long enough, and they want to make sure everyone who plays this content is a paying customer.

[shadowmatrix]

Ok I will give this mini expansion a fair chance. Perhaps someone can show me this in a new light and make it on par with other F2P model's DLC offers. All I need is for the supporters to explain to me two things.
1. How is this a good deal for subscribers?
2. What is being offered to F2P and preferred players that make it worth the $20 price tag?