Thursday, August 27, 2015

SWTOR's PAX Prime Cantina makeup livestream for Knights of the Fallen Empire sorta, kinda recapped/opinion

"That's always been your problem, Voidy--can I call you Voidy? You never worry about the big picture."



WARNINGS AND SUCH: Ok, now I expect this post to lead to some burning of bridges with other members of the #SWTORFamily. And while I do hate that could happen, If it happens over an opinion... Ok then, who am I to Judge? I am only going to mention stuff about the Base story to Shadow of Revan, and only the officially released stuff for Knights of the Fallen Empire. Also, anything I say here is my own opinion, don't hold it against Clang. Also, this is all in good fun, let's not ruin it?


So, today, the team at BioWare Austin did a livestream to show off Knights of the Fallen Empire. Originally, this was going to be stuff talked about at the PAX Prime Community Cantina, but the Cantina was canceled so the Dev team could stay and work on KotFE. Now, some in the community have (rather vocally, and depending on who you ask, correctly) been worried about the way the Community Team has been sharing information of late. Now, I'll be honest, I understand the worry, the way the CT has shared info has always been...lacking since early 2012 (The 'Dark Times', as those of us who have been here since launch remember.) But, some are making their... frustration more vocal and... honestly, insane. (We'll share that later.)

Now, onto what was talked about in the livesteam. If you have been following the datamining posts on the SWTOR Subreddit, or over at TORCommunity, you would know most of this. But, as is normal for the cantinas (as I try to tell people), this wasn't for us, it was for those new people who may be coming to the game (Which is why when the Dev team came to Colorado, I got Clang to go, Not sure if that is why he decided to play, but... Maybe it helped). They showed off Chapter III of the new story (Boy, the new naming convention is going to confuse the hell out of me when it comes to naming my videos!) New changes to the Follower (Companion) system and how influence (The fancy new name for the Pre-4.0 affection system) affects your followers. Which, sounds a lot like the way the influence system in KotOR II worked. (And from the sounds of it, will make the way I record videos a lot easier when it comes to having my companions in empty gear.) And something from Chapter I. But, from what I read and saw, it sounds like your character will be someone important to the resistance to the Eternal Empire.


"Wait, wait wait... What? I am 'important to the resistance to the Eternal Empire.'? You got the wrong guy!"
"Don't worry, Captain. If I can lead the galaxy against the Reapers, you can stop the Eternal Empire! Sure... I nearly died, but we defeated the Reapers."
"....You died?"
"Nearly..."



If you were expecting me to talk about story stuff in full, you'll be sadly disappointed. There is something to say about going into the story without knowing anything. I learned that from looking at spoilers for Day of the Doctor (At least the ending was still an awesome surprise), and Episode VII, and even Mass Effect before I played the series. Sure, I have looked at the new Companion system and the dataminded stuff for Cartel Market items (Helpful for my KotOR Armors thread on the official forums.) But, I have avoided the story as best I can from the datamined stuff.

But, I see a lot of complaints going on about "It makes no sense to play a Smuggler/Agent/Trooper/Bounty Hunter in KotFE." Well, that is the upside of an MMORPG (People forget about the RPG part) I have no idea what the back story for The Good Captain, Agent Golsheren, Major Nicolai Davfel or Mera Ralcen will be when KotFE hits, but I'm eager to see what BW has planned for us, and see how I can shape my characters around that! And see what I can do for my Force using characters!


"An artist rendering of the SWTOR PVP Forums after the KotFE announcement."


Now, onto the.... vocal frustrations that our family has had about the game, and the community and dev team. From the lack of PVP in KotFE (I have already shared my feelings about that. Basicly, the over reaction is a bit stupid.) to the lack of endgame content (The Operations team has been working to upscale and make changes to the Operations. And although I don't do endgame ops, the changes make alot of sense, especially to the older Ops.) and the "Lack of a Decent Marketing Plan" some seem to feel that BioWare has going on (Honestly, my opinion on that is something... I already got into on Reddit, and I really don't want to start that fight again.) As for the silence, I agree that it is frustrating, I have a few theories about that.

1) There is a very clear marketing plan that BioWare is having to follow, as set by LucasFilm, Disney, and most likely EA. Especially with Episode VII just about three-ish months away, and some type of 'Blitz' may be planned to start next week. (I know that it doesn't make sense since TOR is not even remotely related to what LucasFilm is doing with TFA. But, frankly, TOR is the only Star Wars game that is active at the moment, outside of Battlefront. And they are in the same boat we are, not a lot about Battlefront released)

Or B) EA and BioWare are concerned that there maybe another 'ME3 Ending' incident may happen, if people are displeased (Although, with the way some are acting, I highly doubt that B is the reason.) But, both of these are just the rambling of a crazy old man (And by old, I mean almost 25.)

Also, there was the incident in May when some players not only went after one of the Devs, but his family as well, because the players hated what changes were coming for their class. So, that can't have help much. Now, I am not saying ALL MMO players are like this, but a lot of gamers are. And it's getting pretty scary. 

Now, the following bit is going to be something that some may hate, but it needs to be said. No matter what you think, just because someone disagrees with you, or they post something that you think is wrong, does not mean that person is a "paid scill" working for a game company (Which seems to be the go to argument for any game, not just TOR). I've been having... well, I can't call it a discussion, because he seems to be looking for a fight with anyone who disagrees with him, but.... having a disagreement with someone on the Subreddit about how the game is being marketed. Now, I do agree that BW needs to fix the way they share info, but he is going about it the wrong way, and is letting his emotions over his banning from the forums (Whether or not that banning was justified is not my business. Although it was because he posted datamined info on the forums, and had a lot of infractions before hand...) affect the point he is trying to make. After all... I may sound like a hypocrite, but, it is just a game. Getting this worked up isn't healthy, which is why I avoid most of the forums!

And now, if you are still reading this, and you haven't thrown your computer out the window, and sent HK-47, HK-50, HK-51, and HK-55 after me, I will leave you with this!


"I'm just here because this screenshot was sitting in Geslin's FRAPS folder!"

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