i know how trhey work, i owned a chain store, i've seen contracts canceled (with settlements or forced), nothing is solid.
and plz dont play the smart guy in conversations
also concidering that the crowd will never learn the whole truth.
So you think EA would spend $250 million+ developing and advertising an MMO that can be shut down within the first couple of years by a fickle IP holder? I seriously doubt that LA has the ability to completely shut down SWTOR in the first few years. Plus why would they? It's the only star wars MMO going and it will take 5+ years to make a new one.
I am confident that there will be an expansion, but the personal story "Act 1,2, interlude" is OVER, no matter if 10 million subs or 200K.
From a story point of view, this was the development of each character from academy to hero status.
Next act has to focus on an epic galaxy spanning threat, where all classes can participate in a more open manner.
Remember, personal story of little sith acolyte becoming dark council member -> done.
Now it´s time for WARS.
STAR WARS!
I actually might agree with you here.
And it would make it much easier for Devs to actiually make expansions. No more worries about 8 separate class quests.
Well... we shall see. We are really all treading deep waters here
You know that is only my speculation, but it would be the most logical thing. Why?
- Story Dramaturgy.
Bioware had long term plans from the very beginning, before the F2P sword stabbed into their belly... guts spilling out, blood everywhere, nasy smell and all. But, BW has a good surgeon and this is EA.
EA is now defibrillating the patient, some doctors put the patient into an artificial coma and sexy nurses are cleaning up the emergency room blood bath.
So anyway, you get the picture. Now they can continue on their original plans and continue the story and take it into a climax, a galaxy spanning threat, all lvl 50 heros unite, with massive space sim battles, add a third faction, several massive sandbox planets with 1000x1000x1000 open world PvP, vehicle combat, 1000% speeders, atmospheric flight and hundreds of fighters jets attacking vital bases of the enemies!!!!
It just seems wishful thinking on your part that there will be an expansion. They have said there will be no more story after 50. I can not find the link for that.
Lets have a look at the evidence.
They have not mentioned anything about expansions, and said there will be content every 6 weeks
They say the game needs about 500K subs to break even and the current state is not good and that was back in August, when there was more population than today "The President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said the Star Wars game would still break even so long as it maintained 500,000 subscribers, but admitted that its current performance was "not good enough"."
The Doctors have quit Bioware and gaming altogether plus other key Bioware member have quit
Mass layoffs = less people able to work on expansion
Do you seriously think there will be an expansion if they do not get their money from F2P?
Like I said if F2P becomes a success for EA and gives them loads of money then there probably will be an expansion, but under its current state it is not happening. How can they afford to do an expansion when they are not getting their 500K subs? Trees?
My opinion is not down to hate and bias, but logic and prudence, your opinion is down to bias and wishful thinking.
tbh the choice should be unlikely more than never, but never is the best choice in that list
Dude you said 'EA/ Bioware' pretty much said so; that is why you were asked to back it up with some official info; You could have just said that it is your own speculation without trying to make it look as if EA / Bioware made an annoucement that there will 'never' be an expansion.
All you gave was some quote about falling subs and your own speculations about how layoffs means less people for expansions and that they didn't say anything about expansion other than content every 6 weeks which somehow translated to 'never'.
I find it very ironic that you are telling him that he is being biased and indulging in ''wishful thinking'.
EA/Bioware will never say there will never be an expansion, as things may change over time, and after F2P.
"Pretty much said so", is not the same as "never" If they said it was going to be never, then I would have said "EA/Bioware said exactly that". If the current "success" of the game stays the way it is, like below 500K subs, then there will never be an expansion. If F2P brings in more than the equivalent of 500K subs then there may be an expansion.
From all that has been said, there is no plans for an expansion, and until Bioware say there is going to be an expansion, then there will not be an expansion, as by saying there is an expansion will generate interest to the game, by dangling the proverbial carrort. Blizzard have stated that they plan to add a few more expansions to WOW still, so why does Bioware not say anything about an expansion coming to SWTOR?
"Unlikely" would be my choice, but that is not in the selection, "never" is the closest to the current reality, which may change if F2P is a SURPRISE success
It just seems wishful thinking on your part that there will be an expansion. They have said there will be no more story after 50. I can not find the link for that.
Lets have a look at the evidence.
They have not mentioned anything about expansions, and said there will be content every 6 weeks
They say the game needs about 500K subs to break even and the current state is not good and that was back in August, when there was more population than today "The President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said the Star Wars game would still break even so long as it maintained 500,000 subscribers, but admitted that its current performance was "not good enough"."
The Doctors have quit Bioware and gaming altogether plus other key Bioware member have quit
Mass layoffs = less people able to work on expansion
Do you seriously think there will be an expansion if they do not get their money from F2P?
Like I said if F2P becomes a success for EA and gives them loads of money then there probably will be an expansion, but under its current state it is not happening. How can they afford to do an expansion when they are not getting their 500K subs? Trees?
My opinion is not down to hate and bias, but logic and prudence, your opinion is down to bias and wishful thinking.
tbh the choice should be unlikely more than never, but never is the best choice in that list
Dude you said 'EA/ Bioware' pretty much said so; that is why you were asked to back it up with some official info; You could have just said that it is your own speculation without trying to make it look as if EA / Bioware made an annoucement that there will 'never' be an expansion.
All you gave was some quote about falling subs and your own speculations about how layoffs means less people for expansions and that they didn't say anything about expansion other than content every 6 weeks which somehow translated to 'never'.
I find it very ironic that you are telling him that he is being biased and indulging in ''wishful thinking'.
EA/Bioware will never say there will never be an expansion, as things may change over time, and after F2P.
"Pretty much said so", is not the same as "never" If they said it was going to be never, then I would have said "EA/Bioware said exactly that". If the current "success" of the game stays the way it is, like below 500K subs, then there will never be an expansion. If F2P brings in more than the equivalent of 500K subs then there may be an expansion.
From all that has been said, there is no plans for an expansion, and until Bioware say there is going to be an expansion, then there will not be an expansion, as by saying there is an expansion will generate interest to the game, by dangling the proverbial carrort. Blizzard have stated that they plan to add a few more expansions to WOW still, so why does Bioware not say anything about an expansion coming to SWTOR?
"Unlikely" would be my choice, but that is not in the selection, "never" is the closest to the current reality, which may change if F2P is a SURPRISE success
EA/ Bioware never denied or confirmed expansion. So people are free to interpret. But there is difference between saying 'in my opinion there will never be an expansion' and 'EA / Bioware pretty much said so that there will never be an expansion'.
That is why you were asked to share some official info. Even i though that some press release was made and i missed the annoucement. You were just trying to imply that EA : Bioware denied that there will never be an expansion based on your own guess work of falling subs, layoffs etc.
Maybe it's just semantics, but EA will release an "Expansion" when they let Makeb go live. Originally it was meant to be normal content update, but as subscribers began leaving, Bioware contemplated releasing Makeb as a mini-expansion. A Bioware marketing survey, trying to gauge if and how much its playerbase would pat for Makeb (which includes the new playable Cathar race) indicates that Makeb will raise the level cap 3-5 levels. After EA announced the switch to FTP, Bioware shelved the miini-expansion till after FTP was introduced. At the FTP announcment, Bioware initially claimed that subscribers would get all new future content free of additional charge, but soon began to backpeddle from that statement.
Jeff Hickman August 2012- "We’re still in discussion about some of the larger content updates that we’re planning. Great example is the planet Makeb. We’ve talked about Makeb, we have a lot of plans around Makeb. I wish I could give you more details, but I can tell you that I think the playerbase is going to be really, really pleased. More story content. New and interesting things for the players to do. More systems and interesting functions in the game … I can’t go into a lot of detail, but around things like that … This is a pretty big piece (of content). It is probably all that I can say. It is definitely still for discussion whether we sell that to the subscriber or the subscriber gets that for free because it is a big beefy chunk of content."
So you can debate whether a mini-expansion counts as an "Expansion" (a la The Burning Crusade for example) but there is new purchasable content coming out.
To split hairs, for the FTP option players, the new HK-51 quest line needs to be purchased to access. So is it DLC or expansion? Either way, it's a coming.
I suspect a new Star Wars mmo will be annoumced for released in someitme in 2015 to coincide with the new film . Once that happens ToRs days are numbered .
Maybe it's just semantics, but EA will release an "Expansion" when they let Makeb go live. Originally it was meant to be normal content update, but as subscribers began leaving, Bioware contemplated releasing Makeb as a mini-expansion. A Bioware marketing survey, trying to gauge if and how much its playerbase would pat for Makeb (which includes the new playable Cathar race) indicates that Makeb will raise the level cap 3-5 levels. After EA announced the switch to FTP, Bioware shelved the miini-expansion till after FTP was introduced. At the FTP announcment, Bioware initially claimed that subscribers would get all new future content free of additional charge, but soon began to backpeddle from that statement.
Jeff Hickman August 2012- "We’re still in discussion about some of the larger content updates that we’re planning. Great example is the planet Makeb. We’ve talked about Makeb, we have a lot of plans around Makeb. I wish I could give you more details, but I can tell you that I think the playerbase is going to be really, really pleased. More story content. New and interesting things for the players to do. More systems and interesting functions in the game … I can’t go into a lot of detail, but around things like that … This is a pretty big piece (of content). It is probably all that I can say. It is definitely still for discussion whether we sell that to the subscriber or the subscriber gets that for free because it is a big beefy chunk of content."
So you can debate whether a mini-expansion counts as an "Expansion" (a la The Burning Crusade for example) but there is new purchasable content coming out.
To split hairs, for the FTP option players, the new HK-51 quest line needs to be purchased to access. So is it DLC or expansion? Either way, it's a coming.
That is the bit I was thinking of, but none of that is an expansion, especially if they give it for free. All that implies no expansion but content updates.
All that SWTOR will be getting from now on is content updates, and is gone the way of STO. Although Perfect World seem to be into STO. They are releasing monthly state of the game reports, adding some kind of event each week, and adding devs.
i know how trhey work, i owned a chain store, i've seen contracts canceled (with settlements or forced), nothing is solid.
and plz dont play the smart guy in conversations
also concidering that the crowd will never learn the whole truth.
So you think EA would spend $250 million+ developing and advertising an MMO that can be shut down within the first couple of years by a fickle IP holder? I seriously doubt that LA has the ability to completely shut down SWTOR in the first few years. Plus why would they? It's the only star wars MMO going and it will take 5+ years to make a new one.
why u misunderstanding what im saying? I just said that contracts can be broken.
1st of all we dont know what the contract says. 2nd arent LA anymore, is Disney now, the years inside a contract arent solid, in all contracts are some paragraphs with ''IF'' (we will never know how many and what they are).
What im saying is .... contracts can be broken, with agreement of both sides or by force from one of them, or if one company do something that arent in the contract or not do something that are in the contract.
(edit) hoping to broken or stay is another story
fan of SWG, XCOM, Defiance, Global Agenda, Need For Speed, all Star Wars single player games. And waiting the darn STAR CITIZEN
It just seems wishful thinking on your part that there will be an expansion. They have said there will be no more story after 50. I can not find the link for that.
Lets have a look at the evidence.
They have not mentioned anything about expansions, and said there will be content every 6 weeks
They say the game needs about 500K subs to break even and the current state is not good and that was back in August, when there was more population than today "The President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said the Star Wars game would still break even so long as it maintained 500,000 subscribers, but admitted that its current performance was "not good enough"."
The Doctors have quit Bioware and gaming altogether plus other key Bioware member have quit
Mass layoffs = less people able to work on expansion
Do you seriously think there will be an expansion if they do not get their money from F2P?
Like I said if F2P becomes a success for EA and gives them loads of money then there probably will be an expansion, but under its current state it is not happening. How can they afford to do an expansion when they are not getting their 500K subs? Trees?
My opinion is not down to hate and bias, but logic and prudence, your opinion is down to bias and wishful thinking.
tbh the choice should be unlikely more than never, but never is the best choice in that list
Dude you said 'EA/ Bioware' pretty much said so; that is why you were asked to back it up with some official info; You could have just said that it is your own speculation without trying to make it look as if EA / Bioware made an annoucement that there will 'never' be an expansion.
All you gave was some quote about falling subs and your own speculations about how layoffs means less people for expansions and that they didn't say anything about expansion other than content every 6 weeks which somehow translated to 'never'.
I find it very ironic that you are telling him that he is being biased and indulging in ''wishful thinking'.
EA/Bioware will never say there will never be an expansion, as things may change over time, and after F2P.
"Pretty much said so", is not the same as "never" If they said it was going to be never, then I would have said "EA/Bioware said exactly that". If the current "success" of the game stays the way it is, like below 500K subs, then there will never be an expansion. If F2P brings in more than the equivalent of 500K subs then there may be an expansion.
From all that has been said, there is no plans for an expansion, and until Bioware say there is going to be an expansion, then there will not be an expansion, as by saying there is an expansion will generate interest to the game, by dangling the proverbial carrort. Blizzard have stated that they plan to add a few more expansions to WOW still, so why does Bioware not say anything about an expansion coming to SWTOR?
"Unlikely" would be my choice, but that is not in the selection, "never" is the closest to the current reality, which may change if F2P is a SURPRISE success
SWTOR actually, have more than 500k subs atm, and the game still have more than 200 devs working. An expansions will come and is probably the ¨space combat secret proyect¨ they have been talking about that for like a year, last time that someone ask if the new space missions are that proyect they said, No, but we cant talk about it yet.
SWTOR actually, have more than 500k subs atm, and the game still have more than 200 devs working. An expansions will come and is probably the ¨space combat secret proyect¨ they have been talking about that for like a year, last time that someone ask if the new space missions are that proyect they said, No, but we cant talk about it yet.
I would guess that SWTOR has under 250k subs atm. Let's see what EA said the number was on October 30th. Oh, look at that. No announcement.
SWTOR actually, have more than 500k subs atm, and the game still have more than 200 devs working. An expansions will come and is probably the ¨space combat secret proyect¨ they have been talking about that for like a year, last time that someone ask if the new space missions are that proyect they said, No, but we cant talk about it yet.
No, SWTOR has waaaaaaaaay less than 500k subs
AND
it has 200 PEOPLE working on it, can you point to where "200 devs" comes from rofl.
In EA's Oct 30th cnference call eA again talked about needing 500k to make a profit - even though there has been staff lay-off? - but if so then coupled with the COO's comment about "at some point the games have to make a profit" then that suggests that subs could be below 500k. As does no announcement - or rather a statement that the sub number means nothing (!) - and EA paving the way for subs hitting the 500k in the previous quarter. Certainly possible. Some will simply have decided to take a break and return when it goes F2P.
Going F2P is a gamble and EA will probably want some sort of "content expansion" to try and pull people in - if only to be able to put some positive spin on things at the next conference call. I agree with those who suggested that it will be more like the mini xpacs they did for WAR though. And presumably making best use of content created before the lay-offs started.
WarnerBros laying off people - after NCSoft announced the closure of CoH- should be sounding alarm bells. F2P is the way ahead said EA but then CoH closed and now WarnerBros cutting back. Still n sign of UO/DAoC/WAR going F2P either ....
After Disney, I doubt this will happen now. But I do expect a Disney influenced Star Wars MMO to emerge. Clone Wars Adventures will probably get bitten off too, to damage competitors like Sony. But maybe Sony & Disney can work something out, Clone Wars, despite being somewhat for the non adult world has survived pretty well. SWTOR expansion though, I don't know, probably won't be.
Originally posted by lifeordinary This topic is perfect example that hate and bias always over shadows logic and prudence. How can anyone say 'never' with a straight face is beyond me.
How anyone can say there will for sure be a real expansion to SWTOR with a straight face is beyond me. Developing an expansion for SWTOR is not a priority for EA. What does that mean to you? And how can you blame anyone for thinking it'll probably never come?
Care to share a link with the ETA for their future expansion? The most logical option is at least as believable as any other.
Originally posted by nyxium After Disney, I doubt this will happen now. But I do expect a Disney influenced Star Wars MMO to emerge. Clone Wars Adventures will probably get bitten off too, to damage competitors like Sony. But maybe Sony & Disney can work something out, Clone Wars, despite being somewhat for the non adult world has survived pretty well. SWTOR expansion though, I don't know, probably won't be.
Couple of points regarding Disney spring to mind:
1. Olsen stated that they were/would be working on an xpac pre-launch so presumably EA can go ahead and launch one.
2. However if they don't know whether Disney will renew the deal this will impact financial calculations - how many years do they have to try and make a profit etc. (Presunably Ea have a 2 or 3 year deal with (maybe) an option to renew for maybe 2 more; doubt it will go beyond 5 years.
And the longer EA go without releasing an xpac the less likely it will be that there is one - because it will have less time to pay for itself. As Joey says I doubt that EA are doing a great deal at the moment.
If it ever arrives, it would have to be one hell of an expansion. They need to turn a studio apartment into a four-bedroom house. I suspect it will be one planet (makeb) with 30 or so quests. It will be a hat on a frog. Cool hat, same ole frog.
Wow you guys hate this game. Obviously the game will get an expansion, expansions are cheaper to develop, can be developed more quickly, and the return on investment is higher than with the initial game because a lot of your sunk costs are already covered. It's also the only thing that would come with the requisite amount of marketting to get this game's hype level back up to reasonable levels.
The question is not whether the game will get an expansion, that's a foregone conclusion. The question is whether the game will continue to be focused on cinematics and voice overs going forward. I think it's pretty obvious that it will not. Makeb is the first stage of a long surrender on that front.
So will we see an expansion? The safe money is on yes, especially if it follows the F2P pattern set by other companies which is --> F2P conversion paired with a new pay-to-play Expansion soon after. Will it come with all new class stories and companion dialogue for all 8 classes, 16 main voice actors and 40 supporting companion actors? Probably not.
Originally posted by Souldrainer Wow... so many trolls. Never? That is way over the top! If failures like Age of Conan and DDO got expansions, then I am pretty sure the #2 sub-based MMO is due for one or more, that being SWTOR. But yet, because people expected the game to reinvent the wheel and it didn't, we get this torrential downpour of negativity. Where is all the negativity for TSW , WoW, and GW2? This community is really biased... smh.
Have you even seen AoC right now or is this just the parotting of "not enough content at launch"?
AoC is a fantastic game right now with tons of content, and the game design is right.
As for WoW, GW2 and TSW, the designs are working as intended and each game finds their target audience.
Anyway, for SWTOR the target audience was disappointed and it's time to go a few steps back, before they can take steps forward, that is the difference.
I personally hope for a kind of "revamp" expansion, something like FFIV "Realm Reborn".
TOR needs an expansion/revamp like this which is worthy of the IP. Plus space simulation is mandatory. Galaxies set the bar, as sad as it is for Bioware.
Sooner or later they have to borrow features, ideas and the openness from SWG.
F2P and more of the same content (FPs/OPs) won't bring the players back.
AoC is crap, dude. The game has purchasing flaws that shouldn't exist, for one. Content? Content was NEVER a problem for AoC, at least not for me. The problem was it took an action-packed war fest and turned it into a D-rate raid schedule. In which of Robert E Howard's stories does Conan say, "It's Friday night. Let's get our massive group together and go hunt a massive house-sized monster.?" Where is it? Yeah, no. The game is fail.
Target audience? Whom do you think SWTOR was meant for? News flash: SWTOR found its audience, and it wasn't the SWG fanboys.
Galaxies, IMO, was one of the worst MMOs ever made, BTW. It was clunky, out-of-place, and not true to its era at all. Well, it was, then it wasn't. Then they added elements of Star TREK, and some people liked them. Star Trek = Exploration. Star Wars = Action. Erickson was dead on when he pointed out that Han and Chewie never once said, "Hey, let's go dick around in space!" Yeah, no.
I know some people liked SWG for whatever reason. I can't put my finger on it. But, if I had to pick which games have come closest to the Star Wars feeling, SWTOR and KOTOR are at the top of the list, and SWG isn't on it. SWG was Star Wars for Star Trek fans, closet or otherwise.
P.S. Even though I hated SWG, I do feel bad for the fans. What Lucas Arts did wasn't right.
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Yeah, I hate to break it too all of the people that mindlessly hate SWTOR...but there will be an expansion. I'm actually concerned about people that think SWTOR won't have an expansion. Why would they shut down one of the most popular MMO's out there?
Look I wasn't thrilled with SWTOR, but saying it won't have an expansion is blind hate and not subjective at all...do better.
Edit: The poster above me is wrong on every single point other than SWTOR will have an expansion lol.
I tried to like them, I really did! But the magic was gone.
And now sold to Disney so who knows what the future holds?? Personally I think it might be a good thing if Disney handed it over to the Pixar Studio. Maybe they could revive it into something great again.
As for Swotor, I played Kotor on Xbox so had no need to play the MMO version.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Comments
So you think EA would spend $250 million+ developing and advertising an MMO that can be shut down within the first couple of years by a fickle IP holder? I seriously doubt that LA has the ability to completely shut down SWTOR in the first few years. Plus why would they? It's the only star wars MMO going and it will take 5+ years to make a new one.
You know that is only my speculation, but it would be the most logical thing. Why?
- Story Dramaturgy.
Bioware had long term plans from the very beginning, before the F2P sword stabbed into their belly... guts spilling out, blood everywhere, nasy smell and all. But, BW has a good surgeon and this is EA.
EA is now defibrillating the patient, some doctors put the patient into an artificial coma and sexy nurses are cleaning up the emergency room blood bath.
So anyway, you get the picture. Now they can continue on their original plans and continue the story and take it into a climax, a galaxy spanning threat, all lvl 50 heros unite, with massive space sim battles, add a third faction, several massive sandbox planets with 1000x1000x1000 open world PvP, vehicle combat, 1000% speeders, atmospheric flight and hundreds of fighters jets attacking vital bases of the enemies!!!!
YEEEESSSSS !!!!
Maybe the writing is wrong, but...
I'm not sure if they are willing to invest since they do not know if Disney is going to renew the contract.
EA/Bioware will never say there will never be an expansion, as things may change over time, and after F2P.
"Pretty much said so", is not the same as "never" If they said it was going to be never, then I would have said "EA/Bioware said exactly that". If the current "success" of the game stays the way it is, like below 500K subs, then there will never be an expansion. If F2P brings in more than the equivalent of 500K subs then there may be an expansion.
From all that has been said, there is no plans for an expansion, and until Bioware say there is going to be an expansion, then there will not be an expansion, as by saying there is an expansion will generate interest to the game, by dangling the proverbial carrort. Blizzard have stated that they plan to add a few more expansions to WOW still, so why does Bioware not say anything about an expansion coming to SWTOR?
"Unlikely" would be my choice, but that is not in the selection, "never" is the closest to the current reality, which may change if F2P is a SURPRISE success
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
EA/ Bioware never denied or confirmed expansion. So people are free to interpret. But there is difference between saying 'in my opinion there will never be an expansion' and 'EA / Bioware pretty much said so that there will never be an expansion'.
That is why you were asked to share some official info. Even i though that some press release was made and i missed the annoucement. You were just trying to imply that EA : Bioware denied that there will never be an expansion based on your own guess work of falling subs, layoffs etc.
Turbine's LoTRO proved that people will pay for an expansion in a F2P game.
Which is why EA/BW will never say 'there won't be an expansion for SWTOR'.
There is a market for it and it'll be bad business to ignore it.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
Never! There won't be an expansion!
They will never get the funding anymore from EA for all the Voice Overs that would need to be done to keep the game experience consistent.
Just face it! In the EA boardroom this game is already dead and written off in their books.
The switch to F2P is just a last effort to milk the game for some last cash.
Maybe it's just semantics, but EA will release an "Expansion" when they let Makeb go live. Originally it was meant to be normal content update, but as subscribers began leaving, Bioware contemplated releasing Makeb as a mini-expansion. A Bioware marketing survey, trying to gauge if and how much its playerbase would pat for Makeb (which includes the new playable Cathar race) indicates that Makeb will raise the level cap 3-5 levels. After EA announced the switch to FTP, Bioware shelved the miini-expansion till after FTP was introduced. At the FTP announcment, Bioware initially claimed that subscribers would get all new future content free of additional charge, but soon began to backpeddle from that statement.
Jeff Hickman August 2012- "We’re still in discussion about some of the larger content updates that we’re planning. Great example is the planet Makeb. We’ve talked about Makeb, we have a lot of plans around Makeb. I wish I could give you more details, but I can tell you that I think the playerbase is going to be really, really pleased. More story content. New and interesting things for the players to do. More systems and interesting functions in the game … I can’t go into a lot of detail, but around things like that … This is a pretty big piece (of content). It is probably all that I can say. It is definitely still for discussion whether we sell that to the subscriber or the subscriber gets that for free because it is a big beefy chunk of content."
So you can debate whether a mini-expansion counts as an "Expansion" (a la The Burning Crusade for example) but there is new purchasable content coming out.
To split hairs, for the FTP option players, the new HK-51 quest line needs to be purchased to access. So is it DLC or expansion? Either way, it's a coming.
That is the bit I was thinking of, but none of that is an expansion, especially if they give it for free. All that implies no expansion but content updates.
All that SWTOR will be getting from now on is content updates, and is gone the way of STO. Although Perfect World seem to be into STO. They are releasing monthly state of the game reports, adding some kind of event each week, and adding devs.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Hmm..I think it's rather weird that the majoritys guess, is that this game will NOT get an expansiion..???
500k subs or so..SWTOR must be one of the biggest MMOs there is right now, and even Everquest get's an expansion..
So ..Ofcourse it will get an expansion..sooner rather than later..Most likely at the same time it goes FTP..
why u misunderstanding what im saying? I just said that contracts can be broken.
1st of all we dont know what the contract says. 2nd arent LA anymore, is Disney now, the years inside a contract arent solid, in all contracts are some paragraphs with ''IF'' (we will never know how many and what they are).
What im saying is .... contracts can be broken, with agreement of both sides or by force from one of them, or if one company do something that arent in the contract or not do something that are in the contract.
(edit) hoping to broken or stay is another story
SWTOR actually, have more than 500k subs atm, and the game still have more than 200 devs working. An expansions will come and is probably the ¨space combat secret proyect¨ they have been talking about that for like a year, last time that someone ask if the new space missions are that proyect they said, No, but we cant talk about it yet.
I would guess that SWTOR has under 250k subs atm. Let's see what EA said the number was on October 30th. Oh, look at that. No announcement.
No, SWTOR has waaaaaaaaay less than 500k subs
AND
it has 200 PEOPLE working on it, can you point to where "200 devs" comes from rofl.
Fanboism is strong with you.
Some will - the question is how many - if not enough buy the xpac then http://www.insidegamingdaily.com/2012/10/25/lotr-online-studio-turbine-undergoing-layoffs/ staff get cut.
In EA's Oct 30th cnference call eA again talked about needing 500k to make a profit - even though there has been staff lay-off? - but if so then coupled with the COO's comment about "at some point the games have to make a profit" then that suggests that subs could be below 500k. As does no announcement - or rather a statement that the sub number means nothing (!) - and EA paving the way for subs hitting the 500k in the previous quarter. Certainly possible. Some will simply have decided to take a break and return when it goes F2P.
Going F2P is a gamble and EA will probably want some sort of "content expansion" to try and pull people in - if only to be able to put some positive spin on things at the next conference call. I agree with those who suggested that it will be more like the mini xpacs they did for WAR though. And presumably making best use of content created before the lay-offs started.
WarnerBros laying off people - after NCSoft announced the closure of CoH- should be sounding alarm bells. F2P is the way ahead said EA but then CoH closed and now WarnerBros cutting back. Still n sign of UO/DAoC/WAR going F2P either ....
How anyone can say there will for sure be a real expansion to SWTOR with a straight face is beyond me. Developing an expansion for SWTOR is not a priority for EA. What does that mean to you? And how can you blame anyone for thinking it'll probably never come?
Care to share a link with the ETA for their future expansion? The most logical option is at least as believable as any other.
Couple of points regarding Disney spring to mind:
1. Olsen stated that they were/would be working on an xpac pre-launch so presumably EA can go ahead and launch one.
2. However if they don't know whether Disney will renew the deal this will impact financial calculations - how many years do they have to try and make a profit etc. (Presunably Ea have a 2 or 3 year deal with (maybe) an option to renew for maybe 2 more; doubt it will go beyond 5 years.
And the longer EA go without releasing an xpac the less likely it will be that there is one - because it will have less time to pay for itself. As Joey says I doubt that EA are doing a great deal at the moment.
Survivor of the great MMORPG Famine of 2011
"Never"
Wow you guys hate this game. Obviously the game will get an expansion, expansions are cheaper to develop, can be developed more quickly, and the return on investment is higher than with the initial game because a lot of your sunk costs are already covered. It's also the only thing that would come with the requisite amount of marketting to get this game's hype level back up to reasonable levels.
The question is not whether the game will get an expansion, that's a foregone conclusion. The question is whether the game will continue to be focused on cinematics and voice overs going forward. I think it's pretty obvious that it will not. Makeb is the first stage of a long surrender on that front.
So will we see an expansion? The safe money is on yes, especially if it follows the F2P pattern set by other companies which is --> F2P conversion paired with a new pay-to-play Expansion soon after. Will it come with all new class stories and companion dialogue for all 8 classes, 16 main voice actors and 40 supporting companion actors? Probably not.
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Life sucks, buy a helmet.
AoC is crap, dude. The game has purchasing flaws that shouldn't exist, for one. Content? Content was NEVER a problem for AoC, at least not for me. The problem was it took an action-packed war fest and turned it into a D-rate raid schedule. In which of Robert E Howard's stories does Conan say, "It's Friday night. Let's get our massive group together and go hunt a massive house-sized monster.?" Where is it? Yeah, no. The game is fail.
Target audience? Whom do you think SWTOR was meant for? News flash: SWTOR found its audience, and it wasn't the SWG fanboys.
Galaxies, IMO, was one of the worst MMOs ever made, BTW. It was clunky, out-of-place, and not true to its era at all. Well, it was, then it wasn't. Then they added elements of Star TREK, and some people liked them. Star Trek = Exploration. Star Wars = Action. Erickson was dead on when he pointed out that Han and Chewie never once said, "Hey, let's go dick around in space!" Yeah, no.
I know some people liked SWG for whatever reason. I can't put my finger on it. But, if I had to pick which games have come closest to the Star Wars feeling, SWTOR and KOTOR are at the top of the list, and SWG isn't on it. SWG was Star Wars for Star Trek fans, closet or otherwise.
P.S. Even though I hated SWG, I do feel bad for the fans. What Lucas Arts did wasn't right.
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Yeah, I hate to break it too all of the people that mindlessly hate SWTOR...but there will be an expansion. I'm actually concerned about people that think SWTOR won't have an expansion. Why would they shut down one of the most popular MMO's out there?
Look I wasn't thrilled with SWTOR, but saying it won't have an expansion is blind hate and not subjective at all...do better.
Edit: The poster above me is wrong on every single point other than SWTOR will have an expansion lol.
Star Wars lost me when they made Episodes 1-2-3.
I tried to like them, I really did! But the magic was gone.
And now sold to Disney so who knows what the future holds?? Personally I think it might be a good thing if Disney handed it over to the Pixar Studio. Maybe they could revive it into something great again.
As for Swotor, I played Kotor on Xbox so had no need to play the MMO version.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!