Question:<\/strong> One of the things that sets SW:TOR apart is the eight class stories in the base game. It gives a variety of stories and tropes in the Star Wars universe to play. Obviously the later expansions do not have this and were simplified into one streamlined story. What are some of the difficulties you guys have had trying to craft a story for all these varying archetypes?<\/p>\n![\"level4\"](\"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/level4.jpg\")
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Dev:<\/b> I worked on the class stories to begin with \u2013 the trooper \u2013 back in the day, and it was something we were all very passionate about. At some point you need to move on \u2013 it can\u2019t just be a story about your job. That\u2019s not the only way to make a personal story. And we really wanted to show that your character was growing and changing over time. As you become this veteran of this galactic war and as you move into these new challenges, these new struggles, the galaxy changes and your character changes, and you go through different things. We always want to be true to where your character came from; we always want to remember that a trooper is going to think about things differently than a Sith Warrior, and also be responded to in different ways by people who know that history, that background. At the same time we really want to move the story forward and move our player characters forward \u2013 let you feel like you can develop your character in interesting new ways.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s a challenge to think about it \u2013 \u201cWhy would a Smuggler do the same thing as a Jedi?\u201d \u2013 but I think when you play through the story, I like to think we did a pretty cool way of getting you into that.<\/p>\n
I have just started the expansion\u2026 at times this can be clunky. For example, I play as a Trooper, member of the Republic Army\u2026 sometimes it feels as if a Jedi might have been better in my place.<\/i><\/p>\n
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Dev:<\/b> To add to that, if we wanted to make choices that had an impact – that mattered to you – it\u2019s far easier for us to do that with a singular story line. The amount of writing and time to create all that content exponentially grows [for eight distinct stories]. So now we can do a better, more focused experience that has that breadth.<\/p>\nFavorite Star Wars Element<\/h2>\n
Question:<\/strong> What is your favorite thing about the Star Wars franchise as a whole? A plot, archetype, whatever.. and how do you bring that into the world of SW:TOR?<\/p>\n![\"bespin-fight-vader-luke\"](\"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bespin-fight-vader-luke.jpg\")
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Dev:<\/b> Mine ultimately is pivotal to where I am in my career, and the fact that I chose to do something creative. It was Empire Strikes Back, and it\u2019s the scene where Luke is going through Bespin, and he\u2019s looking for Vader, and he walks into the Carbonite Freezing Chamber\u2026 as he goes from the white sterile Bespin into a dark, really dramatic lighting\u2026 and there\u2019s Vader. Just waiting for him. That was the day I realized I want to create characters that people dress up as for Halloween. I want to create stories where people just lose their minds about. That entire scene in Bespin with Luke vs Vader \u2013 that changed my entire world. I\u2019d already loved Star Wars, but that to me was just a different level. It\u2019s the personal story \u2013 here\u2019s this young Jedi here to save his friends and he\u2019s not ready\u2026 but he\u2019s facing this greater evil\u2026 Here\u2019s this incredible bad guy that no one [in the world] has ever matched up to \u2013 Darth Vader \u2013 and he\u2019s just like \u2018I got this covered.\u2019 The entire fight, all of it, resounded with me.<\/p>\n
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Dev:<\/b> The Force, its Jedi, its lightsabers, its Sith; all the mysteries, and temptations, and moralities that come with that.<\/p>\n
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The interactions of this supernatural thing with characters that have absolutely no knowledge of it, or access to it, or anything. Han Solo doesn\u2019t know the first thing about the Force, and even Leia until she learns her background, and yet they are still central figures to the story, they\u2019re still doing their jobs, they\u2019re still trying to change the galaxy. Even if they don\u2019t have this mystical power their friends do. I love that intersection between the mystical and the down-to-earth kind of universe that Star Wars is. It\u2019s one of the big reasons I chose to do the trooper originally; it\u2019s one of the coolest parts in any story that we tell, seeing what results in a world with the Force and every-day interactions.<\/p>\n
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This is one of the reasons I chose to play a trooper as well \u2013 I have really enjoyed the role of the character in the Star Wars universe that is NOT the all-powerful Yoda or Darth Vader, but can still make a big impact in the galaxy.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\nDev:<\/b> I\u2019ve been a Star Wars fan supernerd since I was a kid, and I think one of those reasons is how the story focuses on a small cast of characters in a large galaxy. In every scene, you get these little glimpses of this grandiose universe full of lives and stories and characters. When I was a kid I dove into the Expanded Universe, all the toys, I was the guy who won all the Star Wars trivia contests because I know the name of that character in the background of shot three. And now, I actually get to fill out those spaces and be a part of making that universe\u2026 it really is a dream come true.<\/p>\n
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This is my favourite part of the Star Wars universe as well, and why I am a big fan of the Star Wars games from Kyle Katarn to Revan \u2013 even though I am playing a story someone else created, I feel like I am \u2018filling in\u2019 those spaces that I daydreamed about as a kid.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n![\"senya1\"](\"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/senya1.jpg\")
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Favorite KotFE Character<\/h2>\n
Question [Taylor from Gamefragger.com]:<\/strong> Of the characters you can talk about, who would your favorite characters be?<\/p>\nDev:<\/strong> Senya. Senya is my favorite both from a design standpoint, but also strength of character and personality.<\/p>\n![\"senya2\"](\"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/senya2.jpg\")
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Senya is a guardian of the planet Emperor Valkorion presides over. You will meet her later in the KotFE story.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\nDev:<\/b> Senya plays a very key role in the story. So when you dig in, you\u2019ll kinda see what we are talking about.<\/p>\n
![\"lana\"](\"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/lana.jpg\")
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Lana I really like. She seems very reasonable\u2026 she\u2019s very down-to-earth\u2026 she\u2019s very practical\u2026 she\u2019s goal-oriented\u2026 but she\u2019s dark side. She\u2019s ruthless! People forget that sometimes because when you talk to her she seems perfectly amenable \u2013 and then you realize what she\u2019s really willing to do to win this war or to achieve her goals, and I love that interaction between what you expect and reality.<\/p>\n
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Dev:<\/b> And then there\u2019s Koth, this down-to-earth regular guy swept up in these huge galactic events, and he still manages to shine; still keeps a great sense of humor, great personality, and then HK-55 \u2013 HK is traditionally one of the most popular Old Republic characters \u2013 so finding a way to explore that HK character and find a new take on it\u00a0 \u2013 because HK-55 is very similar but has a different role, a different job that he pursues, but might seem at odds with the traditional HK.<\/p>\n
Dev:<\/b> T7. There is nothing more \u2018Star Wars\u2019 than the plucky Swiss army droid who always comes through in a pinch. He fills the Swiss army role, the puppy, and, uhchh, I love T7.<\/p>\n
Dev:<\/b> The joke I have been making for 7 years is that the game is actually about T7 \u2013 we\u2019re really only all on his adventure, because if you\u2019ve noticed, he\u2019s pivotal everywhere. Without him, there is no adventure. We\u2019re just helping him get to some final goal, and I just don\u2019t know what that is yet.<\/p>\n
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Companion Deaths<\/h2>\n
Question [Swtorista]:<\/b> Companions in SW:TOR are one of the things players seem to get really attached. They nickname their companions, they spend a lot of time with them, they pick their favourites. With KotFE, you\u2019ve introduced a feature you haven\u2019t even entertained since before the game came out. How did your team approach the idea that you could possibly lose a companion from your team\u2026 or lose them forever?<\/p>\n
Dev:<\/b> Making your choices matter has always been a goal here a Bioware. It\u2019s key to telling a good story. One of the challenges we faced back in the day was that your companions had very set roles in the gameplay, outside of the storyline. For example if a character was a healer, that was their role\u2026 if you drove them away, you would lose your healer, and then you would be at a huge disadvantage in the game. We found that was not very rewarding for players ultimately, and that\u2019s why in Fallen Empire we made all the companions role neutral \u2013 they can switch to play any role that you need. Any companion can be a healer, any companion can be a tank. That opened us up to be able to do what we always wanted to do, which was to make the decisions around the companions more meaningful, more impactful, and lets you see real consequences from your decisions. See companions get killed, see companions get driven away, based on your decisions. There\u2019s a lot of that in Fallen Empire, and there\u2019s some really huge ones coming in the future chapters after \u201cthat certain movie\u201d comes out. In the beginning of next year, there\u2019s some huge ones coming that I can\u2019t wait for people to see.<\/p>\n
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Mandatory Level Sync<\/h2>\n
Question [Larry from Hyperspace Beacon]:<\/strong> Why was level sync mandatory vs given as a choice?<\/p>\nDev:<\/b> A big part of KotFE is that it is a reforging of our foundation. It\u2019s about \u201clet\u2019s set ourselves up for success going forward.\u201d From a straight practical standpoint, we have some amazing planets and some amazing locations that we wanted to make sure we were constantly sending people to, and we wanted that content to always be relevant to them.<\/p>\n
The only big argument I ever heard about making it a choice was from people who really wanted to feel like they were super powerful compared to the content and they could just walk through it. In the grand scheme of things, trying to keep those players in mind, when we took a step back and we looked at it we said, \u201cWell we\u2019re going to level sync you, but we\u2019re not going to take anything away.\u201d You\u2019re still going to keep all the things you\u2019ve earned through leveling up, all of your passives, all of your utilities, as well as your gear.<\/p>\n
You will still be very powerful if you have your gear and all your abilities.<\/i><\/p>\n
It allowed us to still be able to reach our goal, what was \u201cLet\u2019s create content that anyone can enjoy, they can play with their friends no matter what, they can go back and re-do content at a later point, and we can even introduce new content to the game and put it on any planet we want. And any level player can go back and enjoy that and still feel like there was some sort of challenge.<\/p>\n
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The War<\/h2>\n
Question:<\/strong> What planets war affected in that trailer? Obviously we know Korriban as affected.. we also see Republic troopers going down.. who exactly was hit?<\/p>\nDev:<\/b> We don\u2019t have a list we could give you directly. When we find we need to develop that more in detail, we\u2019ll give that to you. When you jump into the story, you\u2019ll see which aspects are key.<\/p>\n
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Planetary Comm Equipment<\/h2>\n
Question [Exile, TORfashion]:<\/b> What was the reasoning behind getting rid of all the equipment vendors on the fleet (planetary vendors)?<\/p>\n
Dev:<\/b> It\u2019s funny that you phrase it that way. We looked at it as though we had too many vendors and they were all over everyone\u2019s minimaps and all over the place. So we thought we would just simplify the experience so you could more easily find what you were looking for. We also took a look before we did it and we made a big list of everyone we had out there in all the different locations and it\u2019s not just the fleet \u2013 it\u2019s even the camps and the planets. And we looked at what players were actually using the vendors for \u2013 what were they buying, what were they not buying, where were they using them? We found one or two inconsistencies about some camps; some camps didn\u2019t have the same vendors. We wanted to make it more uniform across the different locations. So really it was just an opportunity to clean up and streamline because we just added vendor, vendor, vendor and the solution was often to add another vendor and it wasn\u2019t really necessary.<\/p>\n
Exile really wanted to know if everything was still available, because she hadn\u2019t found them yet. In response, they said they were \u2018out there\u2019 somewhere, used in different ways, either in repeatable quests or other sources in the game. \u2018Those outfits are still out there.\u2019 One great example of\u00a0returning\u00a0gear I found was in the new crafting schematics; you can get shells of the gear that was\u00a0only available at endgame of the game\u2019s launch and has been unavailable for years.<\/i><\/p>\n
Update:\u00a0Players have expressed a lot of dislike about the removal of these armors. Here is an official response from Eric Musco:<\/p>\n
For the question at hand about why equipment was removed from various vendors, this is primarily due to stat changes. With the release of Fallen Empire, we essentially made that gear obsolete due to the new stat configurations and formulas. This meant the best option was to remove those items. Obviously, this raises the main concern of the support call which is the appearances of those armor sets.<\/p>\n
The dev team informs us that virtually all of the core armor appearances sold on those vendors previously can still be located throughout the game. The majority of the old armor sets can be found via Crafting rewards, Missions, and Heroic Mission rewards. Now, there may be some variants of these core armor sets which are no longer available, but we\u2019ll adjust that over time and slowly re-add pieces. If there are specific armor sets that can no longer be found, send the information to the Community Team, and we\u2019ll pass it along.<\/p>\n
![\"ziost\"](\"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/ziost.jpg\")
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Between Ziost and KotFE Chapter 1<\/h2>\n
THE LAST QUESTION HAS SPOILERS ABOUT ZIOST<\/span>, A LEVEL 60 PLANET RIGHT BEFORE KOTFE.<\/strong><\/p>\nQuestion [Swtorista]:<\/b> The last piece of content that the player sees (if they are playing every piece of content in the game) is the Emperor destroying an entire planet in some type of \u2018dark ritual.\u2019 When we pick up KotFE you are talking to a prominent character. But what happens between those two points in time?<\/p>\n
Dev:<\/b> That\u2019s literally chapter one. There\u2019s some time in there that we kind of explore in the beginning of the story where the characters are hunting for the Emperor on Ziost, he does some pretty nefarious stuff there\u2026 there\u2019s supposed to be some time passage as they\u2019re trying to track him down, where he disappeared to after he did that. A large event of that time is from the Sacrifice trailer [the one with the two twins]. When you jump into Fallen Empire that largely takes place in the gap between Ziost and the Fallen Empire, it\u2019s almost Chapter Zero \u2013 that\u2019s kind of how we\u2019ve been talking about it internally.<\/p>\n
This is the one question I felt was not answered well. I hope in the future they address this gap in time\/story better!<\/i><\/p>\n![\"9m32_l53_bigger\"](\"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/9m32_l53_bigger.jpeg\")
Edit: Thank you to M. Hebler<\/a> for donating his time to proofread and edit this article!<\/em><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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