With a new story segment coming out soon, I was disappointed to learn that our character will not be able to openly switch sides (within the self contained story phases of course, nobody is asking for a functional faction swap). The fact that we were able to ally with the Empire as a Republic character in KotET or reject them as an Imperial character and then on Iokath openly ally with and fight alongside the opposite faction to fight your own faction got me interested in story possibilities. Since we won't be able to openly switch sides in the story and can only "sabotage from within" our original faction I wish the game had never given us the choice to side with the opposing faction previously. They could have made it so you had to ally with both to take down Valkorion and then all 3 factions went their separate ways afterwards leaving it open to go back to your original faction or they could have just not brought allegiance to the original factions in the previous story at all and it would have had the same effect. Or alternately we could have had the choice to support the opposite faction subtly and secretly so our original faction didn't know about it rather than allying with them publicly. As it is, for those characters who supported the opposite factions (especially imperials whose actions lead to the death of Empress Acina) it makes no sense for the original faction to take them back or trust them in any way. It pretty much makes me want to abandon the characters who made those choices and only play staunch loyalists.

Before some of you freak out at me and claim I was hoping for something impossible that would never happen: a functional faction swap where you now have access to separate faction areas, flashpoints, operations, guilds, etc...that's not what I'm saying at all. What happens in the single player self contained instances stays in the single player self contained instances and always has, I was just hoping for more of the same. I just wish they hadn't set up something they couldn't or wouldn't follow through on.

ok -- I have thought about this some --- and here is my reasoning as it is ... just my 2 cents ...

within the story --- not in the game itself or real life ... our own separate little instance of story ....

we have 8 classes ... now if we have 2 possible story lines for each class ( as we would have to, if we truly -- in the story --- switched sides.... ) Republic and Empire ...

let's take a smuggler -- ok he was republic before, but switched to Empire for his own reasons ---

ok so HIS story line would be Empire from then on ... fine ...

now here's a republic smuggler that stayed with the republic -- and HIS story line from then on would be Republic -- ok, fine ....

now the math ... we have 8 classes -- if it was going to be a real ( in story) faction switch .. we would need ( 8x2=16)

16 different story lines --- 2 per class -- to have this work ....

at this point in the game's life -- and yes it has a while to run yet -- with the staff down like it is to bare bones ( or so we seem to agree on ) --- I just can't see this happening -- not without a full blown rehiring or whatever of more staff and writers ....

I'd like it too --- but just can't see it happening in the game's present situation ....

Yea this whole saboteur or loyalist thing they have sucks. I am not interested in the new story after I watched the video about all that. They forced us to choose and now they are forcing us to stay. I am not happy at all with that outcome.

plus The new expansion is about going to a ancient planet with old jedi ruins, hmm just like Tython , how JJ Abrams of them to replay tython over again in a new shell. The whole thing smells bad.

ok -- I have thought about this some --- and here is my reasoning as it is ... just my 2 cents ...

 

 

within the story --- not in the game itself or real life ... our own separate little instance of story ....

 

we have 8 classes ... now if we have 2 possible story lines for each class ( as we would have to, if we truly -- in the story --- switched sides.... ) Republic and Empire ...

 

let's take a smuggler -- ok he was republic before, but switched to Empire for his own reasons ---

ok so HIS story line would be Empire from then on ... fine ...

now here's a republic smuggler that stayed with the republic -- and HIS story line from then on would be Republic -- ok, fine ....

now the math ... we have 8 classes -- if it was going to be a real ( in story) faction switch .. we would need ( 8x2=16)

16 different story lines --- 2 per class -- to have this work ....

 

at this point in the game's life -- and yes it has a while to run yet -- with the staff down like it is to bare bones ( or so we seem to agree on ) --- I just can't see this happening -- not without a full blown rehiring or whatever of more staff and writers ....

I'd like it too --- but just can't see it happening in the game's present situation ....

Huh? I'm not following your math here. They're already having 2 stories, one for each faction and a character who switched sides could just do their new side's story with some dialogue here and there about switching sides but everything else being the same. So for example the Republic storyline includes Jedi Consulars, Jedi Knights, Troopers, and Smugglers and could also include imperial defectors with a few extra lines. Each class isn't getting their own storyline. We haven't had 8 different stories since the vanilla class stories, heck we haven't even had two separate faction stories since Makeb.

O_o

Yea this whole saboteur or loyalist thing they have sucks. I am not interested in the new story after I watched the video about all that. They forced us to choose and now they are forcing us to stay. I am not happy at all with that outcome.

 

plus The new expansion is about going to a ancient planet with old jedi ruins, hmm just like Tython , how JJ Abrams of them to replay tython over again in a new shell. The whole thing smells bad.

Yeah I really deflated after hearing that news (late but whatever). It feels like a bait and switch It's doubly ill-fitting if you were an agent who already betrayed the empire (which is apparently a well known fact going by the lack of reaction from Theron and Lana to Shara blabbing about it in the Nathema Conspiracy) by being a double agent for the Republic and then betrays them again by abandoning them in KotET and then betrays them a third time by openly siding with the Republic and fighting them which leads to the death of their empress. Like who in their right mind would let Traitor McGee back into their ranks?

if the story is like Makeb -- we have 1 for republic and 1 for Empire same story ( in my opinion) for each class -- only difference is the faction ( 2 factions), but still 8 stories ---

now if they add 1 each for republic and empire --- 2 per individual class story ---

2 for EACH class -- so we CAN have one for Republic and one for Empire -- for all 8 classes --

that is 16 stories ( 2 per class -- Empire story and Republic story )

Thing is they said quite a few times in the early part of the game that they would never allow defections or switching factions. Star Wars by it's very nature if very black and white and no grey. Good vs Evil, Light vs. Dark and I think part of that ideaoloigy is represented in lore and in alot of fan's minds. [exceptions of course]

As far as the choice made on Iokath, I agree it makes no sense that the factions they betrayed and are traitors in point of fact, but you are not locked into the choices., you will be given a choice when the storyline resumes to declare for either side once and for all and that one and only that one will be binding and will be the choice based on as the storyline contines,so you can still back out of it and not be deemed the treasonus scum players that do that are

There are some classes that I think would be easier to explain switching sides that had no real loyalties anyways, like Smugglers and Bounty Hunters, their criminals so I can easily see them being able to go back and forth between the factions as they exist below the rader of authorities anyways.

Another option, although a bit more complicated, they could simulate defectors and traitors switching sides by at some point when it would be the right timing in the story, that those who wanted to change over would be given a Master Datacon that must be used solely for the purpose of making a mirror version of your character and than that would move you litereally to the other faction in every way. The character would be a 70 already and could than start playing the story line from that point on ward as a member of the faction. You wouldn't need to do vanilla you just start at that point in the strory line. It wouldn't be a perfect reflection, you would need to be the mirror class and might have to make a slightly different verson of the name but you could explain that as in not wanting to be discovered as people from their old faction might be looking for them because they are traitors so it would make sense why they would pose under a different name or a varied version of the original name and than you can make the character look exactly like the original easily. Again, not perfect but a lot better than just going it only head canon.

If you are not heart set on switching factions change your final decision to your home faction again, and play it off that at the last miniute , you got cold feet [missing fiends and family and the like] and thusly avoid any future complications that tjhose who stay traitors but still go back to the home faction will likely have at some point, it will definately come up. They cant put you to the wall and execute like you would deserve because you are a paying customer , but I think there will likely be some downsides felt, like all your comps [vanilla and faction based] would have their influeces reset back to zero and all reputations related to faction would meet the same fate. Total restart.

Just my 2 cents.

#3rdfaction

Just saying

Huh? I'm not following your math here. They're already having 2 stories, one for each faction and a character who switched sides could just do their new side's story with some dialogue here and there about switching sides but everything else being the same. So for example the Republic storyline includes Jedi Consulars, Jedi Knights, Troopers, and Smugglers and could also include imperial defectors with a few extra lines. Each class isn't getting their own storyline. We haven't had 8 different stories since the vanilla class stories, heck we haven't even had two separate faction stories since Makeb.

 

O_o

That works fine for the force user classes, a Jedi Counselor is really just a mirror of a Sith Inquisitor (and Knight is Warrior), but the non-force users are very much not mirrors. The Imperial Agent is sort of a mirror for the Trooper (in that they are a government employee) and not so much a mirror of the Smuggler (which is independent of the government).

So, if a Smuggler decides to work for the Empire, just plugging them into the Agent storyline wouldn't make any sense. Same for a Bounty Hunter declaring for the Republic (why would the Republic just plug them into their elite special forces unit?)

With a new story segment coming out soon, I was disappointed to learn that our character will not be able to openly switch sides (within the self contained story phases of course, nobody is asking for a functional faction swap). The fact that we were able to ally with the Empire as a Republic character in KotET or reject them as an Imperial character and then on Iokath openly ally with and fight alongside the opposite faction to fight your own faction got me interested in story possibilities. Since we won't be able to openly switch sides in the story and can only "sabotage from within" our original faction I wish the game had never given us the choice to side with the opposing faction previously. They could have made it so you had to ally with both to take down Valkorion and then all 3 factions went their separate ways afterwards leaving it open to go back to your original faction or they could have just not brought allegiance to the original factions in the previous story at all and it would have had the same effect. Or alternately we could have had the choice to support the opposite faction subtly and secretly so our original faction didn't know about it rather than allying with them publicly. As it is, for those characters who supported the opposite factions (especially imperials whose actions lead to the death of Empress Acina) it makes no sense for the original faction to take them back or trust them in any way. It pretty much makes me want to abandon the characters who made those choices and only play staunch loyalists.

 

Before some of you freak out at me and claim I was hoping for something impossible that would never happen: a functional faction swap where you now have access to separate faction areas, flashpoints, operations, guilds, etc...that's not what I'm saying at all. What happens in the single player self contained instances stays in the single player self contained instances and always has, I was just hoping for more of the same. I just wish they hadn't set up something they couldn't or wouldn't follow through on.

The real issue is that our choices never really mattered. Even if you kill someone in your story, it doesn't affect the general flow of things (because BW went out of their way to make everything and everyone not Lana or Theron-related inconsequential). So realistically our choice in regards to faction won't matter in the end. Plus if we're gonna get a new Flashpoint, it's probably gonna assume that we went loyalist. Anyway, all we can do is wait and see.

Good luck and happy hunting.

Yeah I really deflated after hearing that news (late but whatever). It feels like a bait and switch It's doubly ill-fitting if you were an agent who already betrayed the empire (which is apparently a well known fact going by the lack of reaction from Theron and Lana to Shara blabbing about it in the Nathema Conspiracy) by being a double agent for the Republic and then betrays them again by abandoning them in KotET and then betrays them a third time by openly siding with the Republic and fighting them which leads to the death of their empress. Like who in their right mind would let Traitor McGee back into their ranks?

I heard that comes up in the story. Just not sure where or by whom - if it's Lana or Theron who say something - maybe? but I think it's more of when you report to your Ossus contact. Hopefully it won't be one throw away line and that's it. I hope we can kill Malora though or at least beat her up . I would have rather met up with the Jedi we helped on Korriban than her.

if the story is like Makeb -- we have 1 for republic and 1 for Empire same story ( in my opinion) for each class -- only difference is the faction ( 2 factions), but still 8 stories ---

now if they add 1 each for republic and empire --- 2 per individual class story ---

2 for EACH class -- so we CAN have one for Republic and one for Empire -- for all 8 classes --

that is 16 stories ( 2 per class -- Empire story and Republic story )

Again, I am not understanding what you're saying. Makeb didn't have 8 stories, it had 2 stories, 1 per faction with a few lines of dialogue here and there depending on class. A line of dialogue or two acknowledging class does not count as a story. KotFE and KotET had a few of those lines as well but it only had one story.

Thing is they said quite a few times in the early part of the game that they would never allow defections or switching factions. Star Wars by it's very nature if very black and white and no grey. Good vs Evil, Light vs. Dark and I think part of that ideaoloigy is represented in lore and in alot of fan's minds. [exceptions of course]

 

As far as the choice made on Iokath, I agree it makes no sense that the factions they betrayed and are traitors in point of fact, but you are not locked into the choices., you will be given a choice when the storyline resumes to declare for either side once and for all and that one and only that one will be binding and will be the choice based on as the storyline contines,so you can still back out of it and not be deemed the treasonus scum players that do that are

 

There are some classes that I think would be easier to explain switching sides that had no real loyalties anyways, like Smugglers and Bounty Hunters, their criminals so I can easily see them being able to go back and forth between the factions as they exist below the rader of authorities anyways.

 

Another option, although a bit more complicated, they could simulate defectors and traitors switching sides by at some point when it would be the right timing in the story, that those who wanted to change over would be given a Master Datacon that must be used solely for the purpose of making a mirror version of your character and than that would move you litereally to the other faction in every way. The character would be a 70 already and could than start playing the story line from that point on ward as a member of the faction. You wouldn't need to do vanilla you just start at that point in the strory line. It wouldn't be a perfect reflection, you would need to be the mirror class and might have to make a slightly different verson of the name but you could explain that as in not wanting to be discovered as people from their old faction might be looking for them because they are traitors so it would make sense why they would pose under a different name or a varied version of the original name and than you can make the character look exactly like the original easily. Again, not perfect but a lot better than just going it only head canon.

 

If you are not heart set on switching factions change your final decision to your home faction again, and play it off that at the last miniute , you got cold feet [missing fiends and family and the like] and thusly avoid any future complications that tjhose who stay traitors but still go back to the home faction will likely have at some point, it will definately come up. They cant put you to the wall and execute like you would deserve because you are a paying customer , but I think there will likely be some downsides felt, like all your comps [vanilla and faction based] would have their influeces reset back to zero and all reputations related to faction would meet the same fate. Total restart.

 

Just my 2 cents.

Again, my interest is in the self contained single player story. I have no interest in a functional faction swap so a datacron that lets you make a clone of your character is of no value to me. I could just play an opposite faction character with the same looks if all I cared about was functionality. This is the same issue with being given another chance to choose the original faction after having betrayed it over and over. It makes no story sense. You can headcanon your own character's motivations all you want but it doesn't change the fact that taking back a blatant traitor makes no sense for your original faction.

If they had no plans to ever let our character switch sides in the self contained single player story then they shouldn't have let us flirt with that possibility by siding with the opposite faction and warring against our original one. The result is a storyline that doesn't make sense for anyone but loyalists.

That works fine for the force user classes, a Jedi Counselor is really just a mirror of a Sith Inquisitor (and Knight is Warrior), but the non-force users are very much not mirrors. The Imperial Agent is sort of a mirror for the Trooper (in that they are a government employee) and not so much a mirror of the Smuggler (which is independent of the government).

 

So, if a Smuggler decides to work for the Empire, just plugging them into the Agent storyline wouldn't make any sense. Same for a Bounty Hunter declaring for the Republic (why would the Republic just plug them into their elite special forces unit?)

What? I'm not asking for your character to swap classes/class stories O_o I'm asking that defectors take the generic all encompassing storyline (future content only, not past/class content) of the opposite faction rather than the starting faction. So imperial defectors would help the Jedi in the new planet and republic defectors would help the sith. Only a few lines of dialogue need to be added. Here is an example: my Chiss agent chose to side with the Republic on Iokath and when speaking to Aristocra Saganu he said something like "you're willing to work with a republic ally?" he didn't become a smuggler or trooper or something, he just got the line that any republic ally got.

The real issue is that our choices never really mattered. Even if you kill someone in your story, it doesn't affect the general flow of things (because BW went out of their way to make everything and everyone not Lana or Theron-related inconsequential). So realistically our choice in regards to faction won't matter in the end. Plus if we're gonna get a new Flashpoint, it's probably gonna assume that we went loyalist. Anyway, all we can do is wait and see.

 

Good luck and happy hunting.

That's true

I heard that comes up in the story. Just not sure where or by whom - if it's Lana or Theron who say something - maybe? but I think it's more of when you report to your Ossus contact. Hopefully it won't be one throw away line and that's it. I hope we can kill Malora though or at least beat her up . I would have rather met up with the Jedi we helped on Korriban than her.

You mean our original faction comments on us betraying them? I mean that's great and all but why would they take us back? Why are we being forced to GO back to them after being given the option to choose? I really wish BioWare had thought any of this through. The fact that we can betray them from within is something at least but it's really unsatisfying and the whole scenario is nonsensical.

That WOULD be cool to meet up with Quorian Dorjis again

What? I'm not asking for your character to swap classes/class stories O_o I'm asking that defectors take the generic all encompassing storyline (future content only, not past/class content) of the opposite faction rather than the starting faction. So imperial defectors would help the Jedi in the new planet and republic defectors would help the sith. Only a few lines of dialogue need to be added. Here is an example: my Chiss agent chose to side with the Republic on Iokath and when speaking to Aristocra Saganu he said something like "you're willing to work with a republic ally?" he didn't become a smuggler or trooper or something, he just got the line that any republic ally got.

That's exactly what I think.

 

Again, my interest is in the self contained single player story. I have no interest in a functional faction swap so a datacron that lets you make a clone of your character is of no value to me. I could just play an opposite faction character with the same looks if all I cared about was functionality. This is the same issue with being given another chance to choose the original faction after having betrayed it over and over. It makes no story sense. You can headcanon your own character's motivations all you want but it doesn't change the fact that taking back a blatant traitor makes no sense for your original faction.

 

If they had no plans to ever let our character switch sides in the self contained single player story then they shouldn't have let us flirt with that possibility by siding with the opposite faction and warring against our original one. The result is a storyline that doesn't make sense for anyone but loyalists.

 

 

 

 

I agree with you 100% and I understand better now what you mean when you say self-contained, I don't think I really had that straight in my mind, but I get what you mean now. And yeah, it makes no sense that they would take a traitor back. That's kinda why I tried to make a point of defining the difference between defecting and treason, they are very different things heh.

A traitor in the Empire? No chance they wouldn't be executed. They would be shot on the spot heh, unless they were a Sith traitor than that Sith would wish he was going to get it over with that easy.

I'm really at a lose as to why they did that. I thought it was gonna be trouble the second I saw it. Namely because, speaking only for myself, it never even dawned on me that there was the slightest possibility that the storyline would never go back to traditional Star Wars motiffs. If I had thought that I woulda left the game years ago heh.

But when I saw it, I knew it was gonna be trouble, because it was to effect some people just as it is with you and agree, they shouldn't have dangled that hope around, when they had long ago said that was something they'd never do. They got a lot of peoples hopes unnecessarily and I can't understand how they couldn't have seen this day would come. - It's no biggie for me, I'm a loyalist, but I'm probably like one of 3 people in the whole game that doesn't have a character they want to go traitor or switch factions. I haven't seem too many people take my view.

Only other player that I can recall being gung ho Empire like me is Ylliarus.

Which is probably why I'm going to have ask her to marry me, unless she is a dude.

Who knows tho, we are working with a lot of heresay and predictions here. There could be more to this than any of us know. They change crap being tested on the PTS even after Playtesting is done at the last minute, so I wouldnt feel the need to be counting any chickens just yet.

The real issue is that our choices never really mattered.

This.

I'm trying to figure out why they even gave us three different opportunities to express a faction preference (KOTET 2, Iokath, after Nathema) and teased everyone with the chance to switch sides on Iokath if they planned to disregard it all and just force everyone back to where they started. This is a choice that should have mattered and apparently it has not.

I'm asking that defectors take the generic all encompassing storyline (future content only, not past/class content) of the opposite faction rather than the starting faction. So imperial defectors would help the Jedi in the new planet and republic defectors would help the sith. Only a few lines of dialogue need to be added.

I actually wish they would give us both options. For some characters, a saboteur route is genuinely interesting. For others, full-on public defection is more appropriate. If they let us choose either role, it allows for more roleplaying options.

It's an interesting case, on reflection, because this method gives multiplicative power to create eight variants to the story. (Yes, the coveted eight paths!) The key factor is the distinction between public and private loyalty, which already exists because of the introduction of the saboteur idea. It just needs to be taken a little further so every character, regardless of allegiance, has these two variables and can choose between them as desired.

For instance, we could be a fake loyalist to our original faction while sabotaging them for our new faction instead. Or we could pretend to join the other faction while actually working to undermine them. It would require more work, but compared with the added replay value it wouldn't require many times more work. I think, totally pulling this out of thin air, ~10% more work on the story content of 5.10 could give us eight truly distinct options. The majority of the content for each of the two different storylines wouldn't change, but the overall feel of it could be quite different because of what it would mean to our characters. (For bonus points, give a moment in one conversation where someone asks us why: we get to pick from a few motives for our choice, or keep our reasons to ourselves.)

The four options for a character originally from the Republic would be as follows:

1. Publicly and privately aligned with the Republic: do Republic missions as a loyalist.
   
2. Publicly aligned with the Empire but privately with the Republic; do Empire missions as a saboteur.
   
3. Publicly aligned with the Republic but privately with the Empire; do Republic missions as a saboteur.
   
4. Publicly and privately aligned with the Empire; do Empire missions as a loyalist.
   

And of course we'd have those four options mirrored for a character originally from the Empire, giving us a total of eight.

I guess the only problem with this method is the same old one of why we'd be allowed to use our faction fleet, etc., in the case of full-blown public defection.

I agree with you 100% and I understand better now what you mean when you say self-contained, I don't think I really had that straight in my mind, but I get what you mean now. And yeah, it makes no sense that they would take a traitor back. That's kinda why I tried to make a point of defining the difference between defecting and treason, they are very different things heh.

 

A traitor in the Empire? No chance they wouldn't be executed. They would be shot on the spot heh, unless they were a Sith traitor than that Sith would wish he was going to get it over with that easy.

 

I'm really at a lose as to why they did that. I thought it was gonna be trouble the second I saw it. Namely because, speaking only for myself, it never even dawned on me that there was the slightest possibility that the storyline would never go back to traditional Star Wars motiffs. If I had thought that I woulda left the game years ago heh.

 

But when I saw it, I knew it was gonna be trouble, because it was to effect some people just as it is with you and agree, they shouldn't have dangled that hope around, when they had long ago said that was something they'd never do. They got a lot of peoples hopes unnecessarily and I can't understand how they couldn't have seen this day would come. - It's no biggie for me, I'm a loyalist, but I'm probably like one of 3 people in the whole game that doesn't have a character they want to go traitor or switch factions. I haven't seem too many people take my view.

 

Only other player that I can recall being gung ho Empire like me is Ylliarus.

Which is probably why I'm going to have ask her to marry me, unless she is a dude.

 

Who knows tho, we are working with a lot of heresay and predictions here. There could be more to this than any of us know. They change crap being tested on the PTS even after Playtesting is done at the last minute, so I wouldnt feel the need to be counting any chickens just yet.

Yes exactly, if they had never given us that option previously then I never would have expected or asked for it, I would have been fine with my LS Sith characters continuing to "change the empire from within" as in the class stories and my double agents to continue to be under cover. Since they let us blatantly and openly switch sides previously I feel that things are now screwed up from a story perspective for those characters. For example my sith inquisitor was an imperial slave, imperials and sith were always cruel to him and used and abused him and everyone beneath them, fellow sith constantly tried to kill him, and when he "died" in KotFE he lost his dark council position so there is literally nothing for him in the Empire and on top of that he married Theron who is all for the Republic and whose parents are Republic heroes. Obviously he was going to go to the Republic with his husband and not back to the people who enslaved and tried to murder him. But nope. Ugh.

I actually wish they would give us both options. For some characters, a saboteur route is genuinely interesting. For others, full-on public defection is more appropriate. If they let us choose either role, it allows for more roleplaying options.

 

It's an interesting case, on reflection, because this method gives multiplicative power to create eight variants to the story. (Yes, the coveted eight paths!) The key factor is the distinction between public and private loyalty, which already exists because of the introduction of the saboteur idea. It just needs to be taken a little further so every character, regardless of allegiance, has these two variables and can choose between them as desired.

 

For instance, we could be a fake loyalist to our original faction while sabotaging them for our new faction instead. Or we could pretend to join the other faction while actually working to undermine them. It would require more work, but compared with the added replay value it wouldn't require many times more work. I think, totally pulling this out of thin air, ~10% more work on the story content of 5.10 could give us eight truly distinct options. The majority of the content for each of the two different storylines wouldn't change, but the overall feel of it could be quite different because of what it would mean to our characters.

 

The four options for a character originally from the Republic would be as follows:

 

1. Publicly and privately aligned with the Republic: do Republic missions as a loyalist.
   
2. Publicly aligned with the Empire but privately with the Republic; do Empire missions as a saboteur.
   
3. Publicly aligned with the Republic but privately with the Empire; do Republic missions as a saboteur.
   
4. Publicly and privately aligned with the Empire; do Empire missions as a loyalist.
   

 

And of course we'd have the other four options mirrored for a character originally from the Empire.

 

I guess the only problem with this method is the same old one of why we'd be allowed to use our faction fleet, etc., in the case of full-blown public defection.

That would be amazing but I've learned to keep my expectations low and my requests easy and minor.

That would be amazing but I've learned to keep my expectations low and my requests easy and minor.

Well I don't expect it either. I just mean, in terms of value for money - distinct story variants per extra dev hour - the return is pretty high.

Well I don't expect it either. I just mean, in terms of value for money - distinct story variants per extra dev hour - the return is pretty high.

Yeah, replay factor is one of the biggest selling points in a game for me. The original 8 class stories were a dream come true to me and I'm still alt addicted, trying different things or replaying favorite characters each time. <3 My ideal would be a return to individual class stories or one highly replayable joined story with lots of branching choices. I don't care one bit about any of the combat or grind aspects (basically all the actual MMO parts) lol I know that aint gonna happen though.

Yeah, replay factor is one of the biggest selling points in a game for me. The original 8 class stories were a dream come true to me and I'm still alt addicted, trying different things or replaying favorite characters each time. <3 My ideal would be a return to individual class stories or one highly replayable joined story with lots of branching choices. I don't care one bit about any of the combat or grind aspects (basically all the actual MMO parts) lol I know that aint gonna happen though.

I'm in pretty much the same boat. I only take any given character through a particular story if I feel it offers something new. The class stories obviously do this. In spite of being alt-addicted like yourself, I still haven't played every vanilla romance (since I predominantly play female characters - but I'm gradually getting through the romances for male characters). KotFE/ET's options are more limited but still quite real. For example, I only today for the first time played a Commander who Koth abandoned, then tried to bury the hatchet and invite Koth back, but was turned down in favour of exile (vs. my usual situation of Koth never leaving a LS commander or being killed by a DS one). That was an interesting variant. (Actually Koth is probably the character who most clearly shows the impact of choices in KotFE/ET, but I digress.)

Like yourself, and the rest of the pragmatic playerbase, I don't expect to see class stories again to any significant degree (much as I've love it if we did). Snippets, sure, but nothing like vanilla. And I think we all know that's because the cost of developing eight parallel stories is just prohibitive when we look at where SWTOR is right now. Frankly I'm impressed that they're giving us two distinct stories with 5.10, and even more pleased that they're respecting our choices if we defected. That level of work just feels like it opens the door to giving us so many more options with just a little more development...