Ever since BioWare Austin announced the Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic, I was one-hundred percent back on-board the SWTOR train. I was subscribed all through the lead-up to Fallen Empire, and played all the way through the campaign from chapters one through twelve. I was hyped for it on the podcast and was trying, slightly in vain, to write a SWTOR article per week. And then… I fell off. I’d been meaning to address this for a while, but just didn’t have time. Which is one of the major cruxes as to why I haven’t been talking about it.
I’ve addressed this before, but MMO’s are a cruel mistress for adults who have to work for a living. The time commitment is imperative, as well as the monetary investment. It’s not uncommon to find yourself at an impasse of not having enough time to justify the cost. Relatively speaking, the cost is not substantial. Fifteen bucks a month is basically three triple grande vanilla cappuccinos. Or the cost of one IMAX movie ticket. Or one six pack of premium, limited batch craft IPA.
Then there are those times, and we’ve all been there, when you need to cut out the fat, and not the kind that more exercise and salad will take care of. When you need to find ways of reducing your consumer output, it’s sad to say, but, MMO’s are maybe the fattiest of the fat. Again, it’s not like they’re asking for a pint of blood every month, but when you don’t have time to justify the cost, these games wind up at the top of the list.
What does it mean in the grand scheme of things? Well, I’m with Leo, at this point, about returning to the story once the majority of the last chapters of Fallen Empire are out before paying again. Through chapters 10, 11, and 12, I very often had enough time for the story parts, and I could’ve been working on all the main stories that I never finished, but, again, there’s that pesky lack of time. So, I’ll be coming back soon, especially after having seen the June 30th developer live stream where they announced chapter 16, The Battle of Odessen. The only thing I’ll be truly missing out on is the HK solo bonus chapter. Honestly, though, with all the HK subscriber “gifts” they were releasing each month, we’re kind of tapped out on HK right now. He was great when there was a limited amount of HK out there, but by now… we might be saturated.
All that having been said, my recent levels of enthusiasm and lack of participation should not in any way be a direct comment on the quality of the game experience, or the enduringly hard work of the team in Austin. In fact, I’d say that the game is in a better place than it’s ever been. We’re getting what Leo and I had been asking for: more story (although, we would’ve liked a more direct continuation of each individual class, but oh well). The pace of the game is awesome with the subscriber story leveling. The game is easier to interface with, which should NEVER be a stumbling block for a game. The game is still hard where it needs to be hard, but it’s not difficult to play because of a sub-optimal interface. The developers are also WAY more interactive than they’d been during the post-launch vanilla era, or the Hutt Cartel/Revan expansions. It was actually kind of disheartening how much they seemed to cut off communication with the fansites following the launch, but, at this point, I’d say they’re, at least, trying to make up for it.
Will I be returning to the fight against the Eternal Empire soon? YES. One-hundred times yes. Am I returning for the monthly subscriber gifts? No. These have been an area of complaint since they were announced, but they’re pretty inconsequential compared to all the real benefits subscribers get. Would I continue to suggest people give the game a one month shot? YES, especially right now. This is an awesome time to get back in or start fresh. Even if one month is all that can be spared due to our old adversaries time and money, do try it.
The only concern I still have at this point is: what comes next? What will BioWare Austin bring to the table to follow after Fallen Empire? Right now, SWTOR is the only source for new Star Wars Legends material, and it should continue to be supported. Hell, it’s still the only game that carries on the LucasArts label, which, in itself, is something to celebrate, a little. I hope Fallen Empire isn’t a “last hurrah” for SWTOR, but as Joe brought up in a recent podcast, would I rather see a brand new BioWare RPG title for modern machines with modern Mass Effect or DragonAge-inspired interfaces OR would I want to see SWTOR continue with the minimal level of support that EA and LucasFilm seem to be providing? That’s a hard question to answer. I’d like to say, “Give us a new RPG! And also give us more support for SWTOR!” but we can’t always get what we want. But then sometimes, we get what we need, and what we need might be a solid, supported, canonical RPG entry that maybe, JUST MAYBE, will be a meeting of the current canon and the so-very-much beloved Knights of the Old Republic era. If they have to make concessions to the KOTOR story to make it work within the new canon, so be it. I just don’t want my favorite era to go away entirely.