Rise of the Hutt Cartel coming April 9th!

[Anamodiel]

Clear your calendars!

http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20130325

In other news, PTS is closing tomorrow.

[Tbone]

April 9th for early access

[Tbone]

There's an article on IGN talking about the expansion.

[Manic Velocity]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/03/25/star-wars-the-old-republic-bioware-wants-you-to-return-to-a-galaxy-far-far-away

On top of a level cap raise to 55, you also have new storylines for every class that pick up where the core game ended.

Not quite.  The devs have confirmed that there will be no class-specific storylines in the expansion.

[Broin]

Manic are you even playing the game anymore or is your whole deal to point out whatever flaws you can in SWTOR, discouraging people, and then stalking quietly away back to the eve thread and posting all the things you think are so great over there in hopes that people will follow you?

Because EVE sucks (.) <---- PERIOD

[Kokuei]

I'm excited for the release.

[Manic Velocity]

Wow.  I still follow the game's development, and I pointed out an inaccuracy in the article.

And I agree.  EVE does suck.

[Tbone]

Because EVE sucks (.) <---- PERIOD

I read that as "EVE sucks a single tit", so I'm glad you clarified!

[NoCry]

heheheh.

[Sared]

Manic is very right. I distinctly remember hearing about the continuation of class quests on Makeb. When a story-driven game is starting to axe STORY from major content releases, there's a problem.

Also EVE sucks.

[Kokuei]

They did say they would continue the story. But they axed that at free to play or shortly there after. It's more about how much money they can make now than really caring.

[Strod]

I thought they were doing a Story Arc for the planet, not personal stories.

I mean your either a Jedi, Darth, Master Smuggler etc. What are they going to do to progress us as characters?

[Sared]

I'm going to go out on a limb then and say that it's because they (Bioware Austin) is in survival mode. They started off with a SHITLOAD of funding; thusly, they hired and configured their offices and production cycle to what they could afford. Now, EA is drawing that monetary noose tighter and tighter and this puts Bioware on a shorter and shorter leash. They've had to make multiple rounds of layoffs, and combined with the constant corner-cutting and lackluster product coming out of their doors, it seems obvious that management has been given the order get profitable or get liquidated. A quality game is no longer the purpose of the studio; it is now to ride out the end of this fiasco until the product or studio becomes solvent.

Honestly, I'd hate to work there. It's probably a shit-storm of stress and upstairs guidelines +mandates.

[Tbone]

Found this on the story. Like it was pointed out, no new class quests.

Piecing it together, it sounds like the new quests will get you to level 52 and then you're going to have to do repeatable grind quests to get to level 55.

As soon as you're level 52 you gain access to two new quest lines, one of which involves a new macrobinocular tool, and another that gives you a seeker droid to hunt out new loot in the world...The backbone for these tasks might involve a repetitious action, and there will be daily quests you can do to get experience and reputation...It seems they're also kind of essential, as the team at BioWare explained that they generate a lot of experience, and will be an important part of anyone's adventure to level 55.

[Sared]

Piecing it together, it sounds like the new quests will get you to level 52 and then you're going to have to do repeatable grind quests to get to level 55.