Oct
07
2014
0

Star Wars: The Old Republic Announces New Expansion

Bioware has announced their latest expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic, namely The Shadow of Revan.  That name ought to catch the eye of any long-time fan of the Knights of the Old Republic series, but is it too little too late?

 

 

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The expansion itself promises a new level cap of 60, quests on new planets Yavin IV and Rishi, an overhauled talent system, and of course, new raids and operations to run.  Bioware’s major selling point, however, is the story of Revan which players will get to experience as they level up through the content, ultimately facing Revan himself as a new end-game boss.

Additional details can be read on Bioware’s website.  Ultimately, this is a by-the-books expansion as far as MMOs are concerned, which begs the question: Is it is enough to get players excited about the game?  Although the decision to go free-to-play has reportedly boosted subscription rates back into a healthy number, The Old Republic still has a negative stigma surrounding its name.  When I bring up the game around friends, I get responses like, “Wait, people still play that game?”

The amount of quality-of-life improvements and straightforward bug fixes Bioware has done since day one simply do not appear to be enough to make up for The Old Republic’s rough launch.  Bioware, however, has been listening to its fans.  Two of the major requests since launch have been to add player housing and to include more stories from the Knights of the Old Republic series the MMO borrows its name from; summer of this year, player housing was released to the joy of the already-present player base, and this December, the world gets to experience a new story for $20.

Personally, I am a relatively big Star Wars fan.  I do come back to The Old Republic from time to time, and it has been entertaining to watch the game evolve over the years.  Yet the only thing about this announcement that caught my eye was the preorder bonus.  If you purchase the expansion before November 2nd, you can get a 12-times experience boost from questing through your class’s story missions.  This well help players level up to 55 in time for the expansion, and I almost feel compelled to buy the expansion just for that boost so I can work on an alt character or two.

It is true that the new expansion will bring more story and single-player content, which I have enjoyed in the past, but the release so close to Warlords of Draenor, World of Warcraft‘s newest expansion, makes me question if I have time to bother, and I certainly am not the only MMO player out there asking this question.  Without any new classes or roles to play with, The Old Republic is offering a very standard formula for new content, and it simply does not have me excited.  It seems like another one of Bioware’s outings designed for the players they already have, and not necessarily a growing audience.

It is important to note the ultimate rule of business still stands:  “If it has lightsabers, it will sell.”