I was just thinking the other day that it's a bit odd that the devs have given us this much information about 8.0 at this point, but we still don't know the expansion's name. Traditionally, the name would be among the first things you'd want to tell people. When Knights of the Eternal Throne was first announced, we in fact had nothing but a name and a splash screen at first.
And then Broadsword posted a news article this Thursday that summarised everything they'd revealed about the expansion so far while also finally telling us its name: Masters of the Force. There's also a dedicated landing page for it.
I'm not sure how much to read into this name, because to be honest, SWTOR expansion names have traditionally not been super informative in regards to what that expansion's story is about. Like, who are the Knights of the Fallen Empire in KotFE? So I'm not going to spend too much time speculating just who the Masters of the Force are - but let's just say, with where Legacy Reborn ended, it makes sense that who can master the Force is going to be a central question in upcoming story content.
They did also add that the (launch?) storyline is going to be called "Galaxy in Chaos", which, again, also makes sense. Plus it's official confirmation that there will be a new bunch of story content in 8.0. It's funny because for all the things I was unsure of in regards to 8.0 early on, the fact that we'll be getting a continuation of the current storyline is the one thing that was never in question for me. The devs just weren't talking about it this early on because of spoilers. But apparently there were some people on the forums who thought that because the new story hadn't been explicitly mentioned yet, it wasn't going to happen. Huh!
Anyway, it's really nice to be able to put a name to the new "era" now instead of just always calling it 8.0. I happily went back and added the new tag to all my previous posts about the subject.
The one thing I'm currently not so sure about is the acronym, because "Mot(he)F", to me, sounds like someone cutting themselves off before yelling out a swear, but I expect that may just be one of those first impressions that won't stick. I don't think many players remember how we used to call Knights of the Fallen Empire "the coffee expansion" or how people used to cringe about the fact that "KotET" in German describes someone having a bowel movement.
(Oh, and on a related note, Broadsword also released a mini pet code you can redeem until the end of the year for an ugly little gladiopodling pet: GETRDY4MOTF - you're welcome!)
I'm a little disappointed they haven't said anything about combat styles. With the way things have ended up it seems like a great time to introduce some kind of tech/force hybrid combat style; to finally allow tech classes to use all those non-force melee weapons that have always been in the game. Maybe they're saving it for a surprise.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I myself really thought that Legacy Reborn was a setup for a new Force-using blaster combat style. I guess the possibility is not completely ruled out yet.
DeleteI haven't kept up with the storyline, but the MotF name makes me think of the Dread Masters. I don't believe they've featured in any pieces of the story since relatively early on, no? My first reaction to the title, though, was thinking about Masters of the Universe. Reflecting on it more, maybe there's a subtle hint that Samuel L. Jackson will be a featured voice talent; after all, he is a famous MotF. Yes, you could read that in at least two ways. ;)
ReplyDeleteLol, let the crazy speculation begin!
DeleteWhy did you call it ugly? It's cute, because it is a mini pet.
ReplyDeletePersonally I wouldn't call something that looks like a spawn of Cthulhu cute just because it's small! Doesn't mean it's not a fun little critter to own.
DeleteI really like the idea difficulty setting options, and that you get some minor rewards for engaging with it. In most games I absolutely do not crank the difficulty up, but SWTOR has gotten a bit too easy to my taste . . .at least in the old launch era zones. I think this will also increase the replay ability of the levelling game by giving you more options about how to approach it.
ReplyDeleteFor example, the playstyle where you make sure to stay under each planet's level cap so that really high end gear fully affects your stats will become more rewarded. That will in turn mean that crafting purple gear will make a lot more sense in many level ranges than it currently does.
I also feel that, just generally, being able to crank the difficulty up or down as you like makes any game suitable for a wider audience. For instance, in the recent Star Wars Starfighter game felt about right to me on the default "you are a competent gamer" setting. But one level in particular had a major difficulty spike. If I hadn't been able to crank the difficulty down to "mentally challenged toddler" I likely never would have seen the rest of the game.
Right now SWTOR has the "absolutely anyone can breeze through this" setting covered, but nothing above that for most content.
Also, thanks for listing the code! Sorry for the novella of a comment.
Never apologise for long comments! 😄
Delete