Star Wars The Old Republic Reveals 2017 Roadmap
We may be halfway through 2017, but even half a map is better than none! Star Wars The Old Republic has published a roadmap that highlights many of the development team's goals and areas of focus in the coming months.
The most telling line in the lengthy post comes rather early:
We have been saying for a while now our focus this year is to return to massively multiplayer and group-based content.
A return to massively multiplayer and group-based content in a MMORPG? That line may be confusing to many viewers, but SWTOR players know that the game has become less and less a multiplayer experience and more of a single player RPG over the years. A return to common sense is always welcomed! A renewed focus on difficult group content is also mentioned. Operations (8-16 player raids) will be made great again with a new tier of gear (platinum) that only drops from Veteran and Master difficulties.
On the PvP front, Season 8 is scheduled to end in August. Much requested class balance fixes will roll out with the Sisters of Carnage patch (Update 5.3) scheduled for July.
[ngg_images source="galleries" container_ids="79" display_type="photocrati-nextgen_basic_imagebrowser" ajax_pagination="1" template="/nas/content/live/remotay/wp-content/plugins/nextgen-gallery/products/photocrati_nextgen/modules/ngglegacy/view/imagebrowser-caption.php" order_by="sortorder" order_direction="ASC" returns="included" maximum_entity_count="500"]The Roadmap ends by highlighting updates planned for the rest of the summer. The Summer of SWTOR includes Nar Shaddaa Summer (June), Sisters of Carnage (July), and Crisis on Umbara. (August) Check out the official Roadmap post to learn more about each update.
Unfortunately the 2017 Roadmap makes no mention of server mergers. While there are only 8 US Servers left, many of them are completely barren. This includes my old server, The Bastion, where it is impossible to queue for PvP battlegrounds. The only purpose these empty servers still serve are as pitfalls for new and returning players who will be dismayed to learn they have to pay to transfer servers if they want a MMORPG experience.
