At EA’s E3 press conference, General Manager Jeff Hickman announced a new expansion coming in October for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Knights of the Fallen Empire is a full-on expansion, a departure from BioWare’s pattern of trading off small feature-focused expansions with large expansions that increase the level cap. With Knights of the Fallen Empire, players will have the option to level up to the new cap of 65, or create a new character start at level 60. BioWare emphasizes Knights of the Fallen Empire will be a return to classic BioWare storytelling where your character will take center stage in a narrative where personal choices create meaningful outcomes.
Knights of the Fallen Empire seems like a significant departure not only in terms of features and content, but also in narrative. According to BioWare, your story picks up immediately after the trailer. You, the Outlander, awake years after being frozen in carbonite, for some reason, to discover both the Sith Empire and the Republic have fallen to the Empire of Zakuul. This means effectively everything you’ve done so far, story-wise, BioWare wiped clean. No more Dread Masters, no more Revan, no more Shan bloodline. It’s as if BioWare looked at Knights of the Old Republic and SWTOR in a new light after LucasFilm labeled them Legends properties, and ran with it, saying, ‘Well, if we’re our own thing now, let’s make it our own thing.’ This is all a lot of speculation though, since I don’t have much information regarding story and logistics of how the expansion will work, but BioWare did clarify a few things.
The new expansion will feature 16 chapters, compared to the current five chapters with the Shadow of Revan expansion. Nine of those chapters will be available upon launch of Knights of the Fallen Empire, with the rest releasing monthly sometime in early 2016. As far as companions, it’s still up in the air of who will stay by your side and who won’t. The list of characters on the KotFE website only lists Lana Beniko as a returning character, though she does have a redesign as seen in the concept art. Along with her are Vaylin, Koth Vortena, Senya, and HK-55. Nico Okarr, the smuggler from the Blur trailers for SWTOR will be a reward for subscribing by July 31. BioWare is being cagey about who else will show their face, only saying past companions will return in the story, but didn’t mention if they will be recruitable, or only show up in a cameo role. According to a Polygon interview, players will gain five new companions, but again, it’s unclear if those are completely new characters, characters we’ve seen before but previously weren’t companions. Even according to SWTOR Lead Writer Charles Boyd, the list of characters on SWTOR.com doesn’t include every companion.
Those kinds of questions only lead to more logistical questions. How will Crew Skills work if your companions leave you and you have to reacquire them, or find brand new ones? Will you still have your ship that you acquired early on in your class story? And then there’s the question of pricing for the expansion. Knights of the Fallen Empire is free for all subscribers, which leaves me to guess Free to Play and Preferred players will need to purchase the expansion, but the wording of the FAQ on SWTOR.com, “You must be an active subscriber to receive the expansion,” makes it sound like the only way to get the expansion is by being a subscriber. The FAQ also mentions if you unsubscribe after the October launch of KotFE, “you will keep the first 9 Chapters of Knights of the Fallen Empire, but will not receive any additional Chapters when they are released,” as well as “If you subscribe after the launch of Knights of the Fallen Empire, you will receive all the content that has been released up to that date.” Making it sound like Free to Play and Preferred players might need to purchase the additional chapters beyond the first nine.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire will launch on October 27, 2015. If you subscribe by July 31, you receive Nico Okarr as a companion. If you subscribe by August 31, you will receive a pair of Nico Okarr’s blasters to use for yourself or your companion. If you subscribe by September 30, you will receive Nico Okarr’s Dust Coat. If you subscribe by October 19, you will receive a KOTOR-inspired Swoop Bike vehicle. If you continuously subscribed between July 31 and October 19, you will receive early access to Knights of the Fallen Empire seven days earlier on October 20.
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SOURCE Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire
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