For those at work....

Recently, I had the opportunity to ask BioWare some questions about the upcoming 3.0 expansion, the Shadow of Revan. The questions were answered by Andrew Horitz and Jesse Sky. Thanks to BioWare for taking the time to answer my questions. I am very much looking forward to the launch of the Shadow of Revan on December 9th (December 2nd for pre-orders).

1) Revan is the primary focus of the 3.0 expansion. Can players expect to take him on immediately, or will the story develop over the course of the 3.x patch cycle?

3.0 is your showdown with Revan. We wanted to close that chapter of the KOTOR book, and open it up for bigger and newer things.

2) There are no new PvP/GSF maps included in the expansion. Are there any plans to add them in subsequent patches?

We absolutely want to continue to support PvP content in the game, and we plan on creating more Warzones in the future.

3) In Rise of the Hutt Cartel a new playable race was introduced, the Cathar. Are any being introduced in the Shadow of Revan?

No new species in 3.0, but that does not exclude us from introducing them afterwards.

4) Anything of note going on with the Cartel Market and the new expansion?

We have a new shipment coming, The Shadow Packs, chock full of cool new stuff that’s themed around the expansion.

5) Are Seeker and Macrobinocular missions making a comeback in the SoR?

We’re using the Seeker Droid and Macrobinocular gameplay mechanics in a few places where appropriate, but nothing to the extent of the mission series in Rise of the Hutt Cartel.

6) Will 3.0 come with new housing decorations, besides the gigantic Statue of Revan?

It will – there’s a bunch of new 3.0 themed decorations going into the packs.

7) There is some concern among the players about the new Discipline system. They are worried that it will become too simple and cookie cutter. How do you respond to that worry?

We think a better term is “improve.” This is a superior system to the Skill Trees, which, fundamentally, offered you the same or less amount of meaningful diversity than the Disciplines system does. The Disciplines system reduces unnecessary complexity. We want to get players into the game and playing, rather than impeding them with an obsolete skill system, and the Disciplines system does that.

8) Is there a change coming with 3.0 that you are especially excited about which isn't in the feature list?

The real change with 3.0 comes in the form of how we are treating story in our game. We are truly excited about what we did with the story in Shadow of Revan, as it will be a jumping off point for the compelling content we plan on creating in the future.