As I have yet to touch on it since it was revealed last week (ignoring the premature reveal of the acronym in the Celebration schedule) is the new expansion and follow-up to KotFE, being released at some point in Autumn 2016; Knights of the Eternal Throne.
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To get this out of the way; due to the unfortunate translation of the acronym when translated from German, I will not be using the acronym when describing the events of this expansion in future. Instead, I will simply be referring to it as Eternal Throne. Nice and simple.
As several people have pointed out by now, we honestly don't know all that much about the expansion apart from its title, that it will continue the same story-centric trend as KotFE, and that Senya Tirall will apparently play a prominent part in it somewhere. Considering that I was markedly concerned that Senya would die or disappear following Chapter XVI, I'm pleased to see that she's still here, even if we don't know which side she'll be on.
The reason we know Senya will be around is because she features on the singular piece of promotional artwork so far released for the expansion, wielding a Lightsaber pike and facing down a mysterious figure.
This figure has received a fair bit of speculation as to their identity. Some believe that it is Vaylin (albeit wearing a far more rugged and worn version of her outfit which reveals her sleeves), others believe it to be the Outlander, and there are those who have compared the 'style' of the outfit from what we see of it to another version of Revan's outfit.
I personally believe that it's whomever Valkorion is 'working' with now, whether this is the Outlander or an entirely new character. We know that he can exist outside of the Outlander's self, and he is incredibly duplicitous, so it stands to reason that he might have yet more 'alternatives' waiting in the wings.
Additionally, we don't know for sure that his comments about the destiny of taking the Eternal Throne or Arcann dealing a fatal blow are targeted directly at the Outlander; it is possible that he was simply letting us hear these comments to make us think that he was talking to them when in fact he was talking to yet another player in the long-game, if not more. Certainly, Chapter XV makes the first objective no longer simply a matter of defeating Arcann...
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Pretty much everything else about the expansion is implication. There has been no official press release as of yet, and nor will there be until after Chapter XVI has been released.
James Ohlen has implied in quotes listed (apparently only) on Comicbook.com that Eternal Throne will be a purchasable expansion, given that he stated that people who purchase the expansion will get access to all sixteen chapters of KotFE. Curiously, the same website includes a line saying that you don't need to have played KotFE to access Eternal Throne...
Coupled with the promise in the Developer Stream three weeks ago that they were "working on Group Content", the same article quotes Ohlen as saying that there will be "a lot of great co-op and multiplayer challenges". Given that Eternal Throne is apparently going to be paid-for - although we'll have to wait and see on that score - I wouldn't be surprised if they included a couple of proper group-content bundles of fluff (at least two Flashpoints and one Operation would be the bare minimum most would accept) to justify the price.
Certainly, whilst an increase to the Level-Cap and thus a subsequent bolstering of current Operations again, if they were only to do as they did for KotFE and bolster all FPs and Operations to 70 with no new additions, the justification for paying for it droops significantly. Fingers crossed, but I'm not expecting a great deal.
One thing which a lot of people have picked up on is the claim that this Expansion is going to be one of the biggest since Launch. It is worth noting that they said this about KotFE as well, although this is as we now know a 'deceptive' argument given that from a new-player and 'relevant' perspective this was the case (going from only two relevant Operations and six relevant HM Flashpoints to the vast majority of both once again being max-level is pretty considerable for people who never did them when max-level was 50 or 55) whilst veterans saw themselves as getting the very short end of one very battered and bruised stick.
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One thing which I am curious to see is what else changes with the new expansion. 3.0 and 4.0 have together changed a lot of the game's feel with the Disciplines, Companions, and the Guild changes - among others - and there are a few things remaining, notably the Legacy system, which it would be wonderful to receive even so much as a small update on. Again, I'm not holding my breath, but I do hope that something in this regard will pleasantly surprise me.
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There's not a lot to say about Eternal Throne just yet. Whilst this is 'fine' for now, it does feel somewhat disappointing to say that we don't have a lot of meat to talk about. Speculation is a healthy pastime, but when it forms the entire basis of what we 'know' about an entire expansion, that's not a particularly good thing.
Still, I am looking forward to finding out more in the near future.
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