The antagonist in SWTOR didn't really need to be Revan, it would have worked very well with a new character.
You say this, but I disagree. And I disagree as someone who has never even played SWTOR. The only thing that I know about that game is that Revan was in it and that everyone says Revan is insanely awesome. Outside of that I literally do not even really know anything about Revan other than apparently they were a super cool character. I don't even know if Revan is a male or female character.
Could they come up with a character as good as Revan - one that gathers that much fan fare and attention? Maybe. But I can guarantee you fans wanted more Revan and I know this because it is literally the only thing that I know about the game due to how much fans of the games went on about them.
It is very much like saying "You can do Mass Effect again - but instead of Shepard and his gang, just throw together a new cast of characters". Well they tried to do that and it was a disaster - because it isn't easy to come up with great characters that everyone invests in and wants to see again.
Is Tomb Raider actually Tomb Raider without Lara Croft? Can you just easily craft a new Tomb Raider?
Is The Witcher really going to be The Witcher without Geralt? Is it that easy to just come up with a new Witcher that everyone loves and a cast of supporting ladies everyone gushes about constantly?
Is God of War actually God of War without Kratos? Can you just randomly replace him with a new God and the series is just as good?
You say that it WOULD have worked very well with a new character - like that is a foregone conclusion. A much better word to use is that it COULD have MAYBE worked very well with a new character.
Franchises are franchises for a reason and sequels happen more than they probably should for a reason. It is absurdly difficult to not only make a game people want to play, but to have characters that people connect with in that game. There is a reason there is damn near a infinite amount of books, but there are so many best sellers... because writing a good one is absurdly hard to do.
Also - I am not disagreeing with you. I want what you want as well - I wish we could make a ton of crazy choices, kill whoever we want, burn down whatever building we want and the world, sequels, etc. would factor all of that in. I'm just saying that is A LOT to account for, it is insanely hard to do and there is a TON that goes into it... while at the same time having budgets and timelines forcing people to make decisions around finances, dev constraints and with smaller windows than they would probably like.
