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Tap Repeatedly impressions on SWTOR
Kuppa
Member UncommonPosts: 3,292
http://tap-repeatedly.com/2011/10/05/impressions-star-wars-the-old-republic/
The impressions seem to be solely based on playing on the trade show floor. At the end he comes to the conclusion this is a game for people who still enjoy and want more of the WoW-esque formula.
Comments
Ouch. Im finding it less and less likely ill even buy this game anymore. I was pretty convinced it would be worth the box price and give me a good month of entertainment .. but im actually starting to doubt that now.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
"he comes to the conclusion this is a game for people who still enjoy and want more of the WoW-esque formula."
Which to me would be just like saying BF3 is a game for people who like the battlefield-esque formula.
In other words it's not a bad thing. If you're not looking for that I don't blame ya, if you are more power to you.
As to the battlefield comparison, some people like or even prefer COD games over BF games or visa versa. There's no right or wrong when it comes to what you prefer in gaming, regardless of what some on this forum will tell you..
Personally I never liked WOW all that much, it had it's charm early on but that quickly grew thin after killing my hundreth boar before level 10 (exaggeration, well.. maybe not). The game just never clicked with me. As well as the way in which the community approached the game and I didn't sync. If WOW had had a decent narrative and something more than numbers to play for, I may have stuck around far longer, it didn't.
AOC did on the other hand, I spent a great chunk of time in the post tortage game just soaking in the lore and world I was playing in. There are not many MMO's I"ve played that had me playing like that.
I expect TOR to do that, which makes the answer to the question of how long I would play, a not so obvious one. Which wouldn't be the case if this game were exactly like WOW.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Agreed, there is still a huge audience(I think) for the wow-esque type MMO. I personally want to try it out because I generally(with the exception of DA2) like Bioware's stories and storytelling. Although Im still in the fence because I am a bit tired of the same MMO formula, I couldn't get past it in Aion or in Rift
The more i read from reviews and from the leak sites the more i'm starting to feel the same way, not about buying it but whether i'll like it or not. I'll still buy the game to see if the PvP aspect feels anywhere the same as WAR did as the feel of combat in PvP is meant to be similar. The rest of the game really isn't sounding too promising at this point, at least for me.
Why does your post sound so much like a "sigh, swtor wasn't made correctly".
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I don't think that it wasn't "made correctly". It definately is not the end all be all mmo that I wanted, like GW2 is looking to be, but it does have something that I could probably find some enjoyment off. I know I will NOT buy it without trying it out either in beta or a demo, because I have learned that the hard way
Humm looks like a guild wars 2 fan bashing SW:TOR in a review how new and interesting...
THE MORE I READ PREVIEWS ABOUT THIS GAME THE LESS INTEREST I HAVE TO PLAY IT
After reading the same person's GW2 impressions last week, I commented that it was great to hear what appeared to be an overwhelmingly positive impression from someone who didn't seem to be a fanboy who was already predisposed to reach such a conclusion. After reading his take on SW:ToR, the opposite seems true. Several of his complaints about SW seem to result from drawing direct comparisons to GW2, such as the inability to dodge, the inability to cast spells with a cast time on the run, or the use of the "outdated" Holy Trinity combat system. He remarks,
"The inability to dodge incoming attacks or attack swiftly just demonstrates how stale the genre has become as a result of copying the World of Warcraft blueprint. Encounters were dull and monotonous as I stood stationary watching my auto attack roll by (I use this term as a reference to the generic skill 1 you repeatedly use), knowing that to move was entirely pointless as it had no impact on your ability to avoid damage..."
"The first of my major concerns is the fact that although classes have a minor heal skill (Recharge & Reload in the bounty hunters case) you have to remain stationary to use them...To kill an enemy and watch my health recharge agonisingly slowly or to remain entirely stationary whilst my heal animation plays out was incredibly frustrating and entirely unnecessary..."
"Some might argue that is what the healer classes are for (to help you along quickly) true, but the ‘holy trinity’ and reliance on others as a heal crutch or damage sponge should have died a long time ago."
Now perhpas GW2 is just that good that it deservingly won this author over, and every other MMO experience now pales in comparison. Either way, this particular impression article is now undoubtedly distorted somewhat by a bias for a competing game. That's not to say every complaint isn't valid. You just have to ask yourself if what this author is calling totally unacceptable, such as the mechanics described above, are as unacceptable to you. If you've enjoyed such games for a long time, the answer would probably be that they're not so bad at all. You should also ask yourself, however, if the alternatives might be more attractive options.
I thought the minor heals were suppose to be out of combat heals anyway?
In Bioware we trust!
I understand there is an urge to defend SWTOR among fans, but I think there's more to the issue that several people have with SWTOR than just some childish fanboi rivalry. I personally haven't played SWTOR so I can't judge if it is a WoW clone or not, so I'm just going to talk in general terms for the most part.
Before GW2 was even announced, several players had issues with the WoW formula. It wasn't that they hated WoW, it was just that there were things in the WoW system that could have probably been done better. GCD's, the quest system, the hard trinity class system, etc.
All of these things annoyed me when I played WoW. And they in turn, annoyed me when I played WoW clones like Rift and Aion. I wanted a game that actually tried to FIX the root problems I had with WoW instead of just imitating it and adding one or two gimmicks. But this game didn't come.
So when I hear that a new big game coming out may be a WoW clone, yeah it worries me. I don't want to play another WoW clone, I'm sick of having to deal with WoW's shortcomings. I want a game that actually FIXES them. Even if GW2 were never announced, I would not want to play another WoW clone.
The only reason that so many people flock to GW2 is because it's the only game in years that is trying to IMPROVE upon almost every aspect of the WoW formula and looks like it may actually pull it off.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
Why do you start threads here if you aren't trying to start something? It seems like a left handed approach to slamming a game.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
I didn't quote the whole paragraph in interest of keeping things concise. I believe he was talking about the out of combat self heals, but he was still indignant that he couldn't continue on while casting it, which seems to me like ADD behaviour following his GW2 gogogo experience. It's an understandable argument though because if you must stand still to heal outside of combat, it's not very different from having to sit and eat food or /rest for 5-10 seconds.
Although I openly admit the same behavior and preference. After playing any HoT healer, it's hard for me to stand still to heal myself up to full outside of combat. Must...keep...moving.
Wow what an amazing review!!!
/sarcasm off
Anyone who thought this game wasnt following the themepark formula is the worst kind of moron / fanboi..
No its not WOW, but its been obvious since day 1 that it is in the same neighborhood as wow / rift / aion etc etc the list goes on for ever...
Does that mean it sucks? Not at all.. I still wouldnt touch GW2 at launch.. and have 3 copies preordered for my family.. Gonna play the hell out of ToR..
I guess some people are less worried about what goes on behind studio doors, and more excited about having something new to play
:)
This link is a waste of time... if you read this first please save yourself 3 minutes of your life, my 3 minutes are gone forever...
EDIT: There is a hilarious part of the review, where he whines about having to buy skills, because running all the way back to town and not having enough money to buy skills is a time sink... LMAO WHO DOES THIS HAPPEN TO?!?! Omg you would have to be the most epic failure of a mmorpg player to have this happen... never once have I been that poor in an MMO.. the first thing you figure out beyond controls and what not is the damn economy...
Well, he did comment on that:
"Having played Guild Wars 2 before SWTOR, I wish it had been the other way around and I sense then I would have had a better word to say for the game."
Whatever that really means. Seems he's just a bit tired of this particular type of gameplay.
And for everything SANE in the world, people: please dont throw massive amounts of raging posts on this thread now because someone on the internets didnt enjoy the same things you do.
(PS. This last part is for anyone who might be "offended" by someones impression/opinion)
It is a fair write-up on 15 minutes from someone that looks to detest themepark games and is looking for skill building and FPS/twich based combat. Most of his conclusions are based on past experiences and not TOR really, but that is to be expected with a limited noob zone experience. So I have no problem with him not being excited by that.
I am lucky enough to have a full 3 day weekend and another this weekend. So my feelings are different about the game. But opinions are fine. It helps those who are in the same boat to have more pieces to the puzzle if they are not sure about buying the game.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
Being a massive TOR fan, this impressions piece depresses me.
Normally, I can easily point to terrible writing skills, an obvious bias, etc.
But in this case, it is actually a very well written, honest, and un-biased review.
Thus, it has me depressed.
As someone who still enjoys WoW (for the most part) I am truly hopeful that the setting, characters, story, and small tweaks/additions are going to be enough to seperate TOR from WoW.
The author admits he is tired / worn out on WoW, so it makes sense he'd have issues with TOR, but being someone myself who is also very excited for GW2 it's just amazing to me how much this reviewer's perspective was changed by GW2 and that he admits such in the article.
Only time will tell for me personally, hopefully I'll get a beta weekend invite sometime before December.
Here's the thing though. How narrow should "theme-park" be defined?
Does a theme park have to have GCDs?
Does it have to have trinity combat?
Does it have to have an interface similar to WoW?
Does it have to have quest-node leveling?
Does it have to have raids?
Does it have to have instanced dungeons?
Now for me, all of those things above are not NECESSARY for a game to be a theme park. They are how WoW and its imitators decided to create their specific theme park game. Everquest is a theme park and it had very few of the things I listed above.
When you limit "theme park" to being almost exactly like WoW, then I really think you kill your options. There are SO many different things a theme park game could do.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
It does look that way, even though I still consider many of the comments to be accurate. I would have preferred if the author had left GW2 comparisons out of it altogether. It only fuels the perception of bias and encourages the article to be dismissed out-of-hand by anyone who disagrees with it.
I wish that everyone would stop comparing theses two games -- until they've at least been released. Speculative comparisons prove nothing.
WHAT?!!
are you serious? Im bringing an impressions from another person in here and because they are not flawless about the game you think I want to start something?? You have to start letting go of the idea that everyone is out on an agenda dude....
I didn't read the article as I don't need anyone elses impressions anymore now that I've played it, but from readin the above quotes, I can tell you straight up that some of that is misconstrued.
For example, you can dodge attacks by getting out of LOS. simple as that. Also there are positional attacks too that require you to move out of the way unless you want to get bombarded. This is all stuff we've seen in videos. The stationary heal isn't meant to be a heal skill, its like a sit or rest skill, and if you've watched people use it in game videos you'd know that it it takes a very short time once used to regain maximum status, and you can easily break said heal at any time once you've reached max health, shortening the process even further. We've seen player videos showing as such more than enough times over the past few years of the starter worlds.
As for the trinity, trading one trinity for another, isn't going to change much in the long run. When something is considerably different then what you've played before, it seems new and exciting, but it too will grow old and stale, especially in MMOs where most of what you'll be doing is repetitive tasks. You'll still be hitting 1 -8 (9, 0 ) all day long, and even when that process is changed, like DCUO with mouseclicks or controller usage, you just end up with more people complaining their "hands hurt" or its too "twitch based".
You will never please everyone. It doesn't even bother me this guy whines about it the way the combat is, or whatever, he'll end up buying it anyway. I think theres much more to the game the anything an hour, or even 12 hour demo could show.
LOL I know. This particular forum tends to be very touchy.
I mean, it's ridiculous to assume that if anyone ever draws a comparison between GW2 and SWTOR then they must be a raving GW2 fanboi and their opinion is invalid. MMORPGs are, and should be, compared with their peers. Especially when the two games are even in the same sub-genre (both theme parks).
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
Its pretty simple for me .... I asked a few buddies who are in beta, Is the pvp worth playing the game for?
Everyone of them has screamed YES!
Good pvp = I'm sold.
I agree. I'm done with quest-node leveling. I played Rift and almost only did BGs, only grinding through quests to level up and hating most of the experience. If SWTOR has good BGs, then I'll be in just for that.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
Well I cant wait to try TOR out this weekend. Then I will be able to deduce which reviewers/previewers are worth a grain of salt. One thing I've learned over the years when it comes to any kind of media (positive or negative) is "dont believe everything you read"
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee