Agreed on everything, on the other hand I dont care for 4 out of 5 of these, what I care about is the Itemization, I want cool looking stuff, expecialy weapons, kinda hard to do something with Lightsabers thou, what more can they add? Sparkly rainbow unicorn effects?
I also don't agree that JTL was an awesome space experience. It was annoying and dull at best for me.
If they ever do an expanded experience it should be like the Xwing/TIE series. Those that have played both those games and JTL should know the difference.
"I also don't agree that JTL was an awesome space experience. It was annoying and dull at best for me."
What is meant by "JTL was awesome space experience" means for an MMO and for the basic mechanics on how it worked. The "annoying and dull" came about in the way that SOE failed to implement those awesome features to do something fun.
Are you guys more insulted that they put this Space System in the game, or are your more insulted that their developers openly defended it as a good thing.
I mean, what the hell is this piss-poor system even going to turn into? Do you think having a buddy's ugly ship next to your ugly ship is going to make this "space system" more enjoyable?
Ooooh, a leader booooard? Yaaaaay. Who gives a d***.
No, they completely and utterly f'd themselves with this joke of a gameplay dynamic.
Bioware could've hired Lawrence Holland (Creator of X-Wing / TIE Fighter) and had him and a Space team develope the best damn Space Sim ever made for this game, but. NOPE, KID FEST 2011.
Originally posted by thexrated Originally posted by Elikal There are two things I feel must be added. First, for the topic side quests. Daniel Erickson emphasized in interviews MANY TIMES, players of various classes would experience NOT A SINGLE SAME QUEST. He was *very* adamant in this. And now? If you play Jedi Knight and then Consular, 2/3rd of the startet planet quests are the same. Then ALL chars of the Republic come to Coruscant and make 80% of the same quests. All that makes replayability a scam, and that needs to be said. Daniel Erickson lied. I am pretty sure he said factions not classes, I think he also said that each class has unique story. Second, why is there no point for the sterile world? This was discussed by many, many players, so it is not a sideline issue. The lack of small things, birds in the sky, butterflies, rabbits in a meadow, *something* like that. I never seen so lifeless and bland worlds, and as in forests it is in cities. When I was on Tython, it was supposed to be rich forest world. But on no place I had this warm, scenic feeling like I have for example in LOTRO, which also is a low polygon game. In fact for me, the sterile worlds and bland visual are BY FAR the most negative issue I feel in actual gameplay, compared to which things like UI or playable races are relatively unimportant. I really wonder why this glaring and clear issue wasn't mentioned, and it feels a bit like favoritism to bring instead a list of 5 harmless and unimportant issues, when SWTOR has some much heavier issues. It is pretty much like it is in other Bioware games. Yep, the world does not feel as alive as in some other games, like Bethesda etc. Suppose, some people take more of an issue with it. It would be nice to see more NPCs going about their daily business, but I can live without it as well.
The problem with 'living breathing worlds' is that the players ruin it. It's fine in a single player or even an invite only co-op game, but in a game where you can have anyone and everyone participating in the world, making a living, breathing world is an invitation to players to break the systems that keep it going.
For the most part though...I'm not sure why this is so important to some people. Who gives a cr@p what the mobs that I'm supposed to kill are doing when I'm not killing them? I'm never going to go back and find out. It's far more interesting that the NPCs that have nothing to do with me are doing something and having conversations. It's far more interesting that NPCs that I'm done with and won't be doing to for quests have something to say to me (fully voiced) that has something to do with me and something to do with what I've done. It's even more important that I get letters and notices from characters I've interacted with previously (one from a pole dancer who wanted to get away from her boyfriend of all things) giving me updates on their lives. I'm never going to go back to those areas, but the game keeps giving me updates on what's happening, promoting the illusion that the world is progressing.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Space combat for me is huge as well... This decision for Star Fox the Old Republic reeks of laziness on Bioware's part; its almost as if space combat was added as an after thought. At least with SWG they waited and released a decent follow-up with JTL; which in my opinion was outstanding.
yep JTL was awesome but after that they basically left it aside for the years to come and noone was there with you in space soon.
we can only hope that BW starts weak on space combat and goes strong over time - better then the other way around at least. at least they hinted a few plans with it with guild capital ships and what not. all we can do is wait and see.
We have actually had a lot of space content added into SWG over the last 2 years Mikkel "Hjal" Jensen the dev on it has been nothing short of superb involving the community the entire time.
If not for Hjal and JTL I would have unsubbed many years ago instead I still log in Weds and Sundays for space PVP and will be there when the servers finally close to say goodbye to a game that despite our love hate relationship has given me a wonderful 7.5 years and I will soreley miss it and the community.
TOR is sadly far to shallow to capture the SWG community unless a rabid fanboi so whilst most will likeley give it a go I cant see many sticking past the first 30 days myself included.
The thing about sidequests hits a bigger nail on the head. It's sad to see that BioWare didn't really drink their own "story is everything" coolaid. Instead of designing the entire game to feed into story, the create a story and a game and never shall the two meet. It's really too bad.
Customization is disgraceful. Virtually every MMO on the market - regardless of budget and publisher - has significantly better character customization than TOR. There is just absolutely no excuse whatsoever for this to be the case. It didn't need to be all "STO, create your own alien", but It should have been a lot better than it is. Both in terms of gear looks and basic character creation (not to mention ships, companions, lightsabers,etc. (They've actually cut the lightsaber customization options by half in the last beta round by make them faction-specific, when you only have like 6 colours available int he first place, cutting it down to 3 is downright idiotic. There is absolutely no reason why they couldn't just have a colour wheel for crystal customization in the first place.)
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
The thing about sidequests hits a bigger nail on the head. It's sad to see that BioWare didn't really drink their own "story is everything" coolaid. Instead of designing the entire game to feed into story, the create a story and a game and never shall the two meet. It's really too bad.
Customization is disgraceful. Virtually every MMO on the market - regardless of budget and publisher - has significantly better character customization than TOR. There is just absolutely no excuse whatsoever for this to be the case. It didn't need to be all "STO, create your own alien", but It should have been a lot better than it is. Both in terms of gear looks and basic character creation (not to mention ships, companions, lightsabers,etc. (They've actually cut the lightsaber customization options by half in the last beta round by make them faction-specific, when you only have like 6 colours available int he first place, cutting it down to 3 is downright idiotic. There is absolutely no reason why they couldn't just have a colour wheel for crystal customization in the first place.)
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
Itemization and Sidequest points aren't big deals for me but I really hope they will improve character creation and the UI very soon and eventually add free roaming, mmo worthy space content.
First, for the topic side quests. Daniel Erickson emphasized in interviews MANY TIMES, players of various classes would experience NOT A SINGLE SAME QUEST. He was *very* adamant in this. And now? If you play Jedi Knight and then Consular, 2/3rd of the startet planet quests are the same. Then ALL chars of the Republic come to Coruscant and make 80% of the same quests. All that makes replayability a scam, and that needs to be said. Daniel Erickson lied.
I am pretty sure he said factions not classes, I think he also said that each class has unique story.
Second, why is there no point for the sterile world? This was discussed by many, many players, so it is not a sideline issue. The lack of small things, birds in the sky, butterflies, rabbits in a meadow, *something* like that. I never seen so lifeless and bland worlds, and as in forests it is in cities. When I was on Tython, it was supposed to be rich forest world. But on no place I had this warm, scenic feeling like I have for example in LOTRO, which also is a low polygon game. In fact for me, the sterile worlds and bland visual are BY FAR the most negative issue I feel in actual gameplay, compared to which things like UI or playable races are relatively unimportant. I really wonder why this glaring and clear issue wasn't mentioned, and it feels a bit like favoritism to bring instead a list of 5 harmless and unimportant issues, when SWTOR has some much heavier issues.
It is pretty much like it is in other Bioware games. Yep, the world does not feel as alive as in some other games, like Bethesda etc. Suppose, some people take more of an issue with it. It would be nice to see more NPCs going about their daily business, but I can live without it as well.
The problem with 'living breathing worlds' is that the players ruin it. It's fine in a single player or even an invite only co-op game, but in a game where you can have anyone and everyone participating in the world, making a living, breathing world is an invitation to players to break the systems that keep it going.
It all depends on how it's done... The problem is that no one really gave sandbox mmo concept a proper chance. Just look at EVE and its success - for a game where you play a spaceship and which includes cutthroat FFA PvP it made an absolute killing.
Not so long ago themeparks were plagued with similar flawed concepts which plague sandboxes even today. While themeparks, due to the influx of funding and attention shed many of those early flaws such as penalizing players for trying, grind and so on, sandboxes are sadly still in the hands of indie afficionados who are religiously copying the bad along with the good from the games made a decade ago.
Imagine a sandbox game with all the conceptual gameplay advances themeparks made in the past 10 years... Rather than a 3D copy of pre-trammel UO we should at least be offered, for example, a sandbox with no harsh death penalties, no full looting and with consensual PvP. A sandbox which is smartly designed so you really can't grief other players. You should be presented with well designed building blocks and tools that are carefully crafted by the designers rather than given a bunch of tools not much different from a map editor in a FPS. And why shouldn't there be instanced PvP in a sandbox, for example? Imo sandbox crowd is even more guilty of being unimaginative and intellectually lazy than themepark devs. Imo there is a huge potential in this concept, but for some reason the devs are stuck in that tedious themepark mindframe. Why this is so I have no idea considering that many of the greatest and best-selling games in the history of computer gaming were sandboxes.
This potential is so huge that a one-man indie game like Minecraft can sell more than 15 million copies and a Facebook gardening toy managed to create its own convertible global currency.
And yet, the "common wisdom" is that sandbox mmos can't have popular appeal. I find this notion totally incomprehensible.
i am pretty much in the category I would call "realistic fanboi." I know what this game is, but I love it....for now.
I am looking at this game, not the same way I looked at other MMORPGs, but as any single player game. I am buying this with the intent of getting a month or two of fun out of it, and that is kind of sad, really.
I think the space combat issue is a huge one. If they had an in depth space game that related to the rest of the game in a meaningful way, they would have bought a ton of play time out of the game. They also would have created a serious sense of immersion.
I am cautiously optimistic that Bioware/EA knows they have a very nice gilded turd--a fun turd, that I love as it--but a turd that will not keep anyone's attention for the long haul. They need to heap on new content, and meaningful, in depth changes (like a better space combat system, for example) and in a fairly short timeframe, or I predict they will lose a lot of players in the first half year. They want to maximize their investment, I am sure.
All that said, I love my experiences with this game. It does feel "star warsy" to me, and I can play with some rl friends and my wife. While it falls short in some areas for me, I still have fun, and in the end, thats all that really matters.
While I agree with most of what was said, I disagree about the top 3 of this list.
I feel that either the UI or the character creation should be number 1 and 2 (in which order doesnt matter to me), but putting a minigame as the number 1 thing thats wrong about SWTOR is just silly.
Whether you like it or not, space combat IS nothing more than a minigame and thus not really impacting the main game while the UI is in your face almost all the time and the character creator is the basis of the character you spend all those hours with.
The spacegame is not an issue, if you don't like it, don't play it. And maybe if enough players keep subbed, it will be upgraded in a future patch/expansion.
Characer creation, just add a size slider and some more boddyforms and it will be more then enough.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I too have to disagree with space combat being #1. It really was never intended to be a major focus of the game, and it is exactly what it's supposed to be - a minigame, a distraction from the main part of the game.
The UI is definitely lacking, though I'm sure it will be improved.
I will agree that some of the sidequests seem to not really make much sense for your character to be doing, though I ended up skipping a lot of them in the beta as I outleveled a lot of them.
Character creation is definitely an issue and I wish it would be improved greatly.
I agree with that list pretty much, though the Space Combat isn't an issue for me. That it's there at all is a plus in my book. It's not essential to level, and the commendation rewards are just "meh" stuff.
Itemization is a biggie at the moment. Until EVERYTHING is socketed, it's gonna feel like a junk system. As far as looks goes, my companions all look like hobos and my character doesn't look much better.
Pretty much nailed it Mike. MIght have changed a few of those around in what I believe should be ordered of importance. (character creation and UI I think should be the highest on the list seeing as how you deal with those for the majority of your playtime, and even in the best case scenario, space combat is only a fraction of your total gameplay).
One of my serious complaints having taken a character to 15lvl is that there are nearly enough quests. Either that, or I'm simply missing a quest hub somewhere. I started noticing I was behind the leveling curve around 10th level, but could still complete quests because they were rather easy.
But at 15lvl, things are decidedly getting out of hand. In fact, I'm stuck on my class quest line because I can't defeat the final elite boss whose a level or two above me, and I haven't any other quests to pursue in order to level up.
Yeah, I could grind mobs...but that isn't the spirit of the game, or of my character.
#5. Player Ships - It doesn't feel like my ship; it feels like I'm borrowing it.
No body or style selection.
Typecasted - everyone of the same class has the same ship
I can't use any of the furniture on the ship (Immersion).
I can't even decorate or move things around on my own ship.
...
I just wanted to make a correction that you CAN sit in the chairs in your starship. Sitting in the pilot's chair also brings up the galaxy map. So I don't know if you have played a more recent build or didn't notice.
Just shows they do listen but they can't do everything everyone wants, atleast not right away.
Things I hate about SW:TOR, or rather, reasons I won't buy it:
1. Races - The selection is extremely bland. Mostly copy/paste of the human model. And no racial skills either (aside from special dance and other RP animations) . I find that to be unacceptable.
2. No add-ons or macros - I'm an add-on addict. I love being able to customize things to my liking. Another deal breaker.
3. No dungeon finder - Actually I could live without this, because I'm primarily a PvP player. But sometimes I want to run a dungeon after a long day at work... the last thing I want to do is spam LFG! LFG! LFG! This is especially true late a night. 3 AM dungeon runs are easy to find in WoW. In SW:TOR, it will be an issue.
None of the Heroics require grouping. I was able to solo Steel Voice on Hutta with my BH. Yep. Real heroic.
Pretty much nailed it Mike. MIght have changed a few of those around in what I believe should be ordered of importance. (character creation and UI I think should be the highest on the list seeing as how you deal with those for the majority of your playtime, and even in the best case scenario, space combat is only a fraction of your total gameplay).
But I digress. Good work. Carry on.
Weird, I like the UI, only wish we could move the windows around.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Originally posted by icehawke None of the Heroics require grouping. I was able to solo Steel Voice on Hutta with my BH. Yep. Real heroic.
I'll guess that you solo'd it once you had your companion, which would mean you soloed a quest that was designed to be done by someone several levels lower than you. Congrats!
Of course since I said that, no matter what the truth is, I'm sure we'll hear how you soloed it at level and did it easily it was done. Dont let facts get in the way of making a point though, ever!
Seriously though, yeah, some 2+ heroic's can be soloed if you work at it, but to suggest that none of 'em do, you'd be fairly seriously mistaken, unless of course you significantly overlevel them.
Hey, I soloed Black Talon, so really Flashpoints dont require group either, right?
None of the Heroics require grouping. I was able to solo Steel Voice on Hutta with my BH. Yep. Real heroic.
Solo or with companion?
Also, don't assume that everyone that plays the game is as good or better than you. I have no idea how good your are at the game, but chances are, there are probably at least some people who aren't as good and need groups. Not to mention, that they may prefer to group.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall Currently Playing: ESO
Playing: PO, EVE Waiting for: WoD Favourite MMOs: VG, EVE, FE and DDO Any person who expresses rage and loathing for an MMO is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.
Comments
You are right with the UI. I was tempted to grab the window and move it and I couldn't. This was annyoing.
Guild Wars 2's 50 minutes game play video:
http://n4g.com/news/592585/guild-wars-2-50-minutes-of-pure-gameplay
Everything We Know about GW2:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/287180/page/1
I pretty much agree on every point.
Still, the game is a lot of fun despite these problems.
Agreed on everything, on the other hand I dont care for 4 out of 5 of these, what I care about is the Itemization, I want cool looking stuff, expecialy weapons, kinda hard to do something with Lightsabers thou, what more can they add? Sparkly rainbow unicorn effects?
"I also don't agree that JTL was an awesome space experience. It was annoying and dull at best for me."
What is meant by "JTL was awesome space experience" means for an MMO and for the basic mechanics on how it worked. The "annoying and dull" came about in the way that SOE failed to implement those awesome features to do something fun.
Let's party like it is 1863!
Are you guys more insulted that they put this Space System in the game, or are your more insulted that their developers openly defended it as a good thing.
I mean, what the hell is this piss-poor system even going to turn into? Do you think having a buddy's ugly ship next to your ugly ship is going to make this "space system" more enjoyable?
Ooooh, a leader booooard? Yaaaaay. Who gives a d***.
No, they completely and utterly f'd themselves with this joke of a gameplay dynamic.
Bioware could've hired Lawrence Holland (Creator of X-Wing / TIE Fighter) and had him and a Space team develope the best damn Space Sim ever made for this game, but. NOPE, KID FEST 2011.
The problem with 'living breathing worlds' is that the players ruin it. It's fine in a single player or even an invite only co-op game, but in a game where you can have anyone and everyone participating in the world, making a living, breathing world is an invitation to players to break the systems that keep it going.
For the most part though...I'm not sure why this is so important to some people. Who gives a cr@p what the mobs that I'm supposed to kill are doing when I'm not killing them? I'm never going to go back and find out. It's far more interesting that the NPCs that have nothing to do with me are doing something and having conversations. It's far more interesting that NPCs that I'm done with and won't be doing to for quests have something to say to me (fully voiced) that has something to do with me and something to do with what I've done. It's even more important that I get letters and notices from characters I've interacted with previously (one from a pole dancer who wanted to get away from her boyfriend of all things) giving me updates on their lives. I'm never going to go back to those areas, but the game keeps giving me updates on what's happening, promoting the illusion that the world is progressing.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
We have actually had a lot of space content added into SWG over the last 2 years Mikkel "Hjal" Jensen the dev on it has been nothing short of superb involving the community the entire time.
If not for Hjal and JTL I would have unsubbed many years ago instead I still log in Weds and Sundays for space PVP and will be there when the servers finally close to say goodbye to a game that despite our love hate relationship has given me a wonderful 7.5 years and I will soreley miss it and the community.
TOR is sadly far to shallow to capture the SWG community unless a rabid fanboi so whilst most will likeley give it a go I cant see many sticking past the first 30 days myself included.
Great list, and all points that Bioware should take to heart if they wish to maintain a healthy population.
I'll still purchase it regardless with faith that it will improve over time.
Good list Mike.
The thing about sidequests hits a bigger nail on the head. It's sad to see that BioWare didn't really drink their own "story is everything" coolaid. Instead of designing the entire game to feed into story, the create a story and a game and never shall the two meet. It's really too bad.
Customization is disgraceful. Virtually every MMO on the market - regardless of budget and publisher - has significantly better character customization than TOR. There is just absolutely no excuse whatsoever for this to be the case. It didn't need to be all "STO, create your own alien", but It should have been a lot better than it is. Both in terms of gear looks and basic character creation (not to mention ships, companions, lightsabers,etc. (They've actually cut the lightsaber customization options by half in the last beta round by make them faction-specific, when you only have like 6 colours available int he first place, cutting it down to 3 is downright idiotic. There is absolutely no reason why they couldn't just have a colour wheel for crystal customization in the first place.)
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
Good list Mike.
The thing about sidequests hits a bigger nail on the head. It's sad to see that BioWare didn't really drink their own "story is everything" coolaid. Instead of designing the entire game to feed into story, the create a story and a game and never shall the two meet. It's really too bad.
Customization is disgraceful. Virtually every MMO on the market - regardless of budget and publisher - has significantly better character customization than TOR. There is just absolutely no excuse whatsoever for this to be the case. It didn't need to be all "STO, create your own alien", but It should have been a lot better than it is. Both in terms of gear looks and basic character creation (not to mention ships, companions, lightsabers,etc. (They've actually cut the lightsaber customization options by half in the last beta round by make them faction-specific, when you only have like 6 colours available int he first place, cutting it down to 3 is downright idiotic. There is absolutely no reason why they couldn't just have a colour wheel for crystal customization in the first place.)
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
Fair list as far as I can judge it.
Itemization and Sidequest points aren't big deals for me but I really hope they will improve character creation and the UI very soon and eventually add free roaming, mmo worthy space content.
My brand new bloggity blog.
It all depends on how it's done... The problem is that no one really gave sandbox mmo concept a proper chance. Just look at EVE and its success - for a game where you play a spaceship and which includes cutthroat FFA PvP it made an absolute killing.
Not so long ago themeparks were plagued with similar flawed concepts which plague sandboxes even today. While themeparks, due to the influx of funding and attention shed many of those early flaws such as penalizing players for trying, grind and so on, sandboxes are sadly still in the hands of indie afficionados who are religiously copying the bad along with the good from the games made a decade ago.
Imagine a sandbox game with all the conceptual gameplay advances themeparks made in the past 10 years... Rather than a 3D copy of pre-trammel UO we should at least be offered, for example, a sandbox with no harsh death penalties, no full looting and with consensual PvP. A sandbox which is smartly designed so you really can't grief other players. You should be presented with well designed building blocks and tools that are carefully crafted by the designers rather than given a bunch of tools not much different from a map editor in a FPS. And why shouldn't there be instanced PvP in a sandbox, for example? Imo sandbox crowd is even more guilty of being unimaginative and intellectually lazy than themepark devs. Imo there is a huge potential in this concept, but for some reason the devs are stuck in that tedious themepark mindframe. Why this is so I have no idea considering that many of the greatest and best-selling games in the history of computer gaming were sandboxes.
This potential is so huge that a one-man indie game like Minecraft can sell more than 15 million copies and a Facebook gardening toy managed to create its own convertible global currency.
And yet, the "common wisdom" is that sandbox mmos can't have popular appeal. I find this notion totally incomprehensible.
i am pretty much in the category I would call "realistic fanboi." I know what this game is, but I love it....for now.
I am looking at this game, not the same way I looked at other MMORPGs, but as any single player game. I am buying this with the intent of getting a month or two of fun out of it, and that is kind of sad, really.
I think the space combat issue is a huge one. If they had an in depth space game that related to the rest of the game in a meaningful way, they would have bought a ton of play time out of the game. They also would have created a serious sense of immersion.
I am cautiously optimistic that Bioware/EA knows they have a very nice gilded turd--a fun turd, that I love as it--but a turd that will not keep anyone's attention for the long haul. They need to heap on new content, and meaningful, in depth changes (like a better space combat system, for example) and in a fairly short timeframe, or I predict they will lose a lot of players in the first half year. They want to maximize their investment, I am sure.
All that said, I love my experiences with this game. It does feel "star warsy" to me, and I can play with some rl friends and my wife. While it falls short in some areas for me, I still have fun, and in the end, thats all that really matters.
While I agree with most of what was said, I disagree about the top 3 of this list.
I feel that either the UI or the character creation should be number 1 and 2 (in which order doesnt matter to me), but putting a minigame as the number 1 thing thats wrong about SWTOR is just silly.
Whether you like it or not, space combat IS nothing more than a minigame and thus not really impacting the main game while the UI is in your face almost all the time and the character creator is the basis of the character you spend all those hours with.
My only gripe is the UI, its not MMO worthy
The spacegame is not an issue, if you don't like it, don't play it. And maybe if enough players keep subbed, it will be upgraded in a future patch/expansion.
Characer creation, just add a size slider and some more boddyforms and it will be more then enough.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I too have to disagree with space combat being #1. It really was never intended to be a major focus of the game, and it is exactly what it's supposed to be - a minigame, a distraction from the main part of the game.
The UI is definitely lacking, though I'm sure it will be improved.
I will agree that some of the sidequests seem to not really make much sense for your character to be doing, though I ended up skipping a lot of them in the beta as I outleveled a lot of them.
Character creation is definitely an issue and I wish it would be improved greatly.
I agree with that list pretty much, though the Space Combat isn't an issue for me. That it's there at all is a plus in my book. It's not essential to level, and the commendation rewards are just "meh" stuff.
Itemization is a biggie at the moment. Until EVERYTHING is socketed, it's gonna feel like a junk system. As far as looks goes, my companions all look like hobos and my character doesn't look much better.
Pretty much nailed it Mike. MIght have changed a few of those around in what I believe should be ordered of importance. (character creation and UI I think should be the highest on the list seeing as how you deal with those for the majority of your playtime, and even in the best case scenario, space combat is only a fraction of your total gameplay).
But I digress. Good work. Carry on.
One of my serious complaints having taken a character to 15lvl is that there are nearly enough quests. Either that, or I'm simply missing a quest hub somewhere. I started noticing I was behind the leveling curve around 10th level, but could still complete quests because they were rather easy.
But at 15lvl, things are decidedly getting out of hand. In fact, I'm stuck on my class quest line because I can't defeat the final elite boss whose a level or two above me, and I haven't any other quests to pursue in order to level up.
Yeah, I could grind mobs...but that isn't the spirit of the game, or of my character.
I just wanted to make a correction that you CAN sit in the chairs in your starship. Sitting in the pilot's chair also brings up the galaxy map. So I don't know if you have played a more recent build or didn't notice.
Just shows they do listen but they can't do everything everyone wants, atleast not right away.
None of the Heroics require grouping. I was able to solo Steel Voice on Hutta with my BH. Yep. Real heroic.
Aurora, 4x Gaming
Weird, I like the UI, only wish we could move the windows around.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I'll guess that you solo'd it once you had your companion, which would mean you soloed a quest that was designed to be done by someone several levels lower than you. Congrats!
Of course since I said that, no matter what the truth is, I'm sure we'll hear how you soloed it at level and did it easily it was done. Dont let facts get in the way of making a point though, ever!
Seriously though, yeah, some 2+ heroic's can be soloed if you work at it, but to suggest that none of 'em do, you'd be fairly seriously mistaken, unless of course you significantly overlevel them.
Hey, I soloed Black Talon, so really Flashpoints dont require group either, right?
Solo or with companion?
Also, don't assume that everyone that plays the game is as good or better than you. I have no idea how good your are at the game, but chances are, there are probably at least some people who aren't as good and need groups. Not to mention, that they may prefer to group.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
My top 5 are:
Crafting
Space Combat
Character creation
No Appearance slots
............
i dont even have a fitfh
Playing: PO, EVE
Waiting for: WoD
Favourite MMOs: VG, EVE, FE and DDO
Any person who expresses rage and loathing for an MMO is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.