Hmmm you know for the life of me I'm sure there are some games out there that have companions already, oh yes WoW/Everquest/DAoC and a crap load of others, now please tell us, have these games all become single player games?
For the pet classes in WoW, yes.
A big difference is that ALL of the classes in SWTOR will be pet classes.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
This... is basically awesome. It's essentialy a combination of KotoR and DA:O sistem translated into an MMO, what more could you ask for? Only thing I really don't like is that your possible companions are determined by your class, but imagine the sheer replayability with that. Awesome.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
You can't encourage both. You are either grouped or playing solo. Anything that encourages soloing (and these pets certainly do that) will discourage grouping.
If they just wanted them to fill in a role slot in a group you could make them usable only in a group.
The key word is "encouraging" here.
If you know how difficutl it is to let people group up these days, the "companion" technique is simply a very bad game design.
I know where it came from: old MMo's dried up after a few years because the content was too huge to be played in groups. The logical result was solo content. To avoid the solo play, GW added the NPC companion.
It would be around this time (2007), the core design of SW was set up. Logical step.
But at the end of 2009, Blizzard introduced "fast" grouping tools. Instead of grinding solo, mmo's became a "free" group activity again - even in the leveling part.
You can't compare the companion technique with "pets", since the companions serve to be proper NPC's like "tanks" and "healers".
When a design focuses on "anti grouping" tools by including extra NPC's, you open the way to a solo mode instead of a group up mode.
Also: who will distinguish between the same companions within a group (3 Chewies - which is mine ? - backing up each other ?).
The core problems of SW wil be :
solo instanced - companions in "group" mode - too costly speech development that will be skipped anyway - no prior experience in PvP by the developpers (which must be the main focus in SW) - no decent space game.
The last time I read about it, the developpers were "discussing" professions, which means 9 months before launch there isn't even anything programmed yet in that part of the game. Reminds me of ST and War.
EA ...
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
Why are people complaining about these Companoins when they are just Pets. A hunter on WoW has a Companion for example and no1 is bitching about that. Only difference is this Companion will talk and interract with you , not just mindlessly fight fight fight.
Why are people complaining about these Companoins when they are just Pets. A hunter on WoW has a Companion for example and no1 is bitching about that. Only difference is this Companion will talk and interract with you , not just mindlessly fight fight fight.
Because that's the difference betwen a pet and a companion. A pet just mindlessly kills, it doesn't talk or interact with you. That's what another party player does. A pet is just like another weapon and you don't want to socialize with a weapon do you? While a companion in mmorpgs are other players with which you chat or work together, something a pet doesn't replace. What they are doing is replacing player companions with npc ones but you can never do that in mmo. The party will feel artificial, without a soul and you will feel like playing alone.
I wonder how this will play out for the optimum group? Would it be 5 dps with 5 healer companions or will you want one person to bring a droid for hacking/repairs or one member to be a healer with a tank companion? At the very least if everyone gets to pull out a companion it would be easier to make a more optimum group.
"You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Why are people complaining about these Companoins when they are just Pets. A hunter on WoW has a Companion for example and no1 is bitching about that. Only difference is this Companion will talk and interract with you , not just mindlessly fight fight fight.
Because that's the difference betwen a pet and a companion. A pet just mindlessly kills, it doesn't talk or interact with you. That's what another party player does. A pet is just like another weapon and you don't want to socialize with a weapon do you? While a companion in mmorpgs are other players with which you chat or work together, something a pet doesn't replace. What they are doing is replacing player companions with npc ones but you can never do that in mmo. The party will feel artificial, without a soul and you will feel like playing alone.
But they are not replacing Hman Companions ... they are only changing the functionality of a Pet. You can only have ONE and last time I chacked ... 2 People are not the definition of a Raid/Dungeon Party.
So basically everyone will have NPC's to use and therefore wont need other players to group with which will turn swtor into a single player game with chat channels.
That is a major concern, yes.
Doubtful.
I am betting companion characters will only be present for the personal story arc missions. In those missions Bioware has said you can bring friends (other players) along to experience your story and help your progress it.
I imagine both yours and their companions will work together with you and your friend's character so you'll end up forming a much bigger and more varied group.
Now, since companion characters are going to be such a big part of the personal story arc, I bet they'll limit the group size for story-arc missions to only 2-3 players so you can then end up with 4-6 total characters so things don't get too big or crazy.
Throw in raids (no companion characters) dungeons (probably no companion characters) as well as PvP and all the yet-to-be-discussed open world content (no companions) I don't think companion characters are going to have a significant impact on player grouping.
Those who would solo anyway are going to solo, those who want to/will group will still group up and be benefited by it.
Why are people complaining about these Companoins when they are just Pets. A hunter on WoW has a Companion for example and no1 is bitching about that. Only difference is this Companion will talk and interract with you , not just mindlessly fight fight fight.
Because that's the difference betwen a pet and a companion. A pet just mindlessly kills, it doesn't talk or interact with you. That's what another party player does. A pet is just like another weapon and you don't want to socialize with a weapon do you? While a companion in mmorpgs are other players with which you chat or work together, something a pet doesn't replace. What they are doing is replacing player companions with npc ones but you can never do that in mmo. The party will feel artificial, without a soul and you will feel like playing alone.
I'm not sure about that, if they can teach it to fight over loot add a liberal amount of 'lolz', 'omgz', 'wtfz', 'pwnz' and 'I fked your mum dat bad....... sorry mt' then I'm pretty sure they can replicate an average pug.
----- The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
I know this might cause the discussion to make a strange turn, but I wonder if there will be homosexual relationships possible between PCs and companions much like there was in Dragon Age. If so I ponder how many young male players will be playing lesbian characters. Anyhow, just a curiosity.
I know i will! ... Oh.. wait..
Anyway... I never really liked this companion idea but i am ready to give Bioware a benefit of the doubt here.
Companion characters is something i think Bioware is good at. Dragon age proves that to me... (altho Me2 gave me a bit of a doubt there in Bioware...).
Still i am more concerned with "story" then companions. ME2 (in some parts really epic) storyline and especially the end made me doubt Biowares story writting skills. It was by far one of the the most dissapointing moments in my gaming history... It made me feel like i was not the "target audience" anymore.
I have the same strange feeling when looking at TOR. But we'll see i guess.
I've been uplinked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading.
I'm a high-tech low-life. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bi-coastal multi-tasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.
I'm new-wave, but I'm old-school; and my inner child is outward-bound.
I'm a hot-wired, heat-seeking, warm-hearted cool customer; voice-activated and bio-degradable.
AS a Family Guy fan, I thought of the episode where Quagmire, Peter and Cleveland were trying to unlock a series of ket entries to his father in laws money. One of the locks was a large keyhole about waist high. Pondering what to do, Quagmire drops his pants and inserts his flesh into the hole. The door opens.
"How did you manage to open the lock?"
Quagmire "I didn't open , the lock, I just broke it"
wow this game is turning into one big joke...companions,?! WTF come on
hahaha
Are you joking?
The companions have been announced for a very very long time now. If you are just now realizing they are part of the game, you haven't been paying attention.
And what exactly is wrong with this concept anyway? Personally I think it adds a layer of depth that does not exist in any other MMO currently.
I actually really like the idea so far. One of the better ideas that I've seen in regards to making an MMO both solo and group friendly. You feel like going it alone one night, pull out your healer companion. If I feel like duoing with the wife, or having a 3 man pt going with my wife and son we have NPC's to fill in the blanks. Feel like going out with the guild/clan/ls/w/e can do that as well.
I like to solo at times, I like to group at times and then there are times I feel like a small family party or simply a duo with my wife. A system like this makes it possible.
Also makes it so I don't have to be Tank and the wife doesn't have to be a healer so that we can duo. I can be what I want, she can be what she wants and we can have our companions fill in the blanks.
Of course I'd have to see the system in action to make a final decision but for now I really like the sounds of the companion system.
It promnotes grouping and soloing as well as small parties, at least it does on paper with the information we currently have.
i knew ''well'' before this but just saying this game becoming guild wars with star wars wrapped around its shallow shell...if i wanted companions id play dragon age or some shit like that, this is a mmorpg am i wrong?
This sounds great for me. As i tend to play with my wife and i will typically try and pick a class that we can group with (she will normally pick a class, i pick one so we can group and then she diecided she doesnt like that and we have 2 cloth wearers.....)This way no matter what happens we can still group
i knew ''well'' before this but just saying this game becoming guild wars with star wars wrapped around its shallow shell...if i wanted companions id play dragon age or some shit like that, this is a mmorpg am i wrong?
You aren't new to MMORPGs are you? If you are then I feel the need to state that forced grouping hasn't been working out and that when an MMO has solo content grouping still happens. People play MMO's to play with others, but not everyone feels they should need others for everything all the time.
I mean FFXI is a good example, I enjoy a good grouping game. But to get things that I need and no one else may need at the time such as AF gear and etc. things I personally need done that my friends or ls mates may not need = me waiting till others aren't busy so that they can help me get something done in which they get nothing in return from. I have times where I will help out an LS mate because if I don't they won't get it done.
Turns my game into work at times. Which is not fun lol.
When I feel like soloing I pull out my NPC and or play my Bst which is a pet job.
At some point most people feel like soloing or doing a small pt. This kind of system simply makes it so that you don't have to be on a pet job to do so. It also makes way for small pt's. Because at times many people simply want to pt with close friends or family members.
You seem to just be slamming the idea without giving any thought to it. I mean they've already stated that rewards will be better with grouping. So unless you are completely socially inept you shouldn't have much trouble finding pt's or groups.
But hey... I'm just basing my opinion on the info we have so far. oO
Im not new to mmorpgs, thats what Guilds are for to help get what you need inreturn you help them out with stuff they need aswell...I can see if your not into guilds then sure but , I , Myself love Guilds and helping my Guild Mates out...sorry if it sounded like bashing but just MHO
Im not new to mmorpgs, thats what Guilds are for to help get what you need inreturn you help them out with stuff they need aswell...I can see if your not into guilds then sure but , I , Myself love Guilds and helping my Guild Mates out...sorry if it sounded like bashing but just MHO
And I was just pointing out that with better rewards comming from grouping all this does is allow people the option to solo without having a huge impact on grouping and that it also opens the doors for viable small party play. And thats all the current information conveys. To infer otherwise requires you to jump to conclusions based on information we do not have.
I aslo enjoy being part of guilds/ls's/clans and etc. ran a few and have been a part of many. Guild/LS/Clan parties are a lot of fun and I generally preffer that to pug'ing. Now with you saying you love guilds/clans/ls's etc. then... I don't see how you see trouble grouping being a big problem in SW:ToR. As that is where I find most people get there party/group members from. Not many I know enjoy pug'ing it up in my 12ish years of MMO experience. Met some that do but if you have a clan/guild/ls or w/e you don't really have to pug up or worry about finding a group/party to often.
So I guess what I am saying is, I still fail to see your concern given past experiences and the current information we have on SW:ToR.
Hmmm you know for the life of me I'm sure there are some games out there that have companions already, oh yes WoW/Everquest/DAoC and a crap load of others, now please tell us, have these games all become single player games?
For the pet classes in WoW, yes.
A big difference is that ALL of the classes in SWTOR will be pet classes.
So the pet classes in WoW are able to solo all the group content? Let me know I'd like to solo ICC on my mage.
Comments
For the pet classes in WoW, yes.
A big difference is that ALL of the classes in SWTOR will be pet classes.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
This... is basically awesome. It's essentialy a combination of KotoR and DA:O sistem translated into an MMO, what more could you ask for? Only thing I really don't like is that your possible companions are determined by your class, but imagine the sheer replayability with that. Awesome.
The key word is "encouraging" here.
If you know how difficutl it is to let people group up these days, the "companion" technique is simply a very bad game design.
I know where it came from: old MMo's dried up after a few years because the content was too huge to be played in groups. The logical result was solo content. To avoid the solo play, GW added the NPC companion.
It would be around this time (2007), the core design of SW was set up. Logical step.
But at the end of 2009, Blizzard introduced "fast" grouping tools. Instead of grinding solo, mmo's became a "free" group activity again - even in the leveling part.
You can't compare the companion technique with "pets", since the companions serve to be proper NPC's like "tanks" and "healers".
When a design focuses on "anti grouping" tools by including extra NPC's, you open the way to a solo mode instead of a group up mode.
Also: who will distinguish between the same companions within a group (3 Chewies - which is mine ? - backing up each other ?).
The core problems of SW wil be :
solo instanced - companions in "group" mode - too costly speech development that will be skipped anyway - no prior experience in PvP by the developpers (which must be the main focus in SW) - no decent space game.
The last time I read about it, the developpers were "discussing" professions, which means 9 months before launch there isn't even anything programmed yet in that part of the game. Reminds me of ST and War.
EA ...
Its embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you Grtz, mate, we did it. copyright Pilnkplonk
Why are people complaining about these Companoins when they are just Pets. A hunter on WoW has a Companion for example and no1 is bitching about that. Only difference is this Companion will talk and interract with you , not just mindlessly fight fight fight.
just don't make it cry
Because that's the difference betwen a pet and a companion. A pet just mindlessly kills, it doesn't talk or interact with you. That's what another party player does. A pet is just like another weapon and you don't want to socialize with a weapon do you? While a companion in mmorpgs are other players with which you chat or work together, something a pet doesn't replace. What they are doing is replacing player companions with npc ones but you can never do that in mmo. The party will feel artificial, without a soul and you will feel like playing alone.
I wonder how this will play out for the optimum group? Would it be 5 dps with 5 healer companions or will you want one person to bring a droid for hacking/repairs or one member to be a healer with a tank companion? At the very least if everyone gets to pull out a companion it would be easier to make a more optimum group.
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer
Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/But they are not replacing Hman Companions ... they are only changing the functionality of a Pet. You can only have ONE and last time I chacked ... 2 People are not the definition of a Raid/Dungeon Party.
Doubtful.
I am betting companion characters will only be present for the personal story arc missions. In those missions Bioware has said you can bring friends (other players) along to experience your story and help your progress it.
I imagine both yours and their companions will work together with you and your friend's character so you'll end up forming a much bigger and more varied group.
Now, since companion characters are going to be such a big part of the personal story arc, I bet they'll limit the group size for story-arc missions to only 2-3 players so you can then end up with 4-6 total characters so things don't get too big or crazy.
Throw in raids (no companion characters) dungeons (probably no companion characters) as well as PvP and all the yet-to-be-discussed open world content (no companions) I don't think companion characters are going to have a significant impact on player grouping.
Those who would solo anyway are going to solo, those who want to/will group will still group up and be benefited by it.
I'm not sure about that, if they can teach it to fight over loot add a liberal amount of 'lolz', 'omgz', 'wtfz', 'pwnz' and 'I fked your mum dat bad....... sorry mt' then I'm pretty sure they can replicate an average pug.
-----
The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.
I'm all for companions as long as they don't defeat the purpose of MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER (parties, groups whatnots)
What i'm not for, is a KOTOR 3, with online chat.
I know i will! ... Oh.. wait..
Anyway... I never really liked this companion idea but i am ready to give Bioware a benefit of the doubt here.
Companion characters is something i think Bioware is good at. Dragon age proves that to me... (altho Me2 gave me a bit of a doubt there in Bioware...).
Still i am more concerned with "story" then companions. ME2 (in some parts really epic) storyline and especially the end made me doubt Biowares story writting skills. It was by far one of the the most dissapointing moments in my gaming history... It made me feel like i was not the "target audience" anymore.
I have the same strange feeling when looking at TOR. But we'll see i guess.
I've been uplinked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading.
I'm a high-tech low-life. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bi-coastal multi-tasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.
I'm new-wave, but I'm old-school; and my inner child is outward-bound.
I'm a hot-wired, heat-seeking, warm-hearted cool customer; voice-activated and bio-degradable.
RIP George Carlin.
AS a Family Guy fan, I thought of the episode where Quagmire, Peter and Cleveland were trying to unlock a series of ket entries to his father in laws money. One of the locks was a large keyhole about waist high. Pondering what to do, Quagmire drops his pants and inserts his flesh into the hole. The door opens.
"How did you manage to open the lock?"
Quagmire "I didn't open , the lock, I just broke it"
wow this game is turning into one big joke...companions,?! WTF come on
hahaha
Are you joking?
The companions have been announced for a very very long time now. If you are just now realizing they are part of the game, you haven't been paying attention.
And what exactly is wrong with this concept anyway? Personally I think it adds a layer of depth that does not exist in any other MMO currently.
I actually really like the idea so far. One of the better ideas that I've seen in regards to making an MMO both solo and group friendly. You feel like going it alone one night, pull out your healer companion. If I feel like duoing with the wife, or having a 3 man pt going with my wife and son we have NPC's to fill in the blanks. Feel like going out with the guild/clan/ls/w/e can do that as well.
I like to solo at times, I like to group at times and then there are times I feel like a small family party or simply a duo with my wife. A system like this makes it possible.
Also makes it so I don't have to be Tank and the wife doesn't have to be a healer so that we can duo. I can be what I want, she can be what she wants and we can have our companions fill in the blanks.
Of course I'd have to see the system in action to make a final decision but for now I really like the sounds of the companion system.
It promnotes grouping and soloing as well as small parties, at least it does on paper with the information we currently have.
Anyone know if a non force user player can have a Jedi/Sith companion?
i knew ''well'' before this but just saying this game becoming guild wars with star wars wrapped around its shallow shell...if i wanted companions id play dragon age or some shit like that, this is a mmorpg am i wrong?
This sounds great for me. As i tend to play with my wife and i will typically try and pick a class that we can group with (she will normally pick a class, i pick one so we can group and then she diecided she doesnt like that and we have 2 cloth wearers.....)This way no matter what happens we can still group
You aren't new to MMORPGs are you? If you are then I feel the need to state that forced grouping hasn't been working out and that when an MMO has solo content grouping still happens. People play MMO's to play with others, but not everyone feels they should need others for everything all the time.
I mean FFXI is a good example, I enjoy a good grouping game. But to get things that I need and no one else may need at the time such as AF gear and etc. things I personally need done that my friends or ls mates may not need = me waiting till others aren't busy so that they can help me get something done in which they get nothing in return from. I have times where I will help out an LS mate because if I don't they won't get it done.
Turns my game into work at times. Which is not fun lol.
When I feel like soloing I pull out my NPC and or play my Bst which is a pet job.
At some point most people feel like soloing or doing a small pt. This kind of system simply makes it so that you don't have to be on a pet job to do so. It also makes way for small pt's. Because at times many people simply want to pt with close friends or family members.
You seem to just be slamming the idea without giving any thought to it. I mean they've already stated that rewards will be better with grouping. So unless you are completely socially inept you shouldn't have much trouble finding pt's or groups.
But hey... I'm just basing my opinion on the info we have so far. oO
Im not new to mmorpgs, thats what Guilds are for to help get what you need inreturn you help them out with stuff they need aswell...I can see if your not into guilds then sure but , I , Myself love Guilds and helping my Guild Mates out...sorry if it sounded like bashing but just MHO
And I was just pointing out that with better rewards comming from grouping all this does is allow people the option to solo without having a huge impact on grouping and that it also opens the doors for viable small party play. And thats all the current information conveys. To infer otherwise requires you to jump to conclusions based on information we do not have.
I aslo enjoy being part of guilds/ls's/clans and etc. ran a few and have been a part of many. Guild/LS/Clan parties are a lot of fun and I generally preffer that to pug'ing. Now with you saying you love guilds/clans/ls's etc. then... I don't see how you see trouble grouping being a big problem in SW:ToR. As that is where I find most people get there party/group members from. Not many I know enjoy pug'ing it up in my 12ish years of MMO experience. Met some that do but if you have a clan/guild/ls or w/e you don't really have to pug up or worry about finding a group/party to often.
So I guess what I am saying is, I still fail to see your concern given past experiences and the current information we have on SW:ToR.
Probably, considering one of the SW companion isn't another sith.
I believe this was confirmed that non force using players would have force using companions.
So the pet classes in WoW are able to solo all the group content? Let me know I'd like to solo ICC on my mage.