In a fully fledged MMO, you can go anywhere - if you're tough enough or clever enough (ever tried fishing in Ogrimmar as a Nightelf Rogue before? - whereas in SWTOR there are just some planets you're not 'allowed' to visit. There are other distinctions too.
That's not entirely true, for example, in Aion you can't go anywhere as well, some areas of the other faction are off limits, you're not 'allowed' to visit those, yet you don't hear people complain that Aion isn't a fully fledged MMORPG. Another example, LotrO has no open world PvP options at all, yet the lack or limitation of this feature didn't make people cry out that LotrO wasn't a real MMORPG.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Funny thread. Look, if you want to completely avoid the story in TOR, here's three words for you that will save both yourself and everyone who has to listen to you a lot of pain and frustration: Play something else.
And, as regards LotrO, actually I remember a lot of people being extremely annoyed at launch that there was no Sauron/Saruman faction. Setting aside the fact that the game was announced from the start as not having PVP, the game system does allow you to go anywhere into which you can fight, smuggle or sneak yourself. In my experience, almost every MMO I have played, lets you visit the enemy's city - from Vanguard to WoW to EQ2 to Rift to Eve to SWG. I have only just learned this is the case - from Whilan, thank you - and I am quite disappointed.
I think a Sauron/Saruman faction would have been great, although I can understand why they opted not to choose for that. But you didn't hear people complain that LotrO wasn't an MMORPG because it was missing that feature.
As for Aion, I can't really recall people making a big issue of that they couldn't visit the home areas of the other faction, if there were then it was a very slim minority.
Anyway, again such limitations or lacking features didn't suddenly make those MMO's like LotrO and Aion no true MMORPG, the same applies to SWTOR. It may not be an MMORPG that some people with specific preferences may like, but it still remains very much an MMORPG.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
And, as regards LotrO, actually I remember a lot of people being extremely annoyed at launch that there was no Sauron/Saruman faction. Setting aside the fact that the game was announced from the start as not having PVP, the game system does allow you to go anywhere into which you can fight, smuggle or sneak yourself. In my experience, almost every MMO I have played, lets you visit the enemy's city - from Vanguard to WoW to EQ2 to Rift to Eve to SWG. I have only just learned this is the case - from Whilan, thank you - and I am quite disappointed.
I think a Sauron/Saruman faction would have been great, although I can understand why they opted not to choose for that. But you didn't hear people complain that LotrO wasn't an MMORPG because it was missing that feature.
As for Aion, I can't really recall people making a big issue of that they couldn't visit the home areas of the other faction, if there were then it was a very slim minority.
Anyway, again such limitations or lacking features didn't suddenly make those MMO's like LotrO and Aion no true MMORPG, the same applies to SWTOR. It may not be an MMORPG that some people with specific preferences may like, but it still remains very much an MMORPG.
This. I think what he was trying to say is that SW:TOR doesn't have a seamless, fully open world, like most games out there.
Thanks for this response gerogie boy, but this seems to be not the game for me. I was pretty sure this game wasnt going to better SWG and this proves my point again. It is cleatr to see that this game is going to be a wow clone from what ive seen already. Themeparks are ok to play but really I dont want to get involved in the story, i want to be able to have the choice of skipping storylines and jusat get on with the quest. If i wanted to read a book id go read a book, i dont like reading everything in a game like a book because i find it terribly difficult to follow at times. I know its a bioware game but this to me sounds like its going to be as difficult as dragon age origins was to follow. I didnt bother completing that game as you needed to follow storyline to progress and i just gave up in the end.
If i could read the storylines with ease, then id play this game but really I have trouble with reading long texts in a game.
I know im probably the same as every other person who has seen swtor but doesnt want to play it , we will still have terrible difficulty resisting a new game such as this because it is fresh ! I always enjoy a fresh mmo but thisa one i need discipline to avoid it. I dont want to give my money to a mmo that forces you to read tons of text ! I really dont want to do it !
Game looks good but I cant follow storylines its just too much info to take in i just love the GAMEPLAY, that is what im after.
SWG gave me immense gameplay from the start till george lucas and soe changed the game with a combat upgrade because for some reason they decided to agree that combat balances were the right way forward, then a complete rehaul of the game with the nge. SWG as it was for the first year and a half is the best mmo ive ever played and now its going to be my best Star wars mmo ever because bioware is forcing us to read and listen instead of gaming as we desrie.
Just got to figure out what to do when it comes out and i get tempted to pay for it. Really from whats goerge says i dont want to pay for this game but because it will be fresh i mkight be tempted
Bioware i dont want to buy your game because it will fail after the first month because of the problems with pay to play mmos pretty much for last few years or so. It should be illegal for you to force players to pay for a mmo with monthly sub when we all know for a fact its going to fail or seem to the players like its a fail after the first month. All those loyal to the game are going to most definitely get a diminished game after the first month when all the complainers start to leave in droves !!
the more I read the more surprised I am why they even bothered creating MMO instead of next Kotor sequels (with co-op since Mass Effect is going that way)
it'd be much cheaper and much less controversial and more appreciated
well they couldnt ask for monthly fees if it was singleplayer .. seems like the only reason, really
They stated in an earlier interview (2009 or so) that they considered KOTOR sequals but decided on an MMO as it would give them a better develoment path and more options than just an continuous supply of SP RPGs.
You're kind of missing the point I'm trying to get across (admittedly, one I've only just discovered). It's not really about PVP, it's about exploration.
That is, there are whole worlds that the game system won't let you visit. There are very few MMOs that put an artificial block to where PC characters can go - you mentioned Aion - and even fewer block off entire zones (planets). It seems to go against the 'exploration' ethos that Bioware has said this game encourages. This means that at least three planets out of seventeen - 17.5% - are blocked off to each character which is quite a big deal.
(And it's also contradicted by the CGI trailers. I mean, if there's one thing we know about Corucscant from nthe trailers) it's that a hundred Sith can turn up there pretty easily and attack anythijng they like).
If it's true (and I'm not sure if it's confirmed or not), I'm disappointed by this.
? I thought it was pretty clear from my example that I understood what you're trying to say, else why do you think I used Aion as an example? But to clarify: Aion has whole regions that you won't see if you only play one faction, just like SWTOR.
I mentioned LotrO merely to show that there can be features that are missing or limited compared with other MMO's, but that doesn't mean that such MMORPG's aren't MMORPG's anymore.
You're right, if you only play 1 faction then there'll be parts of the game world that you can't see and you already mentioned in a few former posts, you're disappointed by that, that seemed clear too.
Does this mean that this will seriously hamper people's sense of exploration? I think that very much differs from one person to the next, each faction still has 14 out of 17 planets to be able to explore, and if you'd really want to see those other 3 planets, in about 10-15 hours you'd be able to visit them all. At least, I can't recall ever reading any complaints regarding Aion about that people weren't able to explore home areas that were from the other faction.
But like I said, differing tastes and preferences.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Myself regarding the game, I never expected a sandbox type world, do anything you want to do, anytime you want to do it. I play sandbox games for those. However on that same note, it still stands that once you get off the origin world (takes about 7-10 hours) you can go grind mobs, do PvP, do world arcs, do flash points. Whatever you want. It's just that some of these may not be the most efficent way to level, and doing the quests and personal story is the most efficent. Not the only way, but the most efficient.
I never expected the game to be sandbox either, it is a Bioware game afterall. I do prefer sandbox MMOs, but I also enjoy certain themepark MMOs... hell I played WoW for six years.
My point however, is that the degree of forced linear gameplay seems to be a good deal greater than most themepark MMOs. Being forced to do the main quest line for 7-10 hours before having 'freedom' afforded at player creation in most themepark MMOs, has the potentially to put off a good deal of players.
My point however, is that the degree of forced linear gameplay seems to be a good deal greater than most themepark MMOs. Being forced to do the main quest line for 7-10 hours before having 'freedom' afforded at player creation in most themepark MMOs, has the potentially to put off a good deal of players.
Hmm. Well, you have to stick around till I think L18 or so on Tortage in AoC before you're even able to leave the island, with I think the Destiny quests being a must (at least up to a point). In Aion iirc the same, you need to finish the quests up to a certain point before you were able to leave the starter area. In EQ2, I can't recall that you could leave the starter island if you didn't finish a number of tasks and quests on the island. Those are 3 AAA themepark MMO's that I can think of that force you to follow a certain leveling pattern before you're allowed to experience the rest of the MMO content and ingame world.
I didn't play CATA, so I admit I maybe have this wrong, but didn't it have something sortlike where you have to finish the quest lines in the Worgen and goblin starter area before you're able to leave those places?
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Myself regarding the game, I never expected a sandbox type world, do anything you want to do, anytime you want to do it. I play sandbox games for those. However on that same note, it still stands that once you get off the origin world (takes about 7-10 hours) you can go grind mobs, do PvP, do world arcs, do flash points. Whatever you want. It's just that some of these may not be the most efficent way to level, and doing the quests and personal story is the most efficent. Not the only way, but the most efficient.
I never expected the game to be sandbox either, it is a Bioware game afterall. I do prefer sandbox MMOs, but I also enjoy certain themepark MMOs... hell I played WoW for six years.
My point however, is that the degree of forced linear gameplay seems to be a good deal greater than most themepark MMOs. Being forced to do the main quest line for 7-10 hours before having 'freedom' afforded at player creation in most themepark MMOs, has the potentially to put off a good deal of players.
To clarify and i'm not trying to change your opinion but i just want to make sure it's clear, cause thats how misunderstandings start.
That yeah it taks about 7-10 hours (though it could be shorter if you know exactly where to go and how to get there, this average was based around people being new to a game, I know from personal experience that the second time i go through a quest with all the answers that i go through it faster, though not always) to get your ship, I'm still unsure if you can hop on someone elses ship and go to other planets before you have your own ship. If you can, then you can by being inventive and side step the gate and have someone else take you a long for the ride around the galaxy. But we will have to wait till more info on that comes out, unless i missed something on that.
However during that 7-10 hours you can still do single one off quests (the kind you pick up along the way that you would have done anyhow, ala the kill 60 sand people quest), group quests explore and talk to others. You just don't have unmitigated access to the rest of the game. Things like the rest of the flashpoitns, raids, open world pvp, warzones (duals still allowed).
Is it a restriction on content? sure, does it stop you from interacting with other people? no, Is it possible to side step the personal story altogether if you want, maybe, not effective nor recommended but it seems possible, you just have to be inventive. assuming of course they don't restrict you to having to have your ship to hop on other peoples ship, depends on if theres a flag or not when you leave the starter worlds.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
Thanks for this response gerogie boy, but this seems to be not the game for me. I was pretty sure this game wasnt going to better SWG and this proves my point again. It is cleatr to see that this game is going to be a wow clone from what ive seen already. Themeparks are ok to play but really I dont want to get involved in the story, i want to be able to have the choice of skipping storylines and jusat get on with the quest. If i wanted to read a book id go read a book, i dont like reading everything in a game like a book because i find it terribly difficult to follow at times. I know its a bioware game but this to me sounds like its going to be as difficult as dragon age origins was to follow. I didnt bother completing that game as you needed to follow storyline to progress and i just gave up in the end.
If i could read the storylines with ease, then id play this game but really I have trouble with reading long texts in a game.
I know im probably the same as every other person who has seen swtor but doesnt want to play it , we will still have terrible difficulty resisting a new game such as this because it is fresh ! I always enjoy a fresh mmo but thisa one i need discipline to avoid it. I dont want to give my money to a mmo that forces you to read tons of text ! I really dont want to do it !
Game looks good but I cant follow storylines its just too much info to take in i just love the GAMEPLAY, that is what im after.
SWG gave me immense gameplay from the start till george lucas and soe changed the game with a combat upgrade because for some reason they decided to agree that combat balances were the right way forward, then a complete rehaul of the game with the nge. SWG as it was for the first year and a half is the best mmo ive ever played and now its going to be my best Star wars mmo ever because bioware is forcing us to read and listen instead of gaming as we desrie.
Just got to figure out what to do when it comes out and i get tempted to pay for it. Really from whats goerge says i dont want to pay for this game but because it will be fresh i mkight be tempted
Bioware i dont want to buy your game because it will fail after the first month because of the problems with pay to play mmos pretty much for last few years or so. It should be illegal for you to force players to pay for a mmo with monthly sub when we all know for a fact its going to fail or seem to the players like its a fail after the first month. All those loyal to the game are going to most definitely get a diminished game after the first month when all the complainers start to leave in droves !!
the game is fully voiced so only time you would have to read would be when aliens are speaking so subtitles are needed to understand
I like the ideal of having an epic story line to follow. This is not a sandbox so at the very least give me an entertaining stroy to follow instead of quests with no purpose.
You're kind of missing the point I'm trying to get across (admittedly, one I've only just discovered). It's not really about PVP, it's about exploration.
That is, there are whole worlds that the game system won't let you visit. There are very few MMOs that put an artificial block to where PC characters can go - you mentioned Aion - and even fewer block off entire zones (planets). It seems to go against the 'exploration' ethos that Bioware has said this game encourages. This means that at least three planets out of seventeen - 17.5% - are blocked off to each character which is quite a big deal.
(And it's also contradicted by the CGI trailers. I mean, if there's one thing we know about Corucscant from nthe trailers) it's that a hundred Sith can turn up there pretty easily and attack anythijng they like).
If it's true (and I'm not sure if it's confirmed or not), I'm disappointed by this.
? I thought it was pretty clear from my example that I understood what you're trying to say, else why do you think I used Aion as an example? But to clarify: Aion has whole regions that you won't see if you only play one faction, just like SWTOR.
I mentioned LotrO merely to show that there can be features that are missing or limited compared with other MMO's, but that doesn't mean that such MMORPG's aren't MMORPG's anymore.
You're right, if you only play 1 faction then there'll be parts of the game world that you can't see and you already mentioned in a few former posts, you're disappointed by that, that seemed clear too.
Does this mean that this will seriously hamper people's sense of exploration? I think that very much differs from one person to the next, each faction still has 14 out of 17 planets to be able to explore, and if you'd really want to see those other 3 planets, in about 10-15 hours you'd be able to visit them all. At least, I can't recall ever reading any complaints regarding Aion about that people weren't able to explore home areas that were from the other faction.
But like I said, differing tastes and preferences.
I am sorry if I misunderstood you.
However, using Aion to justify the closing down of 17.5% of a game's explorable landmass is not very persuasive to me. Aion - a middle-ranking Asian grinder - stands alone (or does it? I think it does) against the vast majority of other MMOs in this respect, artificially instancing off non-quest zones by faction.
It's true that this game or that game may or may not have a main feature that other MMOs do have - you use LotrO not having PVP as an example - but Turbine never said that LotrO was going to be anything but a PVE game right from the start while Bioware has made a big deal about SWTOR offering open world PVP and exploration.
To be fair that 17.5% is assuming all the planets are the same size and have the same amount of explorable content. We already know that the starter worlds which are 2 of the 3 worlds are the smallest parts of the game with the rest of the game being much much larger.
If i was to be fair. I'd say maybe 7 to 8 percent of the total explorable content.
Plus we do have quite a few triple A games that cut off content to sides. We can include City of Heroes and City of Villians in that list as well, and that was nearly 50% of the content. That did pretty well until just recently.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
I can see his reasoning. Even in my early days of mmos finding the ideal grind spot was key to leveling effectively. But after 10+ years of exercising my medulla oblongata and making mmo leveling part of it's function, I'm happy with switching back to my frontal lobe. Case in point: When I played AoC, the quest line in Tortage was by far my more pleasant experience of the leveling process. The story was intriguing, the voice acting added to it's immersiveness and leveling was in the back of my mind.
This "forced" RPing is what is needed in MMORPGs again. Not so much of the give me 200 characters to make a bio, but actually making in-game decisions that reflect on how your character is perceived by potential companions, npcs and hopefully other players. I mean what is a movie without SOME character development?
I have to agree that "forced" RPing may be just what's needed. I mean think about it for a moment. Most MMORPGs now days are over-run by people hawking two things: Gold (or whatever the monetary exchange medium is...) and Power Leveling. Both represent short cuts which defeat the basic spirit of what a Role Playing game should be. So in my "not so humble" opinion its about time that the players who always insist on relying on these methods be frustrated for a change.
Conversely, I've always read the quest dialogs (and never needed a "quest helper" addon...). So a highly developed "storyline" actually can interfear with my RPing. As in it requires less imagination from me, as a player. Still as long as the choices they force me into don't become ridiculous (like they are in Fable III for example), I should be fine with how it works out.
At the same time I do worry just a bit because BioWare can pull some "storyline" stunts that irk me. A case in point comes to mind from Mass Effect I. Basically, in that game, the Council is being willfully ignorant of the threat. And near the end of the game you're given the choice to rescue them, or not. Now I personally find it difficult to rescue them (regardless of whether I'm playing a Paragon or a Renegade). Because if I was put in that situation I would always chose to concentrate on the threat, rather than divide my resources to save a bunch of incompetant leaders. And what bothers me is that the result of that choice have consequences in how the sequel games play out. Now I can Live with my choices, but I resent being "punished" by those "telling the story" for what seems to me like a rational choice. Because the dichotomy of that choice is artificial.
Things just aren't always "Light Side", or "Dark Side"! So when a group of people (like BioWare) try to force that kind of rigid thinking on me, it makes me uncomfortable. I guess the closest analogy I can think of is: How a Religious Cult treats its followers. They like to define everything as completely right or wrong, with no middle ground. In the end I'd like to tell BioWare that "life isn't like that..." But its ok! Regardless of what they do, I can live with my choices.
It's true that this game or that game may or may not have a main feature that other MMOs do have - you use LotrO not having PVP as an example - but Turbine never said that LotrO was going to be anything but a PVE game right from the start while Bioware has made a big deal about SWTOR offering open world PVP and exploration.
And it does have it: open world PvP as well as exploration, with planets that are each as large as the whole world in Rift, that sounds like quite some exploration options to me.
Even more, based upon information that the devs provided you now know where the limitations are regarding exploration a considerable time before the game launches, so you can include that in your decisionmaking whether the game is something you want to play or not. If you still decide to play, you already know what to expect when it comes to what is available of the whole of SWTOR when you play 1 faction.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
My point however, is that the degree of forced linear gameplay seems to be a good deal greater than most themepark MMOs. Being forced to do the main quest line for 7-10 hours before having 'freedom' afforded at player creation in most themepark MMOs, has the potentially to put off a good deal of players.
Hmm. Well, you have to stick around till I think L18 or so on Tortage in AoC before you're even able to leave the island, with I think the Destiny quests being a must (at least up to a point). In Aion iirc the same, you need to finish the quests up to a certain point before you were able to leave the starter area. In EQ2, I can't recall that you could leave the starter island if you didn't finish a number of tasks and quests on the island. Those are 3 AAA themepark MMO's that I can think of that force you to follow a certain leveling pattern before you're allowed to experience the rest of the MMO content and ingame world.
I didn't play CATA, so I admit I maybe have this wrong, but didn't it have something sortlike where you have to finish the quest lines in the Worgen and goblin starter area before you're able to leave those places?
That's actually what put me off of AoC, I got sick of being stuck on the island and not being able to explore unless I jumped through all the quest hoops, many of which were during 'night' which meant I was shoved in my own little instance away from everyone else.
Aion I don't know about, never played it, but in EQ2 you could run to the boat to leave the starter island the moment you created your character if you chose, and there was still level 1-5 content outside of the start island to do.
So really that's only two AAA MMOs that have done it... and how well are those games fairing? I know one is going F2P, so not all that great.
Per Wow Cata, yes the worgen and Goblin areas are mandatory for those new characters... but there's also a lot of people who disliked that there was no option to skip the beginning, particularly for subsequent characters.
This game is shaping up to be less open and more hand-holding the player along mandatory quest chains than even WoW.
Not surprising considering it's a Bioware game though.
And this is exactly what i am looking for. And alot others that are 'bored to tears' by your average MMO. And if i manage to beat all story and sidequests, i will just pause and wait for em to reload for the next good month of play.
That's actually what put me off of AoC, I got sick of being stuck on the island and not being able to explore unless I jumped through all the quest hoops, many of which were during 'night' which meant I was shoved in my own little instance away from everyone else.
Aion I don't know about, never played it, but in EQ2 you could run to the boat to leave the starter island the moment you created your character if you chose, and there was still level 1-5 content outside of the start island to do.
So really that's only two AAA MMOs that have done it... and how well are those games fairing? I know one is going F2P, so not all that great.
Per Wow Cata, yes the worgen and Goblin areas are mandatory for those new characters... but there's also a lot of people who disliked that there was no option to skip the beginning, particularly for subsequent characters.
I actually disliked the Tortage island, but that was more because there was only 1 island. Were you able to leave the island right when EQ2 launched? I can't recall, so long ago. Those are the examples that came right up in my mind, there may be more (CO and WAR maybe as well? Don't know) but I wouldn't just dismiss Aion, AoC or WoW CATA, they are still examples of themepark MMO's that have this kind of forced path before opening up content.
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums: Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Originally posted by Temujin2011 Originally posted by MMO.Maverick
Originally posted by Temujin2011
It's true that this game or that game may or may not have a main feature that other MMOs do have - you use LotrO not having PVP as an example - but Turbine never said that LotrO was going to be anything but a PVE game right from the start while Bioware has made a big deal about SWTOR offering open world PVP and exploration.
And it does have it: open world PvP as well as exploration, with planets that are each as large as the whole world in Rift, that sounds like quite some exploration options to me. Even more, based upon information that the devs provided you now know where the limitations are regarding exploration a considerable time before the game launches, so you can include that in your decisionmaking whether the game is something you want to play or not. If you still decide to play, you already know what to expect when it comes to what is available of the whole of SWTOR when you play 1 faction. Yes, it has open world PVP and exploration on the worlds THE DEVELOPERS LET YOU VISIT. And that's only just over eighty per cent of the planets. I mean, really? A bounty hunter can't visit Coruscant? I'm not talking about opening fire on the Chief Jedi, I'm talking abouit visiting the city for a damn drink. Nope. it can't be done. Oh,k and an Imperial Agent, the master of deception, infiltration and subterfuge? No, they can't do it either. In lore terms, that's ridiculous - in gameplay terms, its unjustifiable. It just is. It's not a deal breaker for me but I was hoping that something this obvious was a given. Sith empire faction cant visit Coruscant? I'll believe that when I see a dev quote.
It's true that this game or that game may or may not have a main feature that other MMOs do have - you use LotrO not having PVP as an example - but Turbine never said that LotrO was going to be anything but a PVE game right from the start while Bioware has made a big deal about SWTOR offering open world PVP and exploration.
And it does have it: open world PvP as well as exploration, with planets that are each as large as the whole world in Rift, that sounds like quite some exploration options to me.
Even more, based upon information that the devs provided you now know where the limitations are regarding exploration a considerable time before the game launches, so you can include that in your decisionmaking whether the game is something you want to play or not. If you still decide to play, you already know what to expect when it comes to what is available of the whole of SWTOR when you play 1 faction.
Yes, it has open world PVP and exploration on the worlds THE DEVELOPERS LET YOU VISIT. And that's only just over eighty per cent of the planets. I mean, really? A bounty hunter can't visit Coruscant? I'm not talking about opening fire on the Chief Jedi, I'm talking abouit visiting the city for a damn drink. Nope. it can't be done. Oh,k and an Imperial Agent, the master of deception, infiltration and subterfuge? No, they can't do it either.
In lore terms, that's ridiculous - in gameplay terms, its unjustifiable. It just is. It's not a deal breaker for me but I was hoping that something this obvious was a given.
Sith empire faction cant visit Coruscant? I'll believe that when I see a dev quote.
from stephen reid after a community q&a update revealed some faction restricted planets:
Morsong's correct in this instance. Empire players cannot visit Coruscant. It is crawling with Republic forces, of course - who have their guards up after the assault on the planet.
There are other planets, though....
from what we have been told capital planets(coruscant, dormund kaas) and origin worlds(tython, ord mantell, korriban, and hutta) are faction resctricted
I do not claim to speak for anyone but myself. I want the story. I want the framework, but with enough sandbox to feel like I am participating in collaborative fiction. I am glad someone is making a MMORPG that appears to coincide with my preferences. I am unwilling to tell other players that they should or should not like these things, but on the off chance that a developer or two reads this thread, I vote in favor of your design continuing to emphasize story.
Now, a deep crafting system would help me enjoy it even more.
this is a very poor choice for an mmo. part of the freedom from mmos comes from... freedom. trying to 'save the player from themselves' == restrictions and linearity.
you realize that forcing some players to sit throught cut scenes is what bores THEM to tears and ultimately quit the game? your bet is that is the smaller group. i dont think it is.
ultimately by playing 'god' and deciding what is efficient for players and what is not, you remove the freedom normally associated with the genre.
this post has been one of the more disturbing bits of info ive seen
New things are often disturbing, I don't fault you there.
Thankfully, cutscenes in our game can be skipped, so I don't share your concern there.
We've been pretty clear that this is not a sandbox MMO, so don't expect ultimate freedom. The cost of story is some degree of linearity ... If you expect to just run out into the world completely ignoring the story, there are other MMOs, even in the Star Wars universe, that offer an experience more akin to that. Story is one of our big features, and if you hope you can completely avoid that, you're probably going to be disappointed.
As for designers playing god? Sure. It comes with the territory of creating worlds, the rules of how their inhabitants and objects interact with each other, and the limitations of these interactions. If that's not playing god, I don't know what it is.
Games that offer the freedom to do all you desire are not games, they are simulations. MMOs borrow from simulation to a varying degree as it makes it easier for players to understand and accept the world (It'd be a shame if you had to explain 'gravity' to a player, etc.) but they also make heavy use of restrictions in order to protect the player:
* Player versus Player restrictions. The launch of Ultima Online taught the entire industry why completely unrestricted player versus player content will cost you most of your customers. Sure, there's people who think this is the best thing ever - but they are a vocal, tiny minority.
* Chat Filters. Surprisingly, someones freedom to insult other players results in unhappy players. And since players come to games to be entertained, not insulted, restricting certain chat interactions prevents you from losing players.
* Respec. Kind of an anti restriction really - but still, it's a mechanic to protect the player from making mistakes that cause the loss of hundreds of hours of gameplay because you made a wrong skill choice.
*
* And, in our case, you can add 'mindless monster grind' as the most effective way to level. Our experience tells us that while some players enjoy it, most players don't and they'll still do it if it's effective. If you like grinding monsters, sure, you can still do it in our game, the creatures respawn just like in any other MMO - but it's just not going to be the most effective way to level.
That answer from Georg Zoeller goes into much detail, nothing really new but I haven't seen a dev to say it that directly especially about PvP and UO ...
I do not claim to speak for anyone but myself. I want the story. I want the framework, but with enough sandbox to feel like I am participating in collaborative fiction. I am glad someone is making a MMORPG that appears to coincide with my preferences. I am unwilling to tell other players that they should or should not like these things, but on the off chance that a developer or two reads this thread, I vote in favor of your design continuing to emphasize story.
Now, a deep crafting system would help me enjoy it even more.
I'll second this. I'm tired of the shallow mess that most games make in the story department. Here's hoping BioWare can really pull off a good STORY driven game.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
this is a very poor choice for an mmo. part of the freedom from mmos comes from... freedom. trying to 'save the player from themselves' == restrictions and linearity.
you realize that forcing some players to sit throught cut scenes is what bores THEM to tears and ultimately quit the game? your bet is that is the smaller group. i dont think it is.
ultimately by playing 'god' and deciding what is efficient for players and what is not, you remove the freedom normally associated with the genre.
this post has been one of the more disturbing bits of info ive seen
New things are often disturbing, I don't fault you there.
Thankfully, cutscenes in our game can be skipped, so I don't share your concern there.
We've been pretty clear that this is not a sandbox MMO, so don't expect ultimate freedom. The cost of story is some degree of linearity ... If you expect to just run out into the world completely ignoring the story, there are other MMOs, even in the Star Wars universe, that offer an experience more akin to that. Story is one of our big features, and if you hope you can completely avoid that, you're probably going to be disappointed.
As for designers playing god? Sure. It comes with the territory of creating worlds, the rules of how their inhabitants and objects interact with each other, and the limitations of these interactions. If that's not playing god, I don't know what it is.
Games that offer the freedom to do all you desire are not games, they are simulations. MMOs borrow from simulation to a varying degree as it makes it easier for players to understand and accept the world (It'd be a shame if you had to explain 'gravity' to a player, etc.) but they also make heavy use of restrictions in order to protect the player:
* Player versus Player restrictions. The launch of Ultima Online taught the entire industry why completely unrestricted player versus player content will cost you most of your customers. Sure, there's people who think this is the best thing ever - but they are a vocal, tiny minority.
* Chat Filters. Surprisingly, someones freedom to insult other players results in unhappy players. And since players come to games to be entertained, not insulted, restricting certain chat interactions prevents you from losing players.
* Respec. Kind of an anti restriction really - but still, it's a mechanic to protect the player from making mistakes that cause the loss of hundreds of hours of gameplay because you made a wrong skill choice.
*
* And, in our case, you can add 'mindless monster grind' as the most effective way to level. Our experience tells us that while some players enjoy it, most players don't and they'll still do it if it's effective. If you like grinding monsters, sure, you can still do it in our game, the creatures respawn just like in any other MMO - but it's just not going to be the most effective way to level.
That answer from Georg Zoeller goes into much detail, nothing really new but I haven't seen a dev to say it that directly especially about PvP and UO ...
I agree. I'll add another that has seemed to pop up in this thread: The freedom to go anywhere you want to without any regard to the story or IP. A jedi knight should not be able to travel to Korriban and visit the tombs. That is a Sith controlled world and is crawling with sith. It would be like re-creating a game set in World War 2 and having the Nazis visiting the United States on a whim. It's immersion breaking and has no place. Same goes for a sith player visiting a republic controlled world.The game is about a war between two factions who hate each other and want to kill each other. Having players able to visit enemy territory and walk around as if a war isn't happening is just plain stupid. There are 17 worlds and if you can't visit THREE of them it is in NO way a negative against this game.
Comments
That's not entirely true, for example, in Aion you can't go anywhere as well, some areas of the other faction are off limits, you're not 'allowed' to visit those, yet you don't hear people complain that Aion isn't a fully fledged MMORPG. Another example, LotrO has no open world PvP options at all, yet the lack or limitation of this feature didn't make people cry out that LotrO wasn't a real MMORPG.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Funny thread. Look, if you want to completely avoid the story in TOR, here's three words for you that will save both yourself and everyone who has to listen to you a lot of pain and frustration: Play something else.
I think a Sauron/Saruman faction would have been great, although I can understand why they opted not to choose for that. But you didn't hear people complain that LotrO wasn't an MMORPG because it was missing that feature.
As for Aion, I can't really recall people making a big issue of that they couldn't visit the home areas of the other faction, if there were then it was a very slim minority.
Anyway, again such limitations or lacking features didn't suddenly make those MMO's like LotrO and Aion no true MMORPG, the same applies to SWTOR. It may not be an MMORPG that some people with specific preferences may like, but it still remains very much an MMORPG.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
This. I think what he was trying to say is that SW:TOR doesn't have a seamless, fully open world, like most games out there.
Thanks for this response gerogie boy, but this seems to be not the game for me. I was pretty sure this game wasnt going to better SWG and this proves my point again. It is cleatr to see that this game is going to be a wow clone from what ive seen already. Themeparks are ok to play but really I dont want to get involved in the story, i want to be able to have the choice of skipping storylines and jusat get on with the quest. If i wanted to read a book id go read a book, i dont like reading everything in a game like a book because i find it terribly difficult to follow at times. I know its a bioware game but this to me sounds like its going to be as difficult as dragon age origins was to follow. I didnt bother completing that game as you needed to follow storyline to progress and i just gave up in the end.
If i could read the storylines with ease, then id play this game but really I have trouble with reading long texts in a game.
I know im probably the same as every other person who has seen swtor but doesnt want to play it , we will still have terrible difficulty resisting a new game such as this because it is fresh ! I always enjoy a fresh mmo but thisa one i need discipline to avoid it. I dont want to give my money to a mmo that forces you to read tons of text ! I really dont want to do it !
Game looks good but I cant follow storylines its just too much info to take in i just love the GAMEPLAY, that is what im after.
SWG gave me immense gameplay from the start till george lucas and soe changed the game with a combat upgrade because for some reason they decided to agree that combat balances were the right way forward, then a complete rehaul of the game with the nge. SWG as it was for the first year and a half is the best mmo ive ever played and now its going to be my best Star wars mmo ever because bioware is forcing us to read and listen instead of gaming as we desrie.
Just got to figure out what to do when it comes out and i get tempted to pay for it. Really from whats goerge says i dont want to pay for this game but because it will be fresh i mkight be tempted
Bioware i dont want to buy your game because it will fail after the first month because of the problems with pay to play mmos pretty much for last few years or so. It should be illegal for you to force players to pay for a mmo with monthly sub when we all know for a fact its going to fail or seem to the players like its a fail after the first month. All those loyal to the game are going to most definitely get a diminished game after the first month when all the complainers start to leave in droves !!
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1651869499.png
They stated in an earlier interview (2009 or so) that they considered KOTOR sequals but decided on an MMO as it would give them a better develoment path and more options than just an continuous supply of SP RPGs.
? I thought it was pretty clear from my example that I understood what you're trying to say, else why do you think I used Aion as an example? But to clarify: Aion has whole regions that you won't see if you only play one faction, just like SWTOR.
I mentioned LotrO merely to show that there can be features that are missing or limited compared with other MMO's, but that doesn't mean that such MMORPG's aren't MMORPG's anymore.
You're right, if you only play 1 faction then there'll be parts of the game world that you can't see and you already mentioned in a few former posts, you're disappointed by that, that seemed clear too.
Does this mean that this will seriously hamper people's sense of exploration? I think that very much differs from one person to the next, each faction still has 14 out of 17 planets to be able to explore, and if you'd really want to see those other 3 planets, in about 10-15 hours you'd be able to visit them all. At least, I can't recall ever reading any complaints regarding Aion about that people weren't able to explore home areas that were from the other faction.
But like I said, differing tastes and preferences.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I never expected the game to be sandbox either, it is a Bioware game afterall. I do prefer sandbox MMOs, but I also enjoy certain themepark MMOs... hell I played WoW for six years.
My point however, is that the degree of forced linear gameplay seems to be a good deal greater than most themepark MMOs. Being forced to do the main quest line for 7-10 hours before having 'freedom' afforded at player creation in most themepark MMOs, has the potentially to put off a good deal of players.
Hmm. Well, you have to stick around till I think L18 or so on Tortage in AoC before you're even able to leave the island, with I think the Destiny quests being a must (at least up to a point). In Aion iirc the same, you need to finish the quests up to a certain point before you were able to leave the starter area. In EQ2, I can't recall that you could leave the starter island if you didn't finish a number of tasks and quests on the island. Those are 3 AAA themepark MMO's that I can think of that force you to follow a certain leveling pattern before you're allowed to experience the rest of the MMO content and ingame world.
I didn't play CATA, so I admit I maybe have this wrong, but didn't it have something sortlike where you have to finish the quest lines in the Worgen and goblin starter area before you're able to leave those places?
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
To clarify and i'm not trying to change your opinion but i just want to make sure it's clear, cause thats how misunderstandings start.
That yeah it taks about 7-10 hours (though it could be shorter if you know exactly where to go and how to get there, this average was based around people being new to a game, I know from personal experience that the second time i go through a quest with all the answers that i go through it faster, though not always) to get your ship, I'm still unsure if you can hop on someone elses ship and go to other planets before you have your own ship. If you can, then you can by being inventive and side step the gate and have someone else take you a long for the ride around the galaxy. But we will have to wait till more info on that comes out, unless i missed something on that.
However during that 7-10 hours you can still do single one off quests (the kind you pick up along the way that you would have done anyhow, ala the kill 60 sand people quest), group quests explore and talk to others. You just don't have unmitigated access to the rest of the game. Things like the rest of the flashpoitns, raids, open world pvp, warzones (duals still allowed).
Is it a restriction on content? sure, does it stop you from interacting with other people? no, Is it possible to side step the personal story altogether if you want, maybe, not effective nor recommended but it seems possible, you just have to be inventive. assuming of course they don't restrict you to having to have your ship to hop on other peoples ship, depends on if theres a flag or not when you leave the starter worlds.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
the game is fully voiced so only time you would have to read would be when aliens are speaking so subtitles are needed to understand
I like the ideal of having an epic story line to follow. This is not a sandbox so at the very least give me an entertaining stroy to follow instead of quests with no purpose.
To be fair that 17.5% is assuming all the planets are the same size and have the same amount of explorable content. We already know that the starter worlds which are 2 of the 3 worlds are the smallest parts of the game with the rest of the game being much much larger.
If i was to be fair. I'd say maybe 7 to 8 percent of the total explorable content.
Plus we do have quite a few triple A games that cut off content to sides. We can include City of Heroes and City of Villians in that list as well, and that was nearly 50% of the content. That did pretty well until just recently.
Help me Bioware, you're my only hope.
Is ToR going to be good? Dude it's Bioware making a freaking star wars game, all signs point to awesome. -G4tv MMo report.
I have to agree that "forced" RPing may be just what's needed. I mean think about it for a moment. Most MMORPGs now days are over-run by people hawking two things: Gold (or whatever the monetary exchange medium is...) and Power Leveling. Both represent short cuts which defeat the basic spirit of what a Role Playing game should be. So in my "not so humble" opinion its about time that the players who always insist on relying on these methods be frustrated for a change.
Conversely, I've always read the quest dialogs (and never needed a "quest helper" addon...). So a highly developed "storyline" actually can interfear with my RPing. As in it requires less imagination from me, as a player. Still as long as the choices they force me into don't become ridiculous (like they are in Fable III for example), I should be fine with how it works out.
At the same time I do worry just a bit because BioWare can pull some "storyline" stunts that irk me. A case in point comes to mind from Mass Effect I. Basically, in that game, the Council is being willfully ignorant of the threat. And near the end of the game you're given the choice to rescue them, or not. Now I personally find it difficult to rescue them (regardless of whether I'm playing a Paragon or a Renegade). Because if I was put in that situation I would always chose to concentrate on the threat, rather than divide my resources to save a bunch of incompetant leaders. And what bothers me is that the result of that choice have consequences in how the sequel games play out. Now I can Live with my choices, but I resent being "punished" by those "telling the story" for what seems to me like a rational choice. Because the dichotomy of that choice is artificial.
Things just aren't always "Light Side", or "Dark Side"! So when a group of people (like BioWare) try to force that kind of rigid thinking on me, it makes me uncomfortable. I guess the closest analogy I can think of is: How a Religious Cult treats its followers. They like to define everything as completely right or wrong, with no middle ground. In the end I'd like to tell BioWare that "life isn't like that..." But its ok! Regardless of what they do, I can live with my choices.
And it does have it: open world PvP as well as exploration, with planets that are each as large as the whole world in Rift, that sounds like quite some exploration options to me.
Even more, based upon information that the devs provided you now know where the limitations are regarding exploration a considerable time before the game launches, so you can include that in your decisionmaking whether the game is something you want to play or not. If you still decide to play, you already know what to expect when it comes to what is available of the whole of SWTOR when you play 1 faction.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
That's actually what put me off of AoC, I got sick of being stuck on the island and not being able to explore unless I jumped through all the quest hoops, many of which were during 'night' which meant I was shoved in my own little instance away from everyone else.
Aion I don't know about, never played it, but in EQ2 you could run to the boat to leave the starter island the moment you created your character if you chose, and there was still level 1-5 content outside of the start island to do.
So really that's only two AAA MMOs that have done it... and how well are those games fairing? I know one is going F2P, so not all that great.
Per Wow Cata, yes the worgen and Goblin areas are mandatory for those new characters... but there's also a lot of people who disliked that there was no option to skip the beginning, particularly for subsequent characters.
And this is exactly what i am looking for. And alot others that are 'bored to tears' by your average MMO. And if i manage to beat all story and sidequests, i will just pause and wait for em to reload for the next good month of play.
I actually disliked the Tortage island, but that was more because there was only 1 island. Were you able to leave the island right when EQ2 launched? I can't recall, so long ago. Those are the examples that came right up in my mind, there may be more (CO and WAR maybe as well? Don't know) but I wouldn't just dismiss Aion, AoC or WoW CATA, they are still examples of themepark MMO's that have this kind of forced path before opening up content.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Even more, based upon information that the devs provided you now know where the limitations are regarding exploration a considerable time before the game launches, so you can include that in your decisionmaking whether the game is something you want to play or not. If you still decide to play, you already know what to expect when it comes to what is available of the whole of SWTOR when you play 1 faction.
Yes, it has open world PVP and exploration on the worlds THE DEVELOPERS LET YOU VISIT. And that's only just over eighty per cent of the planets. I mean, really? A bounty hunter can't visit Coruscant? I'm not talking about opening fire on the Chief Jedi, I'm talking abouit visiting the city for a damn drink. Nope. it can't be done. Oh,k and an Imperial Agent, the master of deception, infiltration and subterfuge? No, they can't do it either.
In lore terms, that's ridiculous - in gameplay terms, its unjustifiable. It just is. It's not a deal breaker for me but I was hoping that something this obvious was a given.
Sith empire faction cant visit Coruscant? I'll believe that when I see a dev quote.
Developer Name
Forum -> Thread
Date / Time
GeorgZoeller
General Discussion -> Epic Rewards for Finishing Class Quest?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiggityJones
and i am willing to accept some of that, the origin worlds for example, in the name of forward thinking innovation
but i have a gut that tells me when i get my ship, i won't simply be able to fly anywhere. only to planets i've unlocked.
if a dev wants to prove me wrong with a post in here, i'd be glad to hear it
Once you have your ship, every planet in the galaxy can be flown to.
Of course, flying to a level 40 planet at level 12 might not be the greatest idea, but still, you can do that.
Developer Name
Forum -> Thread
Date / Time
GeorgZoeller
General Discussion -> Epic Rewards for Finishing Class Quest?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiggityJones
and i am willing to accept some of that, the origin worlds for example, in the name of forward thinking innovation
but i have a gut that tells me when i get my ship, i won't simply be able to fly anywhere. only to planets i've unlocked.
if a dev wants to prove me wrong with a post in here, i'd be glad to hear it
Once you have your ship, every planet in the galaxy can be flown to.
Of course, flying to a level 40 planet at level 12 might not be the greatest idea, but still, you can do that.
Developer Name
Forum -> Thread
Date / Time
GeorgZoeller
General Discussion -> Epic Rewards for Finishing Class Quest?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiggityJones
and i am willing to accept some of that, the origin worlds for example, in the name of forward thinking innovation
but i have a gut that tells me when i get my ship, i won't simply be able to fly anywhere. only to planets i've unlocked.
if a dev wants to prove me wrong with a post in here, i'd be glad to hear it
Once you have your ship, every planet in the galaxy can be flown to.
Of course, flying to a level 40 planet at level 12 might not be the greatest idea, but still, you can do that.
Developer Name
Forum -> Thread
Date / Time
GeorgZoeller
General Discussion -> Epic Rewards for Finishing Class Quest?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiggityJones
and i am willing to accept some of that, the origin worlds for example, in the name of forward thinking innovation
but i have a gut that tells me when i get my ship, i won't simply be able to fly anywhere. only to planets i've unlocked.
if a dev wants to prove me wrong with a post in here, i'd be glad to hear it
Once you have your ship, every planet in the galaxy can be flown to.
Of course, flying to a level 40 planet at level 12 might not be the greatest idea, but still, you can do that.
Developer Name
Forum -> Thread
Date / Time
GeorgZoeller
General Discussion -> Epic Rewards for Finishing Class Quest?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiggityJones
and i am willing to accept some of that, the origin worlds for example, in the name of forward thinking innovation
but i have a gut that tells me when i get my ship, i won't simply be able to fly anywhere. only to planets i've unlocked.
if a dev wants to prove me wrong with a post in here, i'd be glad to hear it
Once you have your ship, every planet in the galaxy can be flown to.
Of course, flying to a level 40 planet at level 12 might not be the greatest idea, but still, you can do that.
Developer Name
Forum -> Thread
Date / Time
GeorgZoeller
General Discussion -> Epic Rewards for Finishing Class Quest?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiggityJones
and i am willing to accept some of that, the origin worlds for example, in the name of forward thinking innovation
but i have a gut that tells me when i get my ship, i won't simply be able to fly anywhere. only to planets i've unlocked.
if a dev wants to prove me wrong with a post in here, i'd be glad to hear it
Once you have your ship, every planet in the galaxy can be flown to.
Of course, flying to a level 40 planet at level 12 might not be the greatest idea, but still, you can do that.
Make of that what you will
from stephen reid after a community q&a update revealed some faction restricted planets:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=5209952#post5209952
Morsong's correct in this instance. Empire players cannot visit Coruscant. It is crawling with Republic forces, of course - who have their guards up after the assault on the planet.
There are other planets, though....
from what we have been told capital planets(coruscant, dormund kaas) and origin worlds(tython, ord mantell, korriban, and hutta) are faction resctricted
I do not claim to speak for anyone but myself. I want the story. I want the framework, but with enough sandbox to feel like I am participating in collaborative fiction. I am glad someone is making a MMORPG that appears to coincide with my preferences. I am unwilling to tell other players that they should or should not like these things, but on the off chance that a developer or two reads this thread, I vote in favor of your design continuing to emphasize story.
Now, a deep crafting system would help me enjoy it even more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiggityJones
this is a very poor choice for an mmo. part of the freedom from mmos comes from... freedom. trying to 'save the player from themselves' == restrictions and linearity.
you realize that forcing some players to sit throught cut scenes is what bores THEM to tears and ultimately quit the game? your bet is that is the smaller group. i dont think it is.
ultimately by playing 'god' and deciding what is efficient for players and what is not, you remove the freedom normally associated with the genre.
this post has been one of the more disturbing bits of info ive seen
New things are often disturbing, I don't fault you there.
Thankfully, cutscenes in our game can be skipped, so I don't share your concern there.
We've been pretty clear that this is not a sandbox MMO, so don't expect ultimate freedom. The cost of story is some degree of linearity ... If you expect to just run out into the world completely ignoring the story, there are other MMOs, even in the Star Wars universe, that offer an experience more akin to that. Story is one of our big features, and if you hope you can completely avoid that, you're probably going to be disappointed.
As for designers playing god? Sure. It comes with the territory of creating worlds, the rules of how their inhabitants and objects interact with each other, and the limitations of these interactions. If that's not playing god, I don't know what it is.
Games that offer the freedom to do all you desire are not games, they are simulations. MMOs borrow from simulation to a varying degree as it makes it easier for players to understand and accept the world (It'd be a shame if you had to explain 'gravity' to a player, etc.) but they also make heavy use of restrictions in order to protect the player:
* Player versus Player restrictions. The launch of Ultima Online taught the entire industry why completely unrestricted player versus player content will cost you most of your customers. Sure, there's people who think this is the best thing ever - but they are a vocal, tiny minority.
* Chat Filters. Surprisingly, someones freedom to insult other players results in unhappy players. And since players come to games to be entertained, not insulted, restricting certain chat interactions prevents you from losing players.
* Respec. Kind of an anti restriction really - but still, it's a mechanic to protect the player from making mistakes that cause the loss of hundreds of hours of gameplay because you made a wrong skill choice.
*
* And, in our case, you can add 'mindless monster grind' as the most effective way to level. Our experience tells us that while some players enjoy it, most players don't and they'll still do it if it's effective. If you like grinding monsters, sure, you can still do it in our game, the creatures respawn just like in any other MMO - but it's just not going to be the most effective way to level.
That answer from Georg Zoeller goes into much detail, nothing really new but I haven't seen a dev to say it that directly especially about PvP and UO ...
I'll second this. I'm tired of the shallow mess that most games make in the story department. Here's hoping BioWare can really pull off a good STORY driven game.
"If half of what you tell me is a lie, how can I believe any of it?"
I agree. I'll add another that has seemed to pop up in this thread: The freedom to go anywhere you want to without any regard to the story or IP. A jedi knight should not be able to travel to Korriban and visit the tombs. That is a Sith controlled world and is crawling with sith. It would be like re-creating a game set in World War 2 and having the Nazis visiting the United States on a whim. It's immersion breaking and has no place. Same goes for a sith player visiting a republic controlled world.The game is about a war between two factions who hate each other and want to kill each other. Having players able to visit enemy territory and walk around as if a war isn't happening is just plain stupid. There are 17 worlds and if you can't visit THREE of them it is in NO way a negative against this game.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft