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Maybe I just expected too much?
Creslin321
Member Posts: 5,359
Those of you who know me have probably seen that I've been fairly critical of SWTOR since I played the beta weekend. I played Jedi Knight to level 10 and was kind of turned off by the experience.
But in thinking about it, I realize that maybe I just expected too much from the game. There is a lot of hype surrounding this game, it's developed by a major AAA developer, and it's no secret that tons of money and time went into it. I don't think I was really hyped for the game, I just expected it to be very high quality because of its developer cred.
So even though I knew the game was going to follow the WoW formula (which I dislike), I expected it to be an "awesome" example of a WoW formula game, but found it to be only "decent." This was a let down and basically caused me to view the game negatively.
But in retrospect, I think that if this wasn't a Bioware game with five bajillion dollars behind it, I probably would not have been nearly as critical, and may have enjoyed the game much more. Does anyone else feel the same? Do you feel like the hype that has been generated on this game raised your expectations too high?
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
Comments
Nothing wrong with expecting too much as long as you do not blame Bioware for your high expectations;)
I personally believe Bioware delieverd what they promised and even surpassed some of my expectations. No false promises were made and they were pretty open about SWTOR and its direction from day one.
I would suggest getting to a slightly higher level.
I don't really like the game but I will admit the game is much more tolerable in the teens.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
You control your hype limit, nobody else does.
Everyone knows I've been mostly positive about the game, but I never hit fanatical levels. In the end I have a very balanced view of what the game is, and choose not to obsess over the faults.
If I were to listen to all of the jargon everyone else throws out there, I would be very confused.
On top of that, what does the amount of money EA spent on the game have to do with someone elses (lack of) enjoyment. Its not the money YOU spent on the game. Actually, you spend the same amount as other games, so in comparison it shouldn't bother you what EA spent as much as - you are spending the same amount you would for any other subscription game.
When put in that perspective I think that would temper a lot of.. expectation.
It is whole different beast beyond lvl 30 though. The story really begins to get complex and tense. I would love to give spoilers but i rather not. ;p
I felt the same as the OP but after giving a few days I warmed up to it.
You're right that I'm not paying any more for this game than any other, but my time is more valuable than the money I spend on a game...so I'm always looking for the best possible game to spend my time on.
That said, I do view very good funding as a potential indicator of success, just as I would view very poor funding as a potential indicator of failure. It's not always true, but when you know that a company has tons of resources, you expect them to create something really high quality.
For example, it doesn't bother me at all that Minecraft's graphics are lego...it was just one guy working on it. But if SWTOR had those graphics, I would be outraged.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
I would agree with Supersoups, I feel they delivered what they promised in the game. I feel Bioware just took the good ideas from older games and just put it into the Bioware twist. And then added the basic model of story telling from their products. I will tell you leveling to lvl 10 is not a good enough experience. I really like the idea they came up with on the Huttball which went with the lore and also added a new element to PVP. Also they brought back class questing which has really been left behind in the last several years for mmos. After lvl 10 you experience your first dungeon, pvp, advance class (tanking skills dont even start until lvl 14) and you get your housing/ship in your mid teens.
But I do understand being a long time mmo player that sometimes things that people think a game is going to be it ends up not being. I am sorry that you were dissappointed.
I came in with low expectations as I hated WoW and with this game following that formula I expected nothing enjoyable... As you can see in my post history I drank the Kool-aid and believe the game to be amazing.
Everything I say is my opinion or personal preference. You may or may not find it useful to your cause but regardless I am entitled to it.
Player expectation always exceeds what is delivered... players thought Transmorg was going to be the second coming for WoW and in the end, it was not nearly as awesome as everyone thought it was going to be. Their latest raid content is being steam-rolled at a pace faster than even Firelands was.
I also believe the that playing a game before you can actually delve into it 100% is another reason why expectations get shattered. You can't really play the game until it's released, but in the meantime you've destroyed that "OMG, I just got SW:TOR" feeling because you took a sneak peek under the Christmas tree. You can never get that moment back because when the game does officially launch, you already know things that the virgin player doesn't. You don't really approach the game the same ever again... because you know you need to do this first as opposed to discovering it.
Sort of like all the folks who hit the PTR to learn everything they can about a boss fight so that when it does actually get released they one shot it like it wasn't even there. You missed the experience of walking into the dungeon for the first time as it was intended to be seen because you've been there, done that, a few dozen times while the developers hashed out their changes/balancing.
I think if you look at the history of what Bioware has shared, they delivered exactly what they stated they would. In fact, they surpassed my expectation as far as the amount of playstyles they are catering to and just how big the areas feel. They were below my expectations with regard to character customization. Go look at the videos from a year ago and see how far they have come. I do think they can improve a lot though which hopefully they will over time, but when all is said and done I found the game to be fun. Isn't that what it's about?
There Is Always Hope!
A lot of expectations arise from the subconsious vision of a five-year old game's completeness (even at the beta stage).
We've seen in before in other premieres.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I know exactly what you mean re the hype and expectations and i generally force myself not to get too excited at game release or beta as there are sure to be issues, not everything is to your liking and there are always so many comments flying around it is impossible to know what to expect.
But certainly in the past Aoc, warhammer, Aion all left me very low after the first month, heck i even bought Star Treck; now i expect the worst and anything better is always good. Having said that i was pretty heavy into wow when i tried those games so the fact i have been unsubbed to any mmo for the last 6 months gives me hope i may find a home in swtor, gw2 or Archeage and hopefully enjoy a good long time in all 3.
I agree with the OP...it isn't about hype, but I expected to be dazzled due to the alchemy of Bioware, EA, and enough cash to make Bernie Madoff blush. That the gameplay and combat was only average, something surpassed by even modern F2P games, was disappointing. I was not dazzled. Still, I give them props for understanding you need a complete and polished game, and there were no glaring bugs. That's a hell of a lot better than most games even a year after launch.
They did Companions and Story and Grouping very well, and those are the gemstones in an otherwise typical iron crown.
Matter of opinion because i find it to be very high quality stuff. A stable beta with minimum bugs, minimum lag, 40 hours played during beta test and one game crash..i have no idea what else is high quality.
It is possible that you expected too much, I can't say. I think the fact that you hate WoW, could be a big factor. If you hate the typical MMORPG style gameplay that most games today have, you may have trouble getting over that.
On top of that, in my opinion, the Jedi starter world actually feels a lot like a WoW type world. It is my least favorite starter world. It's a grassy world with hills, trees, waterfalls, and such, plus you spend a good part of your time fighting against a primitive, warlike, humanoid race, fighting shaman, hunters, and warriores. The first class I tried was a Jedi. I was actually pretty disappointed myself. it It kind of feelt like humans vs Orcs, all over again, but with vibroblades instead of broadswords, and debris instead of fireballs. Granted, there are also droids and Twileks, and other Star Wars'ish stuff, but it doesn't get you into it as quickly as the other classes do. It does get better for the Jedi class once you get past that. You may like some of the other classes better.
After playing other classes and really liking their story lines and overall gameplay, I went back and tried a Jedi again, and it wasn't as bad. I guess it is a perception thing. After playing the game for a while now, I was no longer thinking about WoW when doing the Jedi starter area, and it was a better experience. I still like the other starting worlds better though.
I would have to disagree with you on the funding of a game.
2 good examples:
Tabula Rasa a game that dumped alot of money and was made 4 different times before released and had one of the known mmo creators behind it. Tabula Rasa I liked alot but flopped because of the lack that the creator gave to the game and was released with way to many bugs. Also this was a game if you played to level 10 you would have thought the game was very polished and had great ideas. once you got past 20 you seen so many issues and the same game play as it was at lvl 10.
Rift is a game that stayed under the radar for a long time and then when it went beta just a month and a half or so before launch did really well. Also the budget was not as big as alot of the major mmos that have come out in the last 5-7yrs. Trion was a unknown company and this was their first attempt at a mmo.
Alot of people were very upset with the idea of the game not being a sandbox b/c SWG was alot of players first mmo. But if you ask alot of those players now there is a large chunk that has put that aside and taken the game for what its worth.
The best game is the one you create in your own mind, reality can never compete with that.
Im all for freedom of speech but i dont think you can be expected to be taken seriously after playing up to level 10 on one class in a beta game.
Greatness is difficult to appreciate from close up. The great mountain on the horizon is only the ground when you are standing on it.
But why shouldn't you have high expecations for a game with a huge budget and a big name developer? Put aside the fact that it is a themepark for the moment. What should have been great about the game? Did they meet those expectations? Personally there were a number of areas like story (I think we can all agree that is the area they needed to hit the ball out of the park on), that I just didn't think they came up to my expectations.
If Apple put out an ipod that was not up to the standards they had previously set, don't you think most people (aside from Apple fanatics) would call them on it? It is the same principal. Now some are going to legitimately disagree with my experience with SWTOR, and that's fine, but having a critical wyw for a game doesn't make your expectations any more unreasonable than anyone elses.
You expected too much , but you still would not have enjoyed it more.
For those of us who do not particularly like the DIKU formula of EQ/WOW/SWTOR there is no such thing as an "awesome" version of the formula.
There may be a version we are willing to tolerate but no such thing as awesome. Mainly because we think they are kind of boring, contrainted and limited.
Now they may have other features that make them something to play. I played Rift because the rifts were interesting and the triple classing was interesting. It didn't last but I don't regret my 2 months of Rift.
Perhaps you would have been less down on the game and more likely to enjoy the story, but in the end the game is going to wear on you and produce the same sense of boringness/fatigue/lack of spice.
Someone name a better mmo than swtor that is available to play right now...im waiting.
I'd rather play DC Universe than SWTOR, but I am not gonna say its better. Its just more actiony and its free.
TBH i had high expectations not due to their budget but the fact the release of the game has been postponed for years. With all that time u would think it would be pretty solid.
TBH i had high expectations not due to their budget but the fact the release of the game has been postponed for years. With all that time u would think it would be pretty solid.
im not asking for an opinion, im asking for you to put another mmo up against swtor and feature to feature tell me its better quality. there really isn't any real quality titles out there. if you are new to mmo's or like themepark style mmo's swtor is currently the best bang for your buck.