Look, you silly man. "Group" content that requires a group to defeat is NOT what makes a game an mmo. You are probably one of those fools that thinks an RPG just means "skill trees" and levels and customisable appearance and equipment.
This is pretty much what is wrong with the whole genre. Developers copying what came before but copying the wrong thing. The story and evolving world is what makes the RPG. Customisation is just a secondary quality. Without the evolving world with the interaction between players and npcs..... The game is just fucking FAIL!
"It's like a finger pointing away to the moon... Don't concentrate on the finger or you'll miss all the heavenly glory" (Bruce Lee)
(Insert your favourite mmo here): ......And behold, a pale horse.... And a million hellishly bad mmos followed with it.
It is not the bit ridicilous. The core part of the game, which is the class storyline, are obviously designed to be done solo with little to no point in finding a party to do them. Ergo it is a single player RPG with optional multiplayer component.
Wow, did he manage to just get you to troll him Mike? Happens to the best of us, don't worry.
And here I was thinking he did a terrific job summarizing the entire debate in 2 sentences.
What surprises me is that something so patently obvious to many of us here seems to go right by you.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
It doesn’t matter if you can solo to level cap or not. The beauty is that we now have options to experience these games how we want. Could MMOs use more group centric content to give those so inclined more challenges to tackle? Maybe. But complaints that an MMO that clearly has group content (whether it has enough of it is subjective) is a singleplayer game because it doesn’t explicitly force you to play with others is just ridiculous.
This is only part of the point that is being made and of itself may be ridiculous.
- Heavy instancing = no others around, I have literally been in game for 20 min and not
seen another player.
- NPC's might as well be a data terminal, the world is sterile.
- Companions eliminate the need for grouping and the game mechanics do not foster
grouping.
- There were areas of the game where co-operative play was needed, but it boiled down to less tham 2% of my time ingame, hardly what you would call grouping.
- Outside of leveling there was no need for grouping (crafting, exploration, PvP) and when leveling it was minimal (more like co-op).
It is just not the leveling that makes this a(n) SPG, it is the sum of its parts. The entire game feels like a co-op spg and not an MMO.
Mike so misses the point of the debate. He admits playing with friends on a regular basis, so he really doesn't have the proper frame of reference, he should try going in by himself and seeing how worthwhile grouping turns out to be in that scenario.
The game mechanics do not reward or encourage grouping, they merely make it available if the player wants to with no real incentive to actually do so.
In Mike's case, his incentive is to hang with his friends, regardless whether it is the most efficient or practical way to play the game.
In SWTOR if you are spending all of your time grouping, you're probably doing it wrong, it was designed for players to enjoy their personal stories, and not to really create stories by interacting with other players in the game world.
Saying that no modern MMO rpg since WOW launched encourages (or forces if you will) goruping doesn't excuse the fact that for the most part, modern MMO's are all solo oriented experiences (including WOW) and SWTOR is just the worst of the bunch.
Nothing like killing a virtual world than having everyone stop moving to watch their personal story, cut scenes. The only cool part to this was when players in a group would be asked to vote on taking a certain action or not.
Heck, even now in TSW I'm annoyed by how I'm dragged out of the world to watch the mini movies. I have to quickly mute vent to stop the background chatter of my friends and then listen to this story, which although I really quite enjoy, it doesn't make for a proper cooperative MMORPG experience.
Another thing to remember, randoming grouping with someone is not the same thing at all as socialization. No modern MMORPG has sufficient time sinks built into them to permit players the time to actually socialize with each other. Instead they jump in, complete the current objective and then disband, more often than not with nary a word said between them.
That is not socialization folks, and you'd have to have been in the early titles to understand what people like myself are looking for.
Also, it's not enough to say that forced grouping is never coming back. Never say never, I suspect one day people will really grow weary of the current MMO design and the genre will implode in upon itself.
There will huge finanical disasters in the MMO space (if it hasn't already happened with SWTOR) that will really sour investors appetitie for large cash investments into MMORPG's (recent events with 38 Studios haven't helped) and they'll withdraw from the market.
The genre may then arise from the ashes with smaller budgets, new ideas and perhaps a return to a few old ones to give rebirth to a new generation of titles.
While it is a bit of hyperbole to call SWTOR a single player RPG, it's not all that inaccurate either.
Mike is just a bit upset because he's a SWTOR fan and hates to see his game slammed so much even when people are leaving the title in droves for not only this complaint, but many others as well.
TLDR: MMORPG's are about the stories player make interacting between each other (even in a good theme park, see DAOC, circa 2003) and not about the stories the Developers set before them. Those clearly belong in the single player game space.
I think you sumed it up perfectly. You should have written the column instead of Michael. SWTOR is a single player game with social functionality. If the end game hadn't been so broken and buggy (still is) the single player grind would have been worth it. Now it is a sinking ship.
Originally posted by Kyleran Originally posted by MikeBOriginally posted by Yamota It is not the bit ridicilous. The core part of the game, which is the class storyline, are obviously designed to be done solo with little to no point in finding a party to do them. Ergo it is a single player RPG with optional multiplayer component.
Wow, did he manage to just get you to troll him Mike? Happens to the best of us, don't worry.
And here I was thinking he did a terrific job summarizing the entire debate in 2 sentences.
What surprises me is that something so patently obvious to many of us here seems to go right by you.
The only areas where players do not run around with other players are the single player instance story zones or the players' personal ship. The rest of the game is open zones and group instances (including battle grounds). Most of a player's time is spent in those open zones with *gasp* other players.
This isn't markedly different from WoW, Rift, GW2 or TSW.
If the game was a single player game with optional multiplayer components, players would be able to never see another player in an open zone. There would be no PvP servers and no RP servers. There wouldn't be servers at all*.
Stating that SWToR is a single player game with optional multiplayer is just a false statement. A statement that could actually be supported would be that the game focuses too much on solo game play or that the multiplayer aspects of the game are overshadowed by the single player storyline. Something along those lines.
* On a side note, I think this is what they should have actually have done. Created a single player game, where you could group in instances, battle grounds or just run around with only your friends. There's more, but I think this would have been a better way to go.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Funny how these threads go on for pages and pages when one side is blatantly incorrect.
SWTOR is not a single player game. It does not play any different than other games that you label MMOs. If you personally feel that WoW, Rift, TSW, GW2, etc. are single player games because you're an old-school MMO fan and prefer forced grouping, then fine, you can call SWTOR a single player game. You can call all of them single player games. Otherwise, you're just hypocritical and dead wrong.
Funny how these threads go on for pages and pages when one side is blatantly incorrect.
SWTOR is not a single player game. It does not play any different than other games that you label MMOs. If you personally feel that WoW, Rift, TSW, GW2, etc. are single player games because you're an old-school MMO fan and prefer forced grouping, then fine, you can call SWTOR a single player game. You can call all of them single player games. Otherwise, you're just hypocritical and dead wrong.
it's amazing how these threads go for pages and pages and still so many of you miss the point completely
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
One of the main reasons this game felt single player to me was not so much that you could or could not group with other players, but that I never really felt like I was unique. The companions where a huge part of that. The companions are named and unique individuals, so seeing 15 other Kira's running around at the same time didn't make any sense at all. Imo, they should have made the companions only available when you are instanced in your story arc. Also, since i can use my companion in the open world, i really don't need to group. If i need a healer i have one, if i need dps i can swap em out depending on the situation, so everyone kinda has their own group available to them at any time. The endgame is where i wanted to see some cool grouping oppurtunity. The game is called Star Wars, but there really weren't any wars going on. I didn't fight in any wars that i recall. It was only in the SINGLE player story arc that you have a sense of being a part of some larger galactic adventure. Why wasn't there 2 or 3 planets at endgame covered with different types of objectives and installations so that pvp had real effects on the rest of the world? I was a Jedi who wanted to fight the Sith .. I just did'nt want to do it over and over in Huttball or for the same 3 planetary cannons. I enjoyed this game very much, but from the very begining I felt like it was a singleplayer game. Dragon Age was a great game to, and if you added an internet lobby for flashpoints and random pvp maps it would still be a good single player rpg ... but not an mmo.
Funny how these threads go on for pages and pages when one side is blatantly incorrect.
SWTOR is not a single player game. It does not play any different than other games that you label MMOs. If you personally feel that WoW, Rift, TSW, GW2, etc. are single player games because you're an old-school MMO fan and prefer forced grouping, then fine, you can call SWTOR a single player game. You can call all of them single player games. Otherwise, you're just hypocritical and dead wrong.
it's amazing how these threads go for pages and pages and still so many of you miss the point completely
Actually it's not. It would be amazing if someone missed the point of a short thread that had a clear focus. By definition, a longer, more disjointed thread is going to have people "miss the point," or rather miss your own perception of the point, because the thread is so large and has been taken down many different roads.
Funny how these threads go on for pages and pages when one side is blatantly incorrect.
SWTOR is not a single player game. It does not play any different than other games that you label MMOs. If you personally feel that WoW, Rift, TSW, GW2, etc. are single player games because you're an old-school MMO fan and prefer forced grouping, then fine, you can call SWTOR a single player game. You can call all of them single player games. Otherwise, you're just hypocritical and dead wrong.
it's amazing how these threads go for pages and pages and still so many of you miss the point completely
Actually it's not. It would be amazing if someone missed the point of a short thread that had a clear focus. By definition, a longer, more disjointed thread is going to have people "miss the point," or rather miss your own perception of the point, because the thread is so large and has been taken down many different roads.
This thread was initially about ignorant trolls (presumably such as yourself, given your stance on this issue which has a clear right and wrong side) saying that SWTOR is a single player game and being laughably incorrect.
still obviously missed the point most people who are not just trolling or baiting aren't litteraly calling this a single player game but from your reply it's obvious you still missed that.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Thank you for your fine points. While I no longer play SWTOR it wasn't because it was a single player RPG...there were other issues I had with it. I honestly enjoyed the focus on story and cinematic quests.
Currently Playing: FFXIV:ARR Looking Forward to: Wildstar
Funny how these threads go on for pages and pages when one side is blatantly incorrect.
SWTOR is not a single player game. It does not play any different than other games that you label MMOs. If you personally feel that WoW, Rift, TSW, GW2, etc. are single player games because you're an old-school MMO fan and prefer forced grouping, then fine, you can call SWTOR a single player game. You can call all of them single player games. Otherwise, you're just hypocritical and dead wrong.
Clearly ALOT of people here consider SWTOR a single-player game. I don't believe the reason for that is because they all got together and held a secret meeting that no-one else was invited to where they decided that "single-player game" would be how they collectively would refer to SWTOR.
Telling them thier "wrong" is about as productive as telling someone thier wrong for considering asparagus as a "horrible" choice of flavor ice cream. You may disagree but clearly there is something which is leading to that perception.
Unless you think people are being purposefully dishonest in thier statements about how they percieve the game....then there must be something which is causing those perceptions. Fans of SWTOR (of which I am not, but I assume you and Bitton are) would be better served rather then telling people that they are WRONG about thier perceptions..... trying to find out what specificaly is causing those perceptions in the first place..... and then seeing if they could make EA/Bioware aware of them. That is, unless, you are unbothered by the fact that a large number of people percieve SWTOR as a single-player game. If that's the case, then by all means continue to argue why aspargus is the awesomest ice cream flavor ever...but don't be too surprised if your arguements fail to sway anyone to that view.
MMO isn't a game that gives you a possibility to play with other people. Almost every game does that. MMO is a game that is a constant interaction with other people, from the moment you log in, and it has a persistant world.
you are basically telling us what an mmorpg means or should mean for you to consider it an mmorpg but the acronym it stands for is pretty self explanatory massively multiplayer online role playing game.
All those words have very specific definitions that don't change simply because you and some other die hard fans want it to.
And honestly mmo's haven't been what you proclaim them to be in quite a long time since the likes of EVE and SWG which both employed tactics that do foster the necessity to play together with others, but outside of those two games there aren't many if any that use these kind of designs.
Originally posted by GrumpyMel2 Originally posted by Maverick827Funny how these threads go on for pages and pages when one side is blatantly incorrect.SWTOR is not a single player game. It does not play any different than other games that you label MMOs. If you personally feel that WoW, Rift, TSW, GW2, etc. are single player games because you're an old-school MMO fan and prefer forced grouping, then fine, you can call SWTOR a single player game. You can call all of them single player games. Otherwise, you're just hypocritical and dead wrong.
Clearly ALOT of people here consider SWTOR a single-player game. I don't believe the reason for that is because they all got together and held a secret meeting that no-one else was invited to where they decided that "single-player game" would be how they collectively would refer to SWTOR.
Telling them thier "wrong" is about as productive as telling someone thier wrong for considering asparagus as a "horrible" choice of flavor ice cream. You may disagree but clearly there is something which is leading to that perception.
Unless you think people are being purposefully dishonest in thier statements about how they percieve the game....then there must be something which is causing those perceptions. Fans of SWTOR (of which I am not, but I assume you and Bitton are) would be better served rather then telling people that they are WRONG about thier perceptions..... trying to find out what specificaly is causing those perceptions in the first place..... and then seeing if they could make EA/Bioware aware of them. That is, unless, you are unbothered by the fact that a large number of people percieve SWTOR as a single-player game. If that's the case, then by all means continue to argue why aspargus is the awesomest ice cream flavor ever...but don't be too surprised if your arguements fail to sway anyone to that view.
It doesn't matter what people consider the game. A key component of single player games is the fact that other people are not there. A key component of single player games with multiplayer options such as Minecraft is that there is a choice about other people being there. SWToR has neither of these properties. The game involves other people being there whether you want them there or not.
Calling SWToR a single player game is, as MikeB stated, hyperbole. No useful discussion can occur when one or both of the participants are misrepresenting the key point of the discussion.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Funny how these threads go on for pages and pages when one side is blatantly incorrect.
SWTOR is not a single player game. It does not play any different than other games that you label MMOs. If you personally feel that WoW, Rift, TSW, GW2, etc. are single player games because you're an old-school MMO fan and prefer forced grouping, then fine, you can call SWTOR a single player game. You can call all of them single player games. Otherwise, you're just hypocritical and dead wrong.
Clearly ALOT of people here consider SWTOR a single-player game. I don't believe the reason for that is because they all got together and held a secret meeting that no-one else was invited to where they decided that "single-player game" would be how they collectively would refer to SWTOR.
Telling them thier "wrong" is about as productive as telling someone thier wrong for considering asparagus as a "horrible" choice of flavor ice cream. You may disagree but clearly there is something which is leading to that perception.
Unless you think people are being purposefully dishonest in thier statements about how they percieve the game....then there must be something which is causing those perceptions. Fans of SWTOR (of which I am not, but I assume you and Bitton are) would be better served rather then telling people that they are WRONG about thier perceptions..... trying to find out what specificaly is causing those perceptions in the first place..... and then seeing if they could make EA/Bioware aware of them. That is, unless, you are unbothered by the fact that a large number of people percieve SWTOR as a single-player game. If that's the case, then by all means continue to argue why aspargus is the awesomest ice cream flavor ever...but don't be too surprised if your arguements fail to sway anyone to that view.
the poster above me made a pretty nice analogy but he is using it wrong in the context of this discussion what is actually happening here is BW has made this nifty asparagus flavored ice cream which most people who tried it decided they didn't like but there are those like myself who love it, instead of going on and sticking to your neopolitan,chocolate or vanilla people have spent the better part of two years trying to convince us that it isn't even ice cream. far more fit...............
It doesn't matter what people consider the game. A key component of single player games is the fact that other people are not there. A key component of single player games with multiplayer options such as Minecraft is that there is a choice about other people being there. SWToR has neither of these properties. The game involves other people being there whether you want them there or not.
Calling SWToR a single player game is, as MikeB stated, hyperbole. No useful discussion can occur when one or both of the participants are misrepresenting the key point of the discussion.
one key thing is perception how the game feels to many people.. When this issue is a constant and is seen all over the place over and over and over yet you hardly ever saw this complaint on any of the other games mentioned in this thread how can you really say it's a non-issue or not worth arguing about. Many are not litteraly saying this game is a single player game at all and I thought that was pretty obvious by now.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
It doesn't matter what people consider the game. A key component of single player games is the fact that other people are not there. A key component of single player games with multiplayer options such as Minecraft is that there is a choice about other people being there. SWToR has neither of these properties. The game involves other people being there whether you want them there or not.
Calling SWToR a single player game is, as MikeB stated, hyperbole. No useful discussion can occur when one or both of the participants are misrepresenting the key point of the discussion.
one key thing is perception how the game feels to many people.. When this issue is a constant and is seen all over the place over and over and over yet you hardly ever saw this complaint on any of the other games mentioned in this thread how can you really say it's a non-issue or not worth arguing about. Many are not litteraly saying this game is a single player game at all and I thought that was pretty obvious by now.
In this thread it's obvious yes but as stated by Mike and as seen by fans of the game like myself that has not been the statement being made people have blatantly debated that the game IS NOT an mmorpg for the reasons they see it that way.
And let's not act as if there weren't always people willing to throw massive amounts of dirt on this game simply for not being SWG2 or for being made by the big boys on the block EA/BW it's fun to pick on who people think of as a bully or as a reason they no longer get to play their beloved anymore.
so I don't take it at face value that other games on here aren't hit with those same incorrect criticisms heck since I'm not interested in many other mmorpg's I cant even say what you state is true, maybe people are making this same argument about other games but really one of the only games I've seen mentioned on this article is GW2 which we all know by now simply walks on water and can do no wrong.
I actually see many of the peoples points on why to them it "doesn't feel like" an mmorpg but that doesn't make them any less wrong for trying to argue and debate that it isn't.
It doesn't matter what people consider the game. A key component of single player games is the fact that other people are not there. A key component of single player games with multiplayer options such as Minecraft is that there is a choice about other people being there. SWToR has neither of these properties. The game involves other people being there whether you want them there or not.
Calling SWToR a single player game is, as MikeB stated, hyperbole. No useful discussion can occur when one or both of the participants are misrepresenting the key point of the discussion.
one key thing is perception how the game feels to many people.. When this issue is a constant and is seen all over the place over and over and over yet you hardly ever saw this complaint on any of the other games mentioned in this thread how can you really say it's a non-issue or not worth arguing about. Many are not litteraly saying this game is a single player game at all and I thought that was pretty obvious by now.
In this thread it's obvious yes but as stated by Mike and as seen by fans of the game like myself that has not been the statement being made people have blatantly debated that the game IS NOT an mmorpg for the reasons they see it that way.
And let's not act as if there weren't always people willing to throw massive amounts of dirt on this game simply for not being SWG2 or for being made by the big boys on the block EA/BW it's fun to pick on who people think of as a bully or as a reason they no longer get to play their beloved anymore.
so I don't take it at face value that other games on here aren't hit with those same incorrect criticisms heck since I'm not interested in many other mmorpg's I cant even say what you state is true, maybe people are making this same argument about other games but really one of the only games I've seen mentioned on this article is GW2 which we all know by now simply walks on water and can do no wrong.
I actually see many of the peoples points on why to them it "doesn't feel like" an mmorpg but that doesn't make them any less wrong for trying to argue and debate that it isn't.
I see your point but one of the most talked about and constant complaints is the extreme over attention this games VO storyline and companion system was given and the overal linearity of the game as a whole.. its a combination of issues that come together to form a very very large issue for any MMO. People can debate all they want about srpg or mmo or whatever but at the end of the day the game has lost a ton of players and seems to be loosing more all the time and there are obviously many reasons for this but this one is imho one of the big ones.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
It doesn't matter what people consider the game. A key component of single player games is the fact that other people are not there. A key component of single player games with multiplayer options such as Minecraft is that there is a choice about other people being there. SWToR has neither of these properties. The game involves other people being there whether you want them there or not.
Calling SWToR a single player game is, as MikeB stated, hyperbole. No useful discussion can occur when one or both of the participants are misrepresenting the key point of the discussion.
one key thing is perception how the game feels to many people.. When this issue is a constant and is seen all over the place over and over and over yet you hardly ever saw this complaint on any of the other games mentioned in this thread how can you really say it's a non-issue or not worth arguing about. Many are not litteraly saying this game is a single player game at all and I thought that was pretty obvious by now.
In this thread it's obvious yes but as stated by Mike and as seen by fans of the game like myself that has not been the statement being made people have blatantly debated that the game IS NOT an mmorpg for the reasons they see it that way.
And let's not act as if there weren't always people willing to throw massive amounts of dirt on this game simply for not being SWG2 or for being made by the big boys on the block EA/BW it's fun to pick on who people think of as a bully or as a reason they no longer get to play their beloved anymore.
so I don't take it at face value that other games on here aren't hit with those same incorrect criticisms heck since I'm not interested in many other mmorpg's I cant even say what you state is true, maybe people are making this same argument about other games but really one of the only games I've seen mentioned on this article is GW2 which we all know by now simply walks on water and can do no wrong.
I actually see many of the peoples points on why to them it "doesn't feel like" an mmorpg but that doesn't make them any less wrong for trying to argue and debate that it isn't.
I see your point but one of the most talked about and constant complaints is the extreme over attention this games VO storyline and companion system was given and the overal linearity of the game as a whole.. its a combination of issues that come together to form a very very large issue for any MMO. People can debate all they want about srpg or mmo or whatever but at the end of the day the game has lost a ton of players and seems to be loosing more all the time and there are obviously many reasons for this but this one is imho one of the big ones.
As stated by a sports writer I read a story from the other day, so what? why should I care if the game is actually losing players as opposed to growing exponentially like WOW did it doesn't matter to me if BW makes a marginal profit or an astronomical one what does matter to me though is when people come on the forums spreading mis information and trying to slant things to fit a point they are trying to make.
The only point I find valid is that the game is too linear in that I wish there was atleast one alternate leveling path per side so that I wouldn't have to verbatim repeat what I just got through with but honestly none of that is the point of this post the point of this post is that people seem to go out of their way to say antything negative about this game whether what they say is true or not.
This article makes some good points, I would add though that it is not grouping that is the problem with this game but that it doesn't make you excited about leveling your character. I think that's why a lot people lost intrest prematurely an d left the game. Even if you did play to level cap you simply lost intrest after because there wasn't much left to do after. A lot of planets looked the same to me and my characters wardrobe was drab at best. There weren't ayny cool powers to gain after a ceratin level everything was just a upgrade to exsiting powers. I feel ike that is whats bleeding the game of it's players. I for one really like this game and even with it's faults will continue playing. But I have heard these complaints from other players very often.
I have leveled a Jedi Sentinel and a Commando to level 50 totally grouped the whole time. I have also played a Smuggler/Gunslinger to 50 and done it totally solo. Time wise it took me less and was much more enjoyable leveling in the groups. Soloing, while satisfying in a different sort of way, forced me to miss a lot of group content designed specifically for grouping. So, what MikeB has to say is right on! SWTOR is NOT a single player RPG but can be if you really want it to be so.....just it won't be as enjoyable.
Of course SWTOR isn't technically a single player RPG.
Just how a wow clone isn't technically a wow clone because it's not 100% exactly the same.
Arguing about semantics is missing the point.
It's also funny to see how most of the replies on this thread saying that SWTOR is a single player RPG have valid points and explain their opinion, while everyone who disagrees just says things like "you are all trolling" without even trying to refute anything.
Spot on article. Its point ive been arguing for few years now. Theres almost ZERO solo content in MMOs (almost zero content has 1 player cap, or "forced solo"), and theres quite a lot of forced grouping content.
Its just funny for all that call on "sinle-player MMO" (or any incarnation of that statement) that you can group at any time, anywhere, yet they call on forced grouping. I dont think its the problem with the game though...
Forced grouping is out. Now that noone is forced to group with you...what will you do? Oh, i know
Originally posted by ste2000 What a useless article. We all know that SWTOR technically is a MMORPG, the point is that it is bad designed and people play instinctively the game as Single Player, because the MMO part is not interesting enough, in fact it is pretty boring. So people play the Storylines and once they finish the exciting bit, they are left with the MMO part which people find too boring to play. Don't compare WOW with SWTOR, the first is still a MMO (not the best I admit), the second is a MMO by name but a Single Player game by fact. No amount of wall of text can deny that, since the drop in subscription is a better judging measure than any word.
QFT !!!! Couldnt say better myself.
QFE, I also don't believe I could have said it better myself. A wall of text with an opinion is one thing, but to post it as an article as "fact" is another.
MMO Waltzing again! You guys are practically pros!
QFT all you want, nothing more than subjective!
This a great example of players making the game what it is. You are practically given the same group and social features like other MMO's. This is just plain LAZY on the players part!
The game can ONLY hold your hand for so long, yes, you actually have to make en effort to talk to folks online in the game. The developers can't teach you that.
Not our fault you guys get bored, maybe no one likes to play with you, or you just don't play well with others.
The path of least resistence. Make something easy then make something hard. Now at the end offer the same reward for doin eather one and see what most people will choose. Sure theres group content but for the most part its worthless.
Spot on article. Its point ive been arguing for few years now. Theres almost ZERO solo content in MMOs (almost zero content has 1 player cap, or "forced solo"), and theres quite a lot of forced grouping content.
Its just funny for all that call on "sinle-player MMO" (or any incarnation of that statement) that you can group at any time, anywhere, yet they call on forced grouping. I dont think its the problem with the game though...
Forced grouping is out. Now that noone is forced to group with you...what will you do? Oh, i know
I was hoping for your answer to your own question. Wanted to know what you say you know.
Comments
Look, you silly man. "Group" content that requires a group to defeat is NOT what makes a game an mmo. You are probably one of those fools that thinks an RPG just means "skill trees" and levels and customisable appearance and equipment.
This is pretty much what is wrong with the whole genre. Developers copying what came before but copying the wrong thing. The story and evolving world is what makes the RPG. Customisation is just a secondary quality. Without the evolving world with the interaction between players and npcs..... The game is just fucking FAIL!
"It's like a finger pointing away to the moon... Don't concentrate on the finger or you'll miss all the heavenly glory" (Bruce Lee)
(Insert your favourite mmo here): ......And behold, a pale horse.... And a million hellishly bad mmos followed with it.
Wow, did he manage to just get you to troll him Mike? Happens to the best of us, don't worry.
And here I was thinking he did a terrific job summarizing the entire debate in 2 sentences.
What surprises me is that something so patently obvious to many of us here seems to go right by you.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I think you sumed it up perfectly. You should have written the column instead of Michael. SWTOR is a single player game with social functionality. If the end game hadn't been so broken and buggy (still is) the single player grind would have been worth it. Now it is a sinking ship.
Wow, did he manage to just get you to troll him Mike? Happens to the best of us, don't worry.
And here I was thinking he did a terrific job summarizing the entire debate in 2 sentences.
What surprises me is that something so patently obvious to many of us here seems to go right by you.
The only areas where players do not run around with other players are the single player instance story zones or the players' personal ship. The rest of the game is open zones and group instances (including battle grounds). Most of a player's time is spent in those open zones with *gasp* other players.
This isn't markedly different from WoW, Rift, GW2 or TSW.
If the game was a single player game with optional multiplayer components, players would be able to never see another player in an open zone. There would be no PvP servers and no RP servers. There wouldn't be servers at all*.
Stating that SWToR is a single player game with optional multiplayer is just a false statement. A statement that could actually be supported would be that the game focuses too much on solo game play or that the multiplayer aspects of the game are overshadowed by the single player storyline. Something along those lines.
* On a side note, I think this is what they should have actually have done. Created a single player game, where you could group in instances, battle grounds or just run around with only your friends. There's more, but I think this would have been a better way to go.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Funny how these threads go on for pages and pages when one side is blatantly incorrect.
it's amazing how these threads go for pages and pages and still so many of you miss the point completely
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
One of the main reasons this game felt single player to me was not so much that you could or could not group with other players, but that I never really felt like I was unique. The companions where a huge part of that. The companions are named and unique individuals, so seeing 15 other Kira's running around at the same time didn't make any sense at all. Imo, they should have made the companions only available when you are instanced in your story arc. Also, since i can use my companion in the open world, i really don't need to group. If i need a healer i have one, if i need dps i can swap em out depending on the situation, so everyone kinda has their own group available to them at any time. The endgame is where i wanted to see some cool grouping oppurtunity. The game is called Star Wars, but there really weren't any wars going on. I didn't fight in any wars that i recall. It was only in the SINGLE player story arc that you have a sense of being a part of some larger galactic adventure. Why wasn't there 2 or 3 planets at endgame covered with different types of objectives and installations so that pvp had real effects on the rest of the world? I was a Jedi who wanted to fight the Sith .. I just did'nt want to do it over and over in Huttball or for the same 3 planetary cannons. I enjoyed this game very much, but from the very begining I felt like it was a singleplayer game. Dragon Age was a great game to, and if you added an internet lobby for flashpoints and random pvp maps it would still be a good single player rpg ... but not an mmo.
Actually it's not. It would be amazing if someone missed the point of a short thread that had a clear focus. By definition, a longer, more disjointed thread is going to have people "miss the point," or rather miss your own perception of the point, because the thread is so large and has been taken down many different roads.
[mod edit]
still obviously missed the point most people who are not just trolling or baiting aren't litteraly calling this a single player game but from your reply it's obvious you still missed that.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Thank you for your fine points. While I no longer play SWTOR it wasn't because it was a single player RPG...there were other issues I had with it. I honestly enjoyed the focus on story and cinematic quests.
Currently Playing: FFXIV:ARR
Looking Forward to: Wildstar
Clearly ALOT of people here consider SWTOR a single-player game. I don't believe the reason for that is because they all got together and held a secret meeting that no-one else was invited to where they decided that "single-player game" would be how they collectively would refer to SWTOR.
Telling them thier "wrong" is about as productive as telling someone thier wrong for considering asparagus as a "horrible" choice of flavor ice cream. You may disagree but clearly there is something which is leading to that perception.
Unless you think people are being purposefully dishonest in thier statements about how they percieve the game....then there must be something which is causing those perceptions. Fans of SWTOR (of which I am not, but I assume you and Bitton are) would be better served rather then telling people that they are WRONG about thier perceptions..... trying to find out what specificaly is causing those perceptions in the first place..... and then seeing if they could make EA/Bioware aware of them. That is, unless, you are unbothered by the fact that a large number of people percieve SWTOR as a single-player game. If that's the case, then by all means continue to argue why aspargus is the awesomest ice cream flavor ever...but don't be too surprised if your arguements fail to sway anyone to that view.
you are basically telling us what an mmorpg means or should mean for you to consider it an mmorpg but the acronym it stands for is pretty self explanatory massively multiplayer online role playing game.
All those words have very specific definitions that don't change simply because you and some other die hard fans want it to.
And honestly mmo's haven't been what you proclaim them to be in quite a long time since the likes of EVE and SWG which both employed tactics that do foster the necessity to play together with others, but outside of those two games there aren't many if any that use these kind of designs.
Telling them thier "wrong" is about as productive as telling someone thier wrong for considering asparagus as a "horrible" choice of flavor ice cream. You may disagree but clearly there is something which is leading to that perception.
Unless you think people are being purposefully dishonest in thier statements about how they percieve the game....then there must be something which is causing those perceptions. Fans of SWTOR (of which I am not, but I assume you and Bitton are) would be better served rather then telling people that they are WRONG about thier perceptions..... trying to find out what specificaly is causing those perceptions in the first place..... and then seeing if they could make EA/Bioware aware of them. That is, unless, you are unbothered by the fact that a large number of people percieve SWTOR as a single-player game. If that's the case, then by all means continue to argue why aspargus is the awesomest ice cream flavor ever...but don't be too surprised if your arguements fail to sway anyone to that view.
It doesn't matter what people consider the game. A key component of single player games is the fact that other people are not there. A key component of single player games with multiplayer options such as Minecraft is that there is a choice about other people being there. SWToR has neither of these properties. The game involves other people being there whether you want them there or not.
Calling SWToR a single player game is, as MikeB stated, hyperbole. No useful discussion can occur when one or both of the participants are misrepresenting the key point of the discussion.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
the poster above me made a pretty nice analogy but he is using it wrong in the context of this discussion what is actually happening here is BW has made this nifty asparagus flavored ice cream which most people who tried it decided they didn't like but there are those like myself who love it, instead of going on and sticking to your neopolitan,chocolate or vanilla people have spent the better part of two years trying to convince us that it isn't even ice cream. far more fit...............
one key thing is perception how the game feels to many people.. When this issue is a constant and is seen all over the place over and over and over yet you hardly ever saw this complaint on any of the other games mentioned in this thread how can you really say it's a non-issue or not worth arguing about. Many are not litteraly saying this game is a single player game at all and I thought that was pretty obvious by now.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
In this thread it's obvious yes but as stated by Mike and as seen by fans of the game like myself that has not been the statement being made people have blatantly debated that the game IS NOT an mmorpg for the reasons they see it that way.
And let's not act as if there weren't always people willing to throw massive amounts of dirt on this game simply for not being SWG2 or for being made by the big boys on the block EA/BW it's fun to pick on who people think of as a bully or as a reason they no longer get to play their beloved anymore.
so I don't take it at face value that other games on here aren't hit with those same incorrect criticisms heck since I'm not interested in many other mmorpg's I cant even say what you state is true, maybe people are making this same argument about other games but really one of the only games I've seen mentioned on this article is GW2 which we all know by now simply walks on water and can do no wrong.
I actually see many of the peoples points on why to them it "doesn't feel like" an mmorpg but that doesn't make them any less wrong for trying to argue and debate that it isn't.
I see your point but one of the most talked about and constant complaints is the extreme over attention this games VO storyline and companion system was given and the overal linearity of the game as a whole.. its a combination of issues that come together to form a very very large issue for any MMO. People can debate all they want about srpg or mmo or whatever but at the end of the day the game has lost a ton of players and seems to be loosing more all the time and there are obviously many reasons for this but this one is imho one of the big ones.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
As stated by a sports writer I read a story from the other day, so what? why should I care if the game is actually losing players as opposed to growing exponentially like WOW did it doesn't matter to me if BW makes a marginal profit or an astronomical one what does matter to me though is when people come on the forums spreading mis information and trying to slant things to fit a point they are trying to make.
The only point I find valid is that the game is too linear in that I wish there was atleast one alternate leveling path per side so that I wouldn't have to verbatim repeat what I just got through with but honestly none of that is the point of this post the point of this post is that people seem to go out of their way to say antything negative about this game whether what they say is true or not.
This article makes some good points, I would add though that it is not grouping that is the problem with this game but that it doesn't make you excited about leveling your character. I think that's why a lot people lost intrest prematurely an d left the game. Even if you did play to level cap you simply lost intrest after because there wasn't much left to do after. A lot of planets looked the same to me and my characters wardrobe was drab at best. There weren't ayny cool powers to gain after a ceratin level everything was just a upgrade to exsiting powers. I feel ike that is whats bleeding the game of it's players. I for one really like this game and even with it's faults will continue playing. But I have heard these complaints from other players very often.
I have leveled a Jedi Sentinel and a Commando to level 50 totally grouped the whole time. I have also played a Smuggler/Gunslinger to 50 and done it totally solo. Time wise it took me less and was much more enjoyable leveling in the groups. Soloing, while satisfying in a different sort of way, forced me to miss a lot of group content designed specifically for grouping. So, what MikeB has to say is right on! SWTOR is NOT a single player RPG but can be if you really want it to be so.....just it won't be as enjoyable.
Let's party like it is 1863!
Terrible biased opinion calling out other biased opinion lol laughable editorial lol.
so many articles going with "SWTOR is not wow" from this site and yet this guy uses wow as a comparison, such a hypocritical site.
Of course SWTOR isn't technically a single player RPG.
Just how a wow clone isn't technically a wow clone because it's not 100% exactly the same.
Arguing about semantics is missing the point.
It's also funny to see how most of the replies on this thread saying that SWTOR is a single player RPG have valid points and explain their opinion, while everyone who disagrees just says things like "you are all trolling" without even trying to refute anything.
Spot on article. Its point ive been arguing for few years now. Theres almost ZERO solo content in MMOs (almost zero content has 1 player cap, or "forced solo"), and theres quite a lot of forced grouping content.
Its just funny for all that call on "sinle-player MMO" (or any incarnation of that statement) that you can group at any time, anywhere, yet they call on forced grouping. I dont think its the problem with the game though...
Forced grouping is out. Now that noone is forced to group with you...what will you do? Oh, i know
The path of least resistence. Make something easy then make something hard. Now at the end offer the same reward for doin eather one and see what most people will choose. Sure theres group content but for the most part its worthless.
I was hoping for your answer to your own question. Wanted to know what you say you know.