I recently played through a one-month subscription via buying the boxed game, and I played it more than any MMO in that time frame since WoW back in '06. I love the game. That being said... its free-to-play model is SEVERELY lacking and very restrictive, and I'd love for BioWare to look at other F2P models (most notably LotRO/Turbine's) and make adjustments accordingly. The main thing, I guess, would be to institute an in-game way of gaining Cartel Coins (a la LotRO's ability, via achievements, to earn Turbine Points). This would increase replay-ability whilst waiting for expansions, as well as encourage more F2P players to give it a shot. Like LotRO, I would gladly resubscribe occasionally, and I'm sure I would be the only one, but BW has to meet the F2P player halfway.
Graphically, I have NO issues with the game, as I upgraded my specs back in November (nothing overly-expensive), and the game runs absolutely fine (aside from some graphical issues that has nothing to do with specs, and everything to do with the game's engine/programming).
Sheesh another nerd bait article? What is this kotaku.com now?
Seriously though if the staff sucks on biowares finacial bribe dong any harder it's in danger of falling off. The last month has been riddled with nerd baiting articles, almost to the point where the only good writer on the site anymore is "the devils advocate" and he (amusingly) has to use copious amoutns of moon logic to get a good article.
I could list a hundred ways about how Swotor is a giant box of failure but quite a few of them are already listed above.
Seriously though, stop with the nerdbait articles.
The biggest thing keeping me from playing the game is my light side points bugged out and stopped increasing. They fixed it once, but then a few days later it was bugged again. Since it took several weeks for them to fix it, I didn't even bother the second time.
So what could get me back? I'd have to willing to reroll another character unless they could fix my old one. And there would have to be some compelling reason to play. Right now it is a pretty shallow game. But it's Star Wars so anything is possible.
For a moment there I thought this article was someone's idea of a joke, but after reading it all, you guys were actually serious... I'm gonna try to leave irony behind and post a response, as serious as i can, even though it is very hard to do such a thing when reffering to this utter failure of a game.
In my opinion, what needs to be done for the game to stand a chance to be even a second grade MMO is to make the game playable in the first place. That would mean:
- Creating a world. You know, get rid of the "corridors" feeling, add critters, ambiance sounds, walking/active/busy npc's. Yup, that's huge work, I don't see this done, therefore it all stops here.
- Get rid of the static 3-pack or 5-pack mobs. It's horrible. You explore a new area, you see ahead of you a few packs of mobs, every pack has exactly 3 mobs, positioned exactly the same. It looks cheap, rushed, copy-paste.
- Change the combat visuals, every ranged class i've played looks like it's throwing snowballs, not shooting some futuristic piece of machinery.
- Give a better character creator and a better look for the character in game. Looking awesome in cinematics and terrible in the game world makes me really feel detached from my character
- Get rid of some freemium restrictions, those in the "absolutely retarded" area. Maybe repositioning somewhere in the "buy to play" area would be great, but i doubt we'll see anything like this from this greedy company. Right now, even good subscription games like Rift have tough times, and TOR is aeons away from the quality of that game, really.
As it is now, the only people I see playing this are either huge fans of the franchise, free to play players interested in the story only or people which put a lot of time in their characters and just can't let go,A good paid expansion which would fix the real problems of the game (gameplay, playability), which would add more game systems and more content will give the game a chance. On the other hand, a paid expansion which does not fix those things would doom the game for good. Some people will buy it and feel cheated, just as it happened with the original game, and after tricking everyone twice, there will be no turning back.
Originally posted by RefMinor I want to sit in a chair.
You can and always have been able to on your ship. Oh, never made it that far in game, not my fault troll. If that's all that matters to you, then maybe you need to out the SIMS. Fixing fame rate issues and make the game feel more alive would have been a better complaint.
Originally posted by Revy106 Why on earth does MMORPG keep trying to put SWKOTOR in a good light all the time?? its a failed mmo that we should just leave and let it die
I'm not saying it's the greatest thing ever, and Mike clearly likes it more than you do, but there are definitely still fans of the game and BioWare. They're just probably not on these forums.
Take a minute, think, and realize that no one speaks for everyone.
Definitely, no one speaks for everybody. I am enjoying the game quite a bit, but I do have a life and a job as well. Imho, hanging out in forums complaining all the time is not a healthy lifestyle. Being positive and productive has a lot of benefits.
Nice subject line, bait and catch!. Er well no, I disagree, SWTOR won't have a good year. Think about it, WoW is producing content for its subscribers for free (the up and coming thunderking patch, notice I do use the word patch). "Subscribers" as well as "freemiums" get charged for similar content updates in swtor and other games. The fact that "patches" for "subscribers" are now being labelled "DLC" makes me stick with games that charge me nothing for content ontop of my subscription.
In my opinion developers need to choose carefully, subscibers unlock everything or everyone has to pay for their content. Double dip me if you dare, trust me I will make you say hello to my little friend.
Note: Bioware (1) is no longer the same company (2) they have a skeleton crew running the game since around 500 people got hacked out.
Love the enthusiam! 100% understand it because I am obsessed with PoE right now but I will give you my honest opinion. I don't think SWTOR can ever make a real impact in obtaining a truly high subscriber/donator base because most of us have already played it and were so dissapointed that we didnt even bother subbing after our free month. I wish this game no harm at all but I just can't see it happening. Please dont hurt me. I swear im just expressing my honest feelings. What matters is you love the game and that is awesome!
Hero Evermore Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982. Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.
Lost cause IMHO. They will be largely doomed to a playerbase made primarily of players who leave after 2-3 months once storyline is done & they realise there is nothing else of substance.
It hurts me to say, but no matter what Bioware will do... you can't make a dead horse win a race. The team that made this game won't be able to think that different to make SWTOR a really good game. New game or new team or the horse remains dead.
- space combat revamp, add a space sim/trading/mining part with customizable ships
- get rid of exhaustion zomes and corridor/maze design, game lacks open world feeling
- revamp textures and engine features
- add minigames
- open world pvp objectives
- better. quests.
- revamp mob A.I.
- add day/night changes on planets
Yes to everything you put on your list ! I would also add : expand even more on RPG aspects. The legacy system is a great first step. And I would add more depth to crafting in general.
Good OP Mike, though I think that ANet will have something to say this year, and perhaps Trion as well...
SWTOR will never own 2013 but if they want to have more of an impact in 2013 Bioware/EA need to address the terrible F2P model; it's quite possibly the worst F2P conversion I've ever seen.
The only games I am REALLY looking foward to, is the revamped FFXIV, Elder Scrolls Online and Neverwinter. SWTOR was one of the biggest let-downs I have ever seen, complimentary cartel coins my ass.
We are all puppets in a fancy show, the trick is to seize the ropes that bind us, and become the puppeteer
i love when all these random people start wondering if the forums have been payed off by the company to say positive things about X games. I think the things SWTOR did wrong are far bigger than the ones it did well. but taht doesnt mean you are being payed off by mentioning the little good things it has. People really need to grow up. The game is not for you, period. Also news forums like this one are not meant to publish articles about what haters think of a game. Share your positive and negative opinions with all here but dont pretend that an article is wrong because its saying good things about a game that has failed before and is trying to do better now.
If they re-balanced all of the content/combat 10-50 to match the pace and speed/fun of 1-10 combat, I'd try the game out again.
But as it stood when I left (almost a year ago) 10-50 is "balanced" in PvE to have a healing companion out at all times, unless you can heal yourself, then you use a tanking pet.
I HATE pet classes in MMO games. Hate them. Every single class in SWTOR was/is a pet class thanks to companions.
Biggest fail IMO was making companions necessary for the vast majority of the game.
Would have been better, again IMO, if companions were only available in the instanced portions of your personal story quests.
Yeah, they can own in 2013, they can own a failed game that won't see any of these wish list features...
A boxed expansion in 2013??? Really?? They haven't fixed the POS they launched last year, what makes you think we'll see a boxed expansion anytime soon?
And what would be in it? Interbiomechanical relationships between spaceships and pets? A pod racing game on rails? A cash shop that lets you be any Star Wars character despite continuity (Ya know that ones coming..lol)?
Seriously...your wish list sounds great, but crap in one hand and wish for improvements in the other and see which one fills up first.. (that's just a joke...peeps..easy on the ban hammer)
I can agree with your thoughts on what the game needs, but in my opinion, they are such huge hurdles, that i deem them almost insurmountable for this game. From the game engine, to what seems a really heavy focus on their cartel market (or whatever they call it), and complete lack of faith in EA, and theis development team.
This game needs something besides "story" to set it apart from the typical "wow clone" stigma. Space, and PvP could be it, but i don't really ever remember an MMO making a huge turn-around from a poorish launch, and i don't see it happening here.
I don't play TOR, but it would be great if they could bring these things to the table, if they were done "properly", whatever that means
Comments
Maybe people are getting tired of the same old Bioware/EA hate. SW TOR is a good game.
I recently played through a one-month subscription via buying the boxed game, and I played it more than any MMO in that time frame since WoW back in '06. I love the game. That being said... its free-to-play model is SEVERELY lacking and very restrictive, and I'd love for BioWare to look at other F2P models (most notably LotRO/Turbine's) and make adjustments accordingly. The main thing, I guess, would be to institute an in-game way of gaining Cartel Coins (a la LotRO's ability, via achievements, to earn Turbine Points). This would increase replay-ability whilst waiting for expansions, as well as encourage more F2P players to give it a shot. Like LotRO, I would gladly resubscribe occasionally, and I'm sure I would be the only one, but BW has to meet the F2P player halfway.
Graphically, I have NO issues with the game, as I upgraded my specs back in November (nothing overly-expensive), and the game runs absolutely fine (aside from some graphical issues that has nothing to do with specs, and everything to do with the game's engine/programming).
I don't think I am alone with my aching sides lol.
Sheesh another nerd bait article? What is this kotaku.com now?
Seriously though if the staff sucks on biowares finacial bribe dong any harder it's in danger of falling off. The last month has been riddled with nerd baiting articles, almost to the point where the only good writer on the site anymore is "the devils advocate" and he (amusingly) has to use copious amoutns of moon logic to get a good article.
I could list a hundred ways about how Swotor is a giant box of failure but quite a few of them are already listed above.
Seriously though, stop with the nerdbait articles.
The biggest thing keeping me from playing the game is my light side points bugged out and stopped increasing. They fixed it once, but then a few days later it was bugged again. Since it took several weeks for them to fix it, I didn't even bother the second time.
So what could get me back? I'd have to willing to reroll another character unless they could fix my old one. And there would have to be some compelling reason to play. Right now it is a pretty shallow game. But it's Star Wars so anything is possible.
For a moment there I thought this article was someone's idea of a joke, but after reading it all, you guys were actually serious... I'm gonna try to leave irony behind and post a response, as serious as i can, even though it is very hard to do such a thing when reffering to this utter failure of a game.
In my opinion, what needs to be done for the game to stand a chance to be even a second grade MMO is to make the game playable in the first place. That would mean:
- Creating a world. You know, get rid of the "corridors" feeling, add critters, ambiance sounds, walking/active/busy npc's. Yup, that's huge work, I don't see this done, therefore it all stops here.
- Get rid of the static 3-pack or 5-pack mobs. It's horrible. You explore a new area, you see ahead of you a few packs of mobs, every pack has exactly 3 mobs, positioned exactly the same. It looks cheap, rushed, copy-paste.
- Change the combat visuals, every ranged class i've played looks like it's throwing snowballs, not shooting some futuristic piece of machinery.
- Give a better character creator and a better look for the character in game. Looking awesome in cinematics and terrible in the game world makes me really feel detached from my character
- Get rid of some freemium restrictions, those in the "absolutely retarded" area. Maybe repositioning somewhere in the "buy to play" area would be great, but i doubt we'll see anything like this from this greedy company. Right now, even good subscription games like Rift have tough times, and TOR is aeons away from the quality of that game, really.
As it is now, the only people I see playing this are either huge fans of the franchise, free to play players interested in the story only or people which put a lot of time in their characters and just can't let go,A good paid expansion which would fix the real problems of the game (gameplay, playability), which would add more game systems and more content will give the game a chance. On the other hand, a paid expansion which does not fix those things would doom the game for good. Some people will buy it and feel cheated, just as it happened with the original game, and after tricking everyone twice, there will be no turning back.
Really the only feature that matters! (I'm being serious right now)
Hey TSW Players http://www.unfair.co/ for Mission guides, Lore Locations and stuff....
You can and always have been able to on your ship. Oh, never made it that far in game, not my fault troll. If that's all that matters to you, then maybe you need to out the SIMS. Fixing fame rate issues and make the game feel more alive would have been a better complaint.
Definitely, no one speaks for everybody. I am enjoying the game quite a bit, but I do have a life and a job as well. Imho, hanging out in forums complaining all the time is not a healthy lifestyle. Being positive and productive has a lot of benefits.
I'm doing it right now.
Sometimes a game can't beat real life.
If EABIO really want SWTOR to own 2013 / 2014 / 2015, move the Swtor Dev to another states and
asked them to work on OS game Fifa 11.
Buy the Pearl Abyss company and make them reworked on the game engine.
Pardon my English as it is not my 1st language
Nice subject line, bait and catch!. Er well no, I disagree, SWTOR won't have a good year. Think about it, WoW is producing content for its subscribers for free (the up and coming thunderking patch, notice I do use the word patch). "Subscribers" as well as "freemiums" get charged for similar content updates in swtor and other games. The fact that "patches" for "subscribers" are now being labelled "DLC" makes me stick with games that charge me nothing for content ontop of my subscription.
In my opinion developers need to choose carefully, subscibers unlock everything or everyone has to pay for their content. Double dip me if you dare, trust me I will make you say hello to my little friend.
Note: Bioware (1) is no longer the same company (2) they have a skeleton crew running the game since around 500 people got hacked out.
i dunno why but i never liked swtor =/
played different classes and different factions ><
the feeling of addicted to a game just wasnt there. sigh.
There are people who play games and then there are gamers.
http://alzplz.blogspot.com
Hero Evermore
Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982.
Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.
It hurts me to say, but no matter what Bioware will do... you can't make a dead horse win a race. The team that made this game won't be able to think that different to make SWTOR a really good game. New game or new team or the horse remains dead.
Please bury it, it is beyond hope.
Yes to everything you put on your list ! I would also add : expand even more on RPG aspects. The legacy system is a great first step. And I would add more depth to crafting in general.
Good OP Mike, though I think that ANet will have something to say this year, and perhaps Trion as well...
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
SWTOR will never own 2013 but if they want to have more of an impact in 2013 Bioware/EA need to address the terrible F2P model; it's quite possibly the worst F2P conversion I've ever seen.
We are all puppets in a fancy show, the trick is to seize the ropes that bind us, and become the puppeteer
i love when all these random people start wondering if the forums have been payed off by the company to say positive things about X games. I think the things SWTOR did wrong are far bigger than the ones it did well. but taht doesnt mean you are being payed off by mentioning the little good things it has. People really need to grow up. The game is not for you, period. Also news forums like this one are not meant to publish articles about what haters think of a game. Share your positive and negative opinions with all here but dont pretend that an article is wrong because its saying good things about a game that has failed before and is trying to do better now.
If they re-balanced all of the content/combat 10-50 to match the pace and speed/fun of 1-10 combat, I'd try the game out again.
But as it stood when I left (almost a year ago) 10-50 is "balanced" in PvE to have a healing companion out at all times, unless you can heal yourself, then you use a tanking pet.
I HATE pet classes in MMO games. Hate them. Every single class in SWTOR was/is a pet class thanks to companions.
Biggest fail IMO was making companions necessary for the vast majority of the game.
Would have been better, again IMO, if companions were only available in the instanced portions of your personal story quests.
___________________________
Have flask; will travel.
Yeah, they can own in 2013, they can own a failed game that won't see any of these wish list features...
A boxed expansion in 2013??? Really?? They haven't fixed the POS they launched last year, what makes you think we'll see a boxed expansion anytime soon?
And what would be in it? Interbiomechanical relationships between spaceships and pets? A pod racing game on rails? A cash shop that lets you be any Star Wars character despite continuity (Ya know that ones coming..lol)?
Seriously...your wish list sounds great, but crap in one hand and wish for improvements in the other and see which one fills up first.. (that's just a joke...peeps..easy on the ban hammer)
I can agree with your thoughts on what the game needs, but in my opinion, they are such huge hurdles, that i deem them almost insurmountable for this game. From the game engine, to what seems a really heavy focus on their cartel market (or whatever they call it), and complete lack of faith in EA, and theis development team.
This game needs something besides "story" to set it apart from the typical "wow clone" stigma. Space, and PvP could be it, but i don't really ever remember an MMO making a huge turn-around from a poorish launch, and i don't see it happening here.
I don't play TOR, but it would be great if they could bring these things to the table, if they were done "properly", whatever that means