Drannos

@Valentina

@Valentina

"Legacy sounds really promising I just hope it's implemented well, and fair."

Are you joking? So far, everything said about Legacy is either empty promises or utter trash. New class/race combinations? SERIOUSLY? One, how many players have already taken multiple classes through their story and up to cap? Does BW really thing they can entice players to do it AGAIN just by reskinning their Jedi/Sith??? And two, what did that take - a week or two for the interns to "program"? There's nothing NEW in any of that - it's just lazy design attempting to retain paying customers.

As for the ship facilities, this is almost as bad. These functions should be available *de facto*, not as some unlock as a reward for grinding out a few character's worth of quests. For wanting ships to be central to the player's experience, they are fairly worthless - static zoos for our companion pets and gateways into (admittedly, VERY pretty) Flash games.

In theory, the Legacy system sounds great - server-wide achievements and unlocks. But, to date, it's nothing but another half baked, poorly implemented system.

I so very, VERY much want this game to succeed - there are some real gems hidden under the debris of bad design decisions. There is great story and the foundation for a good "world" in there. But, like others have said, I'll probably come back in a year. Or I'll be too busy playing GW2 or Pathfinder...

@Valentina

If we CRITISIZE the Q&A postings, it's because they are the primary means by which we gauge what BioWare is doing to fix (and, yes, improve in some cases) the service for which WE ARE PAYING. It's not "just a Q&A". It's a statement of intent. Intent that is funded with my dollars.

And they're not answering most of the questions. Read them - most of the "answers" are "no intention", or "we're discussing it but can't comment".

And to say the game "is suffering from almost no real game issues" is a plain misstatement - for many of us there are critically flawed mechanics and design decisions, ranging from outright broken class quests down to small "quality of life" issues. You see a "rabid SW:TOR troll", I see paying customers who expected more from a top-tier developer such as BioWare.

I won't ever criticize PLAYERS for enjoying the game - there's a good amount there to love, and I enjoyed my time. But I *will* criticize the COMPANY that makes poor decisions and fails to acknowledge or address them.

@Drannos

It's not just about the orbital station nonsense (though that was a huge annoyance that definitely factored into my decision). It's that they clearly intend for a player's ship to fill some type of central role (story-wise or as a gateway to other content, e.g. space combat) and yet they make it ridiculously difficult to return there on a regular basis.

There are only be 5 or so unique space combat missions (another annoyance - reskinned missions shared by the two factions??? c'mon.) and the Commendation system shows us that BioWare clearly designed this with the "dailies" mechanic front-and-center of their thinking. And yet to get to it, I have to take the galaxy's slowest transports from one end of the map to another every time I want to "jump in" and play. What about the Star Wars galaxy prevents my ship from coming TO ME whenever I want? "Extended gameplay", otherwise known as Obvious Timesink.

It's not that it's not prioritized - I get that they only have so many people and so many hours in a week. It's that they don't even consider it something that needs fixing - Amateur Hour.

LthalSavy: Will there be any way to implement a quick travel to your ship?

Georg Zoeller: Not in the short term, but it's something we've been discussing on and off. Currently, given how easily available fleet travel passes are on the Security Vendor, we don't think adding this is necessary.

That kind of idiotic response is exactly the kind of nonsense that led me to cancel my subscription. Forget the fact that they even allowed the zone-four-times-to get-to-Balmorra stupidity into the live game (is there any purpose to the empty airlocks and empty stations besides artificially extending "gameplay" with ridiculous timesinks? No.). But for them to state in one breathe that the ships are a critical part of their storytelling, and in the next state that they don't think they need to provide players a convenient way to return there? Really??

I don't want to go to my fleet station - they are nearly as useless as every other "hub" in the game. I want to go to my SHIP because that is where I start space combat (which I actually enjoy). But facing a 20 minute trek across a zone just to get to the fun is not worth my time or money.

BioWare has made many great games, and SWTOR is a great set of stories, but that set of answers is just proof that they have no business making a "current gen" MMO. It's embarassing. You'd think a few hundred million dollars would buy you out of years-old rookie design mistakes, but apparently not. They are treading water, but quickly finding it's qui
cksand.

Why do you think they chose to make TOR an MMO instead of just doing KOTOR 3? Why would BioWare, a respected and established leader in single player RPGs, "[look] to do an mmo"?

Why does ANYONE choose to make an MMO? Perhaps because they are truly invested in creating a SOCIAL, SHARED experience and pushing the boundaries of what can be done - which is what you find in niche games and OCCASIONALLY from established MMO teams.

But BioWare didn't do that did they? There's very little of a SOCIAL or SHARED experience to TOR, is there? And there's almost nothing (r)evolutionary about any of the game design or mechanics. They took what was known and comfortable, slapped a conversation wheel on it (also not new or evolutionary), and called it an MMO. Mostly companies make MMOs because of the business potential - which is where you find the clones and rehashes. If we're lucky, they make some small changes for the better.

Which do you think interested BioWare (and more importantly, EA) more? $50 X 2 Million in box sales? Or $50 X 2 Million in box sales PLUS $15 X 1 million monthly "ad infinitum"? Yeah.

Like I said, I enjoyed TOR for what it was. It's not a bad game; it's just not a good MMO.

(Also: http://www.gameinformer.com/games/guild_wars_2/b/pc/archive/2012/02/20/guild-wars-2-is-the-mmo-revolution-that-star-wars-the-old-republic-promised.aspx - the writing on the wall for TOR? I won't proclaim the game "dead", ever, as it will always have it's die-hard fans. But you have to think that some people at BioWare are not particularly pleased to read that.)

Frankly, I'm tired of hearing BioWare congratulate themselves on what they DID, or what's COMING UP. If they want to retain subscribers, they better start producing real changes to the live game.

I enjoyed TOR for what it was - a single-player story. But too many bad design decisions have left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I'll be letting my subscription end. The "world" they've created is just sterile, and shallow, and gives me no reason to spend time there outside of questing. And outside the story quests, there is no reason to visit any of the content a second time.

The obvious timesinks are poorly disguised (when disguised at all) and fairly well botched; quest hubs in the age of holocalls? "speeders" that crawl at less than double what I can sprint? massive, yet empty, spaces that not only don't allow for handicapped mounts, but are bland and shoddily reskinned from one faction to the other (and let's not forget my favorite 'Zone-4-times-to-get-to-Balmorra")? Am I honestly to believe that EVERY spaceport has the same layout??? And that palaces from Alderaan to Coruscant to Dromund Kaas were all built by the same architect who only bothered to swap some statues and the color pallete?

Where did your millions go, BioWare? To story and to sound, obviously. But looking and sounding pretty don't keep us engaged, and don't hold onto subscribers. We need depth. (And we need balance - seriously, my Republic characters play in zones with single digit occupancy during prime time, and nobody can argue that that's because of some mystical "capacity increase".)

The shame of it is, if they had just built this as a single-player game, it would have been a resounding, unqualified success. But they saw what subs COULD do, and got greedy. Shame they didn't learn that to get players to pay a subscription, you have to give them a real reason to stick around. And TOR just doesn't have ANYTHING behind the window dressing.

*sigh*

"So yes, the worst fate for criminals is to be sent to live in a giant representation of Conan's lil' barbarian. Many have begged for death instead."

That made my morning. Thank you.

Seriously, though. You need to stop doing these kinds of Perfect Ten. They make me want to jump in and play all the games I don't have time for, just so I can explore. A prison in post-apoc Nevada? Yes, please!

As stated above, weekend tests aren't for us (the players), they are for them (the devs). At best, they are stress tests to simulate the load a server will undergo after launch (though I doubt ANY test can truly simulate the crush of players on something like TOR). At worst, they are a marketing technique, in which case a weekend just isn't enough!

@Bramen

It's not about being entertained. It's about coming together in a place and fashion in which a groupd of friends knows and loves. And for those of us who form real bonds online, the game becomes more than a game - it becomes a second home.

And believe me, if I could have gone in person, I would have; I never met my guild leader face-to-face, but he was a good friend, and even up to the week before his death, he was cheerful, kind, and more than willing to lend a hand to any and all. He was eternally optimistic. He loved the game (LotRO) and our guild - what better way to celebrate his life?

@peyo01

Agreed that character funerals are pointless, but I have attended a funeral for a player who passed away. As with any community, online or otherwise, a funeral is for those who have lost someone for whom they care; our guild leader and founder passed away after a very long battle with cancer, and it had a significant impact on everyone involved. Moreso his real family, of course, but we all knew him well, followed and supported him through his illness, and when he died it hit our entire guild very hard.

I've been to my share of real-life funerals, and I can say that the in-game ceremony for the passing of a friend was no less a real funeral. His wife and kids (who are also still in our guild to this day), were in attendance and it was probably the single biggest gathering I've seen in-game. Friends are friends no matter how you meet them or where you make them, and it was important, and inspiring, to see so many people come pay their respects.