A Rant About SW:TOR and Bioware.

[TheWiseMendicant]

Ok, so this isn't going well after beta testing this game for about 1-2 weeks. I've played about 50-60 hours, and gotten characters up to around level 41/45, for my Sith Inquisitor and Republic Trooper.



Here's the "Golden TEN RULES on how to make an AAA MMORPG" - By Bioware.




1 The world design should be as linear as possible! - Players are dumb, especially when it comes to mmos, and star wars, and RPGS. They'll totally get lost in an open world. So hey why not lock them in tunnels with one single path and sky above, leading straight to the quest objective!



2 Voice over everything! - Hey guys we have 300 million bucks to make this game, lets put the half on voice acting, the quarter on forum maintenance, and the rest on gameplay! Oh and let's add the spacebar to skip voiceacting!


3 Don't innovate! Copy! - There is no progress without COPYING STUFF. You must have BALLS to borrow stuff other people invented. Mix it. ??? PROFIT!


4 Companions! - Hey let's make an mmo... and add AI companions so players won't need to play with others!


5 You do not let players customize the UI - IF WE DECIDED TO PUT THIS UI IT MEANS IT'S THE BEST UI EVER! ANY CHANGE WILL MAKE IT WORSE. CAUSE WE > YOU. WE ARE BIOWARE, AND BIOWARE DOESN'T MAKE CRAP! YOU'RE WITH US OR AGAINST US!!!


6 No Macros! - macros are for wussies, come taste the real challenge BIOWARE-style!


7 No addons! - BREEEHAAAAH WHOEEEE TIGALIGALIGALUUUU!!!!! But, hey, add-ons breed elitism, so who cares?


8 From the all possible artstyles, chose the worst! - The most unpopular STAR WARS Episode, except for the xmas one, is CLONE WARS. So hey let's base our artstyle on this one! PLASTIC CLUNKY ARMY MEN PEW PEW PEW!!!


9 Make thousands and THOUSANDS of different currencies. - Annoy people! Cause it works!


10 No competitive content - Competition is what makes MMOs so long-lived. Let's prove they'll all wrong and STORY!!


(Bonus) If ever you fail, blame it on the WoW incoming expansion or patch - Yup.



I'm sure everyone will enjoy this game until the end of Dromund Kaas and Coruscant, but after that, Balmorra and Taris are rough places. Lots of running, lots of grinding, and lots of boring quests. I'm sure most people will be agreeing with me in a few months time.


have a good one.

[LonestarHero]

1 The world design should be as linear as possible! - Players are dumb, especially when it comes to mmos, and star wars, and RPGS. They'll totally get lost in an open world. So hey why not lock them in tunnels with one single path and sky above, leading straight to the quest objective!

I only got to the end of Dromund Kaas, but I didn't find it too linear. Sure, there is something nice about falling down the wrong side of a hill and being in a completely different zone ten levels above your current level. On the very very very bright side it isn't a hedge maze like Guild Wars I was where you could see your objective across a meadow but you are unable to traverse the mole hill in front of you so you are forced to snake around two miles and fight fifteen packs of mobs instead.

I can't really combat your other points due to my inexperience other than a few of them aren't necessarily permanent nor damning at this point in the life of the game. SWTOR will give me at least a month or two of fun and I'll get to see how right or wrong you are.

[Roxinius]

Seriously go back to licking your window I played to 30 this weekend and everything you're bitching about couldn't be farther from the truth and if you had half a brain you'd realize that this is 3-4 builds behind final release they have stated that macros are priority after release you sound like nothing more then a braindead wowfanboy troll also there are quests that require 4 people so almost all or if not all of your points are complete rubbish

[xeonix]

What game you played mate ? The game i tested for 2 months now is not the one u are 'recalling' atm.
The customization will be super rich with a small glimpse of the macros and ui placement WITHOUT the use of bartender and 10290931 other addons , you will move the Skills individually etc.

If the game is not competitive , how do u explain on level 15 u got to do something with 2 more other people or the quest is seriously UNDOABLE.
How do u rate level 12!!! heroic areas with elite mobs ready to gang u? How do u say its linear when all of a sudden u get lost and kill a mob u aggro and that leads u to side objectives or 'bonus' quests? oO

How can you qq about 'story' when on level 1 you go dig an ancient tomb whereas in other mmo's u kill some rats for their 'candles' !?

....some people.

EDIT : If you played it 2 weeks and now that beta phase 2 ended u spam this, i pressume u are pissed you are not allowed in further beta testing?

[krono957]

what game have you been playin cause its not the same one i was playing all weekend

[mickybrighteyes]

7 No addons! - BREEEHAAAAH WHOEEEE TIGALIGALIGALUUUU!!!!! But, hey, add-ons breed elitism, so who cares?

So the game isn't even officially out and you expect to have stuff that is usually made by third person parties? Sure.. that's a very valid complaint /sarcasm

edit: and the point on currency? you mean the tons of different currencies used to buy stuff you won't care about that is only relevent for one area and only useful to purchase a couple items?

[Deleted]

Congratulations.

You have spent 60 hours in a game you do not like... go back under your bridge...

You tell us that Taris sucks, but you made over 20 levels more after having finished Taris... god... hate hate hate... omg it is different to (insert any mmo here), haven't they learned anything? Omg.. blabla... this game sucks... blablabla...

[Gothicshark]

Someone with sand in a private place ranting about Betas.

I have been in the Beta since June of this year.

1 The world design should be as linear as possible!
The Storyline for each class is Linear, however if you want to level by doing PVP/Flashpoints you can. Also the Leveling rate on PVP and flash points is the faster track.


2 Voice over everything
Yes because they want to attract more than just WOW fanboys.


3 Don't innovate! Copy!
You Mean like how WOW copied EQ, and EQ copied Ultima? Or like How every MMO besides EVE, COH/V and the Now Closing SWG was a clone of every other MMO. They are using the Standard in Most MMOs while doing things right, such as removing the grind in professions and Dungeons.

4 Companions!
I personally Leveled to Max Level in the Last Beta Test on a SI without my companions, I kept sending them on there own missions. Sure I had to think a bit more and heal my self but you can do it without them if you want.

5 You do not let players customize the UI
They have repeatedly said they will allow Addons and UI modifications after release. Even WOW didn't have full addon support and UI customization at first.

6 No Macros!
This goes with the Addon Support they will introduce after launch.

7 No addons!
This goes with the Addon Support they will introduce after launch. Geez you have three point talking about the same thing.


8 From the all possible artstyles, chose the worst!
The Comic style is needed to make it a friendly game, you should look over the screen shots and gameplay for SWG they tried for photo realism.

9 Make thousands and THOUSANDS of different currencies.
They have one currency. However They have tokens for gear for doing Dungeons, zones, PVP which are special to these things, when done with a zone you should have enough for one blue Item which you can keep until Max level (thanks to the Crafting system)


10 No competitive content
You need to play more PVP then. Also I bet you never did any of the raids yet.

(Bonus) If ever you fail, blame it on the WoW incoming expansion or patch
Are you kidding, WOW is killing itself, this next patch proves it, Cataclysm was a failure and Mist of Pandaria looks god awful. 4.3 has a few toys and another set of raids which people don't care about.

I will agree that the level 15-21 range is the hardest Leveling in the game, The world is bigger, the story is no longer linear, and you do not yet have a Mount. This is the way it was in WOW until you got your first mount so really you are saying you hate leveling. Go play DCU, you can get max level in 15 hours of gameplay. We don't need you in WOW or SWTOR because of people like you WOW is dieing.

[Deleted]

what game have you been playin cause its not the same one i was playing all weekend

This for me as well, the best leveling experience i ever had (and im playing wow since tbc), and awesome flashpoint runs i had,
cant w8 for the release!

[Maki]

Is this thread about cheap wine?

[Veluren]

Is this thread about cheap wine?

No, but I can think of a homophone that fits a tad better.

[Quackie]

Who cares? Most of you will be awful at this game as well. lol

[Traces]

Guys, if you think he is a troll then use the report, just calling him on it won't achieve anything except a possible infraction for you.

He covers some decent points that is good for discussion, lets at least talk about them.

Ok, so this isn't going well after beta testing this game for about 1-2 weeks. I've played about 50-60 hours, and gotten characters up to around level 41/45, for my Sith Inquisitor and Republic Trooper.

Here's the "Golden TEN RULES on how to make an AAA MMORPG" - By Bioware.

1 The world design should be as linear as possible! - Players are dumb, especially when it comes to mmos, and star wars, and RPGS. They'll totally get lost in an open world. So hey why not lock them in tunnels with one single path and sky above, leading straight to the quest objective!

I agree, the game is very on the rails but there is places to explore and things to do outside of questing, like how many datacrons did you find?

2 Voice over everything! - Hey guys we have 300 million bucks to make this game, lets put the half on voice acting, the quarter on forum maintenance, and the rest on gameplay! Oh and let's add the spacebar to skip voiceacting!

I would like a source as to where you got those super accurate funding statements from. There is emphasis put on story but they didn't sacrifice game-play or content in doing so.

3 Don't innovate! Copy! - There is no progress without COPYING STUFF. You must have BALLS to borrow stuff other people invented. Mix it. ??? PROFIT!

Why change something that isn't broken? Some of the mechanics that they used are solid mechanics that would serve no point in being changed. They also developed some fantastic features that are exclusive to SWTOR. If you look at your other statements, you clearly state that most of the game is story-driven which is 100% innovative to the genre.

4 Companions! - Hey let's make an mmo... and add AI companions so players won't need to play with others!

I think it was more a case of 'Hey lets add companions so that if players are struggling to find a group they can use some AI to help them out'. Also some of the mobs at the end-game and even at the mid-game are really difficult to solo play and you need your companion and I was 100% tank specced, I wouldn't like to be a squishy class without a companion.

5 You do not let players customize the UI - IF WE DECIDED TO PUT THIS UI IT MEANS IT'S THE BEST UI EVER! ANY CHANGE WILL MAKE IT WORSE. CAUSE WE > YOU. WE ARE BIOWARE, AND BIOWARE DOESN'T MAKE CRAP! YOU'RE WITH US OR AGAINST US!!!

Again something that I agree with you on, I think the UI should be customizable. Although they have said that add-ons will be in the game post-launch and hopefully that will bring some changes to it.

Also I hope that you submitted that as feedback as Bioware have been fantastic up until now in listening to their player base and you might see UI scaling in the game at launch or shortly after.

6 No Macros! - macros are for wussies, come taste the real challenge BIOWARE-style!

Again post-launch, something they are working on.

7 No addons! - BREEEHAAAAH WHOEEEE TIGALIGALIGALUUUU!!!!! But, hey, add-ons breed elitism, so who cares?

Post -wait for it- Launch

8 From the all possible artstyles, chose the worst! - The most unpopular STAR WARS Episode, except for the xmas one, is CLONE WARS. So hey let's base our artstyle on this one! PLASTIC CLUNKY ARMY MEN PEW PEW PEW!!!

It looks nothing like Clone Wars. The worlds all suit the Star Wars theme to a tee.

The art direction is perfect just like WoW, it will stand the test of time with a slightly cartoony look. If you make a game look realistic in 2011, it won't look realistic come 2015 with engines changing etc, so it was the correct choice for them to go with.

9 Make thousands and THOUSANDS of different currencies. - Annoy people! Cause it works!

Yepp, I think the currencies are annoying have some for every planet but they are on a tab that you don't need to look at, also you can just cash them in for lockboxes if you have spare. Let me ask you a question though, how would you handle it differently?

10 No competitive content - Competition is what makes MMOs so long-lived. Let's prove they'll all wrong and STORY!!

Competitive content is already being worked on just another post-launch feature. It is a brand new game remember, these things take time to get right. I would rather wait a few months and let them fix all the bugs so people don't use bugs or mechanics to get to the high rated stuff.

PVE is already being tracked, so it will offer a competitive nature from a 3rd party website.

(Bonus) If ever you fail, blame it on the WoW incoming expansion or patch - Yup.

Can you link where Bioware said that? It won't fail anyways, it has too much of a following due to BioWare and Lucas Arts. Just because it doesn't hit 10 million subs doesn't mean it failed btw.

You brought up some decent points, see you at launch.

[mirodin]

HIJACK THIS and make it about cheap wine. I like cheap wine

[Potatowizard]

I have been in the Beta since June of this year.

1 The world design should be as linear as possible!
The Storyline for each class is Linear, however if you want to level by doing PVP/Flashpoints you can. Also the Leveling rate on PVP and flash points is the faster track.


2 Voice over everything
Yes because they want to attract more than just WOW fanboys.


3 Don't innovate! Copy!
You Mean like how WOW copied EQ, and EQ copied Ultima? Or like How every MMO besides EVE, COH/V and the Now Closing SWG was a clone of every other MMO. They are using the Standard in Most MMOs while doing things right, such as removing the grind in professions and Dungeons.

4 Companions!
I personally Leveled to Max Level in the Last Beta Test on a SI without my companions, I kept sending them on there own missions. Sure I had to think a bit more and heal my self but you can do it without them if you want.

5 You do not let players customize the UI
They have repeatedly said they will allow Addons and UI modifications after release. Even WOW didn't have full addon support and UI customization at first.

6 No Macros!
This goes with the Addon Support they will introduce after launch.

7 No addons!
This goes with the Addon Support they will introduce after launch. Geez you have three point talking about the same thing.


8 From the all possible artstyles, chose the worst!
The Comic style is needed to make it a friendly game, you should look over the screen shots and gameplay for SWG they tried for photo realism.

9 Make thousands and THOUSANDS of different currencies.
They have one currency. However They have tokens for gear for doing Dungeons, zones, PVP which are special to these things, when done with a zone you should have enough for one blue Item which you can keep until Max level (thanks to the Crafting system)


10 No competitive content
You need to play more PVP then. Also I bet you never did any of the raids yet.

(Bonus) If ever you fail, blame it on the WoW incoming expansion or patch
Are you kidding, WOW is killing itself, this next patch proves it, Cataclysm was a failure and Mist of Pandaria looks god awful. 4.3 has a few toys and another set of raids which people don't care about.

I will agree that the level 15-21 range is the hardest Leveling in the game, The world is bigger, the story is no longer linear, and you do not yet have a Mount. This is the way it was in WOW until you got your first mount so really you are saying you hate leveling. Go play DCU, you can get max level in 15 hours of gameplay. We don't need you in WOW or SWTOR because of people like you WOW is dieing.

+100
win win win

[Askyl]

I'd rather see SWTOR have 1 million subs with a great community than 12million subs with WoWs community.

[Deleted]

I didn't like the time I spent in SW:TOR beta.
The game just doesn't make sense, dualwield lightsabers and they dont melt people in one hit.

The game will keep generate what 4 million players but half of them are lost before they hit max level, rest of them will be casual starwars nerds, you know the same kids that played digimon because pokemon was unrealistic.

[Weerra]

So much hate in this thread

[Deleted]

I'd rather see SWTOR have 1 million subs with a great community than 12million subs with WoWs community.

Wow community and SWTOR community is the same. Just like in any other MMORPG there will be kids and douchebags.

[Weerra]

I'd rather see SWTOR have 1 million subs with a great community than 12million subs with WoWs community.

worst case: 2 million, but with WOW community!