End Game -- Why the Rush?

[K9Justice]

Of the reviews about Star Wars: The Old Republic, about the only real complaint I've see is about capped level game content. My complaint about WoW is about capped level gaming. This is my two cents about how I think most of us have the wrong perspective of these MMOs.

I started playing WoW since Day 1 of original release. Because I come from a competitive First Person Shooter background, I jumped into WoW looking to get the biggest and baddest gear as fast as possible so I could kill people. Well I got there quickly and was about 2 weeks from High Warlord when Burning Crusade was released so I only got Rank 11. But the point is, I was playing hardcore. I have leveled every class to level 85 and 3 or 4 are in mostly end game gear. Even when the cap was 60 I had 4 level 60s. I've always had multiple characters at capped level.

Well the problem I've had with WoW is that I find level cap gaming boring and monotonous. I've done the whole end game raiding thing and competitive arena seasons, Season 2 Gladiator. However, I cannot tell you one thing about WoW lore. I have no clue why Thrall is important nor can I tell you what the hell Lady Vash (I don't know her full name) is supposed to be about. I know nothing about WoW other than how to work as a team and kill players.

I failed to enjoy the game.

So now that I've started playing TOR, I decided to focus more on enjoying the story and the Star Wars universe and less focused on gearing up so that I have the biggest shiny gear. Because I've taken this approach, I've been enjoying the game much more. I'm finding the character development more rewarding. I've always been a fan of the Star Wars movies but never been one of those hardcore guys so even though I've seen every movie a couple times, I do not know a lot about the universe as I've never read a SW book. Well with this game, I'm learning about SW and I am understanding more about the races and why the Empire is what it is and how it got that way. Point is, I'm having fun.

Because I'm having fun, the game doesn't feel like a second job which is what WoW felt like. I always felt in WoW that if I didn't play daily, I would lose out on precious gear grind time and fall behind others. TOR doesn't elicit that kind of emotion. This means I'm playing less often and spending more time in the real world all the while enjoying the game more.

My point to this long thesis, I think too many of us get caught up in having to get those pretty purple pixels and we do not allow ourselves to enjoy the games we are playing. If you're playing TOR, do not be worried about capping out, enjoy the game. Once you do this, you will not be disappointed by what TOR delivers. And stop comparing it to WoW's game mechanics, this isn't WoW.

[Primernova]

Good post my friend, good post.

MMOs are for fun, not instant gratification.

So many have forgot that.

[Deleted]

Nice post, containing a lot of truth. But just one thing to mention:

Wait 2 Months. Then replace "WoW" with "SW:TOR", and replace "SW:TOR" with "WoW".

You will get the same Result. WoW is a heck of Fun, if played like you described in second Part. Just rushing through a game to reach the finish makes every MMO boring - especially if done several times, called twinking.

[Imnick]

You enjoy a game your way, some people enjoy a game a different way.
Why do you have to tell them your opinion is more valid than theirs? It's not.

[Isilarya]

Well its like that with any mmo thats built off a previously established lore. WoW lore was pretty extensive originally if you actually read into it the problem with vanilla was the lore was on the site and not in the game, so you had to go to the website to understand why exactly it was you were storming blackwing lair. You yourself pointed out you have multiple alts, sure your enjoying the lore now whats going to happen when....you know it all? Your not gonna give a damn while you level alts after that point. I have an extreme obsession with background story in everything i involve myself in movies anime gaming however its not always a good thing because then you begin to notice when they f it up. I zoned into Well of Eternity for my first time and honestly my first reaction was "why the fuck does illidan have glaives." Knowing the lore wont always be the best thing if you actually like it I hope for your sake and the sake of the true star wars fans Bioware doesnt take gratuitous liberties with how badly they can mangle that universe.

[Primernova]

Well its like that with any mmo thats built off a previously established lore. WoW lore was pretty extensive originally if you actually read into it the problem with vanilla was the lore was on the site and not in the game, so you had to go to the website to understand why exactly it was you were storming blackwing lair. You yourself pointed out you have multiple alts, sure your enjoying the lore now whats going to happen when....you know it all? Your not gonna give a damn while you level alts after that point. I have an extreme obsession with background story in everything i involve myself in movies anime gaming however its not always a good thing because then you begin to notice when they f it up. I zoned into Well of Eternity for my first time and honestly my first reaction was "why the fuck does illidan have glaives." Knowing the lore wont always be the best thing if you actually like it I hope for your sake and the sake of the true star wars fans Bioware doesnt take gratuitous liberties with how badly they can mangle that universe.

I just want mobs/bosses; and/or players that can actually kill me once in a while.

I know, it seems jaded but I live for the pain of hard video games, especially with "friends".

[Deleted]

The take it easy and enjoy the game mindset is why I enjoyed Vanilla WoW as much as I did back then, hardcore leveling to the end game was never something I was too interested in and although I'd set myself a target of a couple of levels per day just to set myself a pace I fully focused on enjoying the questing and finished every quest I found even it had turned grey. End game content just wasn't even something I was aware of when I started the game, I was in it for the immersion/storylines.

[Deleted]

World firsts ofc

[Deleted]

Rank11 = 2 weeks from Rank 14? No way, you were a month+ away.

[Isilarya]

The take it easy and enjoy the game mindset is why I enjoyed Vanilla WoW as much as I did back then, hardcore leveling to the end game was never something I was too interested in and although I'd set myself a target of a couple of levels per day just to set myself a pace I fully focused on enjoying the questing and finished every quest I found even it had turned grey. End game content just wasn't even something I was aware of when I started the game, I was in it for the immersion/storylines.

Despite my overall disdain for WotLK and Cata and love of Vanil and BC, WotLK and Cata did storyline in quests WAY better. There was little actual plot in the quests in the first 2 iterations of the game. It went from "Go kill 6 npcs." "Why?" "I unno...theyre there? and we need some reason to give you this reward?" to "Go kill 6 alliance npcs" "why?" "because they invaded our lands and burned our villages" See why this is better lol.

[lunaspike]

Well its like that with any mmo thats built off a previously established lore. WoW lore was pretty extensive originally if you actually read into it the problem with vanilla was the lore was on the site and not in the game, so you had to go to the website to understand why exactly it was you were storming blackwing lair. You yourself pointed out you have multiple alts, sure your enjoying the lore now whats going to happen when....you know it all? Your not gonna give a damn while you level alts after that point. I have an extreme obsession with background story in everything i involve myself in movies anime gaming however its not always a good thing because then you begin to notice when they f it up. I zoned into Well of Eternity for my first time and honestly my first reaction was "why the fuck does illidan have glaives." Knowing the lore wont always be the best thing if you actually like it I hope for your sake and the sake of the true star wars fans Bioware doesnt take gratuitous liberties with how badly they can mangle that universe.

Bioware can't take too many liberties as everything to do with the lore has to be cleared first. Then that has to be run through the holocron.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Holoc...nuity_database

[Deleted]

My point to this long thesis, I think too many of us get caught up in having to get those pretty purple pixels and we do not allow ourselves to enjoy the games we are playing. If you're playing TOR, do not be worried about capping out, enjoy the game. Once you do this, you will not be disappointed by what TOR delivers. And stop comparing it to WoW's game mechanics, this isn't WoW.

Couldn't agree more. If all your after is the superficial gear at the end-game then you'll be dissapointed patch after patch, as your essentially playing a game to get slightly better stats, and different esthetically looking attire: Where's the enjoyment in that, unless you are insane according to Einstien's definition .

[Deleted]

Couldn't agree more. If all your after is the superficial gear at the end-game then you'll be dissapointed patch after patch, as your essentially playing a game to get slightly better stats, and different esthetically looking attire: Where's the enjoyment in that, unless you are insane according to Einstien's definition .

Why is improving your character superficial? Simple fact is that after you level cap it starts to be all about the gear, as it is neigh the only way to improve. This is perfectly naturally and there is nothing wrong with enjoying getting better gear. If you are a progression raider, better gear plays a pivotal role in the process; better gear equals harder encounters. That is how it works. If anything it kind of annoys me when people write this stuff, as if anyone who looks to improve their character is "doing it wrong."

[Lac]

Thats why i loved wow so much when I first started playing. It was my first mmo and I had no idea that raiding even existed. I've always played games for their stories so I read every quest along the way and loved the story of wow. For me, gear as always been a way to make getting down the next part of the content down and seeing more of the story. What you are experiencing in Star Wars is what I experienced in wow. It is a shame you missed out on it back in the day because I think you would have loved WoW even more and appreciated the end game content when you reached it. It isnt too late to get into the story of wow though. If you get tired of Star Wars and want to get into the story of wow, level a new toon but actually read the quests and do them all, even if they turn grey (which they will). Read Wowpedia when you come across a character you dont know about. You dont have to read the books if you dont want to, just look them up on wowpedia and you can get an overview of what each of them are about. Same with the comics. There is so much lore in wow and most of it (not all) is pretty amazing stuff.

[Deleted]

Despite my overall disdain for WotLK and Cata and love of Vanil and BC, WotLK and Cata did storyline in quests WAY better. There was little actual plot in the quests in the first 2 iterations of the game. It went from "Go kill 6 npcs." "Why?" "I unno...theyre there? and we need some reason to give you this reward?" to "Go kill 6 alliance npcs" "why?" "because they invaded our lands and burned our villages" See why this is better lol.

Didn't mean to imply the quests themselves were better, just that the way the game was back then lent itself more to playing for the journey as apposed to this "rush to end game" mentality, this may have been down to it being hard to rush without getting burnt out due to xp requirements or ironically enough that the quests themselves were often similar enough and devoid of reason to bother playing for extensive periods. But none the less I felt more compelled to stick with a zone until I had finished everything in it then move on.

[Spaceshaman]

was about 2 weeks from High Warlord when Burning Crusade was released so I only got Rank 11.

Rank 14 was much farther from rank 11 than 2 weeks lol. With 1.12 it was easier but still not 2 weeks.

Anyway, MMOs are about endgame. The content (PVE and PVP) for organized group of players. For advanturing there are the single player RPGs. In those games you can play thru content at your own pace.

Ok, you problem is you don't understand the difference between Multiplayer and Singleplayer games.

[K9Justice]

Rank11 = 2 weeks from Rank 14? No way, you were a month+ away.

No, 2 weeks. My server had a round robin set up and we identified who was to get what rank and when. It was a great server, I just happened to join the group of guys working for rank rotation a little late after they started. Every person got their rank when they were supposed to. I miss the comradrie of original WoW.

---------- Post added 2011-12-25 at 05:20 PM ----------

Didn't mean to imply the quests themselves were better, just that the way the game was back then lent itself more to playing for the journey as apposed to this "rush to end game" mentality, this may have been down to it being hard to rush without getting burnt out due to xp requirements or ironically enough that the quests themselves were often similar enough and devoid of reason to bother playing for extensive periods. But none the less I felt more compelled to stick with a zone until I had finished everything in it then move on.

I think you're right. The game did lend itself more to exploring the different zones than rush to the next level cap. Nothing wrong with people wanting to always cap out, I did that myself. I just think I missed out on a lot of the game by playing that way.

[Clockwork Pinkie]

Some people enjoy getting to end game and looking the very best so they can afk in the main hub and get looks from all the new players. That's their fun, some people play it for the story, that's their fun. To each their own, no sense in even trying to talk other people out of it. They judge end-game more because that is where everyone will spend majority of their time. Once you run out of quest, what is there to do on the game anymore? Make more alts? That won't be fun for some people if there's nothing to do end-game with these characters.

[K9Justice]

You enjoy a game your way, some people enjoy a game a different way.
Why do you have to tell them your opinion is more valid than theirs? It's not.

Sorry if you somehow misunderstood what I was saying as some sort of "I'm better than you" post. I don't recall saying my opinion more valid than others. It was my attempt to explain my opinions about why some may not be enjoying TOR. They are not involving themselves in the game, they are playing this brand new game the same way they have played the 7 year old WoW. It won't play the same, no matter how much many wish it would.

Nothing wrong with people zerging to level 50 if that is how they want to play. But once there and they are saying they are not happy. First, very few are trying to max their levels quickly. Most are enjoying the story line so therefore, the level capped people do not have many to interact with. That alone can make the level cap boring in some ways. Then they are trying to compare the complexity of WoW instances to that of TOR's. This is an unfair comparison because TOR is only a few weeks old verses the 7 year old WoW.

Also, I think there is a Trade Chat in a WoW village that is missing you.

[Deleted]

Some people enjoy blazing through content, they enjoy winning the game. MMOs are alot about this.