Is SWTOR mostly focus on raiding like WOW or soloing?

[Deatheryn]

I think it will be an awesome game if for no other reason than that it will focus on story and actual gameplay rather than flying in circle farming or doing the same damn quest everyday for 3 months! I am not a huge Sci-Fi fan but SWTOR looks to be shaping up to 1 big, deep,rich story that you will actually feel apart of rather than just a bunch of grinding for various outcomes! I pre-ordered my copy!

[Deleted]

Not to point out the obvious, but I find it scary that noone actually answered the question with hard numbers two months 17 days out from a release date. All I know personally for end game raiding there is one 16 man raid with 5 bosses called Eternity Vault.

How many flash points are there at end game?

Yeah was about to write the same. This game has less than 3 months left to get polished, tested etc. That's your average time Blizz tests content patches on the PTR. And they have to get their whole game right including the whole endgame thingy. That has me really concerned. So far we only know that there is 1 raid and if I remember correctly 5 lvl-50 flashpoints.
And to all those pointing out how story driven this game will be, at max-level it won't be different than any other game. It will live or die by it's endgame. It's not like they are pumping out new story elements on a weekly basis. Great story-telling will carry you only so far in an MMO. And so far I've not seen anything that really hints at a unique endgame experience. I hope I'm wrong though.

[philefluxx]

Not to point out the obvious, but I find it scary that noone actually answered the question with hard numbers two months 17 days out from a release date. All I know personally for end game raiding there is one 16 man raid with 5 bosses called Eternity Vault.

How many flash points are there at end game?

Isnt the NDA still in effect?

[Deleted]

There's far more to any MMORPG than the end game content. It's no wonder people are so bored of the stagnating genre when the vast majority seem to rush through content in the aim of completing it as soon as possible...only to complete it again and again after that. I hope that SWTOR breaks the current model and takes the MMORPG genre back to its roots, with the leveling process being just as enjoyable, immersive and involving as the end game content.

[Domenik]

How many flash points are there at end game?

With out breaking NDA I can tell you this.

There is more then 7 there is also Advanced mode of each (wow heroics)

I cannot say more but End game will be very good to raiders.

Via Fridays Podcast.

Yeah was about to write the same. This game has less than 3 months left to get polished, tested etc. That's your average time Blizz tests content patches on the PTR. And they have to get their whole game right including the whole endgame thingy. That has me really concerned. So far we only know that there is 1 raid and if I remember correctly 5 lvl-50 flashpoints.
And to all those pointing out how story driven this game will be, at max-level it won't be different than any other game. It will live or die by it's endgame. It's not like they are pumping out new story elements on a weekly basis. Great story-telling will carry you only so far in an MMO. And so far I've not seen anything that really hints at a unique endgame experience. I hope I'm wrong though.

Once again with out breaking NDA your story does not end when you hit max level there is about 20-40 hours of your story that does not open up till after you hit 50 also every content patch/expansion will continue your story.

But yes you will reach a point eventually where all there is to do is raid or pvp till the next patch. Bioware is full commited to keeping the raid content fresh they already have 2 other operation expected to be released soon after launch this was released during the gamercon podcast also alot of new stuff will be at NYCC in 2 weeks

[Zathrendar]

There's far more to any MMORPG than the end game content. It's no wonder people are so bored of the stagnating genre when the vast majority seem to rush through content in the aim of completing it as soon as possible...only to complete it again and again after that. I hope that SWTOR breaks the current model and takes the MMORPG genre back to its roots, with the leveling process being just as enjoyable, immersive and involving as the end game content.

This is my growing complaint with WoW. Too much of the content before end-game is just there to be rushed through. Even achievement hunting is by and large tied up to the end game's instanced content.

[smashzu]

Not to point out the obvious, but I find it scary that noone actually answered the question with hard numbers two months 17 days out from a release date. All I know personally for end game raiding there is one 16 man raid with 5 bosses called Eternity Vault.

How many flash points are there at end game?

People don't know or aren't talking because heroic flashpoints are still under NDA.

Risking a trolls ban-hammer, there are an absolute ton of heroic flashpoints, some of which are faction specific. I'm talking like two wow expansions of heroics at least.

[Eggoman]

I think Bioware's realization that being too dedicated to social content and ignoring single player content is where many MMOs fall apart. Given the amount of time people play, and the realization that there are more small guilds and less big guilds, there needs to be some balance where there is a nice amount of both. The realization that there is 300 hours of single player story, as well as who knows how much flashpoint/operation hours of play, tells me that right out of the gate the "normal" player will have plenty to keep them busy. I'm not so sure for the power level world first player, but for the John Smith of MMO, I have faith there is plenty for some time.

I disagree, I think promoting single player content and ignoring social content is a short sighted plan. WoW has steadily moved toward single player content (smaller raids, Dungeon Finder, Raid Finder, PvP Random Queue w/ max group queue of 5, more solo content added than group content) and that lead to smaller and smaller guilds over the course of the years. So communities have shrunk and its not a surprise that subscriptions have dropped too. The in game community is what connects players to the game IMO and without it I can see subscriptions ending quicker than they would have if the game was more social oriented.

That being said I think SWTOR mostly focuses on single player content which is story driven so I can see most people playing it through for a couple of months and then quitting for the next new thing.

[smashzu]

Yeah was about to write the same. This game has less than 3 months left to get polished, tested etc. That's your average time Blizz tests content patches on the PTR. And they have to get their whole game right including the whole endgame thingy. That has me really concerned. So far we only know that there is 1 raid and if I remember correctly 5 lvl-50 flashpoints.
And to all those pointing out how story driven this game will be, at max-level it won't be different than any other game. It will live or die by it's endgame. It's not like they are pumping out new story elements on a weekly basis. Great story-telling will carry you only so far in an MMO. And so far I've not seen anything that really hints at a unique endgame experience. I hope I'm wrong though.

Whoever said 5 is absolutely wrong. There are level 50 versions of the leveling flashpoints, as well as level 50 only flashpoints.

[Dorfadin]

I'm a little concerned the group content is gonna be easy as hell since they are doable with 2 people and 2 companions, since they take up the space of a real player and u can only have 4 in a party.

[Saverem]

Hello everyone,

I know this might sounds stupid but pardon me.

Is SWTOR going to be like WOW where raiding/PVP is the only option for maxed level players or it offer solo content for players to experience the endgame of SWTOR?

I quit WOW 2 months ago, not because of the poor content but the idea of HAVE TO raid with other people to get gears or see the endgame. I even tried PVP but spamming the trade chat for average of 10 to 20 minutes to get in Rated battleground is not my idea of cup of tea. When I first saw the news about the release date of SWTOR, I scoffed because its a MMO and it will be like WOW where I HAVE TO raid to enjoy the game. However, someone told me that I don't have to raid because this game offered solo content too as well like crafter can make BIS gears and such. Is that true?

You asking if there will be end game content designed for soloing? Nope. This is a MMORPG, if you don't like socializing or playing with other players, then I suggest you stick with just RPGs.

With that said:

PvP will require team mates, but you can queue by yourself.
There will also be space battles which I think will be a solo rail shooter type of mini-game.

Other than that, you'll have to socialize with other people, sorry. This is what makes an MMO and MMO...

[hythos]

So basicaly you are saying to me SWTOR is a game for 1000% social dead ppl who cant find friends even in an online game and do the content which makes them need a soloable content.
<snip>

I like SW and if its going to be MMO it should be a real MMo not covered up single player. I hope they will improve this not ruin it.
Sorry for typos.

I too would be upset if it turned into anything like Conan OnLine (AOC), to where everything I saw, seemed to be solo-instanced. It protected players from being ganked, but still not of my interest. Not to mention level-scaling = BAD!

Also, I don't want a 'world' where everything is instanced- IE, StarTrekOnLine, OR GuildWars(<-which I admit I never played, BECAUSE I heard everything was instanced).


** Edit -
One more thing in reference to your concern of what MMO's should be - Titan (Bliz's "NextMMO") IS going to be a "social network" with a graphical over-lay and things to do (Yes, I have seen the future, and have absolute faith that's what it will be) with your other various blizard characters; Essentially a kind of "Battle.net" without the battle: A place to sit in a virtual pub and talk to people, to 'pimp' your virtual warez and achievements, and of course, to purchase bliz-crap from virtual stores for your characters.

Hmm, you missed the meaning of "raid or die".

It came from classic WOW where a Predition blade rogue could destroy you if you were in DM or UBRS gear (the best available blue gear). Even if you were the rogue's counterclass (warrior at that time).

Resilience helped this a bit. You won't be globaled by raid gear guy but you will still die.

I fully expect SWTOR to be a riad or die game, I accept that and I plan on raiding.

This is the nature of PVP. Someone else will always have more time to play than I, and will always have better gear, better benefits. While it is fair, imbalance is the reason why I don't PVP. I'd rather go play Quake, or Q3A.
The only place I have seen FAIR and BALANCED PVP, was .... believe it or not, Star Trek OnLine - where variance in gear was practically non-existant. And guess what? It was moderately enjoyable, compared to other MMO's, like WoW, or DAOC for example, where one group, heck, even three players, *could* destroy 100, and all simply because they were extremely highly ranked pvp-wise (can't remember the terminology any more).

[noahjam326]

They announced at Gamescom that there's an entire planet completely dedicated to max level characters that doesn't involve raiding. Part of the planet is an open world PvP conflict, the other parts are less known.

[Deleted]

Pretty much right on the spot. That's what I dislike about WOW (for me of course) is RAID OR DIE concept. I have no problem with people raiding or the idea of raiding (operation) but it shouldn't be the ONLY option after you leveled. Thank for all of your feedbacks and discussions.

It's going to be very similar to WOW. You either raid or PvP to progress your character at max level or you do other activities that offer lesser rewards. Sure there is quests you can go back doing, but wow have these too except swtor will have lot of voice acting+cinematics which is plus.

[jearle]

Yes, I have seen the future, and have absolute faith that's what it will be) with your other various blizard characters; Essentially a kind of "Battle.net" without the battle: A place to sit in a virtual pub and talk to people, to 'pimp' your virtual warez and achievements, and of course, to purchase bliz-crap from virtual stores for your characters.

I have seen the future too, it's you posting a whiney thread on the official forums of how you died in a stun lock or some other class mechanic and crying for nerfs.

[hythos]

I'm a little concerned the group content is gonna be easy as hell since they are doable with 2 people and 2 companions, since they take up the space of a real player and u can only have 4 in a party.

"Mercenaries" did not halp Everquest; It allowed players to solo/small-group the once raid-only content, and prolong their departure. Allowing everyone to have a "pet" devalues an encounter. By making it easier, any accomplishment gained loses value.

[Tore]

I'm a little concerned the group content is gonna be easy as hell since they are doable with 2 people and 2 companions, since they take up the space of a real player and u can only have 4 in a party.

I'm breaking NDA here but this is important:

You can't do group content with 2 players and 2 companions. Maybe a particularly easy group quest, but neither the Black Talon or Esselles flashpoints felt doable to me with anything less than a full group and those are the first flashpoints in the game.

[papajohn4]

I have read a lot of complain posts in official forums about raiding be the only way to gear up. even crafting a gear piece of max level will require raid drops item that is soulbound..not even dungeons will drop this materials..so yes the end game will be raid/pvp but I expect leveling to be much more interesting as I trust Bioware in story-telling..

I think the developers in an interview have admit it that they copied wow as a succesful playstyle and their strong part where they expect to hit wow is voice acting and the different theme

ah, forgot to mention that you will not avoid dailies also..they said they will add dailies also..

[conscript]

I'm a little concerned the group content is gonna be easy as hell since they are doable with 2 people and 2 companions, since they take up the space of a real player and u can only have 4 in a party.

This is largely a myth afaik. There will be some spots that are doable with 2 players and 2 companions, like the first flashpoints, but as levels increase you will find yourself more in need of an actual group for the flashpoints. I would be very, very surprised if you end up being able to essentially 2-man the medium to high level flashpoints without overgearing, overlevelling, or taking 4 days while your companion dpses down the stuff while two players tank and heal.

Outside of flashpoints though I don't know how difficult the "group" content will be. I would expect that you should be able to complete it with only two real players.

---------- Post added 2011-10-04 at 10:08 AM ----------

I have read a lot of complain posts in official forums about raiding be the only way to gear up. even crafting a gear piece of max level will require raid drops item that is soulbound..not even dungeons will drop this materials..so yes the end game will be raid/pvp but I expect leveling to be much more interesting as I trust Bioware in story-telling..

I think the developers in an interview have admit it that they copied wow as a succesful playstyle and their strong part where they expect to hit wow is voice acting and the different theme

ah, forgot to mention that you will not avoid dailies also..they said they will add dailies also..

Those complainers are basing their information on an unfinished product, and likely from a second or third hand source "in the beta" at best. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the more difficult to acquire crafting items can be found in heroic flashpoint rewards, companion questing professions, or in gathering or tearing down items. Even if they do have crafting items that are uniquely from Operations, I would expect there will be similar stuff equally from gathering or other methods of solo or small group play.

[Balinos]

I dont like very much the idea of companions......takes out the need to grouping with others, but well, lets see how it will be in the action