I played during the early beta tests. At one point, not far before launch, the game had a decent complication to gearing, and adding mods to gear. By the time launch rolled around they dumbed the game down so much, I was over it. Made myself play for a month, and just lost interest. Too much theme park, lack of gear diversity, ability to tweak your mods and such. start to endgame only took me a few weeks. It was just to shallow of a game.
You had full voice acting and themes during the scenes.
You had the classic crafting
You had dungeons and raids ( yes I know it's not called that in swtor)
You had Battlegrounds (and scrapped world pvp)
How Is Swtor any different from the rest of the thempark games, yes the hype were epic, dunno what the hype was, I expected a classic themepark and the game did just that.
So what did everyone who didn't enjoy the game expected the game to be, why did it fail what was missing?
despite what the vocal minority were preaching around that time when it was coming out, I dont want a heavy instanced, Level Grind Story Forced MMO.
I dont like Dragon Age, so I dont want a Dragon Age MMO in a SW skin. The developers put way too much of the development's resources into the Story voices and stuff like that which isnt only fun the first time going through if at all. I knew then that this was a huge mistake so I wasnt hyped on the game and passed on it.
Gameplay is whats important to me in a Themepark MMO. Not the Story. Vanilla Rift for example had a piss poor story, but some good class mechanics and Dynamic Events. Became too Level grindy over the years that I quit that as well for GW2.
At the core for me would be the graphics engine. This resulted in a poor combat experience and lacklustre gameplay in general. Played for quite a while but there was always this hold back to it.
It took two months and it felt like I had played everything swtor offered, leveled three classes, played all dungeons, hard mode dungeons and also finished the two initial raids. It felt more like I moved on because I had done everything I felt like doing.
Iselin: And the next person who says "but it's a business, they need to make money" can just go fuck yourself.
They sold it a certain way before launch, making it seem like there would be dungeons like DAOC Darkness Falls, and several other things about a galaxy in conflict that wasn't legit. It wound up being a mediocre KoTOR with some WoW themepark elements, which would have been fine if they would have sold it as such. Once my guild beat the first raid that was it for us.
I had fun in it for awhile. got a couple toons to max. but i do enjoy some pvp and i thought the pvp in that game was just terrible, i was so sick of hutball and thats mostly what would que up. and the world pvp was just bad.
It looked like a fairly generic MMORPG. The companion system looked like it could be kind of cool, but that was about it. It looked like at best, the game could potentially be decent but not great.
And then EA was involved, and you just know that they're going to break the game somehow.
once ilum got nerfed and ruined open world pvp that was it for me i hate queing up for pvp and you can only do huttball so much. Its sad had they fixed the open world pvp could have been something but when you got james ohlen saying the game cant handle 15 people in the same area you know you got a bad engine smh all tor is now is a bunch of kids using daddys credit card standing afk on the fleet bored with nothing to do its sad. The other issue is they could have made space another game in itself like swg did with jump to lightspeed open free roam space but no were stuck with gsf smh very sad ive never seen a game so instanced in my life even the guild ship you cant drive it freely around and fight other guild ships its just so sad.
I only played during beta tests, but I remember being really annoyed with having to fight my way through umpteen packs of completely static trash mobs down a corridor to get to my objective, then fight my way back down the same corridor fighting all the same packs that had respawned in a minute or two.
I remember being really annoyed by the Star Fox space combat missions, flying the Millenium Falcon through a stage over and over like I was competing for a high score in a 1990s arcade cabinet.
I'm a HUGE Star Wars fan and a big fan of BioWare, but Star Wars music and some neat voiced quests weren't enough for me to feel like SWTOR was something I wanted to invest my free time in at launch. I was interested in trying it out when it went free-to-play, but then when I read all the quality of life features they were hiding behind the paywall, I never bothered.
This is almost exactly the same for me. I did go back once you could just do the story missions and am just about done bounty hunter. I will likely to Imperial angent as well. . maybe smuggler and the healer type jedi.
No, do be as detailed as possible! How did Trooper and Smuggler play back then?
I just don't have the ability to be that detailed. I can remember in the general sense but once I lost interest in the game I just flushed it. What I can say is that it felt compelling to play every class and both class options. In that sense going from class to it's mirror was not simply the same abilities with different animations (or two weapons instead of one). Later it pretty much just felt like the same abilities slapped into the mirrors.
I remember before tuning on the weekend test that smuggler had a bit harder time with some of the spawns. Trooper... well I just loved commando. As much as I've always been a BH fan in Star Wars... Commando was an experience early on.
To be honest most of my beta experience was in PvP and I played a Sorc almost all the time. Once the changes started... well let's just call it what it was. Once they started gutting the game I no longer did PvP or much of anything in beta. There was no listening to feedback and with all the gutting they were obviously trying to keep it simple to get it out the door on a certain date. Which is sad because the game they had... even with the same maps was at least something I was willing to play.
When the game went "live" I didn't even play any of the classes I really focused on in beta. I also never PvP'd EVER once the game went live. Even though I had spent months doing it in beta prior to the changes.
I actually played a Bounty Hunter.. sad to say I can't even remember what the tank spec was called (obviously not Merc). I was probably one of if not the first 50 on my server and then I logged out and was done with the game.
I return to the game every now and then to scratch my Star Wars itch. Since all the Disney era SW games are garbage, this is best I've got.
Do you not play the old games? Like KotOR 1 & 2 or the old Jedi Knight series? KotOR and Jedi Academy is where I get my "good Star Wars fill"
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
I have the same feeling about SWTOR. For me it is by far the most well done story of any MMO around. The Sith Warrior story arc was just awesome, i was playing the game like i watch a movie. I feel the game was a bit too easy thou, if you remove the challenge the game begin to be pointless to grind.
They also introduce the housing system a little too late i believe, but the game itself was good and the story was just spot on.
No world building or immersion in said worlds. Everything is static, mobs all attack the exact same way no matter the planet. Every planet feels like a tunnel. Every class feels the same. Story is the only real gem in this game. I would completely rebuild the game if I had the IP and billions of dollars and would make more sandbox elements coupled with the amazing story, and that would just be the start.
I really enjoyed it for the most part when it first game out and played it a lot. My biggest problems were the very very long travel times and time sinks.
You just couldn't go down to the planet. You had to go to the orbital station first to transfer to a shuttle that took you to the planet. Some destinations took a full five mins of riding on a speeder to get there and once you got there you had to fight your way to all the quest locations. Things have gotten better with a lot of cool-down reductions on instant travel items. And it's a lot faster if your class has stealth skills.
Recently I returned to finish two class stories I noticed were close to being done. Games kinda empty. I might see anywhere from one to five players while doing missions on planets. Maybe 15 or so on the fleet. Nothing like the old days.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I return to the game every now and then to scratch my Star Wars itch. Since all the Disney era SW games are garbage, this is best I've got.
Do you not play the old games? Like KotOR 1 & 2 or the old Jedi Knight series? KotOR and Jedi Academy is where I get my "good Star Wars fill"
Already finished all of those multiple times of course. Good thing about Swtor is, there is always some new content every time I feel like checking it out.
I am just glad i played through all the different storylines before they messed the game up, changing how companions work was just the last straw i guess, if they ever do a 'vanilla' SWTOR, i might come back and play again, but in its present state, its a no go.
You had full voice acting and themes during the scenes.
You had the classic crafting
You had dungeons and raids ( yes I know it's not called that in swtor)
You had Battlegrounds (and scrapped world pvp)
How Is Swtor any different from the rest of the thempark games, yes the hype were epic, dunno what the hype was, I expected a classic themepark and the game did just that.
So what did everyone who didn't enjoy the game expected the game to be, why did it fail what was missing?
I wanted to feel like I was part of the Star Wars universe. I didn't get that feeling at all. It felt more like I was watching a movie while going through the motions. It didn't feel "grand". The maps were small, I never felt lost, the PvP was an absolute joke (Huttball?!?), etc.
I wasn't looking for SWG 2.0. I wanted the best of both worlds (Sandbox + Theme Park).
When did SWTOR launch? 2007? Imagine if that very same game launched then, but without the Star Wars. With the mechanics alone, do you think people would still be playing it?
The only reason people are playing it now is because there is no other mildly-modern Star Wars option.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I dunno. Back then, I often visited the Bioware forums. After EA took over, I felt the tone changed a lot, so I left and never played a Bioware game again.
Well, any of the newer Bioware games. I still play and enjoy Baldur's Gate and SWKotOR sometimes.
Comments
I dont like Dragon Age, so I dont want a Dragon Age MMO in a SW skin. The developers put way too much of the development's resources into the Story voices and stuff like that which isnt only fun the first time going through if at all. I knew then that this was a huge mistake so I wasnt hyped on the game and passed on it.
Gameplay is whats important to me in a Themepark MMO. Not the Story. Vanilla Rift for example had a piss poor story, but some good class mechanics and Dynamic Events. Became too Level grindy over the years that I quit that as well for GW2.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
And then EA was involved, and you just know that they're going to break the game somehow.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
I remember before tuning on the weekend test that smuggler had a bit harder time with some of the spawns. Trooper... well I just loved commando. As much as I've always been a BH fan in Star Wars... Commando was an experience early on.
To be honest most of my beta experience was in PvP and I played a Sorc almost all the time. Once the changes started... well let's just call it what it was. Once they started gutting the game I no longer did PvP or much of anything in beta. There was no listening to feedback and with all the gutting they were obviously trying to keep it simple to get it out the door on a certain date. Which is sad because the game they had... even with the same maps was at least something I was willing to play.
When the game went "live" I didn't even play any of the classes I really focused on in beta. I also never PvP'd EVER once the game went live. Even though I had spent months doing it in beta prior to the changes.
I actually played a Bounty Hunter.. sad to say I can't even remember what the tank spec was called (obviously not Merc). I was probably one of if not the first 50 on my server and then I logged out and was done with the game.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
They also introduce the housing system a little too late i believe, but the game itself was good and the story was just spot on.
You just couldn't go down to the planet. You had to go to the orbital station first to transfer to a shuttle that took you to the planet.
Recently I returned to finish two class stories I noticed were close to being done. Games kinda empty. I might see anywhere from one to five players while doing missions on planets. Maybe 15 or so on the fleet. Nothing like the old days.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon