How SWTOR is being innovative among AAA MMOs

jpnole · December 2011

SWTOR has received a lot of criticism for supposedly copying other MMOs. Well here are SWTOR MMO innovations that can't be found in the rest of the AAA MMO field:

1) Any already found binding location can be selected when using the 30 min cool down fast travel - opposed to the industry standard of making you pick a single location to be bound to.

2) Anyone can rez their allies! No need to be a healer (all other MMOs) or have a purple rez in your inventory (CoH) - and no, GW2 isn't out yet!

3) Permanently upgradeable gear - you can keep the same lightsaber all game if you like, just upgrade it's parts. Same goes for all types of weapons and armor.

4) Fully voiced with excellent voice acting!

5) Decisions put you on the spot from a moral stand point. Do you kill the NPC or let them live? Don't tell me you haven't sat there for 10 or 15 seconds on occasion trying to decide an NPCs fate.

6) Decisions affect your character. Do bad things and your character will start to look evil over time. Your crew members will judge you too!

7) The coolest mounts you've ever seen! They are actually mechanical and don't revolve around fantasy beasts.

8) Player housing in the form of an upgradeable space ship complete with space combat. Yes Lotro has housing but it's not nearly as cool and the rest of the AAA field does not! I'd almost allow STO in here but those "ship bridges" are pretty weak.

9) 17 planets so far - who knows how many they will have?

10) Crafting/Professions are beneath you - order your subordinates to do it for you!

11) Engaging story which is told to you and experienced in cinematic form.

12) Smoothest launch in MMO history.

13) If you die in the main game world, you can rez on the spot - no more ghost runs! Only punishment is a short timer and a durability hit.

14) Space combat - refined to be better than rudimentary offers in EVE/STO

15) Legacy System of levelling alts

I could go on but I have to get back in game and make sure Vette is doing as I asked. She better be if she doesn't want another shock!

I'll add more when I have more time. Please contribute innovations you have experienced in SWTOR!

Jarazar · December 2011

Very nice summary. I am thoroughly enjoying the game!

And...be easy on Vette.

PukeBucket · December 2011

Straws, they're for grasping.

moosecatlol · December 2011

Originally posted by jpnole

SWTOR has received a lot of criticism for supposedly copying other MMOs. Well here are SWTOR MMO innovations that can't be found in the rest of the AAA MMO field:

1) Any already found binding location can be selected when using the 30 min cool down fast travel - opposed to the industry standard of making you pick a single location to be bound to. (Guildwars)

2) Anyone can rez their allies! No need to be a healer (all other MMOs) or have a purple rez in your inventory (CoH) - and no, GW2 isn't out yet! (Guildwars)

3) Permanently upgradeable gear - you can keep the same lightsaber all game if you like, just upgrade it's parts. Same goes for all types of weapons and armor. (Would this be similar to masking an items appearnace? If so plenty of games let you use level 1 gear that has the stat of BiS gear)

4) Fully voiced with excellent voice acting! (Okay)

5) Decisions put you on the spot from a moral stand point. Do you kill the NPC or let them live? Don't tell me you haven't sat there for 10 or 15 seconds on occasion trying to decide an NPCs fate. (Plenty of games have had situations where you make decisions that effect portions of your gameplay)

6) Decisions affect your character. Do bad things and your character will start to look evil over time. Your crew members will judge you too! (City of Heroes touched base on morality a long time ago)

7) The coolest mounts you've ever seen! They are actually mechanical and don't revolve around fantasy beasts. (You must be trolling, is SWTOR now officially the first sci fi MMO? Btw the word you're looking for is vehicle)

8) Player housing in the form of an upgradeable space ship complete with space combat. Yes Lotro has housing but it's not nearly as cool and the rest of the AAA field does not! I'd almost allow STO in here but those "ship bridges" are pretty weak. (Player housing is not new and you even admitted it yourself, too add some more to your list, Phantasy Star Universe, and SWG)

9) 17 planets so far - who knows how many they will have? (Do you even know what innovative means?)

10) Crafting/Professions are beneath you - order your subordinates to do it for you! (This is actually decent)

11) Engaging story which is told to you and experienced in cinematic form. (If I don't see a sith warrior rip out Trandoshan's heart out and then eat it, then I wont be convinced that this story is engaging)

12) Smoothest launch in MMO history. (Nope, Hello Kitty Online had an incredibly smooth launch)

13) If you die in the main game world, you can rez on the spot - no more ghost runs! Only punishment is a short timer and a durability hit. (I'm on the fence with this one, neither innovative nor a direct rip from WoW, I just see it as death, every mmo I've played has death.)

I could go on but I have to get back in game and make sure Vette is doing as I asked. She better be if she doesn't want another shock!

I'll add more when I have more time. Please contribute innovations you have experienced in SWTOR!

This is just me bringing you down to Earth, enjoy.

jpnole · December 2011

Originally posted by PukeBucket
Straws, they're for grasping.

These are facts, not straws.

drakes821 · December 2011

I don't hate SWToR or anything...but that list is more of features not inovations. I suppose the deffinition of inovative is debateable, but I'd consider it to be something much more gamechanging then your list. The only one I agree with is the voice acting, thats a game changer.

A smooth launch is not an inovation...housing has been done alot..."cool" mounts aren't and inovation...etc.

And again I have nothing against SWToR...just this list.

TheCrow2k · December 2011

Originally posted by jpnole

SWTOR has received a lot of criticism for supposedly copying other MMOs. Well here are SWTOR MMO innovations that can't be found in the rest of the AAA MMO field:

1) Any already found binding location can be selected when using the 30 min cool down fast travel - opposed to the industry standard of making you pick a single location to be bound to.

2) Anyone can rez their allies! No need to be a healer (all other MMOs) or have a purple rez in your inventory (CoH) - and no, GW2 isn't out yet!

3) Permanently upgradeable gear - you can keep the same lightsaber all game if you like, just upgrade it's parts. Same goes for all types of weapons and armor.

4) Fully voiced with excellent voice acting!

5) Decisions put you on the spot from a moral stand point. Do you kill the NPC or let them live? Don't tell me you haven't sat there for 10 or 15 seconds on occasion trying to decide an NPCs fate.

6) Decisions affect your character. Do bad things and your character will start to look evil over time. Your crew members will judge you too!

7) The coolest mounts you've ever seen! They are actually mechanical and don't revolve around fantasy beasts.

8) Player housing in the form of an upgradeable space ship complete with space combat. Yes Lotro has housing but it's not nearly as cool and the rest of the AAA field does not! I'd almost allow STO in here but those "ship bridges" are pretty weak.

9) 17 planets so far - who knows how many they will have?

10) Crafting/Professions are beneath you - order your subordinates to do it for you!

11) Engaging story which is told to you and experienced in cinematic form.

12) Smoothest launch in MMO history.

13) If you die in the main game world, you can rez on the spot - no more ghost runs! Only punishment is a short timer and a durability hit.

I could go on but I have to get back in game and make sure Vette is doing as I asked. She better be if she doesn't want another shock!

I'll add more when I have more time. Please contribute innovations you have experienced in SWTOR!

You are clearly enjoying the game and while I dont hate it I would like to refute some of what you said.

1) has actually been done before.

3) has been done before.

4) Fuly voiced yes its a first. But AoC had the main character storline fully voiced from day 1 and the entire starter area npc's were voiced and more voices have been added over time.

5) has been done before.

7) been done before, you are just listing Aesthetics.

8) been done before, you are just listing Aesthetics.

11) been done before.

12) very debatable.....

13) been done before.

dubyahite · December 2011

Agreed. It may not be the most innovative thing ever, but there is innovation to be found here.

The big one being the style of storytelling. Others have focused on story, but not like this.

I would ad that the legacy system is pretty darned innovative as well. It is a system designed to reward people for leveling multiple characters. Never seen that before. It isn't dully implemented yet, so we will see what direction it takes. But yeah, an account wide experience bar that all of your characters contribute to. Pretty innovative.

BlahTeeb · December 2011

Originally posted by jpnole

Originally posted by PukeBucket

Straws, they're for grasping.

These are facts, not straws.

They may be facts, but that doesn't mean they are good.

Guild Wars had both your top points. Guild Wars is actually often known BECAUSE it had map travel and open ressurection.

For instance, 17 planets does not mean anything. The planets aren't actual planets... not even close. Breaking a massive land into 17 smaller masses does not equate to innovation.

It is not a fact that SWTOR has the coolest mounts ever.

Having NPC's craft for you was also done in Guild Wars, just not as polished. A true master would have his minions clear dungeons... should SWTOR make it so that your companions clear dungeons for you? Removing an aspect of the game is not innovatitve.

The launch was not the smoothest either...

I give you the voice overs, which is a really nice touch. I also give you the engaging story and choices. Both of these alone are what keeps me playing.

dubyahite · December 2011

I don't know, I think it was the smoothest launch I've ever seen. The only one that comes close off the top of my head is Rift. It might have even been smoother, but SWTOR is pretty damn smooth right now. I think the queues were worse for Rift, but it was less buggy.

kalinis · December 2011

If i were gonna list invotions in tor, Id start with story telling, No mmo has the depth of story tor has. Not the way its dont or the way your choices affect it.

Companions would be number 2 , they arent just pets they are so much more then a simple pet , They are almost like another character . The interactions u have with them are something thats never been done in an mmo

there take on crafting is unique and innovative. Crew skills go way beyond the nomral crafting u get in most mmo, while its not as indepth as swg, or some othrs its a unique take on it.

Id also say that they way they do questing while not innovative , does get rid of most of the grind, I actually wanna doe quests for more then xp,

Sure combat is similar to most mmos but its one diffrence is u usually arent going 1 on 1 but 1 on 3 or more.

The mechanics are basic mmos fare but the things they do diffrent make ti seem like so much more to me.

Im not gonna say its the most innovative game on the market, id say right now thats rift and maybe gw2 will prove to have more innovation then ive see so far

that said people claim dynamic events in gw2 are innovative when rift beat them to it, They claim combat with dodge is innovative when tera beat them to it, So i guess fans will claim stuff is innovative even if it isnt

Im a huge tor an but while mos stuff is standard mmo fare they do some things diffrent and are innovative in certain things.

moosecatlol · December 2011

Originally posted by kalinis
If i were gonna list invotions in tor, Id start with story telling, No mmo has the depth of story tor has. Not the way its dont or the way your choices affect it.

Companions would be number 2 , they arent just pets they are so much more then a simple pet , They are almost like another character . The interactions u have with them are something thats never been done in an mmo

there take on crafting is unique and innovative. Crew skills go way beyond the nomral crafting u get in most mmo, while its not as indepth as swg, or some othrs its a unique take on it.

Id also say that they way they do questing while not innovative , does get rid of most of the grind, I actually wanna doe quests for more then xp,

Sure combat is similar to most mmos but its one diffrence is u usually arent going 1 on 1 but 1 on 3 or more.

The mechanics are basic mmos fare but the things they do diffrent make ti seem like so much more to me.

Im not gonna say its the most innovative game on the market, id say right now thats rift and maybe gw2 will prove to have more innovation then ive see so far

that said people claim dynamic events in gw2 are innovative when rift beat them to it, They claim combat with dodge is innovative when tera beat them to it, So i guess fans will claim stuff is innovative even if it isnt

Im a huge tor an but while mos stuff is standard mmo fare they do some things diffrent and are innovative in certain things.

Good god, It took me 5 minutes to read that, and re-read that, and then read it out loud over Ventrilo. If it matters any, my friend is making his Vindictus motto, "Im a huge tor an but while most stuff".

Also if it matters any to you, Guildwars had projectile physics, but you had to physically move your character out of the way, there was no active dodge key.

Puremallace · December 2011

Originally posted by kalinis
If i were gonna list invotions in tor, Id start with story telling, No mmo has the depth of story tor has. Not the way its dont or the way your choices affect it.

Companions would be number 2 , they arent just pets they are so much more then a simple pet , They are almost like another character . The interactions u have with them are something thats never been done in an mmo

there take on crafting is unique and innovative. Crew skills go way beyond the nomral crafting u get in most mmo, while its not as indepth as swg, or some othrs its a unique take on it.

Why is it everything you listed as a positive I see as removing the M from MMO? Crew skills turns crafting into a lobby based game. Story is all about you with noone else helping and once you get to 50 it ends. It does not continue it just ends and the dailies start.

tvalentine · December 2011

These are more like "tweaks" to your standard mmo rather than true innovation. I mean the couple about story and companions is innovative, but really this isnt ground breaking. I dont exactly hate the game or have any intention of playing, but considering the money gone into the game, it seems like a waste when another studio could have taken those resources and made something truly creative and thats what i find disapointing about a game like this being released in a time where we've already played this mmo in a hundred different forms before it. Atleast some people are getting some fun out of it.

dubyahite · December 2011

I don't know how much crafting you've done mallace, if any, but it is much deeper than it appears at first glance.

The reverse engineering system is great. Whetting up five companions and keeping them going takes a lot of effort.

It's not the deepest crafting ever, but it is much deeper than any other themepark I can think of.

The synthweaving, for example, can make heavy, medium, and light armor, but if you want to craft the absolute best items you have to reverse engineer and get better recipes. This is quite costly to do, and pretty much prohibits being able to do all three. So you pick the one you are able to wear, and it takes a lot of effort to get the mats to be able to RE everything you need to get the purple schematics.

The recipes you get from your trainer are pretty much vendor trash. It takes a lot of work to fully realize your crafting potential.

Scorchien · December 2011

Originally posted by moosecatlol

Originally posted by kalinis

If i were gonna list invotions in tor, Id start with story telling, No mmo has the depth of story tor has. Not the way its dont or the way your choices affect it.

Companions would be number 2 , they arent just pets they are so much more then a simple pet , They are almost like another character . The interactions u have with them are something thats never been done in an mmo

there take on crafting is unique and innovative. Crew skills go way beyond the nomral crafting u get in most mmo, while its not as indepth as swg, or some othrs its a unique take on it.

Id also say that they way they do questing while not innovative , does get rid of most of the grind, I actually wanna doe quests for more then xp,

Sure combat is similar to most mmos but its one diffrence is u usually arent going 1 on 1 but 1 on 3 or more.

The mechanics are basic mmos fare but the things they do diffrent make ti seem like so much more to me.

Im not gonna say its the most innovative game on the market, id say right now thats rift and maybe gw2 will prove to have more innovation then ive see so far

that said people claim dynamic events in gw2 are innovative when rift beat them to it, They claim combat with dodge is innovative when tera beat them to it, So i guess fans will claim stuff is innovative even if it isnt

Im a huge tor an but while mos stuff is standard mmo fare they do some things diffrent and are innovative in certain things.

Good god, It took me 5 minutes to read that, and re-read that, and then read it out loud over Ventrilo. If it matters any, my friend is making his Vindictus motto, "Im a huge tor an but while most stuff".

Also if it matters any to you, Guildwars had projectile physics, but you had to physically move your character out of the way, there was no active dodge key.

Asherons Call did active dodging hmmm 1999 was it ............just sayin

dubyahite · December 2011

Also, other people can and do participate in the story buddy and it doesn't end at 50. You wouldn't know that though.

Teala · December 2011

Originally posted by jpnole

SWTOR has received a lot of criticism for supposedly copying other MMOs. Well here are SWTOR MMO innovations that can't be found in the rest of the AAA MMO field:

1) Any already found binding location can be selected when using the 30 min cool down fast travel - opposed to the industry standard of making you pick a single location to be bound to.

Cool...but for world PvP it is not so good.

2) Anyone can rez their allies! No need to be a healer (all other MMOs) or have a purple rez in your inventory (CoH) - and no, GW2 isn't out yet!

Cool...not game defining, but cool.

3) Permanently upgradeable gear - you can keep the same lightsaber all game if you like, just upgrade it's parts. Same goes for all types of weapons and armor.

This is awesome - totally agree - Bioware got it right, just like Asheron's Call...a game from 1999, and now World of Warcraft 2011. So no not innovative, but I am glad Bioware has it in there game.

4) Fully voiced with excellent voice acting!

Meh...I think this is subjective.

5) Decisions put you on the spot from a moral stand point. Do you kill the NPC or let them live? Don't tell me you haven't sat there for 10 or 15 seconds on occasion trying to decide an NPCs fate.

This is cool...but it really doesn't have an overall impact on your characters standing with the world.   Again subjective in the full terms of the game.

6) Decisions affect your character. Do bad things and your character will start to look evil over time. Your crew members will judge you too!

This would be cool if it really did have an impact, especially with companions. Sure it changes your appearance of you go darkside, and it can impact certain items on whether you can use them or not to some extant. But back to companions...it doesn't do anything.   You can treat them like dirt and they will always be there for you. It would have been better if they might, you know, actually abondon you and force you to go hire another...no that would have been cool.

7) The coolest mounts you've ever seen! They are actually mechanical and don't revolve around fantasy beasts.

Subjective. My mossy green cupa from SWG was my all time favorite in an MMORPG.

8) Player housing in the form of an upgradeable space ship complete with space combat. Yes Lotro has housing but it's not nearly as cool and the rest of the AAA field does not! I'd almost allow STO in here but those "ship bridges" are pretty weak.

Cool they let you have a ship.   No choice on which ship you can get.   It would have been better if they had more choices.   Oh and do not tell me they couldn't put in more. They are just objects with textures and enteriors are instances with trigger points to active stuff.   I can build 3D ships in a 3d program, texture it and load it into games like M&B in a few days.   I am not impressed with BW guys.   Space combat is on rails and is about as good as Star Wars Clone Wars Adventures Starfighter game...in fact they play very alike and it is a browser game.

9) 17 planets so far - who knows how many they will have?

Cool...unfortunately most become moot once you have outleveled them.   Nothing to do on them or any reason to go back to them.

10) Crafting/Professions are beneath you - order your subordinates to do it for you!

This is cool...I do like this aspect of the game.

11) Engaging story which is told to you and experienced in cinematic form.

Subjective.

12) Smoothest launch in MMO history.

Subjective, because others would totally disagree with you on this point.

13) If you die in the main game world, you can rez on the spot - no more ghost runs! Only punishment is a short timer and a durability hit.

Easy mode.   Let's take more challenge out of a game.

I could go on but I have to get back in game and make sure Vette is doing as I asked. She better be if she doesn't want another shock!

Please do...this is fun.

I'll add more when I have more time. Please contribute innovations you have experienced in SWTOR!

I do like your list, but I think you are trying too hard to hype up the game.

dubyahite · December 2011

Teala as far as the effect on your companions it is more than that. A companion that likes you will complete crafting faster with a higher crit chance for less money.

There is also the romance arcs to consider, this one is obvious.

In testing companions used to be able to die permanently in som situations or abandon you. People absolutely hated it. Bioware went with what testers wanted on that one. An overwhelming majority hated it.

It would be cool if it was like skyrim and there were all kinds of companions out there, but they are designed to be a part of your story. They have their own personality and affect on the conversations.

If I lost my tanking companion, my character would be really screwed in this game. I wouldn't want my character to be broken because I let him die in a conversation. This is what testers told Bioware as well. It seriously gimped your character.

toddze · December 2011

Why do people not know what innovative means...... It means something new.

Im still on the fence about a fully VO game being innovative. VO's have been around for a long time. Its just bioware took the time and spent the money in developing it to full VO's.

Teala · December 2011

Originally posted by dubyahite

Teala as far as the effect on your companions it is more than that. A companion that likes you will complete crafting faster with a higher crit chance for less money.

There is also the romance arcs to consider, this one is obvious.

In testing companions used to be able to die permanently in som situations or abandon you. People absolutely hated it. Bioware went with what testers wanted on that one. An overwhelming majority hated it.

It would be cool if it was like skyrim and there were all kinds of companions out there, but they are designed to be a part of your story. They have their own personality and affect on the conversations.

If I lost my tanking companion, my character would be really screwed in this game. I wouldn't want my character to be broken because I let him die in a conversation. This is what testers told Bioware as well. It seriously gimped your character.

It would be cool if you could go to a cantina, chat up some NPC's to see if anyone is looking for work. It worked in games like M&B and Skyrim as for them being apart of the storyline. I think if at the end of the storyline you were a complete arse to them, they could tell you to take a flying leap and walk away, force you to go get somebody to replace them. It is cool that some of your actions make a difference on how the behave and what not, but it should have more of an impact. Just my opinion.

dubyahite · December 2011

Yeah, personally I wouldn't mind seeing a return of "loseable" companions, but I just don't think that the system in place is designed properly for it. As a healer I feel extremely weak if I don't have my tank with me while soloing. If I could lose him I would want something like what you said to replace him with another tank. The dps and healing companions just aren't useful to me.

It also important to remember that all of the companions are fully voiced as well, and they all have their own story arcs. Having an unlimited number of them would probably be quite the challenge for Bioware.

Shoko_Lied · December 2011

Originally posted by toddze
Why do people not know what innovative means...... It means something new.

Im still on the fence about a fully VO game being innovative. VO's have been around for a long time. Its just bioware took the time and spent the money in developing it to full VO's.

Not quite. New is new, innovate is improving off of a previous structure that "was" new. Too innovate is to making something better, to make it like new again, or to do something that exists in a way that hasn't been done yet, and be good enough people to create a demand for it.

If people are playing SWTOR and enjoying these new or changed features, on a scale that is successful within the market, that is successful innovation.

Taking on the project of full VO in a mmorpg would be classified as a form of innovation. So would the multiple aspects of PVP in regard to player scaling, and crew skills, and the companion approach in general could be seen as a form of innovation. I think if we look at all the small little things that are approached differently from past mmorpg's, you will find quite a lot of subtle innovation in Swtor, along with the major and obvious VO.

Still, like BW said, they aren't exactly going for innovation to begin with, they are going for a solid Theme-Park that people will enjoy. Which so far it seems they have succeeded.

Zefire · December 2011

Nice one i really enjoy the game i just want to see this game with high textures and shadows and an optimized antialiasing and a better optimized performance cause there are some places that performance drops for no reason.

Space combat needs some improvement and some combat mechanics need to be worked out but overall it's a great game.

I wonder what will happen if they add some dx 11 features on it.

shootx · December 2011

SWTOR has received a lot of criticism for supposedly copying other MMOs. Well here are SWTOR MMO innovations that can't be found in the rest of the AAA MMO field:

1) Any already found binding location can be selected when using the 30 min cool down fast travel - opposed to the industry standard of making you pick a single location to be bound to.

Lineage 2 allows you to purchase scrolls for each of the main cities. You do need to sometimes walk, but this isn't something "innovative." This is lazy and takes out the chances for random events and exploration.

2) Anyone can rez their allies! No need to be a healer (all other MMOs) or have a purple rez in your inventory (CoH) - and no, GW2 isn't out yet!

Again this is not "innovation" this is lazy game design and play-mechanics. You ever hear of something being dumbed-down? That is exactly what this is.

3) Permanently upgradeable gear - you can keep the same lightsaber all game if you like, just upgrade it's parts. Same goes for all types of weapons and armor.

This is a stretched concept from other games... Many MMOs now of days let you reimage your gear to look like other gear essentially doing the same thing. SWG Crafting also touched on this with the original crafting system that focused on components over craft meaning you could build imba newb weapons if you had superloot. This is quite possibly the only category I would call microscopically innovative. I'm almost positive this has been done elsewhere but since I can't refrence it on the spot whatever.

4) Fully voiced with excellent voice acting

Many games have voice acting and not all of SWTOR is voiced. I've run into many parts where there is no voice acting. Also this is not innovative design... It's just a luxury.

5) Decisions put you on the spot from a moral stand point. Do you kill the NPC or let them live? Don't tell me you haven't sat there for 10 or 15 seconds on occasion trying to decide an NPCs fate.

What?? Many MMOs have this. Killing the NPC or not and how the story evolves is always unique to every mmo created that isn't a blatent rip off of something else. Killing or not killing is just a variable in quest/level/enviornment progression. No dice there because if you use that as a "innovative trait" then every MMO in the market is totally INNOVATIVE.

6) Decisions affect your character. Do bad things and your character will start to look evil over time. Your crew members will judge you too!

Cit of Heroes/Villians man... Basic MMOs do this too. Ever notice getting that sword of angels or demon armor etc etc?

7) The coolest mounts you've ever seen! They are actually mechanical and don't revolve around fantasy beasts.

No, no and no. First them being "cool" is nothing about innovation and all about opinion. SWG, L2, Planetside, etc. It's got vehicles.. Big woop nothing innovative.

8) Player housing in the form of an upgradeable space ship complete with space combat. Yes Lotro has housing but it's not nearly as cool and the rest of the AAA field does not! I'd almost allow STO in here but those "ship bridges" are pretty weak.

SWG, EvE, LOTR, many more. Scratch that off being innovative.

9) 17 planets so far - who knows how many they will have?

Seriously? The planets are small, most of the time linear pathed, and other MMOs do much better justice to "the amount of planets." EvE has over 5000 systems each with an abundance of planets... SWG had lush open worlds ready to explore.. Honestly I could win this one with one game: Asheron's Call 2.

10) Crafting/Professions are beneath you - order your subordinates to do it for you!

No, please do some actual research and play testing on other MMOs before making this claim.

11) Engaging story which is told to you and experienced in cinematic form.

Aion did this... While Aion did it poorly and other MMOs had "cinematics."

12) Smoothest launch in MMO history.

Definitely debatable, but that is a service for a game and nothing to do with the actual game design itself.

13) If you die in the main game world, you can rez on the spot - no more ghost runs! Only punishment is a short timer and a durability hit.

Durability hits and rez sickness. Totally haven't seen that before.

I could go on but I have to get back in game and make sure Vette is doing as I asked. She better be if she doesn't want another shock!

I'll add more when I have more time. Please contribute innovations you have experienced in SWTOR!

I think you really need to examine the statement you are trying to make. You claim "innovation" but pretty much everything you said has been seen in other MMOs and already exists. Please note that a stable deployment is something expected of AAA games now of days. Many have pitfalls at that point, but there is no creative function or genius to it because they didn't have a disaster... Technology is a hell of alot better than it was when the majority of major AAA MMOs came out. They did a launch just as millions of games before them have. Also I saw rediculous queue times on some servers.. So like I said, it is totally debatable.

I think I can agree on alot of the criticism for this game: It's WoW/Rift/Aion/Warhammer/SWG with a ludicrous art style completely contradictory to the original Star Wars movies and Knights of the Old Republic which depicted a Dark Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Space Operaish theme.

[Edited for formatting issue-]

PukeBucket · December 2011

Originally posted by jpnole

Originally posted by PukeBucket
Straws, they're for grasping.

These are facts, not straws.

They're more facts than they are innovations.

As in, please look up the word INNOVATION before using it poorly.

Unless English is your second language, or that you admit personally that you're easily distracted by flashing lights. In either case, continue.

But if neither is true, you're a liar.

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