You know what the sad part is? A great deal of players came from WoW to play this game. They canceled their WoW accounts (not all but some) and transferred over to test out SWTOR. Because of the gameplay they are going to lose almost every WoW transfer this month if they don't come out and at least talk about the problem and address the players. Gameplay is definetly a downgrade from WoW; and players won't put up with this especially if BW doesn't start communicating. "We are investigating the issue" doesn't shed any new light on the problem. BW you have a great deal of subscribers ready to jump ship and you wont even post about this..."

Xcore, From your research do you think the character response and ability delay is something that can be fixed within the game or do you believe it could be a permanent problem?

Actually I wouldn't use the word hate, I would use the word "dislike at the current moment" and mine falls not under either of those 2 categories. I love the story telling and I also love how it's similar to WoW in many ways. On the other hand, ability delay and character response time is absolutely horrendous and forces me to objectively analyze whether or not I should continue playing this game in it's current state.

Spamming your buttons should not be something someone utilizes to try and get an ability to "trigger," (as it is now in SWTOR); Rather, it should be utilized to get the quickest executions for abilities. In WoW no one spammed their ability to get an ability to trigger (there was no problem to get an ability to trigger). It was used to get in as many abilities as quick as possible and spamming increased your overall timing. However, in this game I find myself spamming buttons not to get the quickest ability execution timings, but just to get the ability to trigger in the first place! Besides, BioWare should have a system in place that "allows" for button spamming if the player intends to utilize this technique. I can't tell you how many countless times I've been playing and "spamming" an instant for my shadow (such as Kinetic Ward) only to see the system registering that I'm pressing the button (flashing button light) but not activating the ability nor starting the GCD. Don't even get me started about tanking flashpoints; the rage that is involved when i can't get off my Shield or my instant taunts makes me look like a retard to party members. The current implementation is a very frustrating system and needs to be fixed ASAP. If you are right and they "created" laggy and unresponsive controls to eliminate button spamming then shame on them. However, I believe they probably created the system and now they realize it's flawed.

Your right in theory: that it would be fine "as long as the animation for it starts the exact same time you hit the button." Here is the problem. Animations aren't being governed by the internal clock of the game. In other words, animations are tied to that persons connection to the game. Animations are irregular at best; sometimes they happen perfectly, sometimes they take awhile to get started sometimes they happen to fast. Animations in this game are unreliable and spontaneous. Now with that concept in mind put 20 people with varying connections in the same room and let them fight where their ability executions are tied to their animations and what do you have? A mess The only way to really fix the character responsiveness is to tie every ability and execution to a strict internal clock that everyone is subject too. Only then will things become fluid. Sure you may have some screwy looking and clipped animations at times, but you will have a responsive game.

I don't know where this came from to give credit but it is perfect for an understanding on this issue: http://i.imgur.com/oGeam.png

The intent of this process is to show the delay between you (the user hitting the button) and when the system applies the instant cast. We all want instant response; we want to see instant casts apply "exactly" when I hit the button for it not a split second later. Wow is another example of the perfection of this response system. When you used an instant ability it was applied "instantly" there was no delay between pushing the button and when the buff is applied.

For those of you who are still questioning whether their is an initial ability delay ( as to whether it exists or not) there is a quick way for you to personally check it on your own character. 1. Log into the game and hotkey your 60 minute racial buff (everybody gets one at the start of the game). 2. Make sure you don't currently have the buff (check your buff bar if you have it right click on it to remove it). 3. Now target yourself and click on the buff. Don't pay attention to your character or his or her animation just watch your buff bar and observe how long it takes for the buff to be applied. This is labeled as an instant cast (Hence it should be applied right away), but notice that it takes a fraction of a second between hitting the ability and when it's applied. This is only pre-ability delay and only puts an emphasis on pre-ability character responsiveness. The effects are even more severe when dealing with tying strings of abilities together in combat and with the addition of casting abilities. From my own personal observations I believe Bioware has tied the execution of abilities and their effects to animations instead of a strict internal clock. In other words, you are waiting for the animation to play to a certain point before you see the fruition of that ability. The problem with this is that the GCD is strict and set to an internal clock (a flat 1.5 seconds). There seems to be a great deal of conflict between the strict GCD and the inconsistent animations. I've noticed that animations vary in speed (sometimes the same ability and same animation takes longer to perform) because of latency or our general connection to the server. So sometimes the animation plays fast and we don't recognize a problem with character responsiveness, but in a situation where latency is an issue the animations struggle and therefore the execution of that ability is delayed. I haven' t done extensive testing, but from what I've performed so far this seems to be the problem. If Bioware was to tie the execution of abilities to a strict internal clock (same clock the GCD is tied to) then I believe the majority of character responsiveness would improve dramatically. Animations should not be taking priority; they are to inconsistent.

Is it so much to ask for a little insight into how certain game mechanics are "supposed" to run? I as a consumer would like to know what this game will turn into in the future. Is it so terrible that I ask for a little customer service from Bioware?

This post made me laugh because you tell me to read more when you are obviously the one not reading. I already know they have posted on it, but their response has been "we are investigating the issue." What I'm looking for is a detailed response on "how" they want the battle system to work": Are they intending to let animations continue to override GCD and ability casts? Or are they willing to trim animations if need be to allow for fluidity within the game and its combat? In conclusion, please take your own advice and read more.

Again, not saying that they aren't working on problems of course they are. I want to know what will be the outcome of those problems being worked on. In other words, what is their original design for specific problems and what it plans on being.

My biggest issue, and to me game breaking if it's not addressed, is the lack of communication Bioware has with it's customers. As many of you know an MMO is an investment. You input several hours into a character to customize them and make them what you want to make them. Now if you knew that (as an example) Bioware was going to make some game alter change you might be reluctant to spend more time on your invested character. However, the battle system in SWTOR is extremely flawed and unresponsive and will destroy PvE and PvP if left unattended. As an example of where Bioware can improve their customer relations they could come out and state: "Hey everyone we have been discussing the responsiveness of the battle system and we have decided to not change anything" or "Hey everyone we have been discussing the responsiveness of the battle system and we ahve decided to run every ability off a strict internal clock and get rid of any delay even if animations are clipped" This would be a good example of what Bioware intends to do with an unstable game mechanic and would give insight on the future of the game. This would be great to know either way before we know whether or not to invest more or less time into the game. We are paying for this service and this much I think is necessary. Given this is only one example of a particular problem within SWTOR, it does justice to the topic.

Every five minutes??? these problems have existed since closed beta with no "actual" or "legitimate" reponse; instead we get a vague response that may never see fruition. Not sure about you guys, but vague responses from developers have a bad history for going untreated in the MMO market.

This is very simple (since a great deal of you have misinterpreted the context of this topic) I will list only two viable options so you can better see what I'm saying. 1. Bioware should communicate they're intentions to their paying customers for current problems/bugs/glitches within the game: what they plan on doing, how it should be working etc... OR 2. Bioware has no responsibility to communicate or share information on how things "should" be working to their paying customers. Something such as "we are investigating the issue" is sufficient. This is what I'm talking about. I believe the former is imperative for a successful company to operate and the latter only drives many customers to other companies.

Have to love how people get on here and make a response based out of ignorance for the general topic. Like I said I have no problem with it taking time to fix things. But just like when your car is in an autoshop for repairs you want to know the "status" of the given problem and what the plan on doing with it. Is this not a service just as any other that we pay for? I'm sure you would agree with me that you wouldn't be taking your car back to a repair shop if after several months (including beta) the mechanic says "we are investigating the issue" with no plan in site. The big difference is Bioware has foresight for this game and they can tell us "what to expect" from combat etc... Why not share that with your paying customers.

Read the title of the post and realize I'm not just talking about Bioware, but rather a trend among all Developers for MMOs.

Regardless of what the Bioware Defense Team is stating, this is a service that is being paid for by customers such as yourselves. The first thing everyone needs to do is recognize that I'm not bashing the game nor saying that I'm not going to play it anymore. The whole reason i created this post was to hopefully encourage something good out of it. What I really want is Bioware to come out and start addressing the legitimate problems with the game and state what they "hope" to do and how it "should" be working. I realize it takes time to complete. Since everyone else wants to use similar life experience stories to iterate their points I will do the same: say you were in an auto repair shop with a defective product that you had installed earlier this week on your automobile and you would like the issue resolved. When you talk to the front desk lady and she says "I don't know that's not my department" or "We will investigate the issue." How would you like these types of responses? If anything it shows a lack of mutual teamwork within the auto shop and a major lack of customer support. I don't care how many people and departments Bioware has. They need to speak to their customers who have legitimate complaints about the service that they are paying for. Not a response such as "We are investigating the issue." Although, I will agree this response is better then no response. I still want to know what and how the service is going to change in the future. Afterall, I'm paying for this service I deserve the right to know.

I said "Intentions" not a generic response. Hearing "we are investigating the issue" doesn't tell the customers if they "feel" that it's current implementation is considered acceptable or if they intend to change it to a new system.

You guys are forgetting that everything I posted on the list were problems in Beta which means they've had a lot longer than 2 weeks to see them as problems. Still no word from BW on how they want the game to work. I'm sorry maybe this post was just a frustration vent. But I get really agitated when a developer has issues in game since beta and (even if they don't know whats causing it) refuses to address the customer base on their intentions.

I absolutely agree with you and it's fine. But on some of these issues it would be nice for BW to come out and say "how" they want the game to work and how its not properly working. Otherwise the customer base doesn't know if BW intends to fix it or if its intended...

I would rather they create a priority list of what is most important and tackle them in the proper order.

Well I'm sure Bioware is having the animation team working on that for the next patch...

I mean there are a plethora of broken mechanics such as: -Ability Delay/Character Responsiveness -Abilities not firing properly -Animations preventing competitive play -Latency and FPS problems in Battlegrounds -Issues with class quests -Terrible Auction House Design -And did I mention Ability Delay/Character Responsiveness? -Etc... And BW is implementing emotes while on vehicles... and other nonsensical additions while the customer base is screaming for major fixes to their game all over the forums. Seems to me the same pattern we've seen before on other MMOs where the Developer is seemingly pretending that their customers complaints don't exist is following suit with Bioware. What do you guys think? EDIT: to clarify the issue: 1. Bioware should communicate they're intentions to their paying customers for current problems/bugs/glitches within the game: what they plan on doing, how it should be working etc... OR 2. Bioware has no responsibility to communicate or share information on how things "should" be working to their paying customers. Something such as "we are investigating the issue" is sufficient.

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that a game like WoW was created that revolutionized character response by emphasizing instantaneous control. This was an essential asset to include in WoW where the focus was on cause-and-effect battle. Meaning, that both in PvP and PvE it was essential to "respond" to the actions of your enemy. Whether it be silencing, stunning, snaring, etc... you had control of your character and had to calculate the precise time to execute your counter abilities or it was game over. Now, I love Bioware and all the games they've produced (I've played almost every one), but when Bioware sought out a similar cause -and-effect battle system (much like WoWs) in which timing is crucial they needed to put the priority on Casting Times and GCDs not on animations. If they wanted to put the emphasis on animations and the beautification of choreographed battles then they should not have included utility and control based abilities. Another issue that has been thoroughly tested for validity is pre-ability delay. When you hit the button it happens a fraction of a second later. Coupled with the above mentioned problems and you have one frustrating game for those who are competitive PvE and PvP players. Like I said before, Unfortunately WoW set the foundation for the cause-and-effect battle system. If Bioware is going to attain a longstanding competitive PvE and PvP title for years to come then they must: fix the pre-ability delay, clip animations when necessary, and only trigger GCD when an ability has successfully executed. I believe these fixes are integral to SWTOR's success.