BrimstoneAshe
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Posts posted by BrimstoneAshe
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Good article. Although I think the fact that EVERYTHING is humanoid is a bit of a disappointment for me. In Imperial quests on Nar Shadda you come across these aliens tied to the Revan lore that have the ugliest and freakiest head I've ever seen and it sits atop a humanoid body. It just looked so incredibly silly to me. And I LOVE playing small races. I really would have loved for my Jedi to have been a Yoda type race. Or a Jawa Bounty Hunter.
This game wasn't a WoW killer for me. For me it was much like you mentioned, it was just burn out on WoW and fantasy in general. I do look forward to seeing where Bioware takes this game. It has a ton of potential.
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That's a @$@#%^!@ outrage!
1. The amount is simply ridiculous and way too high.
2. With #1 being kept firmly in mind; SOME FREAKING WARNING WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE - maybe could have saved for it, instead of recently shelling out 20,000 credits for an extra row of baggage space.
I just hit 25 for the first time and the game's just gone from being fun for the story and play's sake, to whoring for credits. Great job, Bioware. What really pisses me off as an old school gamer is knowing that the absurdity of this will sink into some thick producer's skull sometime down the line and the price will be lowered...
lotta good that does the rest of us now.
1. It's not too high, but it is kinda silly you have to pay 40k for a speeder, but you got your ship for free.
2. Warning was actually there, but you had it turned off or ignored it.
You claim you're an old school gamer and yet didn't think to maybe be curious on when you got a mount and how much it would cost? I know I did.
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It`s still only a handful of original quests in the entire leveling experience. There was still a ton of go kill x of y quests for every one of the original ones. And, again, that came 2 expansions later. Now, if it takes 2 expansions for TOR to make some more interesting quests, then I`ll agree with you. The difference is that WoW had to find diversity in quests because it had nothing else. TOR finds diversity in the interactions. Neither one is going to get you away from kill x of y, but it`s a small diversion.
Well it was just a few examples. There really are many many more, but I completely agree with you otherwise! I really enjoy the way Bioware makes me feel like there's a reason I'm out killing x of y. I'm not bashing it. I'm just saying I wouldnt mind seeing just a break in the pattern a bit.
This became pretty apparent to me when I hit Balmorra for the first time in Beta. The whole zone is about the Imperials battling the Republic backed renegades. Yet I never really felt like I was truly in the middle of a conflict. Sure, everyone I was talking to said I was and I saw a big walker sitting in the base like it was there for a defensive reason, but thanks to the big bubble over the base it didn't seem to be necessary. I remember thinking "Man I'd love to hop in that thing and take it for a test drive." And wishing I could have had a quest that let me at least man a gun on one and blow stuff up!
Then later on in Balmorra I came across a NPC who was talking to a pilot. They were trying to do an airstrike. They showed me the pilots head, but didn't show me much else. I was thinking "Man I'd love to have a quest where I'm doing some low and slow flyovers bombing the tar out of these locals! Heck they have a rail space combat engine already, why not make it part of this quest!"
I guess what I'm trying to say is I want to blow more stuff up haha. I play a Merc and I'm pretty addicted to my rockets and the explosions and smoke trails and the fun.
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I disagree with some of your points.
-Quest variety. While i agree that having the variety would have made the game less grindy, and alot better, I can't think of a triple A mmo with a huge variety. You could say WoW, but to be fair, they only added variety last year with cata. 6 years they had of no variety.
I disagree. The variety came in WoTLK. Need examples?
Howling Fjord: The Big Lebowski quest line as I call it. But you had some quests to learn how to use that harvestor thing and then you had a quest to use it to go down into the quarry and collect some shards. You used the runes to launch you from platform to platform. Also had the quest where you had to hop in the gyrochopper, shoot down some gargoyles, pickup some stuff with the grappling hook and put it in a designated spot.
Sholozar Basin: Had the quest where you were on the shoulder of that titan looking dude and you stopping and smashing undead. The quest where you and Hemit Nessingwary where on the mammoth taking out the Queen Protodrake.
Storm Peaks: Remember the quest where you had to leap from proto drake to proto drake and take out their riders? Remember the quest of getting on the polar bear and having a battle in the pits? Remember the Hodir daily of spearing a drake and trying to kill it while keeping it from crunching on you while you flew over the zone?
These are just few of many many quests WoTLK had. Granted, at the end of the day you were still clicking your mouse and pressing an ability on a hotbar, but it gave you the illusion you were doing something different. Maybe this didn't work for some people, but it worked for me and I would like to see this sort of diversity in SWTOR.
I can imagine some ideas already in the Star Wars universe and using concepts seen in like the Force Unleashed series combined with some mechanics used in Witcher 2 that would create some really exiting moments in the game.
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I would agree with several of the OPs complaints. I love SWTOR and plan to keep playing awhile, but I can certainly see some of his issues.
1> Lack of quest diversity. I completely agree. I made a couple of topics in regards to this in the forums during beta. The story/dialogue is great, but at the end of the day its the same cycle. I had provided suggestions on how to break the cycle in those other threads.
2> The complaint about the graphics. I can see the point, but I also understand Biowares decision. Since MMOs tend to stay around for some time. especially successful ones, having stylized graphics gives the game a bit longer life in the visuals. Wow has been bashed on it's cartoony look. And if you look at vanilla Wow compared to Cata WoW, the "cartoony" vibe may still be there, but there is a LOT of detail in the modelling. Having a stylized look really gave them more flexibility and I think that's what Bioware wanted.
3> Things missing in the game at launch. Even though I have no issues with grouping tools, mods, and dual specs, I'm not upset that they aren't in game. The things that irk me are minor, but also along the lines "How is this NOT in the game?"
a> No /roll command in the game. If you put a raid together for a world boss and choose master looter.... be ready for a headache of determining loot. I really don't understand how this could have been left out.
b> No guild storage. I'm really sick of the trend of MMOs hitting launch day and being in a guild is nothing more than a chat channel. Yea, Guild things are added down the road, but this really irks me that this sort of stuff isn't worked on from day one. I'm sure Bioware has some cool stuff planned out for guilds and so it will all get put in at that time(like their make outfit match chestpiece option that took out saying what they're working on as a replacement will be much better). But as we're all leveling, we're finding patterns and gear that don't do us much good, but would sure benefit a guildmate. It would be so nice to have had at least guild storage at launch.
4> Other thing that sort of irks me: Price of speeder training. The price is 40k credits. By the time you're 25, you'll most likely have it and then some more. I had over 50k when I hit 25. It's not impossible, but it is still a good chunk of money. As one guildmate stated "Its odd I get a spaceship for free, but I got to pay through the nose for a speeder."
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It's fun to sound superior, but people who roll on pvp servers understand this risk and indeed welcome the sense of tension this creates. And many don't even like 'ganking', but rather attacking or being attacked by similarly leveled characters while doing questing or gathering. It's the spice in the pudding, so to speak.
Haha! For many that dont like ganking, PvP servers seem to be full of it. You're going to get ganked WAY more than you're going to get the "attacked by similarly leveled characters while doing questing or gathering."
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Nope.
It has everything to do with guild control freaks kicking people for not being up to snuff instead of teaching them. Name one guild that actually taught people instead of just g-kicking them and removing them from the raid.
What's that? No response? It's ok.
Vulgar Saxon Pigs, Eitrigg in World of WarCraft. You're welcome.
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I rushed, that's not the point. I am the only 50 so flashpoints are a no go right now, as is Ilum PvP. I am still exploring, but maybe I missed something here? I found 2 level 50 quests....is this correct? My crafting is maxed.
I didn't play the Beta so I may be missing something. But is there really only Flashpoints, and PvP for 50's? I rushed because...that's what I do. But I figured there were some long quest lines to do at 50....
1> You rushing is a point. One you choose to admittedly ignore. Therefore the lesson to be learned here will escape you. Let me go ahead now and say congrats on the next MMO you rush to and make the same thread on their forums.
2> Long quest line at 50? No the long quest lines designed for you were the ones you rushed through getting to 50.
3> Did you get all your companion quests knocked out too?
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sad but true, we will have to find another game
Very true statement, but honestly it wouldn't have taken much research to see the writing on the wall in regards to the state of PvP in this game. Plenty of info about PvP in this game as soon as the NDA was lifted in Beta. Anyone with common sense could have connected the dots.
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Convenience options such as this completely shattered immersion in WoW,
Oh c'mon! Dual spec 'completely shattered' your immersion in WoW, but keeping your mounts in your pocket didn't? What a junk excuse.
Dual spec loses your love/value for your character? No, it PROLONGS it because being able to perform two roles means you don't have to switch to a different character to fill a role! You said yourself you're leveling two characters to fill two roles... which one are you going to value more? Would you not value one character MUCH more if you were able to spend more time on that character instead of splitting that time leveling up another? Junk excuse.
Maybe me and my friends just play MMOs differently than most. But we enjoying playing the games together. We appreciate it more when we have options among us when we need to accomplish a task. We approach a team video game like a team sport. Sometimes we might need to switch positions around. And most team sports we often need to play a role on offense AND defense(gasp! multiple roles!). Guess we're weird to look at playing a video game the same way we'd approach playing just about any other team game ever created.
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Hell every game that tried to innovate on the standard MMO combat failed horribly.
DDO
DCUO
AoC
Auto Assault
Fallen Earth
Champions Online
Planetside
I could go on and on here.
People like this kind of combat.
Oh man I LOVED Planetside! I really miss that game.
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Start the game with no expectations. Relax. Play. Enjoy the experience.
Granted the whole server queue thing is a bit ridiculous. But that won't matter in a few weeks, and is getting better every day.
I'd also like to add, minimize the chat window. At least until you get to the fleet.
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Space combat grew on me. I enjoy it enough to do the dailies. Looking forward to unlocking the next set of them.
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Trying to be innovative in an established genre can be a dangerous move because while there are players looking for something new there are a lot of players who don't adjust well to something new.
The OP brings up the combat model of SWTOR and how they wish it was something new. Well DC: Universe Online has a pretty different combat system(which I *really* enjoyed and appreciated) and yet it's free to play now because clearly there were a lot of people who didn't like it.
DCUO and it's lack of success really proves to me that the majority of the customer base doesn't want too much innovation at once. Because as a whole, and yea this is just my opinion, DCUO was a very well done MMO from the ground up. Exciting combat, voiced over quest dialogue, solid graphics, etc. The only knock I had with it was lack of options in character creation, but I realize that "unlocking" costume pieces was part of the game itself so it sort of made sense that the initial character creator had the limitations it did.
I really liked how abilities had two effects based on the "role" you were in. I really wish more MMOs would go that route and then you'd never have the "dual spec" argument again.
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The GTN is really wonderful.
First of it's galactic, (at least the parts that are not republic, empire or Hutta only).
Then it is a trade network. Which means it is there to turn your trading on the net into work. A brilliant feature it accomplishes outstandingly.
And furthermore it is an incarnation of the Dexterity and E-Learning Relevance Program (D.E.R.P.). This secret program ensures that players learn and train valuable skills which will guarantee sustainable and relevant improvement in the player's essential skills to be value adding members of their communities.
Like
- Calculate in your head - calculating stack prices in your head will qualify you for a variety of skilled jobs in today's world, like Junior Assistant System Restaurant Manager.
- Improve your Memory - remember the prices of your last sales. This will improve your brain activity by up to 23%!
- Trim you dexterity and combinatoric Skills, plus all of the above. Take your 12-stack of prototype metals, Split them into 4 stacks, enter the correct price, and post them. Do all of that without closing the GTN, spamming the items into the chat, closing your inventory or taking a bite out of your desk. Maximum allowed time are 20 seconds.
When you manage that final task, you are award with not one, not two, but six Walls around you, all coated in the finest rubber.
This is was awesome! Thanks for the laugh!
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It's not hard to type /who and pst. Or ask in general of your planets or fleet. It's easy to get to the fleet from anywhere and is relatively fast.
And it's not hard to grab a pen and paper, write a letter, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and mail it. But it is quicker and more efficient to just email a person.
I have had 0 problems finding groups for flashpoints. I think the longest we waited was for 8 minutes to find 1 extra non jedi DPS for better loot balancing. But we got to pick our group composition and didn't have to wait long to find somebody willing to clear it with us. That person later joined our guild (3 of us were already guild mates) and we've been off the races ever since.
Which Flashpoint was this? Because I spent over 30 mins last night trying to form a Mandalore group. Couldn't get it done. About a bazillion BT and Hammer groups forming though.
I've had entire DF PUGs go through with ZERO conversation. We were all just going in and zerging content knowing we probably wouldn't see each other again, so why bother talking? You will occasionally find some decent people cross server but likely the conversation is probably limited by things like, 'lol' 'ty' 'mind if i need for os?' 'again?'. No interaction. No community.
I was in a couple of Hammer Station groups a few nights ago and zero talking was done among the players and just zerging the content. In one group I was the only scavenger and rarely had time to scavenge any of the robots because they werent slowing down and combat would prevent me from scavenging. But how can that be if it's a DF tool that makes people anti-social zergers? Baffling! (insert random blame WoW for it response here)
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It didn't ruin the community -- WoW's community was a cesspit long before that -- but it did take the "massively" bit out of the MMO. Having no reason to leave the capital city is kind of stupid.
See, that's the argument(I put in bold) I hear time and time again that I just don't understand. The DF tool actually ALLOWED me to leave to capitol city and quest/gather/etc instead of sitting in the city spamming LFG for a Heroic.
Which interestingly enough is what I have to do now if I want in a flashpoint. Instead of questing on Nar Shadda while I wait for a Mandalore group, I get to sit at the fleet for 30+ mins trying to form a Mandalore group like I did last night to no avail. I'm guessing its mainly because the majority of players are still in the BT/Hammer levels, but I tried for 30-45 minutes last night to form a Flashpoint while I crafted and couldnt get one together. And after all the time I spent in a chat channel last night I didn't come away with any new friends or social contacts. In fact I came away feeling less like I was in a "community" than I felt in one.
Last night I was in game for 4 hours. Got to do ZERO Flashpoints, but did get a good bit of questing done. A FP tool would have allowed me to do both.
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the emptiness is more puzzling when you consider the population indicator of the server you're on.
i'm on The Harbinger, which BW has publicly indicated to be one of THE highest pop servers, reaching the absolute population cap.
yesterday was launch night, being a PST server, the servers were back up at 8:52pm, i know, i was ready and clicking the second it came up. I was the first person to load on Tat.
however, within 30 minutes, my guildies were telling me that the server was already full and a queue was starting.
I took a look. i'm on Tat, there was a single instance, and there were only 108 people.
this is where there should be A LOT of people, given that this is the most likely zone for casual players that play a couple hours a night since EGA.
the numbers just don't add up for me.
I disagree. Most casuals in the EGA will not be in Tatooine by now. I know this because all of my guild are "casuals" (ie people with jobs and kids and stuff) and they're nowhere near Tatooine yet and they've been in EGA since day 2. I think that's why your numbers aren't adding up.
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What happend to ''we want to built a strong community in TOR''? Countless times Bioware even stated that was the reason for no cross server LFG tools for BGs/Flashpoints.
Now we still dont have any cross server LFG tools, but wheres the community?
The zones are empty and devoid of life. Anywhere outside of a city hub its just a wasteland. Not to mention eventhough i play on a heavily populated server it takes hours to get a group here becouse whenever i spam /1 general chat only like 50 people can see it.
Am i the only one who feels like a caged animal playing SWTOR?
I am not experiencing the same thing you are. Most zones I'm in are anywhere from 100 to 300 people. General chat spans across all shards of a zone, not just the one you're in. What level are you by chance?
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The accountability in question is when the guy ends up LFG for the rest of his career because after a while no one on his server will group with him. When he's just DPS#378928, even if he by remote chance happens to run into someone he's grouped with before and gets kicked - he can just go back to the finder for no real pain.
Doesnt take long for a jerk to show their colors though does it? So you kick them and the tool fills their spot immediately. You move on and keep playing. Sorry, the whole "social punishment" sounds good in theory but doesn't work in reality.
But regardless there's an easy fix. Just make an option to flag someone as someone you dont want to group with again. A glorified "ignore list" for flashpoints. Let the flashpoint tool use that as it puts the groups together. If that person is a jerk, he'll eventually get flagged enough to where he's sitting in a queue for a long time.
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You make a false statement OP. The fact that the dungeons were completely anonymous and people would never be held responsible for their actions resulted in a gross decline in manners.
Between server changes and random queues people could get away with anything and never be held responsible for their behavior.
So you're saying that bad players didn't exist before dungeon finders? They did. You're saying they paid some "social price" for it? They didn't. You're going to come across a jerk in SWTOR and when you get out of your flashpoint you're going to go to General and say "No one group with this person!" and then there will be flaming back and forth and no one will remember that persons name. They'll get right back into another group.
If you've played SWTOR for a few hours you've no doubt already been ninja'd on a quest or two. Remember their names? Are they suffering some sort of social price for their behavior? Nope.
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So, Star Wars: The Old Republic has officialy launched.
So the question is, did you get your desired in-game name?
I was fortunate enough to get all of mine.
Darth Victus will rise on the Sith Meditation Sphere.
There were a TON of people crying about early access taking away all the names. I got all the name I wanted with no issues whatsoever. One of my friends got names he surely didn't expect to be open. So it was just typical hyperbole by spazoids.
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i assume this is supposed to be a counterargument to "dungeon finder ruins community".
The thing is, you socialize more once you are in a group, because you probably want to be on the good side of those people so you can group with them more in the future.
Especially in cross server-dungeonfinder games this goes completely away, you can do whatever. Only one click to get new people that dont know you.
I see your point, and I'm sure there's some truth to it, but it doesn't always go that way. Just the other night I formed a Hammer Station group and the tank we had was just being really annoying. They clearly didn't care what the other 3 in his group felt about them. Now one might say "Well now you know them and you won't group with them again." And I suppose that would be true if I had a better memory, but I've already forgot their name. Maybe if I see it again I'll remember it.
There use to be a mod in for WOW before their DF tool called Bad Apples(I think that was its name) that allowed you to set flags/notes on players so if you came across them again you'd get some sort of Jerk Warning about them. You could make nice notes too if you came across someone super cool, but those people normally /friended anyways.
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The problem with the anti-dungeon finder people is they think it somehow created bad players. It didn't. Plenty of other MMOs dont have DF tools and there's bad players there. There's horror stories of PuGs in WoW before their DF tool was introduced.
DF tools are far more efficient and you'll get in many more groups using the tool than looking in a chat channel. The problem is getting in many more groups means you're increasing your chances of playing with stupid people. That's it in a nutshell.
They'll argue there's no personal accountability. I can see their point. But using the DF tool in WoW, I don't remember ever coming across the same bad player using it. If it happened, I sure don't remember it. I don't think it's that big of a deal.
A good DF tool that might make a fair compromise to both sides is have some sort of feature like an "ignore player" but make it like "Avoid player". If you use the DF tool and get in a group with a jerk, put them on your "avoid player" list and make the tool look at that matchup before it finalizes a group. If that person is indeed a jerk, they'll rack up more and more "Avoid Player" tags on their account and find themselves sitting a queue for a LONG time because of it.
A perfect example of the ability delay
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